Experience: The Magic of Jon Allen
This is a free 15 page preview of Experience: The Magic of Jon Allen
This is a book that is put out by Vanishing inc.
This 15 page preview includes 3 effects:
* Citizen Cane
Here is a wonderful restaurant effect involving the transposition of brown and white sugar inside
their sealed packets. It is easy to do and the magic is incredibly strong. All of the dirty work is
carried out before the effect apparently begins, which puts you in an advantageous position.
Also, it is a good example of magic being performed with objects in their natural environment. It
requires a bit of preparation but it will be more than worth the effort.
* High Society
Card on Ceiling is possibly one of the oldest card effects extant; it goes back at least 300 years.
Despite its age, it is still one of the greatest card effects ever created. If the deck is the least
impressive place to find a card, then the ceiling is about as far removed as you can get… without
having to leave the room. Jon has taken this ancient classic and combined it with a think-of-a-card
technique shown to him by Stephen Mulhern to create what he reckons is probably the strongest,
most magical card trick he knows. The think-of-a-card technique is very bold, and if you can
master it, it makes Card on Ceiling technically easier, yet more memorable and seemingly more
impossible.
* Schrödinger’s Card
In March of 2007 J.J. Abrams, the great film and television writer-director-producer, gave a talk
entitled “The Mystery Box” at one of the renowned TED conferences (TED stands for Technology,
Entertainment, Design). A video of the talk was later posted at www.TED.com, which is where Jon
saw it. If you have not seen the clip, you should watch it. It’s very illuminating from a magic and
theatrical point of view. Also, you’ll be surprised to learn Abrams’s favorite scene from Jaws.
During the speech, Abrams displayed a “magic mystery box” which he purchased as a teenager
for $15 from Tannen’s Magic in New York. The box was said to contain $50 worth of magic, but at
the time of purchase the box was sealed, and its contents unknown—when you purchase a magic
mystery box, you don’t know what you are getting. So, what wonderful magic tricks did Abrams
get for his $15?
He doesn’t know.
He has never opened the box. He has kept it for over twenty years, and it is still sealed. Abrams
has never opened it because it represents something important to him: infinite possibility, hope,
and potential. In his work as a storyteller, mystery is a catalyst for his imagination, and mystery
is more important than knowledge.
Abrams’s ideas inspired an intriguing way to present Card in Envelope, which, as this is being
written, Jon has only performed on a few occasions. It is not appropriate for all performance
styles and audiences, but it can be very powerful in the right context and for the right group. It
has certainly generated a lot of discussion among his colleagues. Even if you do not perform the
effect, it should make you think and ask questions about what it represents.
Item donated by Wes Iseli
To request a PDF copy of this document just send an email to Wes Iseli
