Magic Among the Mormons

The Magic of the Rockies

Many religions have a fear of magicians and their craft, sometimes branding our tricks and illusions as "works of the devil." However, I was born and baptized into the Mormon religion myself. This isn't really evident to anyone who knows me personally as I am not exactly shy anymore about being an Atheist. But I can say one thing about the Church of Ladder Day Saints (Mormons) which I have learned to appreciate, that is, that they do have a love for the performing arts and magic, to them, is a performing art. So when I added a visit to Logan Utah on my journey, I really didn't know what to expect but I knew that if I kept quiet about my Vegas trip, that I'd probably survive the trip.

The drive into Logan is the first taste of that beautiful mountainous country which surrounds Utah and those other Rocky Mountain States through which I would travel over the next week. Coming through the mountain passes and over into the Logan valley is breathtaking to say the least. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and the air was as clean as a Mormon comedian. Invigorated as I was, I was a little anxious when I headed into Logan. I was meeting and staying with a magician whom I had respected and admired for years, yet we didn't know each other well. His name is Richard Hatch, but he began going by "Dick" ever since his name was associated with the controversial contestant on the show "Survivor" of the same name.  I didn't know what to expect from Dick Hatch, but I had begun to wonder if I was going to stay in a Mormon household. If so, I'd have to be sure and curb my New York vernacular where, the "F-bomb" is the most often used verb, adjective and noun in the English language. I'd have to not discuss my religious views, and of course worst of all it meant, "no martinis" for me. But I probably needed a martini break anyway.

Magician, Dick Hatch

I first knew of Dick Hatch, from my magic days in Houston. He was a full time pro working the local venues at the time. Dick was the consummate magician. If you look up "magician" in the dictionary I'm sure there must be a picture of him included in the definition somewhere. He is one of those magicians which I could easily pick out of a crowd. He has an air of mystical confidence about him. He has a very professorial look and demeanor. He always seemed to have a very class act, even back in the day, especially compared to my "slightly" risque material.

 Dick is an expert in the classics of magic, like the linking rings and the cups and balls. Take a minute to enjoy a video of him doing the classic cups and balls. You can't help but be amazed by his sleight of hand and the way the balls vanish. I've been doing this stuff a long time you know, and I am in awe when I see him vanish those little balls with such ease.

Dick had invited invited me to come visit him in Utah before I'd begun my magic life trip, so when I was coming within a hundred miles of his domain, I decided I'd ask him if he'd be up for a visit. And as fortune would have it, his wife was out of town and he was even performing at the time I was there and he was more than happy to let me flop in his guest room.

Thatcher-Young Mansion

When I pulled up to the location where Dick had his magic school, I almost had my Mormon suspicions confirmed. He was working in a beautiful old Victorian home. This beautiful restored home is the Thatcher-Young Mansion built in 1878 by George W. Thatcher and his wife, Eunice Caroline (Luna) Young Thatcher, a daughter of Brigham Young. Brigham Young actually used to stay there. I felt at home from the moment I set foot inside. Not because of Brigham Young was a father of the Mormon Church, but the guy had so many women in his life, 55 women which were "sealed" to him, that I almost felt a strange admiration, a sort of Lions, Tigers, and Bears, OMG,... kinship.

Dick performs an afternoon show

Now this once den of polygamy, houses a photography studio, magic, and music studio. Up the narrow and quickly rising stairs into the small room, which is the magician's lair, lies the Hatch Academy of Music and Magic. And I got to witness the magical properties which the building itself possesses. Seems that there is a place where gravity seems to have lost it's pull. Dick demonstrated this to a couple of kids who dropped in for a visit.


Right behind this wonderful home lies an amazing theater for the performing arts. Dick was kind enough to take me on a tour of all of the theater facilities. And it amazes me the amount of theater which this small town about 50,000 people, of Logan Utah is able to support. But Mormons, then again, who don't support polygamy anymore, do support the arts. But much to my surprise and fortune, turned out that Dick, like myself was no longer a practicing Mormon. I had been fooled by the illusion, just like so many laymen are by magic, into thinking that a magician living in Utah, working in a former home of Brigham Young, whose magic seemed clean cut, would of course be a Mormon himself. But then, this is my magic life.  So we managed to take a trip to a local pub. And as fate would have it, the pub was owned by a magician himself, and we performed magic for one another all evening while drinking some very large beers.