talkmagic.co.uk

The avert from magicbox.uk.com:

Pip, Squeak, and Wilfred
This is great, unique effect. Imaging walking up to a table and asking, "excuse me, is this the table for frogs legs?!" You then offer to play a game of "Three Frog Monte", using three frogs, one that squeaks and two that does not squeak. No matter how hard they try the spectator can never following the squeaking frog! At the end of the routine, with a little help, the spectator finds the squeaking frog and wins the big prize! This is a great routine with logs of gags.

END OF ADVERT

This is exactly that!
The frogs are nicely coloured, well made, an easy gimmick to use and such a suprise when you pull these out of your close up case!

This effect is priced at £14.99 and it is worth every single penny, just to know that you have a unique routine.

Value for money, 10/10
Performability 10/10
Comedy factor 10/10

In a nutshell, it isnt really that magical, but its god dammed funny! in fact, a reputation maker!

Hi

You obviously like this but "reputation maker" No I dont think so.

How can three frogs and a squeeker give a magician a reputation? unless it is as one who do c**p tricks.

Lenart Green Lazer vanish is an example of a reputation maker.

Dont get caught up in the advertising blurb.

This is a funny little filler effect and should be reviewed as such.


Paula

I Totally disagree with you Paula.

I don’t see why this trick isn’t a reputation maker as well as a filler effect. Ok if you are a mentalist and displayed this trick in your routine, then maybe not.

Again everyone has the right to their opinion, but the way you came across is that your view is for all Magicians out their. As a close up magician if this gets people going, why shouldn’t I use it. If it gets the people going and people talk about it, does this mean im not a good magician?

Paulajayne wrote:This is a funny little filler effect and should be reviewed as such

As a comedy magician specifically, i would class this as a reputation maker, and, no, it is not just 3 plastic frogs and a squeaker, there is more to it than that.

I dont know what style you perform, you may do sophisticated magic, where there is no room for comedy, but i chose to be a comedy magician, and its little things like "pip, squeak and wilfred that have got me to where i am now.

I am well known in yorkshire for my style of magic, and only 15 as well.

No offence Puala, but just because you dont think this is that good, doesnt mean others dont.

Guys /Gals

I was not having a go at you.

What I was saying is that a simple comedy filler routine, it is and never will be a reputation maker.


Review the trick for what it is.
It is a nice filler routine.

I do comedy effects on stage and close up and whilst tricks like this are fun for the audience and even the magician, they are "packet tricks".

Paula

would you say that the haunted key is a filler and not a reputation maker then.
every party i go to they ask me to show it to them and its only a cheep trick.

or our marks equal / unequal wands equaly basic but rapidly catching up with my key for requests, it dosn't mater what the trick is if it gets you bookings and requests then its a reputattion maker just look at uri and his spoons and blain and his dbl lft.
please don't decry a simple trick as a no hoper till you have tried it yourself in the battle field so to speek.

Hi

I am not saying that the trick is bad.

My point is that this was reviewed as a "Reputation maker" -

Reputation makers are not Dbl lifts - they are :-

DCs Statue of liberty or buzz saw.
Mickey Silvers SUV.
Cardini for his billard ball.
Kapps for coin work.


This is a cheap packet trick and whilst fun and entertaining is and never will be a "Reputation Maker"


Paula

It may not be what you class as a reputation maker, but it is making a reputation for me.

Whats more important? spending thousands on big fancy stage illusions that look fancy, or having things that dont cost much that are well recieved and when people book you say "hey, your the guy that does the trick with the frogs!"

It may be low on magical content, but that doesnt matter if the audience enjoy it.

If i seem angry today its because on sundays i start work at 5am on sundays, so i get ratty

Let's see, what is a reputation maker? Something, anything, that makes for you a reputation. Now, maybe the statue of liberty vanish made a reputation for Copperfield, but I don't have $100,000.00 to sink into my reputation, so I'll give that one a pass.

However, in several circles, I am known for my three card monte. Just your basic one, no trick cards and no fancy sleights (like changing the crimp in the money card), just a straight forward presentation where I let everyone choose, not just one person. Oftentimes, 5 people will point to the wrong two cards...Not bad, eh?

So, a cheap packet trick (even cheaper than the frog trick reviewed above) is a reputation maker for me. In fact, I've been doing this trick since grade school, so, close to 30 years. I've gotten pretty good with my technique and patter and presentation. I give a history of the trick, what it's called when done differently (chase the ace, find the lady, etc.), the fact that it is called "bonneteau" in France because the bent up cards resemble bonnets and plenty of other information, including the fact that if you ever see it being done on a street corner you should NEVER attempt to play it, even when you know how it's done. I even teach them how to do it in the course of my presentation but they still don't catch me, which proves my point. I then do it in SLOW motion and still fool them.

In other circles, I am known for my Crazy Man's Handcuffs. I will attend a party where someone that I know happens to be also. They will come over with a group of 3 - 8 people and say, "This is the guy I told you about...Do that thing with the rubber bands!" In this case, my reputation was made with CMH. At the cost of two rubber bands, I would have to say that this is probably the cheapest trick in the world (or at least in the top 5).

The simple fact of the matter is, if you need a specific trick to make your reputation, then you are seriously lacking as a magician. It's not the trick that makes your reputation, it is how you present the trick and your skill with it that makes your reputation.

To say a "cheap trick" is NOT a reputation maker is a very misguided statement.

Mike.

Paulajayne wrote:Hi

You obviously like this but "reputation maker" No I dont think so.

How can three frogs and a squeeker give a magician a reputation? unless it is as one who do c**p tricks.

Lenart Green Lazer vanish is an example of a reputation maker.

Dont get caught up in the advertising blurb.

This is a funny little filler effect and should be reviewed as such.


Paula

I suppose if you want to be known as the bloke who pokes frogs, then this is a reputation maker.

At the same time, i have no doubt that this could be very entertaining and memorable to lay audiences.
On the other hand Lenart, for all his consumate skill is, as far as those not in the know are concerned , just making a card vanish.

I would imagine that this effect may have a hidden advantage. If you are known as the guy who abuses amphibians for fun and profit, you have the perfect excuse for not doing something when you dont want to.....................

" I would love to show you a trick, but my assistants are busy humping in a puddle "

Squeak, squeak squeeeeeeeak!!

why do the words Hard Core Spawn keep popping into my head?

You obviously like this but "reputation maker" No I dont think so.

This brings an interesting point as to what is a reputation maker and when we should use the term.
My initial reaction was very much that of PaulaJayne. In that how could this effect possible be classed as a RM?

However, after thinking about this for a while, I changed my mind. I have a lot of respect for Boywonder both as a person and as a magician, and frankly if he says it is for him a reputation maker then I have no option but to believe him. Yes it sounds like it could be a trivial little effect that on the surface on the surface is nothing special, but if during bookings people are asking him if he is the person that does the one with the frogs… then frankly he has every right to claim it as such and we should all take heed of that, because it would seem that this effect for him has become exactly what he says it has. It has become a reputation maker.

This of course doesn’t mean that it will be a reputation maker for everyone, although Boywonder is very open about the type of comedy magic, So that if any of us recognise that we have similar styles then we really must sit up and take note.

I do agree with PaulaJ that the term RM is over used in advertising and in adverts we should take little notice of it, but in a review from someone we know and trust? I think this tells us with utmost clarity how powerful an effect this is for Boywonder, and it has certainly made me look at it again…

Perhaps at some point this topic should be split on what is a reputation maker, and when it should be used…

bananafish wrote:

You obviously like this but "reputation maker" No I dont think so.

This brings an interesting point as to what is a reputation maker and when we should use the term.
My initial reaction was very much that of PaulaJayne. In that how could this effect possible be classed as a RM?

However, after thinking about this for a while, I changed my mind. I have a lot of respect for Boywonder both as a person and as a magician, and frankly if he says it is for him a reputation maker then I have no option but to believe him. Yes it sounds like it could be a trivial little effect that on the surface is nothing special, but if during bookings people are asking him if he is the person that does the one with the frogs… then frankly he has every right to claim it as such and we should all take heed of that, because it would seem that this effect for him has become exactly what he says it has. It has become a reputation maker.

This of course doesn’t mean that it will be a reputation maker for everyone, although Boywonder is very open about the type of comedy magic, So that if any of us recognise that we have similar styles then we really must sit up and take note.

I do agree with PaulaJ that the term RM is over used in advertising and in adverts we should take little notice of it, but in a review from someone we know and trust? I think this tells us with utmost clarity how powerful an effect this is for Boywonder, and it has certainly made me look at it again…

Perhaps at some point this topic should be split on what is a reputation maker, and when it should be used…

Finally someone who understood my point.

Do athletes give 110% - No -but is used so often.
Astonishing effect - No - look up astonish OED
Bewildering – No Look up bewildering – OED
Ultimate - No again OED.

OED = Oxford Engilish Dictionary


My point was “Reputation maker” is advertising BLURB and infers that you will be very well know as a good magician because you have purchased and perform this effect.

I get asked to “Do the sponge balls in the hand” often, but my reputation is based about being able to entertain, whether magic or comedy and is not based on one small trick.

I may be wrong but having ones reputation as an entertainer based on Pip Squeek and Wilfred is not the way to go.

Mind you each to his own.

I will await the time when these magicians have a TV series and are introduced as the Pip Squeek and Wilfred Magician.

Though somehow I do not envisage that happening.


Paula

Well, I was with you all the way up to:

I will await the time when these magicians have a TV series and are introduced as the Pip Squeek and Wilfred Magician.

It was then that my disagreement reared its ugly head, once again.

I fully concede that any advertising that claims its product to be a "reputation maker" is simply bullstuff. Reputations are made by the magician and not by the trick, which I believe that I've stated unequivocally in my post above. However, to believe that a TV series is the measure of anyone's reputation is simply wrong.

Also, to address the fact that you were stating the advertising itself is what your original point was in the first post that you made, then I have to say that your writing is muddled and easily misunderstood to begin with. I would not take such an extreme position except the fact that you were so eloquent in pointing out:

Do athletes give 110% - No -but is used so often.
Astonishing effect - No - look up astonish OED
Bewildering – No Look up bewildering – OED
Ultimate - No again OED.

Your original post stated, specifically: "How can three frogs and a squeeker give a magician a reputation? unless it is as one who do c**p tricks." Now you claim that your original intent was, as Banafish put it,

...the term RM is over used in advertising and in adverts we should take little notice of it, but in a review from someone we know and trust? I think this tells us with utmost clarity how powerful an effect this is for Boywonder, and it has certainly made me look at it again…

Sorry, but I'm a bit skeptical over your claim, "Finally someone who understood my point."

What you term "C**p tricks" is strictly your opinion of what c**p is and has nothing to do with another magician's presentation of something that you don't like or cannot perform, for whatever reason. I say it over and over and it is a simple fact...There are no bad tricks, only bad magicians. If somebody can take a trick that you call c**p and make a reputation based on it, it only means that it is a c**p trick in YOUR hands or YOUR opinion.

Mike.