Greetings from everyone here at Hank Lee’s Magic Factory. This week has literally flown by. Maybe it’s because we’ve been busier than usual. Maybe because, as all of you kids know, the summer weeks, especially as August approaches, seem to fly by. All I know is that we are already at the end of July, and about to turn the page into August. Where does the time go?
On the home front, Aron has found a great new apartment in Gainesville. And, word from the top, meaning Bonnie, is that he will be doing the moving himself this year. Meaning that the gods of summer heat are smiling upon me and I will not be helping Aron move this August. Don’t get me wrong. I would fly into the heat and humidity to help if asked. But, since I am not being asked, well, you get the idea. Bonnie and Bones The Dog came home for a visit this past week. A vacation from her vacation. Actually, she came back for a haircut and, ssshhh, don’t tell anyone, a hair coloring. Now, she looks her real age of 39. Lucas continues to toil away at his two day a week internship at OperaBoston. What a summer he is having!
I was very excited when a large crate arrived from our friend Gerald Kirchner of Magic City fame. He has been in such a gift-giving mood of late that I had no idea what to expect. The note on the outside of the crate said, “Hank – This item is guaranteed to improve your productivity by 100%!” Well, anything that improves productivity is fine with me. So, we got out the hammer and screwdriver and opened ‘er up. Here’s a photo of what was inside. Pretty cool, eh? Thanks Gerald.
Note: Those of you still getting the email Newsletter in text-only format won’t see this wonderful photo. So, you should drop me a note and I will be happy to hook you up for the oh, so, much better html format.
We had such a good time with last week’s excitement that we are going to do it again this week. Only we have made a pretty impressive change that I just know you are going to like. Don’t miss out on this!
And that’s everything from here. New stuff still comes in every day. The elves are still busy as can be packing and shipping orders. Life in the summer as usual.
Now, let’s check out this week’s excitement.
BUY ONE GET ONE AT 60% OFF SALES EVENT: By far the most popular sale we ever held was the Buy One Get One At Half Price Sale. When that event ran, just last week, we were inundated with orders. We have now juiced that sales event up by offering a gigantic 60% off the second item. That’s right, 60% off! Here's how it works. For the next 6 days, from right this very moment, until Wednesday, August 5th at midnight, you can save like crazy. How does it work? Simple, really. For every item you buy, you get the second item at 60% off. That's right, a full 60% off. So, if you buy a Harbin Suspension for $549.00 and a Sword Thru Neck for $199.95, you will get the Sword Thru Neck for $79.98! What a deal!!
The rules are also simple. We deduct the 60% from the lower priced of the two items. You can buy as many items as you want, we will do the math and you will save a bundle. There are a few items that are not included in this promotion. Very few. If you order one of those items, we will let you know before we process your order.
Note: Since this is a somewhat complicated sale, the online system will not do the math. We will do it here before we process your order. Your email confirmation will show the full price for each item, but we will figure the discounts before you are charged, and reimburse your credit card.
In order to take advantage of this outrageous sale, you must put the words BUY ONE GET ONE in the Customer Notes Box of the online checkout at www.magicfact.com. If you are calling your order in to our toll free number at 800 874 7400, give the order person the special code. If you are FAXing your order to 781 395 2034 or emailing it to magicfact@aol.com, just remember to include the special code, BUY ONE GET ONE and you will get the biggest discount ever! So, hop to it and save some serious dough!
Now, let’s take a look at this week’s Hotlist!
The Chair: In stock for immediate shipment! Originated by Dwight Damon, this custom made folding chair is a honest-to-goodness laugh riot.
The laughs begin as you try to open The Chair and sit down. Pieces swing around and tip up and down. At this point you have the audience’s full attention. The fun continues as you get your arm and leg tangled in the chair parts. Each attempt to get the chair to cooperate is met with more laughs. After a few more funny tries you get the chair together. Now, the audience wants you to sit down on it. You’re hesitant but with the audiences encouragement you give it a couple of tries. More laughs from your antics. Finally you sit and the unruly chair supports you! Proudly you beam at the audience, “I’ve won!” You stand to take your bow. Placing a foot on the chair seat you pose triumphantly. The audience howls as the solid looking chair collapses almost taking you with it! A visual comedy of errors!
This is not a modified chair but a custom built heavy-duty all steel chair with a tough baked on powder coat finish. It’s made to last for thousands of laughs. The Chair is designed for you the performer and not meant for an audience member to sit on.
The Chair comes with it’s own custom canvas carrying bag and an instructional DVD. It’s great for magicians, but also fantastic for clowns, jugglers or anyone that’s looking for laughs! $195.00 (60.599)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=3564&cat=0&page=1)
Ring Ring Ring A Bell: The perfect comedy props for your show.
Guy Bavli, following the success of Terry Herbert’s Tel’s Bell, now brings you this great new set of comedy bells!
Ring Ring Ring A Bell is a set of bells that look exactly like Tel’s Bell, but give you different comedy situations.
With the new bells, you will be able to create amazing comedy routines, running gags and boost your act to the next level.
Fall Away Bell:
Show the bell and give it to the spectator to ring. It is a normal bell and they can ring it as much as they want. When you want, ask your spectator to ring it one more time. As he does, the bell’s head will fall down on a string leaving him holding a very funny looking bell!
Break Away Bell:
Show the bell, ring it, and give it to the spectator to hold. As you do, it will break in his hands. Just like the classic Break Away Wand. We bring you the Break Away Bell.
Reverse Tel’s Bell:
Show the bell and give it to the spectator to ring as much as he wants. When he hands you the bell, you will not be able to ring it. This is the reverse effect of the original Tel’s Bell. Great to use after you have used the original Tel’s Bell, where you can ring it and the spectator cannot.
The three bell set looks and feels exactly like the original Tel’s Bell. Use them as a set, or switch between them around to create multiple gags throughout your show.
Perfect for kids, family, every type of show!
Ring Ring Ring A Bell comes complete with three bells, instructions and a special bag designed to hold the three bells plus your original Tel’s Bell!
$249.95 (60.1605)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=2144&cat=0&page=1)
Movie Time: A triple prediction routine that creates a very startling revelation!
On stage sits a generic DVD rental case, while you invite a spectator to come on stage to assist you.
As you flip through a book of movie titles you blindly ask the spectator to pick one title.
You then ask them to give you a random date of when the movie is to be returned and a random time.
When you open the DVD case there is the DVD title the spectator picked along with a reminder card with the correct date and time the spectator predicted.
Movie Time comes complete with the following:
• Gimmicked DVD case
• Specially constructed movie book
• CD complete with customizable artwork, routines, DIY guide, etc.
• Reminder Cards
• In-depth manuscript with scripts, jokes, routines and performance ideas by Marc Spelmann, Floyd Collins and Robert Haas. $59.95 (60.1604)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=2137&cat=0&page=1)
The Everything Guide To Comedy Writing – Mike Bent: Mike Bent is one very funny fellow. Whether he’s entertaining kids or families or doing stand up at the comedy club. He is funny. In fact, he knows so much about being funny that for the past several years, he has been Mike Bent, professor of comedy writing at Emerson College here in Boston. Now, Mike has written his first book on how to write comedy. And, it’s good. If you are funny, but want to be funnier; if you are not funny yet, but want to learn what it takes to be funny, this book is for you. It covers everything from stand-up to sketches and will prove helpful no matter where you are on the comedy spectrum. $15.95 (BK01661)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=2127&cat=0&page=1)
Bottoms Up - Tom Burgoon: An unseen force causes an ordinary empty water bottle to levitate and stand upright in the palm of your hand! No threads, wires or magnets! The effect can be performed completely surrounded! You can even borrow the bottle! $15.00 (10.1532)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=2161&cat=0&page=1)
Let Me Tell You A Story – Barry Mitchell: "It was just one boy, one rock, and one choice that changed his life. It all began in a little village in . . ." Storytelling grabs our attention! When someone says, "Let me tell you a story," we want to listen. What happened to the little boy, how could one rock change his life? Storytelling also teaches values, touches our emotions, and brings people together. Let Me Tell You A Story will inspire and challenge you to discover and develop your potential to not just tell a story, but to perform it. You'll read Barry's best stories and poems and learn how to write your own. This book is for everyone from grandparents to professional speakers. Open the cover and let me tell you a story.
164 pages. Hardbound. $45.00 (BK01662)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=2157&cat=0&page=1)
Crossroads Deck – Ben Harris: A spectator is handed a cased deck with the promise that the performer will not touch it!
The performer also places his wallet on the table, “This is my money trick...” he explains.
Two spectators are asked to assist. Together, they decide upon what appears to be a freely chosen card. In this instance, we’ll assume they decide upon the Seven of Hearts.
The performer now invokes his magic, and the selected card is brought under his spell—from a distance.
Reminding the audience that he has not once touched the cards, the spectator holding the cased deck is instructed to remove the cards from the case and to count them “out loud, one at a time, face down.”
He does so and counts only 51 cards to the table! In other words, one card is missing! You can hear a penny drop—“my goodness, could it be?”
Before that thought and the resulting implications are allowed to fully form, the spectator is asked to turn the cards face up. He is now instructed to specifically locate and remove the selected card. Even with those standing nearby assisting him, he cannot locate the card. It has completely vanished from the deck!
This amazing disappearance is accomplished remotely—and automatically—without you having to touch the cards.
Only one deck is used and it is given to the spectator before the card is selected.
Again, reminding the audience that he’d previously declared this his “money trick” the performer gestures towards, but does not actually touch, his wallet. It’s been on the table since before the card was selected. A spectator is invited to rummage around within. Inside she finds one single card. It is the selected card!
Note: The performer is free to re-produce the selected (and just vanished) card from a variety of amazing places: inside his wallet, inside his shoe, under his hat, or even a spectator’s own pocket! It’s really up to you.
Again, it’s fully automatic. Can immediately be repeated with another named card and without any re-set!
* Completely self-working (both the vanish and the re-appearance)
* You never touch the cards - ever
* Only the one deck used (no more multiple-deck outs)
* Spectator can remove card from its final destination
* Immediately repeatable (ideal for walk-around, or the streets)
* Chosen card can appear in your wallet, shoe, pocket, or anywhere - you decide
* No switches of any kind. No stooges of any kind.
Bonus Effect - CRACAAN
Steve Shufton has cunningly applied the “Crossroads” concept to the “Any Card At Any Number” plot and come up with one of the most perfect handlings ever. A card is named, a number is named. The chosen card appears at the nominated number and the performer never once touches the deck. Only the one deck used, and it’s out on the table before you start.
You receive the gloriously produced 36 page book, bound in full color covers, 8.5” X 11”. Use your own cards, no specially printed or produced cards are required. Special pre-order price: $27.50 (30.1432)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=2128&cat=0&page=1)
”I’ve been exploring versions since the mid-1970s and enjoyed your thinking on this.”- Max Maven
”This is going to FRY a lot of people...” - Richard Kaufman
Ultimate Contact Juggling DVD: On the sandy beaches of San Diego, Greg Shibley stumbled upon an ancient vagrant manipulating spheres in a way he had never seen. From that night on, he studied the art, practiced it, and refined it into his own unique style. Greg's calling was to become a contact juggler; now it can be yours as well.
The most thorough introduction to contact juggling ever assembled.
DVD Includes:
* Cradle Position
* Windshield Wipers
* Butterfly
* Arm Rolls
* Transfers
* Stalls
* Body Work
* Throws
* Isolation
* Combinations
Each section features four different ways to learn: in-studio explanations, slow-motion examples, visual diagrams, and real-world demonstrations.
This DVD builds confidence in beginners, getting them revved up to push their boundaries. Intermediate players will enjoy the extreme collection of tricks and easy-to-follow breakdowns. $19.95 (DVD01029)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=2151&cat=0&page=1)
And that’s this week’s Hotlist, one of the best in recent memory. Take some time to check out all of this week’s goodies. Then sit right down and place a nice big order. You know, the kind we like.
As always, I want you to know how much we appreciate your taking time out of your busy schedule to come and play with us either online at www.magicfact.com or in person at 102 North Street in Medford.
Either way, we love the company!
Hank
