talkmagic.co.uk

This is a really nice adaptation of Theodore Annemann's original 1931 effect that can be dowloaded from www.trickshop.com for $4.95 (£2.92 in today's exchange rate). It is like a 'key-rect' effect but can be performed with a padlock and keys purchased from any hardware store.

Effect:

The magician shows a padlock and seven keys. One key opens the padlock and the remaining six keys do not. The spectator tries all six keys in the lock to prove that they do not work. These keys are dumped into a paper bag. The working key has a piece of ribbon on it and is tested by the spectator to prove that it opens the lock. The lock is locked, the ribbon is removed and the key is added to the six keys in the bag. The bag is shaken (not stirred), and six spectators freely choose any of the keys from the bag, while the magician (or any other spectator chosen by the magician) ends up with the correct key.

What they say:

start clean, end clean, no gimmicks, can be repeated.

What I say:

they are right!

The method is straightforward, the handling is easy (sleight difficulty=1) and the supplies are easy to obtain (about £10). Everything can be inspected before and after the effect. Lock, bag, and a bunch of keys. Great Magic! Great Value!

Overall rating 10/10

A lovely little review for what seems to be a lovely effect that you can make as big or small as you like.

I've got to ask, though; does it really achieve the same effect as Wonder Lock or Pandora's Lock, which both cost £40?

It depends on whether you want to spend £40 for a gimmicked effect or use hardware store stuff that is purely normal. You can have the spectators choose any one of the keys in the bag and exchange them before the final effect is performed, so it seems very similar indeed. I love tricks with ordinary objects as audiences are very sceptical of apparatus.

I agree, this is a tidy "purest' effect."

That is to say an effect not needing anything "special" apart for the knowledge of the handling.

That handling is pretty easy and there is good rationale for all/any moves. You begin and end clean because you are.

Having had a "Wonder Lock" and "Luvrs Lock" I can hand on heart say I prefer this effect as with any lock effect a great deal of suspicion natually be place upon the one tangible "antagonist"...the lock itself and if you are performing "magic"...what spectator wouldn't have a tiny itch in ther mind saying "...trick lock I bet."?

Soon after I read DrTodd's reply I bought the download from trickshop.com and it's amazing. At 10% of the price of a gimmicked padlock, you'd be foolish not to consider this.

Thanks DrTodd for drawing my attention to this. Marvellous stuff.

I am glad you and Tom (see above) like this...

I've recently purchased this... lucky I'm on the mailing list, I'm glad I didn't miss this...

What a great idea, and to think how old it is. The PDF is great for the fact it contains the original, then the re-working. All you need is your own mentalists imagination and great performance, and you have a real gem.

I'll hopefully give this a go for my first stage competition, for my local magic circle along with some other mentalism in April. You can put such a modern spin on this, the cogs are ticking already!!!

I've bought some useful PDF's from trickshop over the time, and they never fail to amaze me.

For £3 (all but 8 pennies) how can you go wrong?

10/10
Mark

It is nice to see Tirck Shop using our thread!

Just a quick one, can this be done with less than 7 keys?

Lenoir wrote:Just a quick one, can this be done with less than 7 keys?

There are various methods of doing this effect and, as far as I know, you could do any of them with fewer than seven keys (though with some methods having lots of keys helps disguise what's going on). However, the reason it's called 'Seven Keys to Baldplate' is that it's named after the murder/thriller/mystery play that was popular at the time. The play was later made into a film (twice, I think), and was based on a novel. The novel is now in the public domain - you can download it for free if you fancy:
http://manybooks.net/titles/biggerse3083630836-8.html

I mention this because using the story of the novel/play/film - possibly showing a picture of the novel's nicely old-fashioned and slightly creepy cover - might be a nice presentational wrapper. Clearly, this is merely giving it the presentational hook that Annemann had in mind in the first place, but it's pretty much forgotten now and too often it's just, "Here's a lock. I'm going to find the right key. Tara!" which, I feel, isn't brimming with flair and intrigue.