Complete failure...
..to adhere to my fourth guideline: "
Attempt to keep up a fairly regular publication schedule."
Must try harder!
Since I started this blog, I have got married and moved into a much bigger house - with (most importantly for this blog) room to put the majority of my books onto shelves in my study. On a recount it is closer to 2,000 books. My wife has hired a structural engineer to confirm that the house could take them (luckily he gave the right answer).
Now back to the books.....
Roy Benson by Starlight
I received my copy of Roy Benson by Starlight at the end of last week (the disadvantage of living in a different continent) and I am already addicted to it.
REALLY good thinking here.
I will almost vertainly want to comment on one or two items specifically ... but until then, you'll just have to wait!
Double Thought by Al Koran
Towards the back of Al Koran's
"Professional Presentations" by Hugh Miller (p91), there is a wonderful card trick:
You give the spectator a pack of cards, which he or she shuffles. The spectator then gives you half the cards and keeps half for themselves. You each take a card out of your packet, look at it and return it to the packet. You swap packets and then each remove a card. You finally each reveal your chosen cards and turn over the removed cards to show that you have found the spectator's card and that the spectator has found your card.It's an incredible trick. Sadly it is included unattributed in a set of instructions in a Boris Wild trick. Hopefully, this'll set the record right slightly!
Al Koran's
"Professional Presentations" has been republished recently by
Martin Breese. With other classics, such as
The Gold Medallion, it's another book not to be missed.
[Light and Heavy] by Stewart James
I recently gave a talk at a local magical society (
The Zodiac Magical Society) on Stewart James, to commemorate his death ten years ago. Early in
"Stewart James in Print", I found the following gem. This is more of a "gotcha" than a magical effect, but is of interest to me because I quite like the idea of giving the spectators something to take away with them that is intrinsically puzzling even when they perform it themselves.
The effect involves a heavy and a light object (i.e. a bunch of keys and a kitchen match or a kitchen mug and a key) which are tied together by about a yard/metre of string. The string is draped over a pencil. When you let go (with the items held as James instructs), the string unexpectedly wraps itself around the pencil, preventing either item from hitting the ground.I notice that
Stewart James in Print is available once again from
Hermetic Press at an incredibly reasonable $100 (less than 25c per trick!). Buy it while you can!
Hold-up plot by Steinmeyer and Tommy Wonder
I have recently received Jim Steinmeyer's new book
"The Conjuring Anthology" which is as wonderful as you'd expect from the Steinmeyer brand. Whilst I may have seen many of the items previously in issues of Stan Allen's
Magic, the book gives an opportunity to revisit these wonderful plots.
I am also an enormous fan of the stand-up parlour forum that the series is based on. It allows the performer to keep his or her back straight and eyes on the audience (too much close-up magic occurs at belly-button level) whilst avoiding the formality of a full show (not to mention the difficulty of finding a venue).
On page 43, Steinmeyer reminds us of the wonderful Hold-up plot, which he attributes to Oswald Williams. For those who don't know it, the plot is that as the magician was on his way to the show he was held up and ordered to hand over his watch, his money and his ring (the ring may have been introduced by Oswald Rae and Alan Shaxon). The magician does so and the items are put into a handkerchief (or other receptacle). The magic occurs - the items vanish from the handkerchief - and reappear on his wrist, in his wallet and on his finger.
This had me scurrying back to two of my favourite books, Tommy Wonder's
"Books of Wonder" by Stephen Minch. On page 302 of Volume I, Wonder publishes his
"The Ring, the Watch and the Wallet" (this was republished on his "Visions of Wonder" Volume 1). In his usual style, Tommy Wonder has thought through every potential issue and created a trick that in method is as elegant as it should be in effect. Each vanish uses a different method to prevent the audience cottoning on. The vanish of the watch and the money are so beautifully intertwined that performance must give an added secret buzz of pleasure to the magician. He has substituted the handkerchief with an envelope, which works from a plot point of view as the mugger attempts to mail the items to himself and from an effect point of view as the vanish is strengthened by tearing up the envelope.
Steinmeyer has retained the handkerchief, which simplifies the method, but has replaced the ring with a flower on his lapel for greater visibility.
I now cannot wait to try BOTH routines (although both will require some manufacturing). I think I may have to create my own hybrid as I consider my own view of the strong points of each routine:
- Wonder's envelope fits the plot better than the handkerchief and creates a more magical vanish
- Steinmeyer's buttonhole is more visible than the ring. On the other hand, it seems a little strange that the mugger would take a flower, whereas it seems much more likely that he would take the ring
- Wonder's three different methods should be more difficult for the audience to reconstruct, whereas Steinmeyer's simplicity of method should allow more time to concentrate on the audience
Now I'll just have to go and find my copy of Alan Shaxon's
"My kind of magic" so that I can understand his thoughts. ......
"The Conjuring Anthology" is available from
Jim Steinmeyer directly and
"The Books of Wonder" are available from
Hermetic Press.
Neither blind nor stupid by Juan Tamariz
I am going to start with something that I had felt was well known, but, whenever I've performed it for magicians (even those owning the book), they have claimed not to know it. So, apologies to those who are already familiar with this great trick.
Neither Blind nor Stupid is published in "Sonata" by Juan Tamariz, although it also appears on Tamariz' video/DVD "Lessons in Magic - Volume 1". Unfortunately, Sonata is out of print, although it can be found on eBay. I strongly recommend learning and performing Tamariz material from a book rather than from video, because Tamariz' performance is so strong that once you've seen it, it is difficult to avoid his style swamping any of your own ideas. Once you have got your own ideas bedded down, there is benefit in seeing his performance, because it is brilliant as always.
On to the trick:
The performer shuffles the pack and puts it on the table. From now on, he or she need not touch the pack. Two spectators cut the pack several times and then each takes and remembers a card. The cards are returned and cut into the pack.The performer points out that he might have estimated where the cut was, so he gets the spectators to cut the pack several more times, so that the cards are truly lost.The performer now points out that he knows that the two spectators cards are together and so has them deal the pack into two piles to guarantee that they are separated. NB some performers deal the cards here themselves to prevent a misdeal, which would destroy the effect. I much prefer to find someone who I know can handle the cards and then watch them carefully - whilst riskier than dealing myself, it strengthens the magical effect at the end.The performer points out that he knows that the two cards are in roughly the same place in their respective piles, so he has each spectator shuffle their own pile to completely lose their card. This is the moment of brilliance in my view, because both magicians and savvy spectators have a feeling that you could have followed where the cards are. This shuffle completely throws them as you move from tight control to allowing them complete freedom to shuffle the cards.The performer picks up each pile and immediately removes a card from each, apparently at random. The spectators name their cards and those are the ones chosen.Elements that commend it to me as a "hidden gem", notwithstanding that it is just a "pick a card, lose it and I'll find it" plot:
- The magic is incredibly powerful, mainly because of the last shuffle occurring in the spectators hands, which completely throws savvy audience members off their track (see Tamariz' Method of False Solutions in The Magic Way)
- It gives the performer the opportunity to roam through the audience, which widens the performance area and involves more of the audience.
- The repeated pointing out by the performer of how he could be doing the trick creates an interesting conflict between the performer and himself. There is plenty of room for entertainment in this conflict, as Tamariz shows!
Interestingly, notwithstanding that the pack has been thoroughly shuffled, the trick ends with the pack secretly stacked in a way that allows for an enormous number of additional effects. A great bonus!
Why am I starting this blog?
Oh no ... you all say ... not another blog from some magic geek spouting off his theories about magic.
Well, I agree with you completely. So, I am going to avoid rehashing theory that has been better put by Ortiz or Nelms or Fitzkee and instead concentrate on where I think there is value to be added - hidden magical gems.
"The best way to hide a secret is to publish it"
If anyone knows the source (or the accurate rendition) of that quote, please let me know, so that I can attribute it properly.
In the meantime, I am going to be doing some treasure hunting through my magical library to find hidden magical gems.
My intended guidelines are as follows:
- Concentrate on books and magazines rather than videos - this reflects my own preference and also the fact that I suspect that there are more hidden gems there. I also look forward to seeing more magicians with more range rather than seeing a large number of hobbyists (and professionals) performing Jay Sankey stuff less well than Sankey does.
- Achieve a balanced mix between old and new publications. Some of the sources may be out of print, but many of you will have them in your own libraries or be able to get hold of copies from friends or your local magic society library.
- Achieve a balance of different types of magic. Whilst I probably won't cover children's magic or escapology (because I have neither much interest nor a relevant library in these fields) I will try to keep a balance between close-up, platform and stage, between sleight of hand, self-working and apparatus etc.etc. Neverthless, I imagine you may start to spot themes in my interests!
- Attempt to keep up a fairly regular publication schedule. I will initially avoid publicising the blog until I am comfortable that there is sufficient content to generate interest and to see whether I can actually keep up the schedule. I will also generally keep postings short, concentrating on individual items rather than whole books.
- Accept contributions on a case by case basis. Whilst I expect to generate the majority of content myself, particularly in the short term, I would welcome contributions of ideas or even full postings. I'm afraid I will reserve the right to edit copy as I see fit, but will always offer contributors the option to request that their content be taken down if they feel that the editing means that the text no longer reflects what they were saying.
- Rigorously respect author's rights and magical secrets. I may use short excerts of the original but will always attribute it as best I can. I will never reveal magical secrets in these pages. I will, where I can, refer to or even add precedents to the effect described.
Please do not hesitate to let me know if you feel I have fallen down on any of these principles - or indeed if I should adhere to others.
You may ask why I feel myself to qualified to do this. Ultimately, you will decide my suitability by your decision whether or not to read this blog. However, in the meantime:
- I have had a deep and passionate interest in magic for the last thirty-some years. As a teenager I would eagerly wait for the next package from Supreme with the next Ganson book that I could afford. For what it's worth, I am a member of The Magic Circle and an Associate of the Inner Magic Circle. I am also an extremely active member of the Zodiac Magical Society.
- My interest in magic is broad. I have been interested in, and performed, close-up, platform and stage magic; I have performed magic with cards, coins, apparatus and the mind; my training in magic was based on working through Tarbell and Routined Manipulation. I am an amateur in the true sense of the word: a "lover" of magic.
- I love books of all forms. I have voraciously read almost anything I could get my hands on. At school I missed classes as I sat in the library so involved with some book that I had no idea of the time.
- I have a reasonably extensive library - of around 1,000 books which takes up far too much of my small appartment! I have read most of most of the books and have a good grounding in many fields of magic as a result.
It's down to you to decide whether it's worth reading this blog. I hope you do ... and that you comment as much as possible.
Now, go out and enjoy magic as much as I do ...
