This is the first episode of “Neighbor Notes” hosted by Mayor Jonathan Busch with none other than Metuchen native and “King of Magic” David Copperfield. Copperfield is widely regarded as the most commercially successful magician of all time. He has sold more tickets than any other solo performer in history (more than even Elvis, Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Justin Bieber), he has won 11 Guinness World Records and 21 Emmy Awards, and has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. However, during Mayor Busch’s visit to Copperfield’s private International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts in Las Vegas, Copperfield focused on the ways that Metuchen and its community have inspired him in his life.
Among the largest collection of magic memorabilia in the world, Copperfield talked about what it was like to grow-up in Metuchen during the 1960s and 70s, including his father’s Main Street store, his role as a boy magician, the Forum Theatre, a baby bunny he found while waiting for the RFK funeral train to pass through, and of course, he weighed in on Paul McCartney’s recent visit to Metuchen’s downtown.