I am looking for a revue on Merlin's classic workers DVD by Bill Abbott. http://www.hocus-pocus.com/magicshop/?hn=1
Eran

I too am very interested in these DVDs.

Any feedback?
Eran

I am interested too...

I received it yesterday and have viewed it in it's entirety several times.

Please be aware that it is a "Bill Abbott's Presents" DVD and not a Bill Abbott performs or teaches DVD.

I bought the DVD set specify for the Salt Pour, it is one of my favorite pieces in magic. The other effects on the set are, for me, bonus material.

There are 7 routines performed, several in multiple performance styles and settings. The effects are: The Spot Card, Color Changing Handkerchief, the Hydrostatic Glass, the Silk Fountain, The Professor's Nightmare, the Salt Pour, and the Butterflies.

What I enjoyed was watching and listening to Merlin discuss the thought process that went into the routining and modifications to methodology of the effects. He has quite a bit of thoughts on each of these pieces. There is also an attempt to credit those who worked on and or developed similar routine aspects prior to Merlin. I credit Merlin and Abbott for this, but their research is rather weak. Most obvious reference to anyone doing the Color Changing Silk the way he did it would have been Billy McComb, and the Butterfly effect should have had Ishi Black listed as a reference or source for more information. But as I stated, there was an attempt at crediting, much more than other DVD productions have.

The explanations are easy to follow if you are familiar with the piece being performed. For example, if you already know the Professor's Nightmare, you can get some very good ideas and thoughts to apply or consider, but if you are attempting to learn the effect from this product, it will be difficult. Looking at the production this way, it is on routining, fine-tuning, and performing these classic pieces. There are many valuable tips to be gleemed from this set.

I really enjoyed the silent presentation of the Spot Card, and the Butterlies performance was breathtaking.


Tony

Tony could you give us more information on the effects, especially the Salt Pour.

Dear Tony

Many thanks for the review.
I am more interesting at the silk fountain, can you give some more details on it.

Eran

It is difficult to be objective when discussing another performer's interpretation of effects that are part of your own repertoire. Too many personal biases enter make it unfair for me to discuss the actual performance of the effects. Nor is it fair to the performer and manufacturer to give away details of performance that can be used by those who have not paid for this information.

Of the effects: The Spot Card, Color Changing Handkerchief, the Hydrostatic Glass, the Silk Fountain, the Professor's Nightmare, the Salt Pour, and the Butterflies, all were discussed on the set in great detail, how Merlin came up with his current presentations, inspirations he had, and other sources. I must be careful discussing these, as this is an open forum.

On the Salt pour, he goes into several different methods and discusses what he sees as strengths and weaknesses in each. He discusses various secret items for doing the effect. His variations on the effect allow for a very long pour occurring in both hands and a novel conclusion.

The Silk Fountain as many will know has two distinct variations, one where the silks cascade to the floor, spilling from the hands, and the other where the fountain blooms and grows staying in the hands. Merlin’s is of the latter version. And he has a novel way to accomplish this and allow for the silks to be used as needed for other effects. His method does not require anything in the way of props to aid in the production. The performer stands center stage, burns a piece of tissue paper, and produces his first handkerchief from the flaming paper. He then proceeds with the silk fountain. The only reason I mention the beginning of this routine is that fire is a sensitive issue in today’s performance environment.

As I stated previously, “The explanations are easy to follow if you are familiar with the piece being performed. For example, if you already know the Professor's Nightmare, you can get some very good ideas and thoughts to apply or consider, but if you are attempting to learn the effect from this product, it will be difficult. Looking at the production this way, it is on routining, fine-tuning, and performing these classic pieces. There are many valuable tips to be gleamed from this set.“

Some may enjoy the presentations, some may not, but anyone interested in these effects can gain some benefit from the discussions, tips, and various methodologies on this set.

Tony Iacoviello

Thanks
Eran

Tony,

Here is Merlin's response to the crediting...

QUOTE FROM TONY IACOVIELLO
"I credit Merlin and Abbott for this, but their research is rather weak. Most obvious reference to anyone doing the Color Changing Silk the way he did it would have been Billy McComb.."QUOTE FROM TONY IACOVIELLO

MERLIN'S response:
"I didn't mention Billy McComb because it is Jack
LeDair's routine and the late Mr.McComb by his own
admission got himself in hot water performing it
without Jack LeDair's permission.

ALso he does not use the steal I show in the video and
the final change uses a different gimmick.

The Butterfly was first described as far as I know in
Sach's Sleight of hand and it is not very useful.

Further, I learned and re-worked the Butterfly based
on what I learned personally from Ross Bertram who was
taught the trick personally by Tenkai.

I never heard of Ishti Black so am curious about the
reference."

I hope this is informative.

Sincerely

Bill Abbott

Bill:

Please let Merlin Know that Ishii Black submitted a series of articles to "The Magician" Monthly. They were published beginning in September 1914 and ending in May 1915. This series of articles details much of the tradition of Japanese magic, teaching among other effects, the Egg on Fan, the Butterfly trick, the Plumb Blossom trick (aka Snow Storm), a wonderful version fo the Rice Bowls called Bowl of Rice and Flower trick, there is much more.

In 1992, Richard Robinson gathered these articles together and published them in a book called THE MAGIC OF ISHII BLACK. It is a wonderful book, and it was reviewed in Magic, in the product reviews of February, 1993, pages 59-60.

As for the silk routine in question, you must admit that it's popularity is based on the performance of Mr. McComb, and in such, it is primarily associated with him (rightfuly so or not, withstanding).

If you reread what I wrote in my summary of the DVD set, I did give both you and Merlin credit for attempting to properly credit the effects. I also stated that you did more in this reguard than most.

Tony Iacoviello

Thanks Tony.
The Ishii Black reference is new to me and I will look into adding it to the credits/references on the DVD.

Sincerely
Bill Abbott

Bill:

I'm wrong with the date reference on Sachs' book and it does predate "The Magician" Monthly articles. The problem with books like Sach's is that they have been reprinted so many times, and the original publication date and information is often left out (as in my copies). I apologize for the faulty information.

Tony

I have seen Merlin working on the west coast and he knows his magic . His billiard balls and linking rings are a sight to see. I guess they are not on this DVD though.

RWhit,

Merlin's signature pieces: the Rings and the Ball & Wand routine are going to be released this summer!
Merlin's Smoke DVD (producing smoke from bare hands as seen in the Classic Workers set) is the planned for a July release date.

Bill Abbott

Hi guys, I had the pleasure of meeting Merlin a few years ago and although I have not seen these dvd's I will tell you that he knows his stuff!
His thoughts on magic and theatre are priceless. His ring routine has to be one of the best peice of art/magic I have seen... I had Merlin do a guest spot in my evening show and he did the rings, beautiful.

best,
Andrew Gerard

I am a good friend of Merlini and seen his act many times.
He was the best kept secret in the magic business, and now its out.
He is a very clever performer and an artist (poetry in motion).
I hope he will release his linking ring routine--you should also see his handling of (topit}. Nobody does it the way he does.
The guy is one clever dude, an artist and a clever one at that.
His dvd is a bargain.
Richard

My set arrived on Monday - I have only had a chance to see the first disc (there are approx 4 hours on the two discs) and all I can say is ...... what a wonderful DVD set!

Richard Lyn was 100% right when he said "The guy is one clever dude, an artist and a clever one at that"

There is so much you can get from these DVDs - there are perfomances of the same effect in different situations - spoken / silent. Merlin really knows his stuff and shares ALOT on the explanation sections

Looking forward to the release of the "Smoke DVD" and the "Rings and the Ball & Wand routine" this summer

Congratulations Merlin and Bill!

Ahhh the great color changing hank debate.

Bill Please tell Merlin his DVD is wonderful and that the THOUGHTS on the standard material contained within are pure platinum. I do not know the last time I was so happy with a purchase! The real stuff from a real worker! This DVD is a true goldmine for someone who makes their living performing for real people. I would recommend it highly to anyone who is thinking about getting in front of people and really working.

Now the silks, this is a trick I do and like all tricks I do I have a tendency to over research the subject. I blame it on OCD, ADD, and just being an idiot, but the truth is I am always worried that I am going miss the true jewels.

Anyway from what I understand from the McComb Camp as well as the Le Dair/Brooke camp is this:

The original idea for the color changing silk using a dye tube came from Frank Lane's booklet "Ideas #5", a fellow by the name of Tom Waterman showed/gave the routine to Jack Le Dair/William Warton (He performed in music hall over in England under both names). When Ken Brooke opened the Veroni House of magic in Bradford Le Dair/Warton sold Mr. Brooks the rights to sell it to the magic community with the stipulation that Music Hall (and T.V.)rights remained with Le Dair/Warton. This manuscript was filled with a bunch of sleeving and the handling was quite a bit different from what Mr. Le Dair/Warton was doing on stage. Still, the effect was what we now know as the standard color change of a silk (a white silk turns red, and finally yellow or some other third solid color).

Now in comes Mr. McComb in 1950. Mr. McComb was shown the trick by Al Koran with two "gimmicks" and three silks. Mr. McComb changed the handling to three silks and one "gimmick". The same idea was thought of by Patrick Page and can be found in his lecture of about the same time.

In 1951 Mr. McComb went full time pro and was doing a 12 minute act that consisted of:

Cane vanish in newspaper
color changing silks
and a puppet monkey finding a card (based on the "Felix finds a card routine" written up in Genii vol1 number1 I thought you might get a kick out of that )

The act itself was written up in Abra and was performed at the Prince of Whales Theater when Mr. McComb was opening for Bob Hope.

This was when the slush powder hit the fan and Mr. Le Dair/Warton and Ken Brooke made a direct inquiries to Mr. McComb. Mr. Ledair/Warton also complained to the V.A.F of Great Briton (Variety Artists Federation).

Now enter another performer named Jack Hughes. Mr Hughes performed the trick as found in the original Frank Lane booklet before either Le Dair/ Warton or McComb! When this information came to light and the fact that the routine actually was published by Mr. Lane all the problems with the V.A.F. went away. It appears that Mr. McComb had been put into hot water quite unjustly by Mr. Le Dair/Warton and Mr. Brooke.

At this point Mr. McComb on his own invented the idea of the half dyed finale. That was Mr. McComb's and Mr. McComb's alone. By now other acts had heard the outcome of the Le Dair/Warton/Brooke affair had become public knowledge and a lot of pros started doing the color changing silks in their act.

I am a huge fan of all three performers and think they were all brilliant. In the late 40's music hall was about to die (no pun ) the same way Vaudeville here in the states checked out in the mid 30's. Theft was rampant throughout the run of both music hall and vaudeville and performers would go to great lengths (sometimes violent ones!) when another performer stole material. By the end of the run the paranoia over such things was rampant and I am sure that if it had happened in another time frame this whole ugly issue could have been smoothed over with a couple of pints. But that was not the case and from what I understand no matter what the ruling of the V.A.F. was the animosity between all parties lasted until the ends of their lives.

This is what I have found in my research. If I have missed anything or there is more to the story I would sincerely love to hear it. I am always a student and as a student I know that I do not have all of the answers and the answers I do have may not always be 100%.

I never interviewed any of the people personally so all of my information is at best second and sometimes third hand.

All of that being said, I think Billy at least deserved a mention on the DVD.

And finally, a big tip of the hat to Merlin. He is a guy who is out there doing the real work and it was a true joy to hear him share his thoughts on all of these pieces. It is not often you get a real pro to sit down and spill a life times worth of work on a DVD.

All the best,

Dan-

Danny Hustle, That is a wonderful contributions and great magic history, thanks!
:applause: