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written by kevin savage
photography by david e. fattaleh
A Huntington magic store and costume rental
shop is a national success story
You may not be familiar with Ken Fox or Ken Epperly, or their downtown Huntington
business, but chances are you’ve seen their work. If you’ve
caught a ballgame, attended a theatrical production, church play or
even turned on your television, you’ve probably seen examples
of their craftsmanship. But you haven’t seen anything
until you’ve seen their monkey.
Magic Makers, located at 545 Fourth
Avenue, is much more than a magic store, more than a
costume rental shop. It is a complete factory, warehouse, retail and
rental shop and mail order business all under one roof. They sell magic
tricks, create animal mascots and supply theatre and stage productions
large and small. It’s all made possible by a full-time staff
of six, including a magician, seamstress, and costumer/historian. Fox
says they work from one order to the next, and every order presents
a new challenge.
The business began nearly 25 years ago when Fox and
Epperly were both performing magicians. Back in the good ol’ days,
they opened a magic shop at Johnson Plaza in Barboursville, in a 10
foot wide space.
After moving to a larger store next door, they started selling costumes, and later
opened a second location at the Huntington Mall. After business dwindled
in Barboursville, they moved to the Frederick Building in downtown
Huntington, eventually relocating to the upstairs ballroom, where they
remained for 16 years. Being off the street helped develop their mail
order business, which comprises the majority of their business today.
They bought the current 24,000 square foot
building, at 545 Fourth Ave., four years ago.
The space was needed
to house the extensive inventory of costumes and retail items, and provide
additional workspace for the six full-time
employees.
Fox says that although the store is never empty, Halloween
is by far the busiest time, when the staff swells from 6 to 14, and business
hours are extended. Some of the additional Halloween staffers return
every year – like the retired grandmother who looks forward to
slinking around the store each year wearing a sexy nurse
costume or cat suit.
The name Magic Makers, Inc. National
Costume Supply House, was chosen to enhance the national image of the
store.
“Years ago we had a goal to open up a costume shop in every capital
city in all 50 states,” Fox says. Now, because of their website
and because they advertise in the Yellow pages of every major city,
as well as toll-free directories and trade magazines, they have virtually
achieved that goal. “We literally compete with
every costume shop in the nation and the world because we have it all
and ship it the same day.” Magic Makers won’t take an order
if they don’t think they can fill it on time, and they’ve
never been late with an order for a theatrical production. The attention
to prompt, courteous service has paid off, with over 1,500 customers
nationwide. Fox describes a sight he loves to see: 20 or 30 boxes waiting
to be shipped to California, Iowa, Scotland, or wherever on a daily
basis, after the web, phone and fax orders have been processed.
“We are the only store we know of worldwide that has the entire inventory online.” The website is
maintained by the staff and contains over 5,000 web pages, with photos
of every item. Magic Makers recently filled their most prestigious rental
order when they supplied 14 custom-made uniforms to the U.S. Army for
flag bearers to wear during a ceremony at the embassy in Pristina,
Kosovo, which was televised to two million viewers.
The main floor
of their facility is devoted to retail, with the bulk of the space
taken by costume items on display. There are complete
packaged costumes, as well as individual pieces like gloves, wigs and
more hats than one can imagine. Although they carry an array of full-face
masks, Fox says the individual prosthetic pieces and make-up have become
more popular. They often get undercover police officers
needing a disguise, but there are many other interesting examples.
Like the grandfather, for instance, flying to Phoenix to kidnap his
grandson back for his daughter. Or the woman from the mortuary that
needed just the right mustache to replace the real one the
mortician had mistakenly shaved off. One woman
wanted a set of fake lips to use in a pig-kissing contest. Fox’s
favorite was the soon-to-be bride seeking make-up to cover her fiancé’s
tattoo – on his forehead.
Additional space downstairs is dedicated
to workshops, such as the sewing room where the animal mascots are
made. They supply mascots for various universities,
banks and lotteries, and have an exclusive contract for the Blimpie’s
Subs bear.
Individual animal parts are popular too.
The San Diego Zoo, for example, orders 7,000 zebra and tiger tails
every year for a Mother’s
Day promotion. Someone recently wanted 5,000 pig noses. “That
really throws off your animal nose count for the year,” says
Fox.
And then there is the monkey-room, complete with a monkey-window
looking out onto the street, and of course, a real monkey.
For 21 years,
Casey the monkey has come to work everyday with his owners. For the past
19 years, he was accompanied by his monkey-companion,
Dusty, who recently passed away. Casey and Dusty’s finest hour
was perhaps this past January when Magic Makers supplied 60 costumes
for a million-dollar extravaganza at the Greenbrier. Celebrities were
flown in from Vegas, and the ballroom was transformed into the Coconut
Grove. The monkeys got to walk across the stage with their owners,
all wearing Moroccan costumes.
The upstairs portion of the building
houses the inventory of more than 10,000 costume pieces available for
rental. Fox and the staff made
90 percent of the costumes, while the others are authentic ceremonial
and traditional wear from around the world.
Every item is numbered according
to the Dewey Decimal System by year, from cavemen to present. Fox tells
people: “We’re not the
biggest costume shop or the best, but we’re the most organized.” Magic
Makers is also one of the few companies that carry rentals just for
children; they have about 300 that are the same quality as the adult
versions.
Stashed in one corner upstairs is Fox’s cache of 630
stage plots, essentially blueprints of a theatrical production, all alphabetized.
Some are from Europe and date back to the late 1800s. He also has rare
scrapbooks and albums of stage photos and movie stills,
which can be used for reference. “If any director calls for a
show or play, I go to my files and I can tell them exactly what they
need.”
No tour of the facility would be complete without a visit
to “the
tomb,” which contains recreations Fox made of
the contents of the tomb of Tutankhamun, from the
artifacts to the actual mummy, as well as other Egyptian items he has
acquired. He became interested in Egyptology through his exposure to
Egyptian mysteries as a magician. Thousands of
school children came to see the pieces as part of an exhibit in the basement of the Frederick
Building, photos of which may be viewed on the website.
So, if you’re staging a
production of Moulin Rouge, need 60 bunny suits or Elvis in any size,
no matter where you live, just log onto
www.magicmakers.com, and your order will be at your door as soon as possible. But if you
happen to be in town, you owe it to yourself to come into the store
and look around, even if you don’t need a leather Wonder Woman
costume or a pink gorilla suit. Ken Fox, costumer, historian and
Egyptologist, will be more than happy to give you the fascinating tour.
See the monkey. See the mummy. See how magic is made.
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