I recently had an idea for a show and wanted some feed back on what is thought of this idea.

I am currently working on a new character: A Tramp who just happens to be an ex-magician. I imagine him being an old style magician, doing the magic tricks made famous by the old stage magicians.

I figure that the exposure on a lot of the old tricks would be ok, since they have been perfected and improved on 100 times since the original incarnation.

I would love to do sawing the lady in half but having the magician by unable to do it, eventually having the lady get out of the box, put the magician in it and start sawing, while having the legs on the other side stay the same.

Or doing a sword basket, with umbrellas, and have the clown that is in the basket push the umbrellas back out as the trick continues.

Or doing some sort of a disappearance and have the person being disappeared walk back onto the stage before they have supposedly disappeared.

What do you think? Would it work? Have you seen or heard of anything like this?

I like the idea Dylan however, you must be very cautious when exposing Magic secrets. Kohl and Company (http://www.kohlandcompany.com ) have done what you are talking about to a standing round of appause, same with Penn and Teller, while others have done it and been practically burned at the stake.

I tend to perform "Misfit Magic" in a way that the Magic happens just the way it's suppose to but the timing is off, leaving me looking like the Fool.

Good Luck with it.

Here's a clip I found on You Tube of Kohl & Co. Enjoy!The Best Of Magic: Kohl & Co
~Sam 8-)

I like the concept. If you can make funny what might otherwise be seen as cheesy classic material, it just may work.

Thats what i was thinking, Staying away from any of the "new magic" and instead resurecting the old magic in a way that will make them humorous as well as amazing.

I like the concept, and I enjoyed the video Sam.

The one I want to mess with is, where one person is locked in a trunk in a bag hand cuffed ect and the other person stand on top with a ring curtain and counts to three then the two people are magically switched. I would love to do it with a "lovely female assitant," and end up accidentally switching clothes with her as well not realizing it until I am pulled out of the box.

That box is called a Sub-trunk SS. Practice your Pilates and your yoga because you need to be quick and flexible for that one.

Dylan, I really like your thought process on this one. It has a lot of potential. On the flip side, it will take quite a bit of work, you will also need to convince your wife to accompy you for every performance as your assistant and then there is the time making the props and the expense. But if you decide to run with it... let us know I will make a trip out to CO to see you in action (unless you bring it to Moosecamp.)

I am thinking more a long the lines of a stage show, getting my wife and a couple of my friends to assist. I have a good contact at the local civic center, so I could probably use their smaller stage and split ticket sales with them.

I will let you know when it goes off, if it does.

I like the idea, myself. Seems like I can picture Abbott and Costello doing it.

On a side note, where in Colorado are you? I lived all over the state, most recently in Englewood, but I spent some time in Fort Collins and working in the Loveland/Greeley area. I was an insurance claims adjuster for Progressive. My brother and his family are still in Fort Collins.

Greeley CO

sounds Funny to me Grinch Clown

you should see the show called "ta-da" at the sweet fanny adams theater in gatlinburg, tn. its along those lines. i have a dvd of one of the shows i think...

Gabby, we haven't seen you in ages. Welcome back.

thanks hunny bunny... ive been working my nose off !!!

This idea is similar to my tramp character, who is strongly magician based.

I've not found a reliable assistant since I moved to Virginia however, so do most of my routines solo; and have thus far resorted to a more successful magician for now

There was recently a theatrical stage show which played in Chicago entitled "The Magnificents." The characterization of the old man magician and some of the stuff they did had a certain sensibility akin to what you're trying to get at.

Here (http://www.classicmagic.net/) is a link to some classis magic that could be used for your tramp magician (I use some of them for some gaffed magic routines as well)...

Hi Dylan,

I like the idea with the sward basket, and the person disappearing, Those don't actually give the trick away, they just screw it up for the magician. But as a magician's daughter, I am not crazy about the sawing in half and the legs don't change. There are some magicians out there that still use that method.

What I would suggest instead of showing the secret, is that the assistant puts you in the box, pulls your legs through and then discovers that the blade is to dull to go through you, maybe you have a metal plate under your shirt or something like that.

My Dad had a great idea for a show that was somewhat similar to that, with 2 magicians, 1 assistant, and 1 stage hand. We would use a number of small stage tricks, the magicians taking turns and not giving the assistant time to catch her breath in between, then moving on to the bigger illusions, sawing in half (the one you are talking about), sword basket, a Zig Zag, ending with one magician locked in the Substitution Trunk and the other locked in the Assistant's Revenge, while the assistant walks off arm in arm with the stage hand. We were hoping to do this for the grand re-opening of T. C. Magic, but the 2nd magician died of cancer before the building was ready. We still might try to do something similar sometime.

What if the assistant gets in one side and then out the other and then hands the magician a manequin's head, hands and legs. The audience sees what is happening but the magician is too dumb to catch on, he still thinks he is doing real magic. Close the box, cut her in half (with the assistant's help) open the box, the assistant gets in, removes the parts and then gets out with the magician's help. The magician believes that he just cut his assistant in half, it never dawning on him that he needed her help during the trick.

I have been refining the saw in half trick where I use dolls and when it comes to putting it back together I end up with a doll with duct tape staples and nails in it that I hold up I have done it twice in front of a crowd and got a big big laugh both times

Now that is a great idea Jamz. I may have to use that idea someday. Thanks

I agree that was a great idea, like the final part with the duck tape.

I like Both Fitzwilly's and Jamz's ideas. They are funny, and obviously 'not the way a regular magician would do it, so that probably isn't even close to how it's actually done'.