The Legacy of Stewart James

The interest of some magicians in magic is cursory; mine is profound. They are interested only in certain magic; I am interested in all magic. They are gregarious; I am introverted. They look for what they can use; I look for even the tiniest glimmer  of an innovation to titillate my jaded reflex. Most are not like me, and prefer what they call commercial magic. Others, like me, are attracted to the inspirational – effects that contain the spark that will ignite their creative nature, that will launch those sundry peculiar gyrations leading to a new idea. Sometimes an effect will satisfy both kinds; many times it will not. But all of us acquire pleasure from magic in our fashion. I have been most fortunate in having good friends who are of one kind or the other.

— Stewart James

The hidden potential of Stewart James work and the possible solutions to “51 Faces North” are in many ways limitless.  The goal of this web exhibition is not to offer definitive answers regarding this master innovator’s tricks or to make declarative interpretations of his unusual life.  Instead, these pages are dedicated to the same active process of search and discovery that he constantly perused. 

From his earliest rope effect to his final card mystery, Stewart James’ personal identity thoroughly mixed and intermingled with the magic tricks he brought into the world.  His life is a testament to the intimacy of the performing art and the potential it has to overcome the confines of dismal reality.  “The Knot of Enchantment” and “Gobak Card Mystery” are especially illustrative of the many tricks in which James found both refuge and liberation.  But his contribution to the study of magic is more than a compelling life story and a vast collection of original material. 

“51 Faces North,” the enigma  which he left with his friends and colleagues, is a fitting representative of his many gifts to the art of magic.  By holding back his personal method for the famous card effect, and by absentmindedly (or intentionally) filing it in an out-of-the-way location before his death, Stewart James motivated magicians around the world to engage in the process of creation.  In 2001, after nearly half a century of inspiring alternative solutions, the full 1955 manuscript for “51 Faces North” was found by Allan Slaight.  The explanation had been slipped into a business envelope originally addressed to Slaight, which James chose to recycle by using it as a receptacle for the mysterious card trick.  In other words, after years of being misplaced, the missing key to the door concealing the secret of “51 Faces North” was found by one of Stewart James’ most dedicated students.  Even in death, the prodigious magician provided the magic community with another elegant method.  His final trick is also an example of the benefits yielded by committed, rigorous research and the analysis of magic principles.

His legacy lives on in the magic tricks he left behind, in the principles of deception and the creative strategies he so passionately explored.