It would be easier to answer the question if we had some idea as to what criteria we need to use to make this judgment.

Are we talking about popularity or influence on the art or contribution to the art or showmanship?

What about originality and creativity?

I guess much will dictated by your knowledge of the history of magic and your exposure to performers. Many of the younger performers may well cite David Blaine or Derren Brown as they are the wider known names. But again if you are a fan of a particular genre then perhaps the names that come to mind will be those who ‘lead’ in your field or area of interest.

For what it’s worth I’ve compiled a top 5 list under various headings for your consideration, discussion and challenge.

Historically the most relevant magicians are perhaps:-

1) Houdini

2) Robert Houdin

3) The Maskelyns

4) David Devant

5) Horace Goldin

Perhaps the top 5 Magicians all performers need to read and study

1) Dai Vernon

2) Eugene Burger

3) Fitzkee

4) Max Maven

5) Jaun Tamariz

For me the top five stage performers who bring emotion, personality and wonder to their shows

1)  Jeff McBride

2) David Copperfield

3) Fred Kapps

4) Falkenstien and Willard

5) Tommy Wonder
A top five gaggle of close-up workers

1) Eugene Burger

2) Tommy Wonder

3) Michael Ammar

4) Juan Tamariz

5) Ricky Jay

On cards – must reads/see

1) Marlow

2) Jennings

3) Bill Malone

4) Ascanio

5) Lenhardt Green

In terms of Mentalism (my favourite genre) all time greats…

1) Fogel

2) Kreskin

3) Max Maven

4) Anneman

5)  Banachek

As far as the degree of impact upon the public perception of magic, my top five would be:-

1) David Blaine – his innovative focus on the audience reaction rather than the performance of the effect

2) Penn and Teller – genius at work. Clever, funny, intelligent

3) Derren Brown – reinvigorating mentalism

4) David Copperfield – still the master of Grand Illusion

5) Paul Daniels – who really redefined the relevance of the magician in the 1970′s – 1990′s

My PERSONAL favourites and key influences

1) Tony ‘Doc’ Shiels

2) Eugene Burger

3) Jeff McBride

4) Max Maven

5) Terri Rogers

So what do you think?

As I was trying to restrict myself to a top five I found that I had to omit magicians who have inspired and entertained me…

David Berglas, Richard Osterlind, Bob Cassidy, Harry Lorraine, Roy Walton, Dunniger, Chan Canasta, Cardini, Michael Close, The Piddingtons, Ron and Nancy Spencer, Corinda…… the list goes on.

The truth is that we are all standing on the shoulders of giants and the more we learn about our art the more people we have to thank, aspire to and be inspired by.

A good friend of mine was talking to a young card magician sometime ago. The youngster was performing a version of the ambitious card. In talking to my friend, who is a professional magician, the fresh faced boy asked which were the bets magicians to learn from. When the names Dai Vernon, Michael Ammar and Marlow were mentioned the young magician looked blank and said “Who?”

It was the case that this young magician was learning is magic from You Tube. Not too much wrong with that perhaps (exposure issues asides) but his search for magical knowledge was limited by is lack of exposure to good magic. He was modeling himself on David Blaine and because he had received little guidance, and perhaps lacked the real motivation to look deeper into the art, he was really limiting his development as a magician. The more role models we have perhaps the easier it is to develop our own style and see what works for us.

Alan

For many amateur magicians ‘learning magic’ stops once they ‘know’ the secret of the trick. Professional performers will regularly come across someone in their audience who makes the claim that they ‘know how that is done!’.

But knowing ‘how’ doesn’t mean you can do it!

A magic effect is a finely crafted piece of theatre with a beginning a middle and an end. It can have meaning in and of itself, but there are few effects that do, or it can be given meaning by the context or the frame the magician places around the ‘trick’.

I feel that some of the ‘apathy’ and ‘indifference’ to magic that we experience in the UK is because there have been too many magicians who have relied upon the ‘magic’ and not considered the emotional frame they place around it.

So, for example, the magician places a coloured hanky in the spectators hand and after a few magical gestures it changes colour. Visually appealing but what does it ‘say’ other than ‘look how smart I am!’

Even when such an effect is presented with ‘cod’ explanation (pretending to tell the audience how it is done) the bitter aftertaste that can be left is one of “I’ve just been conned” rather than I’ve just been ‘entertained’ or ‘amused’.

‘Frame’, ‘meaning’ and ‘intention’ are all important in crafting a magic routine. Notice I said crafting as opposed to learning or performing! A crafts-person is an artist who takes time over the creation of their art!

Meaning can be as simple or as complex as you like, but it needs to be something more than ‘look I’m doing neat things’.

Magic, as opposed to Mentalism, is a visual art and as such can access a wealth of social and cultural metaphors from which to draw meaning. The key thing is to remember that the ‘viewer’ will construct their own internal meaning from the clues you give them. Understanding this is the key to presenting (emotionally) engaging magic.

Here’s a great example of a simple piece of magic most magicians know how to do, but placed in a frame in which there is ‘meaning’ and emotional relevance for the audience.

Ian Saville : The Socialist Magician   http://www.redmagic.co.uk

Alan