The State of the Union

Graham Nichols

For me, the secret of your continued success is that you've realised from the beginning that the most important aspect of show business is business. You never cease to take the opportunity to market yourself. Indeed many of today's youngsters know you as 'that famous magician' but may not have seen any of your TV stuff. Now that's great marketing!

Today's TV magic shows appear to 'require an angle'. Scruffy presenters take classics of magic and fumble through them as if they were schoolboy pranks. The respect is gone. How do you see the magic of today, and why do you think that so many magicians treat their craft as a paid hobby which can be casually abused?

Paul Daniels

Thank you and yes, I do consider this to be a business and I wanted to create, like most businesses, the greatest income from my business. To do that I knew that I had to dress well (because the people who could pay me the most dressed well) Years later, when I began a serious study of Max Malini, I found that his father had given him the same advice over 100 years ago!!!! At the same time I was/am aware that it is also an ART form.

Do not blame the young magicians for their lack of 'theatre' or knowledge. The real problem is that the producers do not know that magic is as much a theatrical art form as is ballet, opera and drama. They think of it as just tricks. Add to that the production companies don't want to pay top performers AND want to maximise their profits they prefer to, literally, CHURN out shows that cost practically nothing to create. That is why they take what was always the bottom end of the market, the street entertainers... BECAUSE THEN YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR A 'SET'. I know that will upset a lot of street entertainers but they simply don't know how to move up market and REALLY EARN REAL MONEY.

Bloopers and Outs

LeeAlex

I am sure most members on this board remember your famed television series, at least they have heard about it, even if they are not young enough to have been able to watch it "live".

Over the years you performed countless amounts of material with almost everything available. The shows were performed in front of a live studio audience and everything appeared on our screens so perfect, timed and magical.

Did you ever have an effect go wrong? If so what was the effect and how did you remedy the situation? What advice would you give for covering up mistakes in front of a live audience?

Looking forward to hearing your experiences.

Paul Daniels

In truth I cannot remember anything going horribly wrong. A barrel sprung a leak one time when we filled it with water and it had dried out but that was so funny. Shame it wasn't shown. A horse s**t from one side of the studio to the other... HYSTERICAL... but the producer cut it out. Shame it wasn't shown. On a more serious note, we brought in an illusion from the continent, assumed it was professionally built to our standards, but it wasn't. With Debbie in it, it set on fire! It wasn't fireproof at all. I don't think that I ever finished a trick off so fast. She was brilliant and came out smiling despite choking from the fumes.

As for the tricks themselves, they were in the main well rehearsed so that I knew what I was doing although there were moments when the props had arrived very late and I sort of made it up as I went along.

For your live performances might I recommend that you do what I do and that is to REALLY write down and VISUALISE every aspect and move of the trick. Then look at that list and SEE what could go wrong and where. After that plan what you would do at those moments. Perhaps the audience would finish up seeing a different trick ending, but as they didn't know what was going to happen in the first place, it doesn't matter.

LeeAlex: Thank you for sharing those moments - funny and horrific at the same time!

I am sure one of the classic moments must have been the infamous chimpanzees - certainly one of the most memorable for me.

Your advice on writing down everything I am sure will be appreciated by everyone.

Paul Daniels: Ta!

Magic on Television, Magic in General

Michael L.

Mr. Daniels, thank you so much for allowing us this chance to 'speak' with you.

In your introduction thread you were proclaimed the most successful TV magician in the world (and I certainly have no quarrel with that). Given your experiences, do you think that magic is/has been more successful on British television than it is on US television? If so, and I think that it has been, why is that? Is magic more popular in the UK in general or is it a difference in the business of television or pure dumb luck? Is television viability necessary for the survival of magic as a popular form of entertainment?

I just wanted to start you out with some easy questions....

Paul Daniels

LOL. As I have said in another reply, television executives know, in general, nothing about the art of magic. They simply do not understand that is has major differences to the other entertainment offered on TV and they just treat it in the same way. That is wrong.

To a great extent they really don't understand how to present light entertainment because they have not been trained to do it. Even when you get a producer who is interested in magic it is, of course, his/her HOBBY and even there they make mistakes. Here in the UK we were lucky to have a David Nixon followed by a Paul Daniels. (I talk about PD like that because I have always separated me from him so that I could treat him like a product). Both of those men were backed up by great teams of advisors although ultimately, certainly in my case, I then made the vast majority of the ultimate decisions of what I did and how I did it. (I would have taken the blame if it wasn't right!) Both were capable of presenting, in their own style, the full range of magic.

Americans are thrown towards it having to be the BIGGEST and that is a 'hook' that you simply can't maintain without moving towards camera tricks. The public ain't stupid. I know that you can become famous without TV because I have worked with acts that have never done TV and yet pack them in. Regular TV makes anyone famous, but if they haven't got the talent, then they soon fade away.

Your View on a Regularly Debated Point

Ethan

Something that has oft been debated on this forum is the best advice to give someone with a new interest in magic, asking how to get started. Some suggest buying self working tricks, others DVDs and yet others a book. Perhaps there is no right answer but I'd be interested in your views on the subject. Do you think any one of these routes into magic is better for the budding magician?

Paul Daniels

My advice, ALWAYS, is not easy but I do believe it to be the best. Read books. Read as many books as you can. Whilst you are reading the books keep your own notebooks with full descriptions of what you think is good, good ideas, and even what you think up for yourself whilst you are reading.

I know that DVDs are out there, I have even made a few myself, but when I do them I try to keep 'me' OUT of the tricks. There is a reason for this.

If you read a book (I know it is harder that watching DVDs) YOU will see YOU doing the magic. YOUR imagination will DREAM and add to the vision of YOU performing. If you go the easy route and ONLY watch DVDs you will copy the performance on the screen. Why be a clone?

Example: when we were making the TV series, I found some tricks in a book. I thought they were great and I put three of them into the shows. A couple of years later I watched the originator perform them on a tape and HE was dire. I would never have performed those great tricks if, in my mind's eye, I hadn't seen ME doing them!

Ethan: Thanks for that, much appreciated.