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Peter O'Malley will be performing in the Patient Entertainment Center on February 5th at 2 p.m.
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Volunteers make a big difference at Children's Hospital Boston, but two in particular create a magical experience for patients. For the past 25 years, magician Peter O'Malley has been enlivening the halls with pockets full of tricks and his signature top hat to entertain the children. "I always wanted to do something for kids and this is the best hospital to do it in," O'Malley says.
Fellow volunteer magician John Bonaparte couldn't agree more. "I'm not a doctor, I'm not a surgeon, I can't fix anyone," he says. "But I can get patients to forget what's going on with them when I bring my magic to the hospital." Both magicians regularly perform on many patient floors, but they think they have the biggest impact when they bring their tricks to the Emergency Department. "It makes the biggest difference there because kids in the waiting room are so nervous," O'Malley says.
It's clear that these magicians are performers at heart. Bonaparte gets the biggest reaction when he pulls his live bunny, Frisky, out of his hat. Frisky can't leave the Patient Entertainment Center, so when patients on patient floors ask about him, Bonaparte explains, "Frisky is afraid of heights."
O'Malley and Bonaparte have known each other through Boston's magic circuit, and refer one another for upcoming gigs. "We have different styles," says O'Malley. "I put comedy into everything I do and Bonaparte refers to his magic as 'sophisticated silliness.'
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John Bonaparte will be performing in the Patient Entertainment Center on February 12th at 2 p.m.
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Originally, each had distinctly different careers. O'Malley was a high school special education teacher; he didn't start practicing magic until the late 1970s. He's a self-taught magician and learned his skills in between performing jobs, including one as a singing telegram. O'Malley combines his guitar playing skills with his magic as a fulltime entertainer around Boston and is known to bring the Macarena and the chicken dance to the Prouty garden to give patients a chance to show off their moves.
Hugely positive audience reactions are what got Harvard graduate Bonaparte to leave his government job in Washington, D.C., and turn his long-time hobby into a career. His company, Bonaparte Magic and More Productions, includes jugglers, stilt walkers, and even a court jester who performs at parties and corporate events. He also teaches magic at the hospital. "I like to teach the kids something easy first so they can get hooked on the reaction they get," he says. "It boosts their confidence when they show their mom or doctor." Recently, he taught a patient to flick his wrist to make a coin disappear. "His parents were dumbfounded and he was happy as a clam!" he says. Bonaparte is confident his career change was the best move for him. "I think I have the best job in the world now, period — but especially when I'm here," he says.
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