Fredrick Turner

Reflections

Magic

  • The Phoenix: Volume 1 Number 14

    Number 14 opens with Walter Gibson offering his reworking of a billiard ball routine originally published in Hatton & Plate’s Magician’s Tricks. (Side note: originally published in 1910, this book was considered one of the ten basic books of magic.) In the Pocket is a nice ball routine that’s been updated and streamlined by Gibson.… Continue reading

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  • The Phoenix: Volume 1 Number 13

    It’s been six months since the last time I wrote about the Phoenix. I might need to create a publishing schedule. Since Sunday is my weekly post, maybe Friday? Number 13 was published on July 10, 1942. It’s all George Armstrong’s material. According to Magipedia, George Armstrong (?-1985), stage name of W. G. A. Jenkins,… Continue reading

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  • A Birds Eye View

    The internet has been a buzz about the dust-up between singer and former talk show hostess, Kelly Clarkson, and the Buck twins and Adam Rubin’s Art of Play store. The conflict arose over a mechanical bird that may or may not have been for sale and whether the store clerk said or implied that Clarkson… Continue reading

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  • The Curse of Knowledge

    The curse of knowledge works like this: the more information we have about something and the more experience we have with it, the harder it is to step outside that experience to appreciate the full implications of not having that privileged information. Information that is at the forefront of our minds exerts a pull on… Continue reading

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  • Neat Philosophy

    Since first discovering the first journal in 2019, I’ve been a supporter of the work of Alexander Hansford and his Neat Review. In the past seven years, Neat has published five journals and over a dozen books. All lovingly written, designed, and published. They’re wonderful books to read, reread, and simply look at the photos… Continue reading

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  • Remembering Eddie Ace

    It’s said that later in life, Vernon carried a list of friends that passed. As I grow older, I’m beginning to understand as I realize a many of my friends and mentors exist only in my memories. It makes me appreciate the ones still around. On June 22, another friend was added to my list… Continue reading

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  • Sticker Shock

    An early mentor of mine used to say that certain magic props and books were priced high to “keep them out of the hands of the riff-raff.” He was being facetious but I believe it was based in an element of truth – particularly in the domain of mentalism. Recently a new version of an… Continue reading

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