Performer’s career
takes off like magic
By John Loesing
T.O. Acorn Editor

Jason Latimer to appear in T.O.

You’ve seen the trick in one form or another many times—a variation on the old shell game where the magician shuffles a set of upside down cups and the audience tries to figure out how the balls underneath disappear.

Jason Latimer, a 22-year-old magician from Agoura Hills, decided to put a new twist on the old trick by using clear cups instead of regular ones and putting the balls through a series of improbable, gyrating moves.

Latimer perfected the trick and took it to the recent world magic championships in The Hague, Netherlands where he impressed the judges so much that he won Grand Prix World Champion of Close-Up Magic, the industry’s top honor.

The Federation of the International Society of Magic, the competition host, named Latimer’s cups and balls trick the top invention of the year.

"You can actually see the balls jumping from cup to cup without me lifting cups up," Latimer said. "Then you can watch the balls vanish from one cup and switch to another cup. Then there’s a ball in every cup, and without me even lifting up the cups, you realize all the balls are gone. When it’s all done, you start to see me push the ball through the glass."

Sound confusing?

It’s supposed to be.

Latimer has been baffling audiences since he was 12 and started performing at birthday parties and other events. Jason’s first taste of the bright lights came when he was 9 and got called to the stage to assist a magician aboard a cruise ship.

Returning from the family vacation, Jason began learning tricks on his own.

At 18, after graduating from Agoura High School, Jason became one of the youngest headliners ever at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. At 20, he was nabbed as the opening act for the Amazing Johnathan show at the Las Vegas Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino.

On Nov. 5, Jason Latimer will appear at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza in a show called "It’s Magic."

As he approaches the top of his profession, Latimer is only the third American to win the coveted international award. One of the former winners, world-renowned magician Lance Burton, called Latimer to offer immediate congratulations. So did Las Vegas stars Siegfried and Roy.

"Jason is a refreshing new face in the world of magic," said Dale Hindman, Jason’s manager and the president of the Academy of Magical Arts. "His original thinking in all aspects of magic has earned him recognition from his peers in several key areas."

"The reason we do competitions is to see who has the sneakier stuff," Latimer said.

He also likes to perform those big, eye-popping tricks on stage, not just the little ones. "I love all forms of magic. It’s fun for me," he said.

"Certainly (Jason) has become noted for his stage act as well, but he started out doing the close-up magic and that’s won him the world championship," Hindman said.

Latimer is a mathematics and economics major at the University of California Santa Barbara. But with his career in magic skyrocketing, school sometimes plays second fiddle.

"I will finish school, there’s no doubt in my mind," he said. "When I will finish, that’s negotiable."

Latimer embarks on tour of Europe next month and must put college on hold once again.

Unlike the tricks he performs, he’s hoping his success is no illusion.

"This is crazy, really unexpected," he said. "I still can’t believe this."