Illusionary Departures

JC Sum has done something no other big time illusionist has done before. He has openly described his most cherished secrets in great detail and with building information. What makes this so special is that he is still using the material from these books! Many magicians retire and then publish there work, but JC Sum has published his working material. His only personal request is that it not be distributed in his country (Singapore) and therefore he will not sell or ship any of these books within Singapore. To ensure that these books stay out of Singapore, JC has chosen to be the only distributor of his books.


Illusionary Departures is a collection of ideas and illusions by JC Sum. Some are very original while others are oddly familiar with slight variations. But all of them are suited to the professional illusionist. As you can imagine, Mr. Sum's style and your own may very well clash but the illusions can be dressed however you like.

This book is not just a pile of illusions, there is particular emphasis on a variety of things, base design, black art concepts, stage tricks, presentations for old effects, etc. JC makes it very clear that this book was his first attempt at an illusion book. This book isn't written for the beginning illusionist, or seasoned pro, part time stage performer, etc. This book lacks focus which might prove to be it's downfall. With a price tag of 100 USD you'd expect a lot. Consider the great illusions in so many of Jim Steinmeyer's books!

I'm a fan of the material in this book. For the illusionist with a desire to be the best, this book will provide you with cutting edge ideas and applications. If you are looking for a new illusion to add to the show then read on and hear about the books contents. I'd recommend this book for the right performer. There are tricks for everyone in this book but if they don't ring true with you then it might not be worth the investment.

The book is 126 pages 8.5 by 11. The first illusion presented is called A Walk Through The Winery, and to me this is a brilliant piece of magic. Many magicians try to remain very classical and it is often difficult to find illusions that fit the theme and style of a classic performer. A Walk Through The Winery is a penetration effect in essence. An open front and back wine cabinet is shown, bottles standing upright and light shining through. A bottle of wine chosen by a spectator is removed from the cabinet and a glass poured for the illusionist. The bottle is replaced and the wine consumed (who doesn't need a drink on stage right?). a wooden frame with paper is placed over the front of the cabinet. The magician goes behind the cabinet and dramatically plunges through the front, breaking the paper and slowly emerging entirely. The front cover is taken away and the bottles and shelves are seen to be in perfect condition!

I'm a huge fan of this illusion, it's a classy penetration effect. It's exactly the type of illusion I think many magicians with a classic style would like in their show. I'm personally working on having this one built myself. This is a very practical effect, and one that I think could be dressed up or down however you like. Mr Sum is very proud of this illusion and I would be too!

The next illusion is Visual Displacement, another penetration effect. This time 4 steel bars are placed by spectators running top to bottom in a holder. The illusionist enters behind the 4 bars and holds a curtain around both sides of the bars. The curtain goes up and comes down, the illusionist is now seen to be standing in front of the 4 bars. This is a very practical illusion, other than the length of the poles. Very easy to break down, and construct, I'd say this is possibly the most practical illusion in the book. This illusion is far from original though, JC Sum mentions that it is based on Andrew Mayne's "A-Frame" from his book Solo-X. The benefit to Mr Sum's version is that the performer is visible for all but the penetration. This is certainly a cost effective illusion and one that I think would be a very good first illusion. The downside is the length of time this illusion takes to perform. With a good presentation you could pull a few minutes out of this and in a typical 20-30 minute show this would be great.

The Time Machine is not so much an illusion as it is a stage piece. In short, a clock is taken out of a chest and shown, it is then placed in a futuristic looking box. the doors are closed and when reopened the time has changed on the clock. The doors are closed once more and upon reopening the clock has vanished. The illusionist explains it hasn't gone far back in time and upon opening the original chest the clock is found. The work involved in producing this effect is not nearly worth the effect. Of course this is personal opinion and if you do like this type of effect then it might be worth exploring further. If you are a fan of this type of magic Alan Wakeling wrote a number of wonderful articles in Genii Magazine in the 1950s. Fortunately for all of us without those originals Jim Steinmeyer annotated them and had them republished in a somewhat recent issue of Genii magazine (September 2007). You would do well to buy this back issue of Genii for great stand up routines.

Curtain Call is two original presentation ideas for the Sub Trunk. One being similar to The Assistants Revenge and the other as an escape. The escape isn't so new as it is old. The trick was originally an escape not a transposition. Harry Houdini made it a transposition. This section is good but like The Time Machine, not a good reason to purchase this book. If you are very interested in the Sub Trunk and the other material isn't quite enough to make you buy it then this section should push you that extra inch.

Creation of Life, a very bold title for a stage piece. This trick is pretty much Kevin James' floating rose routine with a flower petal to egg to canary. Fine routining but not much originality here.

Black Art Table Slide, I am not going to go into too much detail as this is one of those secrets that big illusionist likely depend on but this utility illusion idea allows you to have black art while still placing lighting in front of the black art area. Very cool if you have a large enough show to make it work.

Deceptive Base Work, there are not a whole lot of books on the subject of building deceptive bases for illusions. Each builder has a particular preference for certain designs and building methods. JC Sum presents you with his theory and techniques for building bases. Rand Woobdbury has wonderful work on bases in his Base Book, Volume 1 of his Illusionworks videos and Illusionworks Volume 1 book. JC Sum has added some personal choices in illusion base design. If you were ever curious as to how to build a base or you wanted to expand your horizons for base building ideas this section is great. JC addresses a wonderful problem which is reducing thickness of the doors which often saps as much as 3/4" of valuable space! There is also a retractable 1/2" or so that JC utilizes effectively.

Crystal Striptease is our first real "box trick" in this book. It's a bit of a mix of effects. The box is horizontal like a crystal casket, but the strip tease nature isn't quite true, it's more of an undressing. The magician reaches in and pulls out clothing. She vanishes then an outfit is thrown in and she appears with the new outfit on. Wakeling's Costume Trunk and Calvert's Striptease are both referenced by Mr Sum. Personally I'm more a fan of the Calvert illusion. There is something very "caged animal" about this effect. The assistant's inability to stand up straight kills the potential seductive nature of this effect.

New Age Spirit Cabinet is an interesting application for a slightly modified crystal casket. Turning a crystal casket into a spirit cabinet complete with partial appearance of a ghost. I'd suggest you look into Karl Germain's One Man Spirit Cabinet in Germain The Wizard. While JC's spirit cabinet is interesting, it lacks elegance in method. It's exactly what you might expect. That being said Mr Sum does dress it up nicely.

Sweepstakes is a stage trick combining a torn and restored paper with a vanishing radio. While the effects are combined to produce a semi-logical effect I personally can't quite visualize the effectiveness of this routine. A radio is on stage and the lottery numbers are given, the magicians numbers are incorrect and he tears up the ticket. The announcer on the radio then corrects himself stating those were last weeks numbers and that the winning numbers this week are... the magician's numbers! The magician vanishes the radio and restores his now winning ticket!

Back Door Appearance allows you to produce a person/Special Guest, etc. The downside to this is the set up and cost associated with producing this one effect is rather significant. If you have a big company ready to shell out a lot of cash to produce their CEO then you should consider this illusion. The effect is this, a top a skeletal platform with floodlights shining through a square canopy is raised and lowered to reveal the appearance of the special guest. This illusion has it's place, but for us commoners it is most likely not in our shows.

Graffiti Girl. This effect is quite nice. Through this book it's clear that JC Sum like the idea of using doors, as frames for production, means of vanishing people, etc. I suppose the inherent coming and going theme of a door and open/closed implications lend themselves well. Graffiti Girl has a spectator come on stage and with a black can of spray paint, roughly paint his dream girl! Next a paint colour is chosen and her dress is painted in with the chosen colour. The door is closed and immediately opened to reveal the rough painting now resembles a much more detailed painting in full colour! The door is closed once again and upon reopening it there stands a beautiful woman complete with coloured dress! This illusion is strong. I was once told by a very prominent illusion builder that there are 3 types of illusions, Appearances, Vanishes, and To Dos. Something appears, disappears or the box is used To Do something. This illusion is essentially a very involved appearance but with a lot to do. For all practical purposes this could be a fantastic way to introduce your assistant and in a fun way. There is no base involved, which is great. The cost to build this would be very low as well. The only thing that might be a burden is constantly replacing the original canvas that gets painted. JC provides notes at the end of each illusion/trick but unfortunately there is no solution given for replacing the painted canvas.

Motion Delayed Vanish/Appearance presents a handling of a spirit cloth that would allow you to vanish a person or make a person appear instantly! I really enjoyed this idea. It's practical, performable and very easy to produce a potential miracle, lightning fast vanishes/appearances, despite the misleading title.

Modern Flight Case Table, is the detailed plans for any worker. If you do lots of shows and need a great table this design is fantastic! In JC's words, "This is an original suitcase-style table design that is easy to set-up, lightweight and highly configurable to suit your needs. It is a medium suitcase-size ATA flight case that transforms into a central main table with receptacle bin and shelves as well as a side table." A very practical design! The drawing is a bit difficult to work out the details of the table but when you do it's very nice!

Branded is the appearance of a company logo on a previously blank placard in a flash of fire. It's good. Not much to explain. If you require this for a performance or corporate show this will fit the bill!

The Ghost Cabinet and 12 Person Production cabinet are for LARGE shows, very large shows with casts. Anyone who does have this type of large number of people at their disposal should buy this book immediately. It will help the show tremendously in conception and construction.

Illusionary Departures is a wonderful book. It shows a clear evolution of JC Sum and his illusions and magic. The illusions vary from fantastic to okay. The size of the them varies from huge to stand up. Is this book right for you? Yes, I'm very confident you will find a perfect piece of magic for your stage show. There are illusions in here for any stage of illusionist. Starting out to headlining grand illusionist. The biggest downfall to this book is the price tag. It is not a cheap book, but the price is worth it especially if you use anything from it! You can buy this book directly from JC Sum for $100 plus shipping.