My List of The Same Magic Tricks
In magic communities, both here in the Philippines and throughout the world, contradicting idealisms abound.
Filipino magicians are as predisposed to make grand statements as magicians of other nationalities. Not much wrong with that, if they can back up their claims with suitable corresponding actions.
I can find many examples of this phenomenon. Allow me to start with the intriguing similarities of magic acts. Intriguing because magicians, even those who mouth platitudes of their being original thinkers, often perform the same magic tricks that many other magicians are doing.
The problem (if it can be called that) even afflicts magic dealers. I remember many years ago, Hank Lee’s enticed buyers with an enchanting ad copy. It said, “With thousands of tricks in our inventory, you don’t have to perform the same magic other magicians are performing,” or words to that effect.
Yet, when you browse their catalog, except for a few dozen specialty tricks and exclusive props, they sell exactly the same items found in the inventory of their competitors.
The similar-trick contagion spreads across all levels of proficiency among magic performers. I cannot speak of the situation in other countries. Here in the Philippines, specially in the Metro Manila area where the market for magic entertainment is small, the similarities of tricks in magic acts are so pronounced they are obvious even to my near-sighted mother-in-law watching magicians a half block away.
For this matter, I can’t help suspecting that beginning, intermediate and even professional Pinoy magicians have developed an inclination to perform the same magic tricks. The reason? They think being similar is the right path to the freezer (they want to appear cool). Indeed many of them end their careers inside the freezer, where they are seldom heard of again after their frosty performances.
Here are the tricks that Filipino magicians should weed out from their acts if they want to attain distinction and uniqueness.
- Appearing Cane
- Disappearing Cane
- Appearing Candle
- Disappearing Candle
- Appearing Doves (a la Lance Burton)
- Disappearing Doves (a la Jason Byrne)
- Needle Thru Balloon
- Talking Mask
- Floating Table
- Snowstorm in China
- Throw Streamers
- Balloon Swallowing
- Linking Rings
- Zombie Ball
The list is by no means complete. But the tricks that made it there should be in sufficient number to prove my point. That is, if I have a point to start with.
After saying all this, I must confess I am one of the magicians guilty of the sins I enumerated above.
However, my guilt doesn’t prevent me from contemplating this enigma. If there are thousands of tricks out there, why do magicians perform the same few tricks?
If you have the answer, please enlighten me.
Or is the answer a secret?
In future articles, I will try to break the DNA code of magical clones.
Stay magical,
Leodini
Dear Mr Leodini,
I think one of the answers why a lot of Filipino Magicians still do those tricks amidst the thousands of new tricks out there, is that those new tricks are not readily available to us. Yes they are easily accessible but they are not affordable. I think that those new tricks are very expensive that most Filipino magicians would just be content of what they have and improve on it. If these products are available locally and easily accessible (e.g those little kiosks in the malls), they are too expensive too and the bad thing about this is most of the products locally available are imitations that have poor quality. (e.g an imitation WOW sells at P1500 and it’s not even the black screen type of thing, it has those grills that could make audiences suspicious as well.)
I remember one fellow magician from an online forum told me that, we actually have an advantage of not being too exposed on the larger magic market because he believes that the fact that we are not flooded always with new stuff, we could be more creative and thus make new things. The problem I see however is the lack of creativity.
I do hope to get into detail of what I’m saying. Maybe I’ll publish a blog entry within the next days the reasons and maybe solutions to these problems.
Until then,
Jordan
Hi Jordan,
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.
The price factor is an interesting theory, but I think the underlying reasons for sameness are more psychological than organic. It is a mental demon that possesses magicians. This demon was created by magic inventors.
Let me amplify on this line of thought in a future article.
Why I believe price is not the culprit?
Well, if you study my list, the top items are appearing/disappearing canes and appearing/disappearing candles. These props are by no means cheap. Their prices range from P3,000 to P5,000, depending on the brand or the material used.
Yet canes and candles are staple props in stand-up magic shows here in the Philippines. They are so ubiquitous if I see them in the next magic show I shall scream.
The Floating Table is over $1,000 if you buy it from Losander, $750 or thereabouts from knock-off artists, and from P8,000 to P12,000 from local makers. These prices are far from being cheap, yet the Floating Table is featured in many Filipino magicians’ acts.
There must be more subtle reasons for the magicians’ penchant for sameness than price of props and tricks.
Stay magical,
Leodini
Hi Leodini,
I think it’s because those tricks are the “bestsellers.” You might be tired of it because you’ve seen those tricks hundereds of times but there could be people in your audience who have never seen those tricks before, or if they did, never live or face to face. Also, if your audience is composed of the younger generation, those tricks never (I’m guessing) fail to amaze them, unless they saw the same tricks during last year’s party…sometimes, not even then. Children love to see the same tricks over and over because to them, it is the stuff of magic…as what it should be.
Thanks for your ideas. If we brainstorm on this, we could get to the bottom of this riddle.
Leodini
I think Claire has a good point in her argument.
This issue points to the question “What is the present situation of Magic in the Philippines?” Thus, the answer lies into the state of Filipino magicians. What do they always present? What are their selling points? There is a good point in Leodinis blog. If you remove those routine in the list, what would be the next list or the secondary list? Burning hanky? mentalism?
Second, what is the nature of the magician’s audience? What class do they come from? Who enjoy’s most of the magic?
I bet many of the young people know more of Chris Angel than any local magician.
Prof. AL