ADVAN CED MAGIC.
35
MAGIC B A G CHEWINGB y A . Nut.
N o te: — This tre a tise is intended as an an sw er to a num ber o f stock questions which I had fired a t mo b e fo re and since le a v in g the stage by magic F an s, A m ateu rs and even some o f the p rofessio n .
L e t it be understood that the opinions here expressed are m erely I n d ivid u al. The view s o f oth ers concerning an y phase o f M agic,, w ill alw ay s be welcomed b y me, to the end th a t m utual and g eneral benefit m ay re su lt.
“ O V E T T E ”
THE PROFESSIONAL OFTEN TIMES PUTS A DAM PER ON MAGIC.
Some tim e ago I had a ta lk w ith a “ p ro fe s sio n a l.” I m et the chap a f te r the sh o w ; and du rin g ou r con versatio n I asked him i f he had seen c er ta in effects described in a m agazine. W ith a ra th e r h aug h ty a ir he re p lie d : “ S a y , I ’m a P ro fessio n a l M agician and d o n ’t h ave to look o v e r books o r m agazines. . I ’ve been doing th is A c t o f mine f o r five y e a rs, and I ’m g ettin g a w a y w ith i t ” ! (Y e p ! J u s t like t h a t ! W e get th a t w a y a f t e r a w h ile !)
T here you a r e : F iv e y e a rs doing the same a c t—n e v e r changing it, be cause he managed to get a w a y w ith it. Can you b eat it 1 Can you figure it o u t?
No, th ey d o n ’t w e a r th e ir old s tra w bat, du ring the w in te r, n o r the sam« sty le su it a ll the tim e —but th e ir p ro fessio n —w ell, th e ir p ro fession can go h a n g !—and s till th ey call them selves dow n-to-the-m inute p ro fessio n al ma gical e n te r ta in e r s !!
Y es, the “ P ro fe s sio n a ls ” —m any o f th em —a re “ doing th e ir h i t ” to pu t M agic on the b lin k —ask a n y M anager. A sk L a V e llm a (D avid J . L u stig who is now m anaging a th e a tre and who did an act f o r some y e a rs ). W h en th e m a gicians o f this cou n try begin to show the en terp rise th a t c h aracterize ou r B ro th e r c o n ju rers across the pond, then and not un til then, w ill the bookings o f M agic A c ts here ta lly w ith those o f fo reign cou ntries, w here you g e n e ra lly find at le a st one. M agic A ct on o v erv va u d eville program m e. “ O ver T h e re ” the audiences ap preciate a re a l magic turn because th ey a re educated to give a good m agician a rou sin g welcom e because the a cto r doing magic, fo rc e s them to believe in mind his act and combines m y ste ry and n o v e lty th a t demand atten tion .
O ver h ere too m any m agicians h ave the sam e effects, and, w o rst o f all re ta in them on th e ir program m e y e a r a f t e r y e a r ; when th e y m ust, and do lose th e ir n o v e lty and charm , which is the li f e and w in n in g p ro p en sities o f M agic perform ances.
THE COMMON OBJECT THEORY
I t is common notion th a t g re at expense must be indulged in, in o rd e r to im p ro ve an A ct. T his is not n e cessarily so. F o r in s ta n c e :—The p rin cip le o f adop ting “ Common A r tic le s ” to the req u irem ents o f tric k s and Illu sions, m ay be a good idea w ith which to experim en t. (Su ch a rtic le s as are handled e v e ry d a y b y the A udience.) The th eo ry is th a t w h ere u n fa m ilia r pieces o f a p p a ra tu s are em p loyed ; th ere ex ists in the mind o f the th o u g h tfu l onlooker a doubt th a t such ap p a ra tu s is fre e fro m tric k e ry . The re s u lt being th a t the s p e c ta to r’s “ c re d u lity ” is sh attered and he loses in te re st in the tric k .
36 ADVANCED MAGIC.
tricks, nor the second tim e in the same trick.
In the execution o f a series o f processes leading to a final resu lt or “ e f
f e c t ” there, should be evid e n t reasons f o r y o u r mode o f procedure, so that each step you tak e w ill ap p ea r logical and n a tu ra l. (G ive this lo ts of thought.)
I am a b eliever in p re tty stage s e ttin g s—but th in k it unad visab lc to crowd the tables too much o r have a lot o f “ ju n k ” ly in g around. H ave each piece o f ap p aratu s brought out as you need it.
It is g e n e ra lly an ad van tag e to select such trick s as fa c ilita te s the g reatest accom plishm ent w ith the le ast ap p aratu s.
A TEST OF A M AGICIANS S K IL L
I t is g en e ra lly conceded th a t one o f the best tests o f a c o n ju re r’s skill
is his a b ility to get out o f a difficulty and turn a m ishap to an advantage.
I f you s k illfu lly lead the audience to believe th a t the e r r o r w as in ten tio n al and a c tu a lly a p a rt o f the act, v e ry few are lik e ly to notice the m ishap at all. F o r instance, and f o r exam ple, read the fo llo w in g rem iniscences:
"While I w as doing the h a n d k erch ief p ed estal stu n t, I dropped th e b ot tom less glass. Y o n can im agine m y feelings. The glass smashed and m y feelin gs re g istered “ S . 0 . S . ”
W h ile I w as pushing the pieces o f glass aside w ith m y foot:, an idea came
to m y m ind; I ordered a glass and upon receiving same, placed it, mouth down on pedestal and covered it w ith a handkerchief. A t the same tim e I
pushed h a n d k erch ief in to m outh o f glass and finished the t r i c k . ' I h a v e n ’t used bottom less glass since th a t time. W h a t ’s the u se—one gets the same effect w ith a n y glass as I have ex p la in ed —so w h y b o th er w ith c a rry in g the sp ecially p rep ared a rtic le ?
W h ile doing se v e ra l card effects a t a “ s ta g ” a ffa ir I w as challenged to use one- o f the Clubs decks f o r my n ext experim ent, which happened to be m y la s t card experim ent, known as “ The Torn C ard T ric k .’ '
W h ile th ey w ere g ettin g dock T got a p lain envelope and m ade a s lit on face o f it T had a card selected and corn er to rn off. N ext. T showed en vel ope to be em pty and placed it, flap upperm ost, on to p o f deck, so th a t s lit came n ea r the edge. B y holding pack o f card s tog eth er in one hand, I pushed selected card through s lit and on top o f deck. E n velope sealed, and burned, deck shuffled and card found in ppeket. C ard w as easy to locate ow ing to m issing co rn e r—a ft e r the tric k w as o v e r I breathed w ith re lie f.
A n o th e r tim e w h ile w o rk in g torn and restored p a p e r s tu n t; ju s t as I had pulled the w hole s trip out o f the fa k e thum b—I dropped the fak e. C al a m ity !!
W e ll, w h ile T w as p reten d in g to squeeze the pieces tog ether I happened >
to think o f concealing the pieces in my month. So w hile slow ly pulling out
the long strip , T m ade s e v e ra l p reten ses o f m oistening tip s o f fingers in the mouth w h ere T succeeded in concealing the torn pieces u n der co ver of th is m aneuver. I w as then enabled to com plete the su rp rise in the usual w a y b y show ing hands em pty. This happened some 32 y e a rs ago. Since, then I have n e v e r used fa k e fo r the p a p e r—te a rin g tric k . I put the secret on the m a r k et and th ere are m any who w ill rem em ber if, and a num ber who have made it one o f th e ir fe a tu re experim ents.
It a ll goes to show th a t there is alw ays a w a y out—i f you retain yonr
presence of mind and d o n ’t get ra ttle d . He who tak es an interest in his w ork, w ill find it easy to overcom e an y obstacle, and, besides you improve
ADVANCED MAGIC.
31
A WORD ABOUT OUR M AG IC LIT E R A T U R E .
Up to tbe p resen t tim e we h ave had books fro m m any au th o rs. M any o f them o f the “ d re a m ” ord er. T reatin g p rin c ip a lly im p racticab le, th eories o r w h at you m ight call “ im agin ary M ag ic ” —stu ff th a t looks good in p rin t but im possible to p erform .
R e fe r to ou r p erio d ical m agazines o f M ag ic; h ere we h ave it ram p an t. Som eone o r an oth er is exp laining some new tric k . F re q u e n tly it is m erely an honest en th usiast ru n n in g aw ay w ith h im s e lf; and his m istakes can n e v e r be fo rg o tte n , f o r his ex p lanation deceives m any in clu d in g h im self. He be lieves th a t which he w rite s to be w orkable. Y e t when a p ra c tic a l test d is closes the e rro r, he lacks the courage to adm it his blunder. Then we h ave the “ Id io to ria l N ecrom ancer and P resto H igh-D iver, who w rite s learnedly' o f th a t which he does not com prehend and which he is incom petent to a n alyze.
W o rs t o f all, how ever, is the p a rty who w rite s books f o r no o th e r ob je c t than th e g re ate st possible sale, who has h a rd ly m astered the A , B, C, o f
Magic and who m ay one day experience m agical O stracism by w ritin g books filled w ith th a t which exists on ly in D ream lan d —Im p ractical th eo ries th a t van ish b efore th ey M a te ria liz e ! Books ex p lain in g effects th a t his S a ta n ic M a je s ty h im self could not p erfo rm are p le n tifu l and se ve ra l o f th is v a rie ty lie b efore me as I w rite . P r e tty covers, odd p rin tin g and a batch o f abso lu te ly useless so-called tric k s th a t m ake one w o n der w h eth er the au th o rs h it the pipe, use the needle or sn iff the stuff. Books o f th is so rt a re use less w aste and such auth ors, who would h ave one and a ll believe them to be the g reatest m agical c re a to rs in the w o rld (H eaven save the m a r k !!) should be ousted fro m the a rt th at the re a l m agical stud en t fo llow s.
Look o v er y o u r bookcase, Mr. W an d W ie ld e r, and you w ill find a num b er o f dand y, im p ressive looking volum es on M agic and its kind red a rts but how m any o f these books have aided you in y o u r m agical s tu d ie s ? I know you who can use tbe b rain s the r u le r o f a ll h a ve given you w ill re a d ily agree w ith me.
O f course, there is some good in the w orse o f books bu t a f t e r read in g the so-ealled “ L a te r D ay M ira c le s ” w ritte n in high sounding language w ith m is leading descriptions and d ra w in g s—we a rriv e a t but one con clu sio n; the w ork was w ritte n by some hashish or cocaine fo llo w e r who lives w ith his head above the clouds and dream s, dream s im press none but the d ream er him self.