The Magical Life of Harry Maurer

Available on Amazon.com I am proud to say that my business book for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses is now available on Amazon! "Show Business" is two words -- and with over 30 years in the BUSINESS of entertainment, I have learned things and found tools that can make ANY business more successful! The book contains 50 free and low-cost software, programs and online tools to help businesses grow. I started collecting these resources for my own business, and although I have many programs that I pay top dollar for, I do what any new business proprietor, solo business owner or entrepreneur would do: Before I invest a lot of money in something I “think” I might need, my first step is to research and find a low-cost solution to my problems and I test them out to see if they will solve the problems that I am trying to solve. At times, the programs I find are too simplistic, unreliable, or too cumbersome to warrant using them, but there are many times when I find a

Watching these political debates makes me realize that I’ve had some very interesting political experiences being a magician… In Houston, I have performed fundraising events for Mayor Bill White and fundraising events with First Lady Barbara Bush. On the national stage, I presented exclusive dinner entertainment for Vice President Walter Mondale’s Presidential fundraiser. After one particularly surprising trick, he smiled at me and said “Hey — We need more of your Magic in Washington! While performing for six months in Bal Harbour, Florida, the Mayor of Miami Beach surprised me by presenting me with “The Key to the City of Miami Beach” which hangs proudly in my office right now. One night during that six-month run, Speaker of the House “Tip” O’Neill was in the theater audience and after the show, he wanted to meet me and the big, fun guy that he is gave me a good slap on the back while we laughed about the show. But my favorite memory was on a very exclusive cruise ship in E

Years ago I was asked to present a show and “lecture” for Johnson & Johnson. I presented the lecture after my show and it dealt with how people perceive magic and how people are fooled.  It was fun and it was a hit (people mentioned it to me years later)… but I put the lecture aside for years and didn’t give it much thought. After many years, my wife encouraged me to resurrect the lecture.  I took the few notes I had (I save everything!) and developed it into an even more fascinating lecture called “The Perfection of Deception” a talk and PowerPoint presentation about magicians who changed history. I began by presenting the lecture — first at civic groups, then on cruise ships, and then — even though I am a professional entertainer, I joined “Toastmasters” where I tore apart the speech and rewrote it improving the speech by adding more and more information to the presentation and watched it get amazing reactions. Don’t think you can be surprised by a lecture? Did you

There are a few books that I am mentioned in — many of them are “technical books” on magic; one non-fiction book about a producer who I worked with that was murdered in a high profile case; a biography of Bob Fosse (When Bob Fosse died he left $60,000 for a “party” for his friends — I was one of the entertainers at his wake!); and a compendium of magic in which I am listed as one of today’s “Modern Wizards” in a book by James Randi called “Conjuring”… (By the way — “Alfie The Wonderdog” is the West Highland Terrier in the photo below who traveled around the world with us entertaining in casinos and aboard cruise ships around the world!) (Reprinted with permission) Above: The Playboy Clubs gave Harry Maurer his start in magic, and now he is a Las Vegas and Atlantic City regular with his fast paced Comedy-and-Magic act. ————– HARRY MAURER  – This man works all the time.  Harry Maurer is booked as far ahead as he can see, and that’s to be expected, judging by the re

September 11th… When the twin towers fell, Carol-Ann and I were entertaining on a cruise ship in Europe and it was frightening being away from home with such tragedy happening and very little news available to us at sea.  Our contract finished shortly afterward and our flight home was diverted to avoid certain air space. I was scheduled to entertain in Las Vegas the following week, but all flights were grounded and we had no idea whether or not we would be able to do our contract. The day before I was to open at the Tropicana, planes were finally allowed to fly and I took my flight, and when I reached Las Vegas I discovered that the casinos had laid off something like 20,000 employees — but ironically, Vegas was packed!  (these are gamblers and they figure the odds of them being “hit” are pretty slim) I was performing 2 shows a night at “The Comedy Stop”, and after my second show I was heading to the elevator to go back to my room when a lady rushed up to me…. She just w

We are often hired by companies for the sole purpose of creating attention and stopping traffic. Magic has that unique effect on people. One of our clients, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, hired us to entertain at their convention booth at McCormick Place in Chicago. For those unfamiliar with McCormick Place, the total isle length of the convention space is over TEN MILES LONG! For three days, we literally stopped traffic in the isles by performing comedy magic at their convention booth and turned what would have been simple “passers-by” into prospects. For the NJ Builders Association Convention, we made half of the Pettibone Corporation booth into a performance stage and literally did a “stand-up” show every two hours! The show times were posted and at the appointed time, conventioneers stopped what they were doing to race to our booth for a fun-filled 20-minute show. People talked about the shows at the “Pettibone Booth” throughout the three-day convention. As a result, the booth

While I was performing at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City one week, I got a call from the Vice President of Entertainment at Trump Castle Casino Hotel with a frantic call saying, “Foster Brooks didn’t show up — can you do the show tonight?” I had just stepped out of the shower and was dripping wet. I had performed my act at Trump Castle for an eight-week engagement just a few months earlier, so not only did the V.P. of Entertainment know that my act was strong and consistent, but the stage techs already knew the cues to my show! Trump Castle has a wonderful “Vegas Style” showroom and as much as I wanted to do the show, I was already contracted to emcee and present a 30-minute show at the Tropicana Hotel on the other side of town. “We already know that,” the Vice President continued, “…but we only need 15 minutes. If we can time your performance to happen between your sets at the Trop, would you do it?” I thought about it. The Tropicana is on the Boardwalk

While we were entertaining in Atlantic City, Minuteman Press wanted to present a 30-second television commercial locally to promote their high speed “color laser copier” when it was first introduced to the public and we were asked if we could design a “magical” commercial for them. Carol Ann and I spent the next week tossing ideas back and forth. We developed three ideas — quick 30-second clips — interestingly enough, only one was designed with magic in mind. The first concept started with a janitor late at night alone at the Louvre Museum in Paris who’s mop handle “accidentally” breaks through the painting of the “Mona Lisa”. He doesn’t know what to do, so he races into the curator’s office, finds a photo of the Mona Lisa in a book, races it over to Minuteman Press on his scooter and blows it up on the “color copier”. The next scene shows patrons gathered around the Mona Lisa all going “oooooh” while the janitor leans proudly on his mop! The second idea for a commercial was

We developed our “Parlor Show” years ago on the deluxe cruise ships as a fun-filled pre-dinner “Cocktail show”. A “Parlor Show” is “Close-up Magic” (Micro Magic) presented in a more formal setting.  It is a very strong show — so strong in fact that cruise lines now insist that I include it in my program! Many of you know that some of the ships on which we entertain draw a very select clientele who pay in the neighborhood of $1,000 per day (per person) to sail on these ships for two or three weeks at a time! Sailing as a passenger on one of these cruises was Walter Cronkite. I have so many memories of seeing Walter Cronkite on the nightly news when I was a child. To this day I can vividly remember his broadcast the moment that we first landed on the moon! I knew he was on the ship and I wanted so much to meet him, but our paths didn’t cross. The night I presented my “Parlor Show” — my most intimate show — I saw Walter Cronkite sitting in the back of the room watching my s

See Full article online at: http://voyagehouston.com/interview/meet-harry-maurer-comedy-magic-harry-maurer-cypress/ _________________________________________________ Today we’d like to introduce you to Harry Maurer. Few people have an idea of what they would like to do when they grow up. Harry Maurer was lucky to know from an early age that he wanted to be a professional magician. Not a “birthday party” children’s performer, but a world-class professional magician entertaining in casinos, aboard cruise ships and at major corporate events around the world. But how do you take such a fun job and make a career out of it? As a child, Harry was determined to be a magician and performed his first of many nightclubs shows at the age of 13. By the time he reached High School, with the permission of his teachers and school Principal he had managed to re-arrange his class schedule so that he could leave school early each day to perform the matinee and evening shows at a

Although I am mentioned in a few non-fiction books (including Bob Fosse’s biography), this past year, unbeknownst to me, author David Heenan included me in an entire chapter of his book “Hidden Heroes”. It is a book about ten sets of extraordinary people with distinctive personalities in various fields from business and education to entertainment and sports who, although may not be instantly recognizable by name, each has made a difference by succeeding in the shadows. In part, Heenen writes: “While most folks are tongue-tied when called upon to make a public presentation, Harry Maurer is the exception.  For the better part of three decades, the loquacious comic magician has found sanctuary as a successful opening, backup or supporting act setting the stage for such stars as Joey Bishop, The Supremes, Frankie Avalon and Rosie O’Donnell.  His quick-witted stage presence and ability to prop up leading headliners in various venues ranging from Biloxi to Brunei win him numerou

Not too long ago, a client in Florida called me and contracted me to perform three different evening shows at three different events! He explained that the reason he wanted “different” shows was because many of the same people would be attending the various parties. Interestingly enough, two of the performances were on a stage, and one was at a private dinner. Much of the work in a professional performance is in the planning and design stages that the client never sees. I divided and structured the material into three completely different 45 minute shows that would each have “a beginning”, “a middle” and “an end” and each would contain some real stunning routines. Each show was designed to work in the appropriate environment, and each show was a hit! One gentleman who attended all of the shows came up to me after my final show to tell me how amazed he was — not just in the shows — but in the fact that each show was completely different! It’s an extreme example of why we h

Having studied Theatre Production at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University (formerly called “The School of Creative and Performing Arts”), I am very involved in the look, feel and sound of the show. When we perform in Casino Showrooms, Theaters or Cruise Ships where we have full stages to work with, we take the time to make the lighting for the show just right to highlight the action onstage. When we are doing something “dangerous”, the lighting changes to reflect that. When we doing something upbeat and “game-show like” the lights accent that as well! And having been taught professional lighting at the MGSA and with years of “live” theatrical experience — we know our craft! Some lighting changes are very subtle, and like a good movie, you barely notice them unless you are looking for them. But they all affect audiences on a psychological level. (In fact, it is said that 90 percent of a magical performance is psychology!) One of the ways we know that w

Years ago when I was performing at the Playboy Club in New York City, I was given this poem and had transferred it to my computer and kept it and shared it with other artists for years! I had a computer crash a few years ago and thought it was gone forever, but recently discovered a copy of it in an old backup file. I hope you enjoy it… THE ARTIST’S PLIGHT There are none more alone or lonely Than those who strike out to be different Those wandering souls obsessed with chasing rainbows and dreaming dreams. Going against the odds because of faith and belief . Faith in their talent- Belief that they have something to offer Accepting criticism, ridicule and often laughter Only to continue to try to be One of the few who succeed. They are forever told to “give up, “grow up” as they wait for even one To give encouragement and understanding Someone to holler “stick with it!” They long for a reason that they have existed Proof that they left a mark No matter how small On even a few l

When I first performed in Atlantic City, I was appearing at Bally’s Park Place with Joey Bishop, Allen Jones, Jackie Vernon and a bunch of other “name” performers. We had started the show five months earlier traveling across the Northeast United States in a “Bus-and-Truck Tour” going from town to town presenting our shows nightly in some amazing theaters around the country. Some of those theaters were former “Vaudeville” houses from the early 1900’s where Houdini himself used to perform! I had a great time performing in that show and Joey Bishop (one of the original “Rat Pack” members), took me under his wing and taught me a lot about entertainment. Can you imagine being tutored in show business by someone who used to perform regularly with Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin? It was fun — He would give me lots of tips on delivery and timing. He taught me to try a routine or joke on stage at least three times and if it does not get the reaction I wanted — drop

Years ago there was a national television show called “That’s Incredible”. I was called by my manager at the time to see if I could add some magic to a segment they were shooting at “Victor’s Restaurant” in Manhattan. The segment involved a 300-pound orangutan named “Mr. Jigg’s” who, for the evening, was going to be their bartender! With instructions from his trainer (off camera), Mr. Jiggs could actually mix requested drinks for people at the bar — even complicated blended drinks. It was actually pretty amazing to watch — although more than one time he would go to hand the drink to a patron and as the patron reached for his drink, Mr. Jiggs would pull the drink away and down it in one shot! After downing a few of those drinks he then forgot to put the cover on the blender when he turned it on and we had to stop shooting so everything could be cleaned up! The producer wanted to add as much as he could to “punch up” the segment. In one scene, the light-heavyweight champ