There’s magic in the air Friday nights at Turoni’s Forget-Me-Not Inn when Joseph Franklin pushes around his cart of props and delights diners with a quick show.
The Henderson, Kentucky, resident’s interest first was piqued when as a child he saw a magician perform while dining with his father at a restaurant in Carbondale, Illinois. Stumbling across a magic shop in San Francisco, California, and discovering a copy of Henry Hay’s “The Amateur Magician’s Handbook” in Paducah, Kentucky, captured his passion.
“I really didn’t know anything except that I wanted to pursue this,” says Franklin, who is a desktop engineer for Deaconess Health System. “I went in different directions until I found what I needed.” He’s performed magic professionally for 37 years.
Starting out, he focused on tricks with cards and coins and gradually added more props. His regular gig at Turoni’s Weinbach Avenue location began in 2001. Though he prefers parlor and close-up magic, he also performs at birthday parties, corporate events, Christmas shows, and events such as the Vanderburgh County Fair. In 2016, he added ventriloquism to his repertoire, and he’s performed song-and-dance numbers since joining the Drop Dead Darlings Burlesque & Variety Show in 2018.
“Over the years, I’ve done it all, everything from close-up to stage illusions,” he says. His favorite part of being a magician? “Interacting with people, and bringing a little mystery to their lives, letting them know more things are possible than they believe,” he explains.
He also mentors beginner magicians, including Lewis Chaney, a mentalist who performs at Turoni’s North Main Street and Newburgh locations. He encourages magicians just starting out to follow his lead:“The harder tricks are in books,” he shares.
