Trick of his magic is its effect on hearts

By Bryan Painter

Published: October 19, 2007

Len Sparagowski was not about to be had, taken, conned.

The 12-year-old had paid 10 cents that day in 1933 in Warsaw, Poland, to see the great magician Harry Blackstone Sr. But during intermission, barkers walked the aisles pitching draw bags they said contained a trick like the audience had seen Blackstone perform. The price: 15 cents.

Do the quick math and you realize that was 5 cents more than he paid to get into the theater. And it was 15 cents more than he should have spent. But he did. Inside was a coin clip and two pieces of toffee. Sparagowski was upset, very upset.

Now, before we go too far, I want to introduce you to the Len Sparagowski of today. He's 86 years old and lives in Oklahoma City. He became a professional magician 70 years ago this month. In 1978, he was among the entertainment at a Christmas show held at the White House by then-President Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter.

But for many, many years, many of his efforts have been directed at fundraising. He has helped raise thousands of dollars for charities. Those efforts have included generating money for the Ronald McDonald House in Oklahoma City and funds to support the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Oklahoma City.

Sparagowski was born in Toledo, Ohio, to Polish immigrant parents, Stephen and Constance Sparagowski. They returned to Poland to dispose of some property but weren't allowed to leave the country. However, they did finally get out just before Sparagowski's 18th birthday, which marked the start of World War II in Poland.

But let's not leave Poland in terms of the story. We'll go back to the theater.

"Well, I said, ‘I'm not going to be taken,'” Sparagowski told me. "I started to go backstage and the guards sent me back. I said, ‘I want to talk to Harry Blackstone.'”

Somehow, he made his way back to the famous Blackstone, who was kind, even though the child was to the point.

"I said, ‘I want my money back,'” Sparagowski said. "I said, ‘This is all I got, and they told me that I would receive a trick that you did on stage.'

"He said, ‘Well, this is what I used to do that trick with,' and then he demonstrated it to me.'”

Sparagowski pulled one of dozens of checkbook-type boxes from a shelf. What he pulled out wasn't magic, but was amazing to me. He had the coin clip he had purchased at Blackstone's magic show 74 years ago. That provoked the first "Wow!” of the morning from me.

Blackstone would pinch the coin clip about mid-knuckle between two fingers and insert a coin in it. In the show, he had appeared to pull coins out of the air and then drop them one after another in a pail. However, what he was really doing was keeping the one coin in the clip while tapping the pail. When he tapped it, a coin would release from a spring-loaded compartment. As he did this quickly, he was appearing to pull them out and put them in the pail and the audience would hear a cling, cling, cling as one after another hit the bottom of the can.

"This is the first trick I ever saw,” Sparagowski said.

He not only kept it that day, but went on to use it in some of his shows.

Sparagowski became a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians on Oct. 10, 1937.

He went on to perform not only in the United States but many countries including England, France, Italy, Germany and Poland.

In his "magician's room” of his home, he not only keeps items for use in his shows but also has 14 or so binders primarily containing letters of appreciation.

And, although it was the White House gig that caught my attention, Sparagowski became much more emotional about a private performance in the late 1990s.

"I had a small child right here in Oklahoma City ... that I performed for, a little boy dying of cancer,” he said of a child he came to know because of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. "The child could have wished to go any place that he wanted to go, do anything he wanted to do.”

Then Sparagowski, cheerful and outgoing, stopped. Well, the voice stopped, but the tears started.

He took a minute and then continued.

"He asked that I come do some magic for him,” he said. "So they made the arrangements and I went to his bedside at the hospital and did some magic for him, it wasn't a big performance. And he was so happy.

"I had requested to the organization that he be given another wish to go anywhere. But later they said he passed away about two weeks after I met him.”

Talking and looking through binders isn't why so many people know Sparagowski. They know him because of his magic.

So he offered to perform some magic, and I was more than willing to watch.

He didn't let me just watch.

He had me select a page from a 20-year-old Oklahoma City phone book. He explained that he only uses books 10 years and older so that he won't give out any information at a show and then be held responsible if someone's home is broken into that day.

Anyway, I picked a page, and he started to recite names, addresses and phone numbers by column. He spelled out uncommon names.

And then he skipped over to the third column of the page to prove he could do it.

How do you do that? He told me of mnemonics, which is often defined as some techniques that help with memorization.

The phone book act was new to me, and I was impressed. I didn't think much, however, when he started a card trick. I've seen many of those.

And they typically start with "Pick a card.” This one did, as well.

"There are 52 cards in the deck,” he said.

He wanted me to name one. I replied, "Five of hearts.”

So he said, "Five of hearts. Any reason why?”

After I said, "No,” he replied, "I knew that you would name the five of hearts. I will prove to you that I knew.”

I thought: Bring it on.

He flipped over the deck and showed me that there was only one five of hearts. He pulled it out and placed it on a stand.

"You could have selected any card, but yet you selected the five of hearts,” he said.

Then he flipped the deck back over and showed me that a name is written on the outside design of the cards. And he pointed out that no two names were the same — Andy, Martha, Joe, Wally and so on.

"Anyway, you selected five of hearts,” he said. "That's your card. Turn your card over.”

I didn't say "Wow!”

I said, "HOLY COW!” when I realized my name was written on the outside of the five of hearts.

After stuttering for a few seconds I asked if he'd ever heard someone say, "You're weirding me out.”

He laughed.

Then I asked the obvious, "How do you do that?”

He answered, "I do it very well.”

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