Dustings #47
/If I had to guess what the darkest period in magic history was, I would guess that it would be the time between June 1920 and November 1923.
You see in the June 1920 issue of The Magical Bulletin…
There appeared a trick called…
But it wasn’t until three years later, in the November 1923 issue, that we finally got some patter for the trick, thanks to the ever-reliable, “Mystic Eugene.”
Just picture yourself. It’s 1920. Ya hoe’s got a bunch of wands and you finally found a trick that would allow you to exhibit them, but you don’t have any good patter for the trick for three years!
It must have been a troubling time. Magicians all over the country just dumping a pile of “they hoe’s” wands on a folding table, poking through them and stumbling their way through a presentation with nothing much to say. “Uh yeah… so these are the Wands of Mah Hoe. She’s got… well… it has to be said… she’s got a lot of wands. I guess I thought most women would have one… at most. But she’s got… [counting under his breath before he gives it up] yeah… it’s quite the collection. Mah hoe seems to particularly like these thick black ones. Which is kind of intimidating honestly. And I don’t know what mah hoe did with this one, but it fucking smells like shit!”
Does anyone know how to get me a speaking gig at the next Conference on Magic History?
I do like “Mystic Eugene’s” patter as indicated in the image above. It must have been nice coming up with magic patter in the 1920s. Any magic trick with a strange object? “Uhm… I guess it came from that weird and mysterious land of India. The fuck do I know?”
Everybody everywhere who wasn’t snowy white was some exotic source of potential patter material. “Once, whilst exploring a bizarre and inscrutable land at the furthest reaches of the globe, I encountered a marvelous little creature called a Jew. And he gave me this bag to keep an egg in!”
I’m curious how much people care about the issue of “google-ability” of a trick. It’s something I think about quite a bit, but I can’t really tell how much of an issue it is to others. If you get a chance, please submit a response to this survey.
When it comes to the google-ability of a trick, which statement best represents your feelings.
[Update: Survey is now closed]
I make an effort to perform tricks that would be very difficult to find information about online.
While I don’t want people to be able to find the SECRET to an effect that I do, I don’t mind if they search and find that it’s a trick you can buy and that others are doing the same trick.
As long as they enjoy the trick in the moment, I don’t really care what they search or learn about it afterwards.
I realize these are pretty broad categories, so just pick whichever seems closest to your feelings on the issue.
I will happily pimp any half-way reputable, non-magic product or project that includes some kind of covert tip of the hat to this site.
For example, reader John M. Green has a new book coming out…
Which includes this passage…
He cleverly made my pseudonym inconspicuous by adding one other completely unknown magician—Joshua Jay—to the list too. That way it doesn’t stand out as the one people have never heard of. Instead they get to Joshua Jay and think, “Oh, okay, so this list is going to contain some nobodies too. Got it.”