A Ray Of Magic by Jimmy Ray
1980
Written by Jimmy Ray
Work of Jimmy Ray
48 pages (Spiralbound), published by Morissey Magic LTD.
Illustrated with drawings by Dominic Bruzzese
Language: English
While much of what is considered “old school” in magic continues to stand the test of time, there are some strategies, both methodological and presentational (and anything involving a fez) that can fairly be considered obsolete. For example, imagine laying eight coins on the table, four copper and four silver, picking up the former (one by one) in your left hand and the latter (one by one) in your right hand, then slamming the coins back down on the table to show that one copper coin has transposed with one silver coin. Now imagine repeating this three more times until all four coins have changed places. It’s certainly not a bad effect, but for today’s audiences, it would definitely benefit from:
– A procedure that doesn’t require you to dump, then pick up eight coins after each transposition.
– A method that doesn’t necessitate being seated.
– The use of fewer coins.
– A twist or additional challenge with the last coin.
Jimmy Ray’s above-mentioned routine, one of 20 items in his first (now hard-to-obtain) 1950s booklet, Between the Acts, offers none of these features, and the rest of the contents left me with similar reservations. Consequently, my expectations when I started reading Jimmy Ray’s next (1980) book, A Ray of Magic, were not high, and while they were probably exceeded, it wasn’t by much.
Three routines sparked my interest–a commercial version of Don Alan’s “Ranch Bird,” called “Dumb Bird,” a potentially pretty coins-through-table-into-glass effect (mis)called “Matrix Under Glass,” and a basic (but functional) endless-chain routine with a magic-oriented climax in which the chain becomes knotted, whereupon the magician removes the knot and drops it to the table. But even these items could use some technical and presentational upgrades.
Apart from that, I suspect you will find little of interest among the remaining card and coin tricks (four of which are reprised from Between the Acts). While every routine here probably worked well for Jimmy Ray (he was, by all accounts, a very likeable performer), I’ve seen better versions of most. On the other hand, you might find a few things to play with (I did), and for six bucks you can hardly go wrong.
