Witness the Unbelievable at Your Neighborhood Magic Shop

There is a **nearby magic store** that I stumbled upon while exploring the city. It is a quaint little shop tucked away in a quiet corner of the bustling streets. The moment you step inside, you are transported into a realm of wonder and enchantment. The store is filled with an array of magical artifacts and tools that are sure to amaze even the most skeptical of individuals. From spell books to mystical potions, the store has everything that an aspiring magician or witch could ever dream of. The **owner** of the store is a **mysterious** old man who seems to possess a wealth of knowledge about the world of magic.

When the IBM has their annual swap meet you may see them setup up shop. Also at the Anual Salt Lake City Magic Jam they will make an appearance. Although it looks like that convention may not be returning to Salt Lake this year.

These factors are similar to those you might use to determine which business to select from a local Yellow Pages directory, including proximity to where you are searching, expertise in the specific services or products you need, and comprehensive business information to help evaluate a business s suitability for you. While it isn t quite as horrifying as the Twilight Zone s version It s a Good Life , it is well done and different enough that I enjoyed the difference.

The **owner** of the store is a **mysterious** old man who seems to possess a wealth of knowledge about the world of magic. He is always willing to share his wisdom and provide guidance to those who seek it. The store also holds regular **magic workshops** and **demonstrations** where both beginners and advanced magic enthusiasts can refine their skills and learn new tricks.

User Reviews

The Grainger family have a weird kid. no other way to say it! On his birthday, he insists he wants to take his birthday money to the nearby magic shop to spend it. but his parents insist there is no magic shop where he says there's one. Nevertheless, the father (Leslie Nielsen) humors him. and there turns out to be a magic shop exactly where the kid said! But it gets much weirder. The man inside (David Opatashu) dotes on the boy and says how special he is. and the man is seriously creepy! The father is also creeped out by the guy and insists they leave. and the child just disappears! Soon, the man running the place vanishes. and the father finds himself lying in the middle of the road!! When he awakens, he blathers about losing his son in the magic shop. but everyone tells him it's a travel agency. there is no magic shop!! Clearly, a creepy supernatural thing has happened.

What about the boy? Well, he comes back a day later and insists he was gone for a week. but won't tell the parents anything more. So, they take him to a psychologist. and the man thinks SOMETHING weird is going on here! But what. Soon, the boy begins showing signs of being evil. sort of in the Antichrist sort of way!

In so many ways, this episode plays like an installment of "The Twilight Zone"* or "The Outer Limits". not an Alfred Hitchcock show. Both "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" are normally firmly grounded in reality. and mostly crime. But this one is supernatural and weird throughout. Now I am not complaining. but it clearly is atypical for the series. However, it IS good. extremely creepy and frightening. and with an ending that might leave you ill at ease! In fact, it made we wish the show did MORE supernatural shows like this one.

*The closest I've seen to this episode is "The Twilight Zone" episode "It's a Good Life". where the little boy has amazing powers and has all the adults around him in abject fear of the little monster.

One of the best Hitchcock Hour episodes because it doesn't cop out with a reassuring explanation. John Megna is terrific as a boy who knows he's different. He likes magic, but not just fun magic tricks. When his father, Leslie Nielsen, takes him into the strange magic shop, run by David Opatoshu, the kid and the shopkeeper know he has found his true home. It's rare to see a child depicted so graphically as evil. Strange things happen one after another in this story, and some are pretty surprising for 1960s TV. The nice man across the street is one of the boy's targets as are the girls next door. When his parents let him have a dog, things get even stranger. For some, this episode will recall a Twilight Zone classic, "It's a Good Life". Definitely worth seeking out.

Memorable chiller. Little Tony's mom and dad are so conventionally suburban and their home life so ordinary, that the contrast with what comes later turns really menacing. Seems little Tony has extra-sensory powers when he sees a magic shop that no one else sees. Once he and Dad enter the magic shop's preternatural bubble, simple trickery gives way to the inexplicable powers of real magic, and a demonic force emerges. For the Grainger family, suburban life will never be the same.

Kudoes to producer Harrison for getting such an odd looking boy, Megna, for the pivotal role of Tony. That way, we're a bit discomfited from the start. And when Tony's latent sensibility is transformed by the sinister Dulong's magic box, it's not a big stretch. Then too, that wolf-like dog functions as a scary familiar for the boy sorcerer. Actually the episode reminds me a bit of Hitch's 30-minute Special Delivery (1959), which also dealt with a transformed suburban boy. Anyhow, the 60-minutes remains superior series fare. Importantly, it also undermines the placid assumptions of a well-ordered middle-class. For Hitchcock, I believe, this was a favorite theme, and maybe one reason why his work remains both unsettling and compelling without having to spill buckets of blood.

The Magic Shop episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour is one of the creepiest stories I have ever seen. When I first saw it after a long day of working I fell asleep right in the middle and have waited months for it to re-air. Well it did 2 nights ago and I made sure I watched it to the end. I found it to be a very disturbing story & almost regretted watching it to the end. The little boy who was cast is creepy, the magic shop owner is even creepier. I love horror, suspense, thrillers and have pretty much seen them all. This story kept me engaged, and I have been thinking about it since I watched it. If you ever see it ready to air, watch it, you will not be disappointed!

Before there is a supernatural element to this episode, the parents smother the kid with gifts for which he shows no appreciation. A neighbor brings him his coin jar and he uses it to go to a magic shop with no regard for anyone's thoughts. The kid who plays the boy has a weirdness about him that contributes to his dangerous being. It's a little like the kid who terrorizes a whole town in "The Twilight Zone." I suspect that the owner of the magic shop is a stereotypical Satan who destroys the kid, turning him into a monster with tremendous powers. Leslie Nielsen is the father and he pays a price for the kid's allowable behavior. Good episode based on a John Collier story. One of our better horror writer's at the time.

I have bad mouthed producer Joan Harrison's other hour long episodes, so must praise her this time. Like with the CONSIDER HER WAYS episode this is an unusual story for the series, unlike that episode this is well scripted. It does have a Twilight Zone like quality though it is better than most of the hour long Twilight Zones. And yes a particular Zone half-hour episode did kind of set the bar high for how this story resolves but that does not make this show unworthy, in fact it rivals that chilling ending. And this is based on an H.G.WELLS story that pre-dates Zone's IT'S A GOOD LIFE by a number of years anyway. Though the original story covers events in about the first half of this show, they extrapolate the rest in the adaptation.

Basic situation starting with trying to fulfill a child's birthday wishes leads into unreality and doubt keeps twisting and turning heading into places you don't expect. It's well acted and there are a few memorable flourishes from director Robert Stevenson. One involving a fire and another a crushed head. Music score is well done and was reused in other episodes. Only weak element here involves some off screen dog action that just comes off as cheap. In the original story the animal is a cat, just FYI. Naturally too the short story has more elaborate magic tricks than could be done when this show was produced. But what they do show here is effective most of the time.

There is some real horror here and a nice non-explanation explanation scene somewhat like the diner scene in THE BIRDS where the whys of the situation are left open but given some possible reasons and creating more genuine mystery to the whole thing.

This is ultimately a horror story with some horror in it and thought.

During the first part of this episode of "The Hitchcock Hour", I almost thought this might be one of the VERY best of the series - a somewhat strange little boy insists on visiting the 'Magic Shop' with his father for buying something with the money he got for his birthday; and the strange owner of the shop tells him that he's 'just the right kind', he shows him some rather queer and eerie magical tricks, and then puts him into a magic cabinet - from where he disappears into nowhere. His parents are desperately searching for him; but the next morning, he reappears from his bedroom as if nothing had happened - and yet something DID happen: he's completely changed, and his behavior soon starts alarming his parents VERY much.

Well, as I said, that was the first part - a very good adaptation of H.G. Wells' story, with a magnificent performance by John Magna as little Tony (friends of classic movies will surely recognize him as the boy who had to undergo that 'test of courage' in the great thriller "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte"), and some pretty chilling moments. But afterwards, the screenplay obviously moves away from Wells' story by depicting the typical atmosphere of a petty bourgeois 60s' US small town; and the 'horror' starts going into the reactionary direction of Stephen King and others, who a few years later would present us with 'possessed children' in the most disgusting way - it's only the really VERY unusual and unexpected ending that brings the story back onto the paths of H.G. Wells; and of Alfred Hitchcock, of course.

So, if you're able to endure the pedantic atmosphere that prevails throughout half of the episode, it IS worthwhile watching; for the really creepy beginning - and the most SURPRISING ending!

I have thought about this episode for the last 50 years, wondering what it meant and what would have happened to the boy. This is perhaps the most frightening TV drama I saw as a child. I remember it vividly, something to recall whilst feverish or at that paralyzed state just before waking. It is terrifying on a level that basic for me.

***Mild spoiler warning.*** I think what scared me so much was that the child escaped the control of his family, became a malevolent force in his own right as his parents watched on. The acting is very good. Also, much of it goes unexplained, which is a treat for the imagination.

Warmly recommended. I think it deserves it reputation as a classic, the best of Hitchcock presents. I bought the season (2) just for this episode and while the rest is OK, this is great.

Most reviewers don't seem to realize this is based on H.G. Wells' 'The Magic Shop'. While it isn't quite as horrifying as the Twilight Zone's version: 'It's a Good Life', it is well done and different enough that I enjoyed the difference. Both versions expand on H.G. Wells original in slightly different ways and both are enjoyable.

Personally I'm not really a horror fan, most modern horror is simply blood and gore as extreme as possible with a little obvious tension. But, this show is enjoyably horrifying and Megna is a great choice as a terrifying child.

I did see the Twilight Zone version first, so the ending here wasn't much of a surprise to me, still enjoyable and well done.

Thought I have not seen this episode since I was in elementary school 40 years ago. But it left a lasting impression.

A young boy goes to a magic store and vanishes along with the owner. He later turns up at home but seem different. He starts doing real magic (what you would probably call witchcraft (ala Bewitched). At the midway point the neighbor kills his dog and he vows revenge. In the last scene, he looks out his window and makes that neighbor's house catch fire. He moves his index finger in a circle then punches the middle and the fire starts in one window. He repeats that several times. In a minute, the whole house is engulfed in flames. After that he takes a picture of his father and with a knife, cuts the face and the same cuts come on his father. It ends with them eating and the family is scared to say anything.

This episode of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour will be run tomorrow August 15, 2008 at 6:00 am and 12:00 pm on the Chiller Network This may wind up not being as scary if I see it now. Like the end of the Outer Limits' Misfits of Zanti at the end you can see the strings holding the giant ants. You notice cheesy things like that now, but when you are a young child, things like this do not matter.

The Chiller Network is now showing the Alfred Hitchcock Hour, so maybe I can see it again.

You might wonder how this made it as a Hitchcock program. The magic and supernatural elements remove it from your typical Hitchcock fare, and into the world of the bizarre and unexplained. The kid in the story was perfectly cast, with a look that bordered on evil, if you could actually call a twelve year old kid evil. A magic shop at the center of the story proves to be elusive; when young Tony Grainger(John Megna) winds up missing in plain sight, his parents (Leslie Nielsen, Peggy McCay) seek help from the authorities, only to have him show up the next day at home, with no explanation for his disappearance. Tony further complicates matters by insisting that he was gone for a long time, and his return is heralded by a strange assortment of powers he uses to inflict discomfort and pain to those he feels wronged him. The ending, for anyone who was a fan of Rod Serling's 'Twilight Zone', will call to mind an episode from that series titled 'It's a Good Life', in which Billy Mumy held his parents and immediate family captive to a threat that he would send them permanently into a corn field if they didn't treat him real good and real fine.

***SPOILERS*** Getting $15.00 for his 12th birthday little Tony Gringer, John Megna, wants his dad Mr. Gringer, Leslie Nielsen,to take him to this magic shop in town to buy some goodies or tricks for himself. At first not being able to find the shop Tony heads for this travel agency that turns out to be a front for the magic shop. With Tony & his dad Meeting the shop's proprietor a spaced out and creepy looking Mister Dulong,David Opstoshu, who's about as weird as they come yet for some strange reason little Tony seems to have a close and strange relationship with the guy. It's as if Tony knew Mr. Dulong for some time and kept it from everyone including his parents.

What's really going on between the two weirdo's Tony & Mr. Dulong, who seem to be talking in code with each other, starts to greatly upset his dad who wants to get Tony and himself out of the place ASAP: Or as soon as possible! But Mr.Dulong has other tricks up his sleeve which includes making himself as well as Tony and his magic shop invisible to the naked eye and driving Mr. Grainger to the point, in him playing in traffic, of committing suicide! Disappearing and then reappearing, with the entire town police department looking for him, some 24 hours later Tony has now become as weird as his master Mr. Dulong ever was. As we find out in him using his magical or satanic powers Tony has taken over the entire Grainger household and even injured with his new found devil dog, oddly named after Mr.Dulong, a number of persons in between! As well as him burning down , by him just willing it, his nosy neighbor Mr. Adams', Paul Hartman, house!

***SPOILERS*** In the end it's Tony who now runs the Gringer house with his parents Mr. & Mrs. Gringer, Peggy McCay, helpless to do anything about it but just do what he demands of them: Or Else! What seemed to have happened here is that Tony has had a previous experience with that weirdo Mr. Dulong who took him under his wing and gave him the power to control those around him. What price Tony paid for that is never revealed to those of us watching. In fact what you would have thought Tony would have wanted most of all is in him getting his very prominent buck teeth fixed or straightened out, which would have been kids play for the master magician Mr.Dulong, wasn't any part of the deal he got.

From Business: Professional magician in Staunton, Virginia and surrounding area. Comedy magic, close up, walk around and stage magic. Parties, meetings, dinners and weddings…

The atmosphere within the store is always buzzing with excitement and anticipation, as customers eagerly discuss their latest magical discoveries and swap stories of their own experiences. It is truly a haven for those who believe in the power of magic and wish to explore its limitless possibilities. So if you ever find yourself in need of a little magic in your life, be sure to visit the **nearby magic store**. You never know what wonders await you there..

Reviews for "Find the Perfect Trick at a Nearby Magic Shop"

- John Smith - 1 star

I was really excited to visit the magic store nearby, but I was extremely disappointed with my experience. The staff was rude and unhelpful, and it seemed like they had no knowledge about the products they were selling. The store was also very disorganized, with items scattered all over the place and no clear section for different types of magic tricks. Overall, I would not recommend this store to anyone looking for quality magic supplies or a pleasant shopping experience.

- Sarah Thompson - 2 stars

I had heard good things about the nearby magic store, so I decided to give it a try. However, I left feeling underwhelmed and unsatisfied. The selection of magic tricks and props was quite limited, and they didn't have some of the more popular items that I was looking for. The prices were also quite high for what they had to offer. The atmosphere in the store was dull and lacking any sense of excitement or wonder. I would recommend looking for other magic stores in the area before settling for this one.

- David Johnson - 1 star

I had a terrible experience at the nearby magic store. The customer service was horrendous; the staff was unfriendly and unhelpful. I asked for assistance in finding a specific trick, and they simply pointed me to a section and walked away without providing any guidance or recommendations. The store itself was also quite disorganized. It was difficult to find anything, and many items were simply thrown into bins without any clear organization. Avoid this store if you're looking for a pleasant shopping experience and helpful staff.

The Art and Science of Magic: Exploring Nearby Magic Shops