Unless you lived in the Kentucky/Ohio/Tennessee area, there is a very good chance you have never heard of Bob Escher, and if you have, it is most likely a result of his term as International President of the IBM. Bob Escher was a great magician. He may not have been an innovator of stage illusions or a sleight of hand maven, he may have never released a DVD or written a book, but Bob knew how to bring magic to life for real people and he knew how to create a space where magicians had the opportunity to learn, grow, and fellowship in constructive, meaningful ways.

Bob Escher

I began exploring magic on my own at age 4. From a single trick in a TV magic set, I went through the library book/ retail store magic kit course of study taken by many young men of that era. Soon I was introduced to a local magician who pointed me in the direction of the nearest magic store. It was several years of solitary study before I ran into that magician again and he took me to my first magic club meetings.

I would not be the magician I am today without the kindness and support of the Lexington and Louisville Magic clubs and especially that of Bob Escher.  Aside from the magicians who television programs inspired me as a kid, Bob Escher was the best “real life” magician I had ever seen. Bob could perform any type of magic, from simple card tricks to full stage illusions, and he loved talking and exploring all branches of the art. Why he would choose to spend time with the fat kid from Frankfort is beyond me, but he did, and my life is better for it.

I feel lucky to have shared many wonderful moments with Bob.  I will cherish the memory of trying to stuff his wife Sandy into Thurston’s Asrah table. I had pulled back the wrong strap and we were giving her a painful wedgie with each push. I will never forget the all-night magic session following the rained out Iroquois Amphitheater show that literally went ALL night. We started doing tricks around 8 oclock and napped for about an hour before attending a day long magic seminar presented by mind readers Larry Becker and Lee Earle. (I will confess that some additional napping did occur during their presentation.)  I remember literally waking up mid phone call later that night while in the process of explaining a card trick I had shown him in the wee hours of the previous morning.  That trick was Dave Lederman’s Dunbury Delusion. I mention that because it was the one Bob always asked to see.

George Kirkendall

Bob appreciated great magic and great magicians even when they fell a bit outside the norm. One night I was lucky to hang with him and George Kirkendall, one of magic’s strangest characters. We ganged up on an unsuspecting magic club member, engineering the evening to give this lucky soul an experience which would keep him awake for years. Not only did “Kirk” demonstrate the uncanny ability to read everyone’s unspoken thoughts, he actually transformed into a walking, talking, living skeleton right in front of our eyes. As many know, I was a serious student of the Bizarre, a school of magical thought that attempted to reinvest magic with a sense of power by exploring dark themes and adding elements of horror to the performance of magic. While many magicians would eschew my work, mocking it even, Bob was always supportive and interested to see what direction it would take next.

I don’t know why the collecting bug bit me, but I know that Bob was critical to my early education. I will never forget the first time I stepped into his basement and saw all that glorious stuff! Each visit a new toy would be revealed. I was both thrilled and covetous. I never imagined that I would ever possess a single piece of that caliber, let alone a collection as extensive as Bob’s.  I look around me at this moment and I am surrounded by impossible things – things that do impossible things and things that as a young person I would have thought impossible for me to ever obtain. To this day I am still chasing after many of those rare items which he shared with me early on, items which fueled my imagination and motivated my quest to find them.

The Greatest Magician of All Time- Del Ray

Bob introduced me to several legends in the world of magic including Walter Sheppard, Del Ray, and Bill Dodson – each of them having also had a profound impact on who I am and the direction my magic has taken. Bob came to my senior talent show in high school and immediately asked that I present that show for the local club’s annual public event. It was there where I met Jeff Peyton who gave me the harshest advice I had ever received, advice which I needed badly to hear and which changed the course of everything.

But more than any of that, Bob always made me feel like I had something to offer. Bob encouraged me to perform, to not shy away of stepping out and sharing my magic with an audience. Bob taught me that I had something to offer; that it didn’t matter if I was following Del Ray or a kid with a change bag – that if I believed in what I was doing, and presented it competently, audiences would respond positively. I am sure I am not the only magician who could say these words about Bob. Bob touched many magicians’ lives, not only in his travels but his many years of work with the Louisville Magic Club.

When I was in my late teen years, I recall reading a book by Eugene Burger in which the idea of the “magic club” was presented in a less than favorable light. At that time I was getting to know other magicians and was surprised to hear that many of them wanted nothing to do with  “magic clubs” and many were downright hostile to them.

I couldn’t fathom what they were talking about. . . Until I began attending other clubs.

Bob Escher – Classic Magic

Sure, some of them have nice people, some even have talented magicians in attendance, but none compared to the Louisville Magic club which I attended while in college. I could go on a litany about where clubs go wrong – and I have, even in a series of articles for the Linking Ring Magazine. And I could go on and on about what the Louisville Club did right – and I have, in that same series of articles. But I think I can sum it up in a single sentence. While president, Bob Escher  made decisions based on what was the best for magic. He didn’t play politics. He wasn’t using the club to market his own shows or stroke his own ego. Bob loved magic and loved the people who make magic.  He did everything he could to contribute to their growth, their education, their fun, and their success – and in doing so, he made better magicians who performed better magic.  When it came to the club, Bob put MAGIC ahead of everything else, and in our world of engorged egos, that is a rare as pixie dust.

Bob Escher was a magical treasure. He left our art a better place for his having been here, and has set an example for those who love it as much as he did to follow.

I am the magician I am today because of Bob Escher, and for that I will forever be thankful.

Thank you Bob. Thank you for showing me what magic can be.