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Scott Interrante to Perform for the Parent Assembly on Friday, November 2nd

A Magical Biography...
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By Matt Thomas

Long before Interrante became a master of the mysterious, a simple magic trick sparked an interest in a seven year old boy. He sat mesmerized while his father caused a coin to vanish and reappear. From that day forward he dreamed of becoming a magician. He's been living that dream ever since.

Scott, the youngest of three boys, immediatly became fascinated with the impossible. Perhaps it's because magic runs in his family. His father enjoyed performing magic tricks as a hobby, and his grandfather enjoyed creating, designing, and building one-of-a-kind magical effects, some of which Interrante still uses in his shows today. Even Scott's oldest brother Vincent had a knack for magic.

Inspired by the family tradition, he set his eyes on the future. With a tremendous hunger and determination, he literally absorbed anything he could get his hands on concerning the mystifying arts. The young magician's skills improved as he practiced with his ever growing collection of magic books and props.

Tragedy struck Scott at age eleven with the passing of his father. It took some time, but eventually he learned to cope with the misfortune by thinking of all the good times. The fun times he had while learning his first magic tricks. Through the magic, Scott felt he could keep those memories alive.

Finding an audience wasn't always easy for the adolescent magician, but performing for private birthday parties and scouting groups seemed to be a good start. Those free shows eventually led up to his first professional (paid) performance. The local library in Levittown New York hired Scott to put on a show for Halloween. That was the best five dollars he ever earned. His local popularity grew and soon he appeared in variety shows for charitable functions and at schools and community centers.

His first television appearance happened sooner than even he ever expected. The fifteen year old's talents were seen on the Jerry Lewis telethon (USA) via a live remote from a New York shopping mall. Television personality Joe Franklin was on hand to help cover the fund raising magic show. A year later, that television spot got him a job in his first film "Magical America" (Cygnet Films).

Within the next two years Scott put his magical knowledge to the test and devised an act containing mostly original effects. That act "Magic By Candlelight" won him top honors from three major magic organizations and the recognition from two of the world's leading magicians, James "The Amazing" Randi (author, magician, psychic debunker, recognized as the world's greatest living escape artist) and the late Aldo Richiardi (voted the greatest magician in the world consecutively for ten years by his peers).

Randi and Richiardi took him deep into the folds of magic's inner core. Not because Scott was a nice guy, but because they saw in him traits they once saw in themselves - a desire to make it, a passion for the art of magic, and the ineffable quality to create illusions audiences will want to believe.

Richiardi spent time talking, helping, even teaching Scott the ways of magic. Mostly the "how" and "why" that make an illusion work from a psychological perspective. He also put Scott's award winning act before the footlights in the touring version of his Off-Broadway Show "Magic & Illusion". Richiardi often sat in the wings, watching, then giving his critiques afterwards.

Randi also helped Scott, teaching him about Houdini's escapes and the principles by which they were accomplished. Randi took Scott along on his two month world tour allowing him a unique view into the world of showbiz. While in Australia Scott appeared in his second film "Explorer" (Dick Smith Productions) only days before his eighteenth birthday.

Upon returning to the U.S.A., the duo worked on Scott's third film appearance, which they had agreed to before the tour. Scott was to re-create Houdini's upside-down straight-jacket escape stunt and Randi was to be the stunt coordinator. All went as planned and on Thursday, October 9th, 1980 the cameras rolled for Scott's brief scene in the Oscar nominated film "Ragtime" (Paramount Pictures). That day changed Scott Interrante's life forever.