A jet black witch hat is a iconic symbol of witches, often associated with magic and sorcery. The hat is typically tall and pointed, with a wide brim that adds to its mysterious and enchanting appearance. It is often depicted as made of velvet or felt, adding to its luxurious and elegant look. The jet black color of the hat adds to its allure and mystique, representing the darkness and power traditionally associated with witches. It is this darkness that allows witches to tap into their magical abilities and control the forces of nature. The hat can be seen as a symbol of authority and knowledge, as it is often worn by experienced witches and those who have mastered their craft.
Magic
“One of those can’t-put-it-down-until-the-last-page-is-turned monsters that has readers all over the country missing sleep.”—Minneapolis Tribune
Corky is a brilliant entertainer with a bright future ahead of him. He has good looks, many women, and enormous talent. He also had a secret and a certainty: a secret that must be hidden from his public at all costs; and a certainty that the dark forces of magic were out to destroy him.
“Fascinating . . . This dazzling psychological thriller cannot be put down! . . . The most imaginative and enjoyable novel I’ve read since Marathon Man. . . . [A] bizarre journey into the world of illusion.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Kept me up half the night. . . . A brilliantly alarming novel!”—Cosmopolitan
The hat can be seen as a symbol of authority and knowledge, as it is often worn by experienced witches and those who have mastered their craft. It is a sign of their wisdom and the depths of their magical abilities. The image of a witch wearing a jet black hat has been popularized in literature, movies, and Halloween costumes, further cementing its association with witches and the mystical world.
About Magic
“One of those can’t-put-it-down-until-the-last-page-is-turned monsters that has readers all over the country missing sleep.”—Minneapolis Tribune
Corky is a brilliant entertainer with a bright future ahead of him. He has good looks, many women, and enormous talent. He also had a secret and a certainty: a secret that must be hidden from his public at all costs; and a certainty that the dark forces of magic were out to destroy him.
“Fascinating . . . This dazzling psychological thriller cannot be put down! . . . The most imaginative and enjoyable novel I’ve read since Marathon Man. . . . [A] bizarre journey into the world of illusion.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Kept me up half the night. . . . A brilliantly alarming novel!”—Cosmopolitan
Magic
New York: Delacorte Press, 1976. Hardcover. Fine/Near Fine. First edition. Octavo. Fine in about fine dust jacket with slight age-toning on front panel. The Dedication Copy, Signed and dated "8/18/76" by Goldman on the dedication page beneath the dedicated to Goldman's Hollywood literary agent, Evarts Ziegle. A psychological thriller about a demented ventriloquist who is tormented by his dummy, the book was turned into a 1978 movie starring Anthony Hopkins, with the screenplay by Goldman. (Inventory #: 542561)
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William goldman magic
William Goldman is probably known best for The Princess Bride and Marathon Man, both of which he adapted into successful movies. His suspense novel Magic was a hit in its day too, though did less well when he reworked it for the screen. There are specific reasons for this, which I will try to discuss here without giving away too many of the author’s tricks. We begin with a man in conflict with himself, a magician looking for a new gimmick …
I submit this review for Bev’s Vintage Silver Age Mystery Challenge; Tuesday’s Overlooked Film meme over at Todd Mason’s Sweet Freedom blog; and Katie’s Book to Movie Challenge at Doing Dewey (for reviews, click here)
“I got maybe the best magician in fifty years matched with the first X-rated dummy on the block. Eat your heart out.”
All his adult life Charles – known by everyone as ‘Corky – has wanted to be a magician, to be an entertainer. After years spent developing his skills for closeup card illusion and many, many setbacks, he finally finds a fresh gimmick by incorporating a ventriloquist’s dummy into his act. This brings humour to a style of magic that is on the wane but is also a method to misdirect the audience. After making a name for himself, and on the cusp of signing a major TV contract, Corky has a crisis of confidence and heads to his home town where miraculously he re-ignites his passion for Peggy Ann Snow, the girl he had a crush on in high school some 15 years before. Will he be able to start again with Peggy and finally find the self-esteem to become a success? There is more to it of course and events ultimately escalate into a series of confrontations and a deadly showdown in Peggy’s lakeside cabin that will leave several people dead.
Corky certainly has some issues he has to work through, but he is enormously sympathetic and we really would like him to succeed and move out of the shadow of his disappointed father, his absent mother and his more successful brother. I can’t help thinking that Hitchcock would have loved this material – along with humour, suspense and a sweet love story, there are also plenty of nasty surprises that one suspects the director of Frenzy, Psycho and Spellbound would have greatly enjoyed. Some of the set pieces, while very well done, are fairly traditional such as when the murderer worries if the body they put at the bottom of the lake will stay there when they are unexpectedly taken fishing near the some place. But other sequences are more unusual and subtler in approach. Perhaps the greatest single sequence, because it is ultimately very sad, is when one character asks another to just keep quiet for five minutes – no big deal, right? You’d be wrong and it is brilliantly handled, genuinely suspenseful and both nasty and heartbreaking. Now that’s a neat trick and Goldman deserves tremendous credit for taking a premise we are very familiar with – a ventriloquist who thinks that people only like him when he is with his dummy and not for himself – and crafting a chilling and exciting story that is scary and melancholy too. There is also plenty of humour (the dummy has a really licked and profane mouth on him):
“If brains were dynamite you couldn’t blow your nose”
Those who have read the novel, or seen the film, will realise quite how oblique I have been in my brief summary, but this is at heart a restricted chamber piece – one with only five major characters and it would be a shame to spoil any of it.
Goldman is one of my favourite authors, as I may have mentioned a few times before (for instance, here). An Oscar-winner for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President’s Men, he famously said of Hollywood: “Nobody knows anything.” As a novelist he’s tried all kinds of genres (fantasy, private eye, war, bildungsroman, police procedural, espionage) but his recurring themes of sibling rivalry and parental abandonment are front and centre in Magic. In adapting the novel for the screen, he had to jettison perhaps its biggest surprise, one that comes about 100 pages in and which just couldn’t be translated to the screen without some major cheating. On the other hand the rest of the book has been transferred with great fidelity, with most of the dialogue and situations transferred pretty much as they were in the novel.
“Magic’s to entertain – you don’t take it seriously. Don’t look for more than’s there.”
Mike Nichols and Norman Jewison were both attached to the project before Richard Attenborough took over as director, doing great work with his cast. Anthony Hopkins was probably his favourite actor and he does a great job here, convincing both as the neurotic Corky and as the successful stage performer (though most of the ventriloquism was in fact the work of Dennis Alwood), while Ann-Margret is perfect in a role that was literally written for her (though this does mean they are both a good 10 tears older than the characters in the book). Burgess Meredith (in a role apparently earmarked for Olivier at one stage, which would have been a terrible idea) does well as Corky’s loving agent; and the always underrated Ed Lauter brings much to what might be a two-dimensional role as Peggy’s philandering failure of a husband.
“A pro never forgets his good lines, kid”
If the film didn’t become a big hit, despite the fine ensemble and the many surprises, it’s probably because it was unclear to audiences just what kind of film this was going to be – a deliberate and necessary choice to avoid spoilers, but a marketing nightmare. Some think of it as a kind of horror movie when looking at the advertising, but there is nothing supernatural here. It’s a suspense thriller first and foremost, but one rooted in the reality of the characters – which is to say, not a story with a happy ending perhaps, but one that should easily keep you desperate to find out what will happen next. The book manages to do more with the material that the film can through Goldman’s dexterity, but sadly it’s all too easy to see why this autumnal and dark tale didn’t fare all that well at the box office – none the less, both offer thrills and chills and always treat the audience with intelligence and are well worth some of your time. The film also boasts a fine score by Jerry Goldsmith, who in an inspired touch uses the inhalation and exhalations of a harmonica to match Corky’s ventriloquism,
I previously profiled Goldman’s work here. If you are interested in his many other excursions into mystery and suspense, you should check out his following novels and films:
Novels:
No Way To Treat a Lady (1964) – reviewed here
Marathon Man (1974)
Heat (1985; UK title Edged Weapons) – reviewed here
Brothers (1986)
Screenplays:
Masquerade (1965) – co-screenwriter
Harper (1966)
The Hot Rock (1972) – reviewed here
All the President’s Men (1976)
Misery (1990)
Year of the Comet (1992)
The Chamber (1996) – co-screenwriter
Absolute Power (1997)
The General’s Daughter (1999) – co-screenwriter
DVD Availability: This one is easy to get on DVD round the world and on Blu-ray in the US (the above still are taken from that release, with acknowledgement and special thanks to DVD Beaver). The Blu-ray includes interviews (from a 2006 DVD release) with Goldman, cinematographer Victor J Kemper and best of all Dennis Alwood, who not only dishes the dirt on the production but also brings a wealth of knowledge about the history of ventriloquism and its representation on screen
Magic (1978)
Director: Richard Attenborough
Producer: Joseph E. Levine
Screenplay: William Goldman
Cinematography: Victor J Kemper
Art Direction: Terence Marsh
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Ann-Margret, Burgess Meredith, David Ogden Stiers, Ed Lauter
I submit this review for Bev’s 2014 Silver Age Vintage Mystery Challenge Bingo in the ‘country house’ category:
It has become an instantly recognizable symbol and is often used to represent witches in various forms of media. Overall, the jet black witch hat represents the power, wisdom, and allure of witches, serving as a visual representation of their magical abilities and the mystical world they inhabit..
Reviews for "The Jet Black Witch Hat: Accessorizing for Practical Magic"
1. Samantha - 2 stars
The "Jet black witch hat" was a huge disappointment for me. The material used in the hat felt extremely cheap and flimsy. It didn't hold its shape properly and looked like it could easily fall apart at any moment. Additionally, the hat was poorly designed, with uneven stitching and loose threads hanging off. It definitely did not live up to the price I paid for it.
2. Daniel - 1 star
I was really excited to receive the "Jet black witch hat" as it looked fabulous in the pictures. However, once I got my hands on it, I realized it was a complete letdown. The hat was way too small for my head, despite claiming to be a one-size-fits-all. Furthermore, the hat had a weird and strong chemical smell that was incredibly off-putting. It was so unbearable that I couldn't even wear it for more than a few minutes. Definitely not worth the money.
3. Laura - 2 stars
I purchased the "Jet black witch hat" for a Halloween costume, but I was disappointed with its quality. The hat arrived with creases and wrinkles all over, making it impossible to remove them completely. The hat also lacked structure and flopped over easily, ruining the overall look. The sizing was also an issue as it was too tight for my head, causing discomfort. I wouldn't recommend this hat to anyone looking for a durable and well-made witch hat.
4. Chris - 3 stars
The "Jet black witch hat" was okay, but nothing special. The material was average, and the hat didn't quite have the desired shape that I was looking for. It seemed a bit flimsy and didn't hold up well in some light gusts of wind. I also found the price to be a bit higher than what it should be for the quality. Overall, it's an average hat that might work for a simple costume, but don't expect anything outstanding.