I.B.M. Member Profile

Roy Frye

About Roy Frye

Here is what the Press had to say...

 

Roy Frye showed just how special his magic was...

...Frye demonstrated that the hand really is quicker than the eye...

...he wows participants...

Magician Roy Frye amused and enchanted...

...an afternoon of magic and laughter...

Laughter, illusion and delight...

...Magician Roy Frye drew his audience into a world of appearing, disappearing and multiplying coins and balls and shed new historical light on the Chicago Fire--Mrs. O'Leary's cow did it and then pulled a disappearing act.

...wonder, magic and laughter...

...sure they had detected Frye's sleight of hand behind the rabbit-in-the-box trick, with a twitch of the nose a stuffed rabbit became a very real Bun E. Rabbit, stealing center stage for a very enthusiastic final round of laughter and applause.

 

 

...like a good book that holds its best for last, with a slight smile and a wave of his wand Frye produced... 

 

  


 

My first job was selling flower and vegetable seeds for the American Seed Company. I learned about the opportunity from an advertisement in Boy's Life Magazine. The seed company would send a box containing a variety of seeds and I would sell them for ten cents a package, profiting a nickel for each package sold. Most of those nickels were spent at Wayne's Trick Shop. I was ten years old.

As a student I could board the bus at the end of our street for a dime and travel to Wayne's Trick Shop on Hohman Avenue in Hammond, Indiana. Wayne brought to life much of the magic I had read about in books. My first trick only cost me ten cents. It was a simple but very effective card trick. In fact, I still use the principle idea behind that trick today in something I call The Three Card Swindle. I remember a magic trick Wayne sold me that would allow me to borrow a quarter that was marked by its owner. I would then make the quarter disappear before their eyes and have it reappear in a cloth bag that was sealed inside a box that was sealed inside another box. This one cost me all of 25 cents. This magic trick is still being sold today, but it certainly does not have the same quality of construction it once had. 

I continued to learn magic as a boy and my skills improved over time. I have Wayne to thank for the gift (or curse) of magic.



In the late 1980's I had the opportunity to be mentored by one of the world's foremost magicians, Billy Bishop. I met him in North Riverside, Illinois. Billy and his wife Ann had already had an extensive career in entertainment. Billy had performed on the Ed Sullivan Show and was one of the most successful magicians on the variety entertainment scene in New York and Chicago. It was through his instruction that I was able to transform my magic skills in a way that focused more on entertainment than ever before. 

Word about the Magic of Roy Frye spread and I found myself performing for many library summer reading programs, churches, corporate award and banquet events, opportunities that included stage productions, performing at Naperville's Last Fling, organizing events and performing for Allied Van Lines corporate headquarters in Naperville, even using magic to provide in-store promotions for a grocery chain.



My schedule is much busier than it was 35 years ago and my opportunity to add events has become more limited. One benefit of such a schedule is I am allowed to occasionally offer my services at no charge for special events - such as providing entertainment for fundraisers to help police and firefighter/medics in need.