Tag: magic show

Chinese Laundry Ticket

I found a stack of Chinese Laundry Ticket papers in a box of old magic from the early 1960s. This is a torn and restored paper effect with a strip of paper. The theme of this trick is a ticket from a Chinese laundry that’s torn and restored, and this routine is typically filled with offensive (racist) patter lines. A better themed version would be Arnold Furst’s Fresh Fish paper tear.

Anyway, I have these Chinese laundry ticket papers, and I was curious what they actually said, so I ran them through Google Translate and here’s what they say:

Chinese Laundry Ticket
Chinese Laundry Ticket

This is one of the things that’s problematic with these older magic tricks, is that what’s actually written on them isn’t what it’s supposed to be in the trick. This trick, if it actually had numbers on it instead of talking about rice, would be slightly less offensive. The simple fact that the trick is taking something from another culture, but not taking the most basic step of making sure it’s correct, is just one of the reasons I dislike this trick.

Go out there and be a better human.

-Louie

What’s Next for Louie Foxx Magic Products?

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

Embracing the Real Moments

Last week when I was performing at a comedy club, I had a drop during the Hoop and Cup. When it happened, a kid from the audience said something. Here’s what happened:

When someone says something in the show, I try to lean into it. It’s a real moment and something that makes that show unique. Many magicians would shut the kid down with a hack line like, “I checked, and you don’t have a speaking part in the show,” or whatever. Personally, I hate lines like that, and I think 99% of shows could benefit by embracing real, spontaneous things that happen. Yes, there are times you need to shut it down because it’s going now where, however, you usually should explore it first.

Die Box

In a box of old magic that I bought, there were a couple of Die Boxes without the dies. Here’s one of them:

die box magic trick

Instead of throwing them away, I tried to 3d print the die and shell. Here’s what I made:

die box magic trick
die box magic trick

For the inside of the shell, I used black adhesive fabric. Here’s the everything:

die box magic trick

The end result was great and works! I’m glad I could give this prop some more life!

-Louie
Click here to learn more about building your own magic props!

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.

bar magic

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

What’s Wrong With Magicians?

A magician posted these pictures of himself performing as a Chinese person.

magic
magic

Here’s my response to the picture, which I replied to in a private magician’s group, and not on his public, personal FB page:

magic

I really dislike that magicians still think this is an acceptable way to perform. Performing in “yellow face” has a long history in magic and one that needs to end.

Here’s Jack Chanin (I think, and if I’m wrong, let me know) performing in Yellowface (yellowmask?):

yellow face magician

These “characters” are outdated stereotypes. Part of the history of yellowface was to portray the Chinese as monsters and to give them frightening physical features. The long mustaches and fingernails, the bright yellow skin color were to make Chinese people look less human.

Why would any performer who knew its history want to continue doing that?

In my opinion, it’s lazy creativity. In both pictures above, the performer is using the Chinese sticks prop; however, that trick isn’t from China! Instead of putting the energy into creating a unique routine, the performer does something that they’ve seen done before. The thinking is that if someone else has done it, then that’s the way to do it.

I’ve personally walked out of several shows when a performer did stereotype material. There is an exception to this, does the performer have a point of view with what they are doing. Is it social commentary, relating an actual experience, or something like that? In all of the exceptions to this that I have seen, the person never put on a costume.

The moral of the story is don’t do stuff like this.

-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!

portland magic jam

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

Vintage Magic Props

A little while ago I picked up a magic box with props from the 1960s. Here’s what was in it:

One of the interesting things was the Joseph Silk Gun:

joseph silk gun

Here’s a video of one of them in action:

The Joseph Silk Gun isn’t something that I’d use in a show, but it’s a very cool prop!

-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/