Women and Children First

Excerpted from Brad’s new lecture notes. Check BradHenderson.com for more information. Whenever I go to a magic club meeting and watch the performances, I notice that in almost every situation where a magician requires a volunteer they inevitably pick a woman (or girl, if available) or a child. My heart goes out to every magic spouse/girlfriend who has ever made the mistake of sitting in...

A House with Many Rooms

May I share some of my imaginings with you? I imagine that magic is very much like a house with many rooms. I imagine that some of these rooms are large and brightly lit and many people enter. Other rooms are smaller and darker and are inviting only to a few. I see a room for dove workers and another for magic clowns. There is a cheerful room devoted to Gospel magic and another, rather more...

Unfinished Pictures

It is a stormy night. Trees are bending in the wind. The sky is threatening. Occasional claps of thunder ring in the distance. The rain has come and soon the city will be washed clean. The sky seems to burst open, the rain turns into a storm, as we arrive at our destination. I wanted to introduce you to a friend of mine – an artist, a painter. Together, we have come to his studio and,...

The Real Work

We’ve practiced all of our moves. We’ve rehearsed the entire act. We’ve shown it to our friends. What now? The next step is to get our new creations out of the rehearsal studio and into a live performance venue. One of the problems that many magicians run into early on, is that their “dream show,” that they practice only in the rehearsal studio, is not practical in...

Thoughts on Setting the Bar in Magic

I was on my way home from a very productive weekend with Jeff McBride and other magical folks in Las Vegas when I put into words the following simple truth: one fundamental difference between doing a magic act of one’s own creation and doing a magic act that is a copy of another magician’s presentation (or an act constructed of the pieces of several magicians) is who gets to set the bar of...