Newsgroups: alt.magic
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 18:19:42 -0400 
From: "Daniel S. Efran" <de0t+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Favorite tricks - LAYPERSONS
	<1992Oct2.122346.16111@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov>

(This lousy mail reader won't let me quote Larry Fishbach's 
comments on Del Ray (or however it's spelled -- pretty sure it's two
words), so go back & read his message first.)

Yes, this guy is amazing.  He does lots of stuff with dice, little
electronic animals (an odd concept, but he pulls it off), and some
incredible slight of hand and card manipulation.  For example, he pl
plays a hand of blackjack with about 8 audience members, and (of course)
wins.  He makes various bets with people, which he always wins -- he
offers, for example, a $50 bill, then comments, "You see how old this
bill is -- I've been using it for twenty years...."  
His presentation style is wonderful -- you instantly like him, and he
has perfect timing.  (At one point, he skipped over someone in the
blackjack deal.  After dealing out a few more cards, he looked back at
them and said, "Oh, did I skip you?  Well, you would have lost anyway."
and went on dealing.)
He did a great running gag where he'd do (say) a card trick, throw the
card back in the deck, shuffle (he uses this insane double-fan flourish
shuffle ("Now I'll do an ordinary shuffle..." <Swoosh!> "Don't try that
if you're playing poker.")) and then he'd reach into his jacket and pull
out the same card: "Plus, I had a spare."
Later he did the same thing with a drinking glass (in connection with
a variation on the salt-shaker vanish.)  -- very impressive skill.
He does dice-stacking, too. 

He's very old and not very healthy these days, so if you get a chance
to see him, do it!  You may not get another chance, and his act (his
close-up act anyway) is not to be missed!  As one MC accurately said
when introducing him, "It's like watching God do magic."

He's definitely one of the top 5 magicians I've ever seen.  
(Some of the others:  Jeff McBride (great stage show, feels like real
magic, very skillful card-fan productions, etc.);  Gary Kurtz (great
slight of hand (close up) type stuff; his books are very good if you're
willing to practice, and I hear he's got a video out);  Penn & Teller
(well, you know what they do).)

While I'm at it, I'll give my favorite tricks:
As a layman (if a somewhat experienced one!) I like a lot of things.
James "The Amazing" Randi's spoon-bending trick is damn impressive.
(I like to perform it, too.)  David Copperfield has done a bunch of
good stuff -- I liked 'flying' (though the audience plant was a bad 
idea, IMHO) (the spinning rings were the best part -- very clever)
and I liked the 'card through balloon' from a previous show.  (Though,
if you watch it a few times on videotape, his slight of hand isn't
very good.)

As a magician, I like Daryl's Rope Routine (particularly his handling
of the Professor's Nightmare) and his "Printing";  the various 'coins
across' and 'coins through table' effects, and I hope someday to do
a killer "Miser's Dream".

(Come to think of it, a lot of Daryl's products are excellent -- I
recommend his stuff, if you're a serious magician looking for new,
strong material.)

Plus I like to perform stuff with fire, explosions, smoke, or similar
flashy (pun intended) special effects.  (If you have any cool magic
in this category, please email me about it -- I always need more!)

Well, this messsage is quite long enough.  Happy conjuring.

	---Daniel Efran
----------------------------------
An it harm none, do as you Will.
Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.