A bold claim – but true. Not a brilliant new gimmick. Not a new routine from the Vernon archives. Not something requiring a big investment but a proven procedure that does really work.
Group magic.
Vernon and the greats used it. Fred Kaps used it.Peter Warlock, Jack Avis, Francis Haxton and other names used it. And I’ve [...]
Posted on October 21st, 2009 by John
Filed under: Magic Ideas, Magic Miscellanea, Magic Thoughts | 2 Comments »
HAVEN’T SAID MUCH ON THIS BLOG FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS.. No particular reason other than I was pumping out news and trivia almost on a daily basis and I think this could devalue the content of the information. There’s too much info around today in my view. Therefore I will only release news that I [...]
Posted on August 4th, 2009 by John
Filed under: Magic Miscellanea | 2 Comments »
THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF CARD MAGICIANS AROUND THE WORLD and over half a century I’ve seen many of them. I’m not a card man myself but know enough to know the difference between a demonstrator of card tricks and an artiste who can really entertain with just a pack of cards. In the distant past one [...]
Posted on April 11th, 2009 by John
Filed under: Magic Miscellanea, Magic Reviews | No Comments »
I’VE HAD AN ITEM UNDERGROUND FOR MANY YEARS made for me by a mechanic friend who is no longer with us. It’s an Okito Box with which you can do the normal Okito Box routines. But the climax is a stunner. At the end of the routine when perhaps four coins have passed through the box [...]
Posted on March 25th, 2009 by John
Filed under: Magic Miscellanea | No Comments »
AT THE RECENT INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION three magicians came up to me to talk about ideas on items and presentations. During the conversations they all asked if I had in mind to stage a limited, one-to-one workshop based on the presentation ideas and simple magic effects that I have given in the KISS lectures over the past few [...]
Posted on December 8th, 2008 by John
Filed under: Magic Miscellanea | 1 Comment »
IF YOU LOOK AROUND TODAY AT MAGIC that is sold by the ton to the fraternity, there are hundreds of gizmo cards, bits of cardboard, fake coins, routines and things that are cooked up from such sources as stationers, hardware shops and the like. There are few pieces of beautifully handmade magic that are created and [...]
Posted on November 28th, 2008 by John
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AS THE PENTACLE CLUB OF CAMBRIDGE celebrate their 90th anniversary, I was asked if I would write an appreciation of Alex Elmsley for the occasion. I thought you might like to read the following.
Alex Elmsley – Gentleman genius.
An appreciation by John Derris
I knew him for over fifty years. Intellectually he was light years ahead of [...]
Posted on November 18th, 2008 by John
Filed under: Magic Biographies, Magic Miscellanea | No Comments »
MANY YEARS AGO I WAS WORKING IN SPAIN and one evening my wife telephoned to say that my friend John Styles, possibly Britain’s leading Punch and Judy worker, had called. It seems he had been booked to present the ages-old entertainment by a local council but that an objection had been raised by a ladies guild stating [...]
Posted on November 14th, 2008 by John
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I SAW A CRACKING SHOW LAST WEEK - for the second time in a month it was that good. La Cage aux Folles, a musical about a gay nightclub on the Riviera and the family problems of two gay parents and a straight son wishing to marry the daughter of an anti-gay goverment official! Great fun and outstanding [...]
Posted on November 12th, 2008 by John
Filed under: Magic Miscellanea, Magic News | No Comments »
YOU DON’T GET MANY ONE MAN SHOWS IN MAGIC these days so it’s interesting to hear that Circle magician Ivor Cole is presenting his “Mirrored Images” a programme of baffling mind illusions on Sunday 23rd November at 7.30pm. Not the first time he has presented this show having appeared previously at The King’s Head and again at [...]
Posted on November 9th, 2008 by John
Filed under: Magic Miscellanea, Magic News | No Comments »
