The Genii Forum

:help: Quite unexpectedly, I will be involved in presenting three nights of Giant Insect horror movies at the Texas History Museum later this month (September 23-25).

The group I'm with, Professor Griffin's Midnight Shadow Show, is interested in presenting some sort of insect related effect as part of our three nights of entertainment. We are fortunate to have a professional theatre at our disposal, with traps, lighting, and a vast backstage area.

Obviously, with our limited timeframe, we are looking for something quick and relatively easy to do. Any suggestions from the community would be greatly appreciated.

For those of you in the Austin area, we are showing:
Sept. 23 Empire of the Ants and Them!
Sept. 24 The Fly and The Return of the Fly (w/Vincent Price)
Sept. 25 The Giant Mantis and Mothra

Sim-Sala-Bim!

How about a dove pan type effect a la Penn and Teller? You could produce a bunch of bugs.

Something I've always wanted to do given venue money and opportunity was a Peppers ghost kind of thing. You could transform a human into a giant insect . Could do like a doll house kind of thing along with an ariel fishing. Catch the butterfly put it in the 'house" and it turns into a butterfly lady. Maybe a Bryces screen with same out come.
OR just a six card repeat and a rope cut....folks love that kinda thing.....
KW

It would cost more money than you may want to spend and the angles are limited, depending on your venue, but I just thought,(thinking of Pepper's Ghost) how about changing a man into a man/fly mutation, in a "chamber", like the old carnival "Girl to Gorilla Show" attraction? I noticed years ago, they did something similar at Universal Studios, to "beam up" people off a stage, for their "Star Trek" show.
Would be great with the screening of "The Fly".

Mike.

Here's a free idea if you don't like it double

your money back.

23/ For the ant movie get or make one of

those flea circus and tell them the ants are doing

the work.

24/ For the fly movie do the card in the fly

in the lobby,

25/ For the mantis movie pray that they come

back after you ripped them off with the card in

the fly.

lots of luck, Mike :p

There's an entire chapter of magic using flies in Stephen Minch's 1977 book CREATIONS OF A MAGICAL MADMAN. Items include "Swami Fly," a routine in which a plastic joke fly, complete with miniature turban, displays his clairvoyant abilities; "Fly-catcher," a Two-in-the-Hand-One-in-the-Pocket effect using flies inside plastic semispheres, and a frog for the final load, to "get rid of all the flies"; "Cups and Flies," a version of the classic Cups and Balls, wherein three balls change to three flies, and then to three giant spiders!; "The Torn and Restored Fly," a comedy Torn and Restored Paper, using your favorite newspaper, the DAILY FLYER; and "Out of the Flying Pan," a unique card revelation using a dove pan and a giant fly.

I think those should cover you for the fly portion... :D

Cameron

How about converting a small insect into a large one? Perhaps a radiation leak causes this! The tiny bug goes into the illusion and a giant bug, i.e. a person in a bug suit comes out.

Theres a topic somewhere in here about producing a corporate executive. That topic provides several relatively inexpensive ways to produce a person.

Cameron Roat wrote:

"Cups and Flies," a version of the classic Cups and Balls, wherein three balls change to three flies

Not another "3-Fly" routine! :)

Thank you all so much for the recommendations. We've got something magically spooky planned now!

Docc Hilford has a somewhat gross routine using plastic flies...similar to the bean-in-the-eye trick, you push flies into your nose and ears and spit them out of your mouth.

It was in his lecture a few years back, I think it was called "The Revenge of Renfield."

No one mentioned moths...I remember a simple gimmick with a moth on the end of a piece of wire, I think it was used in a Supreme Magic trick to have a moth come flying out of a book. You rolled the end of the wire between your fingers, and the wire was flexible a bit "floppy" and made the moth "flutter" rather convincingly. Could be used for atmosphere.

Jeff

Not sure if this was mentioned yet, the routine from Minch's book Creations of a Magical Madman with fly cups and balls.

Sure, please do a fly version of the Mora/Scarne/Marlo/Roth three ball routine. And if you feel it useful, a visual sequence might be fun.

There are some posts on the Magic Caf about doing tricks with giant flies.

Enjoy!

Tony Miller (Doomo)put out a terrific looking garbage can chop cup, an exact duplicate of a garbage can, complete with lid, flies as the balls, and mini-garbage bags as the final loads! Great stuff...

Best, PSC

Jeff Haas just joged my memory of another flying

bug trick. Nate Leipzig's " Creation of life "

from " Dai Vernon's Tribute to Nate Leipzig "

Rickt Jay did it on his " Learned Pigs and Fire-

proof Women " Special. A cigarette paper is torn

and folded to look like a moth ( could be a fly )

and is tossed in the air and flyes away......Boo

Mike

Originally posted by Mike Walsh II:
Jeff Haas just joged my memory of another flying bug trick. Nate Leipzig's "Creation of life" from "Dai Vernon's Tribute to Nate Leipzig"...
Mike

Didn't Frank Chapman publish a version, (perhaps the original), of this in his rag, "Chap's Scrapbook"? I can't remember the history, and don't have my file to hand, but I remember being enthralled by the idea when I was just a "young'un", oh so many years ago... Anybody know?

Best, PSC

Jeeze, Louise! I just re-read this thread, and can't believe that no one has mentioned David Devant! Is my memory really that bad, or isn't there an illustration that just screams "Moth!" in "Our Magic"? Never mind, I think I'm losing it...

Best, PSC

Originally posted by pchosse:
Jeeze, Louise! I just re-read this thread, and can't believe that no one has mentioned David Devant! Is my memory really that bad, or isn't there an illustration that just screams "Moth!" in "Our Magic"? Never mind, I think I'm losing it...

Best, PSC

I recall a thing with women dressed in moth costumes and a large candle on stage where the dance number involves the women vanishing as if into the candle flame. I keep having to separate that from the staging of the Capek Brothers play 'Insect Comedy' which is almost contemporary and has a similar moment where a speaking moth, in its cocoon for most of the play, finally hatches, flies and ... right into a flame as well.

Hmmm, Mascot Moth? Well I think I have a line drawing showing Devant performing the effect from the Magician Monthly. Wasn't this the effect that Henning later did?

Not sure I can assemble the props and get my amateur actors and stage/lighting hands practiced by next Wednesday for this set piece of Victorian Conjuring. Anyone have a woman assistant handy? (Grin)

The Mascot Moth is extremely difficult to do: while Siegfried and Roy did it nightly until their show closed, and Doug Henning did it nightly while in Merlin, few others have.
The year they did it at the Los Angeles Conference on Magical History, it failed to work at dress rehearsal, but worked perfectly during performance: and that's with Jim Steinmeyer, Mike Caveney, and John Gaughan standing there.
I think the average Joe would have no hope whatsoever of successfully doing the illusion.

I believe Steinmeyer makes great mention of the mascot Moth as well as peppers ghost and more in "Vanishing the Elephant". Great book btw.
KW

I just wanted to thank everyone for the great suggestions and ideas. The event went well (with the exception of a balloon not popping on queue) and the screams were genuine and palpable.

I want to say a special Thanks to Richard Hart for the idea we eventually used and the use of the dove pan. We couldn't have done it without your help and encouragement!

Thanks!
Mike

Several days late and undoubetedly a few dollars short, but if you ever need to do a "bug" theme event again, you might consider incorporating Jim Pace's "The Web" into the routine.

( "The Web" by Jim Pace )

Originally posted by pchosse:
Didn't Frank Chapman publish a version, (perhaps the original), of this in his rag, "Chap's Scrapbook"? I can't remember the history, and don't have my file to hand, but I remember being enthralled by the idea when I was just a "young'un", oh so many years ago... Anybody know?

"Fred Robert's Famous Moth Trick" was published in Chap's Scrapbook in September 1939 (Vol. II, No. 15). I've tried it a few times...the handling seemed a bit buggy.

Cameron