Over Exposed?
By Simon Lovell
and Ned the Lemming
Just
recently I happened to be down in New
Orleans for a corporate gig celebrating
the merger of Coopers and Lybrand with
Price Waterhouse. Arriving the evening
before I hooked up with Johnny Rock
for an evening of fun, frivolity, fine
Cajun food (loved that turtle soup!)
and, inevitably, magic chats. One of
the main topics (once we'd skipped by
the nine phase Oil and Water variants)
was, again inevitably, the masked mollusc
and exposure of magic in general. So
much has already been written on this
that I kinda felt that my thoughts would
be redundant but hell, a column was
over due so here goes!
I
feel that the problem stems well beyond
the much hyped masked mollusc and can
be, arguably, dumped straight into all
our laps collectively. When I was a
kid I really had to search out stuff.
Ken Brooke's shop had no gaudy street
banner, neither did Harry Stanley's
emporium. These were hidden away places
that one had to find. Even Repro Magic
with a street front sign has a locked
door at all times. You have to ring
the bell to gain entry to its hallowed
portals. As for lessons ... whew ...
you really had to look hard. It took
me ages to find and gain the confidence
of guys like Fred Kaps, Fred Robinson
and Eric Mason.
Yet
today you see magic shops with wide
open fronts willing to sell to all and
sundry. Lecturers, books, videos and
effects increase at what seems an alarming
rate each month. It's out there for
all to see and easily bought for a few
soiled dollars. Is it, then, any wonder
that a TV company would think that it's
OK to produce a show of secrets?
Don't
get me wrong here - I'm not in favor
of such shows. I just question why we
should protest so much when so much
magic is so freely available. It is,
of course, a viable argument (on the
surface anyway) that those who go into
a magic shop and buy something are those
who are genuinely interested and wish
to learn while those watching the TV
show get it for free (minus a cable
payment of course). But, by making our
beloved trade so available, are we not
open to such shows? Anyone with a buck
or two, thinks the TV producer, can
buy magic. We have lots of bucks, he
ponders on, so we can buy as much as
we like! Hell, in a sudden inspirational
moment he works out, this could be a
cool TV show!
If
magicians as a whole kept everything
tighter, if we all as a group refused
to cow tow to the almighty dollar, then
these shows just couldn't be made. I
don't think the TV company are at fault
here - it's the fact that magicians
(the masked mollusc is not the only
one) will sell out. Ergo, I think with
a Kelly Bundyesque moment of speech,
the problem lies with all of us.
The
solution? None that I can think of.
What I do believe will happen, however,
is that magic will drift underground
again. The real thinkers and creators
will start to keep stuff to themselves
and only show it to those whom they
trust. Learners will have to gain respect
before the 'real work' is taught. Magic
shops will continue to sell Thumb Tips
and Rocky Raccoons, TV shows will continue
(thankfully with ever dropping ratings)
and masked mollusc wanna-be's will infest
our world. BUT, the real cool new stuff
will be hidden away and, hopefully,
nobody but those who deserve it will
gain easy access to it. There will arrive,
I guess, two worlds of magic. The easily
accessible to those who can buy it and
the new stuff - that you have to earn
more than a few bucks to gain. A kinda
Darwinian Jump Evolutionary thing of
magic if you like. It's a melting pot
at the moment but, if we all stick together
I think that we can live through this
and, just maybe, clear the store house
and become better for it.
As
a closing side line I do have to say
that I don't agree with letter writing
etc. to try to stop the show. The more
we protest, the more credence we give
to it. If anyone asks me if I saw the
shows I reply, "Sorry I was watching
a movie on the other channel." They
say, "But it's giving away your secrets!"
to which I reply, "No it's not, it's
giving away stuff that anyone can buy
in a magic shop. I don't do that stuff
- wanna see some real magic?"
Anyone
can buy that stuff. Let's stop crying
about it and get on with doing the cool
stuff. The stuff that remains secret.
Hey, and let's keep it secret - therein
lies our power as magicians. The masked
mollusc is, like the Spice Girls, rapidly
approaching the fourteenth minute of
his fifteen minutes of fame. Soon he
will be forgotten, a rubber mask left
lying on a prop shelf at Fox. We've
survived before - we will do so again.
Simon
and Ned
