MagicGizmo

Don't pick up your tricks at random as if you drew them out of a grab bag. Work out a definite arrangement and stick to it. I have seen some performers look over the apparatus set out on their table and hesitate, thinking to themselves, I wonder what I should work next? Plan your act and act your plan.

What effect is best to open with? What is a good closer? These are questions that have been asked over and over again. The opening trick has some definite purpose. Any trick won't do. Here are the requirements of what I believe is the ideal opening trick. It must be snappy. In other words, quick. It must be a "simple" effect, not a combination of a number of smaller effects.

For example, the classic sucker dice box and chimney trick is a long combination effect. It is a typical example of what an opening trick should not be. Let us review the older tricks recommended as "openers." Prof. Hoffman in "Modern Magic" recommends the Vanishing Gloves. This is perhaps the oldest of the so-called modern tricks. However, few of us enter the stage with gloves on today. The trick is a simple vanish. It is quick and snappy.

Another of the same class is the Appearing Flower in the buttonhole. There is another requirement for the opening trick. In addition to being short and snappy, it must be something that will hold the attention of the audience from the very start. The production of any thing suddenly and quickly will attract attention and fills the opening spot. The Fire Bowl production, for example, is a quick production that will make them sit up and take notice.

Speed and surprise are factors of success in the opening spot. The vanishing bird cage is an example of surprise effect. It also has the advantage of being short and snappy. In fact from the mechanical point of view, it is quite necessary to open with this trick, if you are going to use it at all.

A card trick is rarely to be recommended as an opening trick unless the act is one of card tricks exclusively. Passing twelve cards up the sleeve and down into the pocket may be used for an opening card trick because it does not tax the audience to remember individual cards. It is a little long and drawn out and can hardly be classed as a snappy effect, which somewhat detracts from making it an ideal opening trick.

The production of the wand from the purse is an ideal opening effect. Other tricks to be recommended to the opening position are, Handkerchief production with bare hands. Candle-stick to bouquet of flowers, Phantom (Drum-head) Tube production of a number of handkerchiefs, Billiard Ball production from bare hands, monster bouquet of flowers production, the Vanishing (dissolving) cane, and the Eight Thimble Trick. These all fill the bill, and it is of interest to note in passing that they are for the most part production tricks.

The duty of the first trick is to obtain attention. The second trick, too, should have a certain definite mission on your program. Assuming that the first trick has seized the attention of the audience, the duty of the second trick is to mystify. Therefore select a trick with a strong element of mystery for number two.

If possible the second trick should be one that you can go into easily from the first trick. Try and effect continuity. In my own program, for example, I often open with the Phantom drum-head tube handkerchief production, producing quickly one after the other about ten handkerchiefs.

I selected this as an opener because it is short and snappy and has the element of surprise. After showing the tube to be quite empty, I quickly seal both ends, and then without any hesitation, I instantly break the drum-head and begin producing handkerchiefs. I work this very rapidly and almost before the audience has time to catch their breath, the handkerchiefs are being produced. They mentally resolve to watch the next trick closer. That is what I am after. I want their attention and generally get it. Then taking the handkerchiefs thus produced, I work my second mystery, the handkerchief dye-tube color change.

The dye tube is a slow trick. Each handkerchief has to be shown, passed through the tube, then shown again. It does, however, possess a strong element of mystery, especially at the end when the paper tube is opened and shown empty. This, coupled with a clever loading at the start, makes an ideal mystery effect. I believe this example will suffice to illustrate the second trick. From this point on, your program should be arranged with the final climax of your act in view. The audience should be gradually aroused by each succeeding trick until the final closing is reached. On the ideal program, each of these tricks will blend into the trick following.

The final problem is the closing trick. The trick that you want to make the biggest impression with should be the closer. Your "largest" trick should be saved for this important position. Remember that after your act is over, the trick that will linger longest in the spectator's mind, is the last trick. An elaborate production trick is the old stand-by staple closer.

A big apparatus trick, one that borders on the so-called illusion class, is a good one to close with. The new types of closing tricks are quite different, however. The vanishing wand is good, especially if the opening trick has been a wand production.

Turning the table into a suitcase is a winner in the closing spot. Turning the table into a hat and cane is even better. Avoid a closing trick that leaves the performer in the audience or a trick wherein, at the conclusion, it is necessary to return some borrowed object, like a hat or handkerchief, to the spectators. It is a good rule never to use a trick that requires the performer to leave the stage and go into the audience for either the first trick or the last one.

Certain tricks are better suited for certain audiences than others are. The Semi-Professional performer must be able to vary his program to suit the requirements of the audience. For example, business men, members of commercial clubs, and the like, will enjoy more a trick such as the production of a banknote from a lemon than they would a handkerchief trick. These men also have a weakness for card tricks. Children on the other hand like tricks with livestock, paper-tearing tricks, and gaudy production tricks. The ladies prefer handkerchief tricks and tricks of a more delicate and dainty nature. They will enjoy thimble manipulation, while the men will prefer coin manipulation.

The reason for this preference is obvious. Everyone much prefers seeing effects involving objects that they are most familiar with. Remember that if you expect to receive money for your performance, you must cater to your audience. If your program strongly appeals it will mean return engagements and future dates.

Try wherever possible to make your work harmonize with the purpose of the entertainment. Make every effort to make your audience believe that this particular program has been arranged specially for them. Enter into the spirit of the occasion. Do not run through your act mechanically with nothing in mind except who is going to pay you your fee. Make your work personal and thus develop your personality. Put your heart and soul into your work. Be sincere at all times. You never can tell how many there are in the audience that are contemplating engaging your services if your act is enjoyed. A successful show is a good advertisement for a future date.