MAGIC, The Magazine For Magicians

By Joshua Jay

Rune Klan is the most famous magician you’ve never heard of. An extremist in nearly every way, Rune is a walking contradiction.

Among magicians, Rune has gained an underground reputation as a guru of coins. Yet he has achieved celebrity status in his native Denmark exclusively for stand-up comedy magic. Rune is recognized everywhere he goes (his romantic pursuits are Danish tabloid fodder), yet the public has no grasp of his virtuosity with coins. To them, he’s a stage magician.

Rune’s sleight of hand, particularly with coins, is world class. Yet he doesn’t particularly like watching coin magic.

He refuses to use close-up gaffs — no shells or double-facers for Rune. Yet his stand-up show is filled with gimmicks and gadgets of every kind.

Rune’s close-up magic is understated; the magic is the experience, and Rune functions as the polite manipulator. Onstage, Rune is the show: loud, charismatic, and almost always in the middle of a dirty joke.

So how does a technically flawless, introverted, broke restaurant magician morph into the most provocative, recognizable entertainer in Denmark?



By Joshua Jay Rune Klan is the most famous magician you’ve never heard of. An extremist in nearly every way, Rune is a walking contradiction. Among magicians, Rune has gained an underground reputation as a guru of coins. Yet he has achieved celebrity status in his native Denmark exclusively for stand-up comedy magic. Rune is recognized everywhere he goes (his romantic pursuits are Danish tabloid fodder), yet the public has no grasp of his virtuosity with coins. To them, he’s a stage magician. Rune’s sleight of hand, particularly with coins, is world class. Yet he doesn’t particularly like watching coin magic. He refuses to use close-up gaffs — no shells or double-facers for Rune. Yet his stand-up show is filled with gimmicks and gadgets of every kind. Rune’s close-up magic is understated; the magic is the experience, and Rune functions as the polite manipulator. Onstage, Rune is the show: loud, charismatic, and almost always in the middle of a dirty joke. So how does a technically flawless, introverted, broke restaurant magician morph into the most provocative, recognizable entertainer in Denmark?

By Mark Nelson Given the choice of producing a magic-themed black-tie fundraising event for charity, a two-hour network television special featuring up-and-coming stars in the magic world, or a live magic stage revue, most people would select one event over the others. The World Magic Awards, recorded on October 10, 2009, for airing later this month, combines elements of all three. The live-to-tape, nonstop production of the show provides the entertainment for the charity donors; the donors provide an enthusiastic audience for the magicians; and the magic provides the attraction for an international television audience. It’s three shows in one!

By Alan Howard Written by Mike Caveney, Jim Steinmeyer, and Ricky Jay, compiled and edited by Noel Daniel, Magic: 1400s – 1950s weighs in as a stunning volume of conjuring history.

By Sandy Marshall Jay Marshall had a long and extensive fascination with magic. Have a look back more than seventy years ago to Jay’s take on then-current magicians, and his son’s look at Jay’s own pursuits of the time.

By Rory Johnston He refers to himself as “human spackle,” as he strives to fill any opening in a magic production, onstage or off. His varied career has aided other magicians and shows to succeed, and now Scott Hitchcock is stepping to the forefront himself.

By Kirsten Voris In the world of stage mentalism, turbans, crystal balls, and billets are cultural signposts. From the time the first white mahatma stepped onto a stage and read a mind, these trappings sold the fantasy of the lushly mysterious East to an audience who was prepared to believe in it. In the 1920s and ’30s, a handful of stage psychics abandoned the pageantry and offered a stripped-down version of the question-and-answer act. From the stage they fielded rapid-fire audience questions and created clever and credible answers on the spot. Psychic performer Gene Dennis owned this formula and took it to the bank. In 1931, when she signed with Warner Brothers as an added stage attraction in their movie houses, she was the highest-paid psychic doing a single in the business.

News stories covering: the World Magic Awards airing in November, the rebirth of Disneyland’s Main Street Magic Shop, Penn & Teller playing “reluctant detectives” for a new ABC pilot, David Copperfield’s role in the Oh My God documentary coming out in November, Larry Wilmore’s “playing the race card” trick on The Daily Show, Pearl Jam’s latest album offering a magical image, Ricky Jay’s new theatrical excursion, plus “A Moment With… Joshua Jay” on his devastating accident.

Sixteen products are covered this month by Michael Claxton, Peter Duffie, Jason England, Gabe Fajuri, Brad Henderson, and John Lovick: Psychological Subtleties 3 by Banachek The eBooks of Tom Stone Experience: The Magic of Jon Allen by John Lovick Metamorphosis (Pro-Version) Triumph by Oz Pearlman Crossroads by Ben Harris Menu of Miracles Vol. 3 …And a Pack of Cards by Jack Merlin Gang of Four by Harry Anderson Franz Harary Magic Planet: The Complete TV Series Ultimate Card Sessions S.O.S. Coin Production by Tim David Sneaky Sneaker by Bob Solari Super Charged Classics by Mark James Instant Radio by Shahid Malik Baltazar Fuentes and His Magic

This month, Joshua Jay delves deep into the difficult but beautiful coin repertoire of Rune Klan. Two moves and two full-length effects are explained with an abundance of photos, to make learning these challenging routines as enjoyable as possible.

In September 1926, an eighteen-year-old Stewart James published A Match for Gravity in the Linking Ring. It was the first trick he ever published in a magic magazine. The effect is simple. A string is tied between a kitchen match and a pocket watch. The string is draped over a pencil; the match is drawn back, raising the watch into the air. When the match is released, the watch plummets toward the ground. At the last second, the match winds around the pencil and stops the watch from falling. The trick is over eighty years old, but I believe that it still has enormous potential for exploration.

It’s absolutely true: in watching other performers, we can see ourselves. We sometimes make the same mistakes or the same brilliant choices, but don’t recognize them until we observe them in someone else. Through this series of articles, enhanced by the accompanying videos you can find at www.MAGICmagazine.com, you can learn from watching other performers as I gently point out ways that their material can be improved, as well as the aspects of their acts that are working well. Although they refer directly to the video in question, these points also carry over as general principles of performing. There are many right ways of doing things, and these are a few options.