The Complete Magician by Marvin Kaye, Macmillan Company

Details: The Complete Magician by Marvin Kaye (or the Stein & Day Handbook of Magic as it was known in the USA) is a wonderful book for the serious beginner who wants to perform magic as a hobby or as a professional.

What I liked most about this book when I first read it 27 years ago was that it didn’t just focus on tricks and sleights. It did provide some great routines in each of the main areas of magic, including a wonderful section on Children’s magic which I was performing most of at the time, but it also had chapters on patter, style, perparing for the big Stage show, routining and all the other things that make up a real performance. These other aspects of magic are often overlooked by the beginner.

The book also ends many chapters with a brief description of commercially available effects and gives sources of dealers and magical publications. As a budding young magician these of course inspired me to want to save up my paper round money to buy more magic!

I found this book a wonderful entry into performing magic for real audiences and for many many years used ideas and magic directly from it. Soon I will read it again and feel sure it will still provide me with some useful tips and ideas that I have forgotten.

(Notice: Although the printed word is basically the same in both versions of this book, the Complete Magician is a far superior quality book, with a bigger format, better quality paper and numerous black and white photographs. So if you can, get the Complete Magician instead of the Stein and Day Handbook of Magic.)

Contents:

Preface: The Magic Circle 11
Introduction 13
1 Modern Magic—Its Rise and Fall 15
2 Why Do People Like Magic? 23
3 Foolproof Magic 27
4 What Do You Say and How Do You Say It? 55
5 When Do You Move and Why Do You Do It? 63
6 Essential Sleight-of-Hand Movements 70
7 Tricks With Sleights-of-Hand 95
8 Stacking The Pack 121
9 Controlling The Audience’s Attention 134
10 In Search of Personal Style 141
11 Putting Together An Act 148
12 Magic of the Mind 155
13 Preparing For The Stage Show 174
14 Assistants and Volunteers 183
15 Tricks and Routines For Stage and Platform 188
16 Performing For Children 203
17 Magic For Children’s Shows 212
18 Other Special Audiences 240
19 Do’s and Dont’s of Magical Entertainment 246
Glossary 248
Appendix I — Supply Sources of Magical Tricks and Literature 250
Appendix II —List of Magical Societies 251
Further Reading 252

• Publisher: Macmillan Company
• Editor: John Salisse
• Pages: 255
• Location: London, England
• Dimensions: 8″x9″
• Date: 1973
• Binding: hardbound

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