One Non-Card Trick

Discuss your favorite close-up tricks and methods.
cataquet
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One Non-Card Trick

Postby cataquet » August 23rd, 2002, 3:22 am

Walkinoats started a thread with "If you had to do one trick, which would it be". The thread has lots of answers, all with various interpretations of the conditions (impromptu, card trick, etc).

I am re-visiting this topic but defining the conditions:
(1) It is not a card trick
(2) You are performing this effect to seal a contract (ie, the booker is having a bunch of magicians perform one trick, and he's then going to choose one based on that one trick)
(3) It is an effect you will perform for a small group of non-magicians.
(4) The booker won't be impressed by the repeat of a previous routine. That is, if the first magician does coins across, you can't follow up with another coins across as he knows the effects, and so he won't be as impressed. (His rationale: "Oh, he does that as well, so I guess any magician can do that").

So, in naming your props and effect, remember no duplication is allowed, and you don't know what effects the magicians ahead of you or after you will be doing.

If you were number 10 on the list, and there were 50 magicians on that list. What would you do?

I found myself in exactly this situation, and I chose to do my cut and restored rope routine (which is my standard opener). I didn't get this job, but the booker came to me a few days later and used me for another job. At that time, he said that watching 50 magicians in a row, all the card tricks merged into one and so his decision was made easier by instantly rejecting all the magicians that did card tricks. Hence, my first condition.

I know that many of you will argue "I don't do these trials, my reputation speaks for me". But, if you did lower yourself to do these, what would you do?

Bye for now

Harold

Jackie Huang
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby Jackie Huang » August 23rd, 2002, 3:51 am

If I have to do one "quickie" to impress laymen I'd do either a silk vanish (thumb tip) or $100 bill switch. But the condition you're given is to 'seal a contract.' If so do you still mean one trick or one routine?

I think under those circumstances it's more important to sell yourself than the trick you perform.

I think if I have to do one routine to win a contract I'll do the Linking Rings...just kidding.

Mike Fordice
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby Mike Fordice » August 23rd, 2002, 5:16 am

I might do "All Screwed Up" (AKA Nuts & Bolts Opener) that I learned from Doc Eason in a lecture 10+ years ago. Simple 2 in hand, 1 in pocket type effect with unusual props. Do it all the time - nearly always for laymen.

enjoy...mike

KenAbbott
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby KenAbbott » August 23rd, 2002, 6:05 am

I would perform my slight modification of David Roth's Three Ball routine. I have taken out the sections that require a table to make it a totally walk-around trick.

This trick has almost everything you would want. It does not use coins or cards. It has some impressive slight of hand moves for your ego. Just when the kids, or even the adults, think they caught you, they find that you fooled them again. You have appearances and vanishes all happenng quickly and in a logical manner.

I think this routine establishes your skill as a magician as well as gives you an opportunity to have some fun with your spectators.

cataquet
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby cataquet » August 23rd, 2002, 8:20 am

In response to Joe Kelly's query, are you a lawyer by any chance? ;)

The idea is that the booker is having a beauty contest. He's mildly knowledgeable about magic (ie, he's played with his kid's magic sets and occasionally watches it on the TV), so he's having you walk in, state your name, do your trick, answer a few questions and then walk off. He wants you to do a trick. He doesn't understand the difference between a trick and a routine, but you had at most 5 minutes (and that included interview time).

In one instance, someone did Splash Bottle (balloon pops and a bottle of wine appears), and the booker said "Wow! Is that it? Do something else". When the guy took out a pack of cards, the booker stopped the magician and said "Next!"

In another instance, someone tried to do a flowing routine (produce silk, then produce silks from coin, then do coins across, then...). The booker stopped him after he did coins across, so I don't know what would have come next.

The booker is now a good friend of mine, and he's given work to 10 out of the 50 magicians he saw that day. He was bright enough to identify magicians that would be good for table hopping, trade shows, cocktail parties, etc.

Bye for now

Harold

Jackie Huang
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby Jackie Huang » August 23rd, 2002, 12:19 pm

Harold - I'm a lawyer wannabe, just like I'm a magician wannbe. ;)

Ken - Where is David Roth's Three Ball Routine published?

Thanks.

KenAbbott
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby KenAbbott » August 23rd, 2002, 1:08 pm

Joe:

I know that David has a set of instructions that he sells from his web sight. But, I found it on an A-1 All-Stars video

Jon Allen
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby Jon Allen » August 23rd, 2002, 5:54 pm

Does the booker just want to see a "WOW" magic trick or does he want to see how good you are? The two are not the same!

Brian Marks
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby Brian Marks » August 23rd, 2002, 6:20 pm

Doug Edward's Pen Thru Dollar Bill

Gary Freed
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby Gary Freed » August 23rd, 2002, 6:24 pm

I have done $100 bill switch and given away the larger bill..(I used a twenty as the gig was not "that" big)..I was working a function where the Governor of NY was attending and was prepared change his bill to $100 and just let him keep it. The opportunity did not come up that evening, but I imagined it would be quite an impact and well worth the $99 investment.

mike cookman
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby mike cookman » August 23rd, 2002, 8:45 pm

I'm feeling kind of slow at the moment, so I dont understand---if you don't know what the other magicians are doing in this hypothetical audition, how will you know if you are repeating something? I would do Dean Dill's Coins, Glass, and Silk, but only if I knew Mr. Dill was not there. Peace.

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Pete Biro
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby Pete Biro » August 23rd, 2002, 11:13 pm

I would do my version of the Edward Victor Bat Trick... darn, now I did it... hundreds of magicians will now run out and find it.

For me, this never fails to entertain and baffle.
Stay tooned.

EdAndres
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby EdAndres » August 23rd, 2002, 11:16 pm

I would do the trick in the "Our Monthly Telephone" column. On page 401 from the September, 1907 issue of "The Wizard" Vol.3-no.25.

It uses 4 little pieces of paper and kills!

:genii: :cool:

cataquet
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby cataquet » August 25th, 2002, 4:54 am

To Jon Allen
The booker wants to see that (1) you are a competent magician (worker) and (2) you have have something that sets you apart from the rest of the magicians. You can do a "WOW" magic trick if you want, but magic titles mean nothing to him. ;)

As I said before, if he sees duplication of routines (props and effects), it signals to him that any magician can do this, so that weakens the impact of the trick (and probably lessens your chances). So, as Mike (Cookman) points out, there is a strong strategic aspect to the selection of trick/routine.

For the record, the booker's eventual choice came down to two magicians. In auditions, one did Rocky Racoon, and the other did a thumbtie... To select between these magicians, the booker called them back the next day and asked them to do what they would normally do for a table of 6-8 people seated at a dinner table if they had 9 minutes. One did nothing but cards, and the other had a nice mix of cards, coins and sponge balls. The latter got the job.

So, you see the inconsistencies. The guy is looking for a closeup worker, but allowing you to do anything in this semi-final appearance. As my advisor used to say "Think outside the envelope".

Bye for now

Harold

Jackie Huang
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby Jackie Huang » August 25th, 2002, 7:02 pm

Originally posted by Harold Cataquet:
In auditions, one did Rocky Racoon, and the other did a thumbtie...
Sorry to be completely off the subject, but anyone knows whatever happened to that comedian magician who did Rocky Racoon? I believe his name is Jeff Justine?

Jon Allen
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby Jon Allen » August 26th, 2002, 4:14 pm

[QB]To Jon Allen
The booker wants to see that (1) you are a competent magician (worker) and (2) you have have something that sets you apart from the rest of the magicians. You can do a "WOW" magic trick if you want, but magic titles mean nothing to him. ;) [QB]

It would be fantastic to show how you can take a bog standard effect that every magician does, and turn it into something special that overshadows everyone else that has done (or tried to do) the same thing. That would show a decent agent just how good you are, without having the emphasis on the trick.

[QB]
As I said before, if he sees duplication of routines (props and effects), it signals to him that any magician can do this, so that weakens the impact of the trick (and probably lessens your chances). [QB]

Any singer can sing a song, and if they all sang the same one, then you'd find out who is the best. Does this weaken the impact of the song? Nope.

Repetition will weaken the magical effect ("I bet the card ends up on top") but I would have thought that the agent was looking for more than tricks. Maybe I'm wrong. I guess in the futre, we'll program robots to do our tricks and the public can just watch the tricks without any input from the magician. Some may think this already exists ;)

[QB]
One did nothing but cards, and the other had a nice mix of cards, coins and sponge balls. The latter got the job. [QB]

Does this say something about the guy who did cards, the tricks he chose or the agent. Probably a little of each.

I have found that agents don't really know or care about the quality of the performer as the better the performer is, the more they will charge and the less chance there is they will accept the fees the agent will pay.

If someone just wants to see 'different' tricks and doesn't care about how good the performer is, they can't be looking at the wider picture.

Jon

Mike Powers
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby Mike Powers » August 26th, 2002, 7:01 pm

HI Joe,

I think you mean Jeff Justice. (I think that's the correct spelling.) He was the first one I ever saw do Rocky and it was hysterical.

Mike

Gary Freed
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby Gary Freed » August 26th, 2002, 7:09 pm

Mike,
Was this by any chance the early 80's at FFFF? I remember as it was my first time there, between Jusitce and Sid Lorraine, one of the funniest shows I recall seeing.

mike cookman
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby mike cookman » August 26th, 2002, 8:16 pm

David Williamson has done some fine "Rocky" performances.

Mike Powers
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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby Mike Powers » August 27th, 2002, 1:33 pm

Hi Gary,

Yes I saw Jeff at FFFF many years ago. I'm fairly certain that he predates Williamson with the Rocky bits. He used to go table to table in the Forks Hotel and really bring down the house - all just with a spring loaded racoon skin!

Mike

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Re: One Non-Card Trick

Postby Guest » September 8th, 2002, 9:11 pm

I always use the pull-style vanish of a lit cigarette, gets a great response. My father-in-law had seen the news special with Muhamed Ali some time ago where he exposed the thumb tip, so he thought he had me when I vanished my mother-in-law's lit cigarette...then I turned my hand over so that all my fingers were shown freely. Completely freaked him out. They would always ask what happened to the cigarette, I took an envelope out of my wallet and set it on the table, a duplicate cigarette (complete w/ the lipstick around the tip) was inside.
I normally don't do the cigarette in envelope, but just the vanish of the lit cigarette is strong in and of itself.
By the way, Pete, I loved your idea on the Himber Ring from the Stevens' video. I've been working on a routine for that for some time, but that threw a new idea into the works. Now I'm going to have to redo everything. Thanks a lot! ;)


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