Greetings from all of us at Hank Lee’s Magic Factory and a very Happy Birthday to me! That’s right, while no one was looking, my 57th birthday slipped right by. It was last Monday, the 17th of December. So, mark your calendars for next year. I had a really nice birthday; the whole family was together. Bonnie baked a cake. Lucas sang a song. Aron corrected him. The usual. It was one of the nicest birthdays I can remember.
Christmas is next Tuesday. We want to wish a very Merry Christmas to all who celebrate the holiday, and even to those who don’t. I hope you get to spend the day with those you love. I hope you get everything you wished for, and I hope you were careful with what you wished for! Of course, if you don’t get everything on your list, you know where we are, and we will be open on Wednesday. Just so you know.
Here’s a couple of really fun links for you to check out.
http://hankleesmagicfactory.c.topica.com/maai9VQabDD73aaaaaab/
http://www.scroogeyourself.com/?id=1455404879
Christmas Delivery: A quick note to let you know that any orders placed today, Friday, on our toll-free Order Line at 800 874 7400, and shipped by Fedex Overnight, will get to you on Monday, in time for the big day! Hint, hint.
The Conclave: I haven’t mentioned the Conclave for a couple of weeks. It is really shaping up to be a whiz-bang event next year. We have a talent line-up that just can’t be beat! The dates are April 4th – 6th, 2008/ You can register online by clicking on the Conclave Button at www.magicfact.com or by calling us toll free at 800 874 7400. Honestly, I can’t thing of a better gift to give someone who loves magic than a Conclave registration. But, that’s just me. I hope we’ll see you there.
As you know, our holiday gift to you this season is
FREE SHIPPING: Until Monday, the 24th of December at midnight, we are offering free ground shipping on any order over $25.00 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 24th! 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
Extreme Magic Set - It's finally here! Our friends at Fantasma have put the ultimate tricks together, in one set! Tip Over Trunk, Die Box, Arm Twister, Die Penetration, Bizarre Bubble, Svengali Deck and a whole lot more; totaling 200 tricks in all! You can actually perform an entire kid show using only the items within this awesome magic set!
This deluxe set comes a 60 minute instructional DVD with film footage of Houdini & other legends of magic as well.
• The Tip Over Trunk works really well, and folds completely flat! Can also be used as a performance table.
• The Die Box is made of durable plastic, so it weighs less than the wooden models.
• The Arm Twister works just like the head twister but folds completely flat!
• Bizzare Bubble "solid bubble trick" is made right! The bubble wand which attaches to the lid is short, and the bubble looks real!
All the props are easy to use . The set comes with an easy to understand book of instructions that explains over 200 effects!
A great holiday gift!
$59.95 (70.883)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9185&cat=0&page=2)
David Blaine Split Spade Collector's Decks
For a very limited time, we are making David's deck of choice, from his personal stock, available to the magic fraternity. Featuring the signature Split Spades design, this custom Bee Casino series boasts the premium quality of the world's leading casino card.
This combo includes 2 Decks, one black and one inverted black. David has signed the outside of one of decks. Very limited quantity. $24.95 (30.1287)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9189&cat=0&page=2)
Tac Tics - Jonathan Egginton:
A Tic Tac box is shown empty all the way around. Take a coin and slam it on the Tic Tac box. You can see and hear the coin melting through the plastic and end up inside the container. Your hands are clean after the coin penetrates the box. Immediately give away the box with the coin inside to your spectator. There's nothing to find.. Your spectators can keep the Tic Tac box with the coin trapped inside. Forget everything you have seen. This is pure visual magic.
* Easy to do
* 100% examinable
* No holes in the box
* Can be performed surrounded
* Finish clean
* Give away the Tic Tac box with the coin inside!
The effect is simple and very effective. Anyone can perform this truly amazing miracle.
The DVD features UK's successful performer Jonathan Egginton teaching this most visual effect.
$24.95 (20.376)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9190&cat=0&page=2)
Past Midnight DVD Set– Benjamin Earl: Debut material from one of the best underground card magicians in the world: Benjamin Earl. For years, Ben has been one of Europe's top professional performers and innovative creators. Like many of these quiet achievers, he has previously avoided magicians, conventions and all attempts to get him to share his original material. Until now.
This new DVD set comprises three volumes of startling, original material that will surely find its way into the repertoires of hobbyists and professionals alike.
Disc One features Ben's imaginative handlings for several of card magic's classic plots. Do we need new versions of Collectors, Hofzinser's Aces and Triumph? We do when they are this eye-popping! As well as these fantastic new approaches to traditional plots, this disc also contains many original flourishes and sleights as well as all the work on Ben's 'Stroke Change,' which looks like trick-photography even when you know how it's done. Best of all, this incredible change, like almost all the material on this disc, is easily within the reach of any intermediate card handler.
Disc Two focuses on gambling and card table material. As a true student of the art, Ben has been refining and advancing card table artifice for many years. The finessed handlings and methodological advances that he demonstrates and teaches on this disc comprise some of the most important contributions to this branch of card magic by a new voice for many years. Fans of 'the real work' will be delighted by Ben's decision to share these prized techniques.
Disc Three contains a wealth of Ben's mental card magic, a style which he prefers to perform these days. There are several fantastic and totally practical handlings for Think-A-Card as well as versions of Mental Poker and Brainwave that break entirely new ground. Impossible Locations and Thought Card To Pocket handlings which fool absolutely everyone ensure that the only problem you'll have with Ben's material is which tricks to leave out of your performance!
One thing is for sure, whatever your interest in card magic, once you've watched these discs, you will never look at a deck the same way again. $99.95 (DVD00807)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9188&cat=0&page=2)
Inner Change – Steve Shufton: When her marked coin vanishes without a trace, only to reappear in a nest of envelopes she was holding, she will experience an Inner Change!
With this unique and diabolical method, you will leave them stunned!
The spectator's marked coin is put at risk, but they have insurance! The valuable contents of a small envelope they hold from the start. They mark the coin, assuring the use of no duplicates. The envelope is waved over their coin, and the coin immediately vanishes! The hands are shown empty and the envelope is shown to be unprepared as it is opened, only to reveal another smaller envelope inside. This envelope has an even smaller one within. A nest of five envelopes are opened in this way until the smallest inner envelope is by the spectator.
And inside? The spectator’s marked coin!
Absolutely inexplicable. It must be magic
* Stunning! Easy! Self-contained!
* Simple reset means instant magic!
* Diabolical method; a million-dollar secret!
* No difficult palming, pocket work, or fake appendages!
Use any borrowed, marked coin - penny, nickel, dime or quarter.
Here's a comfortable solution for an ever-ready killer! Inner Change is a self-contained device, featuring intimate architecture and efficient durable construction!
Like its companion effect, Emergency Cash, Inner Change is a model of efficiency you can perform completely surrounded! New automatic transfer technology gives you the power to control the coin at all times, without any sort of conventional slide!
Inner Change is another evolutionary turning point for magic's most intriguing plot, a borrowed object to impossible location. The routine and device work together weaving strict conditions and open handling.
Inner Change comes complete with 8 pages of full color, fully illustrated instructions with handling, presentation, patter and tips for performance! Extra mini envelopes included!
Like all of Steve's products, Inner Change is hand made with strict attention paid to every detail. A professional prop for real workers - reset is a snap and lets you do what you do best - entertain.
$24.95 (20.375)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9186&cat=0&page=2)
Manipulation Bills – John Blake: Each package contains 1 set of the large manipulation bills (pictured above) and 1 set of the smaller bills. The larger bills are excellent for split fans and producing single bills. The smaller bills can be used for the same but because of their length, allow you to perform the pivot move and other standard card manipulation moves. All you need to get started is to powder them like normal manipulation cards, and they’ll fan like a dream.Perfect to use in a money themed act containing the Miser’s Dream or Jumbo Coin Manipulation. Many possibilities! Comes with the Bills and a supply of Fanning Powder. $44.95 (70.907)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9192&cat=0&page=2)
Revolution DVD - Jeff McBride:
The Secret Of The Double Dancing Cane
Featuring The Vortex - 2 floating light staffs that dance and spin around the stage at your command
and
Spin-Stix: Whirling, Twirling Tornado Wands.
A revolution in the evolution of the Dancing Light Cane.
DVD Contents
* DVD recommendations
* Types of canes to use
* Cane fabrication and modification
* Silks, streamers, mylar, light toys & glow sticks
* The Vortex dancing light wand
* Thread and threading the cane
* Special guest - Dirk Losander
* Dirk’s floating wand
* Types of wood and thread
* McBride’s ”Spin Sticks”
* The floating drum sticks
* Wizard Garee’s LED spin sticks
* Basic moves, the classic cane
* Rising cane from tube opening
* Magnetized cane and the kick start
* Vortex x 2:The double dancing cane
* Over the hand
* Under the leg
* Behind the back & around the neck
* The slow motion kicks
* McLoop De Loop
* The Rainbow Revolution finale
* What to do if the thread breaks
Special Bonus: Footage of McBride in performance on tour. $29.95 (DVD00805)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9187&cat=0&page=2)
Toasted – Rodger Lovins: The effect is startling and unexpected. The method is ingenious. Yet it is easy to perform, can be repeated and your spectators will be blown away! This is not just another rising card trick. This is magic!
Have a card selected and signed. The spectator places their card into the center of the deck. You hold the deck up toward the spectator and tell them to concentrate on their selection. Suddenly, the selected signed card pops up from the deck!
"The card doesn't appear to "rise" from the deck; it seems to just appear out of the deck."
"It just seems to be there, in a snap. WOW! "
"I don't know where it came from, it was just there with my name on it! How did you do that? That's crazy!"
* Easy to do.
* Nothing to add or take away
* Can be repeated.
* No forced cards.
* No bulky gimmicks
* No threads to break.
$29.95 (30.1286)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9191&cat=0&page=2)
The Card Artistry Of Andrew Wimhurst DVD: They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Sometimes though, that isn't the case, as recalled by card man extraordinaire, Jack Carpenter: 'First impressions are not always to be relied upon. It was not until the wee hours of the morning, on the last day of a convention, that I got my ears 'boxed' watching this young Aussie handle a pack of playing cards. He had the touch. It was evident at the first riffle shuffle.'
Contains: Cheaters; Spread 'Em; Ultimate Topsy-Turvy Aces; The Spectator Estimates the Aces; The Wimhurst Poker Deal; How to Cheat at 21; The Expert at the Bridge Table; Aussie Cooler; Johnny Mnemonic (The Super Power Memory Routine), Andrew's closer for his formal shows, this is a powerhouse demonstration of memory techniques that leaves an audience reeling. After the spectator shuffles the deck, Andrew memorizes the cards in a matter of seconds, then performs a series of stunning magical and gambling deals. In addition to all of these great routines, this video contains a wealth of information for the card magician, including a full explanation of the top-down faro shuffle, false shuffles, cutting revelations, stacks, deals and even a super simple deck switch you'll put to use as soon as you see it!
'Wow! A genuine card expert of the highest level-a real artist. Extremely knowledgeable, inventive and with brilliant technique!' - Lennart Green
$34.95 (DVD00806)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=5691&cat=0&page=2)
And that’s the hottest magic you will find for this most exciting week before Christmas. I know this is a really busy time, but I really do hope you will find some time to spend with us either online at www.magicfact.com or in person at our delightfully warm and cheery showroom at 102 North Street in Medford. Either way, we do love your company.
Hank Lee
