One Man's Treasure - Another Man's Trash

[kennethcmerrill]

Taking a break from something like magic can have its silver linings. For instance, you get some fresh perspective on things that are often taken for granted.

I was watching the trailer to an effect the other day, and one of the selling points of the effect was that you could offer the resulting miracle object as a "souvenir" to your spectator, something to remember your magical interaction. This idea of giving a souvenir to your audience members has been around as long as magic, and in many instances I can see it being a fun thing to do, especially if you're a well-known or regarded magician, and people will be telling their friends about you later. It can make sense if someone has paid to attend your show, and they want something to take home for it. Where it doesn't make sense is when you approach someone unsolicited on "the street," and their souvenir is an empty soda can or a torn playing card or other object that in any other circumstance is known as "trash."

I'll probably get a lot of crap for saying it, but if a magician approached me to do some effects and then left me to clean up the mess or dispose of the used props, I would be annoyed. It seems tacky to assume that your unsolicited audience is so enamored with you that they want a "souvenir" to remember you by.

The exception to this may be impossible objects. For instance, a modified bill (i.d. Fraud) or maybe a "restored" object like a Counterfeit card.

Alright! Bring on the flames.

 

[JS.AU]

I feel like you are thinking of a bracelet that you use, and then give to the next person, but I'm only thinking of what I recently purchased

6 to one, half a dozen to the other I suppose. In the case of the "bracelet", I'm inclined to agree with you but it's entirely dependant on how the people around you react. Surely that's the point - I've seen signed cards framed in houses, people who talk about still posessing the lead from Penn & Teller's bullet catch, and so on. That magic was, for them, magic and worthy of mention. Whether it's a piece of string, a signed card, or a smattering of confetti - the magic is, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder.

Hand the rubbish back, your magician will figure it out in a hurry

 

[Maverick85]

Surely that's the point - I've seen signed cards framed in houses, people who talk about still posessing the lead from Penn & Teller's bullet catch, and so on.

To me there's a lot of difference between Penn & Teller and some guy on a sidewalk whom I do not know at all. One is from a known entity that is quite well respected, the other is a stranger with an unusual skill set. With P&T, I'd ask them to sign the piece and I'd keep it. With Puddles the Magnificent... I don't truly care unless the trick absolutely stuns me. A plain T&R, not getting that excited about it.

That said, if the magician can transform my borrowed $1 into a $100 bill, I hereby change my opinion and will happily accept the C-note and I will stalk that magician once or twice a day until he dies or gets a restraining order.

 

[RealityOne]

Magicians tend to overestimate their own importance. The real question is whether the item has a meaning or a story attached to it. Some weird guy pulled this out of the trash, sort of restored it and drank Coke out of it doesn't have a meaning. I picked this card or I gave him this coin does have meaning because the spectator is involved.

There is a great book called Gift Magic which has a number of wonderful routines where the spectator ends up with something special. One of my favorite routines is one where a spectator ends up with a small plastic star. I know what you are thinking... (that doesn't sound like a cool gift) but in the context of the routine, the star means something.

Around the holidays, people wish for a lot of things. Children wish for presents, some adults too. Other adults wish their world was different -- maybe more peaceful. Some people wish their lives were different, maybe that they were more successful in their jobs or even in love. Sometimes we make wishes for ourselves and sometimes we make wishes for others. But wishes aren't real. Just because you wish something, it doesn't necessarily happen. A wish only becomes real if someone does something more than just wish. That requires some imagination -- the ability to imagine what you can do to make a wish come true. If you were to make a wish, what would you wish upon? A star? I want you to imagine a star to wish upon. Do you have a favorite color? Green? OK, since this is your star, imagine it is green. I want you to take that green star, your wishing star from the sky and put it in my hand. Remember, you have to do something to make a wish become real. I'm going to close my hand and I want you to pass your hand over mine visualizing the star. [They pass their hand over mine and then I open my hand revealing a green star]. I want you to have this wishing star, you were the one who imagined it. Let it remind you that you have the ability to make a wish become reality.
​

A nice touch that Jeff McBride told me is when a spectator signs a card, have them sign on the top half about an inch in. Then write "To" in front of their name and some sort of salutation ("With Magic" or "Be Magical" or something similar) and then sign your name at the bottom. The card becomes even more personal.

 

[DominusDolorum]

Magicians tend to overestimate their own importance. The real question is whether the item has a meaning or a story attached to it. Some weird guy pulled this out of the trash, sort of restored it and drank Coke out of it doesn't have a meaning. I picked this card or I gave him this coin does have meaning because the spectator is involved.

There is a great book called Gift Magic which has a number of wonderful routines where the spectator ends up with something special. One of my favorite routines is one where a spectator ends up with a small plastic star. I know what you are thinking... (that doesn't sound like a cool gift) but in the context of the routine, the star means something.

Around the holidays, people wish for a lot of things. Children wish for presents, some adults too. Other adults wish their world was different -- maybe more peaceful. Some people wish their lives were different, maybe that they were more successful in their jobs or even in love. Sometimes we make wishes for ourselves and sometimes we make wishes for others. But wishes aren't real. Just because you wish something, it doesn't necessarily happen. A wish only becomes real if someone does something more than just wish. That requires some imagination -- the ability to imagine what you can do to make a wish come true. If you were to make a wish, what would you wish upon? A star? I want you to imagine a star to wish upon. Do you have a favorite color? Green? OK, since this is your star, imagine it is green. I want you to take that green star, your wishing star from the sky and put it in my hand. Remember, you have to do something to make a wish become real. I'm going to close my hand and I want you to pass your hand over mine visualizing the star. [They pass their hand over mine and then I open my hand revealing a green star]. I want you to have this wishing star, you were the one who imagined it. Let it remind you that you have the ability to make a wish become reality.
​

A nice touch that Jeff McBride told me is when a spectator signs a card, have them sign on the top half about an inch in. Then write "To" in front of their name and some sort of salutation ("With Magic" or "Be Magical" or something similar) and then sign your name at the bottom. The card becomes even more personal.

That's a beautiful trick; love the patter. I'm going to research this book later.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

I only give things out if the item is significant. When I used to do coin bends all the time I gave out those bent coins, because the volunteer was involved in that bend. I know for a fact several people I did that routine for still have those bent quarters now.

Interesting, David, as I wrote up a routine a while back that produces a star in someone's hand, too. Except for mine, they pulled it from the sky first.

 

[SpydrWebb]

If I ever have a spectator sign something, especially if they are heavily involved in the effect(or are children), I will ask them at the end if they would like to keep it. In fact, when I would do Regeneration for the tables I waited on or for coworkers, they would usually say yes. I know at least two of those coworkers still have the cards I (to their eyes) impossibly restored.

 

[Dean Magic]

I only ask spectators if they would like to keep something if they were directly involved in making the magic happen. If I borrow their coin and bend it or rip their signed card and restore it or if I am giving them something to inspect at the end of a trick, I'll generally tell them that they can keep it. However, if they pick a card, hand it back and the rest of the magic happens in my hands, then it wouldn't really make sense for them to keep it. I think, even if you're not a well-known magician and you're just approaching them on the street, there are still certain tricks where giving out a souvenir makes sense.

 

[TylerScottIllusionist]

Where it doesn't make sense is when you approach someone unsolicited on "the street," and their souvenir is an empty soda can or a torn playing card or other object that in any other circumstance is known as "trash."

I can see your point in that to some people the object in question may be considered trash but you are missing the main point of handing out souvenirs during street magic.

I had struggled with trying to gain a local following for putting on a show. It was hard for people to notice or even to care that I was about to put on an affordable magic show that was catered to a family friendly show for all ages entertainment. I thought my pricing was good, my advertisement was good, and even my magic was decent enough. However I could not for the life of me gain interest of anyone in my immediate networks.

I can upload a magic review on YouTube and gain some subscribers on a particular video or release a new effect and gain a following that way but I'm catering to a specific audience, magicians. I needed to find a way to get laymen to come out to the show. So I went to a few magic shops and talked about my issues with the owners. We talked for hours on end about building a brand and how to put butts in seats.

So basically what it boils down to is I see the souvenir as a branding technique. Do I expect my spectator to always keep it? Nope! In fact while filming No Pressure, I saw a group of girls discard their crushed water bottle in the trash since they didn't want to keep it anymore. I wasn't offended at all because it's not like I'm David Blaine or anything. They aren't really the audience that would typically come and see my show either. In my street magic compilation video:

you can see at 3:55 mark and at the 12:33 mark that both spectators wanted to keep the broke up penny from my Break performance. This is wonderful for me in particularly with the group of people in the last clip because those are the demographic that would typically pay to come see my show. By them having an altered object they now have something to keep them interested in the TylerScottIllusionist brand. It's now one of the many reasons I do street magic as well as look for effects where they can keep the object (such as Fraud like you mentioned).

The other reason I love souvenir effects, whether you consider it throw away trash or not, is for those freaking hecklers! You get them every now and again and I'll take any opportunity I can get to throw their focus off of burning me and put it on something else. So of course I'm going to want to hand them something to inspect. Kind of like handing a rowdy kid a toy to go play with as the grown ups talk sort of thing. So if I'm out and about doing a street show and someone shows up and is trying to make me look bad, I'll try to check if they have a water bottle on them and go into No Pressure. From there they can keep their own bottle and study it as much as they want as I go into other routines for the people that are genuinely interested in being entertained.

Just my two cents.