Since 1957, Peter Marucci has been delighting
audiences with his special blend of magic and comedy.
Born in the small city of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, he was
already performing regularly when he moved to Toronto.
"I was in the newspaper business at the time," says
Marucci and joined the local Ring, "where I met people
like Sid Lorraine, and on Saturdays a bunch of us would hang
out at the Browser's Den magic shop; it was run by Len and
Bernice Cooper, who set up a practice close-up table in the
back of the shop for the regulars. In those days, the "young
unknowns" besides myself included Jay Sankey and Gary
Kurtz (yes, I was young once)."
In Toronto, Marucci worked as news editor with the Toronto
Telegram (now defunct) for almost seven years and the Toronto
Star (the country's biggest paper) for 15 years.
It was there that he met and married his wife Helen -- who
has suffered through years of "pick a card" at 7
a.m. and keeps threatening to start wearing a T-shirt that
says "My next husband will be normal!"
They moved to the small, rural town of Fergus, Ontario (only
about two hours from Toronto) about 18 years ago, where Marucci
retired from the newspaper business. "But not from magic,"
he says. "In fact, I'm working more now that when I was
-- well, working!"
His main focus is local birthday parties, of course ("after
all, that's where the real money -- and fun -- is," he
says).
He has, as a result, become a local celebrity of sorts: "Youngsters
point at me on the street and shout, 'Remember me? You were
at my brother's birthday party!' and things like that!"
As well, the award-winning magicomedian has also performed
in the U.S. and Canada for adults and children at all types
of private parties, clubs, restaurants, church and service
groups, conventions and trade shows.
And, just for magicians, Marucci has lectured and performed
close-up and stage turns at magic gatherings like NYCAN, in
Syracuse, NY; SEAM in Greensboro, NC; Michigan Magic Day,
in Lansing, MI, among many others.
He has dazzled audiences, young and old, everywhere from home
birthday parties to Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Canada's
leading performing stage, with his original brand of magic
and really, really bad gags! He is truly the Prince of Puns,
the Guru of Groaners, the Thief of Badgags!
As well, he has "wowed" audiences at large and small
street fairs and busking festivals, like The Great Teddy Bear
Caper in Fergus, ON, Oktoberfest in Kitchener-Waterloo, ON,
and the Downtown Buskers' Festival in Brockville, ON, again,
among many others.
For the past 10 years, Marucci has also been writing the monthly
Showtime column in the Linking Ring magazine, the world's
largest publication for magicians.
He has won numerous awards for his work and for the column,
including the prestigious Howard Bamman trophy for the best
continuing series in the Linking Ring; an award of special
merit from the IBM in the originality category, and an award
for one of three One-Man Parades, of original material, in
the Linking Ring magazine.
He also writes a monthly column in the e-zine Visions (www.online-visions.com),
and his work also appears in Britain on Karl Bartoni's website
Dragonskull (http://www.dragonskull.co.uk/main.htm)
and on Doug Byrd's website Bizarre Magic (http://www.bizarremagick.com/)
, as well as in M-U-M magazine, the official publication of
the Society of American Magicians.
He has lectured to magic clubs in Canada and the U.S. for
the past seven years, with a new lecture each year. His most
recent lecture - Bizarre Magic -- is a departure from the
area of laughs for the magician-comedian. As well as that
lecture, he is also doing two others: Real-Life Table Hopping
(everything from how to get the job to what the act should
be), and Wild West Wonders (a collection of magic stories
from the American frontier).
At present, he is working on his next lecture -- on bizarre
magic -- aptly titled "Bizarre, Too".
Nigel: We are very pleased to present
our "Special Guest" for July 2003 as Mr. Peter Marucci.
Peter has been a long-standing member of Magic Bunny and only
contributes a variety of articles to our monthly e-zine, Top
Hat, as well as providing some top-quality replies to a wide
range of questions on this board.
Right from the first moment that Peter registered with Magic
Bunny, he has been held in the very highest esteem by all
members and so it is with great pleasure that we welcome him
to be our very first guest on Magic Bunny, since the change
of servers.
We have included a biography below for your information and
we do hope that you may enjoy using this forum over the forthcoming
week.
Mike: With great appreciation I say,
"Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to
be our speaker for the next week, Peter!"
Darmoe: I just can't get away from
this guy!
Welcome Peter! Great to have you around!
Sean: You've been a great contributor
here already Peter, and I'm sure everyone will love to pick
that brain of yours! Thanks for doing this.
Peter Marucci: Gee, if I were going
to pick a brain, I think I'd pick somebody else's! LOL!
Dr. Glenn W. French: Hi Peter, we have
talked before, hope you remember me. We talked about Slydini,
his real name was the same as yours. Welcome to the Bunny,
glad to see you here. Hope your stay here is a good one. Did
you happen to find anymore info about the Chinese Compass?
Well others want to get in here to say hello so I'll let them.
Take care.
Peter Marucci: Nope, I still have found
out why the Chinese Compass is called the Chinese Compass
or who originally came up with the clever handling (even though
I have about six different versions!)
And, yes, Tony Slydini's last name is the same as mine (his
was Quintino Marucci) and for a good reason! His father and
my grandfather were brothers.
Unfortunately I only met Tony once in New York but he was
still performing (at Iman's Mostly Magic). My wife and I went
to his apartment the next day and that was the last I saw
of him. He retired from performing shortly after and then
moved out of state to a nursing home, where he died not long
after.
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