talkmagic.co.uk

I'm working on an act for a competition that's happening very soon indeed, and I've volunteered to perform it at my school to raise money for a children's charity, this coming Tuesday (Good practise too!)

One of my tricks is an adaptation on Bill in Lemon that I found in an old Supreme Magic booklet. And it invloves using a borrowed £5 note. (well, it's $1 in the book but obviously I've changed it)

Now, my question...

How do you make sure that someone in the audience has a £5 note, I know it's likely that atleast one person has one on them, but there's no way of being sure that the people who actually have a fiver on them, will volunteer.

How do you get round this? Should I get one of my mates to be a standby with a £5 just in case?

Cheers,

Nat

You could, but you could also offer one of your own instead to prevent any accusations of it all being rigged. If you have the serial number noted and/or the note signed (if the version you're performing allows you to do that), it shouldn't be a problem .

Certainly the simplest solution. Make sure someone you know will be in the audience has a fiver and only borrow that particular one if no other is forthcoming. Like you say, it's unlikely you'll need it but it's certainly sensible not to take that for granted and have your backside covered, just in case!

You could do a bank nite routine with a fiver, or something else with a fiver as a prize if you're wrong, after this trick, the fiver is already on stage.

Other than that, one of the teachers will have a fiver.

Could you use something else other than a bank note?

before you go on stage do some betchas for the teachers for say a fiver.

Brilliant, Thanks guys!

I'm not intirely sure there will be many teachers there to be honest, also I need to think ahead for the competiton, the only older people there will probably be a judge or a tech crew member! (in the finals there will be more adults though)

S. Lea wrote:Could you use something else other than a bank note?

Has to be a bank note I'm afraid, it uses a flash note, so might look odd to set fire to a note when I didn't start with one

magicdiscoman wrote:before you go on stage do some betchas for the teachers for say a fiver. :lol:

Haha could do

I'm a little worried about performing at my school, the lower school (year 11 downwards) is about 90% chavs, I have met very nice chavs in the past, but the majority of lower school kids I come into contact with have the manners of a lamp post, and I'm praying some older people turn up or they might not get my jokes! (then again, kids these days are doing things 16/18 year olds do...

Anyway, Thanks!

If the audience are sat with their wallets full of bank notes, it's the £5 that they're most likely to hand out for a trick first and not the £10's and £20's.

An adult will very rarely go out to any function without taking some money with them so go for any adults. You shouldn't have a problem getting a fiver.

Forget the Chavs, if your performance is up to scratch then I bet that you'll hold their attention.

Although this doesn't really answer your original question (that's been done very well above), I do have a few words on chavs to offer!

In all honesty, some of the best reactions I've ever had have been from performing for chavs on a bus.

No joke. Keep them all involved, keep their attention, and you'll be flying.

Don't worry.

Thanks guys

I've never really found chavs a big problem, keep chatting with them and keep them involved and you'll be just fine. A few sucker tricks are brilliant and will really get the others interested as they love ripping it out of their mates when they've been made to look silly.

Dear Nat.
Why not scrap the bill and have a playing card vanish and appear in the lemon.
It could be signed or have a corner torn off and when the card is recovered, the corner fits.
Of course you could make it into two effects. Have the card chosen, tear it into bits, give the assistant a corner, vanish the bits and discover the card fully restored( except for the corner) in the lemon.
IF you want to extend the comedy, have an egg,( messy) a potato, a carrot,and any other vegetable( only use 3 or the comedy will be too drawn out) in a container( cardboard box, small basket etc) with the lemon. Taking each of these out, one at a time,cut them open, to try and discover the vanished article gives you tons of cover & time to load the lemon which is obviously the last.
" And we find your card in (CHOP) this carrot. No we don't. So.. it must be in this sprout. ( CHOP) No it's isn't. Well it just has to be in this potato.( CHOP) Oh oh, ..One more try"
Finally the lemon. Find the card, fit the piece and conclude with, " Well the answer to that was a lemon".
IF IT'S A TIMED COMPETITION to save time the assistant( use one on the front row) Thus you won't waste time getting one up on stage.
IN ANY TIMED competition ALWAYS pre prompt a volunteer. this is not cheating, as he only knows he is coming up on cue and will have no idea what he is to do. Safe not sorry( ie Not disqualified)
Any problems, pm me. I've just been working on this for one of our young magicians who's in his first year at University. He now has enough information to write a book on the trick!!!!
Allen Tipton

I performed this trick on friday night. I initially asked for a £5 note, and somebody did say 'does it have to be a fiver?' I just made a joke and said my insurance doesnt cover me for damaging any more than that.

I already had a £5, of a similar age and appearance, in my wallet just in case, but luckily one guy at the table had a suitable one with him!

The OTHER simple alternative, with a bill, is to have 2 lemons; one for £5 and the other for £10. Though the basic & simple method I used to use had the actual borrowed note ( any denomination) discovered in the fruit.
Allen Tipton

Actually we have a similar problem in Canada (our lowest denomination in a bill is $5). Actually it's not certain that people will have a $5 on them because when you go somewhere, you stop at the bank machine and you get $20 bills. So unless you already bought something and got some change - chances are you don't have a fiver on you.

Here's a suggestion:

use a blank piece of paper and transform it into a 5pound note. you can use any method you like, even a kozlowski billswitch. Then follow it up with the bill in lemon.