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Misdirection is a form of deception in which the attention of an audience is focused on one thing in order to distract its attention from another.
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Magic As A Science
By Harlan Tarbell
Harland TarbellI could teach you fifty tricks and you would be happy to know them — and perhaps you would think youwere a Magician when you had learned these tricks. I know, however, Read more...
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Showmanship
By Harlan Tarbell
To become a Master of Showmanship you must be inspired with the spirit of being a Magician. Do not
merely play at the part, but use the POWER OF SUGGESTION on yourself to make you really feel and fill the
part.
Dress the part -- act the part -- do everything to create personal magnetism and a favorable impression --
avoid all disturbing elements -- and STUDY SHOWMANSHIP.
Now, let us analyze this tremendous factor in Magic -- Showmanship. It means the ability to put
ROMANCE, MYSTERY, THE ELEMENT OF SUSPENSE, INTEREST, EMOTIONAL FEELING, and EFFECTIVENESS into your performance.
The more power you have to build these elements into your work, the greater will be your rewards. Take
your example from the playwright. He puts into his plays the same principle of showmanship which you must
use. He creates interest in his audience, arouses their emotions, and builds up from lesser effect to greater until
he reaches a climax. And you must work in the same way.
The Showman makes a masterpiece of a commonplace trick. He clothes it properly, he studies his
presentation, he stirs up his audience with interest and suspense, he puts reality into the part he is playing, he
works the whole thing up to a climax.
In every-day life we find many, many instances of Showmanship. The salesman who understands
Showmanship is the one who gets the orders. He knows just what to say and how to say it, what to do and how
to do it to get the greatest effect. See how the advertising man plays up a commonplace article with his
Showmanship and makes you hunger for it. See how a poor piece of farm land is turned into a subdivision.
How the bands play! How the salesmen use their Showmanship! And how people rush to buy the wonderful
property.
What Showmanship can do was brought home very forcibly to me at one time. A party of about twelve
Magicians, myself included, went to see the play, "The Charlatan." Frederick Tiden was playing the part of
Cagliostro, the magician, in it. We sat there delighted at the magic and illusions which he presented. When he
produced a rosebush from a seed which he had planted in a glass flower-pot, we were completely mystified.
Here truly was a great magician whom we had hitherto missed. After the show we met Tiden. The Cagliostro
on the stage and the Tiden in the theater lobby were two different men. In the play he was a rather large,
dignified elderly man of great poise and mastership. Before us he was smaller, thinner — Tiden, the artist. We
went out for a bite to eat and, as usual, some of the boys performed tricks. Then Tiden was called on to
perform.
"Why, boys, I'm no magician," he said. "I do not do tricks. You have me all wrong. I am just an actor."
"Oh. no," said we, "you are a magician. Didn't we see the wonderful magic you did tonight at the theater.
It was marvelous. You had us gasping. Where did you get the flowers from?"
He leaned back and laughed. "Do you mean to say those tricks fooled you?" he asked.
"We admit it," the boys said.
Then Tiden gave us an excellent talk. He said that as he had been chosen to play the part of the great
magician, Cagliostro, he determined to make himself feel like a great magician and really act the part. He
studied what he thought Cagliostro would do in the emergencies which the play brought forth. He succeeded so
remarkably
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in getting his effects and making the illusions seem real because of his Showmanship.
He decided that things should be produced and vanished from places which an audience would least
suspect. In this instance the man who appeared most innocent of helping him was the villain. So then, Tiden
thought, his best helper would be the disturbing lawyer who opposed Cagliostro at almost every move, a
skeptic who sought every way possible to undo the magician. In the eyes of the audience this lawyer and the
magician were bitter enemies. In reality the lawyer in looking into the flower-pot to see that Cagliostro was not
putting anything over on him, put the flowers in himself. And Tiden in his mastery of Showmanship put his
effects over as if he were the greatest magician in the world.
PLAY UP YOUR INDIVIDUALITY
There is no one in all the world just exactly like you. If each of us would only realise this and capitalize
on it, how successful we would be. We would give full play to our individuality instead of trying to be like
other people, and we would build on our own originality.
In Magic you have the opportunity to an extent which you have in no other field to use your originality
and your own individuality.
Always play up yourself as your better self. Bring out the strongest and best sides of your personality and
emphasize those things which makes you a little different from other people.
BE ORIGINAL, do not be an IMITATOR. The imitator gets little credit for his work. He is known
everywhere as the man who uses someone's else stuff, and whether he is good or not, he is known as an imitator. You know that an original painting is a hundred times more valuable than a copy. So it is in Magic.
Originality does not mean that you must build up elaborate effects. On the contrary, the great masters work in
the simplest manner. What you must do is to use Showmanship with even the simplest effects to give them the
stamp of your own individuality.
Do not try to imitate the feature effects of your brother magicians. You will only bungle them and make
yourself ridiculous. They have years of study and experience back of their effects and you cannot hope in such
a short time to compete with them. Each of the masters has his original effects which suit his individuality.
These effects, however, may not suit your individuality. So because LeRoy vanishes from a box high in the air
and suddenly appears with a hat and overcoat on and burning cigarette in his mouth on the piano in the
orchestra, this does not mean that you should try to do this. Because Houdini gets out of seventeen pairs of
handcuffs is not a reason for your trying to imitate him. Thurston, Blackstone, Laurant, Downs, Manual — all
do their feature performances in their own inimitable way. A real master does not attempt to imitate the other.
He realizes that his success lies in his own individuality and originality, not in those of another man.
So perfect yourself in those things which are best adapted to you and let those who will, try to imitate.
They will never get very far, while you will be building a reputation for originality.
In the beginning perform each effect exactly as I teach it to you in the course. Then as you master more
and more of the principles and gain experience, you can change and add to these effects and originate new
ones. Harlan Tarbell was the mentor of many gnerations of magicians through his famous correspondance course The Original Tarbell Course In Magic
Don't Mess With My Magic Trick!
By By Dion Semeniuk
There is usually one in every crowd that just has to be thespoiler in exposing your magic trick. You know, the guy, and Isay guy, not girl, for a reason, as in all my experiences, Ihave yet to Read more...
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Angle Of Visibility
By Harlan Tarbell
This principle plays one of the most important parts in Magic. You must know how much the audience cansee when you are in front of them or when they surround you. By practicing before a large Read more...
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Making An Impression
By Harlan Tarbell
How to Make Your Appearance.The first impression which your audience forms of you is very important in your future success. Youmust, of course, be very careful of your magical Read more...
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Don't Let Them See You Sweat! The Art Of Performing Magic!
By Search EzineArticles.com
We’ve all been there. Our hands are sweaty, your heart isracing and your hands are shaking like a leaf. Yes, I amtalking about trying to pull off your first magic trick that youjust learned. You Read more...
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