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The fixed support of the
Super X and the chair suspensions are in a class by themselves. What
makes them interesting is that they use an object to facilitate the
levitation. Going all the way back to the Indian rope trick, there is
something attached to the floating person. We have all seen the flying
yogi who has a cane or metal rod to hold on to sitting in a lotus
position, usually asleep.
I mention these apparently
lesser forms of the basic illusion to stress a point. When Michael Ammar
does the floating bill, he talks about the silk threads. Repeating that
the silk is a conductor and generator of static electricity he closes
the door on a simple question. That is: What else can you float and what
is the weight limit. This is important because the average mind asks
these questions. Once they see that the bill can float, they want to
know what else it can do. How
much more weight can the invisible spider thread hold. It is a silly
question and has every intention of ruining a great illusion. Just as
the child watches a great coin vanish and says, “It’s in your other
hand.” Any good coin worker will remove the vanished coin from his
other elbow. The child’s mind then stops to absorb this. It is during
that moment the coin worker shuts the door and stays ahead of the
question. Magic always stays ahead of the question and answer.
With the floating bill,
the magic is doled out slowly and deliberately. At the last moment as
the crumpled bill is dangling from the performer’s finger, he takes
the finger away, pulls it close to his nose, looks at it closely and
says, “Must be static.” He
doesn’t notice that the bill is floating with no visible means of
support. This takes no more than five seconds, yet it will get the same
squeals that floating out in the street will get. I would propose that
the absurdity of the magician having overlooked the magic is what makes
it strong. The fact that he doesn’t see it, covers the obvious
conclusion that, “something is holding it up, I just can’t see
it.” Giving the mind something else to do helps make the magic more
believable.
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Loops
- Finn Jon - Large - (Click the name of the product to visit the product page)
Watch a demonstration of
the product here
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This is what everyone is talking about! The ultimate in thread and
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$12.50
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We have also seen that in the last twenty
years there has been a glut of great mini-levitations. I remember as a
kid doing the thing with the towel. First I show my feet and then I make
one foot vanish. The other kids loved it but they always wanted me to
make both feet go away. Well, somebody created a gimmick to do just
that. We watched Copperfield float above the stage, up to thirty feet or
more. Certainly we couldn’t miss David Blain float inches off the
pavement. There can be no doubt that Blain got screams for his half a
foot and the very expensive flying illusion, way up in the air really
didn’t. Siegfried and Roy did much the same thing,
Roy
doing a slow motion tumble just off the edge of the stage. I watched the
faces more than the trick and they really weren’t going as wild as the
passersby on the sidewalk.
What was missing?
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Wild
Levitation (Wild Magic) - (Click the name of the product to visit the product page)
Watch a demonstration of
the product here
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This
should sell for double the price! Simple & Easy! Astound
your audience by levitating inches above the
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front of him. The audience can just see his feet showing at the
bottom of the jacket. Suddenly, the audience is amazed to see
his feet rise several inches into the air! No special shoes. A
fraction of the cost of similar effects. You’ll have great fun
with the Wild Levitation at home, in a restaurant, on the
street—Anywhere.
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$42.50
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During a Jamie Swiss lecture I was impressed with his
attention to the details. He talked about card locations and the problem
with being too impossible. Up until that moment I really hadn’t
thought about such an idea. Back in the eighties, I was working for Bill
Malone at his first bar, Houdini’s Pub. This was a great venue for
close-up magic. It also gave me the freedom to try new routines.
One evening a group of magicians came in from
Miami
. They had come to see Bill. Try to fill those shoes. I was working on a
new idea—new to me. I had a dollar bill signed by someone not in the
group (go figure) and had the serial number noted. Then I burned the
bill in an ashtray. When it was totally consumed, I pointed to the
whirling ceiling fan above. I turned it off and there it was! The dollar
was stuck to the blade of the fan. The signature was there and the
serial number matched. And nothing. These guys gave me absolutely
nothing. I might as well have vanished a coin and pointed to the empty
hand. It wasn’t until I heard Jamie Swiss talk about the principal
that I understood this subtlety. When he does the Kiss of the Big
Apple, he points to the brass apple and says, “Remember the
apple?” This sets the
audience up for the possibility that the folded card might be in there.
Also that he might somehow have gotten it in there, they just didn’t
see it. He feels, and I believe, that the less mind-blowing effect is
better than the totally unbelievable one.
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