Editorial

Magicians, they say, are part of a secret society. The thing that makes magicians unique is that they never reveal their secrets. When we learned our first magic trick we promised to never tell anyone how we did it. But how many of us can honestly say we’ve kept that promise?

The very first rule of the combined IBM/SAM ‘Code of Ethics’ states that all members agree to “oppose the wilful exposure to the public of any principles of the Art of Magic, or the methods employed in any magic effect or illusion” and oppose we do! Just ask the ‘Masked Magician’. When one of our own donned a mask and shacked up in a warehouse with scantily-clad assistants showing us all how it was done, many said he'd sold his soul to the devil. The first show appeared in 1998 and Valentino has continued to cash in on his new found fame ever since with similar TV shows in Japan and Brazil.

When Tom Mullica, Mac King and others exposed the secrets and principles of magic on TV as part of ‘The World’s Greatest Magic’ series, there was some opposition from magicians, but not nearly as much as Valentino faced because these tricks were exposed in the process of “teaching” the viewers at home how to do them… whether they wanted to learn them or not.

Criss Angel even received opposition after his TV series aired on the A&E Network. Was he exposing secrets? No. Teaching secrets? No. He was offering viewers the opportunity to buy two of his secrets from his website in the form of teaching DVDs.

Magicians are quick to oppose “wilful exposure” and so they should be. But just how good are they at keeping the secrets themselves?

Some, in their enthusiasm, like to share their secrets with their friends, often immediately after having performed the trick.

Others will insist on knowing the secrets of every trick they see, as though it is their right as a magician, and seek out the exposure of the method for their own satisfaction.

Some become jealous of the success of others and intentionally expose their secrets to try to bring them down.

Perhaps the worst form of magic exposure is when it is performed badly. Secrets exposed accidentally because of lack of rehearsal or no understanding of how magic really works.

On the internet there are various chat groups and forums for magicians. Some are moderated and promptly censor any open discussion of secrets, but most aren’t and anyone can log on and see magicians openly swapping secrets and discussing methods.

The Houdini Exhibit at The Outgamie Museum outraged many magicians with their exposure of the Substitution Trunk, but what seemed to upset magicians even more was that Jonathon and Charlotte Pendragon appeared to condone the exposure by performing a show for the museum. Many magicians said they felt the Pendragons were "no better than the Masked Magician."

Yet the Science of Illusion exhibit is travelling throughout the USA offering visitors the opportunity to "try magic". They can choose to see the effects, or see how they are done. Why didn’t this exhibit attract the same outrage? After all, it is also wilfully exposing secrets.

Having run a magic shop myself I know that when it's run properly there is money to be made. However, you can’t survive selling exclusively to magicians, like any other commercial venture you need to expand your client base to become successful. That means, selling more and more magic secrets to the general public. Anyone can walk into a magic shop and, for a few dollars, purchase the secret of a trick they just saw performed.

And what of the hundreds of magicians who derive a portion of their income from creating new tricks and DVDs for other magicians to buy? How do we prevent our creations from falling in to the hands of the "cashed up and curious"?

Internet Magic Shops are a relatively recent phenomenon and are seen, by many, to be contributing to the demise of the 'bricks and mortar' stores. Some will argue that if you walk into a magic store the salesman can guide you into purchasing effects that are appropriate for you and, to some extent, deter the merely curious. Buying over the net, however, is another thing entirely. Anyone with a computer and a credit card can purchase any secret to any effect... at a discount price.

Selling secrets within the magic community is one thing, but isn’t selling our secrets to the general public just as bad as exposing them for free?

Many people remember the TV Magic Cards back in the 1970's. They were one of the first magic products promoted using the medium of television advertising. Sure, magic sets have been sold in toy shops for over a hundred years (often containing far more advanced secrets than their young purchasers were able to master without exposing) but as television became a more influential medium, more and more products were popping up on our screens telling us that, for just a few bucks, we too could become master magicians and amaze our friends.

Larry Anderson's ‘Jaw Droppers’ video series is heavily advertised on TV, as are D’Lites, and a huge range of Marvin’s Magic products in the UK. At one stage here in Australia the 'Dancing Cane' was released as a children’s toy with TV magician Ian Buckland promoting it.

Many businesses that appeal to children like fast food restaurants, toy companies and bookstores run magic-themed promotions. The store gives away magic tricks, either free or as a bonus with another purchase. That means that a magician has wilfully exposed those secrets knowing that hundreds of thousands of kids would soon know just how they’re done.

Many magicians in the lucrative corporate market offer 'extra services' to their clients. Sometimes they will design free 'giveaway' magic tricks like the Three Card Monte with the client’s logo on it. Other times they will teach the client’s sales staff a few simple effects they can perform to catch people's attention before pitching their products.

At least these people are exposing secrets in order to teach other people how to perform magic. On the internet there’s a whole industry dedicated to exposing secrets. Capitalising on the success of television magicians like David Copperfield, Lance Burton, David Blaine and now Criss Angel, are websites promising to tell us "how they did it" for a small membership fee like: ‘Secrets Revealed’, ‘Secrets of Magic Revealed’, ‘Vertigo: Secrets from the Television Special Revealed’, and the entire ‘Magic Secrets Network’ of sites.

Are these sites any better than the Masked Magician? These websites are specifically offering to expose the effects that particular magicians have established as their trademarks. Often they are exposing tricks that aren't even on the market within the magic community.

Some webmasters are happy to spill the beans for free. As part of the ‘WikiProject Magic’, created by a 24 year old Dutch magician, the free online encyclopedia ‘Wikipedia’ has hundreds of different pages freely accessible to anyone with a computer which explains the methods of countless tricks ranging from ‘Scotch & Soda’ to ‘The Asrah Levitation’.

So what do the famous magicians do? Do they jealously protect their secrets, or cash in on their notoriety? When David Copperfield came to Australia, I tried to buy advertising space in his programme to promote my magic shop. His management politely declined explaining that David doesn't want to give his fans the impression that his skills can be purchased.

Lance Burton, on the other hand, has a magic shop right next to his showroom at the Monte Carlo. Penn & Teller expose a lot of their own secrets within the pages of their best-selling books (as well as intentionally "exposing" a lot of their own tricks during their show). Mac King teaches magic in his comic strip and sells his ‘Suitcase O’ Magic’ which includes a teaching DVD. Siegfried & Roy sold plush white tigers and many great kitsch souvenirs in their magic shop, but no magic tricks as far as I can recall, though there was a ‘Siegfried & Roy Spectacular Magic Set’. Harry Blackstone Jr. sold magic kits and books. Doug Henning had his own magic sets (made by Tenyo). British magicians Paul Daniels and David Nixon also brought out their own magic sets and books. Even Houdini, Thurston and Kellar used to sell booklets of magic secrets at their shows.

Almost all of these products were designed for the general public. Are they wilfully exposing the secrets of magic or offering an invitation to join the magic community? There are many magicians got their start with these sorts of magic kits.

Libraries and bookstores are other places that many of us first discovered the secrets of magic. Yet the secrets are in full view of the curious, those browsing through the shelves can open a book and read a method that may have taken a lifetime to develop. Mystery gone. Should these books be restricted to sale by magic suppliers only? Should they be kept "under the counter" with other restricted publications... for certain eyes only?

As you can see there are many forms of exposure. Some have been going on for hundreds of years while others are relatively new. Where do we draw the line? Some say we shouldn't even bother trying to protect the secrets, after all, the true magic is in the presentation not the method.

I believe that magic doesn’t happen on stage or on TV or on the close-up pad, but in the mind of the viewer. Thankfully a good proportion of our audience are still willing to suspend their disbelief and accept our tricks as magic, despite our best efforts to show them how it’s done. When you realise that magicians seem to be the worst secret-keepers ever, I'm amazed that magic has lasted as long as it has.

Tim Ellis is a magician from Melbourne, Australia who wilfully exposes lots of great magic secrets on his 3 DVDs. Check out www.MagicUnlimited.com in the ‘Merchandise’ section.

- TIM ELLIS 2005