Q&A:Rob Allen
Couple’s marriage is truly magical
NIAGARA FALLS—They met at Crystal Beach, went on the swan ride, and it was a promise of things to come. Swans mate for life, and— presto— Carol and Rob Allen have glided on for 36 happily married years, immortalizing that spirit of Crystal Beach festive fun throughout the decades.
And that’s no illusion. When they first met back in the early 1970s, Carol was still a teenager, and Rob, although not too much older than that, was already polishing his magic act.
Today this magic couple, well-known to school kids, visits scores of Western New York schools each year, conjuring up a nutritionthemed show for their long-running Western New York Dairy Farm corporate sponsors. They’ve also been the opening act for legends like Roy Orbison and many others, and you can see them starting Saturday at the Aquarium of Niagara.
Rob Allen recently talked with Niagara Weekend about the trick of defying reality.
Magic’s in the air. Not in just live performance, but even in the movies with the interest in Harry Potter and the supernatural. Can you explain?
People have always had a need to escape reality. Especially now, people need a diversion from what’s happening in our world—a bad economy, loss of jobs. Magic and fantasy is the perfect getaway. Even with all the technology available to the public today, there’s still a need to get away from it all. It’s strange—the technology even just a generation ago would be considered magic or science fiction. The secrets of technology and what can be done now is so much more complex than those possessed by magicians years ago.
What do you think about the
Masked Magician exposing how illusions are done?
It’s awful. Sometimes what appears to be a miracle in the public eye is a very simple, yet cleverly concealed, secret. These illusions have been around for centuries, and even though they’re old, they are new to each generation seeing them for the first time.
You live here in Niagara Falls, and yet you have international performance credits –how does that happen?
Well, everyone has to be from somewhere. We are from here and have established this as our home base. We love Western New York and would live nowhere else.
Yes, but maybe a place like Las Vegas would be a more likely place for a magician to establish residence?
Believe it or not, there are more than 400 magicians living in Las Vegas. Most of them have to leave town to work, and it’s not just magicians. Vegas has changed in these tough economic times. Don’t get me wrong, Carol and I love Las Vegas— as a place to vacation. We have many friends there. We were just there in April, and we had a fabulous time. We saw five magic shows.
What are you thinking about when you watch someone else perform? Are you trying to figure out how their illusions are done?
No, not at all. I’m like anyone else in the audience. Just taking it all in and enjoying the experience of being there. I remember seeing Siegfried&Roy years ago and feeling so humbled by the experience.
Have you had the chance to meet Siegfried&Roy?
Oh yes, and we’ve been to their Las Vegas home, a huge place. Being in this business we’ve had the opportunity to meet and get to know almost all of the top magicians, including David Copperfield. And, with the exception of David Copperfield, we’ve outlived them all. We’re still working.
You’ve been working with your wife, Carol, for how long?
We’ve been working together for 37 years. We celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary on June 15.
Was Carol interested in magic before you two met?
Not really. I returned from a summer of shows in 1971 at Gaslight Village in Lake George and went on a Labor Day outing to Crystal Beach with my family. My sister brought along a friend, Carol. She was cute and had a great smile. It turned out to be a great day and our first date.
How did that lead to her being in your act?
Carol worked in a restaurant. I’d go in to see her and noticed how she could carry a tray of dishes, weaving in and out of the tables, all the time still smiling— the perfect assistant for my act.
So after you saw her informal “theatrical performances,” you two started to perform together locally?
Yes, we worked all the local clubs in the ’70s. Places like Frank’s Casanova, the Forks Hotel, the Club Sheridan and Mr. C’s.
How old were you at this time?
I was 21, and Carol was just
17. It was a wonderful time to get our timing down and develop new tricks and illusions. In many of these clubs we were doing three shows a night.
And this led to other work outside of Western New York?
Oh yes. Working with other acts led to being recommended to out-of-town agents, which got us work throughout the ’70s and ’80s as an opening act to many stars, including Eddie Fisher, Danny&the Juniors, Tiny Tim and Roy Orbison. At this time we were also working on cruise ships that took us to Bermuda, the Caribbean and South America.
You always returned to Western New York?
Yes. We’ve always had a full summer season of work. We did five summers at Fantasy Island, 15 at the Buffalo Zoo, then six at the New York State park in Niagara Falls, and now we’ll be starting our sixth summer season at the Aquarium of Niagara.
You mentioned you’ll be at the Aquarium in Niagara Falls this summer—tell us a little about what you’ll be doing there?
We call the show “Experience the Mist-ical.” It’s fast-paced. Because we have an international audience, what we do there is very visual. We bring along all of our performing pets —including our doves, duck and rabbit. We’ll also include a major illusion, some comedy and audience participation.
A big show?
We pack a lot into our 20- minute presentation.
How many days will you perform there? Our opening day is Saturday, and we’ll run 10 weeks, until Sept. 2. Our show times are 1:20 and 3:50 p. m., following the sea lion show. We’re off on Sundays.
Is there an extra charge to see your show?
No, our show is free, included in paid admission to the Aquarium. Actually, our show is sponsored by the Dairy Farmers of Western New York.
They also sponsor other performances that you do?
Yes, the Western New York Dairy Farmers have been our corporate sponsors for 33 years now. It’s a long, continuous sponsorship of a show. We’re very proud to represent them. We also do a nutrition-themed school assembly program here in the Western New York schools. We’ve just finished up this year’s season, visiting 115 elementary schools since the beginning of January.
Sounds like you’re quite busy. Do you and Carol have any down time?
We do have open time in the fall, but this is when we are busy with the business end of show business. We do all our own booking. It takes me on the phone, and Carol on the computer, three months to take care of all the arrangements and follow- up confirmations to do 115 school shows. To be successful in show business, you must focus on the business end of it, as much as the show.
Have an idea about a Niagara County resident who’d make an interesting question-and-answer column? Write to: Louise Continelli, Q&A, The Buffalo News, P. O. Box 100, Buffalo, NY 14240 or e-mail her at lcontinelli@buffnews.com
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