Is there not anything new just a different variation of the same old stuff? Seems that there really isn't anything that doesn t fit into one of the categories below, (just a different method).

1. Restoration
2 Transposion
3. Transformation
4. Vanish and Reappearance
5. Levitation.
6. Mental
7. Bazaar
8. Escape
9. Hypnotist

If you are anything like me, I own to much magic I could never in a life time learn and do everything I own. I am like a kid in a candy store with only a nickel to spend.
I have just watched Paul Daniels - Bravura DVD. He gives one a lot to think about. Paul and Eugene Burger has a lot to say about your performance (its not about the tricks) it is about you (me). I think Eugene said "we own too much magic". My biggest problem is I can't focus on something and stay with it.

Basically I am a hoarder. I have books still in shrink wrap and tricks that was never opened. I don't think I am alone.

I can help you, just send it all to me. Problem solved ;-)

What about choose a card and I will find it? I have been thinking for a while of what it could possibly be if someone were to create a brand new category of magic.

Read Fitzkee's, "The Trick Brain".

Over 34 years I have acquired a lot of magic as well, and thousands of books and DVDS. But I am also a collector so I love having and being around magic as it is my life and profession. I also love the fact that so much knowledge awaits me, and it does not matter that I might not be able to get through it all or use it all. It provides me a sense of comfort and an eager anticipation to constantly learn more. So for me I never can get enough magic. The more I read the more DVDS I watch, the more that I learn. I can only do so much but knowledge and experience is constantly acquired from the process. It is like a fun scavenger hunt or mining for gems. So in my case the more that I have the better. I don't need to use it all to learn from it and get ideas for other routines.

Also if you get a lot of repeat bookings you need to have new material, regardless of how "engaging" you are as person. That is easy to say if you travel worldwide and do the same act over and over, or see different people at a venue every day, which I have also done for years. But I prefer to stay closer to home so I learn new marterial often. But I practice and rehearse long hours and after 34 years it comes pretty quickly. So bring on the new magic! There is plenty of room on the new shelf that I just built.

I own too many video games.

I have a good 15000 tricks. I can't walk a straight line from the front to the back of my warehouse AND that's nothin... I've been in homes that dwarf my collection.

Russ!

Too many like yourself come on here with a the same type of "adolescent" question. A few of us will spend an hour or so, trying to answer those questions, and do a bit of mentoring.

Most of the time, the original "OP" NEVER RESPONDS. We have wasted our time, and, at my age I don't have time to waste. I've been performing magic for money since 1945, and, except for the first few years when I was a teenager, I've performed mostly the same tricks.

I've told this story many times, and, I think that it sums up your problem:

A ship was heading out to sea. A grizzled old sailor, and a young lad, were standing at the ship's rail, gazing out at the vast ocean. The youngster exclaimed, "Man! There's a lot of water out there!" The old veteran replied, "WHAT YOU SEE IS ONLY THE TOP OF IT!"

Michael Baker, who responded a few posts above, will tell you that he attended my lecture about 40 years ago, as a teenager,and it totally changed his thinking about magic.
--And, all I did was ask a simple question.

Frankly, I suspect that YOU are just trolling. On the wall in the SHOWMEN'S LEAGUE in Chicago,there hangs a plaque. There are six words on the plaque: "YOU CANNOT SMARTEN UP A CHUMP!"

I have just completed writing a book on my life in magic (70 years). It would answer many, if not most, of your questions, but, I wont recommend it, because, by your own words, you would never read more than the title. Terms like "invincible ignorance", and, "intellectual dishonesty" come to mind.

Far greater minds than mine, have written books like Dariel Fitzkee's "Showmanship for Magicians", "Magic by Misdirection", and, "The Trick Brain". Maskelynne and Devant's "Our Magic", Henning Nelm's "Magic & Showmanship", Ken Weber's "Maximum Entertainment", ETC.! You may even own a few of them, but they're still in "shrink wrap".

"The ball is in YOUR court!"

Looks like the op vanished without a trace !

Many here have similar circumstances where an over abundance of magic has left us feeling overwhelmed. The last couple years I dedicated time sorting my magical treasures. I created 3 categories: Donate, Sell, and Never Could Think Of Parting With. Filled a couple binds of give away tricks/props to donate to those I've met interested in magic. The ones I decided to sell, ended up being listed here mostly with bargain prices so I could move them fast. This gave me no time to waiver. The remaining collection are the magic pieces I feel are most special. Even wiith the departure of a lot of my magic, I still have plenty to focus on to learn, perfect, and showcase in actual performance. The long running goal has been to get down to a solid 15/20 minutes using about eight of my favs. I have a long way to go!

Selling off stuff can be pretty painful, but I didn't want to end up on an episode of "Hoarders". I'm guessing the day will come when a magician/collector is on that show. It's only a matter of time : )

I have just demonstrated in part what Mr. Oslund has stated.

Dick, yours will be another book I look forward to adding to my library (magic books are the real treasures I've learned to truly treasure)

Many thanks for your kind words!

OK! You may buy one, (Here comes the "but":) But, ya hafta promise to read it! --Hekk! I (me) had to WRITE IT!

It only took me 5 years to write, so, the very least you can do is read it! (hee hee) (There may be questions on the final exam!:) And, if you flunk the final, you must send me all your props!

When I was 13, an old carny side show owner gave me an Abbott Production Box. It was my first "professional" prop! I treasured it! I used it in all my shows for well over a year.

As I began to develop manual skills, and, as I read Tarbell, I began to realize that it was just a PROP. I also began to realize that PROPS are only the physical tools that help the magician PERFORM TRICKS. I also realized that I could not BUY TRICKS. A TRICK, like MUSIC, only exists while it is being performed! I could only BUY PROPS and SECRETS. I couldn't BUY or OWN, MAGIC, either! Slowly it was apparent that the MAGIC did not happen on the stage. The MAGIC was only happening in the mind(s) of the spectator(s). Almost simultaneously, I realized that MAGIC was NOT INHERENTLY ENTERTAINING. I had to make it ENTERTAINING with my PRESENTATION,

I began to learn TRICKS that could be performed with PROPS that did not need a table to "sit" on. TARBELL was full of them! The patter that Doc Tarbell wrote was already archaic, but the principles he explained were the important thing. They have lasted for a lifetime!

I concentrated on TRICKS that I could PERFORM with generic PROPS. (silks, rope, cards, golf balls, coins, small gimmicks, etc. I put in the MUTILATED PARASOL in '92. It is a solid two minutes of laughs, and a big mitt at the end.

The book tells the story of my life in magic, from 12 to (now) 83. Magicians that I met, and what they taught me are featured. (Now, they're called "mentors".) I wrote up a "gezillion" anecdotes of things that happened as I traveled coast to coast and border to border.

My show from very early on was planned and produced so that it could entertain almost anyone, almost anywhere. (I was never clever enough, or handsome enough to play what became Las Vegas!

I wrote up my criteria for selecting TRICKS and ROUTINES that fit the places that I played. (about 85% of my audiences were schools,from Kindergarten thru High School. --And,sometimes Kindergarten thru High School SIMULTANEOUSLY! Club dates, state and county fairs, sponsored evening fund raisers, a few trade shows,etc. were booked,too.

I discussed "tempo, timing, and time", plus "talent". --plus, "topical".

I don't perform any of the "latest". (The audience doesn't know the difference!)

The more shows that I did, the more it became obvious that the SIMPLER the EFFECT (EFFECT: -- what the spectator SEES or THINKS HE SEES) and the more FUN that the PRESENTATION of the TRICK caused, the MORE ENTERTAINMENT resulted. Therefore, my slogan: KIS MIF!

More and more I realized that ENTERTAINMENT didn't "come" by the yard or the pound! It came by the smile, chuckle, and laugh.

Finally, to give examples of the tricks and routines that I have used successfully. I wrote up most of the routines, with patter and presentation. Most of them are "standard" tricks, such that any magician with any background at all, will know the methods. A FEW may require purchase of basic props or secrets, but my descriptions of presentations will provide enough information so that the reader can decide if the trick or routine fits his performing style and his personality.

I agree! The real "treasures" are books!

I used to have a drawer full of magic. Now my room is full of drawers..

Chad! You have missed the point!!!!!

PLEASE~~~! Go back and read my last post above!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am a collector and archivist, and I can relate to having more than I will ever need. But my collection pales compared to many. I wa truly awed by J. P. Jackson's San Diego home literally stacked to the rafters with props, books, magazines, kits and mementos of every possible description.

For anyone interested...

http://www.potterauctions.com/pdf/Catalo......_WEB.pdf

So many, myself included, can understand your condition, but unless you are like one of those poor souls on Hoarders, it isn't that dreadful. I think our main problem is not that we own too much, it is that we do too little with it.

Russ certainly isn't alone. I too have some DVDs and books still in the shrink wrap. Beyond hoarding, there is also the worry that if you don't get that book or prop within a certain amount of time, it will slip through your hands forever. Magic is a cottage industry where availability has an expiration date. I'm getting better and have waved off opportunities to purchase items because I already have one or two versions in the drawer or box. You get older and realize that you don't really need more of this or that. Maybe not...

I really don't think it matters whether the OP is back or not. This is a great thread.

I have my own thoughts and opinions, but I have really enjoyed reading other's, particularly Dick's.

Dick,

Please don't chastise me for my question, but I am curious... How much magic stuff do you have?

KJ

Hi 1k~!

That's a good, and fair question! It will take a few lines to tell you!

First! I'm glad that you said "magic stuff", and, not "magic"! I guess I would be right if I inferred that you read my post above! --Good! Now we can talk on the same level.

I started working shows (for $ $ $ when I was 13 in the fall of 1945. Before that, I home made props from library books, etc. I didn't know that magic shops existed until I found Joseph Leeming's "Fun With Magic" in the library!

I sent for Abbott's catalog the NEXT DAY!. My life changed a week later, when it arrived!

My parents weren't rich. They had survived the DEPRESSION. There was a WAR on! My dad had started a business.
My third show (really my first SHOW) I made $26.00. A hamburger and a coke cost ten cents, then. (I had booked the local Jr. High on percentage.) Suddenly (!) I was a part time pro.! When the Abbott catalog arrived, I ordered a BRAKAWA FAN, and a MIRROR GLASS. Over the next several years, I spent well over a hundred dollars with Percy Abbott. (Mostly "boxes & tubes, cans, and pans!) Read my post above for what slowly happened. When I joined the Navy, in '51, I had the act down to a case the size of a cigar box! (all "hand" stuff: rope, cards, silks, golf balls, etc.) The suitcase full of milk pitcher, square circle, foo can, the production box mentioned earlier, Disecto etc. was packed away in the attic in my parent's home.

I started working dates with an agent, in Norfolk, and slowly added a few other props: coin pail, brakawa wand, etc. I made enough money working club dates on the side, that I sent my Navy checks home to the bank, for four years.

Almost four years later, my Navy days were about over. I had sent home for the suitcase of "big" props. I had booked a bunch of schools in Norfolk, on percentage, and needed a little 'flash' on the poster, to sell tickets. I worked those schools and drove home with a pocket full of $$$.

Off to college, I took only the 'cigar box'. I did a some small club dates through school. I worked for a few years for the Boy Scouts, and then went full time pro. A few of the props in the suitcase came out for the school show.

With a good income from the school show, I would buy magicians' estates. Some "magic stuff", I sold right away. Some, I stored, as an investment. Over the years, I have bought and sold thousands of dollars worth of props, books memorabilia, etc. Since retirement, I've stopped buying estates, and began selling off "magic stuff".

I'm now "down" to about 6 foot lockers full of props, another 3 foot lockers of books, ditto, memorabilia. etc., and, am slowly selling that.

My school show, for almost 50 years, has been carried in one suitcase. First a case about 15"x 30" x 10". --I use that, because I had it. Later, I got a case 13" x 20" x 8". and, except for a few doves, that's what I've made a living with. (ooops, I just did a "Charlie Miller"! (I ended that sentence with a PREPOSITION!)

I have never been concerned with learning how 'that' trick was done. --I DIDN'T CARE! I only cared about having the PROPS that I needed to present a show.

I wrote up the show in my book. Almost every trick that I've used, I wrote up in the book. Props, Patter, Presentation. I had strict CRITERIA, concerning tricks presented. My basic rule is/was: K I S M I F ! (Keep It Simple, Make It Fun.

I was never seriously "at liberty".

Hope this helps!