Hi All,

I am a new member. I have been performing professionally since 1975 and prior to that as an amateur and semi-pro since 1950. I am obsessive about magical education as a means of improving ones performance.

I would urge amateurs, semi-pros and even professionals to consider buying, borrowing or stealing all or any of the following. They are too advanced for a beginner;-

The Trick Brain by Dariel Fitzkee - the authoritative text on \'inventing\' your own magic, learning principles etc

Magic by Misdirection by Dariel Fitzkee - a stunning examination all the principles of the main secret (indeed, the only secret) of magic

Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz - a more advanced book which concentrates on close up presentation and sets out a series of principles on factors which enable the performer to enhance the impact of what he does.

Any professionals reading this please forgive me if I appear to be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs !

wiz1937 (Malcolm)

Your hints and tips are most appreciated Malcom!

May I humbly add Samuel Patrick Smith\'s \"On Stage\" booklet to your list?
Not a so famous major work, but deafinitely a modern one that could open eyes (and minds), imho.

Thanks for the suggestion !

I wasn\'t aware that Sammy Smith had written a book on stagecraft. I should have known. He was editor of the Linking Ring for some time.

I had a Parade published in it last year and my correspondence was always with him.

I\'ll scour around and see if I can get a copy of the book. I am in fact \'winding down\' and trying to concentrate mainly on close up, whereas most of my career was devoted almost exclusively to children\'s entertainment.

I do have a copy of Norm Nielson\'s book also but found it a little too academic. Perhaps I should look at it again...

Thanks again !

Sincerely,


wiz1937 (Malcolm)

As long as we are discussing a few books that have helped, may I sugguest this bit of advice I adapted from Stage Hypnotism (or hypnosis... been a while since I read it) by Ormond Magill: a hyponitist will never say \"dont run\" but will say \"Walk to the stage\"... he will always state the desired result. Presenting it in an ambiguous way leaves room for options. Houdini said \"give em 75 foot of rope and state that it is a hundred and they will never question the missing 25 feet\"
The second thing he said was that in any audience there is an even mix of believers, convince me\'s, and sceptics. When you convince the believers the convince me\'s get sucked in with em. the sceptics still may not believe but the peer pressure weighs in your favor for their compliance. (I found this adapts well to my profession... I teach). If you invite people to participate be aware that believers and convince me\'s can be on stage together but it is best to find some way to send the sceptics back to their seats, or have them hold some part of the apparatus as an assistant, rather than a participant.

I\'ve been re-discovering some of the books I read when I first started in magic more than 40 years ago.

Let me say at the outset that there\'s gold in books! My magic library has hundreds of tricks that I would like to learn and use, not to mention thousands more that don\'t catch my interest. But the principles and concepts would keep me busy for the rest of my life if, God forbid, I wasn\'t able to spend another dollar on magic!

My favorite book (and one of my earliest reads) is Henry Hay\'s \"Amateur Magician\'s Handbook\". Not only is there terrific information trick-wise, but lots of magic theory. I reread the first couple chapters recently and could instantly recognize some of his strategies in my performances even after all these years!

\"Showmanship for Magicians\" by Henning Nelms also has lots of performance theory, though it seems rather plodding and perhaps goes into too much detail, bordering on minutiae.

Good reading!