Many of you may know Wayne Hoffman from the TV show Phenomenon. He also happens to live nearby where I live so this story made the local news this morning. This story is for those of you who feel you have trouble finding that moment to perform or for someone who just enjoys a great story that brought magic into the lives of a group of terrified individuals:
Wayne Hoffman is a professional mentalist and illusionist. In his words...he travels the world reading people's minds and doing magic. He and his father were headed home after a show in the Carribbean.
FRED: I looked over at Wayne and I thought he's my son and my life's just about over. If we go into the ocean, how can I save him?
REPORTER: For 90 minutes with nothing but ocean below, the smoke-filled American Airlines flight 17-38 flew toward West Palm Beach, Florida...its destination for an emergency landing. But before the plane ever left the ground, Wayne Hoffman says something seemed off.
WAYNE: I told my dad I have a feeling something weird is going to happen, something not so good.
REPORTER: It started with a ritual for a retiring pilot's last flight.
WAYNE: They had fire engines on both sides of the plane shooting water.
REPORTER: About two hours into the air, the plane filled with smoke...and the lights went out. The crew prepared passengers for the worst.
WAYNE: They were going through the life vest routine and they started to describe the brace position.
REPORTER: For the next hour and a half they could only wait.
WAYNE: You could look around and see lips quivering and palms sweating and people were grabbing onto the seat, but it was quiet.
REPORTER: As the plane finally approached the airport, Wayne's funny feeling at the beginning of the trip took on an eerier vibe.
WAYNE: We landed and fire trucks came swarming on the plane. It came full circle. It was fire trucks in the beginning and then fire trucks in the end.
REPORTER: Wayne says most passengers were overcome with emotion after the ordeal was over. And while they waited for their next flight back to Philly, the mentalist helped change their state of mind.
WAYNE: I grabbed a chair, what little props I had, a deck of cards, a pen and paper and I put on a 45 minute show.
FRED: They all came over and thanked him and hugged him and he changed their whole way of thinking.
WAYNE: If there was ever an audience that appreciated it, it was them.
REPORTER: This is actually not the first time Wayne Hoffman will cheat death. That's actually the theme for the show he's working on called "Phenomenon." You can check out the grounded version April 19th at the Sovereign Performing Arts Center.
This is a direct transcript of the story from:
http://wfmz.com/view/?id=215378
You can view the video interview on that page as well if you can get it to load. When I tried to access the video it was taking an extremely long time but mainly because I am sure the site was getting pounded by people looking for weather updates and school closings.
Magic is a performance art. If you have a similar story or just something to share where you performed magic under a rather tense situation that changed someone's entire day around I would like to hear about it =)
--Jim
Wayne Hoffman is a professional mentalist and illusionist. In his words...he travels the world reading people's minds and doing magic. He and his father were headed home after a show in the Carribbean.
FRED: I looked over at Wayne and I thought he's my son and my life's just about over. If we go into the ocean, how can I save him?
REPORTER: For 90 minutes with nothing but ocean below, the smoke-filled American Airlines flight 17-38 flew toward West Palm Beach, Florida...its destination for an emergency landing. But before the plane ever left the ground, Wayne Hoffman says something seemed off.
WAYNE: I told my dad I have a feeling something weird is going to happen, something not so good.
REPORTER: It started with a ritual for a retiring pilot's last flight.
WAYNE: They had fire engines on both sides of the plane shooting water.
REPORTER: About two hours into the air, the plane filled with smoke...and the lights went out. The crew prepared passengers for the worst.
WAYNE: They were going through the life vest routine and they started to describe the brace position.
REPORTER: For the next hour and a half they could only wait.
WAYNE: You could look around and see lips quivering and palms sweating and people were grabbing onto the seat, but it was quiet.
REPORTER: As the plane finally approached the airport, Wayne's funny feeling at the beginning of the trip took on an eerier vibe.
WAYNE: We landed and fire trucks came swarming on the plane. It came full circle. It was fire trucks in the beginning and then fire trucks in the end.
REPORTER: Wayne says most passengers were overcome with emotion after the ordeal was over. And while they waited for their next flight back to Philly, the mentalist helped change their state of mind.
WAYNE: I grabbed a chair, what little props I had, a deck of cards, a pen and paper and I put on a 45 minute show.
FRED: They all came over and thanked him and hugged him and he changed their whole way of thinking.
WAYNE: If there was ever an audience that appreciated it, it was them.
REPORTER: This is actually not the first time Wayne Hoffman will cheat death. That's actually the theme for the show he's working on called "Phenomenon." You can check out the grounded version April 19th at the Sovereign Performing Arts Center.
This is a direct transcript of the story from:
http://wfmz.com/view/?id=215378
You can view the video interview on that page as well if you can get it to load. When I tried to access the video it was taking an extremely long time but mainly because I am sure the site was getting pounded by people looking for weather updates and school closings.
Magic is a performance art. If you have a similar story or just something to share where you performed magic under a rather tense situation that changed someone's entire day around I would like to hear about it =)
--Jim