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The Ma ic Rainbow

JU N TAMARIZ

Translated from the Spanish by RAFAEL BENATAR

Spanish edition edited by GEMA NAVARRO

Revision of Spanish contents by CARLOS VINUESA

First Spanish revision by JESUS ETCHEVERRY

English edition edited by STEPHEN MINCH

_lt__ HERMETIC PRESS Photo: David Linsell

CONTENTS Inner Worlds (Rafael Benatar)

Thanks Preparation of this volume was aided by the proofreading skills of Mike Henkel, Martin Kaplan, Maxwell Pritchard, Will Randall and Mike Vance. The following pages show the benefits of their generosity and their devotion to our Magia.

xvii

1: MAGIC

1

CHAPTER

Magic What Is Magic? Magic-A Minimal (and Inexorably Failed) Attempt to Approach The Emotion-Miracle An Attempt to Comprehend the Magic Miracle

Notes Toward a Theory of Emotion in Magic-Pursuing Our Goal Origins and Evolution

Printed in the United States of America. ISBN 978-0-945296-90-4 FIRST EDITION

7 9

9 13 19

On the Essence of the Art of Magic

23

Some Provoking Questions (Also Self_-Provoking)

25

Magic as Art and Magic as Show

26

Dream, Magic, Reality Magic in Movies, Theater, Television ( and Close-up Magic) Magic and Surrealism To Whom Is It Addressed? Magic Is Only for Children CHAPTER

2: How Is IT PRODUCED?

How Is It Produced? The Process of Creation and Interpretation in Magic CHAPTER

3: THE MAGICAL EFFECT AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

The Magical Effect 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

3

19

Dreams of Magic

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Convention~. Published in the United States of America by Penguin Magic, Inc., Rancho f~ordova, California.

3

Magic and Art

The Material: Dreams

English edition copyright© 2019 by Juan Tamariz and Penguin Magic, Inc.

xiii

Foreword Acknowledgments

a Definition and a Delimitation

Spanish edition copyright© 2016 by Juan Tamariz.

ix

How Should It Be?

29 29 32

35 39 43 43

47 49 49 59 61 61

Classic Effects What Are They? Which Ones Are They? Why Are They Classics? Symbols Magic and Symbolism Example of a Practical Application of the Theory of Symbolic Magic

65

conflicts in Magic and Their CuIVes of Interest

239

65

The Curves of Interest: Notions to Remember

239

71

Magic: 'I\vo Conflicts

242

71 85

The Logical-Rational Conflict-Climax without Reso~ution The Magic Conflict and Its Dramatization

242 254

The Magic of the Spheres

85

Time

285

A Study of a Truly Magical Effect: "El Cochecito"

92

285

97

Rhythm The Time of the ,Performance

303

97

More About Effect The Fascinating Effect

The Beloved Art of the Pause

310

The Effect and the Secret Method (A Love Story)

102

Timing

328

Variety in Effects

105

339

That Effect, in Effect, with Affection

109

Patter Patter (A First Approach)

339

More About Patter (Second Approach)

347

CHAPTER 4: MAGIC AND MEMORY Introduction

113 115

CHAPTER 6: THE SECRETS

355

The Memory. Generalities

116

The Seven Magic Veils

Card to Order

120

On Magic Energy: A Minimal and Impossible Attempt at an Unveiling 363

127

The Little Monkeys

365

127

A Beautiful Profession of Love

369

Encoding What Is Perceived Features Storage of the Memories

139

A Preliminary Digression

139

Altered Permanence

142

Evoking Memories

147

The Comet Effect

147

Other Factors That Improve Memories

158

CHAPTER 5: DRAMATURGY

185

CHAPTER 7: THE MAGIC PYRAMID The Magic Pyramid CHAPTER 8: STYLES IN MAGIC From the Inside Impromptu Magic

357

375 377 395 397 397

The Magic of Accessories

403

From the Outside

407

187

Magic and Comedy

407

Kind of an Introduction

187

Some Laws of Laughter

409

A Human Analogy

190

Various Positive Combinations of Magic and Comedy

419

Analysis of the Emotions in Magic

197

Other Pairings

424

The Emotional Scheme

223

Manipulation

447

About the Variety of Emotions: .A.n Example

225

Mental Magic

450

Emotions

CHAPTER 9: ABOUT THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SESSION About the Construction of the Session CHAPTER 10: CREATING ILLUSION To Create Illusion

457 459 485 487

Technique in Service to the Effect

487

About ... the Art of Technique

490

In Order Not To Disappoint Outs and Resources-The Art of Fixing Mistakes in Magic CHAPTER 11: CONFESSIONS

495 495 501

About the Author: Highly Personal Comments

503

About the Preparation of the Session

511

Chapter 12: NOSTALGIA

II

515

The Spectator Facing Magic

517

The Spectator on the Other Side of Magic

521

APPENDIX 1: MAGIC AND OTHER ARTS (NOTES)

525

Magic and Magical Narration

527

Myths of Creation, Gods and Heroes, Fairy Tales Magic and Film

527

II

Rafael Bena tar TiiROUGHOUT my thirty years of friendship with Juan, I have witnessed, from a privileged seat, the development of his magical thinking. He usually

I

put his thoughts in writing for the exclusive Circular of the Escuela Magica

I

de Madrid, and he has shared them since 1974 at the J omadas Cartomagicas

:t,

del Escorial, of which he has, from the beginning, been the main force.

I

531

lNNER WORLDS

;~

Magic and Drama

535

Magic and Music

539

Magic and Painting

543

''i

549

i

meeting with fellow magicians and sharing ideas, whether when dining

APPENDIX 2: TRICKS, SYMBOLS AND MYTHS Background (A Brief Personal Story)

551

time he might dish up his superb fried eggs.

Some Phenomena of Card Magic

555

j f

Some Classic Tricks of Card Magic

561

APPENDIX 3: HIDDEN WISHES

··~ 1\

i

ti

J,

it

-

Human Wishes

573

Wish List of Mankind

575

Wishes and Their Corresponding Tricks

581

.

out or d,,uring late-night sessions that can last until breakfast, at which Juan seems to organize his life instinctively to allow himself to spend the majority of his time on the most substantial aspects of magic. He cuts out

I

As a result, he spends a high percentage of his time sitting at a table with a

I

I -~

'If'

tances and spectators is another way he refines his thinking. He_ enjoys

'i I

571

Expressing his thoughts to friends and checking them with acquain-

any trivialities, as well as many common tasks and celebrity appearances. deck of cards, working on card magic. He extends his passion to all aspects of magic in general and expands it to his enjoyment of allied arts; mainly film, music, literature and painting. All that experience is poured, both

N

consciously and subconsciously, into sleights and moves, and into all the

As we saw in the introductory pages of The Magic Way, he some-

principles of stagecraft, body language, scripting and construction, striving

times uses metaphorical images of winged horses flying through the

to reach the deepest philosophical as well as symbolic, meanings of things.

universe in search of The Magic Way. Such images are not always easy

When out for dinner, as he is an icon in Spain, he is approached by

to understand, let alone to translate. Juan had concerns tpat some read-

people of all ages who want to shake his hand, request his autograph, see

ers might not connect with this poetic imagery. He told me it is okay

a trick or have any reason to be near him and exchange a few words. He

with him if you prefer to skip those parts. I confess, I have occasionally

usually complies gracefully. Most people are kind and pleasant, and some

become lost in following the logic in some of his stories 1 as has the edi-

say something funny or something interesting to the rest of us. Yet, once

tor and perhaps some readers-but I'm glad he didn't omit them. Who

they are gone, Juan subtly refuses to be distracted by such incidents. Our

has not become lost in a Dali or a Bosch painting? Those words are

conversation promptly resumes as if nothing had happened, like a film edi-

the reflection of Juan's dreams, and dreams have elusive elements. So if

tor's cut. He doesn't let anything throw him off his cherished conversation.

you're not interested in such symbolic imagery, it's okay with Juan; but

Maybe there has been a show or a late dinner made longer with magi-

I suggest you read through it anyway, if for nothing more than to experi-

cal moments, until the tolerant restaurant owner gives us a hint, or more

ence the depth of his passion.

than a hint, that the staff needs to go home. After leaving, when the night

The text as a whole is admittedly opinionated, but those opinions have

would seem to be over, a few friends will sometimes accompany Juan to

grown out of many years of experience and many thousands of perfor-

his home-and then the visit starts, at 1:00 or 2:00 A.M. But people don't sit

mances for audiences, for friends, for television and for people from all

back on the couch with a drink and talk; not at Juan's. He has cleverly set

walks of life.

the scene, with the help of his beloved wife Consuelo (also a magician), to

In all this, Juan has practiced what he preaches: Throughout this entire

lead you smoothly to a table graced with a few close-up mats and chairs.

, book, he reaches us by showing us his inner world-all the magical things

Everyone is positioned for a productive session. And Juan always has an

he really cares about, everything that occupies a substantial portion of his

amazing number of new things to show, fresh even to those who sat at a

thinking time, all he has learned from others, from watching others and

similar session as recently as a week before.

from reading. He opens the doors of his inner world for us. That's also

A restless thinker, Juan is always looking for the meaning of things, for

the secret of how he engages and holds our attention throughout what

the most profound reasons for artistic things to exist. But he doesn't stop

appears a very long text. If you don't agree with something, I'm sure Juan

there. He investigates all aspects of the performing arts, always nurturing his thinking with a variety of arts and crafts, and exploring the mysteries

predicted as much and even finds it desirable. In that case, though, he raise~· the issues for your consideration.

of the art of communication, of reaching an audience, one of his favorite

What really matters is that you have here a rare opportunity of looking

topics of conversation. '

with a magnifying lens into the mind of a genius, who allows your inspec-

When discussing that topic throughout this book, Juan often refers

tion and invites you to do so. He hangs it all out in these pages, just about

to the artist's inner world. He sees this as one of the most important ele-

everything he thinks, every opinion, everything he has mentioned in con-

ments in communication with an audience. That's one of the true secrets

versations over the years, everything he has learned, although it's easy to

of his success: not being afraid of being sincere, of showing who he really

imagine that the process goes on forever.

is. He holds nothing back

~

xii Working with my good friend Stephen Minch has always been an enriching experience. I cannot imagine a better editor with whom to collaborate. In this case, we faced a major challenge together. It is also a mammoth project made possible by the commitment of Penguin Magic, to whose support and confidence in the project we should all be grateful. Stephen has spared no effort in pointing out anything that is unclear or ambiguous, and we have exchanged many hundreds of questions, in both directions. Some ambiguities were instantly resolved by my acquaintance with Juan's thinking and my many conversations with him through the years. I have occasionally needed to consult with my friend Camilo Vazquez, who has known Juan much longer than I have. Camilo is a co-founder with Juan of the Escuela Magica de Madrid and has provided invaluable insight. We then ran even the slightest doubts that remained by Juan to get his input and blessing.

FOREWORD

With our editorial decisions, maybe Stephen and I are also sharing something of our inner worlds, in a quest for keeping Juan's voice-collo-

J WAS seven years old. The sun ofEgyptilluminatedmypath. The Phoenicians

quial, engaging, humorous-as we have on previous occasions.

carried me toward the confluence of the two seas, from the sea within the

A good portion of this material was originally written for the limited

earth to the mythical ocean, land of the Atlanteans. It rained all the way

membership of the Escuela Magica de Madrid and published using a simple

through the journey, and the sun and the rain formed their exciting Rainbow.

method of distribution. For this group, there was little need for referencing

After dark, the beautiful moon, protected (as was magic) by Isis, mag-

each trick or article mentioned. Stephen has, when needed, checked and

netized the gazes of all sailors and formed-oh, miracle!-a mysterious and exciting night rainbow.

researched references; and during the process, I asked Juan some questions about his sources. In certain cases, he supplied additional information, which we have added to the text,

(now Astarte), goddess of the moon and of magic (only 3000 years ago).

Now that the work is over, the relief is fading away and I am beginning

And that's where, on that night, at the age of seven, I stayed awake and

to miss the exchanges with these men I am proud to call my friends.

The newly founded city of Gades (now Cadiz) was dedicated to Isis

'>

followed the hypnotic phases of the moon, and I traveled The Magic Way under the night rainbow to find the wonderful palace-castle, castle-palace of magic. I sneaked through the slit under the back door-Father Ciur6 offered his books to show me the way-and I discovered the fabulous world of parlors and drawing rooms in the castle, which was looked after by Mnemosyne (four clubs and nine diamonds embroidered into her mantle) and her nine daughters, the nine Muses. And there on the floor, other

:xv

children-in groups of seven, fifty-two and a hundred-played with cards, balls, white doves and their pretty, lacquered, wooden boxes. The three fathers (Robert-Houdin, Hofzinser and Frakson) were in charge of, and inspired, the games that the oldest son (Dai Vernon) orga-

The moon of Isis blinded me and guided me. The sun of Gades warmed me and' made me drunk with passion. T_he rain that descended from the sky and ascended from the sea refreshed me. The night-and-day Rainbow, that was formed among all this, made me marvel. I

nized, while nephew Ascanio walked the parlors and analyzed their rules

It makes me marvel and will still make me marvel in the s~venty-timesseven coming years; and I hope to find you, dear reader who is holding me

with passion. I often came out, with some of the other children in the enchanted palace, to invite along children and adults of nearby fields and distant towns. With some of the group made up by the playful and curious, we discovered doors and spaces, some empty, others full of signals waiting to be deciphered for the enjoyment of new and beautiful ways to play with cards, balls and little boxes. It was Paradise. I have spent my whole life visiting this castle-palace. I live in it. ~

Here I tell you what I saw there and felt and feel and will feel, and what the beauties of the parlors that "lazy chance or the precise laws that rule this dream, the Universe" (Borges dixit) made me discover, with which I was able to begin a playful exploration and passionate journey. The castle-palace palace-castle still possesses unknown comers, secret doors and hidden passages that lead to new and fantastic halls and gardens strewn with minerals of wonderful colors (the seven colors of the rainbow). In it, the charming Muses guide us and, while two sing and play their harps, the other seven dance and extend their translucent veils that cover, or allow, a faint glimpse of hidden spaces and gardens with their beautiful and delicate decorations. At times, during these last forty years (the number of cards in the Spanish deck) I have taken a break and written on papyrus with my sweet diabetic blood what I gradually saw, enjoyed and felt in the castle, and what my little and maybe (but only maybe) interesting discoveries told me and taught me how to feel and enjoy. Here you have them at this moment in your hands in the shape of a magical book (what a redundancy!).

in your hands, in our palace-castle-house of magic.

In our home. THE MAGIC RAINBOW.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Tii.1s book is little more than a mosaic made of articles and essays I've written throughout a period of almost forty years. It is also a mosaic because of the quantity and quality of people who have invested their -~ffort, knowledge and care to help to polish my thoughts (Jose Puchol, Roberto Giobbi, "Alan" [Alfredo Marchese] and my daughter Super Ana, to whom magic in Spain owes so much); and those who transferred my always handwritten texts, the early ones through a typewriter (Mary Pura Mirelis, who gave me so much) and later ones into a computer (Alicia my magical daughter, Pedro Hernandez and my companion and support in life and magic, Consuelo Lorgia); and those who made precise and pains-

taking t~xt corrections (Carlos Vinuesa, Jesus Etcheverry and, above all, Gema Navarro, who has also been the continuous engine that typeset and carried out the almost eternal editing of the Spanish edition). To all of them goes my total and heartfelt gratitude, which I realize can be only scantly expressed in these lines, when I consider the magnitude and quality of the effort, the patience, the dedication and the passion they have poured into it. Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!!

MAGlC What Is Magic? In the beginning, it was magic. /2PROXIMATELY

52,000 years ago, a man and a woman emerged from

' a group that was sitting there, on the floor of the cave, next to the fire. Dressed and made up, the man and the woman moved their bodies rhythmically, let out shouts that increased in speed and shrillness and, with their sooty hands, made drawings on the cave walls; they picked up mud, still moist, wrapped it in a large tree leaf and, molding it with t};leir fingers, fashioned a head; then they picked up stones and placed some on top of othe:a;s to build a primitive altar in front of which they imitated the growl of the lion and the bear, and ran after one another; they related something about a legendary man who, with only his hands, caught the bear and killed the lion; they simulated the rain with their fingers and imitated the zigzag flash of a lightning bolt. The man in the cave threw his pine-branch wand into the air and deftly caught it behind his back, showed his dry hand and suddenly it was moist; the imaginary lightning bolt burnt his hand and, upon his passing the pine wand near it, the red bum disappeared.

5

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The expressions on the faces in the group changed from astonishment to

thread from which their life hung was cut and subsequently restored); the

fear; they huddled together. The man and the woman pointed toward the

joyful feeling of levitation, the flow, the rising to the heavens; and finally

sky outside the cave and fell to the ground, exhausted by the frenzy of

their three brains-saurian, mammalian, hominid-softened and melded

the dance. Those in the group shouted and beat their open hands against

into one. They felt like children and were able to play.

their bodies for a long while, after which they too were exhausted and fell asleep on the ground.

To play the artistic game, useless and extremely beautiful, with life and death, the power of the gods; and miracles: card divinations, invisible

And some dreamed ...

travelers, single and multiple changes, here and there, to be or not to be

They dreamed that approximately 52,000 years later, what they had

in a single moment. And the irradiated playful and positive energy became love: They met

started there, that night in that cave, would be called dance, music, ballet, singing, theater, sculpture, painting, religion, medicine and magic. The man's magic of that night was now art (and science and religion)

Frakson. Some among those who awoke approximately 52,000 years later exer-

as well as magic-the magic that spoke of and imitated the power of the

cise their voices in singing, their bodies in dance, their speech in theater

gods, of rites and myths, of desire and dreams, in an ancient, universal and

and storytelling, their words in poetry, novels and tales, their fingers on the

profound symbolic language.

piano keyboard, their steady hands with the brush and the palette knife,

A young man woke up about 52,000 years after this and met Vernon

their gestures in pantomime. And some among some, not many among so

and Slydini, saw Lavand and Frakson, visited Fu Manchu and Ascanio,

many, exercised at one and the same time their fingers, their gestures, their

communicated with Robert-Houdin and Hofzinser through the written

words, their chatting, their bodies (forward and back, tum, relaxation and

word, saw in a little magic box how Copperfield flew and how Doug

tension ... ), their gazes crossing with their hands, their hands coordinat-

Henning went back to childhood. He played with the ghosts of Leipzig and

. ing with their words, their voices and even their psychology; all to create

Malini, read the Tarbell Course and Stars of Magic, got together with Juan

and perform their extremely beautiful and difficult tricks with four Aces,

Anton, Alfredo Florensa, Jose Puchol and Ramon Varela at the Sociedad

with ten thimbles, with an Okito Floating Ball, with doves created from

Espanola de Ilusionismo (Spain's main magic society), admired Chung

nothing, inexhaustible coins and their triumphs, and the Triumphs of their

Ling Soo's posters, enjoyed the effects of Fred Kaps, felt the emotion of

astonishing card magic.

the impossible when a pocket knife changed color, a sponge ball disappeared (dis-a-ppeared!) and cards separated into blacks and reds.

An extremely complex art that demands control of fingers, hands, body, voice, eyes, words and psychology; an extremely beautiful art that

And he was not the only one who woke up. Others attending that initia-

speaks of myths and symbols (with the depth of play!), that enchants and

tory evening in the cave awakened thousands of years later and were able

haunts and fascinates and excites every layer of the brain, that brings

to see the magicians of the time, and revive the emotions that combined

us headfirst into mystery, that speaks to us of desired dreams-that imi-

to tickle the inner layer of their saurian brains, to arouse the profound

tates, not the human being as does theater, not the interior rhythm as

sensations of their mammalian brains and the astonishing intellectual

does music, not the trill of birds as does singing, not nature (landscapes,

admiration of their external hominid brains, of thinking beings. In a sec-

people, sensations) as do painting and sculpture, not dreams as do mov-

ond, they felt the arcane power of myth again; the ancestral horror vacui

ies. Instead it imitates the power of the gods (no less): the fascinating

of disappearance; the horror of death and the victory of resurrection (the

total art of magic.

That's why it reaches everyone. Its universal language touches children (who don't question its veracity) and adults (who are aware of its

Magic-A Minimal ( and · to Approach a Definition_ and a Delimitation

unreal reality); the educated (who appreciate its complexity and depth), the ignorant (who feel its power), the young (who delve into the adven-

What is it?

ture of the unknown and mystery), the old (who take joy in their new

Magic is one of the performing arts that represents at a simbolic level,

childhood); to men and women, foolish and wise, intellectuals, artists,

through rites and spells, our myths: the archetypal desires and dreams of

scientists and merchants, strippers, aristocrats and lawyers and tramps

man. It makes those myths come true (or poses them as r,eality), makes

and ... and ... and ...

the impossible possible (the impossible for humans). Thusjt imitates the

I

All of them, all, can feel its power, the call to their inspiration, to their intellectual freedom (first challenged, then surrendered), to their desire

gods or superhuman beings. Magic utilizes an artistic approach with a highly complex technique of

for play, to that beautiful and enchanting art of the impossible, of imitating

fingers, body, eyes, words, etc., which is kept concealed while beguiling

the actions of the gods that will continue for a long time to enchant and

the senses and the mind through the psychology of perception, attention

poetically to bring back to childhood all those who fall prey to its games

and memory. It is based on dramatic structure-exposition, rising action,

and dreams, its mythical effects, its spells and rituals-its magic.

climax, resolution-but without resolution in the usual sense, but rather

And this for at least another 52,000 years, approximately.

a resolution/solution such as: The magician has supernatural powers or

And we, the magicians, the magicians, will transmit it.

conjures up those powers. It is addressed, in terms of a fascinating effect, to the inner child of pre-logical age. The young receive it as the adventure of encountering an emotional mystery, and the logical adult as an impossible " effect experienced as possible. It first challenges and defies the Bull of Logic. It provokes it, teases it; then fools it, mesmerizes it and puts it to sleep. Finally it plays with the Winged Horse of Imagination, fantasy and enchantment, employing metaphorical and surrealistic poetry (the key?). It charms the Horse, makes it enjoy its flight, letE? it live its dreams, projected in the power of the magician, invites it to participate, transforms it from a spectator into an "expect-ator". And it plays and dances with them, the Horse and the Bull. The Bull of Logic bellows, from beyond, its belief: "It's not possible." But now to no avail, because the expect-ator is in awe at witnessing and living the impossible. He plays and enjoys in freedom, pleased with his condition of being a god, or being one who shares experiences with a god. Magic mixes mystery with fascination, reality with dreams (impossible dreams made possible within the artistic reality). It mixes surrealistic

N

and poetic games, spells and enchantments dramagical 1 emotions secular miracles and wonders without end. It's magic.

'

'

And then comes the awakening of the Logical Bull. And the peace of mind, the rest, the serenity granted the owner of the beautiful and human power of reason. Lucidity is recovered through the lmowledge of ignoring the how but not the natural and artistic foundation of what has been experienced. The expect-ator now feels more complete, more lucid, richer, a better person. And no one can take that from him! I. Dramagic is a word I owe to my friend, magician and great connoisseur, Armando de Miguel.

THE EMOTlON-MlRACLE An Attempt to Comprehend the Magic Miracle MAGIC

is fascination. Magic is the art of enchantment. It's wrapping the

audience and the magician in a cloud, a mesmerizing atmosphere, like the ' sibyls with their sulfurous fumes. It's not about putting into the known as real something that is not so real, but about creating an enclosure, a temporary space, where the real has another dimension. And that enclosure should feel, even physically, like a cloud or like a stage filled with smoke, as if the energy surrounding the magician became ectoplasmic and were gradually expanding to reach the onlookers. Yet you can breathe and allow yourself to be invaded by the cloud; or you can cover your nose ,,,,, and mouth with your hand, with a handkerchief or with an anti-magic mask. You can even stop breathing. That's the shortest route to settle into the anti-life. Because magic should be, and is, life. Love for life, passion for life, despite everything and against that everything. Life, more life; a more and more powerful life; a vital magical energy that exudes through the pores of the skin, the hands and the fingers, that spills out of the eyes and mouth of the magician .... Such an inner, intense

N

energy, so concentrated that E = mc2 seems to be a black alchemical for-

labyrinths of the brain in search of a comfortable answer.... It is possible?

mula opposed to M = al 2: Magic= abracadabra times life squared.

The •only possible answer has already arrived. The mind also dissolves.

Captivating magic, fascinating magic, not numbing but invigorating, the

There is no longer an It is possible or It is impossible. No, it simply is.

magic of enchantment and spells. Magic that transports us to a more real

The magician, more familiar with the road, guides and conducts. His

here and now. An enclosure for living and dreaming. For dreaming our life. For living our dreams. Where Descartes either regenerates or dies, where

hands, separated, fly and come to rest on the floating hea~s of others. And something new is· produced: The hands penetrat~ the heads. This

the emporium of reason becomes the Arcadia of communes, and feelings

seems to be the signal for the humid, hot and shapeless a,nns, feet, breasts

and emotions are set free; where tight lips relax and open in a mix of wows

and thighs to cross and intertwine and melt into new and fantastic limbs

and smiles, where the body levitates, floats and spins, where gravity (real-

taking whimsicalBhapes (a hazard): a heart with fingers, a stomach with

ity) disappears, magic pushes, minimizes and finally cancels the formerly almighty force of gravity, that power which pulls our feet toward reality. No

lips, penises with eyes. The combinations of forms, colors and smells are continuous and ever

more with our feet on the ground. No more of the almighty and universal law

changing. The kaleidoscope constantly turns. There is no more fixture, no

of gravity. Or Newton and his dreams, or Einstein and his love of mystery. A

more calm, no more tightness, no more ties. The nervous system grows

meeting with Breton, with the best of Freud, with Magritte and Bosch.

like a vine and vibrates and makes all around it vibrate, mixing sensa-

But what is the image of the new reality? Let's visualize the phenomenon, describing it minutely, just as it takes place.

tions: red smells, sweet-and-sour sounds, touch in B#, peppermint visions. Memory overflows all remembrances, those we would like to know· and

In the beginning were the Words "Hocus Pocus" and the Playing Cards.

ones that are censored, those of the recent past and those of the warm

Fed up with wisdom, they start their games and daydreaming among the

maternal breast. Imagination loses its fear, mixing with memory, and pro-

magician's skillful fingers. Their eyes open wide and wider. Their feet

duces the memories of as long ago as once upon a time, of years past and

begin to rise from the floor.

days ahead, of centuries ago-now I remember-and of centuries in the

Feet up! This is a holdup waged against stability, against the established. A laborious and slow levitation of the magician's body. He rises, clinging to a deck of cards. All the fluids in his body begin to pour from his eyes, nose and ears. The blood, first red, turns green. Then, uncontrolla"" bly, lymph, urine, plasma and semen. The liquids, free of tension, become red vapors, purple vapors, white vapors. They dissolve the rigidity of the bones, allowi~g the magician to bend without twisting. Eventually they tear off his limbs. ThesR vapors reach those who attend the magical transformation, if they don't escape and this magma with a softened body and ethereal fluids helps them untighten, untie, free themselves. And what about the mind? This way.... Is it possible? Between anxiety and admiration, the mind still doubts. But it finds itself wrapped in the magician's cape .... Is it possible? The question turns soft and enters the

future. Now I remember what will happen. Playing cards provide the music. They are the fish that inhabit this sea

1

of magic. They are those who-blushing and transforming themselves, disappearing and reappearing, becoming larger and smaller, by themselves, in a fan, in a ribbon, or forming butterflies, rising from the pack, sneaking into cases, pockets, bags and wallets, calling to the colors, playing •';

princesses and cannibals, creeping up sleeves, turning over triumphantly, tearing and restoring themselves, dissolving into oil and water-keep this magical universe alive. Then, at the end, the end of only a phase, fluids evaporate, limbs come together, some intermingled with others, enriched with new powers, disguised as normal to survive to the next session, until the next, and hopefully near, magical space-time enclosure arrives.

at the limit, at the ultimate climax, lies a continuous field without distances or cracks, without borders or clocks, a universe of hazard, of joy, of emotion, of feelings, of games, of imagination, of pleasure and life. And that's where we are heading .... Are you coming, Alice?

Notes Toward a Theory of Emotion Pursuing Our Goal

Magic-

The Secular Miracle more emotion there is in the magic, the stronger the magic is. Emotion can be, at times, intellectual. But only at times . ~ The enigma of How did that happen, of It seems impossible andJ can't.figure out how is a good thing, but .... Emotion may also be aesthetic, but then only as companion to the main or essential emotion. The essential emotion that is specific to magic is the emotion of mystery. The emotion of mystery is what is felt when we confront the unknown, the unfathomed, the enigmatic, the unfathomable or the impossible. Perhaps these are the degrees or various notes creating the scale of the emotion of mystery, from a puzzle to sawing a woman in half, passing through the How did he manage to bring the selected card to the top, the

Where did the ball come from or the How can that ball.float in the air. However, all these are in themselves,· for now, intellectual emotions; tpe head, the brain, crumples, the mind is in tension; it searches, it is surprised at the unfathomable, at the not possible ... and that applies to-and is specific to-magic. Our first efforts are directed toward boosting that intellectual emotion of mystery to the maximum, to the limit, to achieve a mental shock, a headfirst collision with the totally impossible. Although that purity of the emotion of mystery, attained only at the maximum degree, is very challenging and rarely achieved, when reached it shoul

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A strong magical impression, both intellectual and emotional, must produced in the spectator as he watches the trick Those steps of the trick that interest us should be easily remember but not the ones that we are trying to conceal or that we wish to unnoticed. This way the spectator doesn't perceive or discover

what I believe a good magical effect should ~m for: a strong 18 ~motion in the present and recent past, and what I call a Comet 36 Very bright light followed by a long, white, growing, brilliant tail. here are elements that can modify the memories while they are

solution, and he believes he remembers clearly and certainly what

Let's look at them.

happened, that he is in possession of all the facts. The collision

horoughly convinced that, among the many applications to magic a study psychology of memory can afford us, achieving these Comet Effects is

reason is thus stronger and the effect more incomprehensible,

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mysterious, more impossible! And now that he is calm, he is ready enter a state of enjoyment and wonder. »

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1t,as been wonderful and fascinating!-and will c?ntinue to be.

The effects are memorable in the long run, not just in the sense th they can be remembered, but also in that they are worth rememberi that people want to remember the magical experience and perha tell others about it-and that such a desire remains with the spectato for the longest time possible. During the :first days of May of 1956, I had the experience of watching th

great Fu Manchu make an obedient twelve-inch golden ball float in a wonde ful way. It rotated around him and flew quickly several feet from him befo

it majestically returned and ceremoniously entered a wooden box held by an assistant. I was not only amazed after I recalled the impossible conditio (the ball, in its magical flight, passed several times through a solid metal hoop), but was also fascinated by the poetry of the deception, of the impossible, mythical and beautiful effect. Because of this, that effect was clearly engraved in my ~emory and I've evoked it many times since (for myself and for others). I have relived the joy and emotion I felt. And I may possibly, probably, have enhanced its already huge magical power, its impossibility and its exciting beauty. Even todaY, over half a century after having watched it, as I write these lines a pleasant chill goes down my spine, then up the steps of my vertebrae to settle nicely at the nape of my neck, producing such pleasure..

of the greatest. We will discuss this later and at more length.

Altered Permanence Let's remember the statement made near the beginning of this chap The objectivity and veracity of any memory is the exception, not ~

rule. Furthermore, the subjective sensation of certainty ("I'm snre") by means guarantees the objective value ("That's how it was") of the eve Curiously, the sensation of certainty has no relationship with the ti elapsed between the storage of the event and its retrieval, although tes monies about a recent occurrence tend to be more accurate. We'll begin with the fact that memories are altered although we mig often be convinced they are accurate ("I remember perfectly, as if I wer watching it right now"). As Jules Lemaitre puts it: "We never remembe things exactly." Our observations, the events, the sensations we expert,,. enced-we believe we know them, but we inevitably invent them. Although we are aware that many of the alterations of memories ma happen because they were not well observed or encoded, very often memory of something is altered even though it was well encoded, because it wasn't properly stored. This can happen for the following reasons.

Elapsed Time The more time that elapses between perception-storage and retrieval, the more confusing and fragmentary the retrieval will be; and we will see, when we study the evocation of memories, that we always try to fill in gaps in the memory, making up whatever is needed and then believing with certainty what we have invented. This is why Proust said that remembering is not only searching for memories, but also "creating" them. The time elapsed increases the number of gaps and their size, facilitating the involuntary and at times subconscious creativity of the memory.

•·(mayb e subconsciously) everything that is necessary to make it 37 hensible. • . . to lean on logic is a double-edged sword for the magid t the nee . . us boost the conflict between logic and hand it can help Onth eone ' • that we present to t~e spectator. On the other hand,; it can be harme spectator, eager to find a logical explanation, mig~t make up steps didn't happen and believe he is remembering them. 1;his is one of the est problems of performing magic for children. ere are multiple ways to fight this danger in magic: flawless execuclarity of action, strong encoding of the conditions (the ones we want mbered, not the others), making the right things easy to remember, g the impression that there couldn't have been anything more than is remembered, and good (concise!) recaps before and after the event.

.eferences and Tendencies have seen how general tendencies in our thinking and preferences can r the encoding of events. Also, their storage is affected by those facts, transforming the events to fit our interests and preferences. . We have the tendency to forget what is unpleasant and to make up emories that are suitable to our wishes. Here, once again, The Comet fect comes into play. 38 In magic, it is very common that someone who is strongly impressed a trick and enjoys it, when describing it to another person, will embelsh ·the effect, improving it to an impossible level. After all, if he was oled-or rather, amazed-it is because the cause of the effect was comtely indetectable and the effect itself was full of charm. He will then ecount it to others in a manner that causes his listeners to perceive it in the same way. From that point on, that's how the narrator believes the trick

87. This behavior can also be part of the retrieval of memories, because it is when The Desire of Logic We want everything we experience to be comprehensible, logical and coherent. If something isn't, we try to adjust it, even if we must

evoking memories that the desire arises to impart logic to the story. We'll study retrieval more deeply in the next section, "Evoking Memories". Although this subject is specifically addressed below, in the study of the evoking of memories, I am previewing some of the ideas here.

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happened-just as he has told it. If the listener, in turn, tells it to some

forms with very simple and regular forms, as well as highlight-

else, he will improve it even more; and, if the impression he received u

significant. details." Thus, memories tend to become schematic in

hearing it was vivid, in time he will begin to repeat the effect as a li , experience and will even come to believe he was a witness to the effect

of simpler formal structures, toward "forms of balance". ause of this process, a complex routine of card productions, van-

read it in a newspaper, etc. The capacity for self-deception (self-illusi

color changes, translocations, etc. will probably pe remembered as

is enormous, and I believe the magician should bear it in mind and use

uous production of cards, which, even if it dir/ninishes the effect

to improve his art. (It has long been used for·advertising, commercial

ain way, makes it easier to remember. It is more memorable and

But the phenomenon described above-and this is very important-

ore a better effect in regard to the Comet's Tail. example: Jose Florences Gill's and Frakson's creation (production)

be produced only if the impression of the first person was favorable. If

dreds of lit cigarettes is memorable, if we remember correctly. With

impression of the trick or the magician was unfavorable, the phenomena

n there are also effects of the creation of smoke, vanishes, the incom-

will work in the opposite direction. Thus, a spectator will be able to descri

ility of a handkerchief, etc. It is, though, the single, repetitive and simple

a trick he watched as miraculous if, and only if, aside from having felt a stro

pt of continuous cigarette production that remains in the memory.

political, with objectives very different from ours.)

magical effect, he found the personality of the magician pleasant; if there w chemistry and sympathy between performer and spectator; or if the pe former is a loved one: a son, friend, girlfriend .... On the contrary, the spectat

er factor of great interest for the magician is the phenomenon of

will diminish the quality of the effect, filling it with augmented imperfectio

densation, through which facts and images remembered and several

if he finds the magician unpleasant, if he didn't like him, if the performer's

s retrieved are merged, giving birth to compound, condensed images,

selfish or pretentious attitude made him feel attacked, if he is an enemy or competitor in some field, etc. Also, if the spectator feels negative emotions

details of which are doubtful in their accuracy. This knowledge provides a magnificent weapon for the magician.

(frustration, insecurity... ), the quality of the effect will be diminished in his

example, in the construction of routines in which the same effect

telling of it to others: It was just skill, it was slow, he put it up his sleeve, etc.

repeated, we can and should change the underlying method, so that a

Therein lies the importance, above all, of the Comet's Tail (remem-

ment that was less clear in the first version can become entirely clear

brances of the trick); of empathy with the magician's personality, as well

the second, and vice versa. The memory of the specta~or condenses

as his capacity for communication, and his charm, his honesty, his atti-

th versions and, given our tendency to believe that the same effect

tude and his humanity.

been produced by the same cause, he will remember an effect that

For me, the best effects I have ever seen were undoubtedly those per-

extremely clear in all its phases, in all its moments-a totally magical

formed by my daughters Ana and Alicia, and that's how I describe them, to

ect. Hofzinser and Dai Vernon are undisputed masters of this type of

whoever wishes ( or doesn't wish, it makes no difference) to listen.

plication to the structure of their routines. (Let's remember the great ofzinser's "Everywhere and Nowhere" and the equally great Vernon's

The Normal Factors-The Gestalt Gestalt psychology has reached the conclusion that "the processes of deformation of memories consist, in general, of replacing the more

utine for the Ambitious Card.) And with that we reach the third phase of the process: the· evoking of

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EVOKlNG MEMORlES The Comet Effect the previous section I've commented on what I call The Comet Effect, uality I believe a good magical effect needs. There is a bright point, the feet as perceived by the spectator in the first place, followed by a long that increasingly grows in size and brilliance, which is the effect as it's ing felt and remembered by the spectator, and which is then perhaps ld to others, during its life in the memory, with the passing of time. We mustn't forget that the magical effect is not what the magician presnts. It's not a factual impossibility, but rather what the spectator believes sees. If I, the magician, divine a card selected by a spectator, but I say,

'The card you saw was ... the Two of Diamonds, " the real effect is not tlfut a physically selected card was divined, but that a card just seen-or maybe only thought of-was divined. And here is where the growing and luminous tail of the comet appears: lf you can make the spectator, in his memory (a few hours, days or years later), believe that what you divined, a card he saw, was a card he thought of, without his seeing it or touching it, the effect, augmented in his mem-

ory, is better, more powerful, and the magic more wonderful.

We magicians have the everyday experience, after our performance of noting how enhanced memory is the general rule rather than the e:xce tion. How often are we asked to repeat that trick in which the coi magically travel from one of the spectator's hands to the other, witho the magician being near or touching the coins-and we find ourselv unable to repeat it under the marvelous conditions remembered. In such situations, I confirm the fantasy· narrated by the spectator. Keep in mind, if that is what he remembers, that is his truth and the effect

a

he is experiencing at the moment. In my early days as a magician, it felt little awkward accepting and confirming such memories. I felt I was being unfaithful to the truth. I later realized that if people had told me the external truth they had perceived-"! freely selected a card and you named it; it was incredible!"-! would have confirmed it without the slightest qualm. But this version of the trick is as far from reality as the improved one because the card was not freely selected; it was forced; and of. course I' didn't divine anything at all. That's how I came to understand that the enhanced version is just as truthful as the one adhering more closely to reality. When a spectator narrates the magical effect he experienced, both he and those of us listening know that we aren't talking about the actual reality but about the artistic reality within the scope of art. And yes, right then, at that precise moment, what is narrated is actually true, because it is what the spectator feels, built on what he felt and then improved on while evoking it. All that is lacking is to thank him for his invaluable cooperation in co-authoring the trick. Isn't that beautiful? What I'm trying to analyze here are the causes of this enhanced memory of the effect and how it is possible for the magician to influence its

Is The

k that, above all, The Come~ Effect is produced by the desire of ·tor to revive or transmit the sensation of miracle, of wonder. spect a . . . . nishment and fascination of the senses produce a Joy that mvolves him of his astonished brain andjpyful soul. And he sUIVI·ves in some comer . , s to tell others about it, to share it. Often, when he.tells it to a friend, better transmit to him the impossibility and the joyfql sensation experied, he exaggerates almost subconsciously (and we ,will later see what "almost" is about). He exaggerates the final effect and the conditions: ens of cigarettes appeared! (Frakson was introduced as "The Magician the Thousand Cigarettes"; yet, in his longest routine, he produced-nine!) The almost in the previous paragraph refers to the fact that this exagger. g of the effect is not totally conscious or voluntary. It's not that we, as ctators, are lying when we recount what we saw-we are trying to transmit hat we felt, the magical emotion, mystery and wonder. So we augment and hellish the narration, because we can't accurately remember the details. We relive the experience as we narrate it. In other words, we feel "-what we narrate. It's not a cold scientific description. We relive the astonishment, the joy, the sensation of wonder. And this experiencing of the enhanced trick is, from now on, the true reality for us. The next time we remember it, we will begin from this improved version and build from there. We will remember a further enhanced variation, and this process of augmentation continues with each retrieval. I think we are now in possession of the facts needed to reconstruct the sequence that forms The Comet Effect for the spectator: » »

formation and boost it. Doing so will increase the magical effect in the long run as mu~h or more than a good manipulative, physical or psychological technique. Or it could be that technique, dramatization and presentation, in addition to the elements our analysis might discover, will be the causes and the enhancers of the tail of The Comet Effect. Let's see.

'IL.../V ........ ...,.., ~•:::!:~~~-::; .,..,.,,~r'1rLIL'-''--•'UI.

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The magical emotion was wonderful. It wasn't told to him, he experienced it. He infused himself with that experience. His physiological sensations (nerves, anxiety, holding his breath accelerated heartbeat, etc.) were recorded in his sensory ' memory and make him, or allow him to, remember and repeat the experiences when he evokes the effect. He wants to recreate or transmit the emotion of the magic he experienced, to share it.

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He doesn't remember the details perfectly, but believes he does. He feels a positive effect and an empathy with the magician's person · His verbalization of an improved version of the trick becomes t starting point for future remembrances, perhaps further enhanced. Let's look at some everyday examples:

The beautiful play of the center-forward of our team is often reme bered and then told, considerably improved. •If, on top of that, the pl ·was the final goal that won the Cup against the eternal rival of our te and we were in the stadium to experience it, among our team's fans, w will probably remember it as an epic event in which the forward dribble past three players, made an outrageous heel shot and, barely having angle, slipped the ball past the hands of the rival goalkeeper, thanks to the subtle spin he put on it. The review of the play on TV the next month can show us the reality: He dribbled past only one opponent, he had a reasonably good angle to make the shot, it wasn't done with his heel but with his instep and the ball ricocheted off one of the defensive players. A classic example in the study of memory that displays its low reliability notes the different versions given to police by witnesses of a gun assault that affected them profoundly: -There were two tall, dark-skinned men with machine guns. -There were three men. Two were short and one of average height, and they had guns. The truth is that there were two short men, one with a gun, the other with a sawed-off shotgun. And if these men put us through a nightmare, it's logical that we feel an aversion, almost a hatred, which may cause us to remember them as having unpleasant faces, selfish manners, twisted things that might not be true. With the passage of time, it's possible we will remember details we didn't see-things we were told and facts altered by other witnesses~ perhaps even spiced up with details from an old movie. Now we can answer that interesting question: How do we make the spectator improve the effect in his mind when recalling it hours or days after having seen it? I think certain factors need to be maximized. We will call them:

an

s ormous and Positive . the essential factor of the magician's personality appears. If a am, athizes with the person who is the magician and with what orsymP . : ·t from his inner world if the spectator hk~.'S that person or,

snn s

.

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:

. charmed or fascinated by him, the battle is

w?n. The spectator

• . . 1· h e and tend to evoke the person who charmed ,rhlm with de 1g t,

'IS

. tend to improve the effect he saw. If he tells others, relatives and 11 ds, about that effect, he will act like a mother talking about how well .son sings. have experienced, in myself and with people very close to me, the

1

t to which the perception of the magician and the memory of his perality are influential in a positive way, and occasionally in a negative on~.

remember attending with my partner-a woman well versed m c-the performance of a good magician who presented a series of ng effects, well executed in every way. I liked it, but when I asked her, at did you think?" she answered, "Well, it was so-so." Me: "But didn't you see how impossible it was when the cards traveled the envelope and when the ring appeared on the rope? Did you see any t of how he did it?" She: "Well, he must have put it in there at some point ... or the rope was roken ... I don't know." I insisted: "Didn't you see that he gave the rope away at the end?" · And she cut me off: "Yeah but, come on, I don't care. I didn't like it. I 'dn't like him. Period." I should point out here that there are certain exceptions: certain niuses of magic who have not perhaps been simpatico, yet have posessed a very strong personality, enormously interesting, at times ,f:ascinating, and they've transmitted a rich and attractive inner world, perfectly conveyed through an artistic path of magic.

39

Of course, they are blessed with that gift, so mysterious and, for me, indefinable that we call charisma or duende or charm or aura or appeal or ...

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152

153

The Power of the Magical Effect

ire of Recreating the Wonderful Experience

To be remembered, the effect should be truly powerful That's one the factors (we'll discuss others later) that make the spectator want . remember and evoke the effect. He will do so if he has experienced as totally "impossible" and "fascinating", the two key· words in our And the astonishment felt when perceiving the impossible should be j that: authentic a-s-t-o-n-i-s-h-m-e-n-t. Like fascination, it should cont charm, dream, poetry.... Also, the more powerful the effect, the better the chances that t spectator will want to evoke it repeatedly in the future. And as we ha seen, in each evocation and narration to others, the effect will improv

Symbolism After a gambling demonstration, every time any of the spectators play watches or refers to a card game (especially if it's the same game), h will want to recall the effect presented, because he would like to hav the magician's power. In this case, the conscious, explicit meaning of th effect is what encourages the wish. Most classic effects have the power 0

ebrating It ;· g experienced during a trick (or session or show) has been posof joy and pleasure, of amazement, impossibility and fascination; roent is felt for the power and wonder in what ~as been seen; if a atmosphere, a bubble of illusion, has been created; if everything has e a beautiful and incredible dream shared by the group, the audience, · g relatives, friends and those who came to the se~sion with us; if the here of the theater, hall, pub or private home where everything took helped us feel the experience was unique and unrepeatable; there is no that the desire of recreating it, telling it, sharing it and celebrating it will e and on certain occasions be almost irresistible. though this boosting of the desire and pleasure of sharing with ones the joy we felt, the beautiful artistic experience, is common e other arts, it is in our magic that the experience of astonishment is tained by unresolved logical, rational conflict that notably urges us to e recreate and augment the artistic effect we felt.

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evocation in themselves, either in their conscious significance or in the· subconscious symbolism, which is metaphorically expressed: letting g or becoming free of the ties of life (metaphoric but felt as real), healin wounds (curative), having power over objects, mastering time (knowing the future, abbreviating the wait, going back to the past), producing metamorphoses between objects and people, multiplying wealth, etc. 40 Therein lies the enormous importance, in the most artistic kind of magic, of having a strong and fascinating symbol implicit in the trick: An impossible wish, sometimes not a conscious one, fulfilled by the magical effect within the artistic reality, is latent or expressed in good tricks. 41 40. See more on the subject of symbolism under the heading of "Emotions" in the next chapter (p. 187) and in the earlier chapter dedicated to classic effects and symbolism in magic (p. 71). 41. Which, by the way, do exist. There are good and bad tricks. Very good and very bad. Don't doubt it. There are some tricks that, no matter who does them and

re are still other circumstances that encourage us to recall and tell 0thwhat we have seen. One of them is that we were there and actively 'cipated. Our participation in a trick-which, as we all know, increases effect for us as well as for our friends, and even for those sitting next to m-awards us, when we tell it to others who weren't present, a certain portance, because we were in the spotlight, as direct and active particts in a secular miracle: "I thought of the city myself, and the magician n named it. And I made it difficult for him because I thought of Istanbul how they do them-presuming they don't butcher them-will produce a great effect (Linking Rings, the Invisible Deck, Ambitious Card, Levitation, Cut and Restored Rope, Egg Bag, etc.); and there are others that are confusing, with weak effects, without an implicit symbol: little technical trifles that not even the likes of Frakson could make live and transmit magical emotion. Selecting tricks with good judgment is, I think, the first step for a good magician.

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and not Paris or Madrid or London." "I lmow the guy who checked the kn He works in my company." "I had those rings that linked and unlinked in hands, and they were absolutely solid and unbroken." The pleasure of this astonishment is multiplied if the magic has h pened in our own hands: "I was holding the copper coin very tightly in fist, and it changed to silver." "The sponge ball multiplied in my hand." . had any four cards between my palms and the four Aces gathered ther "I and other people guessed the color, red or black, of each and every c in the deck." "I checked the whole process from less than a foot aw Everything happened in front of my very eyes. "42

Facility Evoking the Effect Improving It upon Its Evocation The effect, to begin with, must comply with the conditions of the so-calle Carlyle Criteria: 43 It must have maximum clarity and power; the simple the more repeatable, the more direct, the better. It can be described as single idea in a few words (the Gypsy Thread, Multiplying Balls, a divi"" nation of a thought-of card, etc.). Complicated procedures and complex sequences in its development are avoided. We should point out that these criteria do not conflict with the constructivist style (Hofzinser, Vernon, the Madrid School. .. ) in which the effects are routined, combined and even made more complex. It's the task of the interpreter of this style to make the spectator experience each effect, one by one, even though they take place at almost the same time. The pauses for dramatization and assimilation are measured; the complex effect is given a clear reading. See, as a paradigmatic example, Hofzinser's "Omnipotence of Women". 44 Sometimes the facility of evocation and the 42. The continum;is and active participation of most of the group is just one of the specific, marvelous features in the powerful art of close-up magic. 43. Francis Carlyle, a magnificent American magician, known as the creator of "The Homing Card", a masterpiece of card magic. 44. Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser: Non Plus Ultra, Vol. 2, Magic Christian, 2013. Hermetic Press, Inc./Conjuring Arts Research Center: New York, p. 133.

rnent of effect rely on making the effect embody multiple and .ed units, such as a continuous production of cards from the air d-manipulation act, while disregarding other effects such as disapCes

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or translocations of the cards. it is evident that such simplicity or, rather, non-complicaany c ase , i the effect and its development facilitates its e~ocation, narration I

nhancement.

ncourage the spectator's repeated wish to evoke the effect, the magican create what I call evoking hooks: objects, actions, music, phrases, which the spectator "hangs" his memories and then, when s, etc ., On e hooks appear in his everyday life, they bring back the memory of magical experience. The strongest kind of evoking hooks are objects given as souvenirs one or several spectators who have taken part in the effect: the card ed by both the spectator and magician that magically traveled, the tored rope, an origami figure, the envelope in which a ring appeared, fruit that appeared under the cup, etc. It's not easy to exaggerate the ormous potential of objects that play an essential role in the trick; a pupt, balls, a safety pin, coins or banknotes-perhaps foreign ones of low ue. When the spectators see them and show them to others, they will 11 them the story and improve the effect. Furthermore, the aroused curi;sity in the listeners, as well as their active examinations _of the objects, · l make them feel more intensely the magic of what they've been told, ~ost as if they had experienced it and not just heard about it. Thus, The

Comet Effect, with time, not only increases its light and brilliance for the spectator who saw the effect, it also illuminates, wraps and immerses the ;~rowing number of his blessed listeners in its magic. Evoking hooks can also be non-material-mime, sound, words, actionsthat may be left with spectators. For example, a magical curiosity that is shown to them during the trick and that they can repeat and present to their friends: folding a bank note to make it look like two, an easy :flourish

with. cards or coins, the puzzle with two corks. There are all kinds

0

f games

and ideas, as ~ell as words, phrases and magical spells, that are memorable because of their sound (Sim Sala Bim' Abracadabra, etc ·) and are repeated thro~~lwut the session. When they encourage spectators to remember the magician, they also help them evoke the effects he presented. Certain repeated lines are also useful for this evoking function: "What night!" (Pepe Carrol), "It's amazing!" (Frakson) and other phases that mi ha . h gt occur mt e spectators' everyday lives, as they hear acquaintances say them

ffered a shot in a restaurant, he will probably remember your magic tell those around him about it, surely improving the magical effect, maybe the whole session.

mporary Summation e effect must be a bright spot, but its magical strength can grow when membered by the spectators (the brilliant tail of The Cbmet Effect). For that:

or when it seems appropriate to say them themselves. But they are effective

The spectator should want to remember with pleasure or admiration

only when they are not repeated excessively during the session, when they

or interest the person who was the magician, the person who has fas-

have ~t, duende or charm, and when they naturally suit the style and personality of the magician. In other words, they should never feel forced or artificial but are heartfelt and genuinely grow from the personality. It is well known that the music, lyrics or the odors (incense and scents) that accompany a trick are wonderful evoking hooks for a whole session or a particular trick. A third kind of evoking hook consists of memorable images. For exam-

cinated him with his persona and artistic style. The magical effect should have been truly powerful, logically impossible, brilliant, exciting and mesmerizing. » The effect should carry the implicit or explicit symbol of an impossible, fascinating, magically fulfilled wish. The magician should strive to make the spectator want to evoke (for

ple, you produce a giant coin and leave it in view throughout the session

himself and for others) the extraordinary experience he lived. The wish to share should increase. That occurs if there is solid, active

referring to it from time to time: "This is Gulliver's coin. If I pay with it'

participation from the spectators in the process of the trick: They

they give me five-foot sandwiches and double portions of everything.:, Then, only at the end of the session, you pick it up and comment on its size, the difficulty of putting it into your pocket, its weight. Then you add something like ''But it's worth it. What a dinner I've got coming!" In tricks that don't carry an implicit evocative power, try to devise . . ' imagme and search for some emotional hook. For example, in a card routine, I introduce a small Moorish tea glass on which are colored drawings. These drawings have the power to produce my magical effects-transforming cards, g~thering the Aces and Kings for a poker hand, even materializing coins and banknotes-when the tea glass is set on top· of the deck. After the routine, there are always spectators who jokingly offer to buy the wonderful glass. A good answer to this is: "Actually, some small glasses have this power. You can check for yourselves when you use one of them. " When, a few days later, a spectator has a glass of wine or tea, or

think, examine, choose, touch, take, keep, respond, help, witness .... The more involvement there is, whether of one person, several or the whole group, and especially if the effect happens in their hands .or with their possessions, the more eager they will be to relate their experience to others. The effect should be easy to recall. Remember Carlyle's Criteria: sim"~ple, strong, direct, impressive and easy to describe. » Evoking hooks should be incorporated without difficulty: objects, phrases, music, odors .... We will later discuss another magnificent technique that boosts The Comet Effect: "The Work of the Magician after the Session" (p. 182). But for now, let's continue to study other factors that improve what is evoked.

Other Factors

Improve Memories

There are some precise techniques, in addition to those already mentioned that can help improve the memory of the effect seen. For the morrient, will set three objectives for ourselves:

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1. Reinforcing the positive conditions.

We wish to cause all the positive conditions that made the effect seem magical and impossible to be remembered clearly ("The cards were shuffled by the spectators", "He showed the bo:x: empty" ... ) and even to augment those conditions. 2. Forgetting the negative conditions. We wish to cause all the negative conditions to be forgotten ("At the end, the magician touched the deck", "He put his hand into his pocket" at a time when it is suspicious ... ). 3. Remembering what never happened. We wish to form memories of positive conditions that never existed ("The spectator thought of the card" when he actually looked at it ' "Everything had been examined" when this isn't the case). Now let's look at some techniques that help us achieve these three objectives.

First Objective: Reinforcing the Positive Conditions I use three specific techniques: »

The Absurd or Exaggeration We add these features during the action we want remembered. We'll illustrate this with an example used earlier: I ask a spectator to shuffle the deck while holding his hands above his head, so that everyone can see. The image is funny and memorable. Or, to convey that a card case is empty, I tell the spectator to feel inside it and to be careful, because I sometimes forget my mousetrap in there. Sometimes I use an old verbal gag, still perfectly effective: "There is nothing and, above all, no one

inside. "45 The same idea may be used for stressing that a card was thought of, rather than taken or seen: "Would someone please cover the eyes of our friend with your hand, so that he can concentrate and think of a card-but don't fall asleep. Have you thought of one already? Imagine it. You may uncover his eyes. Can you see anything now, other than· little colored stars?" But I must stress here that the verbal exaggeration and absurdity should be in balance with the importance of the action for the magical effect. Simply telling someone to shuffle the cards should suffice if the effect will be a transposition or a divination in which the initial shuffle isn't essential. We must be careful not to exaggerate our exaggeration. The Overview Prior to the Effect This is a technique the old masters, especially Robert-Houdin, used exquisitely. It consists of making, if possible, a verbal overview of the actions we want remembered: "One of you-you-shuffled the deck over your head," or "You thought of a card with your eyes tightly closed and blindfolded. You didn't take it or see it, you only imagined it. "However, we must be careful not to make these summations too long or to repeat them too often. A single, clear overview given prior to the realization of the effect is enough, and then only in certain cases, when it is really necessary. It's a magical tool that should not be abused, but it is enormously effective when used properly. It also heightens the drama prior to the effect and has positive consequences for the pause for.assimilation after the effect. 46 » Reinforcing with Gestures or with Whispers after the Effect Our idea here is to sum up the effect with gestures during the pause for assimilation, while the audience applauds. We can whisper, or even state in a normal voice (it will not be heard because of the applause), and mime the conditions of the trick, but only those that we want to fix in the memories of the spectators. An example will make this clear: 45. I use many examples from card magic because it is my beloved specialty, so I know them well. You can adapt these ideas to your specialty. 46. See "The Beloved Art of the Pause", p. 310.

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The tric~ i~ over, the spectators applaud, and the magician promptly says, pomtmg to the participant, "This is the card you thought of. without looking at it. " The magician covers his own ey 2 s. Then' pointing to the spectator who shuffled, he says, "This is the deck shuffled at the beginning. "The magician holds his hands over his 0

yo:

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WU

head, miming the action of shuffling. He doesn't have to pronounce the words. He can just think them or whisper them to himself. With all this-and always without exaggerating the gestures-we greatly help the spectators to recall quickly and easily the positive conditions of the procedure, so that they can immediately go on to enjoy the magical effect, its beauty and its symbolism. They will have the whole procedure of the trick clear and fresh in their minds, feeling its impossibility, and they surrender and enjoy it.47

Second Objective: Forgetting the Negative Conditions Luckily for us magicians, the most constant function of our minds is not the task of remembering but that of forgetting. We forget almost everything we see, feel or do. We retain only what our minds consider very, very, very important. We encode it, retain it, remember it. And only such things go into long-term memory. The rest is forgotten. 4s And that's what concerns us here: that the circumstances that work against our objective of creating illusion are forgotten. Logically, we want to prevent them from being noticed, from being seen; or we want them perceived with a very divided attention; or we want them to stay only in short-term memOI}\ 47. I have been employing this technique effectively for many years. Curiously, I began using it in a completely intuitive way. Only years later, when my dear brother in magic Gaetan Bloom pointed out, after seeing me use it, how powerful he considered this technique to be, did I become conscious of it and begin to use it methodically. It very often happens this way: The artist figures out something intuitively; then he or others analyze it and make it available to other artists-and the art is enriched. 1

48. It can't be any other way. Read "Funes the Memorious" by Borges to see the maddening consequences that remembering everything could have.

going into mid-term or long-term memory-fading away after a few onds and becoming irretrievable, as if they had never existed, erased

tt;

m our memory. In other words, we don't want these facts to be encoded, or we don't t them to pass into mid-term or long-term memory. To prevent encoding, we should avoid or eliminate circumstances that elp the encoding of facts, as commented on earlier. Precisely how to hieve this lac~ of attention by dividing or physically and mentally misdicting attention is what magicians have studied the most thoroughly and is usually the objective of manipulative technique, of the various types of ·sdirection, and the whole psychology of deception, from false solutions in-transit actions, from the parenthesis of forgetfulness to controlling the gaze, from the secret technique for relaxation to conditioned naturalness. Therefore, I believe it's useless to go further into the subject here. I refer the reader to the works of the magical giant, Robert-Houdin (that contain the essence of all psychological theories), and to those of Vernon, Slydini, Hugard, Keith Clark, Ramsay, Darwin Ortiz, Burger, Kurtz and, of course, Maestro Ascanio, as well as· many others, among them, perhaps, some of my own works. But we should observe here that, to prevent negative conditions from passing to mid-term or long-term memory, we must not refer to those conditions verbally. We should forget them ourselves, ignoring them in our overviews and recaps before and after the effect, and we should maintain an attitude in accordance with their nonexistence: the powerful weapon of disarming looseness applied to this subject. A few pages down (page 173, to be precise) I will describe the technique of "emotional erasers" that can be used to prevent elements, circumstances and negative conditions in short-term memory from passing into long-term memory.

Third Objective: Remembering What Never Happened This is something, in my judgment, of the greatest interest, because it notably increases the impossibility of the effect produced and the amplitude of wonder.

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at was your card?" The spectator names it and the magician reacts

Using precise techniques, we will attempt to make the spectato

can simulate by using a manipulative technique, such as back-palming

th joy: "Yes!" The spectators, vyho have followed the procedure of · k deep down confirm the impossibility that the card thought etnc , has been found by· the magician without his touching the deck

coin to make the hand appear empty, but to actions that never took Plac

d thanks to the repµtation earned by the magician during previous

remember some positive conditions within the procedure of the tri conditions that never really existed. I am not referring here to those

in the trick, yet are nonetheless "remembered" by the spectators. Let's look at these techniques: · .

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·SO

»

happy when he hears the name of the card, that's ·an unmistakable

Temporary Confusion

signal that the miracle has occurred. The spectators relax, the magi-

If I have the deck shuffled by the spectators in a trick and then shuffled

cian relaxes and, without making it seem important, he picks up the

again in the next trick, but not in the third (in which I might be using

deck and shows the card on top (after a Pass, a Palm, the addition of

a stack), I could state during the overview of the prior effect, "Now

I'll leave the deck with the person who shujfied it. It was you, right?" The spectators, unaware of what the next effect will be and therefore of the importance of having the deck shuffled by a spectator ' easily accept my comment, which is confirmed by the spectator who receives the deck When, after the effect, they remember the conditions, they will include something that never happened. It actually did happen but not during that trick They are confused by the when, not by the what. In my recap following the effect, I can also include the spectator's shuffle that didn't take place. »

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tricks, the spectators are amazed by the miracle, ev~n before seemg card. If the magician said he would not touch th~ deck and he is

Impossible Promises Before the start of the trick, the magician makes assertive statements that will not be totally fulfilled or, rather, will not be fulfilled exactly as stated, but with slight, though essential, differences. Yet, the fact that these things are stated openly and confidently the magician produces a confirmation in the minds of the spectators of the circums~ances just as they have heard them. Later, if the difference between what was promised and what really happened isn't noticeable, it is more than likely that what was heard as a promise remains as an experienced reality in the minds of the spectators. Here is an example (in card magic again, sorry): "Now name a card. I'll leave the deck there on the table. I will not touch the cards again.

the card on top, whatever). The spectators will confuse, in their memory, what they actually saw (the magician did touch the cards) with what they heard, believed and internalized (he will do it without touching the deck). Not out of vanity, but to support the concept with the opinions of great experts, I must tell you that this technique has flown by magicians of the caliber of Vernon, Jennings and Lorayne. After I later revealed the principle to them, one, amazed, told me he was sure that what I'd promised had been fulfilled.

Opening a Parenthesis: Persistent Memories Carried Over Regarding this subject I will allow myself a momentary parenthesis: I will comment on a curious personal experience that I believe is applicable to everyone, and through this I will attempt to approach the explanation of how this phenomenon of confusion through false promises works. I have several times observed in myself a type of experience that perplexes me because I don't know its mechanism and haven't been able to find an explanation in the modern psychological literature I've consulted. This isn't surprising given that I'm not a psychologist, the body of psychological information is huge and always growing and, as the experts on the subject observe, we are very far from knowing everything about memory.

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Here is an example of the phenomenon. Someone tells me, "Did y: know that Federico was in a car accident and broke his hip?" Federico a magician friend, and immediately I feel truly sorry about his accident; then think of the consequences: "He won't be able to perform in the sho on Thursday. I'm going to have to look for someone to fill in for him. I internalize this idea and others, similar and divergent, but all of the are consequences of Federico's accident. My brain relates the event Wit many things and circumstances: "His girlfriend will be upset. Perhaps h was a careless driver. If he ends up lame, it will be difficult for him to pe form stage illusions ... " And there are other things that don't go through my conscious mind. Hours later I learn the truth. He wasn't the driver when he had the

the emotions and procedure of the effect. But in their will probably not modify all the imagined consequences of h zytcy . •tiallY promised event: The magiG seen was not based on manipulaersed

-in .u.•

the magicians performance was extraordinarily clean, etc. . don't really know why this happens, but with mor;e than a httle rity, 1 will jump to a possible explanation: I propose t~at several conons among neurons are formed, and neural networks are created. e produce sensations and ideas, so that later, when th•e initial event is cted, not all the chains of connections are modified, allowing those cted consequences of the initial event to remain in the memory. In case, I believe the important thing for us is that, applying it to magic, orks like a charm.

I Close the Parenthesis.)

accident, and he suffered only a light bruising to one leg. Naturally, I feel relieved, and I realize my friend will be able to perform on Thursday, so I

turning to our subject of impossible promises, I think great care should

don't need to find a substitute, his girlfriend will be fine, he won't be lame

taken in maintaining the proper balance between what is promised and at is finally achieved. It's quite clear that, if it's easy to remember what promised and to perceive the differences from what was achieved,

' etc. So far, everything is logical. But a day later, strangely, I catch myself starting to look for the telephone number of someone to replace Federico, or I say to a friend, "Poor Federico, always driving so carelessly." In other words, even ifl erase or correct the essential fact that Federico

did not break his hip when he was driving, it's hard to correct all the implications that grew out of the fact, especially those further along in a logical chain and recorded in my memory at a less conscious level. This has happened to me on many occasions and, through conversations and observation, I've discovered that it happens to others as well. I call them Persistent Memories, immune to the erasure of the fact that caused them. I believe that the mechanism producing this anomaly of memory is the same one at work in unfulfilled promises. When we announce that sorm.:thing will happen in a certain way-/ will not touch the deck-we do fumly and convincingly, and the spectators begin to construct direct, indirect, conscious and less conscious consequences. Later, as events develop, they may be able to correct the circumstance-He grabbed the deck-if they consider it an important point, although this is very unlikely, as they

stration and a lack of trust will arise, which our spectators may even neralize, applying these feelings to other moments or statements by the 49

gician that were, or will be, truthful. Any citizen nowadays is aware of the cynical abuse-at times blatant,

t others subtler-of this technique. It occurs to a large extent in personal and party politics and in the promised political programs. Note how, despite their repetition and manifest falseness, we keep fall~ng-sometimes, many times-into the same trap. A certain sort of advertising, the super-sales and the evening televised talent-contests are other examples we all know well. Luckily, our application has better ethical objectives: playful, artistic; we are producers of illusion and happiness. 49. See Chapter 5 on "Dramaturgy" and especially the section on "Emotions" (p. 187), where I analyze the use ( dramaturgic, in this case) of impossible promises and divide them into categories of fulfilled and unfulfilled (totally or partially). In those promises I intend to be forgotten, they are verbalized, not mentioned again and therefore are forgotten.

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n of impossibility produced by the method and the circumstances

I believe that one of the secondary effects of our magic lies\ · . . mge ating a healthy wanness by proving we are not as immune to deceptio

e it seem impossible. I am referring to the sensation produced by t performed under the promised circumstances, since the spec-

we tend to believe. If we can be fooled by things we see with our own

should forget, not perceive nor fix in their memories, the actual

while alert, after having been warned of their admittedly false nature, we

stances that are encountered later, during the tripk. The promise

To continue our examination of factors that improve what is evok

d be made with certainty and assertiveness, taking for granted that

from memory, I will now describe and comment on a technique prorms

be fulfilled. This makes the spectators feel the pqwer and fascina-

some paragraphs ago. It is a precise and versatile one that can be used

f the effect even before they have witnessed it. T~at sensation will

achieving our three objectives: the reinforcement of positive conditio

corded almost as an experience in their sensory memory (the neural

the erasure of negative conditions and the creation of memories of 80

ork?). And, except where there is strong evidence to the contrary

thing that never happened. It's a technique I have fine-tuned for the p

obvious failure to fulfill the promise, it will enhance what actually

thirty years and constantly use with magnificent results. I call it:

ens, the events later seen, amounting to a more impossible and fas·ng final sensation: adding what was promised and believed to what

The Mnemosyne Staircase

witnessed and perceived. Let's look at an example (From card magic?

In homage to the goddess of memory, daughter of heaven and

:rrect!). But please read it as if you are a total layman regarding magic.

earth, Uranus and Gea, and mother of the Muses, no less! This technique, as I've just mentioned, is used to reinforce positive memories, make people forget negative ones and create positive memories of

"I'm going to show you evidence of an incredible sympathy of thought. u will shuffle the deck as much as you wish. One of you will then think a card, and another will think of a number-and, without me touching deck, you yourselves will.find that at the number thought of by one of

actions or events that did not occur. Its application begins before the start of the trick, by studying, conceiving and creating a structure for the trick that makes it possible and

u is none other than the card thought of by the other." I suppose that you, dear reader, have noticed the sensation this promproduces just reading it, especially if you have managed to forget your

desirable to use this Mnemosyne Staircase. The effect should be strong,

owledge of tricks and moves . .The point now is not to disappoint or frustrate, which is to say not to

powerful, desirable, fascinating; the method unthinkable, unfathomable within the conditions it will develop, and its structure capable of resisting logical analysis, keeping in mind refined and precise technique as as the psychology of perception (misdirection, timing, etc.). In short,

produce disillusion, because several parts of what has been promised will remain unfulfilled:

Two decks are openly used. One of them will be shuffled (falsely) by the magician, not by the spec-

construction of this Staircase must be worth our time and effort. Let's then begin to climb the Staircase. On the first step we find the impossible promises that, as has been mentioned, could be totally or partially unfulfilled. Our objective is that

tators, although they will remember having shuffled the cards. » The card will be selected and removed from the other deck, not just

this breach in fulfillment avoids producing frustration or disappointment, thanks to the unfulfillment going unperceived, or part of the promise being forgotten by the spectators. The effect will be remembered as will the

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>>

thought of The magician does touch one of the decks to false shuffle it. And he touches the other one for the selection of a card.

the other hand, there are parts of the promise that are true or Will seem so: »

One of the spectators will freely think of a number.

» · From the moment he thinks of the number and names it, the magician

>>

doesn't touch the deck from which the number will be counted. The selection of the card will seem totally free.

ocket and removes it from the case. The magician approaches to take p . di e deck-but he suddenly stops and steps back dramatically, remm ng ecyone that he promised not to touch it. The spectator then counts the ds himself, one by one, until he reaches fifteen, while holding the deck e down or face up, as the magician has suggested, and as is convenient the success of the effect. When he reaches the fifteenth card-or the ifourteenth, if he's counting face up-he is instructed 'to stop the count

and Al Baker, and I believe somewhat enhanced by yours truly), I'll

yVithout looking at or showing the card at number fifte~n. Always remain.ing well away from the cards, the magician sums up, concisely but clearly,

describe it briefly. We'll get into its details later.

what has been done so far (a prior overview of the effect). He then asks

For those who don't remember the method (devised by Louis Gombert

Two decks are used. One is handed out for shuffling. The other, set up

the person to show the face of the card at the fifteenth position: it is the

in Mnemonica order or in any other memorized sequence, is false shuffled

exact card thought of! As we can see in this example, we have made a fantastic and impos-

by the magician. 50 The deck shuffled by the magician is handed to someone. This person puts it into its case and keeps it in a pocket. Someone else

sible promise that is only partly fulfilled. Yet, going up the Mnemosyne

freely thinks of and names any number from one to fifty-two. The magician

Staircase step by step, we attempt to make the final sensation correspond

takes the deck the spectator has shuffled and, as he shows it well mixed,

to the secular miracle (the wonderful effect), just as it was promised. Let's

he secretly searches for two cards. These match the cards at the chosen

take a look:

number in the stacked deck in the spectator's pocket, counting from the top or bottom (my contribution). In other words, if fifteen is named,. he finds the cards corresponding to Positions 15 and 38 in the stack, 38 being the complement of 15, obtained by subtracting 15 from 53. If fifteen cards are counted from the bottom, we would arrive at Card 38 in the stack.

The Foot of the Staircase: The rn1m,uu~

as described)

Then come the three steps of the Staircase:

First Step: True or False? (Ambiguity)

These two cards are forced on a fourth spectator. It is announced that

Here we will attempt to refer to the false facts in an ambiguous way. Say

he will freely think of one of them and that that card will be found magi-

something like this to the first spectator: "You shuffle this deck. Shuffle it

cally positioned at the number thought of in the deck the first spectator is

a lot. We'll shuffle this one." You false shuffle the second deck, then hand it to the second spectator while you ask the first: "Did you shuffle well and thoroughly? Yes? Please cut the cards and complete the cut." Then, to the second spectator: "Shuffling is not enough. Cut and complete the

guarding, which is inside the card case and in his pocket. The person thinks of one of the two cards and names it. He is emphatically given a chance to change his mind and think of the other card. Once he has freely settled on a card, the guardian of the other deck takes it from 50. I have and perlonn other, more sophisticated versions of this trick in which ' the spectators appear to shuffle both decks, thanks to a subtle deck-switch. One of them is described in Mnemonica (p. 207), but for this example we will have one of the decks shuffled by the magician.

cut as well. "He complies. You can see that all these statements are true-ambiguously true. You say that he shuffles or he cuts when the spectator actually does it; and you say we shuffle when you do it. No one will object, even mentally, to these statements.

170

171

Second Step: False with True (Stating Something False and Linking It to Something True)

spectator, the "guardian", he should support your "right?" by a verbal

This step on the Staircase is wide and long, almost a landing. You make

he second step, again binding something false to something true. In

link between false and true like this: "And now exchange decks ... like tlta

tion, you will have made a false statement and the spectator will have

very good. And each of you please cut the deck shu.ffted by the other." The do. "Perfect. Let's put one of them into the case. "You take the stacked dee the one now held by the first spectator, and cut the first card of the stack to the top (glimpse and cut or pass). Tell him: "You'd better put the shuffled deck into the case yourself. And put everything into your pocket. The first spectator, the one who really shuffled a deck (the unstacked one), puts the deck he now holds (the stacked one, false shuffled by you) into its case. You have already stated something that is not true: that both decks were shuffled by the spectators. They only shuffled one; you false shuffled the other.

ation or by nodding. If all this is achieved, you will have continued

edit-that he shuffled that deck-bringing everyone to the third Artistically, however, ambitious as we are, we want even more: ird Step: Only False (False Statements

e Made an~ Confirmed) stead of looking at the first spectator for affirmation, you direct your estion, as if by mistake, to another spectator, a neighbor of the one who uffled. When you see his gesture of puzzlement or disagreement, you to him: "Oh, I'm sorry. It wasn't you who shujfied ... " Normally the t spectator, the one who did shuffle, will interrupt with something like:

You ask the second spectator to thoroughly shuffle the deck he is holding. While he shuffles, really shuffles, his deck; you have a third per-

twas me who shuffled." How wonderful!

son think of a number: ''Please think of a number from one to fifty-two.

ing: ''He shujfied thoroughly [you point to the "guardian" who has just

Why from one to fifty-two? Because the deck you shuffled thoroughly · [you point to the first spectator], and cut, and have in your possession, contains fifty-two cards." You have said, "you shu.ffted thoroughly, and cut, and have in your possession" while pointing at the first spectator. But the "you" is only partly true. "Cut, and have in your possession" is true, but "shu.ffted" is not. You continue: "By the way, you [here uniting the first and second spectators] shujfied thoroughly, right?" They confirm, poor them! Still on the same broad step of the Staircase, you continue: A new (fourth) person freely selects two cards (which you freely force on him) and, while he chooses one of them (this time, really freely), you say: "Now

think of one of these two cards, and the card you think of [precisely the card he chooses mentally] should be, or will position itself, at the chosen number in the deck that he [you point at the first spectator] shujfied, cut and kept in his possession, and which I've never been near, right?" If the last phrase, "which I've never been near'; is said while looking at the

In any case, you now give your pre-effect overview, restating everyounted to the fifteenth card], cut, kept the deck in his possession, and

didn't even get near. Have I touched it?" You point to the cards from ·.a distance, leaning back and extending both palms wide open in front of you. The answer is always, "No." In this way, you have established the "truth" of progressively less true statements. You have even achieved verbal confirmation from the spectators. It has been established with total certainty that the dee~ in which the card and number match was shuffled by the spectator and not touched afterward by you. The effect of a freely selected card-which included ,,, the option of changing it-turning up at a freely thought-of number thus becomes, I believe, an authentic miracle. A Few Additional Comments This same Staircase procedure can be used to establish that the card was thought of, which is true regarding the selection between the last two cards, although those were selected physically.

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applause, I make a recap with gestures in which I include, among ot

• warning applies to the overview before the effect, often con1s in the disastrous anti-contrasting parenthesis, as Ascanio called it

things, the action of shuffling cards in the hands while I look at the

magnificent and precise termiriology.

Furthermore, as I mentioned earlier, at the end of the trick, during

51

spectator (the "guardian"). I also rub my open palms together and e:xte them outward again while I shake my head, signaling that "I didn't tou them". This reaffirms the most important of the false facts and helps t

have just learned how the following three proposed objectives are

spectators, during the pause for assimilation, to "remember" them.

Qmplished: (1) Reinforce the memory of positive conditions (with

With that, you will have established as true three false condition

r overviews and after-effect recaps), (2) Cause negative conditions to

while at the same time having reinforced through steps memories of th

forgotten and {3) Cause what never existed to be remembered (impospromises, Mnemosyne Staircase). All these are also enhancers, along

true and important facts. We needn't refer to those facts having little or n

others from The Comet Effect. We come now to two techniques that

importance, as we wish to keep things simple and interesting. To the technique (false shuffle, force of the two cards), the advanc

plement those already discussed. One is the promised Emotional

preparation (the stack) and the mental activities of the magician (know

ers, the other is The Work of the Magician after the Session. Let's

ing the stack, mental subtraction of the named number from 53), we hav

katthem.

added the Mnemosyne Staircase, which rewrites the process of the tric making people remember things that didn't occur and altering some

0

those that did to our advantage, in favor of the magic. Summing up: The Mnemosyne Staircase begins (though not always) with the impossible promise and ascends by three steps: ambiguous statements, verbalization of false and true facts together, then false statements by themselves. Now that we've gone up the three steps, culminating the Ascension, we have reached the Open Heavens. It's a triumph of imagination over reality to let us into The Rainbow. There it is. Should we go?

e Emotional Erasers: an Encoder and Eraser of ort-Term and Long-Term Memory y years ago, I learned something that clarified for me a certain phemenon I had been observing in my. magical experiences: There were emories that, although well fixed, were forgotten by the spectators as ell as by me. Here are some examples: During my performances, it happens, as I suppose it happens to

th.er magicians, that I think of something interesting for: the session; ometimes a detail for misdirection, other times a funny line or a clever .

~

A Warning I

The danger I believe we should avoid like the plague is to transfonn the trick into a reiterative, complex quackery that creates confusion in the effect. ("Confusion is not magic," Vernon used to say.) The use of this marvelous escalator of magic, the Mnemosyne Staircase, should be strictly limited to special cases and essential facts.

. By the way, I would like to emphasize here that the danger of excessive complication, of adding confusion and boredom, is amplified when using, without proper care or method, my system of The Magic Way, explained in my book of the same name. The Magic Way is extensively applicable to only very good complex tricks, the secrets of which are probably already concealed. Balance is the concept underlying the Greek classics. It can also be the solution for The Magic Way and for the application of the Mnemosyne Staircase-and for all other techniques and theories in this book. .. and perhaps for life.

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phrase that adds drama or poetic fascination. I emphasize that t are things that come to me during performance. And here I ope parenthesis: ~

I consider the greater part of my session to be "improvised" as far as patter, dramatic lines and comedic ones are concerned. I never set out to think of or write these things do:wn. Instead, I gradually add those lines and ideas that I improvise in every performance and that have worked well. So it progresses, until I've formed a complete body of effective gags and dramatic lines. It could be truthfully said that almost all the jokes and patter are "improvised"

'

ing techniques with the hands or body or executing other secret creating moments of tension and relaxation, including secret '

during the relaxation, etc. · ·zing this,·I decided then that, when I improvised something I felt

od, I would pause briefly, if the trick allowed it, and fix the improviin my mind by mentally repeating the line or mumbling it to myself. suit was a persistent failure in evoking the memory. At the end of sion, I managed to remember that there was so~'ething to rememt not what it was or how the improvisation had occurred. e same thing happened when, in a particular trick, I tried to rememcards I had glimpsed a couple of minutes earlier. More times than

in the sense that they grow or have grown out of improvisation. My objective in developing a presentation through improvisation

d, I missed one of the cards. Either I couldn't remember it or I mis-

rather than reason is to achieve and maintain the freshness that suits my persona and my performance style. End of parenthesis.

bered it. he same thing happens occasionally, as we all know, to spectators. At most important moment of the trick, when you ask them for the name

For years and years, I audiotaped my sessions so that I could recov the good improvisations later. Sometimes I used video recordings, that I could watch myself to critique my performances and learn. Late many years later (that's the good thing about being in magic for over years; there is time for a lot of things), I grew to prefer asking whoev came with me to the sessions (my girlfriend, a helper), and was famili with each of my tricks, to remember the ad libs I made, whether word or actions, and remind me of them afterward. This method is extreme fruitful, at least for my style. Sometimes, though, when I perform, I don' have a knowledgeable companion there to help. The first few times happened, I thought I'd try to remember the successful improvisation• myself. But at the end of the show, not only had I forgotten them, qui often 1 didn't even remember I had to remember something. I thought i was due to a lack of attention or divided attention during the .

~~.-.r,TTI '

sation: I thought of something and said it or did it, but at the same time I was alert to the regular development of the trick Magic demands, a we know, great concentration from the performer: watching and seein how the spectators react, feeling their amazement and astonishmen

e card they saw, they have forgotten it. Thinking it over, I saw that the problem was not in momentary ding. It was that what I was trying to remember was recorded, as is rything we see or perceive, in short-term memory, and when I went 'th other actions or events that demanded my undivided attention that raised certain emotions in me (such as doing the Classic Force or ching, not without difficulty, for an appropriate spectator to help in 'ck), I was preventing the event from passing into long-term memory, ich, as we know, is the tool that fixes the facts in the memory. Despite attempting to encode the facts strongly through mentai repetition, I d I wasn't able to evoke them a minute later (as with, for example, psed cards) or at the end of a session (the improvisations of the day). I found a very practical remedy for remembering glimpsed cards. I y something aloud that will later remind me of what I have encoded impsed). For example, if the glimpsed cards are 19 and 8 in my emonica stack, I say: "Look at the cards. You should remember your rds for a short time, no more than eight years and nineteen days. " en I pause for several seconds while the spectators laugh at this. The

n

storage in long-term memory is guaranteed, thanks to the pause an auditory and muscle memory (the loud verbalization). 52 Everything is fixed in immediate memory and only goes into long-t memory if the brain decides it's important. But here we must be c

ator (there was no video in the 1970s). Puchol filmed while I attenatched the act. On two occasions, little accidents occurred: At one e manipulator flashed a load uf coins, and at another some backcards. I mumbled an "Uh!" at each slip. Puchol, who had his eye

of attention to. something more important occurs immediately after

to the camera, could not notice these flaws throug~ the viewfinder. heard my almost inaudible "uhs". The act conclud~d. Puchol asked

fact you need to remember. By "immediately" I mean within twenty

Why did you go 'uh' a couple of times?" "Me?" I answered, surprised.

thirty seconds, which is about as long as short-term memory holds t

absolutely." "I can't remember." : took a week to have the film developed. When we received it, we

ful, because this process can be derailed if an emotion or strong dem

facts before passing them to long-term memory. A new or sudden emoti during those seconds will interrupt the process of moving the fact fr

hed the footage together. On reaching the two flashes, I again said

the one form of memory to the other.

" and Puchol jumped. "Ah! The same 'uhs' as when we saw it in the

This "discovery" has served me very well in magic, because it provid

ter." My "uhs" had undoubtedly occurred during those same flashes

a "sketchpad for memories". I can sometimes allow something strange

. Yes-I realized-of course. That's how it must have been! Why d I have forgotten those mistakes by the end of the live performance

unusual (but useful for the method or the magical effect) to be observ if I immediately produce a strong emotion, an unexpected surprise, astonishing magical effect, an intentional accident, something frighteni or very funny. Any of those emotions can erase the negative memory

e manipulation act? Since then, I have verified the phenomenon while watching other perances, specifically manipulation acts, including my own routines, such

not allowing it to pass into long-term memory. For example, let's say that

the Paris Act. These acts consist of many specific effects, and many of

a spectator doesn't take the card I've hoped to force. First, I give him

m flow quickly from one to the next: Something appears, disappears,

the chance to change it for the next card (the force card), but he doesn't

ges, then comes a new surprise with something different, etc. Here is my analysis. I perceived the flashes or mistakes (the coin load,

accept the offer. I then take his card from him and bury it in the deck without letting him see it, saying, "Don'tforget the card .... Oh, you didn't

look at it? Well, take another." But before he can do so, I yell, startling him, and excuse this with some silly or funny motivation. This little scare causes him to forget my mistake, even if it wasn't perceived as one. We are not only employing misdirection, divided attention and cover, but a new tool: erasing certain facts, as needed, from the tors' minds. To confirm and elaborate on the above, let me tell you something I experienced that is related: I went to a magic festival with the late, great Pepe Puchol (my true mentor and magic father). While there we filmed the act of a magnificent 52. I even mentally repeat, during the pause, "Eight, nineteen, eight, nineteen."

eback-palmed cards), but a new unexpected magical effect immediately lowed-and in a well-constructed manipulation act, that immediate ect will not be the one produced by the secret load, the one that was etingly exposed by mistake-and the emotional impact

of that effect

uperb! How wonderful!) prevented me from passing the memory of e perceived little flaw to long-term memory. Because the flash is not onnected to any effect immediately perceived, the brain judges it unimrtant, and the emotional surprise erases the mistake in memory. I didn't i'Ven remember having mumbled, "Uh." This happens in many cases in those acts that I call "sparkly", in which ere are many effects and surprises in succession, and therefore different otions are produced. And this forgetfulness doesn't happen just to me:

N

After watching a manipulation act, I have asked magicians and lay fri

e future (improved) recollection. All of that, I believe, is equally

in the audience about their memories of the act, and they recall few or

ble to the pause for assimilation after the effect and the pauses

of the mistakes and unnatural actions that they almost surely percei Those mistakes were erased or lost before they could be passed from

n tricks. We will deal with this matter in detail in the section titled

8

term memory to long-term memory. When I watch the same act a secon third time, I'm not affected by the smprises, since I now expect them ' .see and remember the flaws and suspicious, urinatural gestures. This mustn't be considered an excuse to leave our routines unpolis

Beloved Art of the Pause" (p. 310). t's now look at the promised experiment ... ■ 11'111.. T""-"""'ill..,._•.... ~....... '"'

Experiment

now tell you about one of the experiments I have carried out dozens

and unperfected. We should not say to ourselves, "It doesn't matter if•·

es during the past few years, using laymen and very knowledgeable

seen. I'll erase it later." Rather, this knowledge gives us an extremely po

ians as my subjects. Its purpose is to test the strength of memory

erful weapon that brings us some peace of mind in case of an accident

g. I will be with a group of people (no matter how many). Without

little human error (we only play at being gods, while we are human) t

g attention to what I am about to do, and having used the cards in

allows the spectators to see something they shouldn't. If the trick allo

·or trick, I take one face down between the tips of my right ring and

it, we should follow up immediately, through actions or words, to creat

fingers as I continue to talk about something. I then ask, ''Have you

surprise or provoke some emotion, one different from that of the mista

iced the strange reflection in my glasses?" I raise my right hand, with palm turned toward the spectators, to grasp the right temple of my ses. I move the hand and glasses together while I point with my other d to the left lens. Due to the position of the right hand, the face of the d it holds is exposed to the spectators. I wiggle my glasses again and eat the phrase, varying the wording: "Don't you see the reflection of window?" or "of that unusual lamp?" I do this another time or two. ring this, the face of the card is visible to the audience for ten to fifteen conds, in the center of their frame of attention, a couple of inches from lens being observed. I even use the card as a pointer, touching its corr to the lens of the glasses, always keeping the right hand and card in otion. I continue to talk and move, showing some amazement at the fact ey can't see the special reflection. I then lower my right _hand with the card. Barely looking at it and "thout giving it any importance, I leave it face down on the table. I immetely feign an accident: I have left a glass holding a little water on the le. I nudge it "accidentally" with my hand and catch it in the air, allowg the water to spill, as I yell, "Careful!" This creates fear and sometimes, hen people see the accident isn't serious, laughs. If I don't have a glass

I will give an example of this in a few paragraphs, when we come to " Almost Incredible Experiment". There might seem to be a problem when applying emotional erase The magical effect will produce, we hope, a strong emotion, and we c tainly don't want that emotion to erase anything from the desired effe But this isn't a problem if it's an emotion that doesn't fight against wh was seen, the magical effect. As we have discussed, the complement emotion actually helps to fix the effect in the memory. The emotion be an "eraser" only if it is contrary to or very different from the sense an nature of the memory we want to erase. The reverse is also true. If we want certain conditions within development of a trick, as well as the magical effect they produce, to b left in long-term memory, we should be very careful not to erase the not to prevent them from passing to long-term memory. We should ma the necessary pauses (without other emotions, without actions or words right after what we want fixed and kept in the memories of the spectator We should leave the magical emotion alone, without interference, soth it immerses the spectator and allows him the enjoyment, the permanenc

handy, I move foiward to hand my glasses to someone and I bump something. I drop my glasses onto the table, or the floor if there is pet, and I almost step on the spectator's foot: "Careful! Oh, I'm sorry 1 I hurt you?" I pick up the glasses. No harm done.

explain to them that I not only showed the card, but I held it in tural position, between my ring and little fingers, that I moved that would normally attract attention and that it was facing almost fifteen seconds within the area to which I constantly

I let a few seconds pass as I refer to the little accident. Then pausing, I say, ''By the way, looking only at the back of a card [I po·'

eir attention: my glasses. In other words, all thf conditions were favorable for ·them to notice the card. '

the deck], we can't know what the card is: Logical. If I don't show face, we don't know. " Now I look the nodding spectators straight in eyes and address one of them who has shown his agreement with wh said: "You, for example, if I show you the face of that card [I point to card on the table], you would know what it is. But I haven't shown i you yet, right? No, of course not." Then I ask the whole group the same question. Incredible as it seem, most of them will not remember the identity of the card-an addition, they can't even remember having seen the card at all. They c firm that they are sure I have never shown its face and that I didn't e have the card in my hand!

Sometimes there are one or two who do remember having seen t card and even remember what it was. It largely depends on how observ they are and if, by their nature, they were not seriously startled by pretended accident. Location can also affect things. If spectators are behind me or at extreme side-angle, where they can't clearly see the lenses of my glass there's a good chance they will note the card. When this happens, it· excellent for the experiment. It often happens that, since most of t group does not remember having seen the card, they become u,1.r'", o,. .,..,".,t-.,.. or incredulous when I tell them I did show its face. Still not having it, I ask, ''Did anyone notice the card?" If one or two people say

1 ',.,'-""'

I have them name it and I show it. That proves to the other people in th audience that their skepticism is unfounded, and that I'm being trut even if they can't remember it. It therefore seems incredible to them. 53. One of the first times I carried out the experiment, during a lecture for abo a hundred British magicians, no one remembered having seen the card, and

:e secret of the experiment lies, as you may hdve deduced, in the

' eraser, which is the spilled glass of water, my ~ost stepping on tator's foot or my dropping my glasses. Those unexpected events the passing of the memory of the card into long-term memory. The fades completely away. It is as if it had never existed, as if the spechad never seen the card. Isn't that incredible as well as marvelous! :understand the difficulty you will probably have in believing the I am reporting for this experiment. If I imagine reading a trick on the fact that, after having shown a card for almost fifteen sec(fifteen seconds!), held in such an awkward grip, the spectators d not remember it, I would think it was a mistake: The card facing dience? Fifteen seconds? Must have been with its back to the spects-or the author must be pulling my leg! So I ask you, dear reader, to try the experiment for yourself. If you w the instructions, you will be surprised at the result and, best n, you will absorb the knowledge of this powerful magic weapon. will also be able to verify for yourself that, when you ask for the , perhaps one or more spectators will close their ey~s or look up recover its image, which persists in their immediate memory, and respond with the name of the card or will at least partially identify f'Let me think. ..It was black, wasn't it? A high card, I think. . .! really n't watching carefully." The rarity of people who remember seeing card, let alone correctly recalling its identity, will prove to you the wer of emotion to erase a memory. could see the skepticism in their faces when I revealed the truth. Luckily, one of the group was videotaping the lecture. We rewound the tape, so that everyone could verify what had happened.

I have been doing this experiment for years in my seminars anct

I ask one of them, letting everyone hear me, "Which trick did you

tures for magicians. I get the result described every time, and it cont· and it works! For example, after quietly ditching a palmed card in my b

t? The one with the phone? How about you? The Spirit Cabinet? That gives me invaluable feedback on the four to six tricks that sed them the most. But here I employ the technique. we could call

pants pocket, I briskly raise my hand with the palm toward the specta

session chat", in which I drop comments in a voice f1,Udible to every-

and yell, "Oh! I know!" startling the spectators a little. "Yes, I think t .signed card left the deck [I point to the deck] ·and should be-perhaps

such as: "Good heavens! The cards are never exhau~ted [and I mime

in my pocket. Please look for yourself. I don't want to bring my ha anywhere near the pocket. Is there a card there? Please take it out-Yo signed card!" The fact that I brought my hand to my pocket is tota erased from the spectators' memories.

... The other day, the knife changed color five times'in the hands of a in the audi~nce, without me even getting near it, cind then it turned a giant knife, and the woman was so scared ... And how did you age to get the deck in order? I never touched it myself, but maybe wanted to help me, but to tell you the truth, I didn't see you do it. 're so fast. Thank you ... You guys have such incredible power to be to think of a card and make it rise out of the deck! Yesterday-no, it was the day before yesterday, it was on Thursday-I walked ' my dressing room and there it was: the last card thought of in the sion was very slowly rising from the deck. " Intelligent readers (all of you, so don't be offended) will clearly underd that in this way we can achieve a huge reinforcement in the clarity the effects and lasting memories of them, and of the impossibility of method, an impossibility never referred to or directly evoked, but ggested, remembered in passing. Thus we rewrite some aspects of the sion, improving details of some effects, making others legendary. 54 All is is, I believe, of the greatest artistic interest because, let's not forget, e important thing is the magical sensation, what the spectators feel and erience; in other words, The Rainbow. Nor should we forget that, to

to astonish me. Best of all, I often apply the principle in my magic sessi

End: The

the Magician after

Session

As we have seen, it is good to add the elements we've just studied to an:

worthwhile trick, since they increase the quality, length and brilliance The Comet Effect. But we mustn't forget that there is another magnifice technique for enhancing The Comet Effect. Once the session is over, th magician can add certain comments, as if verbally recalling some part 0 what happened in it: "I still can't understand how you could figure out

that the Six of Spades would be in the fifteenth position, and after you had shuffied .... " It's a technique of immense magical power, and I apply it time after time with magnificent results. This is the work of the magician once the trick or the session is over. If it's a session of close-up or parlor magic after which direct com-

ments from the magician to the spectators are possible, it is very

stures of Six-Card Repeat but with my palms to~ard the specta-

and effective to employ such comments to influence the positive facts in the trick procedures and to stress the resultant effects. I always try to talk with the spectators and comment on the effects at the end of my sessions. Even in theaters, I come down at the end of the show, in front of the stage, to greet fans waiting there, sign autographs and have pictures taken with them (a gift of happy moments for them and for me, with hardly any effort on my part. Isn't this profession wonderful!). Between the autographs and

4. The incredible Jimmy Grippo was a master of this technique. With it he managed to transform himself and his narrated effects into truly legendary ones. In 1982, I experienced it myself, body and grateful soul. Ascanio, Juan Anton, Pepe Carrol and Anton Lopez were my joyful companions on a trip to Las Vegas, during which we found we were not immune to the power of the magic or to the fascination of the verb "magish" and that magnificent ·"magisher" who was the great Grippo.

reach The Rainbow, they will need a guide to dreams, the magici lead them there, along The Magic Way (without False Solutions, L . Solutions or Illogical Solutions). The Bull of Logic should have go sleep (temporarily), letting the Winged Horse of Imagination so which we, aU of us, rode and enjoyed the illusion, the enchantmen the marvelous fascination of magic, now ( during the trick) and al ( after evoking it) and forever and ever. Amen.

Chapter Summation Aside from manual, corporeal and psychological techniques (mis tion, parentheses of forgetfulness, The Magic Way, etc.), we have elem that are "boosters of positive memories" (persona, effect, symbol, evo hooks: The Comet Effect, including the prior overview, summation post-session chat), some "creators of inaccurate or totally false me ries" (impossible promises, the Mnemosyne Staircase) and a draft cop unwanted memories ( emotional erasers). Will we be able to create true secular and magical miracles in this w It's your turn.

EMOTlONS Kind of an Introduction R many years

I have studied, applied, practiced and reflected on emons in magic, which is to say its dramatic side, its emotional incarnation. .am referring not only to the magical emotion, which I've addressed ly in this book, but also to the different emotions felt by the spectars (doubt, surprise, amazement, anxiety, joy, fear of failure, etc.) that e part of the magical effects and are caused by them. I am disregarding e external emotions such as laughter, lyricism, drama, that arise and othe the trick from outside its development; those that the magician dd~ and that are not produced by the structure of the trick or the nature f the effect. As I began to study the intrinsic emotions, I found that the two most

haracteristic ones, regarded as companions to the revelation of a magial effect, were surprise and suspense. I later went on to study others that :a;re very powerful and that leave a mark on the spectators, such as hallu:cination and the body of sparkling, magical effects, small and brief, that roduces a sensation of an ongoing rain of magical arrows.

N

Little by little, I studied and rehearsed practical applications of knowledge of other possible intrinsic emotions. Among these were ating apparent errors that unleash a momentary anxiety, followed by • .pleasure and a rush of maternal instinct; and situations in effects t build to excitement and frenzy. I also tried to ascertain how an effect be structured to produce these emotions, to provide an emotional van . that maintains and builds dramatic interest in a sometimes lengthy de opment of a trick but that, I repeat, uses emotions that arise from Wit the trick; they are not added Gokes, rhyming patter, storytelling) or p duced by stagecraft (lighting, music, visual elements). I eventually arrived at twenty-five types of situations that boo different emotions, all produced by the effect of the trick and its deve opment, as well as by the emotions the interpreter (the magician) fee and by his inner world. I later added emotions related to the hidde method (for example, when a spectator appears to discover the secret) the persona, the personality and character of the magician, and his rel tionship to the audience and with the assisting spectators; these asid from emotions of different types, always related to the inner elements o the structure of the trick or session. I eventually arrived at 165 different types of possible emotions that can be caused by a trick, or by several tricks or a routine or a session. I then tried to tame such an overwhelming storm of emotions into some kind of order. I sorted them and organized them. I grouped and synthesized them, through painstaking analysis. I tried it out in practice (so important!), added, removed, cropped, merged, selected and summed it all up. And I am now, full of "emotion" and writing and telling you about what I Obviously, some of the features I discovered are quite evident, but there are also many less apparent concepts that can make things clearer to us. There is admittedly some subjectivity in all this, but I have attempted to be rigorous in my analysis. There might be conclusions of little use, most have proved, at least in my own repertoire, that by clarifying stressing the emotional elements of an effect, an increase in the_ artistic quality is very noticeable, even outstanding.

, t· "What is cinema?" the great film director Godard s ques 10n, "It's emotion in motion." The very clever Alex Fuller respond e d , . ·ct "Not a moment without interest" (emotional mterest, of sa1 , . . • l" . And the very profound Vernon said, "Magic m~st be emotiona . ). haps dear reader you are asking, like me,! "But why? What .t per , · ' . _·. . . f ? Isn't it enough to end with the 1mpos.s1ble and fascma• . ot1ons or. . of 'It can't be but it is! And it's wonderful, like t with the sensa ion ··· . I

N

Suppose they ask us to cast the actors and actresses for a movie. o

ted to such a being with a body of Venus or Apollo and the head We need an appealing, gracious face, and eyes that are e1zebub · al, sweet or bottomless. agic is the same. A trick must have a secret skeleton, a method that

of the characters is a woman who must be stunning. She is a charac

•sible and unfathomable. This is the solid foundation of the effect. A

that, at first glance, should make all the other characters and the audien

od mustn't fall apart and must be well proportion~d; I am talking of

feel an irresistible attraction. Obviously, the analogy would be equa valid if we had to select a very handsome actor. (I would not apply, to gi

structure of the method. Then come its components: technique (manual, corporeal, verbal and

others a chance.)

chological), the false solutions, the in-transit actions, the convincers

A

Analogy

Please allow me a parenthesis in the form of an analogy. 55

The audition begins: A woman walks in. What is most attractive abo

·ch I think of as "false witnesses"), crossing the gaze, the downbeats

her? (Please take for granted that the same would apply to him.) H

upbeats and a very long et cetera, all of which Vernon, Slydini, Robert-

body? Her face? In general, even if we are not aware of it, what mo attracts us about her ( or him) at first glance is-her skeleton! If she has

udin, Ascanio, Hofzinser, Ramsay, Frakson, Hugard, Fitzkee, Maskelyne many others (maybe even me) have tried to analyze and synthesize,

magnificent, rounded, sensual figure, a beautiful face, but two extreme}

n integrate and apply to the structure of the secret method of the trick,

long arms that hang below her knees, she will seem, to begin with, no very attractive. (I want to make it completely clear that in this analo

skeleton. And what about His Majesty, the Effect? And symbolism? In this anal-

I am referring to her physical appearance, without mentioning her inne

the effect and its symbolism are the face of the woman, her beauty d' all that shines in her gaze, everything her words reveal about her

beauty, which could be endless.) So, the first thing is the skeleton, without deformities, flaws, defects

is

king, her inner world and her spiritual self (no less). But we continue to complete: Method-the skeleton, proportionate

perfect, but we see it naked, without the flesh ... How scary! Oh, my God,

d solid. Effect-the face, gaze and voice, enriching and beautiful. And?

or excesses. Proportionate, solid. And hidden! Because if the skeleton how frightening!

What would the body be? What would be its role in the analogy?

So it is hidden, then. But hidden by a body that is also proportionate

Because the skeleton is cold, even terrifying, it needs an attractive and

and adequate to the skeleton. The smaller the skeleton, the less flesh. A

teresting covering of flesh. The flesh serves two purposes . The first is to

body not too skinny, not too fat, sensual, attractive, exciting. (I'm getting

nceal the skeleton, not allowing it to be seen or even thought of. When

a little agitated.) Enough of that? Well, no, maybe not yet. What happens if we see that this beautiful body, with its good inner structure, the ~keleton, supports a head with a horrible face: hairy warts, a misshapen mouth, pointed ears and a diabolical gaze? I apologize, but not even in the times of my greatest need would I be physically 55. Remember that an analogy is only an analogy is only an analogy is only an analogy.

see a striking person, do you think of her or his skeleton? Are you even onscious of its existence? Does it arouse you? (In that case, don't reread ;Freud; you have invented a new sexual pathology.) The second role of the flesh in our analogy is to attract us to the uman being. So, there are two roles: concealment and attraction. We are talking of that harmonious and sensual body that helps to conceal, and even prevent us from thinking of, the skeleton, the secret

N

method. At the same time, it is an interesting body in all its parts, many them attractive and, as a whole, appealing. That's the emotional body. emotions touch us during the development of the trick, and the magici through his magic and persona, makes us feel them and allows us to s ' and experience, without distractions, the fascinating mystery of the rn ical effect (the.face, the eyes, the spiritual self). And the presentation? If it is understood to be all that which tends ·enhance the effect, clearly there would be elements of it integrated int the emotional body. But that is usually not the meaning given to the te "presentation". The common understanding of "presentation", fit into 0

analogy, would be the external embellishments of a woman to her per sona: her clothing, make-up, hairstyle, jewelry... all those things she c

e mystical merge with the corporal, almost carnal, where mys. t .56 d joy coex1s et's look at a practical example. A magician, performing in a teleshow, says, "Count your cards. There must be about thirty." The tor awkwardly, slowly, nervously counts: "One, t\.'V;O, three, four, five -e are now already five thousand spectators who ehanged channels

e~:pthe movie has started or the game has ended], twelve, thirteen, I

to the contest een... twenty [142 ,000 s:pectators have stayed tuned , the attractive game host, another 200,000 have headed to the bath' half a million check their phones], twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one two remaining spectators snore peacefully; one is the magicians ther, the other his father].

put on or take off, that she can easily change and therefore are the leas personal. Obviously, such external elements can sometimes be used to

Solutions? Create emotions and interest at these moments, at every ent: "If there are fewer than thirty cards, I will have failed and I will

cover a flaw of the body or face, to highlight beautiful eyes, to insinuate certain curves (that slit in the skirt, ahh!). But, important as they are in

ave my head completely, right here and right now." Pulling out a barber's ding razor, the magician opens it dramatically and brings it close to his p. Or: "I will prevent you from counting correctly. I'll make faces-ha, " Here the magician tries to fluster the spectator while he's counting cards aloud. There are even better ideas, easily devised, that your cre-

the analogy, these elements would be less important than the others discussed earlier. In magic, these elements of the trick would be external to it: music, costume, jokes, gags, stories, etc. Yes, they have a certain importance, but they are the least important ( or the least very important things, but that's another discussion). Summing up: The skeleton (secret method): proportionate and solid, but concealed .. . Concealed by the flesh of an exciting, interesting and moving body.. . That allows us to see a beautiful face (magical effect) that conveys, through eyes and voice, an enriching and fascinating spiritual world ... And is memorable, like the tail of a comet. But, let's continue. All said, when the magic-the impossible, wished and dreamed, lived with fascination in reality, in the artistic reality-is complete, it will eventually infuse the spectators' experience. They, on the other hand, will be coauthors, spect-authors and spect-actors of that magic. The natural climax of a session would be an almost collective near-orgasm, a magical ecstasy, where the spiritual

·ty can dictate.

There is a danger that these added external emotions could be disacting and break the magical atmosphere. They will be artistically valid tly if there aren't any internal emotions that can serve the same function. or example, in the effect of Weighing the Cards, the counti~g of the cards an interesting proof of the magician's successful estimation or of his dispointing failure. That emotional proof is intrinsic to the trick There is •~ need, then, to do anything. The procedure of the trick itself takes care f interest and the magical emotion. If the spectators are magicians, they might pay attention, as magical anatomists to the skeletal secret method and be excited by it, although it offers ' only a head for which tht body doesn't exist. But that, obviously, is not magic but amusement for magicians, or a forensic study. This is nonetheless very important for the development of our art.

The point is, while the spectator's necessary slow counting ta place, everyone should feel interest, curiosity, fun, suspense, joy, ch admiration, even frustration, fear, sadness, challenge, risk or.... Our

0

,goal, the only final artistic objective of all this is to make the spectat

parent failure in the revelation of a selected card, or the sensation · • g a vision when a metal ball fl.oats in midair, or the fear produced unminent release of the guill0tine's blade that could sever the head

join us, willingly, eagerly, excitedly, on our journey to The Magic Rainbo

pectator. think the most thorough and rigorous analysis possible of these emo-

to the magical effect, the fascinating mystery, a trip through drama

can help us to make them stand out, to communicate them better

.emotions to the final emotion of magic, turning the interesting and attra tive into mystery.

to structure them in the development of our tricks S? that they convey ety, interest and poetic charm. As always with art, there are no dog-

What we try to achieve through emotions is to make people e:xpe

. Everything is debatable and variable. But I believe such an analysis

ence the feelings of: Oh! Is that possible? He won't be able to do it. Ho

be useful as well as provocative.

is he going to do it? Oh, he missed! Oh, wait, he .fixed it ... but I saw t trick. Wow! He fooled me, he toyed with me. It wasn't that. Come on! much! So scary! He's not going to fool me! He's not pulling it off! Po

The study of this subject has brought me to formulate it in a style that

magician! Outrageous! That's dangerous! I'm amazed! How beautiful. How poetic! Am I dreaming?

assionate attempt to transmit the accumulated experience of my many

And end up feeling: Impossible! It can't be! It's incredible! But I saw it! How wonderful! TVhat a beautiful andfascinating experience!

ting and applying these ideas, and observing the fantastic results they re made possible in my own magic-stage, parlor and close-up-for

Which is to say, astonishment and fascination are experienced now

gicians and, above all, for the public. This happens not just on special

and remembered tomorrow, always, the emotions felt and magnified. And all of it deep inside.

casions, but many times, in varying circumstances, for different audi-

a scholarly semblance, with headings and subheadings. It may appear rious and dull. It is not. Despite its methodical, pedantic format, it is s of considering, analyzing, testing, studying, commenting on, cor-

ces, while I am in various moods. 57

But also-and deeper-there is the joy and pleasure of the fulfilled

This knowledge of what our spectators feel is not superfluous; it is

wish, of the dream come true, even though it is in a recognized artistic

extreme importance. Let's remember that it's not about what we do or

reality, which is to say the fascinating experience of myth through symbolism. No more ... and no less!

w we do it, but about what the spectators perceive and what they feel, d what we magicians also feel with an almost magical resonance.

Let me comment further to better clarify the above. When I earlier referred to the dramatic body, I should have

I realize that much of what I will explain has always been practiced by ,:xrreiTT..:n,

od magicians, based on their artistic intuition or on their own analysis.

dramagic body. We are dealing with emotions, dramatic emotions, grow out of, or come directly from, the trick, the magic. In other words, we are not dealing with emotions added externally to dramatize· the trick but rather those that are incorporated in its magical procedure. I say again, it's not about adding a romantic story or a joke or a dramatic presentation to the trick; rather, it is the (dreamed of?) emotion of a surprise caused by such effects as the appearance of a hen's egg in an empty bag,

othis you can add the change (positive, I believe) that has taken place in . In this labor of analysis arid refinement of ideas and concepts, I have counted

on the infinite patience of my friends and magic colleagues: from Manuel Cuesta, Aurelio Paviato, Pepe Dominguez, Antonio Malakatin, Ramon Riob6o, Alan Marchese, Manuel Llaser, Luis Trueba, Vicente Canuto, Pepe Puchol and others, all of whose enthusiasm for the subject encouraged me so much. My deepest heartfelt Thank you! to yotl all.

my own magic throughout all these years, measurable by the spontaneo reactions and comments of spectators and by my own sensations. is due largely to the live, non-analytical application, and the sincere, b anced and (I hope) artistic handling of these dramagical emotions. I hope these ideas are not just illusions of mine but realities that c to some extent be transferred to your experience.

Analysis of the Emotions in Magic otions ·(or the situations that cause them) can be related to the effect, method, the magician or other circumstances: audience, helpers, coheof the group, venue, music, previous atmosphere, etc. I will start with emotions that arise from the type of effect and the way they are transd by the magician. I'll divide them into those that are produced before the realization of magical effect, those that take place during the magical effect and that arise after the magical effect.

The Emotions ( and Situations That Cause Them) in Relation to the Effect efore and During the Effect How Does the Effect Arrive? SUSPENSE

eludes: Hope. Anxiety. Doubt. Mental tension. Waiting. Impatience .... And It can be Announced 58 Hinted at, foreseen 59 Wished for 60 Feared 61 Doubtfully believed Rejected as impossible62

Delayed63

Emotions ( expressed or felt) Can he pull it off? Don't tell me that ... that ... I hope so! I hope not! Really? How is he going to do it? No, I'll shave off my moustache if he ... I'd commit suicide. Come on! Let see! Let's see! ...

58. Card at Number (Gombert-Al Baker-Tamariz). 59. First moments of the final slow spread in "Triumph" (Vernon). 60. Final coin in Nest of Boxes . .fil. Sawing a Woman in Half (Blackstone, Goldin).

62. Vanishing Birdcage (Buatier de Kolta). Blackstone's version with children's hands touching the cage on all sides, and the forthcoming disappearance is announced. 63. Voluntary delay in revealing the face of the card at the end of a trick

N

2.

SURPRISE

Includes: Shock. Sudden pleasure. Unexpected joy. Horror. Tensionrelaxation. Visual impact. Momentary doubt about the reliability of the

It can be ;_I thought it was ajoke. 73

.a.-v-1n1-r,a«;;;t,;:,Pl'1

Visual74

or

What ajoke! Wow!

senses. Laughter or absurdity.

It can be Emotions 64 a) Totally unexpected b) Different than expected: -Contrary to expected65 -Different in time -Before expected66 -After expected67 -Different in space (not here but there) 68 -Different in quality (I didn't expect that) 69 -Different in quantity ( a larger or smaller number of objects than expected) -Stronger, bigger 70 -Smaller71 c) Hesitantly expected: -I didn't think it would work (bluff) 72

( expressed or felt) Wow!

How an Effect is Presented CHALLENGE

· eludes: Tension. Competitiveness. A certain aggressiveness. Self-assertion. Look at that! Ooh! (with a shock) Ooh! (with a shock) Come on! Look! Come on! Oh!

Oh, ho, ho! Little laughs: tee-hee

Pride. State of alert. Drama and great interest.

Emotions ( expressed and felt) It can be due to What! The impact of the effect. 75 The Magician's expression (verbal attitude) Let's see if it's true! and promise when announcing the effect. 76 Like that? No way! Strict conditions. 77 78 Again?! Repetition (of the trick). I'm going to win. A bet (wagering money or prestige). 79 He's not going to fool me! Mental attitude of the spectator. Warning! If the threat is excessive, either in strength or in duration,

Give me a break!

there may be some memory of the experience left in the spectator's

64. Instantaneous dove production (the throw).

mind-an unpleasant or very tense recollection of the challenge-that

65. Coins through Table: They came up! (instead of going down).

will later be very difficult or nearly impossible to erase.

66. In the Rising Cards: A card rises unexpectedly, before you say anything. A card is divined and named while the assisting spectator is still showing it to the audience. 67. In the Rising Cards: A card rises after the magician gives up, following several failed attempts. 68. Cards to Pocket: They travel to an unexpected pocket.

4. IMPOSSIBLE PROMISE Includes: Doubt. Distrust. Expectation. Incredulity. And if not fulfilled: Laughter. Self-assertiveness. Disillusion and frustration. If· it's fulfilled: Surprise and admiration.

69. Different from what was expected. For example: you announce the transformation of a coin and-poof! It disappears. 70. In the Rising Cards: They rise all together in a fountain (Buatier de Kolta). Large ball produotion for the climax of the Cups and Balls. 71. Dai Vernon's "Climax for a Dice Routine": tiny die. 72. Snake Basket ("Margarita the Snake"). I announce, "And now Margarita the

73. Vernon's Brainwave Deck, when presented tongue in cheek as an invisible deck 74. Cane to Silk 75. Buatier de Kolta's "Vanishing Lady" (Richiardi, Jr.). 76. "This ring will link to the one you're holding, through the exact spot you indicate."

her mouth, show it to one side, then to the other side, and then go away." Her

77. The Egg Bag with spectators holding the magician's hands. 78. Rene Lavand's "It Can't Be Done Any Slower". The Ambitious Card.

little head suddenly appears with the card in her mouth.

79. Three-Card Monte.

Snake will search and find the selected card. She will emerge with the card in

200 It can be a) Fulfilled

201 Emotions ( expressed and fel

-Not believed (beforehand) 80 -Half-believed -Totally fulfilled 81 -Partially fulfilled 82 b) Unfulfilled

I don't believe i

Emotions ( expressed or felt)

can be pparent failure:

Later proved a ploy86

He missed. Oh, no! He fooled me. What a scare! What ajoker!

I don't know.. .Incredibl I don't know... Come 0

-Solved with a gag 83 -Solved with another magical surprise 84 -Forgotten (memory erased) 85 The Magical Effect Is Preceded by

Actual failure: ...;.Failure resolved 87

Ole!

-Partially corrected 88 -Replaced (improved)

Well ... 89

-Forgiven (gag, out, drama) 90

Better! Never mind.

--Caused to be forgotten 91 -Made to be perceived as an apparent failure 92

I don't think he really missed.

5. FAILURE ( OF THE EFFECT) Includes: Tension. Fear. Slight awkwardness. Maybe anxiety. Doubt (Will it be true?). Maternal instinct. Perhaps perverse joy. Patronization. Compassion. Disillusion. Feeling duped. Expectation. And then: Contempt and Relaxation. But if the spectator didn't want the effect to succeed: Slight frustration (Hey, there are people for everything!). 80. "He'll make a lady from the audience fly" (Copperfield). 81. "I will cut my assistant in half," said in a tone that raises doubt. 82. "I will know just by looking at your eyes," followed by verbal fishing through questions and answers. 83. "I will eat a live spectator." The magician tries, but the spectator complains because the magician bites him. The spectator runs away. "If no one is willing to be eaten, I can't do it." 84. The magician takes a card from the deck, saying, "This card will be the card you name. " Someone freely names a card and the prediction is shown-a Joker. ''Jokers are wild" (gag and unfulfilled promise). With a Top Change, the Joker is then switched for the named card, which the magician has found using a stack or any other method. The card has transformed ( a magical surprise different from the promised effect). See "Prediction; E. A Stage Version: 'The Joker"' in Mnemonica, p. 94, for a handling of this. 85. "I will do the whole trick without touching the cards." No further reference is made to that promise. A while later, the magician deals the cards himself, but the effect of the promise remains in the memory. (See proposals by politicians in their campaigns.)

Warning: great danger! If the emotion caused by the failure ( even if a simulated failure) lasts more than is dramatically necessary and goes long-term memory, the experience is strong and it may be difficult or ossible to erase the sensation that something went wrong, that there . Vernon's "Matching the Cards", "The Partagas Sell". . "The Three of Hearts? No? Seven of Diamonds? [Search and Top Change.] I blow on it and it changes into-the Seven of Diamonds." .. "Three of Hearts? No? Seven of Diamonds? But the two cards on top are a Seven and a Diamond." . "Three ofHearts? It isn't? Then I don't need any cards. The deck disappears." . You fail to divine the first of three cards. Without overly stressing this failure, you divine the next two cards with increasing emphasis on drama and magical effect. You then continue with the next trick. You could also, on the first divination, throw the failed card into the air and tell the spectator who chose it: "You missed! That's okay. I forgive you!" (Laughs) Just smile and continue. 'By the way, let's remember that in the circus it is quite common to miss a stunt on purpose in order to, when it is repeated successfully, achieve a greater dramatic reaction, seasoned by sympathy felt toward the artist and that causes the failure to be forgotten or forgiven. l. "The Three of Hearts? No? Well, wait, look at this trick-and this one ... " . You greatly exaggerate, overacting: "Oh, it's a pity I missed!" (Pause. Search and Top Change.) "But seriously, look: I blow and-poof!" You make it look as if there has been no mistake; you've done everything on purpose, been in control and feigned having missed. You don't allow the emotion of failure to be felt.

0

N

was a mistake, even if it is later proved that this wasn't the case or that

aoout the attitude of the helpers, a"?out an error, about noticeable nerves

it was corrected. I think it is prudent to attempt to make the "failure" a

of the magician. 98

Oh ... oh ... oh ...

weak and brief emotion, then immediately to make it feel false (simulated and desired by the magician) or cause it be forgotten or forgiven. See the study on the techniques for outs in magic in Chapter 10 (p. 495).

Warning: If done excessively, this will obstruct qu~et contemplation and a pleasant experien·ce of the marvelous effect and ~ts fascination.

6. ACCIDENT Includes: Shock. Fear. Anxiety. Solidarity. Compassion. Doubt. Maternal instinct. Expectation. And then: Joy, or frustration if it isn't fixed.

It can be

Emotions ( expressed or felt)

8. FEAR OF AN ACCIDENT OR DANGER Throughout the, session, and especially at delicate moments: due to difficult conditions, and due to the objects being used; and for the helpers or for the way the spectator is and feels. 99

Uh ... uh ... uh ...

a) Apparent: -Proved apparent93 -Overcome 94

And now? ... Youjoker. Oops! And now? ... That's great!

b) Real: -Overcome. Fixed

The Emotions That Follow the Effect, Caused by It First reactions: at the moment immediately after the effect is produced,

95

Oops! And now? ... That's great!

-Apparently fixed 96

Anyway.... Phew!

-Shared (without fixing) 97

Well, never mind.

deliberately by the magician, or spontaneously felt by the spectators. 9. AsTONISHMENT, AWE At the mental shock of the impossible.10°

The Procedure of the Trick Is Accompanied by 7.

FEAR OF FAILURE

Throughout the session, at difficult moments that arouse concern: for the magician, about the great difficulty of the effect, about the circumstances, 93. All the cards fall to the floor-but an envelope arrives "in the mail" with thP exact solution. The three selected cards are inside. 94. A handkerchief is tom by a spectator and restored. 95. A spectator drops the deck on the floor. The magician brings out another deck (stacked or Brainwave) and ends the trick successfully. A billiard ball falls to the floor and rolls far away. The magician produces another and continues with the manipulation. 96. The Rising Cards houlette breaks. The trick is continued with the deck in hands. 97. For example, with a gag: ''J always drop the cards, it's part of the show." Continue with another trick The attitude of the magician is essential in the handling of this emotion caused by an accident. Another way of dealing with it is by being sincere with the audience: "Well, I'm human, too, but you are going to see this other wonderful trick." This is valid for "Accident" but not for "Failure".

. .. !!!

Includes: Great surprise. So stunned, people forget to react. Breathless. Silence and amazement. Exclamations. Incredulity. Admiration. Rubbing their eyes. Mouths open. Looking at the others. Shaking their heads in denial. Eyes open wide.

Produced by effects of this type a) Normal (specific)

bf Mental wallop (knocked senseless) 101 c) Visual blow102

Emotions ( expressed or felt) ?! Dong! I see stars ....

98. Sympathetic spectators, including fell ow magicians who see us struggle, or relatives or our mate. 99. The magician's mother is watching the Head Chopper. The spectator's girlfriend is to be "chopped". 100. Disappearance of the airplane (Copperfield). The Spirit Slates. 101. "Out of This World" (Paul Curry). 102. "Metamorphosis", Pendragons style.

204

205

Produced by effects of this type

Emotions ( expressed or fel

Oh! Oh! o Oh! Oh! Oo

d) Sparkling (several short effects in succession) 103 e) In a cascade (in crescendo) 104 f)

g)

00000000 0

h) In a frenzy (rhythm and excitement) 107 Oooh! Oooh! Oooh i) Accumulative (in a sequence, but at irregular intervals) -Routined108 identically109

Secondary reactions, during the assimilation of the effect No! No way! ... Ah! Hee-hee! No, no!

Caused by

etoscream. aroations. es. Little laughs. ding up. An ost Dionysian plea. greason inputtin

Experiencing the unique, the extraordinary, the exceptional, the impossible, the outrageous. 112

mentarilY aside.

-Repeated under increasingly impossible conditions and/or with somewhat different results 110

,SENSATION OF .MYSTERY

10. INTELLECTUAL CHALLENGE

Upon feeling excited logicm

· eludes

000

Oh! Oh! o

Rhythmical (at regular intervals) 105 Held throughout its duration 106

-Repeated

CITEMENT (EXALTATION)

Let's see: how did it happen? He must have ... Noway! How did he do it?

udes: The spell of its atmosphere. Sensing and feeling its fluttering. e unavoidable attraction of mystery. Caused by: Adventure in search of the unknown (within the safety of ·stic fiction), the ignored, the elusive, the incomprehensible, the irratiothe secret, the occult, the magical. ' It will obviously depend on the style of the presentation, on what the gician feels (Luis Garcia in one style, Finn Jon in another, Max Maven yet another) .

Warning: If this emotion is excessive and not resolved, it might cause frustration. This depends on the magician's attitude. 103. Card manipulation (act or routine). 104. The Kaps Chinese Coin Routine (Fred Kaps): the production of progressively larger coins. 105. Six-Card Repeat (Tommy Tucker). 106. The Okito Floating Ball. Or a rhythmic, fast-paced production of silks from a Phantom Tube. Or a vanish of a single object, without its immediate reappearance); the effect of the vanish remains. 107. Ending of "Total Coincidence" (Little Tamariz). 108. Rope routine, Cups and Balls. 1

109. Dove production. Kangaroo Coins. 110. The Linking Rings. 111. "Zig-Zag Girl" (Robert Harbin).

. WONDER, FASCINATION (ENCHANTMENT, ILLUSION, MAGIC)

eludes: Pleasure. Joy. Delight. Feeling the fantastic and the poetic. The nsation of finding oneself in glory. Heaven. Paradise. The Magic Rainbow. Accompanied by Poetic beauty113 Sensation of a joyful trance Surrealism (in objects) 114

Emotions ( expressed or felt) Ah! What beauty! Such poetry! Wonderful! ?!

12. The endings of knife routines (Kaps with handkerchief, Ascanio with miniature knives). 13. Vernon's "Brainwave".

14. The talking head of "The Sphinx" (Tobin), objects pulled from a movie screen (Goldin) and a very long etc. A great many magical effects produce surreal objects; for instance, Currency or Card in Bottle, decks that cut themselves, cards that move by themselves.

N HALLUCINATION

·s also takes place at a subconscious level.

Includes: Sensations similar to those produced by hallucinatory substanc States of sleep deprivation or hunger. Mirages. Hypnosis. Mystical tran Illumination.

Reaching the degree of Emotions ( expressed or fel a) Mirages, optical or tactile illusions. 115 It makes me see or feel b) Suggestion. 116 I see visio c) Hypnosis. He hypnotized m d) Delusion (a loss of the sense of reality, with unreal images taken as real). -By continuing or repeating the magic effect, making it beautiful, very powerful and absolutely impossible. 117 -Through the rhythm, in the almost obsessive repetition of the effect. 118 I see it and I don't believe it... 15.

CHILDHOOD RECOVERED. PLAYFULNESS

Emotions ( expressed or felt)

d) Free and competent imagination.

Oh! I feel like a kid. It's so much fun to play! It's fantastic! I am free to dream!

115. The Color-Changing Knives, the Hot or Cold Ball. 116. The General Card: One card appears to be four chosen cards.

117. Slydini's One-Coin Routine. The Rainbow Knives, with three knives vertiginously changing colors (I mean my own-and you guys just pretend you don't know it). 118. Four blue-backed cards that change and change (Oliver MacKenzie's Drink Trick"). 119. The Koomwinder Kar (Dick Koomwinder). Productions of fruit, candy, col-

ored silks, serpentines, rabbits, ducks ....

EASURE, ENJOYMENT AND INNER Joy

ugh fulfilled impossible wishes and dreams lived in rtistic reality. Includes: Satisfaction. Deep joy. Wholeness.

1

They can be

r

Conscious wishes (money, food, health, love, luck , h appmess .120 i

Subconsciou~ wishes (through symbols):

•

)

·

-Dreams and fantasies (not acknowledged). -Wishes of the collective subconscious (myths): flying, invulnerability, resurrection, knowing the future, impossible liberation, metamorphosis, ubiquity, control of time (going back in time), telepathic communication, cosmic unity, the origin of chaos, creation, animation of objects, miraculous healing, X-ray vision, penetration through solids, powers over nature (rapid germination, control of natural forces), etc. From

Includes: Sensations of paradise regained. The Wise Men and Santa Claus. Fairies. Warlocks. Gnomes. Genii. Spells. From Aladdin to Merlin. From Melchior to the Wizard of Oz. Back to the pre-logical age. 119

Through a) Something plausible although non-existent and unnecessary. b) Play. Fun. c) Fantasy.

m-eful: There is. a danger of bec~ming corny.

Icarus to Orpheus, from Minerva to Zeus, from Thor to Siegfried, from Eros to Chronos, from Dionysus to the Indian Gods of Liberation. 121 Immediately after the assimilation of the effect.

7. CALM, RELAXATION, ACCEPTANCE, SURRENDER ncludes: Release of tension. Enjoyment. Peace (devotion and surrender 0 the magic sensation). State of grace. Joyful acceptance. This is magic! 120: A ten-dollar bill to a hundred-dollar bill. Miser's Dream. Production of a leg of Iberico ham. Winning the lottery. "The Good Fortune Routine" (Mnemonica). Gambling demonstrations. 12[ Cut and Restored Rope (resurrection). The Egg Bag (creation of life). The Linking Rings (release from bondage). Rabbit from Hat (formerly: food, fertility). Dove Production (creation, purity, innocence). Everywhere and Nowhere (ubiquity, disappearance). Going back in time and predictions (control of time). Coin assembles and Chink-a-Chink (gathering of the four elements). Triumph (order over chaos). Ambitious Card (rise, liberation, power). Rising Cards (animation, ascension). Inexhaustibility (the Hom of Plenty), etc. See Chapter 3 and the appendices on classic effects, symbols and myths.

208 209 Other diverse emotions ( according to the type of effect)

Tension (impossible) without ·

18. CONFUSION AND MOMENTARY DOUBTS

. ) .128 relaxation (exclamat10n

For a short time, upon feeling or believing for a moment that what ~

A comic situation in the procedure of the trick

seen is a real phenomenon (telepathy) or a great coincidence, or that it beyond artistic fiction. 122 Is that true?

-A magical effect is apparently ignored by the magician. · a pret ense. 129 are aware t h at 1't 1s I') Although the spectators .

Irony.

ii) The spectators believe that the magician

19. RESTLESSNESS, DISCOMFORT

is truly unaware. 130

(Sometimes horror is raised by the subject of death or similar topics.) Includes: Sadness. Fear. Danger. Superstition. Anxiety. Horror vacm. Anguish. And then, occasionally: Joy. Relaxation. Glory.

The effect presented as a) Apparent death 123

Uh! Hee-hee.

_

Emotions ( expressed and felt) Uh! That's horrible!

b) Real death ( animals) 124 c) Symbolic death (not always a conscious concem) 125 d) Gore magic (blood, amputations) 126

He has no idea.

-The effect is apparently not intended by the magician. · a pret ense. 131 i) The spectators are aware t h at 1"t 1s

How ironic!

ii) The spectators believe that it is truly intended. 132

Warning: Misplaced and disproportionate comedy might hamper, destroy

r almost destroy the magic. (Again see "Magic and Comedy".) 1. FEAR, HORROR Fear of the paranormal, esoteric magic, black magic, sorcery, voodoo, witchcraft ....

Warning: Danger of an unintended sadism perpetrated on the spectators.

Includes: Apprehension. Courage. Cowardice. Credulity. Doubt. Mystery.

20. LAUGHTER (SOMETIMES SMILES)

Return to the infancy of the species (arcane fears). Sometimes: Dread. Terror.

This refers to the laughs or smiles produced by the magical effect itself.

Horror. But also: Peace of mind from the safety of living in an artistic fiction,

Includes: Joy. Relaxation. Communication. Closeness of the group. Revitalizing energy. (See "Magic and Comedy", p. 407.)

and being able to escape the fiction at will.

Caused by

Emotions

'fype

a) Spiritism (the dead, spirits, the world beyond).

133

Uh!

Emotions ( expressed or felt)

a) The absurdity of the effect. 127

Come on!

122. The Center Tear (telepathy). Bending spoons by mind power. 123. Sawing a Woman in Half with a circular saw (Goldin). 124. A bird is genuinely decapitated when its shadow is cut (various eighteenthcentury magicians). 125. The disappearc\',nce of the deck, without its reappearance. The Gut and Restored Rope using scissors. 126. The Knife through Arm, with blood. Richiardi, Jr. 's Sawing a Woman in Half, with the close-up display of blood and cut organs to the spectators. 127. The eggbeater in Clayton Rawson's "Little Wonder Thought Projector". The Long Card (ten pips in a long row).

128. A coin vanishes from the hand. 129. Lewis Ganson's Color-Changing Knives routine (Ganson's Routined Manip-

ulation, Part II, p. 19), in which the magician doesn't seem to be aware that the knives change color. 13;. The Rising Cards: A card rises while the deck is behind the magician's back. 131. Seemingly unexpected appearances of card fans by a tipsy Cardini. Zombie Ball that escapes (as performed by Juan Anton). 132. In an apparent accident, an envelope containing the spectator's money is burned. The inexhaustible salt pours out of Fred Kaps's fist (music stops and restarts). A spectator accidentally, or through a misunderstanding, tears a handkerchief. 133. Seances, perhaps making people aware of the artistic :fictional nature of what is presented.

b)

IJ-'-••u.,... ,c::i ... u

and animal magnetism. 134

c) The maleficent, the diabolical, witchcraft, black magic. 135 d) Bizarre magic (the occult). 136

Mmm ... How scary!

Yuk!

.Warning: There is a danger of overdoing it. A danger that the power of the emotion overrides the magic. A danger of falling into the theatrical rather than into the magically artistic. 22 ..AMUSEMENT, FuN, ENTERTAINMENT

Different emotions, apparently light but of great human value and therefore enormously positive. They bring happiness, a restfrom the everyday struggle, a break from personal problems. They bring joy and therefore encouragement for better facing everyday life (which is sometimes hard) with more strength and energy. They happen by themselves or when the artist-magician seeks them, whether this is his only goal-not believing in, feeling or wishing for other possibilities-or just one of his goals. Magic as a show. We are here to have fun! That is also wonderful! 23. AMAzEMENT AT SUPERPOWERS

Almost magical effects: Heroic magic (lying between the divine and the human). Includes: Admiration. Incredulity. A wish for imitation and sharing those powers. Glorification of the hero-magician. A sensation of the "almost ' almost" impossible. There are several types of these powers. They span magic and the sideshow and extraordinary phenomena. Let's look at some of them. Type

a) Super-memoryl37

Emotions Amazing! Almost incredible! (for all cases)

b) Super-physical skill 138 134. Hypno~ic rigidity over two chairs. Animal magnetism (presented in the style of Lulu Hurst). 1

135. Voodoo done with people. 136. A simulated ritual of black magic. 137. The Thirty-Word Memory Test. Knowing the day of the week in any year. Memorizing a deck. Sometimes Book Tests. 138. Gambling demonstrations. Escapology. Dice stacking. Flourishes with cards.

Super-psychological abilities 139 · Super-calculation140 Super-strength141 Super-digestion142 Super-communication143 Super-resistance to pain144 Super-mastery of hazard 145 Learned animals 146 Warning: There is a danger that the magician believes or feels that the effects, not being totally impossible and being more or less explainable, don't have a magical impact. This needn't be the case if you play within the zone between the possible and impossible. Most of the time there is doubt about the genuineness of the phenomena, although it is colored with admiration. In any case, these effects are a formidable resource for enhancing the personality of the magician, and they offer a powerful complement to magic, producing credibility, amazement and a certain dose of mystery.

24. SENSATION OF SEMI-MAGIC Produced by allied arts. Includes: Amazement. A mild sensation of magic. Sometimes doubt. Sometimes charm. Emotions ( expressed or felt) Among them Automata that are gimmicked to make them seem intelligent. Seems alive? Is it? 139. Prediction of one among five ("He made us choose it"). Musel~ reading. 140. The Magic Square. 141. Tearing a phonebook or deck of cards in half. 142.Eating stones (stone-eaters of the eighteenth century). Regurgitation of fluids, frogs and fish .... 143. Second sight, when presented as a dialog between two mindreaders (an effect at the limits of the magical). 144. Fakirism, being pierced by needles, impervious to fire. 145. Predictions that are not strong once, but when repeated (heads, tails, tails, heads ... ). 146. Munito the Learned Dog, psychic birds, calculating horses, learned pigs.

b) Ventriloquism (especially if there are inexplicable moments)_ 147 c) Pickpocketing. d) False balancing. 14s

Envy (loneliness) upon proving the brilliance among groups of friends and colleagues).

Seems incredibl

overload, fatigue upon experiencing the

e) Physical Science. Experiments that work

What about me?

excessive mental tension that magic demands.

in a way spectators don't understand and that seem to defy known physical laws.

and social success of the magician (usually

Does it taI Don't they notic

That's enough, okay.

Boredom after watching long, confusing, How can that be.

messy, badly presented tricks or

Enough! When will this end? What a drag.

excessively long sessions. 25. NEGATIVE EMOTIONS FROM THE SPECTATOR

a) b) c) d)

(and that will linger if not neutralized by the magician and his attitude) Frustration and impotence upon feeling his logic destroyed. I can't understand. Insecurity upon feeling his logic worthless. I wonder if logic counts. Personal failure due to feeling inferior to the magician. How clever you are! Discouragement, upset at finding

himself ignorant of the secret. e) Apprehension, instability upon

How on earth does that work?

finding that his senses are not reliable and competent. f)

I see it and-it's not true!

General Surrounding Emotions and after the Magic Session) Some wishes. . ILLUSION OF POWER

eludes: The sensation of the possibility of achieving in the future, in real' the same effects just presented in the artistic session. Hope. Power. oleness. Feeling like gods (Wanna play God?). All of that is due to feelg the impossible as possible, even if only in the scope of artistic reality. metimes this illusion/sensation of power is subconscious.

The power is felt as Only the magician's.

Low self-esteem, tribulation upon

Shared with the magician, as part

considering himself not very intelligent, or feeling clumsy or stupid.

of humanity (and the spect-actors). Am I stupid?

g) Offense, feeling ridiculous and cheated ' fooled, even swindled.

Everyone's in the future.

Emotions ( expressed or felt) So powerful! Me too! Why not sometime?

Warning: Beware of self-deception.

He's pulling my h) Anger, upset at imagining himself as not worthy of the confidence of the magician (friends, rel~tives ... ). He doesn't explain it to me.

Includes: Emulation. Wish to imitate. Amaze. Have power. Have the skills

i)

Play. Be the center of attention?

Bad feelings, knowing that the magician knows the secret but doesn't reveal it.

Why doesn't he explain it?

147. A live dog that opens and closes its mouth when talking (Marc Metral). 148. A ball (attached to an unseen thread) spinning on an umbrella.

WISH OF BEING THE ARTIST, OF BEING THE MAGICIAN

mid the beautiful artistic talent of the magician. Be admired. Enchant. If I could .. .I would like ...

By the way, I, and all of you who are reading this, have felt this at some point. This was what brought you to the hobby or profession of magic. For some of us, it changed our lives. Now we are magicians and nothing less!

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28. REMEMBRANCES AND EVOCATION OF THE EFFECT AND ITS EXPERIENc (BUILDING THE EFFECT)

. LUCIDITY. ENRICHMENT. WHOLENESS

eludes: Return to reality. Knowledge that everything is explainable by rea-

Includes: augmentation and glorification of the thing experienced and 3_

n, even if we don't know how to do it for lack of information; but there

curious improvement of the conditions of the effect-as long as spec.;

someone, the magician, who does know. Peace of mind. Security. Belief

tators have liked and sympathized with the magician, as a person or an

ain in reason and logic, tempered with humility and a healthy skepticism

artist. Sometimes this is accompanied by thoughts about the impossibility

manipulated logic and ·our capacity for analysis (we can be deceived, we

of the existence of any natural cause for the effect. This boosts and multiplies its charm.

e human after all), at the limited reliability of our senses (I saw it, I heard

Upon feeling

( expressed or felt)

Excitement about what was experienced.

it, I felt it ... but it wasn't true) and of our attention and memory. Triumphant reason along with the immense pleasure, perhaps forgotten, of feeling the poetic perfume of mystery and dreams, of imagination coexisting with

It was incredible and wonderful!

lucidity. A sensation of feeling enriched by the experience of the magical, and the safety derived from the power of reason. Wholeness, a sense of hav-

Warning: This emotion is usually linked to the next.

ing gone through pre-logical childhood (fantasy), childhood (playfulness), 29. WISH To SHARE THE EXPERIENCE OF THE IMPOSSIBLE WITH OTHERS

adolescence (adventure), youth (emotional, poetic) and maturity (logic, defeated at first, eventually triumphant).

AND NARRATE IT

Includes: the elements of the previous emotion (remembrance), but with

Upon feeling

more power regarding the augmentation and improvement of the effect

The humbleness of knowing we can

experienced, because of the need to transmit and spread the sensation of

be deceived, illusioned.

the impossible and miraculous. People wish to convert it into something

The lucidity of recognizing our mistakes in

legendary. Vanity, a feeling of having been a selected one. Subconscious

perception and the limitations of memory.

Emotions ( expressed or felt)

co-authorship felt by the spectator, especially if the spectator-narrator The healthy skepticism at the limited

the spectator is in a group, this is preceded by comments on the natural

ability of our senses.

Upon feeling Emotions ( expressed or a) The insufficiency of lonesome pleasure. I have to tell you! Believe

b) Having contributed to the miracle.

And I chose it myself! In my own hands!

The circle closes.

I saw it, I heard it, but it wasn't true.

d) The safety and peace of mind in knowing that reason triumphs.

I know there must be a reason, and thanks to it I was able to enjoy the marvelous.

me, it was impossible and marvelous!

I thought I was watching and I didn't see anything.

was an active participant in the trick, routine or session. Sometimes, if causes (secret) of the effects witnessed. But the conclusion, in general, will be one of wonder and pleasure.

I was totally enchanted!

e) Personal glory and enrichment and wholeness due to the artistic,

What beauty! How artistic!

magical experience (although

How fascinating! How

artistic, not real).

impossible! It's magic, but artistic (not real).

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The Emotions Situations That Provoke Them) in Relation to theSecret Method Warning! I feel the emotions included in this heading should be minimize by the magician and be used only to stop restless logic during the first p of a session or a routine and any logic still awake later.

nanger: If the I-Saw-the-Secret Phase lasts too long, it will pass into term. memory ~nd will stay with the spectator. If the experience is . no one will be able to e'rase it. People might even remember orable , they "spotted the secret" even when the magician h~s clearly shown that it wasn't the true secret. It's similar to the ertjotional situation mistake. Curiously,· in manipulation routines, with effects that folclosely, one upon another, this negative effect is r~duced or entirely

31. I CAUGHT IT! I SAW WHAT HE DID!

• ated, since the emotion produced by the trick that follows the

Includes: Satisfied curiosity. Pity. Possible feeling of guilt. Disillusion. Compassion. Self-complacency. Maternal instinct. Doubt. Self-assertiveness. Pride for one's own intelligence and cleverness. And, of course, if the move supposedly discovered turns out not to be the real one: Joy. Sometimes frustration. A playful feeling. Admiration. Humbleness. When people believe they saw the secret, there are some variations: a) When there is certainty of having seen the

secret. 149

b) When there is merely a doubt. 150

I know it! Uh! I think that. ..

c) When there is fear that the magician might be exposing the

secret. 151

Uh! Maybe they saw. He was right! What a pity!

Then, when their suspicion is proved to be erroneous, not the true

tely forgotten. (See more on this subject and its applications to magic Chapter 4, "Magic and Memory", p. 113.) . PSEUDO-EXPLANATION

·cks in which you pretend to explain the secret, or really do explain it, d then prove it was a false explanation; or the explanation is overridden

a more powerful and unexpected effect. Includes: Curiosity. Doubt. Distrust. Interest. Fear of Disillusionment. ontempt. Playful feelings. Admiration. Refreshed amazement. Contains temporary phases

Emotions ( expressed or felt)

When the explanation is announced.

solution: a) If it's known to be caused by the magician.

t into long-term memory. As a result, the negative emotion is com-

d then, once the false explanation is demonstrated: Surprise. Joy.

d) When it is proved that the secret was revealed. 152

-the-Secret Episode erases or, rather, prevents the passing of that

153

b) If it was the spectator's mistake. 154

He was kidding! I was wrong!

149. The palmed ball is partially exposed and noticed.

When the secret is explained. When it is shown that the explanation was false. 157

156

155

Good. Let's see. I don't think ...

Ah! Of course! Ah.! I thought so! ( Or sometimes:) To hell with logic. Let's just enjoy it!

150. The magician pretends to hide four Aces, or an egg, under his arm.

When the explanation is really shown but

151. Wheh other magicians or friends of the performer see that some spectators

is later overridden by a better effect. 158

are whispering and commenting on possible solutions to others who want to feel the magic. 152. He brings from his pocket the card that was seen palmed in the same hand. 153. The arm pit is shown empty and the Aces are found on the table or the egg in the bag. 154. He thought he saw the coin in the sleeve, but it is still in the hand.

Oh! Come on!

155. "The Backstage Illusion". 156. Silk to Egg. 157. The Chinese Sticks.

Until now we have concerned ourselves with the moment in which the magical effect is produced. But what happens during the previous deve_ . 1 opment of the necessary actions that lead to it? What happens if the procedure, sometimes necessarily long, is also unnecessarily tedious slow or boring? Quite possibly, some of the spectators, or all of them, Wi~

CJ ......1

arrive at the moment of the climax of the effect without being prepared to appreciate it, either because, by then, they are tired or uninterested, or because they have lost some of the important details that make the effect appear impossible. In any case the beautiful magical sensation will not be experienced as it deserves to be.

~

Because of that-and taking into account what was said about dramatic curves at the beginning of this section-let's now examine in detail how to achieve a good curve of interest, that curve concerning the magical conflict, for the development of the proposition of living the impossible. For a clear understanding, I will apply it to an exaggerated, almost paradoxical example. The magician takes a deck of cards from its case and shuffles it thoroughly. He then hands it to someone seated in the first row, who also gives it a good shuffle, taking his time. The magician retrieves the deck and has a card selected. The spectator looks at the card and returns it to the deck without showing it to the rest of the audience. The magician again shuffles the cards thoroughly. He then brings his hand to the front pocket of his trousers and removes a card from there which ' he shows to the spectator. The spectator nods; it is the same card. The magician begins another trick Let's assume that the control and the palming of the card were· executed with good manual and corporeal technique, and were therefore invisible. The method, then, has remained secret. But what about the spectators' experience of the magical effect? What did they feel? Probably, at most, a cold, faint curiosity about how the card made it into the pocket. They have been given an unresolved brainteaser or puzzle, but it lacks interest.

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In other words, as a dramatic curve it is-a total disaster! Let's analyze it. When the magician takes out the deck, he begins mething, and that arouses a certain interest: He's going to perform a ·ck When the person in the first row shuffles and shuffles, interest is mewhat reduced, since no one can see his face and what he is doing. his causes a period of silence, of waiting, which becomes long and borg. The magician then has the person select a card and look at it without owing it to anyone else. This creates a certain frustration. If, added to hat, the magician doesn't talk, or talks only to the assisting spectator, the rest of the audience doesn't hear it or is not sure what's going on: "I think he asked him to take a card ... I think. .. I don't know." Interest increases somewhat when the spectator looks at the card and :returns it to the deck, and the magician shuffles. "He must be losing it." But since he shuffles and shuffles and shuffles and cuts, the whole thing begins to become long and boring. Then the magician takes a card from his pock@t; interest increases: "Is that the same card?" The solution doesn't arrive clearly, because the magician shows the spectator and he seems to nod his head, although neither the card nor the spectator is clearly seen. Maybe people think: "It must be the same one." And with no further clarification, the magician begins a new effect. As you can see, the curve is generally flat, with important dips-the spectator in the first row shuffles, his face isn't seen, he is probably clumsy,

256 and the shuffling takes him some time-and with certain deficiencies i the information received-the chosen card isn't seen, and people can be sure that the card that came from the pocket is the same one. If t procedure is not clearly followed, interest in the rest is likely to decrease and the trick may get boring. When the climax arrives, the potentially wonderful effect of the card traveling to the magician's pocket cannot be appreciated and its impossibility can't be felt. Neit~er can the symbolism that would theoretically produce fascination. All this is an example of bad communication, nonexistent dramatization, lack of clarity and terrible handling of emotions.

257 The second process consists of improving the dramatization through intrinsic emotions of the trick; not the external ones that are added, th'e ones that are built into the pro~edure of the trick Let's look at our ple effect again. We will attempt to make every moment of it interting, especially those that pull down the dramatic curve. ,' We start by assessing whether it is possible to remove, ,ito trim, superuous actions that hold little interest. For example: What's;the purpose of aving a spectator shuffle the cards at the beginning of the trick? The effect

•is a "miraculous trip", and having the deck shuffled before a card is selected makes no difference to that journey. It's a purposeless, unnecessary action.

External Presentation

We can then try to make the beginning of the trick interesting. This can

To correct all this, one might tend to search for what people have come to

be done even before the trick starts, through an impossible promise. For

call "a good presentation": perhaps a few comments that arouse emotions

example, you point to a spectator: "Now I will make you travel through

maybe a couple of jokes or comedic moments, possibly more elegance'

space and take you inside my pocket!" There is no doubt that this prom-

through gesture and attitude, etc. All these would undoubtedly "dress"

ise, being absurd, magical, incredible and amusing, introduces the trick

the trick better. People may laugh at the jokes and humor or be touched

with an extra measure of interest. If the curve of the trick normally begins

by the dramatic remarks and grace, but the magic, the impossibility of the effect and the fascination of its symbolism, would hardly improve.

at an interest level of zero, the same curve will now start at a higher point;

It would be embellished or become more "commercial" or "entertaining", but magically speaking it would still be weak

and when the climax arrives, it will reach a higher level of interest as well.

It will undoubtedly have a much more dramatic and interesting climax. If, before asking the spectator to choose a card, you ask him to stand up, his face is now visible to everyone and communicates to the general audi-

Clarifying the Effect and Improving the Dramatization

ence his incredulity or amused surprise or other emotions. This provides the

Another option, much better in my judgment, consists of two processes.

moment with feeling and interest. A question such as ''Are you willing to do

The first is to improve the communication of the proceedings to the

this?" would probably elicit an answer from him revealing something surprising and interesting. You could then say, "Please select a card with complete freedom; search and research. Show it clearly to everyone and, for it to acquire some of your identity, sign it. "As he proceeds, you address the rest of the audience: ''Since the trip is very dangerous ... "You pause and look at the spectator. "... would you prefer me to make just your identity, represented by your signed card, travel, instead of you?"

nonparticipating spectators, through gestures, words, etc.: "Take any

card you like. That one? You can change your mind; there are lots, there are fifty-two. Show it to everyone. Put it back wherever you want. I will shuffle tho11oughly to make sure the card is totally and hopelessly lost among the others. Now, a magic pass-and it's done! Yes! Look, here in my pocket there is a card, only one card. Which one did you take? The Three of Clubs? Well, this card is, precisely, the Three of Clubs!" In this way, throughout the trick you clarify the details of the procedure, the nature of the effect and how impossible it is.

The spectator usually nods and gladly accepts this option. (If he prefers to make the trip in person, go ahead-and let me know how you did it.) "Put the card back wherever you want. We will lose it completely

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with a very shuffle. " Mix the cards while watching your hands, As you do this, everyone must be convinced the card is hopelessly lost. The element of conflict is growing. (Normally it would be better to adhere to the classical sequence of having the card returned to the center of the deck, doing a Pass, then a Palm, handing the deck to the spectator for shuffling, then retrieving it and secretly adding the palmed card to the top. That's clearly superior to controlling the selection through cutting followed by an overhand shuffle, a procedure used so frequently nowadays; but that's another story. In this case, it would be enough to do the Pass and Palm, and then let the spectator shuffle and keep the deck. However, we intend to adopt a more nuanced procedure.)

gaze. You gesture with your right

as if catching

something

the air, which you then throw toward your right pocket, your right ' always turned toward the spectators. Pause while you show satistion. The spectators perhaps feel: "Well, so what? Is he still playing?" u get a little closer to them, where everyone can clearly see you. You slowly place your empty right hand into the right pqcket. This time, en , s, you seem to find something there. Bring the card only half way out of e pocket, its back turned to the audience. Carefully, with some anxiety, at the face of the card, bowing it slightly while keeping the other

We continue: You make a gesture of throwing something from the

half inside the p~cket. Name a card; not the one you see, but one very iunilar: "Is your card the Two of Clubs?" The audience says, "No." Your smile freezes. "What was your card?" They tell you it was the Three of

deck into the air. Follow the invisible card with your eyes, all the way

Clubs. The spectators' tension grows and they again feel an emotion, that

to your left trousers pocket. This visual acting out of the effect and the

f failure. This, by the way, should be sustained for only a brief moment,

magical gesture that produces the illusion are essential, inescapable.

prevent it from becoming fixed in memory without the possibility of

Expectation mounts while you hold the deck in right-hand end grip, with

asing the sensation that the magician truly failed. This is a danger this

its back toward you and your empty right palm facing the audience. Bring your left hand to your left pocket and touch it .... You feel nothing there!

emotion carries. Without further pauses, you look again at the protruding half card and

Surprise. You have failed.

openly smile. "Glad to hear it, because this card is-in fact-the Three

The spectators now experience complex sensations from a combination of emotions. "Poor magician! I knew it was impossible. What is he going to do now? ... It was a joke." Some people will be feeling something more like:

Clubs!" You pull the whole card from your pocket and display it high the air, turning it to make sure everyone can see it. "And with your signature, of course!" Hand it to the spectator who signed it, who nods in

isn't." With this, interest builds and builds. Meanwhile, during the relaxation

agreement. Then say, ''Magic!" Smile and look at the spectators while they enjoy the miracle. You enjoy

following your apparent failure, you have executed a one-handed palm of

it too, in sympathy with them. After the pause for assimilation has been

the top card (the signed selection, which has been controlled to the, top) into your right hand. You transfer the deck to you left hand, look at your

fulfilled, and only after that, begin the next trick. "'As you can see, the effect and its method are unchanged, but the

right trousers pocket and then at the spectators, crossing your gaze with

expository clarity, as well as communication with the spectators and

motion of your rightihand, which goes to the right pocket. The hand briefly

their emotional involvement have been improved enormously, making the

enters the pocket, leaving the palmed card and comes out empty. At the

procedure more interesting and the effect clearer, more powerful, mem-

same time, perplexed, you mumble to yourself, "Not there either?"

orable and poetic. In other words, the effect hasn't been simply dressed

"Well, I'm almost happy. He wanted us to believe he is a superman, but he

More tension. You let your right hand be seen empty while you look up

up and embellished with external elements-something not entirely neg-

into the air and smile. You seem to visualize something and follow it with

ative, but not truly necessary-it has also been clarified, communicated,

260

261

dramatized, and its magical quality increased through the intrinsic erno--:

tions (an impossible promise, apparent mistakes, suspense, challenge ... ) and the handling of the pauses: a dramatic one before the climax, the pause for assimilation afterward, and others after proposing the challenge of the magical translocation, etc.

we have seen, magic is self-sufficient, but that doesn't mean it can't metimes be accompanied by a story or plot that adds to the fascinan of the whole and brings its own dramatic conflict and subsequent solution-or perhaps no resolution. Here we find ours/elves in a simsituation, though not identical, to adding comedy (tbkes, gags and morous bits) that is external to the magic, and which produces healthy ughter but can also, sometimes, weaken or castrate the rhagical effect. 178 But here I wish to deal with the addition of a story or plot of a specific

The curve of the trick is now something like this: CLIMAX

en

New Conflict: the Dramatic Plot

Assimilation

C: Q)

a. More ~ mistakes? w

type. Let's explore. The first thing to say is that a story can have a strong positive component, like that already mentioned: adding fascination to the trick-if the story and plot possess that attribute. They may also help to avoid possible frustration felt if the logical part of the logical-magical conflict isn't resolved. But stories and plots also present dangers-dangers to avoid. (As always, there is the difficult balance, walking the tightrope specific to art.) We find then that there is a tug-of-war between the logical-magical conflict and a dramatic conflict with a plot.

(J)

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I repeat that the option just described is not incompatible with embellishment through the external presentation of the trick and its procedure 1

as long as the greatest care is taken not to interrupt or spoil the emotional development of the effect's magical impact. So, yes, if aside from being powerful and emotibnal, the trick is also, magically speaking, deliciously dressed up and embellished for a joyful party, so much the better!

There is, in fact, a particular problem to solve: The danger that the story or plot can blur, divert, even eliminate the sensation of the impossible made possible, which is to say the quintessential quality in our art. By the early twentieth century,. John Nevil Maskelyne stated with certainty in Our Magic 179 (and not, in my belief, without foundation) that if magic and drama coexist (understanding drama as a plot, sometimes theatricc1Jized), drama will always win, and magic will always lose. Maskelyne experienced this first hand, along with his family. Recall the fiasco of the Maskelynes near the end of their very successful career when, with all their vast experience, they opened in London with a theater play containing their best and most successful illusions, thousands

But there is a third possibility, one not incompatible with the two we've just discussed: adding a fictional plot to the trick that provides its own curve and dramatic conflict.

178. See "Magic and Comedy" in Chapter 8, p. 407. 179. Our Magic, Nevil Maskelyne and David Devant, George Routledge & Sons: London, 1911.

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262 of times enjoyed and applauded. The opening was a huge failure with aud} ences and critics, and an enormous disappointment to the followers of Maskelynes' magic, which until then had been direct, pure and powerful. They invited the participation of the great David Devant, a long contrib.: utor to the company, but Devant refused (intuition?) to join this magical theatrical venture. They redesigned the show, using the same effects but presented without a plot. The magic was direct, moving, symbolic and powerful, and their artistic success was now fulfilled. 180 I believe, in general, that the problem is this: If there are dramatized effects, with a plot-and moreover, if they are acted out rather than narrated-magic, in its aspects of the impossible, becomes weaker. I have qualified this with "in general" because, as in every art, there are exceptions. Hofzinser, Slydini, Rene Lavand, Dai Vernon and Fu Manchu, among

263 ns1·ty, the logical impossibility of the experience they are having. If the t and its development are very interesting to them, they will not be able, the same time, to properly register the details of the circumstances that e the effect impossible, that make it miraculous, that make it magical. Let's remember that magic requires or, more precisely, !demands from ctators an almost totai concentration in everything that is happenwith no loss of details, so that later, when the magical effect arrives,

' ey can experience it as being totally impossible. They nptice the empty ands of the magician, or that he doesn't touch or get near the slates; they emember the name of the card or the number chosen, how many coins in each hand at every moment, the color and size of the balls held

tween the fingers, the emptiness of each part of the box shown, etc. In other words, magic is extremely demanding on the memories and

others, achieved a certain balance, difficult but possible, between drama, plot, narration and powerful magic. We will later discuss in detail how

ttention of the spectators. If they get distracted for a second, if they miss

they did it. But first let's analyze the dangers of and reasons for this serious difficulty of a coexistence between drama and magic. 181

hey will lose the impact and the sensation of impossibility!

Destruction and Excessive Demands The smallest of these difficulties is the distraction the dramatic plot can cause, weakening or preventing the fixation of details of the magical proceedings that later, upon the arrival of the effect, need to be clear in the minds and memories of the spectators for them to appreciate, in all its

single detail, if they don't remember a certain circumstance at the end, From this it can be seen that adding elements and situations demand:ing thought, emotion and memory, that asking spectators to follow a new

dramatic conflict in the plot, can often be too great, too taxing or utterly exhausting. In the worst of cases, it creates confusion and the impossibility of appreciating the impossible. Only when the procedure of the magical effect is very simple and direct, and contains few elements to memorize and follow, can a dramatic plot avoid being distracting or hampering,

180. In my already long and abundant experience as a spectator and a performer of magic, I have seen in the work of others and my own many of the mistakes, problems and difficulties in attempting to bring drama and magic together. Most of these attempts were quite disappointing, though not all. 181. The Brazilian magician Ricardo Godoy Harada, whom I believe has a back ground in theater, presented as his doctoral thesis at the Universidad Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), in Brazil, a thoroughly documented work on the different approaches to this subject, including his own. I highly recommend it. By the way, Harada presents a beautiful act of theatrical magic, styled after Magritte, with the imagery and atmosphere of the great and magical surrealistic painter.

thereby producing confusion. ("Confusion is not magic,"

~

Professor

Vernon used to say.) Even then, the plot should be simple and direct. Now let's look at other elements that I believe can cause such conflict. -'\ 1\vo Levels of Reality: Presentation and Representation

The actions we carry out in everyday life take place, by definition, in reality. If we speak, move or interact to show something to others, we are

presenting that something (ideas, situations, actions, attitudes ... ). And we are being ourselves, ourselves as people ( of a certain age, gender and personal experience) who do these things.

On the actions we carry out in a dramatic or theatrical context, or within a scripted narration (a story), take place on a second level of reality, a fictional reality that is inside ( or behind?) the truer reality. Therefore, whatever impossible things happen in it, they have a connotation of fiction, of not being real. No matter how much we are impressed or moved by the death of a character in a piece of fiction, it will never have the same emotional impact on us as the death of s9meone in our reality.

It is quite clear that, when presenting a magical effect, even though it takes place in reality, the spectators are aware they are playing; they are pretending that the miracle, the impossible, is not truly and really impossible, especially once they've recovered from the astonishment produced by the shock of the apparently impossible. With that we face a miracle that is first felt in reality, even though later it is understood to be an artistic reality. In other words, we have a miracle that is experienced as such, but that is later known not to be one, and is thus transformed into a work of art, a beautiful magic trick Aside from that, if the first reality is not the true reality but an imagined, invented, recreated, scripted reality of the second degree, it is evident that the impact, the sensation of a miracle, of impossibility, will be weakened:

We haven't presented a miracle-we have represented it. And we have represented it in a world of fiction in which the impossible is weakened and is less impossible or doesn't exist at all because it feels possible. Its existence is "natural" within the fictional situation proposed by the magician and that the spectators have agreed to feel. (Understand that "fiction" here is unreality, which is different from the concept of fictional magic proposed by my esteemed friend, Gabi Pareras.)

Person, Personality and Character This weakening effect is dramatically increased in those cases where the magician represents-or more precisely, re-presents, rather than plays the part of-the role of a sorcerer, a superhuman or a goddess. · This means that, if instead of witnessing an impossibility presented by a person in reality, we witness an impossibility presented by a fictional

on a second level), it is not surprising aracter within reality (a the impact in this second case is considerably weaker. 182 This partly lains the virtually nonexistent m~gical effect in illusions that (being •Jllagnificent in their technique and perfectly embedded in the plot) are resented (re-presented) to us in a theater play (in music~ls, for example) ; actors who play the roJes of fictional characters. 183 When we perform and present magic, I feel we are ourselves (age, genpersonal circumstances). We are the same person. We are not playing I

the role of another person. We only add the ability of doing something impossible (logically impossible). We are in the domain of play, but the trick is produced in reality, not in fiction. The chess player, the child who runs to catch another child before he strays into the lion's den, the poker player; they are themselves "playing" in reality. They are not playing the role of someone else; of a king or a beggar, of an older man, of a prostitute or a serial killer. They are themselves acting out the circumstances of play: The card player might pretend to have a very bad hand and to be annoyed by it, but we don't call him an actor playing the part of a card player. We play roles in everyday life. The driver whom a traffic cop catches crossing a solid line on the highway will feign innocence or absentmindedness. "I didn't see the line." But we don't call him an actor playing the part of a driver caught breaking the law. So, magicians are people, not fictional characters, who present something apparently impossible and pretend to have supernatural powers. Regarding the subject of person, personality, and character, 184 I have to add that, in my opinion, when we present magic, we choose that part of our personality we wish perceived: our more dynamic, elegant or cheerful 18:1. The same happens with the extreme weakness of magic in film (in a fictional movie, not in a documentary) or in a dream, a realm in which it is not possible for something impossible to exist. 183. It seems appropriate to advance here what I will discuss in the description of the Magic Pyramid, in Chapter 7: my disagreement with the phrase of my highly admired Robert-Houdin that "The magician is an actor who plays the part of a sorcerer." 184. More on this subject in Chapter 7, p. 375.

side.

no different than when we have a

1 n-i:-c,r,;nc,,,xr

or are trying to

·sis something a theatrical actor does need to

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lHLI,v.u.,u••

Hitler

woo a lover. We display those features we think most attractive to the

"le having the convictions of a pacifist. One could argue that a magician

person we wish to impress: for the job interview, seriousness, leadership,

ho is an agnostic ot atheist could be playing God when presenting a

a passion for work; for a lover, cheerfulness, charm, sensitivity, beauty,

JUiracle; or a logical and rational magician might pretend to be a believer

elegance, intelligence (Why am I describing myself?). Assuming that we

in the supernatural. But here we are once more in the reflm of play, of

don't lie or pretend to have these virtues, we could say that in those cases

wake-believe, where there are powers, hazards, destinies, S:omething that,

we have composed a character, which brings us close to theater or fiction.

n0 matter how rational we are, will never, in my opinion, . be excluded

We could say that, but I won't be the one to say it. I think it is rather a selection on our part, as authentic-although often improved by a dose of

from our overall conception of life and the universe. If you allow me to give a personal example, I feel I am more my own

exaggeration-as any other version of ourselves.

self when performing magic than I am in many other circumstances of

Therefore, in magic, I don't believe much in the "creation of a char-

life, where my shyness prevents me from expressing myself as freely as I

acter" for performing and representing, but rather in the selection of authentic components of our personality, not invented ones, to showcase

would like. Returning to our general subject and summing it up, we can conclude

our persona as we like or wish to convey and express it through the art

that the realm of magic is not an entirely real place, but neither is it imag-

of magic: the selection of tricks and effects, of gestures and attitudes, of

inary or being represented. It's the world and the realm of play, which

words and their intonation, of the relationship with our assistants or with

belongs for the most part to a reality of the first degree, to the perfor-

the assisting spectators, etc.

mance, to the person. I think this makes it quite clear how difficult it is

This doesn't mean you must limit yourself to the aspects of your

to present magic in an evident realm of fiction or theater. The magic and

personality generally considered positive. One may want to show an

its effect (the impact of the impossible it carries with it) will be all the

aggressive, melancholic, cynical or disappointed side of one's personality,

stronger the closer or more within reality it is and the further it is from the

but it should be expressed through the artistic magical language. There is nothing wrong with that, as long as it is carried out within the ample

theatrical, the world of fiction. Sometimes, however, the addition of an external conflict provided by

domain of art. 185

a dramatic plot can help tricks and effects that are not very powerful; or

To give an example that clarifies my opinion, I think we would unques-

that don't require much attention, being visual, fast, etc., but are some-

tionably fall, in this case, into a theatrical fiction even into nontruth if

what cold in themselves; or ones that have a lengthy procedure before the

we were pessimists who felt life a tragic affair, in pure Unamunian style, but we pretended to be a vibrant example of optimism, glowing with

arrival of the magical effect. R plot, patter and dramatic situation can make the procedure more

the joy of existence, and we expressed this, or tried to express it, or we

interesting. They can propose a situation, establish a frame in which the

believed we were expressing it, through the vehicle of a magic session.

trick is developed and make of it all something special within the whole

'

'

session (an appreciation of how strange, poetic, surreal or imaginative 185. In London I once saw a magician whose aggressiveness toward everything, including the furniture, and even toward the spectators whose assistance he required, resulted in his audience gradually leaving the theater during the show, until he was left alone.

the dramatic situation is). It can even help bring several isolated effects together in a routine, thanks to a connecting thread of plot. But in those cases I think it's convenient to have certain ideas in mind to help us make

'

268

269

the coexistence of magic and a dramatic plot positive, so that magi~ a

anywhere near them until the end. He pulled the comer of one of them

plot-that is, magic and evident fiction-don't fight between themselv

· ou,t doing anything special and yes! The handkerchief that disappeared

This is to say, the conflict of conflicts should be weakened as much possible. We will later see some examples of this.

lier was there. Everything was very clear-It was a miracle!"

But we have yet to approach a third feature to explain the reason for the difficult coexistence between magic and drama:

Forward and Backward

So, as you can see, the drama draws our interest forward and the ·c draws our interest backward. The former asks us What will hap?

and the latter leads us to How did it happen?

Therefore, if we watch magic that is within a dramatic plot, when the magieffect anives, we face a dilemma: The drama asks us to pay attention to the

The dramatic interest contained in a plot of a story, novel, movie or play is

tinuation of the action, of the plot, to learn the resolution of the dramatic

based, as we know, on a dramatic conflict inserted into a static situation

·ct. However, magic, to be truly enjoyed, demands that we backtrack,

that evolves into action that moves the plot forward and generates more

if only for a moment, to remember the experience. But it also requires a

interest within the spectators; interest for knowing how the conflict Will

ment to feel the astonishment, and a longer one to enjoy and be pleased by

develop (future) and how it will end. As a result, this interest pulls us, as spectators, forward into the future. So the stronger the conflict is, dramat-

e beautiful sensation of a miracle, to delight ourselves, savoring it. What do we do? The dramatic conflict calls to us, "Go on! Don't miss what's coming.

ically speaking, the more interesting it will be and the more it will pull us forward toward the resolution.

u'll see how the dramatic conflict is resolved." Magic holds us back:

In magic, on the other hand, when the impossible magical effect

ait, go back to the past, so that you can see how clear the conditions

arrives, which is to say when the logical-rational conflict is presented to

re and, therefore, that you have experienced the impossible, the won-

us, after the moment of astonishment, the How was that possible? (was:

erful and magical; and take your time to.enjoy it."

the past) shows up. Whether we are trying to discover that how and calm

The normal thing would be: "I'll go on to see how this interesting dra-

our logic, or whether we are confirming the circumstances that produced

atic conflict is resolved, and later I'll come back to see what happened

in us the sensation of having witnessed (past) something truly impossible

and enjoy it."

and marvelous, we think back briefly to what happened before the arrival

But later is too late. When the drama is over, we relax and are no

of the magical effect: liVhat was the initial situation and which circum-

longer.in the mood to go back to that moment during which the magical

stances were (always past) present in the procedure of the trick? Once we satisfy our desire to ensure the wonder, we move on to pleasure and delight, to the enjoyment of the secular miracle.

effect occurred and start remembering. On top of that, we would proba-

,bly not remember all the details well, since some of them didn't go from

Let's take the 1\ventieth-Century Silks as an example. The spectator ties

brance phase and, therefore, we haven't experienced the enjoyment

the ends of two loose handkerchiefs together. They are balled up and set

immediate memory into long-term memory. We have missed the rememphase. Drama has won and magic has lost.

aside. The magician makes another handkerchief of a different color dis-

Thus, as you have seen, the better and more powerful the dramatic

appear. When he pulls out the first two handkerchiefs, the vanished one

tonflict of the plot is, the more interested we will be in knowing what will

appears tied between them. The spectator thinks back quickly, "The hand-

happen (future) and the less we'll be able to enjoy the magic, if we enjoy it

kerchiefs were loose and separated. I tied them together. The magician didn't

nt all. So I repeat, magic wants us to go back to the past, to reminisce, and

N

~

it also requires a time, a pause, to let us enjoy the effect. And that' tirn

When? In my judgment, when the effect is not that powerful, direct

that pause, is not provided by the drama in the action, with its imperati Go on! Continue! Continue!

fascinating, or when the method is not well concealed. I don't mean

A Solution: Magic

~he secret is seen, but that it is susceptible to being suspected through 'tion or analysis. In these two cases, a dramatic plot can add charm fascination to a weak effect or cover to an endang ere~ method. (Note

A logical (and drastic) solution would be: Let's leave magic alone; leave it

parallels in these situations and those I comment on in "Magic and

plain and pure! Keep the magic that astonishes us through an unresolved

medy", p. 407, where laughs, also dangerous for magic, can help to

conflict of the rationally impossible made possible, since this touches

ost a somewhat weak magical effect, if well measured and positioned

us and fascinates us by resolving (either explicitly or through symbols metaphor) the conflict of desire, a resolution possible only in dreams but' which we live while awake in the artistic reality.

the right times.) Needless to say, to prevent the drama from weakening the magic, or ·ng it disappear altogether, I believe certain conditions of balance

I believe this is the wisest road to follow when the magic is good

st be met between the magic and the dramatic plot. Let's examine them.

magic, when the effect is powerful, direct and seems impossible, when it responds to a wish that is only possible in dreams, when it escapes from

onditions of Balance

being a riddle, an enigma, a puzzle, and enters the category of a miracle,

the drama, the plot and its conflict are presented and resolved before

a secular miracle. Then, I believe, the additional drama in a plot or story

trick itself begins, naturally they will not negatively affect the magic.

that rules in theater, novels, movies and any other form of the narrative arts is unnecessary.

ey would serve as an introduction or a situational frame in which the

A Parenthesis (Not of Forgetfulness)

ect will develop. Thus, Hofzinser, even before he began to take out the deck, tells us of friend who loved two women and was anxious because he didn't know

Attempting to keep both myself and these meditations on the most prac-

ich to marry and which to forget. Some days later his friend informed

tical plane possible, while avoiding the discussion of technique, I mustn't

·m that he had decided. Before he could tell him his decision, Hofzinser

forget to point out that everything that has been discussed is, of course,

laimed that he possessed a gift of magically divining it. He named one of

subject to all sorts of alterations. These are schemes that seek only to illu-

he women, and the friend, amazed, agreed that he was right. Hofzinser

minate for us, to a certain extent, the whys of our art, in order to be able

,then proposed to demonstrate his gift to the audience. Each of three spec-

to put this knowledge into practice. It is nothing but an attempt, then, place theory in service to practice, extracting the theory first from practice, then applying the theory to the improvement of practice.

t~tors selected a pair of cards. They remembered one of the two and forgot

Other Solutions: Balance

e ()ther. Hofzinser, with unfailing accuracy, divined all three cards that ere remembered. Finally, he visibly transformed the three remembered ds into the three that were forgotten. It's a wonderful effect with an ending full of metaphoric power: the

It is true that in a few cases magic and dramatic plot can be combined.

ecovery of what was forgotten, leading to a metamorphosis of memories.

And why not? There are no dogmas. Art is free. But this must be done with great care, without reducing the impact of the magic.

During the procedure of the trick, Hofzinser hardly referred to the ory of his friend. He presented the demonstration of his gift in the

present, and not as a reenactment of a past event.

the trick \v

atic situation, which doesn't generate any interest toward the future ofzinser already told us he got it right) and not dynamic action. 186

over, he closed the subject with the following phrase: "Are these the for.;

But, as we have already discussed, the more dramatic interest a plot-

gotten cards? They are? And how do you know that? What you forget you don't know anymore." I say the subject, because the little dramatic' conflict of the introductory story had been resolved long before the trick started. Hofzinser and his friend knew which lady had been chosen and that Hofzinser possessed the gift of divination. In other words, the trick is presented as a verification of the magical part in the story (the magician's gift); a story and a plot that, by the way, is not presented as fiction but as something that happened to the magician. is telling us an episode from his life, not an imagined story.

distant and wrapped apple. And this is not only because the more-or-less

The same thing happens in the poetic scripts of Slydini. An example is

tional story is of little interest in itself, but also because sometimes it

"Adam's Apple", his presentation of Gene Elmo's "Silk in Apple". In Slydint's

mains a static situation and isn't developed to produce dynamic action.

presentation (which has remained unpublished, although an enigmatic

A second consideration is that the less we are involved in the story

and, to my understanding, somewhat incoherent version has appeared in

d the more we stay in the present, in the here and now, the better it will

Spanish), he tells how Adam ate the apple offered him by Eve, following

for the feeling of impossibility delivered by the magical effect.

story generates, the more problems the arrival of the magical feeling have. This generates a paradox in which we would have tr° manage the ion and patter for a dramatic story to make its dramatic tnterest weak her than strong. Little do we care where the serpent hid ,6r which lady fzinser's friend chose. What truly interests us (and touches us) is how meone could have the gift of knowing which card was remembered and w a handkerchief could possibly travel invisibly and wonderfully inside

a serpent's suggestion to her; a serpent Adam didn't see anywhere and

Slydini's story does create an interest in the future: Where did the

believed was merely imagined by Eve. But Slydini offers to reveal to the

rpent hide? But the conflict is resolved by the magical effect: the appear-

audience where the serpent hid. Music begins, and Slydini, without speak-

ce of the handkerchief inside the apple.

ing, shows and cores an apple, which he then wraps in a napkin and hands

So, through the examples of these two bona fide geniuses of magic, we

to a spectator. He next shows a small handkerchief that he waves like a ser-

can see some of the features that suggest possible solutions to the conflict

pent. He puts the handkerchief into his fist, makes it disappear, then shows it hidden inside the apple. Pause. The music stops and Slydini concludes:

» The story tells us something of the real life of the magician ( or of mankind), something that happened to him. It is a story represented as

"And that's the secret of the serpent and Adam's apple."

nonfictional.

As you can see, the story (more or less fictional, depending on beliefs)

doesn't get in the way of the magic. It is simply a presentational fram~ for

>>

sit\lation.

the effect that, done without words, barely references the story. It's a trick with a handkerchief that disappears and reappears inside a cored apple

There is no dynamic action in the story. Everything remains in a static

~

The dramatic conflict of the story is resolved either before the start

previously shown empty. The spectators experience it in the present. Only

of the trick (Hofzinser had already divined the result of his friend's

later, after the pause for assimilation, do they return to the parallels of magic-plot and reality-fiction.

dilemma) or at the climax of the effect, when the effect itself provides

We have thus seen two approaches to solving the "conflict of conflicts". In the Hofzinser example, the story, presented as nonfictional, involves

the resolution (the serpent hid inside the apple). 186. See "Forward and Backward", p. 268, for the concepts of static situation and dynamic dramatic action.

2

275

274

Other Solutions

}Jeautiful synchronicity with the end of the poem: ''And my shadow

But let's see how other great masters of magic solved this conflict:

ws me. The conflict of conflicts is not rais.ed here at any time, since there is no emal dramatic conflict or fictional story. Rene narrated in the present at was happening. Plain and simple. And the magical sm;prise of the final I pearance was so powerful, after the three bread balls/ had gathered so y times, that the metaphor of the ending worked as a qelicate invitation a poetic universe that didn't pose any kind of conflict. ,The slight fiction oposed (bread balls as the moon, the poet and his shadow) was expericed after feeling the disappearance as music in words and poetic images.

,,188

Pseudo-fiction Rene Lavand usually proposed questions or conditions that directl boosted the conflict between logic and magic and at the same tim:y increased the drama. In his celebrated rendition of Oil and Water With, three red cards and three black cards, done with one hand (the left, his only and magical hand), he repeated, time and again, in a progressively clearer w~y, the phrase: "It can't be done any slower-or perhaps it can, perhaps it can be done slower." Every time he recited this, there was increased interest to see if he could truly do it slower, which is to say, more clearly, more impossibly, more magically. Let's also remember his masterpiece: "Three Bread Crumbs", a classic effect. Rene tossed two bread balls into an empty coffee cup and put a third into his pocket. That last bread ball then traveled magically to the cup to join the other two. The effect attained its maximum magical potential as it was repeated time and again, even when the bread ball was flicked far away, into the audience. A single phrase was repeated each time: ''And I always have three crumbs!" Interest accumulated with the "always", with the fulfilled promise of repeating the effect again and again to our amazement, which turned into genuine astonishment at the incessant miracle. 187 There is no story or fiction here, and no drama other than the authentic magical conflict of I am witnessing something that cannot possibly exist, but it does exist. Only when the trick was almost finished did Rene recite a poem by Li Po, which gave the three bread balls a metaphoric significance-the moon, the poet and his shadow-capping things off with the magical disappearance of the three bread balls from the cup 187. By the way, it could be understood that this trick changes its magical effect halfway through its performance, given that it starts as a translocation of a bread ball and ends as an inexhaustible appearance of new ones since the ' balls that are flicked into the audience remain there. At the end, the three balls disappear. But were there ever any balls? A poetic dream? A fading reality?

True Story Brought to the Present · e we are talking of geniuses, Dai Vernon, the Professor, had clear inions on the subject under discussion (as he did on other magical and e non-magical subjects, such as his rare and admirable lack of conm for money matters in real life). One of his masterpieces is "Triumph", one of the best, if not the best, d tricks of all time, due to its beauty, its apparent simplicity, the directs of its effect(s), the wonderful cleverness of its method (a multiple nger!) and, above all, its enormous symbolic power: harmony from aos, individualization, triumph and glory. In it, Vernon told us (like his idol, Hofzinser) about something he apparently experienced days before. After having shuffled a selected card into the deck, a drunken man had mixed the cards face up and face down. ''How could

ffind the selected card, lost among the others, in that chaos of the deck?" Since Vernon was illustrating a past event through matching actions in the })resent, the conflict of the story in the past became a conflict of the actions in the,present. How could he find the card in the current mess and chaos? And Yemon solved it-with magic! All the cards magically turned face down and among the backs appeared a single, triumphant, face-up card, the selection. The magic had then acted in the present. Although the story was narrated as having happened in the past, as something experienced by the magician, he ;:epeated it in front of the spectators in the present. 188. See Magic from the Soul, 1993, Magic Words: Pasadena, p. 216.

It is my opinion that this trick can have the same impact (or more magically speaking, if the story is omitted, because of the enormo symbolic power of the effect, which takes it to the peak of an artisf Olympus: triumph over chaos. The dramatically lost card represents th spectator who selected it, who in tum acts as a representative for t group. It clearly symbolizes the possibility of our triumph over chaos, no matter how lost we are, or how confusing, dramatic and impossible it ma . r be to overcome the situation, or life itself. Isn't that a joyous sensation that fills us with true delight and a marvelous, vital energy?

Weak Magic, Strong Fiction But Professor Vernon showed us once again the other side of the problem, with his "Cutting the Aces". Here a fictional one-armed gambler offers to show the magician his ability to cut the deck with one hand, finding an Ace with each cut, after the magician has lost the Aces in the deck Again, the narration involves something that happened between the magician and an antagonist. But in this case the story contains strong dramatic conflict (a challenge) and the static situation changes to dynamic action. The magician gradually increases the difficulty for the gambler to find the Aces, and the gambler seems to fail to cut to the fourth Ace; but this is not really a failure, because the gambler shows that he has executed an even more difficult control of the Ace. A new conflict arises when the magician attempts to win the bet by sneakily switching the Ace for another card and hiding the Ace under his palm on the table. The gambler pulls out a knife and stabs its point between the magician's fingers, pinning the palmed Ace to the table. The gambler's final statement is magnificent: "I palmed a card once too often, and I wasn't as lucky as you-I didn't have· my fingers separated. That's how I lost my arm." Here the story does pull us forward continuously. But the magical effect of this marvelous trick is almost negligible! Vernon knew this and expressed it on various occasions. Since the magician himself loses several cards in the deck and later cuts to them, this is simply a demonstration of skill, not of something impossible. That's why it doesn't matter here if the drama overrides the magic, because the magic is minimal. Vernon

recommended that you never even consider presenting this effect out the story, because nothing would be left.

on·Magical Objective ethlng different occurs in Clayton Rawson's version of a 1divination by spectators, when they shout out in unison the name of a/card selected one of them that has not been shown to anyone. I am referring to his elous, surrealistic presentation using an eggbeater as a nransmitter of epathic-mental waves". The magician secretly shows a jumbo card to the dience. It has the same identity as a card selected by an assisting spectator. en everyone shouts the name of the selected card in unison, the surprise, nfusion and puzzlement of the spectator produce great laughs and joy in e audience. The objective here is not the magical effect. No one wonders w the magician discovered the identity of the chosen card. Rather, the al is the comic effect of the spectator's perplexity, who has been kindly ·eked by the magician, in collusion with the rest of the spectators who are ansformed into "psychic magicians". Aside from the enormous entertainent value of the situation, there is the shared fun of returning to childhood, oup bonding, the union of audience and magician (playing on the same team" in the joke), collective catharsis and endless joy. It's a case of voluntarily choosing a sought-after sensation Goy), even ough the sensation of magic diminishes. I present it toward the end of my show, without caring about the loss, since the spectators have already experienced some powerful and wonderful magic (I hope). .Another example: When I added a story of centaurs and sirens to a powerful card routine I was doing, even going so far as to use drawings on the cards instead of playing cards, I realized the impossibility of the magic was Somewhat lessened, but the trick gained in poetic fascination and in the expression of my lyrical side, an aspect of my personality not usually shown in my repertoire. If I had to do just one trick in a session, I wouldn't choose "Los 189 Centauros"; but as an expressive complement, it serves me wonderfully. I

189. By the way, the comments the spectators make to me after this trick are along the lines of "How beautiful," while the ones they used to make after the original version with regular playing cards were more like "How incredible!"

Two new elements for our analysis appear here. effect is weak or if impossibility is not the primary objective of the trick, the dramatic plot can and should be intense, powerful and fascinating. Bal(lnce

But we still must deal with what I believe to be the most difficult thing: achieving balance between drama and magic when both are interesting. Luc.kily, we have two more geniuses left: Fu Mahchu (David Bamberg) and Cardini. Let's begin with Fu Manchu, the greatest stage magician I have ever seen. (Vernon shared that opinion.) Fu Manchu displayed an exquisite ability to achieve the desired balance. Let's look in some detail at one of his masterpieces: "The Death Chair". In the middle of the development of this theatrical show, a great success with audiences and critics, there is a terrible accident. The lights go out in the theater, leaving everyone in darkness, there is a gunshot and a scream, the lights come on again and a spectator in the second row stands up. Staggering a bit, he leaves the room. Before the frightened spectators can begin to leave, a police detective bursts into the theater with some of his officers. He commands everyone

But in this (I'll repeat) masterpiece of Fu Manchu we observe certain a,i:acteristics, some already commented on, that allow the magic to proce its full impact. One is that the story is not utter fiction. It's something

t happens in the experienced development of the show, something only utwardly real, something the attitudes of the participant~ and the tone of e dialogue make us see ·and feel as a playful joke, never expected to be lieved. In other words, the story of the police enquiries.into the crime is ot narrated but is lived in the present by the spectators: "totally" realut not quite! It's ,a theatrical presentation played within a context of the audience's reality. We will return to this point with other examples from Fu's repertoire and those of other magicians. Second, note that the actors, except those in the roles of policemen, play themselves. Fu plays Fu; his assistants play themselves; even the audience plays itself, as spectators of the show. Fu wisely talks to them at some point, recognizing their presence and making it evident; there is no fourth wall. A third aspect to note: The tricks presented during the development of the plot (of the "joke") are just that; magic tricks performed by Fu .

to stay in their seats and summons Fu Manchu to reproduce the circum-

.And the policeman and Fu always refer to them as tricks from Fu's show.

stances under which the crime occurred. The detective discloses that the

Pure reality. What happens, then, to the general conflict of the dramatic plot: Who

spectator has died in the theater lobby. The audience immediately understands that the whole thing is a fiction, a sort of joke.

killed the spectator and why? Fu dealt with the subject in the style of

The last tricks performed are reviewed. Among them is the appearance in the dark of two fluorescent skeletons thatfly over the heads of the

what Hitchcock called a McGuffin: a plotted theme of no true importance,

spectators. The script requires some new tricks to be performed. These

the tricks performed. The interest in knowing the who and the what was

are intertwined with some very amusing verbal exchanges betwe~n the

continuously dissolved in the enormous number of amusing lines and

detective, Fu Manchu and his assistants. There is a Lota Bowl routine

feigned situations. With all this, Fu managed to make the spectators take

(inexhaustible water from a jar), the disappearance of two ducks that

everything as it really was: a joke used to motivate the development of

have been bothering the detective, an escape by Fu Manchu when he is

magical effects presented (not re-presented) by people playing characters

handcuffed by the police, a death trap Fu Manchu is forced to enter, but the detective instead ends up caught in it. Once the murder mystery is

(themselves) in a real situation that was recognized from the beginning

solved, the sequence ends with the production of a live duck from the detective's jacket.

but solved at the end of the joke with very clever surprises related to

as a joke. In fact, when the spectators entered the theater, they saw an armchair in the lobby, identical to those in the theater, in which slumped bloody mannequin dressed identically to the spectator who would later

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be "murdered". Despite all this, they still felt a momentary shock dun the blackout, the scream and the shot. 190

~tc: 1 ~:1~,fd·-n,..,... ...,.,......J ironic). The magician invents a character who, in a way

ent to the spectators, is playfully pretending, without believing it,

But let's look in more detail into the aspect of the solution commente

out expecting the.spectators to believe it, with continuous winks and

on earlier, attitude (something, by the way, essential in every magic presentation).

ping out of character at times. Cardini proposed a clear example of a atrical situation: a tipsy gentleman who watches how objects play with

I am referring to the attitude assumed by the magician during the

(cards, cigarettes, balls), arousing his repeated surprise. There is no

development of the trick, especially when he chooses to play a character

elopment of the situation, it doesn't enter into dynamic action and,

or dramatize a situation, producing dramatic action. If the conflict of the

ause of that, it doesn't lose interest. No one asks, "What will happen?

dramatic plot is powerful or interesting in itself, we will be watching a bat-

w will it end?" On top of that, we all know that the magician is responsi-

tle waged against the magical effect, with the drama having an advantage.

for the appearances of the objects, but he's playing at pretending to be

But if our attitude while we play at "representing" is one of stepping out

rised himself. In this way, the conflict of the dramatic plot becomes

of character by making comments addressed directly to the spectators

weak, almost nonexistent, and gives free rein to the enjoyment of

(breaking the fourth wall), winking in complicity as if telling them Don't

e astonishment caused by the impossible and continuous production of

believe this, I'm just playing, the spectators will lose sight of the repre-

bjects, in the extremely beautiful and artistic presence of magic.

sentation, becoming conscious of their situation as spectators, and the

Fu, in "The Chinese Bazaar", another of his masterpieces, utilized the

drama loses impact. Dramatic interest is reduced and the fight among the

chnique of a theatrical situation full of finely tuned surrealistic humor

conflicts is balanced or even falls on the side of magic. Thus, magic ends

'th a repeated breaking of character. Fu is the owner of the bazaar. A client

up winning. It is not easy to achieve this balance, to soften the conflict of

·ves and asks, "Do you have those handkerchiefs that change from red to

the dramatic plot without making it a little silly (better to eliminate it) or

een?" as he performs just that with a handkerchief. Fu answers, "No, we

into a childish story (which is not the same as a beautiful story for chil-

y have a handkerchief that changes from green to yellow," and he demon-

dren). How to get that balance is, as always, a question of artistic intuition

atrates. "I like that one," says the client. Fu says, "Well, we don't have it."

and sensitivity, of experience and testing in front of audiences.

The whole dialog proceeds like this, with a variety of magical effects inter-

But digging deeper into the subject, let's look at more possibilities.

.laced with magical running gags (such as the production of bottles from

Another way to prevent the magic from becoming weaker is by creat-

the client's hat), and non-magical gags ("Remove your foot from the stool":

ing a weak dramatic situation, in this case a theatrical one, character

the client has absentmindedly put his foot repeatedly on a newly painted

and all, and keep it frozen, static, without altering the circumstances of

stool in the bazaar). The routine ends with the client making a telepathic

the conflict or making it moribund. Some ironic humor can also be used

divirnltion of cards while he's sitting on a chair in the middle of the stage

190. I experienced it firsthand. I attended a different show by Fu in Madrid. I was only thirteen, but I preseive it clearly in my memory. I vividly remember how scared I was when, in the middle of a magic show, a spectator in a box in the second balcony was heard having a heated argument. Then we heard a scream and a woman fell into the void, actually onto us poor spectators. However, the collective horror quickly turned into laughs. The woman was a cloth dummy. I

covered by a cloth. When the doth is removed the client has disappeared de Kolta Chair), and Fu asks himself, "How could he know the cards I showing?" Now sitting in the audience, the client yells, "Because I have sitting here the whole time and I saw everything." I experienced the absolute magic of this sketch in May 1956,. when I only thirteen. I watched it on two consecutive days. What more could

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one hope to achieve as a magician? I to live.

know how or why I continue

Overcoming modesty, which always produces a certain awkwardness in me, I will cite myself as an example. In "Tahuromagia", a series of twelve sketches or short, scripted dramas that I presented with the belovedI .

aking, and therefore dangerous for the magic." And we almost always eed not to use it (not without tremendous regret for Pepe-and me). 1~11 dose this discussion with a re_cap of the solutions we have seen:

mation of Solutions to the Conflict of Conflicts I

admired and departed Pepe Carrol, there were plots with a certain dramatic interest: wagers on a game of poker between us, how.to cut to winning cards and other challenges. We also played characters: Pepe as a serious, distant, elegant and very skillful gambler; me as a sloppy, somewhat ludicrous gam-

Very powerful and wonderful magic presented witho111t an external

bler and a bit of a joker. But the key was that I was acting as myself. That's how I am in life, especially in a situation of intimacy and familiarity that overcomes my shyness. Pepe's personality also closely resembled his performing character. We built two characters that simply exaggerated and

ent, in the her~ and now, with the magician in the main role or as a

caricatured our true personalities. We also maintained a direct and continuous relationship with the spectators that is common in close-up magic. We talked to them, they took part in the effects, etc.

plot or story. Sheer, pure magic. A triumph of the magi