Related Research Articles
Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette and Teller, are American magicians, entertainers, and scientific skeptics who have performed together since the late 1970s. They are noted for their ongoing act that combines elements of comedy with magic.
The cups and balls is a performance of magic with innumerable adaptations. Street gambling variations performed by conmen were known as Bunco Booths. A typical cups and balls routine includes many of the most fundamental effects of magic: the balls can vanish, appear, transpose, reappear and transform. Basic skills, such as misdirection, manual dexterity, sleight of hand, and audience management are also essential to most cups and balls routines. As a result, mastery of the cups and balls is considered by many as the litmus test of a magician's skill with gimmick style tricks. Magician John Mulholland wrote that Harry Houdini had expressed the opinion that no one could be considered an accomplished magician until he had mastered the cups and balls. Professor Hoffman called the cups and balls "the groundwork of all legerdemain".
Sleight of hand refers to fine motor skills when used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, card flourishing and stealing. Because of its heavy use and practice by magicians, sleight of hand is often confused as a branch of magic; however, it is a separate genre of entertainment and many artists practice sleight of hand as an independent skill. Sleight of hand pioneers with worldwide acclaim include Dan and Dave, Ricky Jay, Derek DelGaudio, David Copperfield, Yann Frisch, Norbert Ferré, Dai Vernon, Jerry Sadowitz, Cardini, Tony Slydini, Helder Guimarães and Tom Mullica.
Card manipulation is the branch of magic that deals with creating effects using sleight of hand techniques involving playing cards. Card manipulation is often used in magical performances, especially in close-up, parlor, and street magic. Some of the most recognized names in this field include Dai Vernon, Tony Slydini, Ed Marlo, S.W. Erdnase, Richard Turner, John Scarne, Ricky Jay and René Lavand. Before becoming world-famous for his escapes, Houdini billed himself as "The King of Cards". Among the more well-known card tricks relying on card manipulation are Ambitious Card, and Three-card Monte, a common street hustle also known as Find the Lady.
Coin magic is the manipulating of coins to entertain audiences. Because coins are small, most coin tricks are considered close-up magic or table magic, as the audience must be close to the performer to see the effects. Though stage conjurers generally do not use coin effects, coin magic is sometimes performed onstage using large coins. In a different type of performance setting, a close-up coin magician will use a large video projector so the audience can see the magic on a big screen. Coin magic is generally considered harder to master than other close-up techniques such as card magic, as it requires great skill and grace to perform convincingly, and this requires much practice to acquire.
Sven Lennart Green is a Swedish world champion close-up/card magician, a title which he won in 1991 at the FISM convention in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is known for his seemingly chaotic routines which, in spite of first appearances, display great skill. His original techniques and presentation style form an unorthodox and innovative contribution to sleight of hand magic.
Tony Slydini, simply known as Slydini, was a world-renowned magician. His mastery, expertise, originality and innovative approach to close-up artistry magic, earned him a legendary reputation in the magic world. He traveled the world performing for the public as well as performing and lecturing fellow magicians. As a result, he served as an inspiration to generations of well-known magicians, celebrities and entertainers, including Doug Henning, Dick Cavett, Bill Bixby, Ricky Jay, David Copperfield and countless others. Although he was best known as a master of close-up artistry, he continually demonstrated an extraordinary performing ability and during his lifetime was responsible for a long series of books, films and publications highlighting his mastery of the magical crafts. For his work, he received the highest honors that his profession could bestow, including both the coveted Masters Fellowship Award and Performing Fellowship Award from the Academy of Magical Arts. During his lifetime, Tony Slydini was inducted into the Society of American Magicians Hall of Fame as a Living Legend.
Lee Asher is a close-up magician noted for originating new card tricks and hypnotic sleight of hand moves. He is considered an expert in playing cards, and as a collector is especially known for his work with 52 Plus Joker, the American Playing Card Collectors Club, of which he is the serving President. He has served as a magic consultant for professional magicians such as Greg Frewin.
Jamy Ian Swiss is an American magician, author, speaker, historian of magic, essayist, book reviewer, and scientific skeptic. He is known for sleight-of-hand with playing cards.
Joshua Jay is an American magician, author, and lecturer. He has performed in over 100 countries and was awarded top prize at the World Magic Seminar in 1998. He worked with Penn and Teller on the show Fool Us, and he holds a Guinness World Record for card tricks. Jay has performed on shows including Good Morning America and The Today Show. In January 2018, Jay was recognized by the Society of American Magicians for his contribution to the art of magic.
Herbert Gershen Zarrow was an American magician influential in the profession for his inventions of unique sleight of hand and card tricks. The inventor of the Zarrow shuffle, his skills were held in the highest regard in professional magicians' circles.
Close-up magic is magic performed in an intimate setting usually no more than 3 meters from one's audience and is usually performed while sitting at a table.
Platform magic is magic that is done for larger audiences than close-up magic and for smaller audiences than stage magic. It is more intimate than stage magic because it does not require expensive, large-scale stage equipment and can thus be performed closer to the audience and without a stage. Many of the tricks performed by platform magicians are sufficiently angle-sensitive as to make them impossible to perform as micromagic. Most working magicians are parlor/platform magicians.
Shawn Farquhar is a Canadian magician and illusionist notable for his title as the "Grand Prix World Champion of Magic" from the International Federation of Magic Societies.
Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close-up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It is to be distinguished from paranormal magic which are effects claimed to be created through supernatural means. It is one of the oldest performing arts in the world.
Gary 'Gazzo' Osbourne is a British street magician. Osbourne moved to the US in the 1980s, where he befriended Walter Irving Scott, also known as The Phantom. He is Scott's only pupil and the only person with whom Scott entrusted his biography and life's work at card cheating and sleights.
Étienne Pradier is a French magician and is a member of the Magic Circle with Gold Star. He is a past winner of the Blackpool Magician's Club Close-up Magic Championships and was awarded third place in the Card Magic category in the FISM world championship.
Jerry Andrus was an American magician and writer known internationally for his original close-up, sleight of hand tricks, such as the famous "Linking Pins", and optical illusions.
Kostya Kimlat is a Ukrainian-American magician, motivational speaker, entrepreneur, and business consultant. With the use of magic tricks, Kimlat helps companies train employees. As a speaker, he lectures on the importance of perception in daily life through magic and sleight of hand.
The art form of card flourishing, commonly referred to as cardistry, grew out of simple flourishes used in close-up magic by magicians in the 1990s to early 2000s. Chris Kenner's notable two-handed Sybil cut from his 1992 publication Totally Out of Control has carried great influence and gave birth to a series of advanced flourishes which today represents the foundation of the performance art. Sleight of hand pioneers Dan and Dave Buck popularized cardistry on the world stage with their instructional DVD releases from 2004 and 2007. Journalist Kevin Pang of Vanity Fair characterized the art of card flourishing as, "It's yo-yo tricks performed by cardsharps with the street cred of a Parkour video. There's a name for it: cardistry."
References
- ↑ News, Magic Week, Number 176, 8 November 2003
- ↑ What is behind the trick? Giovanni Carta meets magician Michael Vincent
- ↑ DMC meets MICHAEL VINCENT
- ↑ Bennetto (28 April 2001); Taylor (28 April 2001); Daily Telegraph (13 June 2001)
- ↑ News, Magic Week, Number 148 - 26 April 2003.
- ↑ Duncan Trillo, Review: Heroes of Magic - A Century of Wonder Archived 30 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine , Magic Week, January 2001
- ↑ Bennetto (28 April 2001)
- ↑ Davis (December 2003)
- ↑ About Michael. "About Michael Vincent - Magic Circle Award Winning Magician".
Sources
- Bennetto, Jason, "Police hire magician to teach them some new tricks", The Independent , 28 April 2001. Accessed via subscription.
- Calvi, Nuala, Features: Michael Vincent, The Stage , 8 July 2005
- Clinton, Jane, "A new trick to cure illness", The Express on Sunday , 10 December 2006. Accessed via subscription.
- The Daily Telegraph , "Magician shows top police how to network", 13 June 2001.
- Davis, Mandy, Review: Test the Nation, BBC 1 22 December 2003, Magic Week, December 2003.
- Dawes, Edwin A. and Bailey, Michael (eds.), Circle Without End: The Magic Circle 1905 - 2005, Jeremy Mills Publishing, 2005, ISBN 0-9546484-9-8
- James, Julian (AIMC), "Interview with Michael Vincent", The Magic Circular (magazine of The Magic Circle), March/April 2002.
- The Voice , "The Magic Touch: Michael Vincent left the Post Office for showbusiness", 18 April 2004.
- Tiberio Álvarez Echeverri, E. ('Maqroll el Magiero'), "Michael Vincent: Una lección de comportamiento mágico", Ilusiones, reprinted with permission on Portal de Magia, February 2009 (in Spanish).
