(Boris) Wild reveals
twist in his Kiss Act
By Bobby Warren
Boris Wild's Kiss Act has garnered him prestigious awards, lofty accollades, and it has taken him around the world.
He won a World Card Magic Prize at FISM in 1997, and he was booked in Sydney, Australia, just to perform the Kiss Act, a routine that blends emotion, passion, love, mystery, music, and magic. It donned on him just how special the act was when people paid him to fly twenty-seven hours there and another twenty-seven hours back to perform his famous seven-minute routine.
Despite the fact that the Kiss Act won a FISM award more than a decade ago, Boris recently shared a fascinating fact about the routine that until now was uknown in the magic community.
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When he first started performing the routine, he needed a thin photo of woman that could stick to a playing card. Before the Internet exploded, he had his choice of hundreds of photos of women in catalogs. So, the woman depicted during the routine was not his wife.
He would also tailor the kind of woman he used based on where he was performing. In Holland, he would choose a blonde and in Spain, a brunette.
However, when he was celebrating 15 years in magic, he performed a big show for his family and friends to mark the occasion.
"I thought it would be nice if I used a picture of my wife," Boris said. He did, and she was surprised and happy. Afterward, she said, "This is how you will perform it from now on, right?"
That was almost 11 years ago, he said, adding, "I don't think I've told that story before."
Boris shared the story during an exclusive interview with the I.B.M. Magic Portal prior to a lecture on creativity and impact at the historic Haines House of Cards in Norwood, Ohio, for I.B.M. Ring 71. Wild was on a lecture tour of Ohio, which was organized by Scott Miller, the lecture coordinator for Ring 5 in Dayton, Ohio.
The lecture room at Haines was packed on the night of April 16, 2010. But the event would not have happened if Boris' flight would have left twenty-four hours later.
"I would have been stuck in a Paris airport," Boris said. "It was the first time since 9/11 that they closed the airspace."
Volcanic ash from Iceland created the problems with flights originating or landing in Europe. However, Boris flew out in the nick of time and had the opportunity to spend some time with the wonderful Reed Sisters and their grandfather, Larry McMechan, before giving a lecture for Ring 5 in Dayton, the Ring 71 lecture, along with a dinner show and marked deck workshop.
During his trip to the states, Boris planned to attend Fechter's Finger Flicking Frolic in BUffalo, N.Y., where he was the guest of honor in 2008.
His best magical creation, Pure Telepathy, is pure magic, and it had had its origins at the FFFF. Boris and others were discussing what would be the perfect way to reveal a card. One night, the answer came to him in a dream, and the result was Pure Telepathy.
In it, the cards are mixed up, a woman selects a card, then shuffles it into the cards she is holding. Boris explains he wants to use pure emotion to find the selected card. She is not to say a thing or give him any visual clues, just to feel a strong emotion when she sees her selected card.
Throughout the effect, Boris never sees the face of any cards. As he spreads the cards from one hand to another facing her, he begins to toss cards to the floor, until he finally feels a strong emotion and only one card is left: The selected card.
While not difficult from a technical standpoint, Pure Telepathy is pure presentation, Boris said. And, it feels like real magic, what a magician would do if he had real powers.
When creating effects, Boris said his goal every time is to get to what the perfect effect would be if he had magic powers.
"If I have the right presentation, people will think they just saw magic," he said.
To see Boris perform his Kiss Act and Pure Telepathy, which was televised on a French cabaret show, check out his Web site, www.boriswild.com.
