Tricks – Page 36 – MagicShow.Tips

Promystic Color Match FTW

Well, I’m back to my ProMystic Color Match set. This one is honestly the best solution for the trick in my opinion.

I like that I can simply switch on the receiver and it’s ready to go. I can quickly test that the receiver is one and working during my routine by lifting one of the pens while I talk and replacing it into the cup. Also I think the cup is a better display for the pens onstage than them sitting on a flat surface.

The other thing that I like is that I don’t need to use a reset button like on the Murphy’s Magic Anverdi Color Match set. I think that button and the pens timing out is a solution to a problem (for me) that doesn’t need solving. If someone changes their mind, you simply get a new signal. Getting the signal if someone uses a pen a second time is very helpful. It lets you know something is wrong and instead of giving you no signal, it gives you some information to work with. Personally, I’d rather have a little bit of info, than none.

So my conclusion is that the Murphy’s Magic Anverdi Color Match set works fine, just not for how I do my show, and I’m sticking to the ProMystic set.

-Louie

Fresno Magic Club

I still believe in magic clubs and that they are a great way to learn magic and build community. Last night I brought some of the performers (Bri Crabtree, Dennis Forel and Mickey O’Conner) from the fair to the Fresno Magic Club.

Dennis Forel did some amazing stunts with a balloons, which is always my favorite!

And Micky O’Conner did a great bit with a jumbo coin

And we saw some great magic from the club members as well

I highly recommend looking up magic clubs when you travel! It’s also always nice to see what tricks and styles are popular in different areas.
-Louie

Unique Visuals!

Something I try to do in my show is have my show visually different from most other magic shows. Right now I’m closing my show with my Straight Suit comedy escape routine. The headline band at the fair was Midland and they were at my show yesterday.

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A post shared by Midland (@midland)

Doing an unconventional show like mine is a much harder way to go than simply taking a standard path with standard tricks like most magician. However I feel taking a nontraditional road is worth the extra effort.

Thanks Midland for checking out the show!

-Louie

Trying Color Matching…

I figure I should try the Murphy’s Magic Color Match sets in a show…since I own them. I don’t like the markers that the set comes with, so I had to pull out the gimmicks and put them into a new set of pens.

On a side note, on the Murphy’s Magic Color Match Video, they mention removing the gimmicks, but then don’t talk about it…at least not that I watched. I will say I didn’t watch the whole video, the routines don’t interest me right now, so it could be buried in those instructions. It’s not listed (that I saw) on the table of contents.

I’ll give them a try later today and we’ll see how it turns out…

-Louie

Color Match!

Currently I’m on the first half of a twelve day contract in Fresno, CA. I used to do Promystic’s Color Match in my show a while ago and I’m recently cycling it back into the show. At the beginning of the run I had one of the pens start to do strange things, so I ordered a replacement part for it…but that doesn’t help me for the rest of my current contract.

Luckily, Hocus Pocus is only 5 minutes from where I’m performing, so a quick trip there and I picked up one of Murphy’s Magic’s Anverdi Color Match sets.

I honestly don’t think that the Color Match that Muprhy’s Magic sells is Anverdi’s…especially when at the beginning of the video they show how it’s different. It’s Murphy’s way of justifying something that may be an ethical dilemma.

I do like how the Murphy’s Magic set has an auto cycle off for the signals. That’s handy in 91% of instances, however in that remaining 9% it makes it harder on you as the performer. Yes, they do have a work around, but it’s not really practical for me. Method wise, I guess it’s solid, I’ve only practiced it, because somehow my Promystic gimmick that was acting funky, magically started work fine once I bought the Murphy’s Magic set.

While a few bucks more, I still prefer the Promystic Color Match set, I think it more solidly built. I also like that I can easily have two thumpers operate at the same time, where I don’t recall them mentioning that using two was possible with the Murphy’s Magic set.

I think I’m going to keep using my Promystic set as long as I can, as I prefer how it works. It could just be me being old and stuck in my ways…

-Louie

Presti Cup

A couple of weeks ago I picked up Presti Cup by Edouard Boulanger. Here’s the trailer for it:

What I like about it is a lot of the action happens off the table. He method is interesting and the wand could be replaced by something like an Enigma Gimmick. I do think that the wand makes the moves more deceptive, however I don’t use a want in any show other than my children’s show. So if this is something I end up doing, I’ll need to figure out how to justify the wand, or how to eliminate it.

I think with an Enigma Gimmick this routine would end up similar to Axel Hecklau’s Just a Cup, which is a great routine. I do like that the ball is physically larger than a die.

We’ll see what I can come up with…

-Louie

Gimmicked Handcuffs…

A long time ago I was playing with the Anthony Linden’s Suit Jacket Escape routine. This is an “in and out” type of escape routine, and it uses the shackles that have the giant oval ring between the chains that lock your wrist. Anthony’s routine is great, however I visually don’t like the look of the shackles with the big oval in it.

What I did to get away from the shackles is I bought a set of “jump cuffs” from Cannon’s Great Escapes. Jump Cuffs are handcuffs that can be (minimally) examined and you can instantly open them. I was going to use them for the “in and out” part of the routine, but I couldn’t get over the noise of the arm ratcheting. Also it took a long time to take them off and put them on.

The solution to the time and noise was remembering the method used in Harry Anderson’s Cufflinks routine from his book Wise Guy and it was also a commercially available product. Part of the Cuff Links routine is a thumb tie style bit with handcuffs instead of your thumbs being bound.

What I did was take my Jump Cuffs and gimmick them like the gimmicked cuffs for Cuff Links. This gave me a really cool gimmicked set of handcuffs, that I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone else use. Unfortunately the routine didn’t play for me and I eventually sold the uniquely gimmicked handcuffs about 10 years ago.

Now I have an idea for a routine that would used the Jump Cuffs with Cuff Links gimmick. I just bought a new pair of Jump Cuffs from Daytona Magic and am going to add the Cuff Links gimmick to them. We’ll see if my new idea for a routine works…

-Louie

Kraft’s Famous Magic Kit!

Sometimes it feels like I’m perpetually cleaning out my office. This time I found a super rare Kraft’s Famous Magic Kit. This is a punch out magic kit that was created by Harlan Tarbell!

From what I’ve heard (mostly from Richard Kaufman) is that there are two versions of this punch out kit. The 1936 version for Morton’s Salt which has Tarbell’s name on the cover and the version that I have from 1938 for Kraft which doesn’t have Tarbell’s name anywhere on it.

I suspect that the Kraft version is a bit more rare than the Morton version as I’ve found many instances of that one being sold, but I can’t find a single mention of the Kraft version. I’m guessing since it lacked Tarbell’s name, less people saved them.

If this is something you’re interested in, I just added it to my Used Magic For Sale page!

Another Dollar Bill Magic Trick

When I was up in Quebec City for FISM, I was chatting with Chris Hanowell about names for a trick. We thought “Regicide” would be a great title for a magic trick, and Chris is working on it. A few weeks later I had an idea for a trick called “American Regicide” and finally got around to making a test version:

I have a better idea for how to make the gimmick that animates it that will eliminate hand movement. It’s something that I need to 3d print, so it’ll have to wait until I’m home for longer than a day or two for me to design, print, tweak and reprint.

-Louie

Auto Spring Fan Card Revelation: version 2

Okay, so I tried the Auto Spring Fan Card Revelation with misdirection to flip the fan over. The idea is that they don’t see me turn the fan over, their attention is elsewhere, and when they look back all of the cards have changed.

Here’s sort of what it looks like (it doesn’t work on camera as it’s an open move that’s covered by misdirection):

The reaction it gets has a delay while people notice it at staggered times, so it’s not at punchy as openly flipping the fan over. Reaction wise, it’s say it’s about the same either way, but flipping it covered by misdirection is a stronger magic trick. What’s nice is that it can be done either way and you can choose at the last minute how you are going to do the revelation, you aren’t really locked into one way or the other.

-Louie