MagicShow.Tips – Page 172 – A daily blog about magic by Louie Foxx

Even More Cracker Action!

One of the great things about working at fairs is that you have a lot of chances to perform and work on new material. This trick with a cracker that I’ve written about here over the last couple of days has progressed nicely.

A big change I made is that instead of making the cracker reappear in an impossible location, I’m restoring the broken cracker. After I catch the cracker and smash it, I’m putting the crumbs into an envelope and offer it to the kid as a prize. I then rip open the envelope and dump out a restored cracker! I’m still doing the restored cracker with the wrong name, but this restoration phase is new.

The other change is that I was doing a pass to bring the signed cracker to the top. Doing a classic pass with crackers is really hard to do invisibly, so I’m doing a side steal. A side steal is sooo much easier with a cracker than a card!

The final change was switching from a Ritz Cracker to a Saltine Cracker. A saltine is less greasy and the signature shows up better on the white cracker.

All of these small changes are starting to add up a bigger results.

More Crackers…

At the fair yesterday, I tried the cracker magic trick in my preshow. It went well, and the audience liked it. That said, there are a couple things that I need to improve on. The big one is writing a script, and the other prop management.

For prop management, this will come with doing it. I had to dig around too much looking for the cracker or bowl, that’s mostly because I don’t know what I’m doing. There’s not a clear “flow” to the routine as far as what goes where.

For a script, I basically said something like:

I couldn’t find a store that sold a deck of cards in this town. I ended up having to buy something to try to make it work. So we’ll do a cracker trick! Pick a cracker, remember it, put it back and mix them up. Is that your cracker!!

How about you write your name on it, so we can tell it apart.

It goes into this bowl, we’ll cover it up and shake it to mix them. When I count to three you’ll toss the crackers into the air and I’ll reach out and catch one, it’ll be your cracker. If I can’t do that you win what’s inside this cup.

One…Two…Three!

Was that your cracker (show crushed cracker)?

Wait, there’s the cup…inside the cup is a cracker…read the name…Oh, that’s not your name.

We’ll make it disappear. All I need is some magic dust…and that makes it change into your name!!!

It’s a pretty bare bones script, not much going on. I’ll try to “punch it up” a little bit later today.

Magic Crackers…

During the three hour drive from the airport to the hotel, I started thinking about the card trick using crackers. I think it’s going to be more than a “card trick” with crackers. It’s going to a magic trick with crackers. Here’s how I’m thinking it’s going to flow: Someone picks a cracker and signs … Continue reading “Magic Crackers…”

During the three hour drive from the airport to the hotel, I started thinking about the card trick using crackers. I think it’s going to be more than a “card trick” with crackers. It’s going to a magic trick with crackers.

Here’s how I’m thinking it’s going to flow:

Someone picks a cracker and signs it. The signed cracker is mixed with the other crackers into a bowl. The crackers are flung into the air, you reach out and grab a cracker in your fist! When you open your hand it’s just crumbs. An envelope is opened and inside is a cracker…with the wrong name on it. You put the cracker in your hand, and say you’ll make it disappear. You reach into your pocket for some “magic dust” which the audience thinks is the cracker you just put into your hand that you are crunching up. When you open your hand, the cracker is still there, but it’s now got the correct signature on it!

This routine above has a few twists and turns into it. I think if I started doing this, it would change a bit with doing it. The one huge downfall of t he routine would be how messy it is. This is easily fixed with a drop cloth.

Just Do It!

One thing that drives me nuts is when people talk about performing for money and they say, “I don’t leave the house for less that $XXX”. They are missing a ton of great chances to be in some cool shows with cool people.

Next week I’m performing at Valley Variety in Phoenix. When I originally got the gig I was going to be in the area, however now I’m basically flying in for it, so I’m doing it at a financial loss. I didn’t cancel the gig because it’s fun show with some acts that I’m interested in seeing.

There are a ton of amazing shows that people can perform in. Sure most of them don’t pay very much, but you get network with other great performers. Also typically you are doing an act, not a whole show, so it’s a great chance to work on new material.

End of a Week Off

It’s been a fun week of no gigs, however that’s coming to an end tomorrow. I’m back on the road heading to Arizona in the morning. That means I get to pack up my show and do a lot of prop repairs today…this is the glamorous part of show biz!

Yesterday I got to hang out with magicians and jam and socialize! The cool thing about socializing is that when we’re riffing with ideas, fun things pop up. After yesterday I have three “action items” that I can get to work on and start playing around with.

It’s good to have new stuff to do, and that’s what I live for. In my close up set there’s the meat of it which never really changes. Then there’s the fun experimental stuff. This is the stuff that I love to do. Lately I haven’t had any new stuff in my close up set, and honestly close up isn’t as much fun without it.

This week’s shows I’m doing a stage magic and close up magic, so I’ll get to try out some of these new ideas!

Finally An Answer…

Sometimes I get an idea that pops into my head, but is hard to try out. A while ago I had an idea for a trick that happens over video chat. The effect is that you mail someone a new deck of cards and a note for them to video chat you. You have them shuffle the deck of cards, they remove one card and you tell them what it is. This can be repeated multiple times, and they can keep the deck and examine it all they want.

The idea for this was sparked when I saw someone selling The Dream Deck by John Cornelius. I don’t think it’s a huge secret that is uses a deck that’s marked so that it can be read through a red filter.

The biggest problem with trying out this idea is that the style of marked deck is very expensive. For me it didn’t make financial sense to spend that much on an idea I’ll probably never do.

Then yesterday I was at the Magic Castle swap meet and someone had The Dream Deck for sale and I got it for cheap! I’m happy to report that you can read the marks over video chat…sort of. The whole trick hinges on the quality of the cameras and connection. You need a high resolution camera and connection that will give you a high def streaming image.

I’m glad I got an answer to my idea, and I’m pretty excited about it. I just ordered a marking kit to work on furthering this idea…

Unusual Props…

I’m still reading the fantastic book Be More Funny by Christopher Barnes. One of the things he writes about is using an odd prop on place of a normal one. His example uses sliced cheese in place of cards for a card trick. His routine is great and really well thought out. It got me thinking of a … Continue reading “Unusual Props…”

It got me thinking of a trick that could be done with something unusual. How about using a cracker in place of the coin for coin in ball of yarn? They’d sign the cracker. Then you do the old gag where you do a false transfer and reach into your pocket for magic dust to sprinkle over your hand. The dust is the smashed cracker. This is played for laughs. Then later the signed cracker reappears in the ball of yarn, or impossible location.

I like the idea of this trick because the cracker is destroyed in a gag and people will forget about it. When it reappears, hopefully it will actually be a surprise.

Another idea would be to openly smach and restore it, then eat it before the signature verification as a gag.

Old Style Magic…

I’m a huge supporter of magic clubs. They are very useful for learning magic, as well and giving a sense of community. I made a couple of comments about a few things being an “older style of magic“, unfortunately I don’t recall the specific things I referred to. We also had someone new to magic … Continue reading “Old Style Magic…”

I’m a huge supporter of magic clubs. They are very useful for learning magic, as well and giving a sense of community. I made a couple of comments about a few things being an “older style of magic“, unfortunately I don’t recall the specific things I referred to. We also had someone new to magic at the magic club and they asked what I meant by “older style of magic“.

Like anything people change the way they do things and there are trends that come and go. An example of this is card tricks. More modern card tricks have less work that is tabled, however that’s changing due to the popularity of close up acts for TV. Modern card tricks also tend to have a lot less procedure and higher payoffs than the card tricks in Tarbell.

Stylistically what people are doing is more in your face than it was 20 years ago. I’m not saying that it’s good or bad, but different. Being aware of the styles and trends will keep your magic feeling up to date and fresh.

Building a Better Mouse Trap…

One of my current projects is a utility device for magic. I had a version that worked for me, then I sent out some to other magicians and am learning that not everyone works like I work. That means that I need tweaking the design further than how I’d do it.

That led me to a challenge this week. I hit a roadblock that I didn’t think I’d be able to overcome. I kept thinking about it, and it hit me yesterday while driving, “a mouse trap”! I needed a spring, and the spring in a mousetrap was almost exactly what I needed.

I bought a mousetrap took it apart and it worked perfectly! The next challenge was figuring out how to integrate that spring into the prop. I sat down at the computer and this is what I came up with:

The picture above was used in the first version of the big redesign. In less than 18 hours I’m on design number four and it’s all little things I’m tweaking to make it more efficient and elegant! We’ll see what today has in store for redesigning…

Great Effect for a Bad Trick…

Right now I’m a couple days deep into over a week off, no shows until next Wednesday! While enjoying my time off, I came across a video of Doc Docherty‘s routine for the Gozinta Boxes. The Gozinta Boxes were created by Lubor Fielder and the effect is a red box fits inside a black box, … Continue reading “Great Effect for a Bad Trick…”

Right now I’m a couple days deep into over a week off, no shows until next Wednesday! While enjoying my time off, I came across a video of Doc Docherty‘s routine for the Gozinta Boxes. The Gozinta Boxes were created by Lubor Fielder and the effect is a red box fits inside a black box, then the black box fits inside the red box.

Here’s a video of David Ginn doing the Gozinta Box:

What I don’t like about the trick in it’s purest form, is that it’s more of a puzzle than a magic trick and really lacks a magic moment. Then I think Tenyo put out ParaBox which had the production of sponge balls, which I think took the trick from a puzzle to a magical puzzle!

Here’s Paul Daniels doing Parabox:

Comparing the Parabox to the Gozinta Box, I feel it’s a huge leap. The thing that’s lacking with the Parabox is producing sponge balls isn’t a huge production. You are making something that can be squished down appear. A sponge ball is better than no production, but something solid would be much better. Let’s get back to Doc Docherty, and his version called In Through the Outbox, which you can watch below:

The productions of the solid pieces of metal are great and takes the routine to an impossible level. I think it’s a great addition to the trick and really cool! One thing that I’d change with it is the pacing of the productions and do them one at a time. I think it’s be stronger to produce one block get the reaction, prove it’s solid and then produce the second one. Once you’ve established what the first one is, you don’t need to prove the second one is solid. However as is I think it’s a great magic trick.

If my roving consisted of more than an deck of cards, a few coins and the shell game, this is a trick that I’d do!