The Magic Castle: The Junior Society Celebrates 50 Years

This year marks the astonishing golden anniversary of the Academy of Magical Arts Junior Society—a one-of-a-kind mentoring program offering young magicians access to materials, workshops, and face-to-face magical instruction by some of the industry’s top names—that has been housed in The Magic Castle for 50 years!

For founder Diana Zimmerman, celebrating 50 years of the Society was the last thing on her mind back in the early days. Instead, just getting it started was her primary focus. Growing up poor in Phoenix, Arizona, Diana was shy and bullied. She discovered magic at 8 years old, which, she says, changed her life and made her feel special and confident.

At that time, there was a local teenage magic group called The Rabbits In Our Hat Club. Applicants had to be at least 13 to join, but that didn’t keep Diana from continually showing up at the meetings until the man who ran them finally relented and let her join.

This membership provided Diana with unprecedented access to some of the era’s top magicians, who both lived in Phoenix and/or came through town, including Danny Dew, Arnold Furst, Gali Gali, David Hoy, Ed Keener, Andre Kole, Charlie Miller, Marvyn Roy, and, of course, Dai Vernon, just to name a few. “Dai Vernon spent 30 minutes teaching me the wand spin. Charlie Miller taught me card sleights. Marvyn Roy taught me how to take a bow,” Diana told Genii. “To them, I wasn’t a nobody from the wrong side of the tracks, I was an aspiring young magician!”

In 1967, Diana, now 18, moved to Los Angeles and was allowed into The Magic Castle—Bill and Milt Larsen making an exception to the club’s age requirement because she had won so many international competitions as a teen. Once there, she found it appalling that local kids couldn’t come to The Castle and learn from some of the greatest magicians in the world. She felt the calling to give these kids the opportunities she had been given. To make them believe in themselves. To change their lives.

So began her relentless pursuit to make that happen. The Academy of Magical Arts’ Board of Directors, however, summarily rebuffed the idea every time she approached them about it. Their response each time was a resounding “no,” followed by the reiteration that The Magic Castle was a nightclub and that kids didn’t belong there.

Enter an unlikely ally: actor Cary Grant.

Diana was 19 when she performed her first week at The Castle. Cary attended her very first show, and they quickly became friends. A few years later, Cary was appointed to the AMA Board. One evening, while chatting at the Palace Bar, Cary mentioned it was a shame that there was no youth group at The Castle. Diana’s response was immediate. “Cary, I’ve been trying to get the Board to let me start one for more than four years,” she told him.

“Come with me,” was Cary’s quick reply as he gripped her arm and led her directly into a Board of Directors meeting that was about to begin. Once inside the room with the stunned Diana, Cary announced to the assembled group, “Diana has an idea, and I think it’s a good one!”

Flustered, Diana quickly stammered out her reasons for wanting to start a youth program, explained all the details she had in mind, and beat a hasty retreat, attempting to ignore the glares from several Board members as she exited. According to Diana, Cary emerged from the closed room five minutes later exclaiming, “Diana! Diana! They’re going to let you do it!”

Apparently, it was a lot easier to turn down Diana Zimmerman than it was Cary Grant.

Having received that begrudging green light, Diana launched herself into the creation of a program for kids 13 to 20 years of age. She built it looking to foster mentorship in a place where they could not only learn to perfect their magic skills, but also, more importantly, their life skills, including self-confidence, creativity, optimism, acceptance, and the knowledge that any dream is possible. Diana’s motto for the program, then and now, is: “Magic is your foundation, not your ceiling.”

Nearly 100 kids registered to audition for membership. Those first auditions took place over two days, with only 50 kids passing the program’s intense and strict auditioning process. So strict, in fact, that even today it is much harder to become a Junior member than it is to become a magician member of the AMA. Diana said that this was intentional. Not wanting to make the Junior Program a school, her intent was to focus on the kids who were really serious about magic and had learned the basics. That way, she felt the program would develop really great performers with the self-confidence to achieve any life goal they chose to pursue. And, indeed, it has. Some of the past Society graduates who have gone on to gain recognition in magic include Ed Alonzo, Jay Scott Berry, Anna DeGuzman, Bill Goodwin, Neil Patrick Harris, Christopher Hart, Kevin James, Mark Kalin, Collins Key, Ray Kosby, Jason Latimer, Gabriella Lester, Cyril Takayama, George Tovar, and Greg Wilson, among others.

For nearly 20 years, Diana was the chairperson of the program. During the last 10 of those years, she began to transition from a full-time performer to building threecompanies. Robert Dorian, who had come aboard early in the program, willingly accepted the reins of chairperson from Diana, which—while she remained fully involved in the Society—freed up time for her to focus on her businesses. Bob held the position until his untimely passing in 2020.

That was when Steve Barnes and David Doyle, former Junior members themselves, stepped up to not only take over the Society, but to guide it in some new and ambitious directions. Steve and David had already been serving under Bob, and, knowing that he would eventually want to retire, the two of them hoped they would someday play a leadership role in the program. Their reverence for Diana and Bob, and how much the Junior Society had affected their own lives, drove them to want to become co-chairs and keep the program alive and thriving. David, who works on production and development for Hearst Media, said, “I can say with certainty that, had I not been a Junior, I doubt that I would have ended up in the entertainment business nor would I have had half the foundation or confidence that it took to achieve any of the relative success I’ve enjoyed in this field.” 

Steve mirrors that sentiment. Having spent many years as an equity trader and money manager, he now owns his own insurance agency. He states that being a magician is a big part of his identity: “Let’s be honest, saying you’re in the insurance business puts people to sleep. People love to hear about The Magic Castle. Listening to me talk about Medicare, not so much.” Steve goes on to say that the program helped him gain confidence as both a performer and a person, and that this has helped him throughout his career. He believes that without the Junior program, his life would have taken a different path and he would not have had the same success.

Keeping what they thought to be the best elements of the Junior program, David and Steve have also instituted some new advancements. For one, there are now more Junior members performing during the weekend brunches than ever before. The most exciting addition, however, has been the non-resident program that has allowed the Junior Society to go global. Previously, only those who had the means to fly in could live elsewhere and be a Junior. Now, due to a generous donation from the Jack Oakie and Victoria Horne Oakie Charitable Foundation, the Society was able to purchase state-of-the-art cameras and computers for streaming that now allow Junior magicians from all over the world to attend and benefit from the monthly meetings. Since this has been in place, the Junior Society has gained members from as far away as Brazil, Italy, Japan, South Africa, and Spain.

The Junior Society’s golden anniversary has been featured in the news of late, helping to bring more attention to the program. Earlier this year, CNN ran a news story in which David and Steve, as well as Diana, spoke of the program’s origins and goals. The piece also highlighted Junior members Aidan Corcorcan, Amanda Nepo, and Winston Pienaar performing in The Castle’s Close-Up Gallery and talking about what being a part of the program means to them.

Junior members are featured prominently each year at The Castle during Future Stars of Magic Week, when current Junior members take over the showrooms in the evenings to perform for the adult guests. That is happening again this month at The Magic Castle, but will be made even more special as Junior alumni will be coming in from around the country to attend a reunion dinner on July 22 in the Milt Larsen Inner Circle. A truly magical, full-circle way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of a very meaningful program.

Photos courtesy of Diana Zimmerman and David Doyle

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