The Magic of Joe Ferranti has entertained numerous audiences for over a decade. He has gained a reputation as one of the best in Close Up/Comedy Magic in the Greater Boston area.
Joe Ferranti presents two styles of Close-Up Magic. Strolling/Walk Around Magic and his very popular Intimate Parlor Show.
We would love to have a conversation with you about your event. Please call 339-927-4710 for a no pressure consultation.
As we begin, we learn a magic trick because it fascinates us. Little do we know our family may not find the same fascination. However, if you are a parent or a grandparent you are familiar with “applauding” everything our children do. On the other hand, if you do not belong to the school of, “You can become anything you want.” You may reserve your applause not wanting to see your child face disappointment.
The good news, with magic is there are many levels of performing which can be satisfying to most hobbyists to professionals. Many of our respected magicians have other jobs and still find time to perform.
Professional Magicians with other jobs
If you are a magician, a few that come to mind are John Guastaferro , John Bannon and Marc DeSousa. These gentlemen aren’t exactly hobbyists, but you get the point.
The rest of us fall somewhere in between.
Realistically, we will not attain the stature of those I named, and there is a simple reason and I do not think I have to mention it. Still, there are opportunities to perform for all who wish to, there is only one rule…”First, do no harm.” (Fact…this is not a part of the Hippocratic oath, go ahead, look it up…I’ll wait.) Here is my advice, be the best you can be, within your skill set. (BTW, we practice for life, so our skills are not static.)
Putting Together Your Show
Second, put together a show, this means you need a beginning, a middle and an end. There are many sources to learn how to do this. Don’t expect to learn this for free or by trial and error, but here's some good advice for free.
There are many sources to learn how to structure your act. If you belong to a club, seek the advice of someone who is working. Be careful not to ask everyone in your club, I’ve found that everyone likes to give advice, even those who have never actually performed.
Some magicians gladly share their shows they have structured…feel free to use that as a starting point. Do I have to mention that you should integrate your personality into the show!
Finally, do not copy any one’s act. Yes, it happens, even on the highest levels. With so many professional magicians willing to share their creations you will eventually develop your own style and have a show that is unique to you.
This is your day...A Day with memories that will last a lifetime. No matter your budget, you have likely spent more money than you anticipated. It is difficult to compromise on a celebration as important as "your Wedding Day."
why do I suggest hiring a Close up/Strolling Magician for your special day, and why you won't regret it.
First, this is a gift to your guests...yes, you will hear from your guests how much they enjoyed the entertainment. In fact, I sometimes tell this to your guests. Magic entertainers are "new" to most people...in their enthusiasm, some feel the need to tip the Magician. Although this is a kind and generous offer, I am always aware that other groups are always watching you, due to the excitement of professional level Magic. (Most Lay people have never seen a professional magician before.) Back to my point, if other people see you taking money from guests, they may mistakenly think that you are working for tips. I certainly do not want anyone to feel an obligation of feel I am soliciting donations. Of course, I know that I am well compensated for my services. Here is how I handle this situation: "Thank you very much, however, the entertainment is a gift from Dick and Jane to their guests...blah, blah...In this manner, they understand that you are compensated for your work...and they also understand the Bride and Groom were thinking of them at the cocktail hour...and they graciously accept the gift.
Speaking of the cocktail hour, it is often a little awkward with many people who have not met...the Close-Up Magician introduces many new friends to each other, and the new bond is shared through their enthusiasm.
Your Wedding is not a cookie cutter wedding. Most weddings follow a formula, if you've been to several, many will seem much alike, and they blend in as a monotone memory.
Your Wedding will stand out...I borrow a phrase or two, "Your Event will be taken to a new level."
I certainly think that is enough reason to invite me to your wedding. I will not disappoint you...that is a promise.
If you need more convincing, consider this blog from Magician Craig Petty, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-having-close-up-magician-your-wedding-best-thing-you-craig-petty
Best Wishes, Joe Ferranti Wedding Magician Boston Massachusetts
Continuing from my last entry, I was at Diamond’s Magic getting to know the owner, Eddie Gardner. It pleasantly surprised me to learn that Eddie discounted all books at 20%. I believe it was the same with VHS Videos. (It was a long time ago.) Well, at this point in my life, I had some expendable income, so my library quickly filled in.
I hesitated, as I am a bit of a loner. Never joining clubs as a young boy. I think Eddie took my hesitation as a sign that I didn’t want to pay the fee for the lecture. So, he invited me to be his guest… no charge. That was nice, but money was not the issue, just my insecurity, so I took a leap of faith and joined the club. It was a great experience. I learned a lot from the lectures and had a place to perform without judgment.
Learning the Craft of Performing Magic
The members of the club were welcoming and encouraged me to perform. I made a few friends who remain friends to this day. I still was not performing for “real people.” which refers to laypeople. However, a few of us who wanted a little more than a monthly meeting began getting together once a week. It was an additional safe space to perform.
I learned several members performed professionally or semi-professionally, something I never considered, as I always thought I was not good enough to do so.
With all the information I had with my library and videotapes, I learned Strolling/Walk Around Magic. Even when I thought I was ready, I did not want to take anyone’s money until I was confident in my ability to entertain with magic.
A friend of mine knew a woman who was putting on a graduation party for her son and recommended me as entertainment. So, I had a job, well not an actual job, as I would not take any money. I insisted on working for free.
My first performance at the Graduation party went very well. It was obvious the graduates enjoyed the magic by their excited reactions. The success of that performance gave me the confidence to proceed performing as a semiprofessional magician.
I now felt ready to go to work, and at just the right time, another friend offered to set up a website for me, at no charge. This was a game changer. I had met Walter Osterman through the SAM. We shared an interest in magic and enjoyed each other’s company at the local club and attended a few local conventions. I didn’t realize it, but Walter ran his own business, Social Mavens a marketing and communications agency.
Walter did it all. He came to my house, took pictures and some promo video. He put together a professional website and ran it for me for ten years, simply out of kindness.
If not for Walter’s efforts, I would not be doing what I enjoy in my retirement years. All I can say is THANK YOU. (In capital letters.)
Over the last eleven years, I have had a great journey. I still perform much of the same material I used in my first performance. The material evolves with repeated performances. You get some of the best lines by listening to your audience. The more opportunities you have to perform improves every aspect of the material. I am still learning and working at being a better entertainer each time I perform.
Referring to being a semi professional is intentional to not ruffle the feathers of the “professionals”. I deliver professional caliber magic, but I don’t pay all my bills, health insurance, etc. from my magic income. (I pay taxes on it.)
As for the full-time professionals, I have the ultimate respect. A serious professional needs to work constantly, and earn enough to pay for their own health care, not to mention, setting up their own investments for their retirement. This requires serious self discipline, and few “pros” really commit strictly to this regiment.
Advice on becoming a Professional Magician
If you decide to take this path, I would recommend you seek the wisdom of Paul Gertner.
If you ask nicely, I know Paul will share the “secrets of success”. I’m talking about the business side requirements. Paul is one of the most successful trade show magicians of my time.
What he cannot share is his hard earned talent. His list of accomplishments is very long. You may have heard of him from his appearances on Penn and Teller Fool Us. Magicians know Paul for his Steel and Silver routine. Which is a cups and balls routine with steel ball bearings. The steel balls make the trick “impossible” to understand for magicians and laypeople. He has contributed magic to David Copperfield. Also contributing material to the fraternity. He put out a VHS/DVD series named after his book Steel and Silver. One of his most popular card tricks in his book and videos series, “Unshuffled” has found its way into the repertoire of many working magicians.
If you live in the Boston area and want a Parlor Show or Strolling Magician, please contact me. 339-927-4710 The Very Best in Close-Up Magic! (except for Paul Gertner and a couple others, call me and I’ll let you know who they are.)
Thanks for making it through 5 blogs of Magical Beginnings.
Ten years have passed. I’ve been busy with other things and had no time for “magic.”
Around 1985, I had a renewed interest in sleight-of-hand magic. So I picked up where I had left off and continued my study. It was a private, quiet pleasure. I enjoyed practicing. Hours could pass, but it was not a chore. If you do not enjoy the “work” required to attain the skills necessary for sleight of hand, you’ve chosen the wrong hobby. Dai Vernon said,” If it was easy,everyone would be doing it.”
As I mentioned previously, I never had a mentor, and that came at a severe price. Although I enjoyed my books, it was impossible to learn everything from the written word. However, videotape players were common in nearly every household. In fact, there were two competing formats, but this is all history. The VHS format won the battle.
It wasn’t long before Tannen’s Magic to introduce their “Stars of Magic” Video Tapes. These featured well-known magicians teaching their material and some of the more difficult to learn sleight of hand. For the first time, the student could have a “mentor” with a video player and a TV.
When I combined my book library with some visual aids (video tapes) my skills grew rapidly.
Who is your audience?:
Performing was a unique challenge. Magic is a performance art. Ultimately, it needs an audience. This is the biggest problem for most amateur magicians. Mostly, we rely on family and friends. Honestly, we’re not the best magicians and they’re not the best audience.
Our family and friends know us well. This familiarity can make them a challenging audience. Our familiarity allows them to interrupt a performance with questions or grab our props for inspection. It’s a wonder that anyone gets past this hurdle to becoming a professional performer.
( It’s a two-way street, we also bear responsibility. Do we present our magic in a “challenging manner”? We can learn a lot when we finally perform for an audience of strangers)
The Internet arrives:
I can not remember the year, but I was searching for a “slot box” on the internet. (A slot box is a magic prop for holding coins.)
I found a supplier who apparently had what I was looking for. The company was Diamonds Magic, and I called to get information.
“Diamonds magic…” were the first words I heard. I learned I was talking to Eddie Gardner, and yes, he had what I was looking for. He asked me where I lived. I told him, “Wilmington”. At that point, Eddie suggested I stop by his shop in Peabody to see the prop. That was a big surprise… there was a real magic shop in Peabody? The only shop I was aware of was Hank Lee’s Magic Factory. Which was a well stocked and long established magic shop in Boston. My only hesitation with dropping into Hank’s was the Boston drive and, more so, the Boston parking.
So,I got directions and headed to Diamonds Magic.
In my next and final “Magical Beginnings” I cover the transition to performing as a semi-professional.
In the mid 70’s I began my study of magic as a young adult. I was interested mostly in Card Magic and Coin Magic..
I enjoyed my magic books, although it was sometimes difficult if not impossible to interpret a sleight from the written word. As for mentors, I never had one. I made the best of what resources I had, and learned a lot from what I could extract from my books. Some sleights or tricks, would be impossible for me to process, leaving my development handicapped in some areas.
My main interest was card magic, it always fascinated me. From the stage magicians who would pluck cards out of the air, almost endlessly, to the Close-Up Magicians who would find a previously signed card, inside an envelope, inside a zippered compartment of a wallet.
Perhaps the most famous of card manipulators in the 20th century was Cardini. (Richard Valentine Pitchford) I believe what made him the greatest card manipulator in history, was his stage character. I do not dismiss his technical skills which were second to none.
Cardini
As I recall, he was a British gentleman, returning home from an evening out, and appeared innocently, a little “tipsy”. I urge you to see him in video.
My interest with cards was definitely in the card trick category. I was looking for something a little more “magical”than the twenty one card trick, or the obvious “Key Card” discovery, where you would simply look through the deck and pull out the selection and ask, “Is this your card?”
I previously mentioned Walter Gibson’s book. Soon after I discovered Close Up Card Magic by Harry Lorayne. A much treasured book of many magicians.I also discovered the work of Paul Harris, a young magician who had a unique perspective on magic. His writing was fresh and amusing. No one had ever displayed a sense of humor in their writing of card tricks.
Paul also found new uses for playing cards. Tearing holes in cards and linking and unlinking them like the famous Chinese Linking Rings. Or a regular deck of playing cards, turning into a solid block of cards.
I also started collecting the Tarbell Course in Magic. At that time, it was a collection of books which had been assembled from the original mail order, Tarbell Course in Magic. It is still considered essential reading to this day.
To be complete, I also studied the work of Martin A. Nash and Coin Work in Bobo’s Modern Coin Magic.
Things sometimes change quickly, and in 1978 I stopped all my involvement in magic for about ten years. Next time, my return to magic, and eventually the joy of performing as a semi-professional.
The Magic of Joe Ferranti Boston Massachusetts Close-Up Magician
In 1973, NBC aired a new show called The Magician, starring Bill Bixby. The show only ran one season. I enjoyed the short cameos of professional magicians. One show had a very short clip of Dai Vernon performing his Cups and Balls routine. It began with a sequence of the vanish of three balls. I had a basic knowledge of sleight of hand and easily understood the vanish of the first two balls. What fooled me badly was the vanish of the third ball. This is what I saw. Dai placed the third ball in his hand. He merely closed his hand, and when he opened it, the ball was gone. Wow!, With my understanding of magic methods, this was not possible. Now I would attempt to find out how this was done.
I have lived the major part of my life without the internet, and such was the case back in the 1970s. By this time, I had discovered the Joke/Magic Shops in Boston. My wife at that time worked in Boston and would stop at Little Jack Horner's Joke and Magic Shop on Tremont Street and would pick me up books and various pocket tricks.
In 1975 Boston got its first Magic Shop. Hank Lee's Magic Shop. Just magic, no jokes, no backroom of "magazines", no smoke products or marijuana paraphernalia. Just magic, from pocket tricks to large illusions. Professional magic by professional magicians. A very special time, Magic Lectures, I.B.M. meetings.
Now I knew where to get the secrets I wanted. I tracked down a booklet on Dai Vernon's Cups and Balls routine for $5. (A bargain for the best Cups and Balls routine.) I learned it and performed it at every opportunity I could find, which was few. (More on this next time.)
I first saw magic as a child on the Ed Sullivan Show and Mark Wilson’s, The Magic Land of Allakazam. To say I was fascinated was an understatement. At that time, when you saw a magician perform on TV, it happened once and there was no possibility to see it again and again, as the curious can do now. (The super curious can now examine a performance frame by frame!)
Living in a small town in Massachusetts, I visited the library to read every book available about magic and magicians. The reading was exciting to a young child, but the secrets I was hoping to find were not at The Public Library.
So, my life moved forward with interests in drawing, painting and studies in music. Magic took a back seat. In fact, it was out of my life, and I had no expectation of its return.
Life goes on and we get married, have kids, work, get divorced etc. During this period something changed dramatically in the World of Magic with the arrival of Doug Henning and his Broadway debut in “The Magic Show”.
Later Influences in Magic
Doug Henning
As a young man, Doug had brought magic to a new generation as the Beatles had done with music. Gone were the stereotypes of how a magician would perform or dress. It brought a renewed interest to me.
I was always on the lookout at bookstores for books on Magic, but the pickings were slim. Magic books could be found in the hobby section, but there were never many, and what was there was not very good. I had not yet discovered The Magic Shops in Boston.
My first discovery of a "Real" magic book, published for lay people was “The Complete Illustrated Book of Card Magic” by Walter Gibson. This brought me hours of delight, reading and practicing card magic. I also discovered some of the secrets I was searching for as a young child.
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