Silk & Silver

I have been working on Dai Vernon’s “Silk and Silver” for over 8 months now. The routine appears in The “Vernon Chronicles: Lost Inner Secrets Volume I”. I have never seen this routine performed before.
Although I did see a video of Fred Kaps performing his own version of it on YouTube. Just by the description of the effect one could tell that this was a beauty. Not easy by any stretch, but well worth the effort if mastered.

After many months I felt I had the effect ready to perform. I have some beautiful 1923 “Peace Morgan” silver dollars and a nicely contrasting silk handkerchief. I never thought I'd be able to produce silver coins from Downs position. The hard work really seems to be paying off. So it was “Silk and Silver” for Magic Friday today.
The 1st performance was adequate. I did not feel comfortable enough with the angles in my classroom to produce the coins from downs palm with the palm facing the audience. So I produced them from Downs with the back of my hand facing the audience. (After showing both hands empty). I also did the routine in pantomime to music. I think this was a mistake. Music for a stage would be fine. But in the intimate atmosphere of the classroom I just felt goofy. I Scored a 7 on the “Magiscale”.
For the second performance I dumped the music, took off the jacket and rolled up my sleeves. I just pattered off the cuff about what I thought were insects buzzing around my head but turned out to be coins. I didn’t want to lose the coins so I wrapped them in a handkerchief…etc. The response was much stronger than the 1st performance. An “8”. One person said it would have been even better if I used 4 coins instead of 3.
So for the 3rd performance I added a fourth coin. I used the “Cervon Opening” described in the book. (I already practiced it both ways). The result was somewhat successful but not outstanding. I still scored a “7” on the prestometer.
On the 4th performance I went back to 3 coins. I felt something was “off” as I was performing. But as it turned out, according to my audience I did better than I thought. Another “8”. Still not where I wanted it to be.
The last performance was just different. I had a hard time getting everyone corralled into the “Cone Of Safety”. This is a kinetic group and difficult to settle down. As I performed, some people moved. I tried to alter my body angles to accommodate but was not entirely successful. The extreme right side of the room (about 3 or 4 people) saw where the coins were coming from. And as a result the routine was a dismal failure. On the other hand, the left to middle portion of the room had the perfect angle said it was one of the best tricks ever. (All “9”’s and “10”’s).


So my performance of Dai Vernon’s “Silk and Silver” had an average rating of roughly “7.5” to “8”. I must admit I’m a little disappointed and discouraged. Last week’s “Three Ball Transposition” played out about the same. It is frustrating to work so hard on a true classic for 8 or 9 months only to have it play out about as well as an average store bought packet trick. Of course I understand the responsibility of the audience response is all on me. Especially since the above mentioned effects are tried and true classics. The shortcoming must be in my delivery, timing and presence. I wonder how much of the problem can be attributed to inexperience in performing the effect and how much of it is due to lack of skill or readiness. Just as there is a learning curve for acquiring sleights and arranging routines, there must also be a similar curve for learning how to time and pace a routine for maximum effectiveness. A magical presentation is not a predestined metronome of action, pause, reaction etc. That may be alright for the mirror or videotape, but audiences are not machines. It should be an unpredictable flow. Even the most practiced and well rehearsed routines must take on an impromptu nature. No two performances should be the same. The performer must lead, but at the same time follow the audience willingly toward its own aesthetic satisfaction. I’m just wondering out loud here. I guess the only way to improve the effect and make it the perfect "10" it was born to be is to perform it as often as possible for anyone that will watch.