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Real Magic

Don't Hate Me Because I'm “Too Perfect!”
by Dan Paulus

I'm going to disagree with many wise and wonderful magicians with the following statement. “The too perfect theory is pure BUNK!

If you haven't heard of the theory then you're either very new to the art of magic or you pulled up Visions via a Google search for “Laser Vision Correction Surgery.” Simply put, the theory is that some magic is so perfect looking as to leave only one solution, the right solution, as to it's method - and therefor, too perfect.

Example: You borrow a one dollar bill have it identified by the serial number, a marking, or by tearing off a corner. Then instead of putting it in an envelope and burning it, you openly burn the bill in plain view of the audience. It isn't even folded! There is no doubt in the minds of the audience that the bill being burned is unquestionably the same bill that was just handed to you. Then you cut open a lemon and find the same bill with the same serial number/marking/corner missing.

The Too Perfect Theory would suggest that since the original bill was unquestionably burned beyond recognition, this bill in the lemon couldn't possibly be the same bill, and the audience has no choice but to assume it is a different bill.

NONSENSE!

“Nonsense?“, you say. “Are you truly going to disagree with Dai Vernon?“, you ask.

Yes!… well, maybe! I'm not convinced that The Professor ever preached the too perfect theory. I'm no Vernon Historian, but according to Tommy Wonder (Who by the way also disagrees with the theory. {See his essay on the topic in The Books Of Wonder, Vol II}) the theory started in 1971 by Rick Johnsson when he wrote about being too perfect in Jon Racherbaumer's Hierophant.

Still, the problem as I see it isn't one of the illusion being too perfect, but of the convincing being less than perfect!

If you're not getting away with an illusion because there's only one “logical” way it could be done, then you haven't done a proper job of eliminating that possibility from the minds of your spectators. To add other possibilities, or to give the audience another path too follow just so they wont be sure as to the true method is just Lazy Magic! What you're really saying is that all that is important is for them to not be sure. Wouldn't it be better if they had no idea at all? If they actually felt a since of magic when they watched your “tricks?“ Of course it would.

So let's take the burned bill illusion further. How could we eliminate the possibility of a second bill? A simple option would be to use Grant's Million Dollar Mystery and give the participants (two in this case) an entire half of the bill for them to hold instead of a tiny corner.

Tim Ellis has a fantastic method in his lecture notes, Ellis In Wonderland, where not only does the lender of the cash hold a torn section of the bill, but the bill is signed - twice!

How about burning a $20.00 bill instead of a one? For some reason the spectators just can't believe you'd be willing to loose twenty bucks just to prove an illusion. (I for one am willing to do just that! And I don't loose a thing, I just charge an extra twenty dollars for that particular show!)

Or how about letting a dozen or so people from the audience each sign the bill, then after it's appearance in a totally impossible location you pass the bill around the audience and let each spectator verify his or her signature? (Yes, it's possible. But that's not the point of this article.)

If an illusion seems to be too perfect because there's only one possible solution, and that possibility happens to be the actual method, then the trick isn't too perfect… it isn't perfect enough!

So consider this a challenge. A challenge to make your magic too perfect! Do this, and your audience will think, “He's too good!” And the art of magic will become just a little more perfect.

Dan Paulus