No Ordinary Magic A Memoir (Unexpected Travels with the Great Cellini) by Eileen McFalls - Book

At twenty-five, I embarked on an unconventional journey

Hi, I'm Eileen McFalls. This memoir is about my adventures street performing with Jim Cellini, beginning when we first met in 1980 on Jackson Square in New Orleans. After meeting this charismatic street performer, I stepped into his world of magic without hesitation. But I was still in search of my self when I fell under his spell and into this outsider culture that was foreign to me.

No Ordinary Magic is a picture of our roller-coaster life of busking, the adventures and the mishaps we experienced, and the love we had for one another. Cellini's philosophy espoused having the freedom to go anywhere at anytime without depending on agents, managers, or club owners. In spite of myself, I was the recipient of a rare gift from Cellini-seeing society from a uniquely different perspective.

I've recounted bits and pieces of Cellini's entire magic act from coin, card, and cigarette effects to the linking rings and the ropes. He was most known for his featured trick, the Cups and Balls. For magicians who visit this site or purchase the book, there is one effect performed with a hidden clue-see if you can find it!

We met a slew of personalities during our travels, starting with a cast of characters in the French Quarter: Noel Rockmore, renowned artist and terror of the Quarter; George Price the Mouseman; Sonny Holiday, a quirky street performer who learned magic from Jim; Sebastiano Lomanto, a Sicilian balloon artist turned magician; and Chris "the Piss" Lynam, an English comic clown. We were privileged to spend time with Lord Peregrine Eliot, founder of the Elephant Fayre and Port Eliot Festival in Cornwall and Heathcote Williams, poet, actor, playwright, and activist-both huge magic enthusiasts. In Los Angeles, we hung out with Michel Polnareff, a popular French pop singer and magic devotee. We wined and dined with numerous magicians throughout our travels-the famous and the infamous. Frank Garcia, a magician known as "The Man With the Million Dollar Hands" and a well-known authority on gambling, often met us at Slydini's apartment in Manhattan. Quintino Marucci, better known as Slydini, was Jim's mentor in magic. Considered by the magic society as the foremost magician who revolutionized the art of close-up magic, Slydini traveled the world, appeared on the Dick Cavett show a number of times, and taught celebrities-both actors and directors-in the art of misdirection. I felt honored to spend time with this legend in magic.

We trekked across America, Canada, Great Britain, and Europe, first in a step van, then in a converted school bus, and finally by car. We busked on street corners, plazas, and at festivals. Armed with instamatic cameras and a small Nikon, I took thousands of pictures during our years together performing on the streets. Despite a major catastrophe with the bus and a house fire some years later, happily, a number of photo negatives survived-faded, scratched, picked, but usable. The two photos from the 1983 Piedmont Arts Festival in Atlanta are posted courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Fortunately, I also kept bins of letters we'd received over the years. I remember Jim telling me, "Save those. They'll come in handy one day." I'm glad I did. Enjoy the history these photos and stories represent.

An Excerpt from the Book

Cellini often said that a magician's tools are the extension of one's magical self. Props to a magician are as important as the perfect brush to an artist or the faultless sound of an instrument to a musician. The following video is an excerpt from the book illustrating the reverence Cellini had for the art of magic in processing his sorrow over a set of damaged cups he'd used in a magic effect.

What People Are Saying

"Take a front row seat on this adventure and experience a world and time that no longer exists."
- Michael Vincent, michaelvincentmagic.com

"What an extraordinary tale. I was right there with Eileen on the streets of New Orleans, New York, Amsterdam, London, immersed in a multitude of riotous adventures. How courageous to have lived this life outside the borders of society."
- Anjail Ahmad, PhD, Director of the Creative Writing Program, A&T University

"The title of this memoir is perhaps understated. No Ordinary Magic could easily have been called Extraordinary Magic. Eileen McFalls' once-in-a-lifetime journey across the U.S. and Europe with her paramour, a street magician known as the Great Cellini, is a tale that underscores the adage that truth is often stranger than fiction. McFalls' detailed and active recounting of people, events, and conversations gives the reader a sense of being present in the moment as her narrative flows. No Ordinary Magic is a great ride and no ordinary read.
- Lance Elko, freelance editor

"If you love reading memoirs that include quirky characters, fabulous settings, and all kinds of magic, then this book is for you. Eileen's story brings you people and places you didn't ever think you would know but will be glad you did."
- Barbara Barry Levin, Professor Emerita, UNC-Greensboro

A 30-page color insert inside features photos of busking scenes and artwork of street performers by Noel Rockmore.