Close-up magic now is a big thing. David Blaine basically started like that and many magicians now make a living just by doing close-up. The craze nowadays is for new, edgier, extreme magic, and most of these new effects seem to fall under close-up magic category (or street magic as people like to say it now).

But ever wondered what it was like back then... When "close-up magic" meant you are sitting in the front row at a magic stage show?

Take a look:

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Tony Slydini (1901-1991) was born in Italy as Quintino Marucci. Slydini was the son of an amateur magician who encouraged him to pursue sleight of hand at an early age. Slydini was attracted to the psycological of the art that most appealed to the young Tony in the beginning, which would later manifest itself in his magic in the form of precise and expert use of misdirection. He was also taken by the relationship between the magician and his audience, which fueled his desire to be a close-up artist.

While still young, Slydini and his family left Italy to live in Argentina. It was there that Slydini began to experiment more seriously with magic. "In Argentina,", he says, "I created my own magic. There were many ways to go. I went the right way. I created magic."

Slydini worked in South America's vaudeville in South America for a time, but soon the Depression hit and work became scarce. In 1930, he moved to New York City, where work was also scarce, especially for a young man who spoke no English. Finally, Slydini found work in a museum on Forty-second Street. From there, Slydini found work in carnivals and sideshows.

Once Slydini went to visit his sister in Boston, and began looking for work. Thanks for a lucky break, Slydini managed to impress an agent there and landed a job for $15 a day for a three-day job. His skill was apparent to those who saw him on those three days, including another agent who offered him another contract. This strak continued for some time; Slydini ended up performing in Boston for seven years. But New York called to the now successful Slydini, and he moved back to there.

It's important to note that, at this time, close-up artistry didn't exist as it does now. Back in those days, close-up was used merely as an introduction to platform or stage shows. Slydini was breaking new ground, but only he seemed to realize it. In 1945, in New Orleans, he began to see the new land on which he was treading.

At that time, in New Orleans, there was a magic convention that Slydini used to show his own special brand of magic. "The world didn't recognize the close-up art then," he says. "No one knew I had this beautiful thing. Even magicians didn't know what it was. When I went to New Orleans, I had a standing ovation for twenty minutes. 'Slydini's magic is different,' they said."

Slydini, of course, didn't invent close-up magic; that had been around for centuries. But Slydini's style of close-up was something that had never been seen before. Slydini was one of the first to show close-up magic as an art rather than as a lead-in to bigger and grander illusions. Slydini's magic was impromptu; rather than follow a set sequence of tricks, he allowed his audience and the situation to dictate his show. "I do a trick better," he said, "if I like the trick, but if they like it, and I don't like it, I will do it for them anyway."

But to Slydini, magic was more than just tricks. "You have to know all the details. Something is happening all the time. You have to understand every moment. You have to hold people, how to entertain them. You must be aware of the common sense of things, the movements of the body, where to look and how to sit or stand."

A man of continental charm, sharp wit, undeniable skill and subtlety, Slydini delighted in performing, whether for laypersons or magicians. Bringing precision, grace, and intelligence to the table, Slydini could baffle them all as well as he entertained. Dick Cavett once asked Dai Vernon who could still fool him. Nobody, the Professor replied almost regretfully, then added with a smile, "Of course, Tony can."
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The above was taken shamelessly from the Visions site. It's not there anymore, it's an old cached file. I've preserved the formatting, and look at the bold stuff that Slydini said. I sometimes wonder how many people who are now "into" magic even know who this guy is.

And if you can, check out his performance of the "Coins through Table" rountine. Pure gold.

What's the point of this thread? I don't really know, just that I like to tell everyone about someone who I have been reading up on recently and now have enormous respect for. He more or less refined the genre of "close-up magic" to what we have come to know and love now. I don't mean he created the effects and routines, but that he crafted the ideas and the principles behind the kind of close-up magic we have now.

Ladies and gentlemen: Tony Slydini.


(Of course that's not to say he was the only one... Dai "The Professor" Vernon derserves a dozen threads by himself [apparently quite an eccentric character in his later years]. And Al Goshman? Ed Marlo? Robert Houdin? Thurston? And to lesser extents, but equally influential, the Maskelynes, David Devant etc? We haven't even gone into the later half of the 20th Century yet...)

i dont know whether i should or not but i really want to ask this. Do you think that its easy to make it big in the early days? unlike now a days.. even laymen know a trick or two.

Gread read Maddened! Thanks for sharing.

I know what you are thinking, "If only I was born in those times, I will be like the most famous magician in the world just by doing ACR and 2 card monte and a few colour changes." B) <_< :rolleyes:
Wrong. So wrong that I dun know where to begin.

1st of all, there's no mass media in those days so no such thing as TV specials. Which means EVERY effect that you do must be tested in front of a live audience. And live audience is a lot more unforgiving than cameras where you can do a re-take. If you flop, you flop.
And you can't be entertaining just 4 persons even if you are doing close ups. You have to be doing it for the whole place.
All the masters of the old are greatly renowned for their incredible skills and sleight mastery as well as fantastic entertainers. ENTERTAINERS ok?
ANd that's not all, many of the moves and tricks that you are using and doing today are probably not even invented yet.
So how far do you think you will go in those conditions?
Whether a layman knows a trick or 2 is the LEAST of the concerns. :rolleyes:

If anything, it's perhaps a lot more difficult to make it in those days than it is in the last, say, 10 - 15 yrs with magic.

I don't know for sure, but I suspect it is about 20 times harder then. I know it's harder for certain segments of the society. Like immigrants, those from poor families (social hierarchy was very much prevalent then) or families without "name" etc.

As for magic, back then it was a very guarded thing. It is literally only taught to people who show they have the dedication and determination to learn the art. There were no "schools" around for people to learn, they have to seek out someone willing to mentor them.

Furthermore, the history of magic up till the early 19th Century was not as stellar. It was seen more as tricks to con people, scams, dark forces, and even have satanic connotations. "The Discoverie Of Witchcraft" by Reginald Soct published in 1584 was an influential and controversial document that showed how the feats of what were called Witches then were nothing more than conjuring.

This probably explains why magic went to Broadway. Magic begin to lose its mysticism and became entertainment. It went from something very much connected with a society and a culture's way of life to something that is elegant and theatrical. This is all good since that means magic can be allowed to thrive without being censured as something "bad", but it also limits the scope and "power" of magic if you know what I mean.

To get a sense of how protected magic was among its exponents, just look at the lengths Houdini went to debunk mediums and seances. The idea was to plant in the minds of the lay people that the mediums' stuff is fake while Houdini's is real. The protection that magical secerts had back then also meant that whoever practiced it must be of the highest calibre, otherwise he'll be left in the dust eventually by the ones who really take the effort to master their art.

Anyway, back to Slydini. I don't think it was easy for him because he came from a foreign country, was poor, uneducated, and was a street performer. Magic is very wide-spread now, even "specialised" material like "Card Manipulations" can be bought from Kino, but does that make things harder? Probably. However I suspect that if us magicians keep in mind that the magic we do is not to "fool" or "challenge" the audience, but to entertain them, then we can very quickly sift out those who will succeed and those who will not.

Can you imagine how effective or popular a magician would be if he follows up every trick with a condescending laugh at the audience and makes fun of them for being stupid and not able to catch him doing his moves? No matter how good he may be, eventually people will not go on to watch him.

Now that's a very long answer to a short question. So here's the short answer: I don't think it was easier in the old days, and I don't think it's easy now but they are both difficult due to different reasons, and it was probably much more difficult back then that it is now.

I think this is still the way to make it big. Its really difficult to do it. Thats why, Slydini, Juan tamariz, Dai vernon and even David Blaine are so reputable.

Think about it, Slydini created so many effects. Juan Tamariz created sleights and effects that utilize them. Dai Vernon created tons of things. And David Blaine, created a new way of presenting magic.

This is a fun topic. I've read up on them before... Them, refering to those magicians. Anyway, Dai Vernon fooled Thurston at the age of 12 or so.

With a pass. :ph43r: Apparently Thurston was surprised by the invisibility of it?

Not sure if i got the age right though.
And S.W. Ednase (the guy who made the ednarse change?) spelled backwards is E.S Andrews.

Freaky, if you asked me. :g:

Back to the topic, yeah, to make it big, I guess inventing or coming up with new ideas, tricks, sleights, forms of presentation... all still work.

Think Jay Sankey. He invented quite a lot of tricks, sleights, and... firestarters! haha

Yea... There's been quite a bit of controversy as to who exactly Erdnase was because no such person existed. Many think it was actually Thurston writing with a few others, but there have been other theories as well. Till now there has not been a satisfying answer. Definitely a mystery.