July 16: Magicians stealing stuff
My magical mentor, Paul Alberstat, once told me the sad tale of Don
Alan, a famous magician who died hating his colleagues. Don Alan was a
genius and he invented something called the Invisible Deck, which is a
hilarious and baffling magic routine that is done with a gimmicked deck
of cards. You'd be hard pressed to find a magic store that doesn't sell
Invisible Decks, which are billed as the most popular magic trick in the
world.
Mr. Alan would present the routine by handing a spectator an invisible deck. He'd have them shuffle, take out a card, look at it, turn it upside down, then put it back in the deck. Then he would "make" the deck turn visible. He'd fan through the cards, find one of them is upside down and - surprise surprise - it's the spectator's card.
I bought my first Invisible Deck at a magic store in Calgary and I performed it the exact same way Don Alan did. The reason was that's the way the guy in the store demonstrated it to me. What did I know? I was just a dumb kid. Then Paul saw me perform it that way and he admonished me for it. "You wouldn't steal something from a store, would you? Then don't steal another magician's routine."
Words to live by. I still have an invisible deck but I mostly use it as an out.
The late great Don Alan
-
There's a Kansas City magician named Tom Burgoon who came up with a pretty funny routine involving toilet paper. How funny is it? Well it's funny enough (and inexpensive enough) that magicians everywhere would happily steal it so they could perform it just like Tom Burgoon.
What did Mr. Burgoon do? He created a series of authorized toilet paper magic trick notebooks and he sold them to his fellow magicians. If you want to do his routine and get the laughs he does, you have to buy the notebook. If you do the trick and you don't have express permission from Tom, he'll be pretty mad at you.
I will be too.
-
My Grade 9 teacher, Rick Jelinek, allegedly had tens of thousands of record albums in his house (he is wholly responsible for the Alice Cooper phase I went through in high school.) I'd watched Saturday Night Live one weekend because the Cars were the musical act and I was a big fan of the Cars. But I was disappointed because they didn't sound anything like they did on their album, Heartbeat City,
Mr. Jelinek told me that was a good thing.
"I wouldn't go to a concert if I knew the band was going to play all their songs exactly the way they do on their albums," he said. "What would be the point? I could just stay home, put the record on the record player, and save myself some money?"
Touché.
-
There's a great magician named Martin Lewis and he created a trick called the Rising Card Sketchpad. David Copperfield performed it on stage for his 12th television special. Here is a link to it:
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqE-s2qJ0GE[/url]
I've seen magicians perform that trick the exact same way Copperfield did. One of them was even dumb enough to put his copycat version on youtube until he removed it after being shouted down by more ethical magicians who value uniqueness and ethics.
To paraphrase Mr. Jelinek, why would I waste my money to watch a David Copperfield clone? I could just stay home, order a pizza, and watch the original on youtube.
-
The best magic advice I've ever read is from Eric Mead, who I keep quoting in these essays and I hope I am not pestering him by doing so. Mr. Mead implores magicians to be vulnerable with their audiences, tell them what they believe and use magic to make a point. Penn & Teller do this. The Amazing Randi does this. André Kole does this. David Copperfield doesn't - though he does talk a lot about his childhood. We don't really know what the grown up Copperfield thinks of the world and that, perhaps, may be his one failing.
If you're a Christian, do a gospel trick - even if it's for a secular audience. If you're a democrat - do a trick that promotes democrat principles. Comedians, filmmakers, novelists, musicians - all of 'em aren't afraid to offend people. Magic should be no different.
Except magicians shouldn't be thieves. That is unacceptable.
Mr. Alan would present the routine by handing a spectator an invisible deck. He'd have them shuffle, take out a card, look at it, turn it upside down, then put it back in the deck. Then he would "make" the deck turn visible. He'd fan through the cards, find one of them is upside down and - surprise surprise - it's the spectator's card.
I bought my first Invisible Deck at a magic store in Calgary and I performed it the exact same way Don Alan did. The reason was that's the way the guy in the store demonstrated it to me. What did I know? I was just a dumb kid. Then Paul saw me perform it that way and he admonished me for it. "You wouldn't steal something from a store, would you? Then don't steal another magician's routine."
Words to live by. I still have an invisible deck but I mostly use it as an out.
The late great Don Alan-
There's a Kansas City magician named Tom Burgoon who came up with a pretty funny routine involving toilet paper. How funny is it? Well it's funny enough (and inexpensive enough) that magicians everywhere would happily steal it so they could perform it just like Tom Burgoon.
What did Mr. Burgoon do? He created a series of authorized toilet paper magic trick notebooks and he sold them to his fellow magicians. If you want to do his routine and get the laughs he does, you have to buy the notebook. If you do the trick and you don't have express permission from Tom, he'll be pretty mad at you.
I will be too.
-
My Grade 9 teacher, Rick Jelinek, allegedly had tens of thousands of record albums in his house (he is wholly responsible for the Alice Cooper phase I went through in high school.) I'd watched Saturday Night Live one weekend because the Cars were the musical act and I was a big fan of the Cars. But I was disappointed because they didn't sound anything like they did on their album, Heartbeat City,
Mr. Jelinek told me that was a good thing.
"I wouldn't go to a concert if I knew the band was going to play all their songs exactly the way they do on their albums," he said. "What would be the point? I could just stay home, put the record on the record player, and save myself some money?"
Touché.
-
There's a great magician named Martin Lewis and he created a trick called the Rising Card Sketchpad. David Copperfield performed it on stage for his 12th television special. Here is a link to it:
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqE-s2qJ0GE[/url]
I've seen magicians perform that trick the exact same way Copperfield did. One of them was even dumb enough to put his copycat version on youtube until he removed it after being shouted down by more ethical magicians who value uniqueness and ethics.
To paraphrase Mr. Jelinek, why would I waste my money to watch a David Copperfield clone? I could just stay home, order a pizza, and watch the original on youtube.
-
The best magic advice I've ever read is from Eric Mead, who I keep quoting in these essays and I hope I am not pestering him by doing so. Mr. Mead implores magicians to be vulnerable with their audiences, tell them what they believe and use magic to make a point. Penn & Teller do this. The Amazing Randi does this. André Kole does this. David Copperfield doesn't - though he does talk a lot about his childhood. We don't really know what the grown up Copperfield thinks of the world and that, perhaps, may be his one failing.
If you're a Christian, do a gospel trick - even if it's for a secular audience. If you're a democrat - do a trick that promotes democrat principles. Comedians, filmmakers, novelists, musicians - all of 'em aren't afraid to offend people. Magic should be no different.
Except magicians shouldn't be thieves. That is unacceptable.
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