The Perfect Shells by Magic Makers/Penguin

[Guest]

Ad Copy from the Penguin Magic Web Site:

"These are perfect street shells. You can perform them on virtually any surface. They also have a feather-lite feel which is important for the professional performer." -- Jay Noblezada, Penguin Magic

The Effect
These babies were supposed to be called "The Street Shells", but all of the magicians we showed them to kept saying "These are THE PERFECT SHELLS!". Finally we got tired of correcting the name and just changed it.

Why are they perfect? GREAT QUESTION!

#1: They're the first shells ever made in elastomeric resin. What's the difference? Elastomeric resin is what calculator keys are made of. It's like regular plastic, but it's just a bit more rubbery. That makes our shells easier to grip and gives them SUPERIOR feel.

#2: Our shells are molded from real New England Large Walnuts. The molds are then taken to the top shell game magicians in the world. Secret design features are added to make the shells glide, rock, and grip perfectly. In short, we take the best shells found in nature and add the special features expert magicians look for to create "The Perfect Shells".

#3: Better peas! Our peas are TACKY. That means if you drop one during performance it won't roll on the floor. Try it. Roll it, drop it, push it, spin it. Our pea just stops and waits for you to pick it up! That's a HUGE benefit for real workers who are going to be using these shells every day. You don't want to be crawling around on the floor chasing peas when you're getting paid to perform."

A Biased Review

I received my set of Magic Makers "Perfect Shells" from Penguin Magic recently. They are identical in size and shape to the Vernet shell game set, though they have a slightly different pattern to their texture, and so do not seem to be molded from the Vernet shells themselves, at least the model that I have.

Except for this slight variation, they are a perfect copy of the Vernet shells. The plastic used does seem to be different, and has a little better color and look to it than the Vernet, although both sets seem to me to have a sort of cheap "toy" look, the only problem that I have with the Vernet set.

This is primarily due to the injection-molding plastic process which both use in production, as well as to the design. Neither set is molded from a real shell, and the markings are obviously sculpted, and not from casting a real "New England Walnut" shell as the Magic Maker advertisement says.

It appears to me, unless the Vernet has another model of shell I do not have that was copied outright, that an artist sculpted a new model using the Vernet shells as a guide rather than a real walnut. You have to look really closely to detect the slight variations between the two sets.

I did not notice, however, any discernible difference in grip and handling. The Vernet and Magic Maker shells both seemed to grip and move the same, and the "elastomeric resin" that is touted highly by Penguin does not seem to have much different or more rubbery feel than the plastic used in the Vernet shells, and do not seem to have a better "feel" that I could notice, although the look of the Magic Maker shells is a little improved over the Vernet.

The cut out inverted "v" in the rear of the shells is more pronounced and obvious than in the Vernet shells, which already looked fairly arbitrary and unnatural--something added to the design, and not a natural part of the shape of the shell. Both shell sets have this fault, but the Magic Maker shells seem to have enhanced it.

The Perfect shells do not have any design elements that are not present in the Vernet shells. They do not have the "Chanin Dip" or any perceivable "rocking" quality that aids in doing the move with the spectator's finger on the shell, or in working smoothly on a hard surface. The instructions, in fact, suggest that they only be used on a mat.

Their "experts" who supposedly added to the design are not listed. If the design had been taken to the "top shell game magicians in the world" so that "secret design features" could be added, none are apparent to me. They must be very secret indeed.

The back of the shells does rise off the table in a rapid way to the "v," but not in any way that is helpful or causes a rocking motion when the front of the shell is pushed down as in the "Chanin Dip."

I can see no real improvement to the design and handling of the shells over the Vernet shells, although the look is somewhat improved with the less shiny plastic and better color.

The peas are workable, and not bad in handling. They have a strange, and to me, unnattractive very dark green color, with slight blemishes of other colors.

They are not very smooth and round, and I think that though they are more compressible, they are not nearly as nice looking as the peas which Magic Maker put out with their "Golden Shells" which were obviously based on the School for Scoundrels "Perfect Pea."

Those Magic Maker "Golden Shell" peas had a much better color, and I would prefer them over the new ones that come with the "Perfect Shells."

The pea that came with Magic Maker's Golden Shells had only two faults--they were made with a material that was not quite compressible enough, and they had a pronounced mold ridge around the center. These new "Street Shell" peas have better handling, but are not as nice in appearance.

The instructions left me feeling very strange. They are a nice addition, and are more than adequate as a start in the basic moves. However, they are copied directly from Tom Osborne's "The Shell Game" and Frank Garcia's "All in a Nutshell" without credit.

The history section at the beginning includes research into the shells by Vernon, John Booth, and Frank Ducrot, all culled directly from the book by Osborne, and all uncredited. Most of this material is outdated, and simply wrong according to today's scholarship. It is just wrong to take the work of these men out of a book by Osborne, and not credit anyone.

To make it worse, the instructions are written as if the information was original: "Pesistent research has failed to unearth any great amoount of information regarding the shell games early history"/"The earliest mention of 'Thimble Rig' we have been able to locate," etc. These statements are directly taken from the above listed source, but made to sound as if Rob Stiff had done the work himself. He signs the instructions at the end.

The instructions themselves, and the accompanying illustrations are lifted directly from Frank Garcia's book, again without accreditation. The patter included with the trick is largely lifted from Garcia, including his signature "hey diddle diddle, its the one in the middle." This is totally uncalled for, and it seems to me, a violation of copyright.

Osborne's book is still in print, and Garcia's work is owned by Tannens, I believe.

Penguin has an instructional video on their site which is available for free to purchasers. It contains very limited, but adequate beginner's instructions. It also, however, contains a description of a move that as the instructor says "Bob Sheets taught me."

This is the acquitment move that is the basis of the wonderful Bob Sheets video and upcoming dvd "Absolutely Nuts." This is something I am sure Bob would find irritating to say the least.

To sum up this long review, the "Perfect Shells" are a slight improvement over the Vernet Shells, and at a similar price, a fair value.

I have always recommended the Vernet shells as a low end shell set, and a good value.

I can not recommend the Magic Maker shells, however. The company that produces them has obviously copied the Vernet product, has apparently made false advertising claims about their product, has seemingly purloined copyrighted material in the instructions without attribution, and has attempted to confuse the market place by associating the long-established names of the School for Scoundrels products with their own product.

The School for Scoundrels "Street Shells" have been advertised for six years on the web and in national magazine advertisements. We have already had to ask that Magic Makers and their distributor Penguin Magic change the name of their metal shells away from our product's name "The Golden Shells" with which they first appeared for sale on Penguin.

Penguin can not claim ignorance of our products and product names. They are obviously intentionally trying to ride on the coattails of our good reputation, and confuse the market. Even the name "Perfect Shells" is a confusing take-off on our long-selling product "The Perfect Pea."

Therefore, I highly recommend that for the sake of fair play, that no one buy this product.

The Vernet shells have been around a long time, and are an excellent product at an excellent price.

The "Perfect Shells" are a copy--a knockoff. Though they have some good qualities, Penguin and Magic Makers should not be encouraged in this devious sort of manufacture and marketing.

The continuing use of our trade names such as "Golden Shells" and "Street Shells" on their site is probably designed to attract search engine lookups for our own superior and higher priced products.

The deceptive advertisement of their product, and their uncredited use of other's work in their instructions and downloadable videos only adds to the this unpleasant mix.

I can not help but fear the next hot new product from Magic Makers will be a giant set of "Trade Show Shells."

[Robert Allen]

Are Magic Makers the people who are having the cheap Paul Fox style cups made in China? Are these new shells made in China? (For various reasons, including US job outsourcing, but also due to low quality, I try not to patronize such endeavors.)

Regarding the Vernet shells, I have a set from the 1970's (when they shipped in a cute little plastic box, with an inner box for the peas) which have slightly better color than the current issue. The older peas also were more squishable, with a loose foam core and a solid outer rubber surface like the old stage rocks. Sadly those shrunk and hardened over 30 years. The newer peas aren't very squishable at all, but I've heard that someone is selling some better peas nowadays.

I still like the suggestion of just finding your own shells and puttying up the inside to make your own set. If I did the shells much, that's what I would do. As it stands my Vernets sit unused, as do some rather fascinating Scarab "shells" made of painted resin which I bought a few years ago. But I like looking at them periodically :)

[Tabman]

Robert Allen points out: ... I've heard that someone is selling some better peas nowadays. :)

FWIW, Andrew J. Pinard makes some better peas and better shells up at his digs in New England in addition to the other guys who make them. Plus, Andrew puts a lot of positive energy into the magic he makes.
-=tabman

[Robert Allen]

Would that be this person?

http://www.threeshellgame.com/

[Guest]

Actually, though Andrew makes beautiful shells, the peas he sells are the School for Scoundrels "Perfect Peas." The Penguin ad photo looks like a copy of Andrew's "La Magiorre" banner ad and packaging.

There have been many threads on this site discussing the various shell sets and peas available. I was hoping this thread would be more concerned with the topic of intellectual theft and misleading advertising.

To answer your question, Robert, Magic Makers are the ones that produce the cheap Paul Fox style cups made in China.

[Guest]

La Maggiore's shells aren't better than the SFS shells - they are merely different. The great thing is that they are on a par in terms of quality, and that's a great thing for the consumer because it gives you more choices.

I like the look of both sets of shells.

For me the advantages of Whit's shells are the realistic appearance and the builtMin features that ease the steal of the pea.

The advantages of the La Maggiore shells are (again) the appearance, but also the weight and the size. I have large hands and these feel a little more comfortable to me.

I wish people would stop making claims of superiority about one or the other - it's just subjective. It's like saying red cards are better than blue cards. The bigger issue is the unethical behaviour of Magic Makers.

[Jacky Kahan]

Hello,
For those that are looking for references regarding the Three Shell Game, these are the references that can be found on www.magicbooks.be for the moment, I'm sure that many more references exist and will be added soon :

So here we go:

Derek Lever, Ken Brooke and Friends
Copyright 1986
Page 024..........MECHANICAL THREE SHELL GAME by Albert Verity
------
Mentzer, Jerry: Close-Up File
(c) 1994 Jerry Mentzer
Page 181 Chapter 7 Three Shell Game and Variations
Page 183 The Three Shell Game - Karl Norman Routine (Karl Norman): Karl Norman's routine using brass shells (can use regular walnut shells as well).
Page 191 Easy Shell Game (Jerry Mentzer): A shell game variation using small cubes and metal balls. Uses the "Drop Out" concept.
---------
Carroll, Harrison: The Shell Game
(c) 1994 Harrison Productions
---------
Magineticoins
By Frederick L.Kraft and Arthur Kraft
(c) 1971
Page 21 The old Three Shell Game
---------
Hay, Henry: The Amateur Magician's Handbook
1950,
Page 347 in Appendix: Further Tricks and Illusions Glossary: defines and describes many effects and terms from Afghan Bands to Change Bag to Jumping Peg to Shell Game to You Do As I Do.
--------
Shute, Merlyn T: Cups Cups Cups
Published by Morrissey Magic Ltd, 1980/96
Page ?? The Old Shell Game: explores the walnut shell & pea game as it relates to the cups. Introduces palming, principle of diversion, and history. Describes the basics of the walnet shell and pea routine.
--------

Trost, Nick: Expert Gambling Tricks
(c) 1975 by Nick Trost
Page 26 The Three Shell Game: a poem
Page 26 The Karl Norman Routine
--------
Thompson, J.G.: Top Secrets of Magic
Page 32 .. Peas and Cues: A shell game routine about grandpa getting swindled
--------
Tarr, Bill: Now You See It Now You Don't "Lessons in Sleight of Hand"
Oct 1976.
Three Shell Game: intro with typical series of moves
-------
Rogers, Mike: The Complete Mike Rogers
(c) 1975 Magic, Inc. Line Drawings and B&W Photos

Page ... 190 The Sea Shell Game: Cups and Balls routine using sea shell, large plastic peas, and 3 coins for the climax.

Page ... 227 Table Time: essay on the 3 card monte as found in Erdnase, Vernon, and Jay Ose's in Pallbearer's Review. Also the Three Shell Game in Scarne's Complete Guide to Gambling. Some discussion of actual street experiences with these games being hard to find in the U.S.
----------
Lancaster, Lou: Commercial Closeup Magic
1984/1985
The Three Shell Game: Walnut shells & pea
------------
Miller, Hugh: The Secrets of Gambling
1968, Harry Stanley
Page 102 The Three Shell game
-----------
Ganson, Lewis: The Art of Close Up Volume 1
The Modern Shell Game: Henry Stanley. Three shell game routine with tips on how to make your own shells and pea.
-----------

Hope this helps,

Jacky
www.magicbooks.be

[sleightly]

Thanks Tabby for the kind words. They mean a lot coming from you...

As Whit mentioned above, the peas I provide with La Maggiore shells are, in fact, School for Scoundrels "Perfect Peas." This is mentioned right on the front of the box. Until Whit & Chef made them available to the magic market at large, like many other workers, I hand-made peas out of foam and laboriously dipped them in latex. Their release of "The Perfect Pea" proved to be exactly that, the perfect fulfillment of a desperate need by performers for an inexpensive (compared to making your own) yet extremely high quality pea that expanded the possibilities available...

Thanks to Buster Brown for his kind words, and I concur. La Maggiore shells *are* different from the excellent shells School for Scoundrels puts out. They provide different options. I highly respect the time, effort, and expense (not to mention the risk) that Whit & Chef made to release their shells to the magic marketplace. I had different needs and wants in a set of shells and therefore produced the shells I wanted to use. The features I put into La Maggiore reflect *my* perspective, style and taste.

I personally believe in and practice supporting the creators and innovators in our industry--the people who put forth an honest effort and give freely of themselves by releasing quality, original products & services. Without them, those who do not (or feel they can not) create have a rich field of material and equipment to choose from.

It is unfortunate that there are those who choose to deliberately represent the creative work of others as their own. That they would release these products to an unknowledgeable market while positioning them in such a transparently desperate attempt to "cash in" on someone else's hard-earned and well-deserved reputation is unfortunate.

My hope is that the market will express its displeasure in the only way it counts, by closing their wallets to such producers.

Andrew
www.threeshellgame.com

[Tabman]

Andrew J. Pinard points out: As Whit mentioned above, the peas I provide with La Maggiore shells are, in fact, School for Scoundrels "Perfect Peas." This is mentioned right on the front of the box. [/QB]

That's cool, I should have known that and now that you mention it I do remember, thanks for pointing that out to me and everyone.

I do like your shells and haven't seen those that Whit makes, I'm sure they're fantastic as everyone says. I know Whit from working with him in Salt Lake City at one of the IBM conventions and I'm happy for him and his success with SFS.

I'm not sure what you can do about the rip-off artists out there. It seems to be a fact of life. I think the magic police are doing a pretty good job of letting everyone know about it though and it's really up to the informed consumer to vote with his/her wallet. Zaney Blaney sends out regular warnings about the illusion rippers. Maybe you should break a few knees or toss red paint on a few cars.

Now for you pea makers out there, down south where I live, peas have little black eyes on em!

-=tabman

[Guest]

-=Tabman: Where I come from, it is good luck to eat black eyed peas on New Years Day. But it probably wouldn't be lucky in the shell game. They roll funny.

[John LeBlanc]

Originally posted by Whit Haydn:
-=Tabman: Where I come from, it is good luck to eat black eyed peas on New Years Day. But it probably wouldn't be lucky in the shell game. They roll funny.

Where I come from (near New Orleans) it's black-eyed peas and boiled cabbage on New Years Day. I never needed to wonder what day was New Years; mom started the cabbage early enough and there's no mistaking that smell.

John LeBlanc

[Jonathan Townsend]

Originally posted by -=tabman:
...I'm not sure what you can do about the rip-off artists out there. It seems to be a fact of life...

Small suggestion on this issue as it does come down to a choice on the part of the buyer.

If folks know where to find the original, they have the option to buy it. At this point the choice becomes more interesting.

[Guest]

For what it is worth. After hearing the issues surrounding Magic Makers and Penguin Magic in this message board I am convinced I will never use those vendors in my life.

But I do have a suggestion to make. One reason why Penguin is so popular is that they, apparently, make purchasing easy. Especially for us outside of the U.S. finding a reliable dealer, with clear international ordering info, with variety of payment methods, and most importantly fair postal fees can be difficult. In order to fight against these knock-off producers I think one important aspect is to make purchasing convenient from the originator.

How this could be done? Well, one idea could be to create a joint venture if the originators are small. Another would be to find a wholeseller in diiferent parts of the world. That would not even have to be a professional one, just someone who can send the items with a lower fee and collect the money before sending it to the rightful owner on monthly basis.

Or something like that. Buying rip-offs is just too easy.

Pekka

P.S. Whit, do you know any lawyers? I believe that your tradmarks have been breached and you should be compensated. Even if you have not registered them you can be able to show that some trademarks still belong to you due to long history of advertising. Not sure how it is in the U.S though.

[Tabman]

Jonathan Townsend points out: If folks know where to find the original, they have the option to buy it. At this point the choice becomes more interesting.

That's my way of doing it, Jonathan. After selling to most all of the bigger dealers in the USA when Tabman USA was going fulltime I really don't trust many of them. I know for a fact that they put $$$ over morality a lot of the time. There are exceptions, of course. I've had magic makers (added in edit - not the company but individuals who manufacture magic in a cottage industry type setting) tell me that they would never sell to a certain dealer and wonder why I did and then turn around and sell their stuff to them later too. Remember, down in Texas and maybe Kansas too that, "Money talks!" Once you get used to making the big bucks it's hard to let it go. I have been a part of both the magic business and the music business and they are very similar in all respects down to, and including, the rip off of poor artists by the rich and powerful. It seems to be a fact of life and it's not getting any better.

I say buy your made magic from the creator, your books from the author or publisher (or H&R Books), your music from the composer and hang with the good guys. The problem as I see it is that most magic consumers don't know about this issue or since I really believe that magic people are a cut above in intelligence, that they would do the right thing if they knew about it.

A suggestion: Get a bunch of smaller makers together to buy full pages in the magic magazines telling the story. When I used to advertise the Music City Conclave in Genii it was $300 for a full page (I don't know what it is now) and if 30 such folks got together and co-oped an ad the price per sould be small.

That's enough. I'm heading in to Music City to shoot some video for a band demo in a little while. Back later.

Good luck and peace to ALL good people everywhere.

-=tabman

[Robert Allen]

FWIW, a few points I used to temper my buying:

1. I'm suspicious of large splashy ads. Not all of them are bad, but it's an early waring sign vs. which I apply susequent criteria.

2. Find a few dealers you trust, whether online or offline, and buy from them exclusively. You can always ask them about an item you want if they don't stock it and they should be willing to answer honestly. I have been VERY happy with Stevens Magic in terms of value and honest advertising. Viking also has great stuff. Aside from those two "dealers", I mostly buy stuff at lectures, or direct from the manufacturers website.

3. Buy from the manufacturer where possible.

4. Use a cooling off period before buying. When I think of buying a trick my criteria is to read the description (preferably at a few different websites) and try to figure out how it's probably done. Once I do that, I decide if I want to pay the price for a trick of that type. Wait a day or two before buying and ponder what other things your $40 might buy you. If after all this you still want to buy it, try to do so from one of your trusted dealers.

The real problem today is that many people have grown up in the Walmart generation, and literally have no concept of shopping based on quality, rather than price. Since many magicians buy a trick more as a toy than as a way of making money (myself included often times, sadly), actual utility of the trick is of less importance than whether you can buy one a month or one a week to satisfy your toy buying tendencies.

Most people under 40 today haven't even had the chance to see a high quality builtup. Johnson coins are no longer as good as they used to be. Rices silks are long unavailable (sort of). Equipment like Tayade cups, Worth props, etc. are all now collectors items. With people being used to quantity, not quality, it's hard to see a path where such items are likely to become available again in the forseeable future. Add to that that there's no cost effective way of protecting the implmementation details of a trick (patents are too expensive) and the reward for creating a new effect is often being victimized by cheap Chinese knockoffs.

[Pete Biro]

You want quality?

Owen
Porper
Viking

Three "makers" I deal with... I'm sure there are more, but I don't buy a lot of stuff these days.

[Robert Allen]

Pete, well I sort of agree with you, but dismiss two of the three choices you made for the following reasons:

Owen - overpriced, and slow to deliver, and not just nowadays, but for at least two decades. I've also heard rumblings of periodic quality problems on their standard apparatus. In fact I believe flinner is currently having some issues with them. Besides, though I'm a sucker for interesting vintage apparatus, I don't really see the utility of many of their non-illusion tricks nowadays (ballot box mystery, blue phantom, etc.) Years ago I had the opportunity to visit their showroom with an eye towards getting a watchbox, but the one they had on display looked awful, and the lady manning the place didn't seem too interested in selling one or telling me when I could expect one if I custom ordered.

Joe Porper - I've only seen the cups and they are very well made, I just don't like the pattern. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't his mechanical paddles have visible screwheads? Witness this photo of one http://www.thetrickery.com/?nd=full&key ... sc1=altnav I don't think I'm being too anal retentive to ask "Why would a plastic paddle with painted on dots need screwheads?" But then I also was disappointed with the flat interior bottoms of my machined Stainless Busby cups, which many people wouldn't notice (though Jim Riser did and comments on it on his cups web page.) Yes....I'm anal retentive, but geeze, as a spectator you'd have to be blind not to notice some of these things (screwheads), and in other case the design causes problems (the flat cup interior affects stacking with multiple balls.)

I had a nice (probably Tenyo) cheapy paddle long time ago that operated by push pull and had no visible screws, and the dots weren't so deeply inset into the paddle that one might suspect they're not just painted or stuck on. It was nice. I put the multi-change brass and aluminum hot rods in the same catagorization of 'suspect toys'.

But I would add Mikame to the list of good manufacturers despite some occasional lapses.

Aside from Mikame, most of whats in my meager collection nowadays is stuff like the cups from you, some John Dahms stuff, and various bits from Van Warren, Mike Rogers, Mark Burger, Rings & Things, and a few mentalist types.

[Guest]

My hope is that the market will express its displeasure in the only way it counts, by closing their wallets to such producers.

Andrew
www.threeshellgame.com [/QB]

I recently pulled the entire Magic Makers line from my shelves, and my customers have supported me fully in my descision to stop dealing with them.

I hope other dealers follow suit.

[Guest]

Good on you, Wayno. If more people worked to support each other like this, it would go a long way to help stop this kind of abuse.

BTW, On Friday, Jay at Penguin promised Bob Sheets he would remove the downloadable video that teaches Bob's shell moves immediately. It is still up tonight, however.

[Guest]

Originally posted by Whit Haydn:
Good on you, Wayno. If more people worked to support each other like this, it would go a long way to help stop this kind of abuse.

BTW, On Friday, Jay at Penguin promised Bob Sheets he would remove the downloadable video that teaches Bob's shell moves immediately. It is still up tonight, however.

They just announced a huge giveaway of their Perfect Shells with every order over $30. Does anyone know if it is including the intrsuctional video?

[Guest]

The instructional video is downloadable from their web site to anyone who purchases or receives the shells as part of a promotional offer.

It is still up.

[Guest]

Originally posted by Whit Haydn:
The instructional video is downloadable from their web site to anyone who purchases or receives the shells as part of a promotional offer.

It is still up.

I assumed so, but I did not go verify. That's disgusting. And to add insult to injury, they offer a huge sale so that every sale from today till they end the sale, will include free instructions, including Bob's work.

[Guest]

At the same time that they're producing very questionable effects, they HAVE put out some great original DVDs. To wit:

Art of Card Splitting by Marty "Martini" Grams
Romaine - Monarch of Manipulators
The Sal Piacente Monte sets
Sal's Lecture Notes
Simon Lovells 3 DVD set
Chad Sandborn's Mindbender
and Keone's Xtreme Cuts

All original material by good people. Maybe they should focus just on making quality DVDs.

Ben S

[Guest]

Penguin has now removed the references to "Street Shells" on their website, which is satisfactory to us at the School for Scoundrels.

Hopefully they will soon remove the Bob Sheets material from their teaching video.

[Guest]

Originally posted by Ben Salinas:
At the same time that they're producing very questionable effects, they HAVE put out some great original DVDs.

Ben S

This is sort of attitude I find dangerous about the magic community. Always when we find someone practicing with a lack of ethics, someone in the community goes, "yeah BUT , they did this good." Or, "maybe this shouldn't have been published, BUT , I'm sure glad that it has been."

The former is irrelevant, and the latter is quite nasty.

[sleightly]

For a look at a true third-party review of each of the synthetic walnuts shells currently available, I would recommend you check out the following blog:

http://magic.atomicbrew.com

There you will find side-by-side photos of all the shells and to get commentary from someone who actually plunked down his own cash just to see the differences.

Steve has expended a great deal of his time, effort and cash to this end and I highly admire his willingness to take, and report from, a consistent critical viewpoint.

We need more like him.

ajp

[Dale Shrimpton]

I have recently laid hands on a copy of the Jack Channin book, Hello Suckers, which has some incredible ideas with the shells.
God bless ebay, that's what i say :)

Dale

[Guest]

Bob Sheets has just informed me that Penguin has redone their instructional video and removed his material. That is great news. Kudos to Penguin for doing the right thing.

Here is what Bob had to say:

"Wow. It took a week but Penguin re-shot their training video for the shells and REMOVED my "work" from the site.

What will they remove next the Asher Twist? Talked to Lee about something else and he mentioned that his move, from his video, has been shown on Paul Wilsons Richochet training tape at Penguin.

How about the Magic Makers RAPE of the John Kennedy Line including the Mystery Box. It's now called the Mini Magic Card Box...OF DEATH. Bazaare de Magia Watch and Wear has reincarnated as The Time Machine. Dubious Dominos is now Magic Monte Dominos. Viking got ripped for the Impossible Penetration and Magic Makers calls it the Fantastic Finger Chopper.John Cornelius and his Thought Transmitter.

All of them will be in my magic prayers."

[Guest]

I have both the SFS shells and the La Maggiore shells. Both are outstanding in appearance and quality. The big difference is the size. I prefer the handling of the smaller SFS shells due to my finger placement. While I like the look in my hands of the LaMaggiore I have real problems with the steal. I do have lil' chubby hands though. The SFS pea is the way to go as far as the pea is concerned.

Nice to see Penguin continues their belief in getting away with borrowing from others until they get caught, then withdrawing and thinking they are being wonderful members of the magic community.
Steve V

[Pepka]

On the topic of the Magic Maker cups, I had a dealer, (will not mention which one) hold a set for me when they first came out. The top of one of them looks like it had been scratched with a brillo pad. I didn't care for how light they were but maybe that's me, I prefer heavier cups. I also didn't care that he kept trying to push the scratched one on me, saying that it will buff out. It didn't. The only cups I use are by Jim Riser. Beautiful cups, and a real gentleman.
As for the DVDs that they make I think they are far below the other big producers of DVDs. It is very apparent to me that Rob Stiff has absolutely no knowledge of magic whatsoever. I have bought a few of them and can barely finish them because he is so annoying. I may buy more when he takes a hiatus.
Pepka