The secret to Sorcerers Safari's success

Almost sixteen years ago, armed only with the idea of making magic more accessible to kids who want to learn magic, "Magic Mike" Segal opened the doors to Sorcerers Safari magic camp.  Flash forward to 2011 to see how far Segal's magic camp has come from its humble beginnings.  Sorcerers Safari is Canada's only sleep away magic camp, hosting up to 150 campers a year.

What is the secret to this Canadian magic camp success story?  I spent 24 hours at camp in August 2011 and here's what I discovered.

Harry Anderson in "Harry the Hat Tonight"

Anyone who has known me for any length of time, knows that I have a soft spot in my heart for Harry Anderson's three card monte routine, Monarch Monte.  Seeing his live show has been on my bucket list for quite some time.  (I even briefly considered finding my way to Regina in November of 2010 to see him perform there.)

Imagine my delight when I first learned that he was scheduled to perform and lecture in Whitby, ON.

And so, last weekend, I went to the Class Act Dinner Theatre for the very first time. The theatre itself is spacious.  It looked to me like there were no bad seats in the house.  The buffet was plentiful and delicious.  My dinner companions made more than one trip to the servery before their meal was done.  The roast beef and Yorkshire pudding were the highlights of my meal and the desserts were yummy!

There were quite a few familiar faces in the audience:  David Ben, Julie Eng, Suley Fattah, Mike Segal, Jen Segal, Lee Elliott, Michael Close, Lisa Close, Owen Anderson, Peter Mennie,  Michael Fisher,  Deborah Fallick, Sammy Jakubowicz, Scott Hood, Ken McCreedy,  Richard Forget, David Sutherland, Phil, Bob Johnston, David Lax, Philip Groff and Gordon Precious.  There were other faces to which I've been unable to put a name and some I've just plain forgot.  (It was a busy weekend.)  Apologies if I've left you out.*

Richard Forget was the opening act for Harry Anderson. Apparently, one must be at least 6 feet tall to get onstage tonight.
— Sammy Jakubowicz (@Doc_Sammy) May 19, 2012

For entertainment, we had Glenn Ottaway, David Merry (who was non-stop with fantastic zingers, "I've been happily married for six years ...") and Richard Forget to warm us up.  Richard performed many of the effects he discussed at last September's Ring 17 lecture.  (I've never been so happy, to not see a skipping rope on stage.)  Then it was time for the headlining act!

Harry Anderson, complete with signature Borsalino and hand-painted tie, opened with Wise Guy Monte, followed with a discussion of card counting, some reminiscing about his performance with Skippy the guinea pig on SNL, and a straitjacket escape I'll not soon forget.  He also did some snazzy dancing while demonstrating card memorization and card counting in real time.  He finished with a larger than life magic square.   For an encore, we were treated to his very special chapeaugraphy routine.

Hilarious show last night @ClassActDinnerTheatre #HarryAnderson
— Peter Mennie (@petermennie) May 20, 2012

As for the lecture, "Tipping the Hat," Harry took us through each of the routines in his show, discussed volunteer selection and regaled us with stories from his past.  (My favourite is how an expensive impulse buy started a chain of events which lead to his being cast in Night Court!)  Dave Merry was on the money when said (in April) that "the stories alone are worth the price of admission."  (And this weekend with Harry cost less than a round trip flight to Regina!)

Thank you Class Act Dinner Theatre and Harry Anderson for a wonderful weekend!


"There's just one f***ing rule!"

Poor Yvette.

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* If I’ve missed listing anyone who was there please send me an e-mail or leave a comment below! Thank you to Owen, Deborah and Sammy for helping me put names to some of the faces.

The opinions expressed above are entirely my own.  I was not compensated in any way.

Book launch: "The Lives of a Showman"

Last Friday I had the pleasure of attending a book launch party for “The Lives of a Showman” by Mark Lewis. (I live tweeted the event with the tag #TLOAS though I missed tagging a few tweets here and there.)

Upon entering Browser’s Den of Magic, I was instructed to direct my attention upward. Hanging from the ceiling were more than a dozen cheerful Lee Asher sign creations containing “Markisms” such as “If they were all the nine of hearts it would look like this” and “You're quite slow, do you work for the post office?” The mood was set!

It was clear that Mark has a tremendous amount of support in the local magic community! I found myself shoulder-to-shoulder with Jeff Pinsky, Jeff Hinchliffe, Ariel Fralich, Mia Ngueyn and Adam Harmes who had all made contributions to, or were mentioned in, the book. Other notables present include*: Gordon Precious, Owen Anderson, Paul Pacific, Chris Westfall, John Pellatt, Richard Lyn, John Michalson, Shawna Ross-York, Dan McLean, Steve Shrott, Joe Schwarcz and young Daniel (one of Mark’s students).

While reading from his book, we were regaled with stories of Mark’s experiences with The Worst Audience Ever at The Blue Angel and his early days of (not so) psychic readings in Ireland with Adam Harmes. Mark also read a piece written about him by Mai Nguyen, winner of the Jerry Gladman Memorial Scholarship in Journalism.

To round out the evening we were treated to James Alan’s rendition of Mark’s “Pig Trick” and then we all laughed ourselves silly through Jeff Hinchliffe’s impersonation of Mark doing his Svengali deck hustle.

It is always a delightful experience to hear an author read his own words. If the rest of the book is even half as entertaining as the launch party, it should be a good read indeed!

To purchase “The Lives of a Showman” visit Mark's website, Browser’s Den of Magic or contact your local magic dealer.


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* If I’ve missed listing anyone who was there please send me an e-mail or leave a comment below! Thank you to John Pellatt, Ariel Fralich and James Alan for providing attendee intel on the parts of the room I didn’t make it to.