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From the desk of: `tÜ|t \uö©xé Greetings, here it is, the January-March issue of The Magic Touch. This par- ticular issue is a few days later in coming out as it is being dedicated to the new Dean of the Magic City Conjurers / Society of American Magicians As- sembly 280; Ricardo Roucau, lovingly known to the world as Fantasio. Because his being named Dean was a surprise to him and because this publication is being dedicated to him, we could not afford to let the issue out too soon or the surprise would be spoiled. Thank you for understanding. Once again I’d like to thank the contributors who have helped make this issue special by con- tributing to it, Simone Marron, Travis Marron, Grandpa Chet Cox, Tom Craven, Scott F. Guinn, Jim Stott and naturally, you, the readers who make these issues and work so rewarding and such a joy. As is always the case, if you wish to unsubscribe from receiving this, send an e-mail to me at [email protected]. Should you know anyone who wishes to subscribe, have then send an e- mail to me at the same e-mail and I will promptly add them. Our subscriber list is protected and will not be shared with or sold to anyone. Do you write? Would you like to contribute an article? Have something you are willing to share with others? Have an opinion you would like to express? All articles and submissions are welcome. Please send them to me at [email protected] for inclusion in the next issue of Magic Touch. Thank you in advance for your contributions. So, as I always end my correspondence, until next time….. Keep a dream in the making for you create your tomorrows by what you dream today. Maria Ibáñez

Transcript of Magic Touch 12 - tmtmagazine.comtmtmagazine.com/tmt pdf/Magic Touch 2010.1.pdf · in the magic...

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From the desk of:

`tÜ|t \uö©xé

Greetings, here it is, the January-March issue of The Magic Touch. This par-ticular issue is a few days later in coming out as it is being dedicated to the new Dean of the Magic City Conjurers / Society of American Magicians As-

sembly 280; Ricardo Roucau, lovingly known to the world as Fantasio. Because his being named Dean was a surprise to him and because this publication is being dedicated to him, we could not afford to let the issue out too soon or the surprise would be spoiled. Thank you for understanding. Once again I’d like to thank the contributors who have helped make this issue special by con-tributing to it, Simone Marron, Travis Marron, Grandpa Chet Cox, Tom Craven, Scott F. Guinn, Jim Stott and naturally, you, the readers who make these issues and work so rewarding and such a joy. As is always the case, if you wish to unsubscribe from receiving this, send an e-mail to me at [email protected]. Should you know anyone who wishes to subscribe, have then send an e-mail to me at the same e-mail and I will promptly add them. Our subscriber list is protected and will not be shared with or sold to anyone. Do you write? Would you like to contribute an article? Have something you are willing to share with others? Have an opinion you would like to express? All articles and submissions are welcome. Please send them to me at [email protected] for inclusion in the next issue of Magic Touch. Thank you in advance for your contributions. So, as I always end my correspondence, until next time….. Keep a dream in the making for you create your tomorrows by what you dream today.

Maria Ibáñez

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The Magic TouchThe Magic Touch

January—March 2010 Issue 2

FANTASIO

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Fantasio Born Ricardo Roucau in Argentina, after trying a couple of different names on for size, including Larry, he came to be known around the world simply as “Fantasio”.

His face, often times alongside his beautiful bride Monica, has appeared on many publications in as many languages. He has appeared on numerous stages and theaters and has performed on countless television programs. He was there when the famous Beatles made their debut on the Ed Sullivan Show, and he and Monica appeared many times on that show.

Fantasio and Monica have worked with many of the great names, not just in the magic world but also in the world of movie stars, appearing with names such as Lib-erace.

They are no strangers to the biggest names in the magic world and were and are close personal friends of many including Dai Vernon, Slydini, Blackstone, Doug Hen-ning, Norm and Lupe Nielsen, Lance Bur-ton, Siegfried and Roy, Melinda, Fu Man-chu, Shimada, Levent, Juan Tamariz and many, many more.

Most of us are familiar with the man, his impeccable performances, his appearances as Funtasio , and with his products which have been the best of the best for many dec-ades. For several decades the words cane and candles have become synonymous with the word Fantasio and it would be hard to imagine any magician, beginner or pro, who hasn’t owned at least one of those products.

Familiar we are as well with his ingenuity and creativity evidenced in his medicine cabinet act and lecture. I dare say there isn’t anyone who has seen that act that has not commented “incredible”, “creative”, “unbelievable”, for that is exactly what his creativity is, unbelievable!

There is, however, another side to the man. The personal and family life. The life he

shares with his bride Monica, with whom he just celebrated a golden anniversary. The life he also shares with their only child, daughter Jackie, and the three grandchildren that they dote upon….two girls and a boy.

His personal life also extends to his friends with whom they share generously of their time and the

magic in it. Fantasio and Monica are two of the most loving, generous people one could come in contact with.

Their doors are always open to us and one need only let them know that we have a meeting location problem for them to open their doors and host the club meeting, just as they host lectures and other events for us.

All the above and more is probably already known by most of you through reading arti-cles about him in magazines or books. What you may not know is that Fantasio has another talent at which he is just as good….the tango!

We, our family and the local club members as well, have been very fortunate to have him delight us with his music and his per-formances on a few occasions. If ever you have the chance to listen to him, jump at it, you won’t be sorry.

Fantasio, Monica, and the Roucau fam-ily….a blessing to all who meet them.

This and the other charicature at the top were painted by Fabrini for Fantasio

RICARDO ROUCAU = FANTASIO

Fantasio Cover

Ricardo Roucau=Fantasio 3

The Dean’s Program Honoring Fantasio

4

Birthday Magicology Jim Stott

5

Your Choice Tom Craven

6

Magic & Mystery School Simone Marron

7

Magic & Mystery School Travis Marron

8

The Magic Classroom Jim Stott

9

Getting Reviewed 9

Back to the Future Scott F. Guinn

10-12

Life at the top Maria Ibáñez

13-14

Backstage-A Perspective Artie C. Kidwell

15

Chetoric Grandpa Chet Cox

16-20

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Credit Where Due Thank you, Mel Kientz

9

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Much to his surprise, on January 10, 2010, during the annual Awards Banquet of the Magic City Conjurers / Society of American Magicians Assembly 280, the title of Dean was bestowed on Fantasio.

Now you understand why this issue was a week late in coming out, it is being dedicated to him and the

word of his becoming Dean is being covered here so we absolutely had to keep it quiet

until after the presentation. Humble gentleman that he is, he was very surprised at the unexpected honor.

It is understandable that many of you will want to congratulate him, and since you didn’t have an opportunity to do so at the installation itself, you may still do so by writing him at:

Fantasio, Dean 1002 Country Club Prado

Coral Gables, Florida 33134

Personal thanks to all those who participated and helped make this such a special presentation for a very deserving man.

The graphics below are from the program that was printed for the occasion and the wording is on the right for you to have.

THE DEAN’S PROGRAM

The Magic City Conjurers

Society of American Magicians Assembly 280

Proudly Bestows The Title

Dean on

Ricardo “Fantasio” Roucau

A man, who like a beacon Is always there to light the way

This is the reason we say

Like your magic, our respect and admiration for you will be timeless!

Presented

January 10, 2010

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BIRTHDAY MAGICOLOGY BY JIM STOTT

I particularly love his idea on how to carry your magic props around, and when you are finished , you are all ready packed and ready to leave...I believe his idea is unique and a magic first. At least I must say this idea is quite creative, and if I were to venture out as a Birthday Party Performer, this is the first thing I would build...boy what a head start this would be.” Tony Spina, Swan Lake, Just added: A dedicated website where members can share ideas and learn together!

To learn more, visit http://www.birthdaymagicology.com

Birthday Magicology

The easiest way to learn how to be a successful children's entertainer without a lot of work struggling to get started, without buying high-priced boot camps, courses or seminars, and without waiting around for results is finally here . . .

Introducing Birthday Magicology! How to Plan a Show, Get Clients, and Make

Money as a Birthday Party Magician! Weekly downloadable lessons every week for three months. Lessons:

• Are short and easy to digest • Include a weekly homework assignment • Build as you go • Force you to succeed long term, and help

you make real progress “In my 40 years as President of Louis Tannen Inc. and publisher of over 300 books, there has never been anything that compares to Jim Stott’s publica-tion of "BIRTHDAY MAGICOLOGY". This publication is a must if you want to become a Birthday Party Magician. The whole Magical Market-ing strategy is all laid out for you, props, patter, pub-licity, how to market, where to purchase the props etc. It is all covered from beginning to end. If I were still in the business this would be my first big publi-cation series that would go into press, as we did with the Tarbell Course in Magic.

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This is a penetration of a ring through a handkerchief. Two rings are tied on the hank. The spectator chooses one of the two rings and even though he (really) has a free choice, he is left with the chosen ring at the conclusion of the effect. One ring being tied on, the other is free of the hank. This really is a simple effect to do and is a sort of swindle. It’s true

that the spectator has a free choice of either ring, but it is not always the chosen ring that comes off. They make their choice, then you alter the outcome depending on what that choice is. In the spectator’s mind, the ending you choose is the only end-ing available. Needed are two rings, one larger than the other. Also needed is an eighteen inch handkerchief. A hank smaller than that is too small, and anything larger looks too bulky for the effect. I personally use rings that are four inches and five inches in di-ameter. Start with the hank held in the left hand as shown in Fig. 1. Both rings are placed over end “A” as shown in Fig. 2. End “A” is placed on end “B” and both are held by the left thumb. The right hand now goes behind and reaches through as shown in Fig. 3. The right hand grasps the rings in order to pull them through the loop formed in the hank. As the right hand grasps the rings (and since one of them is larger than the other), there is a gap formed between the rings near the top. This gap is also shown in Fig. 3. As the right hand pulls the rings through the loop, the left first finger goes into the gap and end “A” slips between the rings. This free’s the large ring. The right hand pulls the rings through, and straight up toward the ceiling. The left hand pulls on the ends keeping them taut. The left hand raises as the right hand lowers until they are on the same plane. The right hand pulls the rings where they are being held, back toward the left hand. This leaves the rings doubled back over the hank as shown in Fig. 4. The hands are omitted from this figure for clarity. At this point the large ring is not tied on, while the small one is. You can see from Fig. 4 however, that both appear to be tied on the hank. You now rotate the rings so they are as shown in Fig. 5. Move the large ring first. Take hold of it at the point nearest the ends of the hank, rotat-ing it away from the ends. Next comes the small ring. Care must be taken while moving it, so you don’t move the hank at all. The small ring is rotated exactly as the large one was, but the part of this ring being covered by the hank must remain where it is. You will end up as in Fig. 5. (If you check here, you’ll see that if you lift the small ring and the hank, the hank is doubled over the large ring covering it. This makes it ap-pear the large ring is still tied on).

Now have the spectator choose either the large or small ring. There are two different handlings depending on his choice. If the large ring is chosen, have the spectator take hold of it. You take hold of the ends with one hand. Cover the hank where the rings appear to be tied with the other hand. Pull on the ends showing the small ring tied on, while the spectator is holding the chosen ring. If the spectator chooses the small ring, you do the opposite to the above. You take hold of the large ring and ask the specta-tor to take hold of the ends. Cover the juncture of the rings and hank with your free hand, and ask the spectator to pull on the ends. The large ring pulls free and once again the spectator is left holding the chosen ring.

YOUR CHOICE

Courtesy of Tom Craven www.cravensvipmagic.com

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JEFF MCBRIDE’S MAGIC & MYSTERY SCHOOL I recently was fortunate enough to attend Jeff McBride’s Magic & Mystery School in Las Vegas Ne-vada. I selected the Mentalism Master Class, as my Magical interests have taken a turn in that direction. This was a three day class with only eleven partici-pants, allowing us to enjoy a lot

of personalized instruction. The instructors were Jeff McBride, Eugene Burger and the fan-tastically creative Ross Johnson. The attendees were from Swe-den, the UK, Italy, the USA, and Argentina. However there were no international boundaries, and somehow it seems that after the three days, we had become family with a very special bond that will last forever.

From the very beginning, it was made clear to us that although our needs and expectations were very different due to the wide range of professionalism from hobbyists to full time profes-sional performers, our requirements would be fulfilled on an individual basis. Our instructors certainly came through, and each of us left the Master Class feeling that our expectations were surpassed in every way. It is hard to explain in words how fantastic this experience was. It is necessary to attend a class in order to fully appreciate the benefits that can be attained by being a student of one of Jeff McBride’s Master Classes

Our days began with Vision Council, which gave us an opportu-nity to share our thoughts about a topic given to us by our in-structors, after Abbi McBride led us in some relaxing exercises. Works in Progress was another daily exercise, which gave the students the option to share portions of their acts with the in-structors and the rest of the class. These performances were video taped, along with the ensuing critiques by the instructors, which was later given to the performer in DVD format as an invaluable tool to assist them in improving their acts. The other students would also share their written comments for each per-formance.

At the beginning of the workshop, all attendees shared what they individually wished to learn at the Class, and as the week pro-gressed, all topics were covered, which left us in wonderment about the plethora of information that filled our minds.

Each day, we had small group break-out sessions, where differ-ent topics on our lists were covered. My personal favorite was the session on the “Center Tear”, which personally opened up a whole new world of interest for me.

We also were treated to two great Mentalism shows on the strip. One evening we went as a group to see Gerry McCambridge, and on the other night, Luke Jermay. Both shows were hugely entertaining, although both in very different ways. After both shows, we had a Meet and Greet with the stars. Other sessions that we experienced at this Master Class was a great lecture by Bobby Torkova on “The Mysterious Burt Reese” and a very valuable session on the “Business of Magic and Marketing” by Tobias Beckwith, conducted through Skype with a webcam.

All attendees were provided with a notebook with much infor-mation and paper for taking notes. Taking notes was a “must”, and Jeff pointed out to us that no matter how many notes we took, he would take more than us. At the end of the Workshop, there was a very moving Awards Ceremony, where we all received our pin and graduation certifi-cate. We had all become so close in a three day period, and never again would we all be together in this group. If you have never been fortunate enough to attend one of these Master Classes, please try to find the opportunity to do so. You would definitely not regret it. I have already signed up to attend the Mentalism Master Class again in October of 2010, and can’t wait to go through this experience again.

Simone Marron

MAGIC & MYSTERY SCHOOL BY SIMONE MARRON

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Last summer I had the great opportunity of going to a six day Jeff McBride Magic and Mystery School session in Las Vegas, Nevada. This class held people from all around the world. There were beginners and professionals of all ages. We all had different needs that were met, even though there were eight of us at the class. During the class, Jeff has a segment called “Works in Progress”. This is the time when the students get to perform in front of Jeff their newest acts and get his feed-back on it. This part was the most invaluable part of the class. Jeff McBride is a mastermind of magic. He came up with so many different ideas for my act alone, that I am still putting some of them into the act over six months after. The class most days started around nine in the morning and ended around five at night with only one lunch break in be-tween. Everything else was nonstop magic. Do not worry if you have never been to Las Vegas, and want to sightsee after the magic. There is plenty of time in the evening to go to The Strip with your new friends from the class. Just ask Jeff and he will tell you where to go and give you great advice on eating places. My Master Class included two shows on The Strip. We saw Mac King with the class, and we also got to see Gerry McCam-bridge. Both shows were great, but what was even better was that we got to do a Q&A session with the performers after the show. One night during after class had ended, everyone went to go see the show Penn and Teller. Since it was not included with the Master Class we did not get to meet with them for a Q&A session afterward, but they did come out and meet everyone after the show.

Now to the juicy stuff, inside the class. The class always started every morning with the same ritual. We passed around a stick every morning and whoever had the stick would tell what they had done the night be-fore and how they felt. This got us to know each other a little better. After that we would learn magic! We did not just learn magic, we learned how to present our magic. We did many exercises that just taught us how to bow, and how to present ourselves on stage. This was very important for any stage magician, and probably helped me out the most. Some days we broke up into separate groups, some went with Jeff, and some would go with Eugene. They would teach us little magic tricks that we could do. Other days we would get a lecture from Bryce Kuhlman on how to make a better website. The whole master class is a perfect way for your magic abilities to boost sky high within a six day period. Even with all these different kinds of people from many differ-ent walks of life, we were able to make a strong bond between the students of the class. I am still in contact with a few people from the master class. Jeff McBride knows exactly what every-one needs to make their magic career better. It was a truly amaz-ing experience that I would recommend to any magician that can afford it.

MAGIC & MYSTERY SCHOOL BY TRAVIS MARRON

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Welcome to The Magic Classroom

A gathering place for those who want to learn and share magic Here’s your invitation to check out, and become a member of, The Magic Classroom! The Magic Classroom, http://www.magicclassroom.com,

is a new social networking site for magicians and those who love magic. As a member, you will have your own page where you can post photos and videos and communicate with your friends just like you do on Facebook, only better, since this site is dedicated to the magical arts. If you’re a magician, clown, juggler, vent, escape artist, balloonologist, mentalist, or in any way related to the magical arts – you’ll find folks here you can connect with. You’ll be able to:

* Start discussions in the forum to get answers and share information * Post pictures to showcase who you are and what you do * Upload videos or embed them from YouTube, Flickr, and Google * Start or join a group to share your interests * Add The Magic Classroom badge to your websites and pages. * Add yourself to the Members Map

And so much more The Magic Classroom is a professional site where professional and appropriate behavior is expected. Members are also ex-pected to have some level of activity on the site at least once each month in order to keep things dynamic. Visit http://www.magicclassroom.com and find out why The Magic Classroom is becoming THE gathering place for those who want to learn and share magic. Hope to see you there!

THE MAGIC CLASSROOM

So, you have a product, dvd, cd, book, etc. that you would like to get reviewed and you are wondering how to make that happen; here’s what you need to do. Submit any items you would like to have reviewed to Maria Ibáñez 12791 S.W. 216 Terrace Miami, Florida 33170 Or to Grandpa Chet Cox PO Box 9762 Fayetteville, AR 72703

GETTING REVIEWED

CREDIT WHERE DUE

So many of you have written and complimented me not just on the content but also on the graphic work on this publica-tion and on the weekly Have You Heard?, that I felt it was fitting to give credit where it is due. The credit for the beautiful graphics belongs to my friend and someone I jokingly refer to as my “internet guru”, Mel Kientz. His pose in this picture is what I imagine he looks like on the other end of the phone line each time I call him and say…”ok, so dear guru, how do I do this, that or the other?” and he patiently talks me through it until I learn it. On behalf of myself and all the readers, thank you Mel for all your help and all you do in the background that you don’t get enough credit for doing in helping myself an others out.

Mel Kientz my “graphics guru”

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by Scott F. Guinn ©2002 Scott F. Guinn Here is a card effect (from You’ll Be Pleas-antly Surprised) that anyone with the man-ual dexterity to deal cards can do. Upon reading it, you may think it is too simple or that the spectators will be able to recon-struct it. Let me assure you that this is not the

case! Give it one trial in front of a lay-audience and you too will be convinced. I hesitate to claim originality for this, but I have not seen it in the literature. Effect: “I had a premonition earlier today, and I wrote down a couple of the key points to see if it was accurate.” You produce a folded piece of paper with the inscription “My Premonition” and set it on the table. Next, you intro-duce a deck, remove the jokers and shuffle it a few times. As you begin to deal cards off the top into a pile, you con-tinue speaking to the audience. “Often, people attribute to magicians the skill of profes-sional gamblers. They see me deal like this and think that I could possibly be dealing the second card or the bottom card, while making it appear that I’m dealing the top card. There’s only one way to absolutely convince you that I’m dealing fairly.” You pick up the dealt pile, replace it atop the deck, and turn the deck face up. “If I deal with the cards face up, you can SEE that the top card is the one I actually deal.” You ask Jacob to give you a number between ten and twenty to arrive at a card. You remove his card, setting it aside. You repeat this process with Daniel, LeAnna and Melissa. The four selections are left in a row and the deck set aside. You open your prediction and read, “Four peo-ple will select cards!” “Amazing!” you say. Noticing the audience is unimpressed, you point out that there is another prediction. Unfolding the prediction, you read, “None of the chosen cards will be jokers!”

Still, the crowd is underwhelmed. “Wow, tough audience! That’s alright, I have one more prediction.” Unfolding the paper a final time, you read, “The four chosen cards will be different!” You look up at the audience expectantly, only to be crestfallen at their sneers and contempt. “I don’t understand it! I think that’s amazing—the four chosen cards ARE different!” You ribbon spread the deck to reveal an ordinary blue Bicycle deck. You turn the four selections face down. Each has a completely unique and different back! Every-thing may be examined—there is nothing to find. Requirements and preparation: Get a deck of cards with two jokers. I’ll assume you’re using a blue Bicycle deck. Now get four indifferent cards with different backs. You can just use different-colored Bicycle backs, but four truly DIFFERENT backs will play more strongly. You could buy a Rainbow deck from your dealer, or just go to your local drugstore or department store and get four decks with different backs (Coca-Cola, Fritos, Bud-weiser, puppies, flowers, etc.). I’ll refer to these as the “stranger” cards. For explanation purposes, let’s say your four stranger cards are the 5C, 7H, 4D and 9S. Do NOT use aces or face cards, as they do not always look the same as their counterparts in the Bicycle deck. Remove the duplicates of the stranger cards from your blue deck and put them away—they are not used for this effect. Place the stranger cards on the face of the deck. Remove any eight cards from the deck and place them on the face of the strangers. Case the deck. Go get a piece of paper and a ballpoint pen. I’ll wait… Back so soon? OK. On the paper, write, “The four cho-sen cards will be different!” Write in large letters, cover-ing the page. Fold the page in half along its width, with the writing going inside the fold. On the half sheet facing you now, write, “None of the chosen cards will be jokers!” Fold the page in half again, this time along the length.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

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On the quarter page now facing you, write, “Four people will select cards!” Fold the page a final time, widthwise. (Make sure that the writing goes on the INSIDE each time you fold.) On each outside surface of the folded packet write: “My Pre-monition.” The accompanying figures show how the writing needs to be laid out on the paper. Put the folded prediction in your pocket, and you’re ready to perform. Method and performance: Bring out the paper as you patter about your premonition, and set it on the table. Bring out the deck. Remove it, face up, from the case and spread through it so you can remove the jokers, being careful not to expose the stranger backs to the audience. Set the jokers aside, face up and in view. Square the deck and turn it face down. Give it a couple of jog shuffles as follows: Undercut about 2/3 of the deck with your right hand. Begin to overhand shuffle these cards on top of the deck until your right hand holds about 1/3 of the deck (careful not to shuffle enough to expose a stranger card!). In-jog the next card and drop the remainder on top. Square the deck and turn it face down. Give it a couple of jog shuffles as follows: Undercut about 2/3 of the deck with your right hand. Begin to overhand shuffle these cards on top of the deck until your right hand holds about 1/3 of the deck (careful not to shuffle enough to expose a stranger card!). In-jog the next card and drop the remainder on top. Bring the palm up right hand under the deck. Pull down on the jogged card with the right thumb as you square the deck, getting a break above it, and immediately undercut all the cards below the break. Fairly shuffle these on top of the deck. Do a false cut if you like. Begin dealing cards off the top of the face down deck as you talk about spectators being suspicious of your dealing (as in the effect description above). Replace these cards on top of the deck and turn the deck face up, explaining that by dealing with the deck in this orientation, everyone can see that you’re dealing fairly. You will use an old ploy called the Nine Force to get your participants to “choose” the odd-backed cards. Ask Jacob to give you a number between ten and twenty. In our example, he chose 14. Fairly deal 14 cards from the face of the deck into a face up pile on the table. Explain

that you’ll add the two digits together and then remove that many cards from the pile to arrive at a card. One at a time, remove five cards, replacing them on the face of the deck. Set the card now atop the pile (the first stranger card) on the table, calling it “Jacob’s card” and then pick up the rest of the packet and drop it on the face of the deck. Repeat this procedure with Daniel, LeAnna and Melissa. When all four cards have been chosen and are in a face up row on the table, set the deck face up to the side. Pick up the folded paper as you remind the audience of your premonition, and explain that it is time to see how accurate it was. Unfold it once and read the first prediction. After the groans, laughs, etc., unfold it again and read the second prediction. Finally, unfold it and read the last pre-diction. Act genuinely surprised that no one is impressed. Say that you think that is pretty amazing as you ribbon spread the deck face down across the table and then turn over the four selections for the surprising climax. NOTES I explained this using the Nine Force so that anyone could do it. It is a bit time consuming, though. A quicker, albeit slightly more difficult method that I typically use is Harry Lorayne’s HaLo Slip Cut (from his book Rim Shots and the first volume of his video series produced by L&L Pub-lishing). If you know this move, simply have the force cards on the face of the deck. Riffle down the outer left corner with your left thumb, asking the first spectator to stop you somewhere in the body of the deck. When he does, do the Halo Cut and turn the packet face up, exposing the force card on the face. Thumb this off, face up, onto the table. Replace the packet on top and repeat with the remaining three “selections.” This is my preferred method. The above effect is a contribution by F. Scott Gwinn who generously is sharing it here with us. It is one of the rou-tines from his book: My Best to You: Cards and is avail-able for purchase on his website Scott F. Guinn Great Scott! It's Magic! www.scottfguinn.com

BACK TO THE FUTURE (CONT.)

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PREMONITION SHEET TEMPLATES — SIZE AS NEEDED

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Life at the top...what exactly does that mean and what could this column possibly be about? This column is a result of numer-ous requests by you, the subscrib-ers and contributors that I write a column and be a contributor my-self and so, this column was born. Here, on a publication by publica-tion basis, I will share with you a little bit about my personal life;

how I, a Cuban born only child of a Shell Oil Corporation em-ployee and a housewife, came to live in America. You will read about my introduction to the world of magic after our old-est son turned 1 year old and we hired a magician for his party, how a man who came to be a very close personal friend, Amaz-ing Sammy Chiprut, introduced me to the I.B.M. and endorsed me for membership over a quarter century ago, and, you will read about how it came to be that, with your help and support, I was honored with serving as S.A.M. President so many years after picking up my first magic trick, the hot rod. I was born in Havana, Cuba, Maria Elena Hernandez, only daughter to Orlando Miguel and Santa. My very early child-hood was spent in a town called Guanabacoa where my mother was born and raised. After doing my First Communion, we moved to El Vedado, an upper middle class area of Havana and I changed schools from La Milagrosa to La Imaculada. Studies there didn’t last too long because on May 12, 1962, my parents and I boarded a Pan American airplane and arrived in Miami on that fateful Saturday morning, the day before Mother’s Day. We’ve lived in Miami since that time, except for a brief period of time after Jay and I were married when he was stationed in

Mayport (Jacksonville). Both Jay and I are products of public schools in Florida; in fact, it was in school that we met back in 1965 after he and his family arrived from Panama. Although his parents are both Cuban, both he and his brother Julio were born in Panama City, Panama. Buena Vista Elementary was where I was

enrolled and attended, followed by Robert E Lee Junior High and Miami Edison Senior High School (Go Raiders!). Miami Dade Community College and then Florida International Uni-versity finished and rounded out our school days. Yes, we went through school together and have been almost inseparable since we met some 45 years ago. Next month, on Febru-ary 17th we will be celebrating our 37th wedding anniversary.

Upon graduation from high school, Jay studied at Florida In-stitute of Technology on a full scholarship and graduated with a degree in Marine Biology. He joined the U.S. Navy shortly after that and was assigned to the Charles F. Adams DDG2 in Mayport, Florida. He received his honorable dis-charge July of 1974 and we moved back to Miami to be near family. The Wackenhut Corporation was my first place of employ-ment after our return to Miami, Ross Oil (the Quaker State distributors) was Jay’s; however, about a year after our return I was hired by Ross Oil and Jay and I have worked together ever since. Life was and continues to be good to us. We have had a blessed life together and we are thankful every day that we have a strong relationship and a strong family life.

Orlando, our oldest son, was born, after a very rough pregnancy of placenta previa and hemorrhaging, August 1977. We named him Orlando Jesus after both his grandfa-thers. Jason was born a year and a half later, March of 1979, bring-

ing our happy family to four and the house to full.

They too are products of public education in Florida, having attended Cypress Elementary, Riviera Middle and Southwest High School, respectively. Much like the parents, our sons have been very close their entire lives and even went into the military on the buddy sys-tem. They left for Parris Island together and graduated as PFCs (Private First Class) from boot camp on 12 June 1997.

Our lives have revolved around our sons’ lives from the time of their birth. We have served as room parents, school par-ents, chaperones on field trips. Personally, I have been Presi-dent of both the Band Parents Association and the JROTC at their high school and have been awarded numerous plaques and service awards, including a Dade County Proclamation as the outstanding volunteer in the county.

LIFE AT THE TOP

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We have been just as involved since they joined the service and have re-ceived recognition from the armed forces and from the Marine Corps including a Certificate of Commen-dation and I have been recognized and awarded the Outstanding Volun-teer Service Medal, an honor usually reserved only for the military but which I received as a civilian. You might think that all this volun-teer serving took up all our time and left little, if any, for me to pursue magic, but, that is not so. Somehow we have managed to have magic be a very large part of my life concurrently with being involved in all the other activities. My first real exposure to magic, after a terrible experience with the first magician I saw at a very early age of 5 or so, was in August of 1978 when we celebrated Orlando’s first birthday. That following week we found Miami Magic, a magic shop owned and operated by Amazing Sammy Chiprut just a few blocks from our home, and that is where I purchased my first handful of tricks, the first of which was, as I’ve mentioned, a hot rod with an all red climax. I still own that hot rod. Thanks to the wonderful support and guidance of mentors such as Profesor Alberto Montejo, Fantasio, Amazing Sammy, Mi-chael Shelley and others who took me under their wing and not only taught me magic but also guided me along the path, I’ve had a truly magical ride on that magic carpet for well over a quarter century. It was Sammy who took me to my first I.B.M. meeting; Montejo who opened the doors for me to learn about the field of chil-dren’s entertainment and who provided effects when I didn’t own them but needed them, Fantasio who helped me with stag-ing and more; and, it was Michael Shelley who first brought my name up to be an officer of the Florida Magicians Association as Vice President and that ultimately led to me getting more and more involved in the “political” end of magic. Through the years, I’ve been fortunate to perform several times for Princess Sumahar of Saudi Arabia on request, for grandchil-dren of a past President of Cuba, a nationally televised half-time show at the Orange Bowl back in its glory days, and for several Mayors of Miami Dade County. I toured for several weeks with the Thirteenth Army Band of the Governor of Florida dur-ing the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew and was the featured performer at the Thanks to the Troops at Bayside on behalf of the Mayor of Miami who was thanking all those who were dis-placed in an effort to help with the rebuilding of the city. Had someone told me all those years ago that some day I would be traveling as a magician, meeting magicians all over the world, performing for actors, singers, on television, for newspa-pers, etc., I would have said they were insane; yet, all of that has happened and even more.

I’ve met some wonderful people through magic, both in and out of the field. Dr. Moises Simpser, head of pulmonology at Miami Chil-dren’s Hospital and with whom we have worked closely for over 20 years; the many children of VACC (Ventilated Assisted Children’s Center) whom we have entertained for years and whose smiles make it all worthwhile; the incredible and countless clients who hire us year after year to perform for their children's events—amazing how we are now doing parties for the children of those whose parties we performed at when they were

children, nothing like entertaining a second generation. There are so many people who in one way or another have become special in my life that it would require encyclopedic volumes for me to list everyone, however, I do want to say that each of you has touched me and my life and make every day all the more special for me by being a part of it. Believe me when I tell you that these are not empty words; there is little as valuable as your time and you so freely share of it with me through your continued support. Thank you for being a very special part of my life. Very early into magic, I had the fortune and great blessing of meeting Cesareo Pelaez and the members of Le Grand David. Little could I suspect that meet-ing would make our family grow ten-fold. How? Cesareo, David and the rest of the Le Grand David company have become not friends but rather members of our family. It was Cesareo that I asked to install me on July 7, 2007 as I became President of the Society of American Magicians; and what a moving moment that was for both of us, and what an honor to follow not just in so many large footsteps but also in his footsteps as he had held the position years earlier himself. The previous page I promised to take you on a historic tour of my life in magic and I hope I have done so, in as brief a man-ner as possible, bringing you from my entry into the world on that December 6 so long ago to my installation as President. Future issues will cover the year as President, the places I visited, people I met and a little more about what “life at the top” was like. But, my friends, until next time and as I always say…. Keep a dream in the making for you create your tomorrows by what you dream today

LIFE AT THE TOP (cont.)

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I have learned the hard way what it takes to make a magic show work. I’ve di-rected, stage managed, run lights, sound, jerk curtains, drag props and even cleaned up tiger pee. I’ve come to the opinion that the easiest part of a magic show is to be a performer, that way you only have one act to worry about; yours. Back around the early nine-ties I got a call from Mark Holstein asking me if I’d be interested in working lights and sound for the Abbott’s get together in Colon. Since I had al-ready been helping here and there over the last couple of years and they had an opening for a full time slot, on I went. With a crew of 7-8 people, we run 5 shows every year. Remember, 51 weeks out of the year this is a high school gym. Just to give you an idea of what goes on there, here’s the normal schedule for that week: Wednesday – 9 AM Hang back curtains and tabs Make sure the “in one” drapes functions Hook up and hang speakers (6) and monitors (2) for sound Hook and test microphones/mini disk/disk/tape Focus and gel roughly 8-10 lights hanging from basketball back-stop for stage lighting. Set up 2 spotlights If we’re really lucky we can finish up sometime between 12 and 1 PM. We then have a tech rehearsal for whoever is working that night that will last around 2 hours if we’re lucky. This usu-ally takes place around 3 PM. We then report back to the thea-ter (no longer a high school gymnasium) at 7. Thursday Tech rehearsal somewhere in the afternoon and then 7 PM call. Friday 8 AM at the theatre for the talent contest. This will be covered in another article all to itself. Another afternoon tech then evening show Saturday Tech rehearsal for the matinee around noon Matinee show at 2 PM Tech rehearsal for evening show at 4 PM or so Call at 7 for evening show Time Approx 10 PM – Take everything down and pack it all up for next year. If it sounds like a pretty decent pace, it is. What you never can expect is that on some occasion an act might ask for some sort

While the Abbott’s Get Together has the unique situation of having a stage crew that has worked together for years, the real advantage is in that we already know any kind of “bad” thing that can happen. Stage crews that work the national conventions go into a new house every year and have to start from scratch. The advantage and disadvantage we have in Colon, MI is that we know what lights and sound capabilities we have. This sometimes doesn’t make acts happy. If an act is used to work-ing a stage with all kinds of lighting devices, they find out quickly what the choices are with us. We have no special lights, the colors are red/white/blue, and we have simple cur-tains (in front of the grand/in one/full stage). Rarely does this become an issue. Once we had an act that really wanted to have a special light o stage for a particular illusion. He finally asked me that if he hung the light and ran the cable to my board would I at least turn it on and off when needed. How could I say no? While it all sounds pretty Spartan I’m proud to say that a great many pros have told us more than once we’re the best stage crew they’ve ever worked with. This comes from the fact that everyone on the crew performs and not only knows how to make an act look good, we want to. The next several installments of my articles will cover some of the acts I’ve worked for in a technical way and some of the really funny things that can happen and how one has to make sure the audience is never aware something has gone wrong. While you might think it’s usually the contest acts, it’s quite the opposite. We all can fall into the trap that even though you may have performed an effect or routine a thousand times, something can and eventually will, go wrong. Until then…… Artie C. Kidwell

Backstage – A perspective

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It’s here sooner than I expected! A new issue of the Magic Touch, that is. Congratulations to Maria for such a huge success right out of the start-ing gate, and many thanks to each of you who’ve written with compli-ments and criticism. We’ll try to im-prove and exceed your expectations. Alan Strydom’s Audio Subliminal Entrainment

For instance, last time around I promised to offer more informa-tion about Audio Subliminal Entrainment. By “entrainment,” Alan means these tracks are not subliminal – “they are barely audible,” Alan explains, “I have done this for two reasons: Firstly, so that if the person who purchases the CD [i.e. – your customer ~Chet] was to listen to it carefully, they would be sat-isfied that there are indeed affirmations (or suggestions) embed-ded within the track; and secondly, to protect you from anyone submitting the tracks to testing and then claiming there aren’t any affirmations.” You may gather from the above that these nine (ten) WAV tracks are meant to create nine (or ten) individual CDs, for you to sell – say at the back of the room after your lecture or show. You would be right. These tracks cover, in order: 1. Weight Loss 2. Stop Smoking 3. ESP 4. Law of Attraction 5. Recession 6. Self-Confidence Booster 7. Intuition 8. Friendships 9. Theta (“deep relaxation, meditation, & creativity”) There is a bonus track called “Downpour in Delta.” It is meant to include as a bonus, relaxation track on each CD and I find it very relaxing right now. (yawwwwwwn!) As you can see from the titles, the CDs cover themes which can easily tie into your lectures and shows. It would be simple to sell a number of these after each show, possibly doubling your speaking/performance fee with very little effort. Do remember that these are licensed ONLY to sell as separate CDs. You are not permitted to make mp3s and/or sell them on the internet, etc. Alan will give you further information. There are some GREAT bonuses: You’ll find each track is per-sonalized for you. Yep, mine introduce these CDs as coming from Grandpa Chet, and you’ll find PDFs of labels for the CDs, covers for the CD cases (You’ll have to buy your own CD case) and inserts. Every time someone plays one, it’s an advertisement for you.

Again, they’re only $97.00 at http://www.mindillusions.co.za/ (click on “Mentalists Only” section). That comes to less than $12 a CD to make, and I could easily see these CDs going for $25 each. Write a little booklet to go with each one (Remember the Pet Rock booklets?) and you might success-fully raise that price to $40.

Richard Osterlind’s Corinda’s 13 Steps to Mentalism DVD/mentoring package That’s as close to a completely descriptive title as I can manage. What we have is a set of six (!) DVDs based on Corinda’s book, as performed and adapted by Rich-ard Osterlind. And it’s a package

because, if you buy them through Richard, you get his unadul-terated e-mail mentoring through Halloween, 2010. There’s a difficulty in reviewing these, as the entertainment value wears thin due to the format. In keeping with the format of the book (a VERY good idea for teaching and for using the book along with the videos) Richard finds himself performing a number of similar effects at a time. This means that, in teaching Step 4 (Predictions) he may end up performing three or four predictions in a row. Mind you, individually each is entertaining – but that is a lot of predictions in a row. These DVDs are for the serious student – of stagecraft and presentation, as well as of mentalism. The effects, as wonder-ful as they are (and I am astonished at some of the silk purses he made from effects which I considered boring!) are there purely to teach the principles. The title, after all, is 13 Steps to Mentalism – thirteen different principles that, if learned, will make you a master mentalist. You’ll see this in a marvelous (bonus) segment in which a “difficult” audience member be-came, on camera, utterly convinced that what was happening was real – despite the fact that cameras were rolling and she knew she was in the middle of a magicians’ filmmaking stu-dio. This single incident, preserved on video, is of immense value to a worker. Do study the effects and the ways in which Richard “works” the audience. There are scores of unspoken lessons there. Lis-ten and take notes when Jim & Richard move into the discus-sion segments. Especially, study Disk 6’s Step 13 “Patter and Presentation” discussion. Bear down in your studies of this; have the book at hand while you watch and listen. And take advantage of the opportunity to question Richard, to ask his .

Chetoric – mixed rantings & ravings from Grandpa Chet

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advice and counsel. With these disks, especially when combined with the book, you are taking advantage of more than a century of combined experience, of experts who learned (the hard way) what works and what doesn’t work, and how to sell it to the public. Step 12 (“Publicity Stunts”) will give you many ideas of how to turn this knowledge and your acquired skills (assuming you studied and rehearsed a LOT) into money. There are real gems of performance in here, even with the essen-tial restrictions. For instance, agents and event planners are tired of magic squares – they’ve seen the “trick” and the method far too often. But what if they saw you creating a magic square as fast as you could write – no pre-written squares, no pre-anything? Not even enough time for a person to think – and there it is. What if you could call out a day for any date that anyone might call out – instantly? I’ve seen “A Day for Any Date” routines before, and they’ve always required pauses which kill the pac-ing. This time, you’ll see it happen instantly, and you’ll find the method simpler than you’d imagine. (Kudos to Harry Lorayne, memory expert and expert in almost everything, who gave per-mission for his method to be demonstrated and taught here.) And my favorite effect from 13 Steps comes alive on video, when an audience member reads another audience member’s mind – and neither knows how they did it. “The 75,000 Pound Test” was, I felt, a challenge which would be mighty difficult to bring up to date. Something was needed which is not simple to find any more, and which often looks phony. Richard came up with a simpler, more elegant, and more impossible to discover method which blew his audience away. Yes, they came up with a lotto number. Yes, he had that number sealed away and revealed it. And that’s as simple as you can see it. Again, I cannot stress enough the functionality and clearness of the golden advice that emerges from the discussion sections. One of the traps which Jim & Richard could easily fall into, would be Too Much Information. This is completely avoided, and I must give the credit to Jim pulling Richard back on track. It must be difficult, because Richard is SUCH a repository of knowledge, that he could easily recite the complete history, technique, acting methods, the names of every classic wizard who’d used these techniques and methods, and their cousin’s best friends. I’m not the first to notice this symmetry (Take a bow, Steve Pellegrino!) and I’m sure I won’t be the last. Six DVDs. Twelve hours of strong tutorial coaching. It’s the next best thing to having Richard come over to your home and coaching you one-on-one…with the fundamentals of mentalism, from which you can build so many different effects and routines. $119.95 from http://osterlindstore.com/catalog/ -- includes per-sonal e-mail coaching from Richard when you invest in a copy from that site.

S.H.A.R.E. – the Sherlock Holmes Approach to Reading Everyone by Richard Tenace Want to start an argument among magicians, mentalists, or psychic entertainers? Try to come up with a single definition for “readings” and see what happens. Two of the points of controversy has to do with whether the reader is giving advice, and how much authority the reader has to know what is the correct advice. From where is this knowledge coming? Is it intuition, occult, or what? Richard Tenace side-steps the second part of this controversy rather neatly, by going back to the classic personality reader: Sherlock Holmes himself. He carefully uses tried-and-true psychological and sociological methods, long-ago and recent discoveries, to determine a person’s personality and leads them into finding their own solutions. And, perhaps most im-portantly, he ensures the client knows that he is using these methods of logic. This can and does remove most fears of most clients. Handily enough, these methods aren’t just for the use of “sit down and I’ll read the cards” type readings. (For one thing, there are no cards needed.) These methods are also of great use for the mentalist who is performing a Q&A act, or any number of effects. I put some of it to use in a pseudo-psychometric routine, and successfully read my participants 100% of the time. Richard’s writing style is not only effective, but pleasant. I cannot stress how much this means in a field (magic & men-talism) where it seems as if writers are incapable of communi-cating their ideas to their readers. There is no confusion here. S.H.A.R.E. – the Sherlock Holmes Approach to Reading Eve-ryone is a $25 download from http://www.wonderwizards.com/

Chetoric – (cont)

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Jon Stetson’s Brown Paper Project – 4 DVD set. And this is something that I wish I could avoid reviewing at all. Let me first assure you that every product from Loren at MevPro has been top-notch, and of greater value than its price. This time – this time – The objective was to teach Jon’s se-

crets of marketing for mystery performers. If there were any secrets revealed, they flew right by me.

There was some (a little) of basic common sense – the fact that success means different things to different people, for instance. But that was covered in the advertising copy for this set as well or better than it was in the DVDs. Beyond that, there’s really nothing of great use here, certainly nothing which justifies four DVDs and an entire afternoon lost from my life. Add in the bad sound, the distracting background noise, and a distracting table, and you’d know we need to have a strong and intense discussion with meaty facts to keep our atten-tion. Sadly, we have conversations which go nowhere, and we’re wondering how they got four DVDs from this. There are times in which Stetson seems on the brink of actually revealing some useful advice – but then stops himself and says he doesn’t want to reveal anything which a competitor could use. It’s enough to make you scream. I think I did scream at least once, and I swear my brain tried to escape from my head and leave the room. The 4th DVD is supposed to be special information which would be of use to readers (whether cold, psychic, or otherwise) – but I see nothing new or of greater use than many less boring prod-ucts. Please do not judge other MevPro products by this one. Every other MevPro product which I’ve tried has been outstanding. This one, however, cannot be recommended. Maybe at $75 or less, but not at this price. I’m still trying to get my afternoon back. Four DVD disks, $167 from http://www.MevProShop.com – if you’re in the U.S. For international orders, it’s $175.

Emotional Intelligence by Luke Jermay is an interesting mixed bag of a DVD, if you’ll excuse a badly mixed metaphor. It starts out as similar to Greg Arce’s “Emotion-All” and climaxes with a ba-sic, but effective, use of a classic men-talism principle. What you’ll see is a mentalist (Luke, in this case) allowing a participant the choice of any card from a stack of index cards, business cards, blank playing cards – anything in which you may have printed one of many emo-tions or memories on each card. Luke then goes into a remem-bering of the emotion in question and reveals it. (In Greg’s version, the mentalist actually experiences and demonstrates the emotion.) In the second stage, another member of the au-dience reads the mind/emotion of the participant. And finally, Luke reads not only the basic emotion, but specifics of a time in which they felt that emotion: the date, the person(s) in-volved, and what-have-you. It’s really pretty basic stuff, so don’t get angry when there’s nothing complicated, no mathematics, no electronic gizmos. The methods are simple enough to learn well, and simple enough to not interfere with your acting and performance methods. This is where video comes in handy, in that you can study how Luke manipulates his audience. Make no mistake: this routine depends on proper performance – rehearse this a LOT. If you do, you’ll find this a valuable learning tool. If you don’t – you’ll have wasted your time and money. Emotional Intelligence is available at your favorite magic dealer, with a list price of $29.95.

Adventures of the Renegade Magician – Mega Bux$ Sys-tem by Rick Allen is actually the second Adventure. But that first one is out of production, and this one has only a few cop-ies left for sale. The question is, is it worth its high price? It’s not a “how to market your show” program. It’s a crass and to-the-point unashamed tutorial on How to Pitch. Call it “sales method,” if you will – it will certainly help you in any type of sales. Here, Rick is going to show you how to sell even the least of items (and not overprice them) to the point that you’ll see an audience at a fever pitch, hungrily going forward with money in their hands. And Rick shows how to do this, step-by-step. This is the sort of thing which has, before, only been taught within the business itself, from master to student.

Chetoric – (cont)

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Don’t expect high production values of movie making. Rick gets in front of a camera and talks. That’s basically it. There are times he’ll demonstrate something, or show some items, and there’s some enticing video of him pitching at a fair, which prof-ited him $824 for a few minutes work. When you consider that he pitched several times a day….Well! This was in addition to his regular fee for “ringmastering” that day. So maybe we’ll forgive him the low production values – especially when he (and guest Dean Hankey) kid frequently about Rick’s admiration for classic schlockmeister Ed Wood. Will you make money from this DVD? If you do as recom-mended, and work the work as it’s explained to you, you proba-bly will. The evidence is that everyone who’s followed Rick’s advice on this has done very well. It really is up to you to suc-ceed, and this can give you a big step up. Adventures of the Renegade Magician – Mega Bux$ System was produced by Rick Allen at http://www.theprexpert.com/ -- you can also find him at P.O. Box 1246, Bowling Green, Ohio 43402. When this was first available on VHS, it seemed people were paying up to $500, but I think it’s around $100 now for the DVD – if there are any left.

Twilight Passage by Scott Guinn is not a card trick, and gets bonus points for that. I like card tricks, but it’s about time we saw a coin effect from Scott. Scott uses a silver dollar, but I found little difficulty in using a fifty-cent piece. He uses a golden box to hold a coin, which he then holds in front of a mirror (the coin, not the box). Then he pulls the reflection from the mirror – now he has two coins. Then he pulls the reflections of the two coins from the mirror – and there are four coins. This has to stop at this point, and so he does. Just for the fun of it, he holds the four coins over the box, and the coins (one by one) penetrate through the box AND the table. Bringing the coins back to the surface, he holds them above the box again – and they vanish. No, they didn’t go through the table again. Though no one has taken their eyes off that golden box, the coins are found inside that box.

There are a few things you’ll need, not the least of which are four identical coins. The box prop are something you’ll find almost

anywhere, because a VERY specific type is not required. You’ll find something which will suite your purposes. You’ll want a pocket mirror.

A clip (which the manuscript will teach “how to make”) and a close-up mat (or thick tablecloth) and you’re set to go. Oh, and you might prefer to be sitting for this, but there are ways around that too. Except for practice. There’s no getting by the need for prac-tice and rehearsal. The coin-through-table phase is a bit differ-ent from what you might know, and you’ll want to be very familiar with it. You’ll want to be so comfortable with this, that you can put ALL your attention on your audience and carry on a running conversation with them. 23 pages for $10, downloadable from http://www.scottfguinn.com/ MB’s 3 Coin Pro by Marion Boykin is just slightly (no pun intended) mistitled. It’s the mystical production of TWO coins; you start out fairly with one coin. You show that coin – you can even let your audience handle the coin. It’s fair, to-tally fair. With a quick spin in your fin-gers, the doggone coin becomes two coins. Then you just wave your hand. Suddenly, there’s another coin, for the total of three as the title warned us. This is a great way to start a coin routine – just produce the coins as you need them. Since it’s a Marion Boykin effect, the sleights necessary are simple and relatively easy. What could have been a manuscript all by itself, is a new subtlety which is and isn’t a palm. It’s com-pared to the Ramsey Subtlety and looks even more fair. This is a video AND a PDF (5 pages) so you’ll have the best of both worlds. One day soon, Marion is going to have to put all these effects on DVD. The guy knows his coins. 3 Coin Pro, a downloadable video and PDF, is available for $10 from http://www.vinnymarini.com/ - tell Vinny that Grandpa Chet sent you.

Chetoric – (cont)

Page 20: Magic Touch 12 - tmtmagazine.comtmtmagazine.com/tmt pdf/Magic Touch 2010.1.pdf · in the magic world and were and are close personal friends of many including Dai Vernon, Slydini,

If you’ve noticed a theme running through all the reviews this issue, you’re perceptive. The main thing which has given magic a bad name, is the lack of rehearsal on the part of so many magicians. (Read “mentalists” or “mystery performers” whenever you see that word, if you so wish.) And that seems to be getting worse as time goes on. I’m wondering if it has something to do with the rising fear of com-

mitment (to anything) that I see in the world? So what I’m hoping is that all of us at the Magic Touch can con-vince you to commit. Commit to your magic. Commit to your audience. Commit to your marketing. Give it your all. If you want to succeed, you want to be fully committed. As Jeff Fox-worthy has pointed out, by pointing AT road kill: “That possum wasn’t fully committed.” We’ll continue to commit to give you our best. See you next issue.

~~~Grandpa Chet

Chetoric – (cont)

Until next time….keep a dream in the making, for you create your tomorrows by what you dream today!

Maria Ibáñez

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Health, happiness, and blessings

for the New Year