One of the most effective and amusing uses of mime that I ever saw was my husband Bobs' performance as Snoopy when we did Charlie Brown's Christmas this past year. If you can imagine Bob the garrulous one in a part where he had no speaking lines. His every bodily nuance and facial expression told the story from Snoopy's point of view, and he upstaged the people with the speaking parts. That is stage presence and to my knowledge he has never studied mime, he is just exquisitely observant. We all use mime techniques whether we realize it or not. I would love to study mime too. It would be useful with my trained animals, and also in dealing with patients. I remember a psychologist who spoke volumes just cocking her head, raising her eyebrows and smiling a sad little smile. I will definitely look for Tony Montanaros' book.

Lucy

In the "Books of Wonder", by Tommy Wonder he discusses types of mime from where to look, how to balance yourself on the balls of your feet and even when to inhale and exhale during the climax of a trick. Really interesting reading.
David

I totally agree. A magician should learn so much more than just magic. Actually every theatrical discipline is part of magic. So vocal training, miming, dancing, improvisation, story telling ect. should be part of a serious magical education. Magicians I admire most, are all performers that combine magic with a different art forms. This way a performance gets a solid foundation. And mime is a perfect way to start with.

On one of Jeff McBride's videos he mentions a magician should take mime, acting and dance lessons.

One of these days I would love to write a book on how to use mime in sleight of hand. I must finish my other projects before I can even think about starting this, but I think it would be very helpful to those that want to use simulation for example in using the fake take moves like the French Drop. Also, using isolations when picking up props helps to create drama and attention to it. Finally, picking up a fake prop by making it look like it has weight is also a great use of mime.

Really useful advice. Does anyone know if there's a supplier for Tony Montanaro's DVDs in the UK?

Correct. Jeff McBride, already a magician, went to the American Mime College and was one of the first magicians I saw combining mime and magic, perhaps after Cardini, who was rather playing a character. This is a very good thread because it is the area of simulation that many magicians aren't working hard enough on acting like they have an object in the hand they pretended to put something "in". If you don't believe it, the audience won't either. Slydini understood all this too.
Anyway, Jeff McBride is a very good mime and I always am encouraging him to do a piece that is JUST mime and no magic...yet it would be magical.