Sugar Trick

This sugar trick is a perfect illustration of the famous quote attributed to Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdin, the famous 19th century French Magician who is often called the father of modern magic

"A magician is an actor playing the part of a magician."

There have been hundreds of papers and articles written on what he actually meant by saying this. In it's simplest form it means that - from an audience's point of view - it doesn't matter whether you have great magical skills, it only matters that you appear to have great magicial skills.

Since most of what a magician does is meant to go unseen by the audience, does it really matter to them if the feat was accomplished as the result of years of training and effort or simply by the push of a button on a purely mechanical apparatus.

Again, there is a lot of debate over this question but for anyone new to magic, it is a good point to reflect on; if there is a hard way and an easy way, which is the better path to take?

My answer to this is simple: both. Because I love magic and like a challenge I find different sleights and moves that interest me and I set about trying to master them. When I perform I don't want to mess up as that affects my reputation and ultimately my prospects of future bookings. Much of what I perform in magic is technically quite easy. In many cases I have mastered the more difficult method but for the reasons outlined here I choose the simple - and usually more direct - methods.

This sugar trick is predominately acting that employs what magicians call 'convincers'. That is, small parts of the process that are deliberately added to convince the audience that what is being performed or spoken about is in fact true. Of course, the complete opposite is occuring.

There is another method of doing the sugar trick that is very well known to magicians. I won't spoil it for those who may not know, but those who do will know it uses the TT. If you have other magician friends who know the standard way to do this using the TT, then do the version I show you in this sugar trick video and just stick your thumb into your fist and pretend to do the 'secret' move. When the hand is opened to show the sugar vanished, pretend that your 'guilty' hand is hiding something, then when they push you to show them, snap your thumb and finger together as if to say, 'no, it REALLY HAS VANISHED.' This is a good way to freak out your magician friends.