BEVERLY - It was a snowy Sunday in February when the magic first happened.
"I remember very vividly the curtain going up," recalls David Bull, better known locally as Le Grand David.
Sunday, Feb. 20, 1977, was the very first show for Le Grand David and his own Spectacular Magic Company. Bull and his performance partner Cesareo Pelaez - Marco the Magi - were starting something new on the North Shore with their show of traditional magic from Pelaez's native Cuba.
"A large crowd showed up. They were curious to find out what this thing called 'Le Grand David' was all about," Bull said.
And the magic hasn't stopped. This Sunday, the company celebrates its 30th anniversary, continuing a streak as the longest running magic show in the world.
Bull says the show has survived because it's more than pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Le Grand David's show involves a cast of 24 with musicians, dancers and more, as well as elaborate, colorful costumes, props and scenery.
"The way we present classic stage magic is a full theatrical production. It's very different from most people's idea of a magic show," he explains. "It's based on Cesareo and what he brought with him from Cuba. He saw some of the great traveling shows of all time in the '30s and '40s in Cuba."
Le Grand David's performances, Bull says, are modeled after these shows, which were respected at the level of ballet, theater and classical music.
The show's home is the Cabot Street Cinema Theatre, a vaudeville-style theater built in 1920 that was a struggling movie theater owned by E.M. Lowe when Le Grand David took it over in 1976. The magic company was looking for a classic, historic theater to meet the standards of their show.
"People are seeing these stage productions the way they were seen 100 years ago," Bull says. "And the longevity has something to do with the fact that this is like the golden age of vaudeville."
What also makes the show work is the community effort put in by the troupe, Pelaez says.
"It doesn't matter if you're backstage pulling curtains, greeting the public in the front of the house or assisting onstage," Pelaez says. "There are no unimportant roles. We all attempt to see how each of us can do our part well, with attention and intelligence, weaving the individual elements into a pleasing whole."
It's an effort, he explains, that is led by Bull, the show's headliner.
"Sometimes when people ask me what makes this theater and magic adventure unique, I tell them the story of David changing the marquee. One night, he was changing the marquee. A regular costumer was watching him put up the magic company's name and said, 'This is probably the only place in the world where the star puts his own name up on the marquee.'"
In its three decades onstage, the show hasn't changed too drastically, says Bull, although it has become "more elaborate" with more scenery. In 1985, Bull and Pelaez bought the Larcom Theatre just down the street from the Cabot and started a second show, "The Anthology of Stage Magic."
Pelaez and Bull met through Bull's brother in the mid-'70s. Bull, who had recently graduated from Boston University, was a magic enthusiast since childhood, and studied the trade more seriously with Pelaez. The show they created together has not only landed the group in the Guinness Book of World Records, it has also earned them a slew of awards from magic organizations around the world. The show has also done some traveling - Le Grand David has brought the magic to the White House and to Hollywood.
The show did experience one major bump in the road in October 2005 when Pelaez suffered a stroke, leaving his left side paralyzed for three days. But six months later, Pelaez returned to the stage and is still assisting Bull.
"He's still levitating, still appearing out of a box," Bull says.
The anniversary performance is attracting magicians and magic enthusiasts from all over the country, who have contacted Bull and will be attending Sunday's show.
Like any good magician, Bull can't reveal his stage secrets just yet, but he does hint that the anniversary show will include special guest appearances in addition to all the tricks of the trade that have made the show what it is today.
"You come in and we take you to a totally different place for two and half hours," Bull says. "It takes you out of your everyday routine and worries."
If you go
* What: Le Grand David and his Spectacular Magic Company's 30th anniversary show
* When: Sunday at 3 p.m.
* Where: Cabot Street Cinema Theatre, 286 Cabot St., Beverly.
r How: Tickets are $18, $12 children 11 and under. Call 978-927-3677 or visit www.legranddavid.com.
