Note from Martin:

This DVD doesn't need any further recommendation from me, but I write this recommendation here because of the validity of the magician it comes from. While sitting in the bar at a magic convention, on a nearby table was one of my all time favourite magicians, Tommy Wonder. He caught my eye and called across, telling me that the best video (it was video only at that time) he had ever bought, was the Toreno one on Cardini.

 

For a magician of Tommy's standard to take the trouble to point that out, says a lot to me you could not ask for a better recommendation.

This lecture is the result of Toreno & Finn Jon spending years discussing the magic act of a great magician, the magician considered by many to be the greatest manipulator ever, Cardini.

 

They dissected his act, looked in-depth at the thinking behind every movement, every gesture, every action. They studied his perfect manipulations and productions, the story he presented and how he deliberately loaded his things way ahead of his audience's attention.

 

Toreno & Finn Jon kept notes, and when they considered their study complete, Toreno prepared the lecture for presentation at the MacMillan Magic Convention, London.

The lecture begins with an introduction by Finn Jon, who then steps aside to allow Toreno to present the lecture. Finn Jon remains on stage, should Toreno require assistance on detail, but he needn't have done as Toreno presents the lecture with style.

Toreno proceeds to walk us through the Cardini act, showing the manipulations and productions, and most importantly, talking us through the thinking that was behind the magic.

 

This is a classic magic lecture that every magician should watch, very few would nowadays have had the privilege of seeing Cardini in a live theatre, but many would have and can see the rare footage taken in 1957 and shown on the Paul Daniels Magic Show on the 23rd January 1988 (link here Cardini). I mention this footage for a reason, this was shown on a Saturday evening, I watched it with my family in silence, absorbed in the performance. My Dad had often told me about Cardini, this footage showed me why Dad held him with such high regard. But there's another reason I mention that Saturday evening's Paul Daniels show - during the following Monday & Tuesday, in our London Magic Shop, various passers by from the public, made a point of coming in and asking/talking about the 'old magician' on television the previous Saturday. It'd never happened before, nor has it happened since. Such was the effect of the great Cardini, I understand why Toreno & Finn Jon, got together to prepare this lecture and I thank them for doing so.

 

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