Great to report there is still a FISM. What's not great is they are still awarding Juggling.
Flourishes are great, but juggling as "magic" is not. Audiences politely applaud skill...don't get me wrong, they will applaud skill...but the experience of magic is completely different.
Let me give an example: When Al Schneider does MATRIX...audiences swear that he didn't do anything, therefore the coin's movements must be magic.
The audience reaction to magic (when the audience rules out everything they can think of as a possible method...left with nothing but the explanation "It must be magic!") may be different from the applause given to a good juggler...it is mixed with ooh's, and ahh's, and oh's...because Magic is different from juggling! We joke sometimes about how some magicians claim that the audience was so stunned that they forgot to applaud...but in a way there can be some of that.
I think the reason many magicians mix comedy in with their magic is so that the people can relate...if the magic is so pure that it mystifies instead of amuses, the applause may be less but this is like comparing apples & oranges. (By-the-way, not many magicians are good enough to not have to rely on jokes to "entertain".
Let's cut to the chase - along came the Buck Brothers and lo-and-behold we had
"Extreme Manipulation". I wish it had been called "Extreme Flourishes", because manipulation means that you use sleights - on stage or platform usually (although there are some close up manipulation pieces - Cups and Balls as just one example) and the idea was to make it look like magic - stuff appeared & disappeared and changed...you know, Magic!!!
All of a sudden we had people doing what in the old days was what a jongluer did (French). It was an art between juggling and magic (closer by far to juggling).
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This same group of new jonglers (jongling is my Americanization of the art & jongler the Americanization of the practitioner) when watching magic...if they can figure a trick out...they assume laymen wouldn't be fooled. Wrongly - and it is because they don't understand that they've had "inside information" about magic, enough to see how a trick is done but not enough to do magic, only to criticize it.
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Another aspect to all this is that the "jonglers" only show what they do to their magic friends...never to "real people". This leads to them eventually "competing" in magic club sanctioned contests or shows (organized by magicians for magicians). Finally, if they
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succeed...they go to FISM (organized by magicians, officiated by magicians, for magicians.)
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Anyway...now all this has finally infiltrated my favorite area - Billiard Balls. "They" think any of the magic possible with them wouldn't fool anybody...so they get rid of the magic and beef up the juggling. Juggling with Billiard Balls!
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One young guy is actually winning contests...getting booked for conventions, and slated to compete at FISM.
I asked him, "Do you ever do shows for laymen? You know, Kiwanis clubs, Rotary clubs (I don't know if they still exist), Ladies Auxiliary of the Mothers Against Bizarre Magick, whatever, so you know there are no magicians there, only laymen!" (My experience is these are the better audiences...they don't know magic so you are able to make them feel genuine amazement!!!
What was the young guy's answer?
"I'd rather perform for magicians. They appreciate the skill."
Let's analyze this: First off...he can't compare...he only performs for magicians; second, he's a juggler...he doesn't really know how to get ahead (one ahead would be plenty) of an audience, so the phases build better and better and the final phase is so clean that the audience has no explanation and experiences magic.
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And so in conclusion...these guys have never experienced an audience having a magical moment they created! Never! They don't know how! (It is a separate skill...which is meant to be a secret skill and juggling is an open display of skill which can earn applause but is completely different from magic. There is a similar argument about comedy and magic too, which I may wax long and loud on someday.
-FIN-
O. Box Through Table
by Gregg Webb
John Carney had a way for just the box, no lid, to penetrate a table, leaving the stack of coins (and lid) on top of the table. (I think I thought of mine before I heard of John
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Carney's method...but I'm not sure.) In any case, in mine, both the lid and box go through!
Needed: O. Box, standard. Coins. Double-Stick Tape (Scotch). Deluxe version of routine requires an extra box and lid.
Setup: Coins are not in box to begin. Inside the lid is a half-inch square of double-stick tape. Extra box & lid on lap for deluxe end.
Perform: Put coins in box, as you put lid on box, really you do a "turnover move" and now box is upside down (coins inside, lid is stuck to base (bottom) of O. Box). It looks ok.
Set on table. Now, classic palm the Lid (which is stuck to the rest of box) and lift straight up until coins clear. Stack of coins alone is seen on table!!
Deluxe ending: bring up the dupe box & lid with left hand, from lap (under table) as right hand laps the lid and box it holds, as a unit.
For the less than deluxe ending, lap the lid & box from right hand, show both hands clean, and then duck them under table, to lap where now resides the lid/box.
Pull them apart, separating the double-stick tape, and bring them up...one piece in each hand. Don't flash the double-stick tape.
-FIN- After images: I write very few routines for lapping these days, but this one was slated for Genii but Richard the "K" lost it during the "move" several years back, and I forgot about it until now.
Probably could be done at a bar or next to a table without the lapping, but you couldn't show right palm before going South...not a big problem.
Just say something bold and do it!
Best, Greg Webb, 2011
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