‘Chicago’s Greatest Magician’ and engineer, musician, philanthropist
In his lifetime, Ashod Baboorian was an engineer, musician and philanthropist. But most knew him as Mr. Ash, the comic magician of Chicago.
Along with running his Lincoln Square magic shop, Baboorian brought his “unique blend of magic and comedy” everywhere from local street fairs to WGNTV’s “Bozo’s Circus,” according to friend Mike Adajian.
He performed for countless Illinois politicians, including former Gov. Jim Thompson and former Ald. Patrick O’Connor, and was proclaimed “Chicago’s Greatest Magician” by the Chicago City Council in 2015 — the only individual to have received such a recognition.
Baboorian was 80 when he died from heart failure July 3 at Swedish Hospital on the Northwest Side, according to his son David Baboorian.
Ashod Baboorian was born July 26, 1939, in the Armenian diaspora community of Kirkuk, Iraq, to Zaroohi Hamparsomian and Armenian Orthodox priest Nerses Baboorian.
He trained as a boxer, wrestler and weightlifter in Iraq before immigrating to the U.S. in 1960, where he served in the Army at Fort Knox, Kentucky, for three years, according to his son and Adajian. He attended the Illinois Institute of Technology and received his civil engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, eventually landing in Chicago where he worked for the state as a bridge inspector, according to his son.
Throughout this time, Baboorian was falling in love with country music.
“The magic came later, because first he wanted to be a rock ‘n’ roll singer,” said longtime friend Jon Langford, founder of British punk band the Mekons. “And he went to these honky-tonk bars in the 1960s and they told him he had to learn country music ‘cause that was the big music in Chicago at the time … so he changed his name to Country Ash Ryan and learned hundreds of honky-tonk songs overnight.”
Baboorian pursued country music as a lifelong hobby. It was also an early touchpoint to friendship with Langford, who came to Chicago in the 1980s. Langford said Baboorian used to visit his studio to play old country records, always singing Merle Haggard as he walked up the stairwell and cracking a “ludicrous” joke upon reaching the top. The two eventually collaborated on a single, “Give Me Back My Taxes,” recorded in Langford’s basement in the early 2000s.
“My experience of America was someone like him,” Langford said. “A charmer with all these weird influences, so amusing and so joyful.”
Baboorian pivoted to magic in the early 1970s, when a friend happened to rent an apartment strewn with the secondhand tricks of a late magician who went by Indian John, according to a 2008 Tribune article. Baboorian began practicing and, a natural entertainer, quickly turned pro. He performed as “Mr. Ash” at venues across Chicago, including the New York Lounge, Mr. C’s and Dennis Rodman’s Illusions nightclub, along with regular appearances at local community events and children’s birthday parties.
“He was like an oldschool Vegas entertainer, he had all those jokes and all that patter that magicians don’t do anymore,” Langford said.
Baboorian was also committed to sharing magic with others. He established his first magic shop in 1977 before opening Ash’s Magic Shop on North Western Avenue in 1985.
Packed floor to ceiling with exploding pens, whoopee cushions and vomit-flavored candy, Ash’s Magic Shop became a community center for local children, amateur magicians and intrigued passersby. One day, one of those passersby was Brian Gersten, a filmmaker who spent the next year producing a documentary about the shop and the man behind it.
“I vividly remember driving down Western Avenue on countless occasions and seeing this big red facade in an otherwise very ordinary looking neighborhood. Entering that store, you’re just like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve just entered a whole other world,’” Gersten said. “And it was very obvious to me that I had never met anyone like Ash. His mission in life was to spark joy, to entertain his friends and customers to the best of his ability. It’s rare to meet someone like that in life.”
In a nod to his own magical beginnings, Baboorian made a habit of buying out the inventory of other magic shops about to close their doors, filling his garage with the collected history of Chicago’s magic scene.
“It showed what a last-ofhis-kind that he was in the way that he felt obligated to keep that going,” said Gersten. “Not that he knew what the hell was in any of the boxes. But I think he wanted it preserved in some kind of way.”
Baboorian was active in Masonic charities throughout his life. As a past master of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, he used his talents to raise money for their Ronald McDonald House. He also served as commander for the Knights of Vartan, an Armenian expat community, and periodically traveled to Armenia to deliver school supplies and perform shows from village to village.
Baboorian also is survived by his wife, Bonnie; another son, Edward; and one grandson.
There will be a visitation service on Saturday, July 11, between noon and 2 p.m. at Drake & Son Funeral Home, 5303 N. Western Ave.