Magicians

Most people have experienced a magician’s entertaining presentation on a stage or television. Magicians pull rabbits out of hats, produce doves from midair, slice assistants’ bodies in half, and make tigers appear and disappear among other tricks and illusions. Magic, which started roughly 5,000 years ago, is formally acknowledged as one of the oldest entertaining arts. Magical entertainments were reported in Egypt, India, China, the Middle East, and Europe during the earliest centuries. While it is unclear how long Deaf magicians have been performing, based on reports and observations, there are approximately 300 [Page 668]Deaf amateur and part-time professional magicians around the world today.

In 1970, Simon J. Carmel and John G. Schroeder published an article titled “Deaf Magicians Amaze Their Audiences.” Carmel would later author two biographical books that profile Deaf magicians from the United States and more than 30 other countries. The magicians featured in Carmel’s studies range from amateurs and part-time professionals to full-time professionals and perform magic in one or more categories, such as close-up magic, stage magic, comedy magic, mental magic, and illusion magic. They perform shows at children’s birthday parties, private clubs, banquets, conventions, hospitals, schools, religious and social gatherings, theaters, restaurants, weddings, fairgrounds, and many other venues for Deaf and hearing audiences. Some Deaf magicians were born deaf, while others became deaf later in life.

Before the 1970s, there were no mentions in any publication of bringing Deaf magicians together to fraternize or participate in competitions. The first such gathering occurred in the summer of 1970, when eight Deaf magicians from Canada and the United States participated in the first national Deaf Magicians Tournament at the convention of the US National Association of the Deaf in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Later, in the spring of 1986, the first official International Deaf Magicians Festival was established in Leipzig, East Germany, with the participation of nine Deaf magicians from five countries—Bulgaria, East Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Poland. The festival has continued every second year in different countries; since 1986, the festival has been held in Kiev, Ukraine; Rochester, New York; London, UK; Nagpur, India; Moscow, Russia; St. Petersburg, Russia; Cattolica, Italy; and Helsinki, Finland; among other cities. The particular categories of magic featured at festival competitions include stage magic, comedy magic, close-up magic, young people’s magic, and women in magic.

Due to the growing number of Deaf magicians participating, the international festival changed its name to “World Deaf Magicians Festival” in 1990, when the Society of World Deaf Magicians was formed. The society aims to bring together Deaf amateur and part-time professional magicians, both youths and adults, to participate in international festivals with the hope of promoting camaraderie, the exchange of ideas, improvements in performance skills, competition, education, and commerce (e.g., festivals are also places where magical apparatus and props can be purchased). In addition to hosting the festival, the society publishes an international electronic newsletter for Deaf magicians and lobbies to make hearing magicians’ lectures and teachings accessible to Deaf magicians.

Inspired by the biannual international festival for Deaf magicians, many national Deaf magicians festivals have been organized, including in Cuba (1990–1997), Germany (1991–2013), India (2012–2014), Russia (1995–2011), Ukraine (1990–2008), and the United States (1993–2013).

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