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SM:
It’s so hard for my brain to “see” the card much less do
a trick with it.
Ray:
Yeah. Have you ever heard of Punx? We were good friends. I
think it was 1982 and I took a couple of decks that I marked. This was
in Munich. I let him examine the cards and then he handed them back to
me. Then as fast as I could turn them over I was naming the cards. He
kept saying that’s impossible, impossible! These are not marked! How
can you do such a thing? He asked me to show him how. I said that’s
why I brought them, as a gift. He said it was the most beautiful
marked deck he ever saw. Some years later I saw a certain deck on the
market that was similar to it.
SM:
So you think somebody borrowed your idea?
Ray:
Yeah, it was something close, but more idiotic.
SM:
That’s a very high compliment—people who only steal from
the best.
Ray:
Well, it’s a matter of being ripped off. Tell you what. You
invent something and see how you feel when somebody else rips
you off!
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Night
Writer - (Ray Piatt)
- (Click the name of the product to visit the product
page)
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First chalkboard I have ever seen
like this one! “Looks like Ray Piatt is up to his new tricks
again! So innocent, clean and simple.” --Joe Stevens
“Slates” may be old fashion – BUT – there is always
room for a chalkboard that writes even better than a slate,
with a piece of white chalk. It measures 1/4-inches thick by
6-inches by 9-inches. Cleans off very easily with just a
cloth. Performance is quite easily accomplished with no
awkward moves, etc. Plays for both large and small gatherings
plus it fits in any psychic’s act. EFFECT: Others call out
five items and you openly write them upon the board with white
chalk. Someone is called upon to think and concentrate on one
of the five items written on the board. Upon doing so she
calls aloud the name she has been concentrating on and the
mentalist turns the writing side of the chalkboard to show
that he has also been concentrating on the same word as it is
the exact word that he has already check marked with white
chalk! What makes this chalkboard so fitting is that
everything on the face of it is exactly as it should be thus
the mystery is complete with others thinking and or saying,
“How did he know that?” and not, “How did he do that?”
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$92.50
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SM:
Tell me more about Punx.
Ray:
He was a real working magician. He did more one-man shows on
Bavarian TV than anyone else in the history of magic.
SM:
So how do you think that compares with say, Fred Kaps?
Ray:
I know Fred is greatly respected, but in all honesty, I don’t
know that much about him. But I did get to know Benny Hill and Tommy
Cooper – this was through a mutual friend Clifford Davis.
SM:
Wait, we’re talking about Benny Hill, the comedian?
Ray:
I don’t know much about their currency over there, but Clifford
told me he got a quid a weekend, back in those days.
SM:
So are you saying that Benny Hill was a magician first?
Ray:
First he was. Then he split with his partner and got into comedy.
SM:
I would give anything to see Benny Hill do magic. Was it comedy
magic?
Ray:
Not at first. Towards the end it was. Tommy Cooper…Too bad you
don’t know him. He was a guy they called the fez! He was noted for his
fez. He was almost seven feet tall. Huge guy. He was in that Magic
Circle over there in England. He was as popular as Benny Hill, but the
more popular he became, the bigger his ego got and they banned him from
the Magic Circle. I sent him a comedy routine, an effect, and he said he
couldn’t accept it from me because of ASCAP. However, I did receive
endorsed photos of all of them that I am very proud to own.
SM:
What is that? Do you know?
Ray:
I guess it’s like a guild, an actor’s guild.
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Zee
Switchers - (Click the name of the product to visit the
product page)
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Another Ray Piatt classic...A leather
business card case for switching your business cards right under
their noses! Easily and effortlessly switch one or as many as
you carry in each pocket. This is not your typical Z wallet as
the Z itself is actually built into the case making it a
one-piece case. There are NO flaps to be flipped! The change
practically performs itself. Each case is handmade by Ray and
Lisa Piatt from fine sturdy black leather, lined and reinforced.
Nothing like this exists in magic or mentalism. This clever
switch case is a must have item! Purchase two of them and really
“fry” them by lapping one of the cases!
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$37.50
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SM:
So, do you have a website, a catalog?
Ray:
No.
SM:
You seem to be very well known. How do you approach a magic
store?
Ray:
I really don’t. I used to have four companies that I would
wholesale to. One was Al Cohen in Washington.
He’s great. You can’t beat him. There was a company in
Belgium. Select Magic. They would order big. I would send them a wallet
and they would call me back and say they wanted a hundred-fifty of them.
Then they stopped ordering from me and I found out that all they
had to do was find someone to make the item for them at a less cost.
SM:
Let’s say you approach a place. What do you do? Do you talk to
them and find out if they have integrity?
Ray:
No, I find out from other people. I only wholesale to two people,
Joe Stevens being one of them.
SM:
I’m gathering from you that you feel you can trust Joe Stevens?
Ray:
Explicitly.
SM:
That’s interesting stuff. You are selective then about whom you
send products to?
Ray:
Naturally…
SM:
Have you ever met Paul Diamond?
Ray:
I have a video of him.
SM:
He had a garage full of magic, all for sale. I was in there a few
times.
Ray:
Yeah, that’s what a lot of them do.
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