Greetings from all of us at Hank Lee’s Magic Factory. Well, we sat at the window and waited for the snow, and it finally arrived. Outside the warehouse we got about an inch of snow. At home we got about an inch and a half. Hardly the snow we had expected. So far, at least in the eyes of the kids, this winter has been a bust. But, I will tell you that it has been pretty, pretty, pretty darn cold here. Temps in the single digits. Multi-layer clothes weather. At least for the moment, it shoots a big hole in the global warming scenario. Remember, I said just for the moment.
Seems I had a major brain cramp last week. I totally forgot that last Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday. I guess that since the Patriots were not in the Super Bowl, it just slipped my mind. Seriously, what’s a Super Bowl without the Patriots? Just a sloppy game played on a rain-soaked field. Just one man’s opinion. I know, here come the Colts and Bears fans. I will duck.
This coming Wednesday is Valentine’s Day. Don’t be fooled by last week’s Valentine’s Day Sales Event. The real day is the 14th. I will remind you now that it is critical that you get a card, a box of chocolates (preferably in one of those heart shaped boxes) and some flowers for your significant other. Otherwise, you will find yourself sleeping on the couch in that unheated spare room. And, no one deserves that, do they Bonnie?
Important announcements over, let’s get to this week’s excitement.
FREE SHIPPING: Until Thursday the 15th of February at midnight, we are offering free ground shipping to anywhere in the US, including Alaska and Hawaii! Just enter the special code SHIPMEFREE in the Discount Coupon Box at the bottom of the first page of the online checkout at www.magicfact.com. We will happily pick up the ground shipping charges on your order. Of course, if you want your order sent Fedex Three Day (Express Saver), Second Day or Next Day, you will just have to pay the difference. Note: Your email confirmation from our online system will still list the shipping as free, but we will charge the difference when we ship your order. Overseas customers will save as well! We will pay one-half of the Air Post shipping charges on your orders until the 15th! Just remember to enter the special code SHIPMEFREE in the Discount Coupon Box, or let the person taking your phone order know when you place your order at 800 874 7400.
Now, let’s take a look at this week’s Hotlist.
Satan’s Slate: I love getting emails from Ray Piatt. I really do. He gets so excited writing about his new creations; the excitement becomes contagious. Then, I'm like a kid waiting for the package from Ray to arrive so I can play with the new toys. It's the best part of the magic business!
Satan’s Slate is the newest and most clever incarnation of Ray’s famous "gypboard" line. It uses an 8” x 10" black chalkboard and white chalk. The board is only 1/8" thick. Read it again. It is only 1/8” thick. No place to hide anything. Nothing could be more innocent.
Using Satan’s Slate is as easy as falling off a log. No moves. No messing around. It's big enough to be seen anywhere, yet small enough to drop in your briefcase.
Random spectators each call out five random items. Names, places, pet's names, etc. You openly write all five items on the board with the white chalk.
Ask a sixth random spectator to merely think of one of the five items written on the board. You think of one of the items as well, secretly placing a checkmark in front of one of the words.
And, you can repeat the effect immediately using the other side of the board. Right, both sides are “hot.”
She names the item out loud. You turn the chalkboard around to show a large white checkmark on the very item she had in her mind! A stunning revelation!
They will walk away believing that you really do have the power!
Satan’s Slate uses a principle never used before in magic! As Ray says, “using this new board is a genuine tingle!”
Comes with the chalkboard, chalkholder, very special gimmick (no, Victoria, it is not any kind of Swami Gimmick) and full routine.
$82.50 (40.551)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8671&cat=0&page=1)
Cell Phone From Card: It’s new. It’s cool. It’s quick as a wink. It’s an incredibly visual transformation!
Show a deck of Bicycle cards.
Using a Jumbo card, tap the top of the deck.
In a blink, the deck of cards changes into a real cell phone! Whoa!
The deck can also change color, become a packet of cigarettes, some candy or a bunch of business cards. You can even change the deck into an iPod or any other object of similar size! It looks wild, believe me!
The objects can be immediately used and examined! $49.95 (30.1216)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8670&cat=0&page=1)
Quarter Warp: Bob Solari must be channeling for Steve Dusheck, because Bob’s new Quarter Warp reminds me of the kind of magic Steve created during the 70’s and 80’s. And, that’s a good thing.
Borrow a quarter from a spectator and hold the coin at your fingertips.
Lightly rub the quarter with the fingertips of both hands.
The quarter is seen to bend to almost a 90 degree angle!
Slowly, the quarter magically returns to its original shape and is returned to the spectator.
Works with both old and new style quarters. Perform in short sleeves. No sleight of hand. Unique gimmick does most of the work for you. Complete with photo-illustrated instructions and gimmick. You will love this one, I promise! $19.95 (40.553)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8676&cat=0&page=1)
Magic Enchancers CD: Welcome to magic's first performance-enhancing CD. With the Magic Enhancer, your show will be taken to all new heights! Whatever your show needs, we've got you covered! From openers to closers, from announcements to audience chasers, this CD has everything you need.
Straight from our state-of-the-art studio, let our professionally voiced-over CDs be exactly what you need to augment your show.
Don't just make magic- make memories!
Volume 1
With The Magic Enhancer, take your show to an all new level. With professionally voiced openers, closers and announcements, your show will be unforgettable!
• 5 Openers
• 7 Closers
• 3 Segues
• 4 Welcomes
• 7 Vocal Drops
• 3 Phone Messages
• 3 Audience Chasers
• 8 Sound Effects
$35.00 (70.936)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8658&cat=0&page=1)
David Blaine Drowned Alive Poster: David Blaine's fifth poster. After being buried alive for seven days, frozen for 61 hours, perched 90 feet up on a pole for 35 hours, and suspended for 44 days, David was Drowned Alive for a week straight. This is the poster depicting that event.
These limited edition autographed posters are available in very small quantities.
Dimensions: Approximately 38.5" x 27.5" (101.5cm x 72.5cm)
$100.00 (70.937)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8665&cat=0&page=1)
Hundred Dollar Miracles DVD: Destined to become the “Bill Switch Bible!”
Jay Sankey has been creating original and exciting applications with Mike Kozlowski's bill switch for years. Now, here in one amazing volume Jay includes all his classic bill switch effects along with many other routines he is revealing for the very first time!
A mind-blowing collection of 30 incredible magic and mentalism effects for close-up, stand-up, walk around and stage performers including restorations, vanishes, appearances, transformations, divinations, penetrations, transportations and more! All using the bill switch!
Jay teaches the switch from three different camera angles so learning the technique has never been easier. Jay also goes into great detail on such important subjects as preparing the billets, practicing the switch and executing the switch in different performance settings.
Learn how to use the switch to bend spoons, color illustrations from a children's book, cause signatures to transpose, push words through the middle of a bill, create wrinkles in a drawing of a pair of pants, tear and restore a borrowed and signed bill, move a hole into a bulls eye, bring an image in a photograph to life, cause an illustration of a flower to gain a scent, find three selected cards, and even burst the drawing of a balloon complete with sound effect! $30.00 (DVD00642)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8668&cat=0&page=1)
Collard: John Archer’s Collard is the ultimate, super-charged comedy presentation for the Koran Medallion!
Ever since the release of the best-selling Educating Archer DVD there have been countless requests for this routine to be released. Finally after months of research and lots of prototypes and anticipation, this highly-acclaimed, professional routine is ready.
Collard begins with you introducing a large stuffed toy dog* and announcing that you would like the audience to name him or her for you.
Ask several spectators in the audience to call out a letter, which you make a note of on your home-made birth certificate! None of the letters are forced and they can spell out even the most bizarre of names!
Now, have a spectator join you on the stage and draw their attention to the dog that has been sitting at the other side of the stage, and especially the collar that the dog wearing. They will see that the collar already has a name on it. Impossibly, it matches the previous randomly selected name exactly!
This is just the bare bones of the routine, as you will see once you have witnessed John Archer’s high-energy performance on the live performance and explanation DVD. You will also receive detailed written instructions to accompany the custom manufactured gimmicks.
The beauty of Collard is that it can be worked in parlor and cabaret situations, stage performances, and also kids’ shows! This routine really is the ultimate in creative thinking, superb routining and a premise that proves that stuffed toys are not just for children!
If you like good, direct, entertaining and funny presentations accompanied by strong magic and mentalism, you will absolutely love Collard, which has received rave reviews from magicians, mentalists and laypeople alike! Now, you too can add this outstanding routine to your act!
Your Collard comes with the precision manufactured name-tag gimmick, the secret something to add to a regular pad of paper and full written instructions.
*Supply your own toy dog, pad of paper and collar strap.
$69.96 (60.1413)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8669&cat=0&page=1)
ICE Coins DVD – Christopher Cosgreave: This is groundbreaking coin magic! ICE Coins will give your audience a complete brain freeze!
The DVD contains eye popping, high-impact, visually stunning routines to set you off and then stir your imagination to soar.
Get ready for explosive spectator reactions when you perform ICE!
Clear, precise teaching geared to getting you started right away! Every nuance of every effect is discussed in explicit detail!
The gimmick is precision-made to the highest quality and razor sharp accuracy!
The DVD is a complete training package containing nine mind-ripping routines.
DVD comes complete with four ICE gimmicks and a special Bonus "Iceberg" Jumbo Ice Gimmick
Choose from 3 versions:
£2 coin version
$½ coin version
$1 coin version
$39.95 (DVD00644)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8672&cat=0&page=1)
Taylor Made Book Test: New from up and coming mentalist David Taylor, a book test that you can perform with almost any book! On this DVD David shares with you the inner workings of his fantastic piece of mentalism. David has honed the routine over many performances in his professional act and once you learn the principle you will be able to apply it to almost any book, in any language, very easily. The one-time setup of the book is easy to do and will only take you about twenty minutes.
Effect #1 - The Taylor Made Book Test: Imagine a dictionary containing many thousands of words. With your head turned away from the spectators, you riffle down the pages of the book and your spectator calls “stop” at any time. The spectator notes the word at the top of their selected page. The book is now handed to the spectator to hold. Without ever touching the book again and with no fishing, you divine their thought-of word with 100% accuracy!
There is absolutely no force of either the page or the word! The word will be different every time and the effect can be repeated instantly. Armed with this knowledge, you will be able to present a high impact, no-nonsense piece of mentalism that will blow your audiences away!
Effect #2 - Secret Santa: For the first time, David shares with you his fantastic Secret Santa routine! Imagine being able to have a spectator choose any item from a catalogue, a loved one's name and an amount of money to spend on that person. Then, one-by-one you precisely reveal each thought-of item! This effect can be performed in a multitude of situations and is a well-constructed, direct, multi-phased routine that you will love to perform. Again, there is absolutely no force of item, name or value!
As a bonus, we have also included an explanation of "The Hoy Book Test" which is a totally impromptu, ungaffed book test used by top mentalists all around the world!
$25.95 (40.552)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8673&cat=0&page=1)
Spun – Morgan Strebler: What would you say if someone told you they could visually bend a borrowed coin in mid-air, without touching it? Impossible.
That's what we said, until we saw Morgan do it live for a circle of 100 screaming fans!
This is as clean as it gets. The floating coin is as precise and breathtaking as an olympic figure skating routine, and the bend is as earth-shattering as an Indy car crashing into the wall at 220 miles per hour.
You'll learn the full routine with all of the subtleties.
Spun features:
• Live performance footage on the streets of Las Vegas
• Complete lecture-style explanations
Special follow-along practice session with Noblezada. $19.95 (20.366)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8675&cat=0&page=1)
Complete Card & Chip Handling DVD Set: Learn all of tricks you've ever seen on television and much more! Over 170 tricks and skills! Learn from pros like Antonio Esfandiari, Evelyn Ng, Johnny Chan, Gus Hansen, Chris Ferguson, Rich Ferguson and countless others!
Chip Tricks DVD: Learn how to show off, toss, spin, shuffle, bounce, play and impress with your poker chips! This Chip Tricks DVD comes with over 70 tricks!
Card Stunts DVD: Master card throwing, spinning cards on your fingers, switching cards and a huge variety of techniques with those pocket cards you'll muck or need to turn over in Texas Hold 'em, Blackjack, etc. A fantastic collection of stunts for any card magician.
Shuffles and Cuts DVD: When having your next home game, you won’t look like a wimp trying to shuffle. For those who really want to intimidate, learn over fifty fancy shuffles and cuts. Look like you really know what you are doing!
Flourishes DVD: Impress the table with the basic fancy deck handling skills known by dealers and magicians. Spread the cards across the table, make awesome fans, shoot cards hand to hand and much more! $39.95 (DVD00643)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8674&cat=0&page=1)
Vintage Race-Back Bicycle Decks: The much sought-after Racer Back Bicycle Decks! Now available in the vintage one-way design. Specify red or blue. $5.00 (30.1215)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8666&cat=0&page=1)
And, that’s the hottest stuff in magic for this very special Valentine’s week! I hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day. And, while you are eating those bon-bons, why not spend a little time with us online at www.magicfact.com. You know we love your company!
Hank Lee
