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Vintage Magic Trick – Jail Bird by Nick Trost

Nick Trost put out a ton of magic tricks in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Today I’m playing with Jail Bird, which is a penetration of a card through a brass fastener.

Here’s what it looks like:

@louiefoxx Jail Bird Card Trick by Nick Trost a Vintage Magic Trick #magictrick #magic #cardtrick #closeupmagic #packettrick #louiefoxx #nicktrost #vintagemagic #antiquemagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

The problem with the trick is that in the instructions, you come out with the trick set up and then do the trick. It really needs to be set up in front of the audience and while not hard to do, it’s not in the instructions. I don’t know if that was to make the trick “easy to do” or “self working” or the limitations of trying to keep the instructions to one sheet of paper.

It’s a interesting effect, but honestly I don’t know a context were I would really use this trick as it’s kinda a quick one off sorta thing.

-Louie

Seattle Magic Jam – June 2024

A few weeks ago I organized a magic jam in Seattle and it was a blast! There were a ton of familiar faces and a few new ones. One of the great things about these is that is reminds me of why I got into magic, it’s FUN! A bunch of grown ups can spend the evening playing like children and it’s OK because we’re working!

Here’s some of the highlights of the Magic Jam:

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A post shared by Louie Foxx | Comedy Magician (@louiefoxx)

Follow me on social media for more info about upcoming magic jams in the Pacific Northwest:

Instagram @LouieFoxx
Facebook @LouieFoxx
TikTok@LouieFoxx

Hope to see you at a magic jam in the future!

-Louie

Bag of Stuff I Can’t Do

I came up with a fun way to add in tricks that I’m playing with to my roving set at fairs. I have a ziploc bag full of stuff and I call it the “bag of stuff I can’t do“. I let someone pick something out of the bag and I do that magic trick. It’s a fun way to introduce props that don’t exactly fit my style.

Here’s a highlight video from the fair I performed at last week and you can see some of this stuff.

In that video you can see the first phase of the O-Korto Coin Box routine and Circulation or Round-the-square Cards by Pavel. This is a fun way to keep performing fun and fresh for me.

-Louie

Magic Monday in Seattle

Last week I popped by Magic Monday in Seattle. This is a fun magic show, that I think of as a magic open mic. It’s a place for me to work on new material, or knock the dust off of old routines that I haven’t done for a while. One of the fun things about the show is that there’s a huge mix in performance styles, and experience levels of the magicians.

The nice thing about this is after the show we all go downstairs to the pub and it’s a fun little magic jam! I have an idea for the Cards Across trick and I had Ruben Barron show me the one that he does (Las Vegas Leaper), which was helpful to me!

-Louie

Twenty Dollar Bill Switch

Many years ago I made a gimmick that can visually turn a one dollar bill into a twenty dollar bill. I use this all the time promotional videos for events and in virtual shows. A while ago when I was on the road, I tried to come up with a lot of different presentations for TikTok with the one gimmick.

Here’s what I came up with:

@louiefoxx Always Tip The Hotel Staff! #tipping #hoteltips #hotel #tips #magic #magician #louiefoxx #moneymagic #twentydollars ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

@louiefoxx How to make money! #howtomakemoney #makemoney #case ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

@louiefoxx How to make the big bucks! #bigbucks #twentydollars #onedollar #magictrick #louiefoxx #hotelroom #hotel #moneymagic #sleightofhand ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

@louiefoxx Dizzy Dollar Trick! #onedollar #dizzy #moneymagic #magictrick #louiefoxx #dollarbill #numismatics #sleightofhand ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

@louiefoxx Inflation Explained! #inflationexplained #dollarbill #twentydollars #magic #moneymagictrick #sleightofhand #magician #howtoincreasemoney #magictrick ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

Those five tricks are all essentially the same trick, just presented differently to hopefully give them all a different feel. Those five are in addition to how I do it in virtual shows. I think getting a lot of mileage with a single gimmick is a big advantage with social media, where you can get multiple videos out of a single trick!

-Louie

Vintage Magic Trick: Fly Cards II by Aldo Columbini

I was playing with Fly Cards II by Aldo Columbini from 1991. I’m not familiar with Fly Cards I, so I can’t compare the two to talk about the improvements that this one has over the original. The effect is similar to an ace assembly, you have four cards with flies on them and a dozen blank cards. You make put 3 blank cards on each card with a fly. The first fly disappears and reappears in the next packet, so that packet now has two flies. Then those disappear and reappear in the third, so that packet now has three. Finally the three flies disappear and you accidentally tap the fourth packet revealing the surprise ending of four smashed flies.

Here’s a demo:

@louiefoxx Vintage Magic Trick! Fly Cards II by #AldoColumbini #magictrick #magic #sleightofhand #cardmagic #elmsleycount #antiquemagic #louiefoxx #petermaloney #magician ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

What I like about the trick is the progressive assembly, where the flies keep moving to the next packet. What I don’t like is the flies. It’s strange theming, maybe something like honey bees would be better, but then the smashed ending would have to be different as you don’t want to smush honey bees. I think this idea would be interesting in an ace assembly context, however the problem is that I don’t think it would work out as you’re passing off one card as two several times.

It’s a good trick, and I think if someone spent some time thinking of a better theme OR used it as a custom thing for a social media video it’d be useful!

-Louie

Evaporation + FREE Out For Beers

Happy Birthday USA!

In the USA it’s Independence Day, which is the birthday of the United States. Way back in 1796, which is the country’s bicentennial, there was a trick put out called Happy Birthday USA: The Bi-Centennial Card Trick by Shigeo Futagawa.

This is a card trick where you have cards that all have red and white stripes on the back, and the numbers on the front. The numbers are 1976, and they change into 1776 and then the backs change to make a flag!

Here’s a demo of the trick:

@louiefoxx Fourth of July Vintage Magic Trick! #fourthofjuly #4thofjuly #america #1776 #usa #cardtrick #closeupmagic #vintagemagictrick #antique #louiefoxx #vintage #independenceday ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

What I thought was interesting is that in a era of Emerson and West packet tricks with confusing instructions, this has very well laid out instructions that are easy to read!

This trick is a good example of capitalizing on an event in the future. I wonder how many of these that were sold, but I also wonder how many were unsold and thrown away on new years day in 1977!

-Louie

Balls in Hat Routine!

The last couple of weeks I started working on a Balls In Hat routine that I learned from Jimmy Talksalot. It starts with two in the hand and one in the pocket and ends with a nine balls coming out of your hat! It’s a really solid routine!

You can see parts of it in this reel from the fair I was performing at:

@louiefoxx Magic at the @sanmateocountyfair! #magic #sanmateocountyfair #sanmateo #closeupmagic #magician #bayarea #countyfair #louiefoxx #magictricks #cardtrick ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

There’s a ton of great info and routines on Jimmy’s Substack. There’s free info as well as stuff for subscribers. It’s $8 a month to subscribe and totally worth it to read and watch all the content he has up there. The magic and essays are focused on street magic, but there’s a lot to be learned there if you don’t do street magic.

-Louie

Vintage Magic Trick: The Shaggy Dog Tale

Here’s a vintage magic trick from the early 1980’s by Emerson and West. It’s Larry West’s The Shaggy Dog Tale.

Like all the Emerson and West packet tricks, there’s a story line for the trick and the art reflects that. Here’s what the routine looks like:

@louiefoxx Vintage Magic Trick! Emerson and West's The Shaggy Dog #magictrick #cardtrick #vintage #1980s #magic #shaggydog #emersonandwest #louiefoxx #packettrick ♬ original sound Louie Foxx

Here are the changes I would make to the trick:

Honestly, it’s a trick that’s theming didn’t age well and the trick isn’t that good of a trick without the punchline at the end…which isn’t a great punchline by today’s standards.

-Louie