Showmanship For Magician:

Introdection:
The fact that I feel there to be a definite need for this book is evidenced by my having written it. While this work is intended primarily for magicians, there is very much here, particularly the analysis of audience preferences and appeals, which applies to entertainers generally. There is a right way and a wrong way of doing anything. But the right way of yesterday is not necessarily the right way of today. The following pages, of course, set forth only my viewpoint on magic presentation. It probably is not a particularly good viewpoint, I am reasonably certain, since I have been assured of this both directly and indirectly by many who know nothing whatever of the matter. The classic retort: "Well, he's working," is not necessarily conclusive nor unanswerable in connection with comment on an entertainer's offering. It might be answered that a burglar is working, and for profit, while he is in the act of drilling someone's safe.-And while honest men starve. The phrase is not justified economically or morally. The mere fact that a man is working may be due to many factors. He may have friends of influence. His compensation may be comparatively low. Someone else might be making a special profit by keeping him working. His publicity, not his abilities as an entertainer, may be keeping him employed. That a man is employed now does not mean he will continue to be engaged if he fails to keep abreast of the times. The arrangement of words herein and a great many of the ideas developed are mine. The facts, which are a contribution from the show business as a whole, are the property of no one person. They belong to the theater that discovered them bit-by-bit. There is one type of audience appeal I have not included in my lists. These days it has been found profitable. I refer to the off-color and ribald. Where it is permitted, it is a powerful appeal. I must insist I am not a moralist. But I feel that off-color material is definitely damaging to the show business. Sooner or later it will cause serious trouble. I refuse to include this appeal because it is a false one, spawned from the underworld, and eventually it will be driven back. I firmly believe the good showman will detour around it carefully, holding his nose. I strongly advise it. In the writing of this work I have found it more convenient to use the term "act" in referring to a magician's program. Perhaps those who prefer the terms "show," "program," etc., may find the book's applications more specific if they should substitute their terms for their type of performance, instead of the terms used. I am gratified that magicians generally have so accepted this work that a second edition is necessary. I profoundly appreciate the compliment magicians pay me in their willingness to continue to consider my ideas. The second book in this trilogy, THE TRICK BRAIN, has been published. It, too, is being remarkably well received. Except for minor typographical corrections and some changes in the text in the interests of clarification this new edition is substantially the same as the original.
DARIEL FITZKEE
San Rafael, Calif.
December 21, 1944

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