Powers for Good and Evil

The skills we develop as magicians can come in very handy outside of performance pursuits. Have you noticed that you may have acquired superhuman-like observation or deductive abilities? Have you ever used sleight-of-hand for a benign, yet deceptive purpose?

When I was a high schooler, I was introduced to Sherlock Holmes, literature's most famous detective. With his unique brain, Holmes could spot and deduce more information about a suspect or crime scene than any of the Scotland Yard inspectors. Here was a character (who, I read, was based on an actual teacher of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's) with powers that were not bestowed upon him by gamma radiation or magic, but were merely honed through self-training and force of will.

Perhaps you may have heard of Harry Blackstone, Sr.? Back in the golden days of radio, the world's greatest living magician was the star of his own show, Blackstone: The Magic Detective, was a 15-minute radio series which aired Sunday afternoons at 2:45pm ET on the Mutual Broadcasting System from October 3, 1948 until March 26, 1950.

The series, starring Ed Jerome as "the world's greatest living magician," was based on the real-life Blackstone. Storylines usually opened with Blackstone (Jerome) telling his friends John (Ted Osborne) and Rhoda (Fran Carlon) about an experience from his past, and this mystery story was then dramatized in a flashback. At the end, Blackstone challenged the audience to find a solution to the magical mystery. Each show concluded with Blackstone outlining a trick that listeners could perform for the amusement of their friends.Being a magician, I feel, gives us some real power and skills - not the magic powers we pretend to have, but powers that give us a new way to think and analyze what we see.

Share the story of your epiphany, when your powers of deduction and observation benefited you outside a performance.