magic

Magic, Finger Flinging and Other Illusions

This page deals with a personal, close interest of mine, magic, in the sense of prestidigitation, that is, card magic, coin magic, illusions, etc.

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My background in magic started when I was a kid, being amazed at my grandfathers' (now I realize SIMPLE) magic, and his having taken me to see a fairly big magic show in his town.

I found out later that my mother, a professional actress when young, did many shows as an assistant to the magician that toured with the acting troup.

By far, my greatest influence was John Snyder, at that time of Bloomington, Indiana. For some reason he took me under his wing and taught me all of the ins and outs of magic, mostly philosophy and technique rather than the tricks themselves. His ENTIRE basement was MAGIC! For a young kid this is was an awsome experience, to walk into his basement the first time and see the study, filled with books, manuscripts, filing cabinets and bookshelves overflowing with magic. Then to have him sweep the curtain aside to the rest of the basement, one or two rows of tables overflowing with magic apparatus - it looked ENDLESS!

My specific talent was always card magic, give me a deck of cards and I was always a happy guy. A lonely teenager (a nerd who also lived out in the country), I had lots of time to practice. Juggling sock balls in front of the TV switched to practicing card cascades and cuts and shuffles and false cuts and shuffles and forcing and - well, if you do magic you already know this, since you also wasted time in a similar fashion on whatever YOU specialized in.

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Magic

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