They warn you about playing with strangers. But you become enchanted and find yourself watching magic tricks in amazement at Izzy Rizzy’s House of Tricks, 6034 S. Pulaski Rd., on Chicago’s Southwest Side. The magicians there say everybody loves to be fooled. Owner Mike Rzeminski has enjoyed sharing magic, novelties, jokes and pranks for 30 years. He says, “People think they know what’s going on (during a magic trick) and they enjoy being surprised at the end.” You won’t believe your eyes. Izzy Rizzy’s has 200,000 magic-related items in stock: fake noses, silk scarves, canes that turn into flowers, cards, videos and fog machines. Magic tricks can cost as little as $2 or as much as $100. The snake that pops out of a can of mixed nuts may be one of the oldest jokes around, but it still sells. The easiest but reportedly the most popular trick involves pushing a cigarette through a quarter. Most magicians don’t like to give away the secrets to their craft but here is just one: the trick coin has a small, round, spring-loaded trap door. Anyone of almost any age can work it.
Sometimes, magicians call on ghosts or consult a crystal ball to help execute a trick. They levitate objects, make playing cards mysteriously rise from the deck and command props to travel from hands to coat pockets. Do magicians subscribe to the supernatural? Rzeminski says, “There’s some that do dark magic, they conjure up spirits and say the tricks are done with the help of the dark side. You have some people who are scared by magic, the voodoo of magic. Others believe it’s sleight of hand.”
The natural connection between innocent make believe and paranormal mystery is one of the reasons why Halloween has grown to become the second most commercial holiday of the year, after Christmas. This weekend, kids and adults alike will shop for their Halloween costumes and supplies to play pranks for the upcoming night of trick-or-treat. At Izzy Rizzy’s, the tricks are the treat. No fooling.
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WGN-Ch. 9’s Joanie Lum surveys the bewildering world of shopping in this column, which runs here on the second and fourth Fridays of each month. The week of each column, Joanie will have more on Thursday’s “WGN News at Nine” and Friday’s “WGN Morning News.”
Send inquiries to hlajewski@tribune.com
