R. Paul Wilson Lecture: Amazing and Well-Taught!Inside MagicMagic News Updated Daily for the Professional Magician

First you should know that Mr. Wilson has an accent. I was trying to place it because I had heard he works out of Los Angeles. I figured he might be from the Valley or perhaps Santa Monica but I wasn?t sure. Then he told us he was from Glasgow. I thought he meant the Glasgow that?s north of Bakersfield off the Grape-Vine but he was talking Glasgow, Scotland. He spends time in both the land of beauty and the land of beautiful people. I did genuinely feel like a dope that I couldn?t place his accent but I had heard he was from L.A. so maybe that?s why.

Mr. Wilson began with a variation on Three Fly ? I think that was the name, he has an accent. It was a fantastic study in misdirection. To demonstrate the effect he used regular-sized coins. The moves are slow, not awkward and the final vanish was so smooth and natural that I was blown away.

To teach the effect, Mr. Wilson used jumbo coins for what…

To teach the effect, Mr. Wilson used jumbo coins for what he called ?Wilson Vision.? This was a stroke of genius. By using the jumbo coins, you could see what?s happening no matter your location in the backroom area. The lecture was packed so the use of any visual aid was greatly appreciated.

Mr. Wilson had a neat motto that explained how and why he makes his moves so natural. ?Suggestion leads to assumption to conclusion. Let the audience make the conclusion from your suggestion.? In practical terms, when doing the French Drop, remember that it is the blank space left where the coin once was that sells it. You don?t want to misdirect your audience, you want to direct them towards those actions that give the audience a suggestion that allows them to make an assumption. They will then take the assumption and form their own conclusion; seemingly without your influence.

Mr. Wilson then performed and explained a very clean ?Ring Off Stick? with a Jardin-Ellis Ring and a solid brass pipe. The sound and visual of the ring going on and off and then on again while the pipe wasfantastic. This was motivation for me to dig out my J-E Ring. I had it down by the coin dropper, my Mystic Smoke from Fingertips, my five and a half Okito boxes (I lost the top to one of them) and my solid color knives for my color changing knives.I also found an old egg bag with a rubber egg in the lining that had turned to mush and sealed the bag shut. Nice visual, Tim.

The next effect was more than I could expect from a lecture. Mr. Wilson called it “Out of your Mind” and explained it was based on Vernon‘s “Out of Sight Out of Mind.” If you are familiar with the Professor?s version, you know that it can be a little cumbersome but Mr. Wilson has streamlined the effect to make for a much easier selection method.

In Mr. Wilson’s routine, the magician shows a well-shuffled deck of cards and asks the spectator to simply look at one of the cards as he fans them before the spectator. The deck is then shuffled a couple of times and the spectator is again shown the cards in a spread while the magician has his back turned to the spectator.

The spectator verifies that the mentally selected card is within the deck and then the magician cuts the deck and for the first time the thought of card is named. It is then shown to be the very card the magicianselected.

I bought the routine notes for this effect and found them to be well-written and easy to use as I practiced. This is an incredible trick that can be done with any deck of cards.

Mr. Wilson then performed but did not explain the secrets of Fan-2-C. This is an effect he sells and he sold quite a few last night. Basically you show a terrible poker hand and instantaneously and visibly turn it into a straight flush.

Very nice effect but I have a beef.

I know that he sells the effect and that he depends on it for his income. But, I wish he would have explained the effect and the gimmick involved. Joshua Jay, Pavel, Tim Ellis and Sue-Anne Webster, Doc Eason and Simon Aaronson all demonstrated the effects they intended to sell at the lecture and explained the secrets to the effect. I don?t think their sales were diminished at all. Of course, I don?t think Mr. Wilson?s sales were diminished either so maybe it doesn?t matter.

Mr. Wilson showed us a new effect he is manufacturing, ?The Predator.? Again, because the trick will be sold from his website ? it goes for $250.00 ? he did not explain its workings but did demonstrate a very effective variation of the Any Card to Wallet where the named card appeared imprinted on the back of dollar bills removed from the wallet. It will be very well-worth the wait and the price, in my humble opinion.

It was fitting that we would just be talking about selling effects at lectures because after ?The Predator,? we took a break and the buying began.

In the second half, Mr. Wilson continued with his theme of using props and your hands to ?direct? rather than misdirect. He began with a variation on a Larry Jennings? Routine. Mr. Wilson calls the effect Punch Two and it is a very nice piece where the magician can do some acting and while it is a sucker trick ? the audience member thinks you have completely missed their card but in the end it turns out to be sandwiched between the aces ? but it is not an obnoxious sucker trick.

He demonstrated and explained a very clean and clever Coins through Table. His goal was to do a coins through table without using an extra coin and he has done just that. The handling is so clean and so natural that it made me wonder why I put so much into my presentation. His point was well-taken; be natural and direct, don?t misdirect.

The reason I wanted to see Mr. Wilson was because the advertisement for the lecture claiming he would to teach me a thread-less, impromptu rising card. I may have told you before that Henry Evans (2002 Inside Magic Magician of the Year) taught me how to do a rising card with a deck that can be instantly examined. But even Mr. Evans needed a gimmick.

Mr. Wilson calls his version ?Uprising? and true to his word, a selected card actually appears to rise from a fanned deck. The explanation is simple and Mr. Wilson?s instruction was so clear that once I understood how to perform it, I asked, ?What sells the trick? Why would people think the card is magically rising?? I had just seen the effect performed and was very impressed and fooled but once I learned the secret, I couldn?t understand how it would fool anyone. I think this is a positive comment about an effect but it sounds strange. Trust me, see the lecture, see this effect, and tell me if you don?t feel the same way.

The last three effects, ?Gone Wishing,? ?The Blin-Pen? and ?Ricochet? were different from each other with props, moves, and approach but similar in inventiveness.

In Gone Wishing, three coins appear and then vanish in such a clean and fair manner. In fact, even when he instructed how to perform the miracle, with Wilson Vision (the big coins), and then did the performance again, I could not see how it was done.

Blin-Pen was a clever effect where a signed dollar bill is torn and the small piece held by the magician vanishes and reappears wrapped around the ink cartridge of a pen that had been sitting in full-view the entire time. Mr. Wilson readily admits this is not a trick that will fool magicians. You probably could figure it out from my description. But for a lay audience it seems impossible.

The final effect was one to be shown only and not explained. Ricochet has the magician fairly show four aces and four kings. The cards are mixed and one by one it appears the kings have left the table and taken the place of the aces the magician is holding. The magician shows the kings are on the table and instantly the kings that were clearly in the magician?s hand turn in to four aces. It is amazing. I bought it and am very happy with it.

Mr. Wilson?s teaching style is effective. He seems genuinely interested in making sure everyone who wanted to learn could learn. He entertained questions, worked with us during breaks and really seems to enjoy what he is doing. And he should, he is doing it so well. I recommend his lecture without hesitation!

INSIDE MAGIC RATING: Four out of Four