Magician reveals secret illusions

Magician reveals secret illusions

Phia Kantor, age 6, learning how to cut a string in half and make it appear whole again.

Patrick L. Sullivan

FALLS VILLAGE — It’s axiomatic that a magician never reveals the secret behind a trick. Unless it’s a magic lesson.

On Wednesday, July 8, children aged six to 10 came to the David M. Hunt Library to learn magic.

The lesson was taught by Tim O’Brien, a full-time magician since 1996 from Southbury, Connecticut. He learned his first magic trick at seven years old, the same age as some of the kids there.

O’Brien started the lesson by putting a ball into one of his student’s hands and another in his own hand, fists tightly closed. After saying the magic words, which the crowd insisted were “abra-banana,” he opened his hand to reveal the ball had disappeared, which was when his student opened his hand and both of the balls popped out.

The children, a little suspicious at first, were now convinced.

The secret? Practicing sleight of hand.

The students of O’Brien’s “Wizard’s School of Magic” learned all about optical illusions, how to make a knot appear out of thin air with a small piece of rope, how to teleport an elastic band from one side of your hand to the other and how to turn a solid magic wand into rubber.

The new generation of magicians left with their own bag of tricks, magic wand included, to bring home and blow their families’ and friends’ minds.

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