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