talkmagic.co.uk

Hay

A friend wants my help he is working a venue, where his character will be a sort of dark jester

he saw the old retractible sword swallowing sword and wants ideas like that to use

so maybe not magic but more circus stunts that could be faked (if this all makes sense?)

but if theres any magic he said perhaps sucker sort of effects that would still suit

i had thought a needle thou tongue (he said perhaps too dark, performing for familys)

but those sort of ideas would be great thanks guys so much

sam

Blockhead? glass/fire walking?

Sylas

Dante

Something with a 'K' in. That normally adds a sinister twang to a name! A spikiness.

Please forgive me. For some strange reason I thought you were looking for a name for this character!!

Juggling with some skulls and flash paper thrown in occasionally?

What sort of venue is he performing at? How much time does he have? Glass eating can be faked, there's a version in 'Geek Magic with Tomas Medina.' Fire eating is pretty easy to learn. Can he juggle? If so he could juggle some breakaway bottles, smash them over his head and eat some of the shards.

It's a controversial one but a smash and stab / cups and balls type effect could work. He can avoid moral / legal problems by not using the spectators hand.

The problem with those trick swords (if they're the same as the ones I got)


Is that they don't look at all real, break really easily and can at certain points randomly curl up, revealing the method. If he does get 'Geek magic' DVD it also includes balloon swallowing, which for some reason spectators find more believable. I remember watching 'The b***** son of Tommy Cooper' (later 'The Wasp Boy' in the circus of horrors) perform genuine sword swallowing and he spent most of his time proving that the blades were real. Whereas I never have to prove that balloon swallowing isn't a trick because people don't see how it can be.

1. Swallowing Needles OR perhaps better Razor Blades--as kids cannot get hold of the old fashioned flat blades.
2. Flames On The Finger Tips. or on Hands
3. Floating Skull a la Zombie or the Floating Ball.
4. Egg Bag with Witch's small Hat
5. D'Lites should be able to be fitted in somewhere.
6. Fake Levitation with Assistant. NOT the old Scout idea with 2 broomsticks--Just a sheet and your assistant. SEE Ken Brooke & Friends pages 255 to 256. Under Compere
Gags. BUT NOT EXPOSE IT AS they suggest. I did it as The Conjuror in Shakespeare's ' Comedy Of Errors' and in my production of The Sorcerer (G & S). Never exposed
and it looks good in The Sorcerer photo I have Also I staged a Floating very large Teapot (left over from my childhood Birthday Parties!!)
7. The Dancing Cane done with Jester's Folly Stick--make it a bit larger than the normal stick.
8. Firebowl to Flowers combined with Fan of Flames.
9. Electric Chair or Hot Seat.
10 Look in catalogues like Argos/Hawkin Bazaar--for the BOX of Gross Magic. Things with eyeballs etc.

There was a cute little American book called ''Horror Magic' Published--I THINK by Magic Inc. Chicago. My copy has long gone. Things in there like a metal bowl set on fire(not much) as you lean over it your face turns green!!

ALSO There is quite a lot of Halloween Magic being advertised at present. Mr. E Enterprises, The Merchant Of Magic, Merlin's of Wakefield. Lots could be adapted.
AND get him to look in ASDA in particular--Here they always have a great stock of Halloween stuff. Sainsbury's too.

Allen Tipton

If you have an account with Lybrary.com you can access the old TLP stash of electronic publications. Amongst these are those from the late Gene Poinc - all dark stuff and eminently suited for Halloween or just plain scary presentations.

You need to take at look at the back catalogue of Sean Fields.

With items such as 'SAW' and other gruesome effects he surely must be worth taking a look at!

I remember performing a decapitation to wonderous effect. I would use the age old rope through body effect but tied around the neck and utilising wire in the place of rope.

Well, depending on the venue and presentation some card stuff is possible too! After all, there is a joker in there Not too mention pk or th***d effects!

There is the old effect--Poison/Acid. 4 glasses --one contains poison/acid--usually coloured water.
All covered.Mixed up. One by one they are eliminated with the spectator or magician drinking from the eliminated ones. Sometimes bottles are used.
Finally the one that is left is the poison/acid.

Much safer than that awful Spike or broken Bottle under covers. Even one of America's top mentalists, in London with his one man show, messed this up and the audience was 'treated' to the sight of his blood oozing from beneath the crushed cover.

Finally there is Chris Henderson's 'Russian Roulette Firing Death Squad of Death.'
Done with plastic toy guns which fire plastic darts. Spectators fire their chosen gun, having mixed them up, at the magician. Only the gun left will actually fire the dart!
This is fired at a photo, mounted on a board, of a not liked etc. celebrity which the magician holds in front of his body

Allen Tipton

Allen Tipton wrote:There is the old effect--Poison/Acid. 4 glasses --one contains poison/acid--usually coloured water.
All covered.Mixed up. One by one they are eliminated with the spectator or magician drinking from the eliminated ones. Sometimes bottles are used.
Finally the one that is left is the poison/acid.

Black Hart does a nice version of this where you use the same coloured water (or wine or whatever) and the glasses are placed on coasters with the words live or die on them, I believe it's called 'A drink with death'.

So there Sammy.
You have enough ideas to both fill a book and provide material for a dozen dark Jesters.

Allen Tipton

guys THANK YOU so very much i think yes i could write a novel now hehe! i hope these will be of use to him. i do like the idea of juggling smashing over head then eating bottles but in time his position will be filled by another and it not certain they will be able to juggle.

but really like the water/acid test. again thanks and hope your all very well

sammy