Baker making a career in restaurants
By Bobby Warren
Most magicians get their start from a father or grandfather who shows him a simple effect, and the magic bug bites. For Columbus, Ohio-area magician Carroll Baker, he got his start as a six-year-old after spending a day with Harry Blackstone Jr.
Baker won a magic contest, which earned him the opportunity to carry Blackstone's bag of tricks as the legendary performer entertained children in what is now known as Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus. Baker said he knew then he wanted to be a magician.
“I was fascinated with magic,” Baker said. “You could tell by the way people treated him that he was special. At the end of the day, I knew I wanted to be like that.”
Baker also had lunch with Blackstone. “I was a little scared,” he said. “He had a deep voice. I was a little freaked out.”
At the end of lunch, Blackstone gave his newest friend a Royal Magic Spike Coin effect and a fifty-cent piece to do it. Blackstone also instructed the budding magician to go to the library, where he would be able to learn everything he needed from the magic books. So, that's what the young Baker did. He did not even realize there was such a thing as a magic shop until he was 17 years old.
Baker, who turns 41 in August, went on to earn an associate of arts degree in commercial art and is a photographer. For the past twelve years, Baker has been a full-time professional magician. Just as his introduction to the craft was a little unorthodox, so was his entry into full-time performing.
While at his aunt's funeral, Baker took a deck of cards and kept some of the kids busy with some card tricks. As fate would have it, he was introduced to Tom Barch, who performed magic at a Max & Erma's restaurant in Gahanna, Ohio.
Baker would later fill in for Barch over the summers, performing for three or four months at a time. Eventually, Max & Erma's hired Baker, starting at two nights a week and working up to six nights a week. He performed at Max & Erma's for sixteen years, at one point he did magic at eight restaurants each week, going to two on Sundays.
When performing at restaurants, Baker said it was not really about the magic, but about the guests. He enjoyed seeing how happy they were and that they were being entertained.
Baker was at the restaurant game so long, he developed relationships with the clientele and got the chance to see their children grow up.
He now keeps busy plying his trade at about seven restaurants in the Greater Columbus area. Because his restaurant gigs keeps him on a tight schedule, he does not lecture as much as he would like. However, he still manages to work in some lectures.
Though Baker spends a lot of time with his restaurant magic, his career has touched upon a lot of aspects of magic. He teaches a magic camp during the summer, and he teaches after-school enrichment courses. He can be seen teaching magic on MAK Magic's “Secrets Revealed” DVD series. Baker has done 16 DVDs, covering magic with cards, trick decks, mentalism, escapes, rope magic, and much more. It started out, the Columbus-based magic manufacturer needed someone to demo some effects for the company's website.
Baker has also produced his own DVDs, “Magic on the Menu” and “Carroll Baker's Kid Show Basics.” He created The Veil, a utility device that allows the magician to put a ring, a coin, or a marker under a hanky, have it secured it with a rubber band, and while the spectator holds onto the hanky, the object vanishes. The Veil was kept underground for years, and now Baker is offering it to the magic community.
For more information, check out his products in his online store at www.carrollbaker.net or become a friend on Facebook.
