Las Vegas Weekly

February 26, 2009 · 10:12 AM

Unmasked! Real name of The Masked Magician, ‘the people’s magician,’ is …

By Robin Leach

The Masked Magician.

Photo: Kagan PR

The magicians’ sacred code of silence to never reveal the secrets of tricks was finally broken by one of their own. The wizards, conjurers, illusionists and princes of prestidigitation were furious when The Masked Magician starred in four of the highest-rated Fox specials ever: Magic’s Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed.

Finally, we learned that The Masked Magician was none other than Las Vegas-based illusionist Val Valentino, who had appeared in the Strip shows Viva Las Vegas and Splash. Now he’s about to break the code all over again -- and forever -- because starting Monday, his new series exposing 120 memorable tricks will start broadcasting on MyNetworkTV.

Val plans to reveal how to levitate a train, walk on water and through solid glass and how to vanish a motorcycle as just a few of the tricks! The success of his TV appearances as The Masked Magician led to a series of worldwide arena and theater tours, a two-hour Diagnosis Murder episode with Dick Van Dyke and the lead character in a graphic novel produced by Virgin Comics to become a movie by Nash Entertainment. Born in 1956, Val was just 5 when he fell in love with magic after his father gave him a “ball and vase” trick. By 11, he was performing at children’s parties and community functions.

He’s now planning his greatest death-defying illusion where he will be buried alive in a sealed metal coffin six feet under for seven days. Even Houdini is said to have feared this stunt, and historical documents say he never attempted the stunt publicly! Val’s also produced a series of four DVDs to teach people how to perform magic, and each new disc becomes increasingly challenging.

Until now, Val always appeared masked, and his voice was disguised. He said he originally turned down all the overtures from Fox producers to spill the secrets but then agreed on the basis that the real motive would force magicians to invent new tricks and also encourage kids to become magicians instead of being turned off because it appeared to be impossible.” I talked with Val a few days before the new TV series gets underway:

Photo: www.maskedmagician.com

Clint Holmes and Kelly Clinton flank The Masked Magician.

Robin Leach: First of all, what is the magicians’ code?

The Masked Magician: Many centuries ago, magicians, witches and sorcerers were murdered for practicing occult or the black art, so magicians and all of the sorceresses would keep their secrets a secret to keep from being murdered. That has carried on, but in the realm of secrecy today because of the Internet, that really doesn’t exist anymore.

RL: The first time you did this, were a lot of people angry? Did they come crawling for your blood and say kill the man?

MM: Actually, on the magician side, they didn’t understand what my position was in the whole project. The magicians did come after me, but I was amazingly embraced by the public. I think I have created a new generation of magicians that is an academy for the cyber world.

RL: Have you mended fences with the magicians, or are they still after your scalp?

MM: They are not after my scalp anymore. The top magicians understood, like David Copperfield always says it didn’t hurt him or bother him at all, it increased the interest of magic for magicians and for lay folk, and to every illusion, he has six other ways to do it. In the show, we reveal some secrets, but the magician can still pull off the same trick, the same illusions and still fool the audience with another secret method I never show!

Photo: www.maskedmagician.com

The Masked Magician.

RL: So in this new series you are doing for MyNetworkTV, are you doing more of the same, or do you put a new spin on it?

MM: It is the same; it is what the audience has been asking for. We took a poll, and they wanted the same thing, same format, same location, same warehouse, but now it’s a 13-part series of 1-hour episodes, and we’ll reveal 120 different illusions. They are all shot and in the can.

RL: Are you going to remain hidden behind the mask, or will you pull it off?

MM: I am masked; I am in character, I should say. The Masked Magician has transcended from a man behind the mask to an actual character, so that is what he is today and that is what the graphic novel is about, the character itself.

RL: Now you also have a new DVD out because the root of all of this was that you wanted to teach more people how to do tricks?

MM: Right. Ten years ago, we had the vision of where the Internet was going, where it was headed and how it was going to change magic. Knowing that is how the show came about on my end and because it was going in that direction anyway, so putting the information out there and creating an avenue of new magicians has been a dream of mine for a long time.

RL: So your TV show was ahead of the curve with the Internet exposing everything?

MM: Yeah, that is right. This goes all the way back to when I was a kid. I started learning magic at 5, and it was really difficult to find information at that age and time so I would invent my own magic tricks and illusions. My love for magic went to the point of when I was 18, I started doing shows for the school systems. In the schools, I would teach the kids how to do some magic, along with performing and doing magic; it was back then that I saw there were more people like me that love the art of magic.

Photo: www.maskedmagician.com

The Masked Magician.

RL: Everyone knows what David Copperfield, Criss Angel and Penn & Teller look like! Does it frustrate you that no one really knows what you look like or who you really are?

MM: Frustrate me? No. The character is really the focus here. People do know what I look like. On the fourth Fox special, we actually removed the mask and explained what I was doing. With the new series, though, we keep the mask on.

RL: For all intents and purposes, Vegas is the city that is the world headquarters of magic. You are the odd man out, the one telling audiences how it is all done. Would you dare do a show on the Strip that was the live version of what you did on TV?

MM: Actually, I have been traveling for the past number of years with a live show as The Masked Magician exposing the tricks, primarily doing arenas because the appeal was so large. We perform the tricks, give them a twist. In other words, I would perform an illusion, show them how it is supposed to look, and then show them how it is done -- just like the TV show. But then we add a further twist right at the end so the audience is baffled one more time and ask how did they do that? So we have taken it to another level. It has been very successful taking it to other countries.

RL: Do you want to have a full-time show on the Strip spilling the secrets, or do you think that would be too close for comfort with all the other magicians who star here?

MM: Before I didn’t and I opted for touring other countries instead, but now I have been approached by several different people to put a show here in town, and it is becoming a consideration. It would be a version of what I do in the arena shows.

Photo: www.maskedmagician.com

The Masked Magician unveiled.

There are basically only six magic tricks. There are variations on a theme; they are either in a box, or you are not in a box. You are cut in half or not cut in half. Everything is up to the showman; the artistry of the performer and what he does with his illusions. The pressure is on the magician where it should be. With the first specials and now these new TV shows, magicians are going to be pushed to be really creative, especially the new breed of magicians that are blooming. You can do anything you want with magic, so it’s all in the presentation.

I had absolutely no idea this would take off so big. The huge ratings just blew everyone’s mind. No one was prepared for that and the appeal of The Masked Magician. It is a phenomenon basically, and in countries like Brazil, it hit a nerve in the psyche of the Brazilian culture, and not just there, everywhere. It was a moment of freedom, wow, here is some information that we never knew about just as the Internet was coming to be, and to this day it is a phenomenon. People gravitate to the show and The Masked Magician.

RL: You reveal tricks, but is there any trick you do that you would never reveal how it is done?

MM: Like I mentioned, this is more in line to spark an interest in anyone who wants to know more about magic. There are many different ways to perform any effect, and in these shows, we are showing you one of them. Even to say if there is something I didn’t want to reveal, it wouldn’t matter because there is a different way to do it.

RL: When you say you’ll show the secrets to 120 tricks, is there any shortage of tricks? Are we running out of tricks?

MM: I’ve done TV specials in other countries. I have done six TV specials in Japan and in Latin America, and there are a lot of magic tricks to do out there. It is putting that twist on it that pleases the audience. I don’t mean to hurt the magic industry at all. I am just creating the interest for the art of magic. People are talking about magic again.

RL: If I run into you in my local supermarket, will I recognize you?

MM: If I had the mask on … probably! I am able to move around Vegas anonymously!

Photo: Kagan PR

The Masked Magician.

RL: You aren’t getting any more flak?

MM: The viewing audience is bigger than the magician’s audience. I get a lot of mail from magicians who are in support of the show. They started doing magic from watching the original shows, so The Masked Magician fan base … I am like the people’s magician as opposed to being among the magic world and those clubs. It is a much bigger world out there.

The illusion I get the most email about, that people want to know how to do, is walking on water. So we will do that in the show, and the secret will be revealed. Then just as you think that was easy, we baffle the audience one more time leaving them to guess again. We shot this new season of episodes in Los Angeles, but we have plans to do the next season right here in Vegas.”

Go to www.maskedmagician.com to look at his secrets revealed videos. Look carefully, and you’ll even find more photos of The Masked Magician unveiled as Val Valentino!

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