Greetings from all of us at Hank Lee’s Magic Factory. I am so all-finished with travel. Last weekend we were in New Jersey, a beautiful place to be. Unless you have been on the road every weekend for goodness knows how long. Every hotel looks the same (except the beautiful Palmer House in Chicago), entirely too much time is spent hanging around airports and rental car places. For me, it is totally draining. I am happy, no ecstatic, that Bonnie is taking this weekend’s trip alone with Lucas. I get to stay home and hang out. She gets to fly to Montreal and visit McGill University. I asked her to take a lot of pictures. I promise to look at them.
We are getting closer to the end of the 2008 Audition Tour. I will travel with Lucas in two weeks, I think, to Oberlin in Ohio. That’s his last audition. We can then all hang out at home together and wait for the acceptances and rejections. Hooray for the acceptances. Boo for the rejections.
Aron had some excitement in his life this week. Seems someone with a gun showed up on campus. How scary is that? Much too scary for me. The administration locked the campus down, and by the end of the day had made an arrest. No one was hurt, thankfully. But, it still is plenty scary.
In happier news, the new EXTRA is up online at www.magicfact.com. You can check out all the cool new stuff, accompanied by Mark Wing’s wonderful artwork. It’s well worth a look, and is easily reached by simply clicking on the Extra Button!
And, now for this week's double-barreled excitements.
FREE CONCLAVE: We are doing it again! One lucky member of the Hank Lee Nation will get to attend this year's Cape Cod Conclave for free. The prize includes registration and hotel room for the weekend! It's an amazing deal, and someone will win it this week! All you need to do is put the words Conclave Fever in the Customer Notes Box of the online checkout at www.magicfact.com, or mention it when you place your order by phone, email or FAX. Even if you don’t need to buy anything this weekend (how can that be?), you are still eligible to win. Just send us an email with the words Conclave Fever in the subject line and your name and address in the email. On Wednesday morning, one of our Conclave Elves will draw the lucky winner, who will be notified by email. This is a great chance to be with us at the Conclave and be our guest! This offer is only available to you folks who subscribe to the Email Newsletter, which makes your chance of winning even better!
And then there’s this:
FREE SHIPPING: Until Thursday the 28th of February 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 28th! 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 Burn – Richard Sanders:
Forget what you know about the bill change and prepare to devastate your audience.
Show four bills cleanly, one at a time, on both sides. Lay them flat out in your hand. Without any cover whatsoever, gently shake the bills. Instantly they change. That's it. No Folding. No funny moves. Nothing. The bills just simply change!
Your spectators will swear they just saw a Hollywood special effect! And the best part, Extreme Burn is very easy to do!
Extreme Burn is not just a variation, it is an evolutionary leap forward in technique and effect.
Richard Sanders has reinvented the multiple bill change. Working from the ground up he has transformed the visual impact of the effect and revolutionized the entire technique. Extreme Burn is a devious recipe combining one part technique and one part gimmick that will allow you to visually change bills with no cover.
What to expect:
You will learn 9 different hyper-visual changes.
The comprehensive 90 minute DVD teaches you every detail, from setting up the bills to performing the changes, and all the handlings, tips and subtleties in-between. Nothing is left out. You will be up and running in no time.
As a special bonus, you'll learn Richard's underground miracle, Slow Burn. They'll flip-out as they watch bills visually morph, while you slowly pass your hand over them!
Package includes:
* Specially manufactured gimmick
* Full length DVD with 9 devastating bill changes
* Special bonus Slow Burn
Additional points:
* Easy to do.
* Immediately repeatable with absolutely no reset.
* Works with any currency.
* Change $1's to $100's, transform paper to money, foreign money to local currency, the possibilities are endless.
* Carry it in your pocket and you’re always ready for a miracle!
$29.95 (10.1114)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=2116&cat=0&page=1)
Holy Grail - Jordan Johnson: A visual advancement in the torn and restored card plot.
Devised by Jordan Johnson, this effect will leave your audience staggering.
A deck of cards enters play. A spectator picks a card and signs it. The magician clearly tears the card from top to bottom and then left to right.
The spectator holds the four separate quarters. Piece by piece they are taken by the magician and fully restored right in front of their eyes!
Even the creases are visually removed.
It is 100% back together and the spectator’s signature is on the card.
All the spectator can do is run away and scream. This is real magic.
Holy Grail can be done totally surrounded in a group or one-on-one.
$24.95 (30.1308)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9299&cat=0&page=1)
Undiscovered Wonder DVD - Mel Mellers:
Mel Mellers is back!
Hot on the heals of his best-selling twin DVD set, Tickling the Mind, Mel's new DVD features six jam-packed routines complete with all the gags and presentation plots you'll need.
The Clown is Dead. Welcome to Mel Mellers Undiscovered Wonder, the very latest DVD from the ever inventive mind of one of Britain's most successful comedy magicians.
Contents:
Interactive Production - The perfect opening for any undiscovered wonder. Simple, clean, and very easy to do!
Thoughts in a Hat - A mind-reading routine that packs small and plays big. Watch as Mel reads the minds of three audience members with hilarious results.
Sounds You Don't Like - Make your audience scream! One of the loudest reactions you'll ever get!
Agony Aunt - The classic Confabulation stripped bare. No gimmicks and you can even use a real wallet, Add this to Mel's brilliant presentation plot and this really will be the highlight of your show.
Flags - The card story with a unique twist. Not a playing card in sight. Just one brilliant routine with a truly international flavor.
Mind Reading Puppet - Can a stuffed duck really read minds? Watch as Mel proves that they can.
$45.00 (DVD00836)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9298&cat=0&page=1)
You Asked For It - Rare TV Magic Acts (4 DVD Set):
The set features the classic illusionists and extreme escape segments from the 1950s TV show You Asked For It.
These videos contain 67 performances of greats like Blackstone, Dante, Frakson, Kuda Bux, and Tarbell.
In addition to mentalism, manipulation, and vintage escape challenges (the roots of Chris Angel and David Blaine's stunts), the set is a virtual encyclopedia of classic stage illusions, essential viewing for anyone performing and studying illusions.
These shows have not been seen since the 1950s and will be fascinating for both magicians and classic TV buffs. There's even a segment with Bela Lugosi in full Dracula attire!
$99.95 (DVD00835)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9297&cat=0&page=1)
Magic Wishing Coins: Alan Wong’s Magic Wishing Coins are thin palming coins for manipulation, perfect for miser's dream and pulling a coin out of someone's ear. The value of each coin is one magic wish. A Magic Coin which you magically produce from thin air should have the power to give someone a wish, right? On the other side is an original radiating Lucky Star design with seven embedded stars. Surrounding this powerful image, the coin reads May Your Wish Come True. The coins are 4 cm in diameter, only 1.2mm thin, nickel plated, and made of a hard steel alloy. They are very shiny. Since they are magnetically attracted, a lot of possibilities are opened using these coins! Just put a magnet in your pocket and the coin will stick to your pants, elbow or anywhere you like to hide them!
Imagine, easily palm 15 of these large size coins in one hand and they are only 2 cm thick in total! More load for miser's dream with less effort!
Comes in a black velvet bag with gold drawstrings and 10 Magic Wishing Coins.
$38.00 (20.379)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9296&cat=0&page=1)
Dove From Sketch Pad: Direct from Dan Sperry's award winning Las Vegas dove act comes the Dove From Sketch Pad.
Bring out an ordinary-looking artist’s sketchpad and display it to the audience. Pull the cover back to reveal a blank sheet of paper. Using a broad-tipped marker, draw the outline of a bird. Once the drawing is complete, tear off the paper and place the marker and pad of paper back into your table. Crumple up the drawing and produce a real live dove!
No Body Loads
Self Contained
Perform Virtually Surrounded
Easy To Do
Perfect for Kid Show Performers
Perform it any time during your act or show
Complete with everything you will need. Includes pre-drawn dove so you can trace if needed. $249.95 (60.1510)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9295&cat=0&page=1)
COINsomnia - Bill Citino:
The Random Conjurings of a Sleep Deprived Mind
Contents Include:
Money Doesn't Grow on Trees..
The perfect opener for a restaurant/strolling situation. The magician produces three coins, one at a time, from the sleeves. As the third coin is produced it suddenly vanishes along with the other two coins. The coins are then produced once more. This routine is quick, visual, and easy to do!
Almos Frame-ous (2 versions)
A purse frame production like none other! this one must be seen to be disbelieved...The productions are like nothing that has been seen before!
I. T. H. C. A.
If you have to ask what it means, you haven't seen it done!
That's Impossible!
Just like the title says...this one happens all in the spectator's hands. In fact the transpositions happen three times, each time getting better and better.
Comin' Outta the Box
If you've liked what Roth has done with the Okito box, then you'll love this routine. An "Out with Four" type routine where four coins are placed inside and magically come out one by one, each time getting more impossible and more visual!
3 Coins Hangin (2 Versions) - Featuring 3 Coins Outta Nowhere Production
Three coins are magically produced out of thin air. After this happens the magician offers to explain how the trick was done and goes on to visibly "hang" each coin in the air, after turning the coins invisible of course. After each vanish the hands are seen empty and that there's nothing hiding. Once all are "hung" the magician produces the coins again one by one.
Hangin' Coins Worldwide
An international hanging coins plot where American, British, and Chinese coins are magically produced, vanished by being hung in the air and then reproduced.
The 5th Dimension
Bill's signature routine. A deadly combination of a purse frame production and wild coin effect. Add a story with an emotional hook and you have this routine.
13 Items Total - 3 Utilities, 8 Effects, and 2 Alternate Handling
$30.00 (BK01567)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9294&cat=0&page=1)
Second Chance - Wayne Dobson:
Without you even touching the deck a spectator thinks of any card and removes it from the deck and hides it in their pocket. You then take another deck and claim that you are going to try and choose the same card that the spectator has hidden in their pocket. You remove one card and the spectator removes the card from their pocket, however it is NOT the same card. You ask for a Second Chance to prove that you have chosen the same card.
Turning over your card it is seen that the spectator’s 'Thought of Card' is written on the back, proving that it is the same card!
Sounds impossible? It's that good!
* 100% Self Working.
* Regular Decks.
* No memory.
* Instant reset.
Includes these bonus effects:
PenUltimate
Spectator thinks of one of four colored pens. No questions asked, and you tell them the color that they are thinking!
An Amazing Tale
Throughout my TV series 'A Kind of Magic' I presented a routine called 'Alistair Witchells Amazing Tales', Here I feature one of my favorite classic storylines based around the Gypsy Thread.
$20.00 (BK01566)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9293&cat=0&page=1)
Armband Mystery: Hiro Sakai brings you another great trick, Armband Mystery. An amazing mysterious trick in which a regular bicycle card is penetrated by a solid metal armband.
The armband and cards are both examinable!
Includes gimmick and instructional DVD. $26.00 (10.1441)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9292&cat=0&page=1)
The Blade: New from Japan’s Masuda, it’s The Blade.
Borrow a bill. Any bill. Crease it. Slice it with a real razor knife. Then, restore it to its original form! Completely undamaged!
The Blade is an amazing penetration illusion. The audience actually sees the blade go through the bill. They see the bill standing alone, impaled on the blade.
They see you slice right through the bill.
Then, they see the bill completely unharmed. It looks unbelievable!!
The Blade is very easy to do; the special knife does all the work for you! You will learn it in five minutes!
$24.95 (10.478)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=2029&cat=0&page=1)
DaMasuda Deck: A card is selected, remembered and returned to the deck the deck. Let’s say the card is the Eight of Spades
Magic, Magic, Magic and the selected card suddenly appears face-up and crosswise in the middle of the deck.
The card is returned to the deck, and the deck squared up.
“This deck seems to be special in that all cards are the same. Let's see the face of the cards."
The deck is handed to the spectator who confirms that the magician is correct. All the cards are the same. But, they are all Two of Hearts. There is only one Eight of Spades!. $28.00 (30.1307)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9291&cat=0&page=1)
De'Ring DVD - De'vo:
One of the most highly anticipated manipulation DVDs ever!
Some of the most powerful and incredible displays of manipulation that you can perform anytime, anywhere! If you do not normally wear a ring, you will start wearing one after watching this DVD! De'vo's ring manipulation is absolutely amazing! It has been tweaked to perfection over the past 20 years! This is pure manipulation! No trickery, just your hands and a ring, plus some of the most wicked moves you will ever witness!
De'Ring can be used as a stand-alone routine or used to create or modify your existing routines.
Thes DVD features De'vo's 3 phase core routine along with a large variety of ideas/concepts to take you beyond the core.
This is the material you have been waiting for to break up your card material, as an opener or closer or both!
DVD Breakdown:
Video Montage: View most of the wicked moves in the DVD in one incredible montage!
Things To Know
4 to Kill
* 4 things that make De' Ring Kill
* Ring Types
* Protecting your finger
* Ring fit - exact size information
* Taking off the ring
De'vo's Core Routine
* Intro w/studio/live performance clips
* Mock performance
* Tight Ring (both real and mock versions)
* Flash-On
* Deceptive
* Finale
* In depth on the "Hook"
* Combo Demo
Beyond the Core
* Intro
* Transfer-On
* Magical transfer
* The Wave
* Basic Spin
* Around the World Spin
* Spin to Palm-On
* Palm Spin
* Palm spin to Ring-On
* Tap-On
* Hand to Hand Transfers
De'vo's Insanity Ladder
* Types of Rings
* The Lift
* 2 Rung Roll
* The Tip-On
* Final Ring-On
* Flipback Toss to Ring-On
* Advanced Ideas
De'vo's material has been kept underground and very limited until now! $34.95 (DVD00834)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9290&cat=0&page=1)
And that, my fellow, travelers, is all the coolest hot stuff you will find anywhere. Trust me on this! I hope you will check it all out, I hope you will also check out the new Extra. And, don’t forget to register for a free Conclave registration!
As always, I sincerely hope you will find some time this weekend to spend with us either online at www.magicfact.com or in person at 102 North Street in Medford. Either way, we love the company!
Hank Lee
