The saying goes that a magician never reveals his tricks.

Never, however, is a long time. That's why Rick and Karen Rogers - the owners of the new Rick Rogers Family Magic Shop downtown - don't mind sitting down with aspiring magicians and helping them master a troublesome trick.

"A lot of stores that carry this stuff, the people there won't even know how to open the box, let alone know how to use it," said Rick Rogers, gesturing to one of his bigger magic sets for beginners. "One good thing about our store is my wife and I are both magicians. We had a grandparent buy a set for their grandson, and he understood some stuff but was having a problem with one trick. I worked with him until he had it down. It's fun to teach this stuff."

Karen Rogers said oftentimes customers can't deduce a trick's secrets by reading a book, but once they're shown how to do it, they have no trouble performing it.

"We're not serious magicians," Rogers said. "We like to laugh at ourselves. We're not hard to approach."

It would be easy for an incurious window shopper to dismiss the shop as a storefront for gags. A look in the door reveals a lineup of novelties that seem ripped from the back page of a vintage comic book - a display loaded with X-ray specs, rubber chickens, wolf whistles, whoopee cushions and other yuk fodder. But let the gaze wander into the back shelves and Rogers' small arsenal of magician's standbys and accessories comes to light: Trick coins, marked decks, magic wands, colored scarves, linking rings, bits of rope and other paraphernalia pack cases and shelves.

"We have tricks for 5-year-olds, we have tricks for teenagers, and then we have stuff for people who want to get serious about it," Rogers said, gesturing to the eight-volume hardcover set of the Tarbell Course in Magic.

Like his father, Rogers completed the Tarbell Course, and he has performed throughout the state with his wife.

"I never saw a magic trick until I met my husband," Karen Rogers said. "Up to that point, I'd been shy and retiring, but he put me on stage, and that was it."

Karen Rogers said that since that fateful day 28 years ago when she met Rick at the Venetian Theater in downtown Albany, she's gone on to guillotine more people than the French Revolution.

"Of course, I've been at it longer," she said, referring to an illusion she and her husband have performed on stage with politicians, policemen and business leaders, using an apparently deadly guillotine.

"We haven't lost anyone yet."

The couple share another passion besides magic, and that's old movies. Their store now rents hard-to-find movies on DVD - from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" to Toho Studios' "Mothra."

Black-and-whites, pulps, silents, Japanese monster movies, Westerns and horror films line the walls. After just under a month in business, the reception has been good.

"One of my first customers was a 17-year-old, and she rented a silent movie. So it's not just older folks that miss the silents," Rick Rogers said.

Since opening Jan. 6, they have already expanded their shop, ripping out a back wall to make room for more movies and more gear for magicians.

"For this kind of stuff, we're the only game in town," Rick Rogers said.

AT A GLANCE

What: Rick Rogers Family Magic Shop and Classic Movies on DVD

Owners: Rick and Karen Rogers

Location: 421 First Ave. S.W., next to The Book Bin

Hours: The store is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday

Phone: 791-4135