 |
We
received an urgent note from our friend George Robinson, Jr.,
Proprietor of Viking Manufacturing Company and Collectors Workshop.
Mr.
Robinson is one of the great guys in our business. A visit to Mr.
Robinson’s web site is almost too much for mere mortals. The pages are
stocked with the classics of magic made with all of the care and
attention to detail one normally associates with custom-made
equipment.
The
craftsmanship and quality comes at a price, however. Mr. Robinson will
not stock items unless they meet his high standards. The carpentry,
metal-work, and electronics have to be perfect for each item sold and
so there will be times when the products are not available — his
clients understand and are willing to wait.
A second
component of
the price charged for the effects is almost invisible to the consumer.
The classics of magic did not develop on their own. In fact, Mr.
Robinson doesn’t really sell “tricks” or “props.” He sells routines;
perfected by their creators through years of use in front of real
audiences paying real money to see what they hope will be real magic.
Mr.
Robinson pays for the right to sell the routines. The inventors of the
effects are willing to market their prized inventions through Mr.
Robinson because they appreciate his insistence on quality, his respect
for other inventors’ rights in their creations, and, presumably,
because he pays a fair price for those rights.
We
look at Mr.
Robinson’s business as indicia of his desire to keep the real core of
magic alive. Others look at Mr. Robinson as a sucker.
On page
86 of this month’s Magic magazine, you can find an effect very similar
to one Mr. Robinson sells. Greg Gleason, proprietor of Gleason Magic,
offers I’m Sitting on It. The effect is blithely
described but to many readers it is complete enough to jog memories of
Chuck Fayne’s Card on Seat. Actually it is the
very same routine.
Mr.
Gleason suggests on his website the effect is based on Karrell Fox’s
Magical Assets but that “This chair is different than any other model
on the market. There are no funny or unnatural movements needed to
trigger the card.”
Mr. Robinson’s version is
out-of-stock right
now. He is making some in anticipation of advertising in the very same
Magic magazine Mr. Gleason used this month. Mr. Robinson’s is made
under license from Rich Bloch and Chuck Fayne (and credits help from
Karrell Fox). The authorized version costs more than Mr. Gleason’s
product. But Mr. Gleason, presumably, is not paying a licensing royalty
for the rights to sell the routine.
We fully support
Mr. Robinson
and inventors of magic. As consumers, we’d love to get effect cheaper
than what we have to pay if we decide to buy from the rightful owner.
But magicians know, perhaps more than any other profession, how
important it is to encourage invention.
You can see
the authorized version of the Jumbo Card on Seat
at Mr. Robinson’s outstanding web site here:
http://www.vikingmagiccompany.com/?nd=full&key=76
Here is Mr. Robinson’s plea.
It is a shame that our brotherhood continues to be plagued by those that want what others…
Continue reading George Robinson, Jr. Urges Gleason Magic to Do Right
Recent Comments