NICK LEWIN LOOKS AT THE RECENT TRENDS IN MAGIC AND HOW IT IS ONCE AGAIN AT THE FOREFRONT OF ENTERTAINMENT , AND HOW WE CAN ALL BENEFIT FROM IT .

One of the exciting parts of having been around the magic business full-time for over five decades is that you really start to notice some of the trends that arise in our beloved art form . These trends appear and then disappear , only to arrive back again slightly re-tuned a while later . When you are too deeply absorbed in what is happening at this very instant , it is easy to dismiss the evolutionary recycling that is continuously at work in life . Once you have been around the block a few times , it makes it a lot easier to spot and greet an old friend when he pops up in a slightly different garb . If you do this often enough , and for long enough you sometimes even get credit for being an expert .

The most important thing is to recognize a trend and then jump onboard before everyone else does . One of my favorite modern day philosophers says , “ The key to success is knowing what is coming next and being on the spot to recommend it .” However , I have frequently made the mistake in the earlier part of my career of being just a little too fast in staking out my turf . People often fail to appreciate originality unless it is firmly grafted onto something they have already mastered . I had many great ideas that I knew would work but then mishandled them by underestimating the need for the weight of the Universe to carry these ideas into application . Let me give you a couple of simple examples from my experience and then discuss what I consider the current trends that I think have a serious future . You may not agree with my analysis , but if it causes you to formulate your own ideas along these lines , then it will not be wasted pixels .

Back in the 1980s , there was a glorious explosion in the corporate market , and it was a truly golden era for the savvy magician . However , there was a simple caveat to this scenario as the average lay audience thought of magic as being based very largely on the performance of illusions . Siegfried & Roy and David Copperfield were omnipresent in most buyers minds when it came to large industrial entertainments . I packaged corporate shows with great magician / illusionists such as Piet Paulo and Chuck Jones , and I would then add great manipulative performers such as Shimada and Norm Nielsen as the cherries on the sundae . Eventually , I realized that at the heart of these shows was my comedy skills at tying in product promotion , and those big illusions . Being ambitious I wanted a slightly bigger slice of the pie , and I bought 15 classic illusions , and for a decade I made a lot of money in the corporate market performing them . In other words , I used the prevalent tides and waves to propel my work as a magician into a more successful and profitable zone .

During the 1980s I was frequently making TV appearances , and like everyone else had dreams of creating a smash magical special for that medium . In the early 80s , I wrote an outline for a magic special that took place on the streets of Los Angeles . No stage , no