Many conjurors make a practice , in the course of their performances , of indicating such and such expedients of the art , and of boasting that they themselves do not employ the method in question . " You observe ," they will remark , " that I don ' t make the pass--that I don ' t change the card ," etc ; and yet , a moment later , they use in some other trick the expedient they have just revealed . It follows , as a natural result , that the spectator , being thus made acquainted with artifices of which he would otherwise have known nothing , is put on his guard and is no longer open to deception .
11 . Be careful with the ” magician in trouble ” premise
It is not unusual to see conjurors affect ; pretended clumsiness which they call a " feint ." These hoaxes played on the public arc in very bad taste . What should we think of an actor who pretended to forget his part , or of a singer who for a moment affected to sing out of tune in order to gain greater applause afterwards ? I do not here refer to the " feints " employed in conjuring to imitate some act which is designed to mislead the mind or the attention of the spectator . The feint , in this latter case , being executed with extreme dexterity , has no existence for the spectator , but passes in his mind for a genuine act . An artifice of this kind is one of the most effective aids in the performance of a conjuring trick . We shall recur at proper time and place to this subject . backfiring . A trick performed on this principle is out of the pale of conjuring altogether ; it is at best what schoolboys would describe as a " good sell ."
14 . Use correct language
As a matter of course , a conjuror should speak with perfect grammatical correctness . He should , moreover , avoid coarse " chaff ," personal observations and practical jokes , and should in like manner eschew pedantic and affected language , Latin quotations , and especially puns . The only wit for which the public gives a conjuror any credit , is the wit of his dexterity .
15 . Dress for the occasion
It will be hardly necessary , I imagine , to dilate upon the absurdity of wearing the long robe of a magician . Let us leave tinsel and high-crowned hats to mountebanks ; the ordinary dress of a gentleman is the only costume appropriate to a high class conjuror . The most probable result of assuming the conventional garb of a wizard will be to make the wearer an object of derision .
This article is based on the original work published 1868 in The secrets of conjuring & magic by Robert Houdin , translated by Louis Hoffman in 1877 .
12 . Don ´ t hide bad technique with big gestures
Some conjurors use an excessive amount of gesture in order to cover their manipulations . This is wrong . Genuine conjuring demands perfect simplicity of execution . The more simple and natural the movements of the performer , the less likely is the spectator to detect the trick . It is true that in this case a very much higher degree of dexterity is required than in the former .
13 . Use stooges with care
If you ´ re employing confederates among the audience , be very careful . Stooges are tricky business and you always run the risk of the trick
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