Fredrick Turner

Reflections

Magic

  • What’s In Your Wallet?

    Everyday Carry (EDC) has become a ubiquitous selling point for magic tricks today. You’ll find it in ads and videos marketing the latest gadgets, downloads, and tricks. In the past before close up magic became close up magic, stuff magicians carried was simply called pocket tricks. If you think about it, EDC is another term Continue reading

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  • The Phoenix: Volume 1 Number 3

    The March 6, 1942 issue features magic by Clayton Rawson, Harry Baker, and Frank Taylor. The Rawson card effect, Scrambled Thought-waves, is a delight. Using a few gaffed cards two selections are revealed in a humorous manner. With some arts and craftsmanship, the effect could be updated to today’s sensibilities. The nice thing about Rawson’s Continue reading

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  • The Phoenix: Volume 1 Number Two

    The second issue of the Phoenix arrived on February 14, 1942. According to the Backroom, the editors were still trying to determine the frequency of publication. They eventually settled on bi-weekly – meaning every two weeks. (The confusion with bi-weekly versus bi-monthly has always been a pet peeve.) The lead effect was Bruce Elliott’s Hard Continue reading

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  • Exploring Performance

    Magic, whether you consider it an art or a craft or, perhaps, both, only exists for a moment or two. The performer and the audience co-create an experience that triggers a reaction and an emotion. Magic doesn’t exist outside of the performance space between the performers and the participants. It’s relational. It doesn’t exist in Continue reading

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  • The Phoenix: Volume 1 Number 1

    From January, 1942 through February, 1954, the Phoenix ran for 300 issues under the editorship of Walter Gibson and Bruce Elliott. It was the direct descendant of the Jinx which ended in December 1941 with the untimely death of Theodore Annemann. With two good friends, I spent a few years digging through the Jinx that Continue reading

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  • Book Notes: Bert Allerton: Gentleman Magician

    Chicago area magician and author, Chuck Romero, quietly released his latest work without much fanfare. If I hadn’t been scanning through the latest posts on the Genii forum, I may have missed it. Romano previously released books on the life and work of Paul Rosini and the artwork and design of magic illustrations. Both works Continue reading

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  • Minimum Requirements

    In the opening essay of Shattering Illusions, Jamy Ian Swiss states: When you fool the audience you indeed fulfill the essential mandate of your job. But you have in no way come even remotely close to completing the job-much less having done the job well.There must — simply must — be some larger end in Continue reading

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