The Actor Magician Essays

The Actor Magician Essays

By Louis C. Haley
Extracted from his book "The Dramatic Art of Magic"

Note by Marko: We have all heard and read the famous phrase that
says that "the magician is an actor playing the part of a magician."
Most of the time the people that repeat this quote don't make any effort
to explain just what they mean by it, as if their intentional meaning is
something that we all must tacitly understand. One of the few guys
that has tried to shed light (and a lot of it!) over what he meant when
he wrote "magician" and "actor" in the same phrase was Louis C.
Haley, an--let's say--obscure magician who wrote the essays you are
about to read in an equally obscure magical periodical and later, in
1910, included them in a book he wrote and published.
Even though these essays were written so long ago, I think that, if read
with an open mind, they are as pertinent today as the day they
originally came from their author's pen. I hope you enjoy them and
also that they might make you think a little bit about our art: Magic.

● Introduction ● Fifth Essay

● First Essay ● Sixth Essay
● Second Essay ● Seventh Essay
● Third Essay ● Eighth Essay
● Fourth Essay ● Ninth Essay

Introduction
The following essays upon the Actor Magician originally appeared,
in serial form, in Edwards Monthly, a magician's magazine of tricks,
magic and illusions, published at Buffalo, N. Y., in the interest of
American Magicians. These articles received flattering comment from
professional magicians, who have styled the author, "the preacher in
the pulpit on the subject of the art of magic." They proved such a
stimulus to good magic that a movement has been started among
magicians in this country looking to a betterment of the art as

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practised by the profession and a betterment of the magician's

profession itself.

First
As Aristos says: "Magic is an art that sometimes instructs, often
amuses, and always entertains." But magic, like every art, should have
its ideal, and to uphold and develop that ideal will call for sacrifices on
the part of its disciples. By that, I mean that if the ideal demands that
he refuse to instruct, to amuse or even to entertain his audience, the
magician should be true to his art. How many times have I seen the
"modern magician" filling up his time with bald tricks and
"gag-patter" sacrificing his art for the purpose of creating a laugh and
getting his share of "hand" to be a top-liner, as the box office wants
him to be. No doubt the manager is a hard proposition, for the
wonder-worker must eat, and he gets his hand-out at the managerial
lunch counter.
I am sorry for the magician in vaudeville, who would be the artist,
where his act is hurried, curtailed in time, space and verbiage, and no
proper setting is given to the scene of that mysterious land where he
appears for a little time to the amazement of his audience. Vaudeville
is not the field for the exploitation of any fine art. People attend the
vaudeville show first, to be amused, secondly, to be entertained
according to their own ideas of entertainment. The up-to-date
manager, astute and crafty, has sensed their desires and tastes, and we
have the vaudeville show, that which includes any and all in the same
performance, where we see the black-faced monologist, the "artist"
violinist, the buck and wing dancer, Jenny Lind, the knock-about
acrobat, the musical act, costing $4,000 or less, trained dogs, monkeys
and ponies, the actor-magician, and the sketch. Shades of Immortal
Shakespeare! Think of it! All at one time on the same stage! Is this the
place for the violin virtuoso, the artistic singer, the magician or the
actor with his art? No. Whoever performs there in these lines is
sacrificing his art and doing it irreparable damage. If the magician
cannot possess a complete show of his own but must of necessity go
on before or after the dogs and ponies, let him at least try to be the
actor-magician as I shall try to suggest that he should be in his
caricatured position.
If I had a road show of my own, I would have special scenery
suggestive of the land of wonders, not the style of Albini's, but
dramatically suggestive of that strange land. My Purpose in the
experiments that I should use, would be to show that they were natural

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events in the life of a magician, not tricks. My main purpose would be

to amaze my audience, amaze them, amaze them. Now can anyone tell
me what other purpose a magician could have? Any other purpose or
thought is destructive to the very idea itself, of a magician, for he is
the mysterious one, who does wonderful things, not tricks. I should cut
out patter and gags, and the lines used, would be as sensible and
serious as those in any drama, indeed it should be a drama and the
performer, if he is sensible to the high requirements of his fine art,
must play the part of the magician, a strange, unexplainable personage
who has been seen and known of all lands.
Everything about my show would be worked toward the one purpose.
If my appearance did not naturally fit the part I should make up. An
actor-magician must look like a magician. Who is there foolish enough
to say he need not? And yet, how many are born, but not to the part! I
have seen but one, Alexander Hermann, the beau-ideal-magician, and
the actor magician. As Dr. Wilson says, in quotation, "Honor and
fame from no condition rise; act well your part, there all the honor
lies." Alexander Hermann amazed and excited his audiences not by
what he did (we can do all that he did, and then some), but by the way
in which he did it, because he presented his work as that of the serious,
living, visible, real magician that he professed to be.
I would consider it an offense to my calling to state to the audience
that "I am using no artifice and my hands are perfectly empty, as you
see my head and pocket-book must necessarily be." If you want them
to see that you take no advantage of them in any way, do so as a
natural method of procedure in your movements, but never even
suggest that such is your purpose. You are doing wonders because of
your ability as a magician, and to suggest that artifice could be
employed is absolutely destructive to your success as a magician, in
the eyes of the audience.
Don't explain the proceedings in your experiments, rather let the
audience understand its unfolding by seeing it as you act it out. If you
suggest the absence of artifice, the audience assumes its probable use,
and there you are a dead magician, a dead one; for no one Supposes a
magician ever heard of an artifice in his wonderful life.
Commercialism wants to sell us things, tricks, and apparatus, things
we must have; but let them serve in the magic drama only as natural
pieces of furniture in the magician's household.
Robert Mantell says there is no place for the old, fine actor of drama
in the drama today, May we not have the magician-actor? I plead with
my brothers for his appearance, development, and perpetuation.

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Second
In consonance with, and in continuation of this line of thought I want
to urge a reformation in the character of the lines used in the
experiments of the magician of today. I would like to see the word
tricks cut out of our magic nomenclature; for, one who does tricks is a
trickster, and that term is as belittling to a magician as to call him a
fakir. He is neither trickster nor fakir; rather an educated
gentleman--an artist, presenting as a magician some of the occult
wonders of Psychology and the natural sciences. The word "patter"
too, always strikes me as if it might be associated with "parrot." Patter
has no purpose but to interest the novice, who likes to read and dream
of what others have done, and what he might do.
Each magician has a distinct personality, mental, psychological and
spiritual makeup, and can no more adopt the verbal mannerisms and
expressions of another, then he can adopt his tone of voice and facial
expression. Even though he is born with the "mimic" talent, he should
not use it as a Magician. The beauty of this wonderful world is its
infinite variety; if then, you want to attract the attention necessary to
taking a definite, exalted place in the Wonder World of Magic be a
variety in it. I wish that some dignified expression might be
substituted for the word "patter." To "pat," means to give a slight
knock; I would like to give the word a big knock. The discoveries of
the day in the Science of the Mind and in the Natural Sciences are
numerous enough to give you a foundation for your lines in the
presentation of any experiment.
The comedian is given his name because he is the "funnyman." If the
magician tries to be a comedian and magician too, he is neither, much
less a magician. He has no more reason to be funny than has a
tragedian. I know you may think your act more palatable because of
your wit, but do not cater to the audience's sense of humor, for they do
not understand the requirements of your art. The Magician must be
one who is the possessor and dispenser of astounding knowledge, if he
is to be anything at all. People now-a-days are beginning to look upon
the Magician as one who can especially amuse the children. In times
past whole cities used to get wrought up to a high pitch of excitement
over things that do not approach in real mystery the things that are
done today. I think one reason for this attitude on the part of the public
is the fact that the Magician has lost the dignity of his calling and is in
imminent danger of seeing his self-respect going with it.
What odds does it make if the world is more or less acquainted with
our methods? We are playing a part, anyway. The world knows that

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any actor's part is an assumed character. The Magician's part is

assumed, and if you are not willing to play the part as seriously as the
tragedian plays his, our magic art is suffering a terrible injustice at
your hands. As an actor playing the part of the Magician, you have no
more right to pull up your sleeves than you have to pull up your
trousers or to turn your pockets inside out, than the actor playing his
part (unless perhaps, he is a married man), nor to show your palm
front and back than to show the front and back of your head. Never
again will I do those things.
If the audience suspects certain things, well and good, let the suspicion
rest as such; what of it? If I turned my head inside out it would make
the audience suspect me more, for my unnecessary, uncalled for
movements are the basis of the suspicion. They shall see my Magic
Drama and draw their own conclusions, none of which I shall
knowingly suggest. I think we might well learn something from the
Oriental Fakir's dumb-foolery, in burning incense and beating drums.
He is dramatic in his own poor way and he does it. His audience is
afraid of him; therefore he gets the respect due him. Indeed, in a show
of my own, I should adopt the incense and all the dramatic expressions
and accessories of the stage; my assistants would be there to respect
and fear me in my play (outside, of course, it would be different).

Third
The trouble with most of us is that we have no ideal; or, if we do
have one, we fail to cherish it. Perhaps it may be that we do faithfully
strive after it; and then think in our progress that we have attained our
ambition--and our ideal is a reality. Carlyle says: "The greatest of
faults is to be conscious of none." Let no one, be he a magician or
otherwise, no matter how high up on the ladder of fame or how great a
degree of perfection may be his, think he has attained the zenith; for as
soon as he begins to think thus, as soon as his ideal begins to assume a
reality, just so soon it ceases to be an ideal. No matter who you are,
your plane of existence; your business; your profession; how
proficient you are therein: if you would not retrograde, you must have
always before you, the one thing--your ideal.
I like Powell's refusal to perform magic on any occasion. It proves
conclusively, that he has his own exalted conception of his art. I met
him some eighteen years ago at Stoughton, Wis., doing magic with a
medicine show that played in various halls. He was even then the
dignified, gentlemanly magician. Under like circumstances others
would have thought little of the medicine show, of themselves and

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their art. Not so with Powell. He was made of better stuff. I knew then
that we would hear again of Powell. (No doubt he has forgotten the
piano player in that medicine show so long ago; but, if he should see
this article, I should be pleased to hear from him.)
During my undergraduate years at the University of Wisconsin I
studied music with an ideal, that made me see myself sometime in the
future a master of the piano. When I graduated, the rude world showed
me that it did not care for me or my high-class music; and my ideal
dragged in the dust. For years it suffered wounds thereby; then I
bandaged the wounds and nursed the sufferer back to life, pleading
that it stay with me as the one comfort that the world could not offer.
We are all bread winners and the same experience falls to the lot of
all. But let us, in spite of the world's plans for us, stick to our invisible
and congenial companion--our ideal. My present ideal is to mystify
magicians. If I can get them guessing I am happy. A few years ago we
had a society called, humorously but not complimentary, The
Legedermaniacs. I always enjoyed the meetings, because the incentive
to fool the boys kept me there.
Kellar is a man with an ideal. Even at the pinnacle of success he said:
"Next year I will give them a show that will fairly astound them." I
shall always remember him, not only as a great magician but as a great
man, whom anyone could approach and who was the friend of man.
When I first met him, I was astonished, when he presented the
unknown, country student of magic two seats to his matchless
performance. The deed, which was not a little one, gives him a place
in my heart that the ravages of time cannot touch. May he long be with
us and may the world see more of his kind.
Whether or not we ever reach the Parnassus of our ambition is not the
point. Let it rather be this: Always strive to be greater than we are.
Struggle is the law of existence. The infant kicks; if not, there is no
life. It cannot exist without movement; for all life and growth is
manifest through motion. Houdini, shackled, dives into the Seine and
amazes the multitude as he courts death and eludes his grasp. His ideal
leads him to do it. Have a high ideal that will lift you up and make the
world better for your having lived in it.
Imagination is one of the greatest of God's gifts. The following of the
ideal through the fields of the imagination has brought about the
development of our sciences, arts and literature. The psychologist tells
us that our objective mind is a small part of us; it is the subconscious,
subjective mind of our being, the eternal entity within us that
maintains our being--our soul's self, if you please, that leads us to the
truth.

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The law of suggestion in the mental world is as powerful as the law of

gravitation in the physical world. If we keep the ideal before us, its
constant suggestion of possibilities will cause the law of evolution in
our subconscious minds to work out the result. This is just as
undeniable as any physical fact. The laws of the mental, and spiritual
realms are just as absolute, reliable and eternal as the physical laws of
this universe.
From babyhood up we have our dreams of what we are going to be
and do. Give you imagination free rein for it is the winged steed that
bears you and your ideal into the marvellous land of adventure,
discovery and accomplishment. Dreams do come true. But, remember
that your progress will be only commensurate with the amount of
energy you put into your task as you day and night think out your way
to higher things.

Fourth
What should be the magician's ideal? This is a question, not only for
those of whom the public expects great things, but for all of us--every
one, be he great or small. First of all: His equipment should be of the
best. No workman can do a perfect piece of work with poor
tools--neither can the magician, magician though he be. Every bit of
invisible apparatus should be so perfectly constructed as to be
absolutely reliable, and it should be up to date, with all the
improvements that the mind of man has been able to store up in it.
Every bit of visible apparatus, stage setting and accoutrement, should
be the best that can be had. For the magician impresses his audience,
in a large degree, through the sense of sight, and if his dress, apparatus
and stage furniture is beautiful, it proves to them silently that the
magician is unlimited in his power and resources--the very thing a
magician should be.
Next comes the second consideration: A perfect technique. By
technique I mean the "moves" made in the evolution of the
experiments. I want to emphasize--all your experiments; for if you are
less proficient in one effect, your work is marred. A chain is not
stronger than its weakest link; and the audience and critics unkindly
judge you rather by the poorest thing you do.
By moves I do not mean the front and back palm, or the pass, that can
be made so many times a minute. The magician makes a serious error
when he exhibits speed, for the reason that he has power to do these
things slowly and deliberately because he is a magician. When you

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flip a card or coin from front to back of palm continuously (invisible

though it be), you have ceased to be a magician and become a juggler.
We have gone too far in the palm and pass business. You should
practice the "moves" of your experiments every day of your life (and
many times each day), till you can do them as the artist pianist
plays--his fingers and hands seem to think for him.
The "moves" in your technique of the "working" of each thing is very
closely related, nay, a part of the third consideration: your stage
address. You might go through everything smoothly and successfully,
and still have missed this last consideration, the actor's art, which is
the vital thing to the audience. They see the magician and hear him
talk. If you do not play the part to perfection, how can they get the
conception that you are a magician? The actor's art is to deal solely
with the mind of the auditor; to make everything that he sees and hears
sway him in his thoughts, that he may sense the character portrayed.
If you do not use your mind as an actor to portray the character of the
magician to your auditor, you have failed to come up to the
requirements of your art. The magician should be as accomplished an
actor as it is possible for him to be. Even the talent of a Richard
Mansfield or an E. H. Sothern can be used in the magician. If you are
a "poor talker," better go to the Orient to exhibit your dumb show. If
you can't handle yourself properly, attend some School of Acting.
One may have the best of apparatus, stage settings, high acquirements
of prestidigation, and then fail because of the lack of the actor's art and
the psychological understanding necessary to portray the magician.
Remember your purpose is to portray, portray, portray a character.
Your apparatus, stage setting, digital training, is only a vehicle that
you, as an actor, use in portraying the character of the magician. The
end of your work is to create before your audience the magician. Only
then can the time, labor and money put into your show bring you
nearer the pedestal--the great magician. Finally, in order to preserve
your ideal you must never think that your apparatus, technique and
acting is perfect; for in this growing world of ideals nothing is static.
When progress ceases, then comes retrogression, decay, and death.

Fifth
There are but two sense avenues, generally speaking, by which the
actor impresses his audience--namely: seeing and hearing. The
magician sometimes uses the other three: feeling, tasting and smelling,
but only to a slight degree. Kellar, in the wine and water change,

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causes a pungent odor to penetrate the auditorium as a dramatic aid in

the transformation.
So, in the main, the magician's plan of work is identical with that of
the actor in any role. However much he may claim to have the power
over matter, his real field of operation is the power of mind over
mind--the psychological. If the actor does not put his whole mind with
an intensity of purpose into his role, the mind of the audience, as they
see him move and hear him speak, cannot conceive of the part.
There is no magic about this business. The conception that the mind of
the audience will get of your character will be absolutely and only
commensurate with the mind that you put in your part. Any actor's
role is as big a fake as that of the magician, and yet how profoundly
does he move his audience! Why is it? Because of his intensity of
purpose as he thinks his part. His movements, facial expression, dress
and all other dramatic aids are material things and mean little or
nothing without his spirit to use them.
Years ago, I saw a fearfully realistic presentation of "The Man in the
Iron Mask." It was the historical story of the ruler who kept his brother
a prisoner for life, condemned to wear an iron mask so that the people
could not know of the injustice that was being perpetrated. That night,
after the play, I never closed my eyes in sleep, thinking only of the
wretched being in the mask. And yet, that wretched being was only
hired to play the part. But his mind swayed his audience irresistibly.
When a tragedian commits murder, he does not pass the knife out for
examination as a preliminary test of his genuineness, but goes at his
job as if there was no question about it; nor is there, if he wants to
portray a real murder. If there is no intensity of purpose, there can be
no intensity of result. The actor stirs the hearts and passions of men
from the center to the circumference. The magician who deals with the
marvelous should stir their intellects in all depths and experiences.
The tragedian deals with the whole range of life and death. The
magician, who causes human beings to appear, change and vanish,
also deals with life and death. If the tragedians' art calls for an
intensity of purpose in stirring the hearts and passions that are
common to us all in our experiences; how much more must the
magician strive in things that are uncommon to our hearts and minds!
In presenting to men's minds, those things that transcend human
experience, how dramatic indeed he must be!
To cause a person to vanish at a pistol-shot into nothingness, far
surpasses the murderer's destruction of life as a dramatic
piece-de-resistance. And yet, how trivial a thought, in most cases, the
magician gives to the presentation of such illusions, that are so

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astounding to human experiences. The fact that a trick is at the bottom

of the whole thing, has absolutely nothing to do with the question. The
mind of the magician must believe that he has by a pistol-shot,
vanished a lady, or the auditor will not believe it. Their eyes may tell
them so. The only way you can accomplish that, is by making your
mind tell their mind.
In the study of psychology we are just beginning to find out that the
mind is the greatest force in the world; for it is that, which rules. The
magician must be dramatic above his brother actors; and the
marvelous must be intensely dramatic, or it will cease to be the
marvelous. The work of the magician is more exacting than that of the
tragedian and therefore his purpose should be the more intense. In all
that I have said, I want to emphasize this one thing: the intensity of
mental effort the magician must put forth in his work. If you do not
perfectly convey a mental conviction, in every effect that you show,
then you have failed, utterly. You may have fooled the audience, but
they do not believe you to be a magician.
To annihilate or vanish a human being by a pistol-shot is a stupendous
conception, and an illusion of such character demands the greatest
dramatic intensity. The pistol-shot is not enough to amount for such a
transcendent effect. I would have the stage flooded with a weird,
greenish light, electric in character, after the manner of the Aurora
tube, with a special stage setting for the illusion. I would have the
audience remain perfectly quiet as I should speak the word. At the
shot, I should have the vanishing lady give a terrific scream, and, at
the same time a roll of thunder would reverberate through the house
while the air would be heavy with a strange odor.
Add to all this the dramatic technique, an intense mental attitude on
the part of the magician, and your audience will be hypnotized, by the
cumulative suggestions, into the belief that what they saw was real. As
their minds sit in judgment on the senses, so the mind that presents the
illusion must convince the mind of the auditor. It is not so much what
you do, and how you do it; but rather what you think in the doing. The
mental status is the cap sheaf in the actor's part.

Sixth
(Note:--The terms Law of Suggestion, Auto-Suggestion,
Subjective Mind, and Objective Mind are used without an
academical explanation of their meaning, for the reason
that they need to he fully and explicitly explained, but this
is not the place nor the time for such explanation.
Hudson's Law of Psychic Phenomena is an admirable

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exposition in this fascinating field of recent discovery and

exploitation, to which the reader is urgently referred. The
book, with Hudson's other works upon the same line, is
procurable of the general book trade and is also found at
any public library.)

The Law of Suggestion is the psychological basis of the hypnotist's

art. The actor stands in a similar relation to his audience as does the
hypnotist to his subject. The hypnotist requires the complete
submission of the mind of the subject to his will; the actor likewise
should aim at nothing less than the complete subjection of the mind of
the audience to his mind and will. The audience knows nothing of the
technique of his art, but God has given it a mind, like unto his own,
that can read his mind to a certainty--and it is this mind that the actor
has to deal with.
Now, how is the one to subjugate the mind of the many?
How does the trainer subjugate the tiger? First, by letting the animal
see that his trainer has confidence. The dumb brute can tell by a look
or the slightest move whether the trainer believes in himself. If the
dumb brute can read the trainer's mind, how much more ought the
actor fear the judgment of the audience as he looks into the sea of
faces. The trainer's part is assumed, as is that of the actor. If you do
not think you are a lion tamer; you will be a meal for the animal, and
if you do not think you are the character you are assuming, the
audience will see through your bluff quicker than the animal does
through the weakness of the would-be tamer. Do not forget that.
How is the one to acquire the ability to think himself another person?
In the language of the hypnotist, the answer is: By Auto-suggestion.
The actor must by all the strength of his mind suggest to himself,
constantly and persistently, that he is the character he is portraying. He
must strive for the hypnotic state, where the unreal is the real and the
real is the unreal.
The psychologists tell us that our Subjective Mind, that mind which
takes care of our living organism and preserves it, is the eternal entity
within us, and our Subjective Mind, or the mind of the senses, is the
means whereby we come into conscious contact with the physical
universe. Our subjective mind feeds on the world and appropriates
what we need therefrom; our subjective mind is the motive power of
our being. Our brain is the wax cylinder that records all that we
acquire while the subjective mind is the operating power in our
machine--the body.
The subjective mind is the seat of our imagination and all the ethereal

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elements of our being. The pianist, sinker, painter, sculptor, poet,

worshipper of God, and the actor--all these especially are awake to the
inner subjective realities. In the hypnotized subject we see the
objective mind completely suppressed, and the subjective mind rise
above the threshold of consciousness and hold absolute sway. And see
how perfectly it does its work! How perfectly the subject conceives
his part, and with what astonishing, consummate skill does he act that
part! The actor must be in this subjective mood if he ever expects to
play his part, for stageland is the unreal, hypnotic land of the actor.
Our subjective mind is the power within us and is able to do all things
perfectly.
Why does the actor not use it? Because the actor in these days does
not take his art seriously as in the old days of high dramatic art. Even
if he did, there would be little opportunity to display a perfect piece of
acting, for the reason that the country has gone mad over musical
comedy, vaudeville and moving pictures. The magician, too, has been
carried off his feet in the surge of popular desire, and now thinks he
must be cheap and funny. Well, he is--but his art weeps.
I saw a well-known performer do the double-handkerchief change
with these words: "I'm glad I've got that off my chest." O! the pity of
it. Why should people thus destroy the work of their own hands in
order to get a giggle from someone, a la Carter. Carter and some of the
other funny magicians may please by their antics and cracks, and even
though their actual performance is excellent, the question is: Will their
names be synonyms of their art, like Houdini and Hermann?
If you want posterity to remember your work in this world, it must be
seriously done. How much it would have added to the dignity of the
performer if he had said, "My power is in the touch of my fingers.
Even as I speak the word and touch the handkerchiefs they change
their colors." The audience really wants, really appreciates your fine
art in preference to an opportunity to laugh. If you want humor let it
be respectable and consonant with the situation. Alexander Hermann
gave a fine example, where Boomski, apparently by accident, falls on
the gentleman's silk hat as he is returning it.
If, therefore, suggestion be the all-powerful factor in the dramatic art,
how it behooves the magician and the actor to be extremely careful in
speech and action. Every word, every move, tells the audience
something. Your weak expressions are as powerful as are your strong
expressions. Nay, they are more powerful, for they can degrade your
art. If suggestion be the all-powerful factor in dramatic art, you must
weigh well your every word, look and act.
If you subjugate or control your audience by suggestion, the

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suggestion must come from you. They cannot believe you to be what
you yourself do not believe. If you want to be a great magician, you
yourself must believe that you are such. If you would control others by
the power of suggestion, you must first by Auto-suggestion make
yourself believe what you want the audience to believe. This can only
be accomplished through your subjective mind, which mind is in
touch with mortal mentalities and with the Great Mind Universal.
The organ of belief is the Subjective Mind, not the Objective Mind.
The Objective Mind of the five senses, seated in the brain, is simply
the organ to deliver the goods to the depths of our being, therefore our
belief is deeply seated. Nay, it must be so, otherwise, on the surface of
our consciousness, it will be only a sense-perception. The audience
gets your act through sense-perceptions apprehended by the brain; but
it believes you are a magician unconsciously, so to speak, by its
Subjective Mind, which is the personality's real self.
The objective mind of the hypnotized subject is nearly totally
inhibited, the subjective personality coming to the surface and running
things. The subject believes himself to be the character that has been
suggested to him. To the audience his real self seems to have
disappeared and he is a different personality. So must the actor be in
this subjective condition of mind. The real personal self of the actor
must be inhibited in order that the audience may see the subjective
personality which the mind of the actor is assuming. The character
being portrayed is a creature of the mind and the actor's real self must
be inhibited.
If Downs, Thurston or Kellar do not blot Downs, Thurston or Kellar,
respectively, from their minds when they are playing the part of the
magician, the audience will never see the magician--they will see only
Downs, Thurston, or Kellar. In the days of great actors, people went
not to see McCullough and Barrett but to see McCullough in "Richard
the Third" and Barrett in "Hamlet." No one ever saw McCullough or
Barrett on the stage. They saw McCullough's "Richard the Third" and
Barrett's "Hamlet."

Seventh
The art of magic in its long history has never been associated with
comedy. The soothsayers, priests, astrologers, medicine men, and all
who used mystery in their business, never mixed it with comedy,
although when off by themselves, they may have laughed in their
sleeve. It is of very ancient origin and hoary with a venerable age that

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ought to entitle it to respect. It has been practiced in all seriousness by

all peoples, and, although not always with honest purposes by those
who dealt in its secrets, yet it has served in its ancient forms in many
ways to control, guide and help the ignorant and barbarous peoples of
the earth.
When the world had no knowledge of therapeutics and medicine, I
have no doubt that it was the provision of God that the ignorant and
superstitious should have the only doctor they could have--the
medicine man with his magic and incantations. Even the moderns are
learning from the ancients and are today adopting mental therapeutics.
However, they are not learning from the ancients, but from God, for it
is a method that God put into the world from the beginning--the times
of our great ignorance and helplessness.
The modern sleight-of-hand performer is the one who is guilty of
investing and degrading the art of magic with comedy. Not our truly
great performers, for the great ones cut the comedy and are great
because of their magic. It is the small performer, countlessly in
evidence everywhere, who, because he is not the artist and able to
deliver real magic, turns his attempts into burlesque and causes people
to look upon magic as a gigantic farce.
Now if our art is to be respected and ennobled these "doins" have got
to be cut out and these incompetent performers educated or
suppressed. (In parenthesis let me say that there is but one art--the art
of magic. Sleight-of-hand is not an art in itself; it is but one of the
means used in magic. It should never be used in the too common
juggling-sense exhibitions of dexterity. The fact that you use
sleight-of-hand in magic should be carefully concealed--not exposed.)
To elevate the standard of our art we must all lift together. I believe
that comedy does more than all other things combined to drag our art
in the dust. If a professional comedian should attempt magic, he would
use it only as a foil or butt for his wit--and you can imagine what a
low quality of magic it would be. Conversely: If a professional
magician--I mean a real one--should attempt comedy, you can
imagine what estimate the professional comedian would put upon it.
Comedy is a fine art, as is magic. What a fine successor Francis
Wilson would be to Kellar; and how easy it would be for Kellar to
play the Lion Tamer of Wilson! If you cannot substitute these things,
neither can you mix them without damaging both.
Some time ago a book was published wherein the "patter" was given
to go with some of the experiments. I assume the performer had better
sense than to use for himself such alleged wit, that ridiculed himself
and his work. The saddest thing about it is, that, if he did say the

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things, he was ignorant of the fact that he was insulting himself and
his art before his audience. Let me herewith submit some of the
senseless lines excerpted from the mass of them.
"What I intend doing this evening is not necessary to
speak of; otherwise you would be as wise as I am, and to
tell you the honest truth, I don't think your brains would
stand as much pressure as that."
"I have here a strip of quite, ordinary tissue paper, red,
white and blue. I am noted for being always so
idiotic--no, patriotic, of course."
"This is a very simple trick--in fact, I used to do it when
in short frocks. The only difference is that whereas I do it
badly now and get paid for it, I used to do it well then and
only got spanked."
"Then you just put them together and just hank a bit and
there you are. You see that is why the people call it
hankey-pankey. I will show you another way. I shall first
light this match, then I light these papers and--burn my
fingers--that's not sleight-of-hand, really; no skill
required; only just a match and a good deal of
clumsiness."
"All my handkerchiefs are in shades, if you notice--in fact
some are so shady that they are downright disreputable. I
shall now show you one or two swindles with these
silks!"
"This, ladies and gentlemen, is a billiard ball. I mention it
in case that you might think it a flatiron or orange. I am
not good at ball juggling, but my uncle is a capital hand
at it keeps three up for hours at a stretch over the door. I
can't keep balls up at all; I am too busy trying to keep up
appearances."
"In my next swindle--I mean illusion--"
"In fact I began to think that we weren't going to get any
fish at all, but only a shell--er--I mean only a sell. They
are rather fishy looking fish, aren't they? Still you cannot
expect whales at 6d. per dozen."
"Now here is a little money, a very little--but it's all I've
got (unfortunately), and considering my profession it's
rather a miracle I've got that."

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"Well, I don't wonder you can't see such a silly joke as

that. I am not sure that I understand it myself--it's enough
to make a chap-un-easy, isn't it?"
"I've got a very artistic touch about me. In fact, I used to
be a prize fighter."
Look at the names he has called himself, his work, his calling, and the
offensive remarks directed at the audience in this beautiful,
high-class-comedy wit. The author and performer does great credit to
himself in this book, except for this insane comedy rot. Strange, isn't
it, that he put it in the book? He ought to have had enough horse-sense
not to inoculate all the amateurs that should read his book with such
insane virus to degrade the profession and the art. It proves just what I
want to say to all magicians: If you haven't real wit in you cut out
your feeble attempts at it.
To be witty you must have a talent for it as for any other
predominating faculty. If you haven't, making idiotic remarks like the
above will only show your feeble-mindedness and destroy your work
as a magician. The man that wrote that in his book had no sense of real
wit nor its place in a magic performance.
A little wit may be used; but let it be consonant, not discordant and
insane, with the occasion and pertinent to the thing you are
performing. Let your wit be an aid to other means to mystify the
audience, not a distracting element that throws their mind off its
balance and their attention off your immediate work and the effect
you are attempting to accomplish.
Blot the idea of "patter" out of your brain. The "word" and the "stuff"
that has been put into books has done great damage. A magician must
have legitimate "lines"--that's the term to use, not "patter"--and these
lines should be studied and delivered with such care and precision by
him as by any actor.

Eighth
Our body magic is infected with a disease germ, which, if not
eradicated, will, as in all cases of disease, destroy the life. The germ
that threatens the life is the vaudeville-comedy microbe.
Magic caught her disease in a vaudeville theater--and there are two
thousand of them in this country.
What has brought about this condition? The introduction of vaudeville

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into our entertainment life is the chief cause; and the somewhat
secondary one is the increasingly large number who are devoting
themselves in a small way to the practice of magic. When magic was
in hands of the few it held a dignified place, kept there by the
vigilance of its devoted high priests of the art. "Familiarity breeds
contempt"--and the public had not then become familiar with, not only
its effects, but even the means employed in many cases to produce
those effects. Now the cat is out of the bag, so to speak, and no one
seems to be able to catch her.
Now what is to be done? The same as in any disease. Purify the room
and give the patient a tonic till he shall be able to throw off the disease
germs. There are two things that have polluted the atmosphere: First,
the manager who insists on saying how an act shall be put on; and,
second, the idea maintained by the manager that the public expects
some comedy from the magician--which is not true. Our brother who
has been trying to live and eat in this stifling atmosphere has tried and
failed in his strong, healthy purpose to win, for the reason that it is
impossible under the conditions he is in.
A magician needs absolutely the stage for his act--nothing less. To
work in one is death to you as a magician. As a nondescript comedian,
you can work there, or on top of a barrel; but as a magician, if you
value your life, do not attempt it. Recently I saw a good magic act
during which the magician worked in one while another illusion was
being set. He was fine, except when he worked in front of the
drop--then he appeared not as a magician, but as a nondescript
comedian, who was attempting to bluff the audience with a few tricks
and jokes. How sorry I was to see a most worthy performance marred.
The remedy to apply to this element of the managerial trouble is to
demand the whole stage for your act and unlimited freedom in putting
it on. One reason why the magician has been asked to work in one is
that he is a carpet bag magician and has not enough to use a stage. If
the art is to be elevated we must cut out the carpet-baggers in the
business.
Some time ago the managers, I understand, made a compact that they
would play no magic act where there was not at least two big illusions
and three in the company. Good for the managers. Stand by them.
They want you to be headliners and they are telling you how to do it.
Carry a full complement of velvet or plush curtains (drops are no
good), illusions, smaller effects and your people and there is no reason
why you will not be the feature act of the show. No magician should
play a house that would ask him to accept an inferior position. Aim to
be headliners and the managers will soon see magic in a different
light. Recently we had one in our city, and the manager said the

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magician had made good--the best week we had had. Cheer up and get
wise.
Other acts have stage: The acrobat act; the musical act; the dogs,
ponies, monkeys, and trained animals; the trick bicyclist; the juggler,
and others. Why should not the magic act have its freedom?
In the second place the comedy must be cut out. There is no two ways
about that. It must be done. If you have good jokes, bill double and
come on later in disguise and tell them to everybody that is willing to
stay.
I asked a large number of people who witnessed a fine magic act if
they liked it better where the magician was serious and not funny, and
almost to a man they preferred him without his comedy. Now, there is
a psychological, philosophical reason for their answer. It is this: When
one beholds a mystery, his attitude of mind at once becomes serious
and studious, endeavoring to reason out and fathom what has just been
perceived. To have one's head split open with a joke, is to destroy
absolutely the condition of mind that the mystery induced. Especially
so, if your remark is derogatory to yourself, your audience, or the
effect just done.
I heard a performer use this sentence after doing the handkerchief
pistol to the covered tumbler upon the new fine handkerchief stand:
"Well, is there no limit to this man's cleverness?" Making fun of his
own ability spoiled the effect beyond redemption. Why will
performers do it? No one asked him to say that. I think the reason is
this: At times they think they are greater than their art. It's a sorry day
when they think that. No man can be greater than his art. Art is not a
thing. Art is the product of what you do. You cannot be greater than
what you are doing.

Ninth
He who writes upon any art in fidelity must do so from a high plane.
How many of the world's great artist musicians, painters, sculptors,
poets and authors have not only, in their fidelity to their fine art, not
only gone hungry for the sympathy and appreciation of the public but
even hungry for bread and butter. Not a single friend stood by
Mozart's grave. One was present with Beethoven in his last illness, I
believe. The sad representatives of the other arts could be named.
Any art is not safe in the hands of one who is merely looking for his
bread and butter in the practice of it. If the ideal in your art is not your

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aim, you are not an artist. You may think you are; or may ask to have
your name go on the bill as one, but you are not what you profess to
be. The art of magic as practiced on the vaudeville stage needs
cleaning up. Any one that says no, is not faithful to their trust. It is
there that the damage has been done to our art and it is there that it
must be set right.
Truth is like a sword: It cuts. The surgeon's knife is to remove the bad
flesh. The critic's knife, if he is honest in his purpose, will remove the
bad spot, and there will be some pain. Some readers may put an
interpretation upon my words that were not intended by me. For
instance: "The carpet baggers in the business must be cut out." I was
plainly speaking of the vaudeville stage; not club workers. Read it
over again--not one of my articles but all of them.
I am writing on the Art of Magic and its performers. Not somebody's
art or somebody's performance. I am a club worker--but not the big
stick kind. The boys at the University of Wisconsin bill me as The
Great Magician (not at my request). Why? Because, my demeanor
before them is that of a real magician. I go as a carpet bagger,
necessarily, but in my work I strive in it all to "maintain the magic
position" as Edwards calls fidelity to the ideal of magic.
Now this leads me to the subject of wit in a magic performance. I
believe in a magician using wit and humor in his work. I have made
myself clear on that point already; but I wish to re-state my position
and I would like to burn the words into the minds and hearts of every
amateur and professional--the professional, especially. Cut out
comedy. Your comedy may be successful with your audience to
produce a laugh, but the dignity of your art and yourself, as a
magician, suffer in direct proportion to the success of your laugh
efforts. That is to say: The more the audience laughs at what you say,
the more they look upon you and your art as a thing to laugh at; if
what you say degrades in any way yourself, your art or your audience.
A little wit, like a little learning, is a dangerous thing; and a jest is a
dangerous thing to handle--like a knife without a handle. However, as
I have said before, use your wit to make your audience smile; but see
to it that it is pertinent to the very success of the thing you are
doing--related to and concordant with that thing. Not discordant and
insane.
Be witty without comedy. Comedy will kill the magician; wit will give
him a high place in the mind of the audience, who will then discover
that the magician's wit, as well as his mysterious knowledge and
power, is of a superior character. Indeed, it must be. Mysterious power
and low wit do not go together. Let your wit be scintillating,

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unexpected, rare and scattered throughout your performance. If you

put in too much of it, they will see you are aiming to be funny--and
there you are, a dead one.
The audience laughs at other things than your wit. Use your wit as
spice--sparingly. They laugh at the denouement of the tricks
themselves. I think the psychological reason is, that the surprise in the
result of the experiment breaks the continuity of their feeling, like a
disrupted electric current and the result is, the intermittent thing within
us called laughter. So, you must expect the audience to laugh at every
surprising effect--and they are all surprising. They may not holler and
hang onto their seats--but they are smiling and laughing, just the same.
When I do the handkerchief under the plate from the nickled cassette
and then immediately repeat, vanishing from the hand, I get a big
laugh. The audience are delighted that I so easily and completely beat
them to a frazzle in their attempts to use their five senses upon me.
They honor me by laughter and a good hand. I want to say that every
time I do even this little effect I get a big laugh and a good big hand. I
only mention this, to show that straight, serious work will bring
laughter and appreciation--for I make no effort to be funny. Try it. Put
your wit in your work, not in funny sayings.
This leads me to speak of the magician's deportment or demeanor on
the stage and off, too, for that matter. Strive to be known as a
magician and to maintain the position. A magician needs the full stage
for a magic act; yet, a man sitting in my office, talking with me as a
magician, may play the part there. Or he may work "in one," and be
the real magician if his demeanor, talk and actions there do not belie
him. Alexander Hermann needed only to stand before a curtain and do
a little card trick to be the Great Magician. Let us all strive for that
personality and attitude. If we can't all be as great as he, let us be as
great as we can. And we all can certainly be greater than we are.

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