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. From Kaufman and Company, 4200 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Suite 106-292, Washington, D.C. 20016.

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