Sol Stone will never forget that head. Seventy years ago, his father took him to see Howard Thurston, the greatest illusionist of his time. And in the lobby, walking toward the ticket-taker, 7-year-old Stone saw it.

"There was a little platform," he remembers, "two chairs and a sword, and a woman's head was suspended on that sword. As we came to the ticket taker, the head looked at me and said, "Hello, little boy, what's your name."

The illusionist’s act made a strong impression on Stone, who immediately decided to study magic. Back home, he would spend hours in Brooklyn libraries looking for illusionism and magic-trick books.

A retired clinical psychologist, it might seem strange to some that Stone also spends his time doing tricks with coins and cards.

"But magic is mostly psychology. Magic is not tricks; it's creating the illusion of magic – it gives a sense of wonder and delight in your spectator. And when your spectator's feelings are wonder and delight, they are not worrying about the stresses and strains of everyday life. It’s like giving them a mini-vacation from worry, to break up tension."

Born 78 years ago in Brooklyn, Stone has been a magician for the last 71 years. However, it wasn’t until he was on a train escorting refugees through Europe during World War II that he realized that magic was to play a very important part in his life.

"There were a lot of children on that train," he remembers. "That's when I realized that magic was more than just a hobby."

Both the refugees and the train’s crew knew they were in constant danger, remembers Stone. "Everyone looked very depressed."

At one of the train’s frequent stops to take on water and allow the passengers time to stretch their legs, Stone felt like he wanted to do something to alleviate the children’s mood.

"So I picked up a pebble," he says, "and I pulled it out of my ear and slowly, one of the kids began to look at me. Then the others, and finally I got one to smile, and the kid’s mother said that was the first time she saw him smile in two years."

Each time they stopped after that, the kids came after Stone asking for more. "And that's when I worked out my routine, because each stop I had to add another effect and another effect. And before I had realized, I had a whole new routine, which I'm still working on."

Magic has given Stone two immense satisfactions. The first one was the possibility of getting together with great people, like he does every Saturday, between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. at Reuben's. But the most important, he says, is the second one: providing people with the delight of magic.

"Magic has to be a surprise. We try to create the illusion of magic. They say the mind truly loves a mystery. So we give the mind something to feed on."