I'm a beginner and I need some help

What tricks are there available?
Card Warp, The Ambitous Card, 2 Card Monte, are there any other (card) tricks where it's not necessary to use a table?

Thank you.

Hi Ecno,

There are MANY tricks that are AWESOME on the street that require no table.

I often work Harvard Square here in Cambridge at lunch time working only from my pockets.

More importantly, when working this way, is ditching and reset. You want things that can go right back to where they were before you started, ready to go again.

Now I am going by the assumption that you want to do "real" street magic a.k.a... busking. If you want to do David Blaine stuff, just make a quick trip to the magic shop and go nuts. But, if you are looking for the real deal, here it is.

The challange is:

You will need 10 minutes of material. This can be done with 3 good routines. Working right from the pockets without amplification and automatically resetting back to the pockets at the end of the trick. You will also need to be able to work surrounded.

My picks are:

Show 1:
Vanishing silk with TT.

Three rope routine (Professor's night/day/whatever, George Sands, or a combo like Daryl's or Three Ropes and a baby)

Insurance policy


Show 2:

Cigarette manipulation (If you do not smoke use puff cigarettes and do a smoking=bad routine. People LOVE seeing this, don't discount it)

Coins across

Misers dream into your hat (If you work the street you have to have a hat. It's the rules)

Show 3:

Flip stick routine with a Kennedy folding wand.

Two sponge ball routines (See Charles Renoylds lecture notes!!! This routine is elegant! and you can use the wand from your opener before you fold it back up and stick it in your pocket).

Signed Card to wallet (Mullica), or mouth.

Those are three shows that could be killer on the street. It is up to you to develop the routines that will make them yours and make them great! If you learn all 9 of these tricks better than anyone else, you would never have to learn another trick for as long as you live.

You could have a very commercial act that played from the pockets and could be done anywhere at anytime for up to 100 people.

To get the down and dirty on what it takes to be a street magician, I highly recommend the Cellini book "The Royal Touch" it changed the way I approach magic. It was panned quite badly because of typing errors and some poorly translated work but it is a great, great book. It is about content not spelling.

Also, David Groves book on how to be a street magician is okay...

This is a very exciting idea you have had about this type of act! Good luck with it and let us know how you make out.

Best,

Dan-

Terrific advice Dan!

The Royal Touch was much better received in Europe, having been published in Switzerland, and if you focus on content instead of spelling and grammar you will get a lot out of it.

Also the soon to be available video by Cellini, The Art of Street Performing Vol I, is destined to become the definitive Souce for how to get ready, how to set up, how to get a crowd, how to keep a crowd, what to perform, how to perform, I could go on, but I won't. It is just absolutely fundamental and excellent.

I am editing my review of it now, and will post it here at the Cafe when I finish it today or tomorrow, but I put a preliminary draft of it at http://www.devicesofmagic.com

It is still not generally available, but it is worth waiting for!

BroDavid

Ecno,
If you are doing real street magic (1.e., busking), then I don't know if card tricks are the right way to go.
You need things that are big enough and visual enough to draw a large crowd (a big enough crowd to make it profitable for you.)
Some of the thing that I use:
Needle through balloon.
Pom-pon stick.
My own three-card monte, using jumbo cards.
Silk streamer from borrowed bill.
All these are highly visible and play to a largish crowd.
And they attract people.
Jim Cellini, the greatest of the street performers, uses sound.
Anything will work that focusses attention on YOU.
cheers,
Peter Marucci
showtimecol@aol.com

Bro David,

I want to take the time to thank you for the kind words on Jim and my newest video...

It has been an absolute blessing to have Jim as a teacher and more importantly as my friend.... as a magician, it didn't take me long to figure out that the best parts of Cellini, from a magicians point of view, is not what he does but what he says.... there were few masters of their art out there.... Vernon, Slydini... very few... and Cellini is one of those....

If magicians don't balk at the price of the video... $60.... and they buy it... it will be what I believe is the best investment they will ever make in becoming a professional magician...

Magicians have a tendancy to look down on guys who work on the streets.... not realizing that.... you could work private shows... corporate shows for 20 years and in 1 year on the street learn more than the $20 you spent doing other types of performing...

The streets are where you have to learn to capture your audiences... and keep them... they are not in some theatre or corporate arena... stuck there... and forced to watch. it's easy to walk away....

Cellini is a master at performing... keeping his audience amazed and entertained.... his magic is simple and pure... no tricky items that are bought at the local magic store... his magic is pure and done with normal items... he does many effects that we talk about here all the time... the cups and balls... cigarette routine (the best there is... wait till you see this... Aawesome) ...rope ...and a silk TT vanish.... done correctly... not too many do it correctly...

I'm proud of this video... and although you won't see Jim perform, you will see Sonny Holiday... who is a survivor of the streets... but the things you learn will save you years of trying and failing to get to a high level...

Chris Smith from Magicsmith told me this is the best thing ever done on street performing... and trying not to be biased... I agree.... it's so different than any other video ever done....

I hope you buy it and learn from it.... and I hope you don't copy it.... I know that many of us have done this in the past... but this is how Jim makes a living these days... doing videos and teaching you, the magician about this art..

He's doing 11 lectures in May... and another 15 or 20 in June... he will be in the Carolinas... Michigan.... Chicago... throughout parts of the midwest and then in NY.... if you have an interest in seeing Jim... in a week or so there will be a website that has lecture dates on Cellini.... it's..... http://www.magicman1234.com

The site is far from being ready for anyone to view... but it will be developed over the next few months and I think you guys will like it

Again Bro David... thanks for the kind words.

kozmo

Hey, no problem Kozmo!

If it was junk, I would have said it was junk. But it is NOT Junk!

It is absolutely Great! And I am editing my review right now, to make it more readable and succinct, and will post it here later. But the bottom line is that this Video is worth far more than the $60 it costs. It is like having Jim Cellini come over to your house, sit down, and teach you one-on-one.

He answers the questions, before you even think to ask them!

Also Ted, after thinking more about the Title of the Video, I can see why it says
"Street Performing" and doesn't limit itself by saying "Street Magic" - most of these techniques will work, and improve the lot of any Street Performer (except the very small bit of it that only applies to Magic...)

So it is not just for magicians. But if you already do Street Magic, or have even thought about it. This video is the tutor you need.

BroDavid

Starcle!

Thanks for the good ideas, guys.
Keep them coming!

And what exactly is Starcle?

Dan Harlan's version of an old effect where a napkin is folded and torn with a single straight tear. The small piece is given to a spec to hold. The napkin is shown to have a large perfect circle torn out of it. The center piece is unfolded and is a five-pointed star. Star + circle = Starcle!

Dan uses a charming patter about the full moon, and making wishes upon stars. It's very visual, very startling, and makes a good introduction. Great opener. And I really haven't done it justice in this description...

It's on his All-Purpose Show/Packs Small, Plays Big tape.

Ring Flight: A borrowed wedding band subtly jumps from finger to finger on the magician's hand. It is accidentally thrown across the street, only to reappear on the performer's finger once again. Before it is handed back to it's owner, the magician tosses the ring up into the air, only to jab it with his finger--twice!

Toll Free: In an attempt to show people how to produce coins from thin air, the performer performs a close-up Miser's Dream for his audience. As the repetitious effect comes to an end, the magician produces a wristwatch from thin air--which happens to have been stolen off the spectator's wrist!

The above routines along with many more impromptu miracles may be found in Gregory Wilson's commercial On the Spot videos. I think you'd like them.

Cramped: A twenty dollar bill is borrowed from the audience. The money's owner clearly signs her/his name across the bill with a standard Sharpie marking pen. The twenty is folded into eighths whereupon it disappears in a sudden flash of light. Moments later, the signed bill is found cramped in the cap of the marker of which the spectator used to sign the bill and was holding throughout the entire routine!

Behind My Back - A deck of cards is fairly held behind the magician's back in order to prevent him from any possible cheating. The deck is riffled through for a spectator to catch a glimpse of a mental selection. All behind the magician's back, the thought-of card seems to have completely vanished! As the performer turns around to face his audience, the mental selection is found placed behind the magician's sunglasses!

The above routines were devised by Richard Sanders and David Acer. They were clearly taught in Close-up Assassin, which is actually a booklet that comes with a performance companion video. It's sold by Camirand Magic.

Le Arche de Triomph: A card is selected and replaced into the deck. Half the deck is turned faceup, whereupon it is shuffled into itself to produce a messy state of faceup and facedown cards. Under impossible circumstances, the deck rights itself out so all the cards face the same way--with the exception of a face-down card in the middle... which is of course the free selection. The effect is repeated, but as a bonus ending, the free selection's mates are all produced, found reversed in the middle of the deck.

Waving the Aces (with Quartet): The four queens from a deck are displayed in a small fan in front of the magician. One by one, each queen visually turns over inside this small fan, until each of the cards have flipped over to face the audience! As a bonus ending, the four queens magically transform into the four aces.

The above routines may be found in Guy Hollingworth's book, Drawing Room Deceptions. A lot of Guy's work doesn't deal with tables, but it requires a considerable amount of practice. He also sells a gimmick called the Quartet which enables the surprise ending for the Twisting routine.

--These are all strolling close-up effects that can be worked into a real street performance. After putting on the main street show, a quiet mingling routine through the audience can get more tips and enhance your reputation. These effects aren't ideally meant for a full street production, but rather for a socializing environment--much like the current work of David Blaine.

I also enjoy performing Star Warp by Howard Schwarzman. I believe it was shown on Michael Ammar's Easy to Master Money Miracles. The UFO Whirling Card has always received a nice response for me--as long as the weather was good and permitted the effect. Richard Sanders also put out another bill switching technique that I've heard some nice reviews about. Check out Visi-Bill as well as any other bill switch out on the market.

I hope this helps a little bit...
RT

I have found that card tricks are not the best way to perform street magic. Coins are nice. I also have about 8 or 9 great tricks I do using the Raven. It couldn't hurt to use the ITR every once and awhile. Cards are nice, but I feel cards call for a more intimate environment.

what is a good book that shows these methods?

If you need a small area to hold somethign when you are performing, have one of your audience members stick their hand out flat and use that. Not only are you using them in the show making the performance more intimate but it always seems more magical when things occur in your particiapnts hands, even if it is nothing more than a glorified table.

PSIncerely Yours,
Paul Alberstat

Hi ecno,

try the routine "balls and net" (I think it`s from Vernon) - you`ll need a silk wich is used for juggling (you can see through it) - sorry, I don`t know the correct name for it in english - and you also need 4 Balls and a lemon - first you do a hand-to-hand travel with the balls and then you do a "2 in the hand - one in the pocket" thing where at least a lemon appears.
The silk is held by 2 spectators sitting or standing next to you. After each effect, you let the balls and at least the lemon drop into the silk.
A good explanation is on the "Stand-Up-Routines No 5" from Alexander De Cova (a German Magician).

I usually do strolling magic and the emotional reactions I get from card tricks far exceed that of my other work, such as sponge balls, coins, chop cup. I want to do less cards and more other stuff, but when people are shreiking, yelling "NO WAY", and stuff like that, trick after trick, it makes me keep doing them. I do not get strong emotional reactions from chop cup and sponge balls, probably because I don't have a good strong routine for those. I have the slights down, I believe, just more routining needed, I suppose.

I got to be honest, I take it back. I looked at this book again last night and it just stinks like week old fish.

This guy knew very little about what you need to develop a good street act and the longer I'm out on the street the more obvious this becomes to me.

If anyone is interested in all of my reasons why let me know and I'll review the book in the good the bad and the garbage.

Best,

Dan-

Hi!
Harry Anderson used to do street magic. In his wonderful book: "Wise Guy" there are interesting sugestions for performing in this environment.
Regards!

Any good "coins across" is really good for walk-around.

I personally use Sankey's "Mr. Clean Coin Across" because it's well, clean! Only three coins used and very convincing.

I would deffinetly recomend hopping half by johnson, it is a little expensive but there are so many different things you can do with the different gimmicks that are in the package.

-Dave