‘We really wanted to get them laughing’
Riverside couple creates magical moments for Ukrainian refugee families in Poland
GREENWICH — As they watched the horror unfold in Ukraine as Russia invaded and sent families fleeing for their lives, Riverside residents Bill and Gwenn Herz knew they wanted to help.
And after seeing a news report with two guys dressed in Spider-Man costumes visiting with refugee kids at train stations, the couple realized they had something unique to offer.
“We looked at each other and said, ‘We could do our part, too’,” Bill Herz told Greenwich Time.
As entertainers who have spent more than 35 years in professional magic, they knew they could brighten the lives of children who have been forced from their homes — if even for just a few moments.
“We are very lucky and very fortunate,” Bill Herz told Greenwich Time. “Magic is our business.”
That’s when they pulled off a big trick, throwing together an impromptu trip to Poland, where more than 3 million Ukrainian refugees have settled since the February invasion, to bring much-needed entertainment to the refugee children.
During their nearly twoweek trip, they worked their magic, performing in 25 shows in orphanages, schools, building lobbies and even business atriums. All told, they estimate they entertained a total of 2,000 to 3,000 kids with these magic moments.
“It was really rewarding to do this,” Gwenn Herz said. “We had such a range of venues, and it was such a different experience wherever
we went, depending on when the children had gotten out of Ukraine, if they had left earlier or they had been in one of the cities that got bombed” as the Russia invasion escalated.
“Some of them had seen a lot of terrible stuff, and you would see it in the mothers. There would be a glassiness. Some of them were really inside themselves,” she said. “Mothers would see their children smile, and it would help them, too. They’re all in such a strange sort of limbo.”
The exhaustion of the mothers is clear, as they set up homes with their children in office buildings that have been turned into emergency shelters, Gwenn Herz said. One shelter was filled with 400 refugees, and there was “so much mayhem” as they deal with the new living situation in
the time of COVID-19.
Bill Herz said a refugee who they shared living space in Poland with told them, “We long for the good old days of the pandemic.”
Magical distraction
One thing that stood out about the audiences, Bill Herz said, was how the mothers were trying to protect their kids and how few men were there. Most of the families are separated, with the men staying behind in Ukraine, defending their homes and putting their lives at risk, he said.
“It was wonderful to see the kids giggle and laugh over the magic. And hopefully they went to bed thinking about how we pulled a magic coin out of their ear or how did we make a hat out of paper or make colors magically appear on a piece of paper,”
Bill Herz said. “We want them not thinking the stress their mom is going through.”
And he praised Poland and its citizens for opening their country to the refugees from neighboring Ukraine.
“The Polish people are incredible,” Bill Herz said. “They’re absolutely incredible. I mean the amount of love was incredible. … There’s donation centers everywhere. We were in one town where there’s 800,000 people and a tenth of that population is refugees. It’s truly amazing what they’re doing,”
Gwenn Herz added, “We barely met a person who hadn’t been taking refugees in in some form.”
The trip came together so quickly that Herz said he and his family “laugh about it now.” They didn’t know where they would stay or where they would perform — or even how to get to eastern Europe in this time of unrest, he said. They credited John Banka, a childhood friend of a college friend who lives in Poland and set up everything for them.
Family act
They were accompanied on the trip to Poland by their son, Zack, and daughter, Dana, an accomplished magician in her own right. She is based out of San Diego, where she performs comedic magic and mentalism and conducts a walking historical magic tour.
Father and daughter tweaked their acts so they could perform their shows together. Bill Herz, who specializes in sleight of hand and card tricks in his magic shows for corporations, wanted to make sure the shows would entertain the unique audiences.
“We wanted to do a ‘basic kids show’ just to get the kids laughing,” Bill Herz said. “We wanted to get their minds off of what is going on in the world.”
Gwenn Herz added, “We wanted to do slapsticky kind of stuff with bubbles and other very visual effects, along with music to get the kids riled up and having fun.”
One of the challenges they faced was to avoid words that could inadvertently trigger traumatic feelings among the kids, she said. They couldn’t even say, “try these tricks at home,” because the families may not have homes to go back to or “show the tricks to your friends” because the refugees are scattered and separated from neighbors.
“We didn’t want anything with balloons or popping or noises,” Bill Herz said. “We didn’t want anything more than really visual and colorful and funny. We really wanted to get them laughing. That was the key.”
Gwenn Herz said they used hand puppets to warm up their audiences and said they were successful in bringing happiness to the kids.
Magic moment
Magic has been a part of Bill Herz’s life for as long as he can remember. In 1988, he and his wife formed Magicorp Productions, which today is the largest booker of magicians, illusionists and variety artists with a specialty in corporate events.
Their work has taken them all over the world, with Magicorp performing for major figures in business and politics. Herz said he even taught card tricks to Bill Gates for him to use in his own presentations.
For the trip to Poland to bring magic to refugees, the Herz family drew on their experiences of visiting several African nations in 2008 and performing magic shows there.
“You can always write checks and that kind of thing, but we wanted to do something more,” Gwenn Herz said. “We remembered the joy we brought the children in Africa in the hospitals and the townships, and we realized we could do that here, too.”
For more information about Bill and Gwenn Herz and about Magicorp, visit www.billherz.com and www.magicorproduct ions.com.