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Don't Blame MagicBy David T. Bamberg

The following article appeared in the final issue of The Sphinx, that legendary magazine ofmagic. I do not have my library at hand so I can't post here the exact date. If you happen toknow it, please eMail me so that I can include the date here.

David Bamberg, as most know, was the last of six or seven genarations of magicians,originally from Holland. His father, Okito, was a world-travelled, top-notch magical artiste.David, born in England and raised in the United States, adopted the stage name Fu-Manchuin Argentina where he had arrived from Portugal (via Brazil) in the late twenties. There hebegan an illustrious carreer as an illusionist with highly-rated full-evening show. Except fora brief run in the United States in 1937, all his performances were given in Latin American,Spain and Portugal. He's an artistic hero for many Latinamerican magicians.

The sub-heading of the article states that it is the first of a series. Unhappily, as I alreadysaid, it was published in the final issue of The Sphinx. It would be interesting to find out ifhe wrote any more articles in this series.

Don't Blame MagicThe first of a series of articles on

presentation, illusions and thehandling of a full evening's

magic show.

By David T. Bamberg

Candid photo secretly taken while DaveBamberg was writing this article in his room

after his show.

As the chapter on stage presentation in Greater Magic was written nearly fifteen years agoit's about time to do a spot of checking in view of the existing conditions of show businessin Latin America today.

The full evening's illusion show in its present form is slowly going out of existence. At itsbest it is an anachronic medium of entertainment comparable to the opera or the zarzuela(Spanish light opera).

From 1910 until 1935 there was a South American vaudeville tour headed by Don CarlosSeguin. His headquarters was the Teatro Casino in Buenos Aires and his mainrepresentative was in Paris. The best variety acts in the world were brought from Europeand the United States for a six month's tour which included Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo,Montevideo, Buenos Aires and a few of the smaller cities in the Argentine Republic. Whentalkies came in, vaudeville went out and there never was sufficient talent in Latin Americato warrant the continued upkeep of variety houses and topnotch acts were too expensive toimport. However the legitimate theatres accepted magic shows on the same terms as stockcompanies and revues, so it was a question of forming a first class full evening's magicshow or not working at all.

Latin America is a vast field comprising South and Central America, Mexico, the Carribeancountries and one can include Spain; 22 nations all speaking the same language with theexception of Brazil. (And Portugese is not TOO different.)

One of the great disadvantages in touring South America is the great distances betweencities. If it were possible to have one's own truck and trailer things would be ideal but thePan-American highway is far from completed. In some parts of the Argentine and innorthern Peru it is excellent but in most of the other countries it is practically impassableespecially in the mountainous countries such as Chile, Bolivia, southern Peru, Ecuador,Colombia and Venezuela. In northern Colombia and Panama it is non-existent. FromArgentine to Mexico one travels by train, bus. auto, plane, ship, river boats or trucksthrough vast plains, lakes, jungles, wild Indian country, over huge mountain passesconsidered the most dangerous in the world and through all sorts of climatic conditionsfrom subzero to fierce heat.

In some places the theatres are modern, comfortable and in some cases even beautiful, butin most places they are pretty bad. In the smaller towns musicians are not to be had and thefew that show up are terrible and one usually works to music that has all the soulfulinspiration of a bilge pump. Modern stage lighting is unknown so one has to take aminimum of musicians and lighting equipment along.

In order to lick this situation one is forced to have a light, compact and easily set-up show.Had I learned this years ago I would have saved myself a lot of grief, but, as a young man Ihad the itch to be that mythical character, The World's Greatest Magician. I thought in mynaive way that the solution lay in having more props than anyone else. So I built tons ofillusions and the result was that I never did become the world's greatest magician and Ifound myself with an old-man-of-the-sea on my back that I couldn't get rid of.

When I built a new illusion it was mine to have and to hold until death us do part. Supposeone who has a show that consists of fifty pieces of baggage is entering a new country. Thesemiracles are inspected and passed by the customs officials and a bond is put up for them.When you leave the country you still have to have those same fifty pieces or forfeit thebond.

There are times on a ship when you may desperately scheme to chuck a few cratesoverboard on a foggy night but then you realize that the stuff has been checked on board aswell and it still remains all yours.

On the other hand if you wish to add a new illusion or some scenic effect up goes the totaland you end up by being the "world's greatest" lost in a sea of crates.

The only practical solution is to make a radical change in the show in some country whereyou can get all the necessary materials, put all your faith in God. and grease the palm ofsome ambitious customs official as you leave the country happy in the knowledge that you

have performed your greatest illusion, the vanishing of two tons of junk in one fell swoop.

I mentioned in "Greater Magic" that the old fashioned cyclorama which most of the oldtimers used was not suitable to Modern presentation because of its obvious limitations.Recently I have begun to favor the old cyc again but in a Modern, streamlined version.

The gaudy, although very attractive painted scenery that I have used till now has manydrawbacks. It is heavy, needs constant retouching, is difficult to mask and in some lowstages impossible to hang. Even when carefully folded for transportation the paint wearsthin at the folds and when it is rehung you see the marks distinctly. I am now working on anew idea in which the old cyc plays an important part. Instead of the scenery going up I willhave the changes made from the side in order to be able to work in picture theatres thathave no grid. There are a lot of problems to be ironed out but when I have the new settingsin working order and if they meet expectations I will give the readers of The Sphinx anoutline of the idea with fotos.

I am afraid I was a bit premature in some of my radical statements in "Greater Magic" but Iwas fifteen years younger then. I think it was Oscar Wilde who said something about theyoung being always ready to give their elders the full benefit of their inexperience. Iteventually dawned on me that one man talking directly to an audience for over two hours iswonderful for the performer but insufferable for the public. I found a solution in bringing ina second character, the comedian, and enlarging the sketches. This enriched the dialogueand made it so much better theatre. It turned me into a light comedian and straight man. Thecomic does the slapstick with the pratfalls and the breakaway pants complete with the shot.Thus is the wheel of showbusiness in Latin America turned back to the Potash andPerlmutter era.

One of the happy results of this combination is my sketch. The Magic Bazaar. I play thepart of the magic dealer and my eager client is the comic. You can see he is a poor slobwho'll never be a magician as long as he lives but he insists on buying magic tricks andsnafus everything even to getting the dealer-demonstrator fouled up. Finally the exasperateddealer has no other alternative than to vanish this outsized orangutan. The sketch requirestwo principals and has two small bits that any assistant can play. About twenty small tricksare streamlined into a comedy routine and it uses the De Kolta chair for the final vanish ofthe stooge. It is one of the outstanding successes in my show.

The success of this sketch led to others: Black Magic, The Haunted Window, TheEnchanted Cabaret, The Eternal Triangle, The Two-Timing Magician, The ReversedTheatre, The Magic Circus, The Vengeance of Fu Manchu, Fifi of Paris, and the Gypsy'sCurse. Some of these are talking sketches, some pantomime, while others have musical ordance motifs, but all have motivation, timing and rhythm. They are divided about equallyinto the two full evening shows. Between the sketches we do bits, small magic and some ofthe better known tricks and illusions.

In Greater Magic I mentioned the difficulty of finding good stooges and plants. I finallygave it up as it never struck me as good theatre in any case. The whole comedy routine ofthe old spirit cabinet depended on a good plant and finally, after many changes, I got fed upwith it and changed the whole plot around. In its present form the laughing response is fargreater than before as the part of the stooge is done by a professional comedian.

I would like to mention here that the blinding lights in eyes of the audience as formerlyused in the black art routines is quite unnecessary. I use one (red) thousand watt border spothung directly over the cabinet which amply lights the illusion and the actors but leaves theblack clad assistant completely invisible even at a distance of three feet.

I use the word "cabinet" which is really a misnomer. My Haunted Window is not a cabinetin the sense that it is part of the stage setting. I feel that magician's cabinets are the biggesteyesores that were ever invented. They are usually ungainly, bulky, heavy and extremelyantiesthetic. They look just what they are; tricky. Any reasonably intelligent person knowsthat one or more assistants can be concealed in such a monstrosity. How many unhappyhusbands have been confounded when a mysterious Don Juan springs out from a simplewardrobe? Where is all the mystery then?

My Haunted Window illusion is just a variation on the old spirit cabinet routine. BothMaskelyne and Selbit used the old multiple door illusion. Selbit used it for his "ShadowPeople" illusion. Maskelyne used an ingenious system of mirrors in combination with hiscabinet. The mirrors came up thru' a stage trap and was a very remarkable piece of magicbut not practical for the road and quick setting. Mine is a much simpler version but not apatch on the Maskelyne illusion. However I have the old-man-of-the-sea on my back andhave to sacrifice masterpieces for good forgeries.

Fig. 1

As can be seen by Fig. 1 it is constructed of three 3-ply boards fastened to a frame withwing-bolts. The side boards almost touch the floor to hide the wheels from view. When thecurtain opens the illusion is in its place and is not turned around as I feel it incongruous towheel a stone window around. The wheels are only used to bring the illusion on or offstage.

The boards are painted to imitate stone which gives the effect of the window being part ofan old broken down castle which the scenery represents. The window curtains are blackwith white tape sewed on to give the effect of a huge cobweb. When the curtains are openedthe effect is like brushing a cobweb aside.

The window has no back at all and when the curtains are opened one sees clear thru. Thecomedian wanders in and out of the window with a flashlight in his search for the ghost andthereby convinces the audience that nothing is concealed there. Nothing is mentioned aboutanyone Not being there and the audience convinces themselves which is so much to thegood and better magic. This combination of setting and illusion facilitates things greatlyand I believe that it will play a considerable part in future magic productions.

Note the frame "a" just below the platform. It is one of Okito's sound and cleverinspirations. Some stages are bumpy and even have holes in them and when an illusion iswheeled on in a hurry and a wheel gets caught in one of these holes the leg of the illusion isapt to snap clean off. The Okito frame prevents this. A long bolt is passed down thru' theplatform and the leg, and out thru the Okito frame where it is locked with a nut. The wheels

are then bolted to the frame just a little to one side of the locking nut. I have never had abroken leg or wheel since using this device.

A prime headache in magic shows is tricks that are motivated by purely mechanical orelectrical means. Most electrical devices let you down when you most need them, as domost clockwork devices. I saw a famous magician in Buenos Aires have a wrestling matchwith his Jumbo Rising Cards on his opening night. The damned thing just wouldn't work. Ihave tried to eliminate all but the most elementary mechanical movements from my showand even so things are not 100% foolproof.

Complicated lighting effects are also impossible in Latin-America if you have to depend onthe house electrician. As I never learn and like things the hard way I had fourteen lightchanges when I first produced my Black Magic illusion. That included the effect machinesand the U.V. I found later that I could get the same effect with five changes.

Down here some towns have A.C. others D.C. Some fool towns have 150 volts, another has220 or 110 and in one place, so help me, Hannah! they had 440. So with a smallswitchboard of my own and a small transformer (5000W) I now use 110 A.C.

Fig. 2

The switchboard (Fig. 2) takes care of all the lighting effects a magic show needs. It hascircuits for U.V., red, white and blue floods, signals for the spot-light man, arcs, variousoutputs for bells, magnesium flashes, effect machines and other gadgets. The floods can bedimmed by the upper variable resistance on the switchboard. The lower variable resistancetakes care of four center baby spots which can be dissolved from red to green or viceversa.This resistance also operates and dims the effect machines and border floods.

In the Haunted Window sketch the scene opens in red light which dissolves to greenbringing out the hidden monsters painted in the scenery. By throwing the small switchesbelow the resistance it dissolves the green into the floating skeletons (effect machine) andthen dissolves into the red border spot that lights the window from above as I mentionedpreviously. There is also an outlet for dimming or dissolving side or back lights using thesame resistance.

Fig. 3

Fig. 3 shows the back of the switchboard open. If any magician wants the hook-up I'll beglad to oblige. As I made the switchboard myself it will never pass the AmericanUnderwriters Laboratory but for my purpose down here it is a scientific masterpiece.

The average magic show in Latin-America still uses that sickening opening that seems to bea mania. When the curtain rises one sees those horrendous gold fringed magic tablesusually cockeyed. Upon them are an unartistic display of tubes and boxes with phoneychinese characters and unhappy dragons painted on. From these hellish props are produceda number of depressing silk handkerchiefs, some antiquated feather dusters which the magifondly believe to be roses, a few tarnished gold fish, some silly folding boxes which usuallyrefuse to open, and other things so dear to the heart of the pistol-packing fraternity. Havingtouched upon this topic I would like to write a little about a man for whom I have a greatfeeling of admiration, Dariel Fitzkee. I strongly advise anyone who intends to perform afull evening's illusion show to read "Showmanship For Magicians." Fitzkee's advice onstage presentation and magic in general is excellent. I read his book as a tonic when I getthat slack don't-give-a-damn feeling and with his permission I wish to quote him and evenelaborate a bit on his wise teachings.

1. "Take the number of exhibitions of magic that are given throughout the country in asingle day--fully 75% of the performances are poor according to modernentertainment standards. Another 24% are mediocre.

Fitzkee feels that he is being "conservative" when he estimates that not more than onepercent can be called smart and modern. I would say that on a world basis a full 99%have an obnoxious affluvia. (Col:Am: It stinks!)

2. "There is too much tolerance for magicians as a group." I think Mr. Fitzkee is muchtoo polite to say that they get away with murder.

3. "The Thurston show was at one time known as the most valuable property in showbusiness--no magic show even remotely approaches that status now. Obviously,magic itself is not to blame. It attained this distinction once--when its method ofpresentation was geared and attuned to the times."

Any comment I might make on this pearl of wisdom would be to gild the lily. I canonly say that the title of this article is DON'T BLAME MAGIC. Thurston had

something when he called his show "An American Institution." But that was the timebefore the American Public was saturated with entertainment, and magic inparticular, as they are now.

4. "'If your principal can so present a magic show that it once more appeals to themasses, he will be greater than Thurston, or Herrmann, or Houdini.' This remark wasmade by a nationally prominent theatre executive to one of our agents during myexperience with the International Magicians In Action show. He added, 'And he'llmake a fortune'."

One may argue here that it is easy to write a book and give theoretical advice but it'spractical experience that counts. I read about the presentation of the Doll Houseillusion that they did in that International Magicians In Action show and I askedpermission of Mr. Fitzkee to use it. He kindly sent me the complete plan withdialogue and many helpful suggestions and offered me the use of anything that hadbeen published in his book. With some slight changes, but using his basic idea, thispresentation has been a success in my show for five years.

5. "Marco, of Fanchon and Marco, said when he saw the show, 'In its present form it is agood show--definitely a good one.' Remember, he was speaking as an experiencedtheatre man, rather prejudiced against magic than interested in it, as so manyprofessional theatre men are. 'It can be made a great show, I think, by addition of avoice, perhaps the right type of girl numbers in keeping with the idea already there,and a few minor changes here and there'." Typical dealer's ad: Anyone can do thistrick in three minutes without practice. (We pay the postage.)

6. "Truly, the words uttered by the average magician during the average performanceconstitute the most dismal palaver ever inflicted upon an audience. --extremeeconomy of talk and movements is IMPERATIVE. --many magic shows suffer frompoor material, poor delivery, fumbling, lack of precision, slow tempo, out-of-dateideas."

Magic in itself has very little emotional appeal. It can be pepped up with good music,motivation, rhythm, proper lighting, staging and direction. In the great majority ofmagic shows it is just one goddam trick after another.

7. "The performance of magic is a MINOR branch of the entertainment field."

It once had a very high standard and by gearing it to modern standards it could bemade a major branch.

8. "These (magic) secrets aren't so damned valuable. There are few of them that can't bereasoned out by a man of fairly logical analytical ability. It must be repeated again.THE SECRET IS NOT IMPORTANT. The ONLY thing that is important is itsfavorable impression upon the majority of the spectators." How very true! I havefound it necessary many times to push the TRICK into second place and givePRESENTATION preference to get the right audience appeal. Magic is a verytiresome performance when extended to any length, and a Modern audience tires veryeasily. The average full length talkie runs about an hour and twenty minutes and hasaction. suspense and motivation. The average magician tries to entertain for two andhalf hours practically alone on the stage.

Thank you, Mr. Fitzkee, and if I used many of your ideas in the writing of this article I canonly say that we both think exactly alike.

I think it of great importance to cultivate an individual style. Teacher Fuess of PhillipsAcademy expresses it well when he says, "Every superior artist, though he may begin byIMITATION, eventually develops his own individual style. --rules and systems will availhim little. Only his personality can make him successful." "Showmanship should nevershow. But it you haven't got it, you have the kiss of death."

One of the oddest facts of show business is that it is far easier to work in a big city than in asmall town. The toughest thing in show business is the narrow minded audience of the stix.One would think they would delight in seeing the big town productions but it's just thereverse. I have found by experience that the bigger the city, the bigger the cinch for a bigmagic show.

What's new in magic? Frankly, nothing. What's new in the theatre, T. V., radio and themovies? Frankly, damned little. Most everything they do is a variation on an old theme witha new presentation or angle. It is unjust when they pick on magic as being the only branchof show business behind the times. The solution lies at hand. Do as they do. There is alwaysa public rat-race to see something new. Do they get it in other fields of entertainment? I'llsay they don't. They get a camouflaged version of something as old as the hills. Westernsand Civil War pictures by the carload with a few cloak and dagger opuses thrown in. Theeternal triangle and the third man theme worked to death. Is there anything moreexasperating than the average radio show with those highly artistic singing commercials?They plug the latest song until it drives you nuts and then put on a modern arrangement of"Josephine, I'll Take You up in My Flying Machine." Abbott and Costello pulled everyancient gag from the hat since Joe Miller crossed the street to the other side, and got awaywith it. Are these new comics Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis funny, or am I losing my senseof humor? Even the mighty Chaplin slipped badly in his last pictures when he switchedgood slapstick for bad homespun philosophy. TV? That's going to be the biggest stinker ofthem all. How can they expect any human being or group of humans to turn out QUALITYand ORIGINALITY from eight in the morning till midnight, day after day and year afteryear. What do you think these hams are going to do? Just switch it around a little and polishup the presentation. Magicians never learned that. The pistol barked, the girl flew out of acabinet and the house fell in. As Taylor said, "I think the problem of keeping the adult mindoccupied is probably the greatest challenge we face." TV uses the sausage machinetechnique to solve this problem.

All we magicians have are the seventeen basic principles to be played as a virtuosoexecutes a theme. But there is a difference between execution and outright murder, and themagic show of to-day is murder in the first degree. So get a variation of your theme andremember what a sucker John Q. Public is --and brother, you're in!

For some obscure reason business and art don't mix. The agents will tell you that a beautifuland artistic presentation is sometimes bad box office. "Business is business." The guy whoinvented that phrase ought to be shot. It's true that few creative artists are good businessmen, but who the hell wants to haggle over pennies. Can anything be more boring than, asHarold Maine so aptly puts it, "You buy, you sell, you gouge, and all under a cloak ofamiability. You think of volume, of seven kinds of overhead, or gross and net or net andgross.--(Theatre Managers) are sly but you must be slyer and all the while pretend thatneither of you is sly." There are lots of guys who delight in adding up tremendous columnsof figures, get one of those and let him do the figuring.

As far as the artistic end is concerned you don't have to be a Michelangelo either. All he gotfor his pains was his neck out of joint from painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Farfrom appreciating the really great things it seems that the show world delights inmediocrity. Most of the stuff they feed them from the TV and movie screens is mediocre.

Most artists are mediocre no matter how much build up they get from their press agents.There are very few really outstanding artists in the world to-day and most of the big nameartists are just fair-to-middlin' and that includes me. However, I do try to sugarcoat the pillso that the average theatregoer can get it down his silly gullet.

Here are a few recipes for pills.

Dealers make good small magic but their stage illusions are not too good. They cannot beblamed for this because they sell a stage illusion once in a blue moon. I learned from Okitoto build illusions with an eye on transportation. You'll have to use some of Paul Smith'sTheory of Foresight when you build your illusion.

As Okito used to say when he wasn't satisfied with construction: "I see it coming on!", andone could visualize a tremendous disaster on the stage.

Most illusions are built on a hit or miss basis. I found it a good scheme to make a rough firstmodel out of old packing crates and rough boards. This model can be torn apart and cutdown until the minimum desired size is obtained. Then a first not-too-good model is builtand the wrinkles ironed out and a practical method of packing is figured out.

If the effect on the audience warrants the illusion's inclusion in the show then the finalmodel can be built with care and the best materials. A well made illusion lasts a lifetime.My sofa illusion was built by Okito thirty years ago and in spite of constant use it is inperfect working condition. No illusion is ever really finished, as one finds room forimprovement and changes and corrections for stupid mistakes that you could kick yourselffor. Most of the best ideas come during construction.

Most important is packing. Props should never be packed too loose or jammed in. Leave alittle space all around and fill the gaps with crushed newspapers. The really bad damage toprops is due to joggling of trunks and crates in trucks and trains and above all the roughhandling of loaders and those arch-criminals, the stevedores. Very rarely do props getdamaged in the theatre.

Crates should he as light and as small as possible. The main reason that illusions have to hemade on a breakdown plan is that baggage is measured by the metric ton on ships and notby dead weight and who wants to pay for air space?

My crates are wooden frames with 3 ply sides, bottom and lid. If these crates get holesknocked in them they easily can be repaired with a small piece of 3 ply and some bradswhich are doubled over inside and hammered down acting as rivets. If you don't care forexpense then a practically indestructible crate can be made by covering the 3 ply withcanvass well glued on. Keep away from oversize crates and use two smaller ones if theillusion needs it. I don't use locks on crates but prefer to bolt the lid on with four bolt-hinges. The lid is removable. Hinges and locks are broken off in notime.

Paint all the crates one color with a distinguishing mark in one corner. Then a good coat ofwaterproof varnish. Valspar is ideal for this. My trunks are numbered from one to twentyfive and my crates from 101 to 125. We know by the number which is a trunk and which isa crate and besides it's good advertising when they load the baggage and they see a cratenumbered 125. They think you have a giant production but actually fifty pieces is notexcessive for this type of show. Private wardrobe trunks are not numbered.

Fig. 4 Table for Sawing Illusion Fig. 5 Counter for Magic Bazaar

In order to keep weight down I sometimes double an illusion for my second programme.That is, I use the same prop but for a different effect. Fig. 4 shows the "sawing a woman"table and Fig. 5 shows the same prop with a false front and top which makes it the counterin the Magic Bazaar sketch. Fig. 6 is a pagoda used for the girl doing a striptease behind awhite sheet with the comedy payoff of the comic in her place when the sheet is yankedopen. In Fig. 7 it is the house used in a quick change routine for the Eternal Trianglepantomime sketch. A new front curtain and a few. changes inside and presto! a new illusion.This prop has no back to it which takes it out of the "cabinet" class.

Fig. 6 Strip Tease Pagoda Fig. 7 Magician's Wife Illusion

The Atomic Woman illusion is another light affair consisting of two cloth lanterns, a standand a folding base. A very flashy stage display and closing number which is packed in onesmall crate and an equally small trunk. (Which is filled with rubber fruit as the stand ishollow.)

Another advantage of small and easily set up illusions is that one man can do the work thattook four men to do previously and he does it in half the time.

A couple of years ago I went with Sam Horowitz to see the Cantarelli show in BuenosAires. It was typical of the old magic shows of 1900. He showed me his baggage and it wasunbelievable. He needed fifteen seven ton trucks to cart that junk around. One glass tank forthe production of two bathing belles had a crate which had to be left in the lobby of thetheatre as it wouldn't go thru' the doors. The tank was made of heavy sheet metal and thickglass and the crate was made of some heavy tropical wood. When packed the contraptionweighed over two tons and the effect on the audience was nil. He only played in B.A. as thesmaller towns couldn't afford to pay for the transportation and many stages were not strongenough to support the tank full of water. Cantarelli has since retired and has a duck farm inSao Paulo, Brazil.

When Chang played the Avenida in B.A. this year he had over a hundred and twenty pieces

of baggage. He told me himself that he didn't use the half of it but didn't have the heart tothrow it out; trunks full of old clothes and books and useless apparatus. If he only carriedthe show that he presented in the Avenida and stored the rest he would have about what Icarry. Says Taylor: "When people lived in houses they generally had attics. Their purpose: astorage place for things so dear to their owners' hearts that they couldn't be thrown away."Let us consider the excess trunks as being the attic of the show.

With the Raymond show we didn't use half the stuff we carted around and there were cratesand boxes which never were opened because the locks were rusted fast and the keys lost. Inone customs house we forced the locks off a big crate and found it empty. Someone hadstolen the prop years before. Instead of chucking the crate out Raymond kept it in the hopethat some day he would have an illusion to fill it.

The Okito show was the lightest and most practical show I ever saw. He carried twentypieces and didn't have ten pounds of excess baggage. When he was thru' with an illusion heeither destroyed it or sold it. It was a perfect, well run show, always in excellent repair andserved as a model for mine. I think he is the most practical all around magician of them all.His forethought and planning were a delight.

All this harping on reducing weight and size may sound highly exaggerated to some readersbut due to rising costs of transportation, small stages and the demands of union employeesit is a vital factor in the existence of a show in Latin-America to-day. This must hold goodin other parts of the world as well.

The cutting of the big illusions opened another source of income for my show. When I hadthose tremendous cabinets I could only work in theatres with big stages. In some cases thelarger movie houses were more popular but the stage was small. Now I can work on anystage and have room left over. Some of you who saw my show in New York may rememberthose two giants I had, the Fashion Shop and the Spirit Cabinet. They took up all the stagespace available.

The first to get the ax was the spirit cabinet. Formerly it was a complicated, multiple dooredcontraption seven feet square, and for what? To hide two little girls? After reading Jarrett'sbook I realized what a lot of horse sense that man has. His book may be badly written andvulgar but it is one of the greatest books on illusions ever to be published.

As the illusion is a black art affair and as black is infinity. I reduced the depth to 18 inches.All the wooden doors were thrown out and light steel tubes to hold black felt sides tooktheir place. The "cabinet" idea was eliminated and the back left open so one has a clearview thru. One girl does the work of two and the method of concealment was altered. Thefront stayed the same so from an audience point of view they saw no change. From threelarge crates the packing was reduced to HALF of one of the original crates and there isroom inside for a couple of curtains.

After the success of this operation we got after the rest of the show and in four monthsreduced the dead weight by fifty percent and the cubic weight by over two thirds, andJarrett was vindicated.

The small stage holds no terrors for us now. The complete show stands flat against the wallor picture sheet and with the "doubling" of the illusions we have worked on stages so tinyas to be an illusion in itself.

Then we divided the show into the BIG show and the BABY show. This means we can senda good portion of the baggage to the capital city and work the smaller towns with the babyshow, which consists of eighteen pieces and takes one hour to set and another to pack. It has

eight large stage illusions and the rest small stuff. A good show, but without the time killingsketches this couldn't be done.

Another important point is to have everything packed in the crate that belongs to thatparticular illusion. If an accessory is packed in another trunk it may be forgotten and whenthe show is set up the accessory is two hundred miles away. Complete in one crate alsosimplifies the packing and things are not forgotten and left behind.

In closing I would like to give the circus performer's viewpoint of magicians in general.They don't like em.

Magic shows and the circus have a lot in common. They are both "family' shows and bothuse the same flashy, highly exaggerated advertising and depend a lot on sensationalism.

I have in the show a family of four circus people. They were born and bred in a tent. One ofthe boys, PINKY, is my comedian and a good showman. He never dreamed of working in amagic show because circus people have a special antipathy for magicians. They look uponthem as the fakers of show business.

Circus people have to rehearse all their lives and most of them do dangerous acts in whichbroken legs and necks are quite common. They earn their money the hard way. Says Pinky,"Take these magicians. They never rehearse anything as most of their stuff is mechanical.They shoot a gun and a dame opens a door and jumps out, or they produce something froma tricky looking canister. They are the biggest frauds and fakers in show business."

That brings us back to where we came in. Magic isn't to blame. Something's got to be doneabout it, and, my dear fellow gun-men, something shall!