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The key to the Miser's Dream is not necessarily the patter, but the presentation. Where are the coins being produced from? If you produce them one after another from behind children's ears I will hunt you down and force you to watch Barney videos for 48 hours straight so that you have a sense...

It works with most Scientific Calculators. It also works on Android with a calculator you can download for free called Real Calc.

I like effects that nobody has been doing for last ten or twenty or thirty years.

The quote in my post was a paraphrase of Howard Thurston who began his shows by saying, "I wouldn't deceive you for the world." My point is that there is no reason to cheapen your performance by pointing out to your audience that it is all slight of hand and gimmicks. THEY ALREADY KNOW THAT...

"I would never deceive you. What you are about to see is real magic." Simply put, what the spectators see is real magic. A ball appears to penetrate through a solid cup. A woman appears to be sawed in half. Their card appears to be inserted into the middle of the deck and it rises to the...

The first key to mentoring is to teach something and then not teach something else until the student has mastered what you taught them - which should include successfully performing the effect. The second key to mentoring is to select what is taught with an eye to the student's ability. If...

They stopped printing them over a year ago. Your best bet is the internet site for small brick and mortar shops that may have a couple left in stock. The major internet magic retailers have been sold out for over a year. You also might be able to buy the original effect (not the refill) from...

William: You cannot teach those that do not want to learn. Those that do want to learn will always seek and find knowledge. One reason for the lack of responses to many of your posts is that people don't have anything to say. Everyone has an opinion on which deck is the best. Few people...

Exactly. Most of that "control" happens in designing the show. That is, the effects and the patter need to both amaze and entertain the children. One without the other just doesn't work. Rick - we should write a book on how to do children's magic right! Actually... a short e-book might...

First off, why would you accept a gig without having a show planned? OK, lecture over. I suspect that you are being hired to be more of a babysitter than a magician, but that is just conjecture on my part. Second, the range of ages for the kids is going to be difficult. I've got some ideas...

Exactly, I don't suspect my sponge ball routine where orange and black sponge balls change places with each other and then transform into a 4 inch sponge Jack-O-Lantern is what Luis had in mind. Even my cups and balls with a final EYEBALL load wouldn't quite fit the bill.

The Classics 1. Royal Road to Card Magic - Hugard & Braue 2. Scarne on Card Tricks - Scarne 3. Encyclopedia of Card Tricks - Hugard 4. Expert Card Technique - Hugard & Braue 5. The Card Magic of LePaul - LePaul 6. Counts, Cuts & Subtleties - Menzer 7. Card Control - Buckley 8. Expert at the...

In a way, you have to start with the end in mind. What do you want the spectator's to remember? That you did something which they can't figure out? That isn't too memorable (or a very pleasant memory). Rather, you want the spectator's to remember what the effect meant to them. Meaning can...

I saw Wayne's lecture at Marc DiSouza's house (theatre?) and it was one of the best lectures that I've ever seen. The stuff you've seen in his DVDs is great, but the stuff you haven't seen such as Counterfeit Hollingsworth and Houdini's Influence is amazing. He also gives a lot of great advice...

Compare Shrek 3 and Toy Story 3. At the end of the Shrek, it is nothing but a cartoon with a funny donkey. At the end of Toy Story 3, you almost believe that toys can talk and you are certain that if they did it would be exactly like in the movie. Shrek amused you but Toy Story 3 engaged you...

Call the person and ask them some questions so that you understand their expectations. Whether you will be performing in a group setting (if so, how large a group) or one-on-one and for how long. You can do this very politely by just starting the conversation by saying "I would like to talk...

It is compiled by Denis Behr. It's been on-line since 2004.

You can check out the Behr Archives HERE. It is a great resource to find out various versions of effects and plots that have been published. It isn't comprehensive, but it is extensive.

I have to object to your characterization of my response and Christopher's response (who are really the only two people to respond) to your post as trying to make the Wire look like a bad thing. Both of us responded to your post intelligently by raising the reasons we did not think this would...

As others have said, the presentation will make the difference. If you present it as "look what I can do" they will look to see how you are doing it. If you present it with good patter, they will enjoy watching the magic and not care how it is done. Also, high school isn't the best place to...