Customer Reviews

Magic and Showmanship: A Handbook for Conjurers (Dover Magic Books)

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As a magician since childhood and an actor/director by schooling, I have always been disturbed by the disconnect between the way magicians are portrayed in legend and literature (e.g., Merlin, Gandalf, etc.) and the average magic act (e.g., a greasy guy in a tux making fun of spectators).

That disconnect almost made me abandon magic. However, the amazing Henning Nelms has given hope to magicians (and audiences) everywhere. Nelms, a successful Broadway theatrical jack-of-all-trades who wrote what have become definitive texts on set design, lighting and even drawing by hand, was also an excellent magician.

"M&S" may be his most important work, however, because it gives the magician the tools of the theatre and the skills to use those tools. It is no accident that since the original 1969 edition of "M&S," magic has been changing into a more theatrical (and more compelling) art. The ground-breaking work of Eugene Burger, Jeff McBride, Alain Nu and others in the emergent "New Wave" of magic owe a great deal to Nelms' monumental book.

To the actor, the knowledge herein will seem basic; to the conjurer, it will be revolutionary. Some magi will dismiss "M&S" as a pipe-dream and go back to their endless stream of "pick-a-card" tricks (what sleight-of-hand master Jamy Ian Swiss calls "magic aversion therapy").

But those who carefully read AND apply the wisdom it contains will find a door into a whole new world. This world has made it possible, for example, for John Tudor and Rebecque to use magic in award-winning videos to teach children how to relate socially in positive ways. It enables Stan Davis to teach middle schoolers, teachers and principals how to short-circuit cycles of violence and drugs in schools. It has enabled Max Howard, the Emmy-award winning conjurer, to re-create the act of Civil War-era magician Prof. Gus Rich.

I consider Henning Nelms' "Magic and Showmanship: A Handbook for Conjurors" to be the single most indispensible book on the presentation of magic. I believe you will, too.

Nelm's Magic and Showmanship is like the Bible for magicians. By that I mean it is the MOST highly praised and the LEAST ACTUALLY READ of any magic book in existence! All magicians pay lip service to it, but I've never met that first one who actually followed the advice given.

Actually, the author does make some very good points. When you do magic, it is like a puzzle to the audience. When they can't figure it out, like any puzzle, they expect to be told the secret, which the magician refuses to do. This causes frustration.

The author's solution to this is to remove the "miraculous" aspects from the performance. For example, instead of doing the cut and restored string routine, you present it as a strong man feat in which a piece of string which has been cut in two cannot be pulled from your fingers. For a stage act, the author suggests doing a comedy routine in which the performer is playing a stereotypical magician, but he is possessed by an African Obeah man, who is causing all of his tricks to turn out wrong. By making it appear that the magician is under the control of someone else, he turns it into a comedy act which eases the audience's resentment at being fooled.

No close up trick should simply be pulled out of the pocket and performed; rather, it should be carefully worked into the conversation before performance. For example, you talk about psychics which segues into talk about a mind reading demonstration that you've been working on, which segues into the performance of a trick, practically without your spectators realizing it.

While I think Nelms' premise is correct, I don't think his solution is very practical for most performances. Certainly a somewhat shy magician would have a very hard time skillfully steering a conversation around to a particular topic so that he could show a related trick. The miraculous aspect cannot be removed from most effects, contrary to what Nelms says.

That said, Nelms does give some excellent tips on staging, timing, posture, making the most of assistants and other important topics. There are also several outstanding effects worked into the book as illustrations of the author's points.

This is a very thought-provoking book--for anybody who actually bothers to read it!

Magic and Showmanship is a book I recommend to all my writing students. It's better than almost any of the thousands of "how to write" volumes you find out there. There are all kinds of illusions in the world, and artists of all kinds employ the principles of showmanship in lots of circumstances.

This book will teach you how to outline, how to write a believable character, how to get your audience (the readers) to work with you, how to build to a climax, how to foreshadow later action, how to answer the readers' questions before they ask them, and generallly how to entertain. It's a fantastic work. I'm very happy to see it back in print.

I have been a professional magician for the better part of 32 years. When I first started into magic full time, this was one of the books that I read and re-read thoroughly. It gave me real insight into how to create a consistent character and how to THINK about magic when I was doing magic.

I fully believe that most people who have purchased this book have never read it. If they had, there would be more really excellent magicians in the world. But you can tell the ones who have read it and who understand it, because their magic is consistent, convincing and natural.

If you want to do good magic, buy this book and read it. It will tell you how to think, speak and act when you are performing. And it will give you some material that is not too difficult, but has very great impact upon an audience. And don't worry about performing that material in front of someone else who has purchased this book. He probably hasn't read it anyway! If he has, he won't tell the secrets!

Bill Palmer, MIMC
Merlin the Magician of the Texas Renaissance Festival

My own copy of Mr. Nelms' book is crinkeled with age. The spine is creased. The pages turning yellow. I have read and reread this book at least 500 times these past 20 years, (from its original publication date) and each time I learn something new.

Magic and Showmanship teaches us magi how to suspend disbelief on the part of the audience. How to create mystery. Weave a story. Create suspense.

He teaches us how to turn tricks into real magic. I highly recommend this book.

Magic & Showmanship was recommended by Henry Hay (Author of "The Amateur Magician's Handbook",). You need Hay's book in your magic libray as well as M & S, by H. Nelms. Mr. Nelms teaches tricks, but they are only there to highlight the real secret of performing magic. He teaches you how to act and think like a magician. Of great benefit is his instruction on using a "silent script". He also provides excellent advice on costuming, stage craft, involving the audience and even posture to make your performance memorable. The book is challenging, but worth the effort. If you really care about performing, buy this book.

Magic and Showmanship is a book I recommend to all my writing students. It's better than almost any of the thousands of "how to write" volumes you find out there. There are all kinds of illusions in the world, and artists of all kinds employ the principles of showmanship in lots of circumstances.

This book will teach you how to outline, how to write a believable character, how to get the audience to work with you, how to build to a climax, how to foreshadow later action, how to answer the audience's questions before they ask them, and generallly how to entertain. It's a fantastic work, and well worth chasing down.

The author gives (in my opininion) to many effects in this book. He tries to get his point across by teaching trick instead of actually going into the psychological factors behind the point he is making.

This book should be one of the books that are read and referred to in every magicians library.
The showmanship chapters of this book are sure to increase the quality of any stage and personal performance.
I highly recommend this book to those who seek a profession in this area.
Lawrence O'Leary

If you are at all interested in performing magic, this book is a must. It makes you think of the perfprmance of magic in a light that has not been shed on it. I can not recommend this book highly enough!