Guest Author Archives - Chamber Magic

Luxury Listings Magazine – Feature Story

Steve Cohen — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 19:50:05 +0000

Now you see him

A view of the Waldorf Astoria’s transformation as seen through the eyes of its resident magician

On a recent Saturday night at the Waldorf Astoria, a crowd of dressed-up New Yorkers and tourists watch in amazement as a man attempts increasingly daring tricks.

From a single teapot, magician Steve Cohen pours audience members’ favorite drinks (Vitamin water, an old-fashioned, a lemon drop and green juice) into glasses; he splits a single pen into two separate pens; he guesses the name of a U.S. city that a woman had written down and hidden on a bookshelf.

The crowd is so worked up that at one point, a woman yells out, “You should be on ‘America’s Got Talent!’”

It’s easy to get carried away at Cohen’s show. But while “America’s Got Talent” is loud, dramatic and splashy, Cohen’s show, which he calls “Chamber Magic,” is small and intimate. Each performance accommodates an audience of 60, all of whom are expected to dress up — men don suits and ties, women wear cocktail dresses — and put away their phones while they watch Cohen’s slippery hands perform seemingly impossible acts, such as linking (and then unlinking) three diamond rings.

Audience members are expected to dress up
— men don suits and ties, women wear cocktail
dresses — and put away their phones.

“I could have anyone come into this room, whether it’s a celebrity or a guy off the street, whether it’s someone with a 10-figure net worth versus a regular person, and they’re going to enjoy this type of show,” he says proudly. Ticket sales appear to bear that out: “Chamber Magic” shows are consistently sold out.

In March, however, the 85-year-old Waldorf is closing for three years for renovations. Anbang Insurance Group, a Chinese company that purchased the historic hotel in 2014, plans to convert 70 percent of the rooms into condos. But the plans are not being accepted without a fight: The Waldorf’s exterior is a designated landmark, and Community Board 5’s Landmarks Committee is arguing for the hotel’s interiors to be designated historic landmarks as well. Nevertheless, Cohen will have to move his show to a new location temporarily. That location was not confirmed by press time, but Cohen said it will be an “iconic luxury hotel in Midtown Manhattan.”

Cohen started doing the show in a friend’s apartment, then moved to the National Arts Club in Gramercy Park and finally, in 2000, to the Waldorf. It is here, in the Lyndon B. Johnson Suite just down the hall from the presidential suite, that Cohen started to find real success. In this hotel, he has entertained the likes of Woody Allen, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, the Queen of Morocco, Guillermo del Toro and many of the world’s most famous magicians.

Cohen’s long-term plan is to return to the Waldorf when the renovations are completed. “This has become my real home,” he says, noting that the staff here has become “family.” On the nights he performs (four or five times a week), Cohen stays in the suite, and sometimes his family joins him.

“There’s a bedroom over here,” he says gesturing to a door on the side of the living room. He grins, allowing himself to reveal just one of his many, many tricks. “After you leave, I take off my tuxedo and I put on my pajamas.”

The post Luxury Listings Magazine – Feature Story appeared first on Chamber Magic.

Lonely Planet magazine: Top 10 Reasons to Fall in Love with NYC

Steve Cohen — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 02:19:00 +0000

Lonely Planet magazine lists Steve Cohen’s Chamber Magic^® as one of the “Top 10 New Ways to Fall in Love with New York.” (Spring 2016 issue)

Here is the list (which includes several places I want to visit myself!):

1. Secret gardens – greenthumbnyc.com

2. Alexander Hamilton home in Harlem – nps.gov/hagr

3. Japanese cherry blossoms in Brooklyn – bbb.org

4. Le Train Bleu restaurant in Bloomingdales – bloomingdales.com

5. Arcade Bakery (I love this place!) – arcadebakery.com

6. Steve Cohen’s Chamber Magic at the Waldorf Astoria New York – chambermagic.com

7. Carnegie Hall 125th anniversary gala – carnegiehall.org

8. Brooklyn Grange rooftop farm – brooklyngrangefarm.com

9. Museum of the American Gangster – museumoftheamericangangster.org

10. Jimmy’s No. 43 restaurant – jimmysno43.com

The summer is a great time to explore all that New York has to offer. I’ve lived in Manhattan for 21 years, and relish finding new, hidden spots. I was glad to stumble upon this list in Lonely Planet magazine (and was secretly happy to be included in it!)

The post Lonely Planet magazine: Top 10 Reasons to Fall in Love with NYC appeared first on Chamber Magic.

Interview with Dr Sue Horowitz

Steve Cohen — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 18:37:04 +0000

Originally Published November 25, 2013 | By DrSue.com

Do you believe in magic? You might after seeing Steve Cohen’s Chamber Magic Show at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. His fame has grown since he started in 2001, but not the size of each audience, which he limits to fifty, to create an intimate, interactive experience. As befits the Waldorf, Steve performs in an elegant, custom-tailored suit – an homage to a bygone, more elegant era.

Most of us dress in cocktail attire, because we’re all part of the show – and what a show! There’s sleight-of-hand (including a card that seems to turn a somersault in the air before landing in the middle of a shuffled deck), mental telepathy (Cohen guessed one audience member was thinking about his pet chinchilla), and a delightful “Think a Drink” teapot that could pour any drink his audience imagined! Steve’s setting, sartorial choices, and select audiences (stars of stage and screen, royalty, and Fortune 500 companies) have dubbed him “The Millionaires’ Magician,” but Steve prefers to think of himself as “the thinking man’s magician.” After his performance, we had a chance to chat, and I asked him why:

Steve Cohen (SC): In many magic performances there’s color, flash, and light shows. This show has a lot of talking and interaction. We have people coming in here who are absolutely brilliant, MIT professors walk away shaking their heads, not because their eyes were fooled, but because I fooled their thought processes. There’s something in magic called “bubble gum for the eyes” – – you’re bombarded with images. My show very few images, but lots of unusual scenarios that you become embroiled in.

Sue: How did you get started performing at the Waldorf?

SC: I began at friend’s house, but his wife objected because too many strange people were coming to their home. Then I performed at the National Arts Club, which shuts down in the summer. At the last show I met Holly Peppe (now my manager) who offered to introduce me to someone at Waldorf. I’ve now done the show at Waldorf over 3000 times.

Sue: What would you consider to be your best audience?

SC: The best audiences for me are those who follow the rules: get dressed up and be ready to be engaged. Chamber Magic is a very interactive show, and the smarter the audience the better – especially during the mind-reading segment. Smart people have a lot on their minds, or unusual hobbies, like being a scuba diver. I can go into more in-depth detail when reading their thoughts, including details about where they’ve dived and how many feet down.

Sue: Why do you think so many comics (like Johnny Carson and Dick Cavett) started as magicians?

SC: There are many parallels between magic and comedy. Performers in both fields challenge their audience, and surprise them at the end. Magicians and comics both portray characters, and stick to material that suits their characters. Comics often stay away from the necessity to hide behind props, and maybe that’s why they converted from magic to comedy. Still, the presentational skills are essentially the same.

Sue: As you may know, I wrote the book Queens of Comedy. I was interested in why there are comparatively few female standup comics. Why are there so few female magicians?

SC: In ancient cultures, the spiritual leader of a clan or community was a female shaman. Female, because women have the magical power of creating life. There’s a great book The Chalice and the Blade that discusses this finding. Later on, as societies became dominated by males, there was a shift toward male shamans who were considered spiritual leaders. Shamans eventually transformed into the modern-day role of magicians.

Sue: So it’s a reflection of the change in the power dynamics in society.

SC: Yes, because a magician is supposed to wield power that ordinary mortals can’t. There aren’t many female magicians these days because of sexism. Women feel they have to go on stage wearing revealing clothing to keep the audience’s attention. They might be very skilled but they still feel they have to look a certain part. I’d like to see a woman go on stage and have people say she is a great magician without even realizing she’s female. That would show that she has a degree of expertise that is undeniably impressive. In magic most of the women who appear on stage are magician’s assistants who are portrayed as sex symbols. They dress in bikinis and get cut up, sliced and diced, appear, disappear, and get their heads get chopped off. It’s all very misogynistic but it’s the standard formula. I’ve always thought it’s pretty demeaning. I won’t have a female assistant in my show. My audience is my assistant. Everyone is equally my assistant – male or female.

Sue: When did you decide to become a magician? I read that you have been doing magic since you were six years old, and your great-uncle taught you your first trick.

SC: He was a really good amateur magician, who used to do magic all the time at family parties. Afterwards, he would pull me aside and teach me how to do it. He would make sure no one else was watching, then he would take out something from his pocket – a secret gimmick and say, “This is yours now, but you have to really practice.” And until he said “You’re ready” I wasn’t allowed to show it to anybody else.

Sue: How did you parents react when you told them you wanted to be a professional magician?

SC: They were always very supportive. Before I got my driver’s license, they used to drive me to my gigs at birthday parties in Westchester County – two or three every weekend. I would get paid, and they would drive me to the next show.

Sue: Who were your role models or heroes?

SC: I’ve got three magicians. One of them is Max Malini, who used to perform here at the Waldorf. He was a kind of mountebank, and he would travel the world. He went from being dirt poor to performing for kings, queens, and captains of industry like Andrew Carnegie and the Vanderbilt family. Another is Johann Hofzinser from Vienna, and I made a pilgrimage to his gravesite. He was the creator of this style of salon show, which he did for the upper crust of Viennese society. In the 1850’s- 60’s, people used to gather in salons and talk about the news of the day or philosophy. He opened up a magic salon, where they would watch him do magic. He charged the equivalent of a Broadway ticket price with dinner. Hofzinser called card tricks “the poetry of magic.” He invented hundreds, maybe thousands of card magic tricks that we still use today. The stuff that I do in my show is directly linked to Hofzinser. The last one is a French magician named Robert Houdin, who is considered to be the father of modern magic. Houdini took his name from Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin. Before him, magic was performed on the streets by a character dressed up as a wizard’s cap. Houdin took it off the streets, put it into an elegant drawing room setting, and wore clothes like I wear – evening clothes. He dressed as well as his audiences, who could choose to go to the ballet or the opera, but instead they chose to go to a magic show because it had the gravitas that he brought to it, and magic became another respected art form.

Sue: Do you have a favorite story that you would like to tell about performing magic?

SC: When I do the “Think a Drink” trick, that’s the part of the show where I most feel like Harry Potter because I never know what drinks people are going to be calling out, and it’s fun to see the combination in any order. People choose hot drinks and cold drinks. One of my favorites was when someone asked for a frozen margarita, so I poured out a frozen margarita – it came slushing out of the pot, and then right after that, the second person said, “I want a hot chocolate with mini marshmallows.” I picked up the pot with steam, poured the hot chocolate, and the mini marshmallows went blunk, blunk, blunk into the cup. The guy who was drinking said, “I can’t believe this!”

Sue: If you were not a magician, what would you be?

SC: I’d probably be a physicist. A magician is aware of the natural laws and tries to use theatrics to make it appear as if the natural laws are being broken. However, if you are a scientist, you’re not trying to break the natural laws; you’re just trying to observe them. I’ve always been interested in what is and isn’t impossible. If you’re a scientist, you’re trying to find not only what’s possible, but the basis for how it’s executed. There’s a lot of overlap between how a magician thinks and how a scientist thinks. I’m trying to entertain an audience with showing them impossible things. A scientist is trying to take those impossible things and make them apparent.

Sue: A scientist is trying to take impossible things…?

SC: Things that we don’t understand like quantum mechanics or satellites in outer space. Before we knew what they were, it was magic. Arthur C. Clarke said, “Any technology which is sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic.” I’m interested in still keeping that mystery alive.

Sue: Is there anything I haven’t covered that you would like to talk about?

SC: What’s special about my show is that it’s completely interactive. I can’t do this show solo. I can’t go into a rehearsal space alone to practice this show.

Sue: Why the dress code?

SC: The Waldorf Astoria has a tradition. There’s a dress code even in the lobby. If I’m dressed in tails, and everyone else is dressed casually, there’s a disconnect. But when people get dressed up at home, and they’re thinking “I have to go to the magic show tonight, the show has already started for them when they’re still in their bedroom. By the time they get here, they’re already committed by what they’re wearing. Then they look around the room and see everyone else did the same, and it’s kind of special. People used to go to Broadway theatres dressed in their best clothing, but nowadays people go dressed super-casual, and nobody seems to care. I’d like to bring back that age of dressing up to go to the theatre, and people seem to like it.

The post Interview with Dr Sue Horowitz appeared first on Chamber Magic.

Departures Magazine: Magic’s Moment Is Now!

Steve Cohen — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 19:21:01 +0000

Departures Magazine

May/June 2013, p. 160

by Jim Windolf

Anyone with a handheld device is a magician of sorts. So how to explain the resurgence of old-fashioned magic in popular culture? Why are people falling for a brand of entertainment that seemed at its height a hundred years ago, when Harry Houdini was all the rage? Haven’t we moved beyond that?

Apparently not. In a private suite at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria, Steve Cohen, known as the “Millionaires’ Magician,” presents a stately 90-minute illusionfest, Chamber Magic, five times a week. Last year he became the first magician in nearly four decades to appear at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, and his refined act has impressed guests at the homes of Barry Diller, Martha Stewart and Warren Buffett, among others. And maybe that’s the role of magic these days – to provide a dash of wonderment for those who have seen it all.

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Canada’s Globe and Mail: You haven’t seen magic tricks till you’ve seen Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 18:12:53 +0000

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

June 18, 2013 by Michael Posner

Monday evening: George Brown House, an Ontario heritage building situated just south of the University of Toronto, is named, of course, after the distinguished Father of Confederation and founder of The Globe, the newspaper that became the newspaper you are reading. Normally off-limits to the great unwashed, Brown’s stately home was the venue chosen by Luminato’s go-to magic man, David Ben, to showcase the extraordinary legerdemain of American magician Steve Cohen.

The setting proved an apt backdrop for Cohen’s act, which owes a considerable debt to Johann Hofzinser, the 19th-century Austrian known as the father of card magic. At New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Cohen’s unofficial home, he typically entertains audiences of no more than 50. For the Toronto cohort, only slightly larger, the diminutive Cohen – nattily attired in morning coat, waistcoat and striped trousers – deftly stick-handled his way through a series of jaw-dropping tricks, each seemingly more difficult than the last.

Given the intimacy, sitting only a few feet away from the cloth-covered table on which Cohen performs, you’d think you’d be able to deconstruct – to see precisely how he does what he does. You’d be wrong. The expressions I heard most from dazzled patrons were “how the bleep did he do that?” and “Oh my God.” Which may be why Woody Allen, one of dozens of notable personages for whom Cohen has performed, was moved to call his show “a religious experience.”

In one routine, Cohen vaulted playing cards into a three-somersault flip and landed them exactly between two previously identified cards – in a deck shuffled and cut by audience members. In another – a trick learned, he said, in Japan – he collected three rings from the crowd and, stirring them in a glass, managed to link in a chain, and then unlink. In another, he managed to replace a U.S. coin under a bowler hat with a five-pound brick.

Later, he had us write our names and three interesting facts about ourselves on slips of paper. From these, duly collected and shuffled, he picked several and started identifying their rightful owners: an athlete who finished second in a 2009 snowboarding competition; a German-born woman who was a surviving twin; a man who planned a snorkelling holiday; the name of a pet dog; a dessert someone’s mother had baked. I have a vague clue about how this ostensible feat of Kreskinesque mentalism might be done, but my lips are sealed.

The most spectacular coup, in my judgment, was something Cohen called the Think-a-Drink trick, which apparently dates from the years of vaudeville. Again using slips of paper, he had us write the name of our favourite drink. From the collection, five were randomly selected by audience members, so Cohen had no say in what drinks were chosen. Then, as each drink was declared – sequentially, a mojito, Blue Gatorade, a Manhattan, a cabernet sauvignon and a chocolate milkshake – Cohen used a magic teapot to pour a shot glass full of the exact drink.

All of this, by the way, delivered with not a little panache, off-the-cuff wit and tidbits of personal biography (Cohen spent six years living in Tokyo and is fluent in Japanese).

Not surprisingly, all of his Luminato shows are sell-outs. But he’s a heck of a reason to go to New York.

Originally posted on:

The Globe and Mail June 18, 2013

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/summer-entertainment/luminato-highlights-you-havent-seen-magic-tricks-till-youve-seen-steve-cohen/article12655983/

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Guest Author, “The Magician Who Lives at the Waldorf-Astoria”

Steve Cohen — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:18:23 +0000

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Megan Hess

A cluster of of well-to-do couples huddle in the lobby of the Waldorf Towers in New York City, buzzing with anticipation. At the stroke of 8:45 p.m. on Saturday evening, a tall man in a tailored suit ushers everyone into a gold-plated elevator – the same one that the President of the United States rides when he stays in New York. Primping and fidgeting, the group lines up at a suite at the end of a hallway on the 35th floor. 58 people file in for tonight’s magic show in Steve Cohen’s living room, run solely by word-of-mouth.

Steve Cohen, also known as the Millionaires’ Magician, has performed his show at the Waldorf Towers 3,000 times — for 250,000 people.

Cohen’s “Chamber Magic” shows inspire an intimate, old-timey parlor feel. Attendees, many of whom have purchased tickets months in advance, are expected to dress well. He doesn’t bother with hats, rabbits, or sleight-of-hand tricks; instead, he uses one gleaming tea kettle to produce five different drinks at the audience’s request.

At age 10, Cohen worked the elementary school circuit, appearing at kids’ birthday parties and Cub Scout meetings. Now, he brings in about 300 viewers each weekend – including high-profile guests like Martha Stewart, Barry Diller, and David Rockefeller – and a seven-figure annual income. “I put people in an environment where anything can happen,” Cohen says, pausing to sip Kombucha tea (the ginger helps his throat). “People start thinking, Maybe there’s another force in the world, and this guy has control over it.”

Age: 41

Graduated from: Cornell University, psychology major; Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan

Based in: New York, N.Y.

Years as a full-time magician: 17

Previous jobs: After graduating from Cornell, I stayed in Tokyo for five years as an English translator. It involved sitting at a desk with lots of legal work and patents.

That seems like a pretty far stretch from your current line of work. The translation work was terribly boring, but lucrative. I was eager to do magic, so I got some part-time jobs performing in hotels, and those got more and more lucrative. I came back to New York and started from scratch as a consultant for other magicians. Then, I started doing my own shows.

Who – or what – brought you into the world of magic? My uncle. He was very talented with cards, and taught me the fundamentals of card magic that you need to become a good magician. I spent all my times at family parties with him. He gave me a book called Magic With Cards, a book from the 1890s that is very hard to find.

How did you turn a childhood hobby into a multimillion-dollar business? For two years, after moving back to America from Japan, I lied to my wife and told her we were breaking even. But we were losing money every show; I lost about $200,000 of my own money. I was about to throw in the towel when an editor from DailyCandy.com came to review the show. Overnight, the show sold out for a year in advance. Then CBS Morning did a segment on me, and by the end of the week, I had sold $1 million worth of tickets. I had to add more shows.

Is the Waldorf your permanent home? I stay here on weekends. I have another apartment on the Upper West Side with my family – my wife and two kids, ages 12 and 8 – during the week.

Do your kids love magic? They each practice one trick each year, and on Father’s Day, they perform it at my show. But my daughter is more into it than my son. She’s a ham. But there’s not that many women in magic, if you think about it.

Why do you think more men than women are into magic? I’m not sure. But I don’t really recommend becoming a magician to anyone. People are constantly making gags about it. Imagine going into your child’s school for a parent-teacher conference, and the teacher says, “Your child seems to think you’re a magician of some sort.” You always have to explain what you do.

In your grand finale, two audience members shuffle two separate decks of cards. Then, you reveal that each card in the first deck falls in the exact same order as each card in the second deck. The audience really goes wild for that one. People seriously go bananas – they have heart palpitations. They can’t sleep that night. And I’m jumping up and down like Willy Wonka.

It’s funny you mention Willy Wonka. You remind me of him — Gene Wilder’s version, at least. The character of Willy Wonka has been a role model for me. I like his transition from mysterious man to crazed maniac – peeling away layers and seeing more and more about this nutty guy.

Did he inspire your three-piece suit, too? In London, I saw Prince William wearing this exact outfit – a morning coat, a vest with a little lapel, and striped trousers. So I went to the store where the princes shop, and bought that exact outfit. I think it’s so appropriate in this environment.

Cohen uses as few props as possible in his shows; he believes they create barriers and cheapen the experience. The kettle is an exception.

It plays into the magician archetype. People want the character of a wizard or a magician to come into their lives and give them hope and possibility. Why do you think Harry Potter is so popular? I’m not doing wizardry here, but I feel like Harry Potter or Dumbledore. People squeal in delight. During my “Think a Drink” trick, a woman in the front row actually cried. [For this trick, five audience members wrote down their favorite drinks, from vodka to banana smoothie. Cohen then produced these drinks from a small kettle.]

Best part of your job: Immediate feedback. I can tell by looking at audience members’ eyes whether I have them under my thumb. When people’s eyes are glowing, I know I’ve done my job. I’ve learned what captures people’s imaginations.

Most challenging part of your job: Nobody else in the world is doing this type of performance, so I don’t have a support team. I’ve lost the camaraderie of fellow magicians; a lot of them are jealous.

Resources for new material: The Conjuring Arts Research Center in New York has a database with every secret that has ever been published in magic, from the 1500s to present-day. You have to be a member or have special access.

Any pre-show traditions? David Copperfield once told me that he brushes his teeth with a certain toothbrush before every show. I joke around and say that I floss before every show. But the fact is, no. I’m very relaxed. Everything in my show is meticulously planned. Without fail, I know the precise minute that I’ll be saying a certain line.

The last time you got nervous: When Woody Allen came in and sat in the front row. I had cotton balls in my mouth, but he was the greatest audience. He laughed at all the right times.

What would people be surprised to learn about your job? You can buy and sell secrets. I once licensed a trick from another magician for my show, but after the terms of the legal contract expired, he wanted the trick back. So I had to create my own version of the trick.

Your most expensive trick: I spent $10,000 for a trick that only lasts two or three minutes, but it’s a really good trick. I fill a flower vase with all different flowers and cover them with a handkerchief. Then, I ask an audience member to name her favorite flower. Say she responds with yellow tulip. I take the handkerchief away, and all the flowers have transformed into yellow tulips.

How do you deal with uncooperative audience members? People have predispositions toward magic shows. Those who give me problems – maybe they got embarrassed at a magic show when they were little. I handle them the same way I would handle kids, and try to diffuse the challenge by making my show lively and interactive.

One weekend, Warren Buffett paid Cohen to cancel all his shows and fly to Omaha (pictured above).

Your website boasts some of your more famous clients, like Warren Buffett. I still get people coming in here all the time, like, Warren sent me. I always carry with me a card that he signed.

Physical parameters of your show: I need to be inside of a room with no other distractions. People must be completely riveted on just me. I can’t have people thinking about what they’re going to make for dinner.

Your required reading: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini. It’s about how and why to persuade people to see things your way.

You never leave home without: My deck of cards. I rarely do magic outside of a venue, but it makes me feel good that I could, if I needed to.

Have you ever pulled a rabbit out of a hat? Yes, and it’s wonderful. I don’t do it regularly, though, because then you have to keep a rabbit as a pet.

LAUNCHING YOUR CAREER>>

Find a venue that is appropriate to your vision of magic, and become the person best suited for that venue. If you’re really good at performing at Bar Mitzvah parties, for example, become the very best Bar Mitzvah magician out there, and work tons of them.

Tickets for Chamber Magic range from $75 to $100; priced separately for private company events. Follow Steve on Twitter and on his Facebook page. All photos courtesy of Steve Cohen.

Originally published: http://nojoeschmo.com/2012/12/04/the-magician-in-the-waldorf-astoria/

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NY Times Review: Now You See It: Tales of Amazing Illusions

Steve Cohen — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 22:49:28 +0000

By NEIL GENZLINGER

Published: October 17, 2012

Some viewers will no doubt be annoyed at having been misled by the title of “Lost Magic Decoded,” a frothy special Thursday night on History, carrying as it does the implication that the secrets behind some legendary illusions will be revealed.

But Steve Cohen, the program’s genial host, is an adherent to the magicians’ code; don’t expect to learn how to make a rope rise skyward out of a basket here. But do expect to hear some tasty stories about magic tricks of yore, and to see some pretty baffling modern-day magic by Mr. Cohen as well.

Mr. Cohen, who is known as the Millionaires’ Magician for his magic show at the Waldorf-Astoria, sets out to run down four illusions from the distant past. The idea isn’t to reveal how they were done but to see if they actually can be done or were really just embellished legends. Along the way Mr. Cohen finds some of history’s odder true stories and throws in a few bits from his parlor show.

The program begins with the chess-playing contraption known as the Turk, a machine — or was it? — famous in the 1700s and 1800s for beating skilled human players. (The original Turk was destroyed in a fire.) Then Mr. Cohen turns his attention to Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin’s light and heavy chest trick, in which a lightweight chest was mysteriously rendered too heavy to lift, a gimmick that helped the French defuse a rebellion in 1856.

Also explored are an illusion in which a rope rises from a basket and is somehow rigid enough to climb, and the bullet catch, in which a magician supposedly snags a bullet fired at him. Much more detailed examinations of each of these tricks are available — whole books have been written about them — and this program doesn’t peer too deeply lest it bump up against the word “hoax.” But as entertainment with a dash of history, it works nicely.

Lost Magic Decoded

History, Thursday night at 9, Eastern and Pacific times; 8, Central time.

Produced for History by Sharp Entertainment. Carl H. Lindahl, executive producer for History; Matt Sharp, Peter Greenberg and Steve Cohen, executive producers; Robert Palumbo, co-executive producer. Written and directed by Mr. Palumbo.

A version of this review appeared in print on October 18, 2012, on page C7 of the New York edition with the headline: Now You See It: Tales of Amazing Illusions.

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Globo Maestro: Guest Article by NY Plaza concierge

Steve Cohen — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:55:26 +0000

By Raphael Pallais of The Plaza August 29, 2012

We all know New York can be a magical place. But did you know that there’s real magic happening here? You only have to know where to find it.

Back in the 1800s, parlor magic was all the rage. European aristocrats would invite conjurers to entertain their guests with sleight-of-hand. Today, the tradition continues, and you don’t have to be a Vanderbilt to be invited. You do have to dress up, though.

Steve Cohen is “the Millionaire’s Magician” — he’s performed for Warren Buffet and the queen of Morocco, even at the White House — and his show, “Chamber Magic,” recreates the glamour and mystique of a 19th-century salon.

The show takes place in a plush hotel suite at the Waldorf-Astoria, and you’re encouraged to dress as if you’re attending a cocktail party. Your dapper host will likely be in a three-piece suit. He performs card tricks, turns dollar bills into hundreds, and makes objects move without a touch. Oh, and he can read minds, too. Just don’t expect anything as kitschy as sawing a female assistant in half.

When Mr. Cohen is not traveling, he performs Chamber Magic on Friday and Saturday nights. Tickets are $75, and shows are capped at 50 guests to keep them intimate. Don’t be surprised to find a modern-day Vanderbilt seated next to you.

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Slydini, by Mark Sicher

Steve Cohen — Fri, 18 May 2012 21:53:16 +0000

SLYDINI

by Mark Sicher, 1994

(This story has never been published, but has remained in my files since Mark died at age 23.)

The first time I saw him perform was downtown at Mostly Magic. I was 14 and by this time I had read about most of his famous tricks: The Coins Through the Table, The Silk Handkerchiefs, The Paper Balls in the Box, etc.. Now was my chance to see them live. But first, the other acts: some guy with sponge balls, another with rings, and a third with… the rings. Then came intermission.

Sitting by myself at a table in back I looked around, trying to spot Slydini. Very often at Mostly Magic, performers would be in the audience before they went on, checking out the other acts. It didn’t take long to spot him. I recognized him immediately. Small, old, his hair combed back with grease, he was at one of the tables down front with a couple of other older men. He was talking quietly, smiling, laughing. I watched as he placed a cigarette into his mouth, struck a match, lit the cigarette and made the match disappear in the smoke. The men laughed. I didn’t. I didn’t remember reading about that one.

Finally, he stood up and began walking away. Now was my chance. I jumped up from my seat and ran down to him, “Excuse me, Mr. Slydini, will you please sign my books?”

In a thick Italian accent, he said, “Sure, what’s-a your name?”

As I was telling him my name and handing him the books, I was immediately struck with how short he was. He was about the same height as me and he looked very old and moved very slow. It couldn’t have been more unintimidating. He was smiling and he was friendly.

Nevertheless, my heart was racing. I was so nervous and I couldn’t bring myself to ask the next question. I knew it was now or never. I kept thinking, what’s the worst that can happen? The absolute worst…he says no. So I just asked.

“Do you give lessons any more?”

“No.”

For some reason I continued talking as if I didn’t hear him.

“…Because I was wondering if I could…uh…take, uh, take one lesson from you? It would really be an honor.”

He paused. Silence. He thought about it for a moment. Then he reached into his pocket and gave me his card. He said, “Call-a me tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? OK, tomorrow? What time tomorrow?”

“Around 6:00.”

“Thank you Mr. Slydini, thank you.”

“You’re welca.” Pause, “What’s-a your name?”

Slydini lived way over in the west 40’s, in Hell’s Kitchen, down the block from an all-male burlesque theater. That first afternoon I didn’t even notice the derelicts and bums yelling things to me as I walked by. The garbage and graffiti, the broken glass, the theaters, the prostitutes were in the background as I wondered what I should call him: Slydini, Mr. Slydini, Tony, Quintino, Mr. Marucci.

When I got to his door I didn’t call him anything. I said, “Hello.”

He lived in a small, old apartment. A dark, thin hallway led to the living room where, all over the walls, there were plaques, awards and photos of Slydini with different famous people. The television was on extremely loud. He’d been watching “One Life To Live.”

“Sit-a down,” he said. “I want to show-a you a trick.”

I sat down. He lowered the volume on the TV. His card table, a cheap, old, fold-out card table, had cigarettes, matches, silver dollars, an English Penny and an old deck of Bicycle playing cards on it. He took a seat across from me, picked up one of the silver dollars and spun it on the table. As it was spinning he lifted one of his fingers. With this finger he pushed down on the spinning coin and flattened it to the table. He looked up at me nervously and gave me a smile. He spun the coin again and, with the same finger, flattened it again. He giggled uncomfortably and shook his head in frustration. He started spinning the coin and flattening it, spinning the coin and flattening it, again and again and again. He moved beyond his initial frustration and became so intense, his eyes staring straight ahead, concentrating, spinning and flattening that he was soon not looking up at all any more. I became more and more uncomfortable. I had no idea what he was trying to do but, whatever it was, it was obvious that it wasn’t working. Things were becoming more and more intense. The angrier he became the more I just wanted to get out of there.

I didn’t know if I should say anything. But I couldn’t just sit there and watch. Finally, I got up the courage. I cleared my throat and said, “Mr. Slydini, what are you trying to do?”

He looked up at me in complete seriousness, maybe even in desperation. He said, “I’m-a trying to stick-a my finger in the eagle’s ass!”

I couldn’t believe what I heard and I burst out laughing. And thus I learned about building tension and release.

“What do you want to learn?”

What do you want to learn? I had the feeling if I said “teach me a shift,” he would have taught me a shift. But I knew you don’t go to Slydini to learn the shift. You go to learn Slydini’s magic. I said, “The Coins Through the Table.”

After about 30 minutes of his instruction I realized that, for all the hours I’d read about and practiced this routine, I wasn’t even close to being able to know what it was all about.

The two hours passed quickly and by the time it came for me to leave we’d only gotten halfway through the routine. I thanked him for the lesson and gave him the check my mother wrote. As he walked me down his bare, dark hallway my adrenaline began to pump in anticipation. I was waiting for him to ask me back to learn the rest of the routine. This began a pattern in which, for the first few weeks he taught me, I’d make sure to only leave when we were in the middle of something.

Each week’s lesson would start with a mini-performance. He’d show me one of his routines, tell me stories and anecdotes about the old days, about him and Dai Vernon, about some of his greatest shows. He’d teach me his techniques.

Of all the things he showed me or told me about, easily the most incredible was The Helicopter Card Trick. I’d never read about this trick. I had no idea what it was or how it was done. He placed one half of the deck on the card table and spread them out into a mess. He took the other half in his left hand. He made a fan, away from the table. I picked a card from the fanned half and he put it back in the fan, sticking it out so I could see it. Without moving, he asked me to look at all the cards on the table. He wanted me to make sure my card wasn’t there. I did so. It wasn’t. He slowly closed the fan, pushed the card back in the deck, not once coming close to those cards scattered on the table. With his right hand, he moved his finger around like a helicopter propeller, bring it from the closed deck in his hand, saying, “Look, look, look.” He pointed down to the middle of the mess and said, “That’s your card.” I turned it over. It was. Then, he offered to do it again. This time I was watching carefully, I knew what was going to happen, I knew what had to happen. And again, I had no idea how he got the card from his hand and on to the table. He did it a third time and a fourth time. Each time it became more and more incredible. Never, in my whole life, had I been so fooled. It was the only time I could remember feeling that this has got to be real magic.

I told him that I didn’t want to learn this trick for a while. I didn’t want to lose that feeling. It wasn’t until two years later that I asked him to teach it to me.

And another time, while in the middle of telling me a story, he lit a cigarette and made the match disappear the same way he did at Mostly Magic. He then took the lit cigarette and held it up above his head with the lit end facing down. He stuck out his tongue and slowly moved the burning tip towards his mouth. Just as he was about to burn himself he stopped, looked at me, and said, “Did you ever see me do this before?”

I said, “No.”

So he continued, lowering the cigarette slowly down into his mouth. His fingers lowered in. Empty handed, they came out. He closed his mouth. He took a glass of water, took a sip of the water and the cigarette was gone.

Watching these performance, hearing these anecdotes, taking these lessons, I learned many of Slydini’s classics. In addition to The Coins Through the Table and The Helicopter Card Trick I learned such routines as The Paper Balls in the Box and The Silk Handkerchiefs. I learned about misdirection and timing. I learned his shooting the gun theory, the han ping chien, the imp pass and the revolve vanish. Whether the techniques were Slydini originals, or standard moves to which Slydini had added his own subtleties, all were taught in explicit detail. I learned how to do each routine exactly the way Slydini did them. Every look, gesture, smile, question, and word, down to the thick Italian accent, was done in pure Slydini fashion.

The first time I performed one of his tricks in public was in a hotel at a magic society meeting. I opened with a few card tricks and developed a rapport with the audience. I then took a seat behind the table and got ready for the final routine. I called up a lady volunteer, took the coins out of the purse and, in my best Italian accent, said, “I’m-a gonna fool ya.” I went through the trick exactly as I had been taught. First, six coins and a ring, then six coins, then four coins, then two, and finally, the famous one coin routine. I had mastered all of Slydini’s nuances: his slow, deliberate movements, his facial expression, his pauses, his jokes, his asides. I literally turned into an 85 year old Italian man. The response, though, was not what I’d expected. Instead of being amazed by the magic or amused by the act the audience seemed to mainly be confused. I got no response. With each phase I became increasingly aware of the lack of reaction. Where Slydini would get a laugh, I got stares. Where Slydini would get spontaneous applause, I got silent nods of approval.

This left me extremely uneasy. There was obviously something very wrong with my performance. I vowed never to perform Slydini’s routines in public again. It was impossible for me to do them without mimicking the man himself. I couldn’t figure out how to extract the concepts and apply them to my own performances.

There was one trick, however, which I always wanted to do. The Torn and Restored Lit Cigarette. It was one of the most beautiful and visual pieces of magic ever created. He would light a cigarette, clearly break it in half. His left thumb and forefinger would then hold the pieces at a right angle. Leaning forward, he would delicately straighten the halves, roll them together. The cigarette, still burning still smoking, would be restored in his otherwise empty hands.

My problem, though, was that I didn’t smoke. If I wanted to do it I would have to figure out my own variation.

I decided to try a torn and restored match. I spoke to Slydini about it and he helped me work out some of the details. For a few weeks at the end of each lesson we would spend some time adjusting the technique of the trick and mapping the pacing and positioning.

I don’t remember when I decided it, but at some point I told myself that I was going to fool Slydini with this trick. This was going to be my variation and I was going to get him with it.

I spent several weeks honing it down, working out the details, staying up until three, four in the morning. I’d sit in front of the mirror, making it all as natural as possible. At the time, I also used to go to Reuben’s delicatessen every Saturday, where all of the old magicians would gather in back and show each other tricks and tell stories and help each other out. A couple of guys at Reuben’s helped me a lot.

Because Slydini was a smoker he always had matches lying around. They were always the same kind of matches, in a gold matchbook, the matches themselves weren’t too long, they were dark, not too big a sulfur tip. At the end of one lesson, while Slydini was getting a glass of water, I ripped out a few matches and dropped them in my shirt pocket. Slydini didn’t have anything to suspect and he didn’t notice.

The next week, before I went to the lesson I palmed one of the matches in my right second finger. It was cold out, it was the middle of winter, and I put gloves on. Slydini did not live in the best heated apartment in New York City so there was no reason for him to be suspicious when I kept my gloves on through the first part of the lesson.

About half an hour into the lesson I said, in the most nonchalant way I could, that I had something I wanted to show him. As I carefully removed my gloves I asked him to give me a match. He removed a match and put the matchbook down on the card table. I did not touch them. My adrenaline was going.

I performed the routine slowly, methodically, never touching the matchbook, and handling the match with no more than two fingers at a time, keeping it always within close view of Slydini. He sat quietly and watched, nodding occasionally. I could tell by his face that he didn’t know I had an extra match. I was a step ahead of him. When the moment came the misdirection worked… he missed the switch. Before I even had a chance to restore the match Slydini slammed his hand down onto the table and said, “Son of a bitch!”

“I got you, didn’t I?”

He paused, smiled, and said, “In some parts.”

He then proceeded to show me all of the places I could tighten the trick up and make it better. It was then that I learned to move away from simply adjusting the techniques of “The Torn and Restored Lit Cigarette;” it was then that I learned how to develop a technique and a style better suited to what I was trying to do with my magic.

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Crains New York: Magician Takes Tricks to Carnegie Hall

Steve Cohen — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 22:57:49 +0000

Steve Cohen is the first magician in 38 years to perform at the venerable venue.

By Miriam Kreinin Souccar

For 11 years, magician Steve Cohen has been entertaining VIPs such as Warren Buffett, Renée Zellweger and the crown prince of Saudi Arabia at private parties and exclusive shows at the Waldorf Astoria.

Now, the self-titled “Millionaires’ Magician” is taking his tricks to a bigger stage. On Jan. 12, Mr. Cohen will debut Theater of Wonder at Carnegie Hall’s 270-seat Weill Recital Hall. It is one of the few times that a magician has appeared on any of the venerable venue’s stages.

The show will include Mr. Cohen’s longtime crowd-pleasers, like the one where he pours audience members’ favorite beverages—from hot chocolate to frozen margaritas—out of a single teapot. Mr. Cohen will try some new feats, too, like cutting up a spectator’s necktie and then restoring it.

Mr. Cohen developed the new show because of requests from his fans. “After they see my show at the Waldorf, they say, ‘What else have you got?’ ” Mr. Cohen said. “There’s a following of people who want more.”

The one-night performance sold out within three days with no advertising. Ticket prices range from $85 to $150. Mr. Cohen is also working on a two-hour magic special that will air on the History channel this spring. After that, he plans to go on a world tour where he will stage both large and more intimate shows.

A version of this article appeared in the January 2, 2012 print issue of Crain’s New York Business.

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