One of the most easily recognizable magicians that you’ve never heard of, Steve Valentine, has starred for the past six seasons as the English forensic/criminal science expert Dr. Nigel Townsend on the NBC-TV series Crossing Jordan. In spite of the producers’ urging, Steve resisted giving Nigel a background as a magician hobbyist, hopelessly fumbling though the only card trick he was asked to perform on camera during the show’s run. Nevertheless, the trick worked in spite of Nigel’s presentation, which is precisely the way Steve engineered it. Now, after six years on a successful series and numerous guest appearances in motion pictures and television, Steve is slowly returning to his roots and reestablishing his connections in magic.

By Mark Nelson

In the holiday spirit, we here at MAGIC have searched the globe high and low to find the finest, most unique gifts, guaranteed to thrill any magician. Some of these are one-of-a-kind and others are available to anyone who has the desire and a little disposable income.

Go ahead, peruse these precious prestidigitators’ presents, delve into these dozen delights... and maybe even leave a copy of this article sitting around as a “subtle” hint. Ready? Here we go: On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

By Rory Johnston

The gorgeous 100-page full-color program indicated that the hosts of the Los Angeles Conference on Magic History had been working especially hard to make this the best one yet. And excitement was particularly high this year because John Gaughan was bringing back a presentation from the third conference, Dr. Hooker’s Impossibilities (The Rising Cards). The performance fourteen years ago was the only time Dr. Hooker’s legendary miracle had been seen since the 1930s. For over a year leading up to the conference, there had been an enormous amount of buzz in the magic community regarding the presentation of Hooker’s Rising Cards.

By John Lovick

This month’s Update brings you inside the recent FBI raid on David Copperfield’s warehouse, gives you an inside look at the high-selling items at the recent auction of Christian Fechner’s magic collection in New York, brings you up-to-date action on NBC’s Phenomenon, gives you a peek at the upcoming World Magic Awards, and allows you to spend “A Moment With… Jonathan Pendragon” as he discusses his recovery a year later after his life-threatening accident.

Twelve items are covered this month by Gabe Fajuri, Peter Duffie, Brad Henderson, and John Lovick:

• Card Dupery by J.K. Hartman
• The Hobson Egg Bag by Jeff Hobson
• X-OR by Heavenz Kool
• The C.A.N.N.A.B.I.S Effect by Daniel Young & Lee Hathaway
• Ear Full of Cider by Norman Beck
• It’s Not the Miles You’ve Traveled It’s the Stops that You’ve Made by Norman Beck
• Bang On by Marc Oberon
• The Real Secrets of Magic DVD, Vol. 2 by David Stone
• Between the Lines by Michael Murray
• Refraction by David Penn
• Connected by Peter Harrison
• The Cullfather DVD by Iain Moran
• Jim Bergstrom’s Hat Trick

Eddie McGuire to David Price

Shortly after his release from a mental hospital, Eddie McGuire sat down at the typewriter to answer a letter he had received from David Price. The stationery he rolled into the machine featured a picture of him standing in front of a tent, dressed to the nines with cowboy hat, scarf, shirt, pants, and boots. His thoughts are clearly expressed, accurately typed, and he provides some fascinating information that can be found nowhere else. The bulk of his letter concerned a magician named Kar-mi who performed in vaudeville prior to World War l. Little is known about this mysterious performer and the only reason his name is known today is due to his beautiful posters that have survived. Kar-mi’s publicity claimed that he was a Hindu Prince who “spent twenty years of his life as an occult priest in the secret temples of India and the Orient.” His fifteen-minute vaudeville act was very original and exceedingly mystifying, even to experienced magicians.

This month you’ll notice a soft transition into a new format, which we unveil in its fullest form over the next few issues. Denis Behr, known for his “handcrafted card magic,” contributes an impromptu coin effect that can be performed on its own or in the context of a Coins Through Table routine with four coins. J.K. Hartman and Shannon Clark contribute approaches to the Two-Card Transposition plot. Donny Orbit shares a 21st-century presentation for the center tear that features a good justification for having the information written down then destroyed. David Boothe offers an addition to Don England’s Another Man’s Treasure which allows the performer ends clean. Finally, for Expertalk, Peter Mennie explains his approach to Henry Christ’s Fabulous Four Ace routine.

David Kaye reminds us that kids need to remember your name by the time your show is over. This is a vital key to your marketing. David explains methods to accomplish this including several ideas by Rafael, a talented magician from Belgium, who has figured out several ways to put his name into routines in his magic show.

Sometimes coming up with a twist on an old idea makes for a new and refreshing routine. Here’s a fun approach to the classic Sawing In Half, featuring a one-man presentation called Head Over Heals. In a day when we rarely see the Sawing In Half presented anymore, most audiences are familiar with this classic effect but may have never actually seen it live onstage. By presenting what seems like a new approach, the audience will experience it brand new.

Gaetan offers an automatic topsy-turvy chair. A chair is covered with an opaque or semi-transparent rectangular sleeve. The sleeve is turned upside down, but when it is lifted, the chair is still standing up. Gaetan came up with this effect after seeing Peter Pit perform his routine with the classic Martinka chair. The Martinka version uses a normal chair and a carefully crafted shell chair, plus good showmanship. Here, we have only one chair, no shell, and the effect can almost be done without any cover.

Diagnosis: Above a weight considered normal or desirable. Bulging pockets, over-filled with props. Physical strain caused by lugging around and setting up bulky, heavy magic equipment, or lighting, sound, and tech equipment, or exceeding the fifty-pound-per-bag weight limit that most airlines now impose.

Who are you when you perform? What is your persona? What aspect of your true self do you present when you are making magic? This is not an easy set of questions to ask, much less answer. For it requires that we do something that is generally hard for people; it demands that we look in the mirror and see who is there. And then, assuming we can see authentic self, we have to… gulp… share it with unknown others who have the power to reject it. No wonder so many performers hide behind a mask or go generic.

From time to time, there seems to be a common theme argued by some professional magicians in magic magazines and on the Internet. It states that hobbyist, amateur, and part-time professional magicians should all “know their place” in the magical hierarchy and not go tramping in the backyards of the big boys. The rationale for this argument appears to be that the skill levels and entertaining abilities of the non-professional are not up to the same standards as those who breathe more rarefied air and that, as a result, the whole world of magic is demeaned every time one of us performs. Rick Morton believes this argument is not only flawed, but it is often hypocritical on the part of the many professional magicians who rely on the magic masses to supplement at least a part of their income.