The Club hosted a national convention known as SAM (Society of American Magicians) which would be my very first magic convention. Little did I know, my husband-to-be from Germany would attend this convention to display his beautiful magic silks among other famous quality props with his magic company called “the magic hands”. Manfred Thumm stood behind his booth of colorful silks working while I fluttered around the convention like a butterfly going from flower to flower, as I went from magic dealer to magic dealer. I was infatuated with magic and couldn’t get enough of it.  With all these magic stands from all over the world selling their props and tricks in one hotel ballroom I was in magic heaven. But Manfred Thumm had his eye on me, though I didn’t realize it right away.

acts. His seat was somewhere down front. Being young and naive, I was elated and couldn’t believe my luck. Arriving at the seat that was his, I realized I was in the VIP row and Irene Larsen from The Magic Castle in Hollywood was sitting on my left and Manfred Thumm on my right.  It wasn’t til years later that I found out that Mike Caldwell was just playing cupid and hoping to bring the two of us together when he realized how Manfred had such interest in me.  Well, his little trick worked because Manfred used this chance for small talk and getting to know me. When the convention was over, he flew back to Germany and I went back to my hum drum secretarial life. The catalog came in the mail but that was the only communication we had with each other. One year later, the SAM convention was held in Las Vegas. I guess it was destiny, because Manfred was booked to perform a lecture there and our paths crossed again. Knowing that Lance Burton was my idol, Manfred invited me to see Lance’s show, so I accepted. That was our first date. The next night he invited me to see his friends Siegfried and Roy. Being invited backstage after both shows I was starry-eyed and swept off my feet. This Las Vegas convention was the beginning of our romance, which became a long distance (overseas) romance. After another year of overseas telephone calls and meeting each other somewhere between Louisville, Kentucky and Stuttgart, Germany, he asked me to move to Germany and I accepted. I quit my secretarial job, left my family in Floyd Knobs, Indiana and headed to Germany on April 18, 1988 to start a new life with Manfred.

     Loving magic and now being thrown into a magic business full time, one would think it would be the best thing to happen to Victoria, the Lady Magician. Where before, I couldn’t even afford a silk, suddenly I was co-owner of a complete magic shop with professional props and beautiful silks at my finger tips. But my destiny wrote a different story. Instead of learning to perform magic tricks, I was packing them and filling customer mail-orders, writing English translations for trick instructions and traveling the world with Manfred attending over 15 magic conventions a year. No time to practice. Suddenly, I was the lady by his side at conventions and behind his colorful magic booth. I learned to perform a few Blendos and Silk Tricks to help him sell, but I didn’t have any time left over to work on my act. Victoria, the Lady Magician faded away.

     For the next 10 years, I became the First Lady of his famous “the magic hands Fachkongress” held in Sindelfingen each January. Instead of becoming a magician and making a name for myself, I met and mingled with all the big names in magic worldwide. Working with them backstage during Manfred’s convention was just enough to keep me high on doses of the magical world of show business and glamour,  although I still dreamt of performing myself.

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