The big absentees from the TV3 Gala
Since January, when TV3 celebrated its 40th anniversary, some of the great TV3 legends who were not invited to the Gala or who were not able to convince have been appearing outside the channel. The great absentees include Puyal, Júlia Otero, Jordi González, Alfons Arfús and Mikimoto. But behind the names of the greats there is a whole series of presenters from the house who, although they are not TV stars, have reached a level of popularity and esteem that makes them also worth bringing back.
The rediscovery of Mágic Andreu
This Sunday, Ara does justice to one of the presenters forgotten by TV3 but remembered by viewers with admiration and tenderness: MágicoAndreu. He was one of the most powerful faces of the channel in the 90s, with such memorable programs as La mágico magia del Mágic Andreu and especially Això és massa, a magic show with guests of the level of Pepe Rubianes or Charlton Heston who were partners in the tricks of the showman Mágic Andreu. He ended each number putting on a medal exclaiming ‘It’s that I am good’. Legendary.
The current life of Mágic Andreu
The newspaper has the wisdom to do an audiovisual interview because everyone wants to see and hear what Mágic Andreu is like now, at 76 years old. He is a little older, with white hair but with his inseparable glasses and mustache. He has an air of Ferran Monegal or Josep Maria Minguella. This is how Mr. Francesc Andreu, stage name Mágic Andreu, lives now: ‘I started doing magic tricks in a hotel in Lloret de Mar but without charging, only tips. At the exit I put a hat with a sign that said ‘Leave the money here to buy the rabbit’s food.’ That’s how I earned my first salary as a magician. Àngel Casas saw me doing magic in a restaurant and put me on TV3 to entertain the audience on set when viewers at home were watching ads. He was so successful on set that Casas decided to have him appear live on the show.’ That’s how he started on TV, as an entertainer who doesn’t appear on the air.
The passion for magic
Mágic Andreu has the weight of not having received help from anyone: ‘My father didn’t help me financially and I had to work with the hope of doing something I like. He would pick me up and tell me I’m a magician. I have believed in dreams. It wasn’t until I was 32 that I started doing magic that my life didn’t begin. The time of TV3 worked too much, based on coffees. I’m happy with life now, doing shows that pay for me, conferences, I have a magic store. I will not retire as a magician, I will not go play petanque.’ At 76 he continues to work at the pace he wants. At an age where everyone has retired for years, he surprises by confessing that he still lives doing professional magic, not on TV but in theaters or small rooms and at conferences as an entertainer. He has it in his blood.
The greatness of the character
He runs an NGO to help the needy in Nepal, where he gives money after each gala. And at the Vall d’Hebron Hospital he has been working for children with cancer for 50 years. Two gestures to show the greatness of the character, the most opposite of a divo, a celebrity or a TV star. She sees herself at 90 years old doing magic tricks: ‘I’m doing a magic act for when I’m in a wheelchair. And another trick that will only happen in a nursing home.’ And some pink news: ‘The love of my life has arrived, I’m getting married in August. From one of my previous partners I have a daughter who does magic, Joana Andreu. But this couple now will be my fourth wife, which means that being an illusionist is maintaining the illusion.’ An interview that avoids the magician who appeared on TV3, does not explain anything other than that he worked too much there, to focus on the life of a man who has lived by and for magic and who will die doing a trick in his nursing home. Mágic Andreu’s magical life deserves another medal.
