Billionaires, millionaires, media personalities, and other distinguished guests joined forces to support the Mercy Corps Action Center to End World Hunger on December 8, 2009 at the Magic4Mercy Benefit.

I presented a one-hour show that was well-received by business and community leaders, actors, fashion designers, and other luminaries including billionaire Steven A. Cohen, Founder of SAC Capital, and his wife Alexandra, who both served on the Honorary Committee for the event.

Other Action Center supporters in attendance were CBS News Travel Editor Peter Greenberg; Fashion Designer Malan Breton; Actor Paul Hecht; and Co-founders of the Inside Sports and Entertainment Group, Ety Rybak and Alan Baum. Proceeds from the evening, which began with a champagne reception, will benefit the Action Center, opened one year ago at 6 River Terrace in Battery Park in an interactive space designed by Edwin Schlossberg of ESI Design.

Program for Magic4Mercy charity performance

Event Venue: Mercy Corps Action Center to End World Hunger, in Battery Park, NYC

Performing a handkerchief trick for actor Paul Hecht

Me with the "other" Steve Cohen (founder of SAC Capital) and his wife Alexandra

Chatting with SAC's Steve Cohen, before the show

Welcoming the audience to Action Center

Addressing the audience at the start of the show

Performing the "boomerang card"

"Examine the silver dollar, would you?"

An enthusiastic audience during the charity performance

The post Magic4Mercy charity event recap appeared first on Chamber Magic.

Magic4Mercy

An Evening Of Mind Reading & Miracles

Starring Steve Cohen, The Millionaires’ Magician

A Benefit Performance for the Action Center to End World Hunger (http://actioncenter.org)

December 8, 2009 (Tuesday)

7-8pm Champagne and Hors d’oeuvres Reception

8-9pm Steve Cohen’s MAGIC4MERCY performance

Business Attire

The Action Center -6 River Terrace-Battery Park City-New York.

TICKETS $125

To purchase, Click On Magic4Mercy Benefit

For information, please call 646-453-8823

Presented by Inside Sports and Entertainment Group in association with TheaterMania and Kuki Design

The post Magic4Mercy charity event – Dec 8 appeared first on Chamber Magic.

On December 8th, the Action Center will be transformed into my stage, and I will present a “Chamber Magic” show to help those people in need.

I hope you’ll join other distinguished guests and media personalities for an evening of fun and entertainment for the benefit of a good cause. A champagne reception from 7:00-8:00 p.m. will lead into a magical experience that is most often deemed “unforgettable”!  Ticket prices for the general public are $125 per ticket, or $200 for VIP seating [VIP seating is now SOLD OUT], and we anticipate that 100 people will attend our benefit evening.

As you can see, it’s for a great cause! http://www.actioncenter.org
For information, please call 646-453-8823.

The post Save the Date – Magic 4 Mercy fundraiser appeared first on Chamber Magic.

Having presented this show over 2000 times by that point, I felt confident throughout the performance. Until the rings routine.

For years I’ve featured the Linking Finger Rings in my shows. It’s one of my favorites – three borrowed wedding rings are linked together into a chain.

This time, though, one of the borrowed rings snapped in half.

Fortunately it was during the “unlinking” stage of the routine. I had already linked the three wedding rings, and displayed them to the audience. As I was disengaging them, I felt something crack – like a pretzel. I looked into my cupped hands and saw that one of the rings – which contained dozens of antique rubies – had broken in two. Several of the tiny rubies had slipped free.

Thinking fast, I returned the first solid wedding ring to its owner, followed by the second solid ring. Now the tricky part. I had to return the third, broken, ring but didn’t want to ruin the rest of my performance. After all, I still had another 25 minutes to go. And 200 people watching.

So I hid half of the ring in my right fist, and gripped the other half at my right fingertips. Keeping the ring half-concealed, I advanced forward to show it to the last spectator. Recognizing the visible rubies along the edge, she confirmed to the rest of the audience that it was indeed her ring.

As soon as she verified that the ring was hers, I dramatically placed it (with the other broken piece) into my jacket pocket. This got a big laugh – the audience thought I was joking – that I had intentions to steal the ring. I said simply, “Don’t worry miss, you’ll get your ring right back before you leave tonight.”

I left it at that, since it was a somewhat satisfactory comedic conclusion for the audience, and continued on with the next 25 minutes of the show. Nobody knew that anything went wrong.

After the show was over, the ring’s owner approached the platform. I took her off into an adjoining room, and asked her if she had enjoyed the show. She said “Yes, it was wonderful.”

I said, “I’m glad that you enjoyed the show…because there’s a slight problem. I broke your ring.”

“That was my mother’s wedding ring,” she stated.

I showed her the two pieces of the ring, and she was visibily upset. Fortunately, though, she was not the type of person who makes a public display of her disappointment. I promised to her that I would have the ring repaired. Fortunately, too, I have a strong working relationship with Daniel Koren, one of Manhattan’s top jewelers.

Over the next two weeks, we melted down her gold ring, and rebuilt her ring with the original rubies (which had all been cleaned and remounted). There were several missing rubies that had fallen during my show, but my jeweler located matching rubies that filled in for the ones that got lost in the floor cracks.

The ring was now Tiffany-quality. It was better – much better – than when she had first lent it to me. And, it was made using the same gold and stones that were originally contained in her ring.

Needless to say, she was thrilled.
I learned a lesson – no more family heirlooms!

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