When Lennart Green made his first appearance in front of
Shanghai media in
Shanghai TV station's news center, local reporters looked at him with curiosity and disbelief.
As the first world-renowned magician to arrive for the upcoming
Shanghai Magic Festival, Green was advertised as the "king of card tricks" and a leading figure in close-up magic shows.
He was tall and big, a typical Nordic man with gray hair and thick glasses. He sat a little awkwardly as the organizers introduced him to the media. Then a staff member of the
Shanghai Circus World, the organizer of the Magic Festival, said that Green would show some tricks to the media.
"Can they come closer so that they can see what I do," he said. The excited reporters with their cameras moved close to form a semi-circle in front of him.
There the "king of card tricks" said "Name a card" and he had it in his hand whenever you called "Stop". The cards were shuffled for him, another deck chosen or he was blindfolded but he always produced the card that had been named.
He even picked the 13 hearts in a deck blindfolded.
Then he went on to play with coins. You knew that he must have changed hands but you never saw when or how he did it. Not only journalists, but professional judges in international magic competitions, could not see through his tricks.
Years ago when he first participated a competition, the jury refused to grant him a prize because they thought he must have installed a secret button in his the desk - which he hadn't. On the next occasion, he gave the desk as a present to the jury and was awarded the grand prize.
It's all about focus
"It is all about misleading people's focus," the magician told the amazed reporters. "The smarter the audience, the easier it is to deceive their eyes. Drunkards and children are the most difficult to fool, because they don't think with logic."
Green showed incredible memory about cards - let him take just a quick look, then you name one card from the deck and he could tell you its position in the pile.
He was mistaken about one position, but that was because one card was missing from the deck.
He said that his memory was just normal but then he asked each of 10 reporters to name something, after a few minutes, he repeated the thing each person had named.
"I use association of ideas," he explained. He would imagine the numerals as specific images, such as one was like a nail. When the first person mentioned a "dice", he drew in his mind a picture of a dice perforated by the nail. "The dice is in sharp pain and screaming." With such a high dramatic mental picture, the dice was closely linked with the number one in his memory.
Self-made man
The 62-year old Swedish magician started on his career in magic when he was 18. He picked it up quickly, learning by himself because he thought it was fun. He didn't even practice often because he thought it was boring.
He went to work as a guard in a prison and mental hospital when he was in his 20s. "My mother was a nurse in the hospital so I could work there in holidays from college." Maybe that explains why there are such weird and bloody scenes in his imagination. "But I have other images too," protested the magician. "Numeral two is a swan in my mental picture. I like fairy tales too."
After college he worked as a general medical practitioner, as a psycho-therapist lecturing about misleading communications and manipulation and even as a coroner. "That was the worst job I ever had," he said.
Green didn't like being a doctor. "I hated having to tell people that their loved ones had to die." When he cut back to working only part-time, the welfare bureau contacted him and said that in order to keep his social security and pensions he had to work at least 50 per cent of his time.
Then, 10 years ago he happened to win an international award as a magician. He started to travel around the world as a close-up magician and built up his reputation as the "king of card tricks".
A chosen lifestyle
"My former colleagues in the medical field were jealous of my rich travel experience, though they are better-off," Green said. He still prefers the free and wandering lifestyle of a professional magician.
"I like the interaction with an audience at near distance, when they ask to shuffle the cards and things like that," he said. "I also like the challenge of solving problems with cards. I like to improvise in my shows."
He has never married but has three brothers and three sisters, who have provided him with a large audience of nieces and nephews.
He used to perform in Las Vegas, and people were curious as to whether he would take advantage of his card skills to win money in the casinos. "No, I am easily scared like a coward. I prefer to have a little money. A lot of money is like a knife on your back," Green said. "I have a Chinese friend who is really good at it. He is forbidden to play in casinos. Even when you shuffle the cards, he can catch a glimpse of them."
This is Green's first trip to
Shanghai and he was excited about everything he saw. "China has some very amazing magic programs," he said. He wanted to find some traditional magic props, such as a mirror that can reflect the image of Buddha under the sun, and a basin with two ears, which when you rub it for a while, the water in the basin will spatter.
It was said that Green would like to take a Chinese as a student in card tricks. "As long as he/she has a good personality, it is OK. It doesn't matter if they don't have any magic skills," he said when reporters asked about his requirements for such a student. "It can be you," he said to a woman reporter.
Those thick glasses on his nose were real. The magician has poor eyesight. Does that affect his magic career? "Maybe," he said.
Green, together with 11 internationally-acclaimed magicians from seven countries, will participate in the magic shows during the festival, including the first close-up magic show ever held in China.
"Close-up shows used to be limited to small audiences but now, with the help of big screens, I can perform to thousands. Magic involves many elements, such as skill, props and so on. High-technology comes low among them," the "king of card tricks" declared.
