Dedicated To The Art

What follows is a crazy idea that I’m clearly not expecting anyone to do. It’s an essay out of my upcoming book (Working Title: Brain Dump). It’s meant to be a thought exercise as is much of the material in the book. As you read the essay below, however, think of the possibilities. Think of how dedicated to your magic career are you. Are you willing to do what it takes to grow your business? Read some of the past No Stone Left Unturned Articles.

Enjoy Dedicated To The Art

When I read the Paul Harris trilogy, The Art of Astonishment, I was already very familiar with his work, his effects, etc. However, I had no idea about his thinking on the concept of astonishment, and I had no idea how much of a genius he really is. I knew he was clever, and I even knew that he was a genius, but I had no idea to what level his genius extended until I read those books.

Once I caught up with the rest of the class, I thirsted for theory essays from Paul Harris. Since pretty much all of that was published in this trilogy, I had no choice but to read the essays over and over again. There were a couple of “out there” ideas that he published as just that . . . ideas. Stuff that was never tested or stuff that was maybe even close to impossible in practice, but probable in theory. The next few essays fall into one of those categories . . . untested or merely theoretical.

Let’s start this bizarre journey with a piece I call, Dedicated to The Art.

Imagine a very young magician . . . late teens early 20s. He spends several years becoming a true student of the art. He reads the classics; he studies the masters; he performs and perfects his skill as a technician, performer, and entertainer. He reaches this point of expertise by the age of 25 let’s say.

Then he uproots himself. He moves away to another country or at the very least to another state very far away from where he currently lives. In his new state/country, he takes on a whole new identity.

Using make up, he ages himself by 30 or 40 years. So he looks like a 65 ish year old man. He spends the next 5 years making a name for himself as an entertainer in his new state. He becomes an established performer. People know him. They know his act; he’s been on TV, Radio, etc.

For the five years in his new location while he’s building his show, he never ever removes his make-up. When he goes out in public, he where’s the make-up and is always “in character.” Always. He never breaks character. He becomes a local celebrity.

Then the hype begins. He starts telling the local news and anyone who will listen that he’s discovered a principle that the ancient Hindus (or whatever) used. It’s a secret of wise men that has been lost to the ages. But this faux 70 year old (he’s been performing for 5 years since he “became” 65) has rediscovered it. He claims that it will take some time to fully crack the code and understand it, but once he does he will demonstrate it before a live audience. He spends several months “hyping” this with very little specific information.

He creates several YouTube video journals with his progress report on this new concept. Finally, after several months of building it up, he claims that he’s very close . . . maybe a month away. He’s discovered an age reversing technique. Not only does it reverse the aging process, but it happens instantly. He continues to hype and push this on the media and the news claiming that on X date, he will demonstrate it.

Finally when X date comes, he performs an effect where, right before the eyes of the audience, he goes from becoming a 70 year old man to becoming a 30 year old man. Of course the method is that he just secretly removes the make-up. How this is accomplished, I haven’t worked out yet.

One thing is sure, however. The magician can never leave the site of the audience while he is removing the make-up. He can’t go behind a curtain or do anything that would allow the audience to suspect that he switched places with another person. The kicker of course is that he never puts the make-up on again. He stays at this new young age and continues to age from there. It would be the ultimate scam that would require true dedication to the art.

Of course the hype and the build-up leading up to the main event can be whatever you want, but the key is that it has to create mystery, controversy and draw in the attention of the media and the world in general. It can be spun like a magic trick or it can be spun like science. The effect itself could happen as you go into some sort of meditative state on stage and you de-age all at once. Or you could start the show by performing the de-aging ritual, and then throughout the show, you seem to get subtly younger and younger.

There are many ways to do this that I’m sure each of you could conceive. There are many convincers you could do as well. You could submit yourself to a DNA test before and after the de-aging process to prove that no switch was made. You could do a finger print comparison, etc. The more scientific and test-condition like you make it, the more incredible the illusion will be.

Further convincers can be made by creating phony fliers and documentation of shows performed 40 years ago at theaters that don’t exist anymore. Of course these fliers and so forth would have the magician’s picture on them in full period correct garb at the appropriate age. These documents would be things that the magician collected in a scrap book or something as if it were his history and portfolio of his career.

They might even make an appearance in a news story about the magician while he’s 65 years old. This way, he’ll have documented on film pictures of what he looked like back in the 1970s when he was supposedly performing at a 30 year old. So later when he de-ages, there will be archived footage of what he looked like before he de-aged.

Of course there are many details that have to be worked out. For example, how does this 65 year old who came from nowhere get new identification, driver’s license, etc?

What about his family? In my opinion, for this to work, absolutely nobody can know the truth, so it would have to be someone who has no family, no ties to anybody. I know it’s crazy, but in theory it’s possible.

Until Next Month . . .