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EsnRedshirt
Special user
Newark, CA
902 Posts
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Posted: Feb 23, 2006 5:26pm
Had a sword cabinet mess up on me once...
The routine was scripted so that I was sword fighting with the stagehands while the assistant hid in the cabinet. I lost, got skewered, and lay "dead" on the stage while the stage hands thrust the swords through the box... except... something jammed, and my poor stagehands were at a loss as to how to recover.
As the audience started whispering nervously, I got up, turned the box so the front door was facing the wings, and peered inside to determine the problem. Having spotted it, I turned to the audience, mugged an overt "eww, that looks bad," face (which immediately dispelled their fears of an impaled assistant), yanked the sword out, then fixed it. I helped the stagehands finish inserting the swords, walked back to my mark, and said, "Obviously, I'm not the only one dying here..." and keeled over, "dead" once again (to a roar of laughter from the audience), while the stage hands spun the cabinet around. They then flung the doors open, revealing just the swords, rather than a bleeding assistant (much to the relief of the audience).
No excuse, we'd needed more rehearsals. All in all, though, it went better than it could have gone- malfunctioning illusions can reveal secrets or, even worse, injure people. I'm just glad the two semesters worth of improv class I took in college finally paid off.
Self-proclaimed Jack-of-all-trades and google expert*.
* = Take any advice from this person with a grain of salt.
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NeoMagic
Inner circle
I have...
2017 Posts
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Posted: Feb 23, 2006 7:41pm
^ ouch!
See and download my latest free card-suits-themed desktop wallpaper | HERE
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Cody Fisher
Special user
884 Posts
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Posted: Apr 3, 2006 8:15pm
If I ever on a double lift, take one card instead of two, I just say, Oops, I got two, and turn over a double. They don't think twice about it.
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Larry Bean
Inner circle
I'm digging enough holes for
2013 Posts
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Posted: Nov 19, 2007 9:11pm
While doing a hand chopper routine I chose a very pretty black girl to be my assistant /victim. Then I remembered that the fake severed hand that I throw up into the air immediately after the blade drops matched in color with a caucasian and NOT a black girl. Of course I didn't throw it into the air and she never asked what the white hand in the bag was for - thank goodness.
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Dave Gerin
New user
New York/Daytona Beach
55 Posts
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Posted: Nov 27, 2007 1:16pm
Flashback Books.....They hate me
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Lord Anacho
Regular user
Kessel-Lo, Belgium
136 Posts
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Posted: Dec 3, 2007 10:26am
Ken De Courcy, erstwhile editor of the Supreme house magazine 'The Magigram' once issued a challenge (not original with him I seem to recall).
Magician take a walk through town; sees through a window of a hall another magician performing the vanishing birdcage. He can't hear what's going on, he can only see what's happening. Trick goes wrong and the birdcage is dangling from the performer's sleeve. Magician says something to the crowd and they all burst out in tremendous applause.
Challenge: What did the performer say to his audience?
Don't ask me, I don't know!
Ciao for now
Erik
"The secret impresses no one. The trick you use it for is everything" (Alfred Borden in The Prestige)
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George Ledo
Magic Café Columnist
SF Bay Area
2205 Posts
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Posted: Dec 30, 2007 12:43pm
I was in a magic competition once, doing my cards-and-doves act. This act was so tightly routined that one thing just flowed into the next, so there was no room for error. Suddenly, I notice that one of my birds, who was hanging in his bag in position for a production, fell on the floor.
Talk about re-scripting on the fly! And this was a silent act done to live music, so there was no place to say anything... I just had to re-work the routine and go on.
The dove turned out to be fine, but I think I lost a few pounds in a few seconds.
Oh, yeah, I won the competition.
That's Burt, aka The Great Burtini, doing his famous Cups and Mice routine
Latest column: That's cool, but why are you doing it?
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Tanner & Company
New user
45 Posts
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Posted: Jan 14, 2008 4:26pm
I always get caught when stealing something, one time when I went under the silk to produce another colr silk the silk kinda floated out of my hand, I laughed, then vanished them both.
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Donal Chayce
Inner circle
The City of Angels
1771 Posts
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Posted: Jan 15, 2008 8:16pm
My assistant missed his cue during our Canvas Covered Box illusion. We were performing it as part of a variety show troupe contracted to perform at a juvenile detention camp, so I was even more anxious than I would otherwise have been.
I was never so relieved as when we finally made the switch and I was inside the box. The "kids" rushed the "stage" (the show took place in the camp gym) and proceeded to dismantle the box board-by-board.
Earlier in the same show I performed Gene Anderson's T&R Newspaper. During the flash restoration the "other" packet tore free from the newspaper and hit the stage.
It just wasn't my day...
The MacGician ®
***********
The fates lead him who will...him who won't, they drag.
-Seneca
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Orson
New user
Australia
11 Posts
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Posted: Jan 17, 2008 5:47am
I remember doing an ace assembly years ago to to about half a dozen people. To my shame I really had lost the last ace. With out skipping a beat though I asked one of the spectators to shuffle the cards and cut the cards anywhere she wanted. He friend then turned over the top card to reveal the last ace.
The hardest thing to do in a circimstance like that is to keep your cool and not look as spell bound as the other spectators.
Lord Anacho. Whenever I make an unrecoverable screw up I often say "Bad day at the office." Or something to that effect. It never fails to get a laugh as most people can suddenly empathise with your situation
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Koolmagic114
Loyal user
297 Posts
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Posted: Jan 19, 2008 1:57pm
I remember doing a Halloween show and in my opening I use vanishing & appearing candles. I had the vanishing candle opened a bit higher than I usually do. And I really thought I had a good grip on it.
Well it went down with a good spring.. Bounced off my pinky finger with a good enough spring to shoo tit up out of my hand a good 3-4 inches above it.. Tried to snag it out of the air.. but I missed and it ended up on the floor.
I really thought nothing of it.. as I was figured no one really knows of collapsible candles.. pretty much picked it up.. continued.. ended up topit-ing it.. when I was done as I usually did... Hands empty.. and I don't think anyone really knew what it was.
Eddy
www.magicianslair.com
www.bid-on-magic.com
koolmagic114@aol.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Co-Creator of "Iced Over" / " TelePad" / "Penigma"
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GWSchott
Veteran user
Southeastern Michigan
361 Posts
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Posted: Jan 19, 2008 10:49pm
Believe it or not, my magic act got MUCH better once I realized that even the pros screw up every now and then. Odd thing to find consolation in, but it took a lot of pressure off.
I've since talked to dozens of professional magicians, and just about every one I've asked has had at least one horror story.
Yours In Magic,
Gordon
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nexile
New user
12 Posts
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Posted: Feb 19, 2008 4:26pm
Very rarely do I make mistakes, but I just keep going when I do. Just keep showing more and more people and get more practice so that there'll be an even smaller chance of it happening again.
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Darkwing
Inner circle
Nashville Tn
1766 Posts
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Posted: Feb 25, 2008 1:51am
I was doing the Tabray Rope Routine and went blank about half way through the routine. I got lost. I stopped, apoligized, and went to another routine.
I felt like an idiot.
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Brent McLeod
Inner circle
New Zealand
1556 Posts
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Posted: Mar 10, 2008 3:07am
Quote:
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On 2008-01-19 22:49, GWSchott wrote:
Believe it or not, my magic act got MUCH better once I realized that even the pros screw up every now and then. Odd thing to find consolation in, but it took a lot of pressure off.
I've since talked to dozens of professional magicians, and just about every one I've asked has had at least one horror story.
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We all have horror stories & you learn more from your mistakes whether its your best trick or any effect in your routine
Over time you elimainate from your act all the effects that don't get good reactions & you perform these more & hopefully get better leaving you with a strong audience tried & tested act of your best material -hopefully eliminating mistakes by performing them more than the rest
http://www.bandsforhire.co.nz/brent_mcleod.htm
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ttorres
Elite user
Rock Hill, SC
495 Posts
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Posted: Jan 4, 2009 12:38pm
I hate to admit it but once I was performing a close-up show at a private resident and began an effect that I had performed hundreds of times when all of the sudden I just drew a blank. For the life of my I didn’t know were to go next. So I covered that best I could by making a joke that got a good laugh from everyone and I move on.
...the magic that creates Memories!
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Glen
Regular user
120 Posts
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Posted: Jan 9, 2009 9:47am
Oh boy...this is a good subject. I do an Okito box routine with a story line with a few coin routines in the middle, one being hanging coins. In a restaurant one night I'm at the hanging coin part, which I've done a gozillion times, and right in the middle, just went blank. I repeated the same move over a few times adjusting the patter until the brain kicked in and then moved on. The key is to never let 'em see you sweat. Another time I was doing a bit that ends with a card to a flaming wallet. I wanted to really make an impression so under the table I over juiced the wallet which of coursed errupted into a huge ball of fire burning my fingers. Fortunately it was my closer so I was able to act natural long enough to make an exit to the mens rooms for some first aid. Was it worth the reacions???????? ......Oh Yea.................
To finish this I remember seeing Copperfield do an illusion on television that floored me. Later I saw him do the same at a live performance and one little slip revealed the secret to me. So I don't feel so bad about a slip up now and then.
thanks for reading, Glen
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yutszfung
New user
23 Posts
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Posted: Jan 12, 2009 1:31am
Yes, I sometimes mess up my best trick even I have done that quite a few years. It's important experience
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magicalaurie
Inner circle
Ontario, Canada
2371 Posts
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Posted: Jun 30, 2009 9:51am
Quote:
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On 2008-01-19 22:49, GWSchott wrote:
Believe it or not, my magic act got MUCH better once I realized that even the pros screw up every now and then. |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXCUoRGZowk
"Within all of us there is an elusive melody which, when heard and followed, leads to the fulfillment of our fondest dreams," Siegfried & Roy
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Sam Weiss
Loyal user
Stratford, CT should have more than
278 Posts
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Posted: Jul 22, 2009 6:37pm
I was once performing the Ninja Rings with some people at bad angles. At one point I apparently flashed the "key" to someone at my immediate right who them shouted out "He's got a hole in the ring!" Thinking quickly I used the old gag of putting your hand through the ring and say "Yeah right here in the middle." It got a great laugh and no one ever found out what he was actually talking about. Luckily the next part was the part where the spectator helps me link the rings. I let the heckler do it and I guess that made him think he was just seeing things.
That performance taught me that I should only do a performance with perfect angles every time.
Sam Weiss
"There's something that gets in your soul when you study magic,it's in your heart, and when you perform it comes across the footlights and into everybody else's heart..."
-Denny Haney
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deadcatbounce
Special user
the Wilds of Ireland
757 Posts
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Posted: Jul 31, 2009 4:25pm
Occasionally I had a problem with card on ceiling - the cards would all cut loose after the hit, and cascade to the floor.
Awkward - difficult to talk to a table while you're picking cards up.
It happened twice - in the one night.
I now use two bands - corner to corner, and width wise. Never had a problem since.
Sometimes it's good (in the long run) to make a mistake or two.
Complacency is my biggest enemy.
DCB
"With every mistake - we must surely be learning..." George Harrison.
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cvwtzhaar
New user
36 Posts
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Posted: Aug 2, 2009 12:54pm
I once by mistake shuffled a stacked deck in performance ...whoops.
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DustinF
New user
58 Posts
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Posted: Aug 9, 2009 2:40am
I think anybody performing magic has messed up a trick at one time or another. The worst I have ever screwed up a trick required me to do false shuffles and I realized at the end of the trick my shuffles were not as false as I had hoped.
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Alex Palombo
Regular user
Abington, Pennislyvania
105 Posts
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Posted: Sep 12, 2009 10:05am
Somtime my dacning cane line break in a show but when fly off stage I jjust wave goodbyb it work
Philadelphia SYM Assembly 96 Member
Magicians' Alliance of Eastern States Member
 MAGICIAN DIRECTORY member
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DWRackley
Inner circle
Choo Choo Town
1522 Posts
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Posted: Oct 15, 2009 10:29pm
Once I was doing the penetration where the dime goes through the rubber sheet, and the sheet actually tore around the dime, leaving a small round hole. Now I won’t use one of those sheets more than a couple times.
And once my Zombie ball came loose during a performance, landing on the floor with a resounding THUD! I didn’t know what to do next, so I picked it up, set everything back on the table and went to my next trick. Only afterwards did some people let me know that they were impressed that I could “float” something so “heavy” (sounding).
But my absolute favorite, because in my mind it shouted “I AM A MAGICIAN!”
I used to open with an Appearing Cane. Normally I’d release the catch with my thumb and give it a quick toss. Inertia would spring out the top and bottom equally, so when I grabbed it, it was always in the middle. I’d give it a couple of twirls before standing it behind my table.
One night it was in the wrong position when I released the catch, and the tip hit the heel of my hand, sending the cane shooting about halfway across the stage. To her credit (and amazing agility) my assistant snagged the cane as it flew past her. SHE did the twirl, and then handed it back to me. The audience loved it!
You don't need to be psychic to predict the future. Any mother who's ever spotted her ten year old hauling his skateboard onto the trampoline KNOWS what's about to happen!
 ...because a MIND is a terrible thing...
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amazing eric
New user
Amazing Eric
39 Posts
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Posted: May 25, 2010 5:49pm
When a magician messes up, it is a great opportunity for bettering. I say this from personal experience. I have performed in areas that were very humid and the linking rings would stick to my fingers, I would perform in areas that the client would insist on that is a magicians nightmare; outside. The wind blows all the time a magician performs outside, it is a natural law like Neuton's discovery of gravity or Capernicus' discovery of the earth's relation to the sun, or Einstein's theory of relativity. Tables knock down, silks fly, and sponge balls? heh, heh, heh.
I have had dove pans fail, canes not colapse...enough, Umbrellas blow away because of a sudden storm that took place at a carnival gig.
The list goes on. The reality is that all performers have bad shows for one or multiple reasons. How it is handled may determine the salt of the performer. I heard that Channing Pollock missed as he did a dove to silk. The silk fell to the floor and Channing Pollock had to actually leave the stage to ditch the dove so that he can retrieve the silk. He used the mishap as an opportunity for a second round of applause. He re-entered the stage and picked up the silk that was on the floor and took a second bow. Nobody was the wiser.
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rbattle
Loyal user
257 Posts
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Posted: Mar 9, 2011 10:21pm
If you have not messed up you are not performing. I have seen Burton, Copperfield, and numerous others make mistakes. It is how you handle the error that determines how good you really are.
Robert
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Mary Mowder
Inner circle
2049 Posts
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Posted: Mar 22, 2011 9:35pm
Yup.
-Mary Mowder
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Havens
Loyal user
UK
257 Posts
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Posted: Apr 20, 2011 9:25am
I've had tricks fail a few times, though I almost always have an out. But when I first started performing live, I included Bullet Catch 22 as part of my set, which always got great reactions until the day it failed. It was pretty embarrassing and I had no out. After the show I tested everything thoroughly and it all seemed to be working fine. Next gig, FAIL!. I replaced all the parts but no matter what I did, it never again worked at a live show. All I could put it down to was a change in humidity. Regardless, if an effect isn't reliable it's gone and I haven't performed it since.
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greymagick
New user
Spain
53 Posts
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Posted: Apr 26, 2011 4:24am
Yes, and I'm glad I did. That taught me something. And I'm not talking about unexpected or unforesseable things, reactions, or factors that sometimes mess up a performance (those you have to live with), just about *me* being the one and only cause for the mess.
- Grey
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