naturally—he needed to be on his own.
Today, running his own business requires an aston-
ishingly disparate set of skills. Some days Steinmeyer is
a mechanical engineer, building scale models with foam
core, mirrors, and toothpicks; other days, he’s a historian
and detective, reconstructing old tricks; still others, he’s a
graphic designer drawing up informal blueprints, or a play-
wright developing scripts to go with his illusions.
Each illusion involves close collaboration with the build-
ers and the performers—Steinmeyer’s clients. “Every trick
has a f law,” he says. “If it didn’t, it wouldn’t be a trick, it
would be reality.”
For magic to accomplish the impossible—making some-
thing disappear—a “f law” in the magic has to be hidden,
like a trick mirror or special compartment. If a magician
can’t conceal this secret, the trick is worthless. Steinmeyer
relies on both meticulous design and well-suited perform-
ers to construct tricks. When he offered to help launch the
solo career of Alex Ramon—a former magician for the Ring-
ling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus—he asked Ramon to
write down his favorite tricks, architectural styles, pieces
of art, color schemes, and so on to garner a sense of his aes-
thetic and his way of thinking.
Ramon had never performed original tricks before, but
in Steinmeyer’s studio he understood for the first time how
they were birthed. “It made me think about magic in a dif-
ferent way,” Ramon says. “I was just a performer. I didn’t
have that engineering mind.” Today, he has a trick in which
his “blond assistant” materializes in an empty chair cov-
ered by a cloth. Though the assistant’s silhouette appears
at first to be human, it turns out to be Ramon’s dog. Stein-
meyer helped Ramon create this signature part of his act.
“I definitely owe a big chunk of my career to Jim,” he says.D
uring the evening on my second day in Hollywood,
Steinmeyer drives me to the Magic Castle. The
members-only club for magicians and enthusiasts is
both a laboratory for the craft and, by night, a place
for guests to take in large-scale and intimate performances.
Built in 1909, the building is a shambling maze, a classic
chateau-themed manor with narrow passages, branching
wings, antique banisters and Tiffany stained-glass win-
dows. At the time of my visit, Steinmeyer ser ved as president
of the club (though his tenure has since ended), and we
arrive about an hour before opening so he can attend a board
meeting. I have to borrow a tie at reception to meet the dress
code, though I’m already wearing a sport coat.
Steinmeyer heads to his meeting, leaving me to roam the
castle. In a room tucked behind the main entrance, I test▼ First-time guests at the Magic Castle must speak the correct password to
open a hidden door behind reception and gain entry into the club.42 November/December 2020
ALAMY