I’VE ALWAYS BEEN AN ADVOCATE  of the magic philosophy expressed by Pat Page and top TV producer John Fisher who both said “Magic isn’t about secrets – it’s about performances”

I was reminded of this when speaking recently with Roy Walton, he told me of one Saturday morning when we were all assembled in Davenports when someone told of a new, unknown (to us)  magician appearing at the London Palladium. A certain Jay Marshall.

Moments later Jay Marshall walked in and introduced himself to George Davenport. The conversation turned to us and we expressed our intention to visit and see him at this famous London theatre. We had never seen this visitor from the U.S. but a billing at the London Palladium certainly indicated an act worth seeing.

Someone in our group said to Jay “We sadly haven’t seen your act but what do you do?” He smiled ruefully and said  “Well I tie a knot in a handkerchief and it unties itself. Then I link a number of steel rings together and I finish by putting on a glove and talking to it!” On the face of it it didn’t sound too exciting but we thanked him and looked forward to the show.

Imagine our faces when we witnessed in number three spot on the bill, one of America’s finest, funniest entertainers with magic, closing with his unique and quite brilliant “Lefty” vent routine that became world-famous.

Similarly, in my business years away from magic I never got to see Al Flosso although I did manage to get hold of some tapes of his act at a later date. I spoke to Pat Page who knew him well and said “Did he ever get any of the top bookings in his hometown New York” Pat said “He played them all - the Waldorf Astoria, The Plaza, the St. Regis, he did all the best corporate dates and got top money”

I said “He must have been good – what did he do?”

Pat replied “He did the miser’s dream, cards across, 20th century silks, paper tear to hat etc. It wasn’t the tricks they booked him for – they booked Al Flosso!”

Surely these two examples of  top,  successful magicians prove the validity of the claim – It’s not what you do………..!

Filed under: Magic Miscellanea, Magic Thoughts