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It Really Happened
_________________________________________________________
It Really Happened
by John Tudor, from Linking Ring Magazine
Just out of college, I was working in a summer stock company that was full of theatrical performers who also did variety work. Part of the contract is that we went around to hospitals, nursing homes, and various agencies, and we put on shows. It was always good press for the theater, and was usually fun! I was very green to actual magic performance, so it was good experience for me. We had a little troupe: a juggler/clown, a singer, a mime artist, a character actor, and I did some magic.
We did one show for kids in the recovery ward of a burn center. I have to tell you this was the most heartbreaking place I’d ever been in. A very “under budget” facility, it had a very extreme collection of severe burn and accident victims. All of them were under ten years old, all were there because they could not afford better treatment. It was horrible.
Despite their condition, the kids were real antsy; all crowded in one dingy room. The staff had no control and the kids were yelling and throwing things. The place was dirty, the kids were impossible. “What am I doing here?”, I thought. I was not handling it well at all. I was just hating the whole experience, and it must have showed by their response to me.
I figured I’d do this last trick, and get out of there. But there was this one kid in the front row that was the worst. He wouldn’t be quiet, he wouldn’t quit moving around, he was really just a big pain. I was losing my cool and felt like screaming at him to be quiet. I moved to get him involved so I could shut him up, if he holds something he would hopefully settle down.
I was doing a trick called the 20th Century Silks, a trick where one silk is vanished and found tied between the other two. I was right to the point where I’ve tied the two silk handkerchiefs together, where it is usually placed into a glass-but if someone holds it carefully the secret part can be put right in their hands. I asked him to hold onto the silks, and when he responded I saw that the little boy had no hands.
I was so startled that I completely blanked. It was the scariest thing. I never did find out what had happened to him. He was just holding up the ends of his arms that looked more like fingers.
There I was, mister cool magician, frozen in shock and embarrassment. I was too dizzy to speak or do anything for what seemed like forever. I realized the whole room was silent, watching me, wondering what I’d do. I had the sensation of a pit opening up in front of me, and if I wasn’t real careful I was just going to fall in.
The boy sat there with his arms out waiting for me. He couldn’t possibly hold onto the silks without exposing the gimmick. This was my big finish, the only thing I had, and I couldn’t move. What to do? Rousing from my funk I looked down at the trick in my hands (stung by sudden gratitude that I had them) and realized the tremendous responsibility here. The look on the boy’s face somehow said “It doesn’t matter.” He was unconscious of any difference or problem, he just wanted to help out. So why should it matter to me?
I put the silks in the hands of a boy who had no hands. He held onto them as securely as any other child would. We all said magic words, the first handerchief vanished! It reappear in his palms, tied between the two he held. It brought the house down, and the little boy was elated!
The whole atmosphere changed, and it became the most exciting show of my life. We performed for them all afternoon, did every bit we ever learned or heard of, improvised all kinds of physical comedy and schtick, and said goodbye with hugs and laughter.
At the show that night when the rest of the cast asked us why we were so energized, I just couldn’t explain why.
© 2009 John Tudor