BOOK REVIEW BY DAVID SUTHERLAND WILLIAMSON’S WONDERS IS BACK IN PRINT!!!

I had started reviewing a different book for this month when I heard the exciting news.

Normally, I talk about books that are under the radar and ones that I haven’t looked at for quite some time; neither apply with this book. Not to mention that it would be tough to argue that this particular performer is under the radar…

WILLIAMSON’S WONDERS BY RICHARD KAUFMAN

BOOK DETAILS: 96 pages (Hardcover), Publisher Kaufman and Greenberg, Published in 1989, Written and Illustrated by Richard Kaufman.

Available at Browser’s Den: www.browsersden.com

David Williamson is a professional sleight of hand artist, magician, and author. Genii’s David Britland called him “an exceptional stage performer” and “a magician who changed the way we do magic.” He was named Magician of the Year in 2017 by the Academy of Magical Arts and was named an Honorary Member of the prestigious British association The Magic Circle.

It was Henry Hay’s The Amateur Magician’s Handbook, which introduced David to magic. Do you have it?

During his career, David worked at Magic Masters in Washington, D.C. where he honed his chops demonstrating Rocky Racoon. This morphed into a hilarious ten minute routine which the world got to see on The World’s Greatest Magic III in 1996. He has performed on stages around the globe in The Illusionists and as The Ringleader in Circus 1903, as well as on Disney Cruise Lines and for numerous corporations. Everything he does is great. He is hilarious and a giant in our art. If you’ve never seen him perform you can find many clips of him on YouTube.*

Now, on to the book…

The Foreward is by Max Maven who is missed and remains in our thoughts. He was asked by Richard Kaufman to write the Foreward before he had even seen David perform. After seeing him at the Castle, Max described David as having “an impressive level of top quality skill, exceedingly clean and natural.” Max knew quality when he saw it.

The first section is Coins.

This section opens with The Wonderful Coin Vanish which is a startling vanish where both of the performer’s hands are seen unquestionably empty before the coin is reproduced. This was inspired by Jimmy Buffaloe’s The New Era Coin Go from Modern Coin Magic.

Cross-Eyed Coins Across was inspired by Daryl’s The Mysterious Cross of India from Secrets of a Puerto Rican Gambler which is based on a routine of Shigeo Takagi’s. The reason behind the structure of this routine is to avoid unnecessary visual clutter such as recounting coins from hand to hand or putting them on the table and picking them up again.

In Rebate, the performer explains that there’s a twenty-five cent rebate when you buy a pen. Upon shaking the pen, the spectator can hear the sound of coins rattling, then the cap is removed and the performer visibly shakes two dimes and a nickel out of the cap. These are then dropped back into the pen cap, the cap replaced and once again the audience can hear the sound of the coins rattling inside – the performer’s hands otherwise empty. 

The Striking Vanish was one of the first items for which David became known. It is an open-hand-vanish where a coin laying on your palm is struck with a wand or a pen and the coin visibly vanishes. The sleight is also used in David’s Cups and Balls routine explained later in the book.

Copper, Silver and Purse is a ballet of vanishes and transpositions of a coin in the hand changing places with a coin in a purse.

In Wishing Well a coin changes size and colour as a coin is dipped into the magician’s fist. 

Money Talks is something I first saw David do on the short-lived MVN (Magician’s Video Network) VHS tapes in the 80s. In fact, the move goes back to 1584 in The Discoverie of Witchcraft. A coin is placed in the hand, tapped with a wand or knife and then with no further moves, it vanishes. Similarly, if you want to reproduce the coin, you can see it, tap it and everyone can hear the invisible coin and then you can produce it. David has worked this subtlety into a nice routine with three silver dollars.

When You’re Behind, You’re Ahead is David’s plot for magically producing three coins, vanishing them, then reproducing them. The clean handling is due to David’s application of Michael Gallo’s One-Behind Principle.

The Change Bag was a part of David’s prize-winning close up act, and it is a version of David Roth’s Portable Hole which was modified it to suit the Williamson style.

The second section is Coins and Cards.

Floating Assembly combines elements of David Roth, Ross Bertram and Yank Hoe to create an assembly routine where it appears as if the cards never really touch the coins.

In Cello-feign, you take a cellophane-wrapped-card box and use it to strike a coin in your hand. Amazingly, the coin becomes trapped underneath the cellophane.

In Don’t Cut Me Out, a card is chosen and lost in the deck. A coin is vanished, the deck is cut and the coin is found resting beneath the chosen card. This happens several times and then three mates to the chosen card fly out of the deck. They are arranged on the table, then pushed aside to reveal a coin beneath each!

The third section is Cards.

The spectator is the hero, in He Who Spelt It, Dealt It. The magician and the spectator each spell the values of cards and when the magician does it a seven turns up each time whereas the spectator gets the correctly-valued-card every time. Don’t skip this one.

Interlaced Swindle is David’s variation of Paul Harris’s Interlaced Vanish from Las Vegas Close-Up. The Ace, two and three of hearts are placed between each of the four Kings. After being shown to be trapped between the Kings they vanish and reappear in the deck.

Stabbed From the Back is David’s take of Stabbed in the Pack originally printed in The New Jinx in 1966. David actually tosses it into the deck from behind. Skeptical? Check it out.

Double-Time Travelers eliminates several palms without sacrificing the visual effect of Vernon’s original Travelers. I’m excited to start working on this one.

The Famous 3-Card Trick is David’s rendition of Edward Victor’s Eleven Card Trick. This does away with difficult false counts (he subs in a move you can likely already do) and ends with a strong climax.

The Hypnotist is a comical version of Al Leech’s Red-Hot Mama. 

Next is David’s favourite trick: Torn and Restored Transposition. A card is selected and lost in the deck. The performer causes a card to shoot into his other hand, but it’s the wrong card. Frustrated, the magician tears up the card and the spectator takes another one, waves it over the pieces and upon turning over the card in his hand it is now the card that was torn up and the pieces on the table are in fact the spectator’s card! A very strong effect.

This section ends with Fifty-One Cards to Pocket which has become a neo-classic. The magician says that they will make the selected, signed card travel to their pocket. However, the rest of the cards fly to the pocket leaving only the selection itself in the magician’s hands.

Incidentally, the Famous 3-Card Trick and Fifty-One Cards to Pocket were Homer Liwag’s go-to routines when he was performing at Illusions in Indianapolis. That is until that Chris guy introduced him to the other David.

The fourth section is The Rest.

The Whirlybird Silk Vanish uses a wand and an item you already have and combines the two into a clever ditching method.

Beelzebub’s Blade is something you can do at the dinner table. You appear to stick your knife through a napkin, showing that it has clearly gone through the material and then remove it without leaving a tear.

In 1981, while still in college David won the Gold Cups International Award of Excellence in Close-Up Performance. This is the most prestigious close-up award at the I.B.M. conventions. He closed that performance with his 2 Cup routine, The Gold Cups, which finishes the book. 

I was going to say “if you’ve ever seen David do a Top Change…” but that’s impossible because you’ll never see him do a Top Change! David is the King of the Top Change and he provides tips for his handling in the book.

Williamson’s Wonders has been out of print for quite some time; so get it while you can!

Until next time… read your books, especially this one.

*Just search “David Williamson”. There will be enough there to entertain you for a while.

Order Williamson’s Wonders from Browser’s Den: www.browsersden.com