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Now Mark-- As Showmanship covers the craft of a Showman showing himself--makeup is part of the whole game. As is speech, gesture, stance etc.

And as for Drama Schools encouraging overloudness-- in some ways I wish they would. MOST modern actors cannot be heard clearly in a live performance.
We saw, from the centre stalls, Penelope Keith about 4 weeks ago in The Rivals--and could not catch a lot of her words--too much working on telly.

The Henning Nelms book I do NOT like. I did suggest he might read it out of interest.
Over Christmas I shall scan and send you the Edward Maurice book--what a polished Showman he was.I've had 4 different editions.

'Magicians pretending to be magicians' That surely IS acting. The Art of Let's Pretend.

It is good however to know the old ML bite is still there.

Showmanship___Tell the lad to watch you performing that remarkable Svengali Deck of yours.That's Showmanship.
Then tell him to buy your book on it.

Best wishes
Allen Tipton

Thank you kindly Allen for the Edward Maurice book. It is interesting what you say about Henning Nelms. I seem to remember that seasoned pro Geoffrey Durham expressed reservations about it too. Unless I have got it wrong and he was talking about "Showmanship for Magicians" by Fitzkee.

I didn't really like the Fitzkee book either but there was one page in it which was pure gold. I don't have the book to hand right now otherwise I would mention it. I think it was eighty something or other.

I do think showmanship and presentation can be learned. Some people will find it harder to learn than others since some people will have a natural knack for it. I was never one of those people. I was shy and didn't know what to say when I first did tricks. But I knew I had to say something. And just like the young man from Whitehaven I knew from the very beginning that the presentation was far more important than the trick and I knew I had to do something about it.

That is why I consider him very lucky. He seems to know at the very beginning how important this is. Many, many, so called magicians go through their whole lives not knowing this or to put it another way they know it and pay lip service to it. Alas they do not know how to put it into practice. That is the hard part.

All this reminds me of something. In my memoirs which in theory should be coming out any day (but in practice will be at the very end of the month) I try to spice up the opening chapter which is a bit boring by including remarks from a few of my friends.

One piece was from a young card magician that I once gave some advice to. Although I still don't remember the incident what he wrote was very telling. His name is Jeff Hinchliffe. I expect one day when I am dead and gone he will be a well known card trick hot shot among the magic community.

I shall post what he said in my next message. I think it has some relevance to this conversation.

Here we are:

I’ve known Mark Lewis for over twelve years now. I first met him
as a quiet, shy, fourteen-year-old who’d fallen in love with magic
(I’m neither quiet nor shy any more, according to Mark). I’m glad
to say we became friends. I’ve worked for Mark in a variety of environments, from pitching Svengali packs, to working his booth at
a Psychic Fair, to assisting him on stage during his hypnosis show.

I’ve gained a lot of confidence and experience working for Mark.
His knowledge of magic and things related is immense. I don’t
know what he saw in me, but I’m glad he saw it. His patience and
advice over the years have always been helpful and appreciated.

We all have memories from when we first began taking magic seriously.
One of the most vivid memories I have is thanks to Mark. I
was fifteen, and I’d just written an essay on magic. It was written
in response to various professionals telling me that the most important
part of one’s performance was for the audience to be entertained.
Of course, I noticed this approach was often being espoused
by the pros who were somewhat lacking in technical ability
(these same pros would often also wholly discount the need for
technical wizardry). Being a move-monkey at the time, I was sceptical
of this viewpoint and decided to think more about it. My essay
ended up suggesting that there wasn’t any ‘one thing’ that was
most important. Rather, technical ability, a sense of mystery, and
entertainment value were all equally important. You needed to
have chops, you needed to fool them, and you needed to entertain
them for there to be magic.

I shared my essay with a few people around The Browser’s Den
of Magic (the local magic shop where I first met Mark) including
Mark. After reading the paper, Mark asked me to sit down at the
table. He told me he enjoyed the essay. He told me he thought it
was good. He pointed out a few grammatical errors I had made
(Mark prides himself on his ‘British Education’). Then he took out
a pen. He turned the essay over, and on the back he wrote something,
something which I’ve never forgotten.

He wrote the word TRICKS and then 1% next to it. Underneath the word TRICKS he wrote YOU and then 99% next to it. He explained to me that the most important part of your performance is YOU. Everything else
is secondary, and everything else stems from you, who you are.
That moment Mark gave me something important, something
which has changed the way I approach magic, and something I
will have for the rest of my life.

Mark, thank you.
—Jeff Hinchliffe

The mirror may help you with technique. I am not sure how it helps you with showmanship. Technique and showmanship are two different things.

No worries Mark, he's just a troll bumming his own exposure website - what does he know of real magic?

Danny, my very best friend ( and also a magician ) lives in Whitehaven.

I know he comes from Whitehaven. He has my deepest sympathy.

Ha, you act as if Whitehaven is a bad place, lol.

Somewhat a shame I no longer live in Blackpool, allot more opportunity.

There's only two pubs left that I've not took over in Whitehaven yet; The Castle and The Central

next up to attack: Workington! xP - Oh ain't I living the magician dream lol.

Whitehaven IS a bad place. I spent 5 days of hell there. I have been trying to erase the place from my memory and am quite upset that you have reminded me that the town is still in existence.

Blackpool on the other hand was heaven. I remember lots of evil people there that I could relate to. Alas, however I heard the town has changed.

There are two chapters about Blackpool in my memoirs. One is entitled "The University of Evil" and the other is named "More Evil at the University.

Blackpool was the University referred to.

I'm confused..

Whitehaven is bad..
Blackpool is EVIL.. but that's good? lol.

There is a difference between bad and evil, my boy. Whitehaven is boring and that is bad. There is nothing boring about evil and in fact it is rather fun. That is good.

No wonder you are doing well entertaining in the pubs. Any distraction must be regarded by the locals as heaven sent. When I was there the locals used to go and watch the traffic lights change for entertainment.

haha - boost my self esteem eh

I'm hoping to spend a week or so in a major city soon like Preston or Manchester ( two easy places to get to ) as a practical exercise for developing my magic and to give me a broader idea of what I am really dealing with in terms of audience.

But you are right.. not much to do in Whitehaven, I could make a sheep disappear?

Danny Joseph wrote:
But you are right.. not much to do in Whitehaven, I could make a sheep disappear?

I was born and bred in Whitehaven (my family still live there). It's a beautiful Georgian town with only one major fault - West Cumbrians.
Ok you're right, there isn't anything to do there iether...
Thats why i moved to the lake district
But the nearest magic club is Barrow (new one has recently started in Carlisle) which is a couple of hours drive away.
The audiences are very difficult and the majority are not interested in anything other than getting very drunk.
BUT
this was my testing ground and it has served me well(ish)

Danny Joseph wrote:

I'm hoping to spend a week or so in a major city soon like Preston

Am I the only one who found this remark hilariously funny?