I WAS BROUGHT UP IN THE DAYS OF VARIETY from the stages of the music halls in and around London. It is a genre that died at the hands of television and with it the bills that included a menu of singers, dancers, comedians, speciality acts, magicians and the like that compounded into the title – variety. [...]
Posted on September 15th, 2008 by John
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THAT’S THE TITLE OF A NEW BOOK on “Surprisingly interesting Everyday Maths” by Rob Eastaway that contains much trivia that will be of interest to magicians.It includes a piece on the mathematical likelihood of a random selected card. For a man he indicates that the card is most likely to be the seven of spades. For [...]
Posted on September 6th, 2008 by John
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THERE ARE MANY VERSIONS AROUND but in a recent tv interview Groucho Marx of the famed Marx Brothers summed it up very succinctly.
When asked how they became a great act with superb timing, funny material and sight bits he said ” Well, way back we did thirteen shows a day. If a gag went well [...]
Posted on September 6th, 2008 by John
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LAST NIGHT, RICHARD MCDOUGALL GAVE A MASTERLY AND COURAGEOUS LECTURE at The Magic Circle. He commanded immediate silence by declaring to the assembled one hundred plus practitioners of the ancient art that magic in Britain today is in his view “lamentable!” He asked the audience to consider when did they last witness a magic performance that truly made the [...]
Posted on September 2nd, 2008 by John
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SORRY FOR THE DELAY. I’ve been away visiting the magicians in Chester and presenting my lecture K.I.S.S. which is an acronym for “Keep it Simple Stupid” This is a lecture that I have done for the past few years for magic societies in the U.K. and overseas on the marketing of magic .It tells and demonstrates ”How to apply [...]
Posted on July 18th, 2008 by John
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I RECENTLY GAVE YOU DETAILS about an excellent item from Colin Rose- a pair of tweezers with which you can reach into the air and produce endless silver coins which are then visibly dropped into a metal beaker. As you would expect from Colin the mechanics and subtlety are excellent but I am delighted to [...]
Posted on June 8th, 2008 by John
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THERE ARE MANY GHOSTS IN MAGIC. People who are heard but not seen. People buried in the scenery of the magic landscape. People who make a tremendous contribution to the intellect of magic by their profound thinking and creativity often stimulated by their isolation from the magic tribe. People who rarely or never perform magic in [...]
Posted on May 26th, 2008 by John
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MANY MAGICIANS HAVE CONTACTED ME to ask what is the ring on cord effect that is shown in the heading to this online magazine.
It is a routine I devised over ten years ago based on a basic idea that I purchased from Bob Little, the U.S. magic dealer. Quite simply the ring is quite openly placed on [...]
Posted on May 25th, 2008 by John
Filed under: Magic Ideas, Magic Reviews | 1 Comment »
AS THE MAINSTREAM OF COMMERCIAL MAGIC entertainment today is possibly table hopping at banquets and restaurants, it’s interesting as to how various performers present their magic with the variety of props on hand.
Some keep it small and have everything secreted on their person but perhaps this does restrict the number of effects that can be [...]
Posted on May 10th, 2008 by John
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WE ALL HAVE A CHOP CUP. In metal, in wood and other materials accompanied by a couple of fabric covered balls, one straight and one gimmicked. It’s a great effect and nearly every magician approaching a dining table will launch into the tried and tested routine. There’s nothing wrong with the standard routine but just think [...]
Posted on April 27th, 2008 by John
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