Magicians Archives

Should a Signed Playing Card be Given to People by Magicians?

When it comes to a spectator choosing playing cards, magicians can’t help saying:

“Pick a card. Now please sign your name on the card..“

Why do magicians have playing cards signed by their spectators? It’s such an odd thing to do. Playing cards aren’t supposed to be signed. There’s something else making the magicians get the names of their spectators on the playing cards.

The most popular reason magicians do this to playing cards.

It’s a time stamp.

Having a spectator sign a playing card is a proof that the playing card was in THAT space at THAT time. It elevates the impossibility of the effect, should the playing card be found in another location moments later.

Why do we give the playing cards to spectators to keep?

Hands up, who needs a playing card with their own signature on it? Anyone…?

Our own signatures are not rare, we can make one whenever we want. What’s the value in keeping a playing card we sign ourselves? It doesn’t refer to the magician, it doesn’t even point to what happened in the magic trick. It’s just a playing card with our name on it. Spectators do often keep the playing cards magicians make them sign, as a reminder of what they saw. It’s something to take out at the office a few days later as they tell their friends about the magician. But it could be so much better.

Dominic Reyes talks about alternative ways to give out your playing cards:

DO THIS: Next time you need a playing card signed, try one of the following:

1) Give an autograph – If a spectator signs a playing card, add some text yourself:

To
(signature)
Best wishes
(your name)

2) Make a wish – Ask the spectator to write on the card, a wish that they would like to come try in the year ahead.

3) Draw a picture – Ask them to draw a picture and then you can add a funny comment under it.

4) Turn it into a spell – Have them sign the playing card at the top. Under it, write: A wish to come true.
Explain that they should keep the playing card safe, and if they ever need a single wish granted, they should make the wish as they tear the card in two. They must keep the playing cards pieces safe, and it may come true.

Why Magicians Should Talk Less and Listen More

by Merchant of Magic Leave a Comment

Many magicians find that they practice a magic trick until it seems to flow perfectly, but when it comes to a live performance, things don’t go as well as they should. There’s a BIG difference between live performance and a practice session. We are going to recommend that you change how you practice your magic tricks. It’s a very small change to make, but should give you a huge step forward in your performance.

A magic trick practiced Vs. a magic trick performed.

Magicians build up to a magical event happening, after all, that’s the whole point of their magic tricks. However, many magic tricks have several magical events happening in a series. When magicians practice a magic trick they usually do it in private, towards an imaginary audience. It’s this audience of ourselves, silent in its reaction, that causes us a problem. We already know what’s going to happen, and our attention is on the next part of the routine to be performed. We don’t react to each magical event and give ourselves the same feedback that a live audience does. We run through our practice sessions, mastering the moves, then work through our rehearsal sessions, polishing the routine, but we never work on the feedback we will get when we perform. Here’s Dominic Reyes talking about this, and how it relates to magicians performing for the public:

During a performance, it’s tempting to move on to the next magical event in the routine, without stopping to allow the reactions of the spectators to play out. As soon as the coin vanishes, or the playing card changes, we start talking about what will happen next. We sweep the spectators along to the next part of the act.

Being eager to move on, prevents the spectators from giving your magic the reaction it deserves. It reduces the impact of a magicians magic tricks and turns the performance into a passive form of entertainment. Being a magician is as much about engagement with the audience as the magic tricks themselves.

DO THIS: Make a note of each magical event that happens in a few of your favourite routines. As you practice them, pause at the moment that something magical happens. Relax. Imagine making eye contact with some of the spectators and smiling. Make a little comment and imagine an answer to it. Breathe. Then move on to the next phase of the trick.

When you perform, pause after something magical happens. You want to slow down the performance, and also focus the spectators minds on what they have just witnessed.

Use the moment of misdirection to set up the next phase if needed, but once you are in the clear, smile at someone and laugh with them. Make a comment or answer a question. Make your audience feel that this isn’t a magicians stage show, up close. You are with them, performing something that they also play a part in. You will be very pleased with the results!

Magicians Names – How to Choose a Stage Name For Your Magic

by Merchant of Magic 12 Comments

How to choose your stage name?

Derek asks the Merchant of Magic team:

‘When it comes to magicians names what is the best route for coming up with one?

My initial thought is take my inspirations and use those to form a name, for example, my son’s name as the first name, and then maybe someone who has inspired me with their performance or dedication to magic for the surname (Wayne Dobson or Jeff McBride for example).’

What should you call yourself as a magician? That’s a tough question to answer. Do you keep your own name or try to pick another as your magicians stage name?

Reasons to use a magicians stage name

The most crucial factor is that YOU are happy with the name you choose to use for your magic. Answer these questions:

Do you currently feel uncomfortable saying your name when you introduce yourself before performing, and at the end of your show?
Are people spelling your name incorrectly when they write it down or search for it online?
Is your name so common that you don’t come up on the first page of Google when people search for it like this: ‘your name magician’?
Is your name already being used by another entertainer?
Do you want to have a strong distinction between your personal life and your professional life online and in the media?

If you answered yes to most of these questions, then you may want to consider using a magicians stage name. Here’s a few tips:

Is your magicians name memorable?

A magicians stage name needs to be memorable. After all, it’s the most valuable thing you want your audience to remember once you have impressed them. If you have a particularly common name, it may be worth changing one part of it, to something easy to remember. Picking words that have a clear visual association can improve this. For example, surnames like Diamond, London, Paris, Star, Black all provide strong visual cues to memory.

Spelling mistakes.

Can any of the words in your magicians name be misspelled or pronounced easily? Are there variations on how they are written? You need to make it easy for people to type your magicians name correctly into Google when they search for you.

Short or long magicians names?
This doesn’t matter too much. Think about Engelbert Humperdinck (Arnold George Dorsey). Short names tend to be more common, so less unique, but a long name runs a greater risk of being mistyped more often.

Using another magician or entertainers name.

There are exceptions, but generally this is not a good idea. There was a trend in the last century to add a ‘dini’ after magicians names in honor of Houdini, but doing that can add a preconception about you and your magic that may work against you. Be unique. It’s OK to take a name from another aspect of your life or interests, but suggesting a comparison between you and a famous magician, suggests you are a clone, rather than something unique in your own right. Try to stay out of someones shadow.

Magic Stan, Magic Colin, Magic Mark…..

Hmm. The easy option, and tempting as it defines what you do. However, it depends on your target market. For close-up magicians, it can come across as a little ‘cheap’. For children’s entertainers, these names work well as they are uncomplicated and easy to remember, and you only compete in a local market. But do you truly want to be one of 20 other people using the same name.

It’s all about search.

It’s vital that you search Google to check out your new name. Look for a name that has little competition. An unusual name will make it easy for you to be the number one search result when people type in your name. That’s incredibly valuable to your magicians advertising!

Simplify your existing name.

For a magicians stage name, you could try simplifying your current name.

Yves Saint Laurent (Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent)
Rudolph Valentino (Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina D’Antonguolla)

Anglicize your magicians name.

This is controversial, but many entertainers decide to change their name to market towards a western audience. To do this, they edit any ethnic or hard to pronounce words into shorter and easy to remember versions.

Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara)
Charlie Sheen (Carlos Irwin Estevez)
Anthony Quinn (Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca)
Raquel Welch (Jo Raquel Tejada)

Use a single name.

This worked well for Dynamo. A good memorable single name can be extremely powerful. Single names run a risk of sounding contrived, so it’s essential that they do match you. Dynamo defused this by having a nice back story about how he was given the ‘nickname’ by a famous spectator that saw him perform. This communicates that he originally used his own name, and the tag was pushed onto him. This prevents him seeming egotistical, which would damage, his ‘up from the streets through hard work’ persona.

Morphing your magicians name to an image.

You could choose a magicians name that relates to the scene or culture you want to be identified with. For example, the name Carrot Top provides a decidedly different impression and image than Marilyn Manson.

Pick a negative word to feature in your magicians name.

For some personas, such as dark magic or mentalism, you could communicate an intimidating or dark persona. Using a word like “Night” or “Black” in your magicians name may do this.