The Genii Forum

Hi All,
I am looking for the effect in the object but cannot find it anywhere: any help?
Moreover what is the difference between this effect, the new Collard and El Duco This is your key?
Thanks a lot for your help/Fabio

try Hollywood Magic (no website) @ ph# USA 323-464-5610 6614 HollywoodBlvd Hollywood CA 90028 USA

Ask the expert:

Don Wayne Magic Effects
10929 Hartsook St.
North Hollywood , CA 91601


Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

You can not buy Room Service so easily now as it has stopped production years ago. The hard thing for those of us who own it is to get more of the "correct-o" type paper.

Collard is John Archer's wonderful routine using the Room Service props.
Since Room Service is no longer available, this is remanufactured and put out by Alakazam in the UK.

Room Service is back! 40 bucks...

http://www.hocus-pocus.com/

Text from ad.

"As Performed on Television by David Copperfield.

You talk of a recent trip to Hollywood and display a hotel room key. Three young ladies each select a numeral forming a 3-digit number. An amusing and provocative situation might occur if the number that they created "happens" to match your room key! And it does... night after night.

This combines innovative magic with a romantic adventure resulting in a masterpiece of entertainment. We provide three distinct presentations, including complete patter (comedy or dramatic).
Ideal for any audience
The key is always in full view
All numbers are freely chosen
Suitable for close-up or stage"

To me, the "Room Service" prop is anachronistic in today's world since the vast majority of fine hotels (including Sheratons) don't use metal keys anymore. (In addition, the current Hocus Pocus prop looks a lot thinner in the picture than the Wayne original, if memory serves).

A more modern approach to the hotel plot would be to use the Becker Room Service routine with a modern card key as the prediction device.

It has to be at least a decade since I've seen a metal key used in a hotel.

erdnasephile wrote:In addition, the current Hocus Pocus prop looks a lot thinner in the picture than the Wayne original, if memory serves.

Looks identical to the one I have.

As for being anachronistic, it is for fine hotels. When I used it, it was the final "clue" to a murder that took place in a "cheap hotel."

Another approach I tried was when one evening had some friends over for a movie night. I noticed that someone had brought "1408." So I excused myself, put the key in a clear plastic box and put the box next to the TV. After the movie, I mentioned that the movie was based on a true story of a haunted room and I had bought the key on ebay, etc. Some were visibly shaken when I was done.

Yes, John, you could indeed make it a presentational point if talking about an old hotel. But even the cheapest hotel I've ever stayed in no longer has a key.

Oops--have to take that back. The Hotel Universe in Japan still has normal room keys. Just remembered.

Good magic is not about the props.

John has the right idea; if you like the effect (which if memory serves is actually based on an old ideaa medallion as I recall), use it. Just be sure that the presentation explains the prop. An abandoned and haunted hotel would be just fine. Trying to get away with a Copperfield-esque guess which room is mine presentation is anachronistic.

Dustin

Yeah I guess you could cover it in ketchup stains and take it out of an evidence bag you got from a detective friend.

IMHO there's something about plausibility and appropriateness that has to figure into these presentations as well.

Dustin Stinett wrote:Good magic is not about the props.

John has the right idea; if you like the effect (which if memory serves is actually based on an old ideaa medallion as I recall), use it. Just be sure that the presentation explains the prop. An abandoned and haunted hotel would be just fine. Trying to get away with a Copperfield-esque guess which room is mine presentation is anachronistic.

Dustin

John's (and Dustin's) point is well-taken, and perhaps I was premature in my remarks.

Presentation can certainly rationalize the use of such a prop. However, when the prop in question was originally marketed, one of it's big selling points was that it was designed to look just like an official Sheraton key fob, so it looked innocent given the context of the times.

Interestingly, the prop still bears the Sheraton logo, so if one used the presentation that Dustin describes, it would have to be an old, abandoned haunted Sheraton, which somehow doesn't play for me.

I'm sure there are those like the brilliant Robert Neale who could pull it off convincingly, but it would take strong scripting and excellent presentation skills to make it work, IMHO.

(FWIW, I'm not an artifact-nihilist--I even think a change bag, milk pitcher, or a duck pan could actually be made to make sense in today's world (see Steinmeyer's book), but such props do pose some traps to the unwary).

Richard: I'm guessing you've never paid for your room by the hour :)

Jonathan: Yes, the key was in a evidence bag (no blood); one of a collection of items that I dumped out of a large manila case envelope. The crime routine is totally tongue-in-cheek, as it is all about my off-hours job using my magic skills to solve crimes.

I never cared for the Sheraton logo and had long ago covered it with a sticker printed with a coat of arms.

I've never paid for anything by the hour other than a plumber!

Dustin Stinett wrote:Good magic is not about the props.

Just be sure that the presentation explains the prop.

As Johnny Carson used to say, "Buy the premise, buy the bit."

Regal has some great work on this type of plot, and he does use a metal key (albeit not a Sheraton key) :)

which if memory serves is actually based on an old ideaa medallion as I recall

All of the routines mentioned are presentations for Al Koran's The Gold Medallion.

N.

That's the one. Thanks Nathan!

Dustin

Does this come the nice gaff to get clean printed looking numbers?

You mean an off-stage assistant using rub-on letters? I doubt it.

Hello,

FWIW, I also thought that nearly ALL hotels had gone to key cards, however, this past year I performed in two places that still had actual keys; Mount Washington Hotel in NH and the Snow Cap Inn at Sunday River Ski Resort in ME!!

Not 'rent by the hour' type places at all!

Sincerely,
David