Category: Video

Vanishing Bird Cage Costume Tip…

I’ve been doing the vanishing birdcage for years, and have never buttoned up my coat when I did the vanish.

@louiefoxx Taking my bird out for a walk between shows at the San Mateo County Fair! #sanmateocountyfair #countyfair #sanmateo @SanMateoCountyFair #magic #magician #birdtrick #louiefoxx #magictrick #parakeet ♬ Stolen Dance (Instrumental) – Milky Chance

Traditional advice is that you button up the coat as it takes away the idea that the cage goes into your coat. Last week when at a few library shows I buttoned up my coat before the vanish and at all three shows a kid said out loud that the cage went into my coat. It was handy that I could open the front of my coat to show nothing is there and that got me out of that.

I’m trying to decide if the kids thought that the cage went into my coat because I buttoned it up before the trick, or if something else is at play. However doing it at three shows and getting the same unwanted response tells me that I don’t need to button up my coat for the vanishing birdcage.

-Louie

Sympathetic Cards by Ronnay

Here’s another visit with an old packet trick. It’s Sympathetic Cards by Ronnay, that was put out by Emerson and West. The trick is a “follow the leader” effect where two packets keep matching when one is turned face up or face down, then there’s a couple of kickers with jokers appearing and backs changing colors.

The problem with the trick as written is you end up with two more cards than you start with. It’s a small problem, but also something that I feel needs to be addressed. However there’s a lot of magic that happens in it and it’s pretty good magic, so it’s not a bad trick…

If I was to improve it, the main thing I would do is try to figure out a way to get rid of the two extra cards. Other than that, it’s pretty good.

-Louie

Liar’s Blackjack by Bob King

Here’s another packet trick I picked up from a magic shop’s junk bin. It’s called Liar’s Blackjack by Bob King. It’s sorta an all backs routine, but not really. You have five cards that have backs on both sides, then a few faces appear and one of them changes.

Here’s what it looks like with when the original instructions are followed and my update on the trick:

The big change is that I got rid of the cards with backs on both sides. That’s such a strange object that the routine really glosses over and I think detracts from the routine. Using blank face cards keeps the focus on the effect and presentation. Then a little change in the count as the Kiss Elmsley doesn’t really work with the blank face cards, so I used the Hypnotic Rumba Count.

This isn’t a routine that I would ever do, but I think that getting rid of the cards with backs on both sides is a HUGE improvment!

-Louie

Kannibal Kards by Nick Trost

In my close up work I don’t really do any packet tricks, however I love working through them. One thing I like to do is buy packet tricks out of junk bins at magic shops and then try to improve them. In a recent junk packet trick purchase I got Nick Trost’s Kannibal Kards.

Nick Trost's Kannibal Kards

First of all, the art is offensive by today’s standards, however this was made in 1981, so over forty years ago when this style of art would have been acceptable. That doesn’t make it right, but socially acceptable at the time.

The effect is that two cards disappear one at a time within a packet of three cards. Then for then ending there is a surprise reveal card.

The problem with the original routine (besides the art) is that the first card physically disappears and the second one doesn’t. Here’s what the original routine and my improvement looks like:

What I did was change the handling so that the second card also physically disappears and then for the reveal, all three remaining cards change to the surprise card, not just one card. I also noticed there’s a little subtlety where you can show show half of the reveal card and it appears to be one of the original cards. This works with the original card set, however it’s not mentioned in the instructions.

I also made a version using the original handling with a slightly different reveal card at the end

@louiefoxx What Happens To Hikers That Get Lost? #hiking #wilderness #forest #bigfoot #party #sasquatch #camping #louiefoxx #supriseending #waitforit #crpytid #intothewild #magictrick #cardtrick #nicktrost #sleightofhand ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

Reworking these old packet tricks is a fun exercise!

-Louie

Vallarino Card Sandwich

It’s taking some time go get through the JP Vallarino book, but I’m still working on it. I finished the card sandwich section last night and there’s one thing that really stuck out to me. I think it was called the “automatic sandwich“, it’s a very hands off way to get the selected card in between the two other cards.

Before you watch the video, while you can’t see the cards, I never touch the pair of cards, the selection or any of the cards and there are no gimmicks.

And here’s how it works:

I feel OK showing this as the routine makes it happen openly, so I’m not giving away anything secret that wouldn’t be shown if I did the trick as written. In the video above I’m blowing on it, in the book Vallarino uses a riffle to create the air force to blow the card.

This would make an interesting bar bet OR as a paper balls over head sort of trick where everyone sees how it works except for the person who selected the card. It’s a fun little bit for a card sandwich routine, I don’t really do any card sandwich routines, but might start just to use this bit!

-Louie

Ring Pins Magic Trick!

One of the things I really enjoy is going to magic shop and digging through their bins of junk magic. I really like buying a random shoe box sized amount of magic for cheap and then working through the magic to try to find some cool forgotten piece of magic.

In a recent purchase I found Ring Pins, and when I saw the package, I didn’t think it’d be any good, but I was wrong!

Here’s what it looks like:

@louiefoxx Puzzle with safety pins! Move the ring from one pin to the other without opening them! #puzzle #puzzlechallenge #ringpuzzle #safetypin #weddingring #ring #louiefoxx #trythisathome ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

What’s cool about this is that there are no gimmicks or altered props (like soft pins). I did have to change the hand positions from what are in the instructions and break the “secret” into to motions instead of one to make it work for me.

I think I’m going to make some that have the safety pins soldered shut and are presented as puzzles.

-Louie

The (W)hole Thing

An idea for a presentation of The (W)hole Thing by Daryl came up in my daily writing a bit ago. I managed to fill out the idea a bit and do some writing. While I was in the Bay Area, I had Joe and Misdirections Magic Shop order me a set of the cards in.

The Whole Thing by Daryl

One thing I found interesting was that there’s no mention of Emerson and West in the ad copy for the trick. This is essentially Daryl’s routine for the original trick. I’m guessing this is a Murphy’s Magic copywriting thing, as Daryl was pretty good about crediting things.

Here’s Daryl doing the routine:

For the routine that I want to do, I will need to make some custom cards. For now I’m working out the muscle memory for the routine!

-Louie

The Vanishing Birdcage

Last week at the fair I was performing at, I decided to to carry my vanishing birdcage on my walk from the dressing room to the stage I was on. Whenever anyone asked me about it, I made it disappear!

@louiefoxx Taking my bird out for a walk between shows at the San Mateo County Fair! #sanmateocountyfair #countyfair #sanmateo @SanMateoCountyFair #magic #magician #birdtrick #louiefoxx #magictrick #parakeet ♬ Stolen Dance (Instrumental)

It was a fun thing to go to give fair goers a special moment…and something that made my daily commute to the stage a little more fun!

-Louie

Assistant’s Revenge Illusion

For some reason I’ve never really liked the Assistant’s Revenge Illusion. I think that from a method standpoint, it works exactly how anyone would think it does. If you’re not familiar with the trick, here’s what it looks like:

What the trick has going for it is that it has a nice surprise, where the audience is expecting the magician to escape, but it’s a substitution. I’m going to imagine it packs pretty flat and it plays big. I’m not knocking anyone that does the trick, I just think the trick is just “meh”.

Recently this one popped up for sale:

assistants revenge illusion

This pic is what got me thinking about why I don’t like the trick. The chains end up soo loose on usually the female “assistant” that there’s really no reason why the person couldn’t just slip out. If you watch the video above, you can see how loose they are at the end. I do understand that at the beginning they are tight, but that’s not the final image the audience is left with.

The trick would be greatly improved with some sort of handcuff type restraint, but I also think that would make the switch much slower.

-Louie