MODERN CONJURER by
C. LANG NEIL Here is a new edition of a famous classic of the magician’s art for all who find fascina tion in magic. The novice will find The Modern Conjurer a fascinating introduction to conjuring and magic because of the clarity and precision with which the underlying principles of the art are presented. The advanced amateur will find it indispensable because of its comprehensive treatment of the subject. While the professional will find it invaluable as an authoritative reference work. It explains the sleights upon which all skilled magicians depend. It enables the beginner to learn them, in every detail, through actual photographs posed by com petent magicians. It augments these sleights by complete tricks and routines which are likewise fully illustrated. No details are ignored or passed over. Special hints are in cluded for girls who take up magic as a dis tinctive social accomplishment. This book, long recognized as the standard textbook on magic, covers simple card tricks, advanced card tricks, tricks with coins, tricks with balls. It includes handkerchief tricks and, in addition, over fifty famous parlor tricks. There are sections devoted to the fascinat ing art of plate spinning, entertaining feats of chapeaugraphy, unexpected tricks of paper folding, and the perennially popular art of shadowgraphy. This book belongs in the library of every one interested in the magician’s art. In itself it is a complete course of magic.
Price $2.00 D A V I D
K E M P
Rockefeller Center
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C O M P A N Y NewYork
the modern conjurer
THE
MODERN CONJURER AND DRAWING-ROOM ENTERTAINER
BY
C. LANG NEIL
EXPLAINING AND ILLUSTRATING TRICKS BY J. N. MASKELYNE
PAUL VALADON
TREWEY
H. DE MANCHE
CHARLES BERTRAM
L. GRAHAM LEWIS
T. NELSON DOWNS
FRANK KENNARD
MDLLE. PATRICE
ELLIS STANYON AND OTHERS
New York David Kemp & Company
Copyright, 1 9 3 7
by
DAVID KEMP & COMPANY,
Inc.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
FOREWORD HE development of modern magic, both artis
T
tically and as a form of entertainment, is due
primarily to the literature that has appeared upon the subject. The public may speak in terms of Herr mann,
Kellar,
Houdini,
Thurston
and
other
great
magicians of the past; but the glamour of those names would soon fade if the art itself were not perpetuated. The real mile-stones in the prog'ress of magic are those
books
that
have
permanently
recorded
the
basic methods of conjuring; and have also explained them in an understandable manner. Although hun dreds of books have been written on the subject, only a few have gained distinction as classics in the litera ture of magic. More than twenty years ago, when I was first be ginning my study of magic, I met Dunninger, the famous mystifier, who was at that time playing an extended engagement at the celebrated Eden Musee in New York. A man conversant with every phase of magic, Dunninger recommended, without quali fication, the book that he considered to be the best that described the magician’s art. That book was the “Modern Conjurer”, by C. Lang Neil. It was from the “Modern Conjurer” that I gained
FOREWORD my first ground-work in magic. As years passed, I made extensive studies of the art and not only be came a magical author on my own, but collaborated with such famous magicians as Thurston and Blackstone in the preparation of new books. Magic, al ways a progressive art, required new volumes to keep pace with its development; and it was our pur pose to supply a portion of them. Yet, among the new books that constitute the present day magician’s working library, there is one that still holds its un relinquished place. That book is the “Modern Con jurer”. Only
recently,
I
mentioned
the
book
to
Dun-
ninger, who today commands the highest prices ever paid to any mystifier, and whose performances are the most baffling that I have ever witnessed. We agreed that his statement of years ago still stands: that the “Modern Conjurer” holds its unique place among all books on magic. There was remarkable proof to support our mu tual
opinion.
Many
copies
of
the
“Modern
Con
jurer” had been printed, in various editions, all at prices higher than those of other magical books. Yet a search for copies proved that none were avail able. All that could be traced were in the libraries of magicians and were not for sale, even at a pre mium. Such scarcity, in the case of a standard text book on magic, stands unparalleled; yet it is easily understandable. The “Modern Conjurer” is one book that truly deserves
the
title
“modern”.
In
contents,
clarity
FOREWORD and format, it leaves nothing to be desired. It ex plains the sleights upon which all skilled magicians depend. It enables the reader to learn them, in every were
detail, posed
through by
actual
competent
photographs
magicians. It
which
augments
these sleights by complete tricks and routines, which are likewise amply illustrated. No details are ig nored or forgotten. The “Modern Conjurer” is one book that should be owned by every one who is interested in magic. That fact is known to magicians; and they consider price no obstacle. With the number of magicians on the increase, however, the shortage of supply has become the stumbling block. Even magic has its limitations. Rabbits can be conjured from hats; but printed books can not be so produced. No magician has yet devised a cabalistic procedure to supplant a printing press. So the difficulty has been overcome by the produc tion of this new edition. The “Modern Conjurer” appears again in print, making its bow to a long awaiting
audience.
Complete
in
its
original
form,
at a popular price that will amaze even magicians, this classic of the art begins a new career of service to all who find fascination in the study of magic. For my part, I consider it a rare privilege to intro duce the “Modern Conjurer” to its future readers. I do so with the knowledge that many will gain from it the same keen pleasure that formerly was mine. WALTER B. GIBSON
PREFACE
A
HAPPY
combination
of
circumstances,
such
as has not arisen in the past, enables me to
offer to the public a complete book upon Natural Magic and Drawing-room Conjuring, in which many mysteries are explained and illustrated by novel,
thorough, and practical methods. Though not a practical expert—and perhaps on that account better able to look at things from a learner’s point of view—I have for many years kept abreast with the progress made by modern magic and its literature. It has also been my privilege to enjoy the acquaintance, and in many cases the intimate friendship, of the greatest present-day professors of legerdemain and of kindred accomplishments. This has brought me into familiar touch, both before and behind the scenes, with the methods and finished achievements of the most brilliant magicians of the time, and perhaps the fact that I can never hope to rival them in any way may have made them more ready to discuss with me their favourite fakes. These combined advantages of watching the game, and of close acquaintance with its rules and exponents, have
most
forcibly
convinced
me
that
complete
success in all notable illusions, and particularly in
PREFACE popular drawing - room conjuring, depends upon niceties of manner, speech, and gesture, quite apart from the necessary action of the tricks. Two men may perform the same feat with equal dexterity and effect, so far as the deception of their audience is concerned ; each may have followed skilfully the lines which govern the perfect presentation of the particular trick, but one has added to it many subtle touches of his own, which stamp him with the hall-mark of supremacy, and set him head and shoulders above the other. There are nowadays so many who can do some足 thing in the way of conjuring, that even to amateurs a
knowledge
of
these
finished
touches
must
be
valuable, and this is just what has been lacking in the instructions that were given by previous writers on this fascinating subject. It has been my good fortune to secure advantages in this direction which have not been possible to others, inasmuch as all the illustrations which explain the exact working of the various illusions are photo足 graphs from life of the conjurers whose tricks are given, and these experts have themselves seen, and by their advice improved, my renderings and descrip足 tions of their feats. A novel feature has also been introduced, for I have been able to show that there is a pleasant and profitable field for ladies in the realms of conjuring. In proof of this I have but to point to the photo足 graphs of tricks by Mdlle. Patrice, who has made a success of drawing-room magic for some years.
PREFACE My heartiest thanks are due for much friendly assistance Charles
to
Messrs.
Bertram,
J.
Paul
N.
Maskelyne,
Valadon,
Nelson
Trewey, Downs,
Frank Kennard, H. de Manche, L. Graham Lewis (a very clever amateur conjurer, who would have been in the first flight of professionals had not the golden paths of commerce claimed his energies), Ellis Stanyon, and Mdlle. Patrice. C. LANG NEIL.
THE PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL MAGIC. “ It is the quickness of the hand deceives the eye ” was a maxim correctly applied to the performances of the earlier conjurers, whose skill was of the juggling order. It is also in some degree applicable to the recent type of coin and card manipulation, which has been made the vogue by several very clever American performers. But as descriptive of the secrets of conjuring and magic (I always use the word in its natural, not the supernatural sense) it is entirely erroneous. The magician or the drawing-room conjurer who desires to create real illusions—that is to say, to quite deceive his audience as to all he does—must rely on much more cunningly constructed foundations for his schemes than mere quickness of the hand. The juggling order of sleight of hand is most interesting and clever, but is only a branch of natural magic. The per former who takes a card or coin and apparently throws it into space, immediately showing the hand which held it quite empty both back and front, has astonished his audience—he has not deceived them—for, unless aware of the working of the back and front palm, the spectators have no idea what has become of the card or coin. They have not been led to think it is anywhere. They merely wonder what he did with it and admire the quickness of the manipulation which made the object disappear without their being able to follow it. In fact, an extremely smart juggle has been effected. Conjuring consists in the performer’s audience being led to believe that certain definite actions have been carried out 19