When the spotlight shone on the 8-year-old boy, it gave him a new life.
The spotlight was part of the show of Lance Burton, a former Las Vegas stage magician who retired in 2010 after 31 years of performing. The 8-year-old boy was Tom Novelly, whom the light beckoned to the stage to place his hands on an empty bird-cage, from which a dove somehow magically flew. And the life was that of a magician, which Novelly, now a sophomore at Hillsdale, took up that night all those years ago, after the fortune of the spotlight rewarded him also with a free magic set.
“I got no sleep that night,” Novelly said, who instead spent it figuring out his prize.
After playing around with the set for two years, Novelly joined the International Brotherhood of Magicians (though he is no longer a member). The admission process involved, among other things, an audition to show what he could do.
“It wasn’t nearly as hard as getting into Sigma Chi,” he said.
From then on, it was several years of bi-weekly meetings of the Brotherhood, and performing — at the ripe old age of 11 — for businesses, at parties, talent shows, and, particularly, at restaurants, all in the Nashville area, where he also won several magic competitions. He has since formed a definite stage persona, based in part on Gob Bluth from “Arrested Development.”
“Gob is my favorite character. He’s my idol,” he said. “I’m not as seductive, though.”
Novelly uses “The Final Countdown” by Europe as performance music, as well as “Magic” by B.o.B. ft. Rivers Cuomo. His favorite tricks are “Metamorphosis,” in which he inserts a dollar bill into a lemon without cutting it, then removes the bill to prove it’s the same one, as well as simpler card tricks — a favorite for parties. But don’t ask him to spill any of his secrets: he’s bound not to reveal them. He also won’t perform any trick more than once for the same audience, or perform any trick he hasn’t thoroughly practiced.
Though he stopped taking his magical career as seriously as the years went on, he resurrected it briefly for the college admissions process, performing at Leadership Weekend to distinguish his application.
“I did put professional magician on my college resume,” Novelly said. His life as a magician has continued on the side at Hillsdale, even as he’s downplayed it in favor of politics, journalism, and fraternity life. This past fall, he was the Sigma Chi contestant for Mr. Hillsdale, and he performed at the Simpson Talent Show.
Those who know him well appreciate his talents, but admire his personality more. Although sophomore Gianna Marchese thought Novelly was joking when she first learned he practiced magic, she has since become one of his biggest fans (she would love to be his assistant if he ever needed one).
“I’m a child at heart,” Marchese said. “Seeing Tom do magic gets me every time.”
She finds that a good magic trick can always brighten her day, and Novelly’s talents add to an overall impression of his character.
“He cheers people up. That’s a great talent to have — to make people smile,” she said. “The fact that he just does it nonchalantly makes it that much better.”
Junior Daniel Bellet, Novelly’s Sigma Chi big brother, said you’d never know he was so talented if you didn’t ask.
He didn’t know himself about Novelly’s “magic powers” until after he became Novelly’s big.
“He never talks about it,” Bellet said. “Usually you have to ask him to show people. He doesn’t break it out.”
Novelly himself, though he has shifted his own spotlight away from magic in college, remains appreciative that it is part of his life. “I’ll always have a passion for magic and always do it on the side,” he said. “Any talent you have, you have to glorify God through it.
“Being able to make that ordinary object do something extraordinary is always fun.”
