“That’s amazing!” “Impossible!” “How did you do that?” “No way!”
These are the kind of responses Villages magician Wally Libenson gets when he produces a chosen card from a deck in a box fastened with a rubber band. Or he has an audience member pick a random word from a book and then announces the page number where another audience member will find it in a dictionary.
Part of the fun is the showmanship; a continual patter that entertains, distracts and sets up the effect. When the audience says, “No way!” Wally replies, “Norway is a country next to Sweden. This is ‘Yes, way!’”
Originally from Poughkeepsie in New York’s Hudson Valley, Wally started performing magic as a hobby in the 1980s. He went on to a career as a senior executive with the IBM software division and retired after nearly 30 years.
Throughout that time, he worked on his magic effects (Wally prefers to call the illusions “effects” rather than “tricks”) and went on to perform professionally in venues in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.
Occasionally, while with IBM, he would perform in a New York comedy club. “Usually there was no one there that knew me, but once in a while someone from the office would be in the audience,” he says.
With the bad lighting and out-of-context setting, they would be unsure if it was someone they knew.
“Then if I saw them in the hallway at the office, I’d just give them a big wink,” he laughs.
“One of the secrets of magic is separating the ‘magic’ from the revelation,” Wally says. “By the time the audience is expecting the magic, it’s already long over. The other secret is practice” he said, adding that he still works hard to perfect his craft several hours a day.
For the past eight years, Wally has been performing at Gator’s Dockside on Friday evenings. He walks among the diners, performing close-up effects with cards. But he has sensible rules.
“I never approach a table before they have ordered – they’re looking at the menu and making their choices,” he says. “And after their food is delivered, I don’t bother them.”
Although he may return briefly to ask about their meal. “I try to be like a staff member of the restaurant.”
As he approaches a table, he introduces himself – some diners are astonished – and offers to show them some magic. Few refuse.
“Sometimes, if the kitchen gets backed up, the manager will ask me to step up the performance while the staff gets caught up,” he says.
Much of Wally’s life in The Villages revolves around magic. He teaches magic at the Enrichment Academy, heads up a magic club and performs at events and recreation centers. He often is booked for performances at corporate and club events in the area, as well as private parties and events in The Villages.
Wally also is an avid golfer and plays cards.
“But they won’t let me deal,” he admits.
Several nights a week, he and his wife, Sue, attend theater and musical events in The Villages and Central Florida. They also travel across the United States to Europe to perform, sightsee and attend the theater.
Wally also belongs to The Society of American Magicians and the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Both hold conferences where professional magicians may (or may not) trade the secrets of their effects, and vendors sell the apparatus used to make magic happen.
Magic comes in various forms, including “close-up” and “stage magic.’ The latter is usually the big effects and might include the traditional sawing the woman in half, or the big effects of the Las Vegas shows. Close-up effects are performed directly right in front of people and often involve cards or coins.
“I do both, although in The Villages, many performances are in-between,” he says.
A recent example was at the Allamanda Recreational Center, near the Libenson’s home in the Village of Liberty Park. Wally performed both close-up and stage magic effects in front of the local social club at its Christmas party.
One of his most popular effects is mentalism, where he “reads minds.”
“In a stage show, the magician will ask a member of the audience, usually from the back, to be part of the performance,” he says. “On the way up to the stage, the two will chat.”
Then, on stage, the magician will tell the audience member a fact about themselves. In fact, the magician learned that fact while they walked up to the stage, but the audience member, nervous and excited, will have forgotten. Wally, with a sly smile, refuses to reveal other methods that magicians might use to read the minds of their audience.
Not every effect goes right every time.
“One of the other things magicians must be ready to do is recover,” Wally says. “The audience doesn’t usually know what is supposed to happen. So, when things go wrong, the magician and any assistants must be able to look cool and recover.”
Wally recalls a stage show effect he performed at the Savannah Center.
“A girl is enclosed in a box and five swords are inserted. In this case, the girl inside was in the wrong position and a sword nicked her shoulder,” he says.
At the reveal, she stepped out with a bleeding cut on her shoulder.
“Everyone stayed cool and we told the audience that cut showed that the swords were real,” he says.
While Wally and Sue’s son and daughter are not in the “magic business,” they both learned some tricks and would assist at times. But they have high hopes for their 18-year-old granddaughter.
Sue, with a theater background, is Wally’s producer, monitoring each effect in the show. She coaches him on how the effect might be improved, or changed, based on her observations and the reaction of the audience.
Wally’s yellow-and-black business card, featuring a Checker Cab stripe down one side, promotes “prestidigitation” – magic tricks performed as entertainment.
“People often don’t know the meaning of the word, or how to pronounce it,” he says. “But they do usually remember the ‘P-word’ and the design.”
At the Allamanda performance, Wally began his show with a variation on the old three-card Monte trick that is a staple of street tricksters.
The president of the host club tried several times, unsuccessfully, to choose the location of the Queen of Hearts. At the final reveal, Wally turns the cards over, much to the delight of the club members.
“Never embarrass your hostess,” he says to peals of laughter. Patter is an important part of the magic.
John W Prince is a writer and Villages resident. For more information visit www.GoMyStory.com.
