Magician gets a little help from friends

Believe it or not, there are still more magicians in Las Vegas than the ones you know about. They live here but don't have a show on the Strip, so you don't hear about them unless they get on national television.

Murray (who performs minus his last name, Sawchuck), is one of those guys. Easily spotted at various functions by his hipster glasses and unruly white hair, he is now even more recognizable as a Top 24 finalist on "America's Got Talent."

Why would a magician live here but not perform here? Murray's story fills in the answer of why Las Vegas is truly the heart of the magic community.

The answer isn't limited to the obvious venues. Murray -- as well as punk magician Dan Sperry, featured on "Talent" last week -- chose not to self-produce a show and deal with ticket brokers and time-share incentives.

So Murray's inauspicious debut --a $12.95 afternoon show at the Frontier in 2002 -- was his first and last run as a Las Vegas headliner so far. He started working in places like Korea -- "Magic is really new over there" -- and on cruise ships, "the new vaudeville."

The latter forced him to downsize the props, and get funny. He says 80 percent of the act is comedy now.

But, like Vegas, the NBC talent show requires the big stuff. And it only gives you 90 seconds to show it. "I love Mac King. But the minute he steps onstage in the plaid suit ... I don't think 90 seconds is enough to develop the character we all love after 20 minutes of his show."

So Murray put away his card tricks and droll humor. "Everything I'm doing on the show, it's the first time I've ever done it." And that means "phoning a lot of friends."

So far, he has borrowed a cabinet illusion, a magic car and a tiger.

Four magicians, not currently gigging, denied him warehoused car illusions he wanted to rework in his own style. It was Lance Burton and illusion builder Bill Smith who said yes. "One of the top magicians in Vegas was nice enough and secure enough to say 'Sure.' "

Each week of "Talent" competition must be "the act you would normally close a one-hour Las Vegas show with." So after you produce a Ferrari, who you gonna call for a tiger? Why, Stacy Jones, of the currently dormant duo The Majestix.

"I think the biggest mistake in any business is people think they can do everything by themselves," Murray says of this odd display of magic's fraternal side.

What will he pull out of his hat next? We'll see.

But if he comes off "Talent" with enough fame to hang out his own shingle here, he already will have a heck of a show.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.