I call it “folded corner syndrome.” Nearly every magician has experienced it: paging through a magic book, you encounter something interesting. Yet the effect requires materials you don’t have on hand, such that you must locate and/or purchase them before even trying the effect. So you fold the corner of the page, insert a bookmark or make a note to yourself. Life moves on, however, and you forget about it. Years may transpire before you return to it, if ever.
The problem is not limited to magicians. Avid cooks are similarly afflicted: flipping through a cookbook, they discover an exciting new recipe. If the ingredients aren’t in stock or, worse still, out of season, the page is marked for a future meal that may never come. For tonight, though, the cook must resort to an old favorite. In the same way, “folded corner syndrome” may account for the perennial, if not fanatical, popularity of card tricks among magicians. You may not have a length of steel pipe, a hacksaw and a tuning fork handy, yet there’s always a deck of playing cards nearby.
Nelm’s Magic & Showmanship contains an excellent example. To illustrate a causation principle he dubbed “Superinvention and Superscience,” Nelms offered instructions for “The Instant Incubator,” a clever take on the popular Square Circle illusion (see illustration). Nelms’ conceit is to deploy two Square Circles, festooned with electronic hardware, to perform pseudoscientific teleportation. Its construction requires brass knobs, dowels, sheet aluminum, vintage knife switches, black flocking, hoses, tubes, a mat and wire grids. Nelms’ tempers the urge to simplify his creation by cautioning that one should “not go about it halfway” ensuring that the apparatus “carries no suggestion that it was originally made by a manufacturer of conjurer’s supplies.” Phew! Though this idea caught my eye years ago, I’ve yet to try it. Thus, “The Instant Incubator” fell victim to “folded corner syndrome.”
To eliminate this obstacle, we devised a critical feature that became part of the book’s title: The Inventive Magician’s Handbook . . . With Props. The curated prop-kit required vast amounts of time, money and thought: we chose effects to illustrate most principles that could be performed with the specially-designed professional materials in the prop-kit, or available via a printable download. With the props at hand, the reader could immediately explore the ideas presented. And those principles were not limited to close-up, but included effects that could be redesigned or reapplied for various venues, including parlor, platform, stage and even television.
Having reviewed the finished book and the prop-kit, I’m convinced that these investments
were worthwhile. The Inventive Magician’s Handbook . . . With Props offers magicians an experience they’ve never had, or at least not for a very long time. Studying magic while armed with the necessary props may evoke memories of that childhood magic set that got you started: a box of wonders with a booklet to guide you on a path of mystery. Unlike the uninspired junk often packed in children’s sets, the original effects and props that accompany the Handbook are high-quality pieces designed for experienced, creative magicians. The Handbook teaches how to perform these effects, examines the processes used to create them and will help you design your own original presentations.
The release date (October 1) is nearly upon us . . . those who have ordered a copy will soon discover the wonders of the Prop Kit - perhaps it will be a cure for the dreaded Folded Corner Syndrome!
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