MagicShow.Tips – Page 29 – A daily blog about magic by Louie Foxx

Evolution of an Idea

About 50 years ago Paul Harris put out the Paul Harris Vanishing deck. This is the vanish of a full deck of card. Well, almost a full deck of cards, here’s what it looks like:

@louiefoxx This is 50 years old! #cardtrick #magictrick #cardmagic #disappear #vanish #gone #vintagemagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

The weak point of the trick is the card that’s removed. I guess if you gave the trick context, like that’s a chosen card then it makes more sense. The improvement with the trick came about 20 years later was when Steve Bedwell put out Reboxed.

@louiefoxx Card trick from 30 years ago! #cardtrick #cardmagic #magictrick #cards #magician #vintagemagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

The huge improvement that Steve gave the trick was context. The deck didn’t disappear it went through the box! That change in effect from a vanish to a penetration also cleaned up the weak point of having to remove the card from the deck.

Then about ten years ago they improved the Reboxed gimmick to clean up the handling.

The new gimmick made the handling a little bit cleaner.

That’s a 40 year evolution of the Paul Harris Vanishing Deck! This is a good example of why nothing should ever be considered finished.

-Louie

Never Bet on a Sure Thing

I’m working through Jack Carpenter’s new book Carpenter’s Conceptions right now. The second trick in it is my favorite so far, but I’m only about 5 tricks into the book. I’m a huge fan of his, ever since I was a teenager and I got his book Modus Operandi.

Fun little fact, Jack and I used to live in the same town (along with Bob Cassidy) and I would run into Jack every now and then at the Red Robin.

In Carpenter’s Conceptions the second trick is called Never Bet On a Sure Thing which is a five card monte trick. Here’s what it looks like:

@louiefoxx Follow the jack! #cardtrick #magictrick #magic #cardmagic #magiciansoftiktok #cards #bet #neverbetonasurething ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

Well, that’s almost what’s in the book. I changed it a little bit, the final display has a little something extra that I discovered. Did you notice it?

The final display where you are three cards as four cards doesn’t really hold up as well on a social media video. If someone watches it twice and is burning you, they’ll notice two of the same cards. To minimize that, I came up with this Elmsley Count variation:

Ideally the gimmicked card would have the same head on the jack on both ends, but the card used in the video above was all that I had at home.

It’s not a big deal, but it’s a little thing that can make your social media videos slightly more bullet proof.

-Louie

Calculator Prediction Routine

This morning I was doing my daily writing and came up with a little routine for a number prediction. Here’s the rough routine:

“My third grade report card said my handwriting was bad, and only suitable if a grew up to be a doctor or serial killer. One time I turned in an essay and Ms. Smarr said it was illegible…It was typed, double spaced.”

“The only good thing about having bad handwriting is when I find a note a wrote a long time ago I feel like Indiana Jones trying read a document written by a lost civilization of serial killers. My handwriting looks like the handwriting that on the Magna Carta, if it got wet and put in a blender!”

You then show you elementary school signature, which looks like the bottom line below:

“It’s not that bad. I guess that’s why I preferred math, numbers are easy.”

You then do a calculator force and in my case I’m forcing the number 311707. I then flip over the LOUIE to show it’s actually 311707 (see the top line above).

There you go, it’s a routine, it’s not a great one, but it’s a routine that gets the prediction into play with a personal story. I may revisit this later, but it was a fun surprise that came out of my morning writing!

-Louie

Why I make the Big Bucks!

In December everyone is a corporate entertainer. There’s more work out there than there are performers. It’s not hard to be working evenings Thursday thru Sunday, but the off peak time gigs are what separate the pros from the warm bodies!

I did a holiday party at 7:30am!

Being able to be ready and “on” that early and getting an audience to laugh is a probably one of the hardest things for a performer. Most of these people are having their first cup of coffee while you’re trying to tell jokes.

One of the challenges for shows this early is to not try to push the audience too hard. You really can’t hype them up like you can a show that would take place at 7pm. The 7am energy is much more laid back, no matter what you do! You gotta embrace it!

-Louie

White Album Xmas

For 17 years there’s been a circus show in Portland, OR called the White Album Xmas. I’ve heard about it and finally got to go see the show!

The show is a circus show to the soundtrack of the Beatle’s White Album, which is played by an amazing band! The show has a story that is the throughline and it loosely connects the circus acts.

This is a super fun show put on by super talented people and it’s clear that it’s a labor of love. I was chatting to a friend of my who has been in the show for 17 years and he said there’s about 65 people involved in putting the show on! That’s a major undertaking!

What really surprised me is that the demographics for the show was essentially two kinds of people. People who are into the circus and people who are into The Beatles. For each group, the other thing was a bonus. My wife and I were a good example of one person from each group!

The thing that really struck me about everyone in the show was that they all appeared to be having the best time they’ve ever had in their lives! Everyone in the show looked like there’s no where they’d rather be than on that stage. That’s something 99% of magicians should learn to do: look like they’re having fun onstage!

Sometimes I see a show and want to be a part of it and this is one of those shows. The reality is that my style of performing doesn’t really fit into the show. Sure I could create an act for the show, but the other problem is that the show runs during prime holiday party season and I’d be missing out on a lot of high paying gigs. I’ll have to settle be being a part of the show by buying a ticket and possibly volunteering as an usher or whatever on my day of.

If you’re in the Portland OR area in early December, you should check out this show!

-LOuie

Emerson and West Presents Jim Callan’s Soup to Nuts

I love my vintage magic, especially old card tricks! Today I’m going to look at Emerson and West presents Jim Callan’s Soup to Nuts. This is a classic Emerson and West style packet trick that’s uses a handful of themed cards. Here’s what it looks like per the directions:

@louiefoxx Vintage Magic Trick – Emerson and West's Soup To Nuts! #vintage #magictrick #magic #magician #louiefoxx #closeupmagic #vintagemagic #emersonandwest #packettrick #vancouverwa ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

It’s a decent trick, and here are my thoughts on it:

While I personally wouldn’t really use these novelty type cards, it’s great to play with them! I think anytime I learn a new seqeunce, it gets filed somewhere in my brain and it may help me out some day. Realistically it probably just get purged from my short term memory…but who knows.

-Louie

Trying a New Idea!

Sometimes I have an idea and I have no idea what an audience will think of it. That’s where open mics come in! I simply drove down to an open mic and gave the idea a try in front of real people.

My idea was for the card to pocket routine that I used to do. The second time the card goes to my pocket I wanted smoke to come out of my pocket, then reach in and pull the card out.

The smoke was easy, as a while ago I picked up a remote control smoke gimmick. I didn’t know what I was going to do with it, but knew if I didn’t get it that I’d come up with a cool idea for it and wouldn’t be able to find them. I just taped it inside of my pocket . When I tried it, it got the reaction I was looking for! It made the appearance of the card more of a moment.

If you have an idea that needs an audience, go find an open mic and give it a try!

-Louie

Pavel’s Rope Magic

Pavel is probably most famous for The Walking Knot, which is a great trick! Pavel was before my time, so I don’t know a ton about him. He did put out some VHS tapes when I was a teenager, so that’s where I know him from.

I came across a great trick of his called Jumping Silks on Rope. The name says it all, here’s what it looks like:

@louiefoxx Watch the blue handkerchief! #magictrick #magic #ropetrick #ropemagic #handkerchief #silk #silkmagic #pavel #vintagemagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

The method is super clever and it’s a great little transposition of the location of something tied to rope. He has a bonus trick that comes with it that uses a bracelet that hops from knot to knot.

@louiefoxx What the heck is a bangle #magictrick #magic #ropetrick #ropemagic #bangle #pavel #vintagemagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

I wish I had a way to use this trick as it’s fun to do! Unfortunately it really doesn’t fit my show right now, but maybe in the future?

-Louie

Big Guy’s Magic in Milwaukee, WI

Last month I was out in Wisconsin performing at the comedy club in Appleton. It was a fun gig, and on my way back to the airport in Milwaukee I stopped by Big Guy’s Magic.

I’ve heard a lot about this magic show, so I was excited to stop by. However the guy working (who wasn’t “Big Guy”) was really disappointing. He kept telling me how nothing new was in magic (which I totally disagree with) and how live shows don’t hold audience’s attention and that no magicians tour anymore because no one wants to see a magic show. He never asked why I was in town… I was a magician ON TOUR and had about 150 people at my show at the comedy club the night before. Of all the places where someone should be enthusiastic about magic should be the person working at a magic shop.

When I travel I try to support magic shops by spending money at them. Normally I try to make a meaningful purchase, not just a deck of cards, but a book or some antique prop if they have one. I really didn’t want to spend any money here based on how the guy was bad mouthing magic, but I did make a small purchase.

I do understand that sometimes a “warm body” is needed to run the magic shop when the owner can’t be there. I hope that was the situation, and I’ll probably give the magic shop another chance next time I’m in Milwaukee.

Now for what’s good about the magic shop, it was really well stocked!

They had a ton of current magic as well as vintage magic! They also had some of the world’s largest mouth coil!

It’s always good to see an older style magic show that has a lot of stuff in stock!

-Louie

The Moisture Festival Podcast – Thaddeus Spae

On this episode we talk with the fascinating musician Thaddeus Spae. He tells us about the early days at the Oregon Country Fair working with Reverend Chumleigh, how he wrote a march that convinced crowds to follow and he came to form the group Snake Suspenderz.

He also tells us about his new band Snakes Alive, an offshoot and great band worth checking out. A great chat with a fun and amazing musician.

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