The handwritten letter of a nine-year-old Calgary girl touched the hearts of two of the world’s most beloved magicians as they continue their effort to remove the stigma that has prevented girls from pursuing magic.
On Friday night, ahead of their sold-out performance at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Penn & Teller met with London Jones, aka ‘London the Magnificent’, and her family.
“We met London the Magnificent, who is a nine-year-old girl from Calgary who brought us a note that her father sent us a picture of - a beautiful note, all handwritten and little pictures drawn all over it - and she said she wanted to come backstage and show us a magic trick,” said Penn Jillette.
London the Magnificent performed the ‘Find the King’ card trick for the magical duo. According to all accounts, the nine-year-old perfectly executed the complicated routine.
London’s note asked ‘Why is there not many girls doing magic?’, a question that Jillette says brought him to tears.
Jilette’s 12-year-old daughter Moxie is also into magic and he loves the fact that girls are beginning to embrace the craft.
“20 years ago, you’d be very hard pressed to find two girls who were into magic, it was strictly a boys’ thing, and now they’re all over the place,” said Jillette. “One of the reasons there’s so few women magicians (is that) the magicians didn’t let them into the magic clubs. It’s a really horrible thing. If they did let them in, it was really a boys’ club atmosphere.”
Jillette credits improved access to magic for helping remove previously-held stereotypes. “Now, because of the internet and, I like to think a little bit because of (television) shows like Penn & Teller: Fool Us, girls are starting to understand that the secrets are not just for boys and there’s a lot of good girl magicians coming around.”
Teller could not be reached for comment.
