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I grew up in Israel [and] with no television broadcast yet. I had never even seen a magician when, as a ten year old , I watched a friend make three apricot seeds appear and disappear. I was amazed - and I was hooked. I had to know how that was done, so I struck a shrewd bargain - I traded some of my precious marble collection for the secret. Yes, that's right, that was when I really lost my marbles for magic. I've never been sorry.

I practiced the apricot seed effect and performed it for my friends and relatives, adding to it other effects that I learned from the only published Hebrew book about magic, 100 Miracles and a Miracle, using primitive homemade props involving screws, coins, buttons and thick, purple batik handkerchiefs. My dedication was rewarded when I was given a used and incomplete "magic box" for my fifteenth birthday. It contained an unbelievably complicated instruction book in English which I couldn't understand. I can remember rushing through my homework so that I would have time for my older brother, Shmulik, to translate the instructions for me. What a brother... I'm so lucky!

There are times when I think about that incomplete magic set, about how precious that was to me. Learning those tricks with the help of my brother set a pattern for the rest of my life. It instilled in me a willingness to spend the time necessary to perfect my magic, to train my doves, to seek excellence. I think about this wonderful country with unlimited opportunities available to young magicians with the financial resources to buy any prop they desire. Are they more fortunate than I was? Maybe.

I first saw a "Real Magician" at the age of 20. One of my army commanders put on an unbelievable show with cards appearing and disappearing, cards diminishing and growing. He did magic with some beautiful silks and with magic boxes, even pushing a large needle through a balloon without popping it. Oh, that old trick, you think now; but to me it was amazing. It was magic.

Through my years in the university, I gradually built a repertoire that allowed me to do birthday party shows. Since the number of magicians in Israel was small, I had many opportunities to entertain on the weekends. As my reputation grew, so did my income, and I was a very comfortable student. I not only had my own apartment, but also was one of the elite 5% of students who owned a car. Wow!

The success of my magic enabled me to leave Israel for the first time. I went to Amsterdam to buy new magic, and there, for the first time, I saw a real magic shop, the Holland Magic Studio. I was in a world of wonder. Once again you need to put yourself in my frame of reference. Remember the first time you ever visited a magic shop. Remember how you felt, how you went inside and simply gazed around at the shelves filled with apparatus, at the glass cases holding trick cards and coins and small magic, at the photographs and posters on the walls. How many of you have had to leave your country, your native land, just to visit a magic shop? I have lived in America for 18 years, and I have to constantly remind myself of the good fortune that we so often take for granted. During the few days in Amsterdam, I bought books, lots of books, some magic effects and, what most of us have wanted at one time or another, the Zig-Zag Girl illusion. I was ready to move my magic shows to a higher level!

Israel is a very small country, and through my birthday party shows, adult shows, and occasional television appearances I became somewhat of a celebrity, recognized as one of the top magicians in the country. I actually would be stopped on the street to sign autographs.

About that time an Israeli producer and magic lover, by the name of Pasha, returned from the United States where he had seen Doug Henning's "The Magic Show" on Broadway and had visited the Magic Castle in Hollywood. Upon his return, he decided to produce a musical about a girl who is wild about magic. The name of the show was "Zipi Kuntz," and the producer asked me to play one of the lead roles - as the magician, of course. The cast of the show included the magician, a "frog prince," and an obnoxious child who was constantly spying on the magician to learn his secrets. This play was a huge success and was performed throughout Israel in a number of locations. It won the Israeli equivalent of the "Tony" for Play of the Year.

I was already quite successful, but this experience elevated my fame as a magician even further, and I was in continual demand as a performer.

Pasha, the show's producer, had dreams of producing a sequel to "Zipi Kuntz," and suggested that I make a trip to the United States, to California especially, and to The Magic Castle in particular. He felt I would gain much from the experience. I followed his advice and was off to see the Wizards - with no thought of emigrating at the time.

I still remember my first visit to the Castle. I saw Jonathan Neal Brown perform his linking rings routine and Goldfinger and Dove do their unique magic. They were so polished, so professional... so good! I wanted to quit magic and run back to Israel. You need to understand how difficult this was for me. Here I was, already a successful magician in my own country, comfortable and happy, recognized by everyone as a competent magician. Suddenly I was given a healthy dose of reality. Everything is relative. The quality of magic witnessed at the Magic Castle was well above what I was currently performing. That was truly a humbling experience - and the best thing that could have happened to me. After the initial shock, which was in large part a recognition of my own ignorance about the magic that I loved so much, I developed an enormous desire to stay, to watch and learn from the masters. Why was I willing to give up the security I had in Israel? Because of the challenge, the opportunity to start over. In little Israel the opportunities for growth were limited, but in big America there were no limits. The challenge was interesting and exciting!

I was fortunate to find employment with a friend managing an appliance store, which gave me enough income to rent an apartment as I began to work on my magic. I have always loved animals, so I bought a couple of doves, put them in a homemade cage on the roof of my apartment building, and started working on a new act. I soon got a notice from my landlord: "either me or the doves." I chose the doves.

I called some of Los Angeles' most prestigious private schools and offered them a free magic show. Many of them agreed, and I asked permission to give out my business cards at the show. I was really pushy; at the end of each performance I'd tell the students that if they would like to see me and my doves appear at their birthday parties, they should take my card home and have their mother call me today.

This worked extremely well. By the time I got home from each show there were already messages on my machine for birthday parties. After three weeks, and about 20 schools, my weekends were booked almost solid for the whole year! The deposits for all those shows enabled me to rent a house in Hollywood and move the doves to a big cage in the back yard.

America-What a great country!

By the way, the landlord of that first apartment still comes to see my show at the Castle and at Wizardz from time to time and claims responsibility for my success. You are right, Mr. Kubu, and I thank you for kicking me out!

The following year the schools called me, asking me to return and offering to pay me. My strategy paid off in many ways. I still do some of those schools every year, and I love it. I receive about 20,000 drawings and letters from the students every year. I take great care to answer every school.

It was at this point that I began to dream of working on the Magic Castle stage. If I could only perform there, just once, I would be so thrilled.

To work the Castle today, a magician must pass an audition by performing his or her act either in person or by videotape for the selection committee, sort of a panel of judges headed by Ron Wilson. Back then Monday nights were audition nights, and we actually performed on stage for the Castle audience, which included Bill Larsen, Jr., then president of the Magic Castle, and Peter Pit, the entertainment director. I was so nervous that first night that I did not do well - and I was not invited to be a regular performer. My discouragement was short-lived, and determination soon pushed aside any thoughts of feeling sorry for myself. I worked harder and auditioned once again. I was still nervous, but this time I did well enough to be accepted. Even so, once the elation of being accepted wore off, it hit me... I was going to do a week at the Castle, in the Palace of Mystery. Although I had passed the audition, I knew that I still wasn't good enough!

To get ready for that first Castle show I practiced with my doves six hours a day, every day, (and some nights). I trained them to come back to my hands and to fly to the cage. I remember one afternoon, when I was practicing my act in the Palace of Mystery, and Peter Pit agreed to watch me. Not only did he help me, he also brought in two of his friends, Martin Lewis and Kathleen Miller (the "Electric Lady"), all of whom were like gods to me. (Thank you all very much. I deeply appreciate what you did for me. You not only helped me improve my act, You also taught me how to teach. More on that later.) These three encouraged me and critiqued my act. I listened to them and incorporated many of their ideas into my presentation. I felt almost ready for my first week at the Castle. My first week at The Magic Castle's "Palace of Mystery" I shared the bill with Tina Lenert, one of the finest performers in magic.

I survived that unbelievably exciting week, sharing the Palace of Mystery stage with the wonderful Tina Lenert. From there I went to play at Mostly Magic in New York City. I stayed in New York for four months during the very rough winter of 1985, but quickly realized that snowy New York was not exactly what my birds desired, so back to L.A. I went.

Over the next several years I performed about 500 shows a year at school shows, private parties, places like Magic Island, Comedy and Magic Club, the Body Shop on Sunset strip, casinos, hotels, Wizardz and similar places around the world. And, of course, I continued to play the Castle. In 1989 Amos Levkovitch, the Israeli performer who failed his first audition for the Castle, was nominated for the Magic Stage Magician of the Year, I was sure that it was a mistake, and it took a couple of weeks for the news to sink in. I did not win that year and again, I believe it was for the best, because I continued to work hard, to try to improve - but the next year, in 1990, I was named the Magic Castle Stage Magician of the Year, and to my surprise and embarrassment, again the year after. I was embarrassed because the other nominees, some of whom were my best friends, deserved this award at least as much as I did, and I felt awkward to receive this honor again. In my speech that evening, I quickly thanked the Larsens, the board of directors and the members of the Academy of Magical Arts who had given me this honor again, then I ran off the stage as if I had been bitten by a snake. Please don't misunderstand me, I respect these awards very much and I'm very thankful to the Academy members for all the awards they have given me. Meanwhile, back in the city, the very nature of living and working in Los Angeles gave me the opportunity to meet some movie and television giants, and I have tried to learn from each of them. I learned one very important lesson: the bigger the star, the nicer they are!

A few years back I was hired by Nick Lewin to help Sid Caesar on Steven Spielberg's "Amazing Stories." I helped him create the role of a clumsy magician, Sid was an unbelievably friendly man, not only to me, but to everybody on the set - from the prop man to the sandwich lady - and called everybody by their names. Despite my limited understanding of Yiddish, Sid made me cry with laughter by telling me some of the funniest one liners I have ever heard. Can you imagine the rest of the crew looking at me incapacitated with laughter as a result of some strange sounding language? I had the opportunity to meet Shirley MacLaine at her house in Malibu, going there with Chuck Fayne to help her to create some magic for a movie she was working on. Once again, she was very friendly, open and humble. Meeting her was a great experience.

In magic I have met many stars, but I will always remember meeting Siegfried of the famous team Siegfried and Roy some 17 years ago backstage after he finished doing a show at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas. We spoke very little, about nothing in particular. I met him again about 10 years later at the Castle. He was seated at the bar speaking with Irene Larsen. We smiled at each other, shook hands and 1, with my Jewish chutzpah, asked him if he remembered where we had met. Without hesitation, he smiled and said, "Suuure, you are the guy from Israel whom I met backstage after the show at the Stardust." I freaked out! I would have screamed in amazement that he remembered that event, except for the fact that I was speechless. That was more impressive than any illusion I've ever seen! It was then that I truly understood what it takes to be a superstar. Siegfried works at it. He practices and practices and is still practicing. He gets better all the time. Isn't that what magic is all about?

You will be surprised how good a memory you can have if you will just practice memorizing names. Remembering names will not only make you a nice person but it will also increase your income. I started to practice remembering names on my first cruise ship. With microscopic letters I made lists of the people I met oil small pieces of paper, writing their names and something unique about the way they looked. More and more often I would be able to greet them with their names. I enjoyed doing it then just to see the grins on their faces upon bearing their names from the ship's magician.

Being a cruise ship magician was pleasant, but after a few months of cruising to many different locations I realized that one or two shows a week did not provide me with enough practice, so I decided to stop cruising. I received calls from all the entertainment directors offering me excellent raises and telling me that the passengers were mentioning my name in their comment cards as one of the highlights of the cruise. Of course I didn't tell the agents that it was only because I remembered the passengers' names. But you can see how one good habit - that of remembering people's names - can get you work.

One year on the Magic Cruise, I inadvertently left my bird feeder on the theater bar. The next day the waiters came running to me and told me to come with them immediately. They didn't tell me why, they just rushed me back to the theater. There, sitting at the bar, was a large, nicely dressed man. He was drinking a beer and eating seeds from the bird feeder. You can imagine the commotion backstage as the crew watched him. Well, at least it was "diet dove mix."

Sometimes I have flown halfway around the world to do only a three-to-nine minutes show on television, flying back home to Los Angeles right afterwards. I have opened a corporate motivational conference with a 10 A.M. show in New York City and flew to L.A. and played the Castle that night. I have performed in Hawaii, the Virgin Islands, traveled from North America through Central America to South America, Europe, Japan, the Caribbean Islands and elsewhere. And to think, it all started with three apricot seeds.

Magic has given me many interesting and exciting experiences. A short time ago I tried to come up with some of the highlights of my career in magic. I am very proud of my accomplishments working in some of the most prestigious venues around the world, but without a doubt one of the most special moments in my career was a charity event set up by Phil Blazer. I recently had the privilege of performing for a number of children who are battling leukemia. They were being given an afternoon treat - a trip in a nice boat around Marina del Rey, and I was the entertainment. What a reward to see the faces of those children when my doves were produced!

My act contains very little original material. Most of what I do, the improvements I have made, has come from listening to suggestions from other performers or lay people. Some of these suggestions have gone directly into the act, as is; others have been changed to fit my own presentation. Still others are in a notebook, waiting for some future use.

I once met an old magician in Salvador do Bahia, Brazil (a small fishing village outside Rio de Janeiro). I was having lunch with friends, when an old man came to our table to entertain us. He was poorly dressed, but clean and neat. He did some coin productions with a big white cotton handkerchief and a basic cut and restored rope using a clothes line rope. He reminded me of my beginnings in magic, except that he was good. I invited him to join us for lunch. He was hungry... After we finished eating I went with him outside and did a rope routine for him with a "real" rope I had with me and some clever moves I had learned from friends at the Castle. From his eyes I understood he thought I was a real magician. Since I don't speak Portuguese and he didn't speak English, I went through the routine step by step with him, teaching him every move. His willingness to learn really touched me and as I gave Into the rest of the rope I had with me, his eyes filled with tears. We embraced, and said good bye. I saw him the next day performing for dinners in the same restaurant and to my surprise he did the new rope routine starting with one piece, going through The Professor's Nightmare and completing the routine with one piece of rope again, exactly the way I had taught him. He must have practiced the whole night. The response from his audience was great, and so were the tips. I was very happy I had not wasted my time, for he was a listener, a student. He gave me a good lesson.

You can't imagine how much you can learn yourself by teaching others... Indeed, that is why I owe so much to Peter Pit, Martin Lewis and Kathleen Miller. They taught me how to teach, and in so doing gave me the ability to give back to magic by helping others. Not only does this help magicians improve, as described here, but teaching others, especially helping others without regard for payment, develops a very important way of looking at magic. Magic, the ability to do magic, is a gift. We improve upon that gift by hard work, it is true; but still, how fortunate those of us are who are able to earn our living performing magic.
I am so lucky.