Illusionist Denis Behr talked to The Post's Cindy Adams about his legendary career performing card tricks. Brigitte Stelzer for NY Post Trip to B’klyn is in the cards Magician Denis Behr. German. In NYC now. Pay attention. Word is he’s the world’s best in card tricks.
His English, perfect. Black shirt, black pants, perfect. Imperfect is his small “theater.” It’s behind a secret partition in a smaller than my john Brooklyn store selling shticks and tricks. He’s behind a simple table. The tiny clustered room has no video, no cameras, no special effects, no clever lights, no soft cushiony seats. Nothing. Just him. Audience of maybe 20, it’s 69 Atlantic run by Hal Schulman, who charges $200. He’s there through Saturday.
Why was I there? My friend, lawyer Stuart Slotnick’s dad Barry Slotnick is the famous lawyer. Between lawsuits, Stuart loves card tricks.
Behr: “I began age 7 after I was given a set of magic tricks. It fascinated me. I began to learn the truths behind them. I then bought whatever books I could find on magic. Mail order. We didn’t yet have the Internet, I watched others on TV who did these tricks.
“I went to a magic shop in Germany. My family supported me. They even helped my first early shows. I fell in love with it. I began to see how a trick was done. I then performed at home. At parties. And for friends. I fell in love with the audience reactions and more and more I got into it. It became more than card tricks.”
“Little mistakes happen — but not often. I haven’t recently screwed up but if I drop a card or pick the wrong one nobody notices it. In Europe, they are more quiet. Here, more outgoing.
“I travel with 20 decks of cards. I’m doing 10 shows in America. We’re a community so I even meet with fellow magicians here. There’s not as much fear for me today as there was long ago. I know all the tricks. I use one deck of cards per show. In the beginning I’d accidentally drop them on the floor.”
So why doesn’t he work in a big splashy expensive casino? Like maybe Vegas? Or Reno.
“Because there is no such stage in Reno or Vegas. Magic I can do — but not on a big stage.
“I need a small avenue. There is no such place as that. I can do magic — just not on a big stage.”
Are unhappies out there making trouble? Or mischief?
Friday a NYC VIP calls me. Very connected. Doesn’t make mistakes. Sends a photo of Cardinal Timothy Dolan in a hospital bed. Accompanying info says “the Cardinal is in the hospital.”
I start checking. Nothing in newspapers. No info — nada — on TV. I immediately call him. Cheery as usual, he answers his personal phone. Says he’s fine. Absolutely OK. No idea who triggered this rumor. My original caller said the so-called information had been broadcast on one of those busy chat shows.
This is to let all know: Don’t believe all you hear. Voices out there are involved in fleecing, harming, trying to hurt the rest of us. Pay close attention.
Listen, magic happens everywhere. We’re talking two sisters out for revenge. This is “Is God Is” with Janelle Monáe and Vivica A. Fox, who says: “It’s a dream to go from an off-Broadway play to a feature film. African Americans don’t usually make such films. I only know that it was God himself who opened the door for us to walk through.” The play turned movie is in theaters now.
Worker: “I’ll say this about my CEO. He loves animals. Minute I walked into his house there was growling, yapping, big hairy paws all over me — and that was his wife.”
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.
