Sept. 5: Time is money

Nonsense.

That word was uttered by Sigfried & Roy, a team of European illusionists who once dominated the entertainment scene in Las Vegas. Their show was filled with exotic animals, elaborate costumes, a flashy set, music, choreography, and lots of standing ovations.

Once someone opined that anyone could put together a show like Sigfried & Roy’s if they only had enough money.

Nonsense.

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In a lecture to his fellow magicians, Harry Anderson talked about the late Doug Henning’s Broadway show, Merlin, which Mr. Anderson described as “terrible.” The critics agreed with him. One of them penned this scathing line (and I’m paraphrasing here): “The show proves that anyone can be a magician if your father is willing to buy you some magic equipment.”

Ouch.

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I feel compelled to note that Doug Henning was a fantastic magician who did a lot to increase magic’s exposure on television. Merlin was a career low, not business as usual.

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All of this to say that if you’re going to be a magician, you are going to have to spend something. You can spend time or you can spend money.

If I had $500, I could probably buy myself a magic show. I could go to a magic store and buy some trick decks and a strat-o-sphere and an appearing cane and a box that makes three birds turn into a rabbit.

Or I could buy myself a magic book and spend my TIME learning the routines in it.

I could buy five trick decks and do five magic tricks (I’d have to justify the reason I had to switch decks between tricks) or I could pore over Expert Card Technique (or Bobo’s coin book) and do an entire set with one deck of cards or a few coins.

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One of the best things that happened to me, as a magician, was the day Air Canada lost my luggage. That evening I was booked to do a close-up magic show at a local restaurant and now my magic case was missing, probably aboard an airplane bound for Timbuktu.

A MONEY magician would have panicked, called the show’s organizer and cancelled. A TIME magician would buy two decks of Bicycle playing cards and a couple notebooks and then do the show.

Time might be money, but time is more important.