New Tricks

The Age

Thursday May 1, 2008

Luke Buckmaster

The internet is helping keep magic alive in Melbourne, but revealing the secrets may also threaten it. Luke Buckmaster reports.

David McLeod has spent lots of money on coins.

Like most students, McLeod (who studies computer systems engineering at Monash University) earns a small income by working part-time on weekends. But instead of flipping burgers, stocking shelves or making phone calls, his job requires other skills - such as vanishing coins, exploding wallets and the odd spot of mental telepathy.

McLeod, 21, performs and sells magic tricks at The Magic Store in Southbank. Specialising in card sleights and coin manoeuvres, he began practising the world's second-oldest profession four years ago and is one of a new generation of internet-born magicians.

Before McLeod performed in front of a live audience, he performed to strangers by filming himself with a webcam.

"YouTube is a great resource for seeing what kinds of tricks are out there and seeing them performed," he says. "With the internet there is a lot of free information, so it's really inspiring younger people to get into it."

Magic can be an expensive hobby: the average DVD will set you back $70 to $80, card decks range from $5 to $200 and most books cost between $50 and $200. When a magic trick is sold it isn't just the materials that have been acquired but also the secret, and the latter often costs the bulk of the price tag.

While McLeod is pursuing a career outside the mystic arts, Tim Ellis, 46, makes a living from magic and has a stunningly weird CV of achievements. He's been buried alive on national TV, escaped a wooden crate plunged into the Yarra, driven a Mercedes blindfolded and freed himself from a straitjacket while hanging upside down from a crane.

Visitors to the Ellis home enter through a foyer with spooky dungeon decor before a voice invites them to pass through a coffin into the main abode. Moments before his interview with The Age, Ellis sawed open his left index finger with a Stanley knife then magically restored the wound. During our photo shoot he sawed off his arm.

His wife, Sue-Anne Webster, has a similarly spectacular resume. The couple met at a Sydney magic convention in 1997.

"Some of the best magicians are hobbyists and some of the worst magicians are professionals," Tim says.

"There's a guy we know who is just unbelievable with cards," adds Sue-Anne. "He's a surgeon and magic is his hobby, yet he's one of the greatest card magicians of all time."

Magic has experienced a resurgence in the past few years. Inner-city magic shops confirm an increase in the number of tricks sold and renewed interest from the general public.

People in the industry believe websites such as YouTube are a major contributor to magic's revival.

But there is a significant downside. Magic's golden rule is never reveal the secret - and in the hands of internet amateurs that rule is often broken.

"If people find out how magic is done then quite frankly we won't exist," says Kristina from Bernard's Magic Shop, Australia's oldest magic store.

"The fantasy is gone. You might as well say there's no Santa, no Easter bunny, no tooth fairy."

McLeod offers a more resigned perspective. "You are never going to stop it (spoiling the secret) so there is no point getting angry about it," he says. "I have the mindset that information should be free, but magic is a bit of a gray area."

Mentors and proteges are another important part of magic history, but in the days of global information sharing some believe they are slowly facing extinction.

"A new generation of magicians are growing up without mentors," says Tim Ellis. "They're getting their information from YouTube, from DVDs and not from real people."

Secrets are not the only things passed down from a mentor to a protege. Other elements of magic, such as the intricacies of performance, are carefully tutored.

"It can be easy to pick up a trick and learn how to do it," says Sue-Anne, "but to actually present it is another kettle of fish."

Melbourne is widely regarded as the hub of magic in Australia.

The city is home to Magic Mondays, which, according to organiser-magician Dean Atkinson, is the only regularly performed magic event in the country.

On the first Monday of every month, local and international magicians ply their trade in a small darkly lit room at the back of Dante's Restaurant in Gertrude Street, Fitzroy. The event began in 2004.

"We generally get about 100 people in the audience every month," says Atkinson.

"It's not amateur night. It's not an open mic. It's a professional night of magic (and) people come because they know that."

McLeod has performed at Magic Mondays twice. The first time, he was so nervous his body started involuntarily shaking - not ideal for coin tricks that require precise hand movement.

After the show, however, he was riding a natural high.

"When the clapping subsides there is always a big gust of energy and it's like, 'Wow!' It's great that I can entertain so many people by doing the things I usually do at work," he says.

Every magician feeds off their audience. Magic, after all, cannot exist if nobody is around to appreciate it.

Magic Mondays is on the first Monday of the month at 7.30pm at Dante's, corner Gertrude and Napier streets, Fitzroy. Theatre reservations: 9682 0153. Dinner reservations: 9417 2468. Adults $10, Children $5.

Link

To watch video of David McLeod visit theage.com.au.

© 2008 The Age

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