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“Rusty
is Magic with a personality, a voice, a brightness, a wit, and
a visage so charming. A client . . . I’d be happy
to invite him back again and again.
A friend . . . hey I am his friend, and
glad to call him one.”
Special Effects Makeup Legend and Actor
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Rusty Ammerman - Entertainer
A Revealing Look
at the Maniac behind the Magic
Carson’s Tonight Show is long gone, but the
Magic Castle remains a Mecca for magicians. It is to magic, Rusty says,
what the Grand Ole Opry is to country music.
So how did he get there?
It’s magic, Rusty-style
Over a quarter-century and thousands of
performances, Rusty has developed his “Dimension of
Illusion,” creating a personal mix of mystery and maniacal mayhem
that has delighted audiences in 43 states and nine countries, including
two overseas military tours.
By its nature, magic is a mystical craft, its
secrets zealously guarded by its prestidigitators. Rusty, with a face
as open and honest as a golden retriever, seems at first to be an
awkward fit with the dark art. Happy magician seems like an oxymoron
after all.
“Magic has nothing to do with fooling
people, it’s all about entertainment,” he explains.
“You can make the Eiffel Tower disappear in front of 10 priests,
all swearing that it’s gone, only to have it reappear on the
moon, verified by NASA, and people will still know it’s a trick
...You can’t fool anyone ever, not really.”
Instead, he says, the trick is in making the
audience enjoy the illusion, and suspend their disbelief.
“I remember the first time I did a trick and
people went huh?” Rusty says. “It was like a drug. I was
hooked.”
For a PDF version of Rusty’s bio, please
click here.
For an editable press release version, please
click here.
For most adults, the chance of realizing a
childhood fantasy is so elusive, it seems like magic.
For Rusty Ammerman, it IS magic.
The comic and magician is now a regular, featured
performer at the World Famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, CA, fulfilling
a dream he first put on paper back in 1984 when he was asked his goal
in the entertainment industry.
“My answer was quick and unequivocal,”
he says. “I said I want to be on The Tonight Show with Johnny
Carson and I want to perform at the Magic Castle in Hollywood.”
Rusty cut his entertainment teeth in front of his
bedroom mirror, acting out scenes from classic television - The
Twilight Zone, Carol Burnett, Gilligan’s Island, Jack Benny,
Steve Martin, and the like.
At age 16 he spent a summer vacation working at
one of those old-time Wild West amusement parks, doing everything from
staging gun fights and stunts to playing comic characters in the
can-can show.
There was already a magician on staff, but Rusty
thought he could do better and got to work. Success soon followed.
“At some point, I stopped doing tricks and
started doing shows,” he says. “I realized that the ability
to do a magic trick doesn’t make you a magician, and being a
magician certainly doesn’t make you an entertainer. It’s
all about how you make your audience feel.”
Rusty currently hones his legerdemain at dinner
theaters, amusement parks, casinos, universities, fairs, schools,
libraries, and trade shows. He is also proud to be the staff
magician for Good’s Candy Shop in Anderson, IN.
A genuinely nice guy, hard work and talent allow
him to do exactly what he wanted as a youngster standing in front of
that mirror - perform and entertain.
Nothing magic about it.
