Good Magic Is Timeless
Let's start with what I believe to be a reasonable assertion: Good magic is timeless. So, while it might be tempting to think that presentations from over 30 years ago might be of limited value to today's performers, the ideas and routines contained in The MAGICK of Cicardi are so entertaining and practical that there are few performers who would not benefit from them.
Following a similar format as Gene Nielsen's The MAGICK Years, we've pulled together all of the articles and Bonus Inserts from Cicardi (a.k.a. Dr. Charles Scott) that ran in MAGICK over its 24+ years. Here's a fun fact -- the only other contributor with more contributions than Gene Nielsen and Cicardi was Phil Goldstein. If you're not familiar with Dr. Scott/Cicardi, you can find more details HERE, which describes how he was able to truly connect with his audiences. Dr. Scott's philosophy and personality were key factors in his presentations, which were designed with an approach that almost guarantees the engagement and cooperation of your audiences. While many of the presentations you'll find in The MAGICK of Cicardi are structured so audience members are empowered with intuitive abilities, rest assured that there will still be plenty of applause left for you as well.
Presentation Is Everything
The MAGICK of Cicardi is a 130-page digital e-book that features 35 regular articles and 8 Bonus Inserts from Bascom Jones' legendary newsletter, MAGICK. Each of the presentations are real world-tested, and most of them were featured on Dr. Scott's long-running TV program, Mind Probe. Like Bascom, Dr. Scott advocates the idea that "Presentation Is Everything", so the emphasis is placed on audience impact, not fancy sleights or elaborate props. Because of this focus, most props are easily made with simple materials.
An excellent example of this is the Cicardi version of the classic Mental Epic, which uses props so basic and unprepared, you could do this impromptu with borrowed materials and no preparation whatsoever. Other examples would be Cicardi's takes on Paul Curry's "Out of This World" and the Princess Card Trick -- neither of which uses playing cards.
Do you like stacked decks? If you do, you already know how tedious and time-consuming it can be to set them up, and as such you will most likely appreciate Cicardi's stacking method, which could very well be the fastest way to stack a deck of cards.
Here's a more extensive list of some of the topics covered:
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Speaking of presentation, shortly after The MAGICK of Cicardi was released, someone emailed and asked, "Is the Cicardi Magick book an exact duplicate of the work that appeared in Magick?". Here's the gist of my response:
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"All of the material originally written by Bascom has been rewritten and enhanced with additional content for the sake of clarity and context. During the rewriting, I had weekly conversations with Charles, and much of what we talked about made its way into the revised articles. The material that was originally written by Charles I left as is, since Bascom's policy with all of his contributors was that they retained the rights to their material and could republish it if they wanted to." |
The Bonus Inserts
As if the regular articles that came in every issue of MAGICK weren't enough, Bascom regularly included longer articles -- the famous Bonus Inserts -- that would cover a topic in a more in-depth fashion. Dr. Scott wrote eight Bonus Inserts in which he gave his experienced take on subjects including graphology, blindfolds, and pre-show work.
Of special interest to working professionals are two of the Bonus Inserts that are worth many times the price of the book: a fascinating description and analysis of Eddie Fields' "Dime-Store Mental Act, and the legendary "Psi-Grafico -- the $60,000 Act." Using the concepts in these two articles alone, you could develop a very comfortable revenue stream.
When you're ready to order the digital e-book "The MAGICK of Cicardi", simply click on the Add To Cart button below.
The MAGICK of Cicardi
ORDERING INFORMATION & FINE PRINT PLEASE NOTE: All Pro Shop orders are processed the old-fashioned way -- by a real live person -- and typically in the morning, Monday through Friday. If your order is placed Monday through Friday, it will most likely be processed within 24 hours. Orders placed on a weekend will be filled on Monday, unless that's a holiday. 1) To order this package of digital materials, simply click on the "Add To Cart" button for the item you want. |