A restaurant is probably the last place you'd expect to see a magician throwing around a bagful of tricks, but then again, Don Russell has never been one for propriety.
Every Tuesday night, the local magician bustles through Tony Roma's dining room performing tableside tricks for kids and parents.
"In the Lower 48, there are all sorts of restaurants that have this type of entertainment," he said. "It fills the time if there's a wait. It's up-close and personal, and it keeps the kids happy."
Very happy.
Such was the case of Tori Scott, who was celebrating her sixth birthday with her parents and younger brother. But forget the ribs and chicken; the food was the last thing on her mind. She stood up and glanced around before finally screaming, "Here he comes!"
A few seconds later, Russell whirled over to the table.
"Got a good trick for me?" he asked, reaching over and pulling a ball from behind her ear. "Hey, don't you wash back there?" he teased.
Tori squealed and clapped her hands.
"Whoa, what's this, a rabbit behind your other ear? No, wait, it's a birthday candle!"
After including Tori's mother, father and little brother in the act, Russell bustled off to whip another table into shape.
"The best part about performing at Tony Roma's is encountering folks who may have never seen a magician up close before," Russell explained. "Some of the things I do, like a cup and ball trick or a mind-reading effect, are so baffling that people are totally surprised."
Add me to that list, for when Russell rambled over to where my 11-year-old son, Christopher, and his 12-year-old friend, Austin Keyes, sat, he totally stumped us.
"Write down a word," Russell said as he handed over a small notepad and a pen. I shook the pen and wrote, as messily as I could, the word "swim."
"That'll get him," I whispered to the kids.
"No it won't," my son shot back, and he was right. Russell took the pad and, without looking, began mimicking swimming motions with his arms.
"How'd you do that?" I whined, but Russell had turned his attention to the kids, who were under his spell after a water glass trick.
"Don't pick the wrong one," he warned Austin as he laid out a card trick. "You could actually blow up the whole world if you pick the wrong one."
"I know that one! I know how he did that one!" Austin yelled.
By the time our food came, Russell had moved off to another table, and we could see his arms waving and flying with that unique brand of Russell-mania: hyper-kinetic, fast-talking, fast-joking.
Well, OK, sometimes his jokes do fall flat, but the man never waivers; like the Energizer Bunny, he keeps going and going and going.
"The stuff I do is entertainment first," Russell said, "from making a ball appear from behind a kid's ear to pulling a ribbon out of his nose. The giggles and laughter is incomparable. The more they laugh, the more outrageous things get."
The kids were eating it up, especially since Russell incorporates interactive magic, allowing youngsters to hold, smell and otherwise mess around with the props.
"Try this," he said to a young boy. "No, like that," and he moved the boy's hand up over the scarf until he was holding it correctly. "OK, now pull it hard," and the boy pulled, and the scarf got bigger and bigger and bigger.
"Wow," screamed the boy, "that's some tie."
"That tie can reach the moon," Russell said.
Such playfulness was the backbone of the evening. Russell transported us, parents and aunts and uncles alike, back to the silly timelessness of childhood.
"Can I try that?" yelled one father, waving his hand in the air and stomping his foot. His tie was crooked, and barbecue sauce splattered over his cuffs, but he didn't care. His face shone with sweat and surprise and wonder.
It was, you see, more than just a few good tricks. It was pure magic.
MAGICIAN DON RUSSELL performs tableside at dinner times Tuesday at Tony Roma's, 1420 E. Tudor Road. For information, call 561-7427.
