Steve Spangler literally grew up in a magical household. Steve’s parents were both professional magicians, running a magic school in Denver. Steve opened our conversation with this classic joke about magicians:
“What’s the difference between a professional magician and a pizza? And the answer is a pizza can feed a family of five.”
The same could probably be said for theatre pipe organists. Which, as it happens, is also a big part of Steve’s upbringing: “When you grow up with a family of magicians, it means that there’s other cool things that happen as well. And mom and dad were both theatre organists, so I grew up with a theatre organ in the house.”
We stopped by Steve’s studio during our recent Denver Road Trip.
Being in the Denver area, and having theatre organists for parents, meant that there were many childhood trips to the Organ Grinder. Little did Steve know that as he became a teen, the Organ Grinder would become part of his career path as well: “Dad got a call into the magic school from somebody at the Organ Grinder … Looking for somebody who is a house magician at the organ grinder that would entertain and perform while the music was going on. And dad passed it to me and said, ‘Would you like to do that at the ripe old age of 15 years old?’ And I said, yes. And it started just a two-summer fantastic experience at the Organ Grinder, from 1981 to 1983.”
Steve shared some fascinating stories of his performances, and the special props and illusions that were built (including a rather harrowing experience that led to him being injured, but the show went on, as it must.)
Steve also summed up the magic of the Organ Grinder itself, an odd mix of ingredients that blended to form something truly special:
“It was an experience. They cultivated this experience that started on the outside of the building, worked your way in. I don’t know that a lot of people went there for just the theatre organ, although I’m sure those people. And they didn’t go for just the silent movies. They didn’t go for just the great pizza, right? They went for this whole thing kind of came together. It really was an experience that came together. You were in a place where you couldn’t really capture that experience on film. You couldn’t. A picture didn’t do it justice. Because when you walked in, that experience was all around you. Every way you could imagine. And so it was something that you had to be there and experience, that you just couldn’t take away on a little piece of film.”
Speaking of photographs: Do you have old photos or even home videos from the Denver Organ Grinder? Because of the relatively short life-span of the restaurant, there are very few images available. Please contact us if you have anything – we can professionally scan your materials and return them to you along with digital files.
Steve never stopped performing – in fact, he’s gone on to have quite the career as a science educator, integrating magic into his teaching. He’s been on television over 2,100 times, garnering multiple Emmy awards, and appearing regularly on popular programs such as the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Steve publishes books and online experiments that parents use to boost their kids’ science skills, as well as producing toys and learning kits. You can find out more on Steve’s web site.
You may already have seen Steve, like millions of others, when his Mentos and Diet Coke geyser demonstration went viral on YouTube in 2005:
Steve is nostalgic about his time at the Organ Grinder, but he is also hopeful that there will be a resurgence of interest in the pipe organ, as more and more young people discover and develop an interest in “vintage tech” on social media:
“I think what people loved about [the Denver Organ Grinder] organ is that there was a genuine analog sense to it. You could feel the air in the bellows push through there. It’s like playing an old time pinball machine. There’s just something magical about it. I mean modern day games are a lot of fun. There’s just something about a pinball machine and that’s kind of how I explained the Organ Grinder. There were just so many moving parts.”
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