A magician begins “doing incredible things with big silver hoops” for no less a purpose that to REASSURE a spectator.  (This we learn in an intriguing illustration in The Saturday Evening Post, Nov. 12, 1904.)  We don’t typically associate reassurance — the restoration of confidence — to tricksters; we all know that a “confidence man” is ironically named.

Even so: “Around that word, reassure, a magic influence rests,” suggests Dr. Brose Horne in 1913.  He says that to reassure someone “is simply scattering flowers on the path of life.  It is the balm that heals the wounds. … Into every mind there creeps in doubts and in their weak moments they crave an influence that can come only from the fountain of ‘Reassurance’” (“The Magic Remedy—’Reassure,’” National Drug Clerk, Vol. 1, p. 236).

Our first sense of magical reassurance might occur in early childhood, when a kiss on a splintered finger miraculously helps to soothe and calm.  Interestingly, “soothe” traces its magical origin back to the Old English word for truth, as in the truth-telling “soothsayer.”

Beyond injury, some of the most common fears involve the Unknown, socializing, embarrassment, powerlessness, ridicule, rejection, failure, and death.  How might a performance of stage magic symbolically offer reassurance to spectators?  Most vital, of course, is not to deliberately feed fears, whether playfully or mischievously.  The selection of a volunteer from the audience automatically sparks several fears simultaneously: there’s the looming Unknown, the inevitability of social interaction, the potential of embarrassment in front of a group, and surely a general feeling of powerlessness.  Jeff McBride’s solution comes to mind, in which it’s not coercion but rather the proper resonance of a shaman’s bell that selects out a volunteer.

Another requisite for reassurance is genuineness.  It is insincere to communicate reassurance in which the guarantee is worthless. Since death is an inevitable fact of life, can we genuinely dispel a fear of the grave?  Jeff McBride tackled that question head on. He found a way to symbolically communicate reassurance about death via a mask routine in which layers of mortal flesh and bone are stripped away in a personal quest for indestructibility.  The routine is reassuring on multiple levels: it demonstrates that the fear of death is not anyone’s alone but is in fact a shared experience; it demonstrates that soul searching (shown quite literally as a hunt for something beyond the flesh) might prove fruitful; it suggests (non-explicitly, even inexplicably) that there is yet more for humankind to discover about the nature of life and death.  In a variety of ways, that mask routine wordlessly but profoundly soothes one of humanity’s greatest fears.

How does the demonstration of a mystery serve to put a spectator’s mind at rest?  Consciousness itself is a mystery!  When the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said “I went in search of myself,” he acknowledged that existence itself is an enigma to humankind. “A sharpened sensibility to the fullness of life restores mystery to a world grown otherwise too weary and wise in its skeptical and protective indifference to residuals of wonder.  If we want the whole truth of human reality, we must first confront the mystery of life itself” (Lawrence Kimmel, “Literature, Mystery, and Truth,” 2004).  Cue the magician.

One of the questions that I get asked the most at our classes is “Is it better to script or just to talk naturally?” When I hear this question, I usually regard this as someone who is asking me to give them permission to be lazy. An argument I hear frequently, is “Well, I don’t want to sound like I’m reciting words from a script.” The answer to this argument is that we are actors playing the part of a great magician and we need scripts to keep us focused and theatrically potent.

When I hear people speaking extemporaneously, very often,their wording is filled with “linguistic lint;” their lines are filled with umms, uhhs, and awkward pauses. Having a memorized script allows you the luxury of choosing each and every word, specifically for its effectiveness and strength. You can experiment with timing, speed, pitch, inflection, volume and pauses. Few magicians are good enough actors to “talk off the top of their head,” and sound coherent.

STARTING YOUR SCRIPT

The first steps of writing a script are the most challenging. The thought of sitting down in front of a blank piece of paper can be scary. My magic teacher, Eugene Burger, suggests that following technique to start your script.

Next time you perform a new effect, record yourself as you perform. When you get home, type out exactly what you’re saying, word for word, and notice if you have any of this linguistic lint in your talk. If you don’t, congratulations, you’ve just begun to write your script! Next, Eugene suggests that we step away from the first draft for a few days, and come back to it with new eyes and energy.

EDITING AND REFINING YOUR SCRIPT

Now, the next step is polishing the script and carefully choosing each and every word for its maximum effectiveness in moving the plot and theater of the effect forward. For an excellent lecture on this topic, see Robert Parker’s PEP talk called “Scriptwriting as Verbal Iconography”
http://www.magicalwisdom.com/infopages/view/mm_talks

The best magicians in the world have polished their scripts to the point where their flow of language seems totally natural. Magic greats like Mac King, and Lance Burton are perfect examples of performers that are thoroughly scripted yet totally natural.

NATURAL OR THEATRICAL?

Unlike actors, magicians fear scripts, because they think they are too difficult to learn, so they settle for mediocrity and “just sort of having an outline.” This is the same as an actor walking out on stage and “just kind of knowing the outline” of a Shakespearean play…. A ridiculous cop-out. Actors train for years, by memorizing and performing scripts that have been written by great playwrights. This is a lesson we can learn from the actors. There are many books available that have professional scripts written in them. It would be of great value for you to consider finding a great script of magic and learning it. I list some great resources at the end of this article.

For some excellent inspiration, take a look at the professional speakers delivering their scripts at http://www.ted.com

INSIGHT AND INSPIRATION

The first scripted routine I ever saw a performer execute was in 1975. Magician Ricky Jay was the special guest on Doug Henning’s magic special. He performed his versions of “MacDonald’s Aces,” using the script The Exclusive Coterie by Erdnase. Ricky’s performance made a profound impact on me. It was the first time I witnessed an actor delivering a theatrical script. It changed the way I approached magic, and the words I chose to speak when in front of an audience, both in formal and informal setting.

Personally, I found great satisfaction and accomplishment by memorizing scripts from Hugard’s Magic Monthly and Expert at the Card Table, when I was fourteen years old. I still retain these theatrical scripts in my memory, and can perform these theatrical routines at a moment’s notice.

Here are a few thoughts that may make the process of writing a script for your magic more fun and effective.

REMEMBERING THE SCRIPT

Now that we have a script, we have to remember it. There are many books that can teach you mnemonic techniques. A simple formula for memorization is

*Intention:
You must decide what you are going to memorize and go about gathering the script and even printing it out. I have found that hand-writing the script gets it “inside of me,” more than just typing and printing.

*Attention:
Now you must dedicate time and energy into the rehearsal sessions, matching movement to action. Also this is the time to work with your director on vocal elocution techniques, such as volume, pitch and rate.

*Retention:
One of the beautiful benefits of having scripts is that you can file them and store them in physical form as well as in your memory. If you have not performed a piece in a few years, you can take it out of your script file and polish it up for performance. Personally, I have a binder entitled “Memory” where I keep hard copies of all of my memorized scripts.

One of the techniques I use is this: after I have written, edited and polished a script, I print the script out, with a jumbo font, and tape it to my practice mirror, or even to an exercise machine while I’m doing a workout. This gives me dedicated time to focus on matching my words to physical actions.

Crib sheets
One of the most overlooked tools for the development of our scripts is the use of crib sheets. Crib sheets are small pieces of paper with either the entire script written out, or key phrases that will act as memory jogs if you get stuck. A great place to hide these secret notes is on the back of hand-held props.

My wife, Abbi, has a very complex script she uses in a jumbo card effect. She helped herself to learn the lines of the script by printing out the text of her script and attaching it to the back of one of the jumbo cards. The audience was never aware that she had the entire script, literally, at her fingertips. If Abbi ever had difficulty remembering a word, all she had to was to glance momentarily at the card to get back on her script. This little secret can make a huge difference when you are first performing new routines in front of audiences. Just knowing that you have the words nearby will give you courage and confidence.

This technique for aiding your memory was also utilized by Eugene Burger, when he was working on the story deck trick named “Diamond Jack.” Eugene wrote one line of the script on the back of each jumbo card. The audience never saw the back of the cards, and Eugene had the entire script in his hands. You can palm crib sheets, stick them to the back of books, photographs, props, the inside of your top hat, or just about anywhere you can think of. How many secret hiding places can YOU think of?

I hope I’ve been able to stimulate your creativity and give you some practical information on how to refine your magical presentations. There are resources below that will give you much to work with… Good luck!

RESOURCES

Internet:
MYSTERY SCHOOL MONDAY two hour episode on Scripting

Editing Our Scripts by Eugene Burger

Books:
Foundations by Eberhardt Reise
The Tarbell Course in Magic by Harlan Tarbell
Life, Death and Other Card Tricks by Bob Neale
Scripting Magic by Pete McCabe
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

Video:
I use a small VADO camera, made by Creative. You can use a Flip camera, even your phone, to record your rehearsal sessions. Remember to keep an archive to track your progress.

Memory:
The Memory Book by Harry Lorayne
The Art of Memory by Frances A Yates
Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer

About a week ago, I was at Jeff McBride’s home and we started talking about communication, when he asked me to write an article about ten ways to get your message across.  Enjoy!

Give them what they want

The audience you are delivering to wants to be told what they want to hear. If you make them sit too long, you have lost them. It is better to leave them wanting more.  As far as content is concerned, in sales, people will only buy what they want to buy deep down inside.  You just have to find that hidden need and fulfill it.  Maybe that topic can be discussed in another article.

Give contrast

Too many shows and presentations are bursting at the seams with what they boast to do. Numerous comic magicians are completely funny the whole time, offering no drama or other type of theatrical byplay. What happens with this? The presentation becomes stale.  You ever eat so much of your favorite type of food, for so many days in a row, that you end up hating it? The great comedies on television all have contrast.  There is a lesson interlaced with the laughs.  All of the great shows here in Vegas also are combinations: amazing and comedy (Absinthe) or dramatic and funny (Jersey Boys). Mac King is funny and at the same time, nostalgic of growing up.  Life isn’t made of just one thing so you shouldn’t be either.

Give them options

Everybody learns in different ways.  Some people are visual learners and some are auditory learners.  The US Navy did a study with three groups and found out that people who are told something (group one) comprehend that information as well as people who read the same thing (group two).  The third group that comprehended more was the group that read and heard the material simultaneously. Maybe this is an argument for being entertaining and followable when you speak, because then when they watch what you are doing they will get so much more out of it.

Give it sincerely

Pearl Jam, who is synonymous with rock star as far as bands go, said that they never “phoned in” a show. Everytime you perform for someone or even talk to them, you are auditioning for them and you need to give it your all.  If you are in the moment, then you will be paying attention for new bits or mistakes that might be gems at later performances.  This also applies for listening to people, for they gave the time and energy to talk to you, and you should do more than hear them, you should listen.  This is something I need to work on myself…

Give them you

People tell me all the time that they saw a magician and then they explain what he or she did. When I ask them what the magician’s name was they say they don’t remember. Don’t let your magic be bigger than you. Enough said.

Give them yourself

Don’t do routines that you know are other’s. If it is an independent invention that is one thing. Stealing is another.  People have put their heart and soul into the building process that goes into these routines. That’s why they look good when they do them and not as much when they are replicated onstage. If you give the audience a genuine creation that is yours, like a dog smells fear, audiences will smell the genuineness.

Give them a break

I always structure my shows where there are not too many routines in a row where I need a person to come onstage. The audience grows weary and becomes indifferent to the indifferent person onstage again and again and… Amazing Johnathan has the same person onstage for each routine that he does in his show.

The audience almost finds this volunteer to be a friend of theirs and definitely a representative of theirs and that goes to…

…Give them a validation

You are a wonder worker. You need the audience to know this. I used to perform a book test and I would write the words on a sheet of paper. One time there were three girls (beauty contestants in a pageant) who stood behind me when I wrote the words down. This was not planned but gave the audience validation in two different ways. One, the three girls behind me worked as a committee to ensure that I was not doing anything fishy (people suspect everything) and two, when the person names off the word, their facial expressions, when they see the written down word before the rest of the audience, act as a catalyst for excitement.

Give them something believable

If you are trying to sell a vacuum don’t tell them that it will suck up the dust bunnies.  People know that dust bunnies are impervious to any kind of suction and that is why there is a outbreak of them in the Midwest.  The tornados kill everything but dust bunnies. In the same way, people don’t believe that you have real powers. They want to believe it but they just don’t. As soon as you come down to their level and tell them the truth about that, then they will believe you about everything else you tell them. So the “EZ VAC 2637-a” won’t get the dust bunnies but the monster under the bed? You bet.

Give them something that they care about

Make your message about them (do your homework here) or something they can relate to (their industry). Even if this means changing a story that happened to a friend of yours to one that happened to you, then, if they can connect with that, the message will sink in better. Making them part of the story can be unforgettable.

Visit DaveJohnson.tv to learn more about the author.

You never know who you are really talking to. They could be a terrorist, or a great leader. Let me explain….

It started in Israel. A bomb had blown up in a tourist section of Jerusalem. Dozens of people were dead or injured and all of our major convention shows were cancelled. A young magician, born in Italy, now living in Budapest, named David, was in a challenging situation with the management of the convention due to the cancellation. I stepped in, helped him out a bit, and never thought about it again. That was over sixteen years ago.

I’ve recently returned from Budapest, Hungary. I was flown over, to a most elegant hotel, to perform my full evening show in a well-appointed theater for magic fans who had come to see me in my first show in their country. Why did I end up there? Because I happened to be kind to a young magician, sixteen years ago.

That magician is David Merlini, one of the top escape artists in the world, famous for his “Frozen in Ice” stunt, and “Inside of Concrete” escape. If you Google them, and you will be amazed at the amount of publicity David received on these stunts.

Well, most magicians start off from humble beginnings. When I first met David, I had no idea he would grow up to be one of the most famous escape artists of the new generation. Yes, he was skilled and had good ideas… but who knew? It got me thinking about how many times I’ve met young magicians who then go on to achieve major success.

WHO AM I TALKING TO?

• I was standing in a hotel lobby in Austin, Texas, in the late 1990s, witnessing a couple of kids do some cool things with card fans and flourishes. We shared a few laughs and a few moves, and I never knew their names until years later, Dan and Dave.
• I was in a late-night session with a couple of the insomniac kids in the lobby of the national IBM convention. We were trading moves and magic stories, and talking about what we loved and hated about the state of the art of magic. One of the kids said he wanted to write a book. I thought he was a bit young to be writing books. I didn’t know the tall kid’s name, but years later I found out it was Joshua Jay. He even wrote an article about our meeting in MAGIC Magazine.
• I was backstage at a show in Vienna, just before the FISM in Den Haag, in 1986. I was giving some ideas to a young man, who was working with sunglasses, magic wands, and cards. The ideas I gave him are still in his act today. Topas went on to world-wide fame and fortune. Even at his young age, he gave me some ideas that I still use in my act!

I’ve learned that age is not really a factor in art. Many of the young people I have met have wonderfully progressive ideas and a strong magical vision of what magic can be.

“I’ve also learned, from my various encounters in meeting magicians, that you can only make a first impression once.”

Our friend Lance Burton shared a very important lesson with a group of our students at a recent Master Class. He said that when he looked back over his life, he didn’t think there was a single interaction with another person where he might have thought “you know, I could have been more unkind in that moment.” Lance reminds us that we can always consider being more kind in every interaction. One lesson I have learned from magic conventions is to surrender to the moment and not rush past fans and friends to get to “other business.”

I SURRENDER!
I remember entering a dealer’s room at the World Magic Seminar in Las Vegas, and being surrounded by cameras, fans and tv crews. This is to be expected at these media events, but I really wanted to push through this and get into the dealer’s room to see all of the cool new magic items. Then it hit me, why rush past friends and fans who I’ve worked so hard to cultivate and inspire with my magic, to go buy more magic tricks to impress more people to push past later? It all seemed so pointless and a vicious circle.

I decided, then and there, to surrender to the moment and be 100% present. Being in the public eye can be demanding and even physically exhausting. At the recent FISM in Beijing, China, it seemed that over 2,000 people had cameras and wanted multiple photos with every magic celebrity. It took me several hours just to get from one side of the main room to the other. There was also lots of pushing and pulling and crowding. Through it all, I remembered that I only have one time to make a good first impression, and that any show of impatience or discomfort could be interpreted as a personal rejection…. So I would tell myself to relax, to breathe and to enjoy these moments, because these are the moments I had been working towards.

GET YOUR FACEBOOK FACE ON!
Nothing is worse than seeing yourself in a photo with an expression on your face as if you’d rather not be there. I try to avoid taking photos with a negative expression on my face. Remember, my friends, facebook is forever.

These moments reminded me of times I’ve toured with major headliners like Diana Ross and Tom Jones, and how they have to hide themselves from the public, avoid encounters as they travel, and insulate themselves from the crowds and fans they have worked so hard to gain. It’s a bit of a paradox, is it not?

You never know, the fan you pose with for a Facebook photo today could be the next great magic star or opinion maker in the world of magic. I take the time and the energy to give each person individual attention. I hope when we meet, I can share that moment with you!

Magic is the shadow cast by the fire of the soul.
— Michael Fraughton

Dear student of the art,
There are some who say that magic is a dance between shadow and light. There must be darkness to create mystery, true, but there must also be light in order to perceive it. One of the practical problems of darkness and light is encountered onstage.

A PRACTICAL PROBLEM

I often get asked by young magicians, “How do you manage to see the audience when the stage lights are on and the audience is in total darkness?” Well, there are a few tricks of the trade here. Often, you can see reflections from eyeglasses, but the best thing you can do to see the audience is turn up the house lights.

WHO SAID TURN OFF THE LIGHTS?!

In all my years onstage, I have never found a reference or a source of why magicians must turn off the house lights all the way. I can totally understand that in the theatre, it is a convention to turn off the lights because the audience is not connected to the action onstage. In fact, the darkness reinforces the “fourth wall,” or boundary, between the actors and their actions, and the audience and their reactions.

In a theatrical play, the reactions of the audience are, for the most part, ignored by the actors, until the final curtain call. This is not the case in most magic shows, where the audience is personally addressed by the performer, and members are often part of the show, literally breaking the fourth wall.

Constantine Stanislavsky, in his book An Actor Prepares, recounts the horrifying feeling actors often experience as they stare past the footlights into a darkened cavern of unknowingness, where the audience watches and judges in silence. For a young magician taking the stage, staring off into the darkness can create a sense of terror. There is no need for this pain.

PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS

I understand the classical formality of the theatre fading to black at the top of the show to create a sense of anticipation and mystery. When the theatre fades to black, we get the sense that we are between the worlds of the mundane and the magical. Total darkness, however, does not enhance the much-needed audience connection during the continuation of a magical performance, especially if the audience is part of the show. After the performer addresses the audience (usually after an opening effect during a welcoming talk), I would suggest they should consider turning the house lights up a bit, so they can see the faces of the audience members.

When you can see the audience, you can connect your scripts and direct your personal eye contact more effectively to individuals, than if you are simply “shooting into the dark.” Some extraordinary performers have developed the ability to make the audience feel that they are getting direct, personal attention from the performer, even when they are sitting in a totally darkened theatre.

I have not depended on developing this technique. I start out my show in total darkness. My opening number establishes my territory onstage. During the next part of the show, I directly call to the light technicians to turn up the lights to let me see the audience. I create a personal connection with the audience and then have the house lights fade down to a level where I can just make out the faces of the audience. This technique helps me connect with the people in the back of the theatre and the balconies, who often go unseen and ignored in a darkened theatre. During the course of my show, I use many different levels between “total darkness” and “full house lights up.” This permits the audience to have a varied and textured experience during the show.

Delicacy and discrimination must be utilized to determine just how much is enough or how much is too much. Too little light, and you will not be able to see the audience reactions, or establish a connection. Too much, and you run the risk of disturbing the audience’s comfort and making them wince and squint in reaction to the sudden brightening of the theatre.

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT

There are occasions when you can utilize audience directed light to your advantage. This is often seen in stage shows that use black art principles. Lighting can be directed at the eye level of the audience to decrease the pupil dilation, which makes black art effects more effective, as it temporarily eliminates the eye’s ability to see contrast. Discretion must be used to effective make use of this technique. Nobody wants to have super-bright lights blasted into their eyes more than once or maybe twice during a show. Sometimes, during a finale of a show, it can be exciting and effective to have stage lights sweep the audience, shining the light on them. This creates an exhilarating effect, where the audience gets to feel the power and excitement of the lights.

LOOKING AT THE FIRE IN THEIR EYES

The major benefit I personally have received from working with the subtle dynamics of illuminating the audience in the theatre, is not only the rapport I gain, but also the ability to see the emotional reactions that the audience displays during the course of the show. In truth, one of the great joys of performing magic is experiencing the wonder and astonishment that appears on the faces of the witness of the mystery. Perhaps this is why close-up magic is so appealing, because the performer can experience, up-close and personal, the emotions and feelings of the participant. Why should this great part of magic be lost to the stage performer? Recently, television magicians have shifted the major focus of the magic show from the performer’s execution of the effect to the audience’s reaction to the effect. This, I feel, was a needed step in the evolution of magic. So, dear student of the art, I encourage you to turn up the light, not only on the audience, but also in your heart.

Originally published for Wittus Witt’s “Magische Welt” magazine in Germany.