The Sentimentalists - Canadian Rising Stars

Wanted to take a moment to congratulate The Sentimentalists, who were recently awarded The Allan Slaight Award for Canadian Rising Star(s). The awards recognize outstanding achievements in pursuit of the impossible, named for the Canadian media mogul and philanthropist (and magic nut) Allan Slaight.

Steffi Kay & Mysterion - The Sentimentalists (Photo by Ahmed Alexander)

In 2016, shortly after they began performing together, they appeared as guests on Magic Tonight. Earlier this year, I penned a profile of them which appeared as the cover story of Vanish Magazine.

I can’t buy them a drink at the present moment, so this post will have to do for now!

A Lucky Discovery

Sometimes in my show I reveal the truth about my past, before I was a professional magician, I was at the University of Toronto studying math. Not the fast track to popularity you think it might be, but it teaches you some powerful techniques for problem solving.

I made this lucky discovery when I found out that the most recent (2019) Christmas Lectures at the Royal Institution were presented by Hannah Fry. Hannah is a math — or since this is the UK, I will be respectful and switch to saying maths — communicator and an associate professor at University College London. The Christmas Lectures is cultural institution in the UK started by Michael Faraday (the person who essentially discovered electricity) back in 1825. The program is designed to bring science to a family audience.

I was checking out one of the lectures, which is all about probability, and luck. Everything is presented in the most interactive and visual way possible, and they did a fantastic job. It’s a talk about maths with no blackboard and no formulas. She discusses real problems like “What does it mean when it says there is a 20% chance of rain tomorrow?” and also the problem of false positives in medical screenings. I particularly enjoyed her treatment of the paradoxical “prisoner’s dilemma” from game theory.

But the best part is, she opens with a magic trick!

Not just any magic trick, but it’s a Canadian magic trick, and an old one at that. Her opening piece (which involves a small amount danger — trigger warning) is a giant version of something created by Canadian magician Stewart James. It appeared in a magic magazine in 1926 under the title “A Match for Gravity”. She does an oversize version then repeats with a smaller version with a teacup. The original used a paper match and a pocket watch… but even at the Royal Institution, I doubt there were any children there she could have borrowed a pocket watch from.

Stewart is widely regarded as one of the most creative magicians who ever lived. He was particularly fascinated by mathematical principles, but also created a number of curious pieces that were far more physical in nature, like this one. He was a magician as a hobbyist, working for most of his life as a postal worker in his native town of Courtright, Ontario. His work was collected in the three giant volumes shown below:

Author Allan Slaight holding three very heavy books containing the collected secrets of Stewart James

As if the world were not yet full enough of strange coincidences, this photo currently appears on the wall of the Art Gallery of Ontario as the “Allan Slaight Collection of Magic Posters” is currently on display in an exhibition called Illusions: The Art of Magic.

Also prominently featured in the lecture is another maths communicator Matt Parker, who created what is possibly the best-titled event ever: “The Festival of the Spoken Nerd.” ‘Nough said.

The Allan Slaight Awards

Saturday night, as part of a special gala show concluding the 44th Magic Collectors Weekend in Montreal, Magicana presented the Allan Slaight Awards. The awards, now in their third year, were created by the Slaight Family Foundation to honour Allan Slaight. A deeply passionate magician who is better known to the world at large through his work in broadcasting, he is now in his eighties, his idea of a quiet Canadian retirement involves quietly donating millions of dollars each year to various healthcare and arts organizations. 

The awards recognize the best in magic with $50,000 a year in prizes. There are awards for performances for the public and also those who advance the craft, publishing reference material within the field. In the two years the awards have been given previously, some of my favourite magicians have received the awards, including Penn & Teller. 

For the first two years, the awards were presented a private dinner. This is the first time they have been open to see. The winners were:

Max Maven
Lifetime Achievement - $15,000

Derek DelGaudio
Sharing Wonder - $15,000

John Lovick
Sharing Secrets - $10,000

Edward Hilsum
International Rising Star - $5,000

Eric Leclerc
Canadian Rising Star - $5,000

David Ben, John Lovick, Max Maven, Edward Hilsum, Julie Eng - Photo by David Linsell

This year, I was backstage for the show, so I had a slightly different perspective. For example, here is John Lovick who won the award for Sharing Secrets for a book he wrote in collaboration with Handsome Jack, the world's foremost male model magician. He's having a slight wardrobe malfunction.

Handsome Jack with his pants down... don't ask.