Price$35.00
Media TypeBook
CategoryGeneral
Date AddedMar 16, 2003
Wit & Wizardry
Houghton, Norm
I Saw That.
(Based on 1 review)
The tricks are all easy to do. Norm considers himself a "lazy" magician, requiring very little sleight-of-hand. These tricks are all practical and eminently usable by newcomers and seasoned pros. In addition, most of the tricks are clothed in Norm's trademark humorous presentations that fit virtually any performing style.
Reviews
(Top ▲)
This little book fell quickly between the cracks upon its release in 1998, no doubt at least partly due to the fact that Norm Houghton is not a household name, even among magicians.
Having said that, however, he is by no means entirely unknown. David Drake put it best in his eloquent foreword -- "There are men and women in magic who move along beneath the surface of events, quietly affecting and influencing the actions of their more public peers. They are highly respected, often consulted, and genuinely admired by the alert and intelligent in the magic community. Norman Houghton of Canada is one of these."
Wit & Wizardry Norm's one and only book, was more compiled than written, and is predominantly comprised of his many, many contributions to Ibidem, Apocalypse, Precursor, The Linking Ring, Abra, New Pentagram, The Trapdoor, and the list goes on. Like Stephen Minch's Kort, or Phil Willmarth's The Magic of Matt Schulien, it as much an homage as it is a life-work, lovingly brought to fruition by an assemblage of close friends, including Tom Ransom, David Ben and Ariel Frailich.
Of the more than 70 items herein, you will find a wide variety of magic with cards, coins, ropes, eggs, silks, elastics and more. I was not "blown away" by every item I read (nor, I suspect, will you be), but I DID find no small number of routines that deserve some attention.
Time Is A Blabbermouth is a wonderful effect in which 12 cards pulled from the middle of a shuffled deck are dealt face down in a clock formation, then a prediction envelope is placed at the center like the hands of the clock. The envelope is slowly turned clockwise, "ticking away" to a randomly chosen time, then opened, revealing a prediction of both the selected time and the card in that position!
A Study In Frustration is a terrific presentational approach to Everywhere And Nowhere in which a spectator is asked to choose 51 cards, leaving one in the magician's hand. The cards are then "returned to the deck," whereupon the magician attempts to find all 51 selected cards, one at a time. However, try as he might, he continues to produce only the card that wasn't chosen.
Colour Blind is an interesting Phil-Goldstein type effect presented as an "observation test" in which a spectator is shown four red-backed cards and one blue-backed card, whereupon the situation instantly inverts, resulting in four blue-backed cards and one red-backed card. There are no gimmicks, no switches, only five cards are used, and at the end, everything can be examined.
Constant Reader is a faux demonstration of marked-card reading (with a regular deck) that offers a nice comedic twist at the end, AND a magical climax (a rare combination).
How To Stretch a Rubber Band is a very magical growing rubber-band effect (one of the better ones I've seen).
How To Ring A Rope is an eye-catching production of an enormous length of rope from a tiny coin envelope. A ring (two-and-a-half inches in diameter) can then be produced on the rope if desired.
How To Train A Rope is an engaging premise in which the magician puts a knot in the middle of a rope to "show it what to do," then unties it, whereupon the rope now demonstrates an ability to knot itself.Type review here
Clip Climax is a charming approach to Bill Bowman's linking-paper-clip effect in which the clips are introduced as newly-weds, caused to link on the edge of a dollar bill, then ultimately produce a multitude of tiny paper clips.
Alternating Current is a devious Oil-And-Water sequence, the kind that fools you even as you're doing it.
Chinese Mindreading is a fun and funny demonstration of "reverse mentalism" in which the magician repeatedly determines what a spectator is not thinking of. Norm has developed a presentational hook that perfectly justifies the acquisition of this skill, and with a little thought, one could easily conclude the demonstration with an actual mental effect that is consistent with the plot.
And the list goes on. Ultimately, I found more of interest from a professional stand-point in the close-up, comedy and platform sections, and less that intrigued me among the card effects. I also felt a need to upgrade sequences in the card routines I did like, substituting more modern techniques for older moves that have since been improved upon.
Regardless, however, there is a generous amount of material to sift through here, some of it ingenious, some merely cute, and some perhaps a little past the due-date, but as a comprehensive collection of one man's work, work that spans seven decades, this book succeeds admirably.
David Acer
Having said that, however, he is by no means entirely unknown. David Drake put it best in his eloquent foreword -- "There are men and women in magic who move along beneath the surface of events, quietly affecting and influencing the actions of their more public peers. They are highly respected, often consulted, and genuinely admired by the alert and intelligent in the magic community. Norman Houghton of Canada is one of these."
Wit & Wizardry Norm's one and only book, was more compiled than written, and is predominantly comprised of his many, many contributions to Ibidem, Apocalypse, Precursor, The Linking Ring, Abra, New Pentagram, The Trapdoor, and the list goes on. Like Stephen Minch's Kort, or Phil Willmarth's The Magic of Matt Schulien, it as much an homage as it is a life-work, lovingly brought to fruition by an assemblage of close friends, including Tom Ransom, David Ben and Ariel Frailich.
Of the more than 70 items herein, you will find a wide variety of magic with cards, coins, ropes, eggs, silks, elastics and more. I was not "blown away" by every item I read (nor, I suspect, will you be), but I DID find no small number of routines that deserve some attention.
Time Is A Blabbermouth is a wonderful effect in which 12 cards pulled from the middle of a shuffled deck are dealt face down in a clock formation, then a prediction envelope is placed at the center like the hands of the clock. The envelope is slowly turned clockwise, "ticking away" to a randomly chosen time, then opened, revealing a prediction of both the selected time and the card in that position!
A Study In Frustration is a terrific presentational approach to Everywhere And Nowhere in which a spectator is asked to choose 51 cards, leaving one in the magician's hand. The cards are then "returned to the deck," whereupon the magician attempts to find all 51 selected cards, one at a time. However, try as he might, he continues to produce only the card that wasn't chosen.
Colour Blind is an interesting Phil-Goldstein type effect presented as an "observation test" in which a spectator is shown four red-backed cards and one blue-backed card, whereupon the situation instantly inverts, resulting in four blue-backed cards and one red-backed card. There are no gimmicks, no switches, only five cards are used, and at the end, everything can be examined.
Constant Reader is a faux demonstration of marked-card reading (with a regular deck) that offers a nice comedic twist at the end, AND a magical climax (a rare combination).
How To Stretch a Rubber Band is a very magical growing rubber-band effect (one of the better ones I've seen).
How To Ring A Rope is an eye-catching production of an enormous length of rope from a tiny coin envelope. A ring (two-and-a-half inches in diameter) can then be produced on the rope if desired.
How To Train A Rope is an engaging premise in which the magician puts a knot in the middle of a rope to "show it what to do," then unties it, whereupon the rope now demonstrates an ability to knot itself.Type review here
Clip Climax is a charming approach to Bill Bowman's linking-paper-clip effect in which the clips are introduced as newly-weds, caused to link on the edge of a dollar bill, then ultimately produce a multitude of tiny paper clips.
Alternating Current is a devious Oil-And-Water sequence, the kind that fools you even as you're doing it.
Chinese Mindreading is a fun and funny demonstration of "reverse mentalism" in which the magician repeatedly determines what a spectator is not thinking of. Norm has developed a presentational hook that perfectly justifies the acquisition of this skill, and with a little thought, one could easily conclude the demonstration with an actual mental effect that is consistent with the plot.
And the list goes on. Ultimately, I found more of interest from a professional stand-point in the close-up, comedy and platform sections, and less that intrigued me among the card effects. I also felt a need to upgrade sequences in the card routines I did like, substituting more modern techniques for older moves that have since been improved upon.
Regardless, however, there is a generous amount of material to sift through here, some of it ingenious, some merely cute, and some perhaps a little past the due-date, but as a comprehensive collection of one man's work, work that spans seven decades, this book succeeds admirably.
David Acer