magic show tips – Page 6

Pacific Coast Association of Magicians convention

I’m honored to be one of the three (maybe four) featured presenters for this years Pacific Coast Association of Magicians convention in October!

You can get more info or register for the convention at: https://pcammagic.com/convention

One of the cool thing they’re doing this year is having the presenters do a full show. It’s a great way to give context to the presenter and personally I think a lot more is learned from a full show than seeing an act.

Here’s info on the three presenters:

James Cielen is one of only eight magicians to win the Gold Medal for Excellence in Stage Performance from the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Even better proof of excellence is the successful career which has followed, including what may be the longest-running contract in the history of cruise ship magicians. We’ll get to see James on his home turf, thrilling audiences in the 890-seat World Stage theatre, plus a PCAM-exclusive talk where we can learn from his experience.

Louie Foxx never stops. He never stops moving, on the road as one of the busiest entertainers in the Pacific Northwest, delighting audiences of kids, families, adults, and seniors in every town along the way. He never stops learning, as an avid collector gaining hands-on insight to the history of magic and magicians through long-lost props. He never stops creating, inventing wildly original tricks grounded in the practical needs of a working pro. Louie will inspire you to get your magic moving!

On a recent Fool Us performance, Penn praises Peter Samelson as “one of the greatest living magicians,” and Jamy Ian Swiss writes “I used to say that Peter Samelson is the most influential magician you’ve never heard of.” Except the secret is now out. From his groundbreaking publication Theatrical Close-Up to producing the longest running Off-Broadway Magic Show in New York City, he shows his commitment to performing magic as an artist. He’ll be teaching us, by example, what it means to experience magic.

To get in on this amazing week of magic and good times, be sure to register at https://pcammagic.com/convention

Backstage Etiquette

When I’m at a fair or event where I’m the only variety act, I try to label my stuff as show props so that people know to not handle my stuff. Many of these bands or dance groups don’t work with other acts and have never had to deal with backstage etiquette. Most of it is common sense, however I’m constantly amazed how how many people don’t have common sense.

I was working with a band and they tried to set up a drum kit onstage while I was performing on the stage! That made me glad I had already put a sign on my gear, as they clearly didn’t know.

Then I got back to the dressing room (trailer) and they had put all of their bags on top of my stuff! What’s crazier is why they would have done that when I took up barely any space!

This is why I assume no one knows backstage etiquette. Here’s a graphic I made for fun and to blow off some steam:

I kinda want to get some of these printed up and put them in greenrooms! Feel free to copy that and put it places!

-Louie

Vintage Magic Trick: Nick Trost’s Cardcentration

Today’s vintage magic trick is Nick Trost’s Cardcentration. The effect is a prediction of which card out of 8 that someone will pick, then there’s a kicker ending.

Here’s what it looks like:

@louiefoxx Vintage Magic Trick: Nick Trost’s Cardcentration! #cardtrick #magic #magictrick #vintage #cardmagic #louiefoxx #nicktrost #closeupmagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

The effect of this trick is great, the method is garbage. There’s no reason for the envelope, you put a card into it, then immediately take it out. This trick would be equally as strong if you did the hot rod force, Quinta force, or the PATEO force. Sure, there’s nothing to sell if you don’t have a gimmick, but those would be superior methods.

I will say that of the three times I did this trick, only once no one asked to look at the envelope after the trick. That confirms to me that it’s the weak spot in the trick. Sure I could have come up with a reason or way to justify the envelope, but I try to do these tricks as written up in the original instructions to preserve what the creator intended.

-Louie

Dai Vernon Silhouette!

Frequently if I have time to kill between shows, I will stretch my legs and walk through junk shops. Usually I just find things like sealed bicycle decks from the Cincinnati factory. Well, the other day I spotted this:

It’s a silhouette cut by Dai Vernon!

It was cheap and in a case that was an additional 20% off, so I took it home with me!

People always ask me where I find the cool old magic props and things that I have. Usually I hunt for most of them. I really like the “treasure hunt” aspect of it.

Doing the legwork pays off!

-Louie

Move The Monitors!

When I show up to set up my show on a stage, there’s normally monitors at the front of the stage. If I’m doing a solo show (not in a show with multiple performers), I will ask the sound tech to move the monitors. I think it’s important for the audience to see my whole body, but more than that, I do a couple of low things and with monitors, that stuff is invisible to the audience.

Recently on a travel day while I was looking for lunch in a town I stumbled up on a festival. One of the acts on their stage was an Irish Stepdance group.

Look at the picture above, you really can’t see their feet! I understand that’s unfortunate placement of the gray power box in the middle, but there’s no reason that the monitors couldn’t be moved to the sides of the stage and turned so they face the middle. That would not affect the dancer’s ability to hear the music.

In a magic show, we don’t normally need monitors like a band does, so don’t let the sound tech set up your show like a band! It’s OK to ask the sound tech to move monitors, they’re easy to move and it’s not a big deal.

Here’s a post I wrote almost a year ago with some good comparison pictures:
http://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/move-the-monitors/

Now be assertive and visually clean up your stage!

-Louie

Evaporation – Milk!

In my show the Evaporation gimmick that I use in a milk bottle. Really it’s a Sunny D bottle that has a milk label that I printed out on it. Recently while I was performing in Wyoming I found this milk bottle:

This is my dream bottle for a milk bottle for my Evaporation trick. The only problem is that it’s a unicorn. What makes this bottle perfect for milk is that it’s smooth, which makes it easy to clean and it’s clear, so the liquid is very visible. Unfortunately I’ve spend too much time trying to track down more of these bottles and all the ones I can find are frosted and not clear. With a frosted bottle it’s hard to see the liquid inside.

Normally milk is in a frosted or opaque bottle as light isn’t good for milk. That convinces me that these were an error at the place that makes the bottles. Unfortunately I won’t be able to offer these for sale to magicians as there’s only two and I’m going to be using them. However if you want my standard Evaporation that’s gimmicked for milk, shoot me a note and I can make you one.

-Louie

It’s a Wrap on Library Shows for 2025

Well, I’m doing doing library shows for the summer. When I was putting together the show, one of the goals was that it was one trip in and one trip out of the library. I also wanted that to be only one thing in each hand. Here’s what the show looked liked when packed up.

What’s pictured above is everything for the show. The show was was expandable from it’s most basic form which was the prop box on the table to set up that filled a larger space.

The other goal was for the show was that is played big. It didn’t feel like a suitcase magic show where everything is flat. The show had a lot of textures and I really liked doing this show.

I’m proud of this show and I think I may keep it to cycle back into the rotation for kid shows in the future. The more important thing was that I used this show to learn to do things that will have a life outside of this show. I learned to use and get confident with the iQpro app to run video for my show and I using ankle switches for my show.

One of the goals for my summer library show is that I work on something that I can use outside of that specific show. Whether it’s a routine that I can use in another show or in this case, production stuff.

Always look for a second life for things!

-Louie

Comedy Mentalism Routines!

Last week has been a HUGE week for me creatively. I’ve come up with three ideas for stage routines. One of them I actually had what I needed to try out and got to do about eight times onstage!

All three of them are comedy mentalism. Two of the three of them focus on the process of what the audience perceives is happening and the other is fairly generic mentalism.

You can read a little bit about one of them here:
https://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/showing-process-for-mentalism/

The second one is a lock trick where someone picks a key and that’s the only one out of six keys that opens the lock. Fairly standard, but and some process to it and it’s more of a stand out trick.

The premise of the trick is luck.

I get someone who says they’re lucky onstage. The try out all of the keys and confirm that only one will unlock a lock. What’s cool about the lock I’m using is that I don’t need to touch any of this!

They are now locked by their beltloop to a folding chair with short piece of chain.

Now to test their luck, I’ll flip a coin and for every correct flip they get a key to try to free themself. For each flip, they get it wrong…However on the last flip, when the call it and it’s wrong, I openly flip the coin to what they called to so that the get one key.

They select the key, it opens the lock and it frees them!

I’m going to try this out later this week to see how it plays. When I am trying new things, I want to get them onstage as quick as possible. I want to get a sense for how it actually plays with my personality. If it feels right, I’ll start working on writing up a more complete script for it. If it doesn’t, I need to reevaluate whether I should try a different angle, or stop doing it.

Louie

Visiting the P3 Theater!

Last week when I was in Columbus, OH my bubby Chris Hanowell visited the fair and caught my show!

The next day Chris and David gave me and Billy Kidd (who was also working at the fair) a tour of the P3 Magic Theater / Magic Shop.

The p3 Magic Theater is a really cool space and looks like a great venue for magic! I mean, it should be since it was designed for that!

-Louie

Final Summer Library Show of 2025!

Well, I’m now done with my summer reading shows at libraries for the season. Here’s my case before the final packing of it.

I really liked my show this year and it was a ton of fun to do it. My show was themed around the colors of the rainbow and the show worked for libraries and summer camps. I think this is a show that I may keep around and for kids events. The rainbow themes is a great segue between tricks and a good frame for the show.

The show also got me to use iQpro for visual elements on a screen in the show. The show was mostly images on the screen, but it also had some video elements. I’m really liking this program for the video projection, however I’m struggling with it for audio. Ideally using one program to run the show would be best, however I’m thinking there may be some advantages to using two. Primarily if something happens to one, like the app freezes, I still have the other running. That means I might not have music, but I’ll still have video or vice versa. Having one is better than none!

The other routine that has come out of this that’s a keeper is my expanding card trick warm up. This is a multiphase card trick for kids. It’s probably doubled in time and effects from how I used to do it!

-Louie