TREVOR H. HALL
COODLIFFE PUBLICATION
Captain TREVOR HALL rocketed to magical fame with his first venture in the literary field, closely followed by a second volume and amplified by a number of" personal appearances " at various magical society functions throughout the country. As an exponent of " pure magic " he is unequalled, and his work with the Dragon Cards, Chinese Sticks, and Ropes through the Neck produced so many appeals for publication—from the discerning performer who was willing to pay a high price for the privilege of presenting an act which brought " rave " notices—that the author eventually decided to release the complete routine for the benefit of the fraternity as a whole. This act forms the whole of the second part of the book, and for the practical magician whose experience has been sufficient to enable him to recognise quality when it is placed before him, there can be no doubt that this section alone will provide sufficient incentive to purchase the book without a second thought. It must be emphasised that complete details are given. Here are the preparations, the moves, the presentation and the patter, for the whole act exactly as performed for the Magic Circle and ' elsewhere, and here too '
are additional items / which may be inS corporated if ' the reader / desires. /
12/6
UJ
READING IS BELIEVING
READING IS BELIEVING
BY
TREVOR H. HALL Member of the Inner Magic Circle {Gold Star) Secretary of the Yorkshire Magical Club Vice-President of Halifax Magic Circle Past-President of the Pontefrad and Castleford Magical Societies Author of: " T H E TESTAMENT OF RALPH \V. HULL " " NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE "
Foreword by
S. H. SHARPE
A
COODLIFFE PUBLICATION
To my friend EDWARD
G.
BROWN
Hon. Vice-President and Treasurer of the Magic Circle this hook is affectionately dedicated as a token of esteem
Firy.l ftuhlislK'il July, 11)47
LIVERPOOL: I'rintrtl by DAILY POST PRINTERS ,\YOOR STREET
PUBLISHED BY GOODLIFFE THE MAGICIAN 0 COLONNADE PASSAGE, BIRMINGHAM, 2
READING IS BELIEVING CONTENTS PAGE
Foreword .. .. .. .. .. .. .. To the Reader Part One—" Card and Mental Magic " .. .. .. CHAPTER ONE " Mind Power by Proxy " .. CHAPTER TWO " Stage Telephone Telepathy " .. CHAPTER THREE " A Simultaneous Coincidence " .. CHAPTER FOUR " The Theory of Relativity " .. CHAPTER FIVE " Incomprehensible Prediction " .. CHAPTER SIX " Location, Transposition and Transformation " .. .. .. CHAPTER SEVEN " The Torn and Restored Card " . . CHAPTER E I G H T " T w o Impossible Card Discoveries " CHAPTER N I N E " I n t h e Middle " .. .. .. Part Two—" CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER
Presentation and Patter " .. .. .. TEN " An Ancient Chinese Legend " . . ELEVEN " Dragons in t h e Temple Garden " . . TWELVE " T h e Chinese Joss-Sticks " . . .. THIRTEEN " T i Cheng, K u m a t i " .. .. F O U R T E E N " Additional L e g e n d a r y Tricks " ..
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R E A D I N G
IS
B E L I E V I N G
FOREWORD A NEW-OLD APPROACH TO B Y S. H.
CONJURING
SHARPE.
S
INCE the author of The Testament of Ralph H. Hull and Nothing Is Impossible obviously needs no trumpeter, and as, moreover, the reader has probably already studied the following pages in search of the practical " plums " (and therefore has a good idea what they are about without me telling him), it behoves me to blow my fanfare in a different key to either of these ; so I propose to call attention to the misuse of the word " trick." Why do conjurers call any effect with a small object a trick, but one with a human being or large animal an illusion ? Surely it is due to a confusion of ideas, since whenever a mental impression of magic is evoked by a conjurer, the cause is an illusion, due to the employment of a trick or a series of tricks. For instance, in the hands of the unusually capable and original author of Reading Is Believing, the effects described hereafter produce such complete illusions that seeing is disbelieving they could ever have been produced by tricks. To call such magical effects tricks is not only misleading ; it shows also a complete lack of distinction between technique and the result of technique applied to artistry. In my view, the term " illusion " should be employed to indicate the objective cause of every magical effect, in place of the more generally-used word " trick." A conjurer uses tricks to enable him to present illusions, which in turn are felt to be magical by the audience, and so " illusion " is a term both more accurate and less suggestive of deception than " trick."
R E A D I N G
IS
B E L I E V I N G
A conjurer should not leave an impression on the spectators that he is a trickster whose chief purpose is to deceive them. They ought to recognise him as an artist in illusion, evoking wonder and amazement by his effortless performance of acted magic. To call such enchanting illusions " tricks " is so glaring a psychological blunder that it seems incredible to find thoughtful conjurers still using the term as a matter of course, apparently oblivious of its subtle braking power to the advancement of true magic artistry. I put out the suggestion that, until the general use of the word " trick," to denote an illusion is abolished, any real recognition of conjuring as a Fine Art will be impossible among laymen, however far such advance may have actually proceeded. Tricks we must use, and the public must be made to realise that we do use them, but do let us have enough common sense not to call the effects which we produce through the employment of tricks by the same word. Such stupidity doth protest too much. Why distinguish between stage illusions and small illusions when in fact there is no distinction except that of size ? The appearance of a rabbit in a box is no more or less an illusion than the appearance of a lady in a bigger box, and both are produced by a trickâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;even by the identical trick ! But the word " illusion " will only come to take the place of " trick " by using it on every appropriate occasion. A word becomes current only through use, and obsolete through disuse. If writers who agree with the opinion just expressed would employ the word " illusion " in its correct meaning, and the editors of conjuring journals would encourage its use also, the word " trick " would very soon seem strange and outlandish except in reference to a secret artifice. We want no more books of tricks by great magicians, but we cannot have too many books dealing with Xco-Magie artistry in the clear and detailed