Back in the 80’s Phil and I used to have a booth at the Paul Sauvé Arena in Montreal at Le Salon de Sciences Occultes. The famous hynotist Domineau was the main attraction, in my opinion, apart from our booth, of course. There were seats for the show in the centre and booths all along the walls. It was hectic. There was every kind of fortune teller in the world there.
Way back, I mean way back, magic was considered part of the occult, so why not have a booth there. We were just getting started and we did sell lots of magic there and made many customers. We went back year after year. There were other acts besides Domineau but he is the only one I remember. Phil just remembered that Roy Huston and Susan who were illusionists were also there. We became friends with them through that.
One day, while we were there a man approached us and said he had an Occult Fair at St Cesaire and would we like a booth. Why not? So we went to this fair, set up our booth and started to demo our usual, Svengali, Kurious Kords, etc. and a big crowd gathered and was wowed. There was no internet in those days, no magicians revealing all. No magic shops in St Cesaire. We did our tricks. No one bought a thing. We told them the tricks were easy and that they could do it. No. We were devils. We’re not devils, we insisted. It’s just a trick. We even showed them how the tricks were done. They accused Phil of having 4 hands. He showed them his hands. You are hiding the other set. They were serious. We never went back.
Why do I write about this now. My son reminded me of it the other day. He was telling someone in his office about the incident. She said, what do mean your parents have a magic shop. He explained and thought he would show her one. So he did the the ropes, but started the trick with 3 equal ropes and turned them into 3 unequal ropes and then handed them to here. She examined them and then said, “Those people were right. You are devils!!”
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