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MAGIC CHAPTER SIX
The spectator's understanding of what he sees the magician do is influenced by many factors. These include the performer's interpretations of his own actions, the implications conveyed, the ideas induced, what the performer pretends, the confusion introduced, the suggestions of the magician, the degree of dissembling, what is anticipated by the performer, the false scents and red herrings, the feints invoke4 and all such artifices and stratagems.
External appearances of all kinds, of course, influence the spectator's understanding. This is because they control the factors leading up to it. From this viewpoint, the artifices listed as having to do with external appearance belong here also. But the external appearances, themselves, are directed more specifically at the senses. The aspects thus set up undoubtedly influence what the spectator understands. Their effect upon the understanding, however, is more indirect, although no less powerful in result.
Now we take up the weapons with which the magician attacks the spectator's mind.
Interpretation , as I have pointed out before in this series, is the explanation , construction or sense given by the performer to the spectator, in the light of the magician's individual interests , purposes and objectives .
This is probably the most potent individual weapon at the disposal of the magician. Through it, it becomes possible for him to justify and explain an action that is suspicious or even revealing. It diverts suspicion. Interpretation makes it possible to convert an operative action into a mere gesture. It causes the significant to become insignificant.
The thug, who seeks to entice his victim within reach, uses interpretation. He pulls his surly features into an expression of friendliness, and the hand that fists the blackjack waves a gesture of invitation to approach. Interpretation makes the bait look like a hearty and tasty meal. It converts an act of burglary into a mere social call.
In The Diebox Trick , when the magician first puts the nested die and shell into the hat, he interprets this action, for the benefit of the spectator , as a mere bit of comedy by-play. Secretly, to the magician, it is a vital operation. Ostensibly, to the spectator, it is a trifling and even accidental incident. Later, he interprets taking out the shell as taking out the solid die.
When he turns the back of the diebox toward the audience, in order not to reveal the shell die, he interprets this as the showing of the back of the box to the spectators. As the sliding weight within the box thumps from side to side, he interprets the noise as that made by a sliding block of wood.
Interpretation turns up repeatedly in the burned bill trick explained. He interprets handing out the envelope for examination as a touch of light comedy. He interprets regaining this envelope, so that he may make the secret slit, as more comedy. He interprets, by suggestion, the slitting of the envelope as an idle gesture of opening it. He interprets covering the slit as the act of holding the envelope. He interprets stealing the bill as the act of sealing the flap securely.
The spectators are led to believe that the performer is but getting a check blank when actually he is disposing of the bill. The performer interprets loading the bill into the ring box as an idle subconscious pose. According to the performer's interpretation, also by suggestion, the bill is already in the multi-wrapped package when it is given to the spectator. The act of taking the successive wrappings from the spectator is interpreted as an act of accommodation, whereas it is vitally necessary. The actual loading act is interpreted as a mere act of accommodation.
After the ring box is loaded, the performer's suggestion, to put the ball of cord in the bag while unrolling it, is interpreted as an incidental afterthought. It is skillful interpretation that causes the spectators to believe that the ring box comes from the ball of cord.
Implications and suggestions are indirect methods of bringing something before the spectator's mind. They vary in their degree of indirection.
A suggestion puts an idea into the spectator s mind as the result of an association of ideas or the awakening of a train of thought, often a suggestion requires delicate perceptions, although this is not always the case. The idea is stimulated less directly than by a formal statement. It may arise as the result of a partial statement, an incidental allusion, an illustration, a question and the like.
An implication is a form of suggestion. But it is a bit more direct. It is a hint of an idea, a thought, or a meaning. It comes as the result of a statement, a situation, a word or the like. It forms a part of the suggestion itself, although this is not always obvious. It often connotes the need of an inference. It gives ground for a conclusion to be drawn from the facts or evidence presented. Sometimes it arises as the result of a significant act, gesture or token of the meaning intended.
During The Diebox Trick , after the die and shell have been placed in the hat, when the shell is removed the hat is empty by implication. Perhaps the hat may have been shown empty prior to introducing the die and shell therein. Since what was placed in the hat has been removed, it is inferred that the hat is once more empty. The significant act, the removal of the shell. is the implication which gives ground for the conclusion drawn. The stimulus is not direct.
It is a curious fact, but one which every magician of experience knows to be true, that a direct statement in this regard, at this stage, would probably be disastrous.
Suppose, as he took the shell from the hat, the magician were to say, "Now that I've taken the die from the hat, the hat is empty." Few spectators would believe him. As a matter of fact, the direct statement in regard to the emptiness of the hat would act indirectly. as a suggestion. The statement might be direct as to the hat's being empty. But it would be indirect as to the truth of the statement. Immediately it would initiate a train of thought in the spectator's mind.
The average spectator would probably reason something like this:
"Since you bring up the subject, is it empty? Had you not found it necessary to say that the hat was empty, I would have assumed that to be the case. Certainly, if it were empty , really, you wouldn't have thought it necessary to emphasize the fact . And if you desire to emphasize it, why don't you actually show the hat to be empty? Probably because you don't dare . I believe there is something still in the hat."
Just that situation, often done by bunglers, has ruined many a trick.
This is a clear illustration of the power and value of the indirect demonstration.
Probably it never enters the average spectator's mind, but the whole fundamental basis of the burned bill trick rests upon implication. Since the bill has been placed in the envelope, and since the envelope, and presumably its contents, has been consumed, it follows that the banknote was destroyed by fire . Thus, the destruction of the bill is inferred through implication. That this is an effective expedient is proven by the number of years it has been in use. Rarely, if ever, do the spectators realize that they haven't actually seen the banknote burned.
The magician uses suggestion, during the bill trick, when the spectator takes the ball of cord from the paper bag. Substantially he says, or implies, "Unroll the ball and see what's wrapped up inside." He does not say it directly, but be suggests that there is something wrapped within the cord. You may note that the spectator's idea that something is within the ball is not deduced from circumstances. An inference is not necessary. The performer has not actually said something is wrapped in the cord. He has said the same thing indirectly. He has planted the idea with the spectator by an indirect statement.
Ultimately, it is through suggestion that the spectator believes the ring box, and the bill it contains, comes from the ball of cord. He can reach his conclusion in no other way. The bill actually never is in the package.
It is evident that suggestion is less direct than a statement or demonstration.
For example: Here are three ways of saying that a hat is empty. The direct statement would be, "The hat is empty." The suggestion would say, "We have plenty of room in the hat." And the implication would sound something like this: "We must find something to put ill the hat."
In demonstration form, the three ways of showing the hat empty might be like this: Direct, actually turn the hat so the audience may see inside. By suggestion, take the shell out and invert the hat without showing the inside. By implication, take the shell out and ignore the hat.
In magic, it is utterly impossible to force the spectator's reason or judgment directly. This assumes, of course, that the spectator is opposed to the magician's objectives. Normally, where it is desired that someone else be moved to do something or to follow a certain course, that person is persuaded or induced. But persuasion implies an appeal to the feelings or desires. It impels action, often without thought. In magic, the factors do not seem to be present to make practical use of passions and feelings.
Rather, by the nature of the type of entertainment, the spectator must believe he has made his own decision . This makes it necessary for the magician to use inducement rather than persuasion. When the spectator is induced, it is implied that he has been temporarily opposed, that his reason or judgment has been influenced, and that the decision has been made through the spectator's choice rather than that it was forced upon him.
So, in the burned bill trick, if the magician can induce the spectator to return the ball of cord to the sack for the unrolling, it is much more convincing to the spectators. If he persuades him or forces him to return the ball to the sack, it is evident to the spectators that the magician has made the decision. This suggests that the action is necessary. But if the spectator seems to make this decision himself, and if it seems unimportant to the magician, there is no significant emphasis upon the action. Since the spectator makes the decision, the fact that it is his decision becomes evident to the audience.
When the performer pretends. he asserts or implies something false or deceitful as being real or true . Pretense is an act that is performed. It is an appearance that is assumed. It is a statement that is made . It is a situation that is shown or implied. All of these are done in the hope that they will convince the spectators of their truth or reality. Actually they are false and untrue.
The pretense is a bald misrepresentation. It calls black white. It may be a blend of truth and falsehood, but it is invariably used to deceive. Pretense conceals a weakness. It also serves to hide a fault. It is extremely important in deception.
In The Diebox Trick the magician uses pretense to convince the spectator that the real die is in the box. He uses it to cause the spectator to think that he shifts the die from side to side. He uses it to cause the spectators to believe that he misunderstands their demands. It makes him seem in trouble.
Confusion is the mixing and blending of details so that it is impossible to distinguish the significant from the insignificant. It is intended to throw the spectator off-step mentally so that he cannot think clearly or act intelligently. It is a state or condition in which things are not in their right places, or arranged in their right relations to each other. It involves such mixing and mingling that clear demarcation or distinction is obliterated.
During the burned bill trick, the business with the blank check is introduced to confuse the spectator in his attempts to follow a straight path to ultimate solution of the deception. Moves necessary with the operation become confused with moves necessary with the nonessential portion of the trick. A false scent or a red herring would be intended to induce the spectator to follow a false trail. With confusion, there are so many paths available, none of which is clear, that the spectator cannot follow along.
While the use of the device of taking the successive wrappings from the spectator, in the bill trick, is a clear and true example of repetition and monotony. it is also an example of confusion. Later, when the spectator attempts to analyze just what has happened. he is confronted with a bewildering and confusing series of actions.
The spectator is dependent upon clues in his attempts to analyze a deception. If they are all clear and unmistakable, whether or not the true solution is found depends entirely upon the deductive and inductive powers of the individual.
Deductive reasoning is from the general to the particular. It proceeds from a general principle through an admitted instance to a conclusion. In deduction, if the general rule is true, and the special case falls under the rule, the conclusion is certain.
A spectator's deductive chain might go something like this: All hats used by magicians have false tops. This is a hat. A magician uses it. It is not shown not to have a false top. Therefore, it has a false top .
Inductive reasoning goes from the particular to the general. It proceeds from a number of collated instances, through some attribute common to them all, thence to a general principle. Induction can ordinarily give no more than a probable conclusion because we can never be certain that we have collected all examples.
A spectator's inductive chain might go something like this: I saw a magician once who had a black top hat. I discovered that the hat had a false top. A friend once told me he examined a derby hat used by a magician. It was gray. It, too, had a false top. A magician once told me that he always used a hat with a false top. I've seen hats with false tops listed in magic catalogs. Therefore, I conclude that all hats used by magicians, regardless of the style of hat or regardless of the color of the hat, have false tops .
Both of the above illustrations of chains of reasoning demonstrate two things. They demonstrate the respective methods of reasoning. They also demonstrate that neither necessarily results in correct conclusions.
The magician may materially assist the spectator in reaching a wrong conclusion. The spectator is guided by clues. The magician may deliberately misguide the spectator by baiting him with false clues. These, like the well-known pretense of placing the egg under the arm in The Egg Bag Trick , are planned and intended to take the spectator along a false path. They are similar to the false trails set up by a fugitive in order to avoid capture. Like the red herring, they obscure the correct scent by reason of their very potency.
Naturally, all of this discussion, all of these examples of attacks upon the senses and understanding, impress upon one the complexity and intricacy of expert deception. It is evident that the problem becomes more and more confused as we pull the tricks themselves apart. This is because the trick itself is the tool. It is the weapon with which the spectator is attacked. Let us look at the object of this attack, the spectator. By discovering his weaknesses, we are in better position to shape and plan the tactics to be used against him.
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