Murray Sawchuck is already losing his Las Vegas showroom when the Tropicana closes on April 4. Now the magician is no longer welcome at magic’s most prestigious showroom, either.
The poofy-topped prestidigitator has been banned from the Magic Castle in Hollywood, where he has been a member in good standing for decades and has performed frequently.
His crime? Breaking magic’s cardinal rule.
Casting Dispel
From January through last week, Sawchuck posted videos to Facebook revealing the secrets behind several popular magic tricks. These include exactly where a bouquet of flowers vanishes to, how a sword gets “swallowed,” and how a dove appears from inside a folded-up newspaper.
The videos all follow the same format: Sawchuck performs a trick. Then his unimpressed wife, Dani, easily figures out how it’s done. Each time, the secret turns out to be a cleverly designed prop, not Sawchuck’s talent.
The videos have been viewed more than 50 million times.
According to a letter sent to Sawchuck on March 5 by the Academy of Magical Arts, which runs the Magic Castle, the magician is “suspended pending an investigation by the Committee of Member Conduct” and is “not allowed to enter the Magic Castle” until the committee concludes its investigation and renders its final verdict.
“It’s not like I’m getting (David) Copperfield’s tricks or Criss Angel’s or Shin Lim’s and going, ‘Here’s how they do it,’” Sawchuck defended the clips to TMZ. “Everything I’m doing in my videos is stuff you can buy on Amazon. It’s not stuff that somebody’s worked years for and you can’t find the secret for.”
The letter said that Sawchuck would be summoned before the committee to plead his case.
“People who say I shouldn’t share tricks, those people don’t understand that it’s 2024 now,” Sawchuck continued. “Before the internet was around, it was easy to keep secrets, and just read books or go find secrets. Now, they’re all up there.
“It’s like all these magicians are guarding an empty safe,” Sawchuck said. “If you can’t find a new way of doing a trick, or be entertaining with it, then you shouldn’t be in the business.”
While the Magic Castle may be the most exclusive club for magicians in the world, the group of magicians banned from the club is pretty exclusive, too. It includes Penn & Teller — at least if the occasional boasts made by Penn Jillette from the stage of their show at the Rio can be trusted.
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