Master Magician Reveals How Much Money Magicians Get Paid
Legendary Magician, Faucett Ross Explains What Magician’s Actually Charge & Earn For A Magic Show
Faucett Ross was recorded during his life and some of his thoughts were quoted in the book, Magic with Faucett Ross by Lewis Ganson. This is a very revealing and interesting statement by Faucett Ross discussing how much money magician’s get paid to perform magic professionally.
Photo from the Facebook Business Page of Magician John Carney
“Magicians, when talking amongst themselves about the size of the fees they receive for their various acts and performances, rarely tell the exact truth. Quite a few of them exaggerate and a large number deliberately lie in their teeth! Anyway, I’ve had several rather unusual experiences as far as the remuneration for a magic act is concerned.
I recall back in the 1940s, the telephone rang one day. It was a lady on the wire with a very lovely accent. She told me she was on the local Entertainments Committee of a Women’s Club and that they were having a Convention here in St. Joseph at the local hotel. All the girls had gotten together and thought it would be a wonderful thing if they could secure my services as an entertainer. So she asked me, “Are you working next Thursday night?” Well, I did not have a booking and told her I would be available. She said, “That would be perfectly wonderful. Now just one other question, what is your fee - you must charge something?” I told her, “Forty dollars*”.
I heard her catch her breath and she said, “Mr. Ross, you must have misunderstood me. We wanted to hire you only for one evening not for a full week”.
I didn’t get that show!
The following happened during the great depression of the 1930s (about 1935). One day I had a call from the owner of a small theatre in a tiny hamlet in Missouri - some 75 miles from home.
He told me that on various occasions he put on special programmes and always was able to get a full house.
He suggested that if I put on a so-called evening show, he was sure that he could fill the house. Whatever the proceeds were, we would split them evenly between us - fifty-fifty.
I agreed and on the appointed day, arrived on the scene. He was certainly correct; there was ‘standing room only’ as the place was crowded, mostly with juveniles.
I did the show and afterwards the manager came back stage and I congratulated him on the size of the audience. He reached in his pocket, took out a handful of small coins and said, “Mr. Ross, here’s your share”. I looked at him and said, “What does it amount to?” He said, “We did very good - your share’s five dollars**”, I said, “What!” He repeated, “Five dollars - you should be happy about that but you look disappointed. What’s wrong?” I said, “Well, I travelled about 75 miles to get here and for any kind of performance, I get ten times that amount”.
He said, “Let me tell you something, young man; we are in the midst of a depression. We have full grown men in this community who are doing back-breaking labour, working ten hours a day for a dollar a day - glad to get it. You here, you’ve clowned around on stage for a couple of hours without exerting yourself and you have received five times what one of our local men receive for ten hours of solid work, so what’s your complaint?”
No answer to that one, so I left town with five dollars. Incidentally, in fairness to him, I found out afterwards that he really had shared fifty-fifty. The admission price was five cents and some, who could not pay, got in free.
In a more cheerful and fruitful vein, not long after that I had a telephone call from Kansas City. A gentleman who was the head of a large manufacturing concern, wanted to retain my services. He said, “As for as money is concerned, I know you magicians get a high price and I realize that you won’t consent to work for less than 250 dollars.*** Will that be alright?”
In a somewhat quavering voice I told him that it would be satisfactory. As a matter of fact, at that particular period as the depression was still on, I’d have played the date for 35 or 40 dollars and considered myself well paid. Don’t often get breaks of that kind - at least I never have.”
- Faucett Ross
* $40 USD in 1940 is equivalent to around $750 USD in 2021.
** $5 USD in 1935 is equivalent to around $100 USD in 2021.
*** $250 USD in 1935 is equivalent to around $4,750 USD in 2021.
It was a remarkably poignant recollection that Faucett Ross left us and magician’s often find themselves in similar situations these days. All good magicians have a price and know their price but despite that sometimes find themselves underwhelmed or overwhelmed by a fee. When you have been performing magic professionally and selling a magic show to clients you will always find people who think your price is laughably high and others who, seemingly see your true value, assume and offer a much higher fee than you usually charge. If you are thinking about hiring a magician or booking a magic show or want to find out more about what magician’s charge please read our guide on How To Book A Magician.
