Stolen Wallet

Magic was fun. 

One time I tried to recreate a trick from a British Mentalist (the GOAT) Derren Brown. On his TV Special, he took a wallet filled with money, and put it on the sidewalk of a busy London Street. As a hidden camera watched, he drew a thick yellow circle in chalk around the wallet and walked away, disappearing into the crowd. It was human psychology. Even though there was a wallet on the street, the wallet won’t be touched because of the suspicious yellow circle. 

A hundred people walked by the black leather thing, and nobody took it. 

This, to me, is the essence of magic. Learning to lean into human perception. Storytelling without the story. Finding ways to do impossible things, up to and include things that seem supernatural. You’re solving psychological puzzles. That’s what makes magic so delicious.

As a budding magician, 20 years old, I asked my cousin to hide 30 feet away with my new camcorder as I recreated this experiment. This isn’t London, it’s Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. The busy corner of 86th Street and Bay Parkway, where Nobody Beats the Wiz stood shuttered (before it became TD Bank). 

My cousin is standing up on the overpass where the train entrance is overlooking 86th street. He gives me the thumbs up that he’s recording. 

I’m stealing Derren’s experiment to post on Metacafe (this is before Youtube). I’m also dressed like him in a black longcoat and black leather gloves. I look like a serial killer as I place the wallet on the floor and draw the thick chalk circle around it. There’s no chance that anyone is touching this thing. 

As I turn with a theatrical flourish of my coat, my cousin starts shouting.

“Vlad! Vlad!” He yells and waves emphatically.

He’s ruining the shot. I get annoyed as I look up at him. Then I realize that he’s pointing at the wallet. Or, at least where the wallet used to be. 

On rewatching the clip you see me placing the wallet in the circle. Before I could finish turning, a lady twice my age grabs it and starts speed walking away from the scene. You see me confused, then looking in all the wrong directions, then eventually chasing her down the street and begging for my wallet back. 

The camera cuts and you see me trying the experiment again. This time it’s a teenager that I have to chase down the street. The camera cuts three more times and the wallet doesn’t last more than 30 seconds on the sidewalk. Eventually we have to stop when another teen outruns me and gets away with the wallet. 

This, to me, is also magic. Having to perform something a dozen times for a live audience before you know if the trick will even work. Testing theories in the real world. 

Sometimes it works. 

Sometimes you lose your wallet. 

This is the only way to get good at magic.