The stars of magic to come out

Jennifer K Mahal

Amos Levkovitch lost his marbles for magic. Literally.

A friend in third or fourth grade showed the Israeli-born magician an

effect using apricot seeds.

“He made them appear and disappear,” Levkovitch said. “I gave him my

marble collection and he taught me the trick. I don’t remember how many

[marbles], but it was the best ones.”

It’s doubtful that the apricot seed trick will be performed tonight

when Levkovitch and others take the stage at Orange Coast College as part

of Dale Salwak’s “Stars of Magic.”

But there will be doves that appear out of thin air, people sawed into

pieces and much more. This is the 12th year in a row that the magic show

will appear at the college. The lineup includes comedy magician Ed

Alonzo, Dana Daniels and his parrot, Levkovitch and his doves, and the

original illusions of Chuck Jones.

“It’s elegant enchantment for the whole family,” said Dale Salwak, who

created the “Stars of Magic” tour more than 20 years ago. “The emphasis

is on solid entertainment.”

Salwak’s first exposure to magic came at age 5 or 6, when he saw a

magician perform at a birthday party. His first trick was to place an egg

in a paper bag and then explode the bag. The egg would turn to confetti.

By the time he was 10, his parents hired him to perform at a birthday

party.

“They paid me $2,” said Salwak, who will not be performing.

Levkovitch said he was born a magician.

“That’s the truth, like you are born a musician or a painter or an

artist a sculptor,” said the magician who performs often at the Magic

Castle in Los Angeles. “I think the first time I was exposed I went,

‘Wow!’ It took me like a storm and I am still carrying the disease.”

For Chuck Jones, who just returned from a tour in New Zealand and

Australia, exposure to magic came through the television set when he was

11.

“There was this lady, Dell O’Dell. She had a local television show in

L.A. at the time,” Jones said. “In fact, in later years I became an

assistant for her act.”

Jones, who works in big illusions, said the first trick he probably

learned was “passe passe bottle and glass.”

“A bottle and glass are covered with metal tubes, and when the tubes

are lifted, they switch places,” Jones said.

He moved on to illusions, like the broom effect in which a woman is

suspended perpendicular, with only a broomstick holding her up.

“My favorite one now is one of my signature pieces,” said Jones, a

California native. “A girl is divided into four parts and then the parts

are mixed up -- the head’s in the middle, the thighs on the bottom and so

on.”

It’s a trick that Levkovitch will get to see from the wings

tonight.”Always when I see other magicians, I always say ‘Wow!’ even

though I know how it’s done,” he said.

FYI

* What: “Stars of Magic”

* Where: Orange Coast College’s Robert B. Moore Theatre, 2701 Fairview

Road, Costa Mesa

* When: 8 p.m. tonight

* Cost: $16-$33

* Call: (714) 432-5880