The Alan and Adrianne St. George Center for the Arts

De Yip Loo was the first professional magician to appear at the Center in "Mon Temple des Songes" theatre as part of the "China Anniversary Gala" on March 18, 1995. He performed his full evening act, ably assisted by his wife Arlene and daughter Mai-Ling. The program included The Chinese Linking Rings, The Garden of Flowers, The Kuma Tubes, Chicken Production and Vanish, The Blade Box with a member of the audience, The Zig Zag Illusion, and The Levitation of Mai-Ling.

De Yip Loo has been known for years as the world's "No. 1 Chinese Magician." The creator of the famous Shang Po Magic Show, Loo (better known as "Louie") has worked with famed magicians such as Harry Blackstone and the Great Dante, and was also the first Asian-American performer to appear on WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus, where he could be seen making chickens disappear and reciting "The Three Little Pigs" in Chinese. Loo was one of the first acts to appear after the show's debut in 1961 and is remembered as one of its most frequent performers.

A typical De Yip Loo program included classics such as the Egg Bag, Die Box, Confetti to Goldfish, Head Chopper, and the Serpent silk (still his favorite trick today, especially after Jay Marshall showed him how to "do it right"). After finding a large, beautiful copper vase in a antique store, Loo built his own version of the Kuma Tubes. This classic effect featured the production of an enormous quantity of silk, followed by the production and vanish of the huge water-filled vase. It became the feature of his larger shows. Some time later, when Okito was writing Okito on Magic, he admitted that he’d forgotten how this effect worked. Louie was the one who had to show him, allowing the secret to be recorded properly.

Over the course of his 60-year career, Loo has been credited with inventing, rebuilding, and improving illusions used by magicians such as Harry Blackstone, Jr. and Doug Henning. Loo, who resides north of Chicago with his family, continues to give inspirational speeches in his hometown. His advice to aspiring Asian-American entertainers is “Whatever your passions are, go for it, because there aren’t many Asian people in the entertainment field.”