I was introduced to the magic of Eddie Fechter only a few years ago. It was actually during an introduction to another magician, in real life, when we were noting our inspirations in magic. He mentioned Fechter, and my response was "... who?".
That was before I ever heard of the Forks Hotel or FFFF. As it's an invite-only convention, I've never been so the only details I have about it are only from other books and mentions from magicians here and there. Anyways, back to Fechter.
When I learned of Fechter, I watched one or two of the very limited number of videos of him on YouTube. His magic was bold. He was blunt. I liked it! I bought books on his magic, which included Magician Nitely: The Magic of Eddie Fechter.
Finally getting to it in my stack, I read all the way through it and wanted to share my thoughts!
Overview
This book was written in 1974 by Jerry Mentzer. The foreword is by none other than Dai Vernon and he has only great things to say about Fechter.
My copy is a bit dated, and by that I mean the cover is faded and slightly frayed, and the pages are yellowed. That's not really important though, just thought I'd mention it.
What is important to mention is the number of typos throughout the book. A noticeable number of works are spelled incorrectly, everything from just wrong spelling to the wrong character (like an `n` instead of an `r` ). It's to the point where I thought I was reading a bad bootleg copy of the book and not the original.
What's interesting, following the note about misspelled words, is the actual typography used throughout the book. Characters aren't aligned or sized equally, and some appear more bold than others. It could be a leading factor of some of the wrong characters in places, perhaps it was just the way it was printed? Not sure. It doesn't really take away from the reading of the book, but it's odd nonetheless.
Tricks, Sleights, Peeks, and more
There are five chapters in the book and they separate tricks, sleights, and miscellaneous topics between them, and there's even an entire chapter dedicated to peeks!
There are 16 tricks in the book. These include tricks with cards, coins, a torn and restored cigarette, and a goblin tube!
What even is a "goblin tube"?! ... and, how do you get water to stay in a thumbtip?!?!
Yes, these are some of the questions I have after reading the book =P
As mentioned though, in addition to the variety of tricks contained in the book there are also sleights and moves. However, subtle notes spread throughout the entire book -- typically at the end of a specific trick -- yield even better information than the tricks themselves! My favorite is the practice routine Fechter has for "outs". It's not only useful for his Fechter's Aces trick, but it's the entire premise of Vernon's Trick That Cannot be Explained. Not to mention, it's an incredibly useful skill to have overall!
Takeaways
I'm really into the material from this book. I didn't know it, but I've been performing a version of Be Honest, What is It for a long time.
I think the version I perform was made by David Blaine, or at least I saw him do a version of it a while back and figured out a way to perform it myself. Fechter's version, at least the way written in the book, is a little difficult to understand. Specifically how you get a break under the top three cards, then take off the top card, and then do a top change with the card you took off ... all while holding the original break? It could just be the way it's written; there's a good chance that the way Fechter performed it is the way I perform it and I'm just not understanding the printing all the way. In my version (from Blaine's performance), I slowly-and-deliberately let the spectator see that I'm switching the cards in my and their hand, whereas Fechter's version makes it appear like it might not have actually happened (on purpose, due to speed).
I won't actually perform the cigarette trick, and the goblin tube thing's just different to me. It's a good one, at face value -- it's a "magic prank", which I don't see a lot of, so I think there's really something to it. But, I'm not about to go buy a metal tube and special thumbtip to perform this silly gag once ever. Maybe if I was in a bar every night though...
As I mentioned up above when outlining the tricks in the book, I actually love the notes that are sprinkled throughout. They're from Mentzer, but each is an observation of, or from, Fechter. In any case, I've already started practicing my skill at "outs" via the method outlined in the book and it's been really fun so far!
This book, printed over 50 years ago and self published by Mentzer, doesn't appear to be available from any regular outlets anymore. Only secondhand copies show up when searching for them -- which is where I picked up mine from too.
If you like Eddie Fechter, card magic, closeup magic, or great magic overall, this is an amazing reference to add to your library!