September 2017 Volume 94

The Official Publication of the Dallas Club

August 15, 2017 Inside this Issue

Vice President Daryl Howard called the Notes From Our 1 August Meeting August meeting of the Dallas Magic

Scribblings From The Club to order at 7pm. 3 Scribe Of The Scroll

Aces Up My Sleeves 4 Joey Byers

DMC News - Sean Wilson 6 Walter “Zaney” Blaney doubts which act to fuel stage fright. TAOM 2017 Photos Daryl cited many references from Tony 8 Daryl Howard Robbins and Jeff McBride, to Joe “Moves” 13 Lecture Information Shakespeare and Socrates. He also

Magic Maniac offered a 20-page handout of lecture 14 Dal Sanders notes on the topic, featuring many

BeLIEve Me problem and cure scenarios. 16 Michael Smith

Consequential Magic 18 Geoff Grimes

Jonathan Levit 22 Lecture Information First of all came the meeting announcements. Several volunteers are needed for the Texas Association of Magicians convention over Labor After a short break, we reconvened for Day Weekend. Visitors and new an open mic session. Russell Turner members were recognized. We had a kicked off the performances with a new member Tommy from Tyler, performance on visual linguistics. Texas. Welcome Tommy! Next, some Assisted by Ava Byers, Russell discussion was made around a TAOM performed a ring to a nested Lippincott event schedule, as well as specifics on box, using a prop he called "Tells how to assist at TAOM. Additionally, Bells." we spoke about how club events can

be more educational.

The treat for the evening was a lecture on Conquering Stage Fright, by Daryl Howard, whereby he offered many ways to overcome a fear that has always haunted performers. Daryl discussed how proper preparation and rehearsal can eliminate some of the DMC Officers Joseph Byers Last Month At The DMC President

Daryl Howard became Alice in Wonderland and Vice President went through the "looking glass" in the dollar bill to get to the other side. Mike Blum Treasurer

Eric Hogue Secretary

Dal Sanders Sgt. At Arms Derrel Allen gave a short review of Frank Seltzer the new Kazaam Party Booking Past President services from Party City. A short Shawn Messonnier performed a

Chuck Lehr discussion ensued which afforded teach-a-trick using a method Dean of The DMC everyone the opportunity to ask commonly employed by Richard questions and weigh in on the topic. Osterlind. Board Members: Jeff Hallberg Until November 2016 Ian Richards Until May 2018 Reade Quinton

Until November 2019

T.A.O.M. Board Members Frank Seltzer The meeting adjourned about SAM Representative 9:30pm, and then we all went to Until August 2018 Vernon's for cold beverages on a Joseph Byers hot, muggy Texas night. IBM Representative John Hale performed Real World Until August 2018 using Shawn Messonnier as his

volunteer. Next was Scott Horn who Wizard’s Scroll performed the Coins of Ishtar, where Staff silver and gold coins switched Dal Sanders places. Wizard’s Scroll Editor Daryl Howard DMC Photographer Mike Smith Columnist Joseph Byers Columnist —John Hale Eric Hogue Columnist Brent Fisher Dr. Mike Smith performed a dollar bill Columnist effect whereby volunteer Ava Byers Scribbling From the Scribe of The Scroll

WE’RE MOVING... SPEAKING OF HELPING... You may already be aware of this issue because we The Society of American Magicians Magic have posted it in several places. We have lost the Endowment Fund offers grants (not loans) to assist Dallas Builders Association meeting place. magicians and allied artists including clowns, jugglers, This month we will meet at the site of our previous face painters, balloon twisters, and others that have meeting place. It is called Crossroads now, formerly suffered losses from recent disasters including Crosspointe and Theatre 166. hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes and fires. We have yet to determine a more permanent meeting Recipients do not have to be members of the S.A.M. spot, but for the September 19th meeting at 7pm, we to receive these grants. The Disaster Relief Fund is will be at : supported by donations from the magic fraternity and Crossroads Christian Chuch others. After the storms please contact those you may 2425 Parker Rd. know who have been affected. CLICK HERE to see Carrollton, Texas 75010 how to apply for the grants or to donate. It is located in Hebron Plaza strip center. NEWS FROM THE AUSTIN AUCTION... TAOM 2017... The 2017 Texas Association of Magicians convention is now in the history books. Congratulations to the winners of the 2017 Competition. They include James Irwin who took home the Youth Stage Trophy, Russell Turner who won for Adult Stage and Robert Ramirez who won the Close Up Contest.

As many of you have already heard, there will no Austin Magic Auction this year. That doesn’t mean you not going to be able to drive south on 35 and pick up some great magic bargains. This Saturday, September 23rd Austin will host a Magical Flea Market. This is sure to be the largest magic shop in Texas.

There will be items that are new in the box. There will be used items. There will be items you can use on stage and close-up.

The admission is only $10. All the profits will go to Even though I was registered for the convention, I help bring magic to veterans and their families at the only attend the evening shows and hung out after the Heroes Night Out magic performances. shows. The rest of the time I was busy performing, entertaining the displaced victims of Hurricane Harvey The Austin Swap Meet is this Saturday, September 23 and working to help raise money for the magician from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm at 1150 S. Bell Blvd., victims that lost so much to the storm and floods. Cedar Park, TX 78613. Hello members and friends of the Dallas ,

September is half over, which means TAOM has come and gone, the Cowboys (1-1) are playing football again, we have a DMC meeting on the 19th, and we will be moving to a new location! What?

Let's start with the location. For the September meeting and only the September meeting at this point, we will return to our previous location in Carrollton. It was known as Crosspointe or Theatre 166 back when we previously met there. It currently operates under the name of Crossroads. What about beyond September? Well, the Crossroads board has extended an offer to us to come back there on a "permanent" basis. Permanent goes in quotes because they have just over two years remaining on their lease, and they are willing to let us sublease from them for the duration of the parent lease. Again, let me emphasize that right now, this is only for September. I promised the board that we would discuss this at the 6pm board meeting on September 19th before I committed the club long term. Be sure to let the board members know your thoughts on this. Thanks again to John Hale and the Dallas Builders Association for hosting us for just over a year. It certainly met our needs and John and the Association did what they could to make us feel welcome and comfortable. So, the location for the September 19th DMC meeting will be at Crossroads Christian Church, 2425 Parker Rd., Carrollton, TX 75010.

Concerning the September meeting, we are in store for a special treat. Dal and Cinde Sanders will be presenting a mini-lecture on Performing Magic for Children. Everyone can take something away from this lecture, so you will not want to miss it, whether you currently perform for kids or not.

There should be plenty of time for open mic after our break and raffle, so remember to email Daryl at [email protected] if you wish to perform this month to get your name on the list of performers.

Next let's talk about TAOM. Was it a great convention? You could ask those who attended, or better yet, look at their Facebook postings. From where I stood, which was behind the registration window except for the evening shows and late night hanging out, it was well-attended in spite of the hurricane, and everyone appeared to be having fun. I don't know exact numbers, but I do know that we had over 250 registered guests in attendance. Additionally, there was a plethora of tickets for the evening shows sold to the public, plus a handful of special- situation, day pass registrants. The stars and performers were very accessible and spent time hanging out with the attendees. We had surprise guests, great performances, and competitive contests in which one of our club members took home a trophy. Congratulations to Russell Turner for winning Best Senior Stage Magic. Two other club members turned in great performances as well, Will Reade in Junior Close-up and Shawn Messonnier in Senior Stage. Thanks to all three DMC contestants for making us proud.

But, was it a great convention? The facility was INCREDIBLE! In fact, TAOM was the first to use the new convention center facility, ever! Everyone was cool and comfortable inside the facility, regardless of the temperatures outside. The Dealer Room was HUGE. The stage almost rivalled the S.A.M. stage I saw in Indy last year....almost. It was handsomely done, black curtains and wings, with the black and white TAOM logo atop. Kudos to Bruce Chadwick and his team, Bronson and Mark.

The DMC teamwork was unparalleled. Our DMC members were assisting at every turn. Setting up, tearing down, ushering in, taxiing to and from (airports), organizing, moving chairs and equipment, working sound and lights, and the list goes on. The DMC members who assisted made us just as proud as those who competed, and we thank you all.

So again I ask, was it a great convention? Please, read on.

I have learned that conventions are about moments. Sure, all the attributes I cite above may be considered criteria toward forming one's opinion on the "greatness" of a convention. But I have to go deeper than that. So when I say the word "moments" I mean, sure, the air conditioning in your Texas hotel room wasn't quite cutting it, but you were still able to spend time with an old TAOM friend that you haven't seen for a few years, so that made it a great convention for you. Or maybe you did not like having to pile onto a bus to go see the gala shows every evening, but over the weekend, you met a performer whose work you have always admired, and you were able to let them know how they inspired you. Maybe that made your convention great. Or perhaps there were not a lot of your kind of restaurants near the hotel, so you spent more money than planned on food, but you were able to sit down, offer some consoling, and buy a drink for someone from Houston who was able to make the trip amidst the devastation there. So that may have made it a great convention for you. Those are moments.

This convention had many moments for me. I will share with you the first and best of my "moments." It occurred the first morning of the convention. I came downstairs and mingled just a bit before heading over assume my post at the registration window. I noticed one of our youngest club members, Pierce Brooks, 17 years old (I think), waiting in the hotel lobby on a couch for all the activities to begin. I spoke with Pierce briefly and started toward the convention center. At that very second, Justin Flom walked through the front door of the hotel, saw me, and walked right up to me. Honestly, Justin and I are not close friends. He is a great guy and I like him a lot, and he is a good friend of Frank Seltzer. So, Justin and I are what Facebook might call friends of friends - or, acquaintances if you will. He certainly knows my name from many conversations at Magic Live with him and Frank, and he was well aware that I was working facilitating the convention. Coming up to me that morning he said, "Joey, do you know where the lecture room is?" And while he and I were discussing the logistics of the first lecture, I remembered that Pierce was sitting on the sofa two feet behind me. My initial thought was full of false pride. I thought, "Cool...Pierce just saw Justin Flom call me by name, as if we're good buddies." Then the guilt overcame me and the sea of opportunity parted before me. The truth hit me like a sledge hammer: this "moment" was SO not about me! I was just a vehicle in the right place at the right time to be used. I had the opportunity, right then, to give this moment to someone who really wants it; who really needs it. This was my chance to make a moment for someone else.

So motioning toward Pierce I said, "Hey Justin, there's someone here I'd like you to meet. This is Pierce from our Dallas club. Pierce, this is Justin." What followed was the most comical and touching of "moments." Pierce couldn't contain himself. He sprang to his feet like Bambi on the ice, trying to speak, but could only gasp! Pierce, who is not a bad sleight-of-hand guy, was suddenly all thumbs, fumbling through his backpack to find a gift he had made and brought, just for Justin Flom, in hopes of meeting him and presenting the gift. Overwhelmed, he clumsily abandoned his search and grabbed Justin's forearm in a two-handed handshake that was more akin to a bear-hug. "Oh my gosh...oh my gosh! YOU ARE THE MAGICIAN I WANT TO BE!" he emotionally confessed to Justin. Justin gave Pierce his total attention for the next couple of minutes, as I'd seen him do many times with his fans during Magic Live. Pierce is one of Justin's more than 2 million Facebook followers and Justin was the one person, more than anyone else that our young Pierce wanted to meet at his first . He told Frank and me that over a year ago at an SYM meeting...and the circumstances worked out just right so that I was able to introduce him to his hero. Remember that time you met your hero, or your idol, or the President, or whoever, and you could barely contain your excitement? Recall how important that moment was to you, and may still be? Or on the flip side, remember the feeling of never getting to meet that person you idolized so much?

So you ask me, was it a great convention? I must say that from that "moment" forward, no matter what did or did not happen during the rest of the convention and everything else aside; conflict, technical difficulties, confrontations, working with difficult people, missing sessions I had hoped to see, IT WAS A GREAT CONVENTION because of that moment. Nothing could take that away from me; that moment I experienced, which made the convention great. That moment is what conventions should be about. Forget all that stuff about the stage and the contest and the performances and the meetings and the politics. When you are a part of a moment like I described with Pierce and Justin, then it is a purdy darn great convention. Period!

That's all for this month. Until next time, focus on and appreciate your moments, and always have an ace up your sleeve! Your DMC President,

—Joey Byers ’s Granddaughter Joins the S.A.M. and Lists Assembly 13 as Her Home Assembly

Sean Wilson, the granddaughter of the iconic magical duo of Mark Wilson and Nani Darnell, has joined the Society of American Magicians, and right here in North Texas where she makes her home.

Sean is the daughter of Mike Wilson, the older son of Mark and Nani. She lives in Granbury, southwest of Fort Worth, where, since February, she has worked serving tables and the bar in Christina’s Bistro, a very popular steak house located on the west side of the old town square across from the court house.

A performer herself, Sean has been featured in a number of touring illusionist shows, most recently with Reza with his “Edge of Illusion” national production (http://www.rezalive.com/) . Her variety act includes fire, rings, and hula hooping. However, when coaxed, she’ll bring out a deck of cards from behind the bar where she also keeps handy a copy of Mark Wilson’s Complete Course in Magic.

Mike Smith presented Sean with her SAM membership certificate, letter from the national president, and pen over dinner at the restaurant this month. She quickly sent photos off to her famous grandparents.

Sean looks forward to visiting us at our October 17th meeting and greeting her new family.

Walter “Zaney” Blaney Honored by David Copperfield

We all have a favorite magician. Someone who we looked up to when we first started out. One of the heroes of Texas magic is Walter Blaney. Of course we all know that Walter “Zaney” Blaney is a living legend in the magic world. He is an amazing magic inventor. He created the Blaney Ladder Suspension, the Miracle Hoop, The Blaney Sawing, The Great Escape and more. He is a member of the S.A.M. Hall of Fame. Member of the Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star. Siegfried and Roy awarded him with their Silver Lion Award for his performance of magic.

You may not know that Walter was also a member of The Dallas Magic Club about the same time that Mark Wilson was a member and in fact, he still follows the DMC through The Wizard’s Scroll. On top of all of this, he is also one of David Copperfield’s favorite magicians, one of Copperfield’s heroes in magic. Recently, David invited Walter and a few friends to his show in Vegas and then unveiled the newest display in this museum. One dedicated to his hero, Walter. Our own Eric Hogue was invited to the unveiling of the Blaney Room and shared these photos. For more on this story CLICK HERE. To see a short video of the event CLICK HERE.

TAOM Photos By Daryl Howard

More TAOM Photos By Daryl Howard

More TAOM Photos By Daryl Howard

Magic and The TOM Effect - Part 2

This is the second part of my lecture on Social Media from the 2017 IBM-SAM Combined Convention. This was presented for the youth at the Teen Weekend. This deals with what I will call The Six Daily Habits for Successful Social Media Marketing.

Social Media marketing, when done right, is an extremely powerful tool. It can increase your leads, attract highly targeted prospects and position you as a sought-after leader. To reap these business- building benefits, the key is to develop daily habits. To keep things simple I will only discuss Facebook Business Pages (Or Fan Pages) in this article but these strategies will work across various Social Media Platforms.

The following list of six daily habits will keep you focused on what really matters when it comes to Facebook marketing: real fan engagement. Refer to these habits often to keep yourself on track as you work to create a vibrant community of raving fans who’ll happily spread the word about you and your products and services.

• Become addicted to solving problems. When you regularly solve problems and answer questions for your fans, you not only foster trust, but you also set yourself up as the go-to expert in your niche. Make it your mission to be the go-to source for your Facebook fans. What information related to your niche do your fans, prospects and clients want to know? To set yourself apart from your competition and keep your fans coming back for more, create a resource page as a custom link on your Facebook page. By doing so, you can provide updated, useful content to your growing audience on an ongoing basis.

• Talk To Individual Fans Daily. I make it a habit to comment on other people’s posts 3-5 times each day. I do this because these comments are the real conversations that build relationships. Taking a minute to comment on a fan’s vacation photos or adding my two cents to a peer’s recently posted video is my way of letting my fans and peers know that I genuinely am interested in what they are talking about online. This is especially true if those fans are also clients or potential clients. To check out what people are posting on their pages or profiles, first check out who is posting on your page. When fans post on your page, you can click on their avatars and you will be taken to either their pages or profiles, depending on how your fans have posted on your page. You can then post on their pages (or if you are also a friend via their profiles, you can post on their profiles as well). Here are a few tips when commenting on fans’ posts: Use first names. When your fans know you are paying attention to them, they are much more likely to speak up and tell you what’s on their mind. Knowing what your fans are thinking is invaluable! Be yourself. Talk to others in the same style you would talk to a friend over dinner. Before you click send, read your post and make sure it really sounds like you. Be brief. If your post is too long, it will be overlooked easily. To get more people reading your post, get to the point faster. Make it a habit to spend at least 10 minutes a day reading posts from your fans and peers and leaving insightful comments on their profiles and pages. By stepping outside of your own Facebook page, and spending time on other pages and profiles, you let your fans and peers know that you truly do care about them.

• Track your Facebook activity. Although it may not be the most exciting task of your day, taking the time to check your Facebook activity is essential to growing your fan base and keeping your momentum going. If you’re just starting out with tracking your activity and looking for a quick list of key metrics to track, consider tracking the following metrics on a weekly basis: The number of total fans, The number of new Fans, Fan growth from prior week and The number of people active on your site. You can find these metrics by checking out your Facebook Insights on your page. To get to your Insights, just go to your Facebook page and click “Edit Page” in the upper-right corner. From there you will see a list of links in the left column. You can click on “Insights” to get your page metrics. Create a Google Doc and track your Facebook activity on a weekly basis. By tracking your weekly metrics, you will soon see what’s working and what you might need to tweak, depending on the high and low metrics in your tracking document.

• Change what’s not working and move on. When it comes to tracking your social media marketing activity, there’s a fine line between having patience and making changes when you’re not getting the results you’re after. The key is to set a realistic goal and clearly identify its benchmarks and the length of time you are going to allow to get the desired results. If the time comes that you don’t reach your desired outcome, tweak your activity right away. The longer you wait, the more damage you’ll do. For example, let’s say that for the past 30 days you’ve been asking questions a few times a week on your Facebook page and only two or three fans are leaving responses each time you post a new question. There could be a few different reasons for your low response rate. You might be asking questions that are not of interest to your fans. To fix this, you really want to pay attention to what grabs their attention and what topics your fans talk about the most. Or perhaps your questions are too difficult or too time consuming to answer. People move fast on Facebook and tend not to spend too much time in one place. There’s actually an art to asking questions on Facebook. The key is to ask questions that require little effort to answer. Questions that require just one-word responses tend to get the most engagement. Overall, the important thing to remember is that when something isn’t working, don’t dwell on it. Change it and move on!

• Post fresh content. To get the most reach from your content, make sure that your content educates, entertains and empowers your fans. This will pique their interest and keep them coming back for more. Also, publish everything you have in as many places as possible. What this means is that you want to get your content online, and you want it to be seen by as many potential prospects as possible. While Facebook is extremely powerful, don’t forget to spread your content out and use Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and of course, your blog. For instance, I write a regular article called The Magic Maniac. It appears in the newsletter for The Dallas Magic Clubs but I also publish it on The Magic Classroom and other online sites. Then I will tweet it’s location and title and also post it on all of my other sites. You can also monitor what others are publishing. If you see something that would be valuable to your audience, publish that content (and make sure to give them credit for it!). Third-party publishing is a great way to continue to add value for your fans without having to create all the content. Stay diligent with your content calendar. After you create it, stick with it. The more disciplined you are in sticking to your content calendar, the more traction you will see with your audience.

• Spread the love. The old saying, “Give and you shall receive” is one of social media’s golden rules. By sharing other people’s valuable blog posts, useful articles, entertaining videos and other content, your audience will repay you tenfold. Make sure to share the content from the influencers in your industry. This will help you build relationships with them and possibly create partnerships with them in the future. But remember to also acknowledge your fans who consistently produce great blog posts. They may not be well-known experts (yet!), but it’s important to share their great content as well. You can create a fan for life if you take the time to share their great work with others.

In many ways I hate revealing these strategies as many of you follow my various pages. Please don’t think that my reactions to any of you are merely part of a marketing plan. If you are reading this article then I sincerely appreciate you and care about our friendship...otherwise, I wouldn’t let you in on these successful secrets.

Of course, this is just my opinion...I could be wrong.

Always believe in magic— Part 43

“Magic, perhaps more than any other art form, has the ability to tear a hole in our maps of reality.” (Brain Food, David Parr, 1998, p. 81)

I begin Most of us as we mature in our practice of magic move away from the tubes and “tricky boxes” that had such a strong appeal to us as young magicians. We usually discover that more powerful magic effects are created with every day, recognizable objects. Cards, money, rope, handkerchiefs, jewelry, cups, balls, etc. become the objects we use to work our magic. David Parr, a Chicago magician, calls this the “Wonder of the Ordinary.”

What we do with these ordinary objects is to set up situations where, as explains, the audience members say to themselves, “That was fair…that was fair…and that was fair…and, yes, that was fair. Whoah!! No freaking way!” When that happens we have created the “magic moment.” This is what David Parr means about “tearing a hole in our maps of reality.” “Our magic, like the art of M. C. Escher (Drawing Hands), can derive power from things that are ‘recognizable to everyone.’ Magic lies hidden just beneath the surface of the commonplace.” (Parr, p. 50)

The above dynamic also occurs in Surrealism art. This post WWI branch of modern art makes us “look at everyday objects in delightfully new ways by surprising us with strange juxtapositions and bizarre distortions of reality, in much the same way magicians do.” (Parr, pp. 47-48) In Surrealism (and magic) the everyday objects are torn loose from their natural context and used to construct a new world under the will and imagination of the artist (magician). An example of Surrealism art can be seen in the “time bending” images in Dali’s Persistence of Memory. Unlike the realistic, rational art works that had come before, the works of these artists were getting their spectators to actively engage with them. “It was this engagement, this love of whimsy and the bizarre, which captured the interest of Jeff Sheridan.” (Magic, Nov., 1998, p. 67)

Sheridan, a New York magician is called the father of modern (Street Magic by Edward Claflin, 1977). Sheridan studied at the School of Visual Arts and in September, 1998 created a New York City art exhibit, “Jeff Sheridan: The Surrealist’s Magician.” The exhibit, At Our September seen several times in the US and Europe, features some familiar magic objects (cards, fan, scissors, Meeting... scotch tape, multiplying pipes, etc.). Like the Surrealist artists, Magritte, Dali, Ernst, Man Ray, and Escher, Sheridan challenged his audiences to “come to their own conclusions about life and death, while musing over his resting tricks. Along with magic, then, he turned to the Surrealistic technique of object-making to provoke onlookers into deeper thinking.” (Genii, Nov., 1998, p. 68)

One of the effects I regularly use in my close-up presentations is Nick Brown’s “Wonderland Dollar.” Dal and Cinde Sanders will This effect is built on the work of Martin Gardner, assume their roles as Ringmaster Dal and Boopsie The Clown Robert Neale and David Britland. The effect is from their Nationally Syndicated stunning to both magicians and lay folks. I show a Television show Kartoon Circus. dollar bill with a small trap door cut in the middle. In addition to sharing news about the Holding the bill front forward, a spectator is asked show, they plan to discuss the special problems that a performer to hold the small door. Much like Alice had to go faces when performing for children, through a small door in Wonderland, I send the what types of magic are best suited spectator through the dollar bill to the other side. I to entertain children, and even how to fold the bill closed, and then open it up again. get vetted for being a children's performer for schools, libraries and When the bill is unfolded the back of the bill is now other venues. facing the spectator who is still holding the trap door. Lay people are stunned and some are Coming Soon… speechless. I just tore a hole in their map of We have several members of The reality! Dallas Magic Clubs that have had extensive experience in television so Sometimes, we can “provoke” with our magic by we thought it might be interesting to reminding our audiences that even in the midst of have a panel discussion on how to perform on TV. Some of our the ordinary we are surrounded by mystery, members that have performed on TV wonder, and that there are some “holes in our include Trigg Watson who has maps of realities.” appeared on Penn & Teller: Fool Us, Masters of Illusion, Don’t Blink and many local television appearances. Till next time, remember to cut the cards. Dal Sanders has been featured performing magic on Comedy Central, several international beauty pageants, commercials and most recently he teamed with his wife Cinde Sanders on the internationally syndicated children’s show, Kartoon Circus. If that isn’t enough, Frank Mike Seltzer is a two-time Emmy Award winning TV producer. This could make for a very lively and educational discussion. by Geoff Grimes

“Teddy-Bunnies”: Another Case for ‘Consequential Magic’

In L. Frank Baum’s 1900 work, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy doesn’t mince words when she discovers Oz, the self-proclaimed “Great and Terrible,” cowering behind the collapsed screen in the Wizard’s Palace. After he confesses that he can’t keep his promises to the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion, Dorothy charges, “I think you are a very bad man!” Apologizing, the “humbug” protests, “Oh, no, my dear, I’m really a very good man, but I’m a very bad Wizard.” Quite by accident, the four sojourners have exposed the Grand Illusionist of the Emerald City for the fraud that he is.

Ironically, however, in the revelation of Oz as a charlatan, Dorothy and her companions discover what they would never have realized otherwise, that what they believe they want—a brain to think, a heart to feel, and courage to be—is residing already within themselves. In his own defense, the “false Wizard” unmasks the real magic that has always existed within in his audience. He tells the Scarecrow, “You don’t need [brains]. You are learning something every day.” To the Cowardly Lion’s plea for courage, he responds, “You have plenty of courage, I am sure. All you need is confidence in yourself.” The fundamental message of Baum’s turn-of-the century classic is a prescient metaphor for Robert E. Neale’s insightful thesis a hundred and some years later. In The Magic of Celebrating Illusion (2013) Neale claims that “we are all magicians and that the role of the stage magician is to mirror the magic of the audience.” To think somehow that our superbly crafted stage routines set us uniquely over and above the magical abilities of our audience is to miss wonderful opportunities for engagement that can be quite consequential for us both.

What we so often reflect in our magical entertainment, or at least in occasional performance pieces, illustrates what Bob Neale calls, in his Essay on Magic (2015), the continuity between our various “stage magics” and “life magics,” and that’s what often makes magical entertainment meaningful in ways beyond what some modern lay audiences may be quick to dismiss as delightful but otherwise irrelevant diversion. My sense of that connection—that continuity—comes from my own experience over the years with “teddy-bunnies.”

“Teddy-bunnies” refers to the fuzzy little stuffed rabbits I give away to youngsters at the end of my magical birthday party shows and other venues. Kids latch onto them with all the enthusiasm they often reserve for their teddy bears or bear-substitutes.

Without question, for the money—and at around $10 apiece, they aren’t particularly cheap—the “Animal Alley” bunnies from ToysRUs are the most natural-looking stuffed bunnies in the market. My signature sponge bunny explosion at the end of each of my kids’ birthday parties concludes with the production of one of these adorable brown or white creatures as a gift to the birthday honoree.

I keep a bag of a dozen or more in my automobile trunk, available for giving away at the restaurant where I work each week. When the dining area is otherwise occupied by mostly adult patrons, I’ll sometimes single out a five or six-year old youngster for one of the cuddly characters.

A case in point, little Hannah was probably four or five years old several years back when I presented her with a white bunny. She became quite attached to it. I would see her four or five times a year in the restaurant with her family. Each time, she would clump over to their table with her bunny in tow. The last time I saw her, however, she was escorting a rather abused-looking orange stuffed duck. When I asked her about “Bunny”—her name for her magical companion, she turned away, overwhelmed and in tears.

“Well, Doc,” her mom explained, “it seems that Hannah got into my makeup case and decided to put red lipstick on ‘Bunny.’ After a while, she tried to wipe it off, but that didn’t work, so I sent it to the cleaners. When we got it back, ‘Bunny’ was pink!” Hannah was inconsolable. A distraught Hannah had taken up with the duck, only a “second best.”

The response from the children to these stuffed animals appears to be universal. They embrace them immediately, pulling them under their arms and hugging them tightly, making them their own the very moment I pull them from my hat and hand them over. You might expect a similar response from any such experience of gifting. However, the responses from the parents, whom I often hear from later, suggest that the bunnies have become much more important to the children than the other abandoned stuffed critters that fill up their toy chests or clutter up their closets.

Most of the families I entertain in the restaurant have never before witnessed close-up magic or magic performed only for them. However, most of them are familiar with magic; many have seen contestants performing tricks on America’s Got Talent or other popular evening television programs. And most parents know the familiar cliché that what comes out of every magician’s hat is always a bunny. They are quick to assist the kiddo who waves my “very magic wand” (a hot-pink Crayola toothbrush!) over the hat, usually a little uncertain about the whole unfolding experience.

What I have just described, of course, is a context—and sometimes a very disturbing context—for the appearance of the bunny, the child’s first magical experience. Put it this way: The bunny wasn’t just sitting in her chair when she came back from the chocolate fountain or the bathroom. And it wasn’t something that was “gifted” from mom, dad, or some other family member in the child’s absence. To the child, what has just happened is surprising and inexplicable.

Even the parents’ response is out of the ordinary. “See what you just did!” they exclaim. “You made a bunny! You just did magic!” The child is rewarded and celebrated for something exciting that just happened, because, in some unexpected way, the child himself or herself has been the causal agent—the child did something to make something else happen.

This communal engagement, featuring, in this case, the seemingly benign role of the magician, the active participation of the child, and the parents’ applause and encouragement constitutes the social context, but while that context might be new, disturbing, or startling in a restaurant setting, what just happened in the mind of the child is not something new or unexpected at all. In his or her world of “play-like” and “make believe,” the child has been performing such creative “magic” since toddler days. Most children know exactly what to do with the bunny and automatically assign its place and function in their very active and complex imaginative context. Often, the very first thing the child does is to name it, the first step in establishing some personal boundaries that will define the child’s new relationship with the bunny. Developmental psychologists call the bunny a “transitional object.”

A “transitional object” functions first in the child’s experience as a “mother substitute.” Twentieth-century British psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott (1896-1971), a proponent of “Object Relations Theory,” claims that children adopt an object, usually associated with the mother, as a first step in a developmental progression toward self-identity and helps the child to separate its identity from that of the mother, a critical formative transition that happens through play. In a discussion of the transitional object, a contributor to the psychological journal, Changing Minds, notes that personifying “the object is perhaps the first truly creative act of the child as it uses its imagination to create reality out of nothing. The transitional object is a tool that allows the child to let go of the mother and develop a more independent existence. It can take the object anywhere and receive a quick dose of comfort whenever it feels anxious. The object also facilitates the transition from a ‘magical sense’ of omnipotence to control through physical manipulation.” [italics mine] The child’s waving the magic wand is nothing new; it’s been ‘waving magic wands’ imaginatively in creating a most complex world of play for a long time!

More to the point of the bunny itself as the transitional object, the immediate, active response of the child in embracing the fuzzy creature is the first reaction into what will become an interactive relationship. The discussant continues, “The object may . . . be the subject of the child’s phantasies, for example where a teddy bear is spoken to, hugged, punished, etc. It thus becomes a tool for interaction with the external world. By giving the bear a will of its own, the child is also phantasizing that it is not omnipotent and can yet survive this initially scary state. Play thus provides a pathway to independence” (Changing Minds). To put it in the words of “magic,” the child is becoming the magician, creating its own magical kingdom and populating it with its own fantastical creatures that behave (or not!) according to the child’s own set of rules and norms—all objectified in the “teddy-bunny” and the child’s relation to it.

Very much aligned with the “object-relations” theoretical principles of the “transitional object” outlined above, in The Magic of Celebrating Illusion, Neale explains the role of the “teddy bear” illusion in the developmental pathway of children from their identity with the “mother-as-first-magician” and their flight from the “father-as-second-magician.” As a magician, the mother is the giver of life, the nurturer, and the sustainer of life; the child is literally the product of the mother’s “magic” and totally dependent upon her to live. The “magic” of the father, on the other hand, defines the rules and social boundaries that help children to begin to realize the world of “not-self.” As a sidebar, note that the “father-as-second magician” is not bound to gender. Either a male or female can assume the role of the “father- magician.”

Children assign attributes to the transitional object, setting it apart from the mother-magician’s nurturing and against the father-magician’s unsympathetic and non-negotiable boundaries. Through imaginative play, children help to disassociate themselves from both as they gradually come to experience themselves as independent beings. Through the unlimited power of “make-believe” enacted in the arena of play, the child becomes the “third magician,” creating a rich, often complex illusory world with its ever-changing demographics, fantastic settings, and its own very fluid set of regulations and protocols. This early play is essential to the child’s ability to adjust later to the illusions of the adult world with its own rules, meanings, and values, illusions that he or she will be expected to facilitate.

The ability of children-as-magicians to “make believe” and “play like” prepares them for the illusions of the adult world in which they will assume the role of either a “mother-magician” or a “father-magician.” Every arena of human experience is shaped and defined by illusions through which people relate to each other, usually in one and sometimes overlapping roles. Sometimes, the illusions are of our own making; sometimes they are ones we step into as we become of age or station. What follows is an example—and you’re going to have to bear with me for a couple or three paragraphs here—as through this example I will try to deconstruct the meaning of that opening claim. The illusion I choose is the illusion of the “college professor,” of which I am one.

Over the fifty years of my career as a college teacher, I have gone to work every day to serve the image I have constructed, semester after semester, of what it means to be an “effective teacher.” To the extent that my colleagues share and work within at least the common framework of that image—the image of what it means to be “an effective teacher in a college setting,” that image is communal. To the extent that the college continues to pay me to serve students within my projection of that role, my illusion of “the effective teacher” is institutionalized. In terms of Bob Neale’s “stage/life magics,” as the teacher, I serve my students in something of the role of the “mother-magician” as their “creator, nurturer, and sustainer” of them as learners. Interestingly, I also perform much of the role of the “father-magician” as I also establish the standards for measuring my students’ success at the end of the class. With exceptions that often result in expulsions, most students and their teachers seem to accept these roles and relationships. In reality, however, these are not static roles and relationships.

Each new generation of “mother-magicians” and “father-magicians” must learn and master the performance pieces of their society’s illusions, until the new initiates they will serve become mature enough to understand and accept the differences between the illusory world in which they have unwittingly been raised, and the insistent “real” world of hard facts and common sense that, superficially, would seem to envelop it. That’s pretty lofty language. Let me try to clarify it with a reference to my “effective teacher” illusion I introduced above.

As far back as 1970, in his seminal work, Forms of Ethical and Intellectual Development in the College Years, educational researcher William Perry observed that many students come to college their freshman year in a kind of “dualistic” state of mind. That is, they tend to interpret their world in pretty simplistic terms, in pairs of absolutes, if you will—“right” vs. “wrong,” “good” vs. “evil,” “we” vs. “they”—there are many other examples.

In a college setting, it is easy to see this duality in their assumptions about themselves as students and the professors who will teach them. “Getting educated,” from this dualistic perspective, means that, as students, it is their responsibility to listen carefully and attentively, to take good notes, to memorize a lot of discipline content (history, government, economics—whatever!), and then to give it all back to the professor on mid-term and final exams. And that’s called “getting educated.” In other words, as students, “we’re ignorant; they’re knowledgeable,” and “our job is to learn what they want us to know so that then we’ll know, too.”

This isn’t any new interpretation for students. In fact, it is one that has been engrained in their psyches throughout their whole previous educational experience and is only reinforced when walking through the door of every lecture hall. The layout of the lecture hall mirrors probably every other classroom they ever sat in. The field of sociology has a wonderful term that is helpful here—something social scientists call “agency.” “Agency” refers to the “seat of power and authority,” and it’s one of the fundamental illusions in higher education. In the typical college auditorium or lecture hall, all “agency” resides in the front—before the blackboard or behind the podium, and there is no question within whom that power is invested! “Good morning, students.” “Goood-morrrn-ing- doctor-so-‘n-sooo.” (Does that exchange really ever happen any longer?)

What Perry’s study reveals, however, is that most students eventually move beyond of that “dualistic” interpretation of their role as students as they learn to adjust to new insights about both the content they’re studying as well as the nature of “teacher/student relationships.” As they move from class to class and from teacher to teacher, many students experience conflicts with their earlier assumptions about teaching and learning. Now, you might argue that they’re simply becoming more sophisticated as students; it’s almost as if they’re getting more and more sneaky little peeks behind the curtains of the educational process, and they are forced to adjust accordingly. Gradually, they begin to accept what some students experience initially as a very severe shock: that true educational “agency” resides in themselves as learners, and not just in their professors as “sages on the stage.” With that insight, the illusion of “agency” in education has been exposed!

The truth be told, every social illusion will probably suffer the same fate as that of so many of the classical performance illusions in magical entertainment. That is, there is always going to be a “masked magician” ready to expose each of the trade secrets that lie behind every public illusion. And while we may groan, that has to happen! It simply has to be! In time, all “father-magicians” must expose secrets of the public or social illusions they create, maintain, and perform. Citing examples from various cultures, Neale notes the function of the exposés of the “father-magicians” in revealing the secrets behind their illusions. It should be noted, however, that that exposure is often preceded by a promise extracted from the initiates by the parent-magicians never to reveal the “truths” or secrets that they are about to learn.

To stray—perhaps thankfully—from the educational illusion I addressed above, let me suggest a different example.

Young, Internet-savvy kids in our “Googly” digital age are likely to learn, sooner more often than later, that “Santa Claus,” a beloved and culturally enshrined childhood illusion, is a “fake fact”—a closely guarded though lavishly exploited fabrication, foisted off onto every kid who needs an alternative reason for a winter holiday! But it is an illusion that, only in its exposure, reflects values, assumptions, and expectations important to living successfully in both the family and the community. Hence, “Yes, Virginia, there really is a ‘Santa Claus’”—in our hearts! Bursting the childhood illusion first exposes but then enables these really important values—things like kindness, caring, belief and faith, hope and trust, and the joy of giving—to take root and to flourish in what will become a more satisfying acceptance of these “deeper truths,” if you will, as young people learn to accept responsibilities later as adults.

So, father-magicians must expose their secrets as a way to leading the child out of its dependence on the mother. Once released, the child—as the “third magician”—becomes the initiate who can now grow to maturity, knowing full well that the world is filled with a myriad of illusions, to many of which he or she must become responsible. For the new initiates, the child-as-the-maturing-magician, consciously orchestrates each illusion in a world of continuous play, a source of reassuring and renewable joy. As the adult, the “child-as-third-magician” has become the performer of illusions essential to the identity and well-being of the next generation of youngsters, and the cycle continues.

Whew! That’s a lot of responsibility for a fuzzy little “teddy-bunny,” produced with all the elaborate flourishes imaginable, by a wide-eyed little urchin in swinging that “very magic wand” over the magician’s hat. I’ve defined elsewhere “consequential magic” as “response-driven magical performances that change our audiences’ lives in often deeply personal ways that leave them profoundly moved and grateful.” I’d argue, then, that the “magic” the child performs with his or her “teddy-bunny” certainly qualifies as “consequential magic,” creating patterns of experience and pathways to a meaningful adulthood. The effect of that stuffed animal on the child demonstrates the continuity between a performance piece of “stage magic” and the essential “life magics” constantly being performed by every member of our audience, each a magician, says Bob Neale, in his or her own right and truest sense of the word.

Having read the draft of these remarks, Mike Smith, a wonderful friend in magic and a retired psychotherapist, suggested the parallel between the role of Oz as the ironic “very bad wizard” and Bob Neale’s clarification of our role as performing magical entertainers “to mirror the magic of our audience.” What I have come to realize is that magical performance begins for each member of our audiences at a very young age in the safe arena of play where the child is free to “play like” and to “make believe.” The key prop in that play, absolutely essential for the child’s successful social and psychological development, is the “teddy-bunny,” that furry, fluffy, little stuffed animal that the child imbues with robust imaginary life and relationships. Come to think of it, maybe Hannah’s stuffed duck wasn’t only “a second best.” Perhaps it was only a morphing, an extension, a “transitioning transitional object.”

Oh, lordy! Am I on to something new?

Maybe, . . . or maybe not! I’m just sayin’ . . .

Geoff Grimes

The McKinney Chapter of the S.Y.M. Assembly 73 (chartered under The Dallas Magic Clubs S.A.M. Assembly 13) meets at The Main Street Magic And Fun Company on the Second Sunday of Each Month.

For more details, contact Jennifer at 214-274-7802

September 2017

IMPORTANT!!!

This Month The Dallas Magic Club will meet at:

Crossroads Christian Church 2425 Parker Rd. Carrollton, TX 75010

CLICK HERE FOR AN INTERACTIVE MAP TO THE LOCATION