SYNOPSIS:
Mastering the Art of Magic brings together seven influential booklets Eugene Burger originally published between 1982 and 1994. The collection includes Secrets and Mysteries, Audience Involvement, The Secrets of Restaurant Magic, Eugene Burger on Matt Schulien’s Fabulous Card Discoveries, Intimate Power, The Craft of Magic, and Rediscoveries. For this edition, the material was completely re-typeset and supplemented with new essays in which Burger revisits his earlier writing, updates selected routines, and reflects on how his thinking developed over time.
The book combines practical close-up and restaurant-tested routines with substantial discussion of presentation, scripting, audience interaction, timing, atmosphere, character, and the difference between merely demonstrating a trick and creating a meaningful magical experience. Card discoveries, mental-style effects, intimate close-up pieces, and reworked classics serve as examples of Burger’s larger philosophy: that method is only one part of effective performance. With nearly 200 illustrations by Earle Oakes, it functions both as a working repertoire and as a serious study of how magic should be presented.
Book Details:
Author/Creator: Eugene Burger
Publisher: Kaufman and Company
Edition: 1st
Publication Year: 2000
Subjects: Magic Theory, Close-up Magic, Cards, Mentalism
Pages: 228
Skill Level: Intermediate
Availability: Kaufman and Company
TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Introduction: Looking Back (p. 11)
Secrets and Mysteries for the Close-Up Entertainer (p. 17)
• Introduction (p. 18)
Part One: Secrets
• Drawing the Line (p. 21)
• Names (p. 23)
• Contact (p. 25)
• Not Hearing (p. 26)
• Energy (p. 27)
• Silence (p. 28)
• Discipline (p. 28)
• It’s Done With Mirrors (p. 30)
• Hecklers (p. 31)
Part Two: Mysteries
• Sponges (p. 36)
• The Burned Card (p. 39)
• Glass Production (p. 41)
• Finger Tip Holder (p. 43)
• Signed Card in Wallet (p. 44)
• Signed Bill in Matchbox (p. 47)
• Torn Card (p. 51)
• Traveling Card (p. 55)
• Séance (p. 56)
INTERLUDE ONE (p. 60)
Audience Involvement (p. 67)
• Presentation (p. 68)
• Top Change (p. 69)
• Brain-Waved (p. 72)
• Brain-Waved Again (p. 75)
• Water Suspension (p. 77)
INTERLUDE TWO (p. 80)
The Secrets of Restaurant Magic (p. 83)
• Point Of Departure (p. 84)
• Table Hopping (p. 84)
• Hospitality (p. 85)
• The Real Secrets (p. 85)
• The Opening Effect Is You (p. 86)
• Restaurants (p. 88)
• Attitude (p. 90)
• Random Thoughts (p. 92)
• The Secret Revisited (p. 94)
INTERLUDE THREE (p. 96)
On Matt Schulien’s Fabulous Card Discoveries (p. 99)
• Foreword (p. 100)
• The Trick And The Effects (p. 102)
• A Memory (p. 104)
• The Card In The Matchbook (p. 106)
• The Corner In The Glass (p. 109)
• The Card Under The Tablecloth (p. 111)
• On Imitation (p. 114)
INTERLUDE FOUR (p. 117)
Intimate Power (p. 119)
• Foreword (p. 120)
• Chapter One: What’s In A Name? (p. 121)
• Chapter Two: Creating Interest (p. 125)
• The Card Cheat (p. 130)
• An Old Carnival Game (p. 132)
• A Voodoo Ritual (p. 137)
• The Spectator is the Star (p. 140)
• Second-Hand Smoke (p. 142)
• Chapter Three: A Game Of Wits (p. 145)
• Spelling Stunner (p. 146)
• Fogel’s Triple Prediction (p. 148)
• Out of this World (p. 150)
• Easy Money Presentation (p. 152)
• Chapter Four: Precision (p. 153)
• Dracula and the Sorority Girls (p. 156)
• Chapter Five: Confidence And Power (p. 161)
INTERLUDE FIVE (p. 164)
The Craft of Magic and Other Writings (p. 169)
• Foreword (p. 170)
• Introductory Note (p. 171)
• The Craft Of Magic (p. 171)
• Interest (p. 172)
• Developing Our Practice (p. 174)
• Learning to Rehearse (p. 176)
• The Tools of Our Craft (p. 177)
• Critical Awareness and Honesty (p. 178)
• The Future Of Restaurant Magic (p. 179)
• Presentational Style (p. 181)
• Easy Spelling (p. 183)
• The Impossible Force (p. 185)
• The Flying Match (p. 188)
• Slow-Motion Bill Change (p. 193)
• A Conversation in Hell (p. 196)
INTERLUDE SIX (p. 198)
• New Traveling Match (p. 200)
• Twenty-First Century Bill Transposition (p. 203)
Rediscoveries (p. 209)
• Introduction (p. 210)
• Psychic Sense (p. 211)
• The Visibly Turning Cards (p. 219)
• Ashes on the Palm for Non-Smokers (p. 221)
A FINAL WORD (p. 225)
