Fitzkee, Dariel: Magic by Misdirection
©1945 Original, 1975 Magic Ltd
Hardcover, 227 Pages
Magic by Misdirection
Image from Librosefe.com
Magic by Misdirection
Image courtesy eBay seller Slacks!


Comments: The third (and final) book of the Fitzkee Trilogy of magic theory on the presentation of magic. The others are Showmanship for Magicians (1st) and The Trick Brain (2nd). Available as an e-Book from Lybrary.com

Contents (Jan 2017 update - only the main chapter page numbers are accurate):
   
21 Introduction
21 Which is the cart and which is the horse
22 Exposing the wheels
22 Made to measure tricks
23 Hand-me-downs in magic
24 Are the classics best?
24 What makes a trick great? Life
25 Seven corpses
26 Peregrinating professors
26 A "classic" is born
27 Classics, capability and cads
27 Blockbusting old ideas
28 The spectator's think-tank
28 Seeing and believing

29 Chapter I: Real Secrets of Magic
29 Taking up where we left off
29 New gods for old
30 Exposing the exposure
30 Skill or duffer
31 Giving the bird to the bird cage
31 Aren't we all duffers?
32 Ignoring the important
32 True skill
33 The real secrets of magic
33 False whiskers and attention
34 True or false

35 Chapter II: The Importance of Interpretation
35 More of the same
36 Exposure is impossible
37 Can you read a magician's mind?
38 The performer paints his own picture
39 Interpretation to confound
40 Conviction
41 By these signs ye shall know them
42 Acting-Diebox deception.

43 Chapter III: Conviction and Naturalness
37 The important ingredients
38 If you believe it, it's so
39 Convince yourself
40 Spectator instinct
41 Naturalness
42 How to convince without argument
43 Disguise and attention
44 Attention control comes forward
45 Reasons
46 The importance of convincing yourself

51 Chapter IV: What Actually Deceives the Spectator
51 Money to burn
51 Marked and borrowed, but found in an impossible place
52 Behind the scenes
53 The plant
54 Pilferage
55 Disappearing rubber
56 No machinery necessary
57 All through psychology
58 The spectator's viewpoint
59 Disguise and attention
60 Money cheerfully refunded

61 Chapter V: The Psychological Expedients
61 Through the microscope
61 Simulation
62 Dissimulation
62 Interpretation
63 Maneuver
63 Pretense
64 Ruse
64 Anticipation
65 Disguise
65 Diversion
67 Monotony
67 Premature consummation
68 Confusion
68 Suggestion
69 Disguise plus disguise plus attention control
69 And more of the same

70 Chapter VI: Reaching the Spectator's Mind
70 The attack on the spectator's understanding
71 External appearances and interpretation
72 Suggestion and implication
73 Danger in the direct statement
74 You can't force the spectator's conclusions
75 Inducement and persuasion
76 Confusion with a bank note
77 Deduction versus induction

78 Chapter VII: Processes Within the Spectator's Mind
78 The spectator must be deceived
79 The spectator's perceptions
80 The mind, only, perceives
81 The spectator's consciousness
82 Magicians must attack the spectator's understanding
83 Mind stimuli and idea association
84 The spectator's mind is not a pushover
84 He is consciously intelligent
85 Details do the trick

86 Chapter VIII: The Importance of the Norm
86 How the spectator views the performer's appearance
86 The important norm
87 Discord brings damaging attention
88 Characteristic naturalness
89 Bewilderment not deception
891 Disguise
90 Dice and rabbits
92 Palming a card
93 Diversion
94 The importance of naturalness

95 Chapter IX: The Norm in Speech
95 Speech in deception
95 The norm in speech patterns
96 Variations "telegraph"
96 What as well as how
97 Subject matter norm
97 Undue emphasis
98 The strength of implication
98 An example with bonds
99 With tubes
99 The norm in attitude
100 What magic really is
100 Imitation magic
101 Speech in attention diversion
101 The scorched thumb
102 Any solution destroys deception
103 Things important to the magician

104 Chapter X: The Norm in Properties
105 Properties in deception
106 Familiar things accepted more quickly
107 Handling for deception
108 A lesson from Kellar
109 Pulling the lesson apart
110 Applying the Kellar lesson
111 Tricky appearance destroys deception
112 A general idea satisfies the spectator
113 Strengthening deception by appearance of properties

114 Chapter XI: Disguise and Attention Control
114 The magician has but two courses
115 Disguise and attention control
116 With a changing bag
117 How important does it seem to the magician?
118 Substituting a stronger interest
119 Disguise in many forms
120 Physical and psychological disguise
120 Frames, stocks, bottles and miscellany
121 The effectiveness of mixing the true with the false
121 A magician's tool does not deceive
122 Disguising the tool

123 Chapter XII: Simulation
123 Harping on an old obsession
124 The true spectator response
125 We can only baffle
126 Seeing versus thinking
127 Simulation
127 The necessary support to simulation
129 Bowls, egg bags, cigarettes, cards, ropes, turbans, billets, rings, eggs
131 Ultimately all is acting

132 Chapter XIII: Dissimulation
132 Dissimulation
134 Acting again
136 Special decks
138 Preparing for dissimulation
140 More rising cards
141 Bottles, clocks, production boxes, egg bags
142 Dissimulation with cards
143 Distinctions
144 Many disguises

145 Chapter XIV: Maneuver
145 Maneuver for deception
146 An example with bottle
147 A routined series of movements
148 Maneuver with cards
149 Maneuver as used by Al Baker
151 The distinction

152 Chapter XV: Ruse
152 The ruse in deception
153 Purposes disguised
154 With billiard balls
155 With tied thumbs
156 Ruse with card sleights
157 In a divination effect
158 Illusions, cards, silks

159 Chapter XVI: Suggestion and Inducement
159 Disguise in many forms
159 Suggestion and inducement
160 Disguised force
161 The hypnotic process
161 In mind reading
162 Breaking a pencil
163 Oranges, bills, bells, beads, pegs, balls

164 Chapter XVII: Attention Control
164 Attention control
165 Misdirection
166 Many forms of control
167 Anticipation
167 Premature consummation
168 Monotony
168 Confusion
169 Diversion
169 Specific direction
170 Anticipation with cards
170 Varied examples
171 Tricks and illusions with attention control

172 Chapter XVIII: Anticipation
172 Spectator attention
172 The manner of controlling attention
173 To accomplish interest
173 Suspense
173 Animation
174 Detail on attention control
175 Anticipating the attention
177 Cups, balls, cards, running up decks
179 Fire and water

180 Chapter XIX: Relaxation, Monotony, Confusion
180 Premature consummation and Kellar's use of it
181 Stephen Shepard and his bird cage
181 Stripped of all illusions
182 With six silk handkerchiefs
183 The performer must set the pattern for the spectator
184 Thought force is concrete
185 The language of the mind
186 Monotony
187 Examples by Leslie Guest
188 Confusion
189 Balls, finales, rings, pellets coins
189 Confusion a la Blackstone
190 Keep it quiet

190 Chapter XX: Diversion and Distraction
190 Diversion for deception
190 With a handkerchief and a wine glass
191 Details
191 The power of suggestion
192 Specific detail
193 The most subtle stratagem
194 Its mechanics
195 Bowls, bat loads, cards, eggs, chickens
196 Leslie Guest again
197 With a rabbit
198 Distraction
199 Beware repetition
199 Clocks, girls, trunks

200 Chapter XXI: Samples of Attention Control
200 Attention control stratagems in action
201 Stephen Shepard and a tall glass
203 Madison with a pack of cards
206 An idea from seeing Tommy Martin
208 Cards to the pocket
209 Levitation
210 Switching the judge

211 Chapter XXII: Real Deception
211 Real skill in magic
212 Pulling levers
213 Banish the goofs
214 Psychology is the first requirement
215 Pulling the tricks apart
216 Planning the procedure
218 Misdirection covers weak spots
219 Misdirection aids interpretation
219 Multitudes of examples
220 Good deception is fundamentally good acting

221 Chapter XXIII: The Most Important Skill
221 Strong support
221 Robert-Houdin
222 Why never to reveal in advance
223 H J Burlingame
223 Nevil Maskelyne
224 Why never to repeat
224 Underestimated intelligence
225 Repetition
225 The card sharper
226 Deception for keeps
226 Scarne's greatest skill
227 Learn from the real masters
227 The real secrets of magic



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