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bahamagician Regular user 137 Posts |
Hi Denny,
I was reading some of the essays on your website and in one piece you mentioned that you regret not adding mentalism to your show. Can you elaborate on this? Why do you regret this so much? What type of effects would you have added? How would you have structured your act so that the mentalism and the magic didn't detract from each other. From your essay, I assume that you believe magic and mentalism can work together in the same act. -=Chris |
Denny Haney 1945 - 2019 48 Posts |
Hi Chris,
Yes...I have three regrets in my career as a magician. 1-Never learing to master a Topit 2-Never learning to master Invisible Thread 3-Never getting into mentalism until I basically retired from performing. In my younger days I just found mentalism to be extremely boring so I really never got interested in it. I think it was a problem that many of us have as magicians . We are just too close to the magic and methods. Everytime I saw a mentalist act begin to have things selected or chosen, I just jumped ahead and said to myself "Yeah, yeah, yeah. He'll guess what it is." As a magician I already knew the outcome. Don't get me wrong..I did not IGNORE mentalism. I read Corinda and Annemann and studied the work on it. It just never "seemed" to fit my style. In my older years, I have found that I did have a certain knack for presenting mentalism. I think it just came from being a performer for so many years. I have seen the impression mentalism has on a lay audience. It is so powerful that I regret not having done it in the act sooner. I really see nothing wrong with mixing mentalism and magic in the same program. It seems to work very well for Copperfield. John Archer does COMEDY mentalism and it is terrific. Have you ever seen Jon Stetson perform?? Powerhouse act!! I guess it all boils down to three questions that laymen come up with after watching a good mentalist. 1-How DID he know? 2-How DOES he know? 3-How WILL he know? Laymen are extremely intrigued by these questions. I will say this...I think it is MUCH more difficult to present mentalism than it is to prevent magic. Keeping mentalism "entertaining" requires good acting and a great personality. Too many magicians go into mentalism just because they like to hear themselves talk. The selection and choosing is so convoluted and time consuming that by the time the revelation is made, nobody cares. Have you ever seen Tim Conover perform his mentalism act?? I like to describe his act as Al Koran Strength Mentalism presented at the speed of Harry Lorayne's Memory Act. A great combination!! Watch the Evasons perform their second sight act. The only mentalism act I ever saw get a standing ovation at a magic convention. Be careful of becoming boring, monotone, or repetitive. Remember that sometimes two mentalism pieces that we think are different, appear to be the same thing to a layman. We sometimes think too much about method and ignore the effect on a layman. THEY will be the final judge but mentalism "properly presented" is one of the strongest magic that exists. |
archini Veteran user UK 313 Posts |
Quote:
On 2007-02-13 12:32, Denny Haney wrote: Thanks Denny, You are very kind. Hope you are well and we get to meet up again soon. Regards, John |
Denny Haney 1945 - 2019 48 Posts |
Hi John,
Nice to hear from you. By any chance did you get the young lady's phone number on your Blindfold Tips dvd??? I'll trade you some magic for the phone number. Denny |
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » The February 2007 entrée: Denny Haney » » Mentalism & Regrets » » TOPIC IS LOCKED (0 Likes) |
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