If you want to do Illusions - Ken & Bert Griffins Book - "Illusion Show Knowhow "- is pretty good(not just because Wife and I, have an old-1957 puppet picture , in it. L-O-L &- We traveled a season with them 1960.l-0-L) Ralph(russo)Rousseau

For magicians who are just learning to present a scripted act I highly recommend that you work first just on memorizing the script and doing the full rehearsal again and again until you can do it without thinking.

Micky McDougall the gambling demonstrator and Svengali pitchman said that it was better to put the pitch down on the table and read it than it was to try and make it up as you go along.

Then he said you should memorize it then make it a part of your being.

Advice from other pitchmen can be very enlightening:

Learn to make it sound like you are making it up as you go along--take a beat to think as you come up with each line.

Slow down.

S. David Walker said "I tell my students to slow down, and then whenever they think they are slow enough, slow it down just a bit more..."

Try to imagine what the audience is thinking before you say the next line and then act as if the next line is the answer.

Work to make each line as spontaneous and meaningful as you can, and with as much enthusiasm and sincerity as you can fake.


It is the same, in my opinion, with a magic script.


Once you have it memorized, then learn to present it with enthusiasm and a sense of fun.

As you perform this way begin to look for ways to hold the audience's attention.

You look for ways to pause or speed up, or vary your pitch, in order to keep the audience from losing interest.

You will begin to make everything in the script as clear and meaningful as possible.

Then, as you perform in front of many audiences you should try to always be enthusiastic and as friendly and natural as possible.

Most important have fun and always look for the joy in the performance.

When you are comfortable with it, begin to look for every possible way you can make things clearer for the audience, incorporate their questions and objections and guide their thinking away from the method.

Your act will become more exciting and you will have become a competent performer.

Then go further:

Find the various levels of character that can be revealed by the performer--the magical character, and the Trickster behind him, the pretend liar and the honest actor winking behind him.

Then look for ways to subtly guide the audience into "play," teasing them and working with them to pretend and play with the performer.

Think of yourself as the lead actor in an improvisational sketch, with the audience the other actors.

Your job is to lead them into playing with you and letting them know how they can be playing a role in the play. This is just getting to be a good actor and performer.

All of this comes naturally from trying to make your script seem fresh every time!

You learn over time to conserve energy by faking it just a bit--acting fresh and energetic even when you don't feel that way. It helps if you know what you are trying to do, and as you gain experience you will become better all the time.

By knowing what it is you want to do and where you want to go, your experience will make everything gradually plain.

Time at sea is everything. Knowing there are deeper waters to traverse keeps you from stopping your journey at the first comfortable port.

That reminds me of something George Burns once said. He said, "Sincerity is the key to show business. And if you can fake that, you've got it made."

Also an old timer (Red Skelton) said - ThankYou for an hour of comedy/fun, WITHOUT 4 letter words.

Study movies and theater and you'll learn how to create a story with your magic.

His work on 'the silent script' is definitely worth a read; I use the principles a lot.

I think that we lost the OP, back there in MAY!

I just "found" this thread again, this AM. Glad that I did!