Accomplices - Reputation makers?

[kevin]

Accomplices. shameful or reputation makers? I say the latter. I'm not saying that amazing sleights and great acting cant also make people think you have powers, but i think the importance of accomplices is underappreciated. Today someone thought of a number between one and a thousand and my accomplice allowed me to just shock the people involved with the trick and my ability to "read" through their eyes.

Accomplices can be used from stage to street and everything in between and even though they are unorthodox and sometimes even frowned on by magicians, i believe that they are great. sure, they don't involve practice and angles and the risk of defeat mistakes. And, accomplices don't have to be the main in the magic. they can be in the background, watching, or just one who initiates the magic.
what do you think?

kevin

 

[Jakeh]

I think accomplices are fine if you use them correctly. Show the crowd a few tricks, and then once you have them where you want them use your stooge to do something SO amazing that the only explanation is pure magic.

 

[MagicSpider]

Accomplice sounds like a serious word, when it isn't so much in some magic. I mean, having you friend act amazed behind you as you perform Torn for some people can give the impression that the effect is angle proof, giving much less possiple ways it could be done.

Real magic can be done with friends.

 

[Loz]

I have no problem with people using stooges and I laugh at people who seem to see the usage of them as some kind of personal attack. When someone uses a gimmick you'll never see another magician say "HOLD YOUR HORSES EVERYBODY, THIS GUY IS CHEATING! HE IS USING A GIMMICK!" In my eyes a stooge is exactly the same thing - same with camera tricks. You are doing what is necessary to create a "magic" moment for your audience.

 

[lux-ferre]

Presentation is the important thing here. I really don't think that the method you use would be very important in establishing a reputation with your audience.

 

[Twozwozer]

Thanks to a Stooge I can do a signed card to anywhere. Their great.

Cheers, Tom

Ps. Also thanks to the Card To Mouth Technique.

 

[CDarklock]

I usually think about it from the audience perspective. The audience doesn't mind if you have help, as long as they know who's helping you. The audience would be angry to find that you have an accomplice in the crowd who hid the nine of clubs in someone's pocket and then indicated you should pick that person as your next volunteer. The audience would not be angry if, once you picked your volunteer, your assistant went down to escort the volunteer to the stage - while hiding the nine of clubs in the volunteer's pocket.

In street magic, I think of your assistants and accomplices as stooges and shills, respectively. Both of them block angles and seed reactions. The difference between them, in my mind, is that the stooge is known by your audience to be someone who knows you and therefore may be assisting you in the trick.

I think the audience is generally okay with assistants and stooges, but not okay with accomplices and shills. So that's where I draw the line.

 

[Nate Malini]

It fooled Houdini...

I think it was a pocket watch that vanished from under a handkerchief that fooled Houdini.... I done it once at a hangout spot with a full shot glass..you know the one,Every one gets to "feel" that the glass,ball,salt shaker or what ever is still under the hank..the last to "feel" it is your helper...anyway now and then i hear "can you do that vanishing shot glass trick for my friend?" they know what's going to happen so I (WE) never did it again.....big reputation

oh and you bring it back the same way.

 

[arcangeld]

I dont think stooges are a sham.. when used in moderation.
I use stooges occasionally to make 'real magic' happen on streets... no problem with that right?

 

[StreetMage]

I usually think about it from the audience perspective. The audience doesn't mind if you have help, as long as they know who's helping you. The audience would be angry to find that you have an accomplice in the crowd who hid the nine of clubs in someone's pocket and then indicated you should pick that person as your next volunteer. The audience would not be angry if, once you picked your volunteer, your assistant went down to escort the volunteer to the stage - while hiding the nine of clubs in the volunteer's pocket.

In street magic, I think of your assistants and accomplices as stooges and shills, respectively. Both of them block angles and seed reactions. The difference between them, in my mind, is that the stooge is known by your audience to be someone who knows you and therefore may be assisting you in the trick.

I think the audience is generally okay with assistants and stooges, but not okay with accomplices and shills. So that's where I draw the line.

It doesn't matter what the audience is "okay with" as far as your methods go. The audience shouldn't know if anyone is helping you with the actual method of the trick. I know for a fact that professional magicians frequently plant stooges in their audiences for the simple sake of wowing the rest of the crowd. The scenario you presented where the person "randomly" selected from the audience with the nine of clubs in his pocket is totally acceptable. I don't know if I'd even have the audience-stooge try to plant a card on someone. He could just be a stooge in street-clothes that the magician would call on as though he were an unsuspecting volunteer.

Basically, anytime somebody signs on to watch a magic performance, he's signing on to be deceived in some way, and he should know that. It's a little presumptuous for said audience member to then be angry about the method with which he was deceived, if you ask me.

 

[Deryn]

"Stooges" are fine, as long as it's not the backbone to ALL your magic. People don't expect you to use a stooge.. kind of like after years of using a regular deck, using a trick deck would not be suspected

 

[Jakeh]

"Stooges" are fine, as long as it's not the backbone to ALL your magic. People don't expect you to use a stooge.. kind of like after years of using a regular deck, using a trick deck would not be suspected

Exactly.

But if you're going to use a stooge, don't make it obvious. Use the Criss Angel way of selecting someone and then saying that they're not about right for it, then pick your stooge. Works everytime.