talkmagic.co.uk

I have as stated many questions, ssearching has answered some, and others probably answered many times before, but just not discovered by me yet.

I purchased jsut before christmas a few books and some basic items(cups and balls, sponge balls and multiplying sponge balls) and am currently bitten by the magic bug.


Books:
before any of these are recommended I already have:
Royal road to card magic
baill Tarr: now you see it now you don't
houdini: On Magic
Houdini: paper magic

-I'm mostly interested in sleight of hand and stage magic and am curious if there are any other informatiive and good quality books of the same standard as royal road..., and now you see it no you don't?

I have been working though now you see it now you don't, sleight of hand is fasinating and I'd like to find other good books on the subject. I was slightly disapointed at finding only four pages on the cups and balls, any books with more information/routines ect would be equally interesting.



Houdini,

I've been reading through Houdini: On magic which is again interesting, covering stage tricks, escapes and plenty on his work exposing mediums.
A search on amazon brings up hundreds of books, only a handfull written by him. Has anyone read "Book of Magic by Harry Houdini" its lacking reviews on amazon?
Which books on houdini are worth looking into?
Which detail most about his work on escapes from handcuffs water torture cells, strait jackets ect?
Are there any other good books dealing with escape tricks(escapology?)




Video's + dvd
(currently have Penn and Teler's mystery tour and waiting on off the deep end)

Can any one recommend any magicians who have released performances and shows onto dvd, looking for performances mainly no interest in any way in tutorial dvds, I'd like to see a little more of the old stage magic.




Tricks+ items

looking for the name of an item I've seen used several times and read about something similar in one of the books by houdini but can't seem to relocate that section. ahollow cylinder shown empty tissu paper put over one end andthen a ring around that to secure it, a hole is poked into the paper and the cylinder is no longer empty. I'm not sure if its a gimmicked item or uses sleights but if its a commonly avaailable item I'd be interested in knowing what it is.

Other tricks, I'd be interested in hearing ideas of other tricks that may be of interest, before killing me for such a vague question I ... don't have anything to say in my defense, I have a set of cups and balls I'll probably get some linking rings, things of that nature not the "quick and easy" range of tricks, things that require lots of practice but original routines are possible with.

Thanks for any time.

too many to digest here. Why don't you break it down and see what results you can get.

Lurk around a bit as well. You might be able to find answers from other threads.

I expect someone's gonna shout "Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic" soon, so it might as well be me.

As jericbilo has pointed out, your questions are immense in relation to what it would take to answer them. You might want to be a bit more specific, as you'll find this site teeming with helpful members who go out of their way to give you points of view and advice.

And, as bronz has stated, you should have the Wilson book.

I'll try to throw some stuff your way...

Books (not in any particular order, but important books to have):

• Complete Course in Magic (Wilson)
• The Magic of Michael Ammar (Ammar)
• Tarbell Course in Magic volumes 1 - 8 (Tarbell)
• The Amateur Magicians Handbook (Hay)
• The Secrets of Alkazar (Kronzek)
• The Magic of Milt Kort (Minch)
• Modern Coin Magic (Bobo)
• Magic and Showmanship: A Handbook for Conjurers (Nelms)

- most anything with the name "Minch" or "Vernon" on it -

With the library above, you could easily have an entire career in magic. In fact, if you studied those books, in earnest, you'd honestly have a lifetime's study on your hands...More than a lifetime's study.

Of those books, Tarbell, Nelms and Wilson are your best bets for stage work and presentations. I believe that Hay covers stage magic in his book also (but am too lazy to go to my book shelves and find it!).

Further, that is not an exhaustive list. For example, if you wanted to get into cigarette manipulations, then you'd want "Encyclopedia of Cigarette Tricks" (Clark) which delves deeply into cig manipulations.

Further, if you want to go past just the tricks and really get into magic in theory, then "The Books of Wonder" (Minch/Wonder); "Mastering the Art of Magic" (Burger); "Pure Effect" and "Absolute Magic" (Brown) would be the way to go (among many other books - again, not an exhaustive list).

For sleights, well, there are different sleights for different things. Some sleights have applications in various branches of magic, whereas other sleights are very particular to their genre (you won't often use a "gambler's cop" in much of anything but card magic).

For a comprehensive guide to coin sleights, then you go with Bobo. You already have a good book for card sleights, but if you really want to go big, then get the 5 book set of Card College (Giobbi).

See what I mean? You need to be more specific!

For cups and balls, Ammar has a very nice book on that, and that alone. Keep in mind that cups and balls are a comprehensive study all to themselves. You'll find that Ammar has two DVDs out for cups and balls and I suggest that you get both if you really want to learn the cups and balls, backward and forward. Volume one covers the basics, volume two gets into more advanced work including routining. While volume one is basics, I would still suggest getting it because, as you've stated, you are much of a beginner, but, more importantly, mastering the basics is required, if you are to honestly be able to do the real work.

Regarding escapeology...My apologies, I don't have enough work invested in that myself to offer you any worthwhile advice.

Regarding performance videos...You'll not find too many of those, because they don't sell as well as the secrets videos. Unfortunately, most magicians don't give a damn about other magician's performances - the only thing they are interested in is what they can use. But, there are still some out there to be found.

I believe that one of the DVDs in Michael Finney's series is mainly a performance video, but I could be wrong. Also, Doc Eason has a purely performance video on the market. It is bar room magic, but if you study Doc's work, you'll find that what you learn in handling the audience is well worth the cost, even without the secrets. Doc is quite an entertainer.

Also, if you look around the internet, like on youtube, you'll find various performance offerings from the likes of Lance Burton and many others. Check into those. Also, if you are into an odd sort of humor that is pure genius, then look into the performance vids (again, youtube) of the late Tommy Cooper. While youtube, for the most part, is a vast wasteland of useless garbage, there are some gems to be found thereabouts.

Regarding the paper covered tube...Sadly, I know the trick that you are talking about, but I haven't a clue as to what it's called or where you can locate it. I do believe that it's still on the market. The best place to start looking for it would be Daytona Magic (they are on the net), who have an inventory that is disgusting in its immenseness.

Regarding other tricks that may be of interest...Take a scroll through the reviews section right here, on this site. See if anything tickles your fancy. Have plenty of time on your hands, though - this site has over 1,700 posted reviews. Sorry, I'm not going to list them!

Mike.

I don't think there's anything I can recommend book/other media wise...the main have been covered above...

What I would say is, think long and hard before buying tons of books and trying to digest them all, better to go through thoroughly what you have, for example all I have currently are the RRTCM and Mark Wilsons Complete Course (which I can add another recommendation to, it does have a good section on cups n balls, obviously not to the level of detail as the Ammar book mentioned above.) and am trying to go through both at the same time, I'm finding this ok, as I am studying cards from RRTCM and (currently) sponges from Mark Wilson (However I definitely will not be bypassing Wilsons card section...I'll be coming back to it) you see my point. I'll be adding to the collection (it's been hard for me to reign the spending in...but I think it'll be worth it in the long run).

However that's what works for me...it may be you find you can have 3 or 4 or more books on the go and if that's the case, all power to you!

Cheers.

I always like to think that before recommending sources to LEARN magic, you study performances and routines of other magicians first.

One of the best ways to gain insight into 'the next step' is to learn from your peers and predecessors.

This isn't so you can emulate or be like them, but it's a way to gain insight into how it 'should be done'.

Nothing is more important than learning from example—and you're quest for more PERFORMANCE based material is a brilliant sign, in my opinion, as you've stepped away from the quick-fix and made a move towards learning magic as an artform, not a pastime.

The advice above should be more than enough, but there's a wealth of information available over the internet as far as biographies etc. go. And the beauty with the internet is that you can cross-reference very simply.

I'd given up hope of getting any responses, I didn't want to post 10 different threads, but guess I could have been less vague.

I always like to think that before recommending sources to LEARN magic, you study performances and routines of other magicians first.

You may be right, but I'm a book worm, my room looks somewhat similar to a second hand bookstore

Since posting that, I've looked around a little more, I bought the Bobo coin magic book, and made a short list of other books to consider. some have been mentioned here, some not and some mentioned here are new to me. I was considering buying a volume or two of the tarbell course amongst a few of the other suggested books.

Also, if you look around the internet, like on youtube, you'll find various performance offerings from the likes of Lance Burton and many others. Check into those. Also, if you are into an odd sort of humor that is pure genius, then look into the performance vids (again, youtube) of the late Tommy Cooper.

I've spent some time since posting searching through youtube, found some nice videos and clips there, I picked up a cheap tommy cooper dvd in the second hand section of a local store. Also managed to get copies of most penn and teller dvds and VHS releases.

Nothing is more important than learning from example—and you're quest for more PERFORMANCE based material is a brilliant sign, in my opinion, as you've stepped away from the quick-fix and made a move towards learning magic as an artform, not a pastime.

A pitty theres not as much around I guess.


For the last few years, a major hobby has been lockcollecting and lock picking, Its required hours of practice to get results which make the result more pleasing. Hence the interest in escapology, I know how to gimmick locks from that pursuit as well as open ungimmicked ones. I've found a few sites dealing with this feild with plenty of literature to dig into.
Similarly the practice required is one of the things that attracted me to sleight of hand, especially after watching Teller, the simlar almost self working tricks just don't hold the same appeal, but are still interesting in other ways. Probably the same appeal has leadd my unsuccesful attempt to learn to juggle.


AS for other tricks, I've bought the linking rings, I think along with the cups and balls, thats enough to keep me busy practicing for now as well as learning sleights with sponge balls, coins and cards. I've had no luck with the paper tube trick thing yet but thanks for the daytona suggestion.

Thanks for the replies I think I'm set for now, between reading material practice of various sleights, and working with the cups and balls/linking rings. and trying to find some more performances, all replies have been helpful in some way.

I highly recommend you begin with the Tarbell Course in Magic. It's 8 volumes which take you from beginner to pro and teach you theory as well as tricks. It covers: card magic, coin magic, rope magic, silk magic, billiard ball manipulation, card manipulation, sponge balls, cups and balls, stage illusions, and just about everything else. If you could only get one set of magic books, it would have to be this one.