Deeper Magic #2: Basic Magical Effects (Part 2)

S.H. Sharpe's Six Simple Magical Plots

In my first article on basic magical effects, I looked at David Devant’s Seven Basic Magical Effects from his book My Magic Life (1931). A year later, S. H. Sharpe published his book Neo-Magic, which attempted to analyse what makes a trick, routine, or act seem magical and how a performer might elevate their performances to the status of art. In the book, Sharpe discusses what he calls “Simple or Primary Magical Plots”, expanding on the work of David Devant.

A second edition copy of Neo-Magic by S.H. Sharpe. Photo Credit: Quicker Than the Eye.

Before we look at Sharpe’s list of effects, it is vital that we understand what he means by a “magical plot”. In Chapter 3 of Neo-Magic, Sharpe conducts a thorough analysis of magical plots. He explains that a magical plot is not the same as a dramatic plot. A magical plot refers to the actual effect of the illusion, whereas a dramatic plot consists of its setting. Take, for example, The Sympathetic Silks by Edward Victor and G.W. Hunter, which, incidentally, was Harry Houdini’s favourite magic trick. The silks experience a transformation (change of state) from knotted to unknotted. This is the magical plot. However, the dramatic plot is that of “sympathetic action” because the change takes place in sympathy with the alteration of a “control” item or object (the other set of silks in this case). I particularly like the unusual way Levent handles this plot. He uses the words “knot” and “not” as control items that make the sympathetic magic of the silks take place.

Six Simple Plots

Sharpe’s list contains six simple or primary magical plots:

1. Productions

2. Disappearances

3. Transformations

4. Transpositions

5. Natural Science Laws Defied

6. Mental Phenomena

You’ll notice that Sharpe’s list is almost identical to Devant’s. However, he excludes “An Exhibition of Secret Motive Power”. Instead, he categorises “Magical Animation” under “Natural Science Laws Defied”.

The example of The Sympathetic Silks highlights the importance of subcategories in Sharpe’s classification system. The silks undergo a change of state, which is a subcategory of transformation. You could also present the trick as a transposition because the knotted silks appear to switch places with the separated silks. However, The Sympathetic Silks is typically presented as a demonstration of sympathetic action. In this context, the magical plot must be a transformation (from knotted to unknotted) because the dramatic plot demands it. This example shows that the choice of dramatic plot can influence how your audience perceives the magical effect.

Here’s Sharpe’s complete list with subcategories:

1. Productions:

   1. Instantaneous

   2. Gradual

2. Disappearances:

   1. Instantaneous

   2. Gradual

3. Transformations:

   1. Totally Different Objects

   2. Of Colour

   3. Of Size or Number

   4. Of Shape

   5. Of Design

   6. Of Substance

   7. Of Weight

   8. Of State

4. Transpositions:

   1. Instantaneous

   2. Gradual

5. Natural Science Laws Defied:

   1. Anti-Gravity

   2. Magical Animation

   3. Magical Control (Psychokinesis)

   4. Matter Through Matter

   5. Multi-Position

   6. Restoration

   7. Invulnerability

   8. Rapid Germination

6. Mental Phenomena:

   1. Prediction

   2. Divination

   3. Clairvoyance and Clairaudience (Clear Hearing)

   4. Psychometry

   5. Telepathy or Thought Transference

   6. Hypnotism

   7. Memorisation

   8. Lightning Calculations

I really like the robust nature of this list and generally believe that this is a very sensible system to adopt. However, I would prefer that “Magical Control (Psychokinesis)” was included as a subcategory of “Mental Phenomena”, not “Natural Science Laws Defied”.

Complex Magical Plots

Sharpe also defines “complex magical plots” as any situation where two or more feats in conjuring are combined to form a complete whole, creating an effect that cannot be altered without losing unity. An excellent example of a complex magical plot is a compound transposition, such as The Passe-Passe Bottle and Glass, in which two or more objects change places. One of my favourite versions of this time-honoured classic is Pop Haydn’s “Tantalus Tubes”:

I also greatly admire Morgan & West’s two-person version of this particular magical plot because they approach it in a very unique and creative way.

Another example of a complex magic plot that Sharpe provides the reader is the “Sorting Plot”: gold, silver and copper coins mixed in a vase vanish and appear separated in three money bags from which they were first emptied. The same plot can also be applied to playing cards: a shuffled pack is dealt into four piles, each of which is found to consist of one suit only. Dealing a winning hand at Whist or Poker or the classic Ace Assembly are other examples mentioned by the author. Sharpe mentions that such elaborate effects are the most difficult to create and present successfully.

Sharpe also mentions that many tricks can be classified under more than one heading. For example, The Growth of Flowers may be either an example of “Rapid Germination” or simply a “Production”. The classic stage illusion, Sawing a Woman in Half, could either be an example of “Matter Through Matter” or a demonstration of “Invulnerability”. It all depends on how you frame and present the trick to your audience.

He finishes the chapter with a nod to the importance of inspiration when trying to create new and original effects:

“As for the creation of truly original effects, no one can show the way. This path of endeavour depends upon that peculiar quality which we call inspiration, and may only be followed by one who will snap the shackles of convention in order to sail the unchartered seas to new ground ‘in faery lands forlorn.’”¹

I like Sharpe’s magical taxonomy due to its simplicity. The subcategories also make it a very flexible way of codifying magical effects. My only issue with this classification system is that some of the plots relegated as subcategories should, arguably, be top-level categories because of their popularity or because they can be split into two or more subcategories. For example, “Anti-Gravity” includes the very popular effects of levitation and suspension. For this reason, maybe “Anti-Gravity” should be a top-level category. This is why I prefer to eliminate “Natural Science Laws Defied” and replace it with four additional top-level categories: Levitation, Animation, Penetration and Restoration. This results in the same ten magical plots I recommended in my previous article in this series:

1. Production

2. Disappearance

3. Transformation

4. Transposition

5. Teleportation

6. Levitation

7. Animation

8. Penetration

9. Restoration

10. Mental Phenomena

David Ben’s Five Basic Effects

While researching Sharpe’s system of magical classification, I stumbled across another similar list by magician and magic historian David Ben, hidden in an article about magicians being the first purveyors of fake news². The Canadian conjurer manages to get by with only five basic magical effects:

1. Disappearance/Reappearance - The ability to make things disappear and reappear.

2. Transformation - To transform a person or object into something else.

3. Penetration - To make a person or object pass through or penetrate something.

4. Suspending the Law of Gravity - To make a person or object float or defy gravity in some way.

5. Psychic Phenomena - Including divination, clairvoyance, telepathy and telekinesis.

I can see the logic of including vanishes and productions in the same category because the production of an object is, essentially, a vanish in reverse. Notably, transposition is also missing from Ben’s list. This might be an oversight, or David Ben might consider it the instantaneous vanishing and reappearance of two or more objects, which is a legitimate point of view.

Ben’s list provides a compelling option for the minimalist magician who wants to categorise magical effects into the fewest possible groups. However, this approach makes it difficult to include some of the more obscure effects that fall into Sharpe’s category of “Natural Science Laws Defied”.

1. S.H. Sharpe, “V. Analysis of Magical Plots,” in Neo-Magic, (London: George Johnson, 1946), 33.

2. David Ben, “Magicians are the original purveyors of ‘fake news.’ They can’t help it,” The Globe and Mail, February 21, 2020, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-magicians-are-the-original-purveyors-of-fake-news-they-cant-help/.