Dien Rice
November 3, 2022, 02:19 AM
Hi Millard,
I'm not sure I've mentioned it on the forum... but as I mentioned to you in email - I did a some amateur magic myself as a kid!
The pinnacle for me was probably when my school put on a "circus"...
I did a magic act - with my friend being my assistant - in front of all of the parents of the school...
One of the "tricks" I did was turn a jug of confetti into water...
I think my role was more "respectable" than my brother's, who was two years younger than me. My brother got to be in costume... he was the rear end of an elephant!
Anyway, as someone with a "kind of" magician past (in my very early youth), I've always paid attention to the world of "magic"...
In my perception, there was a "change" in the air when David Copperfield came on the scene...
Prior to that, magicians tended to focus on doing "magic"... (I'm thinking of people like the late Doug Henning.)
But with David Copperfield, it was really "entertainment" - and quite a spectacle!
Of course now, there's a comedy element too, which makes it even better!
I'm thinking of people like the late, great "Amazing Johnathan" and of course, Penn and Teller...
People just want to be entertained... And that's true in everything, even in the "info-product" space... Or as Gordon likes to call it, "info-tainment!"
Best wishes,
Dien
P.S. Some of the fun of the Amazing Johnathan...
u6P1QRqFeww
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6P1QRqFeww
I appreciate your story, Glenn.
When you think about it, magicians are the ultimate con artists...
They get paid to fool you !
However, once I found out that being an entertainer rather than a magician was what people wanted, I got paid a lot more. Then I found out from a (Now) world-class author, who was doing a great mentalism show at the time that doing family shows and "kid shows" was where the real money was. It was true.
All kids have birthday parties. :)
I'm not sure I've mentioned it on the forum... but as I mentioned to you in email - I did a some amateur magic myself as a kid!
The pinnacle for me was probably when my school put on a "circus"...
I did a magic act - with my friend being my assistant - in front of all of the parents of the school...
One of the "tricks" I did was turn a jug of confetti into water...
I think my role was more "respectable" than my brother's, who was two years younger than me. My brother got to be in costume... he was the rear end of an elephant!
Anyway, as someone with a "kind of" magician past (in my very early youth), I've always paid attention to the world of "magic"...
In my perception, there was a "change" in the air when David Copperfield came on the scene...
Prior to that, magicians tended to focus on doing "magic"... (I'm thinking of people like the late Doug Henning.)
But with David Copperfield, it was really "entertainment" - and quite a spectacle!
Of course now, there's a comedy element too, which makes it even better!
I'm thinking of people like the late, great "Amazing Johnathan" and of course, Penn and Teller...
People just want to be entertained... And that's true in everything, even in the "info-product" space... Or as Gordon likes to call it, "info-tainment!"
Best wishes,
Dien
P.S. Some of the fun of the Amazing Johnathan...
u6P1QRqFeww
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6P1QRqFeww
I appreciate your story, Glenn.
When you think about it, magicians are the ultimate con artists...
They get paid to fool you !
However, once I found out that being an entertainer rather than a magician was what people wanted, I got paid a lot more. Then I found out from a (Now) world-class author, who was doing a great mentalism show at the time that doing family shows and "kid shows" was where the real money was. It was true.
All kids have birthday parties. :)
