Why you should buy more magic
Many magicians feel they can't control themselves. They buy more and more stuff (and more!), more than they could ever use. But then they feel bad about it - "it was an impulse buy", they say.
Do we really need to feel "bad" about buying "stuff we don't need"?
Give us only 1 minute and we'll share an interesting take on the subject.
One of the greatest English magicians was Tommy Cooper. In case you never heard about him, could you please search him on "YouTube"? We assure you, you are going to LAUGH. He was voted the funniest artist from the UK in his time. Giant guy, wearing a "fez" hat, super funny and comical.
Look what famous magician and TV Producer John Fisher wrote about him:
"His obsession with the gadgets and gizmos of his trade is typified by a story told by Martin Breese... One morning Tommy came on the phone to order several of the most expensive tricks from Martin's most recent catalogue. He also asked if the order could be rushed through and delivered without delay. When Martin asked for the address, the voice replied, 'Charing Cross Hospital.'
But actually it wasn't difficult to impersonate Tommy Cooper over the phone. Martin sensed a joke and hung up.
A few seconds later a niggling doubt found him ringing the hospital to check. Tommy had indeed been admitted as a patient. Martin was put through to the ward . 'Well, can you deliver?' asked Cooper. A short cab ride later Breese was at the hospital, only to discover Tommy in a wheelchair outside an operating theatre awaiting minor foot surgery.
Amid a flurry of string and brown paper, parcels were opened and props examined until it was time to wave goodbye to the Goliath of comedy as he was wheeled into the operating theatre with a mountain of the latest miracles spilling over his lap."
Tommy's passion began as a kid:
"All my spending money went on new tricks and all the time I could spare went on practicing them", said Tommy.
And continued throughout his life:
"The excitement he experienced when as a boy he waited for the postman to deliver the latest package never left him. In later life he used to acquire many of his props from the Supreme Magic Company in the unlikely location of Biddeford, a small coastal town in North Devon. As each new sales list appeared, Tommy would phone his requirements through to the owner, a jovial wizard known throughout the conjuring trade as simply Edwin the Magician . The order was usually the same - 'Send one of everything!'"
The problem used to be that Mr. Edwin "would point out that Tommy had several of the items already or that possibly some of them were not suitable for his presentation".
THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION IS ONE OF TOMMY COPPER'S SECRETS, AND THE PATH FOR BECOMING A GREAT ARTIST
Tommy would reply, 'Never mind! Send them anyway! I'm just a big kid and it's like Christmas when I get your parcels!"
The answer contained the key to what made him successful as both a magician and a funny man. He never lost that sense of childish wonder - that of the kid in the candy store, no less - with which every member of his audience could identify."
REMEMEBER THE SECRET "VEILS"
Tamariz explained in his marvelous book "The Magic Rainbow" the "Seven Veils of Magic" - the things that the spectator FEEL about us - they just don't know exactly how.
When you really love magic, when you are really enthusiastic about it - it comes through. Your spectators will feel that you are really passionate about it.
This was one of Tommy Cooper's secrets.
Magic is about re-connecting with the inner child, the child that is astonished and enchanted with the world. How do we, the magicians, reconnect with those feelings? When we receive our own "parcels" full of our "toys" - and we find ourselves once again in "candy land".
AS A THANK YOU NOTE FOR READING THIS ARTICLE, PLEASE ACCEPT OUR 10% OFF GIFT TO YOU. SIMPLY USE THE CODE "TOMMY" AT CHECKOUT.