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Lord Melchett: “Farewell, Blackadder [hands him a parchment]. The foremost cartographers of the land have prepared this for you; it's a map of the area that you'll be traversing. [Blackadder opens it up and sees it is blank] They'll be very grateful if you could just fill it in as you go along. Bye-bye.”
– From the English comedy series Blackadder (Part 2, Episode 3)
Yep…As Magicians we often are forced to “Wing It”. I was hired to do a banquet show. Clearly, I explained on the contract that the show was not to be an illusion show. When I get there, it became obvious that the person who booked me did not inform the committee. They were expecting a “Floating person” and a “Cutting a person in Two”.
So what do you do when you need to do these effects and do not have the props?
There are ways to satisfy the requirement and make the audience happy. Here is what I did.
The Floating Person and Cutting a Person in Half.
1)You can truthfully saw that you are doing the “Floating Person” Illusion this way.
My “Floating” is an idea that I got from Rachael Columbini’s former partner, magician Tom Jones. It is marketed as “The Wild Levitation” Tom Jones used to freely show the method at his lectures and convention booth.
You can make it yourself but if you want good documentation and not have the hassle of finding the gimmicks buy it from Penguin Magic. Take a look at the video.
Go to a place that salvages computers and get them to give you two rare earth magnets out of a junk hard drive.
Duck tape them into the inside insteps of a pair of slip-on dress loafers that are about a size too big. This way you can easily get them on and off.
You can wear these as dress shoes throughout the show.
To do the trick, take off your jacket or have a yard square opaque cloth.
Hold it out in front of you and lowered so that it is touching the floor.
Slip off one shoe as you hold it against the other. The magnets WILL hold them together.
Step back with your socked foot and do all the moves you see in the video.
Lower the cloth again and slip back on the shoe!
2)You can truthfully say that you are “Cutting a person in Half”
I use Bob Sheets, “Hang ‘em High” (Rope through the Body)
This “plays big, packs small”. Watch the performance. It is strong stuff.
Here is an impromptu version showing the short rope tick but without the long gimmicked rope.
Magic Magazine published the secret of the original Sheets version a few years back. The effect is accomplish by a “Delbin-Tarbell Screw Gimmick” in the center of the long rope. You have a short 3 foot piece already tucked in your pants, with knots on the end for ease of handling. It is a matter of reaching around the back, untwisting the center of the long rope and grasping the knots with each hand and pulling it through you!
There you have it…TWO illusions. For $150 crummy bucks, that is what they get.
I would NEVER work for the conditions where you were forced to do illusions for $150… The main reason is that agents like this often bill the client a high price and then give you $150 or less. My pay is not the issue. What is the issue is the client level of expectation for a $500 to $700 “illusion” show they paid for , and you are limited to $150?
A commission schedule should be reasonably in line with client and talent pay portion.
Personal Management can justify 50% ( Colonel Tom Parker got that out of Elvis) but just an “agent” who is looking for the lowest bid and giving you no personal exclusiveness, deserves far less.
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