Showmanship for Magicians Chapter 1

The major complaint Fitzkee shares in the first chapter is the lack of preparation that goes on when amateurs and hobbyists decide to perform for the public. I personally believe some hobbyists get the impression that if you know how to do a few pocket tricks, all of a sudden you will have personality and be an interesting person. Fitzkee as well as I disagree.

“Magic, as exhibited by the majority is the indulgence in a hobby which rarely instructs, seldom amuses and almost never entertains.”

The effects performed by the too enthusiastic and poorly rehearsed hobbyist never entertain anybody but the performer themselves. In addition, if the individual is not performing in most cases they themselves are bores.

Most audience don’t really care how clever YOU think you are. And the ads lie when it says “Everyone Likes to be Fooled.” Because of this it has to be our search to make sure someone watching our performances get something more out of it than just a little puzzle to be solved. People don’t like watching individuals stroke their own egos. And in most cases whether it is watching a movie, listening to a sales pitch or a watching a magic performance people want to feel like they are getting something out of the experience.

Magic is not magic if not performed in the presence of spectators. Because in any other form it becomes research, exercise, recreation, hobby or even a particularly exotic form of narcissism. There are magic hobbyists who know their place in the world. They collect their books, they collect their tricks, and they practice their sleights.

Even if one starts to get into magic as a fan, a collector or hobbyist, sooner or later they will want to perform.

It is at this point “the damage starts.”

And out of the thousands of tricksters out there very few take anytime for the thought and rehearsal of showmanship which is the lifeblood of entertainment.

Fitzkee believes a performer has no right to perform without intelligent preparation in selling entertainment to an audience big or small.

For it hurts not just the bungler, but all magicians as entertainers and it injures all magic as entertainment.

When a majority of the performances are poor than all of it is classed this way.

When Fitzkee talks about this I have to selfishly agree. He isn’t too gentle in the way he puts it but I think he writes with the passion of his beliefs.

I think most people who perform in front of people don’t understand their responsibility to their art form whatever it may be. An actor of a cast in a play has the responsibility to rehearse, memorize lines, hit their marks and give a believable performance not only to make themselves look good, but to support the rest of the cast and to suspend the belief of the audience watching. Now there are plenty of different ways for people to be exposed to the musical and theatre arts. All you have to do is turn on TV.

Magic on the other hand is rare. It’s rare to see good magic on TV and it’s even rarer for an individual to see a magical performance live in person. Because of how special of a moment it is, it amplifies the importance and the responsibility of the individual who is about to give the magical performance. Because people have few opportunities to witness magic in real life they do not have anything or very little to compare it to. So if the spectator as nothing else to relate the magical performance to and the performance was poor or at best amateur, then that is how the person is going to class all magical performances. It that fair? Not in the least, but this is how the human brain works.

The performing hobbyist don’t understand this responsibility for their goal is a selfish one. They perform magic to put themselves on a pedestal, to make themselves look good and sometimes just to get attention.

Since their intentions and worries are only focused on themselves as individuals, they have no concern for if the audiences are enjoying the performance, they are not concerned about the impression they are leaving on the audience, and they don’t care how the audience perceives magical performances afterwards. As a performer they must be good because they are in front of a crowd. They must be good because they are doing a magic trick that got great reviews in the latest magic journal. They must be good because they assume the people they are performing for are witnessing what the performer has dreamed up in their head, not what is actually taking place.

Most people don’t care to see magic when it is performed as nothing more than a quiz. Most people like to be leisurely entertained. That is why magazines are filed with narratives not puzzles. They also don’t talk about things, but instead people.
The only people who care for magic when presented as a puzzle is the child, an adult with a juvenile mentality, or the magic hobbyist.

Magicians are the only ones to blame. The Thurston Show was the most valuable property in show business at its time. No magic show comes close to that anymore.

It attained this distinction when its method of presentation was geared and attuned to the times.

“If your principal can so present a magic show that it once more appeals to the masses, he will be greater that Thurston, Herrman, or Houdini.” “And he’ll make a fortune.”

I think the words, “appeals to the masses” are key here. Not appeals to just magicians. Not appeals to just the performer. Not just appeals to a certain demographic. But appeals to the masses.

The information is sound not only for the large scale, two hour, one man show, but it is also important to the individual doing a single packet trick for an individual.

The person who does only a mediocre performance doing a close-up effect does just as much damage to the art of magic as a mediocre stage show.

This can be the most important reading a magician ever did, even if the only thing the reader gets from it is an urge to look upon his magic performance objectively, as his spectators see it.

I think the most important thing when looking at your own material is not whether you are proficient enough to keep the sleight or gimmick a secret. True, it is sometimes the first thing magicians worry about, but in most cases once the trick can be done without revealing the secret, the rehearsal stops there. But there is much, much more. Before we can even decided to do the effect much less perform it in front of others is to ask ourselves, “what does the audience get out of this?”

“A small bit of entertainment,” is not the answer

Always wishing the best,
Adam White

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