The Adequate Blog

I was lucky when I started the Magic Act in that I was given a budget by the management (my patient, long-suffering wife) and told that I could spend that money to acquire what I needed to acquire in order to further my career.

I was unlucky in that I had no adult supervision during this period.

Magicians are like magpies - we’re attracted to shiny objects and loud sounds, we hoard shinies, we tend to wear black, we repeat nonsensical things (”Abracadabra!” “Hey Presto!” “Look… watch… look… look… look…”)  and with the convenience of the internet, we can order anything that attracts our attention with a few keystrokes and a mouse click, to have that shiny, slick, nifty new thing delivered to our door in a matter of days!

… what I’m saying here is that I blew through that money pretty darn quick and wound up with a lot of stuff I couldn’t really use. Magicians all have a “junk drawer” filled with stuff they can’t use for whatever reason. I had a room full of it. Thanks to eBay, I have less now, but…

In the interest of saving future generations, I’d like to present a few guidelines for being frugal in your evaluation and acquisition of magic goods and information.

In short, I want to hep you all to the wonders of CHEAP MAGIC.

Rule One: FRUGALITY RULES!

Frugality (noun) -
Practicing or marked by economy, as in the expenditure of money or the use of material resources.  - American Heritage Dictionary

If you treat buying magic the same way you treat, say, buying groceries, you’ll find yourself being happier in the long run.  Start with the commitment not to “impulse buy” because something has a nifty demo video.

Rule Two: Books Books Books

Books are, dollar for dollar, the best value that a magician can get when it comes to getting wisdom. I prefer books over videos because books tend to contain more actual “content” than videos - especially the downloadable type. Plus you don’t have to have  TV or computer running to work on a trick out of a book.

Also: it’s a lot more likely you’ll find magic books available at your local public library than it is magic videos.

My best advice, if you can afford to do so, is to invest in the Tarbell Course in Magic. 8 volumes which contain, literally, Every Trick In the Book - If you invest in these volumes, you’ll find almost everything that’s sold as a downloadble trick here, and quite possibly explained better!

After that, shop through Dover Press’s magic books - they’re inexpensive and packed with wisdom. If you start with Dover’s catalog, then go to Tarbell, you may get some duplication of information, but you’ll still be building a strong foudation.

Rule Three: Invest In The Basics

 When buying magic props, I’m going to go with Alton Brown’s best advice and recommend you invest in Multitaskers - props you can use to do multiple effects. This includes:

• Balls
• Handkerchiefs
• Rope
• A good pair of scissors
• Cards
• Paper Napkins

and get them ungaffed, that is, without any special gimmickry, at least to begin.

Rule Four: See Something New? Research!

After many years, I’ve taken this rule to heart - any time I see a “new” effect in a magic catalog or web site or video, I go back to my books and see if this “new” effect may be an old effect in shiny new clothing with a techno soundtrack.  If nothing else, it’ll give you a chance to look for similar effects and compare the requirements and restrictions in those tricks to give you an idea of how appropriate this new trick would be for you.

I also recommend checking out some of the magic “forum” sites for reviews - getting another pair of eyes on the trick you’re looking at.  Of course, take all free reviews with a grain of salt - this is the internet after all.

Rule Five:  Shop Outside The Magic Box

You don’t have to buy something at a magic shop for it to be in a magic act (I know, blasphemy).   Check toy stores, craft stores, hardware stores… my personal “win” was finding 18″ pocket squares at the Men’s Wearhouse and 3′ silk squares at a specialty shop for less than $10 apiece. I’ll bet you can do even better.

You should also check those “forum” boards for “classified” ads, and eBay. eBay is your friend in this capacity after you’ve done all that research I suggested!

Rule Six: Sometimes You Gotta Break The Rules

After all this comes the caveat: sometimes you just have to have to get something, even if it goes against one or all of those guidelines I wrote here. So go for it, just… don’t make it a habit, yeah?

And remember - CHEAP MAGIC RULES!

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