Article 19: Hurry Up and Fail
Hurry Up and Fail
Steve Vaught - Round Table Member #176
Have you heard the phrase, ‘hurry up and fail’? I believe the concept is that you learn more in defeat, than in victory. If that’s true, I should have had my doctorate in magic after this one particular show. I was still in the beginning stages of performing. I was so excited just to get a show. I had my tricks all lined up. Since the event was for a family reunion-a huge audience for me-I decided to use the rabbit as the big production. I wanted the show to end big…just like David Copperfield, but on a smaller scale…a much smaller scale. At that time, in the early 90’s, David Copperfield was the magician I admired. He was the only connection I had with magic. There was no magic shop, no magic club, no internet; no one in my small little town who did magic. It was me in my 20’s, armed with a huge Abbott’s catalog and Brad Burt’s newsletters.
So the show was going great. No obvious mistakes that I could see. At that time, it was all about the tricks. As long as I didn’t mess up what the instructions told me to do, than I was a success. It would be years later before I opened up Magic and Meaning, Strong Magic, and Absolute Magic, among others. I had no idea how deep this beautiful endeavor goes. But even if I had read all those books prior, they still would not have provided me an understanding for what was getting ready to happen. Leonardo da Vinci said in Thoughts on Art and Life ‘experience is the veritable master’. How true that is. Darwin Ortiz made this statement in Strong Magic, ‘If you’re serious about your magic, find a place where you can perform regularly for laypeople.’ Why is that statement so important? For one, because it’s only in front of laypeople that life begins to happen. The dance begins.
So there I was ready to do the finale. The crowd of kids, teenagers, and adults loved me. I was a star. Now for my big closer that they would not forget. I placed some tissue paper in the dove pan and lit it on fire; the crowd reacted to the fire. Then I slammed the lid over the fire to produce the rabbit. It worked! I held up the rabbit-still in the pan. The audience began to clap…and then…it happened.
In setting up the show, I didn’t take into account that if you are using fire, you should probably not be under a fire ALARM! I must have basked in the glory of the fire a little too long. Maybe holding it up for everyone to see a few seconds longer than I should have. Just as I was producing the rabbit, the fire alarm began. If you’ve never been in a building when a fire alarm goes off, I can tell you, it’s not a pleasant sound. As I was basking in the glorious ending of my show, seeing all the smiling faces, that screeching alarm sound tore through the crowd like some wild rabid animal. I saw people wincing, holding their ears, babies starting to cry. My glory immediately turned to embarrassment. The adults began to get up and huddle. I could hear them talking, ‘who has the key, we have to shut this off before the fire trucks arrive’. The show was held in a school cafeteria. That incessant painful noise was bouncing off those concrete walls demonically. Finally someone broke through, ‘I’ve got a key to the office, I’ll shut it off’. There was hope this was going to end fairly quickly. Although, what the nice lady with the key forgot to notice is that when you open up the office to turn the fire alarm off, there’s also a burglar alarm in place as well. So now, along with the fire alarm, the burglar alarm jumped on board like two wild cats fighting to the death. It was a hellish sound. Now people actually have to get out of the building because of the chaotic noise.
I see them walk passed me with agitation on their face. I shrank behind my little prop case putting away-at that moment-what seemed like just toys that I was playing with and I accidentally hurt someone. Usually these things are not as bad as what they seem to be in your mind. But that’s the way I felt at the time. I’m almost able to leave the scene of humiliation when fate had one more idea to conclude the festivities. I get things packed up quickly and begin to take things out to my car when I’m greeted…wait for it…wait for it…yes, with fire trucks arriving and the police. And there it is…my show ends with sirens blazing. The ending to an event I’ll never forget. I felt horrible.
Emotionally it bothered me for a few days, but practically it was a simple matter of understanding the relation of fire and fire alarms. A lesson that will ever stay lodged into my psyche never to be forgotten.
But that didn’t stop me, as embarrassing as it was. I loved magic and I still love magic. So the story shows that you can’t learn everything in a book. You have to just take the step…and usually fall a few times. Prepare, yes! I would say practice diligently. But there’s a point where you have to step out. It’s only in stepping out that you’ll gather the information - the life experiences - which will help you evolve into the magician you should be. You love the craft. You love the art. But unless you are standing in front of an audience, you are dancing alone. Take your partner by the hand and learn…just watch out for the fire alarms.