C. Thomas Howell Shines but the Show Cheats Viewers

In a show segment, an audience member falls asleep during a magic performance. And likewise, viewers could have simply slept through this show because of the lumbering pace and the fact that the outcome didn't matter. There were moments but no payoff.

Walkaround Magic
This week, the contestants had to perform walkaround magic, the kind that magicians often perform in restaurants and at corporate events. A twist, the audience was a group of seniors at a retirement community.

The seniors were an unusual audience choice. Did the producers arrogantly think that seniors would be funny? Or did they think that walkaround magic would be too similar to the "David Blaine" style street (close-up) magic in week one?

Coach Swaps
After winning last week, Kim Wyatt got to keep her coach, Murray. Meanwhile, the others had to trade: Lisa Ann Walter inherited Rocco and Hal Sparks teamed with David Regal and Silly Billy with C. Thomas Howell. Conflict was initially built on Rocco’s negative opinion of female magicians and his arrogant attitude, which initially perked interest, but seemingly went nowhere.

The best performer this week was Howell who presented the most engaging personality, and with the exception of his performance in the "face-off," was the most successful at this magic genre.

Stage or Close-Up?
Walter performed with lots of fire, which certainly gets attention. She remained engaging, although her warm and comedic style may work better with tutelage from Silly Billy. Sparks mastered a coin vanish and impressed the judges.

Meanwhile, Wyatt was burdened by an inappropriate selection of tricks and encountered problems with her handkerchief effect. Overall, Wyatt was the most nervous and her presentation showed it.

Wyatt's tricks were more suitable for stand-up than walkaround. The props don’t fit into pockets and resets are too lengthy.

I take no issue with Wyatt carrying around a bag of props. I often do this at my restaurants where I perform for regulars who have seen me, in a few cases, dozens of times. I have to carry lots of material to accommodate their request when they ask “what do you have for us this week?” Meanwhile, for corporate gigs where no one has seen me before, I do carry everything that I need in my suit pockets.

The Dirty Trick
The show was only 45 minutes in when the judging occurred - far too early to end the show. Wyatt, the lowest scoring magician of the week, was saved and the remaining three had to participate in a magic face-off with a trick apiece. No one was going home, but a winner would be declared. Fascinating, for such a surprise, each contestant had a trick on them.

While I understand that a show's producers can do anything that they please, not eliminating a contestant and negating the show's results broke a promise with viewers. Why are we even watching a competition where the outcome can be so grossly manipulated?

Furthermore, how can we be expected to vest interest into contestants when incidents such as this can occur? Was Wyatt deemed the biggest draw and too important to the show to lose? Did the producers feel that the genre this week was of little interest or the series was going flat and needed to pull a stunt?

Other Thoughts
By performing for seniors, the contestants demonstrated a paramount magic rule, never under estimate your audience. While the producers liked to show the segment of the senior dozing off, I've found seniors to be astute and responsive crowds. Keep in mind that many of these people play cards daily, and for all practical purposes, are card counters.

A magic trick was referred to by its marketed name, but after searching, I found that it wasn’t available on sponsor Ellusionist's site. I was looking forward to pointing out a case of product placement, but this apparently was not the case.

If you haven’t heard ,the show is moving to a new time slot, Thursday nights, which begins this week. This week, the competition moves back to the stage.

More Reading:
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Review: Celebracadabra Week Two - Kids Magic
Review: Celebracadabra - Week 1, Street Magic
What Makes a Great Magician?

"I could spend a year working on a good act and work in the business for five years because I was young and cute," SawChuck says in the story. "But one day the looks and the youth were going to go and I would be in trouble. Or I could spend five years developing an act and I could work for the next 50 years."

You can read the article by clicking here.

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Here, four jokers visually turn into four kings in four phases. And the last card changes as it's held in a spectator’s hand.

Please click here to read our review.

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Here you’ll find interviews with Max Maven, Jeff McBride, Jonathan Levit, Simon Lovell, Asi Wind, Derek Hughes and more.

Since Chris "Kid" Reid was the most recent contestant eliminated, the site is currently emphasizing Reid and his coach, Derek Hughes. I listened to Hughes' interview and can’t imagine how he allowed Reid to try and perform a trick that he himself can't yet do. I guess it’s just some of the drama behind the scenes.

You can visit the site by clicking here.

More Reading:
Review: Celebracadabra - Week Three
Review: Celebracadabra Week Two - Kids Magic
Review: Celebracadabra - Week 1, Street Magic
What Makes a Great Magician?

I thought it was finally time to memorize a deck stack and pursue all of the possibilities that a memorized deck can add to my magic. I first learned about memorized decks a few years back when I was studying the work of Michael Close, and I've always heard about the wonders of the technique in the hands of such artists as Juan Tamariz and Richard Osterlind.

Another plus about memorized deck work, I thought it would provide my mind with some needed mental calisthenics. I was an engineering major in college and no longer perform complex math or write computer programs. Instead of trying to pull down those old calculus books and do math problems, why not work on a stack to add to my magic?

The Stacks
To memorize a system, I first had to settle on the one that I felt was right for me. There are lots to choose from: Joyal, Osterlind's Breakthrough, Aronson, Tamariz, Si Stebbins, Eight Kings and more. And another consideration, I wanted to find a system that would do everything that I wanted with a memorized deck, and only wanted to memorize a stack once.

I first consulted Corinda's "13 Steps to Mentalism," which explains the "Eight Kings Stack," "Si Stebbins Stack," and "The Fourteen/Fifteen Set Up." While the "Eight Kings" and "Si Stebbins" stacks are fairly straightforward, I wanted to learn a complete memorized deck, not one that simply allowed me to determine the proceeding and following cards.

With an "Eight Kings" or "Si Stebbins" stack I could calculate the location of any card based on viewing another, but the process was rather convoluted. And the other thing I didn't care for was the red/black nature of the cards, which didn't look random enough to me.

The "Fourteen/Fifteen" explained in Corinda created another stack that was good for determining a card next to one that you can see or peek and the suits were random. But there appeared to be no way to easily calculate the location of another card in the deck.

The Nikola
I posted on the forum here at Magic & Illusion and forum member opie mentioned the Nikola system that's taught in Hugard's "Encyclopedia of Card Tricks." I had the book in my library and looked up the stack. (Again, thanks for the lead opie.)

In the Nikola stack, every card has a specific and designated location in the deck and with some math, you can determine the relative location of any other card, which is exactly what I wanted. Furthermore, the deck appears to be in a completely random order.

There are more things that one can do with a completely memorized deck. Some stacks allow you to deal certain hands and such, but I find these features rather esoteric and they did not factor into my decision.

In the end, I'll admit that I'm cheap and because I already owned a copy of the Nikola stack and it appeared to do everything that I needed, I set ahead to memorize the deck.

So now I've committed to the Nikola system - it's in writing here - and am actively studying it. I'll report on my progress in a later story. Stay tuned.

Here's an easy packet trick with playing cards that offers a strong prediction and an easy, straight forward method. It's a great effect for beginners.

There's minimal sleight of hand and the trick includes a DVD that demonstrates the trick. It's a great effect for beginners.

Please click here to read our review.

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This week, the crew takes on comedy magic in a college bar. And with his win last week, C. Thomas Howell requires Lisa Ann Walter to perform with no vocals and only grunts. Despite the severe impediment, Walker more than rises to the occasion and this week's elimination, as it was during week one, was the result of a magic trick gone bad. We also see a contestant rely on celebrity to help a routine.

For the week three, the remaining five contestants included: C. Thomas Howell, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris "Kid" Reid, Hal Sparks and Kimberly Wyatt. After Walter was cursed with what was effectively duct tape over her mouth, I initially thought that in a noisy college bar, which I misinterpreted to be strolling, Walter could simply perform a silent routine.

However, the show turned out to be a comedy style night with stand-up performances. Walker had her work cut out.

The Recruits
The first part of the show had the contestants drumming-up spectators for the evening's show. They apparently spent five hours in Westwood, CA near the campus of UCLA. I winced as I watched the contestants try to gather a crowd under far less than ideal conditions where there was little or no foot traffic.

I know how difficult it is to gather a crowd on the street (for the record, I've never busked but entertained on sidewalks to draw crowds into a bar and worked street fairs.) In these segments, Silly Billy's instincts and advice to Walker were the strongest. In the end, it appeared that the recruitment phase did not play a role in the final judging. If this was the case, the show devoted far too much time to these segments.

The Show
Kid Reid opened the stand-up show. He demonstrated his comedic skills - actually I'll take the judges' words because I didn’t see enough to be able to evaluate - and his bottle trick gave him trouble. It's not clear whether the steal was a problem, but the production was revealed far before its moment. This would be Reid's undoing on the show.

Of all the coaches, I would personally pick David Regal for his ability to write witty dialogue. Regal is Howell's coach and here, Regal’s recommended mechanical duck opener seemed off base for the college crowd. Howell's act ultimately evolved into a head-scratcher and he displayed poor management of his volunteer. He left the stage after his act with the volunteer left standing with nothing to do.

Interestingly, I was wondering when the contestants would use celebrity to assist them. And Howell proved to be the first with a mentalism effect that used titles of his movies. Using celebrity allows one to more easily pursue other avenues, whether it's the actor who wants to sing or the singer who wants to write and publish a book. I thought there might be a rule against this, but I was apparently wrong. I’m sure that this ploy helped Howell when he played this card.

"Pacoima Woman"
The highlight was Walter's game attempt to overcome her curse of not being able to speak. She brilliantly adapted a cave woman persona and used her coach, Silly Billy, to provide necessary dialog that bridged her effects. I know how touchy the "glass trick" can be, and I found this to be a nail biting moment. Silly Billy himself was cast in a new role that he was unaccustomed to and felt the jitters of the contestants. In the end, Walter succeeded.

Kimberly Wyatt used her stage persona and dance skills to command the crowd and her tricks went well. It was enough to win the evening and I completely agree with this choice.

As I said earlier, if Wyatt makes it to the big illusion show, her dance and choreography skills will be a huge advantage on stage. By the way, did someone tell her to spice up the show? She certainly raised the sedate temperature with alluring outfits. Hal Sparks performed the most skillful magic, he clearly deserved to stay.

The Judging
This week, Max Maven and Jonathan Leavitt were joined by Steve Wyrick. I agree with Max Maven that C. Thomas Howell was the performer who should have been eliminated in the split decision.

I still find it hard to watch this show. I find myself sitting on the edge of my seat as I watch magic tricks on the edge of going bad. I know too well how it feels to lack confidence in a routine and struggling in front of a crowd when problems occur. While the contestants are not actually magicians, they are our entertainment brethren and I definitely feel their performance pain.

When I heard that next week's show was to feature restaurant strolling, I was looking forward to seeing the contestants in the venue where I perform most. However, the twist is, they’ll be performing for senior citizens, which may have been a mistake on the part of the producers.

It's a funny idea, but it's probably far less than an ideal crowd. We'll see what's in store.

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What Makes a Great Magician?

The Australian Institute of Magic is an organization that's dedicated to furthering the standard and reputation of Australian magicians both nationally and internationally. The organization holds informal sessions twice monthly to brainstorm new ideas, share trade secrets and work together to promote magic.

Early this year, members of the former "Magic Unlimited Group Sessions" (MUGS) decided to become an association. It is the only organization that represents FISM in the Oceania region. The AIM website will act as an online magic resource for agents, historians, magicians, businesses, media researchers and the general public.

You can click here to visit the site.

Geoff Williams' "I Hate David Copperfield" is a strong three phase routine where a single card appears to change locations among a group three cards.

I don’t know if this part of a new trend, but Williams previously released this effect on his Miracles for Mortals Volume One DVD. It's the exact same footage.

Please click here to read our review.

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What type of training should one choose to become a successful magician? In my recent interview at the My Cool Job Blog, I stated that the most important aspect of being a successful magician was to be a "people person." And I think that this is mostly true for the type of magic that I do. But when it comes to entertaining with magic, is there an advantage to having been trained in a particular art, whether it’s theater, comedy/stand-up, dance or more?

VH1's ongoing Celebracadabra reality show features seven TV and film stars who are competing for the title of "Best Celebrity Magician." Each week, there's a given magic genre and the contestants attempt to learn and perform tricks. One is eliminated each week and thus far, it's been interesting to view the different personalities and see what they bring from their various backgrounds.

Who’s Got the Magic?
Just two weeks in, we've seen the contestants perform "David Blaine" style street magic (click here to read our review). (No surprise that "street" magic would be first as it's what sponsor Ellusionist.com promotes and sells on it's site.) In the second week, the competitors performed kids magic with a serious impediment, they had to wear costumes (click here to read our review).

Despite the short time that we’ve gotten to know the celebrities (admittedly, I had never heard of most of them before), I think I've seen enough to pick the ones who are natural magicians. Keep in mind that I'm not predicting who's going to win because of all of the variables that come with a reality show, but I know who I would pick to stand-up in front of a crowd and perform magic, given adequate time to prepare.

The Contestants
I didn't see enough of singer Carnie Wilson, who was eliminated after the first week, to make a call on her magic abilities. Comedian ANT, who was eliminated after week two, clearly had the stage persona and comedy skills to be a successful magician, but without a respect for our art, he was doomed. His snide and cynical approach to magic was apparent in his interviews and comments toward Jeff McBride. And his magic coach, Asi Wind, stated that ANT was unwilling to practice.

C. Thomas Howell is an actor, however, he was bogged down in his street performance struggling with the floating bill. In his second week while entertaining children, he allowed himself to fall into that common trap of kid performers, grossly overacting.

I wouldn’t have picked Howell as the winner of the second round as I think there were others who were better. I don’t know how much experience Howell has in front of live crowds, but thus far, we haven't seen his acting skills help him in this competition.

Dancer Kimberly Wyatt has been rather stilted thus far, probably because she's been nervous about the magic. But if Wyatt stays in this competition and performs in the final illusion show, her dance and choreography training will give her an incredible advantage.

The Variety Players
The rest of the pack is harder to categorize. Hal Sparks is both a musician and actor; Chris Reid has sung and acted and Lisa Ann Walter has performed stand-up comedy and acted. And thus far, these three have shown the strongest potential as magicians.

While he won the first week, I've found Sparks to be rather subdued. On the other hand, I have found Reid and Walter to have the qualities most found in successful magicians. They’re both able to hold the attention of a crowd, even under tough conditions; they relate well to people and can improvise and mix it up as conditions call for it. Reid and Walter, thus far, are the strongest magic material and I attribute it to their experience in front of live crowds.

Tough Judges
It's probably a good thing that the celebrities don't understand the stature of Jeff McBride, Franz Harary and Max Maven in the magic world. Otherwise, the contestants would know that for magicians, it's akin to being an actor and judged by Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep or being a comedian and judged by Robin Williams and Ellen DeGeneres. (I know I would be nervous with McBride and Maven scrutinizing and analyzing my every move.)

In the end, as in all performance art, it's the individual that makes the entertainment. Celebracadabra ably demonstrates this fact and shows that it's not so much the trick that one does, but the personality infused into the performance and how it's presented that is most important.