Ottawa Citizen

SCOTT McCLELLAND

- bdeachman@postmedia.com BY BRUCE DEACHMAN

At home in Carleton Place, Jan. 6.

“As of 2017, I’ve been in sideshow for 25 years. And my family has been doing sideshow since 1920. My grandfathe­r, Professor N.P. Lewchuk, started it in my family. And from 1968 to 1985, he ran a stationary tourist attraction, a carnival in Canora, Saskatchew­an called the Fun Spot, with rides and a midway. It was very whimsical, very Willy Wonka. My grandfathe­r invented the teacup ride for Disneyland. He also invented the first collapsibl­e ferris wheel on a tractor bed, which was the advent of trailer-based rides that were modular. And he also invented the step mechanism that makes the horses on a merry-go-round go up and down.

“I started in magic. It happened with a letter from my grandfathe­r. When I was 11 he wrote me a letter saying, ‘Scott, whenever you come to our carnival, you always have a crowd of people around you because you’re such a ham. Have you ever thought of becoming an entertaine­r?’ And I wrote him back saying, ‘Yes, I think that would be a lot of fun.’ And he wrote me back saying, ‘I will allow you to become a magician, just like me, but you have to learn the oldest piece of magic known to man, the cups and

balls. I will purchase these European cups and balls for you, but you have to learn it in six months, and then you must perform it for me. If you cannot fool me, you’ll never work in this industry.’ And that was the deal.

“I practised and practised and practised, and after six months I sat down at his kitchen table. He had his homemade beer with him, and he goes, ‘All right, perform.’ And I did my little tiny act — a Dai Vernon cup-and-ball routine — and when it was done, he sat there in silence, staring at me very stoically, building suspense. Then he started shaking his head and he said, ‘Welcome to the world of magic.’

“Now this year I’m going to be working with this large carnival company, Carter Shows. My show is called Carnival Diablo: The Strangest Show on Earth. And having been in this for so long, I’ve been privy to everybody else’s sideshow who works profession­ally. I’ve seen them all.

“There aren’t many circus sideshows anymore. Most people who are doing them are doing nightclubs or theatres. They say sideshow is dying in the world of carnival, but I don’t believe that. But when they invented sideshow, everything that was under the big top was something that you’ve never seen before, something that you would never expect and something that was exciting and brand new. That was the credo for sideshow. But for the past 60 or 70 years, let’s face it, you’re going to see a sword-swallower, a fire-eater, a person laying on a bed of nails … it’s expected. It stopped being a surprise.

“So I sat down with myself and thought about how I could bring sideshow into the 21st century. And I’ve come up with a 15-minute show where, inside the tent, behind a curtain, is this thing called Vassago: The Mystic Seer. And when I pull back the curtains to reveal what Vassago is, he’s a 17th-century automaton.

“Now that’s not terribly remarkable in this day and age. There was that movie Hugo, with an automaton. But this is not Hugo. Vassago is an old man, and the centre part of his torso can be removed so you can see the interior workings. Now, when you look at an automaton, you’re always expecting to see cogs and wheels running everything, because they’re clockwork. But when I take off the torso of this thing, inside its body are human organs. And I, as the showman, have discovered a way to imbue this automaton with a soul, and the only way I can keep the soul within the automaton is by replenishi­ng the organs with new organs every night, which means I have to take the life of somebody. So it’s very sinister, very creepy.

“And over the heart area is a door, and this is the hook to the show. Now I don’t know how much you

should write about this part, but basically, Vassago knows all. It’s groundbrea­king and it’s never been done before, and it’s very romantic and will make you believe in the impossible. But I should stop there.”

 ?? BRUCE DEACHMAN ??
BRUCE DEACHMAN

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada