How to Do a Magic Show Full Manuscript

How To Do a Magic Show by Michael Pascoe

A Guide to Learning to Perform the Ancient Art of Magic

To my childhood friend John. This is to all of the hours spent trying to fool each other. The time spent was well worth it. To my wife Carole. . . who has put up with my obsession not only to magic, but writing this book And to my agent Sue who made all of this possible

PART ONE-- The Ancient Art of Magic

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 3

1. How to Do a Magic Show ************************************************************************** Magic! Even the word alone brings many thoughts and visions of men in evening clothes producing rabbits, floating beautiful women and then cutting her in half. We all wish that we could have a magic wand to do our bidding for us, to wave to and fro. Wave our magic wand to make money appear, to make our foes disappear. When we speak of magic in this book, we are talking about the art of magic. Conjuring, legerdemain, prestidigitation, call it what you want, it is as old as man himself. Magic is the second oldest profession. The art has been practiced from beyond the reaches of time. Magic’s beginnings go as far back as the cave men. Drawings on walls show a magician performing the ancient trick of the Cups and Balls. Magic originally meant, “The true interpretation of the laws of life.” Magic today is a regulated art form. As an art form, it takes years of study. Fortunately, the tricks in this book are easy to learn and only takes ten minutes a day of practice. The object of these lessons is to help you become a good magician. The tricks here are designed to be performed in your own magic show. If you read books on magic, they teach the skeleton of the art. It’s up to you to provide the entertainment. Some magic purist say it’s wrong to do a magic routine word for word. This does not make sense. When you learn how to sing, you are not expected to write your own songs. So why should you be expected to write your own routines? The general school of thought is that each performer has his or her own style. By giving them a full blown routine it may not fit that person’s style. This may be true for a seasoned veteran. But, if you are just starting out, how do you know what your style is? That’s why the tricks in here are written out in detail and properly routined. With suitable practice, you can learn the basics to the tricks in this book. Then learn the dialogue that goes with it and be ready to perform them. After awhile, you will have a feel for what a good trick feels like. You can create your own. For now, do the tricks the way it’s written. How does magic work? The central secret of magic is manipulation of interest. Interest is selective. You must consciously take part. The audience must give consent to the magician to control that interest and hold it. We magicians know that memory is a poor recording mechanism. People can’t pay attention to more than one thing at a time. We either watch the left hand going left or the right hand going right. One hand will catch the eye, but not both if they go away from our frame of vision. We only notice what interest us. We don’t pay attention to things we don’t. Then you can lead up to the thing in a trick that does interest us and that is the magic part. This is where all of the heat is. By heat, I mean the audience will be looking to see if they can catch you. That’s why you do all of the tricky stuff in the set up phase, if you can. A skilled magician determines what the audience shall pay attention to. This is called misdirection. So, 3

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 4 the real secret to magic is to control this attention. The magician must control that interest not only through misdirection, but showmanship. To do this is by taking note on what holds our interest. In a magic trick, what does not interest us is the preparation of the trick. You can make this boring so the audience will not see the subtle maneuvers you are doing. That will be misdirection. However, this is bad showmanship. So, the key is to put the emphasis on what you are saying as you set up the trick. This should contain the plot of the trick. Since the key word in misdirection is direction, the best way to manipulate this is with good showmanship. By combining both showmanship and misdirection, you can control what the audience sees much easier.

The rules of magic Yeah, yeah, magic has rules. To be able to be a part of this fraternity, we must address the basic rules of magic. I have listed seven. Rule number one: Never tell how a trick is done The first rule is obvious. Do not reveal how a trick is done. Because of the nature of the magician’s work, secrecy is important. Magic depends on mystery. Magic routines are interesting as long as the audience is puzzled. Telling how a mystery is done punctures the balloon of amazement. Once that balloon has been punctured, the mystery is gone. The magic has been reduced to a game to be figured out. The closer we conjurers make magic mystery seem like a miracle, so much the better. The audience wants to believe that magicians perform miracle. The world itself wants to believe. Doing the impossible even when the audience knows that nature’s law says it cannot happen, is part of the appeal. If you reveal the fact that nature’s law can explain what you do, then why would the audience watch you? The old time magicians guarded that secret jealously. To create this aura of mystery, we must depend on secrecy. As you can see, it’s not the secret that’s being revealed, but the mystery behind the secret. Just like the old timers, guard your secrets well. Rule number two: Never challenge the audience Never perform magic as a puzzle to be figured out. By doing it like a game, you’re challenging the audience. This is dangerous. This causes the audience to be more astute than they should be. Then they may except your challenge and say how the trick is done. If you don’t want to be embarrassed, never challenge the audience. It doesn’t matter if they are right or wrong. A logical thinking person will see the thread in the hecklers observation. Then he too will think this is how it’s done. Whether they are right or wrong, the mystery is lost. One way to challenge the audience is to say, “I have an ordinary deck of cards.” This is a challenge. The audience may wonder how ordinary is it. They also may want to examine the deck. If you have a trick deck, or a pre-arrange pack, this request will ruin your trick. Even if you don’t use trick cards, this request will not only slow down the show, but will burst that balloon of mystery as if the secret itself was revealed. You’re supposed to be a real magician. A real magician doesn’t need to challenge his powers. When you remind the audience that there is a secret, you are doing the same thing as revealing the actual secret. The same is true when you say that your hands are empty. They are supposed to be. When you say so, you are only reminding the audience that magicians palm objects. Even though we won’t be dealing with palming, they may still suspect that if they are challenged. Instead, just show your hands empty and let them make the observation themselves. Rule number three: Never repeat a trick 4

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 5 When you have them mystified. . . leave them mystified. What the audience has missed the first time, they will catch the second time. Once is a mystery, second time is education. If you do the same trick the second time there’s a chance the audience will discover the secret. When this happens, you’ve lost your hold on them. There is another reason why it’s not a good idea to repeat a trick. It’s poor showmanship. You never tell the same joke twice, so why do the same trick twice? A good trick is designed to reach a logical climax. The climax of a routine signifies the end of the trick. Repeating it makes the routine anti-climatic. Some tricks have no endings. Routines that go on and on, really do not have an ending to them. Just stopping doesn’t make sense. The audience must know where the end is. Each routine should be a mini story. Beginning, middle, and end. This is not an easy task. Repeating a trick breaks up this pattern. Some tricks are designed to be repeated. A few here in this book are. More often than not when a trick like this is repeated, it’s designed for it. The story is designed to reach a logical climatic ending. Usually tricks that are design to repeat sometimes change the method on how it’s done. It looks the same, but the secret is different. The point is never give in to the temptation when an audience member asks to repeat a trick. They don’t know how to react to what they just saw, so they think of the first thing that comes to their head. Do it again. Or How did you do it? They really don’t want to know or want to see it again. Just go on to your next trick. Rule number four: Never tell what you’re going to do Never tell the audience what you are going to do ahead of time. That’s the same as repeating a trick. The audience now knows what to look for. This is the basic reasoning given by most books on magic. There is a problem with this rule. If you don’t tell the audience what you are going to do, they won’t know what to look for. If they don’t know what to look for, then there is a chance they might miss the surprise of the trick. No one likes a true surprise. Four must follow three numerically. People do like stage surprises. Setting some one up for a surprise can be pleasant. Without actually saying there is going to be a surprise is like not knowing you are going to get a gift on your birthday. You don’t know what the surprise is, but you do know there is going to be one. The surprise is opening the gift and seeing what we are given. Setting up a surprise is like setting up a joke. Everyone knows that if you don’t have a proper set-up, you have no joke. A punchline that doesn’t make sense to the set-up is not funny either. A strange variation of the set-up, however twisted, can be funny. The same is true in magic. Magic has its set-up. The magician shows the cup empty then sets it down. He waves the wand which tells the audience a surprise is about to happen. Then when the cup is lifted, a ball is produced. The general rule of thumb is; only tell the audience what they need to know to understand the plot of the trick. If knowing this reveals the secret, then delay this until the right moment. You can see when I have done this and when I haven’t. Take notice of it because each trick will contradict this rule. See why it’s done. Discovering this will be the greatest lesson of all. Rule number five, six, and seven: Practice, practice, and practice Professionals in all areas of entertainment practice. This cannot be over emphasized. Everyone knows that practice makes perfect. That’s not entirely true. Perfect practice makes perfect. You can practice now until doomsday, but if you practice incorrectly, you’ll never be perfect. Once a habit has been formed, it’s hard to undo it. In fact, it takes longer to undo something than it is to learn it from scratch. Practice everyday, even if only for ten to fifteen minutes. Some like to practice more. It’s best to practice in short spurts than in one long session. Even if you want to practice all day, it’s best to practice in fifteen-minute increments. Rest, analyze, and check what you did wrong or right. Then go back to practicing. You don’t want to take the risk of practicing a mistake. When practicing, it’s best to use a mirror. A full-length mirror is best. You can see if your hands are correct as well as your body positions. Professional dancer practice in front of a mirror. 5

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 6 Using a mirror will help you see what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong. If you can see in the mirror how the trick is done, so can the audience. Be critical of yourself. You can catch an error before it becomes habit. Remember, the audience will not miss a trick (pun intended). Even though a mirror can be a valuable tool for practicing, it’s best not to use it during rehearsals. It will hinder your performance and make you stiff. When you perform, you want to move around. Even a full-length mirror will make that impossible. In a dance studio, where the mirrors are all around, you want to focus on performing to your imaginary audience. This is a good time to picture your audience in your mind’s eye. When you perform, you want to entertain everyone in the audience. You don’t want to perform for yourself. With today’s electronics, you can use your cell phone to video tape yourself. Then play it back and see it from the audience’s eyes. What you will get from this book You’ll get what you put into it. Basic fundamentals are there for everyone. A man once said that a genius makes his work a science as well as an art. A genius is one who works twice as hard as others. When others give up, the genius forges ahead. The genius knows through experience how far to go whether to exaggerate or hold back. This comes through time. Time, instincts, experience, and knowledge. Knowledge leads to greater heights. Foundation is a basic to all learning. Learning tricks without foundation on how or why is disastrous. I found this out once when I was doing a show at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Because I had jury duty, I had to take the day off from the show. I taught an actor friend to take my place. There was no one else. I taught him the tricks and he practiced them. However, when the performance time came, he froze. His acting background helped him ad-lib, but he did not have the background or the fundamentals of a magician to be able to cover up a mistake like a magician would. You can learn the tricks I’m going to show you, but without the knowledge of why or how a trick works, you won’t know what you are doing wrong. Though each trick is set up so you can perform a magic show, I have given you more than just mere tricks. I have given you the principles as well. I have inserted in the tricks, basic magic fundamentals that will show you why and how a trick is done. Certain gestures or pauses help to sell a trick that will not only entertain, but mystify. A magician is not a magician because he knows tricks. He knows the principals behind each trick. I drew all of the illustrations in an attempt to explain the moves the best I can. By combining pictures with the text, you learn quicker. Some people are visuals. They learn better with illustrations. Others are word minded. They see words as pictures. While other still are like me, they are both. So learn each trick carefully. These are the tools that have been passed down for ages as magic is the second oldest profession. With that, comes respect. I’m certain you’ll take the art as serious as I have. I’m also certain that once it gets in your blood, you will not be able to get rid of it. It is definitely a fun profession.

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PART TWO-- Close-Up Magic

1. Card Tricks ************************************************************************** Everyone knows a card trick or two. Magicians and non magicians alike. The Magic Castle in Hollywood, California is an exclusive club for magicians. They have a beautiful library with stacks and stacks of books. Of all of the categories, the section on cards out number the other sections by a staggering amount. We guess the reason is most people have cards. Also, people expect the magician to be good with them. The most important reason is that so much can be done with playing cards. We will show you simple tricks first. Tricks you can learn right away. The key is to learn, not perform right away. Even though these tricks are simple, you shouldn’t rush to perform them. Like a script in a movie, you must know your lines well. Another thing, resist the temptation of performing too many card tricks. We feel a balance in any show is important. About four good tricks is enough in any close-up program. It’s best to mix it up with other close-up tricks and do not get in the habit of being the pest that doesn’t know when to stop. Once you get going, someone will know a trick or two. Some may want to interrupt your performance and want to show you a trick. Most of them are mundane and lose the audience attention. However, we think the problem with card tricks is the lack of a good routine. Nothing is more annoying than seeing someone doing a boring card trick. It just goes on and on with no real point to it. Each of these tricks have been routined, so stick to the basic premise.

Self Working The following tricks are called Self Working, but that’s not quite correct. Self Working implies that the cards work on their own without you touching them. You have to do something of course. The main point is that it doesn’t take sleight of hand to perform these tricks.

Lucky Seven Effect: The magician writes down a prediction on a piece of paper and keeps it in full view. Then he deals the cards in two piles. A member of the audience chooses a pile. The magician shows the prediction proving that he knew ahead of time which pile the spectator would choose. Props:

A deck of cards A piece of paper or a business card A pen or pencil 7

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 8 Preparation: Take out the four sevens from the deck; the seven of spades, the seven of diamonds, the seven of hearts, and the seven of clubs. Place these four cards on top of the deck. To perform: “As I was coming here tonight, I got an image of a future event.” Write down on the paper or on the back of a business card, You will choose the seven pile. Make sure the audience sees you doing this, but do not show the prediction. Turn the prediction face down, but leave it in full view. Deal the four sevens face down on the table. Do not show the faces of the cards. Next to this, deal out seven random cards face down. See figure 1.

The four sevens

Fig. 1

The seven cards

Turn to a spectator, “Would you help me? Point to any pile. It doesn’t matter which.” He points to one. “Are you certain that you want that pile? I want to make sure that you have a free choice.” Let them change their mind if they want. “You are sure you don’t want to change your mind?” nod your head no. Get the audience to copy you. “You are happy with the mind you have.” Shake your head yes and get the spectator to shake his also. This should get a laugh. “Good!” Now the outcome depends upon which pile they choose. In magic, it is best not to tell what you are going to do ahead of time. This way you stay one step ahead of the audience. If the spectator chooses the pile with the four sevens, turn over the other pile face up and show the faces. “This is the pile you could have chosen. But you didn’t.” Then turn over the pile with the four sevens. (See figure 2.) “Instead, you chose the pile with the four sevens. Take the prediction card and read it out loud please.” When they do, they will be astonished to find out what your prediction says, You will choose the seven pile. If they chose the pile with the seven cards, pick up the pile they didn’t choose, “This is the pile you could have chosen, but you didn’t.” Count the four cards face down. “One, two, three, four. This is the four pile.” Do not show the faces. Then pick up the pile they chose, “This is the pile you did choose.” Count the seven cards face down out loud, Fig. 2 “One, two, three, four, five, six, and seven. You chose the seven pile.” Turn to the spectator and have him read the prediction out loud. It will of course say, You will choose the seven pile. “I knew that the seven would be your lucky number. Now the next time you go to a casino, you know what number to pick.” 8


You Do As I Do Effect: The magician promises a spectator to teach him a trick. Two different color decks are brought out. Both spectator and the magician chooses a card. The chosen cards are returned. The decks are switched. The magician and the spectator pull out their cards. When the cards are turned around, they match each other.

Props:

Two decks of cards: A red deck A blue deck

Preparation: No set up required.

To perform: Take out the blue and red decks, “Have you ever heard of the term, monkey see, monkey do? Well, in magic, we have a term; spectator see, spectator do. Sorry, I couldn’t think of anything cleverer than that. “I will show you how to be a magician, but you must do as I do.” Hand him the red case, “You look like the type of person that is seeing red, so you’ll get this one. “I’ll take the blue deck, because I’m always blue.” Take the deck out of the case. Make sure the spectator follows you. Shuffle the cards. Once again, make sure the spectator follows you. As you shuffle, peak at the bottom card of the deck. It must be on the last shuffle. In fact, don’t shuffle more than once, or you’ll bore the others. A good way to peak at the card is to tap the cards as in figure 1. Your motivation for doing this is to straighten out the cards after they are shuffled. Peak at the bottom card. This is called the key card. “Very good, you’ll be a good magician yet.” Change decks with him. Fan the deck and take out a card. Look at it. Make sure the spectator does the same thing. “Look at your card and remember it. The trick doesn’t have any meaning if you forget your card.” Even though you ask the spectator to memorize his card, don’t memorize your card. The only card you need to remember is the key card. Place your card on top of the deck. Make sure the spectator is following along, “Place your card on top.” Cut the deck and complete it. Then square it up. Once again make sure the Fig. 1 spectator is doing what you are doing. “Cut the deck to lose your card in the middle. “Alright, lets exchange decks again.” Change decks from the spectator. Fan the cards with the faces toward you, “Pull out the card that you looked at and close the deck when you are finished. I’ll do the same.” Look for the key card. When you find it, look at the card below it. That will be the spectator’s card. Pull the spectators card out and place it face down on the table. “That’s the card I chose. Put the card you chose next to it.” After he does, ask him to turn his card over. When he does say, “That’s impossible! That is the card I chose.” Turn your card over. If you’ve done everything correct, it’ll match. “You’re a better magician than you probably thought. Take a bow.” After he does, stage whisper, (that is whisper so the others can hear) “Remember, a magician never tells how he does a trick.” 9


The Four Burglars

The Four Burglars is one of those tricks that just seem to always be with us. It’s like your favorite limerick... everyone knows it, but can’t tell you who started it. When Michael was a little kid, this was the first trick he learned. He never did magic seriously at that point, but he loved to do this trick. He still does this even today. Effect: The magician shows four Jacks from a deck of cards and explains that these are four burglars. The deck is a building they attend to rob. One burglar is placed two-thirds of the way into the deck. The second burglar is placed half way in the deck, and the third burglar is placed a third of the way in the deck. The last burglar stays on top as a lookout. The magician taps the deck and all four burglars rise to the top. The deck is spread out face up and it is normal without any duplicate Jacks.

Props:

A full deck of cards

Preparation: Pull out of the deck the four Jacks. Also pull out three indifferent cards. Place the seven cards face up in your left hand in this order: three indifferent cards followed by the four Jacks. See figure 1. Square up the indifferent cards and hide them behind the first Jacks as in figure 2. Make sure that this four card block looks like one card. Fan out the other three Jacks and hold them in the left hand.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

To perform: Show the fanned Jacks, being careful not to expose the indifferent cards. Tell the story about the four burglars, “These burglars are going to rob this department store.” Pick up the deck for emphases. Then put it back down on the table. “They needed a secret plan to rob this store.” Close the fan, “So they gathered together to discuss what they are going to do.” Drop the packet of seven cards on top of the deck. “They met on top of the department store late at night.” Pick up the deck in the left hand. Take the top card, don’t show it. It’s the indifferent card, but it’s supposed to be the first Jack. Push the card into the deck around two-thirds of the way and square it up. “The first burglar goes to the first floor.” Take the next card on top and put it in the middle of the deck, “The second burglar goes to the second floor.” Place the next card after that and put it a third of the way in the deck. “The third burglar goes to the third floor.” Put the deck on the table. Pick up the top card and show the face to the audience. It’s the Jack. If done nonchalantly, the audience will swear later on that you showed every card before burying it. That’s the way it is with audiences. 10

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 11 “The last burglar stays on top as a look out in case the police comes.” Put the Jack back on top of the deck, “Everything was going smoothly when all of a sudden the police came. The burglar on top called and told the others to come up and join him,” tap the top of the deck three times. Turn each top card over face up and reveal the four Jacks, “And they all came up to the top.” To finish up, spread the cards face up on the table as in figure 3. This way you can show that you do not have any duplicate Jacks with out saying so. Don’t say that there is a possibility of duplicates. If they are interested they will look.

Fig. 3

Cut the Lady in Half When Michael was thirteen, he caught the magic bug again. This time it was serious. He never got over it. He started to learn professional tricks that he read in books. This was the first trick he learned from that book. Just like the four burglars, this one is easy to do. Effect: The magician takes a Queen from the deck. He says he will show how to cut a lady in half. He places the Queen in an envelope. With a pair of scissors, the magician cuts the envelope and the Queen in half. He separates them to show that they are really cut in half. Then he puts them back together, over lapping the cut section. Then the magician waves his magic wand over the cut pieces. Then he pulls out the Queen. She is completely restored.

Props:

A deck of cards One pay envelope A pair of scissors

Preparation: Make sure that the envelope is the kind that has the flap on the longer end as appose to a letter envelopes that have the flaps on the shorter end. See figure 2. Fold the envelope in half as in figure 1. Unfold it. With the pair of scissors, cut a slit in the back of the envelope on the fold as in figure 2. The front of the envelope should look normal. 11


Fig. 2 Fig. 1

Put the envelope in your breast pocket along with the scissors. Make sure a Queen of any suit is on top of the deck. This is for ease of handling. But, if you are doing this after another trick, then just fan the cards out and pull out a Queen. To perform: “Cut the Lady in Half is the most popular trick in magic. The plot is simple. A lady is placed inside of a box, then cut in half. First of course you will need a lady.” Look around, “No volunteers?” Pause. Pick up the Queen from the deck, “Aright, then I’ll just use this little lady here.” Place the Queen face up on the table. “Next we need is a box.” Act as if you are searching for something that can be used as a substitute for a box. Finally go to the breast pocket, “Failing that, we will improvise with this envelope.” Don’t over do this. It should be casual. The impression you want to create is that you are doing this completely spontaneous. When you take the envelope from the pocket, keep the slit away from the audience. Place the Queen in the envelope with its back to you. The face of it should be towards the audience. Don’t place it all of the way in. Make sure that the Queen goes in the slit so half of it sticks out. See figures 3 and 4.

Fig. 3

Fig. 4 12

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 13 “We also need something to cut with.” Pull out the scissors from your pocket. “This pair of scissors will do.” Open and close them a few times. Look at the same female you did in the beginning, “Aren’t you glad you didn’t volunteer?” While you are doing this, carefully fold the card toward you. See Figure 5. Don’t put a crease in it. If you do, then you won’t be able to undo it. You’ll be surprised how far you can bend the card without creasing it. Fig. 5 Cut the envelope at the spot where the crease of the envelope is. Do not cut the card. By cutting at the crease, you are getting rid of the evidence of the secret before the trick is done. Don’t cut all of the way. Leave a centimeter still attached. If you cut all of the way through, there might be a chance that the bottom half of the envlope might fall to the floor and the audience will see there is nothing in it. Put the scissors down. Pull away the remaining piece from the envelope. Separate the halves. Be careful that you don’t show the back with the folded Queen. Continue with the dialogue, “Of course it’s also important to put her back together.” Place the two pieces in approximately in the same place that it was before it was cut. (Figure 6) Let go of the folded Queen so it lines up to the back of the bottom half. Pull out the Queen and show it completely restored. There will be a slight crimp in the card. This, unlike the crease, can be snapped back to its original condition. This must be done if you plan on handing out the Queen for inspection. If you don’t, they will see the crimp and probably guess the secret. As you do, finish up by saying, “And the Queen is no worse for ware. She can even take a bow.” Tip the card over simulating a bow.

Fig. 6

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3. At the Dinner Table ************************************************************************** Sometimes you’ll find yourself at dinner with someone and the subject of your new skill is brought up. You’ll be tempted to show off, but resist. Do just a few quick tricks and re-direct the conversation some where else. These tricks seem spontaneous because you use the items that are on your dinner table. All the tricks are impromptu with the exception of What’s Under the Cap? It seems like it is because you will use a cap from a soda bottle if there is one.

Sugar Packet Prediction Effect: While eating dinner, talk about déjà vu. Show a little demonstration of it by taking a sugar packet from the table. Write something down and put it off to the side for safe keeping. Then take eight more sugar packets. Openly write down a number from one to eight on each of the packets. Scoop up all of the packets and drop them into a spectator’s hand. Have them mix it up. Then ask them to drop the packets randomly from their hand until all of them fall on the table. You discard any that land face down. You take the remaining and repeat this until you only have one left. This matches the prediction packet you wrote before the demonstration.

Props:

Nine sugar packets Marking pen

Preparation: While you are eating, sneak a sugar packet that you’ve already marked ahead of time in the holder. Use any number, but remember it. Let’s say you chose eight. To perform: This trick is straightforward in its method. But don’t let its simplicity fool you. This is a good trick. It doesn’t need any fancy dialogue. “Have you ever had the feeling of déjà vu?” However the spectator responds, say, “I knew you were going to say that. I get it all of the time. Have you ever had the feeling of déjà vu? Didn’t you just ask me that? See, it’s happening right now. I can sense the outcome of things. I can’t always figure out the details to take advantage of it, but I am getting a feeling of a future event as we speak.” Grab a sugar packet. This could be Sweet and Low or any other sugar packet you have on the table. Use any number for the prediction. We are using the number eight for example. “To prove my point, I am going to write something that hasn’t happen yet, but will.” Take out a pen and write your prediction number. Don’t let 14

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 15 anyone see the prediction. “I must assure that no one tampers with this prediction, so I’m going to put this off to the side.” Place this packet so it is face down tucked under something like a glass, salt shaker, or an ashtray. Make sure that it is in plain sight. Grab a handful of sugar packets, about eight more. Make sure your pre-set up packet is included. “Déjà vu is a skill that is used to see future events. Some say it’s just luck or coincidence. Or maybe all three. “A guessing game relies on pure luck.” Write number one on the first packet. Do this so the audience can see the numbers. “It would be no test if you had a choice between one number.” Pick up another packet and write the number two on it. “Two numbers increase the odds to 50/50.” Pick up three more packets, “If we really want to make this a test of luck. . .” write the numbers three, four, and five on the separate packets, “. . . we’ll increase the odds by adding more numbers.” Sugar packets like Sweet and Low have the logo on one side, and the nutritional information on the other. For misdirection reasons, write some of these numbers on the front of the packet, some on the back. The reason will be clear later on. Pick up the last three packets and write six, seven, and eight. When you get to the pre-set up packet, write the same number that is on the back. This will give you a double packet. That is, a packet with the same number on each side. In our example, we are using eight. So make sure that you write eight on the other side of the sugar packet. “Hold out your hands as if you are receiving some water. To further make this a game of luck. . .” pick up the eight sugar packets and mix it up. You want a good mixture because you don’t want the demonstration to end too soon. Place the packets in the spectators cupped hands, “. . . mix them up real well. Let it trickle through your hands like warm sand on a beach. Any that lands face down, we’ll eliminate.” Some of the packets will land face up, others face down. “Luck made some land face down. . .” discard any that are face down. “. . . and some to land face up.” Grab the face up ones and put them in the spectator’s hands. Because the force packet has a number on each side, it will never land face down. The subtlety about writing the numbers on different sides of the packet come to play here. An observant spectator might notice that every packet lands the same way except one. They may reason that one is double sided. “Let’s try this again.” Repeat this until only one is left. Of course that will be the force packet. “By random occurrence, we’ve ended up with the number eight. I knew that would happen.” Don’t touch the prediction, but have a spectator pick it up and show it. “And it is indeed the randomly chosen number.” Take the packet with the double side. “Of course you could say that it is just a coincidence. . .” tear it open and pour the sugar into your tea or coffee. “Because that means relying on luck.” Crumble up the packet and throw it away. “It must be déjà vu since I never take chances with blind luck.” Look puzzled at the audience, “It’s too bad I can’t do that to win the lottery.”

Salt Shaker Through Table If you find yourself at a restaurant and someone wants you to do a trick, this is the perfect thing to show off your powers. I’ve done this killer effect for years and have refined the misdirection as I went along. Effect: While eating dinner at a restaurant, your friends have asked you to do some tricks. After you have done some dynamite close-up tricks, your friends want more. You try to beg off and steer the conversation somewhere else, but they insist. So not knowing what to do next, you see a salt shaker and cover it with a napkin. You state that it will penetrate the table. On the count of three, you slam the salt shaker right through the table.

Misdirection is the most important technique in magic. If your timing is off, the audience will discover 15

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 16 the secret. At the very least, know when the sneaky part took place. That’s just as bad. This trick is a lesson on misdirection. The original way I learned this trick was to take a coin and place it on the tabletop. Then the old books said to cover the coin with an empty facedown drinking glass. From there, a paper napkin covered the glass. It said from there to announce that the coin will disappear. Remember the old rule about announcing ahead of time what you are going to do? Well, this was supposed to be misdirection against the rule effect. Because when the glass was lifted, the coin was still there. In the action of moving the glass and napkin toward you to reveal this, the glass secretly was dropped to the lap. The basic shape was seen through the napkin. The misdirection was when the magician said, “The coin hasn’t disappeared yet.” Then the glass was moved over to cover the coin again. Then it was crushed to show the glass has disappeared instead of the coin. The misdirection was good, but the trick as far as entertainment value was not. Here is a good example of the misdirection being better than the showmanship. That’s because it lacked continuity which controls the flow. When I did it the way the book showed it, people in the audience would say, “So what. . . you didn’t make the coin disappear.” When you think about it, this is what I promised to do. A good showman would not break up the flow of the routine that way. So how do you combine the rules of showmanship with the laws of misdirection? Find a better a way to do it. First the misdirection must be changed. I got rid of the premise of making the coin disappear. Then I concentrated on the moment of the event that is the magic, and the tricky part that is the secret. I find that if you can change the moment or delay it, the easier the misdirection would be. The moment is the vanish of the glass. The secret is to get rid of the glass. Before the vanish is revealed, it has to be secretly dropped in your lap. Now the problem is once the glass disappears, how to get rid of the glass without being detected? Delay the moment or change the moment. So this is what I did. By doing both I came up with a new trick. First, I changed the prop from a glass to a salt shaker. I read the Amazing Randi’s version in the book, The World’s Greatest Magic where he did this trick by making a salt shaker disappear. Then he palmed it away and made it reappear in his coat pocket. Still, it was a bit too tricky for me. And he was using the premise about making the coin disappear. So this comes to the second change I made. I altered the moment. Instead of a disappearance, I changed it to a penetration. By doing that it changed the trick. I didn’t have to worry about having a glass or a salt shaker in my lap. Nor did I have to worry about trying to palm it away. It only stayed in my lap temporarily until I needed it to reveal that it penetrated through the table. This also changed the moment of astonishment from, “Huh,” to , “I don’t believe. . . do that again.” As any magician can tell you, this is a complement. The third thing I did was to delay the moment as long as I could. I did this by pretending that the trick had not even started. I would look over the situation and improvise according to the table set up. I covered the salt shaker with a paper napkin. If a placemat or some other kind of object was in the way, I would move the salt shaker out of the way by bringing it to the edge of the table. I dropped the salt shaker in my lap. Then moved the item out of the way. I moved the napkin with the form of the salt shaker back to the center of the table. Then I paused. Smash the napkin and the made the shaker go through the table. If there wasn’t a mat in the way, then I’d bring the salt shaker to the edge of the table and drop the shaker. At the same time, grab a mat and place it in front of me. I would say that I needed it to help with this trick. Then I would put the napkin over the mat and make it penetrate the table. That’s the way I’ve been doing it for years. There was still a problem with it. The trick itself was a stunner, but I still had showmanship problems. By showing the salt shaker first, then moving the place mat, I broke up the continuity again. Of course it was not so bad, but there was still a chance that an audience member may loose track of the flow of the trick and forget that I placed a napkin over the salt shaker. I ignored the weakness and refined the mystery by adding sound misdirection. I will explain this when I give more details on how to do it. It got to the point where I hated to do this trick. My wife loves this trick and always asks that I do it. First, she would say, “Do the trick where you make the salt shaker go through the table.” Well, this of course violated 16

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 17 the rule about not saying what you are going to do ahead of time. Now they are watching that salt shaker instead of the table mat. I would decline doing this trick because I stated I don’t like to show off. After enough prodding, I’d do it. With all of the attention on the salt shaker, that’s when I finally cleaned up the handling. I came up with a method that satisfied me. This is now one of my favorite sit down tricks. This is a good teaching trick because it has five examples of misdirection. Time and sound misdirection, ruse, simulation, and finally dissimulation.

Props:

One salt shaker A paper napkin

To perform: The use of a paper napkin is important. It’s the secret behind the effectiveness of the trick. If you wrap a new paper napkin around a small object like a salt shaker and remove it, the napkin will keep the shape of the object. This is called simulation. You look around for something to use as a prop. “I’m sorry that I don’t have anything else. . . wait. This salt shaker will do.” Place the salt shaker in the center of the table as in figure 1.

Cross your feet. This is not for luck. It’s so you can catch the salt shaker and not drop it on the floor. You’ll see what I mean when you practice it a few times. Cover the salt shaker with a napkin from the table. See figure 2 and 3. Because of the stiffness of the napkin, it will take the form of the salt shaker. (As in figure 4). This is key to the illusion that will about to take place.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2 Fig 3

Fig 4

With the right hand, bring the salt shaker to the edge of the table as in figure 5. The grip is important. At the same time say, “The salt shaker will penetrate the center of the table. . .” With the left hand, knock the table, “. . . right here.” See figure 6. 17


Fig 5 Fig 6 This, of course violates the basic rule. As stated before, the rule tries to prevent the audience to watch where you do not want to because they know now where to look. The phrase forces the audience to look where you want to, and also it’s good showmanship to let them know what they are going to be witnessing. This is also perfect misdirection. Sound attracts attention. Use this moment to drop the salt shaker into your lap as in figure 7. Keep the same grip on the shaker as if you are still holding the salt shaker as in figure 8.

Fig 8

Fig 7

Not only does this use sound misdirection, but dissimulation. The dissimulation hides the salt shaker in the lap. Bring the right hand back to the center of the table. See figure 9. Show your left hand empty and put it under the table, “To catch the salt shaker when it falls through.” What you really are doing is taking the shaker from your lap and placing it under the table. At this point the trick is all done. Don’t rush it. In the eyes of the audience, the trick has not yet started. Relax. Have fun. This is time misdirection. It’s called that because your timing is important here. Pause. Count out loud, “One, two, three.” With the right hand, crush the top of the napkin giving the illusion of forcing the salt shaker through the table. See figure 10.

Fig 10

Fig 9

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Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 19 With the left hand, hit the salt shaker underneath the bottom of the table. Pause again. Let sound misdirection sink in. With the right hand, turn over the napkin and show the shaker is gone as in figure 11.

Fig 11 Fig 12 Then with the left hand, bring out the salt shaker. If you really believe that the salt shaker goes through, then you can convey that to the audience. I cannot stress enough how important the pause is. The audience just doesn’t believe what they are seeing and the pause let’s their brains catch up. Of coure we don’t it to catch up too quickly. When they try to back track, you bring out the salt shaker and set it on the table with a thud. The audience will ask you to do it again, but resist. Smile. Welcome to the club.

What’s Under the Cap? Effect: Three coins are on the table in a row; a penny, a nickel, and a quarter. The magician turns his back. A spectator is asked to cover a lid of WD40 or soda bottle cap over one of the coins. Then the remaining coins are placed in each hand. When the magician turns around, he not only names the coin under the cap, but calls out the other coins that is held in each hand.

Props: A cap Three coins; a quarter, a nickel, and a penny Invisible thread or long strand of hair

Preparation: Find a cap of some sort that will fit over the coins. The one that comes from a can of WD40 will work nicely. Or a plastic cap from a soda bottle is fine. The kind of cap doesn’t matter because the cap is not faked. Two of the coins are. The original idea of this method uses a long strand of hair. Or you can use invisible thread. This will work as well. Despite its name, the thread is visible. Buy a spool of it from a fabrics store. Don’t get one too thick or the spectator will feel it in their hands. Get the thinnest one you can find. Make sure that it’s as thin as a piece of hair. By making it thin, most people will not notice it when it’s attached to a coin. It’s this visibility-invisibility quality you will take advantage of. Just make sure that the surface you are going to set the coins on is a light color so that you will be able to see the thread when you want to. Cut off about an inch of the invisible thread or hair and glue it on back of the quarter so that a little bit of it sticks out on each end as in. See figure 1. In a pinch you can use a piece of tape, but the spectator might notice it. (See figure 2) Do the same for the nickel, but instead, use two inches of thread or hair. Have it stick out on both sides. See figure 3 for example. After you prepare the quarter and nickel, put all three coins in your pocket.

19


Fig 2

Fig 1

To perform: State that you are going to test your psychic abilities. “When I reach into my pocket for some change, I have trouble telling the difference between the coins.” Pull out the three coins from your pocket. “The quarter is obvious because it’s larger. However, if I only had a nickel and a dime in my pocket, I would not be able to know for sure.” Line the three coins on the table. Make sure they are far apart from each other. You’ll see why soon. See figure 3.

Fig 3 “I have developed such a delicate touch, I can even do it without coming in contact with the coins. Let me show you what I mean. When I turn my back, cover one of the coins with this cap.” Illustrate by covering each coin. When your back is turned continue, “Cover any coin you like. Have you done that?” After you hear a response say, “If I turned around now, I can tell which coin is which by process of elimination. So pick up the larger amount coin in the right hand. . .” Raise your right hand for emphasis, “Then the remaining coin in your left.” Raise your left hand. “Have you done that?” When you hear an affirmative, turn around and face the audience.

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Glance quickly at the cap, but don’t stare at it. Look at it just long enough to determine which coin is under the cap. If you see a thread sticking out, it’s the quarter under the cap. See figure 4.

Fig 4 If you see it sticking out on both ends, then it’s the nickel. (See figure 5) If you don’t see anything, it’s the penny. The secret to the trick is to identify the idenity of the coin under the cap. Once you do that, the others will be simple.

Fig 5 21

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 22 The reason you don’t want to stare at the cap is because you want to put the emphasis on determining the value of the coins in the spectator’s clenched fist. This will seem more incredible. You do this by using logic. Since you made the request to the spectator on which hand to hold the coins, you can figure out the location of the other two. Because you asked the spectator to put the larger coin in your right hand, this gives us just two possible outcomes. Either the nickel will be in it or the quarter. The penny can never be in the right hand. At the same token, the left hand will never hold the quarter. The nickel can be in any of the three places. If the quarter is under the cap, then the largest coin will be the nickel which is in the right hand. If the nickel is under the cap, then the quarter is the largest coin and will be in the right hand. Then of course if the penny is under the cap, then the quarter is in the right hand. Take your time in revealing this. Make it seem difficult. Look at the spectator holding the coins. “Even though you are holding the coins, I can feel its size.” Let’s say the quarter is under the cap. Place your fingers on your temples. “The nickel is smooth in texture. Also, I can feel the outline of Jefferson’s profile on it. Your right hand must be holding the nickel. Don’t reveal it yet.” Concentrate some more, “The penny is small and has a copper tone to it. I can definitely feel the image of Abraham Lincoln. Your left hand is holding the penny. Which means the quarter is under the cap.” Reveal the coin under cap. Then ask the spectator to show the coins. Take the coins from him before he has a chance of examine it too close, “These coins are mine. If you want to try this out for yourself, get your own money.”

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4. Miscellaneous Closeup Tricks ************************************************************************** The last three tricks in this section are random selections that I thought would be nice in a close-up routine. They could be done anywhere you have a few people gathered. They must be pre-planned as they are not impromptu. Thought must be taken on when and where you will be doing these tricks because you have to carry these around on your person already pre-set.

The Linking Paperclips Effect: The magician talks about how the true classic in magic is the Chinese Linking Rings. However, he doesn’t have the rings with him, so he improvises with a set of paperclips. He takes a dollar bill and folds it in thirds. Paperclips are placed on opposite ends of the bill. When they are pulled, the paperclips fly in mid-air and link. Props:

Two paperclips A dollar bill

Preparation: There really is no preparation. If you want to make this appear spontaneous, take the two paperclips and attach them to a letter in an envelope. Then put this envelope in your breast pocket. Also, for ease of handling, have the dollar bill in your pocket. This should be new so it is firm and not soft. You can even borrow a bill if you like. Just keep in mind that it might slow down the routine. To perform: “China is the land of magic. I would like to perform one of its oldest tricks. The ancient miracle of the Chinese Linking Rings. Usually a set of metal rings are used, but I don’t have any with me.” Search around your person as if you had a set of linking rings on you. Linking Rings are rather large, so this would be impossible. “I still wanted to do this classic trick for you.” Continue searching until you notice the envelope in your breast pocket. Take it out. Look at it up and down. Notice the paperclips and remove them, “This will do.” Don’t overact. If you really think you are searching for something, then it will show on your face. “This trick is so old, even George Washington knows it,” take out your dollar bill. Fold the bill from left to right in thirds. See figure 1. Place one of the paperclips over the fold. Make sure to cover the number one on the bill. See figure 2. 23


Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Turn the bill over facedown, “He knows it backwards. . .” Fold the bill again from left to right in thirds so the face is towards the audience, “. . .and forwards.” See figure 3 and 4.

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Put the other paperclip on the right hand side of the bill as in figure 5. Once again put the paperclip on the number one. Figure 6 shows an above view what it should look like.

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

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Firmly grab the ends of the bills as in figure 7.

“George will throw the clips in the air. Watch the flight. You will actually see the clips link in midair.” With a fluid motion, pull on the ends of the bill. Figure’s 8 and 9 is in stop motion, but you want to keep it moving causing the two paperclips to link together. Figure 9 shows this.

Fig. 7

Fig. 9

Fig. 8 This fluid motion will cause the paperclips to fly in the air giving the impression that they linked in mid-air, as in figure 10. Practice this a little bit to get the right timing in pulling the bills. If they get caught up, you didn’t pull it with enough force. Pick up the paperclips and show them linked, “Now that you know the ancient miracle of the Chinese Linking Rings, don’t tell anyone how I did it.”

Fig. 10

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Dice Prediction Effect: The magician writes a prediction on a piece of paper and puts it off to the side. Then a pair of dice is thrown on the table. The totals are added up. When the prediction is revealed, is matches the dice.

Props:

A pair of dice A pad of paper A pen

Preparation: There is no preparation.

To perform: This is practically self-working, but try to make it seem like this is a difficult feet of mind reading. Because it’s self-working, you can’t repeat this to the same audience member because the outcome will always be the same. “They say Las Vegas is not built on winners. However, that doesn’t stop many people from trying. Wouldn’t you like to know the outcome to a casino game?” Pull out the dice, pad of paper, and the pen. “I’ve been working on such an idea. I haven’t perfected it yet, it’s still in its planning stage.” Pick up the dice. Shake it. “Nothing can be more random than the rolling of dice,” throw the dice on the table. Name the numbers that show up. Pick up the dice again and hand them to a spectator, “Check these dice out. Roll them a few times to make sure they come up random.” As he throws them a few times, call out the numbers. Depending upon what he rolls, comment on it as if was a game of craps: If he throws two ones or two sixes, say, “You would have lost. Do you know why they call this game craps? When you lose, you say, Oh crap.” If he throws a seven or eleven, say, “This time you won. But you won’t for long.” If they get anything else, say, “That’s your point. How long do you think it’ll take before you’ll make your point?” Continue with the routine, “You can throw all day and never be able to know for sure what set of numbers will be next.” “Until now. I’m going to write down the results of the next throw of the dice.” Pick up the pen and pad. Pretend to really be concentrating. Write down, The total number will be 14. Rip it off and fold it in half. Then tuck it under an ashtray for safe keeping. “Throw the dice like you would in a game of craps.” Hand the pad and pen to the spectator. “Write down the top two numbers of the dice.” Let’s say it’s a five and three. Have him total the numbers which will be eight. “Turn the dice over.” The spectator does as you ask. “Write down the numbers of that side too.” Those numbers will be the two and four. That’s because on every pair of dice, the top number and bottom number equals seven. That’s why it’s best to add the numbers separately. If you added the top number and bottom number separately on each dice, the audience will see that each total seven and the jig will be up. Have the spectator total the two and four which will be six. “Now total the two numbers together. What is the answer?” He will say fourteen of course. Have spectator take out the prediction and read it out load. It will match the numbers added on the paper. “It’s too bad we can’t do that in Vegas. We might break the bank. It looks like they won’t be building anymore casinos off of us.” 26


Nest of Boxes

Effect: The magician borrows a coin and has it marked. The magician has the spectator hold his box of secrets, (a box of Sucrets lozenges). Then the magician puts the marked coin in a piece of paper. That paper is wrapped in a second piece of paper. This is repeated with a third and finally a fourth. A spectator is asked to put a finger on top of the package of paper. The magician waves his hand making an invisible pass from the paper to the box, then from the box to the paper. The spectator removes her finger off of the paper. The magician opens up package of paper. The last one does not have the coin, but a bunch of matches. The person with the box of secrets opens it up. Inside that is a matchbox. The matchbox is opened. Instead of matches there is the missing marked coin. Props:

An empty box of Sucrets Coin slide A matchbox A bunch of matches Packets of paper A quarter Seven rubber bands A felt pen

Preparation: Before you begin to set up the trick, you need to make the coin slide. Take a piece of poster board 3 inches by 3 3/16 inch size. With an exacto knife, score the poster board as in figure 1.

1/16 “

3 3/16 “ 1“ 3“ Fig. 1 27

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 28 Cut a half circle a little bigger than the size of a quarter in the poster board about an inch and a half in. Then on the other end, cut holes as in figure 2. Then fold on the scored dotted lines. Glue it together.

1“ 4 1/16 “

11/2 “

3 3/16 “

1“ 2

1“

1“ 4

3“ Fig. 2

Trim it so it looks like figure 3. Finally, tape a paper clip to the back of it. (Figure 4).

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

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Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 29 Most versions of this trick uses a small bag and a medium size box. I don’t use the bag because with the premise of the coin changing places with the matches, it doesn’t make sense. I like the idea of the medium size box, but it doesn’t fit into the Sucrets box. Take out the matches from the box and put off to the side. Position the coin slide in the matchbox so it’s not too far in the box, but not too far away. Slip the cover over the box. Place the rubber bands crisscross over the matchbox as in figure 5. Finally, place this into a Sucrets box and wrap it up with the rubber bands as in figure 6.

Fig. 5 Fig. 6 Now, take this bunch and clip it to your right back pocket. Make sure the half circle is face up. You want to be able to put the coin through here. Put your jacket over this. Next take some construction paper or better yet, some parchment paper. If you use construction paper, use different colors. If you use the parchment paper, keep it the same. You’ll use four different size papers. Two six inch squares, two eight inch squares, two ten inches, and one twelve inches square. Fold the papers as in figure 7.

Fig. 7

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Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 30 Take the two ten inch sheets of paper and glue them back to back as in figure 8.

Fig. 8

Put the matches in the smallest bundle. Then put this bundle in the next size. Place this bundle into the third size up. Turn it around and open it up the other side. Then take the other small sheet and fold it up. Put this into the next size up and fold this. Then put this bundle into the faked sheet and fold this up. Finally, put this into the larges one. To keep it in place, put a rubber band around it. Place this entire bundle in your pocket. To finish the set-up, put a quarter into your back pocket next to where the box is. Then take the felt pen and put in your jacket pocket. This is the set-up. To perform: Before you perform the trick, take out the rubber banded packet from your pocket. Take the rubber band off of it and toss it to the side. Open up the paper until you get to the smallest bundle. Leave this on the table and start. Borrow a quarter from someone from the audience. The reason it should be a quarter for several reasons. One, quarters show up better. Second, you are going to switch the quarter for the one in your pocket. If you are worried about a spectator not having a quarter, then make sure you have a nickel, a dime, and a penny in your pocket in case this happens. Pull out the pen and hand it to the spectator you borrowed the coin from, “Please write on the face of this coin any kind of mark. It can be your initials if you want. You can put a mustache on George Washington if you are into that kind of stuff.” The mustache line gets them to put the mark on the face of the coins, which is what you want. After he does, pick up the coin in your right hand and take a quick peak at the initials and remember it. Do this with out the audience being aware of it. You hide your actions by continue with your dialogue, “This is so we can identify it later.” Pretend to put the coin in your back pocket. Actually drop it in the coin slide, “. . .if we see it again.” Put your hand to your side. Look serious, then chuckle, “I’m just kidding,” reach into your back pocket and pull out the duplicate coin. “. . .when we see it again, you’ll be able to recognize it by the markings.” Make sure the tails side is facing the audience. Look at the face and pretend to read the initials on the coin, “What does M.P. stand for? (or whatever his initials are). It’s your name. Well, M___, people ask me how magicians do their tricks.” Look around as if you don’t want anyone to hear, “It’s a secret.” Put the coin in the left hand. Make sure the tails are toward the audience. Reach into the back pocket with the right hand. Pull the box straight down and free of the slide. Bring the box forward, “I always carry my 30

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 31 box of secrets with me.” Show the box of Sucrets. This should bring a chuckle. “Will you hold my box of secrets?” Hand the box of Sucrets to the spectator who gave you the coin. The psychology here is that they are holding the box before the coin has left their sight. The switch is not suspected because they are not expecting anything to happen yet. By pretending to look at the coin, it burns in their mind that it is the same coin. They won’t suspect anything because to the audience, you just made a couple of gags to make them laugh. When later the coin disappears, they will not be able to back track. Touch the coin to the box, making sure you don’t expose the head side of the coin, “This will make the magic rub off from the box to the coin.” Place the coin in the smallest of the piece of papers. Fold it up. Pick it up with the thumb underneath and the fingers on top. Touch the box with the packet, turning your hand from the wrist so your thumb is on top, “From the coin to this paper.” (See figure 9). Turing your wrist back again making sure the thumb is back underneath. Then place this packet inside of the next size paper. Repeat this move. Once again, place this packet in the next size paper. This time when you touch the paper and turn your wrist, don’t turn the wrist back over. Keep the thumb on top. What you have done was turn the paper over to expose the other side. “From this packet of paper to this box over here.” Match your action to words. Place this packet on the last piece of paper. Fold it up. Again touch the paper to the box. This is misdirection to throw them off of the scent. Place this packet on the table. Turn to a female spectator if you can, and say, “May I have the use of your finger?” Take her finger. Touch her extended finger on the box of the Sucrets. Then put the finger on the packet of papers so it won’t unfold. Everything is all done. All there is left is the magic. Wave your hands as a real magician would. Make an invisible pass from the packet of papers to the box. Then from the box to the packet. This is the magic part. This is where they are going to watch real closely, but the secret part is over with. Ask the lady to lift her finger from the packet. Unfold the first two packets. Then hand the rest of the packets to the female and ask her to unfold it. Since the danger packet is out of her hands, it is safe for her to handle the paper. It makes you seem clean because you are not touching anything. When she gets to the last piece of paper, the audience Fig. 9 will see the match sticks. Pause to make sure everyone understands what happened. Scratch your head in puzzlement. Tell the spectator holding the Sucrets box to open it up. You don’t want to touch this either. You want to give the impression that the box was in their possession the entire time. When he opens the Sucrets box, he will see the matchbox. At this point he might understand why the matches appeared in the packet of papers. Even if he doesn’t, don’t say anything. Let him be surprised when he opens the matchbox and sees the marked coin. Some people might say something like, “How did you do that?” If they do, pick up the box of Sucrets and say, “It’s a secret.” 31


PART THREE-- Platform Magic

5. The Props ************************************************************************** To dress up a magic show, you need certain items. One of those items is the classic magician’s wand. You can buy one from a magic store, but it’s more fun to make your own. My friend John Santangelo made one for me when we were teenagers out of wood. I still have it after all of these years. To make your own, take a wooden dowel about a little more than a foot long and a half inch in diameter. Sandpaper it so it’s smooth. Wrap masking tape to the ends about an inch from the end of the stick as in figure 1.

Fig. 1 Paint the stick with black glossy enamel. When it is dry, take the tape off. Then wrap more tape around the other side and paint the ends with white enamel. After it dries, take the tape off then varnish it. It should look like figure 2.

Fig. 2 The rest of the equipment you’ll make as we go along. One other thing you’ll need is tables. I use wooden T.V. trays. The metal ones look cheep. The wooden ones look good and are easy to transport. You can keep your table bare if you prefer. I use what is known in the trade as a Close-up Mat. It looks like a large mouse pad. This keeps the props from slipping and prevents any noise when items are placed on the table. A soft spongy material will suffice. Place black felt over it. If you want, you can drape the table with a velvet table cloth with fringe. Use good taste when dressing up your tables. You don’t want too much attention drawn to them. Stores like Marshalls or T.J. Maxx have decorative tables that would be perfect for your act. They come in different sizes so choose the one that’s best for you. They don’t fold, so you would have to deal with the bulk. In choosing tables, don’t be tempted to copy the style that magicians still use. For years now, many have criticized magicians for their lack of taste in their prop selection. Even now modern wizards still use those archaic equipment. The complaint was that the original design was built in the 1890’s and have not changed. The world has changed, but magicians have not. You don’t have to be modern, just smart. Antique furniture can look classy in your act, but keep with current styles. Don’t make it look to eclectic. You’ll give the impression that you do not care. Every detail is not too small when performing. 32

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 33 Other props you will use are scarves made of silk. Magicians just call them silks. When addressing the audience, call them scarves because that’s what the rest of the world refers to them as. The type of silks are important. This is one item you might want to buy from a magic shop. It is costly, but worth it. If you choose not to go this route, be careful in your selection. I know someone that made his own. If you can sew or know someone who does, you can save a lot of money. Never use blends because they don’t fold up as well. If you are going to make your own, buy it by the bolt. The weight of the silk is important. Six momme is recommended. Anything lighter will be too fragile. Anything heavier will not fold up tightly. If you are going to use the silk as a cover, then the eight momme will be perfect. Bolt sizes comes in two width of 27 and 36 inches. You can use the 27 inch square as one large piece or economize by cutting it into squares of 15 and 12 inches. Use the scraps to make other square sizes. Or you can attach them together to form one long strip known as streamers. On the 36 inch bolt, you can cut them down to 12, 18, and 24 inch squares without having wasted silk. Make sure to sew a hem in the silk or it will unravel. You can dye the silk if you bought white. Tie dying will make it look pleasing when using them in the Plethora of Silk trick described in this book. The arrangement of the colors for such effects is important. I don’t want to go into too much detail here. Just use common sense. For producing silks from a container, a good order would be; lilac, dark blue, orange, dark purple, white, yellow, light blue, pink, emerald green, red, light green, and magenta. When loading them, start from last to first. As far as the rest of the props, use the KISS principle; Keep It Simple Stupid. You don’t want to focus too much attention on the props. I know magicians that spend thousands of dollars on props. These kind of performers hide behind their equipment. The real performer is a minimalist. He uses his personality to dress up his act. Still, the magician gets some kind of comfort in performing prestidigitation. Stand up comedienne Judy Carter started off as a magician. She said that when she first started to do straight comedy, she felt uncomfortable performing without her magic props. Little by little she weaned herself from the props until she was doing pure stand up. You don’t have to do that. You can do a combination of the two. A pleasing personality can hold an audiences attention even if you own a table full of the best magic tricks on the market or not doing magic at all. This book will help you do that. Each trick is design with the dialogue necessary to start performing as well as strong material. So lets gets started.

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6. Silk Magic ************************************************************************** Silk magic is standard in a magic show. There are a varied of things you can do with them. They can be the star of the show in production tricks or they can be a supporting player when they are used to cover something that’s going to disappear. I know so many silk tricks, but I thought it best just to include a few here. These two take time to prepare, but they are well worth it.

Showing or Blowing Everyone always thinks that everything goes up the magician’s sleeve. This trick actually does take advantage of your sleeve. This is a nice effect to use as an opener. I have used a similar version for many years. The dialogue is exactly from my repertoire.

Effect:

A silk handkerchief is taken out of the breast pocket. Within seconds, the silk vanishes right in front of the audience. In case anyone was wondering, it went right back to the pocket.

Props:

Two 12 inch square silk handkerchiefs of the same color Four strong rubber bands

The scarf you use is very important. The type magicians prefer is a thin kind of pure silk. These show up big, but fold perfectly. If you have any problems with it getting caught up your sleeve, then the silk is probably a blend.

Preparation:

Take one of the silks and put it in your breast pocket. Make sure a little bit of the corner sticks up. The device that is going up your sleeve is made by knotting the four rubber bands into a chain. This is called a pull. See figure 1. You may need more depending upon your sleeve length. I use six rubber bands. But this depends also upon size of the rubber bands. 34

Fig. 1

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 35 Tie the second silk to one end of the rubber band about three inches from the corner. See figures 2 and 3.

Fig. 2 Fig. 3

Fig. 4 Loop the other end of the rubber band pull around your belt loop on the left side of the body. See figure 4. Hold the silk at the knot between the right thumb and first finger. Then put on the coat so the rubber band pull stretches behind you and through your right sleeve. Extend your right arm out horizontally and pull the silk knot forward so the chain of rubber bands are evenly stretched and under tension.

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Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 36 Accordion pleat the silk as in figure 5. Then hold it in right hand. Make sure that one of the corners protrude so you can get to it easily as in figure 6.

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

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To perform:

“People always ask me how did I first learn to do magic. When I was a kid, I use to bug the owner of the local magic store to show me a trick. This was his favorite. He’d take out his pocket handkerchief.” With the both hands, reach over to the breast pocket. With the right hand, push the protruding silk into the pocket. At the same time pretend to pull out the palmed silk in your right hand. Use your left hand to hold back the palmed silk as you grab the corner. Pull it up and it looks like it is coming out of the pocket. Shake it up and down a few times. Be careful not to let go of the pull as of yet. Practice in front of a mirror to get the general effect. See figure 7. “I said, ‘Ew. . . that’s not the hanky you blow your nose with, is it?’” Make a face. “No, this is for showing. . .” smile. “. . . not for blowing,” pretend to look at the imaginary child. “I said, ‘Well, if it’s for showing, then show me a trick.’” “He said, ‘Alright. I’m going to make this handkerchief disappear.’ “I said, ‘Most magicians won’t tell you that ahead of time.’ “ ‘That’s because I want to you to watch very closely.’” Move the hands away from the body so as to put tension on the pull. Figure 7 shows it from the audiences view. Figure 8 shows it from your angle.

Fig. 8

Fig. 9

Make a motion as if you are going to toss it up in the air. As you do, release the silk so it can fly up your sleeve. Pretend that it is tossed up by watching the invisible flight. This is so no one sees the silk going up the sleeve. (See figure 10).

Fig. 10

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Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 38 Pause. Brush hands together. “I said, ‘Hey, where did the hanky go?’ “ ‘It went right back to the pocket.’” Go to the breast pocket and pull out the duplicate silk. Bow. Put the silk back in the pocket. Look at the audience, then continue to tuck it in. Then look at the audience again. Pause. “Pretty darn amazing.” Say this with mock seriousness. “I know darn is unusual, but hey. . . I was just a kid.” If the silk gets caught up in your sleeve, many things could be the reason. The length of the rubber bands are too long. Maybe you didn’t tie the knot up far enough on the silk. If it still gets caught up, try moving your arm farther forward. This will put more tension on the pull. Practice this a little bit to get the feel of it. Once you do, then you’ll be like an old pro.

A Plethora of Silks Many kinds of production tubes have been used to produce scarves. Some use tricked tubes to hide the scarves like The Phantom Tube. However, the amount of scarves from this is limited and only can be increased if a switch is made. This method doesn’t use such a switch. Clever misdirection is applied so you can produce a bunch of silks from an empty tube. To put meaning to the trick, two other effects are added to reach what I hope is a logical conclusion to this colorful trick. Effect: Two tubes used to hold a bottle of wine sets on the table. The inner one is shown empty. To demonstrate that the larger one is empty, the smaller one is dropped inside of it. This larger one is also shown empty. The large tube is placed around the smaller tube. The magician waves his wand over the tube and produces a plethora of colorful silk scarves. From the scarves, a glass of wine is produced. Then the tubes are placed over the glass and a bottle from the same label that is on the tube is produced. This is a great finale to your act. Music can be added to make you seem like a season veteran.

Props:

One hollowed out wine bottle Three tubes of descending sizes A bunch of different colored silks A glass of wine A chair

Preparation: After emptying a bottle of wine, carefully cutout the bottom of it. It is best to take it to an expert who knows how to do this. A craft store can direct you on the best way to go about this. Caution; you don’t want to cut yourself, so make sure that the bottom of the bottle is well sanded with no jagged edges. Another way to get a bottomless bottle is to use a plastic one. There are some alcoholic beverages that now come in plastic. Rum bottles come this way. You can cut the bottom then paint the inside with brown paint to look like rum. This will be very deceptive because it looks like a full bottle. Tubes can be of any sort, but the best is one with a label that the alcohol came in. This will make it logical when you produce the bottle at the end. If you can’t find one, steam the label off of a bottle and glue it on a tube. The smallest tube will not be seen, so it should not be decorated. Also, this small tube should be slightly shorter that the other two. This is so you can grip the middle tube while doing the routine. Figure 1 shows the three tubes and the bottle. 38


Fig. 1 Place this bottle in the smallest tube as in figure 2. Around the bottle place the silks one by one as shown in figure 3.

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

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Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 40 Use as many silk scarves as can fit. Arrange the colors in the most pleasing order possible. Reverse the order that was given on page 39 starting with the color magenta then light green and so on ending with lilac. Put in the magenta silk and have the corner stick up. Take the light green silk and twist it around the first one as in figure 4.

Fig. 4

Tuck this in the tube until the second corner is sticking out. Twist this around the third silk like you did the first. Repeat this until you have four silks left. One of the four should be a white silk, much smaller than the rest. This will be used as comedy, so that’s why the order is important. Twist this one around the corner sticking up. Then repeat this with the rest of the silks. Take the middle size tube and cover it over the small tube. See figure 5. Finally, take the largest tube and cover over the other two. (See figure 6.) Next thing you need to prepare is the

production of the glass of wine. Pour water in the glass halfway so as not to spill the contents. Then use a small amount of red food coloring to tint the water. This will look like wine as in figure 7. If you are using a rum bottle, don’t use the wine glass. Instead, use a regular glass and fill it halfway with ice tea.

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

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Fig. 7

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 41 Sew buttons loops on each corner of the silk. See figure 8. Place the glass halfway on the center of the scarf. Collect the corners of the scarf as in figure 9.

Fig. 8

Fig. 9

Then hang it on the nail in back of the chair as in figure 10.

Fig. 10 41

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 42 To perform: Being that this is your finale, do it to music. The music should be anything contemporary, but it has to fit your actions. The beat of the music should coordinate with the following movements. It’s best to have music that starts off slow, then gets faster and louder. As the music gets faster, you move faster. Herb Albert’s Zorba the Greek is perfect for this even though it’s not contemporary. Pick up the middle tube and show it empty. Because the inner smaller tube is shorter, this would be easy. Push your arm through it to further prove that it is empty as in figure 11.

Fig. 11

the audience. Stop and look at this. You should have four large colored silks in the right hand, and the one small white silk in left. Look confused. Put the silks that’s in your right hand over the chair so it hangs over the load as in figure 12. Then show on your face that the white silk looks familiar. Pretend to blow your nose into it. Fold it up like you would a handkerchief and put it in your back pocket. Collect the scarves from behind the chair. Secretly grab the loaded one. Make sure it’s well hidden behind the other four. Now continue to pull out scarves from the tube with your left hand and place it in the right hand. Pick up the pace. You can do this by pulling one out with the left hand and place it to the right. Then pull one, two with the left hand before transferring it to the right. Then one, two, three. You can even get the audience involved by having them clap every time a silk is produced. If you pick up the pace, it will get the audience clapping. 42

Slide this tube inside of the larger tube. Then pull out the large tube leaving the middle one behind. For some reason, this gives the impression that the large tube is empty. If there was something inside of the large tube, the middle tube would not be able to fit. This should have one flowing motion. Not too fast, but not too slow. Show this tube to be empty. Put it back over the two inner tubes. Pick up your wand and wave it over the tube, then tap it. Set the wand down. With your right hand, pull out the first silk from the tube. Because you twisted the ends together, each one will pop up like a Kleenex box. Still holding the silk in your right hand, reach in with your left hand and produce the next silk. Put this into your right hand. Then pull out the third silk with your left hand. Repeat with the fourth one. When you get to the fifth one, it is just a plain white hanky. The smaller size should get a laugh from

Fig. 12

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 43 Now to make the glass appear, slip your left hand under the load to support the glass. Then let go of the silk with your right hand so all of them will fall over your left hand revealing the glass. (In figure 13, the silks have been removed for clarity. In reality, you’ll have the produced silks on the palm of your hand). Take the glass in your right hand and take a sip if you want. Put the silks down on your table. Place the glass back on your palm as in figure 13. Finally, with your right hand, reach into the top of the tube with your fingers. Stick your middle finger into the bottle. With your thumb on the outside of the tube grip all of this together. Cover the glass with the tube as in figure 14. Look at the label on the tube. Look at the audience, then the label again. Wave your right hand over the top. Pause. Then lift up all three tubes revealing the bottle, (see figure 15) making sure the music strikes a cord on the production. The music should be ending as you take your bow.

Fig. 14

Fig. 13

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Fig. 15


7. Magic of the Mind **************************************************************************

Are You a Square? Mind reading effects are always good to insert in any magic show. The impossibility of it boosts your credibility as a master mystifier. The following trick is a great way of creating that aura of mystique. You appear to do nothing more than just walk up to someone and read their mind. Effect: The magician walks up to a spectator in the audience and asks them to choose a geometrical figure; a square, a circle, or a triangle. After they say their chose out loud, the magician shows a prediction that proves that he knew ahead of time that he can read minds.

Props:

Two 8 x 4 inch cardboard One manila envelope

Preparation: Before the show, write the words, “You will choose the square” in big bold letters on a piece of cardboard. Tape this below a spectator’s chair. Then take a manila envelope and draw three geometrical shapes; square, circle, and triangle. On the back of it print in big bold letters, “You will choose the circle.” Finally, on another cardboard a little smaller than the envelope, print the words, “You will choose the triangle.” Put this in the envelope. Make sure the blank side is towards the face and you are all set. To perform: Pick up the envelope and make sure you do not show the back of it. Walk over to the spectator that is sitting at the prepared chair. “Excuse me, would you stand up? I know nothing about this person, is that correct?” If she shakes her head say, “Well, don’t look so happy about it. What’s you’re name?” After she gives it, say, “That’s absolutely correct.” This should get a laugh. “Usually when normal people meet they ask each other silly questions like that. But as you can tell, I’m not a normal person.” Look at her, “You don’t have to agree. I am psycho. . . I mean, psychic. “Being psychic, I am going to ask you an unusual question.” Hold envelope so they see the markings on the front, “Think of a shape. Are you thinking of a shape, or are you thinking of ways to sit down? Go ahead and name it.” If they say square, and most people do, then say, “I knew that because I’m--” if you pause, the audience may join with you, “--psycho yeah. Thanks for reminding me. No really, if you look under your chair that you’ve been sitting on for the entire night, you will see a prediction that I placed there before the show. Go ahead and look at it.” She turns it over. Have her take it off. Make sure you don’t touch it because you want to give the impression that you never came near it. Then have her show it to the audience. 44

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 45 If she chooses circle, then change the outcome. This is known as the magicians force. Depending upon their answer, you control how it is revealed. That’s because you never said ahead of time what you are going to do. Continue with the dialogue. Then say, “That’s because I took the precaution of writing your choice on back of this envelope.” Turn it around and show the prediction. If they chose the triangle, make sure you don’t show the back of the envelope. Open it up and pull out the card. Toss the face up envelope on your table and turn the card around and show the prediction. Continue with the dialogue but switch the shape to triangle. Take your bow with the spectator. “I told you I wasn’t normal.” Hand the card to her and let her sit down. Note: Below are the three selections in bold type. Photocopy them and cut it as the prediction.

YOU WILL CHOOSE THE SQUARE YOU WILL CHOOSE THE CIRCLE YOU WILL CHOOSE THE TRIANGLE 45


Book Test

Effect: Three books are shown. An audience member is given a free chose of any of the three. Before the spectator reveals her chose, a prediction is written down on a business card. Then after the title is revealed, a page number is chosen. The prediction is written on another business card. A blank business card is inserted somewhere in the center of the book. It is opened up and the page number is announced. Finally, the spectator is asked to look at a word on the chosen page. This is also written down. Then the word is revealed. The three predictions are revealed to match exactly.

Props:

A stack of business cards Three books A marking pen

Preparation: The chose of books you use for this trick is immaterial. However, you probably want one with out any pictures. A novel of some sort with a short title will suffice like Misery or Contact. Take off the dust jackets. This is so the audience won’t be able to tell if the book is right side up or upside down. Insert a business card in one book somewhere near the center. Look at the first word on the page of the right hand side. Make sure it is not a small word like a, but, and, the, or it for example. Choose a nice action word that is not too difficult to read. This will be your force word. Do the same with the other books. You have to search to find the same word near the same position. It doesn’t matter if the page number is different, as long as the same word is in the upper left hand corner of the right hand page. Remember the page numbers to each book. Set them on the table in a row as in figure 1.

Fig. 1 Have a stack of business cards on your table. A marking pen to make the prediction should be next to the cards.

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Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 47 To perform: “Bookstores for years have tried to figure out what books will sell and which won’t. If they hired a mentalist, the bookstores would know before the readers do.” Turn to a spectator, “Do you like to read?” If he says yes, say, “Imagine that the bookstores knew what book you wanted to buy.” Pick up each book making sure not to show the cards sticking out from rear and read off the titles of the three books. “For instance, Contact by Carl Sagan”, and so on. “If they used a mentalist consultant, this is how it would work. Think of any book of the three I have here. But do not say it out load.” Read out the titles again. Pick up the stack of business cards and the pen. “Me being the mentalist consultant, I will know which book you will choose.” Write a prediction on one of the business cards, using the stack as a writing surface. In reality, you write the force word on it. Put this off to the side in plain sight. This is called one ahead. “Now say which book you want.” Whatever book she chooses, pick it up. “I also can tell what page number you will go to.” Make sure the business card that is sticking out is facing you. Cover this with your right hand. See figure 2. With your left hand, give him the business cards. “Insert one of the business cards at random somewhere near the center.” See figure 3. After he does, you must now make the switch. This is what you do.

Fig. 3

Fig. 2

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Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 48 “To be able to write down the prediction of the page number. . .” Turn the book sideways with the left hand covering the business card the spectator has inserted, while still holding the other in end in your right hand as in figure 4. This is an above angle.

Fig. 4

“. . . I need the business cards please.” Let go of your grip on the right hand and gesture with it. See figure 5.

Fig. 5

As she gives you the stack, push in the business card flush into the book with the heal of the left hand as in figure 6.

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Fig. 6

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 49 Now pretend to write the prediction of the page number, but instead, write the title of the book. This is why it is good to have a short title so you are not writing so much. After all you are supposed to being writing the page number. Put this prediction off of to the side. “Finally, the mentalist consultant needs to know what the customer is reading.” Pretend to write a word on the business card, “I will write down a selected word from this book.” Instead, write down the page number. You know which page number it is by which book they choose. Each will be different. Let’s say it’s page 121. Write down on the card you will choose page number 121.. Add this to the prediction cards. Place the other business cards off to the side and the pen. Open up the book at the business card. You do this for her because you don’t want her to accidentally find the duplicate business card. Boldly point to the page number on the right and have her announce the page number. Give the book to her. “Read the first word on the top of page number 121.” Pick up the prediction cards. They will not be in the correct order because of the one ahead system. Don’t worry about it. Fan out the cards so you are the only one seeing them. Have the spectator call out each prediction one at a time. First the name of the book. Pull out the correct prediction and show it to the audience. Then the page number. Pull that out and show it. Then there is only one card left. Build up the moment. The spectator names the word he only thought about. Show prediction. “So the next time you go to the store to buy a book, remember, the bookseller already knows your purchase.” Take your bow.

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8. Rope Routines ************************************************************************** The kind of rope is important. A soft sash is recommended. Do not use hemp. I like nylon. The important factor is if you are going to use the rope for the Cut and Restored Rope trick, the cutting must be done with no effort. Sharp scissors are important. There is nothing more frustrating than performing the Cut and Restored Rope trick and you can’t cut the rope because the scissors are dull. Make sure they are sharp by bringing your own. Don’t borrow anyone’s scissors. Some people like to use white macramé that seems like rope. It’s easier to cut, but the draw back is that it looks like macramé. Some magicians like to pull out the inner core of the rope to make it easier to cut. But, then that will make the rope look flat. Instead, just take out some of the insides and leave just the cotton filler.

Stretching a Rope Effect: The magician says he wanted to do a trick with the rope, but the one he has in his hand is too small. So he pulls on it until it stretches. And stretches, and stretches, until the rope gets longer and longer. Unfortunately, it grows too large. The magician remedy’s that by cutting off a piece of rope and starts the rope routines.

Props: Three yards of rope Another rope about twenty-four inches long White plastic tape

Preparation: Take the three yards of rope and cut about twenty-four inches from it. Then carefully tape it to the end of the long rope. See figure 1.

Fig. 1

50

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 51 The reason you tape it is if you cut it for every performance, the rope will become shorter. This won’t be a problem until you’ve use up a good chunk of it. Taping it keeps it the same size every time. Just use a new rope for the cut and restore rope trick. Double the three yards of rope so the two ends are together. Take off your suit jacket. Grasp the two ends with your left hand. Now put the jacket on. Pull the rope through the sleeves. See figure 2. Make sure any excess goes down your back as in figure 3.

Fig. 2

However, you don’t want any to hang below your jacket. If it does, stick some of this excess in your back pocket. If you are going to use this as your opener, then just walk out with the rope as in figure 3. However, even though I have used this to open my show before, I don’t think it is a good trick to start your show with. Tuck the ends of the rope into your sleeve as in figure 4.

Fig. 3

To perform: With both hands, reach into the container that you use to hold your props. Pull the rope ends out of your sleeve and quickly place it like figure 5. Then take it out of the container. Look at the rope. Scratch your head in confusion. With your right hand, look into your container again. Sigh, “I wanted to do a rope trick for you, but this is all I have left. It is way too short. Don’t you hate when that happens.” Start to put it back. Snap your fingers, “I forgot, I’m a magician.” Hit your forehead with the palm of your right hand. “I can make this as big as I like.” With your right hand, grab the rope as in figure 6.

Fig. 4

51


Fig. 5

Fig. 6

To the audience, the following move will look like you stretched the rope by pulling it up with the right hand. However, it’s important that you pull down on the rope with the left hand. The illusion of the stretching is greatly affected on how you pull the ropes. The manner you do this can influence the way the audience sees it. If you keep your left arm still and pull the rope with the right hand, it will look exactly like what you are doing; pulling a rope from your sleeve. However, if you keep the right hand still and move the left arm, it will look like it’s stretching; which is what we want. At first, just stretch it a little bit in the vertical position until you get about six inches of rope. See figure 7. Stop and look at it. “Nah. . . not long enough.” Stretch it again slowly. Feel it stretching. Look at the audience again. You are just as amazed as they are. Now smile at them. “This is not witchcraft or sorcery. Nor even nimble fingers. This is hocus pocus indeed.” Turn your hand horizontal as in figure 2. Stretch again by pulling the rope with the left hand. Once you get about a yard, bring the hands together and make a loop by twisting the rope. See figure 8. Then move your left arm and stretch the rope again. Now quicken the pace. Repeat this until you run out of rope. Stop. Don’t pull the rope out of the left hand. Put this into your right hand. Take a deep breath. Look at all of the rope you produced. “Unfortunately, I made it too big. I don’t need magic to solve this problem.” Pick up the scissors and cut it at the tape end.

Fig. 8 Fig. 7

52


Threading the Needle

This is good for a nice quick effect leading to another rope trick.

Effect: The magician wraps a rope around his thumb forming a loop. The loop represents an eye of a sewing needle. The magician picks up the other end of the rope and thrusts it forward. Even though he didn’t come anywhere near the loop, it still threads just like it went through the eye of a needle.

Props:

One rope approximately 24 inches

To perform: “Old magicians never die, they just disappear. But they still have trouble threading their needles when they need to sew their magic props.” Wrap the rope around the thumb like in figure 1. Then wrap it two more times as in figure 2.

Fig. 1 Fig. 2

A

B

53

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 54 Make a loop with the B end of the rope. Put in the crotch of the thumb. See figure 3 and 4. Let the loop protrude.

Fig. 3 Fig. 4 A

A B

B

“Being magicians, all they have to do is hold the thread a few inches away. . .” Take end A. See figure 5. Point it toward the loop.

Fig. 5

A

B

54

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 55 Move it back and forth a few times as if you are going to thread it. Squint your eye as if your are threading a needle. Then move this end forward passing the loop. Pull hard on it and let it come off the thumb. See figures 6 and 7. “. . . and eureka, it’s threaded.” It will appear as if it was threaded. “Handy stuff magic is.”

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

If you look closely, you’ll notice that there is one less loop around your thumb. If I didn’t bring it up, you’d never have seen it. The audience won’t either.

A

A

B

B

The Magical Shoelace Effect: The magician ties a bow similar to one tied on a shoe. He accidentally slips the laces through the loop. When he pulls on it, he ends up with a knot. Just like on a real pair of shoes. Waving his hands over it, he causes the knot to disappear.

Props:

Same piece of rope from the previous trick

To perform: “When I was a kid, I always had trouble untying my shoes.” Hold the rope over your left hand with the ends hanging down. With the right hand, reach behind the right end of the rope. Grip the right thumb in front. See figures 1 and 2.

55


Fig. 1 Fig. 2

Lift the rope up until the right hand is parallel with the left hand. See figures 3 .

A B

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

The right index and middle finger grips the rope at point A as in figure 4. The left index and middle fingers grip the rope at point B.

56

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 57 Pull through until you have a bow. See figure 5.

Fig. 5 “I do everything alright up to this point, but what I always did was accidentally pull the laces through the bow before pulling the ends. Don’t laugh! How many of you have done this?” Put your left thumb and index through the loop on the left bow as in figure 6. Grab the rope that is in front and pull through as in Fig. 7.

Fig. 7

Fig. 6

Do the same with the right loop so you end up in the position as in figure 8. Then pull through until you get a knot as in figure 9. Pause here because you don’t want to pull all the way as of yet or the knot will fade away at the wrong time. Show frustration, “To be honest, I still have this problem. But ever since I became a magician, all I have to do to remove the knot is take the k out of knot. . .” now pull on the ends, “. . . and the knot is not there.”

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

57


Cut and Restored Rope You can do these tricks before the Cut and Restored Rope as a good follow up to a series of rope routines. There are numerous methods to do this classic, but one version is done more frequently than others. That’s the one I’m going to show you. Of course, I will show you a routine to perform with it. Note: If you do this in the same program as Showing or Blowing, you can change the opening line of this to: “I went back to the guy at the local magic store, ‘I saw a magician…’” Continue with the dialogue. . Effect: “I went to the local magic shop and I approached the guy behind the counter, ‘I saw a magician on TV take a rope. . .’ ” The performer brings the middle of the rope up and forms a loop. “ ‘. . . he cuts the rope. . . and restores it.’ ” The performer does exactly that. “ ‘Do you have that trick?’ He said, ‘I know the trick you’re talking about. I saw the same show. The magician took a piece of rope. . .’ ” Once again the performer brings up the middle of the rope, “ ‘. . . then he cut’s the rope in half. . . and restores it.’ ” The performer waves his hands over the severed rope and restores it. “I told him that was the one, but he said he didn’t carry it. I asked him why not and he said, ‘Because it doesn’t make sense. If you take a rope. . .’ ” The performer once again brings up the center of the rope, “ ‘. . . cut it. . . there should be only one way to make it one piece.’ ” The performer ties the rope in a knot. “ ‘No,’ I said to him, “The magician restored the rope. I think if I see that magician that I saw on TV, I’ll ask him to do it.’ And I did. He took the rope and pulled on it and. . .” The knot pops off, “. . . he restores it. The moral of the story is: If you want something done right, go to the source.”

Props:

Rope around twenty-four inches A pair of scissors

To perform: “I went to the local magic shop and I approached the guy behind the counter, ‘I saw this magician on TV take a rope.’ ” Show rope as in figure 1. Bring up the middle of the rope and clip the right hand piece marked with the arrow as in figure 2. As you do, the right hand is going to grab the rope as in figure 3.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

58

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 59 Put this loop next to the ends in the left hand and clip it in the thumb and index finger as in figure 4.

Fig. 3 Fig. 4

The illusion is that you brought the middle up, but in reality you looped one of the ends. The move is easy. If you just clip the end as described, you don’t have to analyze it to figure this out. Just do it and it will work. Just think you are bringing up the middle and it will show to the audience that way. Most magicians just cut the rope at this point. But, if you do, then you will have the ends being uneven. This is not a big deal, but think about it. If you are going to bring up the middle and cut it, won’t it make sense to have two ropes the same size? It may be nit picking, but I don’t want to arouse the audiences suspicion if I don’t have to. So, fix this little discrepancy before you cut the rope. To do this, just pull on the bottom loop where the arrow is in figure 4 and it will even it up like in figure 5. This is my little contribution to this classic. Continue with the routine, “ ‘. . . he cuts the rope. . .’ ” Pick up the scissors from the table. Cut the rope at the loop (C and D) as in figures 5 & 6.

AB C D

A

Fig. 6

Fig. 5

59

B CD

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 60 Let go of the ends marked A and D. Hold the rope in the left hand. Make sure that you cover the section that is looped around. See figure 7. To the audience it looks like two pieces of rope, but to you it’s a short piece looped around a long piece as in figure 8. B C

Fig. 7

and 10.

Fig. 8

D A Take end D in right hand and grab end C. Hold these two ends as if they are stuck together. See figures 9

C

Pinch Joined Pieces

D

Fig. 9

Fig. 10

60


Pinch Joined Pieces

Fig. 11

With the right hand, pinch the ends together as in figure 11. Still pinching the ends with the right hand, let go of the ends A and B with the left hand. Let go of the ends A and B. Grab the rope by the middle with the left hand and run your hand to the other end so it is horizontal. This displays the ropes. See figure 11. You should be holding the short piece with the left fingers. The right hand should look like the left hand.

Joined Pieces

Fig. 12

61

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 62 Continue with the routine, “ ‘Do you have that trick?’ He said, ‘I know the trick you’re talking about. I too saw the same show. The magician took a rope. . .’ ” With the left hand bunch up the short piece while still holding on to this end. With the right hand, let go of its end and let it hang as in figure 13. Grab it in the middle as in figures 14 and 15.

Fig. 13

Fig. 15 Fig. 14

62

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 63 Then pull through the real middle. Hide the short piece in the left hand by clipping it to the thumb. See figures 16 and 17. Grip the ends in the crotch of the right thumb (as in figure 17) while still holding the scissors. Scissors have been omitted for clearity. Put the scissors in your pocket leaving this secret piece behind. “ ‘. . . and restores it.’ ” Wave your hand over the rope. Show it has restored in the same manner as before as in figure 11 except you are not concealing any extra ropes. This is for misdirection purposes. To hide one move, you repeat it when there is nothing to hide. Other times vice versa.

Fig. 17

Fig. 16

Fig. 18

Continue with the dialogue, “I told him that was the one, but he said he didn’t carry it. I asked him why not. He said, ‘Because it doesn’t make sense. If you take a rope. . .’ ” Point your right index finger near the top of the rope and slide down until you get to the center as in figure 18. Place your right finger and thumb together like pinchers. Place it under the middle of the rope. Grab the middle part of the rope where the arrow is pointed. See figure 19. Then rest the index finger against the rope and raise your hand and pinch rope higher up about a quarter of the way up as in figure 20. This will put you back in the same position as in figure 4 except you don’t have both ends up this time. Just as before, even it up the ropes. However, this time pull the rope until it is half way down as in figures 21 and 22. A CD

Fig. 19

Fig. 20 Fig. 22 Fig. 21

63

B

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 64 Continue with the dialogue, “ ‘. . . cut it. . .’ ” Take the scissors from the pocket and cut at the loop and drop the ends. You will be in the same position as in figure 8. Put the scissors away. “ ‘. . . there is only one way to make it whole.’ ” Take the short piece from the front as in figure 23. Wrap it around the loop and tie a knot as in figure 24.

Fig. 23

Fig. 24

Drop one end of the rope and show the knot in the middle. See figure 25. Continue, “ ‘No,’ I said to him, ‘He restored the rope. I think if I see that magician on TV, I’ll ask him how to do it.’ “And I did. The magician on TV took the rope. . .” hold the rope horizontally as in figure 26. , “. . . pulled on it and. . .” pull the rope. Because of the way the knot is tied, it will fall off as in figure 27. Show rope restored, “. . . he restored the rope. The moral of the story is: If you want something done right, go to the source.”

Fig. 25

Fig. 26

Fig. 27 64


The Coat Release Trick

This trick has been done for years in one form or another. One version called Grandmothers Necklace was even in the first magic book called Discoveries of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot. A more up-to-date version is called The Cords of Phantasia by Ottokar Fischer. It is a beautiful routine using silks and a fan. Grandmothers Necklace utilizes a secret thread attached to the string. This is a good method. However, all of the other routines based on the Cords of Phantasia, suffer one fatal flaw. The stick in which the cords are tied around have to be released first before the magic happens. The flaws are always covered up in explanation. For instance, if the stick is a wand, then it is needed to so it can be waved over the ropes. This is weak. It would be more impressive if you can just tie up the items to be released, pull on the ropes, and have them magically free itself. This version does that. It comes from the book Magic Digest by George B. Anderson. Effect: A coat is borrowed from a member of the audience. Two ropes are tied to a coat hanger. Then the two ends are placed through the coat. Each end is held by members of the audience. They are asked to tie the rope into a knot. On the count of three, they are asked to pull on the ropes. Then the magician walks away from the ropes still holding on to the jacket. The spectators are left holding the two ropes.

Props:

Two pieces of rope about five to six feet long A wooden coat hanger

The coat hanger should be the type that has a wooden cross-bar and wire between to hang the pants on. The wooden cross-bar swings free at one end and can be slipped back on. See figures 1 and 2.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Preparations: There are no preparations. Just set the props and go into the routine. To perform: Go to a spectator from the audience and ask him to volunteer. Then have him choose a spectator with a suit jacket or coat. Ask the spectator to take it off. Have them come up on stage. If you can’t find someone with a coat, use you own. “Some times a person will go to any length to make sure that no one steals his coat.” Look at spectator, “I guess it’s too late for you.”

65

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 66 Take the hanger and open it up. Then slip the ropes between the bar and wire and close it as in figure 3. Make sure the four ends are even. Tie a single knot with the four ends. A single knot is half of a square knot. See figure 4. Hang the coat on the hanger. Ask each volunteer to thread the ropes through the sleeves as in figure 5. Then have them hold onto each of the ends as in figure 6.

Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5

Fig. 6

66


Fig. 7 Tell them to hold the ropes firmly, but loose. As you are doing this, reach inside of the coat and unhook the wooden cross-bar. Slip the ropes off of it. Then re-clip it. Now tell the spectators to pull gently but firmly on the ropes. “But no matter how much you try, it seems that you cannot stop a thief when he has his mind made up.” Walk away from the ropes as they release and the spectators are left holding the ropes See figure 8. “Thank you so much.” Look at spectator, “I suppose you want your coat back? The moral of the story is crime does not pay.”

Fig. 8 67


9. Tricks from the Orient

When everyone thinks of magic, they always think of the Far East, especially the Indian Fakir’s and their marvels. I’m not going to teach you how to charm snakes, but I will show you a few of classic tricks from the Orient.

The Cups and Balls The Cups and Balls is the oldest trick in magic. As stated in the introduction, pictures of this trick are on caves. Magicians from East India would sit crossed legged and do this with wooden cups. At the end, they would produce baby chicks. This trick made its way to the West. Art work about five hundred years old that show strolling magicians, always show him performing this classic. There are many versions of this. Some can be complicated and difficult to do. Sometimes the simplest method is the best. This is the first version I learned. It’s easy to do and looks great. Effect: The magician takes out three cups and dumps out three balls from it. He places the cups in a row on the table. The magician places a ball on the center cup. The other two are placed on top of it. The magician taps his wand on the cups and lifts them up. The ball magically penetrates it. This is repeated with the other two. Finally, the magician takes an invisible ball and places it on the center cup and stacks the others on top of it. When the cups are lifted, a fourth ball is produced.

Props:

Three Styrofoam or plastic cups Four small balls A wand

Preparation: Any set of disposable cups will do as long as they have a recessed bottom. Dixie has a nice set that are large and show up nice on stage. The balls can be anything that is soft, but has some weight to it. This trick depends on gravity so you don’t want anything that will be too light. Go to a craft shop. They have plenty of selections of these kind of things. They must be squishy so when the cups are stacked, Fig. 1 the balls will squash. In a pinch, you can take a paper napkin and rip up four pieces and roll them up into balls. To set up, put the ball between the first and second cup so it is hidden.

A

B 68

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 69 To practice, set up the cups as in above. Grip the bottom cup with the right hand as in figure 2. As you can see, the right hand is twisted. As you take the cup off of the stack, you are going to untwist your wrist and turn the cup over and place it on the table. You do this in one motion as you turn the hand over in an arch and place it on the table. See figures 3 and 4.

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Grip the second cup now on the bottom the same way. The ball is in this cup. This time when you turn it over, the ball will ride along. Gravity keeps the ball in the cup for a split second as you place it down. Do this in a lazy motion. Don’t rush it. Practice doing it real slow, letting the ball fall. Then do it a bit faster. Keep doing this until you find the right tempo. It’s this even rhythm you want. This is the basic Cup and Ball method. Repeat this with the other cup. Once you’ve practice this, set up the cups for the routine. Put the ball back between the first and second cup so it is hidden. To complete the set-up, put the three remaining balls in the top cup. You can put it in a black cloth bag like the pros do or to make it seem spontaneous, you can put the Dixie cups into the plastic bag is came in. Then open it up and take out three cups. Place the three balls in the top face up cup. Then pour the balls out and do the penetration portion. To perform: “This is the oldest trick in magic.With the left hand, take out the cups from the bag, making sure you keep the same order. “It involves three cups. . .” hold the cups in the left hand making sure to keep a grip on the three cups. Continue with the dialogue, “. . . three balls,...” still holding all three cups, dump the three balls on the table. “...and a wand.” Take out your wand and place it on the table. With the cups still in your left hand, tilt the cups so the mouth is facing the audience as in figure 5. Then do the Cups and Balls move and put it on the table as in figure 6 and 7. Each time you take a cup, briefly show the inside of the stack cups. For some odd reason, the audience thinks you are showing each cup empty. In reality, you are just showing the inside of the same cup.

Fig. 7

Fig. 5 Fig. 6 69

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 70 Lay the cups in a row. A ball should be inside the center cup. See figure 8. Place one of the balls on the middle cup as in figure 9. “The first ball is just for fun...”

Fig. 8

Fig. 9

Stack the outer cups over the center one with the ball on top as in figure 10. Tap the cups with the wand. With the right hand pick up the stack of cups and show the ball has penetrated. Transfer the cups to the left hand. Repeat the cups and balls move to place the cups on the table. When you get to the center cup, cover the ball that was just produced. Now you should have the cups in a row with two balls in the center cup. Place the second ball on top of the middle cup. “. . . ball number two is just for you...” Stack the two end cups on the middle one. Tap it with the wand and reveal the two balls. Repeat this with the last ball. “. . . ball number three. . .” point to yourself, “... is just for me.” After you produce the last one, do the cups and balls move again covering the three balls. Look around, “...the fourth ball is... oops... there is no more balls left.” Put hand on chin and think. Then look up as if you have an idea. Look out towards the audience and reach out as if you grabbing something. Pretend to take an invisible ball from the air. “Do you see the it? Of course not, it’s invisible.” Pantomime placing it on the center cup as before. Stack the cups and tap it with the wand. Lift up the cups and show the four balls. Unstack the cups and place then on the table as in figure 11. “The oldest trick in magic... the cups and balls.” Spread your arms showing the cups. If the spectators want to examine the cups, let them.

Fig. 11 70

Fig. 10


Tricks with Rice Rice is a very popular theme in Oriental magic for obvious reasons. There is so much of it there. The symbol is very important to those in this region. To have a bountiful supply is important to them, that’s why the most famous trick is that of the Chinese Rice Bowls. My first magic kit had the Rice Bowls in it. I love this trick and own several different versions of it. However, none is better than the basic concept that is submitted here.

The Indian Rice Mystery Effect: The magician explains that he will "hypnotize" a red ball so it will do what he asks it to. After hypnotizing the ball, it is dropped into the jar. A bag of rice is poured into the empty jar until it covers the ball. He waves the dagger over the jar like a wand and commands the ball to rise to the top of the rice. Within moments, the ball mysteriously appears as it comes forth to the top of the rice. The ball is taken from the jar. The knife is plunged into the rice. The handle is lifted and the knife clings to the blade. It is suspended without visible means of support. When the knife is removed, a spectator is asked to do the same thing, but fails.

Props:

A jar A knife A bag of rice A rubber ball

Preparation: Make sure that the jar you choose is the type with the top that turns inwards. This jar should be narrower at the top than at the bottom as in figure 1. For the trick to work, the opening must not be more than three to four inches. The smaller the better. The knife can be any kind even a table knife, but it must have a point. If the blade is wide on the bottom, it won’t work. Whatever you choose, the more impressive looking the knife the better. If you can get one with a handle with a hole in it, you can tie a rope or sash to it to make it look East Indian. See figure 2. Use a rubber ball from a set of jacks.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

71

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 72 Next, get a spool of black silk thread. Thread it on a needle and tie a knot on the end. Pierce it through the ball. Pull the thread through until you get to the knot. Then tie a knot on the other end. Now the thread is locked onto the ball. The string should be double the length of jar. Put a small button or bead halfway. Then put another bead on the end of the string. To perform: Pick up the ball and the string in your hand but only show the ball. Say you are going to hypnotize it. Stare at it and pretend to hypnotize it. Drop it into the jar. Make sure the button hangs over the edge of the jar. See figure 3. Pick up the bag of rice and pour it through your fingers to show that it is normal. Don’t say so. Never ever use the words ordinary when performing. It reminds them that there is a possibility that it might not be. Hold the jar as in figure 4 so the bead or button does not fall in the jar.

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Pour the rice from the bag into the jar until it covers the ball. Continue pouring until you have about a couple of inches to the top. Clip the bead between you finger tips and pull on the string just a little bit to get the ball free from the rice. Then re-grip the jar so it is on the palm of the left hand. Make sure your thumb is above the second bead as in figure 5. Take the dagger and wave it over the jar. Command the ball to rise to the top of the rice. “The grains will part like the oceans did for Moses.” Pull down on the bead and the ball will rise bursting through the top. See figure 6. Pause so the audience can grasp what just occurred. Take off the ball from the jar and place it off to the side. Take the bag of rice and fill the top of the jar so it overflows. Make sure to pour more rice than it’s needed. Rap the bottom of the jar sharply against the table a few times. It seems like you are just getting rid of the surplus rice, but in reality you are packing it tight in the jar. Brush off any rice that may be above the lip of the jar.

72


Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Pick up the knife, “Now the sea will become hard as cement.” Jab the knife into the rice a few times. This looks like you are just finding the right spot, but what you are really doing is packing the rice even harder. You may need more rice, so pour more in. Plunge the knife again a few times. The last plunge should feel tight. Push it a little, but not all of the way. You don’t want it to stick yet. When the rice is firm enough, grip the knife tightly and pause. Then plunge it into the rice about three quarters down. See figure 7. Pause for affect. Then push down until you hear a crunching sound. The knife now should be wedged into the rice. This takes practice to get the right feel. Now pick up the handle of the knife and the jar will come with it. You can even swing gently on the sash. See figure 8. Catch the jar in your palm of your hand.

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

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Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 74 Grip the bottom firmly. Give the blade a slight back and forth twisting motion. The knife will come free, but most important, it will unpack the rice. Now you can give the knife to a spectator to give it a try, but the blade won’t stick for him. This is a trick that you need to do several times to get it right. With experience, you’ll find out that the more the rice that is packed into the jar, the more likely it will stick to the knife. You will not get this the first few times you try it. If you have trouble, then the jar or the knife is not right. Remember, once you plunge down, don’t go all of the way. Then push it in until you hit the bottom. You can feel the resistance when you do it this way. You’ll surprise yourself when it works. Once you get the feel, you have a trick that was done by the ancient Hindu fakirs.

Rice Bowls This trick is known as the Chinese Rice Bowls, but it actually has its origins in India. It is a good trick by itself or with the Indian Rice Mystery. Effect: Two ceramic bowls are face down on the table. One is picked up and rice is poured into it. This is covered by the other bowl. They are turned over three times for good luck. When lifted, the rice doubles in quantity. Then they are covered again. This time they are turned over twice. When the bowls are lifted, the rice changes to water. The water is poured back and forth between the two bowls. This can be used in conjecture with the Indian Rice Mystery. The dialogue at the end of the explanation combines the two effects.

Props:

Two china rice bowls A plastic disk A jar of rice A tray

Preparation: Any bowls will do, but it is best to use a set that has a wide lip. The brims of the bowls should be grounded down so they are perfectly flat. If you can find plastic bowls that fit this criteria, so much the better. Find a clear sheet of plastic. This should be thick enough so water does not leak through, but thin enough so the bowls can stack on top of each other. Cut this so it is the same size as the perimeter of the bowl. I like to leave a lip on the disk so it will be easy to take off later. See figure 1. Fill one bowl with water. Dip your finger into the water. Wet the lip of bowl. Then put the disk on it so it sticks. Put this face down on the tray. Stack the other bowl on top of it as in figure 2. Make sure that the tray is dry before putting it on or might stick to the tray causing an accident during the show

Fig. 1

74

Fig. 2

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 75 To perform: Pick up the bowl that is stacked on top of the one with the water and set it face up on the tray as in figure 3.

Fig. 3 Pour the rice into the bowl making it overflow. Take the bowl that is face down and use this to trim off the excess rice. See figure 4. Leave it stacked on top as in figure 5. You’ll notice in this illustration that jar if filled with rice. This is for when you combine it with the the Indian Rice Mystery. If you are going to do it as a stand alone trick, then discard the jar and just pour the rice from the bag.

Fig. 4

Fig. 5 75

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 76 Pick up the two bowls as figure 6. Turn them over and back three times. Three always means good luck. This will invert the bowls so the one with the water is now on the bottom. Place them on the tray. Wave the wand over the bowls. Then lift up the top bowl and the rice will overflow because it is on top of the plastic disk. See figure 7. This looks like the rice has doubled in quantity. Use this bowl to trim of the rice as in figured 4 & 5.

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

Pick up the two bowls again and turn over twice. It’s not necessary, but this is needed to disguise the turning over the first time. Set the bowls back down on the tray. Wave the wand and pause. Lift off the top bowl. As you do, losen the disk by pressing down on the lip. Lift up the disk with this top bowl. Set it down on top of the spilled rice as in figure 8.

Fig. 8 76

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 77 With the left hand, pick up the bowl on the table and show the water. Then pick up the bowl that is face down. The rice that is on the disk will blend with the spilled rice on the tray. Now pour the rice back and forth between the bowls.

Combine the two tricks:

“In ancient India, rice is used as a symbol of marriage just like in this country. However, instead of throwing it at the couple, it used by a Hindu fakir to tell if the marriage will be successful. “One day a Hindu girl named Roni wished to marry her love Rajah, the village’s fakir. However, her father forbid it. She was set to marry the rich man of the village Sahib. Before they can get married, the test performed by the village fakir must be conducted. Being a respected member of the village, the fakir does the test with the rich man. “Rajah tells them that this crystal jar symbolizes the prospective bride, and this knife represents the groom.” Pick up the ball, “This is no ordinary ball. It is a sovereign sphere. Spheres are regarded as the circle of life. It has supreme authority which contains complete power even over time itself.” Drop the ball in the jar. Put your hand in the bag of rice and let some of it pour through your fingers, “Since rice is considered the staff of fidelity, it is poured into the jar.” Pour the rice into the jar. “If the sphere rises, that means one of them will be unfaithful.” Make the ball rise. “There was a hush amongst the family.” Take out the ball. “Roni’s father was not convinced, “Who is the one that will break the bond?” “The fakir says, ‘It is uncertain.’ ” Pick up the knife, “ ‘If the groom joins the rice. . .’ ” insert the knife several times into the jar, “ ‘. . . the two will become one.’ But the knife blade never clings. The marriage is considered to be doomed.” Take out the knife. “Roni’s father says this symbol proves that she will never marry and her fate is that of an old maid. “Rajah says he will save Roni. The fakir performs the test with himself as the groom. He proves to her parents that he is the right man for her.” Pour more rice into the jar. Stab it a few times. Then pause. Plunged the knife into the rice and push down. It will stick. Lift up the blade of the knife. “They and their lives adhere in one solid unit.” Swing the sash gently. “This miracle proves that their marriage will be divinely blessed. “But the father is still not impressed. He thinks that Rajah is not good enough for his daughter.” Pull the blade out. Don’t offer anyone to duplicate this, go into the Rice Bowls routine. “Rajah must prove he can provide for her.” Take the jar of rice and pour it into one of the bowls making sure it overflows. Cover it with the bowl as in figures 4 and 5. “That’s fine for now, the father says, but what will you do for the future?” Lift up the bowls and turn it over three times. “Three symbolizes good luck.” Wave your hands over the bowls. Lift up the upper bowl and show that the rice has doubled. “He proves that he can produce food when ever he wants. The father is still not impressed. “He wants to know what will he do incase of a draught.” Scrape off the rice from the bottom bowl with the top one as in figures 4 and 5. Turn it over two times. “This means that the two shall bond together.” Wave your hands over the bowl. Lift up the top bowl and set it down releasing the disk. “Rajah proved his worth to Roni’s father by producing an endless supply of water.” Pour the water back and forth. Set both bowls down. “Soon they were married and they lived—well, you know the rest. The moral of the story is love always prevails.”

77

Preparation:

Broadway made him a star

care

that millions of people are watching them at once. Franklin does.

so calm and cool? They just seem to not

He walks up to the podium that is set up for him by the Observatory. Some of the microphones are set to a PA system so the visitors can hear it as well. The others belong to the national media. Franklin starts to talk into the microphone and feedback squeals through the speakers. His mouth is dry. He licks his lips to keep them moist. He wished he brought bottled water with him.

News. You say that this… thing has traveled million of miles, but what proof do you have?”

“I have a team at this very moment studying it.” He tells them that a crack squad of linguists and cryptologists are going over each word, letter by letter. However, that doesn’t seem to satisfy the reporters. They jump on the scrolls alright, but a little bit too much. They want to know everything, and they want to know now. “I don’t know” will not do.

Franklin repeats what he said that the team is working on it, but they won’t stop. A scientist never tells what he doesn’t know. Even though he studied the data and knew what he was talking about, Franklin is ill prepared for the slaughter he just got from the national media. They made him look like a fool.

The Daily Tribune

meteor. It changes from green to a bright white light. It comes crashing down and slams into the surface towards Valencia. Jamie jumps out of his skin. Shockwave follows and spread all over him throwing him to the ground. When he gets up, he looks toward Valencia and shakes his head. It looks like a war zone.

Griffith observatory could not be reach for comment.

do you have?”

Franklin is interrupted by million of questions from the media. He is so bombarded, he can’t hear any of them. He points to someone that has a friendly face. “Lee Cowan, NBC

News. You say that this… thing has traveled million of miles, but what proof



78

An astronomer can go his or her entire life and never make any kind of discovery that will require any kind of media attention. A space rock here, a new star there. Though damn exciting to them, boring to the average media outlet. That’s why so many of them are ill prepared for them. Dr. Franklin Stewart is so excited. With the permission of the laboratory, he announces his findings to the media. He is nervous because he has never been on television before. Susan made sure that his suit was pressed and clean. But, he can’t chase away those butterflies. How do those reporters remain

Sunday, August 12, 2014

Recording Artist new album




care

Incredible. That’s what witnesses Jamie’s photographer instincts take said when they saw a probe over. He takes out his Olympic and streaking across the night sky. sets it for a one minute exposure. He clicks away as the light streaks One such witness is a Valencia man across. Jamie stares right into the named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the southwest. A large bright fireball is in the distant horizon. He freezes and can’t move. A lump is in his throat. Jamie watches the meteor racing towards the San Fernando sky and heading towards Sylmar. At least I hope it’s a meteor Jamie thinks to himself. It bursts into a beaming green glow. More like a greenish blue. Kind of like the color of his gas stove.

Broadway made him a star An astronomer can go his or her entire life and never make any kind of discovery that will require any kind of media attention. A space rock here, a new star there. Though damn exciting to them, boring to the average media outlet. That’s why so many of them are ill prepared for them. Dr. Franklin Stewart is so excited. With the permission of the laboratory, he announces his findings to the media. He is nervous because he has never been on television before. Susan made sure that his suit was pressed and clean. But, he can’t chase away those butterflies. How do those reporters remain

Fig. 1

It comes crashing down and slams into the surface towards Valencia. Jamie jumps out of his skin. Shockwave follows

It bursts into a beaming green glow.

One half sheet black and white comic section of the newspaper One half sheet color ad from the newspaper Double sheet from the Sunday funnies Rubber cement glue

least I hope it’s a meteor Jamie thinks to himself.

Space probe lands on earth

Props:

Incredible. That’s what witnesses said when they saw a probe streaking across the night sky.

The Daily Tribune

10. Newspaper Magic



Using newspaper for magic tricks are very common because of the simplicity of it all. Everyone has newspapers, so the audience is familiar with them. Plus, you now have found a good way of dealing with all of the old newspaper you have piling up in your house. Trust me, you’ll need them when you practice. However, when you prepare the papers for your show, you will want to buy the duplicates.

Torn and Restored Newspaper

This is my version of this classic trick. I wanted to do something that was a bit different in Torn and Restored Newspaper magic. I love the old premise, but never had a good routine with it. I just stuck to the Gene Anderson’s version because it was the best. How much more simpler can you get than take a full size newspaper, tear it up and bam... it’s restored? Effect: The idea I had was to make visual part look slightly different. So I came up with an idea of taking a black and white sheet from the comic pages of the newspaper and a colored sheet of paper and tear them together. This time when the paper is opened up, instead of being restored, they come out as a Sunday comics... in color. The secret is a standard one with the restored packet glued to the back. However, I changed the way the packet was switched which I feel is cleaner.

Take the funny section in the black and white section which is the weekly newspaper. Tear it in half. Discard the rest of it. Turn this half sheet sideways. Fold it in quarters from right to left as in figure 1.

.

.

. streaking across the night s ky One such witness is a Valencia man named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the southwest. A large bright fireball is in the distant horizon. He freezes and can’t move. A lump is in his throat. Jamie watches the meteor racing towards the San Fernando sky and heading towards Sylmar. At

.

streaking across the night s One such witness is a V named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the southwest. ge bright fireball is in the distant horizon. He freezes and can’t move. lump is in his throat. Jamie watches the meteor racing towards the San Fernando sky and heading towards Sylm

It comes crashing down and

his skin. Shockwave follows and spread all over him throwing him to the ground. When he gets up, he looks toward Valencia and shakes his head. It looks like a war zone. Griffith observatory could not be reach for comment.

It comes crashing down and slams into the surface towards Valencia. Jamie jumps out of his skin. Shockwave follows and spread all over him throwing him to the ground. When he gets up, he looks toward Valencia and shakes his head. It looks like a war zone. Griffith observatory could not be reach for comment.


his skin. Shockwave follows and spread all over him throwing him to the ground. When he gets up, he looks toward Valencia and shakes his head. It looks like a war zone.









s a meteor Jamie

It bursts into a beaming green glo More like a greenish blue. Kind of like the color of his gas stove. Jamie’s photographer instincts take over. He takes out his Olympic and sets it for a one minute exposure. He clicks away as the light streaks across. Jamie stares right into the meteor. It changes from green to a bright white light.

s a meteor Jamie

It bursts into a beaming green glo More like a greenish blue. Kind of like the color of his gas stove. Jamie’s photographer instincts take over. He takes out his Olympic and sets it for a one minute exposure. He clicks away as the light streaks across. Jamie stares right into the meteor. It changes from green to a bright white light.

least I hope i s a meteor Jamie

It bursts into a beaming green glow. More like a greenish blue. Kind of like the color of his gas stove. Jamie’s photographer instincts take over. He takes out his Olympic and sets it for a one minute exposure. He clicks away as the light streaks across. Jamie stares right into the meteor. It changes from green to a bright white light.

.

least I hope i s a meteor Jamie


least I hope i s a meteor Jamie thinks to himself. It bursts into a beaming green glow. More like a greenish blue. Kind of like the color of his gas stove. Jamie’s photographer instincts take over. He takes out his Olympic and sets it for a one minute exposure. He clicks away as the light streaks across. Jamie stares right into the meteor. It changes from green to a bright white light.



. streaking across the night s ky One such witness is a Valencia man named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the southwest. A large bright fireball is in the distant horizon. He freezes and can’t move. A lump is in his throat. Jamie watches the meteor racing towards the San Fernando sky and heading towards Sylmar. At

Incredibl That what witnesses said when they saw a probe streaking across the night sky.

them.

One such witness is a Valencia man named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the southwest. A large bright fireball is in the distant horizon. He freezes and can’t move. A lump is in his throat. Jamie watches the meteor racing towards the San Fernando sky and heading towards Sylmar. At

set up for him by the Observatory. Some of the microphones are set to a PA system so the visitors can hear it as well. The others belong to the national media. Franklin starts to talk into the microphone and feedback squeals through the speakers. His mouth is dry. He licks his lips to keep them moist. He wished he brought bottled water with him.


“I have a team at this very moment studying it.” He tells them that a crack squad of linguists and cryptologists are going over each word, letter by letter. However, that doesn’t seem to satisfy the reporters. They jump on the scrolls alright, but a little bit too much. They want to know everything, and they want to know now. “I don’t know” will not do. Franklin repeats what he said that the team is working on it, but they won’t stop. A scientist never tells what he doesn’t know. Even though he studied the data and knew what he was talking about, Franklin is ill prepared for the slaughter he just got from the national media. They made him look like a fool.

Dr. Franklin Stewart is so excited. With the permission of the laboratory, he announces his findings to the media. He is nervous because he has never been on television before. Susan made sure that his suit was pressed and clean. But, he can’t chase away those butterflies. How do those reporters remain

w.

said when they saw a probe streaking across the night sky.

w.

It bursts into a beaming green glow. least I hope it’s a meteor Jamie thinks to himself.

Space probe lands on earth that millions of people are watching them at once. Franklin does.


It comes crashing down and slams into the surface towards Valencia. Jamie jumps out of his skin. Shockwave follows

The Daily Tribune care

so calm and cool? They just seem to not He walks up to the podium that is set up for him by the Observatory. Some of the microphones are set to a PA system so the visitors can hear it as well. The others belong to the national media. Franklin starts to talk into the microphone and feedback squeals through the speakers. His mouth is dry. He licks his lips to keep them moist. He wished he brought bottled water with him.

w.

It comes crashing down and slams into the surface towards Valencia. Jamie jumps out of his skin. Shockwave follows and spread all over him throwing him to the ground. When he gets up, he looks toward Valencia and shakes his head. It looks like a war zone. Griffith observatory could not be reach for comment.


Incredible. That’s what witnesses

least I hope i s a meteor Jamie thinks to himself. It bursts into a beaming green glow. More like a greenish blue. Kind of like the color of his gas stove. Jamie’s photographer instincts take over. He takes out his Olympic and sets it for a one minute exposure. He clicks away as the light streaks across. Jamie stares right into the meteor. It changes from green to a bright white light. set up for him by the Observatory. Some of the microphones are set to a PA system so the visitors can hear it as well. The others belong to the national media. Franklin starts to talk into the microphone and feedback squeals through the speakers. His mouth is dry. He licks his lips to keep them moist. He wished he brought bottled water with him.


Incredibl That what witnesses said when they saw a probe streaking across the night sky. One such witness is a Valencia man named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the southwest. A large bright fireball is in the distant horizon. He freezes and can’t move. A lump is in his throat. Jamie watches the meteor racing towards the San Fernando sky and heading towards Sylmar. At them. Dr. Franklin Stewart is so excited. With the permission of the laboratory, he announces his findings to the media. He is nervous because he has never been on television before. Susan made sure that his suit was pressed and clean. But, he can’t chase away those butterflies. How do those reporters remain


79

Fig. 5 Fig. 4

Now take the Sunday sheet from the comics which is color. Fold it like you did before. Now your are going to continue folding it further. This time, you are going to fold it in thirds starting with the top portion as in figure 4. From there, fold the bottom so the two ends meet. See figure 5.

Then fold it the rest of the way left to right as in figure 3. You’ll notice that because newspapers are not folded exactly in half, this will be off. That’s okay because you’ll need this overhang later in the routine when you restore the paper and start to open the paper up. Because newspapers rips better going vertical, crease these folds back and forth to soften it up for the tear. Once you are done with this, set it off to the side. Take a half sheet from the ad section of the newspaper and prepare like you did the comic page. Open this up and place off to the side. w.

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 79 Then fold from right to left again so it’s folded about three quarters. See figure 2.

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

the night s streaking across ess is a V One such witn a sound like hears e Jami named up at the never before. He looks

hes the meteor throat. Jamie watc the San Fernando racing towards towards Sylm sky and heading


Recording Artist new album throat. Jamie watches the met eor racing towards the sky and heading San Fernando towards Sylm

V

V

Fig. 8 It bursts into a beaming green glow. More like a greenish blue. Kind of like the color of his gas stove.

Broadway made him a star An astronomer can go his or her entire life and never make any kind of discovery that will require any kind of media attention. A space rock here, a new star there. Though damn exciting to them, boring to the average media outlet. That’s why so many of them are ill prepared for them.


V


care


Incredible. That’s what witnesses Jamie’s photographer instincts take over. He takes out his Olympic and said when they saw a probe sets it for a one minute exposure. He streaking across the night sky. clicks away as the light streaks into the One such witness is a Valencia man across. Jamie stares right named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the southwest. A large bright fireball is in the distant horizon. He freezes and can’t move. A lump is in his throat. Jamie watches the meteor racing towards the San Fernando sky and heading towards Sylmar. At least I hope it’s a meteor Jamie thinks to himself.

streaking acr oss the night s One such witness is aV named Jamie hea never before. rs a sound like He looks up at the

the night s streaking across s is a V One such witnes nd like a sou named Jamie hears s up at the look He never before. streaking ac ross the nig ht s One such witness is aV named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the night s streaking across the is a V One such witness d like soun a hears e named Jami up at the never before. He looks

streaking ac ross the nig ht s One such witness is aV named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the ts streaking across the nigh aV One such witness is like named Jamie hears a sound at the never before. He looks up

r tches the meteo throat. Jamie wa the San Fernando racing towards m Syl g towards sky and headin throat. Jamie watches the me teo racing toward s the San Ferna r nd sky and head ing towards Sy o lm throat. Jamie watches the me teor racing toward s the sky and headin San Fernando g towards Sy lm

r throat. Jamie watches the meteo ndo racing towards the San Ferna Sylm rds sky and heading towa

throat. Jamie watches the me teo racing toward s the San Ferna r nd sky and head ing towards Sy o lm

the meteor throat. Jamie watches Fernando racing towards the San rds Sylm sky and heading towa

streaking ac ross the nig ht s One such witness is aV named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the

i

throat. Jamie watches the me teo racing toward s the San Ferna r ndo sky and hea m din g towards Sy lm

.

southwest. ge bright fireball is in the distant horizon. He freezes and can’t move. lump is in his throat. Jamie watches the meteor racing towards the San Fernando sky and heading towards Sylm

Fig. 6

V

streaking across the night s One such witness is a V named Jamie hears a sound like streaking across the night s One such witness is a V named Jamie hears a sound like

V

Dr. Franklin Stewart is so excited. With the permission of the laboratory, he announces his findings to the media. He is nervous because he has never been on television before. Susan made sure that his suit was pressed and clean. But, he can’t chase away those butterflies. How do those reporters remain .

Fig. 7 streaking ac ross the nig ht s One such witness is aV named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 80 Fold the left side in, but instead of making it even, you are going to do it at an angle as in figure 6. Repeat this with the right hand side. The reason for this is that you are going to tuck the left hand side inside of it so it stays as in figure 7. Now crease all of the ends sealing it together. This is your restored packet. Take the ad and lay it open on the table. Center the packet in the middle of the quarter section of the newspaper on the right as in figure 8. Now take the rubber cement and glue it on the back of the packet and press down on the ad sheet. Press down and wait to dry.

The Daily Tribune



do you have?” News. You say that this… thing has traveled million of miles, but what proof News. You say that this… thing has traveled million of miles, but what proof do you have?”




To perform: Before you go on, undo the fold in the restore pack and set it down on your table. “I like the funnies. You don’t need to spend too much time reading them and as the name implies, it’s funny... sometimes. I don’t understand why they only put color in the Sunday section of the paper. I’m about to cure that right now.” Take the two sheets of paper and put them together the folds fit into each other. Turn it sideways so the restored packet is to your right. Slowly and careful tear the first quarter section to your right. Because of the grain going the wrong way, it will be difficult to tear. Just do it slow. Put the section with the restored packet behind. 80

a sound like named Jamie hears up at the never before. He looks

s is a V the night s One such witnes streaking across

s

named Jamie hea never before. rs a sound like He looks up at the

oss the night

s is a V

streaking acr

night s

a sound like named Jamie hears up at the never before. He looks the streaking across

hes the meteor throat. Jamie watc the San Fernando racing towards rds Sylm towa ing head sky and s up at the

throat. Jamie watches the met eor racing towards the sky and heading San Fernando towards Sylm

throat. Jamie

wat

ards Sylm


Jamie’s photographer instincts take over. He takes out his Olympic and sets it for a one minute exposure. He clicks away as the light streaks

V

Artist new album

’s what witnesses ky.

ches the meteor named Jamie racing towards the San Fernand s is a V hears a sou o One such witnesnever before. He look nd like sky and heading tow oss the night

streaking acr

s

The Daily Tribune

throwing him to the ground. When he gets up, he looks toward Valencia and shakes his head. It looks like a war zone. Griffith observatory could not


be reach for comment. meteor. It changes from green V light. white bright a to downbyand crashing It comes is million of interrupted Franklin towards the surface slams intofrom He is so the media. questions of of outany jumps Valencia. Jamie hear he can’t bombarded, followsthat has his skin. points to someone He Shockwave them. all over spreadface. Cowan, NBC “Leehim friendly aand “I have a team at this very moment studying it.” He tells them that a crack squad of linguists and cryptologists are going over each word, letter by letter. However, that doesn’t seem to satisfy the reporters. They jump on the scrolls alright, but a little bit too much. They want to know everything, and they want to know now. “I don’t know” will not do.

Jamie’s photographer instincts take over. He takes out his Olympic and sets it for a one minute exposure. He clicks away as the light streaks s is a V

the night s streaking across ess is a V One such witn a sound like named Jamie hears up at the never before. He looks




Jamie’s photographer instincts take over. He takes out his Olympic and sets it for a one minute exposure. He clicks away as the light streaks across. Jamie stares right into the


the night s streaking across ess is a V One such witn a sound like hears e Jami d name up at the never before. He looks


2014 bright fireball is 12,large Sunday, August A southwest. in the distant horizon. He freezes and can’t move. A lump is in his throat. Jamie watches the meteor racing towards the San Fernando sky and heading towards Sylmar. At Jamie it’s a meteor least I hope. That’s what witnesses Incredible thinks to himself. said when they saw a probe streaking across the night sky. It bursts into a beaming green glow. More like a greenish blue. Kind of One such witness is a Valencia man like the color of his gas stove. named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the


Broadway made him a star

care


V

Artist new album

’s what witnesses ky.

meteor. It changes from green to a bright white light. It comes crashing down and slams into the surface towards

The Daily Tribune

meteor. It changes from green to a bright white light. It comes crashing down and slams into the surface towards

Fig. 11 Fig. 10

An astronomer can go his or her entire life and never make any kind of discovery that will require any kind of media attention. A space rock here, a new star there. Though damn exciting to them, boring to the average media outlet. That’s why so many of them are ill prepared for them. Franklin repeats what he said that the team is working on it, but they won’t stop. A scientist never tells what he doesn’t know. Even though he studied the data and knew what he was talking about, Franklin is ill prepared for the slaughter he just got from the national media. They made him look like a fool.

81


Finally tear the last quarter and of course put the section with the restored packet in the rear. Fold the top half over as in figure 10. Then fold the section on the left inward keeping the restored packet free. See figure 11. From there, fold in the right hand section. You want to press this in because you want to lock the torn papers together. Now comes the switch.


The Daily Tribune

meteor. It changes from green V to a bright white light. It comes crashing down and slams into the surface towards Valencia. Jamie jumps out of his skin. Shockwave follows and spread all over him

throwing him to the ground. When he gets up, he looks toward Valencia and shakes his head. It looks like a war zone. Griffith observatory could not be reach for comment.


Franklin is interrupted by million of questions from the media. He is so bombarded, he can’t hear any of them. He points to someone that has a friendly face. “Lee Cowan, NBC “I have a team at this very moment studying it.” He tells them that a crack squad of linguists and cryptologists are going over each word, letter by letter. However, that doesn’t seem to satisfy the reporters. They jump on the scrolls alright, but a little bit too much. They want to know everything, and they want to know now. “I don’t know” will not do. Franklin repeats what he said that the team is working on it, but they won’t stop. A scientist never tells what he doesn’t know. Even though he studied the data and knew what he was talking about, Franklin is ill prepared for the slaughter he just got from the national media. They made him look like a fool.

I never liked the switches explained in torn and restored paper tricks. I came up with this years ago. I think it looks natural. All you do is fold the packet over forward and it now is in front. See figure 12. Nice and easy. Hold your left hand hiding about half of the packet. You don't want to reveal the color comics section yet.

Fig. 12






care


Incredible. That’s what witnesses Jamie’s photographer instincts take over. He takes out his Olympic and said when they saw a probe sets it for a one minute exposure. He streaking across the night sky. clicks away as the light streaks One such witness is a Valencia man across. Jamie stares right into the named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the southwest. A large bright fireball is in the distant horizon. He freezes and can’t move. A lump is in his throat. Jamie watches the meteor racing towards the San Fernando sky and heading towards Sylmar. At least I hope it’s a meteor Jamie thinks to himself. It bursts into a beaming green glow. More like a greenish blue. Kind of like the color of his gas stove.


Fig. 9


Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 81 Now tear it in the middle and once again put the restored section behind this as in figure 9.

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 82 Wave your right hand over the packet. Then unfold it. Because of the overhang, it is now easy to open. Finally open up the paper showing the Sunday funnies. Move your left hand behind the sheet (see figure 13) and cover the torn packet and turn it around to show the back. Then reverse this bring it back. Now turn it right side up. "Now I can enjoy the funnies the way it was meant to be... in color."

night s across the streaking nd like ie hears a sou named Jam looks up at the . He never before

V

teor es the me mie watch n Fernando throat. Ja rds th e Sa waard the wards Sylm tow to racing to heading sky and

streaking across the night s throat. Jamie watches the meteor One such witness is a racing towards the San Fernando named Jamie hears a sound like sky and heading towards Sylm never before. He looks up at the

Fig. 13

Saying Thanks with Style Sometimes when a performer has reached the end of his act, it is difficult for the audience to know for certain. This trick definitely tells the audience that you are done. And you do it with style. Effect: The magician bows to his audience after his last trick. He shows a page from today’s newspaper and folds it up. He takes his scissors and quickly makes a few cuts in the paper. The magician unfolds the paper and in large cutout letters reads; THANK YOU. The show is over and the magician takes his bow. Props:

Two single sheets of newspapers A pair of scissors

82

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 83 Preparation: Take a double sheet from the newspaper and rip it in half so you have two single sheets. Use the want ads so no one can tell it’s two different pages. Or if you are doing the Torn and Restored Newspaper, use a duplicate page from the left over newspaper. Print out the THANK YOU sheet at the end of this section. Put a piece of cardboard under this and cut out the letters using an Exacto knife. Use it as a stencil and trace the letters on one of the single sheets of newspaper with a pencil. Don’t put it in the corner as that’s where the duplicate will go. Instead, place it near the center as in figure 1. Place the cardboard underneath the newspaper and cut it out using an Exacto knife again. Fold this sheet three times. First you are going to fold it against the natural fold bottom to top so the front of the paper is inside. Crease it with your thumbnail. Next, fold it right to left and crease it as in figure 2. Finally, bottom to top.

The Daily Tribune

ou say that this… thing has traveled million of miles, but what proof do you have?”

Space probe lands on earth It comes crashing down and slams into the surface towards Valencia. Jamie jumps out of his skin. Shockwave follows and spread all over him throwing him to the ground. When he gets up, he looks toward Valencia and shakes his head. It looks like a war zone.

thank

you that millions of people are watching them at once.

you

Dr. Franklin Stewart is so excited. With the permission of the laboratory, he announces his findings to the media. He is nervous because he has never been on television before. Susan made sure that his suit was pressed and clean. But, he can’t chase away those butterflies. How do those reporters remain so calm and cool? They just

seem to not care

Franklin does.

that millions of people are watching them at once.




Fig. 2

t explain ncia, Ca

An astronomer can go his or her entire life and never make any kind of discovery that will require any kind of media attention. A space rock here, a new star there. Though damn exciting to them, boring to the average media outlet. That’s why so many of them are ill prepared for them.



you

Scientist at Griffith cannot explain fireball in the sky in Valencia, Ca


“I have a team at this very moment studying it.” He tells them that a crack squad of linguists and cryptologists are going over each word, letter by letter. However, that do. doesn’t seem to satisfy the reporters. seem to not care They jump on the scrolls alright, but doesn’ do. , that a little bit too much. They want to , that He walks up to doesn’ the podium that is know everything, and they want to , that , that set up for him by the Observatory. doesn’ know now. “I don’t know” will not . are He licks Some of the microphones set to do. do. do. thatvisitorsdoesn’ system so ,the can hear , that he others belong to the Franklin repeats what he said that national media. Franklin starts to the team is working on it, but they talk into the microphone and won’ A


t explain ncia, Ca

One such witness is a Valencia man named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the southwest. A large bright fireball is in the distant horizon. He freezes and can’t move. A lump is in his throat. Jamie watches the meteor racing towards the San Fernando sky and heading towards Sylmar. At

least I hope it’s a meteor Jamie thinks to himself.

“I have a team at this very moment studying it.” He tells them that a crack squad of linguists and cryptologists are going over each word, letter by letter. However, that do. doesn’t seem to satisfy the reporters. seem to not care They jump on the scrolls alright, but doesn’ do. , that a little bitdo. too much. They want to , that He walks up to doesn’ the podium that is know everything, and they want to , that set up for him by, that the Observatory. doesn’ know now. “I don’t know” will not . are He licks do. Some of the microphones set to do. do. thatvisitorsdoesn’ system so ,the can hear , that he others belong to the national media. Franklin starts to talk into the microphone and feedback squeals through the speakers. His mouth is dry. He licks his lips to keep them moist. He wished he brought bottled water

said when they saw a probe streaking across the night sky.


Incredible. That’s what witnesses




Fig. 1

Fig. 3

You should be looking at page 2 as in figure 4. Place the glue around the edges and turn it over. Then glue it in the upper left hand side of the duplicate paper. See figure 5. Notice how the packet is slightly lower than the edge of the paper. This is so nothing sticks out. Pre-crease the paper folding it against the natural fold. Then open it up. This is for ease of handling during the performance. Make sure the THANK YOU letters are facing correctly when the sheet is opened up so it’s not upside or sideways.

83

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 84 “I have a team at this very moment studying it.” He tells them that a crack squad of linguists and cryptologists are going over each word, letter by letter. However, that doesn’t seem to satisfy the reporters. nc seem to not care They jump on the scrolls alright, but tne do. Incr doesn’ Incr hat’ hat a little bit too much. They want to at’s w He walks up to the podium that is tne ibl di they want to know everything, and tne ’s whaset up for him by the Observatory. y. ibl a e.“IT don’t know” ib will not e. Tknow now. . He licks n Inc do.redib bl n hat’ dido. tne , that e. T doesn’ hat’ ntne hat’ at w he others belong to the Franklin repeats what he said that national media. Franklin starts to the team is working on it, but they talk into the microphone and won’ A




a friendly face. “Lee Cowan, NBC



care


t explain ncia, Ca



It bursts into a beaming green glow. More like a greenish blue. Kind of like the color of his gas stove.

s photographer instincts take . He takes out his Olympic and sets it for a one minute exposure. He clicks away as the light streaks One such witness is a Valencia man across. Jamie stares right into the named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the southwest. A large bright fireball is in the distant horizon. He freezes and can’t move. A lump is in his throat. Jamie watches the meteor racing towards the San Fernando sky and heading towards Sylmar. At least I hope it’s a meteor Jamie thinks to himself.


“I have a team at this very moment studying it.” He tells them that a crack squad of linguists and cryptologists are going over each word, letter by letter. However, that doesn’t seem to satisfy the reporters. nc alright, but seem to not care They jumptne on the scrolls do. doesn’ Incr Incr hat’ a little bit too hatmuch. They want to at’s w He walks up to the podium that is tne ibl di they want to know everything, and tne ’s whaset up for him by the Observatory. y. ibl a e.“IT don’t know” ib will not e. Tknow now. . He licks n Inc do.redib bl n hat’ doesn’ dido. tne , that hat’ ntne . T e hat’ w to the he others at belong Franklin repeats what he said that national media. Franklin starts to the team is working on it, but they talk into the microphone and won’ A

over. He takes out his Olympic and sets it for a one minute exposure. He clicks away as the light streaks One such witness is a Valencia man across. Jamie stares right into the named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the southwest. A large bright fireball is in the distant horizon. He freezes and can’t move. A lump is in his throat. Jamie watches the meteor racing towards the San Fernando sky and heading towards Sylmar. At least I hope it’s a meteor Jamie thinks to himself. said when they saw a probe streaking across the night sky.

t explain ncia, Ca

Incredible. That’s what witnesses Jamie’s photographer instincts take

Franklin is interrupted by million of questions from the media. He is so bombarded, he can’t hear any of them. He points to someone that has

meteor. It changes from green to a bright white light. It comes crashing down and slams into the surface towards Valencia. Jamie jumps out of his skin. Shockwave follows and spread all over him throwing him to the ground. When he gets up, he looks toward Valencia and shakes his head. It looks like a war zone. Griffith observatory could not be reach for comment. a friendly face. “Lee Cowan, NBC



Broadway made him a star An astronomer can go his or her entire life and never make any kind of discovery that will require any kind of media attention. A space rock here, a new star there. Though damn exciting to them, boring to the average media outlet. That’s why so many of them are ill prepared for them.



The Daily Tribune


The Daily Tribune




It bursts into a beaming green glow. More like a greenish blue. Kind of like the color of his gas stove. Incredible. That’s what witnesses said when they saw a probe streaking across the night sky.

Fig. 4


care



He walks up to the podium that is set up for him by the Observatory. Some of the microphones are set to a PA system so the visitors can hear it as well. The others belong to the national media. Franklin starts to talk into the microphone and feedback squeals through the speakers. His mouth is dry. He licks his lips to keep them moist. He wished he brought bottled water with him. Franklin is interrupted by million of questions from the media. He is so bombarded, he can’t hear any of them. He points to someone that has

Franklin repeats what he said that the team is working on it, but they won’t stop. A scientist never tells what he doesn’t know. Even though he studied the data and knew what he was talking about, Franklin is ill prepared for the slaughter he just got from the national media. They made him look like a fool. It bursts into a beaming green glow. More like a greenish blue. Kind of like the color of his gas stove. Incredible. That’s what witnesses said when they saw a probe streaking across the night sky.

Fig. 5

Fold the duplicate in half around the glued packet locking it in. Set this off to the side on top of a stack of newspapers on your table. If you are doing The Torn and Restored Newspaper trick, place this on top of the THANK YOU set up. Then after you are done, put this off to the side under the THANK YOU set up. To perform: Pick up the newspaper from the table. Make sure your left hand grips the packet as you unfold it. Show the normal side to the audience and keep the load facing you. Fold it in the other direction so the load is still toward you. For some unknown reason, the audience thinks they have seen both sides. It doesn’t matter, because they don’t know what you are doing anyway. Take out a pair of scissors, “You’ve been such a great audience.” Turn the paper sideways and use the scissors as if you are cutting out letters. See figure 6. Dr. F Wit rankli n h labo the pe Stewa r a find tory, rmissio rt is so h e in n bec gs to e anno of the xcited Dr. ause . the F tele med unces h Wit rankli he v n h that ision b has nev ia. He is labo the pe Stewa is n e e h f r is o b ervo re. S But, suit een find ratory, rmissio rt is so u u o w h in s gs to he ann n of th excite butt e can as pr san m n b e c d. e ’ e o e a th rem rflies. t chase ssed a ade sur tele use he e med unces h nd ain How e v aw that ision b has nev ia. He is do th ay tho clean. is e e h f r s ose his e But, is suit ore. S been nervo lips repo us to rter butt he can was pr usan m on s e ’ e with keep th rem rflies. t chase ssed a ade sur em n with him. ain H e m oist. with ow do away th d clean him with with h im . . H h im. those ose e lo with him. rem him. w repo with ok like him ith them ain rter a fo . rema him. with him. s . them ol. in with him. with them. . him him with . . th h them em. im. . th em.

Fig. 6

84

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 85 “I know that’s just a clique, but my wife (or mother) would not sit through this…” Fold it in half again as in figure 7. Make some more cuts. “. . .so you should be congratulated.”

“I have a team at this very moment studying it.” He tells them that a crack squad of linguists and cryptologists are going over each word, letter by letter. However, that doesn’t seem to satisfy the reporters. nc alright, but They jumptne on the scrolls do. Incr doesn’ Incr hat’ a little bit too hatmuch. They want to at’s w He walks up to the podium that is tne ibl di they want to know everything, and tne ’s whaset up for him by the Observatory. y. ibl a ib . T e “I don’t know” will not e. Tknow now. . He licks n Inc do.redib bl n hat’ dido. tne , that e. T doesn’ hat’ ntne hat’ at w national media. Franklin starts to Franklin repeats what he said that talk into the microphone and the team is working on it, but they won’ A

“I have a team at this very moment studying it.” He tells them that a crack squad of linguists and cryptologists are going over each word, letter by letter. However, that doesn’t seem to satisfy the reporters. nc alright, but seem to not care They jumptne on the scrolls do. Incr doesn’ Incr hat’ hat a little bit too much. They want to at’s w He walks up to the podium that is tne ibl di they want to know everything, and tne ’s whaset up for him by the Observatory. y. ibl a ib . e “IT don’t know” will not e. Tknow now. . He licks n Inc do.redib bl n hat’ dido. tne , that e. T doesn’ hat’ ntne hat’ w to the he others at belong Franklin repeats what he said that national media. Franklin starts to the team is working on it, but they talk into the microphone and won’ A

bum

The Daily Tribune



Jamie’ over

t explain ncia, Ca

t explain ncia, Ca



Jamie’s photographer instincts take over. He takes out his Olympic and sets it for a one minute exposure. He clicks away as the light streaks One such witness is a Valencia man across. Jamie stares right into the named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the southwest. A large bright fireball is in the distant horizon. He freezes and can’t move. A lump is in his throat. Jamie watches the meteor racing towards the San Fernando sky and heading towards Sylmar. At least I hope it’s a meteor Jamie thinks to himself.

One such witness is a Valencia man across. Jamie stares right into the named Jamie hears a sound like never before. He looks up at the southwest. A large bright fireball is in the distant horizon. He freezes and can’t move. A lump is in his throat. Jamie watches the meteor racing towards the San Fernando sky and heading towards Sylmar. At least I hope it’s a meteor Jamie thinks to himself.

Griffith observatory could not be reach for comment. Dr. Franklin Stewart is so excited. With the permission of the laboratory, he announces his findings to the media. He is nervous because he has never


Fig. 7 Now comes the switch. It’s the same switch in the Torn and Restored Newspaper trick (see figure 12) This fold brings the load in front. Then turn it 180 degrees so it’s right side up as in figure 8.

t explain ncia, Ca

“I have a team at this very moment studying it.” He tells them that a crack squad of linguists and cryptologists are going over each word, letter by letter. However, that doesn’t seem to satisfy the reporters. nc alright, but seem to not care They jumptne on the scrolls do. Incr doesn’ Incr hat’ a little bit too hatmuch. They want to at’s w He walks up to the podium that is tne i ibl d know everything, and they want to tne ’s wha ibl set up f o r hi m by t h e Obser v at o ry. y. a ib will not e. Tknow now.e.“IT don’t know” . He licks n n do.redib bl Inc hat’ dido. tne , that e. T doesn’ hat’ ntne hat’ w to the he others at belong Franklin repeats what he said that national media. Franklin starts to the team is working on it, but they talk into the microphone and won’ A

“I have a team at this very moment studying it.” He tells them that a crack squad of linguists and cryptologists are going over each word, letter by letter. However, that doesn’t seem to satisfy the reporters. nc alright, but seem to not care They jumptne on the scrolls Incr do. doesn’ Incr hat’ a little bit too hatmuch. They want to at’s w He walks up to the podium that is tne ibl di they want to know everything, and tne ’s whaset up for him by the Observatory. y. ibl a e.“IT don’t know” ib know now. will not redib e. T n Inc do. hat’ . He licks bl n di do. doesn’ tne , that e. T hat’ ntne hat’ w to the he others at belong Franklin repeats what he said that national media. Franklin starts to the team is working on it, but they talk into the microphone and won’ A


Fig. 8

85


t explain ncia, Ca

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 86 It is now ready to be revealed. Before you do, make some more cuts being careful not to cut the loaded packet. “Maybe just a simple thank you will do.” Unfold the loaded paper and reveal the letters as in figure 1. Hold it close to your body so your suit will act as a background. Hopefully you’ll be wearing a dark colored suit. Take your bow, but not too deep. Set the newspaper down and look to you left and bow. Then look to your right and bow. Finally, face center and bow full from the waist, hands to your side. Note: The Thank You stencil is given in the following page in full size. Photocopy this and use it to cut out the newspaper with.

86

thank you


87

PART FOUR-- Doing the Magic Show


11. Putting Together the Magic Show ************************************************************************** Now that you practiced the individual tricks, it’s time to think about performing that show. You probably were tempted to show off what you learned here. The results I’m sure was mixed. The reason is because you weren’t ready yet to perform. Thought must be given to what and how long you are going to perform. The best way for first time magicians to break in is by doing close-up magic. That’s why I included it first. It’s tempting to do the entire selection in one sitting. However, you’ll bore your audience if you do. One to three tricks would be best. Don’t be tempted to do more at first. Do one trick and stop. You will be asked to do another. Do one more. Once again the request will come to do still another. Do a third and stop. Leaving the audience wanting more is a show biz saying. If you give in, they’ll regret asking. The style of close-up has changed. One way is to sit at the table with the guests and perform. The most popular is walk around magic. You carry some kind of table with you and approach the subjects that you will perform for. Then pull out your props from your pockets. I used a leather fanny pack to carry my props in. Your first performance will be the sit down variety. The reason is because you’ll be doing your show for your friends and family. Say, “I have learned something new and would like to try it.” They will be surprised at your new skills. Don’t over do it. Say that you are only learning and will practice more for the next time. You will make mistakes in the beginning. Heck, I still do. But not as often. This is the reason you want to perform your first show for those you know. They will excuse your nervousness and encourage you. One of the mistakes you will make is accidentally revealing the secret. Don’t get upset if this happens. Ignore it because there is a possibility the audience didn’t notice. Make a mental note of what you did wrong and practice it the next time. Coordinating the secret movements and the stage business is difficult at first. You may put the emphasis on the wrong set of movements. Doing close-up is an easy way of learning this skill. When you have gotten use to working with the magic props, you’ll want to venture off to the bigger stuff. The stage is a wonderful place, but scary at first. Your first few stage performances will be in your living room. This is called parlor magic. I prefer this kind of magic even on the stage. It is intimate and leaves room for your personality to come out. You will still be performing for your friends and family here. This is how comedian Billy Crystal started off. His many imitations of his family members he performed in their living room gave him the experience that he used to launch his career. This is also how I started. Everyone had a shtick in my family. My uncle played the accordion, my mother sang, my dad told stories, and I would do impressions. When I learned to do magic, I practiced on my family in the living room. A lot of the tricks I do today were formed there. The next logical place is kid shows. You don’t have to dress up like a clown to perform at kids parties. This is a very popular field. If you like to do this kind of thing, you can make a lot of money. You have to like kids and be willing to put up with packing and repacking as you go from one party to another. Even though you can perform most of these tricks for kids, it is not recommended because the routines 88

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 89 are too talky. When I did my act for kids, they would sit mesmerized. I thought they didn’t like it, but on the contrary. They liked it too much. The magic mystified them so much, they didn’t move. Kids like silly stuff. Distinctive tricks and routines are specially designed for them. Audience involvement is a must. You can learn more in the book Kids Stuff by Jay Marshall. The next logical place to go is the stage. Acting lessons would pay off for this type of work. This is very ambitious as there are not too many places anymore for stage magicians. Night clubs are the last destination for platform performers. However, these gigs are far and few in between. Even in Las Vegas where magic once was a bountiful place for magicians. Now it’s hard to find a venue anymore. Amusement parks like Disneyland and Six Flags are still a good place to go. Here the work is long and hard. It is gratifying though. Also, it’s good training ground for the determined performer. The Magic Show The formation of the magic act or show is paramount. Keeping it all straight is also important. I have every trick I have ever done typed out word for word in my computer. Also I keep a hard copy in my filing cabinet. Another thing I like to do is write out each trick on a 3 x 5 index card. I head it with the name of the trick. On the right of the card I put the time it takes to do the trick. Then I list the props that are used. Then this card goes alphabetically in a card file or Rolodex. When I want to do a show, I thumb through this and choose the tricks that will be best. For right now, I have put together a series of tricks for your act or show. The reason is because the order of your act is very important. Below is a list of tricks that should go together. I’ve taken the twenty-four tricks provided in this book and assembled them for your convenience. A Close-up Act

Impromptu at dinner:

Sugar Packet Prediction What’s Under the Cap? Salt Shaker Through the Table

For family and friends:

The Four Burglars Cut the Lady in Half Dice Prediction Nested Boxes

At a party:

Lucky Seven The Four Burglars The Linking Paperclips

89


When you only have a deck of cards:

Lucky Seven You Do As I Do The Four Burglars Cut the Lady in Half

Mix and match any of the above:

The Four Burglars The Linking Paperclips What’s Under the Cap?

You Do As I Do Cut the Lady in Half Salt Shaker Through the Table

Lucky Seven Sugar Packet Prediction Dice Prediction What’s Under the Cap? Nested Boxes Cups and Balls Salt Shaker Through the Table You can do the Cups and Balls as a close-up trick or platform. My own routine I use strictly for platform. However, the one I included in this book works well with both. The Cut the Lady in Half can be used for platform. The queen can be seen from the distance. Other card tricks are not good on stage because the audience cannot see the identities. You can also use a Jumbo Deck and a larger envelope. The Platform Act

Short act:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Showing or Blowing Cut and Restored Rope The Cups and Balls A Plethora of Silks Saying Thanks with Style

1. 2. 3. 4.

Are You a Square? Rope routines Torn and Restored Newspaper The Coat Release

90

Longer act:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Showing or Blowing Rope routines Book Test The Cups and Balls Torn and Restored Newspaper A Plethora of Silks Saying Thanks with Style

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Are You a Square? Book Test Rope routines Cut the Lady in Half The Cups and Balls The Indian Rice Mystery The Coat Release Saying Thanks with Style


The full act:

1. Showing or Blowing 2. Rope routines 3. Cut the Lady in Half 4. The Cups and Balls 5. Are You a Square? 6. Book Test 7. Torn and Restored Newspaper 8. The Indian Rice Mystery 9. A Plethora of Silks 10. Saying Thanks with Style

That’s just a sample of the different combinations. The opening trick should be short, sweet, and to the point. Showing or Blowing gets right into the magic. This has been my opening for years. Once you establish yourself to the audience, then you can slow things down. Combining the rope routines sets up a theme with one prop. The middle is a nice balance of effects. At this point you can go into the audience and ask for volunteers to assist you. As we reach to the end, a long trick like The Indian Rice Mystery that has heavy dialogue is inserted here. This will segue into our finale. The two basic rules for a closer is either to do something quick and flashy or perform a strong mind blowing effect. Logic might dictate that you open the show with a production, then close with a vanish. Actually the reverse is true. A vanish stuns people. It causes your audience to just sit and stare at you like a deer caught in the headlights. For the finish, you want people applauding. That’s why a colorful production of items is best. A Plethora of Silks ends the act with music. It is colorful and quick. The silk fills the stage and makes the act look big. The Coat Release does not do this, but it is a strong effect. It breaks another rule about having volunteers on stage for the finish. You don’t want to take your final bow with spectators from the audience on stage with you. However, ending with Saying Thanks With Style will end your act with you on stage alone. It can also be used following anything. This provides a double closer. A Plethora of Silks is fast with no dialogue. Saying Thanks with Style puts you at one with the audience. It is not a strong effect, but it is cute. The 91

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 92 audience will recognize this as the end and will reward you with an ovation. After you decide which program to perform, type it up. Keep this on stage with you. Trust me, with all of the stress of remembering all of your dialogue, you will forget what comes next. You don’t want to fumble. Just glance at the list and go on. It’s alright if the audience sees this. They will respect you as a professional who cares for details. Next you need to type up a prop list. This comes in very handy. You don’t want to forget something silly like your scissors for The Cut and Restored Rope trick. I have included the list of props in each trick. Only include what you use. I listed in the routine things like four rubber bands for the pull. This eventually got linked together and made into the pull. It shouldn’t be on the prop list, only the pull itself should be. The list below is an example of how I arrange my own list.

1. Showing or Blowing

Two 12 inch silk handkerchiefs of the same color The rubber band pull

2. Cut and Restored Rope

A piece of rope twenty-four inches A pair of scissors

3. The Cups and Balls

Three cups Four small balls The wand

4. A Plethora of Silks

Wine bottle Three tubes of descending order X amount of silks A wine glass Colored water A chair

5. Saying Thanks with Style

Two single sheets of newspaper A pair of scissors

This list you don’t bring on stage with you. This is for you to check before you leave home, as you set up, and before you go home. You don’t want to leave something important behind. When you are done checking your equipment, leave this list in your container that you packed your props in. This container can be a sports bag or suitcase. Experience has shown me to be very careful when packing. For anything breakable, I cover it in bubblewrap. I make a bag out of it so I can reuse it. This may be a pain to do all of this, but in the long run it pays off. Once you set up, keep the bag or suitcase backstage. You could build a box to carry your stuff in. I have one that has legs hinged onto it. I open it up and use it like a table. Then I put the props I’m finished with in there 92

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 93 as I perform. Place your props on your table with care. Nothing is worse than seeing a performer search for something. The performer should reach for it and find it instantly. Think about this. You can put the rope in your suit pocket, the envelope for the Cutting the Lady in Half in your breast pocket, and your business cards for the Book Test in your pants pocket. This will help to make your table less cluttered. Place two tables on your stage; one to the right, the other to left. This leaves the center open for you to walk down. Since this is the strongest position, you want to leave it open. I always start off doing the Showing or Blowing front and center. Then I place the first half of my act on the table to my left. This is the weaker of the three position. The weakest is behind you towards the left corner. Avoid that when ever possible. Then I set my finale on the table to my right. This is a strong position, but not the strongest. Then I do a trick like Saying Thanks with Style facing the audience front and center. This is the strongest position. Once you have it set where things go, practice it that way. You’ll be surprised when you get on stage how automatic it becomes. This will become one less thing for you to worry about. Now the show begins. I hate when someone asks a beginning performer if they are nervous. This puts the evil thought into the performer’s head that may have not been there before. People just expect performers to be nervous before a show. Don’t let yourself be in that position. Practice so you know your material, be prepared by making sure you have brought everything, and give your self enough time to set up. A little anxiety is alright though. It is natural. After all of these years, I don’t get as nervous as I use to. I use to pace up and down until it was my turn to go on. This was tough the year I worked the illusion show at Six Flags Magic Mountain. I was pre-set in a box and couldn’t move. Now a days, I just take it all in stride. I still feel a little nervous. I pray that they never call my name. “Delay more,” I think to myself. Then I have the Catch 22 situation. I want to get it over with. However, I know that experience has shown me that everything will be alright. If I put in a new trick I have never done before, I get a little more nervous than usual. To overcome any stage fright, I lick my lips. There is a tendency for your mouth to be dry when you are nervous. Licking the lips helps to cure this. Usually if I’m nervous, it goes away once I’m on stage. Nothing is worse than the performer coming out lackadaisical. This happens because you sit backstage so long waiting for them to call your name. You should come out bursting with energy. I remember one particular instance recently where I was not up to my usual standards. It was a long lay off between performances, so I lost that spark. My dad even commented that it looked like I lost the joy of performing. This was like a challenge to me. I racked my brains trying to find a solution. “No,” I said to myself, “I am not washed up.” So I remembered something that the legendary master illusionist Howard Thurston use to do before each show. He would tell himself, “I have a great audience. I am going to be great,” etc. What he did was psych himself up. He entered the stage full of vim and vigor. I did this. In fact I over did it. However, as things usually happen, when you enter with a lot of energy, the moment drags you down. So I’m glad I came on with too much energy because it evened itself out. The audience caught my energy and responded. Then they fed me to keep the energy going to the end. It was one of the best performances I had in a long time. I proved I was not washed up. You might say that the size of the audience had a lot to do with it. In this case it was not true. There might have been maybe ten people in the audience. I was not going to let the lack of attendance pull me down. As you perform, control your pace. There should be no dead time between tricks. Novice performers do the opposite on what they should. They speed up the presentation of their tricks, and then slow down in between. There is a natural tendency to let nerves speed up the act. Don’t let it. Your act should be fast paced, but not you. You may have said the same dialogue over and over, but it’s new to your audience. They want to hear every word. It’s a funny thing, but when we talk fast, the time seems to go by slower for the audience. I think because the words are jumble and cannot be understood. When this happens, the audience loses interest in it. Once 93

Pascoe/HOW TO DO A MAGIC SHOW 94 they do, everything seems to take forever to finish. When we pace our words properly, time on stage seems to go by faster. I don’t mean talk real slow as to bore the audience. I mean, pick spots in your dialogue that is very important and pause before you get there. Stop dead. Don’t move. Nothing. Wait for one to three seconds, then deliver the line. The following is an example of what I do with a script when I first get it. With a pen or pencil, I put slashes where I want to pause. One slash is a one count pause, like between commas. Two slashes is a much longer pause. This is usually something that I want to emphasize. “People always ask me// how did I first learn/ to do magic?// When I was a kid,/ I use to bug the owner/ of the local magic store/ to show me a trick.// This was his favorite.// He’d take out his pocket handkerchief.//” Read it this way in practice, but don’t set it in stone. You may feel that your emphasis was wrong. If you do, change it. Don’t memorize these slashes. It should come naturally as you practice. Also, if you’ve discovered that right feel for the dialogue, write it down. A pause or a movement that is affective should be noted so you can always do it the same way every time. Move with purpose. Don’t fidget. When you pick something up, don’t move your hands around a hundred times. I’ve seen the best magicians do this. They pick up a deck of cards and rotate it around and around. This makes the audience nervous. You don’t want to be a permanent fixture behind your table, but you don’t want to pace around the stage either. Stand still. Deliver a line, then move forward or right to left. Then stop again. You can do the tricks that are on your table, then when you get to something like the rope trick, you can take it out of your pocket and move towards the audience. You may deliver something with a burst of energy, then slow it down. Don’t repeat the same actions too soon. Chris Rock is a great performer, but he makes me uneasy when he paces back and forth. He has that nervous energy that makes him dynamite. But that pacing. . . It drives me crazy. Bill Cosby paces his act nicely. He starts off by sitting down. Image that. . . a stand up comic sitting down. Then he builds the act by getting up. He moves his body acting out the situation he is describing. He gets really silly, then he stops. He looks at he audience with those incredible faces he makes, then he slows down. Finally, he delivers the punch. I don’t want to spend too much time on performing. By taking an acting class you’ll learn what you need. The most important thing to remember is to have fun. I know this sounds silly, but most performers I know forget this. They are so busy trying to get through it as fast as they can, they don’t spend the time enjoying their act. This will help relieve the nerves. It will make performing addicting. You will not be able to get enough of it. Then you’ll want to perform more. If you do, I wish you success. I am glad you took the time to practice the tricks I have provided for you. Certainly, this is not all that you can learn from magic. I encourage you to go and explore by going to the magic shops. Be careful because one can go crazy and buy all sorts of stuff you may never use. Remember, routine is the most important thing to the magical performer. Soon, I will work on a second book that will cover all that you can learn in magic. It will be a book for all levels from the beginner to the advance. Basically, it will be a book from my career starting from a young teenager all the way through to the present. I will give pet effects as well. Those that are tried and true. The hardest thing I found in putting together a magic book is the illustrations. Being the perfectionist that I am, I have gone back and reworked the sketches until I felt they were right. With that, the second book will take sometimes because I want it to be complete. Thank you so much for your purchase. I hope we can explore together this inner journey that is shared by the writer and the reader. It is you that I had in mind when I wrote this. Magically yours, Michael Pascoe 2014

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How to Do a Magic Show Full Manuscript

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