Buzz Aldrin after my performance in New York: “I used to think Saturn V was a miracle. But your show – this was a real miracle.”

I performed magic last week for NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin and a fascinating group of space tourism supporters.

Buzz let me use his ring for one of my tricks – the ring HE WORE ON THE MOON!

Without a doubt, that experience trumps all the other notable rings I’ve borrowed in the past, including a Super Bowl ring, and Ellen Barkin’s wedding ring.

I still can’t get over it. I held the ring Buzz Aldrin wore while walking on the moon. And he let me use it in my show. What an honor.

After the show he also allowed me [...]

THIS SHOW IS NOW COMPLETELY SOLD-OUT

It’s the dream of any performer to stand on-stage at Carnegie Hall, presenting what they’ve trained their entire life to perfect.

I’ll have my chance on January 12, 2012, and I’d love it if you would share this momentous evening with me.

Carnegie Hall has three performance venues – I’ll be performing in their most intimate: Weill Recital Hall. Tickets went on sale this morning at 11:00am, and the box office tells me that they had people queuing up on the phones, waiting for the sale to begin.

This is a one-night only performance of my stage show “Theater of Wonder” – which is entirely different from “Chamber Magic,” now in its eleventh year at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel. If you’ve been to my smaller show and want to see more magic, “Theater of Wonder” is for you.

Tickets are available at the Carnegie Hall box office (57th Street and Seventh Avenue), through CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or online [...]

“For the uninitiated layman, everything Steve Cohen presents in “Chamber Magic” must seem totally impossible and could easily convert anyone to believe in the paranormal.

“Other mentalists and all magicians should watch Steve carefully. Not so much for the actual effects but for his superb patter, timing and presentation. Few other entertainers are able to create the kind of intimate and mysterious atmosphere that this evening offers and, in the best show-business tradition, he leaves them wanting even more!”

–David Berglas

I was honored to receive this praise from David Berglas, one of the living legends in magic. David and his wife Ruth visited my show in London, and we’ve remained in touch over the years. A few years back, they visited New York City, and I organized a lavish luncheon in David’s honor at the Waldorf-Astoria. Here is the personalized menu from the Peacock Alley private dining room [...]

Before serving dinner at a dinner party in Manhattan, my host asked that I do “a little something” for the guests. I declined politely — I don’t like to perform when I’m not actually working — but when people hear that there’s a magician at the table, they expect to see a trick. These were not children, mind you, but some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in New York.

I turned to the woman next to me and asked for one of her earrings. She was hesitant to remove one of her diamond studs for a magic trick. She thought I might damage it. But when our host nodded his approval, she allowed me to remove it.

“The Flying Earring Trick!” I announced, holding up my hand to silence the guests. The glittering diamond earring rested in my left palm, shining in the light from the chandelier overhead. I slowly closed my hand into a fist, and explained that I would make the earring fly – invisibly! – from one fist into the other. All of the guests looked at me with skepticism as I opened my left fist: empty. They craned their necks in closer. I then opened my right fist: also empty. The lady’s face turned pale.

“If the earring didn’t fly into my other hand, it could only have gone one other place.” I pointed to [...]

Being the Millionaires’ Magician has placed me into some pretty amazing situations. Like the time I entertained at the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington DC, during the Bloomberg after-party. This is the most “glam” party to attend, held at the Russian Trade Mission. Michael Bloomberg was there. Donald Trump was there. A-list celebrities at every turn. And it was my job to entertain them.

As I performed privately for two of the guests, I noticed that a photographer was furiously snapping pictures over my shoulder.

The photographer later informed me: “Those two men you just entertained were the Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of Transportation. The only person who can usually bring them together is the President of the United States. And you just did the same thing with magic!”

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This reminds me of another occasion, when Michael Bloomberg invited me to his Park Avenue office in NYC prior to being elected mayor. After chatting for twenty minutes about golf, memory techniques, and how to master a second language (he was studying Spanish), Bloomberg asked me to show him some magic.

I asked [...]

“Aside from his success, it is Steve Cohen’s charm and elegance which separate him from all but a tiny elite of world-class magicians. However, Steve is the only magician from that elite and highly-select group to take his show to an elite and highly-select audience. It is a true one-off: an intimate caprice of parlour diversion by an enthralling and consummate master.”

-Derren Brown

I also dug out an old photo of Derren with my wife and children [...]

Back in 2002, in London, England, I met an artist named Van Howell. I was so impressed with his distinctive style of illustration that I commissioned him to create a poster for my show.

The cast of characters that he included in the poster is impressive. I’ve received emails from people who own the poster, requesting information about each character. Fortunately Van provided me with a detailed schematic list that describes his inspirations. He went on a treasure hunt through the National Gallery in London to find the perfect cast. Click the links below to see many of the truly gorgeous originals.

First, here’s the outline view: [...]

Yes, that’s me with master magician Lance Burton at the Friars Club in New York City. We were there tonight for the premier screening of a new magic-themed movie: Make Believe.

The Friars Club is a grand old club for entertainers and people in the entertainment industry. Past members include all the show business legends, including Johnny Carson, Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Elizabeth Taylor, Ed Sullivan and Milton Berle. The street entrance looks like this [...]

The magic wand is an ancient conjuring representation of mystery. To the uninitiated, it’s no more than a piece of wood. To me, it is a reminder of the joy and pleasure of an entertainment art that has existed since ancient times.

If you’ve ever dealt a deck of Tarot Cards, you’re familiar with “The Magician” card. It shows a magician pointing up to the heavens with his wand, and down to the ground with his finger. He serves as a human conduit between heaven and earth, his wand serving to draw energy from the universe and to harness it for practical use.

I have a collection of magic wands – some of them quite tricky with built in gadgets – but only one has the distinguished role of my “working” wand. It was custom-made to my specifications by [...]

Way back in 2002, just a couple of years after starting up my show, CNN correspondent Jeanne Moos came to visit me at the Waldorf. She brought her camera crew and did a feature story about Chamber Magic. The show has changed a lot since then, but it’s fun to see what she found interesting enough to discuss with Anderson Cooper, Jack Cafferty and Paula Zahn, in a roundtable at the end.

Genii: Why do you call yourself “The Millionaires’ Magician?” Doesn’t that turn some people off? It sounds kind of snooty.

Cohen: Nice way to start the interview!

Genii: It’s my prerogative: I remember teaching you and Mark Sicher how to shave when you were both kids.

Cohen: So you did. To answer your question, an upscale magazine in New York City wrote a feature story about me, and that was the headline: “The Millionaires’ Magician.” I’m at The Waldorf Towers every Friday and Saturday night for my show Chamber Magic. But the other five days of the week I travel around the world to perform at people’s mansions and private islands. They pick me up in luxury cars and put me up in fine hotels in Switzerland, London, Paris, the Caribbean, Boca Raton, Aspen, all over the place.

Genii: You’ve clearly figured out a great niche for yourself.

Cohen: To be honest, there are at least three million millionaires in America, and in my geographic region—New York City—it seems like everyone I know is a millionaire. So when I call myself “The Millionaires’ Magician,” it’s simply a description of my market. Now, I find myself contacted only by people—event planners, corporate groups, and individuals—who can afford my current rates. They kind of know what they’re jumping into when they call me, so there’s no sticker shock when they hear my prices.

Genii: How many shows per year do you perform? [...]

The Jewish Museum in New York contacted me several months ago to entertain at a private dinner for their Chairman of the Board, Museum Director, and top donors, following the opening of the museum’s new Houdini exhibition. The dinner was held last night in a Park Avenue duplex apartment on Manhattan’s upper east side. I [...]

The photo leading this post is one of my new favorites. It may look small, but you MUST click it to view an amazing panoramic view of the gorgeous St. James room in Boston’s Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel. It was taken minutes before the doors opened to the public. As you can see, the mahogany walls and soaring window drapery provided the perfect backdrop for a classical magic performance.

Boston Celtics president Danny Ainge brought his whole family to the show, and even [...]

The Essential Magic Conference will be held on July 15, 16 and 17, in Portugal. I was asked to participate in one of their “passion videos.” This video just went live today on YouTube.

Steve Cohen does not have the marquee name of a David Copperfield, David Blaine or Penn & Teller. What he does have, at 39, is Chamber Magic, five shows a weekend at the plush suite in the Waldorf-Astoria where Crown Prince Sultan of Saudi Arabia stays when in town. Mr. Cohen’s specialty is parlor magic, fusing close-up maneuvers and tricks with common objects for small audiences. He models himself after conjurers who entertained the aristocracy in European salons in the 1800s. He does not saw women or make elephants vanish. [...]

Nostalgic blog post! Growing up in Westchester County, I joined the Boy Scouts (Troop 174) and have happy boyhood memories of paging through the Boy Scout Handbook. Norman Rockwell’s scouting images were scattered throughout the handbook, and I fell in love with his painting style. To my knowledge, Norman Rockwell painted two images that included [...]

I have fond memories of Sunday mornings as a boy, searching the Arts page of the NY Times for the “Nina’s” hidden in Al Hirschfeld’s illustrations. It was a clever game of hide-and-go-seek, since Hirschfeld hid his daughter’s name so well, and in such whimsically obscure spots – in the folds of a coat sleeve, [...]

I love watches. Especially unusual ones. The first quirky watch I acquired has only one hand, yet you could always tell the exact time. (The entire watch dial rotated in the rear to indicate the hour, while the single hand pointed to the minute.) Over time, I’ve become a watch fanatic, and now have a [...]