I don't know about you fellows , its the first time I see this man and he is pure classic hope you like it
http://youtu.be/Yc0mSsS4X2Y

Looks like he read every page of the book... some of them twice.

All that wonderful skill, but he never learned to present it correctly. It is apparent he entertained himself for hours learning all those moves. Biggest mistake is him leaning over to see what his card fans looked like. Gyrations is not magic, just like today's youths and their finger flinging of the cards and fancy cut.

Technically he was very very good. Never seen those arm spreads on the sides of the deck.

As a Chavez guy myself, I hear what Bill is saying regarding certain parts of his stage deportment.. But this act was such a treat to watch!! I have seen few his equal!
I thought it was very entertaining!
Loved it!!! Thanks for posting this!!!

Masterful comes to mind of his skill.

Wish I could do that.

I think we need to keep a few things in mind, such as:
1) Europeans have a slightly different approach to all the performing arts that sometimes feels different to "New Worlders" (by which I mean magicians from the Western hemisphere)
2) the Art of Magic evolves over the decades/centuries

In fact, all facets of art change over the decades. Walt Disney's original Mickey Mouse cartoons look downright primitive compared to what animation became as it evolved.

What I'm getting at is that the acts of many of the legends of magic from the early years of the century might not hold up as well in comparison to today's magicians.

If you check the GENII Magicpedia at:
http://www.geniimagazine.com/magicpedia/FISM
you'll see that Jean Valton won first place in manipulation at the first FISM convention in 1948.

There was a discussion a few years ago on the Café about how the presentation of magic has evolved. You can read it here:
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......orum=134
where the original poster says:
-----quote-----
I have recently had the opportunity to review a series of DVDs featuring the greats, the legends, the larger than life Magicians whose names are still whispered reverently by our fraternity.
*sighs*
It was, for the most part, bad.
-----unquote-----

The GENII Magicpedia article at
http://www.geniimagazine.com/magicpedia/FISM
lists the winners at the very first FISM in 1948, and Jean Valton is listed as winning first place in manipulation.

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

It feels that this man has reed th ganson books , and he skilfully shows all the moves in there ... using normal thick cards , between faning and manipulating I can see an encaclopedic and entertaining demo .with perfect execution .

Jean Valton won both first FISM in 1948 and convention in Amsterdam 2 years before the first FISM. I don`t agree that Europeans have different approach to performing magic. You can either present a magical piece and please your audience or you can not no matter where you come from. BUT when you look at the act from 1940 please consider time when that act was created and who else at that time performed a similar act. Was Valton Ho Jin, Lukas or DenDen of his time, technically more advanced then other magicians of his time ? Sonny is right. Have a look at all FISM champs from 1948 to 1982 and tell me who would score enough points to be in top 10 places on a recent FISM Asia with his act. I bet none of them, not even great Fred Kaps. Magic has evolved over the years and if those FISM winners from 50ies or 60ies were still the best what we ever had we would be doing something very wrong with magic.
Elias I don`t know if Valton ever read Ganson books but he himself wrote some on manipulations 30 years before Ganson.

Jean Valton was an inspiration to Fred Kaps 3 times fism champion. fred kaps did the 3 packet catch in his card manipulations.
on the other end this is a video where you can see the face of the performer. nowadays you only see 2 hands and a deck of cards or coins on youtube.

Mr. Vałton definitely had much skill. Perfect execution? No, as there were some obvious exposure of technique.

I firmly believe that performers such as Fred Kaps, Ger Copper, Richard Ross and Magic Christian have (had) acts that survive(d) the test of time.

Not FISM, but Neil Foster's performances also have suffered nothing from the passing of time.

Some of the modern day FISM acts I like and others I find over-rated. Though I have felt that way from the beginning as, I'm sure, most other magicians have.

Returning to Mr. Valton, from a showmanship/performance standpoint, others were superior. I recall a John Calvert talk on showmanship, "Here's what magic looks like without showmanship..."

I really enjoyed watching this guy working. I have never seen this clip before. Thank you for sharing.

Bojan, what are some of the titles of the books that Jean Valton wrote? Because of my interest in the history of stage manipulation, I'd be interested in doing a search for one or two of them to see if I could add them to my library of books--even if they're in French.

----- Sonny

Some American acts successfully create a European feel... like Vito Lupo's clown/mime act.
At least, I think Vito is American. He appeared with his act at Merlin's Magical Tavern--a magic restaurant in Virginia Beach, Virginia--back in the 1980's.
Here's Vito from a performance--I think at FISM?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj6DfKQcogY

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

Sorry,
I found this too repetitive. He obviously was highly skilled but someone should have told him to edit his act.

BJ

A rather beautiful demonstration of manipulative and juggling skill.

When I was a teenager, I remember learning a plethora of one hand cuts, and fancy fans, plus the spring shuffle, waterfall, arm spread and turn over, and the "toss and catch" of the armspread cards. For a lad of 15, I wasn't "too bad". I was trying to be "swayve & deboner"! I wasn't,

Fortunately (see boxjumper's comment, just above) an agent told me that if I couldl make 'em laugh, he would get me work. I listened, I did, and he did!

I can understand SOME magicians at FISM, who have never made a living with magic, "fainting with delight".

Al Baker once said, "It's OK to do tricks that you like to do. But, be sure that the audience likes them, too. Otherwise, you may enjoy them by yourself."

I seriously wonder if Ms. Valtin, thougn obviously skilled, could have made a living with magic.

I myself have not been able to do it, but I have always said, if a person can perform sleight of hand and manipulation with humor and create laughs, he would be very successful with today audiences. Fielding West has accomplished it somewhat with his standard act. Ali Bongo would insert a moment of simple manipulation into his MC act at conventions, very funny stuff.

We must remember that the 10 to 20 minute act from the vaudeville days are gone, only being used by magic conventions today and competitions. I here if you can get a spot in European nite spots, it may still be possible to do a sort act, but for the average magician, it would be only a dream.

So my take on this dilemma would be to include a short spot of manipulation to show your skill and abilities in a long show.

It is said that a person has to be ready when you get that call or knock on the door. If the person is not ready, then you missed your ship. There is never any warning, so if you missed your chance, it is gone forever.

What students should take away from this video is the creativity Jean Valton showed in his steals, did any of you catch them. The perfect skill demonstrated showed he worked many hours on creating his sequence of moves and combining them in a order that made some sense of a procedure and thus an act. His misdirection was prefect. The student should can also see what these fan and spreads actually look like when done correctly, I have on seen them mention in books and instructions with no detail at all of how to accomplish them. I doubt we have such a skilled magician in the world today, as everyone I know have met and know of is not willing to work hard to master them.

We know little of the FISM back then, as the stage looked like it was simply a parlour room, intended or not, I would not think there were thousands in attendance like todays magic conventions.

Bill, your reasoning is impeccable and the 'take away' from this as you correctly point out- it to observe the skill and adapt the techinque to today's performing conditions. BTW- a particular note to say Happy Holidays to those very active Café' members such as yourself and Dick Oslund!! Your contributions are a wonderful gift.

As a collector of fanning decks, I'm always interested to see what fanning deck other card manipulators use. The deck that Jean Valton is using is identical to the fanning deck with a back design featuring a Native American Indian as shown here:
http://tinyurl.com/q4dco3k
and which we discussed previously on the Café.

----- Sonny

I recognized that deck as well, it was pictured in a Lewis Ganson book, and/or mentioned as a deck that Cardini uses at one point in his acts, although he used a design with a champagne glass of sorts on it. I know I looked all over the place when there were gift stores around, and could never find anything like them back in the 1970's. Or was it pictured in the Chavez course. I just know I recognized them and was surprised by Jean Valton using them. American products made it to Europe even back then.