Ammar relishes chance
to train next generation
By Bobby Warren

While Michael Ammar is a great magician, he is, perhaps, an even better man.

Ammar recently conducted a magic lecture in Columbus, Ohio. It had been scheduled at a suburban restaurant. When Ammar arrived, it became apparent the lecture would not go off as planned. The restaurant could not turn down the music, and it could not devote a room solely for the lecture.

It was the last night of Ammar's Midwest magic lecture tour, and once the 2 1/2-hour lecture wrapped up, he and his assistant would be on the road, making a 16-hour trip back to Central Florida. But the final gig was not going to wrap up without challenges.
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So, what to do? Ammar tried to sit down and grab a bite to eat while a Plan B was being hatched.

However, there were constant incoming calls on his iPhone. There were local magicians wanting not a piece of chicken, but a piece of Ammar.

They walked up, introduced themselves, asked questions about magic, and inquired about the lecture. Another asked for all of his Ammar DVDs to be autographed. Ammar's food sat there on his plate, becoming cold, as he signed DVD after DVD -- all with a touch of class and grace. Nothing was more important to Ammar than those who invested their hard-earned cash in his DVDs, books, videos, products, and lectures.

At the last minute, an alternate site had been located about five miles away. So, someone passed out photocopies of a makeshift map, making sure anyone attending the lecture would know about the 11th-hour change.

As fate would have it, the new site of the lecture was in a nursing home. When Ammar was an unknown, up-and-coming magician from Bluefield, W.Va., he performed show after show in nursing homes, mastering his magic ability and polishing his presentation skills.

Ammar made it clear when the lecture began that it typically runs for 2 1/2 hours, however, it would run as long as it needed to be in order for him to answer every last question because he did not know when he would be with them again.

When a young boy asked a question about how he should handle his friends and family members who wanted to handle his props after demonstrating an effect, Ammar, who was standing, sat in a chair in front of him, addressing the budding magician at his level. Ammar told the boy that his situation was a tougher one than the professional's. As a professional magician, people respect his space on the stage and do not reach for his props. Ammar's advice was because people have a sense of when something is fishy when a prop is used, the boy should stick to sleight of hand because there is nothing to hide before or after an effect.

Ammar shared with the group how he decided to become a professional magican. His father owned a restaurant. One Mother's Day, which is generally the busiest day of the year for restaurants, a line of people were waiting to get into the eatery. Ammar's father told his son to look out the window and said one day all of this would be his. It was then, Ammar knew he did not want his job at the restaurant, never mind owning it.

His parents gave him two years to try out this magic thing, and if it did not work, then he would come back to the restaurant. Well, the magic thing worked out rather well for Ammar. During his journey to becoming one of the best close-up performers, Ammar, like those gathered at his Columbus lecture, sought out the advice of the top magicians, like the Professor, Dai Vernon. As a result, he appreciates those who seek him out to gain insights into magic.

The Professor told Ammar if he wanted to be succesful, then he needed to find one thing and do it well -- do it so well that when someone starts to "mess with it," people will say, "Yes, but did you see how Ammar does it?" That one thing for Ammar turned out to be the Topit. It had fallen out of favor and was under-utilized.

In the end, the lecture ran four hours. In the dark of night, some of the magicians lingering around helped Ammar pack his vehicle. True to his word, every question was answered, every photo snapped, every autographed signed. Everyone who approached Ammar received his undivided attention, especially the younger magicians.

The routines and effects Ammar demonstrated and explained (Cups and Balls, Topit techniques, Bill in Lemon, and others) were impressive, but not nearly as impressive as the man behind the magic.