Do you involve your family?
Magic has always been a funny hobby. When you’re first learning, you keep the magic secrets religiously, often not sharing that precious gimmick or sleight with anyone - not mom, not dad, and certainly not your siblings.
But, as you get older, you realize that your close family probably has a couple of good ideas how you do it, even if they’re not exactly sure. After all, once is entertainment, twice is a lesson. Sometimes you’ll go as far as openly practicing the moves in front of them, or even performing a risky sleights to ask for their feedback.
And it’s perfectly natural to want to pass on your interest in the subject to the next generation. At one point, my son William performed some magic, and did so quite well. He isn’t currently interested in performing solo, but I thought it might be interesting to learn some magic as father and son, so together we’re checking out Speakeasy by Dan Harlan.
What do I plan to do with that? I’m not sure just yet, but I’d love to hear about any experience you have with performing with family members (whether a code act or not). I think we’ll settle for fooling friends who come over without announcing that William has any real interest in magic.
Ultimately, I’d love to perform the coin routine from the Morgan & West video - Decoded. I think it would fit my performing persona almost perfectly, but one step at a time. First, Speakeasy.
It’s Now a Collectible
Speaking of Morgan & West, if you own Parlour Tricks, chances are good it’s now a collectible. On Saturday, May 31, Morgan & West published a video on YouTube explaining that they were going their separate ways after 15 years of working together.
The time-traveling duo has apparently reached the end of this branch of the space-time continuum. Here is their video making the announcement in a funny, respectful, and original style:
Because of this announcement, I thought I’d take a spin back through their book to see what jumped off the page at me, and thought you might enjoy sharing in my exploration.
They have a number of essays about the development of a trick, appropriate scripting, and even the types of props you should use in your show. Of course, it’s easy to point out that they have a defined style that makes more sense, but they walk you through the thinking process that got them there. That is worth its weight in gold.
“The best way to improve an act is to perform it a lot, and to try and fix the things that don’t work. You learn more through performance than you do from just thinking about things.”
- Morgan & West in Parlour Tricks (p. 15)
One of the other pieces that caught my eye was their essay on book tests. I won’t lie - it left me feeling a touch disappointed with my current approach. After dismantling the “normal” approach to a book test with the typical lack of theatrical motivation (or any other type, for that matter!), they share the context in which they created their own version. This gave me not only hope, but also the breadcrumbs to develop my own version.
Their essays aren’t the only great part of this book - they also have some killer magic explained across a variety of props and scenarios. But most importantly, all along the way, they explain their thinking. Understanding how successful performers think about their magic is one of my favorite parts of reading a magic book, and this one is full of this kind of content. I’ll leave you with a gem for your consideration:
“A lot of people think that good magic tricks come as the result of hours sat at your desk, pouring over every inch of the method and every nuance of the trick so that it is perfect before ever showing it to an audience. That, in our experience, is not how good magic tricks are made. Good magic tricks are made by taking an idea, getting it into workable shape, then trying it out and fixing what doesn’t work - be it the method, the script, the staging or indeed anything else. Once you have fixed everything that doesn’t work, you then set about improving the trick little by little, idea by idea, forever.”
- Morgan & West in Parlour Tricks (p. 182)
Definitely food for thought. How are you going about improving your magic tricks? According to this book, we need to put them through their paces and do the work. I plan to do just that as I move forward with my act, armed with the knowledge I’ve been imparted by the incomparable Morgan & West. My hat is off to you, gentlemen!
Experiments over the last year
It’s obvious that Morgan & West have experimented quite a bit with their magic. In fact, they are both scientists based on what they studied at Oxford. All of that reminds me of my review from a year ago - the bestselling Psychology of Magic: From Lab to Stage.
In my review, I probe the question whether magic can (or should) be explored like a science. Regardless, the book is a fascinating look into the intersection of the scientific method and magic, exploring how people react to, get fooled by, and enjoy magic. If you haven’t seen it, I hope you’ll check it out!
Invisible bookends
Let’s face it - we all have too many books, and often don’t have the space to store or display them in a convenient way. Here’s a “life hack” that could help with that in a magical way.
It’s an “invisible bookend” that actually works, costs pennies to make, and can be completed in just a minute or two with supplies you definitely have around the house! Now you can display your magic books almost anywhere with a flat surface: a table, nightstand, countertop, or floating shelf. And, you don’t have to worry about putting the biggest books on the outside - they can be displayed in any order that you want!
If you’re like me, you might be skeptical that these are sturdy enough to work, but that’s part of the magic: they really do!
I’ve linked to the original YouTube video below with it set to start where he shows you how to make them (at 0:51). Enjoy, and let me know if you end up making and using these!
Thanks again!
I never want to miss an opportunity to thank you, the reader - part of the Erudite Magicians group out there. It’s great to know that books are alive and well, and I hope you’re getting value out of this newsletter. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have something you want to say, whether you want it to be a guest article, or just have a topic to suggest. I love connecting!
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