The proprietor of the Vanishing Rabbit Magic Shop glances at his watch.

“I can’t believe it’s 3 o’clock already,” says Brent Smith. “Where’d the day go?”

Time flies when you spend your workday pulling rabbits out of hats – and lemons out of thin air.

Dave Olecko photos, Business Edge
Chief Executive Magician Brent Smith, above and below right: Just don’t ask him to use your pet bird.

Smith is anything but your typical small business owner. There is rarely a dull moment at the magic shop on Centre Street in Calgary, where it’s always showtime.

While his father Lorne tends to a customer, Smith is in his magic zone, telling a visitor to tap a cup twice with a magic wand.

“Look, there’s a lemon stuck under the cup!” says Smith as he removes the cup.

Jaws drop all around as Smith unveils a lemon.

Just another day at the magic shop.   1. OK, please tell me. How the heck did that lemon get under that cup?

“I would tell you, but then I would have to kill you (laughing). Oh, it’s pure magic. It’s just magic, hey. That’s timing, misdirection and sleight of hand. There’s a little bit of everything in that trick.”



2. What initially sparked your interest in magic?

“I got started in magic when I was just a little boy. I was probably five, maybe six years old and my dad showed me some magic tricks – really basic card tricks. A friend of mine did a couple of card tricks to me and then I saw Doug Henning on TV. Doug Henning was levitating people and cutting them in half and squishing them and squashing them and producing little turtles and all kinds of stuff. And I thought it was really cool, really neat stuff, and that’s basically how I got started. I did Little League baseball, I did guitar lessons and I did Cub Scouts but they never stuck with me. Magic has stuck with me all of my life. It was my dream and I knew it was going to be part of my life, even as a little boy. I really wanted it to be my full-time profession.”

3. What other jobs have you had that weren’t so magical?

“I have worked in retail, at the airport and I’ve worked in the media. I was a television news photographer for seven years (including a stint with A-Channel in Calgary), and that’s a very cool job. But I knew growing up that there was always going to be a fork in the road – there was either going to be magic or there was going to be another job. I had to choose between everything else and magic three years ago and I’m really glad I took the leap. I loved working as a photographer, but it was just a little tough going from a car accident to Mrs. Smith’s Grade 2 class.”

4. You’ve gotten rave reviews as a magician, but how do you stack up on the business side, as a small-business owner?

“Well, I think I am doing well. If this magic shop is not the biggest in Alberta, then it is in the top two based on the selection of items and the square footage, so I have done very well. There are a couple of guys that sell stuff out of their house in Calgary, but this is the only retail magic shop in Calgary that you can actually walk into.”

5. What have you learned about the business side of magic?

“Well, it’s like they say. Show business is 10 per cent show and  90 per cent business. In the business aspect of it, I have learned how to really relate with the kinds of people that are out there, because there are so many different kinds of people that you meet and perform for and you need to be able to relate to them. When people hire me out to do corporate strolling magic, it’s my job to walk around to the different people within the party or the organization to make them feel at ease. That is very difficult for some people to do but it comes fairly natural for me.”

6. What’s the most gratifying part of this job for you personally?

“Personally, I love doing something that no one else can do. It’s the ability to do the impossible, to make smiles on little kids’ faces and just to make people feel at ease.”

7. Can you relate a story about that?

“I was down at Fish Creek Park performing for a kid’s birthday party. I have a trick that involves a pan and I lit it on fire and covered it. Then, when I lifted the lid of the pan, my bird was in there, but I had accidentally snapped its neck when I loaded it into the pan. When I lifted the lid off, the bird was actually half dead and it was doing the funky chicken in the pan. I had about 50 people there so I grabbed my bird and said: ‘Here is my bird Chamata, how about a round of applause.’ They gave me a round of applause, I put the bird underneath my table and went on with my show. Well, wouldn’t you know it. After the show, a little boy and his dad came up to me and asked to pet the bird. I looked into the cage and it was dead. It was toast. Then I remembered that I had my rubber dove in my car and went and got that. The dad was shocked and he kept saying: ‘Wow, it looked real and it looked as if it had feathers on it and that it was moving . . . wow, you’re excellent.’ In the end, I got a booking out of this, doing his kid’s birthday party.”

8. What is your vision for your magic business?

“I hope to have the biggest magic shop in Canada and the most well-stocked shop in the country. That’s fairly difficult because there are some big, big shops out in Toronto, but I’m going to try and make this the biggest. I believe I can do that in about five years and be the Entrepreneur of the Year.”

9. Is your business profitable?

“Yes, it was profitable last year and I expect it’ll be profitable this year (he estimates 2002 revenue at about $150,000, including magic services such as shows and schools). I’m pretty proud of that because it often takes a small business five to seven years to be profitable. The magic services certainly help out the store because there isn’t a lot of overhead for the shows and the magic schools. The popularity of Harry Potter with kids has certainly been a blessing (for the business). (Magician) David Blaine’s popularity has also been a boost to the business.”

10. What kind of person becomes a magician?

“I think you have to start young. By being young, I mean six or seven years old, and you’re the kid that is a little bit withdrawn, doesn’t quite fit in with everybody and feels a need to be able to do something special that no one else can do. Magic brought the shyness out of me and it gave me self-confidence and self-esteem.”

11. What is your most memorable moment in magic?

“Besides the show with the dead bird, there’s a pretty memorable moment from downtown Barbados where my wife (Anna-Marie) and I went after we were married. We were in a rum shop at 8:30 in the morning . . . and I started doing some magic for the locals, not realizing that they actually believe in magic and voodoo. I was making sponge balls disappear and reappear in their hands. When two people opened their hands to find more than one sponge ball in them, they freaked out, darted off and ran away down the street.”

12. What are your thoughts about the tragic incident in which magician/entertainer Roy Horn was recently attacked by his tiger and critically injured in the Siegfried & Roy show?

“I know he is the best animal trainer in the world so, considering what he has done with lions and tigers, if that animal can turn on him, then it will turn on anyone because he is literally the best.

“If I could talk to him now, I would just give him my best and tell him that I would like to see him back in Vegas for sure.”

13. Would you put your life on the line for an audience?

“It would depend on what the trick is and what is involved. Some magic is very involved in the intricacies of how it all works but if it was right and the timing was right, yeah, for sure.” 

14. Who is the magician you most admire?

“I admire quite a few. I like Lance Burton in Vegas. David Copperfield is doing some pretty spectacular stuff out there. David Blaine is good. He does a lot of consumer-type stuff – things that I sell right here in the shop.”

15. What’s your best advice for a young, aspiring magician?

“Buy a good magic book and learn from that as opposed to videos. Buy a good magic book, lock yourself in your bedroom and read it, live it, learn it and practise it. You need to have a good base of magic understanding before things start to make sense. Once you start learning magic and start understanding it, it will all start to fit together. When I was six years old, I got every single magic book that they had in the library and I read them all.”

16. What do you do when you get bored with magic?

“I have not once been bored of magic because there is always something new to learn, especially when you own a magic shop. There is always a new move or trick to learn or a new video to watch.”

17. Does your wife get bored of magic?

“My wife loves magic because she doesn’t look at it as a challenge. She just watches it and accepts it. Some people look at magic as a challenge. It’s like, ‘I can do it and you can’t.’ To me, it’s like playing Jeopardy, where you have the answer but you need to find the question. The question is, ‘How did you do that?’”

18. Beyond building your business, do you have any other goals?

“I have a goal to make a place where people come to see magic in Calgary. It would be like a theatre, a place where people could celebrate a birthday or party and see magic.”

19. If you could magically change one thing in the world, what would it be?

“The fighting in the Middle East.”

20. In your next lifetime would you come back as a magician?

“No, I would come back as a scientist.”

IN PROFILE: Brent Smith
* Title: Magician/magic shop owner.
* Born/raised/age: Calgary, 39.
* Education: SAIT in Calgary, cinema, television, stage and radio arts.
* Career: Smith has owned and operated the Vanishing Rabbit Magic Shop since 2000. Prior to that, he spent seven years as a television news photographer in Red Deer, Medicine Hat and Calgary (A-Channel). He also stars in magic shows and runs magic schools.
* Accolades: Smith is a multiple winner of the Calgary Brotherhood of Magicians, Ring 66, Close-up competition.
* Boyhood Idol: Magician Doug Henning.
* Passion: Magic.

THE COMPANY: Vanishing Rabbit Magic Shop
* Profile: The magic shop sells magic paraphernalia, including jokes, books and videos and markets its products through its online store.
* Magic Services: Magician Brent Smith teaches one-day and three-day magic classes and magic camps. He also entertains at birthdays, corporate parties and banquets. His comedy magic show is Grand Illusions.
* Websites: www.vanishingrabbit.com, www.grandillusions.ca
* Location: 2219 Centre St. N.W., Calgary, T2E 2T4.
* Phone: 403-230-0810, 1-877-872-2248.