By Amy Wenk
amywenk@reporternewspapers.net
On a recent Monday evening, a handful of kids, a few parents and one librarian gathered around a table in the basement meeting room of the Brookhaven library.
Magician Ken Scott sat at the head of the table with his metal box of tricks as if he were
Dumbledore teaching wizards to mix potions. There were magic coins, playing cards, plastic rocks and bouncy balls in the magician’s case.
Object by object, Scott showed the group the secrets to performing beginner tricks. He’d demonstrate and then ask the kids to try.
“I do like teaching,” said the 40-year-old who started magic at age 8. “I remember being that age and getting the bug.”
Scott shared his favorite magic trick as a boy.
“It was in every magic kit when I was your age,” he told kids. “It’s called ‘hook and loop.’ ”
The magician pulled out a small plastic toy with two pieces, one inside the other. Scott revealed how to give the illusion the two pieces were connected by a rubber band.
“It actually never connects to anything” it just appears to when you squeeze it this way, he explained. “Give it a shot.”
The magician showed other tricks like “fortune-telling fish,” a baffling thin object that is treated with a chemical so it moves when it reacts to heat. He also taught the group how to palm a coin.
Scott hopes the lesson will inspire future magicians.
Perhaps it has already. That evening was 12-year-old Andy Samandari’s third time in Scott’s magic class.
“I haven’t even performed in public,” said the rising seventh-grader, when asked after class about his slight-of-hand skills.
But when it was suggested he give performance a try, he said, “Really? Thanks, I will.”