Magic wise there are an awful lot of magicians doing their version of matrix and the like and many of them not good. However the site is full of some great clips of performers by some of the greats of the past – Cardini, Channing Pollock, Al Koran,Marvyn Roy, Howard de Courcey, Roy Benson, Karrell Fox, Mac King, Johnny Paul, Al Flosso, Don Alan, and I even found a old and blurry film of Dante but with enough detail to make it interesting. Now there was a find for anyone who never saw him. I think you could probably call up any name magician past and present and be pretty sure that you’ll find something of interest.

Comedy wise I found some gems of great comedians of the past both U.K. and U.S. Bob Hope, Max Miller, Jimmy James, Sid Caesar, Jackie Gleason, George Burns, Jack Benny and many many more. I had never seen comedy magician Harry Anderson until I stumbled across an 11 minute clip of his stage act doing a straight jacket escape alongside his wife tied up in rope to a chair. His style and comedy presentation was valuable in studying performances rather than secrets  and I  have spent many pleasant evenings pulling up artistes that I remember from years ago and the experience is thoroughly entertaining and of great interest.

If you want to improve your magic  presentation spend some time on You Tube. I promise you’ll not regret it.

It would have been invaluable to see Nate Leipzig actually performing  and Max Malini whereas we have the descriptions that were written by some of their contemporaries, but the nuances of performance, subtleties and misdirection really had to be seen.

 I knew Johnny Ramsay quite well and other than a few clips of amateur 8mm film showing him throwing a thimble into the air and making vanish and his legendary four coins hung in the air, I don’t think there is any other evidence. His protege Andy Galloway who studied with Ramsay for seven years has some of these clips and Andy’s own performance of Ramsay’s routine closely echo the masters style and luckily have been recorded for future generations courtesy of Martin MacMillan

We have had a few scattered clips turning up around the world. I’ve seen Roy Benson’s TV act with the Chinese Sticks and the Salt Pour also his stunning Billiard Ball routine (taught to him by Leipzig!) but it’s his unique personality and style that is so valuable in studying magic presentation. And his voice and style of humour isn’t a bit like I imagined before seeing the film.It’s better.

I never saw Al Flosso but someone sold me a clip of his famous act and his wonderful Miser’s Dream and then you realise why he was so unique and good. Don Alan, another idol of mine appeared on TV and fortunately there are some recordings available notably the Magic Ranch TV series where he had many  guests of the 50’s and 60’s. Clarke Crandall, Richard Himber, Johnny Platt and many other names of that period.

If you pull up You Tube on the Internet and insert Cardini you can see a clip of his act – cigarettes, cards, billiard balls and realise why he was so good and everyone raved about him. And to back up your interest in this icon of the last century somehow get a copy of John Fisher’s fabulous book “Cardini – the Suave Deceiver”. It’s worth every penny of the near £100.00  it’ll  cost you to secure a copy in the U.K.

With the mainstream of magic performance today being close-up, I think that the study of the performance style of some of the greats of the last century is valuable and could lift some close-up performers to much higher levels of entertainment. Pat Page once said to me that some of our best close-up workers are magicians who have worked on stage. He said it shows in presentation.

For a long time I begged Jack Avis, one of Britain’s top card and close-up magicians,  who was not a performer, to let me privately  film some of his unique work on a camcorder but self-effacing man that he was he never said no but never got round to it before he died four years ago. This saddens me.

Fortunately Alex Elmsley was not so shy and his unique work has been recorded by L&L Publishing in the U.S. by The Magic Circle during their centenary celebrations and by Colin Rose of Five of Hearts Productions who has two discs of Alex in session in their studio. Effects and casual talk and demonstrations to a private group of magicians at Colin Rose’s studio. It’s priceless and preserves the legacy of one of the last century’s greatest magician’s.

And lastly the third member of the great triumvirate – Jack Avis and Alex Elmsley is famed card magician hiding in Scotland - Roy Walton. I’ve known Roy since we were teenagers and again I’ve implored him to put some of his work on film or tape perhaps in the company of his close magic friends Gordon Bruce and Peter Duffie. Again a slightly self-effacing individual and whilst I have pestered him many times fearing that we would lose a permanent record of his magic, he told me recently that it is being done within the Davenport family and will be available through that source at some time in the future.

I am delighted and relieved at this news as I am passionate about preserving the performances of some of the greatest magicians of our time.

( Steps down from the soap box).

DAI VERNON- overcame the problem by having a small phial of rosewater and glycerine in his jacket pocket and he would dip his hand in the pocket, pick up a few drops and rub them around his hand. He tipped Jack Avis off about this and Jack used to make up the mixture and lightly moisten his hands before showing a trick.

CARDINI – had a similar method so Bobby Bernard tells me. He had a small tin of wax sewn into the inside of his dress suit and if his hands became dry during the act he would rub his fingertips on the wax to restore their tackiness.

DARYL- showed me a cute impromptu comedy idea. If he needed to dampen a finger or thumb before he started the routine he would say “I have to check the direction of the wind for this trick” and then he would openly put his finger in his mouth, hold it aloft and walk around as if checking his position! Then he would transfer the moistness on his finger to his thumb. It’s a fun bit very much in Daryl’s style that overcame the problem of  getting a sticky finger.