Mike Powers' Magic Movies

Shortly after Pittsburgh was renovated, in 1979 or thereabouts, I accompanied modern Houdini (due to his combination, more so at that time, of escapism and psychic debunking) James Randi to a majore IBM (International Brotherhood of Magicians) meeting. There I met a number of notable magicians who would later make their mark on close-up magic: Michael Ammar (who was gathering crowds doing his cardless matrix), David Williamson (developer of the strike vanish and winner of the gold cups first prize in close up that year), Meir Yedid (who was doing a card location using computer patter at a time when computers seemed novel), and Johnny "Ace" Palmer (whose ring retention pass is still one of my favorite effects). Excited by the quality of those attending and the absolute surfeit of magic and things to learn I remember going in the wee hours of the morning across a bridge to a MacDonalds hamburger joint with none other than Mike Powers. There I showed him my handling of open travelers, one of the most novel effects in card magic (in which the four aces, placed one by one in an "invisible palm" are put on the table, where they materialize), invented by Larry Jennings. Never having found a book that described how to do travelers, but understanding the method in principle, I came up with my own handling. Tonight, 26 years later, I can pick up where that late-night McDonald's magic tete-a-tete left off. What is wonderful about Powers' website, apart from the lack of advertising, is the quality of the real player presentations. You can see bona fide close up magic which, much like my original reconstruction of the travelers, obviously is done by sleight of hand--but indetectibly, even on repeated viewings. It is an experience similar to reconstructing a trick from being told the effect and having a clue as to the method, only you can watch again and again as you try to work it out. I notice that two of Powers' tricks, "Impossible Travelers" and "The Invisible Aces" have travelers themes. My favorite trick on his website, however, is what he calls "the amBIGuous card"--the multiple changing of a miniature playing card into a bigger one. There is a similar effect but for coins in J.B. Bobo's classic Coin Magic: a dime (which has Eisenhower's image on it) changes several times into a dollar coin (also with an image of Eisenhower). But the Powers card effect seems easier and more impressive. (He actually has two routines with this effect, by completely different methods: in "The Defective Deck," however, the whole deck turns to miniature cards around the one big card; then they switch so that it is a small card in a big deck). I recommend you watch it and try to figure it out. Even when you know what is happening, and where it is happening, the execution is so flawless you can't see it. Your mind wants to believe that the card really does change size--in large part because of the singular (Powers uses a red seven) identity of the card. Human beings must have some mental algorithm that makes them assume continuity and identity even when they only glimpse a few instances of what appears to be the same object. Much magic depends on this. Indeed, it is the basis for the illusion of movement in the first silent films--whose development was pioneered by magicians. Powers' Real Player tricks refresh that magic-movie connection for the internet age.

April 2 Addendum: Powers reminds me that it was 1980 (25 years--that's quite a vanish!) and that we also went out to breakfast with Johnny Ace Palmer later, an event notable for Powers' impromptu performance of matrix with pancakes and sausage patties. Not only is the work on this unpublished, but the evidence was, I believe, eaten.