Conjuring Archive

S. Leo Horowitz (Mohammed Bey) once gave us an excellent bit of advice. He said that all tricks should be presented in as direct and simple a manner as possible. The average person desires and enjoys being entertained by magic. Complicate the process and your tricks become problems...the entertainment gets lost.
Mr. Horowitz went a step further when he pointed out that a trick should never be cluttered with technique. Mr. Horowitz said, "If a trick requires five moves to complete it, it is too involved and sleighty to be practical. If you cut it down to four moves it is still a little too top heavy. Eliminate a move by some thought and only have three moves and it enters the realm of the practical. Add misdirection and make it two moves and you’ve got a nice trick. Use subtlety and eliminate another move, now necessitating one move, and your trick has great value. Now, if you can eliminate the last move and complete your effect with no moves, then you have a miracle!"

Sam Leo Horowitz
Controlled Miracles, 1949, p. 4