According to Blackstone, Jr whenever rehearsals go smooth and perfect, you're bound to know a major failure during the show... in my experiences over the past 40ish years I'd have to say he's right.
Going back to my late teens and an appearance I made on a local TV show... we did the Melborne Christopher Vanishing Elephant (yes, the same one the Masked Mage exposed on his show)... long story short, the elephant vanished just as he was supposed to... but then there was a rush of elephant pee flowing from beneath the prop... but then Gay Blackstone told me of the time Harry was working Vegas and though the Pacaderm poofed from existence, he left a rather smelly pile behind...
I've had just about all the classic failures happen over the years; the gimmick getting stuck on the Broom Suspension; the form on the Asrah getting broken (by clumsy stage hands stepping on it) so she began bending in half, backward!; Producing the Dead Dove (more than once) and having the gimmick to a particular Newspaper and Liquid vanish effect break, spilling water all over the stage from the Newspaper, as I'm showing it empty... the sky is the limt and if you work regularly, you'll come to know your fair share of catastrophies...
Going back to my late teens and an appearance I made on a local TV show... we did the Melborne Christopher Vanishing Elephant (yes, the same one the Masked Mage exposed on his show)... long story short, the elephant vanished just as he was supposed to... but then there was a rush of elephant pee flowing from beneath the prop... but then Gay Blackstone told me of the time Harry was working Vegas and though the Pacaderm poofed from existence, he left a rather smelly pile behind...
I've had just about all the classic failures happen over the years; the gimmick getting stuck on the Broom Suspension; the form on the Asrah getting broken (by clumsy stage hands stepping on it) so she began bending in half, backward!; Producing the Dead Dove (more than once) and having the gimmick to a particular Newspaper and Liquid vanish effect break, spilling water all over the stage from the Newspaper, as I'm showing it empty... the sky is the limt and if you work regularly, you'll come to know your fair share of catastrophies...