stage magic – Page 20 – MagicShow.Tips

Breakaway Flower

Another prop for my summer library show is a breakaway flower. This is like the old breakaway wand comedy prop, but it’s flower.

It does have one other bonus bit to it, the top flower separates from the stem. They are attached by a magnet. The idea for the routine will be that the flower is going to disappear. It breaks and it put it back together a few times. Then the flower separates from the stem. I toss the flower in the air and it disappear, but the kids notice it’s stuck to my butt. The flower finally disappears (in a devils hank?) and reappears somewhere else.

Nothing super crazy here, but a way to theme the breakaway wand from a comedy prop that’s added to a routine, to it being one of the main props for the routine.

-Louie

Hand Held Microphones

In my audio box I have a lot of things, one of them is an extra handheld microphone. This is a Shure SM58 that has an on/off switch. The reason I have the switch is so that sound guy can leave that channel on and I simply switch in on or off as needed. That way I won’t have the delay of the sound guy realizing I’m using the mic and him turning the channel on.

If the venue has a handheld with an on/off switch I will use theirs. However I did an event recently and their handheld microphone sounded like talking into a marshmallow that was inside of a metal can. I plugged my Shure SM58 into their cord and it was much better sounding!

It doesn’t take much to travel with that in my audio box and it comes in handy much more often than you’d think!

-Louie

Projection in Library Shows

I’m really liking using “projection” in library shows. It gives my lower production show production value. Some people’s library shows have a lot of “curb appeal” with backdrops, banners, etc. My set up in fairly minimal for things like that. It’s a case on the table and if they have a TV or projected, then a second table with a camera.

There are a couple of schools of thought on this. You want the audience to walk in and go “wow” when they see the set up. Personally I don’t care about this as the moment the audience starts walking in my preshow starts. I’m talking to them, and doing things. For me the library show starts when the doors open. My personality is selling the show, not a back drop.

Would it be better if I had fancy backdrops? Yes it would. Honestly I should level up the curb appeal of my show. It’s hard to be motivated to do that when I’ve got as many libraries as my schedule can handle and I’m not a full time library performer who does 150 of them in the summer.

Don’t be lazy like me.

-Louie

Where’s the Magic Show?

This ad for a magic show came across my social media feed:

It’s got some information about the performer and the show, but what it’s missing is the DATE and LOCATION! When I clicked to buy a ticket, it also didn’t have that information, so why would I buy a ticket to a show that could literally be anywhere in the world, and have no idea when the show is?

It’s not that hard to put that information into the ad copy or at least on the ticket sales page. This was probably an expensive mistake on someone at the venue’s part where they’re paying for unqualified impressions of their ad and diluting the reach to people who may be in the area.

If you’re going to promote your show, put the WHERE and WHEN in the ad copy!

-Louie

Goldfish Cracker Puppet

I’m working on my library show for this summer. The show is going to have a trick for all of the colors of the rainbow. For orange I’m going to use a puppet that will do a card trick. I didn’t like the commercially made goldfish puppets, then I thought of the goldfish cracker. I liked that look and it’s funnier than a puppet that looks like a real goldfish.

Unfortunately no one make a goldfish cracker puppet, so I had to build one. I did find someone on TikTok that had made some, but isn’t currently making them. That meant I had to make my own:

This one is almost done, I need to put the eyes on it. I want to rig it so that one of the eyes will fall off, and I need to figure out how that’s going to happen.

This was my first time making a soft puppet, and it came out OK. It only needs to do about 30 shows this summer and not last for years. In the future I’d probably make it out of a different material that’s not felt. The felt will get fuzzy and “pill” with travel and use.

Overall the prop looks good enough and will get through the shows.

-Louie

Library Magic Show

This year I’m a bit late working on my library magic show. Normally I’d have it written out and have most of the props built. This year I’m just getting to the brainstorming stage. My show is going to have a trick for each color of the rainbow.

Here’s some of my initial brainstorming notes:

One thing I noticed once I started brainstorming was that a lot of things that I associated with colors were food. I don’t want the whole show to be about food, so I had to think harder and now only about half the show is about food!

The other challenge is to vary the magical effects in the show. I noticed that I had a lot of tricks that were productions, but the show can’t just be all things appearing. I added a card trick, a transformation (actually two) and a transposition. Hopefully that will provide enough variation of magic effect in the show.

-Louie

The Original Jerry Benson Dancing Stick!

This just popped up in a magic sales group, it’s THE ORIGINAL JERRY BENSON DANCING STICK that was put out by Peter Pit.

The Original Jerry Benson lived in Seattle and I met him when I was a teenager. He was a barber that did magic! His legacy in magic is largely forgotten, but he’s the guy that turned the floating cane into the dancing cane!

He was a cool guy!

-Louie

Rope and Coat Hanger

Years ago I came up with a way to do the silk thru ring trick with a coat hanger where the silk goes from the triangle to the hook of the hanger. My method uses a reel and is a very visual moment. I’m trying to recreate that but using using a rope instead of the silk and reel.

Here’s what I came up with.

@louiefoxx Magic with shapes! #magictrick #magic #shapes #coathanger #trick ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

Using a rope in place of the silk solves a problem but it also makes the trick less visual. I think that trick is fine when you take the trade off, it makes the trick much more practical in an outdoor environment like a fair. I’m not sure that this is a method that I’ll use, but hopefully it’s a step that will get me closer to something better!

-Louie

Another Simms Vanishing Birdcage!

A few weeks ago before I went out of town I bought a Vanishing Birdcage and it arrived right after I left town. Now that I’m home, I got to open it up and check it out.

As I thought, it’s a Warren Simms vanishing birdcage!

It’s got the “S” stamped on it and the “H” means that it was made for Max Holden’s magic shop. I’ve now got two Simms vanishing bird cages in my collection.

This is my other one that was made for Tannens”

I’m glad to have both of these in my vanishing bird cage collection!!

-Louie

Ask Questions…

Lately I’m trying to be better about how I use people who come onstage during my show. I want to give them more personality in the show. One way I’m doing that is by asking them questions. Nothing crazy, the two main ones are “where are you from?” and/or “What do you do?“. From those two questions and the situations of the tricks, it’s leading to a lot more comedy possibilities.

These questions also help make the person from the a person, not just a prop. I feel like I was falling into a hole of people on stage being predictable and my show’s interactions with the audience were becoming less natural and more robotic. Asking questions is making me be more present in the show, but also creates a more unique show that the audience is watching.

I had a comedian I was working with recently mention that they were surprised at how much crowd work there was in my magic show!

-Louie