With the closing of Hocus Pocus (under the Gross family), I need to make some decisions about my magic products. There really isn’t a family run magic shop in the USA that has the reach of them, aside from maybe Steven’s Magic Emporium, and without Joe and the fire a couple years ago, I have a feeling their time is limited.
Personally, growing up in magic in the 1990’s every magic shop and city/state had a culture and style. The magic tricks available in Minneapolis may be different from what we had in Seattle. Back then, it was great when someone would travel and bring back a trick we didn’t have in Seattle. Now that the magic business has changed into a global thing, all the shops are virtually the same. There are very few magic products that are made and sold locally.
With my magic products, I wanted a dealer that I knew and someone that I could give something unique to. Something that gave people a reason to shop with a specific shop that wasn’t just price.
Going forward, what should I do with my product? Should I start reaching out to smaller local shops, or go with Murphy’s Magic and have them distribute it? With Murphy’s, I will move a lot more units and make more money. I’m really not motivated by more money (I probably should be), and I would rather have a relationship with a magic shop that’s a singular home base for my products.
I don’t know…
-Louie
Tag: close up magic
Vintage Magic Trick from Glen!
My buddy Glen knows that I love old magic tricks. He brought one to show me in Reno, so here’s The Farmer’s Daughter:
It’s a great little packet trick with a story that’s consistent with the time it was created. Thanks Glen for sharing it with me!
-Louie
More Bar Magic in Reno
I made it to the White Rabbit Theater for a third time last week to check out close up magic by Phoenix Phenomenal in the bar. I went down with Mickey O and Bri to watch the show.
Phoenix does some great magic, and as a younger person doing 4 close up shows a night at the bar will get him a ton of real world flight time under his belt!
That’s one of the keys to performing, stage time. In comedy they say “Stage time is more precious that gold”. In magic, many people don’t see the value in stage time, and more advice you hear is “charge a lot of money” versus “get on stage and get good”.
Oh, I’m not saying Phoenix was bad, so please don’t read it that way. He’s great, he’s just younger. He doesn’t have the miles on him that someone who’s been doing it longer has. I wish I had a nightly bar gig when I was his age, I would have gotten way better sooner!
-Louie
Close Up Magic in Reno
I was at a conference in Reno last week, and the hotel/casino had a magic theater in it! The first night a few of us went to check out Phil Ackerly do some bar magic. Phil makes the boxes for my Applause Please 2.0 trick, but we’d never met in person, so it was great to see him in real life!
The next night I snuck down again to watch Phil for a little bit.
It was cool to watch how Phil handled a guy who was one of the “can I shuffle those cards” types. He did it without belittling the person or with a lame hack quip. He did it in an honest, heartfelt way. It was so effective that when the guy tried to do it again, all his friends told him to shut up so they could enjoy the show.
It was fun to meet Phil and see the show!
-Louie
Portland Magic Jam!
In a couple of months, the Portland Magic Jam is happening. I’m not able to go to many magic conventions due to my performing schedule, but this one I’m currently available for! I just registered for it!
They’ve got a great mix of performers/lecturers for this convention. If you’re in the Portland OR area, or looking for a reason to visit, this is a convention worth checking out!
Details at: www.portlandmagicjam.com
See ya there (unless work comes in)!
-Louie
Topsy Turvy Cards
There’s a great little card trick that I think is a George Sands thing and more recently popularized by David Williamson. You and the audience have four cards each. They follow along with you, turning cards over, and you always end up with all your cards facing the same way, and theirs don’t.
The instructions that I learned from said to give them the cards to do the last phase. The problem I had with this is that you’re handing them a packet that secretly has a card reversed. Most of the time, the spectator would expose that reversed card. My solution to this was for me to hold the cards in one hand and they perform the action. That keeps the cards squared, and the secretly reversed card a secret!
Here’s what it looks like:
This is a trick that isn’t part of my normal work, but it’s a fun thing you can do for a group that they all get to do. What I don’t like about it is that the spectator doesn’t “win” and I haven’t figured out a way to make that happen. In David Williamson’s version they do win and it’s great!
-Louie
The Louie Foxx Magic Lecture
In January, I have two magic lectures: one was last week, and the other is in just over a week. I usually don’t do many of these, as my performing schedule is busiest during the summer, when the magic conventions happen.
I had a blast at the one last week for the Portland Society of Magicians. Here’s a peek at what the 90 minute lecture looks like in 60 seconds:
If your local magic club would like a lecture, feel free to contact me and we can try to make it happen!
-Louie
PS: you can get the lecture notes here:
http://www.magicshow.tips/lecture-notes-2025/
Louie Foxx Magic Lecture!
Saturday night, I did my magic lecture for the Portland Society of Magicians. This was the same lecture that I did for the PCAM magic convention a few months ago.
This lecture is mostly platform/stage material, however there is a lot of stuff of use to close up performers. In the lecture I talk about how I create original magic, and ways to make magic your own. It’s always fun to share my “art” with other magicians!
-Louie
PS You an get the lecture notes at: https://www.magicshow.tips/lecture-notes-2025/
Improving an 80 Year Old Magic Trick
In the June 1946 issue of The Bat magic magazine, there’s a trick called Puff by Frank Chapman. The effect is that you have a small piece of paper that you roll into a tube. You blow through the tube, and a ribbon comes out. That’s it. I think the effect can be changed a little bit to make it better.
First of all, why produce a ribbon? Ribbon isn’t valuable or interesting. The only reason I can think of is to do a trick with the ribbon.
Second, why not add a layer to this? Right now you snuck ribbon into a tube of rolled up paper.
Here’s my idea to address those two things.
Effect: You show a small piece of paper that has the colors of the rainbow printed on it. Someone picks a color; you then roll the paper into a tube, and that color confetti flies out.
Needed: A piece of paper with a rainbow printed on it. This would be the six color rainbow. The colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple in that order. You’ll also need a thumb tip with a small hole at the tip and some yellow confetti.
Set up: Put the confetti into the thumb tip. The thumb tip starts on your thumb, and you’re holding the piece of paper.
Working: Show the paper and force the color yellow using the “hot rod force”. Roll the paper into a tube around the thumb tip. Lift the tube with thumb tip to your lips and blow through the end with the small hole. As the confetti flies out, put the thumb tip on your other thumb as you unroll the paper.
That’s it. Super easy, not much to it, but the trick is better. The force of a color makes it a bit more of a head scratcher. The confetti falling is visually interesting, and no one expects you to scoop it up and do something with it. Confetti falling is a period, not a comma.
-Louie
Does Flash Paper Go Bad?
Recently, I bought an old box of magic props from the late 1950s/early 1960s, and it contained some 65ish year old flash paper. People frequently ask in magic social media groups, “Does flash paper go bad?” Well, let’s find out!
I’m amazed that it worked as well as it did and that it didn’t burn my fingers!
I think the issue that people have with flash paper is that they store it wet for safety, which is absolutely what you should do. Then dry out what you need to use a few days before you need it. That said, I think the paper sitting wet in a sealed bag over time will deteriorate. That takes years, and you really should be buying decades worth of flash paper at one time. It’s something you really should be buying a few months supply at a time. I personally wouldn’t want to store a ton of it at home.
Be safe.
-Louie