reach this level of fame, and what truly inspired him?
Mullica was born in Waupun, Wisconsin on August 19, 1948. As a child, he was deeply interested in circus acts; he was especially interested in clowning. Much of his inspiration to become a comedic magician came from the TV shows he watched as a young boy.
In an interview with The Magic News Wire, Mullica said:“ One of my favorite shows when I was a kid was International Show Time with Don Ameche. It was a weekly circus show that was a half hour, that showed circus acts from Europe and around the world, and that next to Don Alan’ s Magic Ranch and Mark Wilson’ s Magic Land of Allakazam were probably my three favorite shows. That’ s what really got the bug going.”
Watching circus acts so often made Mullica clown-mad as a child. He continuously checked out the same books about clowns from the Wisconsin public library, and almost every Halloween he would dress up as a clown. In later life, his love for clowns never left, and he described the makeup clowns use and the characters they portray as“ beautiful”.
His interest in magic was taken to the next level when his mother bought him a Sneaky Pete Magic Kit for Christmas at age seven. He put on his first magic show when he was in the fourth grade, and he has said that the magic kit“ changed it all” for him.
Within his career he combined both his passions for clowning and magic to create fun and unique acts, but initially he never considered mixing the two.“ When I started my magic career I was like most other magicians,” said Mullica.“ I had doves and I took the Chavez course later on, and I was very interested in sleight of hand.” During his high school years, Mullica would put on amateur shows, performing at Boy Scout banquets and parties. When he graduated, he had“ no idea what [ he ] wanted to do with [ his ] life” aside from being a magician. After serving in the army for three years( between 1966 and 1969), he travelled to Alaska for nine months with a friend, where he lived in his van and made a small living selling Svengali decks.
It was during a show in Alaska that Mullica realized he could mix comedy with magic. He had made a mistake when performing one of his tricks, but the audience had laughed it off, thinking it was part of the act.“ I figured, what a great thing to be doing a show and make a mistake, and have the audience think it’ s part of the show. If you’ re a serious magician, and something goes wrong, you’ ve just got to stand there and take it, but if you’ re a comedian you can get away with it.”
Life in Alaska became too hard for him however, and he moved back to Wisconsin to work in a pizza bar, where he began doing bar magic. Bar magic was something that fascinated Mullica from a young age.
Before he was able to legally visit a bar by himself, his mother took him to a bar in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin before its opening hours. There he met a bar magician who inspired him greatly. The magician, called Ken Grunwald, had a style that reminded Mullica of his idol, Red Skelton, and he adopted this entertainment style for himself.
Mullica then gave up his position at the bar, and ended up moving to Colon, Michigan( sometimes called“ The Magic Capital of the World). He accepted a position working in the wood shop of Abbot Magic, which sells handmade magic props and runs magic conventions.
Working at Abbot Magic taught him the valuable skill of woodworking; a skill which he used up until the end of his career. As a magician he was able to build all of his own props, another
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