It sounds like the guy that you saw do it, didn't have much of a presentation for the prop! It's more or less a "nothing" trick, without PRESENTATION!!!

"That" trick has many names! E.g. Chinese Compass and "Hi Sign" are just two of many.

I'm more familiar with "Hi Sign", since I've used one since 1951. IIRC, the late Clayton Rawson wrote some clever patter for it. I think the late Milbourne Christopher sold it through Lou Tannen's NYC shop. I first saw Norman Jensen perform it on a USO show, when I was in the Navy.

"Hi Sign" has had a number of different versions sold in the past 66 years!

Thanks for posting that, Doc. I missed your post when the topic got pushed to another page.

The eBook is called "Pitfalls of Showing Magic to Your Friends." There's definitely some good advice in there, however I have a quibble with the following quote from it:



I agree 100% that the dynamics are quite different, but I don't feel that the point that "developing further," as the author puts it, is necessarily the goal of the social magician. I enjoy juggling, for example, but I don't want to perform it for the public, but I do practice (occasionally) because I want to get better (or at least maintain my current lack of juggling chops). Some folks enjoy playing a pickup game of basketball with friends, but don't want to compete. Likewise, many social magicians want to get better at magic and are serious about learning it, but have no desire to perform for the general public. I think that this is a characteristic that many professional magicians either forget or simply don't understand when offering advice to amateur magicians.

At least that's how I feel. I'm sure many amateurs feel differently.

Dave

Interesting topic - thanks for starting!

Dave, I share with you my lack of interest in performing in public, at least for the time being, but compared to juggling, effects and sleights only become magic in front of an audience, right? For me it is actually the toughest one you can face, aka my family.

I wanted to resurrect this topic for a bit to share something I came across on the Jerx web site mentioned earlier:

http://www.thejerx.com/blog/2017/10/22/t......e-gambit

A short while ago I decided to try out the idea by telling my friends that I had been invited to "audition" for a "very exclusive magic club." The audition process supposedly involves lots of stages, so over the course of a year or more I'm supposed to pass lots of different trials.

This has opened up some social performing opportunities for me. First, my friends now occasionally ask me how the audition is going. This gives me an organic way to get into showing them a magic trick because they asked about it (rather than trying to force magic into a social situation). Secondly, it's given me some fodder for patter that makes more sense in a social context. For example, when showing Three Fly I introduced it as a "move I'm working on" that invisibly tosses a coin from one hand to the other.

At least one of my friends has already questioned whether or not the whole thing is a bit I'm putting on for their benefit, which is partly the whole point. I may never do the ending from the Jerx post (partly because my circle of friends that would participate in this bit are the same folks I'm performing for), but everyone is having fun.

Another lesson I've been learning from this experience is when performing in a social context I can think of my performance as less of a single trick or short set for my friends once in a while, but instead one long extended performance that goes over the course of months or even years.

Consider other possibilities. For fun, I've put together some 20 minute formal close-up sets. It's very unlikely that I'll be out with friends with all my props in place, ready to perform (and it would be rude to my friends to dominate a social activity this way). However, when I have friends and family over for a visit, it makes sense to ask them if they could watch an "audition show" that I have to perform. Now the advice that is easy to find on routining magic shows and such that is directed towards professionals is relevant.

Just some thoughts for the rest of you interested in performing magic in social situations. If you're a professional, it obviously won't interest you.

Dave

On the contrary, Dave! I do find your posts very interesting, and well worth reading!

Over the years, I've done "some" (!) mentoring. Not all of those being mentored, wanted to be full time pro's. (Although some have, and, are doing very well.)

You obviously do some thinking, before you write! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I have read somewhere that an amateur magician is always performing new magic tricks for the same people, and the professional magician is always performing the same magic tricks for new people. My problem with performing for family and friends is that my performances for them are rough and unpolished. By definition, I don't have a lot of experience performing the trick when I first perform for family and friends. My closeup linking rings routine is has improved significantly by performing it hundreds of times for complete strangers.

My sweet wife has had many new magic tricks inflicted on her, and she has seen my many failures and exposures. She has developed an idea of how us magicians accomplish our work, and she doesn't really enjoy watching my magic like she used to. I still inflict new tricks on her to get feedback about a said trick.

It seems to me that strictly social magic will never afford the amount of real performance time I need to become a good practitioner of the magic arts. At the very least us magicians need to spread our art around and perform in many charitable situations (hospitals, nursing homes, schools, etc), performing for strangers. I can't tell you the number of times strangers have thanked me for showing them a trick and told me that I made their day for them. Most people go their entire lives without seeing a decent closeup magic effect. We have an obligation to share our skills and talents with friends and strangers, even if we are not paid to do so.

Hello Paul...

I've followed this thread from its inception. I'm now 86, a retired full time professional. I was booked solid (never "at liberty" for 50 years) in the LYCEUM field. (School assemblies, coast to coast and border to border, for all levels, Kindergarten-High School, and some colleges, too. Before those 50 years, I was a PART TIME PROFESSIONAL (NOT a "SEMI" PRO.!). I started at age 8, as a hobbyist, and when I was almost 14, I did my first paid show. (I made $26. in 40 minutes in my local Junior High School on October 24, 1945. Grown men were working for little more than that for a week's work!) Most teenagers were making 50 cents an hour, bagging groceries, or mowing lawns. I was making $10 to $20. doing a 30 minute club act.At 19, in the Navy, I got an agent who kept me so busy that I could rent a place in town, buy a late model used car, and SEND MY NAVY PAYCHECK HOME TO THE BANK FOR 3 1/2 years.

At 8, my "audiences" were family, and school friends. I can understand your enthusiasm!

So, Ill share a bit of information. Hospitals, normally, have no budget for entertainment. Nursing homes, often do have a budget. I've worked many of them all over the USA. Schools, for years, had a budget which allowed them to book talent. Principals regarded the assembly hall as THEIR CLASSROOM! They realized that students needed more than the "3 Rs". They also needed to learn social skills. Many magicians, jugglers, ventriloquists, etc. found work in schools. Musicians, mimes, memory experts, historians, scientists, etc. also, were kept busy.

By the turn of the millenium, school administrators, had become more interested in programs with a more specific educational aspect. Many magicians have developed programs that are more educational, while still being fun. I have "motivated" some magicians to develop programs of that nature. (anti drugs, anti bullying programs, etc.)

So! Schools do have money to pay for programs that "fit" their needs. They still book entertainment assemblies, as "honor" or "rewards" (attendance, behavior,etc.). --But, the performer must be well qualified, to "meet" many age groups.

It's not =necessary to book schools as a "free act"! In fact, doing so, can harm professionals, especially if the performer is not "ready".