Greetings from all of us here at Hank Lee’s Magic Factory. And welcome to spring in New England. Spring where you can easily get ten inches of snow on Wednesday night and it is all melted by Thursday afternoon. Where else can that happen? You know the old saying, “If you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait a minute, and you really won’t like the weather,” or something like that. Any-hoo, we shoveled out this morning and now the snow has all vanished.
We are down to the 14 day warning for the Conclave. Everyone gets a well-deserved timeout before we head into the last two weeks. We are so ready. The posters are printed. The program book is done. The badges are being inserted into the badge holders. Is there one with your name on it? If not, why not? Check out all the details under the Conclave Button at www.magicfact.com.
This week is Passover, with the traditional eating of the Matzo followed by the traditional taking of the Metamucil. After a week of Matzo and Matzo products, trust me, you really need the help. This Sunday is Easter, and I really hope-a-hope that the Easter Bunny drops a big load of chocolate eggs at your house, and mine too!
Now, let’s take a lookie-look at this week’s excitement.
FREE SHIPPING: Until Thursday the 12th of April 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 peekie-peek at this week’s Hotlist.
Alcatraz The Puzzle: The puzzle that has even the most brilliant minds stumped!
Invented and designed by a magician, with magicians in mind!
It is a very simple looking item. A solid steel ball locked inside a cage made of brass bars.
As a puzzle, hand it to the spectators and let them try and remove the ball from the cage. It simply can’t be done. I know. Without knowing the secret, I couldn’t do it, and nether could any of our puzzle-solving elves!
As a magic trick, show the ball inside the cage, cover it will a handkerchief. Reach under and remove the ball. Then, hand the ball and cage out for examination. They will absolutely not be able to replace the ball in the cage, nor will they be able to figure out how you got it out!
This puzzle is 100% original and unique
Magic Trick
Puzzle
Executive paper weight
Brain Teaser
$12.95 (10.1378)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8772&cat=0&page=1)
The Wedding DVD – Bruno Copin: A love story about a king and a lady in which you manipulate the cards like puppets. This routine can be presented in table-hopping situations.
A deck of cards appears, the castle. Little by little the cards come to life. Your spectators enter into the dream. Worthy of particular attention is the remarkable horizontal double rising card effect which itself alone is worth the price of the DVD. It deserves close study. As in most of his creations, Bruno Copin uses specially composed music to accompany the performance of this effect. You will be able to hear this performance on the DVD. Bruno adapts all the effects he creates with his favorite gimmick so that they can be performed close-up. In Bruno's opinion, the most important rule for creating a strong illusion is to be able to hand out the deck for examination before and after the effect.
When this rule is respected, the spectator will remember, for a very long time, having witnessed a real moment of magic. $61.00 (DVD00682)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8774&cat=0&page=1)
Crazy Ball DVD – Bruno Copin: Cup routines are numerous. Crazy Ball is an innovative and highly original version in which you will find almost all of the key effects of magic.
Crazy Ball is full of crazy effects (appearances, disappearances, transpositions, penetrations, transformations and levitations). Crazy Ball is the result of a long creative research project which was undertaken by its creator, Bruno Copin.
Bruno's work has received prizes in many international competitions. He presented Crazy Ball on the TV show Special Las Vegas which featured some of the world's greatest magicians. The show was presented by the famous French magician, Sylvain Mirouf.
To highlight the strong effects contained in this routine, original music was composed by specialists. This routine is literally a feat of magic when presented live by Bruno because in order to perform it perfect timing is required between the sound effects and magic gestures. You will be able to isolate each individual effect and organize them to suit your own timing. $61.00 (DVD00683)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8775&cat=0&page=1)
Mind Stunts DVDs – Volumes 1 & 2 – Patrik Kuffs: Looking for a goldmine of fresh new mentalism? Look no further, Canada's #1 crazy creative mentalist is here!
An insanely dynamic entertainer and innovator, Patrik Kuffs has made smash-hit appearances at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, the International Battle of Magicians in Atlanta, and on such varied television shows as Popular Mechanics For Kids, Ad Lib and Urban Magic, with David Acer and Richard Sanders.
On Mind Stunts 1, Partik Kuff’s first DVD, we take a tour of Kuffs own mind. This DVD is not only a valuable teaching tool but also a highly entertaining show within a show. A DVD unlike any other. Great magic, great production value all wrapped up in the Kuffs trademark humor. You will learn some of Patrik's most acclaimed and requested effects:
Dangerous Monte
Watchism
Book Test 4 Dummies
Blindfoil
T.O.C.
Bold Business
This DVD also includes Acrobat Reader PDF text files for all the included routines in English and French with the necessary stickers for the "Rubik's Cube" effect. ??
On Mind Stunts 2 Kuffs gets even more insane. You'll learn:
Dove Roulette
Un-Lucky
Book Test 4 Dummies 2
HandKuffs
Bank Light
DNA Revelator
$59.00 (DVD00677)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8766&cat=0&page=1)
Ricky Jay Plays Poker – Music CD, DVD, Custom Cards, Booklet: Ricky Jay combines his talents as a sleight of hand expert, historian of cons and cheats, and lover of poker and poker music in this remarkable CD/DVD deluxe set that celebrates the history, the language and literature, the art and the music of poker.
21 songs of hustlers, reprobates, blacklegs, scallywags and the passions and pleasures of the game. The deluxe gift box also includes a bonus DVD starring Ricky Jay performing some unbelievable deception at the card table, a 76 page color book with an in-depth essay written by Jay and beautiful reproductions from his incredible collection of art and memorabilia and – if all that weren’t enough – a custom poker pack from the U. S. Playing Card Company.
• Deluxe box set features 21great tracks and includes a rare bonus DVD of Ricky Jay performing some of his incredible deceptions ?
• Fantastic collection of great tunes and legendary artists, including Robert Johnson, Patsy Cline and Bob Dylan! ?
• Includes a 76 page full color book, written by Ricky Jay, about the language and the lore of poker, complete with historical illustrations, memorabilia and rare art?
$39.98 (DVD00678)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8767&cat=0&page=1)
Table Hopping Cups & Balls DVD – Carl Andrews: Perform the professional cups and balls routine that will get you huge reactions at parties, in restaurants, and on the streets.
After working restaurants for over 20 years, Carl discovered that 3 cups are just one too many. A single cup isn't interesting enough, but two cups is just right.
As you'll see, Carl Andrews' Table Hopping Cups and Balls is a 2-cup routine that travels light but is full of laughs and surprises.
Start by making the balls vanish and then reappear - instantly - beneath the cups. Next, the balls travel through the cups, then in one of the most magical phases, one ball appears magically on top of the cup - in full view!
Then come a series of lighting quick vanishes and reappearances climaxing in the revelation of the final loads - spongeballs! Carl uses these balls right afterwards in his signature Ain't No Mo Spongeball routine (also explained).
Due to the construction of the routine, you can perform Carl's Table Hopping Cups and Balls without a jacket, and the routine is completely angle proof. $29.95 (DVD00681)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8771&cat=0&page=1)
French Arm Chopper: A spectator is asked to help with a magical experiment. He places his arm into the chopper. A large solid blade forced down through his wrist and his hand (his actual hand!) is seen to drop off into the bag below! One of the most startling effects imaginable. Of course, you restore his hand moments later and he returns to his seat in one piece.
The blade is solid -- the ends of the blade extend beyond the sides of the chopper. Any spectator is used, and their hand actually drops down. And, only one blade is used no dummies. There are no holes in the blade and it doesn't pivot or hinge. No cover of any kind is used -- they really see it happen. This is a big trick -- yet it can be used at a party show.$152.50 (60.178)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=3198&cat=0&page=1)
Reaction Ad-Libs DVD – Gary Darwin: The ultimate course in situational one-liners for magicians, MCs, jugglers, ventriloquists, comedians and public speakers
What do you say when you're in the middle of your show and suddenly there's a huge crashing noise from backstage? What do you say when a baby starts crying in the middle of your act? What do you say when someone interrupts your show by walking in ten minutes late? What do you say when a prop malfunctions? What do you say when you walk out on stage, start talking and your mike doesn't work? What do you say when your audience starts talking in the middle of your show? What do you say when an audience member starts heckling you? What do you say when things go wrong?
It's gonna happen!
As a live entertainer, you face a never ending barrage of technical difficulties, interruptions, and things just generally going wrong while the spotlight is on you!
It doesn't mean you have to lose your cool. Being a true professional means knowing how to handle any situation.
Gary Darwin is famous for having the perfect response for any situation. Darwin and other top professionals plan for these situations and practice their responses ahead of time.
For this course, Darwin assembled a live and very vocal audience of top professional magicians, MCs, jugglers, ventriloquists and comedians to contribute the one-liners that have worked for them close-up, stand-up and on stage. What results is a free-for-all in which Darwin and Company cover a ton of material, heckle and get heckled, trade advice (and insults), and everyone has a good laugh.
This is serious business, though, and if you're a live entertainer you'll benefit greatly from thinking and planning what you're going to say when the unexpected happens. A tremendous resource and a huge head start in your quest to be prepared for anything on stage. $29.95 (DVD00679)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8768&cat=0&page=1)
Séance DVD – Dixie Dooley: Do the dead materialize? It's the absorbing question of all time. On this startling new DVD from Las Vegas headliner Dixie Dooley you'll learn to create apparitions and perform seances.
When you ride a roller coaster or go to a scary movie, you know you're not going to get hurt. You enjoy being frightened, but you know all along it's just for fun.
In a darkened seance room, spirit messages appear right before people's eyes. They see ghosts. They see objects move. In this place they may find answers to questions they've always pondered. They may even come to believe they've made contact with the dead.
This is the world of the imagination; the world of strange noises, funny feelings, and eerie uncertainty. On this startling new DVD you'll learn close up spirit effects you can perform inches from an onlooker's face, and comedy seance effects you can perform on stage.
The Effects:
• Spirit Slates
• Spirit Cloth
• Haunted Key
• Haunted Deck
• The Devil's Ashes
• The Houdini Spirit Table
• In the Seance Room
• Spirit Cabinet
• The Zombie
This Old Haunted House:
• The Spirit Table
• Spirit Slates
Comedy Seance: Watch as Dixie performs a comedy seance in his "World of the Unreal" show at the Boardwalk Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. This routine will give you dozens of ideas and help you incorporate the spirit effects you've just learned into your act.
Bonus: ?The Liberace Seance - Late at night in a darkened building, Dixie and a small group of others attempt to contact the hereafter.
Please note: This DVD teaches about the seance as a form of magical entertainment. The purpose of the DVD is to help magicians perform magical effects with a seance theme in a setting in which everyone in the audience knows it's "just a show".
$29.95 (DVD00680)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8769&cat=0&page=1)
Vanishing Point: David Eldridge’s first release in nearly four years, and it is a killer! This is one of the most commercial packet tricks ever devised.
The effect is straightforward. A four of a kind is shown front and back. One at a time the cards turn blank until all four cards are blank. Then instantly and visually the cards reprint! This is commercial magic at its best.
• No rough/smooth
• No difficult sleights
• No packet switches
• No Flushtration Count
• Easy to follow instructions
• Perfect for walk-around and table hopping
• All in the hands. No table is needed
• Reset time is less than one second
• Visual
• Only four cards are used! $15.00 (30.1227)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8770&cat=0&page=1)
Chronologue: Available once again!
When I saw Bob Cassidy's Chronologue performed, it blew me away. I was totally fooled! Ask a spectator to merely think of an date. He does so, but does not name the date. The performer hands the spectator a standard pocket calendar (Week at a Time). The spectator examines the calendar, finding that the names of the 52 cards of the deck have been written randomly, one in each day of the year. The spectator is asked to locate his chosen date and read the card written therein. The card is announced. Then, the spectator's attention is directed to a pocket in the calendar cover. In the pocket is a sealed envelope. And, in the envelope is a single playing card that exactly matches the one found written in the freely selected date! Remember, the calendar is in the spectator's hands before the selected date is named! What an effect! And, it's not just for mentalists. If you do any kind of close-up magic; if you do table hopping, this one is for you! It is so fair and direct, there
seems to be no way it can be done. Yet, it is really easy to do and works 100% of the time. This is one you will use! $40.00
(40.084)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=2740&cat=0&page=1)
And that’s the hottiest-hot stuff this week. As you can probably guess, I am getting really excited about the Conclave. I heard that the Sea Crest has a huge load of raisin bagels on the way, just for us. Life really is good.
I hope you will find some time during this weekend of chocolate imbibing to come and visit us online at www.magicfact.com or even in person at 112 South Street in downtown Boston. Either way we love the company.
Hank Lee
