The Fakirs of old India sat crossed legged on a tattered mat, amid piles of cloth, and performed miracles: charming cobras, Indian cups and balls, the human volcano, producing sparrows from beneath a small basket, lifting a heavy weight with the eyelids. These magicians learned their trade through an oral tradition that dates back hundreds of years, yet their mysteries are as vibrant today as ever. Let’s take a time machine …
The fabulous magician, manipulator, and historian Levent writes:
“Here’s a great film of the amazing French magician Jean Valton in 1964. He was a math teacher who, during the German occupation of France, spent five years smoking cigarettes and practicing card manipulations. He won first prize in Manipulation at the very first FISM convention (Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Magiques: The World Championships of Magic) held in 1948 in Lausanne, Switzerland. A lot of what he is doing is Cardistry before there was such a thing. And the manipulation sequences are superb.”
You can read more about Valton in an article by Jamy Ian Swiss at Magicana: