Another White House Easter Egg Roll Memory

Tomorrow (Monday) is the Annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House. I've been fortunate enough to perform at this event numerous times. A couple years ago I wrote about one of the funnier moments at the Easter Egg Roll and I thought I'd take a moment to share with you yet another one.

I'm not certain of the year, it might have been 2002, not sure. At any rate, I had created this show called "The Festival of Magic" along with my good friend Ralph Metzler. Together we presented this show of magic and comedy. We had taken the show to a number of small venues in the area and we always had a blast.

Kristine & I going through Security

I had the crazy idea of bringing the show to the White House for the Easter Egg Roll. So I called them and we worked it out. We had an unusual schedule of shows however. Some were on the White House Lawn and some were on the Ellipse, the area that is between the gated White House Lawn and Constitution Avenue. The Ellipse had numerous events for those folks that didn't have tickets to be on the Lawn but yet wanted to partake in the festivities. The only problem was, moving the show back and forth between the two locations because you had to go through security each time.

So, the morning of the Easter Egg Roll, we get the itinerary and find out where we'll be. Just so
happens we are on the Big Stage first thing in the morning. This is exciting because traditionally only the celebrity acts are on the Big Stage. So, there we were, Ralph, my assistant Kristine and myself performing an illusion before several thousand spectators. What could be more fun?

Dean and Ralph

Well, in the middle of the routine, an announcement was made that the First Lady was about to speak from the Balcony of the White House. Suddenly, as if by magic, that audience of  several thousand people vanished! They went scurrying up the hill to see the First Lady. We were still mid-routine when they left, lol. Ralph and I kind of froze and my girl Kristine was inside some box at the time. We just all started laughing and said, "Oh well!" and kept laughing. Such was our first show of the day, lol!

The rest of the day was fine and thankfully, our audiences stayed with us! In later years, my friend Ralph would play a bigger role in the Easter Egg Events by helping to coordinate performers and even was able to get the White House organizers to put up a 'Magic Stage' for magicians only. This kept the magicians in one location and prevented the back and forth from the Lawn to the Ellipse situation that we suffered from in 2002. Those were fun times.

To Read About Another Funny White House Easter Egg Roll Moment, click the link below
http://artistofmystery.blogspot.com/2012/04/my-white-house-easter-egg-roll.html

My White House Easter Egg Roll Nightmare

The year was 2007 and I was invited along with a number of my friends to perform at the White House for the annual Easter Egg Roll. Along with the group of magicians were a number of celebrities. The wonderful thing about the W.H. Easter Egg Roll is ALL of the performers are treated the same. We get catered meals and a private area so it's very possible that you might be sitting with a celebrity.

I had heard that the very famous Hannah Montana was there at the event. Keep in mind this is 2007 and she was a big star on the Disney Channel. I had heard her name countless times but couldn't honestly say that I had watched her show. After we had all finished performing, we decided to go around and get photos taken with the various celebrities. I really only wanted a photo with Hannah Montana as I thought that would be a cool thing to feature on my webpage and in my newsletter.

Joe Jonas and Ken Scott

So along with a couple fellow performers, we decide to track down the various celebrities. First we come upon some guy who I thought was a friend of one of my friends. He was somebodies brother apparently. So my buddy Ken Scott says, "Hey take my picture!" so I do. I don't think anything of it. I had no idea who the guy was. I don't have teenage daughters that would have tipped me off to who this was. But now I know that he was one of the JONAS Brothers! Lost opportunity #1.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but we actually had a celebrity magician among our group. The very famous Mac King, who is a Las Vegas Entertainer and also has appeared on TV many many times. So naturally it would stand to reason to have my picture taken with Mac, right? Well, er um, I didn't do that either. I did get a group photo with Mac, but I never had a one on one photo with him. In fact, the only one in our group that had a personal photo with Mac was Ralph Metzler....and that is a story all in itself!

Ralph the Great and Steven Baldwin

Speaking of Ralph, he was actually out on his own hunting down celebrities and ended up with a photo  with the First Lady and with actor Steven Baldwin. I didn't even know he was at the event, but he had been invited to do one of the celebrity book readings.

Comedian Adam Ace and Mr. McFreely

Because this is an event mainly for children, there were a number of 'kidshow celebrities'. One of them, who I vaguely recalled was Mr. McFreely from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. He was a nice man and I took photos of him with several of my friends. But I was determined to find Hannah!

So the hunt is on! But we were stopped temporarily as my friends say "HEY, there is Miley Cyrus, let's get our picture with her!" All I can think is, "OMG, you guys, quit wasting time!" So I quickly snap a photo of each of my friends with this girl Miley Cyrus. Miley walks away and I say "Ok, NOW can we find Hannah Montana?". My buddies look at me and say "We just did!" WHAT?????????? Yes, you read that right. I had NO idea that Miley was Hannah. It was 2007 and I never watched the show, I had no clue! We ate lunch with her earlier and I didn't know that's who it was.

Miley/Hannah and James Munton

So in case you are wondering if the day was a complete disaster for me, no it was not. I did not give up the hunt to have my photo with a celebrity. It was a long search and not an easy one. The celebs pretty much kept to one of the catered tents when they weren't on the grounds of the White House and they were surrounded by tons of government workers who frankly should have been WORKING!

But finally, towards the end of the day, I found a celebrity who was more than willing to have his photo with me. So to my friends who were NO help with the Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana photograph, eat your hearts out!!!!

Carnegie & SHREK