The Amateur Magician’s Handbook

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best magician, birthday party, Filipino magician, Leodini, magician in the philippines

I’m ecstatic. I received the other day my new copy of The Amateur Magician’s Handbook by Henry Hay.

It’s not a “new” copy in the sense that it came fresh out of the printing press. The book has been out of print for quite some time now.

What I got is a second-hand copy that my brother in the US bought for me from Amazon.com. 

Break a Leg for Good Luck

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break a leg, magician in the philippines

As a magician, you must have heard of the phrase “break a leg.”

It is a theater jargon that has spread in other live performing arts.

People tell it to you before the show when they want to wish you good luck.

Wait a minute. Confused why “break a leg” means “good luck”?

Well, that is the idea of the phrase—to confuse.

Theories abound about the origin of this phrase. One is that back in the 1920s, in American theater, some stage actors coined it out of superstition.

In those days, they thought fairies and evil spirits haunted the theaters. They suspected these resident spirits were pranking the performers. That they used their malevolent powers to wreak havoc on stage plays.

This belief came about after they noticed something unusual. Every time they wished fellow performers good luck, bad luck happened. Props failed, scenery dropped, actors lost their place in the script, and so on.

It didn’t take long for stage performers to assume saying “good luck” moved the evil spirits to bring bad luck. So, to confuse the evil spirits and spur them to bring good luck, they changed tactics. They wished the performers bad luck before the show.

Yes, the strategy was to wish someone bad luck to bring good luck. Confusing, but that’s the idea—to confuse the bad spirits.

The phrase for bad luck they come up with was “break a leg”. As you well know, breaking a leg is the nastiest accident a performer can meet during a performance. It is the worst form of bad luck.

The result?

Photo by Leon Liu on Unsplash

According to superstition, a wish for bad luck confuses evil spirits. When they hear someone wishing a performer to “break a leg”, they bring him the opposite. They give him good luck instead. The show then runs smoothly, free of accidents, mistakes, and bloopers.

What has all this to do with your magic?

Well, the pandemic has been upon us since last year. The virus has wiped out the local magic entertainment industry.

Unless you didn’t notice it, we have been in a long spell of bad luck.

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

I’m not superstitious, but I have this sneaky idea we need people to tell us to “break a leg” for a change.

Stay magical,

Leodini

Magic on Ice: Find Time to Catch this Show

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birthday party, corporate shows, Filipino magician, Leodini, magician in the philippines

I brought my whole family to Araneta Coliseum last night to watch the last-day performance of Magic on Ice. Surprise, surprise! The show gets an extended run until January 6.

The show is worthy of Las Vegas—glitzy, theatrical, lots of beautiful girls in skimpy costumes, spectacular magical illusions, and magnificent plays of lights. (More of this later.)

The Magical Joy Of Reading

Most people believe that persons who read a lot are intelligent.

Omnivorous readers have a reputation for being profound thinkers. Having a good grasp of everything, they can converse with anyone about many topics.

To make it to the list of intellectuals, I read everything that is dangled to me. It is a time-consuming habit, but I invest several hours a day on it just so I can sound erudite.

I read not only posts on online forums of magicians, but everything else. Including labels of corned beef cans.

I also find palm-reading interesting. I mean more interesting—especially if at the other end of the palm is a good-looking girl.

Stay magical,

Leodini

www.sirleodini.com

Bohemian Rhapsody Schools Leodini

So I watched Bohemian Rhapsody. I liked it more than I was willing to admit.

I won’t comment on the film’s music. I don’t have the musical depth to qualify as a critic of music. But I know the kind that pleases my ears. Queen’s music does. I find most of their songs have a frenzied but sweet euphony despite their intensity.

Nor will I share my thoughts on the artistic and technical strengths of the film. Even though I’m a hopeless movie buff, moviemaking is a puzzle. My consolation is that I know what movies entertain me. Bohemian Rhapsody pleases me…immensely enough to make me write this piece.

And this piece is about the lessons I learned from Queen. Or from Freddie Mercury, as portrayed in the film.

Lesson One: a performing artist must strive to distinguish himself from the masses. He should aspire to be exceptional. Or different to stand out from the crowd. If Freddie Mercury were a magician, he would not wear a tail tuxedo as most magicians do.

Lesson Two: Queen’s music is plain different. It is uncommon, unusual, and even unprecedented. Their songs are not mere screams, shrieks, and screeches. Their blistering instruments are not playing decibels merely amped up to the stratosphere. There’s an electrifying melody in the madding cacophony. If Freddie Mercury were a magician, he’d not be performing appearing canes and Snowstorms in China. He would show something else, something unusual to be different.

Lesson Three: in a live performance, audience participation is king. No doubt, Freddie Mercury possesses an irresistible stage presence. Still, he dishes out songs that encourage the audience to perform with him. The fans clap their hands, raise their arms in the air, and stomp their feet on the ground. They sway. They shake. They sing along with him. A hundred thousand strong mass of humanity moving in euphoric unison. A spectacle so magical to behold. And yet, Queen’s Freddie Mercury performs neither magic nor illusion. He performs music that is stupendously fun by involving the audience in the act.

These are good lessons performing artists can take to heart. It needs work to digest them, and even more effort to apply them in real-world performances.

Stay Magical,

Leodini

www.sirleodini.com

Is There Such a Thing as Magic Meals?

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children's birthday party, kids magic show, Leodini, magician in manila, magician in the Philippines; Leodini

For some time now, my doctor has been telling me I have a chemical imbalance in my blood.

All this I got from my diet.

The foods we eat may give us nutrients today. Over time they will kill us.

That’s the awful truth.

The Linking Finger Ring

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children's birthday party, kids magic show, Leodini, magician in manila, magician in the philippines

The Linking Finger Ring Project by David Regal is truly a gem.

It’s not cheap but neither it is so expensive you would rather salivate than buy it.

If the price is a concern, though, you can buy the lower-end Himber type rings. I have one I bought many years ago for around $30. It may be in the $50 range now.

Changing Shows

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Here’s why I seldom change my show…

This is often the scenario: a birthday mom hires me and tells me, “I’ve seen your show two or three times at different parties. I want a NEW show for my child’s party—but don’t forget to include the dove act, the duck trick, the comedy levitation, the hilarious mind reading, and the box switch. Also, I want you to perform your Underwater Straitjacket Escape and the Vanishing Ferrari trick.”

Is Magic Written in my DNA?

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children's birthday party, kids magic show, Leodini, magician in manila, magician in the philippines

Sometimes I long for a normal life, something away from magic—away from thumb tips, silk handkerchiefs, invisible threads, Elmsley Count, etc.

I’ve seldom got the chance. Nary a day passes without magic raring its head and intruding into my life.

The tricycle driver wants me to turn his P20 into P1,000; the husband asks me to make his wife disappear; the lover boy begs me to give him a love potion; and so on.

Unsolicited Advice Not Available

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children's birthday party, kids magic show, Leodini, magician in manila, magician in the philippines

As a magician in the Philippines, I am predisposed to giving advice.

I give advice to other magicians, friends, and neighbors.  I even give advice to myself, which I rarely heed.

Judging from the way I disregard me, you can imagine how other people value my advice.