Magic Mentors – Max Malini

Max Malini the Magic Globetrotter was born in 1873 in Poland. At a young age, he emigrated to the US settling in New York City.
Malini’s maxim of life was: To make money you have to mingle with people who have money. This principle and a ton of self-confidence were the best prerequisites for a legendary career in magic. His most famous trick was to produce a block of ice under a borrowed hat.

He started out as a busker in salons which gave him the knowledge and confidence to be able to deal with any situation. It took him only a couple of years to make the move from the bars to the high society. He did magic with everyday objects, knives, glasses, matches, coins, cigarettes, a deck of cards.

He developed the perfect methods for misdirection and with people surrounding him, that watch every move he created a circle of admirers that spread the word about his unique abilities.

On the search for people with money, Malini went to the places where you would find them, the luxury hotels. Many times he just booked the most expensive room in a hotel without a cent in his pocket. He arranged for a meeting with the hotel manager and showed up with a nice leather binder, containing referral letters from presidents, prime ministers, secretaries of kings and queens. He suggested arranging for a show in the hotel for the guests and local celebrities. After the successful show, the hotel manager usually didn’t charge any for the room.

Years ago I bought the book, Malini and his magic and was studied some of his effect. The great thing is that with a little adaption to the current time you can still perform these tricks.

Maybe I should try his approach rent a suite and arrange for a show.

In the next couple of posts, I will introduce you to people, the magic mentors that have inspired me to become a better performer. You’ll meet people who have offered advice, or acted by example, to help develop and direct my career as a magician.

Some of them are alive, some have passed on and some were alive before I was born. By reading classic books and magazines I have stories about their life and performances that inspired and influenced me. They are mostly magicians but also a movie director and Karate masters.

Magic Mentors – Joro

We will start with Joro (Bruno Hennig). Joro was born Oct 1928. He was working at a bank and part-time as a magician. He has published multiple articles in magic magazines and has invented effects that are still used by professionals worldwide today. The dancing cork and the card in the box. Here a clip the famous Dutch magician Fred Kaps performing one his effects on TV.

In the lecture, Joro highlighted to focus on a handful of effects and perform them over and over again and develop your own way of doing the effect. It took me a long time to put this advice into action. But today, almost 25 years later I can say that it was exactly what I needed at the time.

I believe that Joro has influenced hundreds of magicians in Germany with his style and thinking and I would highly recommend reading his books on his stage show and other effects as well as his book on the cups and balls. Unfortunately, they are only published in German.

I met Joro at 3 magic lecture at the Magic Hands magic shop in the mid-’80s. I was lucky that this shop was about 45 min car ride away from my home town. Joro, despite the fact he performed part-time, was never an amateur. He had a very interactive stage show that had been honed in hundreds of shows. The lecture came for me at a time where I consumed a lot of magic. I read books, bought effects and I was chasing alway the latest trick on the market.

References:
http://www.zauber-pedia.de/index.php?title=Joro
Kleines Becherspiel-Kompendium, Coesfeld 1999
Das Joro-Buch – Verlag: sic, 1993, 1. Auflage, 18×25, 192 Seiten