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JSMagic Loyal user Boston 202 Posts |
How do you guys use your square circles? What do you produce/vanish? Do you use it for one particular effect or use it all throughout the show? I just got one and I'm wondering what the best way to use it is, one effect a whole story, ect. Thanks, Josh
If a magician is not intending to "trick" a spectator, why is every "trick" called a magic "trick"?
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NJJ Inner circle 6437 Posts |
Hi,
I use a GREAT square circle production of a live rabbit that takes the concept one step further. It takes the form of two nesting boxes (both have BASES and lids unlike a standard square circle). The outside box is designed to look like a house with a doorway and windows as holes. The inside box has the window panes and the door painted on them. I show the outer box cleanly empty but explain that my rabbit could run out the door. So I add the inner box to lock him in. I then show the inner box empty. When the inside box is dropped into the outside box there is a loud thump as it goes in adding the illusion that both boxes are empty. Also, the rabbit has the WHOLE box to sit in so has plenty of room (unlike mirrors and flaps). The box was re-designed from and older box by Sean Taylor and built by Chris Murphy. |
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Peter Marucci Inner circle 5389 Posts |
Josh,
This prop has been gone over in another thread. But, for what it's worth, you could use the Square Circle for a big production close. You could use it to produce some of the props of each trick that you do during your show. You could have it decorated as a TV set (the square is the cabinet, the circle is the tube) and produce commercial products or items from your favorite shows. In fact, the late Karrell Fox used to produce cartoon silks out of it. I have used it as a Houdini routine, complete with terrible puns, about Houdini escaping from a jail cell (the Square Circle). The list seems endless! Actually, the uses are limited only by your own imagination. But remember; it's only a prop. The 'real magic' comes from your performance with it. |
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
I love some of Peter's thinking for the Square Circle.
One really nice idea is to use the square circle throughout your show. Use it to take tricks from or silks that you may need. Show it empty as maybe saying.."now where did I put that silk scarf.. aww yes here it is". Then at the ened, use it for a jumbo production of a rabbit or something climatic. Open your mind to thinking creatively and think outside of the box and you can come up with some really nice ideas.
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
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JamesinLA Inner circle Los Angeles 3400 Posts |
Since it can hold so much, you could also keep finding things other than the thing you said you're looking for. You could also "mis-name" those things, ala Silly Billy's ideas for the perfect kid's trick, thus allowing the kids to have superior knowledge and correct you.
That's a lot of fun once they get the idea. Each thing you find my "mistake" is then used in the show ("Oh, well, since this is a hankerchief and not a piece of rope, then let's do a hankerchief trick," etc.), till you finally find the thing you said you were looking for the whole time. Then, of course, end with a kicker production that is a surprise. How's that sound? Jim
Oh, my friend we're older but no wiser, for in our hearts the dreams are still the same...
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JSMagic Loyal user Boston 202 Posts |
Great idea James. I just may do that! Josh
If a magician is not intending to "trick" a spectator, why is every "trick" called a magic "trick"?
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Jewls Veteran user Michigan-USA 360 Posts |
In my library show the Square Circle is the Pretend Library. After showing it empty I visit several times for books on Balloon Twisting, juggling, magic, and joke books.
When my magic routine produces balloons from a raw egg I go to the library and get a balloon book and the kids just GASP everytime. I have had wonderful responses to this show from my audience and the Directors. For Christmas I tell the kids I got to thinking maybe Santa really gets the toys from the chimney not the magic bag, so I climbed on the roof and then I slipped and on my way down I grabbed on the chimney and it came right down with me. Lets take a look. I produce all of my Christmas gifts which are props for my show. Plays very well Also
Jewls
www.Jewlstheclown.com |
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Frank Tougas Inner circle Minneapolis, MN 1712 Posts |
I think Chance Wolf's ABC Gumball
Re-combobulator has breathed new life into this classic prop. I expect this will repopularize the old Square Circle among children's entertainers. Chance BTW is a regular member here at the Café and gives great advice on constructing quality props.
Frank Tougas The Twin Cities Most "Kid Experienced" Children's Performer :"Creating Positive Memories...One Smile at a Time"
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JamesinLA Inner circle Los Angeles 3400 Posts |
Jewls,
When you do the Santa's chimney bit, do you dress the Square Cirle as a chimney? Also, do you dress it as a library? Or is it left to the kid's potent imaginations. Jim
Oh, my friend we're older but no wiser, for in our hearts the dreams are still the same...
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Ron Reid Inner circle Phoenix, Arizona 2732 Posts |
Hi Josh:
I don't know if you subscribe to MAGIC magazine, but Jim Steinmeyer had an excellent routine for the SC in his column a few years ago. The routine had to do with a tree growing in the SC...details are sketchy to me, but I remember it was excellent, and VERY different from normal use of the SC. Maybe someone else can be of more help and tell you the month/year of MAGIC that it was in. You can even get back issues from MAGIC for the routine. Ron Reid |
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Jewls Veteran user Michigan-USA 360 Posts |
Jim,
My Square Circle has the shape and look of a chimney (including a stove pipe) or building to start with, so with the Library I have a sticky sign that says "Library" I stick on the front right in front of the kids after I show it is empty. With my Holiday show I produce 3 silks throughout the show between other props as a running gag when showing the tube empty, at the end I find a crystal magic wand (Blow Tube) tie the silks together and say I'll bet that is how Santa gets out of the chimney! As it looks like the old "tie the sheets together to sneek out the window". Hope this makes sense. Jewls
Jewls
www.Jewlstheclown.com |
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JamesinLA Inner circle Los Angeles 3400 Posts |
I like it. Nice idea about Santa and the "bedsheets" tied end to end to escape the chimney.
Jim
Oh, my friend we're older but no wiser, for in our hearts the dreams are still the same...
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Peter Marucci Inner circle 5389 Posts |
That's the sort of thing that I use in my Houdini version of the Square Circle:
"Houdini looked out the tower (tube) and saw that the rain was coming down in sheets. So he took two of the sheets,(pull two white silks out of the SC) tied them together, and climbed down." "But it was too short." "Just then a blanket of fog came up. So he took the blanket (take another silk, colored like a striped blanket, out of the SC), tied it to the sheets and climbed to the ground." And so it goes from there -- getting worse all the time! |
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Dynamike Eternal Order FullTimer 24148 Posts |
I used to pull all kinds of objects out of it. Now, I just pull out silks, a streamer and my chinchilla.
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Brian Lehr Inner circle Edmonton, Canada 1605 Posts |
For those of you who produce small animals from the SC, how do you keep them docile during the effect, especially if it's a running effect?
By using other production boxes, the animal is confined to closed quarters. With the SC, it seems that there's the chance he may try and climb out the top, or move around and tip the secret (pun intended). Brian |
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TrickyRicky Inner circle TrickyRicky 1653 Posts |
What about the break down vanishing box. I'm quite sure that there are lots of ideas on how to use the prop.
I use it to produce the rabbit. With a little adjustment to the cover the production can take place. I've worn out 3 of these boxes over the years. The perfect make for this production is Mak magic. Morissey magic in Toronto, Canada can get it for you. The pieces are stacked on top of my table with the rabbit in bag hanging down behind the table. Alot of fun and screaming from the kids as I try to put the box together. The pieces fall apart, even squeeze my fingers to the merriment of the children. I tie a fishing line to the main section, and as I walk away I pull on the line which disassemble the box. I tell the children that I received the box broken in pieces by mail. If you know the working of the cover, then the loading is done when the cover is placed on the box. A reverse process of vanishing the rabbit. If any one needs more information, please send an email. Richard Lyn "Tricky Ricky" |
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hokeypokey New user Chicago 71 Posts |
Based on suggestions from this forum, I am planning to make a Square Circle that looks like a jack-o-lantern for a children's halloween show.
In doing so, I'd like to have a logical reason for placing the cylinder inside. I am thinking about making the cylinder the candle that lights up the jack-o-lantern. This is easy enough to do just by painting the cylinder yellow. But that doesn't make for a very good candle. Ideally, I'd like to have a cylinder that lights up. Any ideas for how to do this? After I posted this, I began to wonder whether my idea to use a lighted cylinder would ruin the BA effect. Any thoughts? |
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NJJ Inner circle 6437 Posts |
If the lights pointed away from the BA they would help the effect.
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magicgeorge Inner circle Belfast 4299 Posts |
What about painting the cylinder flourescent yellow and using a black-light?
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hokeypokey New user Chicago 71 Posts |
That's a great idea, magicgeorge. Does anyone know where I can get a small, battery-powered blacklight?
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