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The Flicking Fingers present: The Book, or Don't Forget To Point, by Thomas Fraps, Helge Thun, and Jorg Willich, illustrated by Joachim "Jogo" Mezger, layout and design by Jorg Willich. Published by Kaufman and Company. 177 pp. $40 postage free in U.S.
Review from Mike Close (MAGIC,
January 1999)
The magicians known as Die Fertigen Finger were one of the highlights of the 1997 FISM congress in Dresden, Germany. Here's what Mike Caveney had to say about their lecture:" ...ten young Germans performed a carefully scripted show that made you forget you were actually listening to a magic lecture. Hilariously funny and brilliantly entertaining. All fine magicians individually, but as a group, an absolute knockout." I had a chance to see Die Fertigen Finger at this year's Desert Magic Seminar, and I agree with Mr. Caveney's assessment. These young men are thoughtful, clever, serious about their magic and very, very funny. These traits are clearly displayed in The Book, a large collection of close-up magic and theoretical essays from various members of Die Fertigen Finger. The subtitle of The Book is Don't Forget to Point, an obvious bit of advice from a group whose name in English is The Flicking Fingers. (The history of the "Don't forget to Point" admonition is explained at the beginning of the book. It is a very funny story. Throughout the book there are photographs chronicling the History of Pointing. These photos are also very funny.) The Book is divided into four large sections titled Close-up, Cards, Ideas and Theory. There is a wide variety of material explained, and the technical requirements are varied enough as to appeal to a wide audience. I'll mention some items that I found particularly interesting. The Close-up chapter begins with a very pretty coin routine by Thomas Fraps in which three half dollars are produced using a pair of tweezers. Rainer Pfeiffer offers a routine called change in which two coins ( a copper and a silver) continually penetrate through a small coin purse. This routine is perfect for walk-around situations. If you have an interest in Cup and Ball routines, be sure to check out " The Fruit Cups", created by Pfeiffer, Manuel Muerte, and Helge Thun. You'll find some interesting approaches here. Finally be sure to take a look at Jörg Willich's "Gummy-Bear Penetration", the perfect trick to do when you and your pals are wine tasting in the Napa Valley. Card guys will find much to keep them busy in Chapter Two. Among my favorites: Thun's " Providence '93", in which a selected card visually changes several times and ends up in a folded condition under the magician's watch; Muerte's "It's Shoe Time!", in which a selected card and a wine glass appear in the magician's shoe; and Jörg Alexander's "The Sympathetic Ten" a very clever version of Herbert Milton's Sympathetic Clubs." The Ideas chapter has some nifty ones (ideas, that is), including a visible production of a hammer, and some useful card moves from Pit Hartling and Thomas Fraps. Finally be sure to pay attention to the Theory chapter. There are four excellent essays here, covering a variety of subjects. It is this diversity of areas of expertise that makes The Flicking Fingers such a potent and vibrant creative force. Each member brings to the mix knowledge from fields outside of conjuring. Willich offers suggestions on "Being, Creative with Magic", Fraps discusses "The Blind Spot", an essay on how the eye and the brain process information, Gaston writes on the subject of "How to Act Wrong", and Thun offers methods for dealing with difficult spectators in his essay "Status and Improvisation" The Book is an excellent compilation from a very talented group of young men. i'm glad I had a chance to see The Flicking Fingers in action, and I expect great things from them in the future. Mike Close, MAGIC,
January 1999 (from his online magazine 'Little Egypt Gazette'
THE FLICKING FINGERS
Most U.S. magicians began to hear of this assembly of young German
magicians via reports out of the 1997 FISM in Dresden. This past spring,
a lucky thousand or so of us chanced to meet them in person, and to
see them lecture and perform, at Joe Stevens' Desert Magic Seminar in
Las Vegas. As I mentioned in my notes on that convention, "Their sheer
number, not to mention the fact that they often perform in disguise,
makes it difficult to keep track of them, so I'll make this one bold
attempt to introduce them all: Thomas Fraps, Gaston, and Ben Profane
(Munich); Pit Hartling and Nikolai Friedrich (Frankfurt); Helge Thun
(Tubingen); Rainer Pfeiffer (Stuttgart); and Jorg Willich and Manuel
Muerte (Hamburg). Stephan Jager (Munich) was on hand in a technical
role, while regular performers Jorg Alexander (Munich) and Stephan Kirschbaum
(Nurnberg) failed to make the trip. Whew!" They performed and lectured
both solo and in little groups, and frequently as outrageous characters.
Little was presented straight: a cups and balls routine was presented
as a sex education lecture, a nut off rope routine was repeatedly interrupted
with photos of world-famous magicians performing the trick, a coin trick
was explained in the manner of airline flight attendants outlining safety
features. Humor permeated everything they did. That anyone would attempt
to bottle all this energy, originality, and precocious knowledge of
magic in a book seemed ludicrous, but we were told that the book already
existed in the lads' native tongue, and that an English edition was
forthcoming.
SO WHAT'S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT POINTING?
The Book, or Don't Forget To Point appeared only months later,
in the summer of 1998, at a point when the world seemed inundated with
magic books, caught up in an explosion of information Jon Racherbaumer
called "overpowering" and "oppressive." This was a most unfortunate
circumstance that caused many good books, and this one is arguably the
best of the summer, to suffer low sales. Richard Kaufman's loss is your
gain: you can buy this book and be privy to some extraordinary secrets
that will allow you to confound your fellow magi and to completely entertain
lay audiences.
The book's title, or rather its sub-title (Don't Forget To Point),
is a bit of a stretch, a joke based on a quite amusing Dai Vernon/Mark
Wilson anecdote. It's nonetheless appropriate that pointing figure into
the title of a book by a bunch of guys who have named themselves after
their fingers. The pointing theme spills over into the book's distinctive
layout, which reminds me of a cross between Wired magazine and
The Feynman Lectures on Physics. (Physicists are popping up everywhere
in magic lately, and one of the authors here, Thomas Fraps, is one of
them.) Throughout the book, photographs picture various personalities,
from silent film figures to American presidents, in the act of pointing.
Many of these are highly amusing. Another running gag is a series of
photographs of the group's members with "unknowns," the unknowns bearing
suspicious resemblances to such knowns as Tommy Wonder, Max Maven, Lennart
Green, Irene Larsen, Dai Vernon, Siegfried, and many others. The unique
graphic design is matched by a definitely literate feeling, with epigraphs
sprinkled throughout the book by the likes of W.H. Auden, William Shakespeare,
Woody Allen, W. Somerset Maugham, Paul Gallico, Doug Hofstadter, Neville
Maskelyne, and Henry Miller. The text itself is imbued with the innovative
wit and generally irreverant humor that evidenced itself during the
fellows' live demonstrations.
CONTENT Not counting some entertaining frontal and closing matter, the book is divided into four sections, "Close-up [non-card items]," "Cards," "Ideas [moves, flourishes, and complete routines, some with cards] ," and "Theory." Let's briefly consider a few of my favorite examples of how these guys think. Close-up The Tweezers -- Two coins are produced with the help of a pair of tweezers. The tweezers themselves visibly change into a third coin. Scrooge McDuck -- A coin is magically removed from and then returned to the cellophane wrapper around a pack of cigarettes or a deck of cards, all in the context of a battle between Scrooge McDuck and The Evil Witch. Does this sound different or what? The Evil Witch of the Carl Barks tales, for the record, was named Magica De Spell. The Fruit Cups -- A fine two-cup routine, one of the cups secretly being a Chop cup. Years ago, I had trouble with Dai Vernon's routine, fitting the large balls into my back trouser pockets. I'd have even greater trouble with the loads in this routine, a tomato in the right front trouser pocket and another in the rear. I fear that my final loads would be catsup. Cards If Worse Comes To Worse -- A nice automatic location of two selected cards and some clever fishing to identify a third card merely thought of. Read carefully -- I think there's an error the reassembly of the packets during the routine. The Sympathetic Ten -- This is a strong sympathetic card sequence, in which an ordered set of ten cards of the same suit visibly and instantly rearranges itself to match the order of a shuffled packet of another suit, including a reversed selected card. This is a wonderful self-working method for an effect I first encountered in An Evening With Charlie Miller. Cupid -- A "cupid" joker causes a selected card to find its mate, then two selected cards to find mates, then for all the cards to mate up. This would make a great Valentine's Day or wedding or anniversary trick. It's practically self-working and should fool anyone unfamiliar with the method. The Chameleon -- A great gimmick allows a joker to assume the identity of three different cards. The displays look extremely fair. Double Bind -- I really don't like the "card or bill to impossible location" effects that rely on a duplicate card or bill to be found there, then switched for the real card or bill. Numerous top magicians have toyed with this idea, and though many of their ideas are quite clever, it's possible for the selected card or borrowed bill to actually end up in the impossible location, to what I consider a much stronger effect. This method is as close as I've seen to a combination of the two basic methods. A signed, selected card appears folded and rubber-banded inside a plastic container of rubber bands. It's Shoe Time -- A card appears in the magician's shoe, followed by the appearance of a wine glass in the same shoe. Bombshell -- A fuse is attached to a deck of cards to concoct a makeshift bomb. (This is a "cards as weapon" concept Ricky Jay has yet to explore.) The fuse is lit, the cards "explode." The selected card winds up inside the matchbox. (And it's really there.) Ideas Mismade Warp -- I can't say much about this variation of "Cardwarp" without giving away both the method and effect. It's an effective and logical surprise climax to a "Cardwarp" routine. Chaos Cut -- A lovely, simple false cut that retains the entire deck order. Thumb-Tips -- This is a clever method for ditching a thumb-tip after you've used it, say, as a secret ashtray. This would be perfect for Bill Malone's staff magicians, who perform in matching vests. A Rose Is A Rose Is A Rose -- Very nice: how to produce a long-stemmed rose from a purse frame. Theory I found some of the essays in the Theory section heavy going, analytical to the point of being almost mathematical. This is not to say there wasn't some fine thinking therein, the two standouts being items presented in lectures in Las Vegas: How To Act Wrong (Gaston) -- How to make "accidental" screwups play as real. The best I've seen at this is Tamariz, who can so make you feel he's lost control of your card that you feel like snatching the deck from his hands and shouting, "Stop -- it's OK, you can start over!" That's just before he slays you with a miraculous "save." Status and Improvisation -- A terrific essay on spectator management, and on the relative roles of the magician and spectator in various situations. ENDNOTES Some of the material in this book has previously appeared in Genii, though with different text and quite different illustrations. Material from the book also shows up in Pit Hartling's current video. The illustrations are by Joachim Mezger, and they have the look of casual pencil sketches, with gentle shading. I liked them very much. Once, when my son was three, a two-year-old acqaintance of his called him a contrary bastard. While I deny the aspersion, I thought it a wonderful turn of phrase and use it now and then, despite the age of the child who uttered it. While Max Maven is well past two, he pens the phrase "rapaciously self-serving duplicitous rat bastards" within the context of his most amusing introduction to this book, and I look forward to using it from time to time as well. (I can think of no better term, as of this writing, for certain members of the United States House of Representatives.) Max's introduction sent me to my English dictionary once ("polyphyletic") and to my German dictionary numerous times. There is an additional introduction by Piet Forton and an epilogue by Mike Caveney. The book itself, if you haven't caught my drift by now, is highly recommended. Not only will you find some great material -- I am especially enamored of the card tricks -- but you will have great fun working your way through it. -- Steve Bryant |
