CULTURE
Conjuring a Conversation with Milwaukee’s
David Seebach BY MICHAEL MUCKIAN
T
housands of musicians, comedians and other artists have performed during Summerfest’s 53-year run, but none more often than David Seebach, who this year celebrated 41 years at Summerfest with five performances of his annual “Wonders of Magic” show at the festival’s Northwestern Mutual Community Park.
Seebach, who grew up in Milwaukee’s Sherman Park neighborhood, has been making scarves magically appear, shuffling slight-of-hand card decks, sawing assistants in half and turning pretty showgirls into full-sized tigers for more than five decades. In addition to Summerfest, he has performed at corporate meetings, in conjunction with symphony orchestras, and in theaters and venues across the United States, as well as several European ports of call. “I am an entertainer and performer who demonstrates the impossible in an engaging manner,” Seebach says of his act. “It was the French conjurer Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin (from whom Wisconsin magician Harry Houdini adapted his name) who said that the magician is an actor who plays the role of a wizard." 62 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
PUTTING ON A SHOW Seebach’s “wizarding ways” began with the remnants of a child’s magic kit provided by his older brother Dick at age 6 and a supportive father who lined up his first gig at age 12. His father, Edward E. Seebach, was the Milwaukee Public Library System’s head of circulation and likely helped his youngest son land his first show at the former Center Street Library in the mid-‘60s. He was paid $7.50 for the performance. Little did the 12-year-old Seebach know then that he was conjuring up what would become a lifelong performance career. “I always liked putting on a show,” says Seebach, who in his youth dabbled in theater, college radio and amateur filmmaking. “Very often magic tricks allowed my imagination to get creative and tell some stories as part of the performance. That’s why people come, and that’s what entertains them.” Seebach continued mastering his craft throughout high school, eventually graduating into a pre-business curriculum at UW-Milwaukee. As a business student, Seebach All photos courtesy of David Seebach.