In a recent thread, I have learned that one of our "brethren" feels that it is perfectly okay to share secrets with laymen just to see where the flaws in the presentations and/or execution of magic tricks lie.

This really angers me. Although the real secrets of magic cannot be taught as easily as the mechanics of magic, the mechanics of magic are the tools. The layman does not need to know these things.

They don't need to know about gimmicked cards, sleights, or any of the other tools we use to produce our illusions and our astonishment. If they can see the methods without our exposing them, that is another matter. We should take heed of their feedback then. But exposure is not necessary for us to learn what is good and what is not so good.

Sleights and gimmicks are seldom ours to expose. I would not show anyone other than a magician how to do an Elmsley count. It's not really mine to teach. Nor would I teach them how a flipper works, or any of the other things I have learned to use over the years. These belong to magic, not to me.

I have mentioned elsewhere about the problems exposing methods have created for the film industry (which this young man hopes to sometime become a part of).

James Drury (the Virginian) has seen several of my performances. He loves magic. He once told me that he doesn't ever want to know how any of it is done.

When the people at Universal Studios told him that they were going to open a theme park that would show people how some of their mechanics worked (because people would pay to see this!), he said, "Why don't you just open a w---- house? You would make more money and nobody would get hurt."

Who gets hurt when special effects are made known? James attributes the premature death of his friend Vince Morrow to just that. Vince and two children were killed during a filming of "Twilight Zone -- the Movie" when a special effects stunt shot went wrong and a helicopter hit him. James felt that the quest for better and better special effects was the cause of this.

In any case, I don't need some non magician who has educated himself in our art showing our secrets to his friends to find out whether his invisible palm is invisible.

People like this do not belong in magic.