The Vernon Touch column from Genii

[Bob Farmer]

I know, I will see the computer light if I can only see that computers are a tool, a tool I have to learn to use.

No, that's completely backwards: they should be designed so I don't need thousands of pages of manuals, 24-hour tech support and mastery of an arcane language whose grammer and vocabulary change with every new software version (remember when "folders" were called "directories").

The wirehead always blames the user: you can't figure it out, you can't understand it, then it must be your fault.

In the computer world, windows are on your desktop, rather than on your wall. To turn your computer off, you push the start button.

Dumb? You bet.

Badly designed? I'd say so.

A tool? -- yes, I would agree, much better than my IBM Selectric.

A GREAT tool? -- not quite and still not up to the standard established by my toaster, my television, my stereo, my guitar amp, my car, etc., etc.

[Steve Bryant]

Somebody needs an iMac!

[CHRIS]

Nobody said that computers are perfect and that their development has stopped. PCs are just about 25 years old. And given what one can do with computers I would say they are a pretty neat work of engineering.

Compare this to the first 'modern cars' the ones by Benz and Daimler (~1885) and the Model T (1908) which are about 25 years apart. You wouldn't be happy with a Model T today, would you?

Understand that we are at the beginning of the information age. The computer is still in its infancy. Nobody can expect that everything is working perfectly. The innovation curve is still extremely steep. Something fundamentally in computers changes every few months.

It has to be expected that software has bugs and sometimes doesn't work together with other software or hardware. That is just the development period we are in. And finaly, who said computers should be easy to use?

Chris
preserving magic one book at a time.

[mwolfire]

Geez
Doesn't anyone use Linux here? If I had to use windows all day long I'd be whingeing too! And yes, I do use and run programs that I wrote in 1985.
Mark

[Richard Kaufman]

Enough crabbing about your damn computers!
If someone wants to discuss the Vernon Touch columns from Genii then please feel free to do so.

[Bob Farmer]

Vernon used a Mac to write up all his columns.

[mwolfire]

OK, back on topic:
Were the original columns published exactly as written by Vernon or was there much editing or rewriting by others?

I remember one column with a rather blunt assesment of Houdini. It made quite an impression on me in my teenage years.
Mark

[Richard Kaufman]

The columns were not heavily edited--the comment about Houdini accurately reflected Vernon's feelings. He HATED Houdini and thought he was a jerk.

[Jacky Kahan]

Jim Maloney said :

I love books and, for the purpose of reading, I very much prefer them over their digital counterparts. That said, for pure research purposes, ebooks and CD-ROMS are vastly superior, especially since most magic books don't seem to have any kind of index to speak of

that's why we started www.MagicBooks.be, you can do your research on more than 3000 books, magazines, lecture notes and it's growing every day....with the help of magicians worldwide.

Jacky
www.magicbooks.be

[Matthew Field]

Originally posted by Bob Farmer:
Vernon used a Mac to write up all his columns.

I think you meant to say Vernon used a "Bic," not a "Mac."

The Vernon columns were edited very lightly.

I would not want to be in the position of correcting The Professor.

Matt Field

[John Carney]

I just thought I would mention, I was around when a few of those Vernon columns were being written. He would often procrasinate until the last minute, until Bill Larsen would corner him and plead with him to write it for the deadline looming.

I was there on a couple of occasions where he just sat down in the (then) upstairs library and wrote the whole thing off the top of his head. It was then delivered to Bill's office on his way downstairs, with no substantial re-writes or edits. Straight to print.

They were always fun to read, because he always wrote them just as he would talk....stream of conciousness.

just thought I would chime in.

[Guest]

In the magazine several pictures of Dai Vernon were used in the header or byline,( Again, I know nothing of publishing), will these or any others be reprinted?

[Richard Kaufman]

The book will contain between 100 to 300 photographs. The Irving Desfor file of Dai Vernon photos has been lent to me by the American Museum of Magic for this purpose. Many of the photos have never been published.

[Brad Jeffers]

Originally posted by John Carney:

I was there on a couple of occasions where he just sat down in the (then) upstairs library and wrote the whole thing off the top of his head. It was then delivered to Bill's office on his way downstairs, with no substantial re-writes or edits. Straight to print.

I seem to recall reading that Vernon didn't write out his column, but recorded it - and it was then transcribed by Bill Larsen.

[Richard Kaufman]

I think Vernon wrote the column differently at different times. I've heard that he both wrote them by hand and also recorded some of them.

[Max Maven]

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
I think Vernon wrote the column differently at different times. I've heard that he both wrote them by hand and also recorded some of them.

Correct. Sometimes he would write a column in longhand, on the back of Magic Castle placemats.

[Guest]

Wait a minute. Ed Marlo didn't ghost those columns?

[Richard Lane]

Mark wrote "I remember one column with a rather blunt assesment of Houdini."

A section of Karl Johnson's forthcoming book, linked on the right of this page, provides a useful context for the animus between these two giants.

[Guest]

No Dan , It was Walter Gibson !....Mike

[J Bright]

Here's a sample of a handwritten column: Vernon

[Geno Munari]

For history's sake it should be noted that Dai Vernon did not write every column in its entirety, which means he had a ghost writer which is ok.