Household Words

The Heart Beat

King of Las Vegas

The War Against Children

by Jan Shaw-Flamm '76

Magician Mac King '81 had performed the "cut and restored rope" trick hundreds of times, and he always used exquisitely sharp scissors. But one night in Charlotte, N.C., his "snip" was off by millimeters--and the tip of King's thumb arced through the air and landed on a front row table. He quickly dug up some Scotch tape from his suitcase of props, taped the thumb and attempted to carry on. But when tape failed to stem the flow of blood, King was forced to resort to the cliché: "Is there a doctor in the house?"

There was a nurse, and after a quick look, she stepped up to the mike to request a first-aid kit and a glass of vodka. With its disinfectant properties in mind, the nurse stuck King's thumb in the glass of liquor, which instantly flashed red. Then, as she bandaged the disinfected thumb, King handed the glass to a man in the audience. "Here's a bloody Mary for you," he said. "Thanks for coming to the show!"

That was life on the road--220 days a year--for Mac King: his wife Jennifer Sils waiting for him in their hotel room, props stashed in an old-fashioned suitcase that coordinated with his country-bumpkin plaid suit ("My grandmother made this--it used to be her couch").

But not any more. Since 2000, Mac King does two shows a day, 48 weeks per year, in the 580-seat Harrah's Theater in Las Vegas, and his contract extends to 2011. It's a good life. Although he makes special appearances elsewhere, the family is settled in Las Vegas, where Sils is a marriage and family therapist specializing in show business couples, and their 6-year-old daughter Elizabeth thinks everyone's family friends can be seen on billboards all over town--Penn & Teller, Lance Burton, and other headlining entertainers.

A National Merit Scholar from Louisville, Ky., King had been performing magic for years when he arrived at Mac, intent on a mathematics major. Instead, he became part of the loyal band of anthropology majors led by Professors David McCurdy and the late James Spradley. "I put together a program with Spradley, Walt Mink in psychology, someone in economics, someone in theater. I did my honors thesis in cultural anthropology and magic ['An Extended Excursion: An Ethnography of the Modern Magical Entertainer']. My last year I had eight independent studies. That's why I loved Jim Spradley so much."

King spoke in his dressing room at Harrah's as he repacked his suitcase of props and tried to grab a few bites of a sandwich before his 3 p.m. show. He has an hour between shows, but he spends most of it autographing books and magic kits and having his picture taken with fans. In a city better known for gambling and strippers, King presents a show that you could take your grandmother to, and if she's the kind of grandmother who enjoys a screwdriver with her entertainment, she can have that, too.

In his plaid suit and slightly floppy hair, King looks like an escapee from Mayberry, and indeed you will hear a snippet of the "Andy Griffith Show" theme song during the show. The truth, however, is that King is anything but unsophisticated. Without giving away too much, it may be said that live goldfish appear from a place where goldfish do not normally live, cards teleport to impossible locations, and fire, well, you get the idea. King invites alumni visiting Las Vegas to attend his show, which the Dallas Morning News called the "Best Magic Show in Vegas" and the Los Angeles Times named both a "Best Bet" and "Best Deal on the Strip."

At a show in March, a magician and high school senior from Boston named Eli Cushner and his father were seeing King's show for the fourth time, studying not only his magic but his comic timing and the way he involves audience members, ad-libbing with kids and honeymooners and proving the show is at least as much comedy as magic.

Many aspiring magicians seek to emulate King. His book (with Mark Levy), Tricks with Your Head: Hilarious Magic Tricks and Stunts to Disgust and Delight, is in its fifth printing. He also produces a syndicated comic strip with cousin Bill King called "Magic in a Minute," and a line of humorous magic tricks by the same title, as well as a kit of magic tricks called Suitcase-O-Magic.

A couple of years ago, King began volunteering for literacy with Clark County Reads, visiting elementary schools to perform magic and telling kids how he got started by watching his grandfathers, both amateur magicians. "They would never simply show me how to do the tricks. I'd have to dig through a shelf full of magic books and read them to find the answer." He recently became the spokesperson for the reading program sponsored by Optimists International.

Recalling the peripatetic days of his early career, King says, "Jennifer and I got tired of not seeing each other, and it wasn't going to get any better. Lance [Burton] had been touting Las Vegas to us for years, but I never really thought I had the kind of show for Las Vegas. I don't have any wild animals or dancing naked ladies."

But opportunities and perseverance paid off, and despite the lack of tigers and temptresses, King is booked in Las Vegas into the next decade. "I got very lucky. I've been here for seven years and I'm excited to spend several more years in a city that seems to have really embraced me. I get to hang out with my wife, watch our daughter grow up and do what I love for a living. It's been quite a ride, from the time of my first open mike comedy club performance as part of my anthropology ethnography research to having my own magic show on The Strip in Las Vegas. I can't wait to find out where that journey leads me next."

Jan Shaw-Flamm '76 is a regular contributor to Macalester Today and writes much of the Around Old Main campus news section.