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Sunday, September 2, 2001
Trade of the tricks

By Leanne Libby
Caller-Times

David Adame/Caller-Times

When he isn’t wearing the coloful clothes and makeup of Dizzy the Magical Clown, Timothy Martinez performs tricks with his sidekick Lucky. But life as a magician isn’t as easy as pulling a rabbit out of a hat; Martinez spends most of his free time drumming up business.

Timothy Martinez's business apparel includes a tuxedo and loud checkered blazer. Instead of a briefcase, he might set off for work carrying an animal cage covered with a floral-print bed sheet and a contraption that resembles a small guillotine.
   Martinez, aka Dizzy the Magical Clown, is trying to make a living out of balloon animals and vanishing rabbits. Over the last nine years, he's learned there's much more to success than pulling a quarter out from behind someone's ear.
   Martinez might never rake in a $60 million salary like magician David Copperfield did last year. He might not feel the need to encase himself in ice for 48 hours like New York street magician David Blaine did for ABC cameras in November 2000. The Corpus Christi magician, however, is always looking to learn the new tricks of his trade. In that vein, he's one of about 1,000 people expected to attend the Texas Association of Magicians convention that runs through Labor Day at the Omni Bayfront Hotel.

David Adame/Caller-Times

Martinez, demonstrating the magical hand chopper, is one of about 1,000 people expected to attend the Texas Association of Magicians convention that runs through Labor Day at the Omni Bayfront Hotel.

   Many of Martinez's performances are on the weekends, leaving him the weekdays to drum up new business and check his inventory. Just like any other craftsman, he has tools of his trade, and sometimes those tools break or need to be replaced.
   "I might need balloons, or my magic cart might need new paint or new wheels," he said.
   White gloves only last through so many launderings, and sometimes his silk scarves get worn from all that disappearing and reappearing.
   While Martinez's Web site, ccmagic.com, sells everything from vanishing wands to flexible mirrors and flaming wallets, this frugal magician said he controls his bottom line by buying basics at Wal-Mart.
   Martinez, 24, shares his bachelor pad with cages housing rabbits and doves that are part of his act. He has a breeder who hooks him up with rabbits, such as 1-year-old Lucky, who flashes nervous blue eyes at the audience instead of the customary red eyes.
   One dove, however, is not enough. Martinez keeps several on hand to make sure he always has one at the ready.

David Adame/Caller-Times

Shaping balloons is all part of a hard day’s work for magician Timothy Martinez.

   "The doves are for my breeding stock, but they aren't breeding, which is kind of frustrating," Martinez said.
   Between cleaning cages, feeding everyone and checking for fresh water, it's enough to make a magician feel like a veterinarian.
   Making money appear
   Once Martinez decided to get serious about being a clown and a magician, he had to worry about how to make enough money to keep himself in red rubber noses and top hats.
   Martinez said he doesn't think of Corpus Christi as a "small" market so much as a "tight" market, where opportunities can be limited and decent wages can be scarce.
   "Here in Corpus, it's not like Dallas or Houston where a restaurant might have a magic theme night or the bartender might also entertain customers with tricks," he said. "It's very hard to get that here. Some places don't see the advantage that justifies the cost."
   And it does cost. A professional magician might command as much as $50 an hour, Martinez said. For daylong festivals, then, even a flat rate is going to be steep.
   "I'll be very honest," Martinez said. "It's not cheap, but it's also not something that is easily done."
   Martinez got his start when he met Noisey the Magical Clown at the Boys and Girls Club. He worked as Noisey's apprentice for three years and then went out on his own.
   Since then, he's built his act into a full-time job, working everything from private parties to Shrimporee and the Victoria Hispanic Festival. He's performed for as few as five people and as many as 100. An average weekend might include four to six shows or as many as eight.

David Adame/Caller-Times

Martinez’s rabbit Lucky has ‘magical’ blue eyes instead of red ones.

   While most shows go off without an (unintentional) hitch, there are times when tricks go awry. Martinez has tried to produce silks that wouldn't appear. He's had doves fly away. Many are found, but others have flown the coop for good.
   "Occasionally you drop something, or mess up a line or a secret is revealed," he said. "That's normal. I've learned to move on and say, 'OK, next trick.' It's one of those things where I know that they know that I know that they know I've messed up."
   Most of the time, Martinez said, the audience thinks the goof is part of the act, especially if he's in his clown get-up instead of his formal magician attire.
   Magical meetings
   Martinez wants to stay competitive in his industry, so from time to time, he'll ante up for a convention.
   He'll have a variety of seminars to choose from this weekend, such as Kelvin Chun's "Making Balloon Animals" or Duane Laflin, "The Magic Minister," talking about his gospel-themed tricks. Maybe he'll stop to hear Dutch magician Flip talk about his stand-up act, particularly his "Flip Stick" trick, where he makes a 14-inch wand disappear.
   The convention is held wherever the Texas Association of Magicians president lives, so this year's meeting was in the hands of Don Stiefel.
   Stiefel, who is retired from the Navy, has been performing magic tricks for 25 years. He's done everything from birthday parties to enticing customers into Wienerschnitzel. He started out as a clown, but noticed something happen whenever he traded slapstick for a magic trick.
   "It kept kids' attention and we all know their attention span is short," Stiefel said.
   Stiefel prefers what he calls "dumb magic," where a trick looks like it's going all wrong, but suddenly comes out right.
   "I might have three ropes, one short, one medium and one long," he said. "I might start mixing them up and then drop one on purpose. That gets the kids involved. The next thing you know, the ropes are all the same length.
   "The kids always wonder, 'How did you do that?' And you know what? Sometimes I do too."


Contact Leanne Libby at 886-3615 or libbyl@caller.com

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