Being a Mentalist vs. Magician
The following essay is a carry-over to my post at http://forums.theory11.com/showthread.php?28484-Thoughts-on-Failing/page2 in which I attempted to clarify the differences between the Mentalist vs. the Magician while likewise looking at the idea of being “too perfect” vs. the power of failure.
My personal interest in magic started way back in 1963 and Mark Wilson’s Magic Land of Alakazam with my two favorite Puppet acts of the day following right behind; Shari Lewis & Lambchop and the unforgettable Kukla, Fran & Ollie. During a visit to L.A. my parents had to come with me to the warehouse so I could help my mentor (Kirk Kirkham) pull out some props; my mother looked at the 300+ major illusions in that barn, shook her head and said, “I never should of gotten him that magic kit”… referring to the kit she purchased for $5.00 way back in the Christmas season of 1963… I was 4 years old.
On one level I was the kid that left home to join the circus and in some ways that is a literal statement; I’ve worked carnivals, side-shows and several big top dates over the years working with industry legends like Ward Hall, Johnny Meah and Bill Fitch. I still believe the best experience any variety performer can get is a season or two working the grind. But those early years would include much more and they would feed to me more than enough opportunity for getting addicted to show biz, as a whole.
In the mid-1970s I beheld one of the most amazing shows I’ve ever seen, Richiardi’s Chamber of Horrors( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Ko7yPBzUA) at Madison Square Gardens. I fell in love! Just seeing his version of the Buzz Saw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiSOS0LTI2A) made me realize that I didn’t have to be Harry Blackstone (though I did keep a family show that was deliberately modeled after Harry’s programs. You can’t beat the best, can you?)
I’m giving you this background so you can understand that I was a traditional magician for more than a couple of decades; my earliest shows being in my backyard when I was 6 & 7 years old. But, I didn’t want to do ‘tricks”… I enjoyed them and I really enjoyed people’s reactions when I performed. But to me it wasn’t “Magic” in the sense of… let’s say “Merlin” for lack of a better term. Richiardi however, proved to me that such enchantment was possible, even if you were doing a Broom Suspension. But that was still traditional, theatrical magic and not the sort of thing that caused people to redevelop or rekindle that childhood sense of wonder we all have a vague recollection of but can’t seem to reclaim. Not unless you were able to do the things a real Wizard would do; not turn people into toads or ride around on a flying carpet but viable mysteries in which the mind and/or spirit are invoked – challenged to be a part of the equation.
The irony to it all is the fact that I’d already been taught things like dowsing, working with pendulums, ways of Reading people, etc. such things were quite common in my family, used in a manner that was acceptable by the churches of the deep south. So on one level I was well on my way to becoming that Wizard.
How’s that possible? You ask “You didn’t have any tricks, just Reading skills and Pendulums”
NEWS FLASH… entire careers have been built alongside very lucrative empires using just those two skill sets. Once you understand them and know how to work with them you can do most anything… any effect you find in Corinda or Annemann with few exceptions… and that’s what Banachek has said about such things.
And So We Come to the First Difference Between a Magician & the Mentalist. . .
Greg Arce has a saying and I’ll try to quote things properly here; ”A magician will come to watch a Mentalist work and ponder how he could fit that Book Test into his act but, you will not see a mentalist perplexed in how to present coins across in his show”
Magicians have a James Bond fixation; they love gadgets! If it’s nifty and cool, they want it! This is one of the reason the divorce rate in this industry is so high; we’re pack rats! However, the more successful pros out there actually own very little outside the primary items used in their act. They aren’t chasing after the next big thing and in fact, are typically several years behind the times when it comes to knowing what’s out there. Sadly, this applies to less than 10% of us and within that group the most valuable possessions they have aren’t the props but the books.
Sure, we all want to be “in the know” when it comes to each effect or system that comes along, that’s just part of our HABIT… our ADDICTION as it were. But, we really don’t “need” it, we just “want” it… it’s an ego thing.
So there you are, new to Mentalism and you really want to be able to outdo that clown down the street that’s doing the same kind of thing… kind of. He’s got a magic show and does a couple of Mentalism styled tricks in it, including The Mother of All Book Test… a $300.00 effect. Gesh! How’s a working guy on minimum wage supposed to have a chance?
Break out that pendulum I mentioned earlier…
Yes, you can do a book test with any book, anywhere using only a pendulum. A “Real” Mentalist would understand this and he’d also know several other “simple” methods by which he can’t just replicate what the local buffoon is doing in his show, but do so in a manner that seems far more genuine – impossible – intriguing.
When you start doing demonstrations of this sort; this simple, clean and free of gimmicks, you will generate a far stronger reputation than the magician up the street and his personal copy of the latest expensive (not to mention “trendy”) props.
Why?
Because you are delivering to your patrons something that’s experiential and, if you have the chops for it, personal; personal in the sense that you have delivered a very impossible happenstance under “impossible” conditions –you created magic within the minds of those that PARTICIPATED in the routine.
This is why Mentalism is so powerful; we can create what the laity perceives as being the miraculous, using little to nothing. Our work is “innocent” and when presented properly, it invokes the imagination and translates us as being more than the common mortal.
Sure, the magician can get gasps from his audience, a bit of applause as well as kudos for doing a good job; he might even end up with a fan base. But, he will always be viewed as a magician and depending on the sort of person he is, this can be a negative thing. As I’ve already pointed out, the majority of those calling themselves a “Magician” exhibit the “negative” image. I don’t mean this as their being crass and “ugly’ in their manner, only that they fit the stereotypical role in which corny one-liners, gag bits, and general silliness is the norm or else they attempt to be Lance Burton when the tux they’re wearing is out of date and too small for them to wear properly let alone how visible their loops are.
Within this group there are those that are far “uglier”, who hurt EVERYONE else because they are “womanizers”, drunks and/or junkies, obnoxious, loud, disrespectful and so on. Unfortunately these clowns can sell the heck out of themselves and get the gigs only to slowly move into that slump mode in which the bad habits come spewing out; the end result being an entrepreneur that become disgusted and swears to never hire another magician.
. . . and NO I’m not saying that we don’t have our sad saps in Mentalism. Some of our biggest legends were horrid lushes, opium addicts and manic-depressives. I know, I’m one of them… I just try harder to not let “IT” win… but that’s another story altogether.
{end of Part I}
The following essay is a carry-over to my post at http://forums.theory11.com/showthread.php?28484-Thoughts-on-Failing/page2 in which I attempted to clarify the differences between the Mentalist vs. the Magician while likewise looking at the idea of being “too perfect” vs. the power of failure.
My personal interest in magic started way back in 1963 and Mark Wilson’s Magic Land of Alakazam with my two favorite Puppet acts of the day following right behind; Shari Lewis & Lambchop and the unforgettable Kukla, Fran & Ollie. During a visit to L.A. my parents had to come with me to the warehouse so I could help my mentor (Kirk Kirkham) pull out some props; my mother looked at the 300+ major illusions in that barn, shook her head and said, “I never should of gotten him that magic kit”… referring to the kit she purchased for $5.00 way back in the Christmas season of 1963… I was 4 years old.
On one level I was the kid that left home to join the circus and in some ways that is a literal statement; I’ve worked carnivals, side-shows and several big top dates over the years working with industry legends like Ward Hall, Johnny Meah and Bill Fitch. I still believe the best experience any variety performer can get is a season or two working the grind. But those early years would include much more and they would feed to me more than enough opportunity for getting addicted to show biz, as a whole.
In the mid-1970s I beheld one of the most amazing shows I’ve ever seen, Richiardi’s Chamber of Horrors( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Ko7yPBzUA) at Madison Square Gardens. I fell in love! Just seeing his version of the Buzz Saw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiSOS0LTI2A) made me realize that I didn’t have to be Harry Blackstone (though I did keep a family show that was deliberately modeled after Harry’s programs. You can’t beat the best, can you?)
I’m giving you this background so you can understand that I was a traditional magician for more than a couple of decades; my earliest shows being in my backyard when I was 6 & 7 years old. But, I didn’t want to do ‘tricks”… I enjoyed them and I really enjoyed people’s reactions when I performed. But to me it wasn’t “Magic” in the sense of… let’s say “Merlin” for lack of a better term. Richiardi however, proved to me that such enchantment was possible, even if you were doing a Broom Suspension. But that was still traditional, theatrical magic and not the sort of thing that caused people to redevelop or rekindle that childhood sense of wonder we all have a vague recollection of but can’t seem to reclaim. Not unless you were able to do the things a real Wizard would do; not turn people into toads or ride around on a flying carpet but viable mysteries in which the mind and/or spirit are invoked – challenged to be a part of the equation.
The irony to it all is the fact that I’d already been taught things like dowsing, working with pendulums, ways of Reading people, etc. such things were quite common in my family, used in a manner that was acceptable by the churches of the deep south. So on one level I was well on my way to becoming that Wizard.
How’s that possible? You ask “You didn’t have any tricks, just Reading skills and Pendulums”
NEWS FLASH… entire careers have been built alongside very lucrative empires using just those two skill sets. Once you understand them and know how to work with them you can do most anything… any effect you find in Corinda or Annemann with few exceptions… and that’s what Banachek has said about such things.
And So We Come to the First Difference Between a Magician & the Mentalist. . .
Greg Arce has a saying and I’ll try to quote things properly here; ”A magician will come to watch a Mentalist work and ponder how he could fit that Book Test into his act but, you will not see a mentalist perplexed in how to present coins across in his show”
Magicians have a James Bond fixation; they love gadgets! If it’s nifty and cool, they want it! This is one of the reason the divorce rate in this industry is so high; we’re pack rats! However, the more successful pros out there actually own very little outside the primary items used in their act. They aren’t chasing after the next big thing and in fact, are typically several years behind the times when it comes to knowing what’s out there. Sadly, this applies to less than 10% of us and within that group the most valuable possessions they have aren’t the props but the books.
Sure, we all want to be “in the know” when it comes to each effect or system that comes along, that’s just part of our HABIT… our ADDICTION as it were. But, we really don’t “need” it, we just “want” it… it’s an ego thing.
So there you are, new to Mentalism and you really want to be able to outdo that clown down the street that’s doing the same kind of thing… kind of. He’s got a magic show and does a couple of Mentalism styled tricks in it, including The Mother of All Book Test… a $300.00 effect. Gesh! How’s a working guy on minimum wage supposed to have a chance?
Break out that pendulum I mentioned earlier…
Yes, you can do a book test with any book, anywhere using only a pendulum. A “Real” Mentalist would understand this and he’d also know several other “simple” methods by which he can’t just replicate what the local buffoon is doing in his show, but do so in a manner that seems far more genuine – impossible – intriguing.
When you start doing demonstrations of this sort; this simple, clean and free of gimmicks, you will generate a far stronger reputation than the magician up the street and his personal copy of the latest expensive (not to mention “trendy”) props.
Why?
Because you are delivering to your patrons something that’s experiential and, if you have the chops for it, personal; personal in the sense that you have delivered a very impossible happenstance under “impossible” conditions –you created magic within the minds of those that PARTICIPATED in the routine.
This is why Mentalism is so powerful; we can create what the laity perceives as being the miraculous, using little to nothing. Our work is “innocent” and when presented properly, it invokes the imagination and translates us as being more than the common mortal.
Sure, the magician can get gasps from his audience, a bit of applause as well as kudos for doing a good job; he might even end up with a fan base. But, he will always be viewed as a magician and depending on the sort of person he is, this can be a negative thing. As I’ve already pointed out, the majority of those calling themselves a “Magician” exhibit the “negative” image. I don’t mean this as their being crass and “ugly’ in their manner, only that they fit the stereotypical role in which corny one-liners, gag bits, and general silliness is the norm or else they attempt to be Lance Burton when the tux they’re wearing is out of date and too small for them to wear properly let alone how visible their loops are.
Within this group there are those that are far “uglier”, who hurt EVERYONE else because they are “womanizers”, drunks and/or junkies, obnoxious, loud, disrespectful and so on. Unfortunately these clowns can sell the heck out of themselves and get the gigs only to slowly move into that slump mode in which the bad habits come spewing out; the end result being an entrepreneur that become disgusted and swears to never hire another magician.
. . . and NO I’m not saying that we don’t have our sad saps in Mentalism. Some of our biggest legends were horrid lushes, opium addicts and manic-depressives. I know, I’m one of them… I just try harder to not let “IT” win… but that’s another story altogether.
{end of Part I}
