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The Greatest Adventure Chapter 8

Geoff relates the hilarious story of how he got into the Junior Magicians group at the Magic Castle. He caught a lucky break by having something completely fail, and he suspects that it helped put him over the top.

Diana Zimmerman founded the Junior Magicians group at the Magic Castle which was such an important part of Geoff’s life.


Peter Pit was a Juniors sponsor. He and Geoff were kind of frenemies, and he was quite the character. He actually did dress better than the photo above, which was a head shot for his acting portfolio.


The Mayfair Music Hall (right), then known as The Majestic, in 1920.


What it looked like when Geoff and I performed there. We both loved Gene Bell and had a number of opportunities to hang out with him. This picture is from the Rockford Files pilot, which also has scenes inside.


Gene Bell dancing with Linda Manz in the 1978 film Days of Heaven directed by Terrence Malick.


Gene Wilder and Peter Boyle on stage at the Mayfair Music Hall from Young Frankenstein.


Geoff comedically sticking his hand into an animal trap. We found an old letter from a magician asking Geoff to do a big children’s charity show, where he wrote “We’d love you to perform, but maybe not the trap thing.”


Geoff with the SAM 5000 computer programmed to perform magic. I was inside making it all work. I really was the brains of the operation. The audience never saw me.


Actor Bernard Fox, the consummate gentleman, who always made it a point to say nice things about Geoff in front of his date (before we were dating, of course). Did you know he was in two Titanic movies?


Marvyn and Carol Roy’s amazing Mr. Electric act. We got to hang out with them on many occasions and dearly loved them both.


The 1996 Northridge earthquake smashed Kaiser, where after it was rebuilt, actor and comedian Ken Jeong would be my doctor before his breakout role in the 2009 The Hangover. The massive quake did a tremendous amount of damage to our University, and completely destroyed the Mayfair Music Hall, which never opened their doors again.


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