Greetings from all of us at Hank Lee’s Magic Factory, where the rain continues. We are thinking about building an ark, but will give it a few more days.
Fathers’ Day was really nice. All the fathers and grandfathers came to our house and Bonnie made a lovely lunch. I did the grilling, although I probably would have preferred napping. A man’s work is never done. It was an all-clothes Fathers’ Day here. Some new shorts and shirts and a bunch of new socks. I really wanted the socks, as my sock drawer had become out of control. For Fathers’ Day, Bonnie cleaned out all the old socks and replenished the supply. It was the perfect gift.
Aron is home this week for a few days between classes. He is really working hard at UF, and has needed to take some summer courses so that he will graduate on time. There is a week between Summer A and Summer B, so he is at home right now, but goes back next Tuesday.
Lucas continues his summer internship at Opera Boston. He is really grinding away at his job. Hardly any time for fun.
Here at the Magic Factory, things are a-buzz, literally. With all the rain we have had over the past few weeks, some moisture seems to have found its way into the main power grid at the warehouse. On Tuesday afternoon, all the computers went off. Just the computers. Not the lights or the refrigerator or the microwave or the beer cooler. Just the computers. So, it was down to the basement to check it out. Steve-O and I removed the panel from the circuit breaker box to see what was going on. Steve-O had a Funkenring with him. Pretty funny, when the sparks shot out. He laughed. I did not. The breaker that feeds power to the computers looked OK. But looks can be deceiving. I am pretty brave around electricity, but there was no way I would replace a 60 amp breaker on my own. That’s for the big boys who actually know what they’re doing. So, I did what I know. I turned the breaker off, then on, then off, then on, then off, then on. And, miraculously the computers all came on. However, I will not be fooled by this stroke of electrical luck. This morning I will call an actually electrician and have the breaker replaced. Good plan, right?
There are a couple of items that are on back order, and I just wanted to let you know about them. Identity, the wonderful Richard Sanders effect, is on the way to us right now, and we will have plenty to fill all of the back orders. CAPtivated has been delayed from Alex Lourido, but we have plenty on order and will get those out the same day they arrive here. These should also be along very soon. If you have either items on order, don’t worry; we will get yours to you just as soon as possible.
We are busy making up a huge batch of Leopard Dies. This is the great old-school trick I told you about last week. You will find it in this week’s Hotlist, and we will be shipping very soon!
And, that’s all the news from here. Now, let’s check out this week’s excitement!
DVD SALE: It’s raining. It’s pouring. Is there a better time than right now to hunker down in front of the big screen and watch some DVDs? No, sez me!
Starting right now and ending on Wednesday the 1st of July at midnight, you can save 29% on almost every single DVD that we carry. The 29% is deducted from the individual DVD prices, not from set pricing. And, the minimum order is $25.00 to get the discount.
All you need to do is enter the special code DVDSALE in the Discount Coupon Box of the online checkout at www.magicfact.com and we will automatically deduct the 29%. If you place your order by phone, toll free at 800 874 7400, just mention the special code, DVDSALE, and we will deduct the 29%. You can also place your order by FAX at 781 395 2034 or by email at magicfact@aol.com. No matter how you place your order, just mention the special code and save 29% on all the DVDs!
Now, it’s time to check out this week’s Hotlist!
Falling Head Illusion: As performed by Cyril on television, now you can perform this crazy-looking illusion that will surprise everybody!
It’s a real audience shocker! You can show this illusion everywhere, in the street, on stage, in a comedy act, wherever!
At any time, whenever you like, you can cause your head to drop down to the middle of your chest. Then, while holding your head in your hands, you move it back up to its proper position: on your shoulders again!
* Extremely easy to do
* Extremely visual
* Comes complete with gimmick and DVD explanations
$49.95 (60.1596)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=1948&cat=0&page=1)
Portable Flea Circus: What is more fun for both you and your audience than an “olde tyme” Flea Circus? This portable Flea Circus is perfect for smaller venues, great for birthday and small platform shows. The entire circus is housed in a very handsome hand-stained wooden box and is approx. 10 1/2" long.
Danny The Daredevil Flea is the star of this circus. Your audience will witness stunts unlike any they have seen before!
They’ll see Danny drive a car, hop on the teeter-totter, dive from the shaking high wire into the bucket below. They will witness the splash of water at the end of the jump! Then, there’s the shooting cannon, the clapometer with a burst of confetti at the end, the falling target and the motorized trapezes, which swing back and forth.
Finally, there’s Danny in the lion’s cage, taming the wild beast. You will witness the chair moving inside the lions’ den!
The Flea Circus comes complete with interchangeable backgrounds, clip-on battery spotlights and a miniature box for the fleas.
Complete with full directions and routine. No real fleas are used, but you already knew that, right?
Priced very low for such a high quality item. $500.00 (60.1596)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=1950&cat=0&page=1)
Leopard Die: The Leopard Die is a real blast from the past. The effect is totally direct and extremely visual.
Show a large, 3-1/2 inch square, clear Plexiglas die. The spots on the die are all the same color, let’s say yellow. You can see the spots on all the sides. Yellow as far as the eye can see.
Take a green silk and drape it over the die for just a second. When you remove the silk, the spots on the die have all changed to green!
Now, take a yellow silk and drape it over the die, again for just a second. When you remove the silk, the spots have all changed back to yellow!
It looks amazing. And, it is really easy to do. Totally self-contained; you’ll be able to do this one five minutes after you take it out of the box. Only one die is used!
Comes complete with the very special Leopard Die and two 18” pure silks. $39.95 (60.1597)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=1981&cat=0&page=1)
Levent’s Half Dyed Silk Trick: Levent teaches his own handling of this now classic effect, using a special single dye tube and no body loads!
You start and end the routine with your hands clean. Learn the routine along with Levent’s concise explanation and demonstration of his method. You will also learn the history of the effect how it was performed by masters of the past.
Complete with the dye tube, the silks and a comprehensive 50 minute DVD. $65.00 (60.1598)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=1985&cat=0&page=1)
Foundations DVD – Jason England: Twenty years of experience. Eight moves. Three and a half hours. One DVD. Jason England, the hands behind the motion picture SHADE, presents a 3.5 hour DVD anthology on expert card technique. Every structure begins with the foundation: the groundwork; the base; the fundamentals. This is it.
Foundations is a collection of eight specific movements, taught in detailed instruction by a true master - someone who has developed and refined his proficiency with legends like Steve Forte, Richard Turner, Martin Nash, Darwin Ortiz, and Chris Kenner.
Foundations is the result of months of production by Jason England and theory11.
On the DVD, Jason covers The Bottom Deal, Strike Second Deal, Center Deal, Greek Deal, Push Through False Shuffle, Palming Fundamentals, Diagonal Palm Shift, and the MacMillan Switch. All moves are explained in unparalleled detail.
$49.95 (DVD01017)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=1971&cat=0&page=1)
Patrick Page’s Easy Money DVD – Featuring John Lovick: The dream is universal: making money from nothing. Once you've learned Easy Money, that dream will come true!
Holding five blank pieces of paper, the magician folds them in half. Unfolding them, each slip instantly transforms into a genuine, spendable $100 bill! Just as easily, the dream slips away. With another fold and wave of the hand, the bills become blank again.
Though spectators will credit the magician with deft finger-flinging or adroit sleight-of-hand, Easy Money isn't difficult to perform. It requires a minimum of study and practice to master. Better still, after the necessary preparation is made, the trick can be carried in your pocket or wallet and performed at a moment’s notice.
Every detail of Patrick Page's original effect is taught by John Lovick on this broadcast-quality DVD. Over the shoulder camera angles make understanding the trick easy.
As a bonus, Lovick teaches variant handlings of the effect, and his personal handling of the Slow Motion Bill Transposition - a sleightless transposition of a $1 and $5 bill that happens in the spectator's hands.
An ideal trick for strolling performers! $15.00 (DVD01018)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=1988&cat=0&page=1)
Ultra Elastic Thread (Black) – Ben Harris: 20th Anniversary Edition
The streetwise choice in bulk elastic thread!
Unique, Tangle-free Dispenser
6 Routines/Trick Ideas
Plus Full Thread Tutorial with all the Pro Tips
Created and custom extruded to Ben Harris's exacting specifications, Ultra Elastic Thread has remained the choice of thread professionals since 1987.
The ideal "all-purpose" elastic thread, this is the thinnest and most invisible elastic thread ever released. Stronger and thicker threads come and go, but Ultra Elastic Thread is always available and dependable with its design registered tangle-free thread dispenser.
Complete with full thread tutorial including tips on looping, flashing, camouflage, anchors, and much more. You also receive 6 full-fledged powerful routines/ideas to get you started on your elastic thread explorations.
Learn:
* The Slider
* The Enchanted Butterfly
* The Floating Smoke Ring
* The Flying Pip
* The Floating Card
* Coins On The Move
$25.00 (70.124)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9865&cat=0&page=1)
Anthony Owen Lecture DVD: - Anthony Owen is well-known as a BAFTA and Rose D'or award winning television magic producer and executive on over one hundred hours of television magic shows including Derren Brown, The Real Hustle, Dirty Tricks, Magick, Monkey Magic, The Quick Trick Show and The Secret World of Magic. However, his first love is as a creator of original, innovative magic and mentalism and in this DVD of his acclaimed lecture at the 2007 MacMillan International Magic Convention he shares some of his favorite material from his best selling books Some Tricks and Some More Tricks.
Natural Lottery
This gasp getting opener to Anthony’s Monday Night Magic act is ideal for any stage or platform performance. The magician asks six random audience members to each select a different number between 1 and 49. Amazingly these numbers prove to be the same six which are on the printed lottery ticket the magician bought earlier that day! You might not be able to win the lottery, but you can influence your audience members to pick the numbers you want them to! No pre show or limited selections.
Number at Card
A unique solution to a legendary card effect. A deck is handed to a spectator for safe keeping. A playing card and a number between 1 and 52 are both freely named (no forces, pre show work or limited selections). The deck is opened and it is revealed that every card has a different number between 1 and 52 printed on its back —and incredibly the freely selected card bears the freely selected number!
Holey Sh*t!
An amazing visual vanish of a selected card created by Anthony in collaboration with Pete Firman. In Anthony's handling the selection visibly vanishes from between two examined cards each with a hole in its centre. The card appears face up in the centre of the deck which the spectator is holding. At the end all of the cards can be examined. This is ideal for commercial walkaround situations as no table is required.
Big Survivor
Members of the audience are invited onto the stage to participate in a magical version of a reality television show. The audience decides who is evicted and yet the performer reveals that he had correctly predicted the winner - twice. Entertaining, topical, stage filling mentalism.
Ultimate Oil and Water
A performance only of Anthony's acclaimed SOBW Oil and Water routine in which the cards separate even when mixed face up!
$30.00 (DVD01016)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=1966&cat=0&page=1)
Mind Blowing – James Biss: Now in paperback! In the first half of this decade, Canadian mentalist and writer James Biss released his controversial first book, Messing With Minds. Now out of print, his work has become one of the most coveted books of magic and mentalism, commanding hundreds of dollars at auction. Around the world, James now performs, lectures and consults with the hottest names in the field on his rethinking of the classic plots of mentalism, turning them into fresh effects with astonishing entertainment value for today's audiences.
Now as the decade draws to a close, James Biss has finally released his much anticipated sequel entitled Mind Blowing.
Mind Blowing contains numerous essays on new approaches to performing, including the provocative "Practicing Zentalism" and "The Seven Secrets of Mind Blowing". Each explores his on-stage alternatives to the bullying mentality so prevalent in our art. This exciting new work also includes the inside stories of his contentious creations including TeslaVision, White Tagger, and the world's number one mentalist design duplication tool, The Impressionable Mind Board. Incredibly, he has also included detailed instructions for assembling the hottest mental assistant in a generation - the Remote Control Change Pack.
The main body of this impressive 352-page book consists of the entertaining presentations and the ingeniously simple methodology that James Biss has become associated with. This paperback edition also includes:
* The Dating Game: Bachelors wildly guessing a Bachelorette's cell phone number (only in this edition!)
* Zenerbocker, Visionaries and Out of Rhine 's World: Stand up, knock-out effects with giant ESP cards.
* Taking Pictures & ESP-Mail: Re-mastered and engaging approaches to Q & A.
* Chinese Oracle: The definitive multi-phase prediction routine.
* Password Projected: Annemann/Cassidy clairvoyance without the envelopes.
* Plus extremely mental effects such as Breastigitation, Do Not Disturb, Mental Air Mail and more than twenty other original new ideas.
* And a Bonus Feature: Mind Blowing itself can be used on stage as a prop. The book has been specially gaffed to perform one of the strongest pieces of mental magic you'll ever perform…the vanish and re-appearance of a chosen page totally in the hands of a spectator! This effect alone makes the new book an incredible value that will blow you and your audiences away. $69.00 (BK01619)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=9730&cat=0&page=2)
And, that’s this week’s shockingly exciting Hotlist. Something for everyone! I hope you will take some time to check out all the new goodies, and maybe, just maybe, place an order. And, don’t forget that, until Wednesday at midnight, all of the DVDs are 29% off!
As always, we appreciate the time you take to spend with us, whether it is online at www.magicfact.com or in person at 102 North Street in Medford. You know how much we love your company!
Hank
