Reading Al's explanation in his book Al Schneider on Zombie, you understand why his routine looks like the ball is floating/not attache to anything.

On his L&L dvd you can see it and it's my favorite version. I can't get it to look as good as Al, but it's fun to strive for that.

Anyone use his version in their show?

If you search the Café's past threads you'll see that I've studied and performed the floating ball incorporating Al's techniques and training for years.

It seems the eBook is no longer available from his site, what a shame.

I also highly recommend Jeb Sherill's two DVD Set, Zombie Reanimated, an encyclopedic compendium for the floating ball.
Magically, Walt

Thanks for the kind words, Walt. I too am a huge fan of Al's book. He was perhaps the first one to really set down in print the idea of isolating the performer from the ball. It's the kind of concept that seems rather obvious, but so few actually understand it and are able to apply it.

Jeb

Many years ago, I remember seeing Al perform his Zombie routine close up at a magician's convention. I remember he had a card table and stood behind it...but people came right up to the card table so they were three feet away. It was just amazing how the ball looked like it was floating.

I bought his gold book at that convention. Unfortunately, I lent it to a friend and never got it back. The biggest thing I got from the book was his idea that the performer and the ball should never be moving together at the same time.

Ron

Ron,

The book could probably have said that, and nothing else, and still been one of the best works ever on Zombie.


Jeb

I like the section with Al on world's greatest magic. My favorite move is where he appears to throw the cloth over the ball. He has some good exercises for practice.

Ron, same here. I never thought of it until Al said and it really hit home with me.

I love learning from books. But if you want to laugh hard and be amazed, get the Al Schneider DVDS or the Worlds Greatest Magic, Zombie DVD and see him do it for the L&L audience.

For an educated guy that claims he isn't funny, he just wrong. Al Schneider is VERY funny on his DVDS.

Well for good performance of Zombie you need a good pantomime.
This was something that I keep in practice for 2 years, to make a routine as good as possible!
The main thing in Zombie routines that the Ball is the main character of the Act and he has his own soul...

Amen, Mentalist!

BTW, the Al Schneider DVD is not nearly as good a performance/teach-in as the instructions in his book.

Walt

Walt,

Agreed. The book is much better, oddly enough.

Jeb

I haven't had a chance to read Al's book, as I don't intend to perform the routine myself. However, out of curiosity I watched the "Zombie Ball" DVD a few weeks ago at my uncle's magic club. I really liked the teaching session by Jeff McBride. He does a good job taking us a bit deeper into the routine with an in-depth tutorial of the Zombie. The impression I got was that it can look fantastic if performed correctly.

So is this book available for a reasonable price anywhere? Amazon has one collector copy for $65. Would love love love to get my hands on this, even the e-book would suffice. Any help?

Maybe PM him? He's a member here!

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/pm_ne......651#menu

Doug

Poindexta: if you take another look on Amazon you should be able to find it new for $20.
I just used the search phrase:
schneider zombie
without quotes and it comes up. Hope that helps.

Yea ago I found the book, I heard it was at the local costume, magic and novelty store handled the sale of his book. It took me some searching, but there are or were 2 magic stores in the Minn. area. So I called both. Finally found the right store and ordered the book.

It is really puzzling why I had to search and find the store, as there were never any advertising by Schneider or the store. Don't know if there are any left, but being they never advertise, they may still have a supply of them. It only cost $25 and postage for this hard bound book. It is a book mostly because of all the theory Schneider talks about in the book, the actual routine only is a few pagers long.

Oh, I used the early Internet (circa 2002), and a device that use to be called a telephone, where you actually talk to human beings on the other end of the line. Yes, the telephone was connected with wires.

It was a real adventure playing Sherlock Holmes.

The performance sequence section in one of his current incarnation of Al’s Zombie book is a step-by-step, photo illustrated instructional. It is chapter 5 and runs 31 pages.

Chapter 2 of the book covers the props Al takes a different direction with the Zombie prop and explains his thinking and how to make the modifications clearly). This chapter touches on the cloth (again Al has a different approach to cloth selection), clothing, manipulation of the wire (making it fit you), lighting, and holding the cloth. All that in 9 pages.

Chapter 3 is his theory of floatation. This is the chapter of theory that changed Tommy Wonder’s life (Tommy’s words) and ultimately influenced Losander. All compressed in about 3 pages.

Chapter 4 includes his drills of movement based on his theories (4 pages).

He summarizes it up and gives his patter in a couple of pages at the end in Chapter 6.

I am describing the PDF book he used to sell several years ago via his website. I haven’t seen the Amazon book. It seems to be an expanded version. The PDF book is 66 pages and the Amazon book is 154 pages long. Perhaps it is just formatted differently (larger type and photos); perhaps he expanded on each section. $20.00 is not a lot of money for a superior routine.

As I remember there were 2 hard cover books, one with a white bound cover with gold lettering, and the one I have is gold bound cover with white or black lettering. It is stored in a footlocker, can't easily pull it out.

The best move in the whole routine is the flip covering of the ball while it is suspended in the air. It looks really great when done properly. It does take a lot of work to get it right.

The actual secret of the Floating Ball is the performer, he has to "really believe" the ball is floating, then act accordingly. If the performer does not believe, then no one else will either.

I got my copy of the gold-covered Al Schneider on Zombie from Brad Burt in San Diego ca. 1982.

I had just purchased my Ickle-Pickle Zombie from him (which I'm still using, by the way), and I remember he tossed the book on the counter and said "You'll really be wanting to get this, too".

I never really used it as far as routining, but the isolation exercises alone had a HUGE influence on the way I performed the effect, and I still use those techniques to this day.

I read my copy of Zombie, and I found nothing new to me in that book. The isolation moves can all be seen in McBrides stage video and the rest of it was how we taught zombie moves to students 35 years ago. It is, however one of the few books out there that chronicle the moves. The "floatation" theory was common knowledge long before Schneider came along. It is nice to name it and chronicle it the way he did. This is a good book, but no revelations here for the seasoned zombie performer. Like you say, seems obvious butfew understand it.

My favorite zombie man Niel Foster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOSkcjrOE7I&feature=related