Jeff McBride

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Jeff McBride

I first met Jeff at a Tannens Jubilee in the 70s. I remembered seeing a picture of him in a Tops Magazine where he was the "Young Magician of the Month." At the time he was one of the only long-haired magicians who performed in tails and did dove productions and card manipulation. I was intrigued, so when I recognized him I introduced myself.

Jeff was surprised I recognized him, and we began to talk about moves and productions. Even though I could never be the showman Jeff turned out to be, at the time we met, I was very heavily into split fans and scaling and spinning cards. I could do a variety of coin rolls and rollouts, and I was developing a manipulative act of my own. So Jeff and I sat down and exchanged ideas and moves over the long weekend and subsequently became long-distance friends. While he very generously credits me with teaching him split fans and card spinning that weekend, I am amazed by how he has made the moves so uniquely his own.

Like so many of my magician friends, Jeff and I fell out of touch frequently. We'd meet up at conventions and then not see each other for a year or more. At one point, he disappeared off the face of the Earth, and I later found out he had been developing some very innovative material which blended different art forms, and he was headlining in Canada, New York and Japan.

I remember bumping into him at Tannens' old store on 46th Street, one Saturday afternoon. No one was in the shop except us and we spent several hours catching up on things. I was so envious at the time because Jeff was leading the life I had only dreamed of as a teenager while I was stuck in some corporate office trying to hack out a living. But as Jeff was quick to remind me, I had taken the time to go to grad school and to gain some stability. Would I trade places with him today? In a New York minute!

There was a period of time when Jeff and I were developing giant mechanical card fans for productions. I created a jumbo, double-circle of cards which could be produced quite quickly from beneath a 36-inch scarf. I brought it with me to a Larry Weeks' convention he was performing at, and he liked it so much, he asked if he could try it out during his show. Eric DeCamps still busts my chops to this day reminding me how I was chanting beneath my breath, "Do the fan, Jeff. Do the fan." The hell with him. It looked cool.

Anyway, Jeff and I continue to bump into each other. Once he appeared in my new home town of Tulsa, OK with Susan Anton and the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes. My wife and I went to the show, and afterwards we pulled around the corner in our car and passed the stage exit. As our luck would have it, Jeff had just walked out. I asked my wife to roll down her window and to call Jeff over. So Jeff saunters over, seeing this beautiful asian woman calling him from a fancy car. He sticks his head in and starts chatting with my wife. I tell him to stop making time with her and to say "hello" to me. He looked up and freaked. He thought I was still living in NYC and never expected to find me in Tulsa, OK. He proceeded to invite us to a private backstage party at a local restaurant where we spent the night catching up on old times.

Most recently, my daughter, Alex, saw Jeff on a TV special and was quite amazed by his masks and dance and use of color. She immediately developed a crush on him, and wanted to know all about him. When I told her that I knew him, she did not believe me, so I had to pull out an old picture (see below). Then she wanted to see his videotapes. I own them all, and so we watched endless hours of Jeff teaching manipulation. My kid's gonna be four on December 9, 2000, and here she is fawning all over Jeff as he is teaching the most complex moves in magic.

She asked if she could meet him, so I suggested an email. She stood by my PC and dictated a love letter. When Jeff got it, he thought it was sweet, and that it deserved a special response. He sent her an autographed photo (see above) with a note telling her what a great guy and magician I was, and how he looked forward to meeting her sometime in Las Vegas which he now calls home. Alex was so thrilled and excited that she brought his picture to "Show and Tell" at school and bragged about her new magician boyfriend, Jeff McBride.

So, Jeff, it's about time we discussed that wedding . . .