Your first magic tricks

[kittynh]

Kitten is babysitting three youngsters. She brought over Andrew Maynes DVD "Wizard School". Now she has three magicians performing really bad magic for her (and they entertain their parents too!). The ages are 3-7. I remember getting one of those cheesy magic trick kits as a child. I made everyone sit through the tricks, which I usually messed up.

anyone else have any early magic memories? And were we all really bad magicians when we started out?

Mind you, there is only one trick I do really well.

 

[Lavie Enrose]

And were we all really bad magicians when we started out?

From: A Classroom Discussion with Eugene Burger

Question: Have you ever, like, messed up?

Eugene [emphatically]: Of course! Sometimes I think the best thing to do is just admit to it, and say, "Look, I'm sorry, I messed up." Sometimes you can save the day by switching gears, and start another trick that will hopefully work. But the happy news is, unlike brain surgeons who mess up, all I've done is lost your card. No litigation.

You know, learning magic is like learning many things. You have to fail in order to succeed. I suppose the question is whether or not you can keep going even if you've made some mistakes. I supposed that there are people who, once they've been caught the first time, just put their magic away, and take up stamp collecting or some other safer hobby.

 

[kittynh]

Kitten said that the parents applaud no matter how poorly the children do. One of the children pulled a brown crayon out of a hat instead of a green one. The mom said, "Brown is almost green!" and of course everyone applauded.

 

[T'ai Chi]

I manage to mess up the simplest of tricks. And this is showing them to family and friends!

Like when I used the Stripper deck thinking it was the Svengali deck. Oops.

 

[sackett]

And I don't want anybody to accuse me of revealing an illusion

The only, but only, magic trick I've ever learned is a card stunt taught me by my father when I was nine. He showed it to me several times and I didn't get it, undoubtedly because I was looking so hard for something clever. (Don't we all?)

It's done with a standard deck, although it's well to strip out the jokers just in case. Shuffle the deck awkwardly while pattering about how inept you are with cards. (This works well for me because - yeah, you knew this - I'm genuinely clumsy with cards.) Sneak a look at the top card in the deck as you fumble, patter, and otherwise misdirect; we'll say that it's the ten of diamonds. Then solemnly address your victim, "As you know, there are four suits in a deck of cards: hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades. Pick two of those." The sucker picks hearts and spades. Quickly and authoritatively now: "All right, that leaves diamonds and clubs. Pick one of those." Uh, diamonds says the sucker. "Good! Now" with much brow wrinkling and grunting, as if this was REALLY DIFFICULT "of the (ugh! ergh!) ten, jack, queen, and king of diamonds, pick two." Ten and king. "Good again! One of those!" King. "That leaves the ten, am I right? Ten of diamonds? Eh?" Uh, yes. "Here ya go, kid!" as you toss down the ten of diamonds, dealing off the top of the deck, no sleight of hand involved.

If the sucker picks diamonds and spades, of course you instantly require him to pick one of those, rather than pull the "that's leaves" caper. Similarly with the trick of directing him to the denomination of the final card.

This one can be elaborated with a 3 x 3 layout of facedown cards, directing the victim to turn over the desired card by the same method of that-leaves or one-of-those.

You can repeat this one by memorizing several cards at once. I've also used a planted deck that I'd had a look at earlier and put away in a drawer, actually EXTRACTING IT FROM ITS BOX AND NOT EVEN SHUFFLING IT! Astounding!

Well, it works on nine-year-olds.

 

[Brown]

A babysitter taught me my first magic trick. It was the story of the four bank robbers. I thought it was pretty neat.

I recently did some tricks for some youngsters who all under the age of 7. They didn't really "get" the card tricks or the rubber band trick. This surprised me, because these were pretty simple tricks, and they would have amazed me when I was that age. But the kids didn't see anything magical in them.

But I did a trick with my computer mouse that really tickled them. "Do it again!" they squealed. The reaction to the mouse trick was totally different. Sometimes you never know what is going to interest kids.

 

[Brown]

A couple of years ago, I attended a magic performance by a fellow who had been doing it for about 60 years. He was a pretty good performer. But man, did he ever blow one of his tricks.

He went through an elaborate procedure for having the audience pick a card, and then he was going to open his briefcase and produce a deck of cards (actually an "invisible deck") that would mysteriously reveal the selected card. When he opened his briefcase, he found that he had forgotten to put his "invisible deck" inside. Basically, he admitted that he'd goofed, abandoned the trick, and the show went on.

 

[Azrael 5]

Re: And I don't want anybody to accuse me of revealing an illusion

The only, but only, magic trick I've ever learned is a card stunt taught me by my father when I was nine. He showed it to me several times and I didn't get it, undoubtedly because I was looking so hard for something clever. (Don't we all?)

It's done with a standard deck, although it's well to strip out the jokers just in case. Shuffle the deck awkwardly while pattering about how inept you are with cards. (This works well for me because - yeah, you knew this - I'm genuinely clumsy with cards.) Sneak a look at the top card in the deck as you fumble, patter, and otherwise misdirect; we'll say that it's the ten of diamonds. Then solemnly address your victim, "As you know, there are four suits in a deck of cards: hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades. Pick two of those." The sucker picks hearts and spades. Quickly and authoritatively now: "All right, that leaves diamonds and clubs. Pick one of those." Uh, diamonds says the sucker. "Good! Now" with much brow wrinkling and grunting, as if this was REALLY DIFFICULT "of the (ugh! ergh!) ten, jack, queen, and king of diamonds, pick two." Ten and king. "Good again! One of those!" King. "That leaves the ten, am I right? Ten of diamonds? Eh?" Uh, yes. "Here ya go, kid!" as you toss down the ten of diamonds, dealing off the top of the deck, no sleight of hand involved.

If the sucker picks diamonds and spades, of course you instantly require him to pick one of those, rather than pull the "that's leaves" caper. Similarly with the trick of directing him to the denomination of the final card.

This one can be elaborated with a 3 x 3 layout of facedown cards, directing the victim to turn over the desired card by the same method of that-leaves or one-of-those.

You can repeat this one by memorizing several cards at once. I've also used a planted deck that I'd had a look at earlier and put away in a drawer, actually EXTRACTING IT FROM ITS BOX AND NOT EVEN SHUFFLING IT! Astounding!

Well, it works on nine-year-olds.

Hmm,your Dad didnt teach it to my Dad by any chance?

 

[Azrael 5]

A babysitter taught me my first magic trick. It was the story of the four bank robbers. I thought it was pretty neat.

I recently did some tricks for some youngsters who all under the age of 7. They didn't really "get" the card tricks or the rubber band trick. This surprised me, because these were pretty simple tricks, and they would have amazed me when I was that age. But the kids didn't see anything magical in them.

But I did a trick with my computer mouse that really tickled them. "Do it again!" they squealed. The reaction to the mouse trick was totally different. Sometimes you never know what is going to interest kids.

Your babysitter didnt babysit me by any chance?

 

[Savagemutt]

anyone else have any early magic memories? And were we all really bad magicians when we started out?

Mind you, there is only one trick I do really well.

For about three years in a row during elementary school, I repeated the same exact trick during the annual talent show (probably before pretty much the same group of kids, too).

It was the legendary Cut in half Unpeeled Banana and it required absolutely no skill on my part. My mama pre-cut the banana for me (you sew the banana through the peel, and ta-da, its cut in half when you unpeel it). All I did was the actual peeling.

Oh, and I wore a really cool plastic top hat that came with the magic kit I learned the banana trick from.

Nowadays, the only trick I know is how to make paychecks disappear really fast.

 

[kittynh]

I think I can untie myself the same way the Davenport brothers did it. Mr.Randi did this trick at TAM1 and I almost cried with happiness for once knowing how the trick was done!

It was taught to me in the girlscouts.

How Mr.Randi got this trick out of the girlscouts is beyond me!

I also do a very easy card trick that works with my 3-4 year olds. I tell them "say stop" as I thumb through the cards. then they put the card back in. All they care about is that I'm NOT looking at the card they pulled out. Of course, I'm looking at the card that was before it! they put it right back in, and I find the right card every time. Doesn't work once they hit first grade.

 

[Azrael 5]

You could always get them to put the card on top and then cut the deck(bottom to top)remembering the bottom card!! Failing that get the calculator cards out!!

 

[kittynh]

When I was 11 I was looking at a pack of cards and found little imperfections. Pretty much any card deck isn't perfect...

I figured out the imperfections in 10 cards.
Then I would lay them out and leave the room and have someone turn one card upside down. I could always pick out the card that had been changed, because once you find the imperfection it really stands out.

Or you can buy a perfectly ordinary deck of cards from Penn and Teller! Now if you get someone dumb enough you can have so much fun with them (thanks Moe!!!)

 

[Jontg]

Hypnotizing my girlfriend. I thought she was the cutest girl on Earth--then I put her into a deep trance and told her she was a kitten. KAWAI!!!

 

[Jeff Corey]

My worst mess up was trying to vanish a lit cigarette into my fist with a thumbtip lined in flashpaper.
I think the flashpaper I used was fresher than the stuff I practiced with.
The cigarette ignited the flashpaper, which launched the flaming butt out of the thumbtip into the first row of seats, narrowly missing someone.
Practice, practice, practice.

 

[richardm]

By the time I perform a trick, I'm so practiced that nothing goes wrong.

Haha, but seriously. I can think of two that are particularly embarrassing. One was with a set of ESP cards - I was going through a deck, placing a card on the table in order to predict which one the victim was going to place down. At the end, all the pairs would match.

I'd been asked to do this repeatedly, to make sure it wasn't a fluke. Not a problem with this particular trick, so off we went, with different people wanting to try to "confuse" me (I think on some level they did really think they were giving away the cards telepathically )

The fifth time around I was tired and frankly basking in the amazement around the table, and then suddenly someone asked why I had an extra card. Oopsie.

The second one that springs to mind was a routine I was doing with a pull. The bit of cloth I'd attached it to gave way at peak extension, and the safety pin I'd used came flying out and smashed a wine glass.

I wish I could say I looked at the glass and said "The powers are strong tonight", but I fear I just gawped at the whole sorry scene like an idiot.