MagicShow.Tips – Page 26 – A daily blog about magic by Louie Foxx

Sealing My Luggage

When I fly with my show, I always seal the checked cases shut with a zip tie.

This provides very little in the way of security, but it lets me know if my cases have been opened. This is a huge help, because it lets me know if I need to check my cases before the gig. Years ago when my checked show cases were screened by TSA they took out my two table tops and didn’t put them back in. I didn’t realize it until I was at the next gig and it made that show a challenge! It was also a nightmare tracking them down and getting them back!

When I put the zip tie on my checked luggage, I use a fairly thin zip tie. I need to be able to open it without a blade. With a thin one, I can just jam a pen in between it and the case and twist. That will easily break it.

I also use a neon color so it’s less likely it’s been resealed. I’ve had TSA put zip ties on my gear after screening. It’s rare that it happens, but they don occasionally do that. When they done that, they’ve always been white. It’s less likely they’ll have an orange and green one!

When my bags arrive, seeing my zip ties gives me some piece of mind that I have all of my gear!

-Louie

It’s the Same Trick!

Last summer when I decided to build up my TikTok account, I was told that posting consistently was the key. Posting something everyday is a ton of work and it burns a lot of material. I didn’t want to post just the current new trick that everyone was doing. What I settled on was original material and historical (vintage) material. I’ve been having a lot of fun with the vintage magic tricks! For the original stuff, I’ve found that I can get more mileage out of things if I can use the same trick in different forms.

Here’s an example of a packet trick with cards that I came up with:

@louiefoxx the purple #cardtrick #magictrick #cardmagic #magician #purple ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

And to get more than one video out of it, here’s the same trick done with money:

@louiefoxx What’s up with stocks? #stocks #stockmarket #money #magictrick #magician #magic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

For me this is a great way to get double the mileage out of something! Not only that, but it helps me create magic that’s not card tricks!

-Louie

Movie Money Magic!

If you follow me over on TikTok.com/@Louiefoxx you may have noticed that I have posted a lot of videos of magic using the Movie Money fake bills. These are an upgrade from the old stage bills that didn’t remotely look like money, or were in strange sizes. The Movie Money looks very realistic and just have small slugs that say “copy” or something like “for motion picture purposes”, other than that they look like real money. They don’t feel like real money as they’re printed on paper.

I’ve come up with many tricks using these bills and what makes them better than using real money is their texture it better suited to card techniques than the real money. There is a lot of variation on the paper between different manufacturers, so some will be thinner and unusable and others will be just right in thickness and texture.

Another bonus is that all the bills within a value have the same serial number. That eliminated the problem of posting a trick to social media and some dopey kid watches the video a dozen times looking for discrepancy and notices that a serial number on a bill changes or is repeated. When all the $10’s are the same that’s not an issue.

I’m working on a book with magic with these bills and it will come with all the necessary bills to do each trick. You won’t have to hunt around for the correct quality of bill or have to make the gimmicks yourself.

I’m hoping to have this ready in the next month or two, so keep an eye out for it!

-Louie

Getting Called by Security

A while ago I had a gig at a casino and a few days before the show I got an email from the head of security there asking me a lot of questions about my show. This was a very unusual request. I’ve performed in a lot of casinos over the years as an act within a show and as the whole show and have never had security reach out.

The questions ranged from things like logical ones like “is anyone from the audience going backstage” to strange ones like “are you bringing a trap door that any could fall through“.

My immediate thing I offered was to add them as an additional insured to my insurance, but due to the them contacting me a few days before the gig I needed and answer that day, by the end of the business day, which was about an hour after he sent them email to me.

I think this did a couple of things, it put the ball in his court it was time sensitive and I did this in writing, so there’s a record of me telling him. It also said that I was a professional performer.

He got back to me the next day and wanted to set up a phone call for later that day. When we chatted on the phone, I got the feeling that the casino had had a performer in the past who was a “it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission” type of performer or non-professional performer and something of the casino’s got damaged.

The other interesting thing of note is that I’m doing this gig with a buddy of mine who is a music act and they didn’t get contacted by security.

Anyway after the phone call he cleared me do my show.

-Louie

Out of Town – Shipping Notice

The normal daily blog will follow below this pinned post.

Just a heads up that I’m out of town from today (3/25) until April 10th. During that time no orders will ship or work will be done on orders. If you place an order during this time, in stock orders will ship on April 11th, 2025.

Also while I’m away, you can get many of magic products at Hocus-Pocus.com!

-Louie

The normal daily blog will follow below this pinned post.

Another Vanishing Bird Cage

My Vanishing Bird Cage collection just grew by another cage. This one popped up on eBay for $35 and I grabbed as soon as I saw it.

Without seeing it in person, I don’t know who made it or if its actually from the 1940’s. However for $35 it’s a gamble I’m willing to take.

Looking at the solders on the “U” joints in the pictures and the dimensions gives me confidence that this isn’t a cage from India, and I’m really hoping what is pictured is what will show up in the mail.

Another clue is in one of the pictures you can see the top of an instruction sheet that says: AN N.M.C. PRESENTATION ROUTINE. That would imply this is a cage that was sold by the National Magic Company.

We’ll see what shows up in the mail. Unfortunately I’ll probably be out of the country performing when it shows up, so I won’t be able to see it for a week or two.

-Louie

Opening Night

A Couple of nights ago it was the opening night of the Moisture Festival. This is a variety arts festival in Seattle that runs four weeks. The opening night lineup was amazing, I was probably we weakest act on the bill!

If you’re in the Seattle area, you should come out and check out a show. Also you’re helping support the over 100 variety performers we bring in from around the world!

-Louie

Lucky Penny Magic Trick

A trick I’ve been doing as part of my EDC magic is signed penny to key fob. The effect is a signed coin ends up permanently sealed inside of a “lucky coin” holder on your keychain. The nice thing about this is that it’s almost 100% self contained. I have everything I need to do the trick on my keychain, except a marker.

I’ve been using my original first design for a little bit and spent a little bit of time other day tweaking the design. The colors are just what was in the printer and have nothing to do with the design, besides making it easier to tell them apart.

The first redesign was good, the second was better and the third was a huge step backwards. I went back to the second redesign and it was the best of the three. That’s the great thing about 3D printing, it’s easy to tweak designs to get them where you want them!

-Louie

Stage Illusion in Furniture!

The other night I was staying in a hotel and as I was leaving the room I noticed a stage illusion inspired night stand!

I’m not sure why the feet needed the false space, they’re not hiding a lady in there, but the black art is there to hide the lack of gap between the feet. My guess why they have that is a solid base is cheaper to make and more durable.

It’s a great mainstream use of a magic principle!

-Louie

Super Psychic: The Incredible Dr. Hoy

I took the book Super Psychic: The Incredible Dr. Hoy with me on a trip and read it on the plane. I’m not sure what this book was trying to be, was it a self help book, a biography or something else.

The book as a biography isn’t a compelling one, it’s basically David Hoy was born awesome and nothing bad happened to his life. He’s a perfect human who never messed up. To me, that’s not a good biography, I want to read about peoples challenges and how they overcame them.

Later in the book it tells you how to use ESP to meet women, be a better salesman, stop smoking, etc. The stop smoking was the funny one to me as it said David didn’t smoke, so it’s not something he used. Anyway, this part of the book feels like a self help book, except there’s really not much to it.

I have a feeling this was a book that was intended to be a pitch book to sell after speaking engagements. But it also had to look like a mass market book to give him status, which would boost his speaking/show fee.

If you’re really bored and can find the book for a few bucks, I guess pick it up. However I really didn’t think it was remotely an interesting read. It did kill time on the airplane, so there’s that.

-Louie