Showdown At High Noon
"Hey Dave, show this guy
that you can shove a cigarette through a quarter."
"Hey Mike, can you show these guys that one
where you stick the card on the ceiling?"
"Hey guys, watch Frank change this one dollar
bill into a hundred. You CAN do it can't you,
Frank?" "OK everybody, hang on to your watches
and pocketbooks. This guy is good!"
How often have we been put
in a situation where two things like this
have happened? First, you are caught cold,
outside of a regular performing engagement
without the appropriate gimmick, and second,
even if you had the necessary something for
the effect, the denouement is blown. The guy
has already spoiled your ending by revealing
the climax. It then becomes a challenge to
figure out how you are going to accomplish
the effect. Perhaps your presentation is entertaining
enough to put everyone off guard again and
again, particularly those who are seeing it
for the first time, but the "friend" who wants
you to show it to his friends may be looking
for the secret and has heard your clever banter
several times before. He may also merely be
wanting his friends to know that he knows
a magician.
Several issues have been
raised here, specifically:
- are some tricks which become "reputation
makers" too strong,
- should you always be prepared to
perform that "special" effect,
- should we perform on demand like
a trained seal,
- is it possible to have alternate
methods for their favorite trick.
Basically, what do we say and what
do we do when we are placed in a no win situation?
First of all, I believe that
there are some effects that are so good that
they can give you a reputation as a magician
and become associated with you. Whenever that
person sees anyone else doing that trick which
they saw you performing, they refer to it
as "your" trick. For example, I have been
performing the rising cartoon card effect
known as Martin Lewis' "Cardiographic" since
it was first published. When some people who
had seen me first perform the effect then
saw David Copperfield do it on his TV special
in 1990, they said "Hey, he's doing Scott's
trick." Or when I do the torn and restored
newspaper, they may say "Hey, that guy's doing
Bill Palmer's trick (a local magician)." That's
just the nature of this business unless you
are so creative that you are doing something
that no one else is doing yet. This gets into
the realm of infringement and copyright problems
which is quite topical now and not within
the scope of this article.
There are some great effects
that can become reputation makers for you
that you should never have to worry about.
For instance, most any illusion (i.e. cutting
a woman in half, a levitation, or an impalement)
necessitates you having the proper equipment
before you can perform the feat...or does
it? You may be in someone's home when you
are handed a broomstick and asked if you can
suspend someone in the room.
Then there are the dove workers
who gain fame by making doves appear and disappear.
If this is exclusively the kind of magic you
perform, then you should be safe. More than
likely, you will never be asked to make the
pet canary disappear or to change it into
a rabbit.
As we move down in size from
the larger illusions, there are some great
effects like the torn and restored newspaper
mentioned earlier or even the ever flowing
Lota Bowl. But even here, you may be handed
a newspaper at a party and asked to tear it
up and put it back together again or jokingly
asked to refill their martini without going
to the bar. There are some smaller, close-up
effects that require some apparatus that make
for a good reputation. One such effect of
mine that comes to mind is the ring on stick
and/or ring off rope effects. These can be
performed if the friend asking you to do it
has a rope or wand/stick. I once performed
the effect using someone's shoelace they took
from their shoe and a wooden spoon from the
kitchen. How far must we go?
Then we come to the "impossible"
impromptu effects like the cigarette through
quarter. What can we do when we are asked
to perform something like this? With the larger
effects that require props or apparatus, we
can easily beg off saying that we don't have
the proper equipment. But what about the tricks
that apparently require no apparatus, no special
equipment, just a borrowed dollar or coin
and your renown skill as a magician? You're
faced with a no win situation. You have apparently
proven your prowess in a previous performance.
Now you are asked to do it again for real
in an impromptu situation thus securing your
fame for a bit longer and building the stature
of the one who asked you to do it among his
group of friends.
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If you can't
do it or anything else, then regardless
of any clever remark you make, you are
viewed as an amateur having no special
"powers" and the one who asked you to
display your talents still looks good
because he "called you down". It was
high noon and you lost the showdown.
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