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.

Firstly – I’ve been persuaded to record many memories and sometimes hitherto unknown facts and magic ideas about many of my colleagues of earlier days. Friends like Alex Elmsley, Jack Avis, John Ramsay, Cy Enfield, Al Koran, Hugh Scott and many others with whom I mixed over fifty years ago. In relating these tales it was pointed out that when I’m gone much of this intruiging information will be lost forever. Consequently I’m writing a series of 2,500 word essays  called “Yesterday” about these magicians many of whom fashioned some of the magic we treasure today. These will be available as a pdf downloaded from your computer, with the added bonus of a magic effect or item from the subject of the essay. The first of these will be Alex Elmsley and watch this site for details. If you love the romance of magic and magicians of the past, you’ll love this new series – “Yesterday”

Did you know for example Alex Elmsley’s nick name? Did any one ever tell you that Jack Avis, a most polite and modest man publicly stormed out of a convention in a rage? Did you know that Cy Endfield, a most creative man in all directions once made a chess set that fitted inside a magic wand? And off stage Al Koran stuttered very badly, struggling with words and screwing up his eyes as he tried to speak – there was a reason for this.These and many other interesting stories, magic ideas and tips will be the subject of this new series on this site, to be announced shortly.

And secondly – and I’m really excited about this. I’m shortly putting out an effect I’ve used that truthfully is a blinder. Not for the method necessarily (although it’s quite ingenious) but for the effect on an audience, particularly at a wedding reception. It’s called “Welded Bliss”. In one hand you show a ladies diamond wedding ring. In the other a gentleman’s gold signet ring. You speak about your own personal and successful marriage happiness and openly drop the two rings into a wine glass. Nothing in the hands. Continuing the dialogue you tip the rings into a spectator’s hands – and the two rings are seen to be permanently linked together. And everything can be examined. I’ve done this at weddings and cocktail receptions, sometimes dropping the rings into a half empty flute of champagne, drunk the champagne and then tipped out the joined rings. The audience impact has been amazing.

I’m just working out final details as to how I am going to distribute this but check this site for future announcement. That’s all for rhe moment. Play your cards right!

I hope to get it on film shortly and show it to you on this website and thereafter we’ll be putting it out for sale. It looks like tremendous digital skill but it’s a dream to work and I’ll keep you posted as to further details. It’s called “Find the Phantom“

But in my half century plus of magic there are not one but three magicians who impressed me the most -Dai Vernon, Fred Kaps and John Ramsay, particularly the latter. I saw Dai Vernon when I was in my twenties and whilst I was nowhere in that league I was impressed with the sheer breadth of his knowledge and ability and particularly with the fact that he was not just a specialist in one faction of magic technique. He was as adept at doing a bottom deal as he was in using a hook coin, a faked card or a pull to achieve the miracles that he presented. All credit to Harry Stanley who first brought him over to this country.

Then Fred Kaps. His perfection in thinking and handling was superb and whatever he turned to was the result of outstanding natural ability and technique at which he practised much more than most. To present the floating cork on television with Michael Parkinson, so casual, so natural and then hand the cork to Parkinson was masterly and made you believe in magic. And if you see his tapes note his facial expressions both on and off stage. He showed real surprise and enjoyment in what he was doing and that emotion was conveyed to the audience who joined in. He was magic.

And lastly Johnny Ramsay. I was privileged to see this Scottish grocer and amateur magician in many private sessions in our hotel bedroom at conventions along with other Ramsay fans Jack Avis, Roy Walton and Bobby Bernard.An event that was photographed and published by the national press. But it was Johnny’s naturalness, timing and misdirection that would beat you, long before such strategies blossomed in the USA. Vernon praised Ramsay as the finest close-up magician he had seen and many overseas magicians travelled to his little town on the West coast of Scotland just to witness first-hand his unique and very personal magic. I could write reams about Johnny Ramsay (and probably will) for he was well ahead of his time with outstanding magic that was disguised with his Scottish mannerisms and quaint ways. There are a few (very few) films of him working around today but if you want to get a very good idea of his magic and his way of working get hold of a tape of his magic performed by Scottish magician Andy Galloway (available from International Magic U.K.) who was a protege of Johnny and who was taught his methods and presentations for over a period of seven years. You’ll be fooled (as you always were with Ramsay) and its the nearest thing you’ll see to the original. Or if you fancy diving into the very special world of Johnny Ramsay and his routines, Galloway has published many of his original  effects in several books available from Andy Galloway and dealers.

You’ll probably gather from the above wordage that I am a great fan of Ramsay but I also would count as great close-up workers Vernon and Kaps. There aren’t so many around like that today. They had a very special charisma. They were something special that made them stand out in the crowd. More about Ramsay later and a few routines perhaps that I published based on his style.

But he has been around magic for over half a century, mixed with many of the greats and seen many things magical that are not around anymore. He’s like hundreds of other middle-of-the-road magicians who enjoy the scene and practice it up to a performing standard. But in practical terms he’s pasted up quite a history of his contribution to magic. He’s been a performer since he was fifteen and except for a period when he ran an advertising agency continues today as a full time professional.

He’s performed all over the world from St. Petersburg to St. Albans and still has a full engagement book presenting magic on stage, close-up and in a 60 minute one-man show called “Behind the Doors of The Magic Circle”. As a teenager he won several talent shows developing a precocious comedy style, was called for national service in the R.A.F. and after training toured in revues and plays. Returning to his career in advertising, he trained as a graphic designer, turned to management and later formed his own international advertising agency.

Go back some years and you will find many of his tricks and routines published in “Abracadabra”, “Pentagram” and other magazines worldwide and he also marketed several effects at that time – “Trilogy” a triple prediction effect, “Pen-i-Pin” the penetration of a coin and many others. He has written scores of feature articles and biographies on magic for magazines, has broadcast on the subject and has written two books “Vis a Vis” with Jack Avis and “Come a Little Closer”.

A member of The Inner Magic Circle and awarded their gold star, he regularly performs at their public shows, has served on the council for many years, is an official examiner and covers many of their events for the press in words and pictures. Phew!

Hope you forgive the flag waving but this piece was written in response to many people overseas who said – John Derris – who he!

1. An oval hole is cut into a small number of cards.

2. This block is placed in the deck.

3. A selected card is returned on top of the block with the cut out hole.

4. A small rubber ball is introduced into the hole.

5. The rubber ball can be manipulated to  move the selected card out of the deck – sideways.

No details on specific handling but it looks good. I think I remember a similar idea of, was it John Cornelius, using a rubber ball at the back of a deck in a glass that was used to make cards rise, removing the ball with the last card.

Just a thought.

The  routine I finished with is part classic, part Vernon, part Pat Page and for the closer I succumbed to the Jerry O’Connell wallet which is great but again everyone is doing it. I then changed to the Paul Le Paul nest of envelopes which I first saw performed by Vernon but again it’s difficult to do table to table which is a problem the wallet overcomes.

I then came up with the card in a pocket watch which is different, spectacular and a great finish using the Kaps dodge with the loose folded card in the watch prior to the shuttle pass. I use this today but I also use a really solid version which I present just once, perhaps for the top table or the Booker’s. Again this is in the philosophy of Etienne Pradier’s signed card in wine bottle which logistically is difficult to do at every table and so strong that you want to keep it as the highlight of your performance.

What I now do as a special one off is to force a card, have the spectator sign with a big signature with a  Pentel pen on the card and then go into the standard ambitious card routine.

But for the climax I palm the selected card with a gambler’s cop and hand the pack to the spectator to shuffle thoroughly, turning away from them as this is done, But with the card in my left palm I hold it flat against my left thigh and  fold it three times with the card facing out whereas normally the card is folded with the back out. Jack Avis taught me this folding idea as I couldn’t handle the |Mercury card fold which only folds the card into quarters.

So now you have the card folded in your left finger palm and say “Watch! Watch! Watch!” and as you do this you pull the Hunter type pocket watch on a short chain from your inside jacket pocket and hold it in your left hand. I then have a lot of nonsense with a mock hypnotic bit and then swing the watch, into the right hand still holding the end of the chain in the left hand.

Flip the watch open and show the folded card which is face out and can be identified and with the vestige of the spectator’s signature in view. Shake it a la the Kaps bit, have it identified and then tip it into the left hand and hand it to the spectator as a souvenir. The routine management that makes this so strong is that in the normal version with the card back out the climax does not occur until after the switch. In this version the climax to the effect comes as you open the watch and they actually see the face of the card and the signature inside the watch. This is the Wow time! Tipping the card into the left hand for the switch is really an aftermath. I’ve done this for years and it’s very strong.

I must give credit to Jerry Sadowitz who also devised this dodge and published it in The Crimp magazine. It’s absolutely true that I came up with this in a session with Jack Avis and neither of us had any knowledge that Jerry had published his idea. I fully acknowledge the unwitting duplicity in this idea which often happens in magic and to which I refereed in an earlier blog. Nevertheless, full credit to Jerry and to the sheer power of this very strong, a little more ambitious climax to a classic effect.

I’m thinking here of far-flung magical thinkers like Stewart James, buried in the wilderness of Canada whose output and ideas were revolutionary. Others like Peter Duffie, a man who is largely incommunicado, hidden in the outskirts of Glasgow and his nearby neighbour Roy Walton who is rarely seen but whose original output over the years has led to world fame. Another was Jack Avis who published over six hundred effects and routines during a lifetime of reading and research pursued in an armchair in Sydenham and who presented magic to an audience on less than six occasions.

But there is another ghost, also hiding in a tree-lined street in SE26, not a cough away from Jack Avis. Lewis Jones. Whose close proximity led to regular weekly meetings that resulted in a huge output of magic ideas that were jointly published in a book “Ahead of the Pack.” You may have seen his name in books and magazines from time to time but are not familiar with his work. But many of the greats have applauded his ideas and creativity. Paul Daniels admits to having included several of Jones’s routines in his permanent performances. Michael Close has compared him with Stewart James. Ian Rowland says he has a remarkable mind with alarmingly baffling plots. Al Smith compares him to Paul Curry and Stewart James. Steve Beam states that Jones is in his top ten card men of the world and Penn & Teller said “Don’t buy his books – they give away too many secrets!”

Jones has spent a lifetime in pure magic creativity lubricated  by his academic background in languages and science. He has come up with some quite brilliant ideas and filled twelve books with some of the most profound thinking to be seen this side of Annemann, T.A. Waters and Larry Becker. A quiet, polite, retiring personality who looks something like a university professor and whose dogged pursuit of magical knowledge is prodigious. He has authored hundreds of ideas with cards, coins, small magic, mental magic, mathematical principles and others utilising his probing mind.

Born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne his first contact with magic was a performance by Dante at a local theatre, a casual interest that stayed with him throughout his childhood. Later he won a state scholarship to Cambridge University where he graduated in modern languages. With a vivid imagination and a natural aptitude for writing he created a number of radio drama scripts and short stories for the BBC at the same time feeding his interest in magic theory and detail throughout his academic years. Like Avis he is an avid reader and collector of information and he began to amass books and references on magic and other subjects relevant to his profession. A habit that continues today where the walls of his home are hidden by thousands of books, a collection that required him to move to a larger house some years ago. At one time he was regularly in touch with famed magic bookseller George Jenness who kept him fed with volumes of the latest magic.

On leaving university he wrote scripts and took a number of teaching posts and was then offered a position in Singapore working as a script writer and producer in national radio. The opportunity to work in a small, flexible, creative environment suited his temperament and he stayed for eleven years. Not only was he writing plays, scripts and producing programmes, but he became a broadcaster and commentator on various events including badminton which had become a passion and an active pastime.

It was here that he met Susheela Devi, the lead violinist in the Singapore Symphony Orchestra that led to their return to England where she took up a position with Sadlers Wells. Lewis became a freelance writer and scripted a number of science series for the BBC for many years. Today, in semi retirement he still makes contributions on scientific matters to American publications.  It was in England that he recognised a face in a TV magic show of a former pupil at his school. It was Martin Breese and the two met and celebrated their hitherto unknown interest in magic.

His analytical and encyclopaedic mind has devised many codes, cryptographic and mathematical methods that have led to the publication of several highly praised magic books and manuscripts. His long distance thought-reading effect “Transmission Impossible” was used by Paul Daniels as a climax to one of his TV magic spectaculars.

In constant touch with many of the scattered, like-minded, worldwide magi he continues today developing ideas, making notes and observing the world scene of serious magic. To this end he flies back to Singapore twice a year to keep contact with his friends in and out of magic. Here they made him an honorary member of the IBM. This octogenarian wizard shows no let up in his output having just completed and published his twelfth book “The Magic Gourmet” which has received enthusiastic reviews worldwide.

On the shelves of many of the world’s finest creators of magic you will find Jones’s lifetime output – Shampagne, Imp Romp 2, The Spring of 52, Cardiograms, Con Sessions, Lusions, Counter Feats, The Paragon Move, Person to Person – a book of teleohone telepathy, Ahead of the Pack (with Jack Avis), Seventh Heaven, Encyclopedia of Impromptu Card Forces and now The Magic Gourmet. He must be currently Britain’s most prodigious magic author.

Now then all together, what about a quick riffle of the cards around the world for Lewis Jones.