Erick Olson is lucky to be alive after his first attempts to recreate Houdini’s famous Chinese water torture trick failed when he was eight years old.
Olson, a third grader at the time, saw the film Houdini starring Tony Curtis and immediately knew that magic was the path he wanted to take in life.
So, without any training or research, he asked some of his schoolmates to throw him into the shallow end of the pool, and he attempted to escape his self-imposed bondage. After the first failure, he got them to throw him in again.
“I’m lucky I survived,” says Olson, who was born in Wisconsin and now lives in Florida. “I didn’t really know the trick.”
His takeaway from the experience — to learn all that he could about magic.
That meant, a trip to the library.
“I asked if they had books on Houdini. They didn’t, but they did have books on magic,” he says, noting that after checking out and reading three books on the subject, the librarian said he could try his magic at the library.
Olson ended up having his first show at the age of 12. He performed at a birthday party and received a $15 check as payment. “I thought I would be rich,” he says. “At that show, I did funny kid tricks like pouring milk in a cone and having it come out confetti.”
Taking the Stage for a Night of Magic and Laughter
On March 5, Olson will be taking the stage at the Carole and Marcus Weinstein Jewish Community Center’s Night of Magic and Laughter Annual Fundraising Gala.
The seasoned magician promises there will be “a lot of audience participation. I’ll do a lot of comedy and transition into mental magic,” he says. “It should be a really good time.”
Olson did his first professional show at the age of 16 and has been performing ever since. He’s traveled the world appearing at conventions, trade shows, and working as an emcee.
“It’s a perfect mix of comedy, magic, and mentalism,” he says.
Over the years, Olson has found the perfect balance between the three.
“I always want to incorporate clean comedy into my magic and have some type of special effect magic that people will talk about forever,” he says.
Magic is like a drug, he adds, as is performing.
“There is not another art form like it,” he says. “If you are a magician, you can perform with everyday objects. I feel like I can work any room. I can do magic in any language because magic is visual,” he says.
Mastering Mental Magic
The most difficult part of his act is performing mentalism, where he magically deciphers what people are thinking.
“It’s not just practicing it at home and thinking you will crush it,” he says. “You have to try it all the time with people and find the material that fits your personality. You fail a lot in the beginning.”
There are several methods behind it. If one is not working during his show, he has to switch to another.
“Once you start hitting it, it’s amazing,” he says.
He often asks people in the audience to think of one thing that pops into their head, like a childhood pet or a personal moment that touches them. “They often help you go down the right road,” he says.
The best part of being a magician is connecting with the people in the room, he adds.
“That’s the magic. It’s seeing the faces, the amazement and touching people. It’s having them forget about their problems for a little while. That’s what makes me feel — WOW!”
For details and tickets to the Weinstein JCC’s gala featuring Erick Olson, visit https://weinsteinjcc.org/gala/
