I had an idea but I'm not sure if anything similar has been done or not. I am not as well read as I probably should be. But be that as it may, my idea that I had just this afternoon goes something like this...

Magician is on stage in frayed attire and picks up a deck of cards found lying on the floor. Going through them he picks one out, the queen of hearts, and seemingly reminisces about days gone by... Then places the card on an easel on top of a large blank sheet of paper. The card seems to have grown into a very large card on the easel. Upon closer inspection by the magician/bum he stretches forth his hand, taking the hand of of the queen that is now animate and pulls her thru the easel and does a little dance with her.

All of this would be done to music of some sort.... And then almost as suddenly as she appeared, she has gone back into the card on the easel and the card is removed and put back into its box.

The trick could end several ways but I think placing the cards back on the ground where they were found, perhaps to be found by someone else, and then walking away would be a nice finish.

Just an idea I had. I have no way in mind to accomplish this but thought it would be a really cool trick.
GlenD

I was intrigued by the title of this thread. Here in the UK Bum Gets Lucky could have any number of connotations!

As to the effect, are we in girl appearing from picture territory. I seem to recall a TV special featuring a romantic encounter between artist and canvas. Copperfield or Burton?

That was what I was thinking, yes. I must have missed that T.V. special. I was thinking maybe someone had done something like that already.
You're right, "bum gets lucky" could mean lots of things ...

GlenD

Also Nicolas Night does an effect where he pulls his wife out of the painting. It's awesome.

Completely off the subject.
I too was disappointed when I went to England several years ago and they hadn't changed the title to "Free Willie" which in the U.K. can mean something entirely different than it does here in the States.

It was the Pendragons at the TV special from Monaco.
Vaclav

Brett Daniels performs a version with a picture of Marilyn Monroe in his show Magic & Beyond.

I don't know how far back the Artist's Dream goes, but I'm sure it's older than any of us.

There is a version, with plans, in Jim Steinmeyer's "Device and Illusion," and another in Byron G. Wels's The Great Illusions of Magic. Paul Osborne also sells plans, although I haven't seen them. I am sure there are other sources as well.

I understand that when movies were still relatively new, some magician took things from the screen, then went into the movie and then became real again, but with the heroine from the movie also real.

Thom