Patrick Page. 1929-2010

On Thursday February 11th the world of magic lost one of its greatest practitioners. After a long illness, master magician Patrick Page passed away. He was 81 years old.
Patrick Page was born March 17th 1929. He was the youngest of 6 children growing up in Dundee Scotland. As a young boy he was bitten by the magic bug. Since then the world of magic gained one of its most brilliant and generous friends. Mr. page has written many books on magic. “The Big Book of Magic” published in 1976 is considered by many to be a must have in any magical library. A magician’s bible, as it were.


Mr. Page has also written many other books on topics such as sponge balls, thumb tips, and the topit. I recently purchased another book by Page called “Visual Comedy”. This book is full of all sorts of gags and bits of business to get laughs between and during effects. Very practical stuff.
Patrick Page was also famous among magicians for his encyclopedic knowledge, razor-sharp wit and generosity. Although he would have hated to hear it, he has been called a genius of our craft. He was also hilariously funny.
Sadly, (Even though his topit book was part of my library for 20 years), I didn’t even realize who he was until last year. When I began my re-entry into magic I discovered Patrick Page. I fell in love with him right away.

When I saw some of his performances on the web I knew that this was the kind of performer I had been striving to be. His manner was kind, friendly, a bit mischievous and smooth as silk. A true gentleman. And he did it all. Stand up, Parlor, stage, close up and children’s shows. He was also a regular at the 4F gatherings.


I have referred to Mr. Page as my unwitting mentor because even though I never met him, his style and manner match most closely to my own vision as a performer. In a word, he was my kind of magician. I wish I could have met Patrick Page or seen him give a lecture. I have some of his books and a couple DVD’s. I suppose that will have to do.
I don’t think I have ever been this saddened by someone’s passing that I didn’t even know. I feel like someone who was starving for friendship finally finding a best friend. Then, to have that friend move away after only a few months.
There is now a void in the heart of anyone who loves magic. There will never be anyone like Patrick Page again. I have to believe at this moment he is with old friends and legends swapping stories and having heaps of fun.
So long for now friend.

Clean Cut

In 1977 I saw Mark Wilson do the color changing pocket knives on his wonderful show "Magic Circus". I thought for sure it was done with some kind of shell gimmick. Nevertheless My next order to Tannen's included a set of knives.

When I got them I was surprised and pleased. I still have them today. I never really built a routine around them but used them as a quick "impromptu" type effect. The problem, I felt was there was no real finish. Eventually I modeled a miniature knife. For a finish I would crush a knife down to size. I had a couple of other ideas which I never pursued. The color changing pocket knives eventually drifted out of my awareness. Until recently.
There they were in my dusty old trunk with all that other stuff. I found a basic routine by Harry Lorayne in Tarbell's #7. The routine was sharp, direct and I liked the pace of it. There is a good finish but it requires a third knife. At one point a handkerchief is introduced and used.

I liked the idea of using a handkerchief, but the handling did not fit my style. Eventually I worked out a different handkerchief switch based on an old Dai Vernon move using coins and a handkerchief. But in the end I decided that for me the routine was stronger without a handkerchief. This left me right back where I started. How to finish? Then it came to me. I incorporated a sweet move I learned from Patrick Page. This move is a clever card vanish that can be used to cleanly dispose of any small object. Patrick Page credits to move to Max Malini. This allowed for a surprise and very clean finish for the pocket knives.
It was fun watching my students almost figure out how the trick was done when I threw in a very "casual" move from Harry Lorayne's writing in Tarbell #7. He credits the move to Russell Barnhart. If you do the pocket knives look this one up! It is one of little subtleties that if done properly, throws off the wise and the clever. Together with the clean and surprising finish I am very pleased with the routine I have stitched together. After the appause died down I flat out asked my classes..."Is this one a keeper?" To which I received many "Thumbs Up".
Its been 20 years since I fooled around with the pocket knives. Now I've got a strong well-paced routine with a surprising and clean finish. All made possible by Mark Wilson, Harry Lorayne, Russell Barnhart and the great Patrick Page. Thank you gentlemen!

Who Me?

The past couple of days I have been wondering what someone would think if they stumbled onto this blog. They would find a lot written about a very mundane topic. Me. I can’t imagine it would seem anything but boring and self-indulgent to anyone else. As I mentioned in the first post, this is really just a journal for me. I am trying to move myself up from a hack amateur to a competent sleight-of-hand artist. This requires a lot of self reflection. As a result, the focus of these postings is, well, of my discoveries, thoughts and progress. The rest of my life revolves around my kids, my wife, my students and my church. Writing this blog helps me discern, reflect and track my progress toward my goal. That is the only purpose of this blog. I am not trying to entertain or inform anyone about anything. For some reason I am more likely to journal my progress in this way. A notebook is too easily shoved under the bed or just plain ignored. But with this blog I feel more motivated to write. At any rate, I hope when the Spring arrives and my 36-week task is complete, I can write about magic and those who practice it instead of myself. Until then, if by chance you, person, friend, find yourself reading these words I beg your forgiveness. Please be patient with me. Soon enough I will change the focus away from myself toward magic in general. But for now I must confess these writings are serving the purpose well. I feel myself growing, becoming more self confident and more importantly, a better magician. This is so working for me.


Last August I was tinkering with Jim Tyler’s ring and string routine. (A real beauty). I picked it back up last week and have been trying to work out the rough spots. I planned on performing it the following Friday. By the time Thursday rolled around I had to make a choice. Should I perform the ring and string routine Friday or not. Mechanically, at least, I’ve got it worked out. But I just felt it needed more spit and polish to do it justice. It needed more work so I decided to let ring and string wait until next week. So on Friday I would perform “Card Warp” instead. Card Warp was one of my standards in the old days. The creator of Card Warp, Michael Weber, produces some of the most mind-blowing presentations imaginable. Years ago I devised my own finish to Card Warp. Not that it needed any other finish. But 4 out of 5 times people would make a request when I finished the trick. What I do does not necessarily make Card Warp a better trick. It just suits me better and as a result I get a huge return in entertainment value. So I brought it out of moth balls, as it were, cleaned it up, and added a bit business here and there for cohesiveness sake.



I was hesitant at first because I was afraid I was combining two effects. Card Warp and my own handling of a different effect. A very wise magician warns against doing this. And in my view, it is sound advice. I have never met Patrick Page but he has become my favorite magician. Patrick Page has the style and manner I most aspire to. I have adopted him as my own personal mentor. (Mr. Page had no say so in this matter)! I hope to someday attend one of his lectures or workshops. Until then, his books and other materials are mine to fetish and covet.


I digress. Mr. Page warns against combining effects, and I agree. Yet the response I got from my performances on Friday was astounding. The effect as I performed it seems stronger for me than Card Warp alone. And the finish I've come up with is not really something I would do as a stand alone effect. (Although I suppose one could). In fact, judging by the response I received from 5 different audiences, it may be one of the strongest close-up routines I perform. (Wasn't expecting that)!There is something else too. My handling of Weber’s Card Warp evolved over time. I’m sure I’m not the only one to think of handling Card Warp in this way. I’ll bet there are lots of pros out there that do. It’s just that over time I independently came up with a handling that answered the audience’s inevitable request. It also provides a mighty and totally unexpected wallop.

Since getting back into magic last August I have been working on perfecting my ability to perform classic routines of sleight of hand. I have been working from books by Vernon, Slydini, Hugard, Bobo, and Tarbell to name a few. I am so excited and having a fantastic time of it. But I was beginning to worry that I after so many years away from magic I might have lost my creativity. I’m glad I pushed and trusted myself to perform Card Warp as I visualized it. It really paid off.
If I am really lucky, I’ll get to meet Patrick Page someday. And if I ever do, I’ll perform this routine. I hope he would agree with me that I am not combining two effects so much as bringing a classic effect to a reasonable and entertaining conclusion. In the mean time, as a rule, I promise to never pull coins AND sponge balls from the same bagless purse. Or finish an “Ambitious Card” routine with “Card to Pocket” or “Wallet”.

Be Natural and Use Your Head

Now That I'm officially over the hill, I just can't believe how utterly blind I was as a young man. So many things that were hidden from me when I was younger are clear to me now. It is most powerfully true in my spiritual life. But it is also true for my family life, my professional life and even to my return to magic.
For example, I have owned Jean Hugard’s “Expert Card Technique” for 30 years. It is an essential book to be sure. But perhaps the best part is the last 3% of the book. There are several essays on misdirection, humor, presentation and the like that are gold. When the author speaks of the greats of magic he has these words: “…it is not the tricks they perform that are important, so much as the illusion they create about themselves”.


Hugard goes on to instruct the reader on the proper attitude and discipline required to become a respected and well-loved artist rather than just a guy that does tricks. Gold I tell you! As a young man I entirely ignored this section of the book. “Words”, I thought. “The dusty old fashioned words of a dead guy”. Then I’d continue riffling through the pages. “Tricks” I would have thought, “Must find more tricks”.


Another good example is chapter 2 of “The Dai Vernon Book of Magic”. “USE YOUR HEAD” The Professor instructs. Even when someone sat me down and handed wisdom to me on a crystal plate, I quickly forgot what little I listened to.


Case in point, I knew master magician Jim Cellini for a short time. He had great wisdom and advice for me. Unfortunately his gems and pearls bounced right off my knuckleheaded bean and fell to the floor like rejected pixie dust. One day at my job a young lady I worked with told me she was at a club owned by Cellini. She then told me about a visiting guest of the owner. "He was a funny old man with an accent". She said he was standing up on a chair doing a rope trick. “I was afraid he would fall off the chair” she said. “He was really funny, and the best magician I’ve ever seen”! “Dear God in Heaven” I thought, “Was his name…Slydini”?

“Yes” she said, “That’s it”. (Insert foul expletive here). If I had been paying attention to my life I could have spent the night sitting across the table and learning from TONY SLYDINI! One on one with the Grand Master of close up magic! And where was I instead? I was out with my drinking buddies. No doubt dropping tequila shots, releasing many yahoos and chasing women. A waste of time, money and energy on pointless revelry and foolishness. Say the words with me now... “Owha…Tafool…Iyam”…I have a permanent divot in my left buttock from 20 years of kicking myself in the ass!

I’m just grateful that today I have a little more sense. Because of my attention to the “dusty old words of dead (and living) magicians” My present (third) incarnation as a magician has so far been successful. Last week’s presentation of the Page/Cellini color changing handkerchief routine exemplifies my point. I heartily took the advice of Cellini, Hugard, Tarbell, LePaul and countless others including my newest hero Patrick Page. Mr. Page says…”Magic should be a performance. Otherwise it’s just a dry technical demonstration. So learn six tricks, practice them well and go out there and perform them!” I love this guy! So I followed the advice of the masters. My practice and confidence were such that I was able to focus on the audience and my by play with them instead of “pulling off a sleight”. I learned this from “The Importance of the Inconsequential” Hugard (Page 444), and From Dai Vernon, whose battle cry is..."Be Natural". This is new and exciting to me. Instead of watching my hands and worring, I was watching the smiles of the audience. There was joy in what I was doing because I was free perform the routine as though it was really magic. I could focus on my presentation persona like never before. And now that I can see it, I can develop it. The handkerchief routine could stand a bit of polish and refinement, but was very successful. But the bonus is even better. That is, I am now beginning to understand what Jim Cellini was trying to tell me long ago. I now understand how to move beyond the level of one who indulges in hoodwinkeries to the level of “artist”. This is my goal. It’s a lot more work. But the payoff is priceless. Will I ever get to that level? If I don’t, it won’t be for lack of trying.




The Passages on the mystique of magic from Hugard, Tarbell, Vernon or any other quality book on magic are often just as valuable as any of the effects therein. Such essays teach how to turn an ordinary trick into a miracle. They also show ways to influence how an audience responds to and remembers the magician long after the tricks are forgotten. I am taking the time and relishing the words of the Masters. I am learning now what I was not ready to learn as a young man. Be natural and use your head. Great advice for anything worth doing. The masters speak their wisdom. I will continue to listen with enthusiasm.

As with so many aspects of my life, I was blind, and now I see.

Two Giants

Many years ago Master magician Jim Cellini taught me his color changing handkerchief routine. In his expert hands it was a beautiful thing to experience. For some reason I can’t imagine, that knowledge drifted into an old and dusty corner of my brain; All but forgotten. When I recently brought my old trunk down from the attic and opened it, I was overwhelmed with memories. Each item had a story. Every 10” ring, billiard ball, giant coin, plastic egg or sundry gimmick had been infused with my spirit from all the countless hours of practice and performance. Like the exuberant tail-wagging of happy dogs, I think they were pleased to see me too. Among the carefully boxed gaggle of thimbles, sponge balls, wands, silks and copper cups I spied my old dye tube.


I remembered Jim Cellini and the beautiful routine he taught me. The only problem was I couldn’t remember the handling! Oh well, I thought, in time…
Two weeks ago while surfing the web I ran across a gentleman I had never heard of before. Patrick Page. A Scottish magician of the highest caliber! There were videos of Mr. Page performing the most beautiful classic effects. His manner is enthusiastic, humble and very friendly. His timing and handling are as good as it gets. I also found a 4-part interview with him that was fascinating and motivational. Some very practical wisdom being shared in parts 3 and 4. This gentleman has precisely the kind of style, timing and naturalness I aspire to. I feel ignorant that I was previously unaware of him. Now however, he is my newest superhero! Patrick Page you are AWESOME!


In one of the videos he performs his handling of the color changing handkerchief. I can’t remember Jim Cellini’s routine that he taught me, so I don’t know how similar the two routines are. But Mr. Page reminded me of just how beautiful this effect is. So after seeing it performed by Patrick Page, I was once again inspired and motivated to work out the handling, practice it faithfully and perform it. The handling I'm using is not exactly the same as Mr. Cellini's or Mr. Page’s but probably a mix of both masters. Either way, the basics are of course the same.
When I was young I was okay with some degree of sloppiness. Okay, a lot. I figured misdirection and timing would carry me. (Most of the time it did since I performed mainly in bars)! Not anymore. My goal is to achieve nothing short of veteran professional quality. I may never fully reach that goal, but I’m giving it all I’ve got. Attention to every detail. Strive for naturalness. That's the stuff. I plan to perform this Page/Cellini conglomerate handling of the color changing handkerchief on Friday. Mr. Cellini, Mr. Page, I promise to make you proud!