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I forget where I first read this, probably some book on magic theory, but the author stated that people are interested in themselves first, other people second and other things third.
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Fitzkee. Showmanship For Magicians

Hoggle,

My problem with this (and maybe you were just overstating a bit) is that it ignores the fact that people really do care about the individual person "YOU." If two magicians are auditioning for the same gig, both with the same effects and both with the same skill, the client will chose the person they like better. Simple as that. I would also suggest that a more intersting, fun, and engaging personality is more marketable than somebody with all the skill, knowledge and effects in the world.

As Bill Malone put it in On the Loose vol. 1: you want the client to want YOU. You don't want them to want a magician, you want them to want YOU.

An adult says, "where did the coin go?" The point of presentations is to utilize one of our strongest tool, the power of suggestion and psychological manipulation, to avoid having our magic degrade into a puzzle.

Let me clarify my point a bit because I think we are both on the same page "magic" might be inherently entertaining. However, magic, as it is often performed, is not. The difference is that, as Ortiz states in Strong Magic, it often gets degraded into a puzzle.

If the forementioned vanish is done with the appropriate body language that convinces your spectator, without words, that it actually vanished then you have, in my opinion, perpetrated a minimal presentation which downplays the puzzle mentality. If you simply create the illusion that you've transferred a coin from one hand to the other and then open your hand to reveal the coin is gone you allow the spectator to decide what happened and, very often, their intellectual side will turn it into a puzzle.

We create illusions, the illusion of a single card when we do the double lift, the illusion of a coin going into the hand, the illusion of an empty hand and the illusion of a normal, ungaffed deck of cards. We use psychological manipulation such as acting, suggestion or preconditioning to create a seemingly impossible situation out of these illusions. My argument is that it's the presentation that leads your audience to the effect you want to convey. If you are unclear in your verbal and nonverbal communication then the audience is given the opportunity to make up their own effect which may or may not be what you had intended.

The problem with magic in a vacuum is that it is an intellectual pursuit. It is a puzzle to solve. It's the presentation, however simple or complex, that changes it from a puzzle into something more. We use our presentations to take what is an intellectual pursuit and touch our audience's emotions to become entertaining and create a memorable experience. Music, comedy and poetry, as mentioned before, only become entertaining when a performer infuses them with their personality. Why do have poetry readings? why do people go to live concerts? Because it's the performance that creates the entertainment. The same is true for magic, even if you don't go for a complex presentation "full of sound and fury" you still are guilty of creating a presentation the moment you try pass of your little illusion of a coin going into the hand as something more than that. When you choose to frame the illusion of a random selection as evidence for your precognitive abilities you are practicing presentation. It's only when we use presentation that magic really becomes magic and only then, can it be inherently entertaining.

I've seen one magician have a card selected in a seemingly random manner and then turn over another card that miraculously matches and stand there with his mouth open waiting for the applause that never came. Meanwhile the audience sat there trying to figure it out. Was it a prediction? an unlikely coincidence? a simple trick? Nobody knew because he hadn't practiced even the slightest bit of "presentation" with regards to the effect. Yes, he told a couple of jokes during the selection process but there was nothing anywhere that told the spectator what the effect was. That's the necessary element of presentation which must always be part of an effect to create magic and allow the statement "magic is inherently entertating" to be true. Even then, it still might not be true but at least it's more likely to be so.

Dave

Stevie1, my postie must have stolen my book and is sitting in a ditch somewhere with a pack of cards and a smile on his face !

Yes.......still waiting......hope it's raining in Aussie land !!

Cheers mate

I love this book, this will make me a better magician.

Does anyone know where I can get a copy of the book he keeps mentioning by Punx called Magical Adventures and Fairy Tales? I checked Barnes and Noble and they don't have it.

Thanks,

Big Jeff

JEFF- That was the GERMAN title. (I believe) Anyway, the REPRINTED title is "Once Upon A Time..."

read about it here:

http://www.murphysmagicsupplies.com/cata......unx.html

Jeff, Bill Palmer translated this book and has it for sale on his site.
http://www.adessoverlag.com/cupsandballs.htm

Sorry I meant to type may have it for sale on his site.

How can my mate in Australia have his copy before me. We both ordered it surface mail (as we are fools) yet he is sitting there with a beer laughing at me. It must be strong magic as it's driving me crazy ! Stevie, I really hope the sky's have opened and its torrential rain over there, also that your copy has dropped into a flood plain.
Where is my book...?

Lol Steve..you crack me up mate..maybe Santa is bringing yours.
Have you been a good boy this year.Patience buddy.Only 10 more sleeps.
Actually was 42 deg here yesterday..a stinker!!