DESCRIPCIÓN DE LAS FORMACIONES La Formación Miravetes

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confirm that it’s his ring linked to the ladies ring. He knows his own ring, and assumes that the Staggering is the lady’s ring, and so he confirms my statement. Again, no spectator ever sees three rings linked together; I always conceal one of the spectator’s rings during my displays.

I move to the woman and show her the two (?) linked rings. As I walk over to her I transfer the rings from my right hand into my left. At the same time, my left fingers cover the man’s ring, allowing the woman’s ring to come into view. I display the two (?) linked rings to the woman and ask her to confirm that it’s her ring that is definitely linked to the man’s ring. She assumes that the Staggering is the man’s ring, and confirms my statement.

That’s about it. I state that I will unlink them and I unlink the borrowed rings from the Staggering; with my right hand I put the Staggering into my left sleeve. I take the man’s ring into my left hand and hold it up over my head so that everyone can see the hand empty except for the man’s ring. I return the woman’s ring to her, allowing the audience to see that my right hand is also empty. I walk across to the man and return his ring. As I do, my left hand drops to my side and I catch the Staggering as it falls into my hand. It remains palmed there while I return to the stage. As I pick up a prop for the next routine, I ditch the Staggering.

As simple as my routine is, there’s an even more straightfor- ward version. I’m sure that many others have thought of this, but I’ve not seen it published (possibly because few magicians want to suggest an effect that uses a stooge). So, if this shocks or offends you, don’t use it. Simply have a lady stooge in the audience who arrives wearing your Himber ring. You pick someone who will cooperate with you and who can meet with you a day or two before the show to discuss what she needs to do. I suggested a lady because my Staggering is quite small and wouldn’t fit most men. Many ladies will have to wear it on a pinky finger. The lady seats herself in an easily accessible location – a seat in the first row or an aisle seat near the front are good. If the event has reserved seating, you get the tickets for your helper and her escort.

To perform the effect, you announce that you want to borrow two pieces of jewelry. And you ask everyone who is wearing a ring that they can easily remove to raise their hand. You go to your stooge, perhaps stopping to look at other rings on other spectators along the way. Look over the rings your stooge is wearing and ask if you can borrow one. She gives you the Staggering, or course. As you move to another spectator who has his hand up, you open the Staggering in your hand. You now approach another spectator and ask him to loan you one of his rings. As soon as you get it, you place it into the same hand as the Himber ring, link them, and lock the Himber ring. You hold the rings up, displaying them to the audience, and proclaim that you have done the impossible; you have linked two borrowed finger rings.

You walk up to the second person who loaned you a ring and show him the rings linked, asking him to confirm that his ring is linked to the first spectator’s ring. As you walk back to your

her hands. You ask her to look at them very closely. Then you ask if she can see any way that the rings could have become linked, or, for that matter, any way the rings can now be separated. She confirms that she can see no way that this could have happened or can be reversed. (You coached her to say this the day before.) You then take the rings back, and as you blow on your fingers, you unlink them and close the Himber ring. You return it to your stooge who places it back on her finger and then you return the other spectator’s ring. Usually when I return to the stage I ask that the spectators whose rings I’ve borrowed look at them very closely so that they can confirm that their rings have not been damaged in any way. They do so and you ask the audience for another round of applause for the two kind helpers.

The effect of linking borrowed finger rings together is very powerful. It deserves an equally powerful presentation, so work long and hard on your patter. I’ve seen several performers do this; without a doubt, the most powerful and memorable presentation I’ve seen was Jonathon Pendragon performing the routine at the Magic Castle.

THE ABC BLoCkS TrICk

This is one of my favorite effects for elementary and pre- school students. My set was made by Mel Babcock; his House of Magic website still lists the blocks, made in four different sizes. The set is pictured in Photo 4. On the left is the stack of three blocks sitting on the base, which has an upright rod sticking up through three holes drilled in the center of the blocks from top to bottom. On the right is the wooden cover that covers the stack of blocks. Mel Babcock does excellent wood-working; his set of blocks looks great and has held up very well over the years. He also provides a heavy cloth bag with a drawstring closure to protect the tube in transit and storage. You can see the bag with the covered stack of blocks inside in Photo 5.

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Mel makes the sets of blocks in a variety of sizes; I use the three-inch cubes. The routine I do is based on the published routines of my friend David Ginn in his books Professional Magic

for Children and Comedy Warm-ups for Children’s Shows. I don’t

do it exactly as David suggests, but my routine is based on his and I use many of David’s excellent lines. David’s website is www. ginnmagic.com; I spoke with David on the phone and he still has these books in stock.

I made a couple of simple modifications to the equipment. I drilled a hole in the tube, which you see in Photo 6. The hole is seven-eighths of an inch in diameter and one-and-a-half inches up from the bottom of the tube. I then cut a piece of black felt the exact size of one side of the inside of the tube and glued this felt piece against the inside of the tube, covering the hole. The tube can be tipped up and displayed to the audience as seen in Photo 7. With the felt in place, you cannot see the hole inside the tube even from close range.

There’s a point in the routine when the three blocks are appar- ently stacked up on the stand as in Photo 4. The top “block” is just the metal shell. It’s covered with the tube as in Photo 8, and the tube is turned so as to align the top and middle “blocks.” At this point the shell is free to fall and make noise. Without the hole in the tube you have to keep your fingers at the bottom of the tube to prevent that. This can look suspicious, and the shell could slip and come into view prematurely. With the hole in the tube it can be held innocently, with the thumb in the hole. The thumb pushes the shell against the inside of the tube preventing it from slipping out into view. The tube is lined up with the middle block and lowered down over it. All the while, the thumb holds the block in position. When the tube contacts the top of the lowest block, the tube is turned into alignment with that block and slides down over it. You are now all set to reveal the disap- pearance of the middle block.

I also placed a small dab of white paint on the top edge of the tube in the middle of the side that has the hole. This can be seen in Photo 7. When the blocks are in the bag, I can peek into the top of the bag and see the dab of white paint so that I can remove the set with the hole on the back side out of the spectators’ sight.

On March 13, 2012, I had an hour-long phone call with Mel Babcock. I’m pleased to report that he still makes magic in his shop and his full product line is available. I’ve owned several of his pieces and can testify to the high quality of his workmanship. He’s

excited about the fact that he has discovered that he can take any photograph or piece of art and turn it into a decal that he can use to decorate his props. Photo 9 is a picture of an Oriental set of ABC Blocks done this way. If you’re looking for something special in a handcrafted piece of wood-crafted magic with a unique design, get in touch with Mel: Mel Babcock, 3755 Eels Rd., Cashmere, WA 98815, 509-782-2730, www.nwi.net/~magicmel

A QuICk PLEA

If you write up sleight-of-hand tricks, please use the names of the fingers. I’ve been doing magic for many years and I still have to stop and think about which finger is the fourth finger, or the third finger. Call them the thumb, index finger, middle finger, ring finger, or little finger. Thanks. 

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There will be no photographs to illustrate this issue’s topic. I am aware that a graphic image can be more effective than many words, but I am a gentleman (to the extent that that is possible for me). So my faithful readers will have to suffer through my verbiage and let appropriate illustrations form within their minds.

I have written before that to a would-be, novice illusionist it always seems that the formidable cost of obtaining the expensive prop is the extreme hurdle that stands in the way of sawing women in halves and levitating them in mid-air. Sadly, that is not true. It is true that illusions are expensive, and more so now than ever before. I cannot fathom how a young illusionist gets started today with many of these props priced around $7,500 each. The fledgling artist needs a father who owns a bank, or access to funds in the quantity usually reserved to besmirch the opposition candidate in a federal election.

However, once a piece of illusion apparatus is paid for, it’s paid for. The cost, though, continues to remain an expense as that bulky gear is stored and transported from show to show. I doubt Messrs. Burger and Maven often deal with air cargo when travel- ling to appear along the Atlantic seaboard or the Pacific coast. But, an illusionist with a Sword Cabinet and a Crystal Casket has some expensive decisions to be made.

Still, that is not the “weighty issue” of this column’s title. It’s a bit more…ahhh…delicate. You see, once you’ve got the box the girl gets into, you have to find, and hold on to, the girl.

Just one year ago as I commenced preparations for my annual Halloween-themed show (shameless plug: October 19-27, 2012, www.illusionsinthenight.com), I discovered we were one cast member short. As has so often happened in my life (sadly, onstage and offstage) I needed a woman. I spread the word through the returning cast, but when we had no success via networking, I opted to run a job-offering ad on one of the Internet’s best known websites for this sort of endeavor (perhaps I shouldn’t mention its name, but its initials are Craigslist). This had worked for me in the past.

I described the job as best I could without overselling it and not promising thousands of dollars with little effort like a specious spam solicitation. And, the applicants began to respond.

I called several of them and asked questions if their email response to the ad seemed to warrant further interest on my part. I asked if the woman was claustrophobic, allergic to animal fur, comfortable in high heels, had any onstage performing experi- ence, and whether she would be okay with circus-style skimpy costuming. If the applicant leapt those hurdles with affirmative answers, I politely, and with apologies, asked for her height and weight.

All the young ladies seemed forthright and honest about the first series of questions. I think they all lied about their weight. Is this part of growing up in Wisconsin, where we enjoy an abundance of rich cheese, fragrant fatty sausages, and too much carbohydrate-laden beer? Or, was it wishful thinking on their part, hoping that claiming to weigh 115 pounds would make it be so? I have no idea.

I directed them to my two websites and instructed them to look at the photos, where they could obtain a better grasp of the nature of the job, even though I think most everyone in America has a pretty good understanding of what a magician’s assistant does: stand tall, look glamorous, say “ta-da,” and adopt the poise of a real showgirl. I never had anyone visit the websites and then say, “Oh, no, this is not for me. I’m not appearing in public in sequins and feathers with my hiney hanging out!”

One by one, they made their way to my home where I had the costume for my Shadow Box laid out. The rest of the show was set; this new cast member had to do this opening illusion, Burning Alive (same outfit), and the Modern Cabinet (another “barely- there” costume), plus other roles in which size is not an issue and the costuming is more forgiving.

Much of the front of my Shadow Box costume is flesh- colored netting. It’s not one-hundred-percent transparent, but it is far from opaque. You’ve seen this fabric anytime you have watched ice skating competitions and performances. The costume also has shiny black fabric, and it’s this black fabric that comes around the woman in a jagged design that keeps her covered in a more-or-less strategic manner. Bill Neff, a man way before his time apparently, had a similar outfit where it looked like a pair of hands coming around the assistant’s bosom.

I looked forward to meeting each potential assistant, and I’m sure they all had some degree of excitement about this unusual employment possibility. But, when I answered the door each time, I was shocked. What were these women thinking? Had they even looked at the website photos?

It is unfair, of course, to grade anyone by their outward appearance. And, the truth be told, at least one of these women had a wonderful personality that I took an immediate liking to. I could not find the words, or the courage, to just say, “Hey, I’m sorry, honey, but you’re too big. You’re not going to fit.” I certainly have met people who can be that painfully direct, but that is not within me. So, I politely interviewed them and let them tell me about themselves. Maybe, I thought, I’ll find someone whom I might call upon at another time when size wasn’t an issue.

But, after the pleasant exchange of conversation was over, I let the Shadow Box costume be the “bad cop” to my “good cop” demeanor. I showed them the outfit and explained that the other

“Here’s a vacant room you can change in,” I said, and gave each woman her privacy. I knew what would happen. The woman would wiggle into the outfit, immediately see the futility, get redressed, and then emerge, mumbling something about this not being what she expected or the costume not fitting, thereby leaving with some degree of pride left intact.

But I was wrong.

Remember, we were strangers. They had come to my home… alone. Each of them emerged from the vacant room wearing the outfit and stood before me with the fabric stretched such that the see-through netting was now in places the designer had never meant it to be. “Well, we’d have to do something about that,” I found myself saying more than once as I stumbled for a comment about what was (I thought) so embarrassingly apparent.

In one case, I attempted to salvage something for the waste of her time and my time. I perform the Broom Suspension a lot; it’s my “go-to” illusion. This girl had told me her weight and it was well under the 150-pound maximum for the prop. But, of course, I hadn’t actually weighed her.

I am aware that some performers are buff and fit and spend untold hours at the gym pumping weights and going through a regimen of exercises to achieve heartthrob proportions. I am not a slob; I do take reasonable care of myself. I don’t smoke; I eat in a healthy manner, eschewing fast food as a rule and getting fresh fruit and vegetables daily while limiting red meat. I do try to jog or bike six days a week for about forty-five minutes each. But I do not lift weights. I had a salesgirl try to sell me a set once and I told her that if I could carry them home I obviously did not need them.

Plus, I regularly perform illusions. How much additional weight-lifting do I require? My Geometrick prop weighs hundreds of pounds in its case and I’ve loaded it by myself more times than I could ever count – ditto for many other cumbersome props and my way-too-big sound system with an amp rack that could be a yacht’s anchor.

So, I introduced the buxom gal to the wonders of the Broom Suspension, apologizing for all the liberties it must have seemed like I was taking with her to fit the contraption onto her body. She was all ready, and I instructed her as I have to so many since my first attempts at this chestnut in 1970.

And, guess what? I couldn’t lift her from forty-five to ninety degrees!

Let me tell you that I was not too proud to be totally embar- rassed. Did she realize that her mass was what caused me to abdicate hoisting her to that pleasant horizontal profile? A little voice in my noggin was shouting, “Seebach! You’ve had hernia surgery three times. Haven’t you learned anything?”

If you’re wondering what ultimately happened last year I will tell you: I thought we finally found a suitable gal who came to me via a daughter of a long-time buddy. She was properly