Professional Magician Steve Faris gave a presentation to the Hillsboro Rotary Club at its Tuesday lunch meeting regarding the history of the art of performing magic.
Faris presented and discussed Ken Klosterman’s magic memorabilia and artifact collections, one called the “Salon de Magie” which is mostly housed in an underground vault below Klosterman’s residence in Loveland.
Faris has been a curator of Klosterman’s world class magic collection for almost 40 years.
Klosterman, the patriarch of the Klosterman Bakery Company, with bakeries in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, began assembling his premier collection of magicians equipment, books, posters and ephemera in the late 1960s. Now he has extended his collection into his 1852 Georgian Revival mansion, which sits majestically on a hill overlooking the White Oak Creek valley outside of Georgetown.
After a seven-year extensive renovation, Whitehall, as the Georgetown house is named, now houses his extensive collection of German magic items. Klosterman’s collection is regularly visited by David Copperfield, Pen and Teller, Seigfried and Roy, and other famous magicians.
Faris is a professional magician who’s credits include state fairs and trade shows throughout the United States, seven seasons at theme parks, including King’s Island, luxury cruise ships, and an opening act for a vast variety of performers including comedians Steve Martin and Martin Mull, and musicians Earl Scruggs, Ramsey Lewis, Santana and Ricky Nelson. Faris grew up here in Hillsboro and after living in the Cincinnati area for 40 years, has semi-retired and relocated back in Hillsboro.
Faris mentions his first television appearance was on the Uncle Orrie Show in Dayton with Hillsboro’s own Joe Rockhold.
Submitted by Hillsboro Rotary Club.
