It's always a magical time at the Darwin Club

Wondering why Las Vegas magicians seem to disappear on Wednesday nights?

Because a good many of them are at the Jockey Club, near the Monte Carlo on the Strip, trading secrets and sharing stories about their craft.

Welcome to another weekly meeting of the Darwin Magic Club, where magicians young and old, amateur and professional, come to kibitz.

The club was founded nearly three decades ago by Gary Darwin.

"The best way to learn is to hang out with other magicians," says Darwin, who owns a huge magic memorabilia collection. "Instead of just collecting apparatus, I thought, 'Well, let's collect some magicians.'"

In the early days, club members gathered around midnight at the now-defunct Colonial House restaurant. "The pros would get off duty and they would show up," he says.

Over the years, it wasn't unusual to see headliners such as Siegfried & Roy, Lance Burton and the Pendragons at the laid-back meetings.

Even a few Hollywood stars have shown up from time to time, including Milton Berle, whose hobby is magic.

Darwin asked Berle to perform a few tricks for the club.

"He said, 'Sure,'" and gave a two-hour performance. "If he hadn't discovered his great talent as a comedian, he would have been a magician."

As years passed, interest in the club grew, especially with local semiprofessional magicians. But they balked at the late-night meeting time, which Darwin eventually moved to 10 p.m.

These days, meetings usually attract about 50 of the 400-plus members and often run well into the early morning hours.

In the meantime, Darwin makes his rounds of the room, stopping along the way to draw his signature caricatures of the members.

"I find them all very entertaining," he says. "Every table has its own little clique. It's a total variety of personalities.

"A lot of the members of the club, I've never seen do a trick. We've got people that are just magic enthusiasts. They are truly hobbyists."

Grab a smoke and a beer and let's mingle a bit, shall we?

Excuse Maritess -- something's stuck in her shoe.

The petite brunette, the resident close-up magician at Harrah's, removes her high-heeled clog to see what's the matter.

Clunk! Out slides a giant rock. Ah, that's better.

The Chicago native moved to Las Vegas to pursue a career in magic five years ago and joined the club soon after.

"I was really daunted by all of the male magicians in Chicago," says Maritess, who reads minds and palms and produces fire.

In Las Vegas, though, "People have seen so many female magicians that it's become accepted.

"When you walk up to somebody and ask to show them a magic trick, they don't laugh in your face or ask you to get them a cocktail."

Over there, standing behind a portable magic table, is Don Drake. He's been performing for 40 years, most notably at the World's Fair in 1964-65.

Drake, who also specializes in close-up magic, has been a club member for four years.

"We learn things from each other. We get to meet interesting magicians from other parts of the country, other parts of the world," he says.

When he's not touring the country giving magic lectures, 57-year-old Drake works at Geno Munari's Magic Shop at MGM Grand theme park.

And what is Dan Harlan doing with that cocktail napkin?

Twisting and tearing the white paper into a crumpled wad, he's making a trick out of a story about the first time he wished on a star.

Unrolling the paper, a perfectly shaped star appears. Awww, how cute!

Harlan tours the globe performing his illusions. He also invented a card trick "that sold all over the world."

Yet he calls Las Vegas home and attends Darwin Magic Club meetings as often as he can. "I talk to people, bounce ideas and see new faces."

After 22 years of performing, "I'm so far into this that I'm less into trading secrets" than stories, "like, 'This happened to me,' or, 'This is what happened when I was doing a show.'"

Harlan, 31, says the club can be especially beneficial to aspiring magicians.

"If they're new in magic, they're gonna learn a lot here if they hook up with the right people, if they're not too shy about asking questions.

"I feel if anybody asks a question, then they want to learn, and I'll tell a little bit, kind of get them started."

Darwin agrees. "The young kids benefit by hanging out with the old masters.

"There's no age barrier in magic. I don't care if you're 6 or 106 ... you're basically there because you need the applause."

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