What was your first professional prop?

Technically my first props were from a magic kit that I was given at Christmas so many years ago. I contained a number of tricks – all plastic – that started it all. After I learned all of those tricks, my dad took me out to a local magic shop, www.mccullochs.on.ca, and he bought me a milk vanishing pitcher

So I’ll amend the question a bit to ‘What was the first professional prop you got with your own money?

I was on a high school band trip in Montreal in 1975. Two weeks before the trip the local school board teacher’s union went on strike so we ended up with a lot of free time.

I had just started the second phase of my obsession of magic and I discovered a magic shop up the street from our hotel. The name of the store was Cramers (thank you Phil Marlin) and it was owner and operated by Alex Chervin, who was really nice to this novice.

I was like the ‘kid in a candy store’. All of these props called to me but one, in particular, was louder than the others. It is called The Sucker Die Box. It was the most amazing looking trick I had ever seen. The die would ‘disappear’, sliding from side to side until it really did vanish and reappeared back in my magic hat. That would be my finale!

But it was $50.

And I only had $65, which had to sustain me for the next day and a half. Dinner, Breakfast and Lunch – plus junk food. If I spent the $50, I’d only have $15 dollars left. I could do this! So I bought it. The shop owner triple-wrapped my precious in tissue paper in the box and I carefully placed it in the bag. I wasn’t going to put it in checked luggage. I carried it on the train.

My bandmates knew I was just starting in magic – it was a source of ridicule – and a lot of them thought I was nuts spending all that money on some stupid magic trick. I couldn’t show it to them since it was all packed up. Plus, I didn’t want to damage it by unwrapping it. And at the time, I didn’t WANT to show it to them. They actually all saw it at the band banquet a couple of years later.

Well, I still have the trick. Here it is with its original paint job (plus a few Sharpie touch-ups). I haven’t used it in over 30 years and it now resides on the office shelf. And yes, it was the finale in my birthday party show for about 10 years.

It had to be. After all, I spent $50 on it and became a starving artist – if only for a day and a half!