By Ivan Pereira
Raccunia, aka Magic Mike, decided to take his bag of tricks and lifelong experience with magic to the young patients of Schneider Children's Hospital last Thursday. Raccunia, 48, performed in front of nearly a dozen ailing children and their parents, because he knows how it lonely it can be spending time in a hospital at a young age.”When I was a kid, I was in the hospital for three months for this condition called Perthes Disease, which meant my hip and the leg bones didn't connect. I wasn't there as long as some of the other kids, but it was long and boring,” he said.Raccunia decided to bring some excitement back into the lives of the children, some of whom were in the hospital for a couple of days, others months. He began his show with the first trick he ever learned.After ripping a full size newspaper into shreds, the magician amazed the kids by reassembling the periodical in the blink of an eye. The kids, who ranged from a few months old to 8 years, froze with disbelief as he showed off the revived paper.Raccunia let the children experience the magic up close and personal by inviting some of them to be his assistants for a few illusions. For one trick, he magically transported three playing cards from his hand to the chair that 8-year-old Jordan Faith Swope of Long Island was sitting on.The young girl was amazed and happy to have been a part of the act.”I was really looking forward to the show. I like it when he made things disappear,” she said.Although magicians are never allowed to tell how they do their acts, Raccunia gave the kids a free magic lesson, teaching them how to turn a hanky into an egg. The secret, Spoiler, involved a trick hollowed out egg hidden in the magician right hand that hid the handkerchief discretely.Raccunia, always the illusionist, wowed the children again by magically replacing the trick egg with a real one, which he cracked open over a champagne glass.”I think the kids can use this. They've been through a lot and to put smiles on their faces makes me feel good,” he said.Raccunia began performing as a magician in seventh grade after he saw a performance and caught the illusionist bug. He began learning the tools of the trade and in four years started doing shows professionally.Today he runs his own entertainment business in Bayside providing magic, DJ and other entertainment services.”I like it. It's like an art,” he said.Parents enjoyed Raccunia's performance as much as their kids did and welcomed the fun show.”It's wonderful. I think it keeps their spirits high and makes them feel special,” said Jordan's grandmother, Sharon Olanick.Raccunia said he will be returning to the hospital in February and March and would like to come back more often. For him, brightening a child's day is the best kind of magic he can produce.Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
