vanishing birdcage – Page 6

The Vanishing Bird Cage is one of the hardest tricks I’ve ever worked on. It seems like every problem I solve, another problem pops up. In the recent past when I did the cage, the plan wasn’t for it to stay in the show for very long. Because of this, I didn’t put a ton … Continue reading “”

The Vanishing Bird Cage is one of the hardest tricks I’ve ever worked on. It seems like every problem I solve, another problem pops up. In the recent past when I did the cage, the plan wasn’t for it to stay in the show for very long. Because of this, I didn’t put a ton of time into it.

Now that I think this is something that’s going to be in the show for a little while, I’m putting more time into it. I want to do the vanish of the bird cage faster than the “slow motion” vanish. I’m having a frequent problem with the cage hanging up on my sleeve at the exact same spot. I think it has to do with the coat more than the cage. Material seems to bunch about 3 inches inside my sleeve and the cage gets stuck about 20% of the time.

My solution was to have it not run up the sleeve. I’m having it run across my hand. This gives me a more unusual grip of the cage, the cage sits on the palm of my hand. It’s similar to the one handed grip that John Carney uses in the CARNEY 2013 video on the Vanishing Bird Cage.

The main difference Carney’s grip and mine is that my hand is completely palm up. The cage can be displayed with no support from either hand, aside from my right palm as a base.

Adjusting my grip has reduced the cage hanging up to less than 5%. This is good, but still a long way to go!

Writing for the Vanishing Bird Cage…

Yesterday I was doing some writing for the routine for the vanishing bird cage. The basic flow of the routine is the box is introduced, the cage vanishes and the bird reappears in my pocket. Here’s the first rough script that I wrote: When I was a 7 years old, I wanted a pet bird … Continue reading “Writing for the Vanishing Bird Cage…”

Yesterday I was doing some writing for the routine for the vanishing bird cage. The basic flow of the routine is the box is introduced, the cage vanishes and the bird reappears in my pocket.

Here’s the first rough script that I wrote:

When I was a 7 years old, I wanted a pet bird more than anything…even more than a pet tyranosaurs. Turns out my brother is allergic to birds, so my mom got me a rubber canary. One the plus side his cage is clean, on the minus side I’ll probably die in a coal mine. I also learned I’m allergic to latex.

He’s trained to do tricks. Stay…incredible. Freeze…amazing. Play dead (shake cage)…tah-dah!

Most amazing trick he does is jump up, eat the cage,then fly into my left pocket, which is amazing because everyone knows canaries are right handed.

Drum roll…One Two Three

OK, the above isn’t the worlds greatest routine, but it’s a start. Then I just wrote some random jokes for it:

This cage is made of reinforced suitable for holding pretend animals and despot rulers.

The cage looked soo much bigger on the ebay listing

You can’t spell PETA without pet.

The decline in this tricks popularity corresponds with the decline of coal miners.

Display at a coal mine supply shop

I like the “despot ruler” joke, however I don’t think it will get a big laugh.

Next I tried writing the script again with a slightly different approach:

This is the only trick in the show that I didn’t invent, so it’s the best one in the show. It was invented in a magician in the 1800’s named Dekolta. He was famous for making his wife disappear…he also held the guinness world record for most number of marriages.

He’d take a cage with a canary and make it disappear. This is the actual cage he used, and inside is the actual canary he used…according to ebay.

Unfortunately this trick is copyrighted by the magician’s guild and I can’t show it to you. So I’ll do it undercover of a handkerchief.

It happens quick. 1, 2, 3

What I don’t like about the above trick is that I’m telling them about a trick that someone else did. I should really be telling them something about me, or what’s happening now, not two hundred years ago.

I gave the script another try with another approach.

When I was a teenager I went to magic camp…I know, can you believe I turned out this normal. I got to see Harry Blackstone Jr do a trick with a canary in a cage, I always wanted to do it.

I begged my mom for a canary…I wanted to do the trick more than anything…even more than a a normal social life. Mom said I wasn’t “responsible” enough for a pet, so she got me a rubber canary. One the plus side his cage is clean, on the minus side I’ll probably die in a coal mine or from my latex allergy.

This cage was made by my middle school shop teacher / life coach, and is suitable for holding rubber animals and despot rulers.

His name is frankie, he likes sunflower seeds.
(put sunflower seed into cage and falls through)

He’s trained to do tricks. (put sunflower seed into cage and falls through) Stay…incredible. Freeze…amazing. (put sunflower seed into cage and falls through) Play dead (shake cage)…tah-dah! (put sunflower seed into cage and falls through)

Most amazing trick he does is jump up, eat the cage,then fly into my left pocket, which is amazing because everyone knows canaries are right handed.

Drum roll…One Two Three

I like this script best, as you learn a little bit about me. I think that the feeding the rubber canary is an original bit. There’s still a long way to go, and this probably isn’t what I’ll use, but it’s something.

No Outs and Snagging…

Honestly, I’m not sure how I used to do the vanishing birdcage. I think I was very lucky in that years ago it never really hung up on my sleeve in a show. I also think that I’m currently more aware of failure without an “out” in tricks that I do in the show. Billy … Continue reading “No Outs and Snagging…”

Honestly, I’m not sure how I used to do the vanishing birdcage. I think I was very lucky in that years ago it never really hung up on my sleeve in a show. I also think that I’m currently more aware of failure without an “out” in tricks that I do in the show. Billy McComb in an interview on the Greater Magic Video Series says, “…there is no out when the cage is hanging out of your sleeve.”

Currently I’m following Tommy Wonder‘s advice. Every time the cage snags on something, I’m trying to figure why it snagged and what I can do to stop it from snagging. It’s a smart approach, and one that’s a lot of work and will end up with a fairly altered jacket.

Always Be Tweaking…

Over the last year I’ve been working on a Take Up Reel of my own design. If you don’t know what a Take Up Reel is, it’s a complicated process to do something very simple. All it does all you to have a piece of string and shorten it. That’s it. It becomes very handy if you use a wrist to wrist pull and need freedom of movement before using the pull.

What I designed works great for me, however I designed it for how I use it, not how other people may use it. Recently I sent some out to other performers and am getting feedback. Based on that feedback, I’m working for it to hold a thicker gauge line.

Adding a thicker line is a small change, but it adds a bit of an engineering challenge to the device. Hopefully it’s not too hard, I’m working on the first adjustment now and we’ll see how it is once it’s done printing.

Being open to other people’s feedback is something that I think is very important, especially if it’s something that I want to bring to market.

Vanishing Bird Cage

I’ve always loved the vanishing birdcage, ever since I was a teenager and was told about Bert Allerton doing in close up while table hopping. Then I saw Blackstone Jr. do the vanishing birdcage where all the kids put their hands around the cage, I’d seen Lance Burton do it with his round cage. However … Continue reading “Vanishing Bird Cage”

What made Billy’s version different was that he did his whole act and ended with the cage. He didn’t have that cramped posture, he had a full range of motion. I don’t think Billy was the first person to use a take up reel for the birdcage, however he’s the one that made an impact on me.

Over the years I’ve owned several take up reels, including the one that was sold with the Billy McComb vanishing birdcage set. Right now I own a funky one that was made in Germany.

If you don’t know what a take up reel is and how you would use it for a vanishing birdcage, it’s pretty simple. All it does is shorten the length of the string on the pull. That’s it. But that simple little thing makes all the difference in the world!

Having used a take up reel, the thing I didn’t like about them was the weight of them. They are metal and heavy. For someone like Billy who it appears did the cage at the end of an act, the weight is probably less of a problem then when used by someone doing a 45-60 min show.

Recently I got a 3D printer and started playing with it and ended up designing a take up reel. This is a lot lighter because it’s plastic. I’ve been using this for months and I will say, I think I’ve finally come up with a solution for me to do the birdcage in my show!

Using a take up reel isn’t just for the birdcage, there’s a lot of cool stuff you can do with them. I’m not going to go into detail about other tricks you can do with them because there’s soo many. I’m just glad I came up with a solution that works for me.

Louie