talkmagic.co.uk

best thing to do? relax and forgive!

Maybe you can't handle your drink

All this reminds me of an awful tale. I once did magic in a pub in Dublin and the landlord desperately wanted to throw me out. I am quite glad he didn't have any bouncers otherwise who knows what would have happened. The difference to my story is that I was actually booked to perform there, although not by the pub itself.

Here is the story.

I once got booked to do a very odd show in Dublin. The booker informed me that every magician in Dublin had turned it down. He said that it was a stag party of a group of about 10 men seated in a pub. It was not in a private room. It was actually in the public area of the bar. One man was getting married the next day and they wanted to have a night out with him.

The booker told me that they wanted a magician to surprise him. I thought it was a bit odd and asked if he was a fan of magic. He said "No. He hates magic" which I found odder still.

He then asked if I did children's magic and I said "yes" and they asked me what tricks I did which I always find to be a daft question. However I told them the general effect of Run Rabbit Run and the Bongo Hat and I also told him about the breakaway wand whereupon he got very excited and wanted to book me.

I asked how many children would be there and he surprised me by saying "none" He said the programme was just for the adult men who were going to be gathered round a couple of tables in the pub.

I then got very confused and told him that the show I described wasn't suitable at all and I recommended some close up magic with cards and coins to him. He said emphatically "No! We want the magic wand that breaks and the growing hat thing you told us about" I insisted that it wouldn't be suitable as it was magic purely for children whereupon he replied "but we want you to do a children's show" Again I thought I had misunderstood and said "Well how many children will be there?" and he again replied "None. We can't bring children into the pub anyway"

I am a bit slow on the uptake and got very confused about the whole thing particularly as he said "we only want a 10 minute show" I said "Well you won't get much entertainment for 10 minutes, you know but I can do a really good couple of card tricks in that time" The reply was "We only want you for ten minutes and we will pay you the normal fee. But we don't want card tricks" I said "what about coin tricks?"

He replied "No. We want you to do that silly stuff you do for the children. Every magician in Dublin has turned us down"

It began to dawn upon me that he really wanted me to do a kid show for 10 adults. It seemed that instead of one of those singing telegrams I was to do 10 minutes of cheesy magic for a fellow that hated cheesy magicians. It was their idea of a joke. And they deliberately wanted the magician to do silly magic that he would do for 5 year olds.

I started to balk at this proposition especially as the potential booker sounded a bit tipsy and I was beginning to see why all the magicians had turned him down. He said, "This could be a whole new market for you. Instead of a singing telegram you could market yourself as the surprise magician"

Anyway I was daft enough to take on the booking. I hid behind a pillar in the pub and when I was given the signal I marched out in full tuxedo and started doing Run Rabbit Run while all these grown men were loudly cheering and laughing.
The groom to be looked absolutely astonished and I did the Bongo Hat on him and used a breakaway wand. His pals shouted and yelled at him and in their drunken stupor they shouted at me "show us your willie!" in a most improper manner.

The other patrons of the pub were not pleased and neither was the pub landlord who had not been informed of the upcoming shenanigans. I got dirty looks galore from the patrons and people were yelling "who let this lunatic in here?" and "get him out of here". It seems they didn't appreciate the commotion when all they were trying to do was have a quiet drink.

I did a 15 minute spot and got the hell out of there and was paid in cash. The booker was highly delighted although the pub landlord clearly wasn't.

This could only happen in Ireland.

If the pub wanted magic, they would have hired it. The fact that they didn't gives you the clue to their attitude. It is arrogant to assume people want us even though they have not asked us to be there.[/quote]

Nice one i agree, if you want to be a magician go out and spread the word show your stuff and advertise and may be get some bookings and join the working magicians out there trying to earn a living. instead of flicking cards on the off chance someone might look at what you are doing and be interested.

If you want to be a magician........be one and put a storey on here about magic not 99% about how life sometimes can be s*** and 1% about magic

get over it!!!!! im sure you have judging by the date on your original thread.

take care keep perfoming magic and enjoy magic as it is magical in more ways than any of us know.

Great story, Mark.
I am doing a stand-up cabaret on New Year's Eve. Is it too late to try and find a break-away wand?

Tony. Oddly enough I worked with the famous Irish comedian Hal Roach in a Manchester working men's club about 40 years ago. I remember he actually did the breakaway wand and there was no kids in the audience. I can't remember what he did though. He also did a fantastic gag with the linking rings which hardly anyone knows about. In fact I think I will keep it to myself and keep it that way.

Is Hal Roach still alive? He must be older than God if he is.

I remember studying him carefully that week in Manchester and I learned a lot from him. I had heard about him in Germany when other entertainers were talking about him in hushed tones of admiration.

Years later I saw him in a Dublin hotel lobby and felt obliged to thank him for what I had learned by watching him. He had no idea who I was and before I could say a word the miserable git brushed me off. So he will never know how much he helped me. Serves him right.

sorry but you didnt half go on in your initial post ...
basically your grip e is they refused to serve you then when you were told to leave, you started to and then suddenly changed your mind and went back towards where you had been sat, at this point you were ejected by means of a body lock .
in a nutshell thats how people could well have seen it

and if so..

what makes you so different from any other person in a pub?

the landlord and his staff can refuse to serve you point blank and you can be ejected also, making the link between the magic and the events overall is a mistake.

al

^Totally agree^
Took an eternity to get to what happened.

This all happened rather a long time ago. I would have thought it a bit late to be jabbering about it now. The pub is probably closed down by now, the bouncer has either become a policeman or is in jail for assaulting someone, the young magician has probably joined the civil service and given up card tricks, and the pub owner is in hospital suffering from the results of high blood pressure from years of dealing with unruly customers.

Perhaps we should all move on......................

Mark, Hal is still alive, and still funny. But as I don't know the man personally I can't answer for his manners.

He must be ancient. Surely he doesn't perform any more? Of course in Ireland itself I found that nobody thinks he is funny. I used to defend him because I had seen him work for live audiences but then I purchased an old fashioned record of him doing comedy and I had to admit that he wasn't funny at all.

Anyway I have mentioned him in my memoirs. I had been performing in Germany on American army bases and all the entertainers there kept talking about Hal Roach with great respect and hushed tones as if he was God. At the time I kept chopping and changing my act in great panic when it wouldn't go over well. This only made matters worse.

And then after I returned from Germany I worked a club in Manchester and lo and behold Hal was on the bill! I watched him every night and here is what happened. This is an extract from The Lives of a Showman. (Sorry to go off topic but this thread is nearly as old as Hal Roach anyway)
..........................................................................................................

A big turning point was shortly after I arrived in Manchester I got a week’s work at a large club and was surprised to see on the bill the legendary Irish comedian Hal Roach that I had heard about in Germany. I shared a dressing room with him and other entertainers but didn’t talk to him much. I watched him night after night, however, to see what I could learn.

The first night he died an utter and complete death. The second night the same thing happened. However, the third night he went over big and stormed the place. I took careful note that he did exactly the same act word for word as the previous two nights that he died the death. Then the fourth night he got fantastic reaction again and the audience loved him. The fifth night he went over great again. As he did the sixth night. However the last night he died another awful death and nobody was interested in his show.

I observed that he did exactly the same act on the nights he went over well as he did on the nights that he went over badly. It then dawned on me that in Germany, when I was chopping and changing the act in sheer panic to find something that worked, I was doing the wrong thing. I decided from that moment on to keep to the same act whether it went over well or not. I wouldn’t panic and keep trying something different out of desperation. That is not to say that I wouldn’t gradually bring in little improvements bit by bit over time but my days of wholesale change on a massive basis to my act were over. I had learned a lot from Hal Roach.

Decades later I saw him in the lobby of an Irish hotel where he was working and I felt obliged to approach him and belatedly thank him for what I had learned so many years ago. He had no idea who I was or what I was going to say and rudely brushed me aside. I am afraid he will never know how much he influenced me unless he reads this. Serves him right for being so grumpy

It took a long time to read this thread but I got there in the end.

Firstly I would like to talk legally because that is my background and I have dealt with hundreds of these situations.

The law states that if a landlord/manager wants a member of the public to leave their premises they can without any reason. If the person refuses they CAN NOT use force. The police must be called and the landlord/manager must ask them to leave in their presence. If they then still refuse to leave the police may remove/arrest them.

There is technically a misdemeanour under the licensing law. The second offence is common assault by the Bounce/doorman.

However in this situation it would be difficult to do anything, if you reported assault the police would have to obtain the CCTV and take state statements etc. The outcome would be either conviction for assault, (poss comp £50 if it goes to court) if convicted doorman looses job.

Most likely outcome is bounce, manager and brother all say you seemed drunk and were causing trouble. Complaint found not guilty.

A letter to the company owning the pub not the pub manager may ease your mind, you are likely to see no action, depending on the history of the manager and bouncer.

If you did write a letter just keep it short and sweet, with just the valid evidence in it. Send it recorded delivery.

The second point I will pm you about.

What is the statute of limitations? Can you launch assault proceedings 4 and a half years after the fact?

Erwin wrote:What is the statute of limitations? Can you launch assault proceedings 4 and a half years after the fact?

Yes for certain offences you can, if I remember off the top of my head this is one. In this country staute of limitation is only on certain offences, many of these being traffic offences.

The real reason for answering this was because it has been brought to the top of the forum and with more people especially young people performning magic in public place and bars it would be usefull to correct some of the errors that were given.

Aww I assumed it was an in-joke in the legal profession... he's dealt with hundreds of 'em you know...