Since Chanukah is coming in a short while, I was wondering what you use in your "Chanukah themed shows".

I don't have a theme show - I have a magic show and supply entertainment for all occasions and that includes chanuka - the festival of miracles & lights.
Together with that, for anyone who doesn't know about this festival, I would first suggest reading up on it and then you would know that you could incorperate a production of a shandeleir, any effects using candles, you could use axtells "doughnut" puppet or even a dove pan to produce real doughnuts. I made up some large laminated cards with pictures of different foods (except doughnuts) and after showing them all I turn them around ala a night out with the girls trick (pm me if you wish) and eventualy I am left with one card which turns out to be doughnuts which I then proceed to produce from the pan.
Chanuka, like xmas is a time for gifts and candy, so basicly anything sweet and anything that looks like a wrapped gift could be good. Also the use of the word "miracle" throughout the show because, as the story goes, it was a miracle that the small jug of oil found was enough to stay alight for 7 nights.
You could make a routine where you turn a botlle of coke or something into a bottle of oil.
lots of ideas.
enjoy,
Dani

I making a Mennorah silk set. It includes an unlighted mennorah and a lit one and eight small flame type silks. Have each child put a flame silk with the unlit mennorah silk in a change bag. Now you can produce the mennorah silk lit.

All are on pure 8 momme China Silk. The mennorah silks are 24" square and the small flame silks are 5"

As I am not Jewish, I will not try to write any patter that might offend someone. But I am sure that this will lend itself to upcoming holiday season.

Richard

PS Email me if you like to see a photo and hopefully I will get it up on the web soon.

Maybe starcle, how many points does it have?

Starcle ends with a 5 pointed star. So that probably wouldn't do.

Take a look at this, someone's already thought of this...

http://www.loudini.com/hanukkah-dabra_newedition.htm

Silly Billy just did a great Christmas/ hanukkah lecture as part of a holiday Kidabra lecture, that will be released on DVD from Kidabra soon. There will also be a Halloween DVD as well.

As far as I know, Silly Billy's hanukah tricks that are found on the new dvd from Kidabra are the only Hanukah tricks in print anywhere. If anyone has other sources of hanukah material, please share it.

You can buy the dvd only from people who appear on it - Kidabra.com, http://www.sillymagic.com, SPSmagic.com

I have a Nearly Normal look at the Holidays for December/January.

This will include use of a Lota, while talking about the oil that burned for 8 days.


Shalom!


Harris Deutsch
Laughologist

Watch me pull a Rabbi out of my hat... oops!

Good one todsky.I dony do the themed shows unless asked so no I'm not getting any effects.

Silly Rabbi, trix are for kids...


Sorry I couldn't resist.

(Take off of USA Kids Cereal Commercial)

I was raised Jewish, my wife Catholic. As some of you know, that makes us

Cashews.

Be safe, well and blessed.

Shalom.


Harris

My friend Andrew and I actually came up with a Chanukah show running gag... Tell the audience: "Because the miracle of Chanukah happened with milk, I am going to do a trick with milk", followed by a milk pitcher routine. When you are corrected by the audience, pretend to only hear that you were wrong and act as if you did not hear the part about the oil... then say "that's right... because the miracle of Chanukah happened with ketchup, I am going to do a trick with a bottle of ketchup" followed by your favorite neilson bottle routine... You get the idea. At the end, pull out a bottle of wine (nielson) and tell them: "that's right, now I remember,it was wine that the miracle happened with" - and this time when they correct you, respond with: "Oil?? well why didn't you say so?!" and turn the wine bottle into an oil bottle (the smaller oil bottle hidden within the neilson). After producing the oil from the bag, crush up the bag to prove it really did change, and use the oil to light a fire in a dove pan. Now you can produce jelly doughnuts or dradels. Enjoy!

Here's my Chanukah line-up:

1. Festival of D'Lites (set the mood with basic d'lite routine)
2. Lota Oil (produce copious amounts of yellowish tinted water from a lota vase)
3. Snowstorm in Jerusalem (a tissue-paper with Temple design is torn and dumped into the water from previous trick; then snowstorm is produced the normal way)
4. Where's the shamash? (Production of a lit Fantasio candle in order to light menorah).
5. Miracles Aren't For Sale (I explain that my performance involves "tricks" and that real miracles come from The Holy One. Explain that the Dreidl is a reminder of miracles. I check pockets for dreidle, then I pull out a playing card and do the Hummer Card routine.

The whole act is organized more for showmanship rather than story sequence. It bugs me that I do the Lota Oil routine BEFORE doing the Snowstorm. The story suggests it should be the other way around, but from a staging POV, my order makes more sense.