Theory, Articles & Reviews in Magic & Conjuring: page 3

Now for my next trick..... Ladies and gentlemen watch as I take this silk...... And now, right before your eyes I will...... For my next trick......

Announcing each and every trick you do during your show gets boring to the audience. Nothing makes you sound more generic then constant repetition. For that reason, magicians have come up with methods to create flow through their performance. The methods they use between their magic is referred to as transitions.

The three basic transition tools are: announce, lead and connect. This text identifies the three transitions and helps you use...

A primer for working with a partner. This text addresses such questions as: why work with a partner, what do look for in a magician you want to work with, documents that both partners need to consider, the basics of putting a performance together and other information.

• Why a partnership
• What to look for In partner
• The partner agreement
• Partnered performance
• Transitioning
• Accent the positive
• Wrapping it up

1st edition 2016, 21 pages.

Two magicians do a show. At the end one audience leaves the show walking out like students changing classes at high school. The other comes out excited, talking about some of the "WOW" moments of the show. The difference between the two magicians is the entertainment factor.

You can have the best equipment, do the latest/greatest magic and still fail. The true unit of measure for magicians is the entertainment factor. That factor is controlled entirely by the audience. This text identifies elements that impact the entertainment factor.

• The Entertainment Factor
• Entertainment Factor Impacts ...

A major portion of the audience's experience involves the environment. Their enjoyment can be pleasurable or highly distracted by the area they are given to watch you. This text covers the importance of the performing environment from both the stage and audience perspectives. It goes into details that need to be discussed before the room is set up. It covers many areas most magicians take for granted.

• Seating
• Staff
• Performance Area
• Sound
• Flow Path
• Emergencies
• Get Ahead of Set Up
• Meet and Greet
• Wrapping it Up

1st edition 2016, 20 pages.

A call comes in and their magician cancelled. They need a magic show in the next half hour. Can you be packed and ready to go? Maybe you are at an event and one of the sponsors comes up to you and says they need to fill a thirty-minute gap in their schedule. Are you ready to step on stage and go to work? The answer rests in what this text refers to as a tool box show. When the phone rings, if the money is right, all you need to do is grab your tool box and go to work. This ebook will help you take advantage of those "short notice" performance opportunities.

• Real world
• Tool box show purpose ...

Magicians do the same basic show over and over. This text will help you prepare for a second, third or fourth show that same day. It covers the need to decompress from the first performance, relax, and reset. Then it identifies ways to pump yourself back up.

Every time you step on stage the audience should feel they are experiencing a premier performance. They don't care if we have done the same magic 100 times already. They want to see a fresh, energetic show each and every time.

This text will cover some of the things professionals do between shows. They follow steps that help them...

The paperwork associated with being a magician.

We may think the world is going paperless and in a few industries it is. But we still have a document close by to print as needed. Many times, receipts have been printed out to correct charges on statements. People do not hire maintenance work to be done without some form of contract. The magic industry is the same.

This text covers the basic documents used. These documents range from a simple query letter to proposals/quotes and contracts. Nestled within this ebook are the basics used to form the paper trail of our performances. Though...

A primer on when, what, where and why a magician would keep a series of personal journals.

• Journals
• Magicians Journal
• Daily Planners
• Daily Journal
• Creative Journal
• Magic Files
• Dreams
• Inspiration
• Wrapping it Up

1st edition 2016, 25 pages.

Audience is on the edge of their seats. Every trick is working fantastic. Getting more applause then ever before on your routines. Then BOOM!!! Music cuts out, microphone starts to feedback and the mechanism on the change bag broke while you were trying to use it. Now you are front stage holding a bag you cannot manipulate with no music or microphone ... Now what?

This ebook helps you identify potential problems. A different form of rehearsal is introduced to help you work through these situations. Good magicians smooth over problems, work through situations and still leave their audience...

One of the most important elements of a performance. Without allowing time for the audience to comprehend the magician is doing nothing more than running through a series of instruction steps. Time adds drama, energy and the sizzle needed to enhance magic.

Timing is a hard subject to cover. One does not learn from books or lectures. Those sources, like this text, help identify the value of time. The magician must acquire his/her own skills with the use of time.

This text will help identify how it is used, provide examples you can relate to, and get you started. Armed with this knowledge...

• Part One: Good Conjuring
  • The Essence Of Magical Criticism
  • Audiences
  • Audience Mentality
  • Conditions Of Presentation
  • Variety Of Methods Desirable
  • The Elements Of Magic
  • The Magical Plot
  • The Dramatic Plot
  • Fantastic And Pseudo-Scientific Plots
  • Pure, Story, And Symbolic Magic
• Part Two: Poems In Illusion
  • Narcissus
  • By Candle Light
  • The Nervous Card
  • The Invisible Silkworm
  • Domination Of Thought
  • Thoughts Are Things
  • Mediaeval Multiplication
  • The Bluebells
  • Fantail

1st edition 1935, 40 pages; 1st digital edition 2019, 37 pages.

• Part One: Good Conjuring
  • The Objects Used
  • Misdirection
  • Construction
  • Characterisation
  • Technical Mastery
  • Dramatic Ability
  • Manner
  • Speed Of Presentation
  • Style
  • Magic-Artist Versus Showman
  • Summary
• Part Two: Poems In Illusion
  • Catching The Post
  • Card Bubbles
  • Love: The Magician
  • The Two Jewels
  • Reflected Thoughts
  • Citizens Of The World
  • The World’s Pearl
  • Poor Yorick!
  • Alice In Conjureland

1st edition 1936, 40 pages; 1st digital edition 2019, 39 pages.

This bibliography collects about 2000 works that deal with tricks and illusions, and with the varied deceptions that are usually presented as part of a conjuring entertainment, including automata, chapeaugraphy, chemical and electrical tricks, escaping, fire handling, gamblers' tricks, hand-shadows, juggling, lightning sketches, optical illusions, pseudo-spiritualistic manifestations, second sight, thought reading, thought transference and ventriloquism. The list includes languages other than English in particular German and French books. Excluded are books on the so-called occult arts, but...

The two most important elements of a performance are the opening and close. The opening sets the environment for the audience to be entertained. The close is the magician's last chance to leave a lasting impression on the audience. To be effective, the opening must meet specific goals. This text identifies them and provides ideas, samples and recommendations to help the magician attain them.

• Show Structure
• Primary Opening Goals
• Types of Opening
• Opener Planning
• Sample Openings
• Document
• Wrapping It Up

The close of your performance is your last chance to make a lasting impression on your audience. It should bring the audience to the peak of excitement, energize them and leave them talking about your magic. This text identifies the goals of the close. It provides examples and suggestions to help you develop a strong, effective close. Future performances often depend on the posture you leave your audience. Pull out all the stops, use all your tools to make your close one to be remembered.

• Basic Show Composition
• The Build Up
• Close Goals
• Tools for The Close
• Sample Closes
• Document
• Wrapping...

The famous British mentalist, Maurice Fogel, leveraged his success as performer to branch out into the self-help category, by writing this book. He writes:

• Foreword
• The Mind Is Lazy
• Controlled By Subconscious
• Secret Of Hypnotism
• Learn To Relax
• Power Of Suggestion ...

Everyone has creativity. When you select the color to paint a room, pick out an outfit to wear or the wrapping on a present you are exercising a form of creativity. One only has to recognize that, and learn to develop it. New magic is the result of someone coming up with an idea and developing it into a trick/routine. This ebook identifies creativity and the creative process. I have included a step by step narration of one of my signature tricks "the magical egg tray". The process begins with an initial idea and works through sequential steps to bring the routine to the finish. Creativity, like...

If you suffer from any kind of performance anxiety (and Kellar, Thurston, Houdini, and many prominent present-day performers have had to deal with it, too), this could be the best purchase you'll ever make.

There's nothing like the healthy satisfaction or "natural high" that comes from giving a great performance. Yet if you suffer from performance anxiety (commonly known as stage fright), then you're missing out on one of the best feelings that entertainers can experience. When you're ready to rid yourself of these demons, this manuscript contains 40 proven ideas that have helped others like you to put aside...

The difference between an average and great magician is the audience connection. Audience members text, talk with their neighbors and do other things because they are not tuned in, connected, with the performance. This ebook identifies the connection, points out the importance, and covers a few tools magicians can use to capture and strengthen that connection.

• The Audience Connection
• Capturing the Audience
• Different Connection Tools
• Working the Connection
• Wrapping it Up

1st edition 2021; PDF 17 pages.

A practical guide to creating a basic professional virtual studio.

Times have changed and virtual magic shows have become commonplace all around the world. Do you have a virtual studio in your home and do your Internet broadcasts come across as professional? Or do you shy away from the technology and not sure where to start? Here is a great booklet aimed at the beginner in the virtual space who has a limited budget. A few options are shared, from basic to advanced, including how to make the best of what you currently have, and how to add to your studio with various simple, professional, yet...

Two things are noteworthy. One, it is a must read book for magic theory interested. Two, it has a 20 page bibliographical index of card tricks. This includes sleights as well. Anybody doing research on card moves or routines should have this index. It makes searching a lot easier. And this index might point you to interesting books you have not heard about or which are not in your possession.

Paul Fleming wrote:

A practical workbook for the serious performer.

One of the main reasons magicians neglect the "acting" part of magic is because magic is such a demanding discipline to learn. A performing magician wears many hats. The magician has to learn sleights, misdirection and technical prowess of the hands. The magician is the choreographer, writer, sound person, booker and promoter of his show. Learning how to develop a character often takes a back seat because "there's no time to do everything!" But taking the time to learn how to develop a real character, or stage persona, is the most important...

Gene Anderson shares his international experience and opinion on things ranging from the difference between semi-pro and part-time pro, timing, entertaining. Excellent information on how to improve and get the most out of your act.

This tape contains a first class routine embodying a couple of tricks that blend beautifully into a linked routine...not only practical but devised for maximum impact. The full performing routine for Gene's world famous torn and restored newspaper effect is given. The secret is not revealed as the manuscript can be purchased from most magical dealers but the actual...

Woes of a Wizard was written by David Devant before he was partner to J. N. Maskelyne in his famous Egyptian Hall in London. Devant became a partner after George Cooke, Maskelyne's former partner had left the enterprise. Devant was a natural choice as he was fast becoming the top magician in England. But at the time of this publication he was, as Paul Daniels says, "a jobbing magician." His base was just outside London, and he traveled the country repeatedly giving shows for society and in the Music Hall. In his famous book, now happily made available once again, he relates the stories that every professional...