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worth so much as a
passing thought. Consequently, as a general proposition, it may be said that
the greatest
possible error any magician can ever have laid to his charge is that of "conju-
ring for
conjurers" at a public performance. Such conjuring may be entirely admirable
when the
audience is composed of conjurers. But, before the general public, it must be
regarded as
inartistic; for the simple reason that, in such circumstances, it is bound to fail
in its effect.
Between the point of view of a conjurer and that of an ordinary spectator the-
re is a great gulf.
Therefore, at a public performance, the production of an artistic effect may
often demand the
adoption of methods which, with an audience of conjurers, would be quite
contrary to
rational procedure.
Since the primary aim of a magician's art is to entertain the public, the im-
portance of
the following rule is self-evident:--
(3) Avoid complexity of Procedure, and never tax either the Patience or the
memory
of an audience.
The thing presented should appear to consist in a perfectly regular and natural
series
of operations; and, when the final effect is produced, it should be capable of
instant
appreciation. If its appreciation is made to depend upon any conscious mental
activity or any
effort of memory on the part of the audience, a proper effect can seldom be
achieved. If, in
order to understand precisely what has happened, the spectators have to re-
flect, even for a
few moments, upon the various stages of procedure which led up to the de-
nouement, it is
certain that, from an artistic point of view, the presentation must be unsatis-
factory. There
must be a lack of unity, in some respect or other. By chance, the audience
may happen to
have retained an impression of the details relevant to the final issue; and if so
the result may
be fairly good. That, however, will be an accidental occurrence; and no true
artist ever trusts
to accident. The effect produced should be, as Pope says, "The result of Art,
not Chance." In
this connection, the following rule may be stated:--
(4) Never produce two simultaneous effects, and let no effect be obscured by
any
subsidiary distraction.
Suppose, for instance, a magician were presenting the familiar
"Four Ace Trick"; and, not being an artist, he thought to enhance the effect
either by
introducing irrelevant manipulations, or by arranging (say) that the disclosure
of certain
previously selected cards should occur simultaneously with, the discovery of
the four aces.
What would be the result? In either case, the preliminary operations would
introduce an
element of confusion, most detrimental to success; and in the second case the
simultaneous
production of two diverse effects would be absolutely fatal. Distracted by the
effort to
comprehend two problems at once, the audience would fail to appreciate the
significance of
either. There would be too much to remember, even if the spectators were
prepared to
exercise their memory.
Whereas, if the performer were an artist, he would know that the "trick," as
usually
presented, is complete and perfect. That is to say, it would be perfect if inste-
ad of the four
aces, the four kings were used; the three palmed cards being knaves, which
could be shown
momentarily at the last deal. Nothing can be either added or omitted, without
marring its
effect. That is obviously true. For, taking the other extreme, if some "hustler"
were to omit
(say) the first dealing out of the cards and the business associated therewith,
anyone with half
an eye can see how much the final effect would become degraded. There is,
in fact, only one
adequate manner of presenting the effect, for the simple reason that in no o-
ther way can the
requirements of artistic unity be fulfilled. The imaginary examples cited are,
of course, gross
exaggerations of such faults as are likely to occur in practice. But the diffe-
rence between the
illustrations and possible fact is only one of degree, and not of kind. The
principles involved
are identical, in either case. The evident conclusion may be embodied thus:
(5) Let each magical act represent a complete, distinct, and separate entity;
comprising nothing beyond one continuous chain of essential details, leading
to one definite
effect.
This rule, of course, must be read in conjunction with Rule 4, and requires to
be
properly understood. It does not imply that two events may not occur simul-
taneously. Very
often, the entire effect of a magical presentation consists in the tact that two
or more things
happen at once. Nevertheless, the rule holds good; for, although there may be
a plurality of
occurrences, a single, complete, and undisturbed effect may thereby be pro-
duced.
By way of example, let us consider the details of "The Wine and Milk Trick."'
In this,
three large glass vases are used. To begin with,
a bottle of wine is emptied into a vase, No. 1; a quart of milk is poured into
vase NO.
2; vase NO- 3 remains empty. Vases 1 and 2 are next emptied into Vase NO.
3; the latter thus
contains about half a gallon of wine and milk, mixed together, while the other
two vases are
empty. A flag is then taken up, and waved in the air. Immediately, the wine
returns to vase
No. 1; the milk goes back into No. 2; and the flag passes into No. 3, from
which the liquid
mixture has now taken flight. Thus, three events occur at the same moment.
Yet there is only
one single
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