Hello everyone!
Today’s topics are: Une vie d’artiste by Robert-Houdin; The Golden Rabbit Show; Peek & Glimpse Do as I Do
These are The Magic Memories 212, gone online Sunday, February 2nd, 2025, at 0:07h sharp.
All The Magic Memories from 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 including the Magic Advent Calendar from 2020, can be found HERE.
Here we are, at the beginning of the second month of the new year with a mixed bag of bits & pieces that currently occupy my time and mind.
Considering today’s shipping rates for books that are going through the roof, the higher costs for producing books, and the fact that a good portion of the recent publications recycle old ideas, I decided to go back to my own library and started rereading what I have, at least a small part of it… with over 3’500 volumes and more than thirty yards of magazines that should keep me busy for the rest of my life 🙂
A rough estimate that takes into account the slow reading pace that characterizes me, brings me to a theoretical life expectation of ca. 145 years, clearly a case where the difference between practice and theory is even bigger in practice than in theory.
What this means for you, dear reader, and these The Magic Memories, is that you will occasionally get a few flashbacks on classic and not-so-classic books, most of them obviously magic books (but not only).
I will start this month with one my all-time favorite books, Robert-Houdin’s autobiography.
Une vie d’artiste by Robert-Houdin
The original French title is Une vie d’artiste – Confidences d’un prestidigitateur (1858); one year later, in 1859, saw the publication in English as Memoirs of Robert-Houdin – Ambassador, Author, and Conjurer, edited by R. Shelton Mackenzie.
A quick search in Google took me to “The Project Gutenberg”, where you can read and download for free and legally (since it is out of copyright) the English text – CLICK HERE.
Since I have the original book in French, as well as the transitions in English and German, I did not bother downloading the text, but if you do, you can bring it into a format easily readable on a tablet.
However, a quick search on bookfinder.com will enlighten you to the fact that softcover editions can be purchased at the price of a pizza and a coke (plus tax, plus tip for our friends in the New World… all included in the Old World). And those who like e-reading will find their luck for a mere $8 (!!!) at library.com HERE.
It’s in the Name
Since his name is often misspelled, occasionally even by historians, let me clarify something about his name. His first name was Jean-Eugène, written with a hyphen and an “è”. These double first names are typical in many European languages (Hans-Peter, Jean-Pierre, Gian Luca), but not so frequent in the English language.
His last name was Robert. So his full name BEFORE he married, was Jean-Eugène Robert.
His wife’s family name was Houdin, which he added to his last name, making it Robert-Houdin (with a hyphen), now in full Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin.
Therefore, whenever you read Robert Houdin without a hyphen – meaning “Robert” as first name and “Houdin” as family name, and combinations thereof – it is simply wrong.
Possibly the Best Biography
I have over two hundred biographies of important and less important magicians in my lybrary, and I have read all of them, some of them several times, but in my opinion none of them can match Robert-Houdin’s for depth and insight.
I believe that an autobiography, i.e., one written by the subject himself (please notify me if you know on an autobiography of a magicienne), is (almost) always superior to a biography written by someone else.
With Robert-Houdin several factors come together, that are absoluetly unique:
First, we have a genius who has had the importance and influence only very few in the history of magic have had, in a class with Hofzinser and Vernon, or Juan Tamariz, to mention a living one.
Second, he had a far above average capacity of introspection. There have been several brilliant exponents of the art of magic, but only very few were able to tell us something about their brilliance: where that brilliance comes from, how it manifests itself, what events, people, books, etc. made them into what they then became. These, of course, are some of the big questions, and frankly, these are the very questions that interest me most when I read a biography. By reading this autobiography you can really trace the events, thoughts and emotions that made the author one of the most significant figures in the panorama of magic.
Third, he was an excellent writer and was able to transmit his insights and feelings in a fascinating way. Granted, the language of the 1850s is certainly a bit more baroque than today, whether you read it in the original French or in one of the translations, and some might need to consult the dictionary occasionally, but then this is like having to dress up when you go to the Magic Castle: most of us will not want to do this every day, but for that special occasion it is acceptable to suffer a little bit 🙂
A Flash
The text in this book provides so many insights, inspirations and plain information that I would not know where to start if I had to tell you about it all.
Therefore just a “flash”: P. T. Selbit (1881 – 1938) has often been credited with inventing the illusion “Sawing a Woman in Half”. He most certainly invented a specific way of doing it and gave a detailed explanation of its construction and working, but the idea of the effect is already in this book by Robert-Houdin.
He tells of Torrini (CLICK HERE for info) who performed for the Sultan Selim in Constantinople (now Istanbul). In one of his tricks he has his assistant Antonio enter a wooden box, which he then saws in two (there you have the effect). When the box is subsequently opened, two Antonios come out (Antonio and his twin sister Antonia dressed alike)! The person sawn in half has therefore not only survived the ordeal, it has also been split into two: of course, what else 🙂
I cannot remember ever having seen an illusionist do this effect, nor have I read or heard about it. The only “similar” idea I can think of, is Kevin James’ illusion where he cuts a man in half with a chainsaw (CLICK HERE if you have strong nerves)… but for my personal taste, as incredible as the effect is, it is a bit too much…
Epilogue
Anyway, I will not delve into more intricacies of Robert-Houdin’s life here, because if I did, the text might become longer than our hero’s autobiography… and believe me, I’m a specialist at lengthy texts 🙂 My sole purpose is to wet your appetite, and to get you to read the book, at least start doing it as you will not risk much – if you buy the $8 PDF this will be painless and easy.
PS: Robert-Houdin’s second book, the one where he talks shop, The Secrets of Conjuring and Magic (original French 1868, English translation 1877), you can get that at $9 HERE. This book would deserve an entire semester, if there was anything close to a university of magic (there is not, although some have used and are still using that label).
The Golden Rabbit Show
Last week my friend Claudio Viotto called me up and suggested we go to Zurich to see “The Golden Rabbit Show”, a full-evening magic show put up by colleagues of us, Peter Honegger and Tino Plaz (I have mentioned Tino’s remarkable talents in other blogs).
What a good idea this was, as we spent a delightful afternoon in Zurich: Fortunately, it was raining cats and dogs, which spared us to do the tourist thing in Zurich, Switzerland’s most cosmopolitan city that certainly merits visiting, but which we already knew quite well. So, instead, we sat in the bar of the Marriott Hotel Zürich with coffee and cocktails, discussing the complexities hidden away in the Dr. Daley Notebooks, a topic I can recommend to any advanced magic session.
And before getting to the show, I should mention that we had a quick dinner (90 minutes in the Old World is considered a very quick meal…) at the White Elephant, an Asian restaurant inside the Marriott hotel.
If anyone reads this who will be visiting Zürich shortly, take note: we ordered the “Pearl of Andaman” menu for two.
Although the waiter might try to talk you into taking a starter, etc., don’t. The dishes that come as part of the menu will feed you and satisfy the most discriminate palate… it did mine, and as a further proof of my immodesty I will say that this should hold true for 98.5% of all palates on this planet… (it is hard to be more fastidious about food than I am).
The restaurant, by the way, was of course only chosen because of its proximity to the theater where the show would take place 🙂
After a brisk 15-minute walk we reached the location, which is a cosy room that has the charm of a private home, complete with a small entry area, a one-man reception desk as well as a tiny bar.
In the last two decades Europe has seen the advent of several such locations, in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, and other countries. A book could be written about them, their hosts and the magic that happens inside, and it would be an interesting book.
Peter Honegger, who has been renting the place for the past twenty years as his studio, started to convert it into a performance area only during the pandemic.
Yes, it seems a paradox, but he began with shows for a tiny group of four or five people, then extended it to today’s format that can take up to 35 spectators who each pay 50 Swiss Francs (ca. US$ 55 on FEB 2025) for the ticket. This provides a healthy financial situation, which pays for the studio and gives the two performers a dignified fee (this does not go by itself in small theaters like these).
The photo below gives you a rough idea of the situation, and you can also see that there are some small tables that allow for drinks to be consumed, served by the host himself.
Peter Honegger and Tino Plaz in The Golden Rabbit Show
As for the show itself, I do not want to give away too much, so will just say that the show, which starts at 8pm and ends at ca. 10pm with a 20-minute break in-between, is set up as a kind of amusing competition.
The audience is divided into ten teams, who each time after a trick is performed gets to guess how the trick is done, based on three delightfully absurd answers the hosts offer. The team that scores highest at the end, will get The Golden Rabbit Award, along with some exquisite Swiss chocolates wrapped into golden rabbit form and paper.
I hasten to add that nothing is revealed about the real working of the tricks, and that the magic is never reduced to its secret or that the secret could be the most important thing in magic. This is very much unlike the Fool us format, which focuses a lot on the fact that a magic trick has a secret, and that this secret is the essence of magic, and that once it has been found out, well, that’s it. Also, I would like to add as a purely personal thought, the term “to fool” obviously has to do with making someone look like a fool, which is the last thing we want people to think magic is about, and which is one of the reasons the intelligentsia doesn’t consider magic as an art form.
I was talking about this with Peter Honegger after the show. Now, Peter is an actor and a mime that later found his way into magic.
The larger part of his life was spent in theater, acting and coaching young would-be-actors. And he said that in the environment of the theatre practically nobody considers magic to be at the same level. However, once these people have witnessed a really good magic show, they make allowances. Personally, I do not think that theatre and magic are the same thing, although they certainly share some common aspects. Another big subject with lots of prejudices in the magic world…
Back to the show: Peter was very competent in his magic, but his focus was clearly that of an actor using magic as the subject of short plays. This is clearly the actor’s approach, and it was met with great success.
Tino Plaz, on the other hand, has the mind and the hands of a sleight-of-hand artist, which results in a different emotion and reaction in the audience. All his tricks were excellent, as was his consummate technique.
As a highlight I will briefly tease you with his pièce de résistance, the card in sealed glass canning jar. A spectator gets to closely check the glass and the screw top that hermetically seals it – this is placed aside on a small table and is in full view at all times (this is really the jar and the top that they have carefully examined, no switches have taken place). A card is selected and shuffled back into the deck, from where it vanishes. The spectator herself holds the jar between her hands. Suddenly the jar starts to fill with smoke, and when the fog clears out, a card suddenly appears and fills the glass! This looks like trick photography and causes a huge reaction in the audience. Tino then takes the card out and hands it out to the spectator… That’s one for the books.
Peek & Glimpse Do as I Do
And here is one for the road, since we won’t meet again for another month, a trick to think about, or to do, or both.
Effect: As in the standard “Do As I Do”, you and the spectator each think of a card, which eventually turn out to be the same!
Method: This is a quick version of “Do As I Do”. You and your assisting spectator each have a deck of cards that you both shuffle thoroughly and then cut.
Exchange the decks, “In case you do not trust me, I shall take your deck, and you take mine.” Although on second thought this in no way explains the exchange, years of practical use have shown that saying this with taken-for-grantedness makes the ploy fly by unnoticed.
Hold the deck you now have face down in Dealing Position, and have the spectator peek at a card, retaining a break under the peeked-at card. Immediately do a Glimpse from the center of the deck (e.g., Card College Volume 2, p. 359). Now you know the spectator’s card, e.g., the Four of Hearts. Set the deck face down on the table.
Ask the spectator to do the same thing to you with his deck, i.e., he riffles the deck in some way or another, and you look at a card. It really does not matter how clumsy the spectator handles the deck, just make it clear that you are “thinking” of a card from his deck, and he’s “thinking” a card from your deck.
Each one of you now shuffles one’s own deck once again.
Now, if you go back to what happened up to now, you’ll find it quite extraordinary, because unlike most other versions of this plot, the deck is shuffled before and after the selection is made…
Once again exchange the decks, the “logic” being that you get the deck from which you are thinking of card, and the spectator gets the deck from which he is thinking of a card.
Each one of you now places his thought-of card face down on the table: Upon turning them over they are seen to be miraculously the same!
The idea of this version occurred to me as I was running in my mind through my Do As I Do Double Deck Switch, or any similar version of “Do As I Do” for that matter, and wondered what I would do if the spectator would insist in shuffling the deck once it had been exchanged and he was holding the stacked deck. Not that this ever happened to me, but it could, in theory…
Swiss Magic Convention
As you are reading this, I am still at the Swiss National Magic Convention organized by the Magischer Ring der Schweiz in Baden, a city between Basel and Zurich, and I will report about it in The Magic Memories 213.
Among other things, Lorenz Schär and I will give a ca. forty minutes presentation on “The History of Card Magic in Switzerland” – I bet you did not think there is one. Well, there is! Stay tuned.
Wish you now a most successful and happy February.
All the best!
Roberto Giobbi
