On pleasant days in Philly’s Center and Old City neighborhoods, it’s common to bump into a walking tour enlightening visitors and locals about the area’s rich history.
They usually don’t try to confound the viewer at the same time, though.
But that’s exactly what “The Great Philadelphia Comedy Magic Walking Tour” offers — a guided stroll to historic sites like the First Bank of the United States, Christ Church and the Betsy Ross House, with illusions performed at each stop.
Philly Magic Tours owner, operator, and magician Robert Malissa has been providing the tour for three years, though he says he’s been performing magic since he was 10.
Drawing inspiration from fellow magician Noel Britten in Bath, England, Malissa created his own version for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. After some fine tuning, he transferred the show to the streets of Old City.
For Malissa, the tour is more than the chance to show off his award-winning sleight-of-hand, merging it with his passion for the place he was born and raised.
“Every weekend, I would go to Head House Square and see Penn and Teller perform down there when they were street performers. I think that really planted the seed in me for maybe the genesis to do this,” he said. “I love showing off the city, I love performing for people. It’s an absolute blend of all my passions.”
The tours run on Saturdays, Sundays, and intermittent Fridays during the Fall. Malissa can host groups of up to 45 people and the tour lasts between an hour and 75 minutes, depending on the guest number.
Like every walking tour, the trip is at the mercy of the weather, vehicle and foot traffic, and the daily changes of the city. Malissa said he occasionally has to adapt the route when a protest happens, or a building is built in front of a mural. The Thursday afternoon tour Billy Penn went on with a group from the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association started as students were leaving the Mastery Charter School Lenfest campus across the street.
Malissa started by leading the group from the entrance of the Bourse Food Hall to across the street from the Second Bank of the United States. His first trick started with a history lesson on how states and territories all had their own currencies before the Legal Tender Act of 1862. His trick? He turned reproductions of money from banks in places including Chattanooga, Newark, N.J., Louisiana and New England into today’s $1 “greenbacks.”
Malissa said the tour is mainly for entertainment, built and balancing on the scaffolding of the neighborhood’s history.
“You need to balance the magic and the history, and not take one away from the other,” he explained. “So usually there’s a slight preamble of history and then the magic trick is the emphasis part.”
Along the way, Malissa navigates the group through traffic, construction and some embellishment of historical facts. Some tour-goers are asked to volunteer to help with the tricks.
His home-made cart with all his props and an inbuilt PA system for his wireless microphone often serves as a temporary road barrier — and some free street advertising — so his guests can safely cross the street.
The roughly 1.5-mile walking tour included stops outside the Science History Institute, City Tavern, Welcome Park, alleys through “Hell-Town,” and finally Girard Fountain Park.
The other magic tricks? Without giving too much away, there’s one with silks and a U.S. flag that he does while singing to the tune of “the Star-Spangled Banner,” another with a penny and a Coca-Cola bottle, and one in Little Boys Court with some small blackboards, chalk and a pet snake named Snowball that is still keeping this Billy Penn reporter up at night bewildered.
The Great Philadelphia Comedy Magic Walking Tour runs until Nov. 17 this Fall and tickets can be booked on Philly Magic Tours’ website. Malissa also performs at Smoke & Mirrors Magic Theater in Huntingdon Valley in December.
