Magic and Magic Wands

Lets examine what other information comes to us that defines a performer. Of course, central to our knowledge is what tricks he performed but a magician’s program is often filled with descriptions so rich in hyperbole that we can only guess as to the effect. And we may find the performer defined by a single trick that, for example, misses the illusionist’s ability to connect with the audience by ingratiating himself with the small magic he presents while the next illusion is being set up behind the curtain. Nonetheless, it is a big step if we have an accurate listing of exactly what tricks a magician performed in set acts. It is surprising how seldom we really have accurate or virtually any information in this regard. We all know of Herrmann the Great, but how many of us have any concept of the ratio of his illusions to the smaller magic in his shows or could list five tricks that he performed? We all know that Houdini performed magic as well as escapes and spiritualist exposes but besides the vanishing elephant, what tricks did he do? Books are filled with the magic of Dai Vernon but when he had private dates, what tricks did he choose to perform?

This brings us to another point, which is how magicians retain their popularity in the magic community throughout the passage of time. Often this is a function of who gets written up in magic magazines, who gets associated with what trick, who writes or has written about them a classic text of magic, who ingratiates his or herself to the subculture of magic conventions. This has little to do with who went over best with an audience, had the longest career, made the most money, or even had the most public recognition. Magician’s magicians with tricks in our repertoires survive; successful performer’s lasting place in our conscientiousness is much more problematic. Gali-Gali and Russell Swann performed in top spots throughout the United States for years and years and years while other magicians with more prominent stars in the magic firmament were performing at magic wand conventions or getting good press in magic journals, thus ensuring themselves a more lasting legacy with the magic community. Perhaps Swann and Gali-Gali were too busy to performing to attend conventions, perhaps their magic was too pedestrian to interest the amateur seeking new effects, perhaps their agents thought it inadvisable, or perhaps they were just in show business while others gravitated more toward the camaraderie that the magic community provides.