Sunday, September .29, 1974

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Page Five


PROFILE

THE EMPORIUM
Henry Moorehouse:
Magic and miracles

HAIL TO
THE VICTORS!
Now for the first time an in- >>
depth look at the block athlete
in bi q - t i m e intercollegiate
sports. The super performers at
one university-The University
of Michigon-tell in their own
words what it was like to be a
star-and black-in the days
before Civil Riqhts legislotion.
140 PAGES
17 PAGES OF PHOTOS
6" x 9" softback
$4.95
AVAILABLE AT LOCAL BOOKSTORES

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By MARY LONG was. And he said, "My father
doesn't have a job, he's a ma-
H ENRY MOOREHOUSE open- gician." You see what I nean p
ed the door of his magic He couldn't associate my work
shop and peered out. Spotting a with a 'job' because it's so
visitor, he grinned slightly with- unique and so pleasurable.'
in his full dark beard and ask- Atlsi a toldit
ed, "Want to see a miracle?" t shop.Sophstated ne
One big step over a lounging the shop. Sophisticated and lei-
brownanbigteorlogsurely, skepticism showed plain-
and you are inside the newly- ly in his face as he moved
opened Magic Emporium on E. throughout the store.
William Street. "This is a magic "Want to see a miracl?"
place-we deal in miracles and Moorehouse asked invitin ly.
happiness," Moorehouse s a y s "Show me something," the
expansively, gesturing around man said.
the store. He stands beneath an,
enormous framed theatre pos- MOOREHOUSE quickly ran
ter of "Alexander, The One through a card trick and'
Who Knows," a swarthy figure then, with infinite subtleties of
in a bejeweled turban, with performance, worked a trick
eyes big as cueballs. dealing with color selection that
Moorehouse, heavy - set and knocked the customer on nis
round-faced, with his dark hair jaded ear.
falling boyishly over his fore- Watching the man 1 e a v e,
head, has been dealing in mir- Moorehouse smiled. "Audiences
acles for nearly thirty years, haven't changed. Children are
since the age of eleven when he the hardest audiences. 'they
boughthis first trick deck of neverhchange. They have no
cards in an Illinois magic shop. hang-ups and it's surprising, but

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Daily photo by KAREN KASMAUSKI

A GREAT NEW
MOTION PICTURE COMEDY

"MAGIC IS THE one and only
hobby without limitations,"'
the magician s a i d decidedly.'
"You can both do it for your-
self and you can perform for
other people. The greatest en-
joyment is seeing how othersl
are amazed. After all, magi-
cians are performers. I want
to see someoneaenjoying what
m doing. Yeah," he said
thoughtfully, "all entertainersf
feed off that."
He leaned against a table tea-
turing The Funny Bunny Trick,
The Crazy Cube, shrinking dyes,
magic cups and a stack of tiny
black and w h i t e cardbxard
boxes intriguingly entitled 'The
Sheik's Bequest.' Folding power-
ful-looking arms a c r o s a ,'is
chest, he attempted to °xalain
what hail finally led him to em-
brace magic as a profession.

their simple, direct minds often
come closest to figuring out
magic. Adults cannot forget
their problems and the tensions
of that particular day. And
they always want to challenge."
The magician performs even-
sively for both adults and chil-j
dren. Kids know him as "Mr.
Bubbles." Moorehouse has
worked coast-to-coast, appear-
ing in nightclubs, trade snaws
and television.
A young man stands next to
the c a se containing rubberI
chickens and rubber hands and

tion. It's acting. Magic iin't
much different today than it
ever was. Perhaps it's a title
less hokey. People must be sat-
isfied with different explana-
tions. You know, no longer
would anyone fall for a 'In the
mysterious year 2002 . . .' type
of thing."
H I STEENAGED daughter,
ran in to use the telephone.
Other people followed closely
behind her, including a man'
who needed flash powder for a
play he would be appearing in
this weekend. Did the Empo-
rium carry it?

each, all trying to sell magic
to the same small crowd of
people. There are lectures, too,
and shows-it's crazy . . ."
"It's like a carnival," his
daughter called out, hand cup-
ped over the phone's receiver.
"A carnival," Moorehouse
smiled. "And a magic shop is
the only place in town where
you get continuous free ente:.
tainment."
IJE QUICKLY bends a long
pink balloon into an intricate
dog. A young customer laughs,
delighted.
Moorehouse nods towards hcr.
"I can only say again, that the
very best thing about all this
is knowing someone is enjoy-
ing themself because of wnat
I do."
The girl s t o pp e d giggling,
aware that Moorehouse had
noticed her.
He handed her the dog. "Keep
laughing," he said gently.
farI ong is Contributing
Editor to the Sunday Magazine.

the seven-voiumei a r e e ' rs
Course in Magic, slowly shuf- Moorehouse nodded and laugh-
fling cards. He insists on letting ed, "Flash Powder, Flash Pouf,
everyone proceed him, as he Flash Bang," he said, reading'
is waiting to "talk shop" with the brand labels. "You name it,
Moorehouse. we've got it."

THE GREATEST STARS!
THE GREATEST MUSICALS!
THE GREATEST ENTERTAINMENT!
"OUSIN
ENTERTAIN-
MENT"
N.Y. Magazine

PULLING UP one of the black
window shades and looking
out into the street, Moorehouse

"WITH MAGIC two people reiterated that good magic vras'
can be six and sixty and basically due to the magician,
make castles in the sand to- being an entertainer, an adept
gether. There's no economic actor. "It's skill and presenta-'
separation and no snobbishness.
And it's so purely enjoyably--
listen, my 14-year-old was asked j
in school what his father's iob
A3
gener
selling th(
MON.-TUES.
GEOFF
MULDAUR
AND
HIS BAND
(formerly of the JIM
KWESKIN JUG BAND
& the PAUL BUTTER- I We are U of M's ir
FIELD BLUES BAND) fiction, essays, dra
2.50 translations, and cr
1411 Hill sions from U of M f
7's1+__ ___ __

"You know, the thing to see,"
Moorehouse said, after demon-
strating the method oftmanag-
ing flash powder to the cus-
tomer, "are the dealer shows.
There are at least 25 magnicians
with 8 to 16 feet of table space

(IVA00%

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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
PROFESSIONAL
THEATRE
PROGRAMS
presents

'ii'ree Sisters
by Anton Chekhov
directed by Boris Tumarin
OCTOBER 17 THlROUGH 20
Love's Labour's Lost
by William Shakespeare
directed by Gerald Freedman
OCTOBER 24 THROUGH 27
EDWARD II
by Christopher Marlowe