Retired Fergus “magicomedian” Peter Marucci has been awarded the Howard Bamman trophy for the second time by the International Brotherhood of Magicians, in recognition of his 28-year contribution to the organization’s magazine The Linking Ring.
The Fergus resident is the only Canadian ever to receive the award and the only magician to receive it twice.
In his Showtime column, Marucci would outline a new illusion every month and give detailed instructions on incorporating “patter” into performances – his trademark.
Patter is a prepared or practiced speech designed to produce a desired response from its audience. The style is characteristically spoken very quickly and is often utilized by auctioneers, salesmen and illusionists alike. When used by a magician, patter creates a comedic story around the trick being performed, in part to heighten the experience and also to distract viewers from the mechanics of the illusion.
Those who frequented Marucci and wife Helen’s restaurant, the Italian Kitchen Café, in the 80s will be familiar with the tale of “Uncle Linguini,” a rope trick Marucci performed for guests at their tables. Marucci tells it something like this:
“Uncle Linguini had a job at a spaghetti factory, he used to have a job at an orange juice factory but he couldn’t concentrate. Then he wanted a job as a historian but he found there was no future in it, so he got a job at a spaghetti factory.”
And on and on it goes, as Marucci’s hands would quickly change lengths of rope or “spaghetti” from tiny pieces to long; from all the same length, to three different strands.
“It was excellent,” Helen recalls. “It was everyone’s favourite and they requested it and over time he would add [things] to it, like Uncle Linguini was married to Aunti Pasta.”
“I would show it to people a thousand times and they could never figure it out,” Marucci laughs. He says he became interested in the art of illusion after his parents brought a magic kit home for him when he was eight years old.
“After that I started visiting joke shops in Guelph – I never knew there was so many before; I had never even considered magic shops,” he says.
“Then a whole world opened up to me, flooded with material and it just snowballed after that.”
Since 1957, Marucci has performed across Canada and the United States at conventions, trade shows, parties, clubs and restaurants – including Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto. He also worked his magic at street fairs and outdoor festivals.
Marucci also enjoyed a successful career locally in journalism.
Wellington County residents will remember Marucci from his early days at the Guelph Guardian and Guelph Mercury in the late 1950s.
After leaving Guelph, he worked at the Toronto Telegram until it folded in 1971 and then, for nearly 15 years, Marucci was responsible for letters to the editor on the Toronto Star’s editorial board.
Moving to Fergus in 1985, he was instrumental as managing editor during the start-up of the Guelph Tribune, where he began writing his syndicated humour column Around Our Place. After the Tribune launched, he moved to the Fergus-Elora News Express with Around Our Place, which ran for 24 years in that paper and various other community papers across Canada.
Because of his health, Marucci retired two years ago, but his eyes still light up at any mention of magic.
