Magic and Meaning Expanded

Magic & Meaning [Expanded]

Eugene Burger and

Robert E. Neale 1234

Illustrated by Kelly Lyles

*

Pre-illustrative photography

by Debbie Murray

Hermetic Press, Inc. Seattle, WA

Photos by Michael Caplan

Contents Foreword—Max Maven x Introduction xii 1. CONVERSATIONS 1 Are Magicians Afraid of Magic? 1 Magic, Comedy and Mystery 4 Magic and the Bizarre 6 Finding Ourselves 9 2. THE MAGICAL EXPERIENCE 12 Expecting the Unexpected 13 Experiencing Surprise 16 Experiencing the Impossible 16 Experiencing the Nonrational 16 Experiencing Mystery 21 What It Means 22 3. THE SHAMAN’S MAGIC 24 Native American Conjuring 25 Shamans 28 Shamanism and Deception 30 4. EARLY CONJURING PERFORMANCES 37 The Doll 39 The Bullroarer 41 The Shaking Tent 45 The Rope 51 5. STORIES OF THE ORIGIN OF MAGIC 55 Stories of the Beginning 55 The Magic Behind the Magic 59 The Economic-Political Theory 62 Shamanism and the Origin of Conjuring 68 Deception in the Animal World 74 Conclusion 78 6. MATINÉE MAGIC 81 Matinée 81 Responses to Matinée 84 Sawing a Woman in Two 86 The Horrible Sawing 87 The Humorous Sawing 91 The Holy Sawing 94 Matinée Magic 96 7. TRICKSTERS AND REAL JOKERS 99 The Trickster Spirit 99

Images of Trickster 102 Real Jokers 104 8. A POTION OR TWO 119 9. ARE CARD TRICKS CARD MAGIC? 124 What is a “Good” Card Trick? 124 The Awareness of “Moves” Murders Magic 125 Can a Spectator Restate the Effect? 126 The Adventures of the Props 126 Card Tricks and Card Magic 128 10. SOLE SURVIVOR 129 11. MEANING IN MAGIC 133 Literal Demonstration 133 Problems with Literal Demonstration 135 Symbolic Demonstration 136 The Transformation of Magical Demonstration 138 12. PARABLE MAGIC 141 Parables 142 Zen Tales 142 Sufi Tales 143 Modern Tales 143 Truth beyond Comprehension 145 The Parables of Jesus 149 Parable Tricks 150 Parable of the Publican and the Tax Collector 150 Parables of the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin 153 Parable of the Great Feast 154 Conclusion 158 14. TRISKAIDEKAPHOBIA 159 Alternative Routine 164 More Facts and Their Sources 164 15. MANY MAGICS 168 Primary Magic 170 Secondary Magics 174 Reduced Magics 176 Restored Magics 179 Reflexive Magic 182 Conclusions 183 REFLECTIONS: 2009 185 16. MAGIC AND MUMBO JUMBO 186 The Pitter Patter Trick 190 17. THE MEANINGS OF MAGIC: A CONVERSATION 192

Foreword There is, as you well know, a mammoth quantity of published material on theatrical magic; arguably more than for any other artistic subculture. Most of this is about the technological side of things: the “How” and “What.” A smaller amount has been concerned with historical and biographical data: the “Who,” “When” and “Where.”

Unfortunately, there has been precious little on the topic of “Why.” What little of this sort has seen print is primarily in the form of pragmatic technical theory. Mind you, analyses of psychology, stagecraft and showmanship are of great value, but because their intent is practical the “Why” is most often overshadowed.

I am delighted to inform you that the authors of this book do not seem to be particularly interested in anything practical.

Far from it; Bob and Eugene are passionately interested in ideas that are intrinsically, exhilaratingly, useless. The beautiful thing is that, in spite of this, you may find this book to be remarkably useful. This is because its authors are truly special people, who think and feel about magic in strange and wonderful ways. Repeatedly, during your journey through this volume, you well surely be delighted. You will just as surely be disturbed.

And that is as it should be. Any magician taking the effort to read this book—even though it is not a collection of how-to trickery— must find delight in magic itself. But magic, by its own unnatural nature, is inherently disturbing.

Of course, most of the conjuring presented for actual audiences is neither delightful nor disturbing. Perhaps this book might change that, just a bit. Mind you, despite their shared backgrounds in theology, the authors of this book are not missionaries. You will not find much preaching on these pages. They aren’t out to convert you to a ● Table of Contents

Introduction

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particular point of view. However, whatever your point of view concerning theatrical magic, by the time you finish reading this book it will probably not be exactly as it was.

You’re in for a stimulating ride. Ahead of you is an array of fascinating theories and opinions. There are surprises and contradictions; Burger and Neale do not always agree with each other—in fact, it appears they don’t always agree with themselves.

The discussions in this book range from the sublime to the goofy.

It remains for you to decide for yourself which is which. . .and why.

Max Maven Hollywood, 1995

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1 Conversations

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re Magicians Afraid of Magic?

Victor Sansoucie: When we spoke recently, you made the remark that “most magicians are afraid of magic.” I think this would make an excellent topic for a discussion.

Eugene Burger: Some years ago Max Maven made this comment to me and I really didn’t understand it at the time. Then, years later, I had an experience watching a magician on a videotape and, instantly, I said to myself, “Magicians are afraid of magic! Max was right!”

Victor: What was the experience?

Eugene: It was what Abraham Maslow, the transpersonal psychologist, called an “Aha Experience,” wherein we instantly see something in a new and revelatory way.

Victor: What did the magician on the video do to stimulate this experience in you?

Eugene: Well, he did an extremely deceptive effect. It really stunned the audience. The look on the spectators’ faces was one of complete disbelief. It was quite wonderful. ● Table of Contents

2 The Magical Experience

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onjurors in all parts of the world and in every period of history have always sought to present wonders and mysteries for the astonishment, delight, inspiration and sometimes even horror of their audiences. We might equally say that, with respect to these audiences, conjurors seek to provide them with a unique experience: a magical experience. But what is the magical experience?

I want to suggest some of the elements that make up such an experience. In doing this, I am certainly not suggesting that my list is in any way exhaustive. Other writers, in fact, may have equally plausible, yet different, ways of arranging this sort of material. Before setting forth the elements I have chosen, I think it is important to understand two things that the magical experience is not. I will only briefly mention them here because their full importance will become clearer as we proceed.

First, I take it that the magical experience is not the experience of a puzzle. I maintain, rather, that while a magic trick can be seen as something to â—? Table of Contents

3 The Shaman’s Magic

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e have much to learn from conjuring’s past—especially if our goal is to move beyond it. To escape from the endless (and boring) repetition of magical yesterdays, we need to know and understand what those yesterdays were—and what they meant to those who lived them.

For myself, it is the early history of conjuring—when there was, strictly speaking, no “history” at all—that has especially filled me with fascination and wonder. It is also an almost perfect mystery: how did magic and conjuring arise in the first place—and what was the meaning of their hold on the minds of ancient (and modern) men and women?

On each of my successive readings of Milbourne Christopher’s The Illustrated History of Magic I have grown more disenchanted with the picture he paints of early magic. Christopher’s reconstruction seems to me to be somehow off the mark. His views on magic’s early history affect his treatment of other topics—most notably in his chapter “Native American Conjuring.” Since Christopher’s book remains the “standard” history for American conjurors, it seems valuable to me to examine its teachings. ● Table of Contents

Early Conjuring Performances

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The Pueblo magicians possess a relatively complete bag of tricks.

But there has been something new under the sun. Here is the Pueblo version of the rabbit from the hat. The trick occurs during a religious ceremony. The magician begins to dance to the chanting of his assistants. Suddenly, a live rabbit appears in his hands. He gives it to the chief of the hunt who says, “Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!” The rabbit is passed to the War Chief who shows it to the people, saying, “What power our Fathers have, to bring in a live rabbit! Believe in them!” We do the trick, but their context is different. It includes both worship and a practical concern for food. And when we discover that these magicians, for encores, can move clouds, make rain and facilitate travel by gathering the earth together, the difference is clear.

Conjuring has been secularized. This is all to the good in many ways.

For what if tricks were still connected with ritual? We would not have children’s magic or bar magic or gospel magic. We would not have the tradition of stage magic we are all so highly informed about. Probably, most of us would not be magicians ourselves. I am grateful for the secularization.

But I wonder. If early conjuring was theater and early theater was ritual, then clergy would be doing tricks for congregations. What would this experience be like? Here are three descriptions of early conjuring performances. After each, I will comment on differences between their ways of doing tricks and ours. We cannot enter fully into such an alien world. But we can to some degree, if we want, since all magicians of all times and places are more human than otherwise.

The Doll Cubio is one of the more recent versions of an object on a string that can be magically controlled. The cube of plastic slides freely from either direction. On command, it stops in mid-air! On further command,

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Magic and Meaning confusion supports the judgment that the abstraction is based in misinterpretation.*

In this sense, magic is a word with a sad history. Yet the word is here to stay. More than that, the word magic exerts a strong appeal for humans that has continued to the present day. And so even the skeptics take their children to the “Magic Kingdom.” Advertisers use the word to lure us to buy their products, many of which are sold with magical claims and promises. Indeed, it would be a fascinating exercise to explore the uses of the word magic in the advertising of the last few decades.

This short excursion into the history of the word suggests that we need to remain open and sensitive to the meanings that others give it.

It also suggests why it is so difficult to define magic when using it to refer to something other than conjuring.

Finally, since the magi appeared in the sixth century B.C.E., many writers of conjuring histories have assumed that conjuring originated during those same historical times. It is common to read, for example, that Egypt was “the cradle of magic.” † I can see no justification for this view. I see no reason to think that conjuring did not originate in prehistorical times, since we find examples of conjuring in the rituals of shamanism that may go back twenty or even thirty thousand years.

However one decides this question, as I stated earlier, my interest in this essay is not so much in the actual beginnings of conjuring but rather in the stories that we have constructed about those beginnings.

It is to these stories that we now turn.

The Economic-Political Theory What, then, are these stories of the origin of conjuring that twentieth century magicians have proposed? When we begin examining some of them, we find, interestingly, that much the same story has been advanced in the United States for over thirty years. This story (which, of course, is actually a theory) can be found in historical writings about magic by John Mulholland in the 1960s, by Milbourne Christopher in the 1970s and by James Randi in the 1990s. Each of these writers * Dorothy Hammond, quoted in Goodman, p. 4. † See Henry Ridgely Evans, Introduction to Albert Hopkins, Magic: Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions (Munn and Co., 1897), p. 1. ● Table of Contents

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even imagine. Yet I suspect that every one of our stories is told because the telling gives us something that we need or want, something we value, some indication or meaning about our place and our worth, some insight into what it means to be human.

Jeff McBride’s modern synthesis of shaman and conjuror.

(From CBC’s series Man Alive, 1994, courtesy of David Cherniack)

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At the beginning there is only a dark screen. Then we see fog swirling about on a country road. Human figures appear walking out of the fog. The first is a small hunchback attired in the costume of a jester and playing a tin whistle. A young girl, barely adolescent, follows wearing ballet slippers and tutu. She is followed by a large and powerfully developed black man. At the rear of this procession is a man with black clothing, cape and top hat. Close-up shots as the walk continues reveal the hunchback to be ugly, the girl beautiful, the black man strong and the last man sinister.

As the procession moves along, country people see and follow it. When it comes to a railroad station platform, it stops. The light is bright and the time is noon. More people gather—the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the bored and the curious. All are expectant. There is going to be a show.

The jester gathers the people.

The strong man bends a metal bar. The audience is awed to applause.

The jester plays his tin whistle and cavorts, attempting to entertain the crowd, without much success and with considerable ill-humor.

The audience laughs uneasily.

From Hirsch’s Matinée ● Table of Contents

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“The Decapitation” from Hopkins’ Magic ● Table of Contents

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mischief with meaning in order to affirm the mysteries experienced in our lives that create, sustain and enlarge us.

“Real Jokers” is a trick offered as an opportunity to clown, magic and con; that is, to experience and communicate the trickster spirit of meaningful mischief.

Real Jokers

This joker we see in a deck of cards is idealized. Real jokers are messes who make messes. The creases in this other joker are closer to reality. And this third one, with a piece of it missing, is a good symbol of the clowns in our midst. The tale they tell is a little subversive, so would you give us permission to proceed by marking your initials on this joker? Thank you.

In the beginning, clowns like these created chaos by contrary behavior. So the people laughed and relaxed about their rules and customs. But a new ruler decided that standards were serious and all were to be solemn about them. Clowning around was forbidden on penalty of death.

One clown could not stop and became contrary in a new way— turning himself inside out and back again. Here is how it looked. He turned his back to the crowd, folded his body in half, so that only his front showed, then in half again. The joker’s whole backside was folded and locked inside. Then, faster than the blink of an eye, the joker was back out, even though still folded. Slowly unfolding himself, all could see that the clown had turned himself around impossibly. To restore himself, the clown repeated the magical prank, folding himself in half with his face inside, then in half again, only to have his face suddenly appear on the outside. On unfolding himself fully, the clown was as he was in the beginning.

The people were dumbfounded by the mystery and delirious with delight. But the ruler sent his soldiers to the clown. They tore off a part of his body, like this, and buried it as the law required in the spot where he had performed his merry miracle. Then the remainder of his body was torn as well and the pieces scattered. The soldiers departed. ● Table of Contents

Tricksters and Real Jokers

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The people were silent, shocked by the death of their clown. For if clowns are killed, there can be no life. They gathered the available parts of the body together, placed them on the ground above the piece that had been buried, and waited for something to happen.

It did. The three parts of the body came back together and the clown came back to life. It was his second miracle, and just as funny as the first; for the clown now had a body that always made people laugh.

From that very day, real clowns always have something missing, which is more than made up for by the spirit that fills them with foolishness for our sakes.

This joker has your initials on it. So it is yours. Care for it. Can you see the wholeness? If you can, you will laugh at its silly seriousness, and rest easy with the rules and customs of our lives, turning them inside out on special occasions.

Sources This effect relies upon a combination of two contemporary classics: a Jeff Busby idea,* best known to most magicians in the treatment given it by Roy Walton, “Card Warp”†; and Paul Harris’ “Ultimate Rip-off.” ‡ The search for a plot was inspired by Eugene Burger’s fine presentation, “The Inquisition”.§ The focus on the joker was reinforced by Jeff McBride’s use of special cards in performing Burger’s presentation.

More general, but just as strong, was inspiration provided by Michael Weber’s approach to the classic torn and restored cigarette paper— metaphorical magic of the highest order that illustrates, for me, what our craft is all about. It is a pleasure to thank these people for providing me with the tools and incentives to tell my story.

I am most grateful to Paul Harris for his permission to include full directions for “The Ultimate Rip-off ” in this essay. Although he is now pursuing a quite different direction in magic, his extraordinary creations still provide what he is now focusing upon in a new way: the * Jeff Busby, “Into the Fourth Dimension. . .and Beyond” (Magic Limited, 1973). † A dealer item. ‡ Paul Harris, Supermagic (CM Publications, 1977), edited by Chuck Martinez, pp. 63–76.

This routine was also featured in Mr. Harris’ lecture notes, The P. H. Super Sampler. § Eugene Burger, The Experience of Magic (Kaufman and Greenberg, 1989), pp. 91–101. ● Table of Contents

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experience of astonishment. No doubt Paul’s forthcoming contributions to the practice and theory of magic will reflect it as well.

Here are the bare bones of the effect. The joker has been creased in both directions, the creases dividing it into quarters. It is initialed by a spectator. With the face to the audience, it is folded in half vertically.

The face is inside the closed card. The card is then folded into quarters.

Yet the packet is turned around to reveal the face of a quarter of the card. It is turned around again to show that the other side now has a face. Then the card is unfolded to show more of the face, then unfolded entirely. It has turned inside out despite being folded. This phenomenon is repeated. Now a quarter of the card is torn off and put away in a pocket or purse. Another quarter is torn off, then another.

These three quarters are displayed and placed together. The packet is unfolded to show them restored into three-quarters of the joker.

Then, to finish, the initialed card is given to the spectator.

I have changed the handing of the “card warp” phase so that no second card (or bill) is employed, modifying the effect somewhat as well.* By adding the second part to the first, the awkwardness of ending the effect with a slit card is avoided; and the story adds a rationale for an incomplete restoration. This plot is my own, but reflects a likely universal understanding of the function and spirit of clowning.

Routine Obtain three jokers. Crease one joker in quarters and tear out a quarter. Crease another joker in quarters. Be sure that each crease has been folded once each way. Then tear a slit along one crease, from the center of one side to the middle of the card. See Figure 1. Place these two prepared jokers, together with a normal joker, in the pocket of a card wallet or elsewhere. If you wish to be prepared for repeat performances, you can have a small supply of slit jokers also at hand.

Lay the three cards face up in a row from your right to left: regular joker, creased joker with the slit on your right, three-quarter joker. *Stephen Minch reminded me that the original Busby trick did not use a second card either. Mr. Busby pushed the card through his fist, making it turn inside out. He also finished his routine by tearing and restoring the card, using a gag as misdirection for switching the torn card for a duplicate. ● Table of Contents

8 A Potion or Two

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hat if there really are magic potions? And what if I am a pharmaceutical magician and you are a young man passionately in love with a perfect woman who is completely unobtainable? Because these are more than genuine Bayer aspirin, you seek me out and I oblige you.

Yes, I do have certain pills with quite extraordinary effects. Some assure health, others power, pleasure, wealth or fame. There is even one, quite undetectable, that removes life. But you seek my love potion? Its effect is powerful and permanent. Whoever you administer it to will be devoted to you as long as she lives, interested in you intensely to the exclusion of all else. She will want to be only with you, all the time. She will be jealous of all your other friends and interests. She will want to know everything about you, your feelings and thoughts at every moment in every day. And she will take perfect care of you every day of your life.

I can see by your face that this is the love you seek to receive. I do have the potion, but only fate can determine if your desire can be granted. Some of these are sugar pills that have no effect whatever.

Others provide the different gifts most sought after. We will select two â—? Table of Contents

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potions, one for your possible use later, and one for your intended use now. Please call out a number, say, between one and ten. Counting from the end, we arrive at this pill. It is yours to use now. I’ll select a number. Counting just as before, we arrive at this pill. I will keep it in reserve for your later use.

As I said, some of these are only sugar pills. This is one, and so is this, and this, and all of these others. None of them have any magical power whatever. The two we have selected by chance are the potions.

Fortune is with you.

Turn over your pill for use now. It is the love potion. It is yours, and for just one dollar.

I am pleased that you are grateful. I like to oblige. Then customers come back, later in their lives, when they are better off and desire more expensive potions. I will hold this other pill in reserve for you to use later. It is the death potion. It can be yours for five thousand dollars.

Au revoir.

Sources The basic plot is from a short story by John Collier, “The Chaser.” * The selection of two pills is determined by the European Ten-eleven Force with playing cards, created by Corvello. The use of this with all but two selected cards being blank is old, marketed in this country, I believe, by U. F. Grant. Michael Weber notes that such an approach was sold as “Zusammen” (“Together”) in the seventies.

Preparation Purchase a box of genuine Bayer aspirin. The box is plastic with a sliding drawer that opens by pressing the sides of the box. It contains twelve pills. Dump them out.

With markers, color one side of one pill red, being sure not to reach the edge, and color one side of another pill black. * John Collier, Fancies and Good Nights, (Doubleday and Co., Inc., 1951). ● Table of Contents

9 Are Card Tricks Card Magic?

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hat is a “Good” Card Trick?

When we consider the enormous number of card tricks published by magicians throughout the world each year, it is surprising that relatively little is written about the elements that constitute “good” card magic. One is tempted to suggest that, in our love of the trees (card tricks), we have lost sight of the forest in which they live and grow (card magic). What, then, is card magic? And what is a “good” card trick? Let me begin with the second question.

One might suggest, of course, that this second question is itself illusory because there are no good or bad card tricks in isolation. Card tricks become good or bad only in performance. We have all seen the same card trick, performed by two different performers, receive totally different responses. In the hands of one performer the card trick produces great enthusiasm and impact (“good”), while in the hands of the other ● Table of Contents

10 Sole Survivor

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ate is an experience of happenings that are beyond our control and yet are orderly. Such cosmic tidiness came to a small town in the Middle East about a hundred years ago.

Let this area between us be the space of the town. These few cards represent the people who live there. They live and move about as they please, like this, haphazardly. You move them about too, letting them be whatever and go wherever they want. Now Fate will come into this chaotic life. And you and I together will be the hands of Fate. I will single out two cards by touching them and you will single out one of the two by turning it face up. Following that, you will touch two cards and I will turn one of them face up. Together, we will bring tidiness to the town.

Fate visits our community as a plague. I choose which two people fall sick. You choose which one dies. The little boy. You select two people to fall sick. I select one to die. The pregnant woman. I determine which two people fall sick. You determine which one dies. The doctor. You decide which two people fall sick and I decide which one dies. The newly wedded, young farmer. I render two people sick and you render one dead. The village fool. You make two people sick, I make one die. The old widow. â—? Table of Contents

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turned toward them. Repeat the process until only the Ace of Spades remains face down and the face-up cards form a circle around it.

Turn the Ace of Spades face up.

Perfection!

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11 Meaning in Magic

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ost twentieth century conjuring has been, and continues to be, presented as demonstration. Furthermore, most tends to be in the form of literal demonstration as opposed to symbolic demonstration. I believe that symbolic demonstration is far more interesting. It has greater audience appeal and, therefore, greater potential for entertainment—that is, it involves issues of real life and touches our common humanity.

Let’s discuss the differences between these two forms, and then explore some ways in which a literal demonstration may be transformed into one that is symbolic.

Literal Demonstration In the literal demonstration one goes through the outward movements required to produce the desired result. In so doing, one demonstrates the operation or workings of the prop or the trick. This form of presentation has been called “expository” and, indeed, the literal demonstration is very much an exposition wherein the performer explains what is being done and then does it. A few examples will make this clear. ● Table of Contents

14 Triskaidekaphobia

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he smallest and least significant portion of this essay consists of a trick. It may be found in the section titled “Routine.” It is a good but quite minor trick. What the actual effect could be, is another matter entirely. So the remainder of the essay consists of information given in the hope that your thinking about the trick may make it a better effect, especially with regard to the introduction of the trick, actual presentation and possible aftermath of discussion with an audience.

The presumption is that the theme is interesting to people and that the performer might be expected to know something about it, and maybe even be willing and able to think about it along with them.

Script Is there anyone here who will admit to triskaidekaphobia? Too embarrassed? About the phobia, or about not knowing Greek? It means fear of thirteen. We all may know better than to believe in bad luck or good luck, but that does not stop us from believing in it. So does anyone here, other than me, fear thirteen? Is there anyone willing to pretend to have triskaidekaphobia? You will. Thank you. ● Table of Contents

15 Many Magics

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ow many magics are there? How are they to be distinguished from one another? Which one do I practice? I was accustomed to assuming that there were two: the magic practiced by those who do not believe in magic, and that practiced by those who do. Of course, being an educated member of the Western world, I assumed that I participated only in the former. But when I really settled down to contemplate the kinds of magic I knew about, there seemed to be many of them, more than one could count. Worse, there were more than I could easily organize. And I did not know just which magic, or magics, I practiced. So I was prompted to make up some crude theories about magic, to provide at the very least some comfort for myself.

The theorizing began with rudimentary attempts at classification.

First, I collected all the magics, past and present, from around the world, that I had experienced or read about. Then I tried to put them into groups. When a magic did not fit, I made up another group in which it could reside. This prompted labeling the groups. I concluded by attempting to connect the groups, drawing a chart that showed the organization that seemed to be there. â—? Table of Contents

17 The Meanings of Magic: A Conversation

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hen Stephen Minch told me he wished to reprint, Magic and Meaning, I immediately suggested that we publish an expanded version with new material.

In my many conversations with readers of the book, from countries around the world, I realized how much I had failed to express my own view about the relation of “meanings” to magic. Too many readers thought I was saying (1) that everyone ought to give their magic meaning, and (2) that this meaning we add to our magical effects really ought to be something “deep”—something philosophical, metaphysical, historical or religious.

Since I do not—and have never—held either of these views, the opportunity to try once again to express what I do think was a temptation I could hardly refuse. ● Table of Contents

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to watch each of them perform. So, believe me, I am not putting down magic that invokes no meaning other than visual amazement and intellectual stimulation. Several effects in my own repertoire (my handling of Matt Schulien’s “Corner in the Glass” comes to mind), as I present them, are just that: They do not point to any meaning other than the visual and intellectual astonishment of what happens—namely, the corner of the card dropping into the glass. So, while I don’t feel one needs to think about meanings, and while some of the effects in my own repertoire do not have deep or even concrete meanings, yet, for me, it is the framework, the meaning, that engages people and creates the initial interest in watching my close-up magic performance—especially when I am working as a walk-around performer in a hotel ballroom, where so much else competes for everyone’s attention. I find it is the initial verbal hook, the verbal connection to something real, a connection to everyday life, something beyond just “watching my card trick,” that does engage people.

Mike: Okay, so what specifically would you want to make clearer?

Eugene: I don’t really believe we need to bring meaning to magic. I believe that many meanings are already there. It is not that they have been, or need to be, “added.” Consider two examples that I give in

Mike , Ricardo, Eugene, Robert and Jack ● Table of Contents