I recently spent a day in the library of a legend. His scholarship on the history of magic is profound and thorough. He and his lovely wife entertained myself and the sapient pig for an afternoon. When I say entertained, there was no performance. All of us relaxed, shuffled off our desire to ‘perform’ and settled into more sedate pleasures.

He showed me such wonders. His collection extends all through a five bedroom house in Hull, and he knows it so very well. His study, where he writes monthly for the magic circular, contains three walls of shelves double stacked with rare and interesting books. I’ll keep the details to myself, but one of the lovely little joys for me, was reading a book only semi-rare. It is called Elliot’s Last Legacy, and it is by Houdini. Actually it was largely written by a friend of his, and he swooped in to put his name on it.

None-the-less it contains a dream-like description of one of Dr. Elliot’s performances. I was swept up in the simplicity of form, and feel compelled to share it with those of you who still read this site.

This is a paraphrasing, rather than direct quotation, because I wrote so many things out by hand. Some of them contain small errors in grammar, and thus the text will not be exact. Without further ado…

He entered from the left side of the stage, attired in an evening dress, crush hat, and carrying a cane; stood the cane (which had a knob handle) at right front of stage where it remained upright. Removing hat he placed it over the handle of the cane thus making an improvised ‘table’, which he completed by spreading a silk pocket hand-kercheif over the crown of the hat. From his upper right hand pockethe then produced a glass of water, upon drinking which and drying the glass, he placed it on top of the handkerchief and hat. Elliot next made a bare armed production of a full deck of cards, from which he had six selected and marked by choosers and then returned to the deck. He then caused three cards to rise from the glass on the ‘table’ and the other three cards to slowly float up from the deck to his hand. Each of the six cards, as it rose from the glass or deck, was scaled (v.tr 4) out into the audience.Elliot then removed the pack from the goblet and with a tossing movement, caused the deck to vanish; by a similat tossing movement the goblet melted away and finally, the silken pocket handkerchief by slow rubbing between the palms. He then finished by removing hat from cane, placing it on his head and removing cane from floor. Then carrying cane in right hand walking to the left side of stage, he doffed his hat and made exit. Next, holding the deck in the left hand and using that hand only, Elliot would bring any card selected to the front of the deck; in fact the cards called seem to appear on the face almost instantaneously. Finally, after working a series of other fine card effects, followed with the remarkable manipulative work with a two and one half inch billiard ball. Elliot then removed the pack from the goblet and with a tossing movement, caused the deck to vanish; and by a similar tossing movement the goblet melted away, and finally the silken pocket handkerchief by slow rubbing between the palms. He then finished by removing hat from cane, placing it on his head and removing cane from floor. Then, carrying the cane in his right hand, walking to the left side of stage, he doffed hat and made exit.

I’ve been broken. I’m hobbling around the house with a back injury and a little stash of painkillers in my pockets. The details of my affliction are very boring, but there’s a little comedy everywhere. Yesterday, such an accidental comedy, leapt from the lips of  my doctor while he was unaware.

He said to me:

“Your return to work is simply an issue of pain management. You can go back as soon as you can handle the agony.”

What a Wilde-esque statement!

Regular readers know of course, that I don’t like to indulge so much in personal particulars, and that I hope each post is worth reading on its own years after it is written. I feel lately I’ve been failing in that respect and thus I am taking the time to write a few painstaking words for you. Also, at the end a little gem of wonder in our usual tradition.

I also notice, I have neglected my most beloved medium: pasteboards. You see cards are wonderous things. Most people believe that card tricks are the lowest form of magic, but then most people haven’t seen what I have seen.

There’s a quotation in card magic often attributed to Dai Vernon, or Hofzinser, but ultimately the truth is intact, who so ever was the first to utter it.

“Cards are the poetry of magic.”

If you have the chance to see one of the masters, you will know what I mean. Take for example this gentleman. He is performing a card trick I hate most in the world. The idea of a card returning repeatedly to the top of a deck leaves me cold.

However, I’d like you to witness the elegance he gives to the effect. In him, such a mundane trick is redeemed for me. It is self evident proof that it is the singer, and not the song.

As a magician, you could perform in a wide variety of arenas. In fact, there’s quite a tradition of us turning up in new formats and mediums.

In early egypt we were holy people, or scholars, and sometimes street performers. In France a new format was born when the magician dropped the formal robes and wore what we would now consider formal evening wear. This broght the art indoors, and created stage magic.

Later we traveled with scientists, and presented the latest gadgets to the age of reason. There were the medicine shows, selling quackery to the public, and then the birth of cinema. Yes, all true, and one of my favourite facts is that Melies the magician, became the world’s first film-maker.  Don’t take my word for it, look it up yourself!

So the time has come. I’m endeavouring in new mediums myself. Of course the genre is not new to me, but I am looking forward to creating, designing, producing, and executing. I look forward to occasionally using my knowledge of deception as entertainment, and blending it into the pursuit of all things ludic.

What medium, you ask?

Well, alternate reality games of course.

This blog will remain as is, fear not. However, I will also be blogging on all things ARG for my esteemed colleagues at Winterwell, over at this odd little site.

“O sweet Fancy! let her loose;

Every thing is spoilt by use:

Where ’s the cheek that doth not fade, Too much gazed at?

Where ’s the maid Whose lip mature is ever new?

Where ’s the eye, however blue, Doth not weary?

Where ’s the face One would meet in every place?

Where ’s the voice, however soft, One would hear so very oft?

At a touch sweet Pleasure melteth Like to bubbles when rain pelteth.

Let, then, winged Fancy find Thee a mistress to thy mind:

Dulcet-eyed as Ceres’ daughter, Ere the God of Torment taught her How to frown and how to chide;

With a waist and with a side White as Hebe’s, when her zone Slipt its golden clasp, and down Fell her kirtle to her feet, While she held the goblet sweet, And Jove grew languid.

–Break the mesh Of the Fancy’s silken leash;

Quickly break her prison-string, And such joys as these she’ll bring.

– Let the winged Fancy roam, Pleasure never is at home.”

Excerpt from Fancy by Keats

A good night out.

I’ve been wanting to do a double act for years. Saturday, I got the chance.

My esteemed colleague Mr. Stirton and I rolled out under the name of Stirton & Leverett. I am very pleased to work with such a talented and enthusiastic gentleman, and I think our first gig went rather well. More on that in a moment…

The setting was the Westport Book Festival, the scene of a previous crime for me. The asked me to help launch the festival last year, and it threatened to be a disaster. You see, they run things on good will and charity rather than any sort of feasible budget, and the schedules arrived unprinted. We bravely stepped into the breach, giving speeches until we could think of something. Unfortunately, we were left with only one option…and that was to magically print the pamphlets in front of a live audience.

I am pleased to note that I was invited back the following year to guard against any unfortunate or regularly scheduled disasters. Putting it more humbly, we were there for a bit of showmanship between the speeches.

There were fifty faces looking back at me as I spoke. They laughed in the right places, where I planted a joke. That is one of the most surreal aspects of performing for larger groups. All those faces with the same expressions looking at you. Then you say something and laughter ripples across them like a pond. It is very strange on the stage and I am still getting used to it. Unfortunately, I’m starting to like it too.

I think I warmed the room sufficiently, and then turned over to Mr. Stirton who set them on fire.

I had asked 5 people to write some words found in a book, onto a piece of paper and show no-one else that paper. I then used my extensive knowledge of graphology* to determine which sample belonged to which person. This gives us a lot of interaction, and lets us work the room. It gives Mr. Stirton the chance to carefully watch the participants and select someone for his finale, in which a randomly selected word is plucked from their mind, and it is revealed it was pre-determined anyhow.

Hopefully one day you’ll see it yourself.

It was a bespoke act developed entirely for the book festival, and that is something I really love doing. It’s not a service everyone can afford, but we love the Westport, and it was worth it. We did a little walk around after the fact, and had quite a good time.

Which brings me to my amusing anecdote. When working in these capacities, one solicits quotations for advertising your talents. As last night was the first performance of Stirton & Leverett we set about soliciting quotations. My esteemed friend had just magically affixed the freely selected and signed card to the ceiling, when I interrupted. He had of course just done this for one of the people who had procured our services, and thus I felt the time was ripe.

These are wordy people at the book festival, especially the people running the show. Some of the most erudite, polite, wordsmiths I know. Yet, when I stepped up to ask our dear hostess if she enjoyed the magic that evening, she gave me a quote I may remember forever. It was short, it wasn’t sweet, and it definitely cannot be used in any official capacity…

“It’s like he’s just stuck his dick in my ear and turned my brain to mush.”

Funny….perhaps even true in a sense…but unfortunately not the image I want to promote!

*Of course, the bit about the handwriting analysis is hogwash…but Mr. Stirton really does read their mind. It’s so nice working with someone who can actually do magic.

In my last post I was lamenting the disappearance of one of the great performances of ventriloquism from the internet. While a piece of my heart vanished with that video, it inspired the search for others, and a chance to dip into the history of ventriloquism. This transforms the old into the new, in the endless cycle of entertainments.

Ventriloquists used to perform without the dummy. They used to hold conversations with ‘off-stage’ characters or members of the audience. They would sometimes sing, or do birdsongs. In a sense they were performers of mimicry, rather than people who could ‘throw their voice’. In my mind, vents are magicians too, and I share freely with them when I meet them. Their illusion is auditory, but they are illusionists none the less. Of course there are differences, and I cannot do what they do, but I do not consider them so differently than magicians, or magiciennes as the case may be.

One of my favourite stories of ventriloquism comes from the eighteenth century. I must confess I have just hunted through my bookshelf to give you an exact quotation, but failed my quest. My enthusiasm to find the reference would appear to be equally matched by my lack of time for this writing this post. Unfortunately this seems to be an increasing trend.

So with apologies, we shall work from memory.

A vent was performing on a cruise ship, and performing in the older style I mention above, by holding dialogues with invisible characters or mimicking noises and people. During the performance he was consistently disturbed and interrupted by the buzzing of a fly. Attempting to espy the nuisance, his eyes wandered a great deal during the performance to the mirth of the audience. Of course they would’ve attributed this to part of the act, and to his skill in as a performer.

Close to the conclusion of the act, his gaze fell upon a member of the audience, who looked bored and seemed not to be paying attention. Slowly though a sly grimace swept across the spectators face, and the performing ventriloquist recognized another great polyphonist of the day. He suddenly realised he had been dueling with an illusory fly, produced by an equally skilled practitioner of the art!

After the show they laughed heartily, and the ensuing two week cruise to New York found these mischievous gentleman producing all sorts of auditory illusions and pranks on an unsuspecting captive crew and audience. This culminated in a ridiculous hullabaloo when the arrived at Ellis Island and disembarked to be processed by customs. Upon approaching the customs desk they giggled like schoolboys while the posh woman in front of them was accused of smuggling pigs into the country within her great baggage cases. The sounds of an entire barn-yard were clearly heard emanating from her baggage until the customs official demanded to inspect it and found it contained a rather mundane selection of evening wear and ladies toiletries.

The lady and the customs official were not amused, but the vents must have laughed all the way to to Broadway.

Witness then just how versatile ventriloquism can be, and share my joy at finding at least another performance that makes me smile. Even if you sometimes find them creepy, which I know many people do…trust me this is worth watching…

Nina Conti in Montreal…

I recently went back to some old posts, only to find that a video I had linked to was gone. It obviously time to clean up the links on this site. It gives me something to write about though, and forces me to examine one of my closely held beliefs: the best things in life are fleeting, ephemeral things. Exceptional performances don’t live forever, even on the internet. The impermanence of things, the lie of immortality.

A video I had linked to of Arthur Worsley, has been removed. Sure 22 seconds of that same video is played out, but the full piece has disappeared, like a memory degrading. It loses something when it is edited like that, and becomes just  a fragment. Charlie Brown screaming at Arthur had a silent genius that just isn’t exhibited by watching him blurt a single sentence.

Still, it sums up my point, and gives me the opportunity to articulate it. Things on this site will come and go, some of my posts will only be up for a few hours, and others might last months. I like it like that.

We glimpsed him as he vanished, and will always be glad to see him, it’s worth all the sadness that comes when they go.

You can only get a broken heart one way.

To be a magician, is to be broken hearted. To be a magician means being in love with impossible situations. A magician must endlessly chase impossible beauty, and yet endure the broken heart of it.

I thought I’d stop by Tom’s place, and I was sure glad I did.

Last weekend, I spent time with Sharon down in London at the Magic Circle Collectors day. We met up with our friend Will Houstoun, a fine magician and magical historian.  It’s always fun to session with him, and he delivered a great lecture on his new book.

Richard Evans delivered a fantastic lecture on Isaac Fawkes, adding to our primary source on the legend by a factor of 20! He has found nearly 1000 articles in newspapers of the time. Many of these are placed by Fawkes himslef as advertisements, but luckily for us they detail his routes, his routines, and the cost of his show. This means a route book could be created! I really like Richard and hope to meet him again. Unfortunately, his research is not up on the web, and you’ll need to track him down yourself.

Richard Stokes delivered the most controversial lecture, and is obviously worn down by reactions to his research. I thought he made his points clearly and everything he states is verifiable. The truth will out. Unfortunately, as Brits we have a lot tied up into the legend of ‘The War Magician’. I mean, we couldn’t have France’s legends of Houdin and the bedoiuns, and not have our own war magician could we?

So some of you may have guessed I was joking in my last post, fulfilling a long promised hoax.

I may be more infrequent in blogging here as other issues are increasing, but I am here to stay.