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Paul Harris

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Paul Harris

Cover of Genii (1985)
BornPaul Thomas Harris
1954

NationalityAmerican
Known forClose-up Magic
AwardsCreative Fellowship
CategoriesBooks by Paul Harris

Paul Harris (b.1954) is an inventor, magician, and writer. Described in Genii 1996 December as "the most innovative magic mind of our day" and listed in MAGIC Magazine (August 1999) as one of "the 100 magicians who shaped the art of magic in America."

Biography

Harris has invented many original tricks including: Linking playing cards, a solid deck, a torn and restored card effect, coins materializing from mirrors, a card that appears to turning ninety degrees when pushed into the pack, and a torn and restored quarter.

MAGIC magazine (August 1999) states that "the feats of astonishment that Paul creates and teaches are in the repertoires of a multitude of working pros."

Harris has performed at the Dunes Hotel and at other locations on the Las Vegas Strip and was a technical adviser for David Blaine's Magic Man and Street Magic TV shows. He also wrote the screenplay for the abysmal 1987 film Nice Girls Don't Explode.


Awards

Noted illusions

Amongst the magicians who are known to have presented Paul Harris creations are David Copperfield and Doug Henning. In the field of card and close-up magic, Paul Harris more or less re-innovated the genre during the 1970-80s, and is held in very high regard among magicians in the western world.

Doug Henning performed a routine called "Twilight" on his third TV special (December 17, 1977). An effect using a coin and a mirror where the mirror image of the coin becomes real. A surreal piece.

David Copperfield in a 1984 special (the one where he made the Statue of Liberty disappear) performed a linking card effect "The Immaculate Connection." In this routine, the magician tears holes in the center of three playing cards in order to create three "frames." The illusion consists in causing the frames to appear to link and unlink without damaging any of the cards. At the conclusion, the cards are sometimes passed for inspection; to all appearances no extra cards or gimmicks are employed.

Rudy Coby, in his English TV series, used Paul Harris' odd idea of letting the helium in a balloon magically change place with the air in the performer's lungs—-so, as the balloon slowly sunk to the floor, the performer simultaneously went up in the air with an all squeaky voice.

Paul Harris has been a technical adviser/magic consultant for David Blaine's TV Shows.

Features

Paul has been featured in:

Bibliography

Books, Manuscripts and Notes

Products

  • 1973 Vanishing Deck
  • 1976 SIGNED CARD IN MATCH BOX (Flash Fold) GEM & JANA PRODUCTIONS
  • 1979 Twilight
  • 1980 Screwed Deck
  • 1980 Hard Boiled Quarter / Half
  • 1980 Solid Deception
  • 1992? Portable Smoke, Viking Mfg. Co., was fashioned by Paul Harris, Charlie Hatchette, and George Robinson, Jr., with advice and aid from Eric Mead, Patrick Martin
  • 1993? Night Shades
  • 2000 Naked Angels on Bikes
  • 2000 Reality Twister
  • 2000 Lip Smacker
  • 2000 Twilight Angels
  • 2004 Deep Astonishment
  • 2005 One and Only
  • 2006 Deep Astonishment II

Videos

  • Stars of Magic Video #3-Paul Harris One / A-1Multimedia
  • Stars of Magic Video #4-Paul Harris Two / A-1Multimedia
  • Stars of Magic Video #5-Paul Harris Three/A-1Multimedia
  • Stars of Magic Video #6-Paul Harris Four/A-1Multimedia
  • Stars of Magic Video #7-Paul Harris Five/A-1Multimedia
  • (1983) PAUL HARRIS #1 – Tannen’s Video Tape Series No. 2 (Same as Stars of Magic Video #3)
  • (1985) PAUL HARRIS #2 – Tannen’s Video Tape Series No. 5 (Same as Stars of Magic Video #4)
  • (1987) PAUL HARRIS #3 – Tannen’s Video Tape Series No. 10 (Same as Stars of Magic Video #5)
  • (1989) PAUL HARRIS #4 - Tannen’s Video Tape Series No. 12 (Same as Stars of Magic Video #6)
  • (1991) PAUL HARRIS #5 - Tannen’s Video Tape Series No. 14 (Same as Stars of Magic Video#7)
  • PAUL HARRIS IMMACULATE CLOSE-UP (Same as Stars of Magic Video #6)
  • Art of Astonishment Video
  • Cardian Angel Video Tips: Handlings and perfomance tips: Includes like "Double Animation". "Tug-Of-War", "Packet Cardian", "Foreign Cardian", "What About Girls?" Hosted by Mike Maxwell.

Published Effects

Paul has published hundreds of his effects in books, magazines, videos and manuscripts.

Paul Harris Presents

These are products developed by others, sometimes in coordination with Paul and marketed under the "Paul Harris Presents" product line.

  • Darryl Vanamburg's "Black Widow" - The Black Widow enables you to invisibly exchange objects on a spectators hand
  • Ultra Visual Nightshades by Mark Allen and Paul Harris - an update to Paul's Improv Nightshades. Includes Ultra Peeler, Mark Allen's up-grade of Paul's peeled and restored playing card from AOA.
  • Ladybug by Paul Vigil, Paul Harris and Roy Kueppers - Placing the blade on bare flesh, you pierce a fingetip and squeeze out a single drop of blood. The drop of blood turns into a real ladybug.
  • Linking Laces by Harris, Jockisch, and Goodwin - link someone's shoe laces
  • The Incredible Shrinking Finger by Dan Hauss (Additional handling by Paul Harris) - Shrink your pinkie down to a weird stumpy thing
  • Daniel Garcia Project DVDs
  • Dis Jointed by Joe Russell - new method for "Shinko's classic Arm Twist"
  • Escalator by Gaetan Bloom, Paul Harris, Rodney Whitlock
  • Gut Buster by Andrew Mayne
  • Juan Hundred Dollar Bill Switch (with Hundy 500 Bonus) by Doug McKenzie
  • Puncture by Alex Linian
  • Strange Travelers by David Blaine
  • Warp One by David Jenkins
  • Torn by Daniel Garcia
  • UV Nightshades by Mark Allen and Paul Harris, includes Ultra Peeler, Mark Allen's up-grade of Paul's peeled and restored playing card from AOA.
  • Flow by Dan Hauss

Contributions

Books, videos and products with contributions by Paul Harris:

References

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Paul Harris Navigation
Books Magic of Paul Harris (1976) Paul Harris Reveals Some of His Most Intimate Secrets (1976) Supermagic (1977) Las Vegas Close Up (1978) Close-Up Entertainer (1979) Close Up Fantasies Book I (1980) Close Up Fantasies Book II (1980) Close Up Fantasies Finale (1981) Close-Up Kinda Guy (1983) Brainstorm in the Bahamas (1983) Close-Up Seductions (1984) Secrets of the Astonishing Executive (1991) Art of Astonishment (1996)
Manuscripts Super Swindle (1976) Cardboard Connection (1977) Return of the Bizarre Shrink (1977) Inner Circle (1980) P.H. Breakthrough (1981) Immaculate Connection (1983)
Lecture Notes and Products Vanishing Deck (1973) Inside/Close up (1976) Signed Card in Match Box (1976) Twilight (1979) Hard Boiled Quarter (1980) Solid Deception (1980) Screwed Deck (1991) Portable Smoke (c.1992) Night Shades (c.1993) Cardian Angels (1995) Naked Angels on Bikes (2000) Reality Twister (2000) Lip Smacker (2000) Twilight Angels (2000) Deep Astonishment (2004) One and Only (2005) Deep Astonishment II (2006)
Misc Paul Harris in Print | Effects not in AoA


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