Inside Magic

Mark Panner is a fan of Quinlan's Inside Magic or at least he has our number on his mother's speed-dial.  He submits stories almost daily and we rarely print (or even read) any of the offerings. 

We are printing his recollections of apparently his first Kid's Show Party because we think it might teach some important lessons.  Or maybe not.  You can read Mr. Panner's review of Bob Sheets' act here.  You can also check out his review of a magic effect offered by FAB Magic in Colon, Michigan by going here .

The kids were so cute and they had a devil of a time sitting still as I set up my props.

I
was trying to think of a way to keep them in line and though about
offering candy or Mountain Dew if they would sit in one place while I
set up.

I read somewhere that with kids that have
ADHD, they need stimulants like Ritalin to keep them calm and since my
DEA license was suspended as a result of a misunderstanding during a
routine traffic stop, I had only the combination of sugar, more sugar
and caffeine to replace the well-documented cure for all things that
distract.

Ironically, this didn’t work.

The kids were now standing and spinning like dervishes but without the religious connotation.

I
tried hard to finish setting up while the "Mom" looked on with a
helpless countenance that told me:

1) she couldn’t help;

2) she was not
really the Mom of any of the kids but possibly the "Daddy’s" new
friend; or,

3) she was getting a serious buzz off the Mountain Dew.

 

So I was on my own.

I got the Hippity Hop Rabbits set up and the Sucker Sliding Die Box as well as the Fraidy Cat Rabbit.

I
figured kids love sucker tricks so I’d do about ten of them in a row,
go into a poker deal presentation that would let me demonstrate my
ability to control fifteen cards as I shuffled and cut the deck
one-handed.

The final effect would be my latest purchase on eBay, Andre Kole’s Table of Death.

That table was a tough thing to set up. Plus the kids kept crawling up on the slab to try to reach the spikes.  I had to scare them by letting the spikes jerk down just a tad.

Anyway, I began by doing a dove pan and producing tons of candy.

I threw the candy into the audience and rather than wait their turns, the kids started diving for and grabbing the candy.

I
was trying to get them to return to their seats but they seemed more
intent on grabbing more candy than they could possibly eat.

Even "Mom" (or "Heather" as she was called by her future step-daughter) was grabbing for candy. 

I reminded her that she wouldn't be able to convert her status from "Daddy's Special Friend" to his next wife if she ate too much candy.  I reinforced my point with a gentle swat on her butt.

She gave me a look that could kill if I cared.  People don't like to hear the truth and especially women; and especially when it's a truth about their weight or shape. 

We finally got things cleared up when I fired a starter’s pistol. Even Heather yelped.

My
second through seventeenth effects were all sucker tricks and over the
course of the 80 minutes of magic, they seemed to either become more
calm or bored.

I doubt it was bored because I asked them if they wanted to see more magic and two of them said "okay."

But With a Rabbit!

One of the classics of the sideshow has been the Woman without a Head.

It
is a great effect – still sold by Abbott's – that shows a woman without
a head sitting in a chair with tubes going into the stump of her neck
and various machines keeping her alive.

I wanted to make the effect more real for the kids so I did it was a bunny.

I
had a bunny belted to a little chair and the optical illusion made it
look like its head was missing and that it was being kept alive with
the tubes and wires going down the stump holes.

I had a second bunny with just his head showing on the top of a little box.

I opened the box to show there was no body; just some veins and stuff dangling.

To be honest, this was the first time I got to use this classic with a kid show.

You should have seen their little mouths fall open when I unveiled the set-up. It looked so real, Heather threw-up and that caused a spontaneous chain reaction amongst the kids.

We had so much to clean up that I never got to the poker deal, the Twentieth Century Bra trick or the Andre Kole Table of Death.

I
guess I learned some valuable lessons:

1) bring a gun;

2) do your most
expensive illusion first because you might not get to it if there is
puking;

3) don’t hit on the "mom";

4) bring actual Ritalin rather than
trying to make a substitute – if I had produced the Ritalin from the
dove pan at the outset, the rest of the show may have been calmer; and,

5) be prepared for extreme reactions from extreme tricks.

I had assumed most of the kids had been to some slimy sideshow and seen the Woman without a Head but you shouldn’t assume that.

This may have been the first time the kids ever saw the illusion and had no idea how imaginative I was to adopt it for a bunny.

I
did do some balloon animals but because of the stench in the living
room, I didn’t want to stay too long and certainly not for cake and ice
cream.

I
didn’t get my check as I left but I did have a chance to give Heather
my business card so she could either forward the check to me or bring
it herself if she ever got tired of living in a house that smelled like
puke.

Continue reading My Weekend – Kid Show Lessons

In February of 2003, The Hardy Family took a trip with my family to the
Wisconsin Dells and we had the wonderful opportunity to meet Suzan and
Rick Wilcox.

They were kind enough to give us a tour of The Rick Wilcox Theater.

As impressive as it was — and it was — their story was even more
impressive. Suzan was kind enough to email  an article she had
assembled telling the story behind the story.

We're honored to have that story here on Quinlan's Inside Magic. We've rarely met two people so kind and so welcoming. 

This article was originally posted minutes after meeting Rick and Suzan in February 2003.

The great news is that the show is still up and running.  Check out
their website for information about the show, ticket purchase and
access to a very nice magic shop at www.rickwilcox.com. 

Watch their video when you hit the site.  Very Impressive dove work, Rick!

The Rick Wilcox Theater

Since we purchased our theater in December 1998,
we’ve had numerous inquiries from magicians who would like to know "our
secret". "How did you do it?" "Do you have a rich uncle?" "Can you help
me open a theater?" "Should I try to build a theater in my town?"
Here’s the secret to our success. . .

The beginning. . .

When I first told my family I was dating
a magician, they were "curious" to put it politely. But Rick won them
over like he does with anyone he meets -with his enthusiasm and joi de
vivre. But they did wonder, as most people do, how one decides to
become a magician.

Rick hardly remembers a time when he had
any other ambition. He was nine when his sister gave him a magic kit,
and he fell in love with magic almost immediately. It was a way to make
people laugh! He worked his way up the ranks as any young magician
must. He did it all – back yard shows, restaurant magic, trade shows,
blue & gold banquets, sales meetings, fund raisers – large
illusion shows and small sleight-of-hand venues. Wherever there was
work, he went.

After graduating from UW-Madison, Rick
continued performing magic while working in medical equipment sales in
Milwaukee, WI. Finally, in 1989, he made the leap into full-time
self-employment. When we married in 1996 he was traveling to over 250
corporate events per year. So it was only with a wedding ring on my
finger (and mainly for the sunny show locations) that I traded in my…

In February of 2003, The Hardy Family took a trip with my family to the
Wisconsin Dells and we had the wonderful opportunity to meet Suzan and
Rick Wilcox.

They were kind enough to give us a tour of The Rick Wilcox Theater.

As impressive as it was — and it was — their story was even more
impressive. Suzan was kind enough to email  an article she had
assembled telling the story behind the story.

We're honored to have that story here on Quinlan's Inside Magic. We've rarely met two people so kind and so welcoming. 

This article was originally posted minutes after meeting Rick and Suzan in February 2003.

The great news is that the show is still up and running.  Check out
their website for information about the show, ticket purchase and
access to a very nice magic shop at www.rickwilcox.com. 

Watch their video when you hit the site.  Very Impressive dove work, Rick!

The Rick Wilcox Theater

Since we purchased our theater in December 1998,
we’ve had numerous inquiries from magicians who would like to know "our
secret". "How did you do it?" "Do you have a rich uncle?" "Can you help
me open a theater?" "Should I try to build a theater in my town?"
Here’s the secret to our success. . .

The beginning. . .

When I first told my family I was dating
a magician, they were "curious" to put it politely. But Rick won them
over like he does with anyone he meets -with his enthusiasm and joi de
vivre. But they did wonder, as most people do, how one decides to
become a magician.

Rick hardly remembers a time when he had
any other ambition. He was nine when his sister gave him a magic kit,
and he fell in love with magic almost immediately. It was a way to make
people laugh! He worked his way up the ranks as any young magician
must. He did it all – back yard shows, restaurant magic, trade shows,
blue & gold banquets, sales meetings, fund raisers – large
illusion shows and small sleight-of-hand venues. Wherever there was
work, he went.

After graduating from UW-Madison, Rick
continued performing magic while working in medical equipment sales in
Milwaukee, WI. Finally, in 1989, he made th
Continue reading If You Build It They Will Come: The Rick Wilcox Theater Story