Tricks – Page 11 – MagicShow.Tips

Pool Ball and Cue Trick

Years ago, I wrote down an idea for a variation of an old juggler’s trick. The original trick was to balance a golf ball between two golf clubs, so that it makes a sort of T shape.

My idea was to do it with pool balls and a pool cue. Here’s what it looks like in my garage:

It seems like jugglers aren’t as into changing props for tricks as magicians are. No juggler has done this (as far as I know), and to me it seems like a logical variation of the golf club trick.

I got to try it out at a show the other day and it went great!

I think this is something that I’m going to work more on. The trick is there, now it just needs a routine.

-Louie
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Getting Props on the Ocean

It’s been a few days since my last show on the ship, my next shows are tomorrow. In my show I use a orange for my drawing routine and a banana for my whip routine. You’re not really supposed to be bringing fruit on/off the ship, so I get those two while onboard.

One of the challenges can be that they’ll have something like bananas all week, but then they’re out the morning of my show, and I can’t get them. Typically, a day or two before my show, I’ll go down and grab what I need and keep them in my room. Then on the day of the show, if they have them out at breakfast and they look better than what’s in my room, I’ll upgrade my oranges and bananas.

This is one of the challenges of performing on cruise ships: if you need something or break something, it can be hard to source it. I try to travel with what I need to fix things or backups. For example, I do Promystic’s Color Match in my show, and I travel with a spare set in case one stops working.

-Louie

Ah Nertz: a Card Trick From 1943

In the second issue of The Bat Magazine from 1943 there’s a packet trick called Ah Nertz. Packet tricks didn’t really exist at that point, there were things like 3 card montes or tricks with the four aces, but nothing like post 1960’s packet tricks.

Here’s Ah Nertz as written:

If you think about the effect, this is an early version of twisting the aces.

I wanted to update the trick with a few modern moves, so here’s what I came up with:

One thing that the original lacked was showing all the cards going the same way. To do that I added a modified DM Move/2 for 4 Count. I also wanted a reveal of the one the upside down cards, but where you see all of the cards. That was accomplished with an Elmsley Count.

Here’s a walk through of the updated version of Ah Nertz:

What I think is interesting is that in theory you could theme the trick very easily with customizing the last card. It could be a trade show trick, “all the options for buying X got your head spinning…”. Or a story could easily be attached to it, like a kid who always felt different. Then the reveal on the final card ties it all together!

I think this trick’s premise is one of the hidden gems in The Bat magazine!

-Louie

Working Through The Bat Magic Magazine

Yesterday was the end of one cruise itinerary and the beginning of another. It looks like my theater shows this week are on the 18th, so I have a few days off. One of the nice things about doing a show later in the cruise is that no one knows that I’m the magician, so I can be anonymous on the ship.

I brought an old magic book, well bound version of The Bat magic magazine.

This bound version covers the years 1943-1945. There are some interesting things in it, and a lot of patter that doesn’t hold up in modern times. I’m going to try to make some videos of some of the tricks that I have the stuff to do or make.

I did find time to make a video using my Meta Glasses. I like the idea of performing into a mirror so the audience can see both sides of the trick. Here’s a four ace assembly:

I’m going to play with this framing a bit more this week with my free time. I like the concept for social media videos.

-Louie

Lounge Magic Show

My show last night was on the cruise ship, which was in the lounge. This is a very different feeling from the theater, but a lot of fun and more intimate. On this particular cruise line, I’m supposed to have two different 45-minute shows, so for the lounge, I did the show that I didn’t do in the theater the night before.

This show had a segment of close-up magic with the camera. Usually, I use the camera to enhance smaller things that I hold, but not to show the tabletop. For this show, I did a short sequence on the table top. The rest of the show was routines that played bigger. I remember reading somewhere about making your show big, and it went something like this:

“When it’s close up, go parlor, when it’s parlor, go stage and when it’s stage go stadium.”

I closed the show with my book test, which ended with a two-phase banner reveal. The banner is 24 inches tall and about 20 feet long; it fills the space!

Last night was also the end of that particular cruise’s itinerary. I joined the ship midway through the itinerary, so I had to get up early this morning to clear immigration. As part of this process, because of the manifest I was on, I had to leave the ship for a few hours. I had the honor of being the first person off the ship…exciting!

I’m actually writing the post at a coffee shop before I can get back onto the ship.

-Louie

My Impromptu Card Routine

One of the card routines I do for impromptu situations is a revelation of a selected card three times. There’s really not much to it, and I’ll give sources for what they are below, but first, here’s what it looks like:

Let’s start by me saying that in the video above, I messed up the second card revelation, but that’s OK because it still worked. The three revelations are:
1: The (Piet Forton) Pop Out Move
2: Daryl’s Hot Shot Cut
3: The old trick where you sidejog the top card and drop the deck.

It’s not a crazy sequence, but it has a feel of build with the diminishing hands for each revelation.

Have fun with this!

-Louie

Your Act Will Never Be This Edgy!

Right now, one of the trends in magic (that’s not mentalism) is being edgy. Magicians are trying to get away from the cheesy stereotype of a magic show.

No matter how edgy you think you are, you’ll never come close to this description of a magic show from the late 1700s!

That’s crazy! I’d like to know what it actually looked like.

I did have a trick (I think I published it) where I took a tooth out of my mouth, did a trick with it, and then put it back into my mouth, filling the previously empty gap in my smile. It was a weird trick.

-Louie

Test Travelling With a Show

I’m heading out to travel internationally to do some shows in a few days. The show I’m travelling with is packed differently than I normally travel. Normally I check my show and not carry it on. However, for this trip I will need to travel with some of it carried on.

My past travel experience has told me I’d have no issues flying with what’s in the carry on. To be safe, I was doing a domestic trip recently and I packed the show like the international one to see if I had any issues with TSA.

The show breezed through TSA, and there were no issues! It was nice to take a little bit of stress out of the upcoming trip!

-Louie

Applause Please – Back in Stock!

I’ve got a batch of Applause Please 2‘s back in stock and ready to ship!

I only have five of them ready right now. If you want one, get your order in soon. I head out for two weeks on December 9th, so your order needs to be in by the end of the day on December 8th, 2025 if you want it to ship before Christmas.

You can get them at:
https://www.magicshow.tips/applause-please-2-the-encore/

-Louie

Folded Card Magic Trick

Sometimes I have a great idea, I send it to my workshop group, and they tell me it’s been around for a while. My idea was to do a trick after revealing a card that’d been mercury folded. Occasionally, after the card has been revealed folded, someone will ask if you can fix the card. The idea that hit me the other day that if I drew lines on the back of a card with a white pen, it would look like the creases.

I could then top change the folded card for the card with the lines drawn on it. Then I could wipe the lines off, and the card is flat again!

It’s a great idea. I wish I’d been the first person to think of it. I’m still going to play with the idea.

-Louie