Save money by ordering the entire set:

Volume 1: Voyages to the Real World

Hurry, hurry, step right up and see the amazing Close-Up Magician, captured live in his natural habitat.

Working behind a bar, for an audience of real people, Eugene Burger makes it clear why he’s one of the world’s most celebrated close-up artists. Then, he’s joined by David Parr to analyze these time-tested routines from Eugene’s actual performing repertoire, such as his ultra-commercial approach to the Sponge Balls (including the “real work” on breaking them in). You’ll be delighted at the clever method behind David Solomon’s Cutting Ten. You’ll be impressed at how much excitement Eugene can derive from a Simple Spelling card trick. You’ll be drawn in by his presentation for Alan Ackerman’s Gemini Money gambling routine. And, for the first time, Eugene and David reveal two astonishing new methods for a U. F. Grant classic (which can now be done using the new-style bills – or any type of currency) in The 21st Century Bill Transposition.

But there’s more, because Eugene also offers magical insights into spectator management, audience involvement, and the concepts and theories that transform magic into something meaningful.

Volume 2: Voyages to the Unreal World

Hurry, hurry, step right up and see the amazing Close-Up Magician, captured live in his natural habitat.

Working behind a bar, for an audience of real people, Eugene Burger makes it clear why he’s one of the world’s most celebrated close-up artists. Then, he’s joined by David Parr to analyze these time-tested routines from Eugene’s actual performing repertoire, such as his ultra-commercial approach to the Sponge Balls (including the “real work” on breaking them in). You’ll be delighted at the clever method behind David Solomon’s Cutting Ten. You’ll be impressed at how much excitement Eugene can derive from a Simple Spelling card trick. You’ll be drawn in by his presentation for Alan Ackerman’s Gemini Money gambling routine. And, for the first time, Eugene and David reveal two astonishing new methods for a U. F. Grant classic (which can now be done using the new-style bills – or any type of currency) in The 21st Century Bill Transposition.

But there’s more, because Eugene also offers magical insights into spectator management, audience involvement, and the concepts and theories that transform magic into something meaningful.

Volume 3: Voyages to the Inner World

Enter here and meet the man inside the man.

If you’ve ever dreamed of a private session with Eugene Burger, now’s your chance. On this tape it’s just the two of you, as Eugene speaks his mind and opens up his heart. Sinology, a simple coin routine, becomes a parable about self discovery. In his version of Lin Searles’ Cannibals, Eugene combines sly humor with impressive technical chops that will fool you, until he explains it. In New Match Stickler, a Milbourne Christopher item usually thrown away as a bar stunt becomes a powerful mystery. More ominous themes are considered in Robert Neale’s daring Last Dream. To conclude this encounter, Eugene discusses the thinking that led to the creation of two of his most requested routines, which he also performs: The Inquisition, his wickedly dark take on Roy Walton’s Card Warp, and Shakespearean Thread (or, as Max Maven insists on call it, “Vishnu Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”), an evocative new presentation of the Hindu Thread.

But there’s more, because Eugene also offers special insights into artistic expression, performance philosophy, and the concepts and theories that transform magic into something deeply personal.

A Conversation with Eugene Burger About Magical Voyages

Jim Sisti: When did you come to the conclusion that the world was ready for three new Eugene Burger videos?

Eugene Burger: A very good question. It may surprise you, but the truth is that I didn’t really have a deep desire to do any videos. In fact, I had a fair amount of aversion to the idea. It was really only when Max Maven became involved with the project that I became enthusiastic about it myself. I felt the idea of working with Max as the director of this project would be an exciting opportunity for me - an opportunity to grow.

JS: So Max was kind of a catalyst?

EB: Max was the catalyst. I could always have made more videos at home in Chicago, as I’ve done in the past with Jack Gould and Michael Caplan. Frankly, I am very proud of the three videos we created in Chicago. However, this was a chance to do something very different. Not only would there be less pressure on me because of Max’s involvement, but, as I said, here was an opportunity to work on a creative project with a friend whom I greatly respect.

JS: In a lot of ways, the new videos break away from the traditional magic video form. Did you choose the organizational structure - the real, the unreal and the inner - or did the material, after it was shot, suggest the three different volumes?

EB: Very early in our discussions, Max came up with the idea of magical voyages and also the three specific voyages we would take. Then he and I discussed the material that might be included. We went through my repertoire and discussed what I might like to include on the tapes. Max then made the final decision of material and the order in which the material would be presented — because he was the composer and director. I saw myself as the “talent” on the project and so I almost always deferred to his decisions — as the talent should. Max, by the way, is a most extraordinary director — always clear in stating what he wanted from us and very considerate and gentle in his attitude and treatment of the talent and crew.

The last evening of taping, for instance, about one or two in the morning, we had taped the Inquisition, my presentation of Card Warp. I was very tired and even a little irritable and felt that the take was fine. Max came over and quietly convinced me that, although the last take was “very good,” I could do it much better. In about five minutes he talked me into doing it “one more time” — and, you know, it was much better. That’s the version used on the third video. I think that is the mark of a very good director: he understands the talent and what the talent can do and then inspires them to do it.

I should also confess that Max did the considerable research for the crediting of the material. He even wrote the credits on a very large board directly to the right of the camera so I couldn’t miss them!

JS: What are some of your favorite moments in the new videos?

EB: Well, there are many fun moments. Little surprises that Max had concocted for our two special guests, David Parr and Jeff McBride. One is when Jeff and I are engaged in a discussion and David wanders into the shot, apparently dreaming. Jeff, of course, had no idea that was going to happen and so it was great fun to see him dangling on the end of that little hook! Needless to say, Jeff was very surprised! I’m also pleased with some of my asides to the camera — they are my way of saying to the viewer, “Hello, I really do know that you’re here!” I also liked the fact that the physical setting is not static but changing. And, once we finally end up at an inside location, on the third video, I enjoyed watching my reactions to the changing set decoration!

JS: Any favorite moments during the production?

EB: First of all, Louis Falanga is a marvelous producer and host, always very thoughtful and gracious. Louis and the entire L&L staff made us all feel so welcome and comfortable. And the crew that he had assembled was excellent. So, during the production, every moment was made very warm and welcoming for us.

Along with Max and Jeff and David, Louis also invited Stephen Minch to the taping as another pair of eyes to help Max watch the proceedings. It was very supportive for me to be surrounded with so many close friends. And there was the sense that we were all creating something for the world of magic that was going to be really special.

Another quite magical thing happened after the shooting was completed one evening. It was very magical. We were all on Louis’s deck, on chaise lounges and chairs, watching the sky during a night of meteor showers. Living in a city, as I do, this was a real treat. Just taking in the utter mystery of it all. It made me remember how very small the earth is — and that, for ancient men and women, the night sky was the show, really the only show in town!

JS: I think viewers, who are only familiar with your work from TV specials or your writing, will be quite surprised to find out that you have quite a sense of humor, evidenced in several places on the new videos. Of course, you have cultivated a rather striking image of the intense magician with the dramatic beard staring over the rims of those glasses…

EB: Yes, you know I hear there have been several comments about me on the Internet proclaiming that I have no sense of humor. That popular image of me really all came about because of the photographers. Let’s blame them! Whenever photographers would shoot me they would always say, “Now, look over your glasses and raise your eyebrow just a bit. Perfect!” — and they all went for that look for me. In fact, with the last picture I had done, I said to Michael Caplan, “I am not looking over my glasses. This time I’d like to look like a more normal human being…maybe even smiling.”

JS: What were you most pleased with in these new videos? Any surprises?

EB: In addition to being composer and director, Max also supervised all of the editing.

But I think the thing I’m the most pleased with is the range of what happens during the three voyages. The tapes go from being fun and shamelessly playful to becoming really quite serious — and that’s the way my show works, too. It starts off as playful fun and ends with the destruction and creation of the universe. As Jeff once said, “That’s production value!”

 

And I am very pleased with the quality of the magic; I have taught the viewer some really excellent pieces of magic because it’s all magic that I really do perform in my everyday work. I think viewers will be surprised and pleased with the range of magic that is taught.

JS: It’s interesting to me that two of the performers you cite on the new videos as influences are Don Alan and Matt Schulien, whose work is, stylistically, very dissimilar to yours. What have you specifically taken from their work and incorporated into yours?

EB: First, let’s not forget that both Don Alan and Matt Schulien had styles that were products of their times. I point this out because, weirdly, most close-up magicians today are still doing a version of Don Alan, a style of magic that was successful in the 1960’s and 70s, almost forty years ago. This realization should make us ask ourselves some very important questions.

What influenced me about Matt Schulien was this sense of fun he created which gave rise to the dream that I might also be the agent of this sense of fun, too. What influenced me about Don Alan was the precision of his routines. Every time you saw him do a routine, it was exactly like the last time you saw him do it. These were very much like stage pieces only this was all being done close-up. The presentations were always the same. Now, he would, of course, go off script if, say, someone got sick at the table or if he thought of something funnier to say, but these were basically very carefully constructed magic routines. The key words are “carefully constructed.” That’s probably the most important thing that I learned from Don Alan. If you want to play in the world of magic — and be successful — you need to construct your routines with great care and love. Whether they’re playful or profound, they have to be put together with care and thought: carefully constructed. I’ve often thought of putting a lecture together called “Taking Fun Seriously.”

JS: What do you think will surprise people about these videos?

EB: I suppose it will surprise some people that I am at times a playful person. Yet, in my show, I want move from playfulness to moments where the audience becomes very quiet and attentive. So I want both: I want playfulness but also something deeper, something deeper emotionally, because I’m looking to put on a show with texture. That is my aim in constructing my show. I want to take my audiences on a ride. It can go up and down and be funny and then serious and then there’s some exposition and then, perhaps, a charming story. I want my performance to be very different from the typical close-up magic show that so often never rises above goofy silliness — silliness without any trace of sincerity.

JS: And so the main reason for doing these videos was…?

EB: For myself, personally, the reason was to create something of real value together with Max Maven. That was my prime personal motivation. For the magic world generally, my aim was, first of all, to leave a visual record of my work as a magician and, second, to teach and explain some of the magic and ideas about magic that I think are very important for success — but which seem not to be talked about much on magic videos.

Let’s be honest: videos are fast becoming one of the major teaching resources for those who want to be magicians and it is important to me that they teach more than how magic tricks work.

There is another motivation as well: I see these videos as giving permission to magicians to explore new and different kinds of presentational frames for their magic. I think that’s important, because often, many seem to think you have to do your magic the way everybody at the magic club does it.

I just spent the weekend with Lennart Green and I wonder if he had grown up surrounded by magicians telling him that he was doing it all wrong — well, there probably wouldn’t be a Lennart Green as the innovative and marvelous performer that he now is!

JS: Though there are some pieces on these videos that could be considered bizarre magic, there’s a noticeable absence of the gothic trappings commonly associated with this form.

EB: If bizarre magic is, as Max once said, magic that points to a larger magical reality beyond the parameters of the performance, then it doesn’t always have to be dark and black and creepy. It might be much more in touch with the natural world. Jeff McBride makes this very point on the second video.

Years ago, you may remember, Todd Karr wrote a magic book for children that I thought was really brilliant. It was called Magic In Your Backyard and it was magic done with leaves and sticks and stones. It was all about magic with nature and pointed to the wonders of nature. So Jeff and I would both argue that bizarre magic doesn’t have to be exclusively tied to darkly gothic and spooky themes. That’s what it has been but it doesn’t need to remain stuck in these dark themes. Saying that, I have to add that, personally, I confess I rather like dark themes!

JS: As one of magic’s most stylistically recognizable and individualistic performers, how would you advise up and coming performers to develop their own performing personas?

EB: Thank you for saying that. I hope it’s true!

Well look, if you want to be “stylistically recognizable,” as you say, there are two important things. The most important thing ultimately is finding out who you are. An obvious and yet most difficult path because this question, “Who am I?” often takes time for us to answer. For me, I didn’t get much of a deep sense of who I was until I was about thirty-five.

And so who am I? Well, in part, I’m a collection of my likes and dislikes, I am the sum of those things that interest me. In the Master Classes I conduct with Jeff McBride, we have an exercise where we ask our students to come up with a list of their ten favorite tricks and then make a second list of ten of their non-magic interests — things like music, hiking, bicycling, exercising, reading books, going to movies — whatever it happens to be. Then the aim is to try to draw some lines between the tricks you like to do and your interests — with the aim of creating new presentational frameworks.

And that points to the second thing. If you’re really serious about your magic, you can gain value and grow from an outside director looking at what you do and how you do it — and giving you some constructive suggestions about what you might do to make your magic performances more effective.

JS: What else should magicians be thinking about to improve their performances?

EB: We have to grow up and move beyond this thinking that laughter and applause are the only real or desirable forms of audience reaction to our magic. If I were to write an article about this, I would probably call it “The Tyranny of Laughter.” Unfortunately, most magicians seem to think that any laugh is a good laugh. This can lead to disastrous performances. It took me until the mid to late ‘80’s finally to understand deeply that not all laughs are good laughs. Some laughs are embarrassed laughs. Some laughs make people think you’re an idiot. Other laughs can make people think you’re a sleaze or just creepy. So not all laughs are good laughs, which is a lesson that many magicians fail to understand very deeply.

JS: So, who is your audience for these new videos?

EB: Well, it’s the same audience, basically, that I imagine when I write books –- those magicians who can still read (laughs) and who dream of having a better, perhaps more thoughtful, show. I think that’s why my books have been as successful and as they are. You can buy many magic books that only tell you how magic tricks work. So, I guess that I would say my audience for these videos is magicians — men and women — who want to improve and grow — and who deserve more than they’re presently getting from most videos. I believe that they deserve to have someone talk to them about magic seriously and not just talk about how magic tricks work. And the new videos really show Max’s brilliant direction because he was able to interweave playfulness and excellent magic with these deeper explorations.

JS: Any parting thoughts…

EB: Over the years, my own involvement with magic has been a source of deep pleasure and also personal growth. As I’ve grown as a magician, I think I’ve also grown as a person. Yet, magic only grows when we take chances. It’s not about doing simply what the book or video tells you to do. It really is about taking magical voyages of your own.