Magic awards no illusion

They gazed, transfixed, as a woman seemed to float in midair, then disappear. Gasped as a lightbulb danced in the darkness. Applauded when a ball vanished from one cup, then appeared in another. And when it was nearly over, guests at the Academy of Magical Arts and the Magic Castle’s annual awards dinner got teary-eyed as a tribute to illusionist Roy Horn, critically injured last fall during his Las Vegas tiger act with partner Siegfried Fischbacher, played across a screen at the Henry Fonda Music Box Theater.

Interspersed among the magic acts at the sold-out May 1 event were presentations of awards to magicians for excellence in their specialties. Among the winners: Mac King, magician of the year; Dana Daniels, named parlour magician of the year and comedy magician of the year; Whit Haydn, close-up magician of the year; Kevin James, stage magician of the year.

“This is the Academy Awards of magic, the night we honor the best at their craft,” said Hal Scheie, a member of the Magic Castle, a 41-year-old private club for magicians and their fans. It’s housed in a hillside mansion on Franklin Avenue in Hollywood.

For actress Teri Hatcher, it was a night to “behold some wonder and innocence -- things that are hard to find anywhere these days,” she said. “I marvel at sleight of hand.... I was at the Magic Castle the other day and a magician made a dollar turn into a butterfly that landed on my arm and stayed for half an hour!”

For Magic Castle founder Milt Larsen, it was a night to celebrate not only the stars of sorcery but his recent negotiations with the owners of the property. They had been considering an offer for a new lease made by outside interests, said Larsen, who, thinking he might have to relocate, had checked out the old Hollywood Athletic Club on Sunset Boulevard. “But now, the bottom line is we’re not going anywhere,” he said. “We have agreed to agree.”

Magician Jason Latimer, winner last year of the prestigious Grand Prix at what he dubbed the “Olympics of Magic” -- the tri-annual competition of the Federation of the International Societies of Magic -- came up through the ranks of the Magic Castle’s junior magician program. He invented the trick he performed before 600 guests at the awards dinner, where balls shoot mysteriously from one transparent cup into another. “I based it on the street game of ‘follow the ball,’ ” said the 23-year-old university student. How long did it take him to develop the illusion? “Two years and a wasted childhood,” he quipped.

Magic Castle member Tony Daniels spent most of his time helping famed magician photographer Anne White line up celebrities for portraits at the black-tie affair. Earlier that day he’d performed at a private party, and he had a rabbit and a dove on hand to prove it. “I couldn’t leave them in the car,” he said, lifting them from cages he’d stashed in a corner of the theater lounge. “It’s too hot.” His favorite trick to perform? “The Gene Anderson Newspaper Tear, where I shred a newspaper and restore it in front of your eyes,” he said. “I bring somebody up from the audience, and together, we tear it from the first section to the last. Then I let it drop and it all falls back together again.” The secret? “Practice,” he said. “It took me nearly three years to get it just right.”