Evening star., 1932-04-03

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mechanism he is no longer amused.
The society includes also ardent stu
dents of magic who are amateurs Many
a star of the theater can tell of having
run away from home as a boy to travel
with the master of mystery" the pro
fessor of thaumaturgy." or the worlds
greatest magician" who happened to
play two nights in his town. These men
look back on the years they spent van
iShing twice day, precisely at and
$3.50, or acting as nurses to the rabbits
that come out of hats. There is another
group who are college graduates, and
whose memories of the less interesting
courses are confused with card and coin
tricks, which they practiced during class.
The national conferences, which are
held once year, are extraordinarily in
tereSting. We meet behind closed doors,
for inside are traded the secrets of the
magic craft. Addresses are given which
would make sales manager sit up and
take notice, because certain reactions
universal and reliable-are talked about
that would make selling radios or real
estate childs play. Models of apparatus
are shown and described with respect to
their scientific construction, their trans
portability and their appearance. Au-
thorities on the humorous talk, which
flows so glibly from the lips of the magi-
clan, give demonstrations of how it
should be done. No one who has not at
tended one of these meetings has any
idea of the number of angles to the pro-
feSsion of mystifier.
CEVERAL of the sessions are perform
ances, where one magician after an
other perform feats-tricks from the
past, specialtieS of their own, importa-
tionS or novelties. At these shows we
work for our own amusement and the
instruction of one another. Many things
which a lay audience would regard as
tricks of the trade are not even men
toned Not a single rabbit has been
pulled from high silk hat in the last
three conferences, although the trick is
still favorite
One of these performances takes place
after the dinner, to which the newspaper
men are invited. The magicians have
abolished after dinner speakers no
mean evidence of their power-and in
stead stage a performance of magic.
In many ways the group resembles the
usual convention gathering. The men
might represent business houses collab-
Grating to plan a sales campaign. And
as we walk through the corridors of the
hotel little attention is paid to us until
some one reads Society of American
MagicianS" on our badges. Then we are
followed constantly in the hope that
some magic may occur. It usually does.
Perhaps one magician, having forgotten
to check his gloves, will cause them to
vanish by throwing them into the air.
Another will eat his cigar stub when he
finds no convenient ash tray in which
TO place it. During the days of the con-
vention the morale of the hotel guests
and employees is usually in precarious
state.
There are some IS branches of the
Society Of American Magicians in various
cities of this country, and the society
is affiliated with similar organizations
throughout the world In addition there
are groups of magicians throughout the
United States which are in no way con-
nected with the society.
Questions of ethics often come before
the local meetings of the Society of
American Magicians Our ethical stand
ards are very high, higher, as a matter
of fact. than in many other walks of
life. The magician cannot safeguard his
secrets by copyright or patent, but must
rely on the integrity of the other magi-
clans. Some apparatus has been patented,
but very little In which the secret is
essential.
The effect Of trick is really all that
matters to an audience A vanishing girl
illusion is vanishing girl illusion, no
roottar uyh afIar tho 1;rI Ia a hJonda -