Magicians are proud of their history, the whole looooong story .…
We cherish the old stuff, but wrongly. We still perform, like apes imitating each other, the same lame stuff. One copying the other, in the hope to get the same strong reactions from the lines, jokes and gags. Getting the applause for the ego.
Nothing wrong with the old stuff because there is tons of real good wisdom in it. But the new generation just blindly copies old-fashioned ways to do the tricks. The excuse: “It’s a classic …” The reason: weakness? And maybe ego? Desire to be applauded? Accepted? Being “hip”? Nothing to do so with magic per se .…
For me, the truth is that most of us are afraid to dare to do something different; are afraid to leave the comfort zone; and finally are afraid to do something that nobody else has done before.
Salvano once told me: “Magicians in reality are afraid of magic.” At first I didn’t understand what he meant, but now I know: He was right! Magicians don’t trust the principles of their own trade, and always try to seek ways to be on the safe side and get the recognition from the audience. They are afraid of confronting the audience with something original, where there is no recipe, no proven success – something new and original (within their safety-seeking minds).
Therefore, they rely on “trusted” tricks and presentations, tricks, where others have shown what works. These are then copied because it seems to be safe to do so.
But there is a difference between what we as magicians see and what lay people perceive. I will give you an example. This could (!) be the possible thought process of a random spectator witnessing a performance of the cups and balls (our oldest and most trustworthy trick we have in the history of legerdemain) .…
Human being thinking:
Nice copper cups … will he produce a drink from them?
What are these little red balls for?
Wait a moment … did he put them all under that one cup or the other? Don’t remember … doesn’t matter … looks all the same anyway …
He’s moving his hands so quickly …
Was that now two or three of these little balls? Doesn’t matter .…
Ah! Now! I will watch his other hand going to his pockets all the time .…
I am getting bored .…
I saw someone doing this already … fuck … don’t remember where this was .…
Oh no … not another time … he squeezed the balls already under that other cups somehow .…
I am bored … always the same .…
Why does he put the cups onto the table upside down? Such bullshit … can’t he place them the right way?
When is the last train leaving?
Gosh, I am bored … yeah yeah yeah … good for now … I know these pebbles somehow are here and then there …
Hope I get my train in time …
WOW! Where did these lemons come from? Hahaha … that was cute! WOW! lemons … the fuck … he squeezed the lemons into that cups … huuuuhhh …
Are they real?
Can I take them home? I will mix a cocktail with them, hahahahaaa .…
No idea where the f****** lemons came from … but wait: they must have been in the cups from the beginning … aha! That’s it! easy … but he did that in a way I couldn’t see it …
maybe collapsible rubber fruit of something like that … but they smelled real …
Okay, I have to go, gotta catch my train and I wanna see the Walking Dead tonight …
Thank you, magician, was a nice trick with those lemons.
I believe the problem is not that the old tricks are bad. They are not. I believe the problem is in the thoughtlessness and laziness of the majority of magicians in not trying new ways and going different directions, mimicking the old (proven and solid) principles.
Especially the presentations of most of the classic tricks should be updated and made into more original ones. In some cases, they do the cups and balls using the very same words. Don’t believe me? Take a look:
P.S.: This vid is the work of Josh Silverstein, whom I would like to thank for that insightful work.
What a crap! The very same words over and over again, through all generations (NOT Josh’s video is the crap — the patter is) !!
Time to re-think for us?
Maybe … or stay safe with the history. Stay in our safe comfort zones …
Maybe we are on the wrong track, the way we treat magic presentations these days …
🙂
