HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Discuss the art of Children's Entertainment with your fellow performers.
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Richard Kaufman
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HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Richard Kaufman » July 9th, 2007, 7:44 am

By popular request we have added this new category where children's entertainers have their own area to post and discuss.
ALL ARE WELCOME.
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Re: HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Guest » July 9th, 2007, 8:05 am

Thank you, Richard, for this opportunity. I hope it is a huge success! JR

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Re: HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Guest » July 9th, 2007, 1:05 pm

You are a beautiful man Richard, really, you are dang near a god.

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Re: HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Guest » July 9th, 2007, 5:58 pm

I kind of agree with Jonathan Swift, regarding kids....I personally like them fried, stewed, and fricaseed....haha...

Seriously, I would be interested in everyone's inputs regarding how we might use our kid shows to help kids stay in school, avoid perils of drugs and other threats, and set worthwhile life goals....

I definitely do not mean preaching at the kids, but we could be very helpful in promoting citizenship skills....Let us do that and not fall into the pit of "What are your favorite kid tricks?"

(Steve: Check your spelling; Richard is dang near an old dog....hehe).....

opie

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Richard Kaufman
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Favorite Magician: Theodore DeLand
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Re: HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Richard Kaufman » July 9th, 2007, 6:21 pm

I think I prefer Opie's comparison to "an old dog."
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Re: HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Guest » July 9th, 2007, 6:39 pm

"..Let us do that and not fall into the pit of "What are your favorite kid tricks?"

Yes indeed, Opie. Another forum to which I used to belong(Big clue.....it has a green background) has an area full of muggles asking "what is your favourite kid trick?" While this question may be of interest to some, it is really pointless to take that information and decide that because it is someone's favourite, you will therefore buy it. It is rather like someone saying to you: "You must read this book!" or " "You must see this movie!" No I must not! One man's pearls are another man's poison. We all need to learn to be more creative in our magic, and not always copy routines and patter that are used by others. Yes, by all means read books and see DVD's......but then make the finshed product unique. Or, better still.......use it as a springboard to create a completely different routine, that you truly own! JR

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Re: HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Guest » July 9th, 2007, 6:52 pm

Thank you Roger.....I have seen a great video of you "managing" kids on stage, and you are a master....I would really like it if you would kick off a discussion of something like "anti-drug" effects/routines....

Keep up the good work.....opie

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Re: HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Guest » July 9th, 2007, 8:04 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgaRvcbi ... eos%2Ehtml

Thanks Opie. I do many educational messages in my shows, especially when I am working schools and daycares. There is one at the end of this clip. This was a show I did for a school assembly on the Navajo Nation. For the Brits, that is the largest Indian reservation in the USA. JR

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Re: HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Guest » July 10th, 2007, 6:28 am

I like the "be all you can be" message....Have you applied it as patter to a specific trick/routine?

As an old Creative-Writing teacher, I like the "show-rather-than-tell" method of sneaking in object lessons....

(Oh, but please...let us not get into gospel magic; we can teach life skills without further inciting a world already split by a little too much religious zeal).

You use a lot of sight gags, and it is obvious that they work well for you. So, the answer to "why" you use them is that they keep the kids entertained.

We need more effects/routines that SHOW "WHY" we should or should not behave in certain ways, without preaching or unnecessary explanations....
For example, I was never happy with any endings I had for the Egg Bag, until I came up with a little "Moral" at the end. It went something like this:
"So, kids, don't play with matches or your dad's lighter..." (Toss egg and lighter into bag.)..."or you could get fried." (Remove a rubber fried egg from bag.)

Yeah, yeah, I know that is pretty bad; that is the reason I am looking for ideas.

Roger, I hope you don't mind me copying the following list from your web; I think the topics would make excellent discussion points for this thread:

Self-Esteem (Jan)
Dental Hygiene(Feb)
Nutrition(Mar
Saving the planet (recycling)(Apr) Swimming Pool & Sun Safety(May) Animal Awareness(Jun) Books Are Fun(Jul) Mysteries of the Universe(Aug) Play Safe(Sep) Halloween Safety(Oct) Stranger Danger(Nov
Holiday Magic(Dec)

opie

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Re: HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Guest » July 10th, 2007, 8:01 pm

Opie.........It would take too long at this time to go deeply into this. Let me take the first: Self Esteem. You can do the story of the ugly duckling(Supreme), The Giant and the Dwarf(Jack Hughes), Cinderella (Supreme). These are just ideas off the top of my head using standard dealers props. With imagination, you can take almost any prop and work it into a theme. However, in my own case, I often do give messages between tricks and routines which are not necessarily related to the trick. I try never to preach. I allow the kids to gain my respect by watching my magic, and I then find they will listen to my message. I could write a book on this! Maybe I will! JR

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Re: HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Guest » July 10th, 2007, 8:13 pm

Thanks man....Perhaps others will follow your lead and provide other suggestions.....

opie

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Re: HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Guest » July 10th, 2007, 10:48 pm

Richard, would you consider changing your last name spelling? I got a 'Richard Kaufmann Rocks' tattoo and now I realize I tacked on an extra N. Dang.

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Re: HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Guest » July 11th, 2007, 6:48 am

I just thought of a whole nother category for a kid's show: Readin' and Writin'.....One of the objectives would be: "Learn how to read and write, before you get your first tattoo." (no offense, SV)....tsk tsk...

I know that parents of the world would appreciate that message being indelibly punched into their kids' brains....haha

:p pie

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Re: HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Guest » July 11th, 2007, 7:22 am

That is funny, Opie!! It always amazes me that kids(teenagers) get tattoos with their boyfriend or girlfriend's names on them. What happens when they split up? They are not easy to get erase. That might seriously be a good subject for a High School assembly! JR

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Re: HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Guest » July 11th, 2007, 7:45 am

Rog, I was kind of being a little tongue-in-cheek there....The truth is that, if one should place too much emphasis on tattoos at a school assembly, it might cause them all to go to a tattoo parlor to find out what all the fuss is about....

...The same goes for an anti-drug program where maps are handed out to the kids showing where not to hang out....Duh!!!........Sometimes our goody-goody stuff becomes the chum that attracts kids to the sewers...

My successes and failures with raising my own six kids have given me some insights into what to do, what not to do, and when....Unfortunately, in our tiny piece of the vast universe, the whos, whats, wheres, whens, whys, and hows just don't seem to ever fall exactly into our scheme of things...

...Fortunately, the self actualization derived from the persuit itself of worthy goals is enough to keep most of us going...As Roc says, "Forward"......

opie

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Richard Kaufman
Posts: 27054
Joined: July 18th, 2001, 12:00 pm
Favorite Magician: Theodore DeLand
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Re: HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Richard Kaufman » July 11th, 2007, 8:40 am

When someone renews his or her subscription to Genii, I always ask that person if there is anything they don't like in the magazine.

One guy at the IBM or SAM convention (can't recall which) told me that he was reading the magazine with Reed McClintock in it over breakfast and the photos of Reed's tattoos made him nauseous.
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine

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Re: HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Guest » July 11th, 2007, 9:45 am

That guy should have seen Reed in person.

When I was in LV in April he did a lecture at Gary Darwin's magic club. He was so good and entertaining, you almost didn't notice all the tattoos.

And then he revealed two previously selected cards by lifting his shirt and showing they were tattooed on his stomach! Against a background of an entire deck fanned out. I seem to remember that you can see this art in one of the pictures from the Genii article.

Edit: Why are we talking about tattoos in the kids' area? Oh, yeah. Opie started it.

Guest

Re: HERE IT IS! NEW CATEGORY FOR POSTING: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT

Postby Guest » July 11th, 2007, 10:15 am

Yeah, Opie is kind of bad about provoking thought...tsk tsk...

The little urchins do need encouragement...I was thinking about an eight-legged creature (which shall remain nameless here) that was tattooed on a sweet thing in one of the 007 movies...It almost made me want a tattoo...

So, I guess the appropriate question is "To tattoo or not to tattoo? That is the question." And I think that is a pretty good topic for this thread...

(Ray, have you been out on the NASA launch pad sniffing fumes again?......hahahahaha)

opie


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