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by **Famuus** » Jun 10th, '09, 16:17

mark lewis wrote:I have never seen the so called Andy Nyman routine but it cannot possibly be in the same league as mine unless it IS my routine. I suspect it might be since I trained Marvin Berglas's demonstrators in Hamleys at one point.

Anyway it is dead easy to take money in Hamleys. You don't have to be particularly good. I remember selling 15 packs in one demonstration in there.

Ron Macmillan didn't really have a routine. He just used to make it up as he went along. In fact every time he demonstrated it was a different routine every time.

I don't know if there was a Joe Stuthard influence in his routine but there was certainly a business connection at one point through Harry Baron. I saw Joe Stuthard work the cards and it was a completely different routine from Ron Macmillan. Mind you some of the moves that Ron used were described in a little book that Joe wrote on the svengali deck so perhaps there was indeed an influence. I have no idea.

Anyway the best svengali routine of all time can be seen at www.marklewisentertainment.com

When you get there go to the trade show page. Near the bottom of the page you can click on to a video clip and see it in all its glory. I am afraid this Nyman personage whoever he is won't even come close to it.

HAve to admint the routine is good

greetings from belgium

by **madvillainy** » Jun 10th, '09, 16:20

Well, I still prefer Andy Nyman's demo. Yours is good as well, but I think Andy's version is slicker.

by **ankleswingers** » Jun 10th, '09, 17:32

Slicker? What sort of talk is this?

The entire purpose of the routine is to convince the spectators that what they see is SELF WORKING, and can be done by any half-wit with two left hands.

The fact that it can't is neither here nor there - it just has to LOOK manageable.

Dare I say that the Mark Lewis version is a nice routine, more relaxed, and played with a certain amount of underlying charm and perhaps even a touch of sarcasm. He also appears to possess the oily charm of a used car salesman.

This isn't a criticism - simply an observation.

I don't think it's a great idea to diss the work of others until you've had a chance to observe it, as in Mr Lewis "dissing" the Nyman routine.

It also states on the DVD that during his spell at the shop, he (Nyman) broke all records for the amount of Svengali decks sold.
This statement, may or may not be true. But - it's there for all to see.

Thanks

by **madvillainy** » Jun 10th, '09, 17:56

I say slick because it just looked effortless. And you did get the impression that anyone could do it, but there was a lot of other little things in it that I really enjoyed (the battery, for instance).

And that's true, he did set the Sven record at Marvin's while he was there. Whether that record has been toppled since, I don't know, but it was certainly an impressive demo.

by **mark lewis** » Jun 10th, '09, 18:05

When young Nyman can sell 500 decks of cards in a day on a regular basis then I shall be impressed. He hasn't. And even if he had it wouldn't mean a toss. In Hamleys all you have to do is look at them and they get their money out. It is just about the easiest place to work imaginable.

I must also say that my "oily charm" disappears once I am selling the cards. I am the devil incarnate and am nasty and rude to the vermin in front of me. Love for the public has never been an attribute of mine.

The routine in the clip is exactly the routine I use to sell the cards. However there is far more requirements needed in order to sell than just the routine. Indeed an inferior routine may do just as well providing the demonstrator has the other attributes necessary.

by **madvillainy** » Jun 10th, '09, 18:21

mark lewis wrote:When young Nyman can sell 500 decks of cards in a day on a regular basis then I shall be impressed. He hasn't.

No, he's gone onto an extremely successful career as an actor and magician.

And on top of that, I still prefer his svengali demo. Nicely presented, charming and quick. Which is all you need from something like that.

by **IAIN** » Jun 10th, '09, 18:50

mark lewis wrote:I must also say that my "oily charm" disappears once I am selling the cards. I am the devil incarnate and am nasty and rude to the vermin in front of me.

that honestly made me cackle...

by **mark lewis** » Jun 10th, '09, 18:55

Nonsense. No such thing as a successful magician and actor. Actors starve. And so do magicians. And the chap seems to be combining the two so inviting double trouble. So this is an extraordinary claim.

What does this person do in his svengali routine? The "quick" statement fills me with great suspicion. And I bet he does the ambitious card routine as virtually everybody does who uses an inferior routine.

Still-it is true that I haven't seen it. I shall half reserve judgement until I do. However it cannot possibly be in the same class as mine.

by **mark lewis** » Apr 9th, '11, 17:52

I really must resurrect this old thread. I got a phone call from the local magic shop in Toronto today to say that the above Nyman personage just walked in and purchased my memoirs. He is in Toronto for some play or other.

He told the shop owner that he had met me years ago in Hamleys when I came to train Marvin's demonstrators and moreover knew Adam Harmes who used to work for me and then became an area manager for Marvin's Magic and trained them all in my routine which they may well have adapted.

So the bloody routine you are all yapping about is mine in the first place as I first suspected. Or at least the basis of it did.

Anyway young Andrew will enjoy my most wondrous book.

by **the stackman** » Apr 9th, '11, 20:28

i watched mr lewis's routine and i have to admit i was largely disappointed. i don't think this is due to the handling, but rather the deck itself.

has there ever been a more overt demonstration of someone using an obviously gaffed deck?

the best ever routine with that gaffed deck? quite possibly. but it still is far from magical.

by **mark lewis** » Apr 9th, '11, 21:29

Don't talk claptrap, my boy. I am MARK LEWIS. You can perform in front of a group of laymen all the tricks you want with a regular deck and then I will perform for the same group using only the svengali deck and get three times the reaction you will.

No doubt you are coming up in your mind with that rather silly argument that I hear all the time that because you are showing all the cards to be identical it gives the game away that you are using a trick deck. Stuff and nonsense. It is indeed a problem but there are ways to get around this problem. To find out those ways you will have to either grovel appropriately to me on this forum or otherwise purchase my most wondrous "Long and the Short of It" book which can be obtained at my website which is displayed in my signature below.

I have used this routine for entertainment purposes as well as for selling the decks. Every time I am hired for a trade show I always use the routine you viewed. It works perfectly well and the crowds are astonished, gasping with amazement and laughing.

Not magical? Fiddlesticks! Ask anyone who has seen me perform it for laymen. The reaction is fantastic.

by **the stackman** » Apr 9th, '11, 21:36

can i speak with you candidly mr lewis.

you are a spoof character right?

by **Mandrake** » Apr 9th, '11, 21:47

It's perhaps best to check the posting history before making too many assumptions

!

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