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 used it together with Alex Elmsley, Jack Avis, Lewis Jones, Bob Read and others. So what is group magic?

I’m not knocking the magic clubs, the conventions and celebrity lectures but to get to the real meat of magic free thinking and creativity you assemble a group of magic friends who you admire, are talented and with whom you can talk freely without inhibition. You meet in someone’s home say once every six weeks on an evening. You talk, show things, ideas, discuss dvds, other magicians, the latest magic items but you talk freely. Everyone has to show or discuss at least one item during the evening, It can be a trick, a move and even just an idea and everyone says truthfully what they think. Nobody takes offence – nobody is offended if someone says it’s not as good as so and so. It’s a very free discussion on your magic, the magic scene, anything and the criticism is not personal but genuine. And the presenter accepts the comment in good faith,

The results are outstanding. Just a little suggestion about the handling of a move, or an idea that takes a trick in another direction, or a recollection from something seen in the past. In Jack and Alex’s day some wonderful thinking came out of these group meetings that helped create outstanding magic.And I can personally testify to many genuine ideas that have made all the difference in my own presentations of a stage or close-up effect. Just someone seeing the idea from a different direction can make a world of difference.

There are really only two rules. Pick a group of six or seven magic friends whose work or thinking your really admire (and they of you) and be very open in your discussion and throwing out any ideas.

Whilst Jack and Alex and Bernard Weller, all former members of our group have passed on we currently have six like-minded magi, but each with different interests and skills. They are Lewis Jones, Tom Whitestone, Angelo Carbone. Michael Symes, Don Wyatt and myself.

And whilst we all enjoy magic club life we are all agreed that some real valuable, in-depth magic and ideas has resulted from these meetings that would not have been possible in the everyday social atmosphere of the average magic club. Noel Britten has said that you are not as good as you think you are and he’s right

I promise you, this is a really valuable concept that will improve your own magic. And it costs nothing but effort.

In the  Great Room  at Grosvenor House  in London there are normally seated 800 guests at eighty tables; they are all talking, the band is playing very loudly as if to prove its professionalism and guests are there to drink, eat and have a good time. What would happen if you walked unannounced up to the table and said “Good evening. I’m a magician and I’d like to show you some tricks!” Not much.

I came back to magic some ten years ago working with Bob Read and a very experienced  group of table magicians  at Grosvenor House and I quickly learned the art of crashing a table. They gave me some very good tips.

* Spot a gap on the table where there is likely to be a sympathetic guest – usually a lady.

* Don’t go in until there is a gap in the conversation. There’s nothing worse than walking in when a guest is coming to the punchline of a joke. Watch your timing.

* On every table there is a comedian – a guest who’ll take over all the conversation, tell the jokes and aspire to be the star of the group. You step in and steal his limelight and he’ll hate you. Identify him, involve him and make him important by including him one of your effects. Make him your ally.

* When working (I always try and work with lady guests- they’re usually more co-operative) after presenting a trick or two go to the other side of the table and present a few more effects from that position so involving the whole table. 

* Try for effects that you can present at eye level so everyone can see. Nothing starts people talking and becoming disinterested as a trick that you work down at waist level, Watch out for big vases of flowers centre table – either move them or work around them so everyone can see what you’re doing.

* Find a way of introducing yourself to the table.  In a smaller restaurant you can say “The Manager has asked me to provide you with some entertainment with his compliments” And then go into your first effect.

* A strategy I’ve used for many years is to walk up to a table, dressed in dinner suit which could mistake you for a manager and done the following.

1) I walk up and say “We’ve found a ladies gold wedding ring in the restaurant” Wait for some negative replies and then pull out of your pocket a large two inch gold ring and say “I take it this ring doesn’t belong to anyone on this table!” You’ll get a laugh or a snigger but smile and say “I’m kidding you – this is my wife’s wedding ring – she came from a big family”

They then realise  that something special is about to happen. I then go into my “Staggering” routine with the ring and a lace which I have done for over ten years. I’ve never been told to push off. People are there to enjoy themselves.

2) Other ways I’ve used to break into a table are dropping a Fire Wallet on the floor, bending down to pick it up, showing it and saying “We’ve found a gentleman’s wallet on the floor - does this belong to anyone on this table?” Before you get a reply or riposte open the wallet, ignite the flame,  let it burn for a few moments and say “Oh I expect it belongs to the Fire Prevention Officer”. Put the wallet away and as they realise that it’s a joke go into your magic.

3) Another approach similar to the above is to make up a folding note with a £50.00 banknote, pick it up off the floor and ask the same question. After any remarks just extend your hand toward the middle of the table, pause for a few seconds and then have the note fold it self in half, then into quarters and then into eighths. Do it slowly and you’ll get rapt attention from everyone. A lovely dodge shown to me by Pat Page was to have a similar folded note palmed in the right finger palm and after the note has folded do a shuttle pass into the right hand open it up and display the note.

* Another stunt I do to gain attention is to use Don Alan’s Coat Hanger from Purse. Pick up a purse, ask the question and then open it and show coins, keys etc finally pulling a coat hanger from the purse. When you do this always drop the coat hanger loudly onto the table to prove its solidity.

* There is another excellent stunt shown to me by a magician in the west of England. Add a blank card to a normal pack, spread them so that all you see are the white ends of the cards and the blank card on top and hold the spread pack in the left hand so it looks like an order pad  Then pretend to hold a pencil at similar height in the right hand. Approach the table and say”May I take your wine order” in a manner perhaps like John Cleese. You’ll be told that they’ve already ordered the wine and then say “In that case can I show you a card trick” and in so doing fold or slip the blank card onto the bottom of the pack and fan the cards as if inviting a selection.

I hope these ideas will give you some thoughts as to how you might like to crash into a table. All the above have been used at Grosvenor House and  truly – they worked.

He was a natural clown whose stage body language, comedy and vocal talents added to his lifetime’s repertoire of magic put him at the top of our magic exports to the USA where he was in constant demand.

It’s well known that I am interested in performance a little ahead of secrets and for me this collection of fourDVD’s lovingly put together by Martin MacMillan of International Magic is one of the finest visual tributes to one of our greatest magic entertainers of the last few years. Not only his talent as a performer but a skilled magician and a passionate aficionado of magic history with one of the greatest collections of cups and balls ephemera in the world.

Filmed excerpts kindly given from private collections in Europe, from the USA, from Richard Kaufman’s private recordings filmed at Bob’s home where he explains hard-earned subtleties required to present his effects. How to stand, what shirt to wear, the secret of loading the wine bottle (you won’t believe it even when you see it uncovered). the timing, the comedy and his lifetime’s knowledge and experience.

In these four discs you will see him with routines that have lasted since he won fame in a TV talent show that brought offers of top professional engagements which he declined. The famous routine with a pocket handkerchief – come, come, come, go-go-go, the knife through the coat, the stunning bottle production, the glass through the table, the ice stacking, the false nose routine, they’re all here both in performance all over the world and in detailed explanation and tuition in private demonstration for the viewer.

Most discs these days reveal just the secret of a performer’s pet routine. This wonderful Bob Read collection brings you a man’s life and just watching him work albeit with the same effects he did for years (and some of the patter) will teach any magician aspiring to the real secret of entertaining with magic.

Testimony to his skill was confirmed when Richard Kaufman told me that he went into a bar in Japan with Bob where few spoke English and with an impromptu performance held the whole audience who laughed convulsively for over an hour. How many of us could do that? He was one of our greats.

The four discs cover Bob Read through the years – The 2002 Lecture and Private Session – Historian, collector and scholar – A private interview, the London Walk and Bob Read in Print. And as a special bonus is included full resolution pdf files of all Bob’s published routines and brochures. Thanks to Pepys – The Penultimate Cups and Balls – $100 Glass through Table – Knife through Coat – The Bottle Production – Transpo Tumblers and What you get is what I do plus Bob’s Magical London Map.

 The boxed set of four dvds comes with a printed booklet by Richard Kaufman on Bob Read. It’s outstanding value at £65.00 plus p&p from International Magic. Tel:+44 020 7405 7324. emailadmin@internationalmagic.com www.internationalmagic.com

Even putting my personal bias to one side it’s highly recommended.