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

Remote Control Chattering Teeth – USB chargeable

One of the most requested products I get from magicians is for me to make a USB-chargeable set of Remote Control Chattering Teeth. There’s a reason that I haven’t made them before, and that’s because I sell what I use. Personally, I prefer using disposable batteries. If I forget to charge them, it’s not a big deal; I just swap them out.

Well, in my show, I’m having more and more things that use batteries that need to be charged. From things like the phone that I use to run the production of my show to mic pack batteries. Charging things is now a bigger part of the end of my performing day than it was a few years ago.

I’m learning to install the battery and charger, and I have my first working set of USB-chargeable Remote Control Chattering Teeth.

joke remote control chattering teeth, with a cord plugged into them

The next step is for me to use them so I can gain some confidence with my design. I already noticed one thing to change. I have an on/off button and not a switch. With it as a button, you don’t know if it’s on or off. Going forward, future sets will have a switch!

-Louie
PS: you can learn more about the currently available Remote Control Chattering Teeth at: https://www.magicshow.tips/product/remote-control-chattering-teeth/

Stud Playing Cards – New Old Stock!

When I’m on the road, I frequently stop to stretch my legs and walk through junk shops. I was super surprised to find two unopened decks of old stock Stud Playing Cards!

These were my favorite playing cards when they were available. They haven’t made them in years. I think someone (US Playing Card Co.?) made another batch of them about 10 years ago; however, they were on a different stock than the original, and basically Bicycle Cards with the stud back printed on them.

I’m planning on adding these cards to the stack of nice cards that I practice with. They’ll last longer that way than a working deck that lasts 45mins to a hour.

-Louie

Color Change with Cards

A couple of days ago Doug Conn posted about the book Card Finesse by Jon Racherbaumer:

His post about the book, made me remember an cool card move that’s in that book. Well, I’m 99% sure it’s in that book, it might be in Card Finesse II.

I had to slightly adjust the camera move. When done as written, there’s a slight flash that the normal human eye watching won’t see, but it won’t withstand repeated viewing on the internet.

-Louie

The Donut and Bagel Puzzle!

In my daily writing, I’ve been trying to come up with something to do with a couple of sponge donuts that I picked up in a box of vintage magic about a month ago. They’ve been sitting on my desk, or in the box of magic tricks that I travel with.

It hit me that they’d be great for some sort of ring on a string sort of magic routine. I played with a couple of things and quickly realized it needed something else, so I added a real bagel, and here’s what I came up with:

It really surprised me how much people liked it! I thought it’d get a “that’s neat, what else do you have…” sort of reaction. I need to try to figure out some sort of ending for this, right now it’s got a good opening line, the trick, but I feel like it needs something else.

-Louie

What is a Slick Card and How is it Used in Card Magic?

When I was a teenager, I remember reading in (I think) Scarne on Card Tricks about slick cards. These are cards that have a smoother finish than the rest of the cards. In that book, John Scarne mentioned that they were made by using car wax to make the face or back of a card smoother.

At some point when I was a teenager in the 1990s, I noticed that Bicycle Pinochle Cards had a different finish than the poker cards, even though the box said they had the same “air cushion finish” and those cards could be used as a slick card.

Recently I came across an old deck of pinochle cards and made this video:

Most magicians back in the 1990s had never actually seen slick cards; they’d only read about them in old books. I’m pretty sure that now even fewer magicians have heard of them.

What can you do with them?

First of all, you don’t need to drop them as I did in the video. You can bump the deck and it’ll break at the slick card. That will give you a spot to then cut or shuffle to.

Another thing you can do is toss the deck on the table so that they spread a little bit. The deck will naturally spread wider at the slick card, and that can be used for the psychological force of them taking the card at that point.

It’s a weird thing I wouldn’t want to rely on, but it’s fun to play with having one in the deck!

-Louie

How to Add a Beat to a Packet Trick

Yesterday I made a post about David Regal’s Off With His Head. I wanted to add a third beat to it, and one of the ideas I mentioned was making the three cards that weren’t selected blank. This is really following the B’wave format.

Here’s it with the three blank cards as the ending:

I think it’s (for me) a better trick than the original and away to turn B’wave from a mindreading trick to a magic trick.

-Louie

Off With His Head – Magic Trick Review

In a box of old magic tricks that I came across, there was David Regal’s Off With His Head. This is a packet trick that is essentially B’wave, but with different beats and effects. B’wave is a prediction, with multiple things that prove you committed to the prediction. Off With His Head is a magic trick, where several different effects happen.

In Off With His Head, the effects are:
1: The back of the selected card changes color
2: The faces on the selected king disappear (cut out of the card)

I used this trick as my “trick of the day” at the fair I was performing at.

I wish this trick had a third beat to it, like B’wave does. I guess I could have the card appear face up, or have all the other cards blank. It would give a third beat; however, I’m not sure either would add to the trick.

I’m liking this packet trick and I’ll probably keep doing it until I wear out the cards.

-Louie

Getting to the Gig is the Real Work

When I first started on the road as an opener for comedians, I was told by one of the headliners (Brad Brake – RIP), “We don’t get paid for the gig; we get paid to get to the gig.” I quickly learned that that’s a common saying with acts that travel.

Yesterday my flight from Sacramento was to phoenix had a layover in San Diego. Shortly after landing in San Diego my flight to Phoenix was cancelled and I was rebooked onto the last flight of the day to Phoenix six hours later!

Then about 45 mins after the first flight was cancelled, the last flight was showing a delay of an hour. I had a feeling that I was going to be stuck in San Diego after waiting 7 hours at the airport, so I rented car and drove 5 1/2 hours to Phoenix.

I periodically checked the status of that the last flight during my drive and it was delay a second hour, then ultimately was cancelled!

Had I not trusted my spidey sense, I would have waited 8+ hours at the airport to ultimately be stuck there for the night.

If the drive was much longer, I probably would have just stayed at the airport to see how it played out, but when the drive is shorter than I’d be waiting at the airport for the flight if it left on time, it was a no brainer.

When you’re faced with significant delays, it’s always good to look at other options. I made a good choice bail on the flight!

-Louie

The Moisture Festival Podcast – Cory Black

On this episode of the Moisture Festival Podcast, we sit down with juggler and freestyle footballer Cory Black. We talk about how he got started in freestyle football, why he decided to bring his hands into the mix, and how he turned those skills into a one-of-a-kind performance.

A great conversation with an incredibly creative artist who turned his passion into a career.

Cory takes us inside the world of freestyle competitions, inventing new tricks, and the process of developing his act. We also hear about the moment he decided to leave his regular job behind, follow his dream, and become a full-time performer.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Storytelling Magic Prop from 1952

While I was travelling, one day I had about 90 mins to kill before I could check into a hotel. It’s rare that I get to a hotel that won’t let me check in early, but it happens occasionally. When it does, I try to do something fun with my time, and that day I went to an antique mall.

One of the stands had a bunch of magic magazines (linking rings, genii, etc) which were way overpriced, but they also had a few magic books that were reasonable. I picked up the Thayer Catalog vol 8, Ireland’s Yearbook for 1952 and a couple of other things.

The Ireland’s Yearbook for 1952 was interesting. It’s a collection of tricks that were published annually by Laurie Ireland. A good chunk of the yearbook was taken up by an origami storytelling routine. This was interesting that I had the folds and the figures, but not the story?!

I had some paper and decided to try the routine, the problem was with how it was written and illustrated, there were a lot of errors with the words and pictures.

For example figure 4 and 5 are incorrect:

I had to do a lot of messing around and guessing what was meant, to get to the finale of the routine, which is a “Chinese junk boat”.

This was challenging to learn, and it’s a storytelling prop like a Troublewit. I don’t think I’ll ever do it, but I do find it interesting that this was a trick of note in 1952!

-Louie