If the method is very subtle and fine and diabolically clever, he loves the trick regardless of what people think. The amateur is more interested in the method. It doesn't matter how crude the method of performing, as long as the effect is good he will use it.
The great difference between the professional magician and the amateur magician is that the professional magician knows what an effect is. Now watch the way I do it." To the people, it's the same trick, and I think magicians just make jackasses of themselves when they step in and try to do exactly the same thing that somebody else does. Magicians seem to have the attitude, "Well, I do that, but you ought to see the way I do it. They may say, "Here's a variation of it," or "Here's a similar story," but they don't jump in and try to do the identical thing. When somebody tells a joke, they don't tell the same punchline again to the people.
Dancers don't get up and hoof exactly like the other guy. and then HE immediately sings "On the Road to Mandalay." Singers don't do this. Another thing that magicians don't seem to realize, I mean a great majority of them, is that I've never in my life seen a good baritone singer get up and sing "On the Road to Mandalay," and then immediately after he's finished, some other guy jumps up and says, "All right, piano player, play that again".
A lot of people don't know exactly how to manage when they do a trick. You might know a trick perfectly, but in magic I think it's more important in how you manage.
Francis Carlyle, a very knowledgeable guy about magic, says that there's never been any book written on magical management, which is very important. not by what he does, because he does his magic fairly well. There's a certain fellow who used to live in New York who does mental magic, who can make it about as boring as anybody just by what he says. and you do magic and try to be funny, this is a catastrophe. But if when you tell a story, everybody looks askance or looks away, and nobody laughs. If you're a natural comedian, and when you tell a story people break into hilarious laughter or fall over their chairs, you're probably a funny guy who can tell funny stories, and you can do it with your magic. Also, what you say when you're doing magic is very important. Magic has to be done carefully at the right time, and served in the right way, or sometimes it can become very annoying to normal people.
Of course, at The Magic Castle, they're ready at any time to see a trick, but when people are singing or dancing or talking, and somebody comes up and says, "I'm gonna show you a trick. WHEN you do tricks for people is very important. A lot of people think that everybody's anxious to see a trick at any time of the day or night. September 1968 I think we should start this first column by saying something about magic in general. The Vernon Touch From Genii magazine 1968-1990