I just created a facebook page called
Routined Manipulations

It is designated as a "Secret Group" because I did not want non-magicians to be able to access it. From time to time I (and I hope others) will post discussions, historical comments, youtube links, tips, ideas etc for manipulation acts. I invite interested magicians to click on the "Join" button on the page and I (the moderator) will try to approve those requests as they come in.

Until other magicians join the group, I will be submitting some posts of my own from day to day, like the most recent post titled "The Place of Flourishes in Magic" which is drawn from an essay I submitted to The Electronic Grynoire many years ago. (I miss the EG!)

I will also submit some links to popular youtube videos of classic manipulation acts.

I hope some of you will have a look and participate in some of the discussions.

With magical regards,
Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

Well Sonny,

What a great idea. Congratulations !!!

I think I'll push the "join button".


Oliver.

First I need to find out how to join the facebook!

I would love to join. Where is the link?

The link to the
Routined Manipulations
Facebook page is:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1441412879489019/

I think if you just type the words
Routined Manipulations
into the Facebook search window that it should generate the main hit.

The page is currently a "Secret Group" so you will probably have to click on the "Join" button to apply for access.
I am currently having second thoughts about whether the page should be a "Secret Group" or some other category. I don't know for sure that any hush-hush secrets might be revealed during any of the discussions. But just in case, I decided that--at least initially--the group should be closed so that non-magicians would not be able to stumble upon it by accident. I would appreciate any thoughts any of you might have about whether to keep the group "Secret" or to change it some other category.

This link will explain the various group/subgroup types:
https://www.facebook.com/help/220336891328465

Please do feel free to submit--here or on the "Routined Manipulations" Facebook page--comments of your own about this new Facebook group and your opinion about whether the group should remain a "Secret Group" (in which anyone, but they have to be added or invited by a member) or a "Closed Group" (in which anyone can ask to join or be added or invited by a member). You can also email your thoughts at:
sonny.parmenides@yahoo.com

----- Sonny

I clicked on the join button. Nothing happened.

Hi Dick,

I hope you're fine. Time is passing by so quickl... I think I owe you a pm...Please pardon me.

Concerning the Facebook secret groupe, you need to wait until Sonny accepts that you join in. You'll receive a notification from the groupe on your facebook updates.

All the best to you.

A bientôt,

Oliver.

Hi Oliver!

I get behind in replying to PMs, too! Merci beaucoup for your information.

Sonny and I sont amis vieux. He "knows" that if he doesn't say "bienvenu", I will tell everyone how his dancing cane "works"!

I don't even know how to "get on" facebook! I just wait until a facebook comment shows up on my email page.

I bought Lewis Ganson's "Routined Manipulation" trilogy in 1951 when I was in Norfolk, VA, while in the Navy. While my interests have broadened, I still rely mostly on my two "manual appendages" for most of my program.

I learned the DOWNS p*lm when I was 15, doing magic, eating fire, and "lecturing on" the 17 foot python in a ten in one. By the time that I finished high school, I had "completed" Tarbell's "lessons", had gone through Erdnase and Ralph Hull's "Fifteen Minutes", and was banking money. (I had a 30 minute act that packed in a leather case the size of a cigar box.)

To put some "flash" in the act, I had to add a few "hand props" like Trouble Wit, Serpentine Silk, 20th C, and other silk bits.

The prop case can still go as "carry on luggage". (Jay Marshall's "influence".)

My best wishes to you, too.

A bientot mon ami!

Dick

Dick mentioned that he does "Troublewit" in his act. I always thought a neat idea for a team magic act like Cardini and Swan would be for the assistant to form a wine goblet from the Troublewit and the magician tosses fans of cards into the goblet. I guess the assistant would have to tilt the goblet slightly to prevent the cards from falling out the open back half of the goblet. On the other hand, the assistant could form a salad bowl from the Troublewit paper and that might be even better than the wine goblet for holding tossed cards, billiard balls, etc.

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez