Tricks – MagicShow.Tips

Doty Scope

There’s an old magic prop/gag called the Doty Scope. The way I’ve seen it done is the magician has their back to the audience to not see something. Then a periscope with a eye at the end pops up over your shoulder and the eye looks around. I think that’s how its intended to be used, but I’ve never owned one to see the instructions.

I have a use for the gag, but they’re not currently being made. I decided to make my own little one. There’s not much to making a simple one. I used a Eyeball Finger Puppet and a mechanics extendable mirror to make one.

Construction is pretty easy. Cut a slot in the eyeball so the mirror fits into it. Shove the mirror in and then glue it in place.

This will fit in the pocket of my vest. During the trick I turn my back and while my back is towards the audience I extent it and have the eyeball pop over my shoulder. I then rotate the handle a little bit to make some motion to make the the eyeball appear to be looking around.

That’s it, easy to make and do.

-Louie

Media Spots and Magic

Not all media spots are rockstar spots. Here’s one that I did, and it was fine:

I should have cut out the multiple force and maybe just started with the card selected. I was very rushed for the trick, and while I think it played OK, it would have been better if I did it slower.

One thing I did do before we started was that I told the reporter that I was going to ask them to draw something on a card. I wanted them to think of something simple to draw so we didn’t waste time for them thinking of a card.

If you’ve never done a live, on location TV spot, they can be very challenging. You get a general idea of how much time you have, but that can quickly change and change during the media spot while you’re performing and you have no idea. Before live media spots, I always try to come up with a signal for the reporter to give me when I need to wrap it up. There’s usually a producer talking in their ear telling them how much time we have or don’t have left.

These live spots are fun, but also very challenging!

-Louie

Indian Magic Show

One thing that the internet has ruined is the regional styles of performing. When I was a kid, in the USA you would see different styles of performing on the east and west coasts or even different trends/styles within the same state.

Someone shared a video of a magician from India and the style is very different from what’s performed in the USA. For example there was a piece that I’m assuming was a patriotic piece that ended with an enemy impaled on a giant drill while flags were waived by the military.

You can watch full video here:

There are a couple of acts that potentially used without permission of the creators, so there’s that. It is great to see things that look different from what in the USA can be cookie cutter magic shows and magicians. For all I know, this is what a normal theater show looks like in India and it’s a cookie cutter show there.

-Louie

Starcle Idea…

I’m sure I’m not the first person to think of this idea. The idea is using the Starcle paper tear where you put a single tear into a folded up piece of paper and you get a circle and a star. My idea is to use a deck of ESP cards and force the circle and star and use the paper tear as the reveal.

OK, I just did a quick Google search and it appears that Eric Mead and Doc Eason published that trick 10 months after Harlan published Starcle, so the idea was pretty much immediately thought of!

I’m using the Starcle paper tear in my library show and the idea is to get a little bit more time out of the routine. I have a jumbo ESP deck kicking around the house, so I’m going to go for that prop. I’m not sure what the premise will be for it as right now the routine is a story about someone that I know. It’ll have to change, but not exactly sure how I’ll frame it.

-Louie

It’s Got the Mustache!

I’m always hunting for vintage magic tricks and recently came across this Gilbert Mysto Magic Set!

The bad news was that it was incomplete and in pretty rough shape.

It was missing a lot of the contents, but it had the mustache!

While the mustache isn’t rare, it’s a frequently missing piece to these kits. This one priced at $199.95 is about double what a complete Gilbert Mysto Magic Set should cost! I didn’t buy this one, but there’s a lot of old magic out there, you just gotta hunt!

-Louie

Magic DVD’s on the road

Sometimes before I go on the road I pick up a couple of magic DVD’s to watch. I have a USB connected DVD player, that I can use to watch these DVD’s on. The silver lining to DVD’s is that they are super cheap right now as everyone is getting rid of them.

This week I took the International Magic Presents: The Jim Cellini Lecture.

This summer I’m working on my street style show, so watching this DVD is helping me learn instead of just watching netflix in the hotel. I’m trying be a good steward of my down time.

-Louie

Unusual Vanishing Bird Cage

Here’s a new addition to my vanishing bird cage collection!

This one has the ends of the large bars pointed instead of square. In theory that is going to hang up less than having the ends square.

This is something that I have thought about, but never did to any of my cages. First of all, not all the corners would need to be pointed, just the ones that are on the leading side of the cage. Next, I think that IF this one did hang up on your sleeve, it would really hang up and wedge the sleeve into it making any possible continued yank up your sleeve much harder.

This is a fun cage variation to add to my collection!

-Louie

Evidence of a magic trick

One trick I’m not a big fan of is bill to orange/lemon/etc. It’s a overdone trick and usually it’s not a surprise to the audience when the bill is in the fruit. A notable exception to this is Nick Lewin’s Lemon Aid routine.

I do a routine that uses a dollar bill, but the dollar isn’t the focus of the trick. It felt like it had a loose end at the finish of the trick. One day I had the idea to make the bill come out of an orange at the end of the trick. What I like about this routine is that the bill doesn’t disappear, so it’s not obvious it’s in the orange immediately when the orange comes into the play.

Then I had to deal with how to give the wet dollar to the person. I found some Evidence bags, and wrote a gag with them.

Now at the end of the routine when I give the signed dollar to the person, I put it in the bag and let them keep it! It’s a fun way to deal with the wet sticky dollar and gets me a couple of laughs!

-Louie

Dynamite In a Small Package by Doc Dixon

A month of so ago I picked up the book Dynamite In a Small Package by Doc Dixon. It’s lived in my backpack since I bought it and I’ve finally read it. It’s a quick read and a GREAT book!

The book covers five card tricks with a regular deck of cards. Each of the card tricks has a different flavor and are distinctly different tricks. The big thing for this is that each of the tricks was designed for the stage and plays bigger than you average card trick.

The book has a script for the tricks, and Doc does a good job of not only teaching the WHY, but how to apply his thinking to other tricks. I’m a fan of Doc’s stuff, the guy is a worker and has been for years and it shows in his marketed magic stuff.

For $35, this book is a great part of your emergency plan for when the airline loses your luggage!

-Louie

Lucky Penny!

After long wait, I finally got some custom made gimmicks for my penny to keychain trick.

These were worth the wait and way better than what I had been using for the trick. Having been in magic and creating magic for a while, I’ve got a network of magic builders that I can reach out to for custom projects.

I had a few of these made, as the cost to make one is pretty high, but getting a dozen isn’t much more. I’m hoping to write up instructions for these and have a few of them for sale soon!

-Louie