Curtis, I'm glad you said that the stories would have to be significantly distilled...I think I'd rather use no motivation than loooooonnnnnnggggg drawn out stories like that.

How is this for a clean cut premise...

Here is my earning hand.. picks up coins...
and here is my spending hand.

How I get money from one to the other is a trick my wife would also like to know.

Female/Male would lead beautifully for Gadabout coins....

I love the idea of Male/Female coins - lots of things even cars/boats etc are thought of as He or She... in the book men are from mars women from venus much time is spent showing the differences between males/females - but I can show you the real difference using just these three coins

Let me show you what I mean - here I have 2 male coins and one female coin - each time I spend a penny (pause) the male coins always need to come back, reproduce so to speak (pause) indeed women always seem to think male money grows on trees (pause) - done twice.

Now for the female coin - what can I say (beat) this works on a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PRINCIPLE... well what did you expect ? (beat) faster than the blink of an eye all the money (male and female) jumps straight into a females pocket...

And the moral of the story... as far as the poor coins are concerned - they start out life as male or female but inevitably end their life most definately female... So I think of my money not as He/She, Female/Male but her money (beat) - Now there's true reproduction the one female coin just became three... (beat) and now I've got to search for two more male coins... look at the male and ask if he has any...

Curtis, have you seen Bob Read perform? I've only read his article in Genii.


Makes me wish I could find out where he's performing some time and watch, he seems like he would be soo entertaining.



I loved the coins through the table idea his gave in Genii. the visual gag makes so much sense and would get lots of laughs.

Nice ideas in this thread. I like the boy/girl or borrowed by another magician ideas They'll probably find their way into my routines...

Another answer to 'Why did the coin go across?' Well you see, I wanted to vanish the coin, but it didn't want to be vanished. Let your imagination go wild why it didn't want to be vanished. E.g. you see - it's impossible to VANISH a coin as it's impossible to destroy matter. Either I have to kill the coin by finding a suitable anti-matter coin of the same denomination (which I didn't? or it didn't want to die?) or I have to teleport it to another place. Now last time I vanished it I accidentally teleported it to a smelly swamp in the amazonean jungle and the coin really didn't want to go there again so it ran away... etc ;-)

I've seen Bob work many times. In fact, at a New York Magic Symposium held in San Francisco in the early eighties I worked with Bob. I re-loaded him for his bottle production on a show, so that he could do an immediate repeat for the magicians, completely frying them! Bob's work is fabulous, his timing is impeccable, and of course, his accent lends a certain charm that us "colonials" just can't seem to resist...

Years of "pub work" has helped, of course, but Bob is a natural anyway. He's a funny guy, has good taste, and you can tell that he genuinely enjoys performing and being with people. If you have the chance be sure to see him!

Best, PSC

Why can't the coins go across as a demonstration of sleight of hand?

The motivation...

Because you're a magician. A sleight of hand artist. You are doing what they expect you to do. Performing magic. Doing what seems impossible, right in front of them. Can this be entertaining? You bet.

That would amount to an open demonstration of you being clever and doing invisible juggling, which is different than magic.

"Why can't the coins go across as a demonstration of sleight of hand?"

To enhance and make it more memorable/entertaining it can also be used to take the heat off elements of the trick - you could say for example

Magicians just like Olympians train and practise to be the best. Some Magicians take this so seriously they don't stop until they can move faster than the blink of an eye... Take this for example - anyone can toss a coin from one hand to the other (do so) but hey - who does that impress... I have practised this so hard I can toss the coin across faster than you can blink... see if you can spot it going across but whatever you do DON'T BLINK... I'll count down from 1 to 3.... did you see it... okay I'll do it slower this time... try squinting this time it might help to see it fly across... On 3 I move one hand like a slight flick and turn up/open the receiving hand with the coin(s)...

It makes it more fun for the spec... as you have now made them part of the trick rather than you just having some fun... ? In tis example you have also given them a plausable method...

I can invisible juggle 7 balls all at the same time.

Some magicians are so afraid of being called "clever".
A magician once said to me "You remember what Vernon said about being clever" I replied "No I don't, but I'll bet it was clever..."

What it boils down to is that if they like you as a person, they'll like you as a magician. Yes, I have seen the common magician performing the look what I can do and you can't type of presentation. That should definitely be avoided. That is not what I am talking about. Magic and sleight of hand can be presented in a non-threatening entertaining style.

I can make the coins go across because I am a magician, and they love me for that.

Except now Jon hates me.

I'm sure you know best

nevermind, I don't think he knows how to kill people with lightning bolts... YET

At one time, the coins went across cause they saw people do stuff like that on TV. They watched too much TV. One thought it was Houdini and could escape. Another thought it could dematerialize. Another got ideas from I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched and did something with its nose... and the last one became a Trekker and watched Star Trek Episodes, apparently dreaming of being captain kirk, but more likely one of those guys in the red shirts that they lose at the start of episodes... I'll need a volunteer for this.

I'm at work, and left the lightning wand at home today. I wonder if the new TCP/IP remote spellcaster is working?

Don't put on the red shirt.

Keep telling myself...

don't put on the shirt.


LOL.

The question might be why did the coins go

Star of David or....

.....

perhaps I should have put this in the Gospel section or

Now that's Funny.

Humor and coin magic. Yes they can go well.

Be safe, creative and funny!


Harris

Maybe, you need a presention the kids will like. Like your left hand is your girls and your right hand is a rival lady 'handler'. Then as a kicker the 3 coins appear back in your left hand and a big bullet hole appears through your right hand.



;)
Lee

Don't for a second think that. Michael Skinner knew exactly what the reason was for every trick he did. And in most cases the reason was to share his love of magic with the guests who had come to Lilly Langtree's to have a good meal and a good time.

And to that end he did all manner of magic including silly little "rub a dub dub" patter with plastic cups and balls. And it worked for him because his love of magic was genuine and people felt it.

Every thing you do should have a reason even if you don't TELL them what it is. Motiviated magic is simply better than the "let me show you cool stuff that you won't be able to figure out" school of magic.

You don't have to motivate why the coins go across (for example) but you do have to motiviate WHY you are bothering to show them and WHY they should care.

In a booklet I once read the author stated that all magic should have a reason even if it's only "because it's cool to look at" provided that it really is cool to look at and provided that that's not the ONLY presentational scheme you use.

Jon is asking about possible themes OTHER THAN because it's cool to look at. A fine topic.

Here is one possible answer:
Greed

Now, the question is what does that mean to you and to your audience?

Greed? Hmmm, for Matrix, maybe a king stealing coins from three Jacks?

Not from me Larry. I hate coin assemblies. Talk about "look what I can do" tricks.

Think "why should they care?"

Bill,

Funny you should mention because I'm not a fan of Matrix as I've posted many times in other threads. And I've seens tons of versions.

The coins across effect I perform that gets the best reaction for me (besides coins to glass) is four coins across to spectator's hand, and the interesting thing is that I take an expository approach with that effect, unlike the approach I take with almost every other effect I perform. It's pretty much a "look what I can do" approach, which again, I generally despise, but I can only tell you that it absolutely kills. Why do spectators care for this particular effect? I'm not sure. Maybe it's because it appears to be impossible given how slowly and openly I perform it and given that the spectator's hand is involved. Maybe it's because I care about the effect and that feeling is contagious. Any thoughts?

Larry D.

Maybe, you could go along the lines of a pickpocket demostration. You bring out a coin purse and dump out its contents, 3 silver coins. You place them back in the purse and then place the purse under a spectator's hand. Using your pickpocket skills you remove the 3 coins from the bag and the spectator confirms that the coins are gone. You offer to show how you practice pickpocketing. The 3 coins go in the left hand and the purse is given to the spectator to keep because he/she was such a good help. You then cause the first coin, followed by the second coin to jump into your right hand. You then place the 2 coins in a spectator's hand and offer to do the ultimate test of pickpocketing skill; sneak a coin into the spectators hand without him/her knowing it. You then proceed to do that and as a kicker you sneak the coins back into the purse in the spectators pocket. I believe Kurtz had something smilar to this presention .


Thanks,
Lee