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FAQ
Here are some of the most common questions we get asked, and RB’s answers.
When’s the next Private Studies book coming out?
RB: The publication of the remaining titles really depends on the desire (legitimately demonstrated ONLY through purchases of the twenty-one currently available) of the magic “community.” When the gang at E-GADS tells me the demand is there, I’ll be back at the computer keyboard, pounding away. (By the way, all the scripts have been written and have been performed by me for many years, and, in some cases, by a variety of other magicians. Also, the illustrations are complete.)
Why should I use a Performance Script?
RB: The reason I push the idea of a “Performance Script” is because the “right words” are so important. Often, they’re the crucial difference between success and embarrassment (although I admit there are self-appointed magicians out there who are immune to such an emotion).
To paraphrase an American writer: “The difference between the right words and the almost right words is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.”
Using the exact words doesn’t necessarily make a performance a success or failure, however. They must be used in the correct context and with the appropriate delivery. The secret to managing the latter (as any trained actor will admit) is the SUBTEXT.
The occasional magic performance is often one’s only opportunity to be witty and clever. Why not take whatever steps necessary to achieve that for yourself and your audiences. Work from a professional source!
Of course, your source of choice depends upon whose judgement you trust to follow, your source’s or your own. (Actually, if you choose a source, that’s your choice, too!) You already know more about you than a source to whom you’ve never exchanged a word. But, would a trained writer or director or producer or simply someone with more experience at achieving what you’re after know more about how your performance (and persona) come off in front of an audience?! If you're either a beginner, or have never been trained in the theater, these are important considerations.
Where do you start when putting together a Performance Script?
RB: I look for a PREMISE, i.e., “What if...” Since magic tricks are typically premise-driven (consciously or not), I look for ways to clarify and flesh out a premise so the final effect on the audience is complete. The premise must be clear, and the payoff must fulfill their expectations in the same way as any theatrical piece.
For example, “What if I carried three lucky coins?” Obviously, there must be some story behind this. Most people would expect that one is enough! Perhaps, then, since I don’t have any lucky experiences to share (clearly even three weren’t enough in my case), there are some “carrying three coins” experiences... This is the approach I used to develop RBPS #1, “Gadabout Coins Revisited.”
Sometimes a story developed from a premise requires more than one magic trick to help illustrate it.
Why are you known as “THE Underground Legend”?
RB: ...it’s not to be taken seriously. I don’t.
That was how Lance Pierce referred to me in a privately published book by Bill Kalush in the lead-in of a trick I called “Win at Gin!” (See RBPS #21 “Final(ly) Aces”) John Dowdy and others who were putting together my website (thinklikeaconjuer.com) thought it was amusing to refer to me that way, and so that’s what some have come to believe is MY choice for an alias. Ah, well...
As far as “underground” is concerned; it refers to those who don’t belong to the social and commercial part of the magic world. Sometimes, a magician is not available for conventions and clubs and publications because of lack of time. For example, he could be spending all his time performing for the public!
How and when did you get started in magic?
RB: Gradually during my adolescence.
My father bought an indecipherable magic book called Coin Magic by T. Nelson Downs. I not only couldn’t understand, but, never having seen a magician, couldn’t understand the purpose of such a book.
However, not a year later, I missed my stop while riding the bus in downtown Portland, Oregon, and saw a display in a window of a shop that drew my attention. I entered...
Who has influenced you?
RB: Most of my influences are probably people unknown to you, but I'd certainly include Ed Marlo, Milt Kort, Don Alan, John Stanfield (of Atlanta),and many others. Many of my most noteworthy influences, though, come from the theater, not the world of magic. That's not because of preference, but because that's my background.
How did you develop your Two-Card Turnover Technique (T.T.T.)?
RB: I developed my technique for to the double turnover over a period of time that runs approximately 1958 to 1961. Actually, more than my consciously developing the approach, it evolved during that two and a half years while I worked close-up magic every week at the Kenwood Club on the West side of Detroit to supplement my meager income.
My method is more or less in print because of Charlie Miller. In 1982, Charlie and I performed a few tricks after a Thanksgiving dinner (sort of a sing for your supper sortie). When we returned home, he asked me to run through the tricks so he could observe them from various angles (ostensibly for “analyzing,” but he was actually using “Malini diplomacy” for getting a closer look at something of which he was curious). When I casually referred to the “double turnover” during my explanation, his eyebrows arched and his eyes widened. “Double turnover?” He had missed it three times!
This surprised me because I was sure he had seen me use it at least once when he was a guest in our home in Michigan for several weeks in the sixties. Perhaps he missed it then, too, or, more likely, I never used it in his presence. Whatever the reason, he was greatly enthused, and immediately began making plans to publish it his monthly “Magicana” in Genii magazine.
Well, to me, this was the double turnover--a standard move. Although I’d privately explained my procedure and psychology to a few magicians over the years, I could never considered publishing it as “The Bauer Double Turnover.”
After much discussion, we agreed it wasn’t EXACTLY about the double turnover, but about TECHNIQUE. You see, it wasn’t so much that I had such a deceptive way of taking two cards as one, but I’d worked out actions that attracted no direct attention (there were no tells), and there was no obvious cause-effect relationship, i.e., I didn’t show a card in one place, then immediately show it in another, that would lead to uncovering the secret.
With that, I did my best to crowd an explanation into the limited space of the November, 1982 “Magicana.” Not only did this force me to omit details and background, Charlie’s illustrator didn’t understand the handling, and got the visual references wrong. I finally published the technique in full detail (with correct illustrations by Sandra Kort) in The Ron Bauer 2008 Lecture.
What are the top 5 books you would recommend for magicians?
RB: Would it be too unabashedly self-serving to say #s 1-5 of the RBPS Series?
Okay, I won’t say that. It would be the wrong advice anyway. My true view is the same for anyone intending to impose their magic tricks on the public. First, master (or at least achieve competency in) the basics of the craft of magic. Second, get some training in dealing with the public. Third, don’t “become a professional” until you find out if audiences enjoy you as a performer. You can find out the answer to number three by offering your services to charities and other events with audiences who are less critical than the buying public. There are many venues available. (If you don’t have the imagination to find some, perhaps you should consider working with or for an active professional for experience before going out on your own.)
Basic books on magic? You can’t go wrong with the Tarbell Course in Magic (particularly the first six volumes), Royal Road to Card Magic, the New Bobo’s Modern Coin Magic (the new edition has some contributions by yours truly), Early Marlo, Encyclopedia of Card Tricks, and (I can’t find the words to praise it highly enough) Secrets of Conjuring and Magic (NOT to be confused with Memoirs of Robert-Houdin!).
When you try to wade through these books, particularly Royal Road, the mistake is to try to learn the tricks! What?
Yep! A beginner (which includes those who have been in magic for years, but haven’t taken time to sharpen the axe) is looking for tricks! But, books such as Royal Road aren’t really books of tricks. (Try Encyclopedia of Card Tricks for that.) RR teaches, in an orderly way, basic card handling and basic card sleights, then gives you drills for practicing, and a few tricks to use to try out these manoeuvres. If you’re a novice, don’t you think it’s presumptuous to skip around in the book, picking and eliminating the “right stuff” before you know what you’re doing? I do. Start at the beginning. Read and run through each item. Make notes. DON’T TRY TO MASTER EVERYTHING. DON’T TRY TO LEARN EVERY TRICK FOR PERFORMANCE. IT TAKES TOO LONG, AND WON’T PAY OFF.
This is getting too long. There’s more I have to say on this. Most of it is in my RPBS Series. (Another shameless capitalistic plug!)
What’s the most useful advice you ever received as a magician?
RB: Without thinking too deeply on this, the one bit of advice that immediately (and often) comes into my mind was provided by a fellow thespian while I was in my mid-teens. He said, “Ron, you’re a very likeable and entertaining guy. And, despite the fact that you’re still a junior, we like to invite you to our parties and see your tricks. But, I think you should know that it’s not a good idea to always be on.”
I’ll admit that this comment came as a shock. The truth is, up to that moment, I had been doing my best to memorize every joke and story in every Bob Orben and George McCathy book I could get my hands on. And, unfortunately, never missed an opportunity to try to be funny. I simply ignored when a joke didn’t go over, and either laughed at it myself or kept on quipping. (SHUDDER!)
Since then, I ALMOST NEVER tell a joke or gag (NEVER a “practical” joke) in social intercourse. For some reason they don’t even come to mind unless I’m performing or writing a performance script. An odd outcome, but I’m still grateful to that guy. (I must still carry some latent embarrassment, however, because I’ve not been able to recall his name for over forty years!)