To pursue further the subject of economics in performing, let me talk about Economy of Motion…
Some magicians in the Philippines look smooth and elegant when performing. They have mastered their routines and polished their moves. Polish and mastery, of course, have a third buddy. It is called streamlined act, which is a byproduct of the principle of Economy of Motion.
According to the experts, Economy of Motion eliminates wasted or extraneous actions. It allows the ease of doing a task. It results from as few moves as possible.
How many times do you transfer a coin from hand to hand before making it disappear? How many times do you prove the box is empty? And how many ways do you show the change bag to be devoid of trickery?
Analyze your act and see if you can accomplish the same thing using fewer moves than you normally do.
If you can vanish a coin in three tosses to the other hand, try streamlining your motions by eliminating at least one toss. Later, you may want to do away with another toss, so that in the end you make the coin disappear in just one toss.
That will lead to a clearer effect and to a more graceful performance.
Stay magical,
Leodini
Leodini's Inner Magic 
“Less is more” is always a good guiding principle.
When I do a billiard ball vanish, I really do toss the ball once from the left hand to right hand before doing a standard pass. That sets up what my friend Henry Hay called “association” in _The Amateur Magician’s Handbook_. Mike Gallo, who is well-known internationally for his outstanding sleight-of-hand with coins, told me once that my billiard ball vanish had the effect of the retention-of-vision that is usually associated only with coin magic. I’m sure that the association principle helped to create that illusion.
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Hi Sonny,
I’m glad to hear you are Henry Hay’s friend. He inspired me to study magic seriously. I read and re-read his books “Learn Magic” and “The Amateur Magician’s Handbook” until the pages crumbled in my hands. I’d be happy to see your billiard ball vanish one day when you decide to visit the Philippines.
Stay magical,
Leodini
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I found out from a _Linking Ring_ article that Henry Hay (whose real name was Barrows Mussey) lived and worked in Germany. Since I speak fluent German, I wrote to Mussey and arranged to spend time with him and his wife Dagmar when I went to Germany in 1972 and again in 1974. Here’s a link to a photo I took of Henry Hay at a cookout in Germany where he and I both performed magic:
Seeing him perform an impromptu Miser’s Dream routine was truly amazing!
In my magic library is a German edition of _Learn Magic_. Mussey signed it with an inscription which, when translated, said:
To Amado “Sonny” Narvaez–my student about whom I can boast.
—– Sonny
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Hi Sonny,
Thanks for posting the photo. I’m thrilled to see a picture of him in action.
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