How did you get started in magic?

Often I am asked "how did you get started in magic", or "how did you get your first shows"? Well for those of you who are interested, I present the following.

To start this I must tell you about my grandfather. He was an armature magician. Performing mostly at his church, in Culver City. He performed mostly during the 50's and 60's. He introduced me to magic when I was 8.

By the time I was 9, I was performing for other kids in the back yard for 25 cents.

At age 10, I made the decision to become a professional magician. It wasn't so much a decision as a realization of destiny. So I decided to learn all of the magic that there was. Stage, close up, parlor, and mentalism. I wanted to learn it all.

When I was about 12, I asked permission to perform at my local church, but was denied. They said that I was trying to be like god. So I tried a couple of other churches in the town, but got the same response. Undaunted I started performing at rest homes and schools for special needs kids.

At age 13, I was hired for my first paid show (by adults)! Friends of my parents were having their wedding anniversary. They hired me to do a one hour magic show for $15.

By the time I reached age 14 I realized that I was not going to live long enough to learn ALL of the magic.

I was kind of a skinny kid, with a big attitude, so my nickname at that time was Big John.  Someone gave me a box of ten decks of cards. I took all the aces out of all the decks and fed them into my mother’s Underwood Typewriter (pre computer age). And proceeded to create my first business cards. Big Johns House of Magic, One Hour of Magic for $15.

At age 16, I performed in my church.

My grandfather was very proud of me.

At age 18 I performed my first dove act. But that's another story...

-john