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The fixed support of the Super X and the chair suspensions are in a class by themselves. What makes them interesting is that they use an object to facilitate the levitation. Going all the way back to the Indian rope trick, there is something attached to the floating person. We have all seen the flying yogi who has a cane or metal rod to hold on to sitting in a lotus position, usually asleep.
I mention these apparently lesser forms of the basic illusion to stress a point. When Michael Ammar does the floating bill, he talks about the silk threads. Repeating that the silk is a conductor and generator of static electricity he closes the door on a simple question. That is: What else can you float and what is the weight limit. This is important because the average mind asks these questions. Once they see that the bill can float, they want to know what else it can do. How much more weight can the invisible spider thread hold. It is a silly question and has every intention of ruining a great illusion. Just as the child watches a great coin vanish and says, “It’s in your other hand.” Any good coin worker will remove the vanished coin from his other elbow. The child’s mind then stops to absorb this. It is during that moment the coin worker shuts the door and stays ahead of the question. Magic always stays ahead of the question and answer.
With the floating bill, the magic is doled out slowly and deliberately. At the last moment as the crumpled bill is dangling from the performer’s finger, he takes the finger away, pulls it close to his nose, looks at it closely and says, “Must be static.” He doesn’t notice that the bill is floating with no visible means of support. This takes no more than five seconds, yet it will get the same squeals that floating out in the street will get. I would propose that the absurdity of the magician having overlooked the magic is what makes it strong. The fact that he doesn’t see it, covers the obvious conclusion that, “something is holding it up, I just can’t see it.” Giving the mind something else to do helps make the magic more believable.
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Loops – Finn Jon – Large – (Click the name of the product to visit the product page)
Watch a demonstration of the product here
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This is what everyone is talking about! The ultimate in thread and floating effects. With this thread you can float bills, bubbles and perform all normal floating effects. No set-up…No anchors…Nothing in the pocket…Always ready to go. Can be done instantly at any time and repeated over and over with no reset. Handcrafted and created by Finn Jon. You receive five loops for a lower price than before! Fabulous for close-up and walk around performers. Thousands have been sold. **Finn’s Loops have the warranty! Return the broken loops for FREE replacement…only at Stevens Magic Emporium. ** 4 pieces
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$12.50
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We have also seen that in the last twenty years there has been a glut of great mini-levitations. I remember as a kid doing the thing with the towel. First I show my feet and then I make one foot vanish. The other kids loved it but they always wanted me to make both feet go away. Well, somebody created a gimmick to do just that. We watched Copperfield float above the stage, up to thirty feet or more. Certainly we couldn’t miss David Blain float inches off the pavement. There can be no doubt that Blain got screams for his half a foot and the very expensive flying illusion, way up in the air really didn’t. Siegfried and Roy did much the same thing, Roy doing a slow motion tumble just off the edge of the stage. I watched the faces more than the trick and they really weren’t going as wild as the passersby on the sidewalk.
What was missing?
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Wild Levitation (Wild Magic)
Watch a demonstration of the product here
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This should sell for double the price! Simple & Easy! Astound your audience by levitating inches above the ground-Anytime-Anywhere! The performer holds his jacket in front of him. The audience can just see his feet showing at the bottom of the jacket. Suddenly, the audience is amazed to see his feet rise several inches into the air! No special shoes. A fraction of the cost of similar effects. You’ll have great fun with the Wild Levitation at home, in a restaurant, on the street-Anywhere.
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$42.50
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During a Jamie Swiss lecture I was impressed with his attention to the details. He talked about card locations and the problem with being too impossible. Up until that moment I really hadn’t thought about such an idea. Back in the eighties, I was working for Bill Malone at his first bar, Houdini’s Pub. This was a great venue for close-up magic. It also gave me the freedom to try new routines. One evening a group of magicians came in from Miami . They had come to see Bill. Try to fill those shoes. I was working on a new idea-new to me. I had a dollar bill signed by someone not in the group (go figure) and had the serial number noted. Then I burned the bill in an ashtray. When it was totally consumed, I pointed to the whirling ceiling fan above. I turned it off and there it was! The dollar was stuck to the blade of the fan. The signature was there and the serial number matched. And nothing. These guys gave me absolutely nothing. I might as well have vanished a coin and pointed to the empty hand. It wasn’t until I heard Jamie Swiss talk about the principal that I understood this subtlety. When he does the Kiss of the Big Apple, he points to the brass apple and says, “Remember the apple?” This sets the audience up for the possibility that the folded card might be in there. Also that he might somehow have gotten it in there, they just didn’t see it. He feels, and I believe, that the less mind-blowing effect is better than the totally unbelievable one.
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