How to avoid curios questions using unexminable props?

May 4, 2020
19
12
42
Sweden
I did a small trick using a himber wallet a while back and the person that I did it for asked to see the wallet. I could of course not show her it and just tried to avoid focus from the wallet and got out of the situation by just move along, but the spectator was still suspicious.

Next time I am thinking of just put the wallet directly out of sight and just pick out what I have in it to conclude the trick but I am curious how you get out similar situations?

So, when you guys and gals use a gimmicked deck or other unexaminable prop, how do you divert the spectators from being curious?
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
Change the focus of the performance.

If someone's immediate reaction to a performance is, "Let me see that wallet" then during your performance you probably emphasized the wallet too much, either through scripting or body language.
 
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Jun 18, 2019
540
293
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West Bengal, India
I did a small trick using a himber wallet a while back and the person that I did it for asked to see the wallet. I could of course not show her it and just tried to avoid focus from the wallet and got out of the situation by just move along, but the spectator was still suspicious.

Next time I am thinking of just put the wallet directly out of sight and just pick out what I have in it to conclude the trick but I am curious how you get out similar situations?

So, when you guys and gals use a gimmicked deck or other unexaminable prop, how do you divert the spectators from being curious?
The sad thing about this question is that the answer is one that will leave you feeling that the one who answered cheated you from a proper answer (at least, that's how I feel when people answer questions in this manner!).

The answer:- It's probably how you handled the gimmick that gave you away. A possibility could be that the spectator is versed in magic themselves and wanted to check, or they have the knowledge of some trick involving a wallet and they wanted (again) to check. But 99% of the time, it's us magicians who dig our own graves in these cases. We just telegraph somehow, that a particular prop is important.

For example, have you ever thought that if you want me to sign a card, I'll probably pay close attention to what you do with that card after that, because well, why on Earth would a fellow human being want me to write my name on a piece of cardboard? (Refer: Maximum Entertainment by Ken Weber)

Or that if you usually are slow and deliberate, conversing casually throughout the effect and suddenly speed up even slightly when handling a certain prop, I might become suspicious?

Or if you have an unusual death grip on that prop?

Or if you suddenly start talking to me a lot and EXPLICITLY making it clear that you want to maintain eye contact with me during some part, thus also explicitly implying that you don't want me to look at your hands?

Or if you trusted me as a perfectly capable human being a few moments ago when shuffling your expensive cards, but now when I'm holding a face down card that is ''not'' mine, your hands are very close to mine and you seem to be scared that I might turn over the card I'm holding, I'll probably add up 2 and 2 and figure out that there's something up (a.k.a, it's not magic) ?

These are just few of the ways we telegraph to the audience that something is just not right with the thing we are using to achieve the magic. The scarier part is that some of these actions might be in-built in us. As in, maybe by default we speed up our talking when we're handling something gimmicked, or we blink when we're performing a sleight and so on and so forth.

The happy news is that if you rehearse enough (notice how I didn't say 'practice) then you can reduce them to a bare minimum or even who knows, just eliminate them altogether!
 
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Nov 13, 2019
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I did a small trick using a himber wallet a while back and the person that I did it for asked to see the wallet. I could of course not show her it and just tried to avoid focus from the wallet and got out of the situation by just move along, but the spectator was still suspicious.

Next time I am thinking of just put the wallet directly out of sight and just pick out what I have in it to conclude the trick but I am curious how you get out similar situations?

So, when you guys and gals use a gimmicked deck or other unexaminable prop, how do you divert the spectators from being curious?
I don't have that in-depth explanation, but my only suggestion other than what has already been said is futher the effect with un-gimmicked items that can be inspected. Don't over-do it and add on every effect there is but adding something else to be inspected will result in the spectator less wanting to go through earlier things.

Or the easy option - just do a switch for an identical un-gimmicked object (As in burner by Christopher: under-rated effect -can't give too much away but I think I can say that*)
 
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May 4, 2020
19
12
42
Sweden
Change the focus of the performance.

If someone's immediate reaction to a performance is, "Let me see that wallet" then during your performance you probably emphasized the wallet too much, either through scripting or body language.

This is so true, and @MohanaMisra s points are also really god. When I look back at the trick I can actually can identify the exact moment when I had to much focus on the wallet in this case.

I need to work on my act when using gimmicks, which I only do in a few tricks and therefore are a bit new at.

@Arconik, I actually use in-gimmicked duplicates this in a few tricks, but in this case I simply don’t have a duplicate, but it’s a good point nevertheless.

thanks magic friends!
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
4,076
New Jersey
When I look back at the trick I can actually can identify the exact moment when I had to much focus on the wallet in this case.

So let's take an effect like card to wallet. A lot of the presentations bring the wallet out and put it on the table at the beginning and then go back to it to find he signed card. The focus starts with the wallet and ends with the wallet. Even if you are not using a gimmicked wallet, the wallet becomes the focal point.

My presentation is a bit different. I start with making a bet that I can find their card. They won't put any money down, so I offer to pay them a $1, $5, $10 or $20 if I don't find their card. Of course, they choose the $20. I tell them that I get four tries. I fail the first chance from the deck. For the second chance, I use a 52 on 1 card that is in my wallet and put the wallet down out of frame. For the third chance, I look through the face up deck and can't find their signed card. Then I go back to the wallet to produce the folded signed card. The focus is on the card, not the wallet. When I pull out the wallet, it is mentally invisible because the focus is on the 52 on 1 card ("I keep something just for occasions like this") and the wallet just looks like that is where I keep the card. The spectator's brain thinks "card important, wallet not." When the folded card comes out of the wallet, I put the 52 on 1 card back in the wallet and the wallet back in my pocket. At that point, the focus is on the signed card.
 
Jun 18, 2019
540
293
20
West Bengal, India
My presentation is a bit different. I start with making a bet that I can find their card. They won't put any money down, so I offer to pay them a $1, $5, $10 or $20 if I don't find their card. Of course, they choose the $20. I tell them that I get four tries. I fail the first chance from the deck. For the second chance, I use a 52 on 1 card that is in my wallet and put the wallet down out of frame. For the third chance, I look through the face up deck and can't find their signed card. Then I go back to the wallet to produce the folded signed card. The focus is on the card, not the wallet. When I pull out the wallet, it is mentally invisible because the focus is on the 52 on 1 card ("I keep something just for occasions like this") and the wallet just looks like that is where I keep the card. The spectator's brain thinks "card important, wallet not." When the folded card comes out of the wallet, I put the 52 on 1 card back in the wallet and the wallet back in my pocket. At that point, the focus is on the signed card.
The great thing about this presentation idea is that the wallet is 'there', and it is in focus, but it's not important and not a mental focal point. So the audience doesn't think they want to inspect this.

However, in my opinion, if one were to copy your patter word for word, yet emphasise the wallet a lot (as in keep talking about the money, the bet, the fact that they are holding a ''normal, everyday wallet'') they'd end up attracting attention to it. Directing the audience's eyes and even more importantly, their attention, is very tricky (poor pun intended) indeed.
 
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