Nathan Kranzo is an established Inside Magic favorite and regular at Mystic Hollow’s magic bar The Thumb Tip Inn.
Nathan Kranzo dropped us a line to boast he has completed his Holiday shows and has apparently completed shopping and/or decided which household objects will be re-gifted to loved ones.
We have finished nothing. We had great plans for this year. We were going to develop a comprehensive schedule for shows, surveys, and shopping. We thought it wise to include “surveying” as a task this year to ensure our gifts were desired – or would at least be tolerated.
Our idea of giving library books last year did not earn the type of admiration and praise we expected. We thought it showed the ultimate in consideration and thought.
It was a gift they would return and yet we picked out books we thought they would enjoy. Some saw it as cheap. Coincidentally, those who considered our gesture miserly, were the very same who failed to return the books on time, thereby incurring late fees.
In the spirit of the holidays, we offered to split the penalties but some recipients lacked the grace and maturity to accept the offer without sarcasm or acerbic comments about us.
Our rule of thumb is a model of clarity: we like those who like us.
That means we have few friends but those we do have, are fun to be around.
Rick Carruth has stood with Inside Magic since the late 1940s, right after the war and America was getting back to work, turning the mighty magic industrial engines from war-time goods to magic effects and props.
One of the Mystic Hollow Iron Works plants (we think it was the old Thurston Road facility — now the site of the Iron Works Mall) dedicated three shifts a day to producing bombardier windows and gun barrels. After the war, the factory returned to cranking out TV Card Frames and Flash and Bang Wands.
We made the transition as well. We felt confident that Magic was about to enter its heyday. Inside Magic began as an insert found in specially marked packages of Argos Cigarettes. This was back when everyone smoked and if they didn’t, they were around people who did smoke so it really didn’t matter that they didn’t.
Argos Cigarettes was a premium brand from the makers of some of Europe’s finest cigarette and cigars, Vespa. (After the war, they added motor scooters to their product mix and eventually sold off the tobacco lines in favor of the transportation market). Little known is that Vespa’s second largest shareholder was Prince William van der Byce better known to magic historians as “Byce the Magician.”
The prince insisted the Argos cigarettes have a special filter attached to assist magicians performing manipulation routines. The filter was sturdy and when moistened, would adhere to almost any surface. Lit or unlit, the Argos brand was hands down the choice of magicians. In fact, that is where the expression, “Tip your hat” comes from. Magicians would often “lick and load” a pack or two individual cigarettes on to the back of their top hats and with a gentle tip forward, a cigarette would roll nicely into place along the outer rim of the hat. It became common for magicians to tip their hats when greeting men or women to get their cigarette loads ready. The lay audiences took the gesture to be one of respect and magicians never said otherwise.
We wondered in the article whether he would be able to sneak past the animal rights’ folks. After all, they protested the arrival of a circus a few years back and there have not been many animal acts since.
So, we’re reading the good old Bermuda Sun from Bermuda while wearing our Bermuda Skort for Men ensemble. (It is like a kilt but it has pant legs under the shorter skirt so the embarrassment that comes from a unexpected breeze — either from within or without the kilt/skort).
Sure enough, the headline grabbed us like our old football coach — but a little higher and with less uncertainty.
So, we were paging through The Bermuda Sun newspaper today, doing a Gene Anderson Torn and Restored for the other bored souls waiting for the Greyhound for Chicago. It was already two hours late and we were getting antsy. Mystic Hollow, Michigan lost its former star location on the Greyhound travel map five years ago when they consolidated routes, tore down the Mystic Hollow Bus and Train Terminal, and cut back on the number of buses per week from seven to two.
Michigan has been going through some tough times over the last five years and to be fair, Greyhound stayed with us longer than any of the other companies. Howard Johnsons left us about a year ago. Someone said they were gone everywhere in the U.S. except for Mystic Hollow, Michigan and De Funiak Springs, Florida. We think they were just trying to make us feel better – there are probably HoJo’s (that is what we called it – a contraction of Howard and Johnson and then an inappropriate apostrophe and the letter “s” in lower case) everywhere except here in the second most significant magic location in Michigan.
When the cockfights and bear baiting stopped, some applauded. They thought it gave the hamlet a bad name. We could see their point. It was pathetic to see those bantam roosters try to walk around with little boxing gloves on their feet. Sometimes their claws would cut through the leather and they would have to stop the fight so no one got hurt. They were very circumspect about safety as we guess all cockfight arenas are. We thought it was a bit much when they added the sparring helmets and mouth guards. Roosters don’t have teeth, the town vet pointed out.
No one listened to the learned man. He had been through six years of vet school and knew a thing or two about what roosters have and don’t have. Everyone thought he was one of those animal rights activists bent on trying to stop the fights through reverse psychology. The arena would stop making the rooster use a mouth guard and when the Feds came in, the place would be shut down for dental cruelty.
The bear baiting lasted a little longer than the cockfights. Nevertheless, as Tolly the bear aged, her eyes began to fail and it was no longer a true betting situation. In her youth, she could put a worm on any type of hook. In the last few years, though, she would occasionally prick her bear finger with the hook and thus fail to accomplish the baiting in the regulation five minutes. Everyone started to bet that she would fail and no one would take the other side.
Guest Author Kyle Peronnails it! He originally published this essay in Alan Watson’s essential weekly reading, Magic New Zealand and was kind enough to permit our republication of it here. We are always looking for essays and articles from magicians. Do you have something to share — send it to editor@insidemagic.com.
People will read you as a performer the moment you step on stage.
You may not even have said anything. However, the moment you step out they are already evaluating you and can determine in a VERY short period of time whether they choose to like you or not. You cannot control them doing this. This is, after all, human nature. It happens. However, you CAN influence their perceptions and change it easily. in essence you can manipulate any audience if you are aware that this happens.
You have the ability to combat this. the problem is too many entertainers do not think about this until it is too late. Then they spend the good part of the show trying to bring the audience back up to where they should have been at the start.
A good rule of thumb is quite a simple one. Always be a professional at all times. Do not turn it on when the curtains open and shut it down when the curtains close; every time you are a professional. Make it a habit to be one at all times not just on the stage. It is how you act and how you talk to people.
Even when you arrive at a venue, people there are scoping you out and getting a sense of who you are. You are in the spotlight even if you are not on the stage yet. They cannot help themselves but to look at this person and try to figure out what you are all about.
Nathan Kranzo is an established Inside Magic favorite and regular at Mystic Hollow’s magic bar The Thumb Tip Inn.
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