What Attracts You to Magic?

Discuss general aspects of Genii.
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Zig Zagger
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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby Zig Zagger » February 12th, 2020, 4:57 pm

MagicbyAlfred wrote:ZigZagger, you have a gift for the art of magic and the art of expression; you are, at once, a giver, and a gift. Thank you for sharing that! Among your many eloquent sentences, let me quote one, short, three-word sentence: "Something just clicked." I would venture to say that, on whatever level, and in whatever way, each of us has been attracted to magic, that is likely to be the common denominator we share and that binds us all together,,,

Thank you very, very kindly, Alfred! I feel flattered and just had to put some double-sided adhesive tape under my soles!

And yes, maybe it just comes down to these three simple words for many or most of us.
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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby Dave Le Fevre » February 12th, 2020, 5:17 pm

performer wrote:When I do three card monte I try to avoid as much as possible the standard procedure of getting the spectator to pick out the card
My presentation for it is based around narrating how someone else performed it for me, and I struggled to follow it. I use that approach with some other effects too. May not be everyone's choice, but it seems to work for me.

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby MagicbyAlfred » February 13th, 2020, 5:27 pm

Dave Le Fevre wrote:
performer wrote:When I do three card monte I try to avoid as much as possible the standard procedure of getting the spectator to pick out the card
My presentation for it is based around narrating how someone else performed it for me, and I struggled to follow it. I use that approach with some other effects too. May not be everyone's choice, but it seems to work for me.


As long as it works for you, then it's great. Nothing succeeds like success. I like the presentational angle of "narrating how someone performed it for me." Like my own (and probably a number of other magicians') "how I got hustled" schtick, it removes or greatly diminishes the challenging of the spectator factor. Last thing I ever want to do is make a spectator feel stupid or foolish, or for them perceive that I might be trying to do so. Here's a clip of Vernon performing his routine sometime back in the 80's. While he is not overtly challenging the spectator, since his routine is based on a demonstration of how the game/the hustle works, it's funny, because this particular person watching Vernon is aggressively and insistently pointing to a tabled card every time the cards are tossed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztPiSXzsjTg

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby performer » February 13th, 2020, 6:26 pm

I actually use the Vernon routine myself. I learned it from one of the Ganson card books. I think the "Further Secrets" one. I know I have posted this before but it won't hurt to do it again. Actually, since I first posted this video I have put together a good climax to the trick which is based on a Cy Enfield idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SJExUhy9YY

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby Paco Nagata » February 18th, 2020, 5:03 pm

I showed my take of this MagicbyAlfred's thread on December 24th. Unfortunately it has been a week since the last time I took a look here; now I see that I have been missing very nice posts from the last week, specially the ZigZagger's one. Very good!
Nontheless, and fortunately, I'm subscribed to ZigZagger's blog, so I can receive his great articles' updatings, and I saw he wrote the great post he wrote here in his blog along with 5 good questions I already answered directly in his blog. I wanted to talk about it here just in case anyone in the forum are interested in his interesting 5 questions.
Please, if you have time, have a look ; - )

https://zzzauber.wordpress.com/2020/02/ ... -to-magic/
"The Passion of an Amateur Card Magician"
https://bit.ly/2lXdO2O
"La pasion de un cartómago aficionado"
https://bit.ly/2kkjpjn

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby Paco Nagata » February 18th, 2020, 5:17 pm

MagicbyAlfred wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztPiSXzsjTg

I have watched this YouTube vid one thousand times!
And I have performed it one thousand one times!
I've always loved this simple Professor's Three Card Monte routine. I have been using it as an opening in many of my family shows.
"The Passion of an Amateur Card Magician"
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"La pasion de un cartómago aficionado"
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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby Paco Nagata » February 18th, 2020, 6:06 pm

performer wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SJExUhy9YY

Great idea for a really good climax, Mark!
I like it.

Let me tell you a personal idea for the final "kick":

After performing the final bent corner effect, so that the bent card is not the winner card, I insist: "Please, pay attention for the last time!" and I perform the Trevor Lewis Monte Move showing the indiferent card corner clearly bent.
After the move is done, I say: "easy, right?"
Spectators know that the bent corner card is not the winner card besides that they saw clearly where the winner card went, however, the winner card now is the one that has the corner bent again!
And I finish saying comically:
"You had it marked!"
Resulting in a good and funny climax.
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"La pasion de un cartómago aficionado"
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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby performer » February 18th, 2020, 10:53 pm

My latest finish is that I straighten out the bent corner and in fact straighten out all the cards. I pass my hand over the Queen and it disappears completely. I show the two remaining jokers back and front and there is no queen. Finally I make the two jokers disappear too and then produce all three cards from my pocket.

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby Paco Nagata » February 19th, 2020, 7:56 am

performer wrote:My latest finish is that I straighten out the bent corner and in fact straighten out all the cards. I pass my hand over the Queen and it disappears completely. I show the two remaining jokers back and front and there is no queen. Finally I make the two jokers disappear too and then produce all three cards from my pocket.

It sounds as great as too much for my personal skills! (I guess)...
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"La pasion de un cartómago aficionado"
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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby performer » February 19th, 2020, 9:19 am

I got the idea from something that Cy Enfield came up with. But your finish sounds pretty good too!

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby MagicbyAlfred » February 19th, 2020, 10:43 am

The beauty of the Monte is the virtually infinite variety of potential presentations. Laymen love it and are fascinated by it. If you put 3 cards in your pocket before you leave the house, you are ready to entertain anyone, pretty much anywhere, that day. Talk about packing small and playing big! The one limitation being that you will need a table, or at least some kind of surface (although there are, of course, in-the-hands varieties). I've noted this before on the Forum, but it bears repeating:

"There is not a single card feat in the whole calendar that will give as good returns for the amount of practice required, or that will mystify as greatly, or cause as much amusement, or bear as much repetition as this little game!"
- S.W. Erdnase - (Not sure if that was his real name, though. Anyone have any ideas?)

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby Zig Zagger » February 19th, 2020, 2:15 pm

performer wrote:I got the idea from something that Cy Enfield came up with. But your finish sounds pretty good too!

Mark, I‘m getting a psychic vibe that Cy EnDfield will call on you and demand his „d“ back...

You‘re welcome.
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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby performer » February 19th, 2020, 4:27 pm

You appear to be a foreigner, old chap and English is not your first language so it would behoove you not to correct me in the matter. Furthermore I am never wrong even if I am. Even more furthermore I have been in touch with the gentleman in the spirit world concerning the matter and he informs me that he is too dead to care. Therefore neither do I.

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby Zig Zagger » February 19th, 2020, 4:54 pm

:lol: It was just too tempting to correct you at least once, and my passport informs me that this was okay.

By the way, most people are foreigners from most perspectives, even the great Brits.
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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby performer » February 19th, 2020, 7:24 pm

Don't be silly, old chap. British people can NEVER be foreigners! We leave that to the rest of the world. Furthermore the Endfield or Enfield personage was American so it doesn't really matter how his name is spelled since Americans can't spell English properly anyway.

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby Diego » February 19th, 2020, 9:13 pm

Roger Ebert noting films he especially liked/remembered from his boyhood, included, "Houdini" with Tony Curtis. He noted part of the attraction of magic for kids, is being able to puzzle/fool adults, showing them a trick.

Likewise, Siegfried noted, what impressed/attracted him to magic was doing a simple coin vanish, and his father, "For the first time in my life, acknowledged my existence with his surprise, and for the first time, showed his vulnerability by asking/exclaiming, "How did you do that?!"

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby Joe Lyons » February 20th, 2020, 8:09 am

performer wrote:since Americans can't spell English properly anyway.

No, but we can discern cookies from biscuits, fries from chips and cigarettes...

Besides, you’re an American now, old boy, shouldn’t you be singing O Canada?
:)

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby performer » February 20th, 2020, 9:40 am

I am most certainly NOT American! I consider it a most peculiar country where the natives can't spell properly and give standing ovations for sneezing. I won't even mention the fact that because of their most peculiar health care system they have to spend about two grand for a packet of aspirin if they have a slight cold. Neither will I mention the fact that there are far too many bullets flying around in a most impolite fashion. I have often thought that the dreadful place should come under British rule once again to learn proper behaviour and correct spelling.

As for Canada I am afraid Canadians are terribly boring and full of insincere false politeness so I won't be singing O Canada either. However, I do get the audience to sing it along with the subjects on stage during my hypnosis show but that is about it I am afraid.

However, I am an equal opportunity cynic. I detest the British as well, particularly if they come from Northern England. As for the Irish I have lived among them too and they are even more difficult to understand than Jonathon Townsend. You have to be there for a while before you realise that whatever they say they actually mean the opposite. If they say "yes" for example they actually mean "no.

There. I hate everybody so nobody can say I am biased.

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby MagicbyAlfred » February 20th, 2020, 9:41 am

Diego wrote:Roger Ebert noting films he especially liked/remembered from his boyhood, included, "Houdini" with Tony Curtis. He noted part of the attraction of magic for kids, is being able to puzzle/fool adults, showing them a trick.

Likewise, Siegfried noted, what impressed/attracted him to magic was doing a simple coin vanish, and his father, "For the first time in my life, acknowledged my existence with his surprise, and for the first time, showed his vulnerability by asking/exclaiming, "How did you do that?!"


That's interesting Diego. And I daresay that whether we were attracted to magic as a kid, or it happened after retirement, or anywhere in between, there is always that "high" of creating astonishment. Or sometimes, it's just the sheer pleasure of sitting around with a deck of cards, some coins, or an absorbing magic book...

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby Dave Le Fevre » February 20th, 2020, 1:18 pm

I didn't have the experience of baffling a parent. (Or if I did, I don't recollect it.)

But I'll never forget the pleasure it gave me when my son, who was then six years old, baffled the heck out of a friend of mine with the Cups & Balls.

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby Joe Lyons » February 20th, 2020, 2:22 pm

MagicbyAlfred wrote:
Now, if you don't mind my asking, What attracts you to magic?


When I was a colt?

Watching the handsome and dapper magicians and their impossibly beautiful assistants perform baffling acts - then discovering I, too, could have this super human power (and beautiful women?) if I only read the right books and practiced hard enough.

Now?

Reading about 19th and 20th century magicians from books by Caveney, Rauscher, Charvet, Kaufman et al. and their miraculous adventures which were sometimes as magical as the acts themselves.

The smiles and looks of astonishment on a few close friend's faces at a party.

Oh, and my nephew approaching me at Christmas and asking "You know that trick you did when I was younger, the one where the coin falls up? How the hell did you do that? I try googling it and I couldn't find it anywhere..."

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby performer » February 20th, 2020, 2:49 pm

Joe Lyons wrote:
Reading about 19th and 20th century magicians from books by Caveney, Rauscher, Charvet, Kaufman et al. and their miraculous adventures which were sometimes as magical as the acts themselves.




I have been reading a book this morning written in the mid 20th century and was greatly amused and delighted by the following advice:

"Smilingly invite a lady and gentleman to the stage. Shake hands with the gentleman but do not attempt to shake hands with the lady unless she offers her hand. So many conjurers proffer their hand to a lady and she is compelled to accept. A very slight bow to the lady accompanied by a pleasant smile is what etiquette demands. To exceed this will irritate those in your audience who know better. (and for heavens sake, do not ask the lady for her Christian name. This is unpardonable.
Address the lady as "madam" and the gentleman as "sir". Have the lady (at least) seated comfortably as soon as possible"

I also remember reading something in an even older book written in the thirties saying it was "unpardonable" to invite a lady on stage in the first place! Come to think of it I usually leave them in the audience myself. Gut instinct tells me that it is better that way.

I am delighted by all this and wish it were the way things were done nowadays. For example I utterly detest the present day practice of asking audience volunteers on stage their names. A simple "sir" or "madam" should indeed suffice. I would never volunteer to help a magician on stage but if I did and they asked my name I would be highly tempted to tell them to mind their own business. I consider it a breach of privacy.

When I am performing myself I do ask the volunteers their names but I really hate doing it. I don't care what their bloody name is and they probably don't want me to know anyway.

No. I prefer the old ways.

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby Zig Zagger » February 22nd, 2020, 4:26 am

MagicbyAlfred wrote:
Diego wrote:Roger Ebert noting films he especially liked/remembered from his boyhood, included, "Houdini" with Tony Curtis. He noted part of the attraction of magic for kids, is being able to puzzle/fool adults, showing them a trick.

Likewise, Siegfried noted, what impressed/attracted him to magic was doing a simple coin vanish, and his father, "For the first time in my life, acknowledged my existence with his surprise, and for the first time, showed his vulnerability by asking/exclaiming, "How did you do that?!"


That's interesting Diego. And I daresay that whether we were attracted to magic as a kid, or it happened after retirement, or anywhere in between, there is always that "high" of creating astonishment. Or sometimes, it's just the sheer pleasure of sitting around with a deck of cards, some coins, or an absorbing magic book...

Criss Angel shared a similar experience in a recent interview with the Corpus Christi Caller Times (which I found linked over at Duncan Trillo's MagicWeek):

"My aunt Stella taught me my first card trick. From then on, I was hooked! My first audience was my family on Long Island. My first assistant was my mother, who I levitated on a broom in our living room. I remember after the trick I felt this incredible sense of power that an adult didn't understand how it worked, but I did."
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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby MagicbyAlfred » February 22nd, 2020, 8:10 pm

Criss Angel: "I remember after the trick I felt this incredible sense of power that an adult didn't understand how it worked, but I did."

Yes, but can that even begin to compare with the incredible sense of power of actually being an adult and blowing the mind of a little kid who doesn't understand how it works, and just smiling sadistically as they beg and plead, in vain - sometimes to the point of tears - to know the secret?

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby performer » February 22nd, 2020, 8:15 pm

I think they are more likely to threaten you that they will look it up on you tube if you don't tell them the secret.

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby MagicbyAlfred » February 22nd, 2020, 8:55 pm

performer wrote:I think they are more likely to threaten you that they will look it up on you tube if you don't tell them the secret.


Perhaps so. And that is when the tables are turned, and I will be the one to beg, plead, and cry...

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby Brad Jeffers » February 23rd, 2020, 3:25 am

Criss Angel wrote: "My first assistant was my mother, who I levitated on a broom in our living room."
Man! A Broomstick Levitation!
I could barely afford a lousy Tommy Windsor popcorn box.
:(

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby Paco Nagata » February 23rd, 2020, 4:50 pm

I used to do (still do) ANY magic...
with playing cards:
I've levitated a playing card.
I've split a card up and restored it.
I've made a card disappear and reappear.
I've made card transpositions.
I've transformed cards into another.
I've made a card move by itself.
Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera...
It is cheaper, and you can do ANY magic!
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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby Joe Lyons » February 23rd, 2020, 5:49 pm

Paco Nagata wrote:It is cheaper, and you can do ANY magic!

Very true Paco.

If you're lucky (crazy?) enough to do this for a living, you can do it with a deck of cards.

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Re: What Attracts You to Magic?

Postby Paco Nagata » February 26th, 2020, 8:54 am

Joe Lyons wrote:If you're lucky (crazy?) enough to do this for a living, you can do it with a deck of cards.

Certainly, Joe!
It is also significant to notice that you could make a living as a magician by a few coins as well ^_^
Provided that a lot of time for practice, of course. Unfortunately, amateurs like me does not have much time.
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