ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Discuss your favorite close-up tricks and methods.
Bob Farmer
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ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » November 6th, 2020, 4:14 pm

Hanson Chien has released a great new version of my trick (with my permission). See:

https://youtu.be/4PDQtJl-ris

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » November 10th, 2020, 1:42 pm

I just watched Hanson's instructional video for the Zombie Hand. He has created some great presentational ideas. He has an excellent method for obtaining the hand and ditching it afterwards. His take is refreshing and amazing.

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Richard Kaufman » November 10th, 2020, 1:49 pm

It really needs to be done with the hand popping up through a little pile of dirt or peat.
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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby PressureFan » November 10th, 2020, 2:42 pm

“You’ve seen zombies before.”
“But this one is eating my popcorn!”

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » November 10th, 2020, 6:02 pm

Ah, a famous punch line!

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bill Evans » December 3rd, 2020, 10:52 am

I have loved this gag for a long time so I ordered this because, like Erdnase, Farmer probably needs the money. Ha! Seriously though, this product beats amputating doll hands. More importantly, it represents how magic crediting should be done. Credit is given on the box as well as in the video, I’m sure due the insistence of the inventor during the negotiation process. Bob sets the example here for all to follow. Kudos to the Seller for taking the high road. In any event, I have used this for many years without compensation, so the least I can do is purchase the product which is really good with some great tips.

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » December 3rd, 2020, 11:22 am

Thank you, Bill. I do have another routine that is just for magicians. You recall Vernon's advice that confusion is not magic. Then, with three little hands, you do a two hands-in-the-hand, one-hand-in-the pocket routine.

"I have two hands in my hand, and one hand in my pocket, but look--now, I have three hands in my hands and no hand in my pocket. Got that!?"

Also, stick a small card on the palm of the little hand. Force a duplicate from a regular deck. Claim you will visualize the selected card in your brain. As you say this, place your hands at the side of your head (one of which secrets the little hand). Stick the little hand into your ear so it sits there and sticks out. Lower your hands. It looks like the little hand is coming out of your head with the card.

I have a third routine which uses the little hand and a small eyeball. Before introducing the props, ask the audience if they have ever heard the expression, "The hand is quicker than the eye."

Introduce the hand and the eyeball, saying, "This is the hand and the eye they were talking about."

Now you do a transposition. The eye is placed in the pocket and changes places with the hand.

The method is a bit too complicated to explain here, but the basic method uses a diminishing ball gaff. See "The Best Diminishing Billiard Ball Trick," Greater Magic, pp.642-43. See figure 3. You have a small eyeball, a little hand and a gaff that consists of the eyeball stuck on the end (the wrist) of the little hand.

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » July 27th, 2021, 5:57 pm

Once again the Little Hand has been ripped off another dummy and this isn't even the first time for this guy. Unfortunately, Tannen's, unaware of this guy's thievery, is advertising the trick for sale. I have sent an email to Tannen's and the text follows.

Ladies & Gentlemen:
Reference is made to this trick:

https://www.tannens.com/products/mini-m ... by-propdog

I am the inventor of the little hand track. Several years ago, I advised Propdog to stop selling any version of my trick. Sure, it’s a small, stupid gag, but it’s still MY small, stupid gag. I came up with the card in the hand decades ago—it’s an obvious gag once you start with the little hand. Once again, they are marketing my idea without any payment or credit to me. In doing so, they, and their ilk, are the bottom feeders of the magic world. Rather than celebrating creativity, or creating something of their own, they steal from creators like me.

So, I urge you to discontinue the sale of this ripoff and burn all the stock you have available. You could seek recompense from Propdog since they had no right to sell the trick in the first place.

I will be posting this letter on various forums to alert those who wish to support magic to withdraw any support from Propdog.

Bob Farmer
Trickmail@cogeco.ca

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » July 28th, 2021, 8:45 am

Adam Blumenthal and Tannen's did the righteous thing and have stopped selling the Propdog ripoff.

I am not going to retire on the proceeds from the sale of the Little Hand but in our little magic world some things, like credit and respect, are more valuable than money.

The Propdog guy is a real censored. Several years ago he was selling the Little Hand. I shamed the bottom feeder at the time by donating to a children’s charity in his town and saying he should match my donation and stop selling my trick. I thought he had agreed to do that but thieves are not men of honor, they are just thieves.

If I bring out the new and superior version of the Little Hand--the coin vanishes from the spectator's hands--Tannen's will be the only place you will be able to find it. Support the real dealers, like Tannen's.

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » July 29th, 2021, 9:55 am

The original deal with Propdog was for simply selling the original idea. I never gave permission to market unlimited additional versions like the one in question.

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » October 16th, 2021, 3:37 pm

Hanson Chien has come up with more great ideas for the Little Hand than anyone else including me. His latest is a killer:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xRtErc ... U-0FC/edit

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Jack Shalom » October 16th, 2021, 4:35 pm

Neither Zombie or Demon Hand appear to be available on his website, unfortunately.

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Al Schneider » October 16th, 2021, 7:50 pm

Mr. Farmer;
I understand how you feel about being ripped off.
Do you understand why?
The single absolute truth is that we don't know.

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » October 17th, 2021, 8:51 am

Al, of course I understand: I'm not getting credit for my invention. It's not about money, it's about respect and doing the right thing.

Check out Michael Ammar's two versions which are also excellent:

https://store.ammarmagic.com/littlehand.html

https://store.ammarmagic.com/littletuxhand.html

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Michael Close » October 17th, 2021, 12:38 pm

I'm not sure when Bob first showed me the little hand idea, but it was probably forty years ago. When you could still smoke in bars, I used a green monster hand that emerges from my cupped hands after I had blown smoke inside. I never showed this to magicians; it is inevitable someone else would come up with the idea. (Fifteen minutes in a craft store and you'll come up with a dozen ideas.)

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Philippe Billot » October 17th, 2021, 2:09 pm

From The New York Magic Symposium, Vol. 3, 1984.

Hands Off by Derek Dingle :

Credits: Bob Farmer was the first we know of to use this small hand in a similar way, and Darryl Harris created a routine with the hand using a coin. This routine is Derek's handling of the hand, with a surprise finish.

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » October 17th, 2021, 4:20 pm

Darryl is a very sharp guy. I was using Canadian coins because they can be attracted to a magnet. I think Dingle was using tape. I may post the complete history of the trick in a separate topic.

The reason, I think, that there are those who do not want to give me credit, is that the thing appears so obvious and simple. Of course, it only appears that way AFTER you see it. I based my idea on a toy from the early 1960s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5FJBcBGZ9w

Paul Harris used a small hand in a routine in The Magic of Paul Harris around 1978 (though not as I later came to use it). I bought the little hand for the Harris trick then remembered the toy and the thing was done.

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » October 18th, 2021, 12:05 pm

Hanson has a new video which is great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgjQTiNGtj8

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Al Schneider » October 18th, 2021, 12:25 pm

Personally, i don't care for the hand.
I admit its cute.
And i don't care for the hype.
However, the bit with the cellphone is Excalibur.
This is now a classic of magic.
The single absolute truth is that we don't know.

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Thing unboxed

Postby Jonathan Townsend » October 18th, 2021, 12:31 pm

So, where can one purchase a mechanical box using an identical hand?

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » October 18th, 2021, 3:50 pm

Al is right when he says the hype is silly, but for some reason, and for at least four decades, this thing seems to have a life or a hype of its own. I 've always thought it was a stupid gag, perfectly fitted to my personality but not for everyone. I'd rather be remembered for something else I've invented so I know how Bela Lugosi must have felt when all anybody ever knew about him was Dracula.

Jonathan if you Google "Thing coin bank or box" you'll find many for sale.

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Jonathan Townsend » October 18th, 2021, 4:19 pm

Bob, no find yet.
The thought was to have them hold a coin on their hand. With their other hand they reach over and push the button on the box - but have the hand snatch the coin anyway :) :D
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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » October 18th, 2021, 6:00 pm


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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby David Ben » October 18th, 2021, 6:54 pm

In my first lecture, The Fringe, circa 1984 (?), I used one of those mechanical banks as a mind reading assistant. Person selected a card. I asked that the person inside the box tell us the name of the card. Forgot that they were “union”, (sorry), inserted the quarter in the slot. Hand emerged holding a billet. I took the billet, and the hand snatched the coin. (Appropriate double take.) Unfolded billet to reveal name of selected card. Climax: Card vanishes from deck and reappears underneath box, proving the hand was faster than the eye. Goofy then. Goofy now. Can’t recall which came first, Bob’s or mine. One collectible, if any one is interested, is Sid Lorraine’s hand! Bob showed Sid the routine and he did it all the time. Can’t recall if Bob gave Sid the hand, or Sid found one to use. Either way, many fond memories of Sid, and Bob. Okay, mostly Sid.:)

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby JHostler » October 18th, 2021, 8:48 pm

Bob - Where do you recommend purchasing an original, old-fashioned Lil' Hand? I've been seduced by the hype. (Seriously... and the creative options are uber-cool...)
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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » October 19th, 2021, 7:39 am

No idea where to buy one.

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » October 19th, 2021, 9:42 am

David's note may be confusing. There is a difference between the box with the hand and my use of just the hand. I never used used the box with the hand and never had one, but my cousin did in the early 1960s. I started using the little hand around 1978, long before David's booklet (which is dated 1985). David's routine is hilarious and deserves a wider audience.

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 19th, 2021, 11:04 pm

The banks with the hand (the Thing bank) have been very difficult to find in working condition.
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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby David Ben » October 20th, 2021, 5:17 am

This exchange has brought back many fine memories. It turns out my little bank routine - and I am not sure it deserves a wider audience - was developed on August 5th, 1982. I only know this because I was in a Marlo phase and dated all my write ups at the time. I published it initially in Magical Mistakes and Other Misgivings, page 28, on June 22, 1983 - two years before The Fringe lecture notes. (Again, obsessive dating at the time.) I am not surprised that most missed this for, despite the second printing, there were only 20 copies of the manuscript in total. (Bob, I am sure that you were one of the recipients.)

I now also have a hazy recollection of Bob performing his hand trick at our first encounter, the NYCAN convention held in Toronto the first weekend in November, 1978, an encounter that changed my life for the better, but not because of the hand trick.

I came up with the presentation for the mechanical bank because I was working for Herb Morrissey at the time, and he had a slew of them in stock. I’d come up with presentations for novelty items so we could demo them and sell them.

I also remember Herb returning from a major IBM convention - either Hawaii or Santa Barbara - with a lot of product from Japanese magic dealers. Herb would often trade his metal products with other dealers at the end of a convention, particularly foreign dealers, rather than cart his own inventory back home. It was win-win for everyone.

Herb ended up with an extremely complicated set of gaffed coins. Very expensive. Although he was shown the routine at the time of the trade, he couldn’t remember it when he got back to Toronto, and the instructions were all in Japanese. (There were few illustrations.)

Bob volunteered to develop a routine with the gaffs so that Herb could sell the routine. A week later, Bob comes into the shop and demonstrates his multi-phase routine for Herb. Herb just kept nodding his head at each phase. A guy walks into the shop, and Herb immediately says, “Hey, we just got this in from Japan,” and proceeds to demo Bob’s handling. The guy immediately buys the trick. Herb walks the guy through it “because the instructions were in Japanese.” None of us, Bob included, had any idea of how close Bob’s creation was to the original. My bet is that Bob’s was better. Herb certainly thought so.

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » October 20th, 2021, 8:42 am

David's recollection is the same as mine.

One correction in my chronology: the Paul Harris book came out in 1976 not 1978, so I would have invented the little hand around 1976.

Here's the real story on how I met David.

I wasn't living in Toronto then but that's where the convention was, so when I got there I didn't know anybody. In 1975 and 1976, I had been studying law in London, England for a year and had learned a lot more about magic than law, including the Elmsley Count (which was a revelation taught to me by Pat Page).

At the convention, I see these two guys standing, huddled together off in a corner doing card tricks so I walk over and say something like, "I'm interested in cards, can I join you?" They say nothing, just turn their backs and ignore me. Very rude. Later I found out that these two guys were considered the hot shot card guys in Toronto.

Now I'm wandering around and I see this young fellow sitting off by himself with a little packet of cards and he's counting them from hand to hand. So I go over and ask something like, "Is that the Elmsley Count?" and he says it is and then I show him how I do it (which is different than how he is doing it). It was David and that's how we met. I tell him about the rude reception I got from "those two guys over there" and he tells me he was treated in the same rude way.

Now time passes and I move to Toronto. At the magic club, the two rude guys don't remember me or how they treated me at the time and they don't remember treating David the same way.

But we remember them. Revenge is a dish best served cold (Stark Trek, Wrath of Kahn).

As the years progress, David and I progress magically, and move way beyond where we once were, but we haven't forgotten these two rude guys, so we take every opportunity to torture them mercilessly. The torture consists of fooling them over and over and over with trick after trick after trick.

And when they beg for explanations our response is always, "Sorry, can't tip."

Philippe Billot has discovered an earlier magical use of a little hand from 1970 which I will include in my forthcoming essay on my history with the little hand. I wasn't interested in magic in 1970 and so was unaware of this reference until Philippe told me about it. He has written an excellent history which I will draw on.

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Al Schneider » October 20th, 2021, 3:45 pm

I really like the devil with the hand and cellphone bit.
But Richard has a point.
The dirt thing is max cool.
But I want a story.
So, I must butt in.
Give someone a tiny bottle labeled blood or something like that.
Then the hand reaches up.
Ask the person to give the blood to the hand.
Way cool.
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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Al Schneider » October 20th, 2021, 3:55 pm

I suppose there would be a problem presenting this.
Well carry the dirt in a square cloth.
Flop it on a table and open the cloth.
Do the bit and have the cloth catch the XS,
When done, fold all in the cloth and go to the next table.
I suppose this may be obvious but i can't help myself because this is so good.
The single absolute truth is that we don't know.

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Q. Kumber » October 20th, 2021, 4:10 pm

Al Schneider wrote:I suppose there would be a problem presenting this.
Well carry the dirt in a square cloth.
Flop it on a table and open the cloth.
Do the bit and have the cloth catch the XS,
When done, fold all in the cloth and go to the next table.
I suppose this may be obvious but i can't help myself because this is so good.


Al, check out the video link in the very first post on this thread.
Quentin

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Al Schneider » October 20th, 2021, 5:14 pm

Yes Q.
I saw that.
My point is to give a reason for the effect.
Its difficult to carry dirt in your pocket.
The idea is to walk up to a table and ask a pretty lady for help to feed an imp.
Then give her a little bottle of blood.
And so on.
Are you still selling your book on handkerchief magic?
The single absolute truth is that we don't know.

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » October 20th, 2021, 6:07 pm

My original patter for this effect was that I would be accomplishing the impossible, I would be creating life. This changed when the hand started grabbing stuff. I still think the best patter is Paul Harris's--this is the THE hand that is quicker than the eye.

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Jack Shalom » October 20th, 2021, 10:06 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:The banks with the hand (the Thing bank) have been very difficult to find in working condition.


This is sort of what I remember them to be:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1004072158 ... -coin-bank

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 22nd, 2021, 1:40 pm

Yes, Jack, that's a different version. Not sure which came first: the "Thing" bank in 1964 or the version you linked to in Etsy. But the same idea.
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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Edward Pungot » October 25th, 2021, 4:26 pm


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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Edward Pungot » October 26th, 2021, 12:08 am

ZOMBIE HAND (2021 Version)
Hanson Chien & Bob Farmer
https://www.penguinmagic.com/p/S32501

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Re: ZOMBIE Hand-Little Hand New Version

Postby Bob Farmer » October 27th, 2021, 4:30 pm

Great story! And I've got an ASUS Notebook.


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