I don’t generally do magic at kids’ parties; it’s just not my specialty, but my booking agent called and he said, “You may want to do this one because it’s John Edwards’ son.” I said, “OK, I’ll do that.”
I went to their house off 54, and I shared magic for Jack, I believe, and his friends and his sister and Elizabeth and a few of her friends.
The show for the kids was probably about a half an hour. I stayed for a little longer. Elizabeth was interested and her friends were, too. She was very friendly and asked me a couple of questions about magic and just making small talk and that kind of stuff. I showed her some card tricks.
At first I wasn’t necessarily expecting her to be there. I had performed for really wealthy kids before, and sometimes the parents aren’t part of the scene at all. She was right there and very friendly, part of the whole scene.
The main thing that I remember was that I really admired the grounded confidence she had. She wasn’t authoritative or bossy, but she was just very grounded and very in control of the scene in an open way rather than a dictatorial way. It was clear she was running the show and everyone was deferring to her, but she was very relaxed and open in that position. It was impressive to see somebody who was really in control in a kind of open and grounded way.
When you perform magic, you kind of get to see an unusual side of people. Most people don’t have the experience of what magic brings out. There’s a line; sometimes people who are in authority or are bosses are not comfortable expressing amazement or joy, because they are self-conscious. It says a lot about them.
She really loved the magic. She was very appreciative. She was very comfortable expressing her joy and a sense of wonder. That impressed me kind of, seeing that.
The final thing that she said to me as I was leaving, she looked me right in eye and said, “We will definitely have you up to perform at the Inauguration Ball.”
Josh Lozoff is a magician and performer.