Doug's Magic

I did magic this week at a banquet for retirees from United Airlines. I had done magic for this group on a couple of occasions so I decided to develop a new show completely and called it “Predictions”.

Some of the magic was pretty cool and even I was enjoying it during the performance. For one routine I wrote a 6 digit number on a white board; the numbers came from the audience members. Once the number was written I had someone open a sealed envelope and inside the envelope were 4 different 5 digit numbers. A different audience member called out each number from the envelope and that number was written on the board. After the 4 numbers were written they were added up and the total equaled the number that was written on the board to begin the effect!

I did some magic that was not “prediction” as well. Before the show a lady told me that when she was in the first grade a magician came to her school and did a trick where an egg continued to appear and disappear. To begin my show I invited her up and took her back to her first grade days and did a similar trick with a wooden egg. She was delighted.

The mechanics of magic can be fascinating. I can do tricks sometimes and actually I don’t know how the trick works. I took a rope and looped it around a scarf. The only way to detach the scarf from the rope is to pull it straight out…but then, I tied the scarf ends together so now there is now way to detach the scarf from the rope. Yet, it is a magic trick that I learned from a famous magician named Daryl, so I pretended that there was a hole in the rope and simply pulled the scarf from the rope. Perhaps an engineer can figure out the mechanics but I can’t !

Next week I am doing my Crazy Economy magical routine for the Milpitas Host Lions Club.

Until then………

Last week I did three magic shows and they were all completely different. The first show was for a Boy Scout Banquet and along with my standard routines I did a lot of Rope Tricks because Scouts learn to tie various knots for their camping and outing events. I ended up doing 12 different rope tricks: Linking and Unlinking three ropes that were tied together, making three ropes (red, white, and blue) turn into one long rope, making ropes change lengths, and making knots appear and disappear suddenly. I had not done many of the rope tricks in a long time and enjoyed doing them again.

I did a show for a private dinner party and it was just plain old fun. I turned 5 one dollar bills into 5 one-hundred dollar bills and did mostly up close fun tricks; rubber bands, cards, coins, and even eggs.

My last show of the week was for the Kiwanis Club in Morgan Hill. This group is so lively that they did not need entertainment but I joined and added to the fun. For this group I did a lot of mental magic. All of my mental magic is a mixture of mirth and comedy.

I do different styles of magic. This past week:
Boy Scouts —— Rope Magic mostly
Private Party—– Close Up Magic
Kiwanis Club——Comedy Mental Magic

I have always said that the most difficult part of a magic show is matching the tricks to the audience. When I am choreographing a show my question is, “Why this trick?”

This week I used magic to open for a financial planning seminar and opened with three tricks and here is how I tied them in to the financial presentation.

I opened with a rope in my hand and suggested that I can do more things with a rope than members of the audience can. The same way with the financial planners. They have more knowledge and ability in taking a dollar bill and stretching it to it’s maximum use. Then I grabbed a $100 dollar bill and stretched it to more than three times its size.

Back to the rope. I showed that I can tie a knot in a rope without letting go of the ends of the rope. I taught them how they can do that and then showed them the way a magician does the same trick which is “impossible”. I had an audience member learn the rope trick and it continued to fail but I brought up a financial planner and we went thru the exact same moves except this time the audience member handed the rope to the financial planner and magically a knot appeared in the rope ! The point was made that with the help of the financial planner magic and miracles are possible.

Then I took a deck of cards and mentioned that the magician is never surprised with the outcome. The audience is surprised but the magician is never surprised (even though we may appear to be astonished !).
I had a person choose a card and told them if I could not find the card then I would pay them one dollar. I then shuffled the deck and asked the audience member the name of the card. They were to spell the name of the card and take one card off the deck as they announced each letter. Alas, the wrong card appeared and I did not have a dollar. But to save the day I had a lottery card which cost me a dollar and they could win $1000. It was a scratch-off card and the audience member took the card and scratched off the covered section– the name of the card appeared ! The point – the financial planner with work and preparation would know the final outcome.

Last I showed five one dollar bills and explained that it was the job of the financial planner to multiply the money; to increase the value. I then turned the five one dollar bills into five one-hundred dollar bills.

I explained that what the financial planners do is truly magical and then introduced the presenter. Magic can be used for showmanship and for sales to really make a presentation sparkle.

Here is a BIG Card trick that is also a good comedy routine.

On Super Bowl Sunday I did a show for the Chinese American Biopharmaceutical Society in Foster City. We celebrated Chinese New Years and there were eleven acts during the day; mostly excellent musicians of various sorts. My show was approximately 20 minutes and I did the following acts:

Pulled the color red from a lady’s red dress…made the colors appear and disappear at my finger tips
Hypnotized the audience so they could actually see my head getting larger and smaller
Turned 5 one dollar bills into 5 one hundred dollar bills
Put a bottle in a paper bag and it disappeared and a scarf appeared
My “peeking duck” located several cards that were mixed back in the deck
A coloring book kept changing colors
A 40 foot different colored coil was produced from my mouth
An egg put in a small cloth bag kept appearing at the wrong place and
I taught someone the Chinese Linking Rings (that is a risk for an all Chinese audience !)

My magic is Fun, Funny, and Family. There were lots of laughs and a great time was had by everyone.

DougJones-RoseGardenResident

“A professional magician is one who will do one show a thousand times. A amateur will do a thousand shows one time.” The professional will do the same show and the amateur will keep changing the show.

I have done my same basic show for almost 20 years and am very slow to change anything? Why ? Because the tricks and routines are all audience tested. I know exactly when the big laughs are coming and even when the moans are coming.

The basic show is the same but I will perhaps drop an effect and add a couple for a particular audience. In each show I promise to teach a magic trick and I give someone the opportunity to win $1000 (not).  Normally my shows have 14 or so tricks; the same as the number of clubs in a golf bag. With 14 clubs a good golfer can play any course in the world; with my basic 14 tricks I can perform for any audience in any venue in the world.

Of course I know hundreds and perhaps thousands of tricks but for my stage show I am happy with the formula that I have worked out over the years.

It is interesting to me that people who have seen me will tell me all kinds of tricks that I did that amazed them. They will tell me the trick and I realize that it was not me !  I never correct them and perhaps that is part of the magic, a hazy but fun memory.