GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF MAGIC
1. Make your magic direct and to the point
Conjuring makes too heavy a demand upon the faculties of the spectators to admit of being unduly prolonged. It is a well-known fact that attention too long sustained often degenerates into weariness. Comte, an authority of the highest weight upon the subject of public exhibitions, was of this opinion, as is sufficiently proved by the invariable title of his own entertainment-- " Two hours of magic;" two hours being the precise duration of his performance.
2. Build to a climax
The most elementary rule of a conjuring entertainment is to arrange the program after the manner of the feats exhibited in bygone days on the stage of Nicolet--de plus fort en plus fort-- i. e., always to make each trick more surprising than the last.
3. Be fun and friendly
Nothing is so catching as good spirits; the conjuror therefore should do his utmost to meet the public with a hearty, genial manner, taking care, however, to keep rigidly within the bounds of propriety and good taste.
4. Act beyond the climax
Some artists commit, when performing, a fault which cannot be too carefully avoided; they lay aside their animated and genial expression the moment the trick is over, as if they were mere smiling machines, set in motion and stopped at the touch of a spring.
5. Never announce beforehand the nature of the effect which you intend to produce
However skillful the performer may be, and however complete his preparations for a given trick, it is still possible that some unforeseen accident may cause a failure. The only way to get out of such a difficulty is to finish the trick in some other manner. But to be able to do this, the performer must have strictly complied with this important rule: never announce beforehand the nature of the effect which you intend to produce.
6. Never apologize when a trick fails
However awkward the position in which you may be placed by a breakdown, never for one moment dream of admitting yourself beaten; on the contrary, make up for the failure by coolness, animation, and " dash." Invent expedients, display redoubled dexterity, and the spectators, misled by your self-possession, will probably imagine that the trick was intended to end as it has done.
7. Never complain
Do not, under any circumstances whatever, ask the indulgence of the public. The spectators may fairly say that they have paid their money to find you skillful, up to your work, in good health and spirits; that they expect, in these particulars, their fair weight and measure, and that you have no right to put them off with complaints.
8. Believe your own words
Although all one says during the course of a performance is--not to mince the matter--a tissue of falsehoods, the performer must sufficiently enter into the part he plays, to himself believe in the reality of his fictitious statements. This belief on his own part will infallibly carry a like conviction to the minds of the spectators.
9. Offer false explanations
Nothing should be neglected which may assist in misleading the minds of the spectators: ergo, when you perform any trick, endeavor to induce the audience to attribute the effect produced to any cause rather than the real one; thus, a feat of dexterity should be presented as resting on some mechanical or scientific principle; and again, a trick really depending on a scientific principle should be offered as a result of sleight-of-hand.
10. Don ยด t talk about magic techniques
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