How Magicians Think, Misdirection, Deception, and Why Magic Matters
This month we are looking at smoke and mirrors and all the ways we allow ourselves to be fooled, making this weeks book How Magicians Think, Misdirection, Deception, and Why Magic Matters by Joshua Jay. So let’s do this!
So, this book is part autobiography and part explanation. NOT detailed step by steps on any magic tricks. One of the things he explains is the magicians code, which is frequently referenced in Hollywood, and half the time people roll their eyes because it sounds hokey. However, when he explains that magic effects are not protected in the same way as other intellectual property, the need for the secrecy takes on a whole new meaning.
What does that mean? Well, this blog/vlog is copyright protected. Like, people could take chunks of it and comment on it on their own, and that’s allowed. But if a student tried to copy and paste my blog into a book report of their own, that’s called plagiarism. There’s a reason YouTube is fucking strict with copyright strikes, intellectual property is one of the hallmarks of American freedom, it’s actually enshrined in the US Constitution in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 (the Copyright and Patent Clause, sometimes called the Intellectual Property Clause) which specifically states:
“To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”
Here’s the thing though...it’s the EFFECTS that are not protected Intellectual Property. What can be copyright protected are the stories magicians tell while setting up their tricks. Sort of like recipes can’t be copyright protected, so food blogs bury the recipe at the bottom of a long screed explaining how they came to this particular mix, to make it seem like they really discovered something.
The difference is, Magicians usually HAVE discovered something. They’ve discovered how to manipulate small things so smoothly, people miss the sleight of hand. The patter is part of the misdirection, you’re so engaged with the story, you miss how he did it.
As such, only the magician who invented a trick can reveal the secret of that trick. So even if he’s figured out how, in his example, David Copperfield makes a plane vanish, Jay can’t reveal how that was done without becoming a professional pariah and losing the career he loves. As examples of two such people who made that choice, he referenced the Masked Magician, a Fox special which aired in 1997, and was quickly revealed to be Val Valentino. And his career as a magician died as soon as interest in the Fox special died.
The other example occurred fairly recently, I remember reading about it online, Teller v Gerard Dogge. Teller, of Penn and Teller fame, did manage to successfully copyright a trick and defended that copyright against Dogge. This was a unique situation mostly because proving the originality of a piece can be challenging. But Teller’s piece Shadows IS unique, he was able to copyright it most likely by proving he was the provenance.
But magicians police themselves. They actually work on the honor system, and don’t perform each others tricks. Because if you are found to be performing other’s magics, the network that gets magician’s booked, will turn against you. You CAN perform another magicians magic...IF the creator of the trick publishes. As Jay says “If I invent a trick, I have the option to publish that trick, or not. If I publish the secret, I establish it as my own. I get the pride of sharing an idea I’m proud of, and I can profit from the sale of my idea. But that also means others are welcome to use and improve it. If I choose NOT to publish the trick, it’s hands off.”
Sometimes, a magician might stumble on something someone else has already performed on accident. Professionally what happens is the creator will call up the copycat and say “hey, that thing you did is like my trick The Great Boogeyman, which I’ve been performing for two years. Please remove it from your act.” The copycat, not wanting to be drummed out of the business apologizes and removes it from his act.
If he doesn’t, the original magician tells a friend, he tells a friend, who tells a friend. Think about how badly Carlos Mencia was dragged in comedy when he was accused of stealing jokes...like mocked on South Park bad. Well the magic community is even smaller than the stand up comedian community. Mostly because everyone thinks they can be a comedian. Most people realize they don’t have the dexterity to be a magician. Once that word of mouth spreads, the very tiny magic community blacklists the would be thief.
And it really is that simple. They police themselves, which is a surprisingly effective control measure against theft of IP that is otherwise impossible to protect.
It’s lack of provenance that allows Penn & Teller to perform cups, one of the oldest magic tricks, using clear glasses and explaining what’s going on. It still pissed some people off, but since Penn & Teller mostly just reveal their own magic, they get away it.
And it’s the “how he did it” that pulls most magicians in and keeps them grinding for the answer.
Joshua Jay fell in love with magic when he was like 8. But whereas a lot of 8 year old’s might have that first flush then move onto other interests, this was his love affair from that moment on, and it seems like each chapter includes anecdotes from his life, explaining how he got to where he is.
I laughed out loud when he described performing at 10 years old for an event where a politician was in the audience, and he pulled the politician up onstage to decapitate him with a trick guillotine. Note: No politicians were harmed in the performance of this trick, but I admired a kid, chasing the real dream of decapitating politico’s at 10 years old while his father had heart palpitations from the wings. Living the dream kid, living the dream!
He’s been performing ever since, so it’s no surprise he’s quite good, and quite well connected, having met the names everyone is familiar with, Penn & Teller, David Copperfield, David Blaine, Jay has judged at international magic competitions, and while he rarely takes on students, the ones he does were heartbreaking to read about, and shows while he may be as egotistical as, well, all magicians, a fact he freely admits to, his heart is as big as his ego.
Jay talks about how sometimes it’s misdirection and sleight of hand, and sometimes it’s no magic at all, citing how when David Blaine shoves an ice pick through his hand, it’s not magic….HE IS SHOVING AN ICE PICK THROUGH FUCKING HIS HAND, tapping into that other great vaudeville talent, the Side Show Freak.
He includes history of magic, taking us all the way back to the 16th century and The Discoverie of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot, which was the first printed how to manual on sleight of hand, and Jay credits with keeping many early magicians out of the witch hunts of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. He takes us through the early 19th century greats, up through Houdini and how he died...which was NOT performing one of his tricks, but rather a burst appendix.
He has several chapters devoted to his favorite magicians and explains how basically all of them, to some degree or another, collect magic memorabilia, which I get. David Copperfield has an enormous collection which he plans to endow into a museum, which will be amazing. There is Ken Klosterman in Ohio. He’s very wealthy because he was like the sole supplier of bread products to McDonald’s or something, and he has three enormous properties filled with magic memorabilia, and no idea what to do with it.
But like magicians and magic lovers everywhere, he doles out pieces where they will be most appreciated, rather than for the money, and Jay tells one story where Klosterman hosted a retreat for magic collectors and one of the presenters was David Stahl, who had been working on mapping out every aspect of the life of The Great Lafayette, who was a Munich born-illusionist who died in a fire in 1911 during his last performance. The fire burned so hot and fierce that The Great Lafayette was only identified by his signature sword, which was found on his body. After Stahl’s presentation, Klosterman gifted him The Great Lafayette’s sword, a collectors piece that is literally priceless in the magic community. And Klosterman gave it to the person who would most appreciate it, rather than selling it to the highest bidder.
He opens and closes with the same question: Why Magic?
The opening explains how magic can be both an escape and a lifesaver, through the words of Werner Reich, who survived Auschwitz by using magic to distract the guards. And Abbey Lynn Albani who broke her neck during stage rehearsal, then fought her way back to mobility. The innate drive to get it just...right...to create something that can wow and stun. That is why may people start. But why do they continue?
At the end, it’s the same. In an age where anyone can look something up online and have an immediate answer, creating something that can stun the mind is powerful. It’s magic.
I really enjoyed this book, Jay has a performers way with words, each chapter is short and sweet but very to the point, nothing is dragged our or over blown. There may be misdirection in his magic, but there was none I could detect in his writing, as he invites you in to see a glimpse of the world he loves.
And it called me back to last weeks book: Are psychic’s real? Is magic real? It’s as real as you believe it to be.
