[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Hi and welcome to Inside Louisville, where we introduce you to the people, places and things that make up Kentucky's largest city.

This week, meet master magician Lance Burton.

He's a legend whose magic shows spanned decades in Las Vegas.

But did you know it all started right here in Louisville?

In fact, Lance Burton says his love of magic started when he was a JCPS student at Wellington Elementary School.

Well, today he's living on a farm back in Kentucky where he's still making magic at home.

[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Well, we are so excited to welcome Lance Burton, master magician and Kentucky native.

>> I like the way you said that.

>> Back here at home.

>> Yeah.

>> I did not know you were born and raised in Louisville and you were back here in Kentucky.

I think that's so cool.

Take us back to growing up here in Louisville.

And you say this really influenced you as a magician?

>> Yes.

Yes, of course.

My my family's from down in Adair County.

My mom and dad met in high school.

They got married.

They moved to Louisville for for the jobs.

Because back then, there weren't any jobs in Adair County.

Unless you were a farmer.

Sure.

So.

But there are now there's industry and it's grown.

But.

But back then, in the 50s and 60s, you know, you moved to Louisville.

So.

So I came along and my sister came along and, and we grew up in Shively, and my dad worked at the Levy's Building supply down at 12th and Breckinridge started on the loading dock, and then eventually he became their chief mechanic, kept all the trucks running, all the forklifts running.

My mom worked at the Frito-Lay plant making potato chips.

So when I was about five years old, they had a Christmas party for all the Frito-Lay employees.

And so we we go to this Christmas party.

There was a man that worked there at the Frito-Lay plant that did magic, and his name was Harry Collins, and he was from Glasgow, Kentucky.

And Harry was a terrific magician.

He worked as a salesman at the time for Frito-Lay, but he was a fantastic magician and he was doing a magic show.

He asked for a volunteer from the audience.

Of course, every kid raised their hand.

I was the kid that got picked.

I went up on stage.

He reached behind my ear and pulled out a silver dollar, and I was like, oh my God, you know, that was amazing.

And he.

Then he fell one out of the other ear and then out of my hair and my elbow.

And so this is a classic of magic I discovered years later called the Miser's Dream.

So I was so young, though this was my first exposure to magic, I didn't understand what I was seeing because, you know, on TV you'd see things or you'd read stories about magic and magicians.

Sure.

Here, here, here he was.

Live right in front of me.

So?

So I go home, and then for the next couple of months, every day I'd wake up and have breakfast.

I'd go to the bathroom, I'd brush my teeth, and then I'd stand there in front of the mirror and I'd just sort of look in the mirror, and I would just very carefully check behind every place that he found us.

Every day I would do this.

And then finally, one day, you know, my dad was standing in the doorway watching me.

What are you looking for?

He had no idea what I was doing.

He finally said, Lance, what?

What are you doing?

And I said, I'm looking for silver dollars like that.

That man found at the Christmas party.

And my dad said, Lance, listen, it's not real magic that that was a skill that the man learned and it's art form.

So he studied and practiced and and it's an illusion.

And so then I thought, oh, okay, I get it now.

And that sort of set me off on my lifelong quest to learn magic and wow, magic.

>> It's so cool to hear those stories that such a young age.

>> I knew what I wanted to do from five.

And by the way, Harry Collins, who who is buried out at Cave Hill Cemetery and there's a beautiful there's a beautiful bronze statue of him out there, and he's not far from Colonel Sanders.

If you ever want to go out and see him, he's only maybe 50 or 100ft from Colonel Sanders.

Very easy to find.

Later on, Frito-Lay took notice of his skills as a magician, so he started as a salesman, then became sales manager, then the corporate office of Frito-Lay in Dallas, Texas, took notice.

They created a job for him, and he was their goodwill ambassador.

And he did magic all year long.

They sent him every time there was a snack food convention.

>> Wow.

>> They sent him to the Texas State Fair every year, every time they had a plant opening.

So he was a what we call a corporate magician.

But he only worked for one corporation.

Yeah, he did that to the day he died.

>> And did you keep in touch with him?

>> Did he?

I did.

>> I bet he loved your success.

>> In fact, the very last show, Harry Everett, he died very young, age 65, which is my age now, so, so extremely young.

But the very last show he ever did was with me in Adair County.

And it was a fundraiser.

I'd come back from Las Vegas and we did a little fundraiser through the Jaycees for the Crusade for children here in Louisville U.S.

me Matt King, Marty Polio and Harry Collins on the show.

>> Wow.

Wow.

So I want to talk about all of the work that you do now to give back and things like that.

The crusade for children, the Kentucky Humane Society, I mean, all of these things that you have your hands in.

But I think people want to hear about your career.

And how did you go from a five year old kid doing, you know, in talent shows?

You've mentioned in JCPS.

>> Yes.

>> To performing on stage in Las Vegas and having this storied career.

>> It's just it's really just a matter of repetition.

And I, I, I'm a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and in fact, this the IBM.

Yes.

And it's the world's largest magic club.

And we have a, a ring here in Louisville, the Louisville Magic Club.

Yeah.

And Harry Collins was one of the founders of the club back in the 40s.

We have a big convention every year, and we have like a little youth seminar for for teenage magicians.

So I speak to a lot of young magicians.

Yeah.

And what I always tell them is it's it's about repetition.

It's about performing in front of real people.

And that's how you learn, right?

You can you can read and study, and you have to do that and you have to practice.

You you're at home, you're in front of the mirror.

You practice your your magic tricks to make sure they look good.

But you really don't learn until you get in front of an audience.

>> Yeah.

>> And and I always tell them, you know, it takes a thousand performances to have a professional act.

My first appearance on television was on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

Yeah, that was in 1981.

[MUSIC] I was 21 years old, but I had done that act a thousand times in front of strangers.

Yeah.

So that's really that's really what it takes.

>> Yeah.

So you are 21 years old going to Johnny Carson?

>> Yeah.

>> I mean, what what was that experience like for you?

And that is really what catapulted your career.

>> That was the launching pad for my career.

21 years old.

And and and I'll tell you exactly how I got there.

But before I forget, this last October was Johnny Carson's 100th birthday, would have been his 100th birthday, and they had a big celebration for him in his home state of Nebraska.

And I was there in Lincoln, Nebraska, and we had a big stage show, all Acts Like Me, that got their start on The Tonight Show.

Wow.

It was a really wonderful night.

And and of course, they loved Johnny.

Of course, in Nebraska, he donated a lot of money to the university and to his hometown.

>> And yeah, what.

>> A legend.

>> He was.

Exactly.

>> Yeah.

>> So the the way I got on The Tonight Show was just sort of a odd coincidence of things happening.

The IBM had a convention, and they decided they were going to have this big competition.

So they created this international competition called the Gold Medal Competition.

And acts were invited to to come and compete.

And I went to the convention and I was that was 1980.

So I was 20 years old and and I wound up because I had been doing a lot of shows during the summer, mainly Matt King and I had a job down at Cumberland Falls, Kentucky, at a little theme park called Tombstone Junction.

Anyway, we were doing three shows a day, seven days a week, so I had a lot of shows under my belt.

So the act was starting to really gel.

It was starting to come together.

I go enter the competition, I win the gold medal, they give me the medal.

Thank you very much.

I go back to tombstone.

We we're doing more and more shows.

So the next year the convention calls me and they says, we want you to come back to the convention this year and perform your act not as a competitor, but just to open the open the show.

And then we're going to have the competitors come out and, and here's this year's competitors.

So I said, oh, great.

So the convention was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

So I go I do that show.

Well, Othello was there in the audience that night that saw my act and his name was Bill Larson.

Now, Bill and his brother Milt were both television producers and writers out in Hollywood.

And they they founded the Magic Castle out in Hollywood.

People may have heard of.

So Bill contacted me and and he said, I have this.

My brother and I have this big show we do every year in Los Angeles at the Variety Arts Theater, and we bring acts in from all over the world.

And it's a two week run and it's called It's Magic.

And at that point, they had been doing it for 25 or 30 years.

So it was a very prestigious show to be on.

Well, he they booked me for the show.

So I get in my car, I drive out to Los Angeles, me, my tuxedo, my doves.

I get out there and I'm.

And the star of the show is a guy named Aldo Richiardi, brilliant illusionist from Peru.

He should have been the one to be on The Tonight Show.

He was the star of the show that year.

But what happened was they call up The Tonight Show and they say, oh, we're having our annual It's Magic show.

We'd like to get one of our acts on to promote it.

Oh, great.

What do you have?

Well, we got this great illusionist from Peru, Aldo Richiardi.

First time he's performed in the United States in 20 years.

He's fantastic.

They say are perfect.

We just had Doug Henning on last week doing illusions.

>> Oh.

>> What else do you have?

>> No way.

>> So now they go.

Well, we got this kid from Kentucky and he just won his first international award, this gold medal from the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

So what does he do?

Well, he does this sleight of hand act with birds.

Sounds great.

We'll take him.

>> Wow.

>> So I get out there and and and Milt Larson, Bill's brother, very casually says to me, oh, by the way, we have you booked on the Carson show opening night, and now my mind is starting to go.

Carson show.

>> Carson show.

Yeah.

>> Well, surely he doesn't mean Johnny Carson.

Maybe it's a morning show.

You know, Billy Carson in.

>> The morning.

Yeah.

>> But I can't, I don't.

>> You can't wrap your brain around.

>> I can't actually.

>> Johnny Carson.

>> And I look at him, I go, not the Johnny Carson show.

And he goes, yeah, that's the one.

So.

>> Wow.

>> So now I'm booked for The Tonight Show.

So now, you know, I called back home and tell all my family and friends and.

And so now the night before, I'm booked for the Tonight Show opening night.

Now, the night before is preview night.

Okay, we're actually doing the full show.

And so the talent coordinator for The Tonight Show shows up to see the act.

Because out in Hollywood, if you if you book a bad act on The Tonight Show, that's a good way to get fired, right?

>> Yeah.

>> You got to check.

>> Those out.

>> I don't.

>> Blame them.

Yeah.

>> So anyway, he he's there in the audience.

This is the first time I've performed on the West Coast.

Nobody's seen me before.

I get a really good reaction.

He comes backstage after the show and his name is Jim McCauley.

He was the talent coordinator.

And later on he became the producer of The Tonight Show.

And he I meet him backstage and he says, yeah, that was very good.

It'll be fine.

He says, how long is your act?

And I said, well, it's 12 minutes.

He said, well, you can't do 12 minutes on The Tonight Show, but bring the whole act, do it in rehearsal.

We'll figure out what you're going to do on the broadcast.

I said, yes, sir.

So I show up at the studios in Burbank the next.

The next morning I do the rehearsal, the run through.

There's a few people in there watching the band, and.

And I'm standing on stage after the rehearsal, talking to the stage manager.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a hand coming towards me.

So I just turn and reach out and shake the hand, you know?

Then I look up and I noticed it's Johnny Carson on.

>> The end.

>> Of the hand.

And so here I am meeting Johnny Carson, and he was very nice, very complimentary.

And we talked for maybe a minute, and then he left.

And then about a minute later, Jim McCauley comes over and he says, Lance, Johnny was watching the rehearsal.

Johnny said, let the kid do the whole 12 minutes.

So they put me on as the first guest.

They let me do the whole 12 minutes, which is unheard.

>> Of, right?

>> No, no, no act ever got that much time on The Tonight Show.

And then the second guest was Dick Cavett.

Dick Cavett and Johnny Carson were both magicians when they were teenagers.

So now in the next segment, they're on the panel talking about magic, talking about me, talking about the Magic Castle.

So it was really the greatest launching pad any young entertainer.

>> Ever had.

>> So that was that was the night that that was October 28th, 1981.

>> And everything changed.

>> You never forget the date of your first Tonight Show.

>> Yeah.

>> I.

>> Bet so it was.

And it was that tape that got me my first job in Las Vegas.

>> Yeah.

And then this long, decades long career in Las Vegas.

>> Yes.

>> I'm very old.

>> Yes.

Well.

>> I.

>> Mean, it's just.

>> Incredible, though.

And so what was there ever a time when, I mean, going back to elementary school here, was there ever.

I mean, you just always knew this is what you were going to do.

What if what if all of those things hadn't lined up?

>> What do.

>> You think you'd be doing?

>> I would be driving a. Tractor right now in Adair County.

>> Yeah, yeah.

>> Yeah, things lined up.

I mean, you know, I, I didn't know what was going to happen.

All I knew was, since I was a kid, I loved magic.

I fell in love with magic.

And once I started performing magic, I just loved the way people reacted.

>> Yeah.

>> People would smile.

>> Yeah.

>> And it's just.

It brings something into your day that that's out of the ordinary that makes you feel good.

Yeah.

It just it makes you feel good.

And there's something in the DNA of human beings that react to magic and have, you know, magicians go back in history for at least 5000 years that we know.

>> Of looking towards the future, how AI and all of these different technologies would change the art of magic.

>> Magicians have been around, as I said, for over 5000 years, and if magic were based on technology, then that could be a problem.

But primarily, magic is not based on technology.

Magic is based on psychology.

>> Yeah.

>> So people are the same now as they were 5000 years ago.

So at least I hope I'm correct in.

>> All that.

Yeah.

So magicians would still have a point.

Yeah.

>> But yes.

Watching on your screen, on your phone.

Or watching on TV, it is it is complicated to know if something's real or if it's AI.

>> Right.

>> But that's why I say I my first love has always been.

>> Live performance.

>> Yeah.

>> Give me a theater with 1000 to 3000 people.

That's my jam.

>> Yeah.

>> That's where I feel at home.

>> What would be your advice to young people who are interested in magic, or even just performing?

What's your advice as they try to navigate this weird new world?

>> Here's my advice if, especially for young people that want to learn magic is to find your tribe.

And right here in Louisville, we have the Louisville Magic Club and they have a website.

And you can you can go and look and join.

They meet every month.

They have a public show once a year.

They're always putting together like little showcases where the club members can come up and perform in front of people.

They have lectures, they they get together, and it's a great group of guys.

I'm a member of the club and I get to town as often as I can.

>> Yeah.

>> And in fact, I was on the public show this last year.

>> Yeah.

>> And I've done it a couple times in the in, I've done it like 3 or 4 times over the years.

So, so that's a really great place is to get together with, with other people that share your passion for magic and and for learning magic.

Still, the library is a great place to start.

Every school library, every public library will have a little section on how to do magic tricks.

And and and that's how I learned when I was a kid.

Books.

Yeah.

And and before that, of course, it was maybe a magic set for for Christmas, my birthday.

>> Sure.

>> There's plenty of ways to learn.

You can even go.

You can even go online and learn.

But, you know, I always liked I'm kind of old school.

I like learning from from reading books.

>> Yeah, magic is one of those things, too, that has just endured for so many years.

What what do you think it is about magic that keeps people entertained by this?

>> It's something that that that crosses all age groups, all cultures, all languages.

I performed magic, obviously in America and in Japan and Germany.

Any country you go, they don't speak English.

They still react exactly the same.

>> Yeah.

>> To sing magic.

It's just something in us that that.

>> Yeah.

>> That that loves it.

>> Yeah.

Okay.

I want to talk real quick about how you are creating a bit of magic back here in Kentucky because of the ways that you give back.

And we mentioned the crusade for children, the Kentucky Humane Society.

Why is that?

Why are those types of projects important to you now.

>> Especially now that I'm retired?

I've always I've always loved those types of things.

To use your your art form your skills in a way to give back to the community.

Going back when I first moved to Las Vegas, you know, for 25 years, I was on the Jerry Lewis telethon every year.

And I just loved doing that and loved being part of that.

And and the Crusade, of course, I grew up watching, and I came back to do it for their for their 50th and then the 60th and then the 70th.

And whenever they asked me, I'm always happy to come in and do that.

And of course, I love animals and dogs and cats and all kinds of animals.

So, so out in Las Vegas, I always supported the Nevada SPCA.

And now back here, the Kentucky Humane Society.

And and even in Adair County, we have a small shelter at green River Animal Shelter.

So yeah, I love I love things that help animals and kids.

>> Yeah.

>> What's life like on the farm back in Adair County for you?

Now, this has got to be a real switch from life in Vegas.

>> I love being back in Kentucky and I love being back on the farm.

And it's for me, life has come full circle back to where I started from when I. This is the farm that my grandfather, Taylor Burton, bought in the 1930s.

So it's been in the family almost a hundred years.

And this is the farm where my dad grew up as a boy and was hunting and fishing and farming.

And this is where they moved.

My mom and dad moved back there when they retired, and they're gone now.

All my aunts and uncles are gone.

But I built a house there on the farm for my mom and dad about 25 or 30 years ago.

So thinking, you know, one day I'll retire and I'll move back.

So there I am.

I'm back in the house and it's, it's it's it's very relaxing and it's life is a little slower now.

And I'm just just getting it organized.

I just had bookshelves put up so now I can get my library organized.

>> Yeah.

>> I don't know, several thousand magic books.

>> Oh, wow.

>> So I'm.

>> Trying to get learning.

Yeah.

I'm still.

>> You still come up with.

>> New tricks?

>> Yeah.

Yeah, I'm still working on new tricks.

We're.

I'm still rehearsing.

New tricks to put them in the show.

Now, I always I consider it retirement.

Some people say last, you're out doing shows.

You're not really retired.

>> Yeah, you're still all over the place, remember?

>> I was doing 700 shows a year.

600 shows a year, 500 shows a year over 30 years.

>> Yeah.

>> So I did, you know, over 15,000 shows in my career.

So.

So when you're talking to a guy that was doing, you know, 6 or 700 shows a year, last year I did 13 shows.

>> Yeah.

So that is retired.

>> Yeah, that is retirement, right?

>> Once a month I get in.

I have a little tour bus that I bought.

I've got a little barn.

I keep it in on the farm once a month.

We get in the bus and we travel somewhere and we do a show or two.

>> Do you think.

>> You'll keep doing it?

>> I love doing that, and as long as I can physically do it, I hope, hope to keep doing it.

You know, the the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

So as long as I can.

I'll keep I'll keep getting up and doing it.

So at the end of the day, you know magic.

It's not about the the sleight of hand technique.

It's not about the box on stage.

How how that's built.

It's not about the lighting cues or the sound effects.

It's about the people and how you connect with the people.

And that's that's what magic's about.

That's what's life's about.

>> You can watch and share this episode anytime.

You can find it online at Keturah Louisville and get some behind the scenes extras.

When you follow us on social media, see some of Lance Burton's magic for yourself.

You can find us on Instagram at KETinLOU.

Thanks for spending a little time getting to know Louisville.

I hope we'll see you here next time.

Until then, make it a great week!