Paddle magic this way comes

A place where beginners can participate, ask questions, and post their views. However, beginners typically ask a lot of questions about sources, tricks, books, and so on. In fact, all magicians are interested (or should be) in the provenance of tricks, ideas, and related matters. This department will service these needs.
CalvinSze
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Paddle magic this way comes

Postby CalvinSze » March 26th, 2021, 3:44 am

Here is my take on the design of the magician’s paddle. I call it: The Repairman.

https://youtu.be/TSaGSLZApV4

You may print it with a 3D printer & do the recommended routine for free.

Anthony Vinson
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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Anthony Vinson » March 26th, 2021, 10:00 am

That's actually a cute little routine. Nice thinking!

Bill Duncan
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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Bill Duncan » March 26th, 2021, 9:07 pm

Very nicely done. A multi-use plastic wrench (spanner) is just the sort of thing you would find in an assemble-it-yourself piece of furniture. Now if only there was an IKEA Card Trick.

: )

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Jonathan Townsend » March 27th, 2021, 7:09 pm

That's a modern interpretation of the paddle - bravo!
Good contrast between the printed plastic and the metal bold too.

Recalls H. Sawa's routine with a small branch and appearing ladybugs. :D

CalvinSze
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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby CalvinSze » November 21st, 2022, 11:21 pm

Jonathan Townsend wrote:Recalls H. Sawa's routine with a small branch and appearing ladybugs. :D

I had totally missed your last paragraph the moment I read it. The ladybugs routine must be intriguing.

Meanwhile, in Taiwan, there’s a rising star who produces spiders, frogs, turtles, and mice with his own creative methods. He ended an ambitious card routine with a green sticker on the back of the selected card. And when everyone was expecting the dot to jump to the top of the deck, it became a frog!


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Brad Jeffers
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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Brad Jeffers » November 22nd, 2022, 12:40 am

In Taiwan there’s a rising star who produces spiders, frogs, turtles, and mice

I have four words of warning for the Taiwanese rising star ...

Arachnophobia, ranidaphobia, herpetophia and musopobia.

These fears, although irrational, are definitely real!

I would be very cautious about using any of these creatures in a close up magic act.
You may be opening a large can of worms.

And then you would have to deal with scoleciphobia. ;)

CalvinSze
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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby CalvinSze » November 22nd, 2022, 4:00 am

Brad Jeffers wrote:These fears, although irrational, are definitely real!

I would be very cautious about using any of these creatures in a close up magic act.
You may be opening a large can of worms.


I understand what you mean but his approach is surprisingly comfortable. I have watched his performance twice. The first one was a live broadcast session where he was by the river and produced these living things of nature. The second one was one of those Asian style playful variety shows (a bit like those late night shows in the US) where, stereotypically, the female hosts and guests screamed and ran; the male played with the spider; and then, they all just laughed it off and interviewed the magician how he was patient as an animal keeper and praised him for his passion as a magician.

I think he is wise not to imitate any existing styles when he produced his pets so that the concern, that you have also raised, can be ruled out and people focus on his message, or humor, or whatever impression which definitely isn’t too scary, at least on screen or at parlor.


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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Dave Le Fevre » November 22nd, 2022, 8:53 am

There are people who don't react to (say) a spider, there are people who shriek in alarm, and there are people who have to lie down in a darkened room for many hours. And we don't know which spectator will fall into which category.

Which is why I'd never perform The Web. I'd perform Bear Hands by Geoff Williams instead. (Haven't yet found anybody who is terrified of a teddy bear.)

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Richard Kaufman » November 22nd, 2022, 11:33 am

People have been using Jim Pace's trick "The Web" forever. Gets a big reaction. I haven't heard bad stories, but would be interested if anyone has any to share.
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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby PressureFan » November 22nd, 2022, 1:03 pm

Years ago, I was bartending in a dive. There was a regular bar customer named Mike. He was a nice quiet guy, well read, and we’d had conversations about all kinds of stuff, Dorothy Parker and The Algonquin Round Table, etc. He’d had rough times, prison and drug problems.
I did The Web for him and it shook him badly. His whole body was shaking so bad it was like he was vibrating. He walked away. He came a little later and explained that during his heroin withdrawals he would hallucinate that there were spiders all over his body, under his clothes, under his skin. He wasn’t mad at me but the look of terror in his eyes was just awful. It pains me to recall what I did. He died a few years later of an overdose.

I saw a clip years ago of Lance Buton warming up the audience. Carrot Top was in the front row and Lance did The Web on him. Carrot Top freaked and kind of froze in fear. It wasn’t pretty.

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Bill Mullins » November 22nd, 2022, 4:29 pm

PressureFan wrote: Carrot Top was in the front row and Lance did The Web on him. Carrot Top freaked and kind of froze in fear. It wasn’t pretty.


There's never been a situation where Carrot Top and "pretty" go together.

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Tarotist » November 22nd, 2022, 6:19 pm

I really detest these damn "tutorial" videos. Magic is supposed to be a SECRET art! And since the paddle move is something I do it is an exposure of MY secret and I do not approve.

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erdnasephile
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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby erdnasephile » November 22nd, 2022, 9:45 pm

If memory serves, I think Eugene Burger expressed his concerns with tricks like "The Web" in one of his columns in Genii. I'll try to find the reference. (Unless Bill or Philippe beats me to it!)

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby CalvinSze » November 22nd, 2022, 10:35 pm

Tarotist wrote:I really detest these damn "tutorial" videos. Magic is supposed to be a SECRET art! And since the paddle move is something I do it is an exposure of MY secret and I do not approve.

I’m usually very eager in these discussions of how much magic exposure is good and how much is bad. But your argument is rather weak as when you acquired the paddle move, did you get approval from all the people who have already learnt the move if you consider it to be their secret?

I used the paddle move with my own prop and came up with variations. The only thing that distinguishes my video from most creators is that I didn’t set a monetary price to it.


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Tarotist
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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Tarotist » November 22nd, 2022, 11:28 pm

Calvin my boy. You are young and I am old. I was doing magic before you even arrived on earth. When you did arrive on earth I was still doing magic when you were breastfeeding. When I was learning magic approximately several hundred years ago there was no such thing as these disgraceful "tutorials" which were available for the great unwashed public to see.
Luckily you don't seem to have too many views at the moment but potentially you could. In my day if you wanted to learn magic you had to find places where secrets were difficult for non magicians to access such as books or less commonly by personal tuition. The very first thing you learned is that magic was supposed to be SECRET not bandied about for millions of people to view with great ease.

And yes I DID get permission to learn the paddle move! The permission was granted to my by the people who wrote the books for me to read and learn from in the first place. If a non magician happened to read the same book they either paid for the book or had to make some effort to get it in the first place. It wasn't as easy as clicking a link. They had to show at least some serious interest in the subject of magic and the first thing they learned in the book was that magic had to be SECRET. Even if they lost interest in the subject the tricks that were exposed to them were forgotten very quickly. However, those disgusting "tutorials" are there to be referred to forever. If magic was exposed on television even though I disapproved it didn't worry me too much because the viewer would forget the secret a few days later. The trouble is that on youtube the secret is always there. However the internet is a menace and secrets which formerly had to be worked for are now available to all and sundry when they shouldn't be. It will kill magic altogether sooner or later.

As for the paddle move that is a PRINCIPLE of magic. If you expose a trick that is bad enough. However, if you expose a PRINCIPLE that is ten times worse. And if you expose a PRINCIPLE that I PERSONALLY use that 100 times worse because I am a person of great eminence and become more irritated than anyone else. Thus I consider your sin to be the end of civilization as we know it.

If you really want to show your cleverness and ingenuity at least make your videos PRIVATE! You are not getting too many views anyway so you won't be losing much. I personally have MILLIONS of views showing my work on the internet but nary a single exposure of a secret and I never will offer a "tutorial" under any circumstances.

I make no comment on the validity of your idea because I haven't viewed it yet. The very word "tutorial" filled me with too much horror to proceed.

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Tarotist » November 22nd, 2022, 11:39 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:People have been using Jim Pace's trick "The Web" forever. Gets a big reaction. I haven't heard bad stories, but would be interested if anyone has any to share.


I have heard quite a few bad stories but even if I didn't I think doing stuff like that is a damn stupid thing to do. You are supposed to be entertaining people not scaring the crap out of them. I would be furious if anyone did that to me.

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby CalvinSze » November 23rd, 2022, 12:20 am

Just a few things to clarify, Tarotist:

1. My video didn’t focus on explaining the paddle move. My viewers are expected to have already known the move. And I don’t see how the word ‘tutorial’ can be that offensive to you.

2. I learnt the paddle move 30+ years ago by obtaining a magic paddle and its printed instructions in a gift box in a lucky draw. No, I didn’t pay a dime learning the move or serve a master to “earn the right” to learn it. I only wished that lucky-draw wheel stopped on that portion at that particular moment. And it did. Magic has chosen me. And I have respected it ever since.

3. I used to put a price on my paddle as a physical product but not anymore. My intention is to make this free, downloadable and 3D printed for people overseas, saving them the massive cost of shipping.

4. I also believe magic learning and the information of methods could be set with a price. Paying for a book is; standing in the bookshop giving effort to read it is; and spending time watching a 9-minute monotone video also is. I had met kids of the same age spending a lot of money on books and videos but gave no effort in reading them or learning the craft, putting the books aside and after learning what the secrets are, having no contribution to the art. Giving up money isn’t the only indicator of love, and sometimes isn’t.


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CalvinSze
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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby CalvinSze » November 23rd, 2022, 2:39 am

Richard Kaufman wrote:People have been using Jim Pace's trick "The Web" forever. Gets a big reaction. I haven't heard bad stories, but would be interested if anyone has any to share.

I bought The Web when it first came out but never used it. Many years later I started trying out Boris the Spider with a more realistic spider toy. The reactions of the participants were often disappointing - they freaked out so bad and screamed out of pure fear in public, at least initially. So I understand the concerns.


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Tarotist
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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Tarotist » November 23rd, 2022, 9:24 am

I am astonished to hear that Calvin learned the paddle move 30 years ago. After seeing him in the video I thought he was around 15 years old.

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Tarotist » November 23rd, 2022, 9:31 am

CalvinSze wrote:
4. I also believe magic learning and the information of methods could be set with a price. Paying for a book is; standing in the bookshop giving effort to read it is; and spending time watching a 9-minute monotone video also is. I had met kids of the same age spending a lot of money on books and videos but gave no effort in reading them or learning the craft, putting the books aside and after learning what the secrets are, having no contribution to the art. Giving up money isn’t the only indicator of love, and sometimes isn’t.


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I am delighted to hear that these awful children spend money on books and make no effort in reading them. And even more delighted if they give up magic in the process. There are enough bad magicians in the world without adding any more. They will forget the secrets in a book but they won't forget the secrets exposed on you tube. If however, they have indeed put in the effort of studying the books properly then they may perhaps deserve to know the secret. I object to them knowing the secret without effort.

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby MagicbyAlfred » November 23rd, 2022, 9:33 am

Tarotist wrote:I am astonished to hear that Calvin learned the paddle move 30 years ago. After seeing him in the video I thought he was around 15 years old.


Stay tuned for his next video tutorial:

"3D Time Travel."

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Jonathan Townsend » November 23rd, 2022, 11:23 am

Sawa's Ladybug trick is in the January 1977 issue of Genii Magazine, on page 26.

Calvin, there's a story about Quality in the factory where they build lamps; and put the switch spring in a dish by itself to make sure it was installed... (leading cause of returns was the switch not clicking - which was due to the spring getting missed in assembly)

So that's a story, a secret, and a mystery for folks who read, think, and followup using google search. ;)
Mundus vult decipi -per Caleb Carr's story Killing Time

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Philippe Billot » November 23rd, 2022, 11:39 am

erdnasephile wrote:If memory serves, I think Eugene Burger expressed his concerns with tricks like "The Web" in one of his columns in Genii. I'll try to find the reference. (Unless Bill or Philippe beats me to it!)


Perhaps here:

Genii June 1999, page 53

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby MagicbyAlfred » November 23rd, 2022, 12:27 pm

I was surprised to discover that Lance Burton (of all people) performed The Web on TV -- The Craig Ferguson Show, with Craig, himself, being the vict... I mean the spectator. Shoots the super clean-cut image I had of Lance all to hell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAfTgvWFPEY

Interestingly, the comments seem to focus on how obvious or sloppy the trick was, at least prior to the arachnoid reveal, anyway. I have always really liked, and have had great success with, the Flustration Count, but two of them, one after the other, is not a good idea. Nor is the trick. If you wanna call it that. I would put it more in the category of a prank, somewhat akin to some of the "novelties" you could buy in brick and mortar magic stores back in the day -- although the whoopee cushion, fake vomit, fly in the ice cube, and the gimmick that delivers an electric shock when you shake someone's hand, are all a cut above The Web.

If you do this "trick" and are offended by my words, then I apologize in advance. But a word (literally) of unsolicited advice: "Don't."

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Tarotist » November 23rd, 2022, 4:07 pm

I suppose it might be a good trick to do on hecklers or obnoxious TV hosts who keep interrupting and stealing your thunder. I still wouldn't do it though. I detest spiders myself.

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby MagicbyAlfred » November 23rd, 2022, 4:21 pm

Craig was, indeed, obnoxious, and he did try to steal Lance's thunder with the repetitive screaming and hamming it up, so if anyone deserved it, he did. However, Lance planned to nail him with it and started into the trick well before Craig engaged in his antics. The problem with doing it to a heckler is that one never knows what they might do after they've been made a fool of. Which is a good reason (among others) not to do it to anyone.

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Tarotist » November 23rd, 2022, 5:40 pm

I find the best way to handle a heckler in a close up situation is to let them underestimate you and you then go in for the kill. You give them enough rope to hang themselves. In other words you act as if you don't really know what you are doing and allow them to be daft enough to believe you. You then do some trick which looks as if it has gone wrong (and there are many) and let them fall into the trap. In other words they will mock you. When it turns out right there will be great gales of laughter from other people present and they have egg on their face and you act all innocent. They can't get annoyed with you because they fell into the trap themselves while you have been perfectly nice to them. They are now caught in a psychological trap and the only way out is for them to praise you to the skies. I have often used this technique and my former hecklers have often become my best boosters and biggest fans.

A far shrewder and more effective method than the one described in Darwin Ortiz's otherwise excellent book where he advises you to ignore them and as a last resort retort "This is what happens when cousins marry!"

Dearie me no! My method is the way, the truth and the light in these matters.

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby MagicbyAlfred » November 23rd, 2022, 6:09 pm

Mark, you are, indeed, a sly fox!

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Tarotist » November 23rd, 2022, 7:46 pm

Well, I have been doing this stuff for a very long time! Actually I learned this technique when I was a teenager showing other teenagers tricks at school. Teenagers tend to heckle so I had to come with something to deal with the problem. I have always thought the constant heckling was beneficial to me because it kept me on my toes. Here is an example from my Annotated Royal Road to Card Magic where I used the technique in question. This was in reference to Design for Laughter in the Glide chapter.
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................

I have been doing this trick for decades and the results have been really excellent. The trick is especially useful when you are being harassed by a heckler. I still have a vivid memory of an incident from decades ago when performing this item.
I used to go down to Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, London where various speakers would get up and talk about all sorts of topics to all and sundry. I noticed that heckling was part of the entertainment and many of the same hecklers used to come there every week on a regular basis to annoy the various speakers. There was one in particular that I noticed on a regular basis since he was quite tall and particularly obnoxious.
Anyway one day I was invited to go a certain gathering in a community centre to entertain people with card tricks. I was amazed to see the same annoying person I had seen at Speaker’s Corner. I expected heckling from him and I certainly got it! Despite his presence my work was going over very well. When I work I like to give hecklers enough rope and let them hang themselves! Naturally, I did this to this guy several times and managed to outwit him fairly constantly but it was a bit of a struggle. Then I performed “Design For Laughter” just as described above. He fell right into the trap!
Read Step 8 above and imagine me at that very point, particularly the last paragraph. I will never forget the look of triumph on the heckler’s face, the big grin as he grabbed for the tabled card and yelled to all and sundry, “I’M SORRY!” and turned the card over. The big laugh from the crowd when he realised that he had gotten it wrong was one of the most satisfying moments I have ever had when performing card magic.
Strangely enough I went back to visit Speakers Corner 20 years later. He was still there!
However, there is a lesson here; the incredible sequel to this is that from that moment on he became my best booster and raved to other people in weeks to come about how good I was! Now the lesson is that when performing close up magic for annoying pests it is not good policy to fight them or try to shut them down. Far better to get them on your side and charm them as best you can. It is difficult but it can be done. And if things get difficult use a “sucker” trick like the above but do not do it with an air of triumph. A twinkle in the eye is enough. You will often find that your former antagonist will assuage his hurt ego by become your best friend and biggest booster!

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby MagicbyAlfred » November 23rd, 2022, 8:26 pm

Great story! Reminds me of my own finest hour in overcoming a heckler. It was in the 90s, and I was working cocktail hour on the top deck of a dinner cruise ship in Boca Raton, Florida. While doing the ambitious card (I always have the card signed), the signatory, a woman in her mid to late 30s, was heckling the living hell out of me. "You didn't put it in the middle." "My card's still on top." "You have more than one card there, Mr. Magician." "I saw that." "You're cheating." And so forth.

I don't know from whence the idea suddenly came, like a bolt out of the blue -- maybe Divine providence. I palmed off the signed card, dropped my guilty hand casually to my side and, offering her the deck with my other hand, I said, "Would you please shuffle the deck, I don't trust myself." True to form, I think she replied something like, "Neither do I," as she took the deck from me. Meanwhile, I managed to quickly deposit the signed card into the open side pocket of the blazer she was wearing. She shuffled and shuffled and shuffled (as Juan might say). I cannot explain how immensely relieved I was at not being caught. I kept inching my way away from her, so that by the time she was finished shuffling, I was about 5-6 feet away. She held out the deck for me to take it back, but I said, "No, hold onto it and wave your hand over it." There were probably about 20 people gathered around watching this spectacle. Then I said, "Your card has magically disappeared." "Yeah, sure," she said, sarcastically. I asked her to look through the deck, and to this day, I can still picture the look of utter befuddlement on her face. "It's gone!" she exclaimed, in astonishment. People were smiling and laughing and looking at one another.

At that point I said innocently, "Well, maybe...wait, have you checked your pockets?" She paused and looked at me like I was crazy. Then she checked. When she felt a card and pulled it out and looked at it, her eyes got super wide, and she screamed. Shaking her head, she declared: "That's the greatest trick I've ever seen. You're great!" Naturally, everyone went wild -- including the party planner, who, as fortune would have it, just happened to be among those watching.

And just like that, my former heckler became my most avid fan. She followed me around for the rest of the night, singing my praises to the other guests.
Last edited by MagicbyAlfred on November 23rd, 2022, 8:39 pm, edited 6 times in total.

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Re: Paddle magic this way comes

Postby Tarotist » November 23rd, 2022, 8:33 pm

Yes indeed. That is a much better policy than fighting them. As I stated hecklers can often turn out to be your most avid fan. Incidentally the procedure you pursued is quite similar to an excellent trick in one of my favourite books on magic "Magic For The Millions" by Greer Marechal.


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