LMAO!

Larry

P.S. - Actually, I'd like to stick half a piece of velcro to her outfit and the other half to my headboard.

For those who have this effect would you consider it one of your better ones, and for comparison what do you consider you better effects. Also, what type of audience do you think it works for the best.

Cute? yes. Clever? maybe. Disceptive? I don't think so. The positioning of the jacket is very suspisious and unnatural and I'm afraid it would lead even children to a decent working theory. As a less-serious vent piece I think it could work well.

A coat over the shoulder unatural? hmmm.. I have to disagree as it is the only place you would put it if there was nothing else onstage. I think it is quite natural and brilliant. The other factor is that the entertainment value is so STRONG that method truly becomes secondary to the purpose of why you are even onstage.
Just my opinion.
Chance

I think this is better performed for adults in a comedy bar or parlor setting. Kids might just run to you behind your back and expose you.

Greetings All!

I have performed "Celebritie" for the first time on stage today. Here's how it went down.

I came out and introduced a frined of mine who would like to sing for the audience. His name is "Ty". (tie) . I proceeded to take off the coat, get set, slung the tie over the shoulder, and began the routine.

The audience went from astonishment, to pure laughter when the tie began to sing.
I just did the singing part, moved it from left to eight and back, and did one more bit which I will get to in a minute. The audience ate it up.

I found that if you play to the left side of the audience by by turning slightly to the left, then do the opposite for the right side, most angle isues are not a problem.

I came to a relaization about this next bit only a couple of days ago.

I own Dave Powells "Ghost Bottle". This is the 20oz plastic coke bottle that looks as if a ghost is drinking it as you can see the liquid going down inside the bottle.

I had the bottle on my table. I inserted a straw about halfway. I bent the straw back with my forefinger, stuck the straw into the ties mouth, pulled off the gimmick with my third finger, and it gave me a perfect illusion of the tie drinking the coke from the bottle.

I finished the song, pulled the tie forward, pulled down the jacket, put the jacket on, and took my bows.

To finish I stood behind my rolling table and walked behind it as I rolled the table off to the side.

Everyone loved it. I have been practicing with it for awhile so the 2 and a half minute routine I did didn't kill the hand any. I can practice with it now for about ten minutes before I half to take a break.

Works for me!!


S. Patrick

The idea with the ghost bottle sounds like a very nice touch. I imagine another (less visable) alternative would be to use slush powder in order to have the tie "take a drink".

Reviews of this product have kind of dried up... Something I find happens a lot at the Café is that new products are met with tons of speculative posts before anyone actually gets the product, then nobody seems to give any indication as to how the product/rountine fares in show conditions. Has anyone else used Celebritie in a show?

Two queries I have for people who perform this:

1) Can the gimmick be worn comfortably throughout a show? Does it restrict movement in any way before or after the effect is performed?

2) When operating the gimmick, do you find that the coat hung over your shoulder "gives away" movement of your arm? The demo video looks like it has made a deliberate effort to cut the coat out of most of the footage.

I used to do the Ghost bottle idea with Rocky Raccoon, I found it to be very. very strong. Probably the same with this.

Having a jacket over a shoulder is not unnatural. But taking it off and putting it over a shoulder to do one trick and then putting it back on or putting it somewhere else after the trick is unnatural. And suspisious. Where is the outward motivation?

Bsears,
hmmm, you have a point. I wonder if the audience thinks quite that much? I think we try to pass off "magician's logic" far more, during other effects, than this minor discrepency. If I gave it some thought, I may be able to justify tossing the coat at the end. Maybe the tie spills a drink on it? who knows but there has got to be an idea.
I am a fan of polishing out the details and striving for a perfect trick so I would agree that there can never be too much thought.
I will compromise the "perfection" level if the trick is entertaining enough not to really care. I think this falls into that category as it is so powerful. Like I said before, out of all of Copperfield's effects, his Dancing Tie routine was one of the most memorable..and I really never cared how it worked. It was just so darn fun to watch
Chance

Chance
for me you have hit the nail on the head as long as any effect is fun to watch then it is successful and we as magicians must never lose sight of the fact that when performing in public we are firstly entertainers ans secondly magicians.I think this effect looks really nice and as you say the general puplic do not think like a magical mind ......if they are entertained by the effect then that is the job done.

I too agree that if a routine is well structured and entertaining, spectators don't really care how the effect is accomplished. My concerns about jacket movement are as much to do with "distracting" an audience as with giving away the method.

That said...I'm still waiting for some reviews from people who own the effect.....

Pretty please?

I don't own the effect, but I am thinking about it...

After giving this threads info some thought....you have to think about a puppet....people know it is not real and that you are controlling it. So, the jacket probably is not fooling anybody.

But, what may be interesting is how clean you are after you finish the effect. In the demo, he casually handled his coat....I wonder if you can also immediately turn around. (Not to show that nothing is there....but, maybe to subtlely pick up the next prop...so people can see your back).

In addition, I wonder if you can take off you coat and put it on a hanger which breaks....your coat falls to the floor.....so now you have a reason to toss the coat over your shoulder.....Will the coat falling break to foul the gimmick and get ready for the effect ?

Still thinking ... Thoughts anyone ?

Also a fake hand holding the coat may add to the illusion...but, I am not sure how practical these ideas are since I don't own the effect yet.

I own Celebri Tie and I think it's the best piece of magic I've bought under 200.00 this year. As to ExpertMagician's remarks......

But, what may be interesting is how clean you are after you finish the effect. In the demo, he casually handled his coat....I wonder if you can also immediately turn around. (Not to show that nothing is there....but, maybe to subtlely pick up the next prop...so people can see your back).

Sorry but no, you can't turn around until you put your jacket back on and then only with a loose fitting jacket. However you can have the gimmick on all through your show and use it for a closer or near the end of your set. What I love about it is the way you can take your jacket off your shoulder and shake it out before putting it back on and straighten your tie up. It almost looks like your clean even though a few spectators will pick up on the missing hand.

As to the Third Hand idea I haven't tried it with Celebri tie but I see no reason it couldn't work. I give it four out of five stars. My only real complaint is the Disc will not play on any of the five DVD players I tried. Still a great investment.

Then why does the demo look so good? This reminds me of a couple effects including dancing hank wherein the hands can be left sore after an hour of practice. A month of daily practice makes those and similar devices second nature and not as uncomfortable as the first time around.

I also noticed that Larry. I watched it over and over again wondering if the perfectly timed movement of tie's bottom half was intentional or not. Thanks for pointing out that it is intentional. I like that for the more critical viewer as it will "dispell" the use of more than one tie.

So by your discription, why present magic in a theater or on stage. No motivation for this except to control ticket sales and that is not magical.

Really, there are some things that the audience will accept for there entertainment and enjoyment. Remember Tom Mullica and others that mention the 'to perfect' magic theory.

Agreed. Case in point...David Williamson and Rocky. Everyone knows or at least suspects that the racoon if fake. But it doesn't matter. His routine is so funny and unusual that it kills. The tie might not be as funny but it is definately unusual and highly entertaining if done correctly.

Can you comfortably wear the coat and walk around freely prior to, during and after the performance without any unsighlty or noticeable "bulges" in the back of the coat?

Michael

With the sale at hocus-pocus, I was thinking of getting Celebri Tie. The ghost bottle sounds like a good addition... where can I get one? Does hocus-pocus sale them... under a different name maybe?