Dick Steiner calmly held five $5 bills in his hand in front of a captive audience. In the blink of an eye, the bills turned into $10 bills.
In another blink, they turned back into $5 bills.
“Wow, I thought I got it, but I don’t get how he did that,” said Elizabeth Abber, one of several astonished onlookers.
“I love my job,” said Steiner, a professional magician and mentalist. “I never get tired of the expressions on people’s faces.”
Steiner, who lives near Baltimore, has been a professional performer for almost 20 years, entertaining corporate audiences and celebrities around the country. He even performed at President Bush’s inaugural party in 2005.
“I’m always looking for new things that are great to do, but after all these years, I’ve really learned what people like,” Steiner said. “I know what astounds them.”
This week, Steiner took his strolling magic act to a meeting of the Baltimore chapter of the National Association of Catering Executives at the Belmont Conference Center in Elkridge.
He wore a tie decorated with playing cards and carried his own stand, velvet-covered board and “bag of tricks.”
For one “effect,” Steiner had four ace cards and four king cards. He put two aces and two kings in his hand, leaving the other four cards face down on the table. In a moment, he was holding four aces in his hand, but the real trick was under the four cards on the table.
Steiner flipped the four cards, each with a letter on them — spelling NACE for the group of catering executives.
Each time, members of the audience were left shaking their heads in disbelief.
“He’s the best,” said Steve Phillips, a NACE member. “It’s always a good show.”
That wasn’t all. In about 30 minutes of magic, Steiner read minds, correctly calling from a deck of 52 cards the cards three audience members thought about.
Steiner grew up in Minnesota and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in 1968. He served in Vietnam, Germany and Australia during his 21-year career before retiring in 1989 and taking up magic. He still performs between 100 and 125 shows a year.
“The amateur does a lot of tricks for a few people, and the professional does a few tricks for a lot of people,” Steiner said. “People want to believe what they want to believe.”
Tips from a pro
Becoming a professional magician isn’t easy. Dick Steiner has been at it for almost 20 years, and he’s still open to learning new tricks and improving his performances.
He offers these tips to aspiring magicians:
• Hit the books. “For people today, it’s a whole lot easier to learn than it used to be,” Steiner said. “You can learn through videos and DVDs, but books are still the best way to learn.”
• Learn the trade. “The best way is having a mentor, or even more than one. Everyone needs some help along the way.”
• Practice makes perfect. “It takes a lot of practice. It’s not just learning how to do the trick. It’s the audience interaction and misdirection.”
• Mistakes happen. “You have to stay poised and confident. In the early days, you might make mistakes, but you learn from experience. You learn as you go.”
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