Paul Harris

Sep 18, 2020
29
2
The mist clears, a stranger wanders into town with a calming presence.

Nobody knows his name, or his purpose, and like an itinerant monk he weaves his way. He enters a bar, takes a seat and places his wallet upon the counter. With a smile he sits alone, content. A black coffee is ordered, and two sugar packets await his touch. A deck of playing cards is produced, the barista is asked to name a card, the magic begins.

Now, we return to the boards. Paul Harris is in town, and you can tap his mind for an hour or two, maybe even a whole day. What are you going to ask him? Do you have a favorite trick? He has published so much material... and even created an magic inventors kit.

Who here is a fan of Paul Harris, and which tricks of his do you perform?

Backlash is one I really enjoy performing. Looking forward to hearing yours.
 
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Reactions: Gabriel Z.
Jun 18, 2019
540
293
20
West Bengal, India
I haven't gone through all of the Art of Astonishment books yet, but I do find Paul Harris' view on magic really interesting.

I'd mainly want to talk to him and ask him about his take on magic today, right now. I'd ask him what he feels when he views magic on Instagram or Tik Tok. I'd also ask him what he feels about Jamy Ian Swiss addressing the issue of "returning audience to childlike wonder" by saying "Find the child within you and slap it." :D

Along with that, I'd ask him about his opinions on the evergreen and controversial magic related questions, "Does You Tube harm magic?", "Can cardistry be performed with magic?", "Piracy and magic" and other technical questions maybe, like "Is the Classic Pass worth it?" and so on. The more general stuff.

I firmly believe that just being able to talk with Paul Harris say, for ten to fifteen minutes, about magic in general, would teach me a lot.
 
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JoshL8

Elite Member
Aug 5, 2017
409
393
WA state USA
I really enjoy his writing style, it makes his books easy to read through. Book one “Lip Balm” on pg 37 is a great example of his humor where during the start of the explanation he walks you through the method of applying lip balm to your lips.

Some of my favorite tricks from his books include “Re-set”, “Bill Collector” and a version of “unshuffling Rebecca”. The more I read other people the more I want to revisit Paul’s books too. For instance I’ve spent the past few weeks with a book on Shigeo Takagi and one of his tricks made me want to try out one of Pauls called “Uncanny”.

I think my questions to PH would be about his thoughts/favorite effects that are similar or derived from his work, like “reset” has lots of different handlings by many magicians now.
 
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Reactions: Gabriel Z.
Sep 20, 2009
445
83
I agree with the moment of astonishment in its simplicity, and the focus on the astonishment and less on being a storyteller, or an actor.

the focusing on the intimacy of astonishment, or magic or however you want to describe it, and less on the spectacle of presentation

there are many performers who put the focus on the presentation and the script and the choreography, and making sure everything is explained... the Magic, the moment gets lost and it becomes diminished

That being said... we all remember Little Man:eek:
 
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Love me some Paul Harris. His 'Stars of Magic' DVDs are a bargain for the price.

Long time favourites would have to be 'A Bizarre Twist' (Daniel Cros's one handed version) and 'Whack Your Pack' ('Reflex' if you want to original title). The latter is a great performance piece for what is essentially a card to pocket with a mentally selected card.

'Fizzmaster' is also genius, though I will admit I've never actually tried it.

I did 'Twilight Angels' for a while as well, until it was on the TA box set and everyone started doing it. Plus it's hard to get the cards these days.

If I had to ask him one question, it would probably be 'Can I see under your hat?'

Rev
 

antoferra

Elite Member
Nov 2, 2014
93
90
Italy
I like Paul Harris, and my favourite card trick is probably galaxy, which I believe to be the best impromptu OOTW version there is.
I also wanted to share here a project that I saw on youtube a while ago: this guy is posting performances from all the tricks from AoA, quite an impressive project.
 
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