Thursday, March 15, 2007

Price Match Madness

Greetings from all of us at Hank Lee’s Magic Factory. Another fabulous week here at Hank Lee’s. The new EXTRA arrived by truck a couple of days ago, and we are working feverishly to get them out the door to you, our favorite customers. The EXTRA should hit your snail-mail box sometime late next week. It is jam-packed with great new magic, so don’t forget to read every page! If, by some error of omission you are not on our snail-mail list, the problem is easily rectified. Just drop me an email with your full name and address and I will add you to the list immediately. I’ll even send you your very own EXTRA!

Registrations for this year’s Conclave are starting to pour in. It’s just six weeks away, and you definitely don’t want to be left out. So, if you have been thinking about joining us, now is the time to act! Just head on over to www.magicfact.com and click on the Conclave Button. You can see the full schedule for this year’s Conclave, and I promise it will make your mouth water.

This weekend, I decided to try something new. I like to call it the
PRICE MATCH SPECTACULAR! Here’s how it works. Check out the Hotlist, check out our online catalog, check out our book catalog and our video catalog. So much stuff. Make a Wishlist, or if you haven’t registered for the online catalog (why not?) make a list the old fashioned way, with paper and pencil. Now, check around. Find the lowest price on the items you want (even if they are sale prices from legitimate dealers) and we will match them! All you need to do is include a note in the Customer Box of the online checkout at www.magicfact.com telling us where you saw a lower price. We will credit you back for the difference immediately! You can’t get a better deal than that, nowehere, nohow! But, act quickly, the clock is ticking and this event ends next Thursday at midnight.

Now, let’s take a look at this week’s Hotlist.

3D Paradox – Steve Shufton: It's new! It's refreshing! It's Colorful! It's impossible! Steve Shufton's 3D Paradox sends their minds on holiday! Just imagine:
The spectator holds a sealed envelope. A card, freely selected, is signed and shuffled back into the pack. The envelope is opened to reveal a brilliantly colored, beautifully illustrated greeting card! It's hinged open and out leaps a colorful 3D scene in which a smaller envelope "pops up"!
Her brain melts when she removes the contents herself and discovers her own, signed card!
This new diabolical take on the "impossible location" features:
• Stunning, visual magic!
• A perfect finale for any signed card routine!
• Eye-catching professional quality, precision made and assembled with care!
• No reset or get ready – always ready to perform – anytime, anywhere!
• Sweet simplicity allows you to focus on presentation!
• Do it completely surrounded!
A real reputation maker! Finally, a “card-to-impossible-location” needing no preparation, wallet, palming, swapping, folding, hiding, jackets, pockets or lemons! Fun to perform!
3D Paradox comes in two colorful versions, creating their own possibilities for patter and presentation. "The Magician" is classically magical with built in humor, and "The Guru" borders on the mystical for a cosmic journey. Let the evening mood decide which you will use! Never has a greeting card been so deadly!
Expect the highest quality from Steve Shufton.
3D Paradox is an astonishing value, for only $25.00. (30.1225)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8738&cat=0&page=1)

Crystal Gazing: Martin Lewis is always thinking. He's always thinking about new effects, new methods, but most importantly, new ways to entertain an audience!
Martin’s Crystal Gazing is one of the finest audience-participation mind-reading effects on the market! Your audience will be amazed, and you will get all the applause!
The audience is invited to concentrate on a freely selected jumbo card. An onstage spectator who was not privvy to the selection “divines” its name by gazing into a crystal ball. You are supplied with a jumbo deck, crystal ball, silk and instructional DVD!
The apparatus is handcrafted to Martin’s strict specifications, so you know it will be perfect. $200.00 (60.1421)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8735&cat=0&page=1)

Presto Clock Vanish: One of the best items ever created by the late U.F. Grant. We carried it right from the beginning, way back in 1975. Everyone loved this trick, and we were all bummed when it went out of production. We are now pleased as punch that it’s back!
A clock vanish for the practical performer. You get a real, solid appearing stainless steel clock which can be shown all around. You can even bang it on the table to prove it is solid.
Place the clock behind a small plaque and it vanishes in the twinkling of an eye!
Turn the plaque around and it says, “How Time Flies!” Still one of the best buys in magic. $20.00 (60.1420)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8732&cat=0&page=1)

Mystery By Association – Kenton Knepper: Over 100 full size pages on the secret principle of Association and how Kenton and students use this long ignored and mysterious factor.
We simply cannot say enough about it, or what it will do for you.
Using Association causes spectators to stop being spectators. Association actively engages onlookers, causing more of an experience and relationship with your audience. The audience becomes an active force in your performance. They do not feel left out of the act.
With Association, the audience is a willing and active participant, rather than an antagonistic force to be won over by manipulation.
Best of all, magic and mentalism can easily be made into legitimate art by applying Association to standard tricks and presentations. In a sentence or less, with one object, or less, Association casts its spell. Immediate art and meaning can be had without hard work, once you grasp the underused and oft ignored principle of Association.
Influence and shape audiences to do as you desire by Association and its related branches of sneaky psychology. People will follow your lead and more. Your audience is just waiting to be taught what to do!
All of this is just for starters.
We know these sound like impossible promises, but they are true. Artists and psychologists have proved these claims about Association reliable for ages.
Association is the standard used in video, persuasion psychologies, advertising, art, music and theatre. Yet mentalists and magicians use it unknowingly, as if by happenstance.
Kenton once again changes the landscape of mentalism and magic forever with this book. You will wonder how mystery performers ever performed without this incredible principle.
This work will remind you why Kenton is considered a groundbreaking leader in mentalism and magic. New effects, tricks and methods included, as well as material from The S.E.C.R.E.T. School. 11 pages. $45.00 (BK01515)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8736&cat=0&page=1)

The Lady Travels: A card is chosen and the corner is torn and given to a spectator to hold. You make a magical gesture and each and every card in the deck is shown to be whole. The selected card is clearly gone.
You now point to an "impossible" location and have the spectator retrieve what he finds. It is the torn card.
Not just that, but the corner matches exactly. And the best part – no corner switching.
This truly is an impossible location with a torn card. Clean and easy to do - pure Kenton Wizardry as usual!
Comes complete with 3 gaffed cards and instructions. $15.00 (30.1224)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8737&cat=0&page=1)

Hatching: Suppose you could take an egg, even a borrowed egg, and a borrowed coin, have both of them marked by a spectator and then cause the coin to magically penetrate inside the egg. This would be magic!
Chip a small hole in the egg, large enough to pour out some of the egg goo, but small enough that a coin, which will be found insde the egg, cannot escape. The spectator can look inside the hole and verify that they see the marked coin. Then, using a pair of tweezers, the spectator reaches through the hole and pulls the coin out of the shell. Of course, it is their marked coin.
No tricky sleights. Yes, there is a gimmick which you will have to create, but it takes less than 10 minutes once you have the knack, and many can be made at once and saved. You receive a manuscript giving you two versions of this effect, one totally impromptu, and another which thoroughly explains the gimmick. 45 page booklet, complete with over 50 illustrational photos. $25.00 (20.369)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8731&cat=0&page=1)

Professor’s Nightmare Teach-In DVD: Professor's Nightmare is one of the coolest rope effects of all time! There are so many great possibilities! If you love the cut and restored rope routine, but don't like purchasing more rope after each time you perform the trick, then Professor's Nightmare is perfect for you. Cut the ropes once, wrap them around each other and keep them in your pocket everywhere you go. The effect is truly versatile. It can be performed in an intimate situation or a large stage show. The Professor's Nightmare packs small and plays big! Don't forget that every rope can be examined before and after a performance.
Taking you through this journey is professional magician Ramon Medellin who has been performing and wowing audiences with Professor's Nightmare for many years. Ramon will teach you an astounding routine with 2 separate endings. No matter your skill level, you will find many gems within this Magic City Teach-In DVD. $11.95 (DVD00665)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8733&cat=0&page=1)

Materialize DVD – Ed Ellis: For over 25 years, Ed Ellis has performed close-up magic, sleight of hand illusions, and full time tableside magic for Hollywood, TV and sports celebrities. Ed has also performed his amazing close-up illusions at Las Vegas' Caesar's Palace, lectured at the world famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, and in 2005 was the star of the Ed Ellis TV Show.
The following effects are straight from Ed's working repertoire and are for both the beginning and advanced card worker! As an added feature this DVD includes Magic Castle and TV footage from Ed's promo reel.
• Materialize - A visual stunner! A seemingly impossible appearance of a card.
• Aces Escape - A classic plot where cards escape to the top.
• Materialize Selection - The classic "magician blew it" ploy is used here. The comeback is a visual stunner.
• Ellis Fan Flourish Control and Billboard Display - A suggested opener. A top card control followed by a one handed eye catching four card display.
• Illusion or Reality - A signed card begins to multiply, then disappears and changes to four aces!
• Double Double Surprise - A suggested souvenir finale. This simple and powerful routine leaves them shaking their heads!
• Jumping Jacks - As pure as it gets! This is an ungaffed packet effect made with your cards!
• Kubota Jacks - A powerful transposition of two cards done with consistent-looking moves.
• The Great Escape - A suggested ambitious finale. A card immediately escapes after being pushed into the deck. This effect seems impossible!
• Style - Multiple ways are shown to handle a card with flair.
• Use Your Favorite Method - Ed covers some basic moves, the double lift, Elmsley count and tilt are covered here.
• Bonus - A double lift is taken from the center of the deck face up! Very offbeat and cool!
So sit back, relax and enjoy this amazing DVD presentation, and see for yourself why many refer to Ed Ellis as the "World's Fastest Hands." $34.95 (DVD00666)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8734&cat=0&page=1)

And that’s the hottest magic around. I hope you all have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day, and I hope you will take some time to put down that green beer and visit us either online at www.magicfact.com or in person at 112 South Street in downtown Boston. Either way, we love your company!
Hank Lee