Some of the comments in the "Had enough?" thread got me thinking, which is always dangerous...

It seems that back in the old days a lot of material in the catalogs was for "stage and parlor" except for some card and small stuff, where nowadays most of the new material seems to be close-up and small props. I would think this has a lot to do with people buying more and more stuff, since it's easier to carry and perform for one or two at a time instead of needing a room or stage to do it. Like, seriously, it makes more sense to do one or two card tricks or something similar "on the fly" than to pull out a Square Circle or something similar at a moment's notice.

But I'm also intrigued by the amount of material that's advertised as self-working. Hmmm...

Anyway, just two thoughts on the subject.

"More on" buying and collecting stuff... I thought you meant me.

Nope.

George, they’re buying the secret because a magician is supposed to be the gatekeeper of the impossible. Could you even sleep at night knowing there was a method out there that you hadn’t cracked? LOL. But seriously, there is an addictive, agonizing curiosity to it.

For the vast majority, magic is a passionate hobby, and the entire industry is tailored to that demographic. If brick-and-mortar magic shops and online dealers had to rely solely on the business of working professionals, they’d all go bankrupt by next Tuesday. Working pros don't need the latest shiny objects. One square circle will last for years, and they find three or four bulletproof routines that consistently crush, and they perform them thousands of times. They value reliability, audience management, and mastery over novelty.

It’s the hobbyists, the collectors, and the armchair magicians who keep the lights on. They are the ones chasing that initial hit of wonder you get the moment you figure out how a trick works. The pros buy for the audience; the hobbyists buy for themselves.

As for as Self Working, all the marketed ‘tricks’ are self-working once you figure it out.

Tom

I forgot to mention above that hobbyists and part-times are performing for the same small audiences, family and friends, over and over so they need new material more often.

Tom

I don't know that they're buying the secret as much as they're buying the ability to show that they're magicians, especially if the trick is simple to do. That's what I did when I started as a kid: "Wow, I can fool the pants off of people with this new trick. Waa-hoo!" Like many, it probably had a a lot to do with getting attention. It took me years to get away from simple-to-do tricks and start appreciating and using material that required work.

But hey, if collecting tricks is your hobby, then go for it. Nothing wrong with that.

At its foundation is is simply "I know something cool that you don't know." It is at that point that ego becomes engaged and the showing off of this knowledge to those that do not have it. I don't think there is that much to do with being a magician as it is showing off this knowledge they have over others. Few today, say "I'm doing this so I can be a magician."

You might be right. The whole "It's a secret and I can't tell you" approach seems to go along with that.

And maybe the "fooling the pants off of them" mindset that I had many years ago went along with that too.

I've always liked the premise that you're exploring whether things are possible that intuitively don't seem possible. Most people seem to have an implicit understanding that you're cheating to accomplish this "impossible" thing.

That is, as has been noted many times, just one approach.
P&T have the market on the "let's be cynical together" approach.
Doug Henning had the "I MYSELF THINK THIS IS AWESOME AND WANT TO SHARE IT WITH YOU BECAUSE I LOVE EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING" approach.

Is cheating and trickery the same thing?

I could see that. "Eisenheim's" presentation style in The Illusionist pretty much went along with that, but I haven't seen many magic performances that did. Most acts seem to present magic "in your face," as in "I'm doing it, not exploring whether it's possible or not." That's how I performed my cards-and-doves act many years ago because all my role models did.

OTOH, so many performances nowadays are about demonstrating a prop that the "exploration" never gets a chance to come into the picture.

There's some overlap, but I don't think they're exactly the same thing, IMO. Pretty close relatives, though.

The entire premise of my show is I am just a clever guy who knows a few fun things you might want to watch. Yes it is FAR more than that, but this approachable interesting guy with a legay is the premise.

Nothing about exploring anything, just a fun way to kill a couple of hours. No grand claims made by me. Anyone who wants to come is welcome. It works for me.

As for collecting things, I don't own anything that is not in my act. I don't have magic as a hobby. I don't collect methods, I don't care. I don't have even a single thing I do not use for my show. If I want to add something I certainly can do research. I just do not collect things. I get all my performing fantasies out of my system by... well performing.

Yes it is absolutely the hobby magicians who keep the "magic industry" alive and kicking. For better or worse this is true. I don't think this is a problem at all. I mean yea the posers and wannabe magicians can be a little irritating, but in the end are harmless.

There are some professionals who collect things. I can think of quite a few. Heck few work as much as Copperfield did and his collection is huge. Ricky Jay and a whole lot more had large collections. I don't get it to tell the truth. Then again I collect nothing anyhow.

There's a story on one of the Ricky Jay documentaries about him losing a bidding match with Copperfield over someone's library.

Like I said on the other thread, I'm pretty practical and frugal and don't much like devoting money and space to things I can't use. There are exceptions. I have a battle axe and I'm probably never getting into an axe battle. I have a couple collectible card decks on display.

Although, come to think of it I did buy a change bag way back when I was doing the Tarbell course just because I wanted to do the lessons in Tarbell, not because I wanted to add a change bag to my act. That was about it on useless magic props. So maybe I'm just getting old and don't remember what I like.

I hear many say this, especially around here. I think this is not necessarily real or true. It may keep a certain aspect of the magic "community" alive which is the creation, production and selling of magic tricks, novelties, accessories, props, books, and related aspects for this target audience, but this is not the magic "industry" as a whole. It, at best, is a smaller, lower-end related part, if anything, targeting the enthusiast, hobbyist, and amateur sector primarily, which is miles away and barely related to the magic "industry" as a whole of industry operations, performing, media, touring, producing, designers, promoting, etc.

I actually consider the latter the entertainment industry.

I'm just saying there is much more to the magic industry than just this stuff for hobbyists, amateurs, and enthusiasts.

I know many magic productions for example that are not being kept afloat because of this selling of magic tricks, novelties, accessories, props, books, and related aspects.

People tend to look at something like the "industry" only form the point of where they are at. Same for so many posts and threads here, many only see them as it pertains to them, where they are at, rather than in the actual content offered or the greater picture.

It is two different things.

Magical entertainment is not about collecting.

I know times have changed but it seems when the back room sessions were more common at magic shops the plastic tricks and fake dog poop definitely helped keep the rent paid and lights on so they could have those sessions.

There's something similar in a mall in Portland where the guy rents a storefront that's now his theater and keeps a kiosk outside of it to sell things for extra money to keep things afloat. He hosts a pretty big deal convention that's had Jeff McBride and Carissa Hendricks.
He also sells some high end books but the novelty items and plastic tricks don't hurt his profit margins.

So I'd say every little bit is what keeps the industry afloat.

The difference I’m referencing is simply performance vs collecting.

To perform you do not have to collect, and to collect you do not have to perform. They are two very distinct things.

The easiest way to know it is not professional performers buying stuff? There are not many around. Nobody, much less everyone who does, could possibly make a living and have conventions and ask that trying to sell to about 300 people.

It is without doubt the hobby magicians keeping that afloat.