So bored was I that I started to wonder, “What magic trick could I do with this little box?” After awhile I worked out a method for doing a coin in bottle trick with the box taking the place of the bottle. The more I fiddled with it, the cooler it looked. All the props were non-gimmicked, even the coin!

When my wife returned to the car I figured it was only fair that she be forced to watch my new little magic trick as punishment for making me sit an hour waiting for her minute to pass. So I asked her for a quarter, showed her the empty tic-tac box, then slammed the box onto the quarter. With a loud crack of a noise the quarter popped into the box – barely filling the container.

I handed the box with quarter inside to my wife who looked it over, shot me the skunk eye and said, “How did you do that?” Now I knew I had something! It’s not always easy to impress a magician’s wife with a new magic trick, and even more difficult to fool April. So here is my semi impromptu, super easy, non-gimmicked, minty fresh method for coin in bottle.

Set Up:

You will need a little tic-tac container and two quarters. Empty out the mints from the tic-tac box using your favorite method. Keep just a few to put back in the box later. The tic-tac box has a sticker that runs from one side of the box, over the top, and down the other side. The seal is broken slightly when you open the little pour spout to get your mints. Run a razor blade or a thin pocket knife across the seal where the top of the clear box meets the bottom of the lid. The lid of the box actually extends a half inch into the box. Open the little pour spout and pull it up to remove the lid from the box.

The sticker left on the box makes a one inch square on either side. This will easily cover a quarter. Lay one of the quarters in the box across the front of the box (the side with the sticker that shows the tic-tac logo) so that half the quarter is in the box and half is sticking out of the box. Now insert the lid into the box so that the quarter will be trapped between the lid and the box. As you press the lid down into the box the coin will slide along with the lid completely into the box, trapped between box and lid, and hidden by the outside sticker. You may need to push the quarter just a little to get it to go down far enough into the box. You want the sticker to hide more of the coin than the lid holds. Now put four or five mints back into the box and you’re all set.

Routine:

Stand around looking like a miracle worker until someone comes up to you and asks you to do a trick with a coin and a tic tac box. This may take a while. Okay, maybe you had better offer to show someone.

This works best as a spur of the moment trick. Take out the tic tac box open the pour spout and offer one to your spectator. Let him take the mint out himself. Usually he will not notice the trapped coin and later will remember that he held the nearly empty box himself. If he hesitates remind him that there is only one and a half calorie per refreshing mint, and suggest to him that he really needs one.

Place the box aside as though you were through with it and ask for the loan of a quarter. (You have an extra one just encase no-one is willing to give you theirs.) Open your left hand palm up and place the quarter across the base of your left fingers so that if you were to close your hand the quarter would be immediately finger palmed.

Pick up the tic tac box with your right hand. Hold it with the front label towards the spectator, your thumb on the left side of the box, your index finger firmly on the top of the lid, and your second and third fingers on the right side of the box. This not only gives the spectators a clear view of the front of the box, but partially hides the side view, and the index finger will provide the necessary force you will need to dislodge the coin.

Holding the box in this position, bring it over the coin in the left hand and slam it down hard on the coin. The instant that the trapped coin becomes dislodged, and you will be able to tell by the noise it makes, casually drop your left hand to the side keeping the quarter finger palmed. All eyes will be on the coin in the box. Shake it around a bit so that it rattles in the box along with the extra tic-tacs. Hand out the box to let the spectator examine and remove the coin. Pocket the extra quarter at your convenience.

Notes:

I found that I had to do the trick about a dozen times until the lid had just the right amount of tension to hold the coin firmly, but still let it fall on the first whack. Sometimes you may need to whack it twice.

Since the first printing of these notes it has been suggested to me by several people that you could possibly steam the tic-tac box and peal off the label. Set up the coin, then glue stick the label back on. I have not tried this, but it certainly sounds possible.

Also, the new “States Quarters” are out. Which means you are going to have to make sure the quarter you borrow has the same back design as the one in the container. I will sometimes ask for two quarters, chose one and switch in a duplicate. By asking for two coins the spectator doesn’t try to memorize the backs. Or you could ask specifically to borrow a states quarter that matches the one in the box. “Have you guys seen what can be done with the new Ohio Quarters?”

That’s it! It’s fun, it’s easy, and packs a surprisingly good punch. You’ll find this version of coin in bottle to be a nice treat for your audience. Ahem . . .

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If you’ve done any amount of performing at all, I’ll bet you were nodding your head in recognition on at least a half dozen of these. In my 20+ years of performing I have had at least half of them come up myself, and I’m sure that the only reason that the other half hadn’t is because I had the foresight of another performer’s experience to help me avoid them.

The more you learn from your own experiences the more you realize that when most of the these unexpected little challenges arise, it’s your fault! Oh, you can blame the moron who was in charge of the event, I know I do, but the truth is that many bad situations can be avoided with a well-written contract.  And if you’re one of the many, many performers who say that they never use a contract then here’s my first word of advice: always use a contract!

Contracts won’t scare away anyone, not even a nervous mom at a birthday party. If anything, a contract gives them the peace of mind that you are a professional, and that you will show up on time and conduct yourself professionally. If the word “contract” scares you, replace it with “Performance Agreement.” It sounds friendlier, but be aware that it is equally as binding. An easy to follow “Letter of Agreement” that will suffice for many programs can be found in Francis Marshall’s Success Books.

Your contract should, at the very least, have the following information spelled out:

• Name, address, and phone number of the company or organization that hired you.

• Name address and phone number of the venue.

• Agreed upon date, start time, and duration of your show.

• The fee for your show and when it is to be paid.

• Any travel costs billed to the client.

• Your cancellation policy.

• Stage, sound, and lighting requirements.

• Your name, phone number, and address.

• The type of show they are booking. (One man stand up? Two person illusion? Close Up? Etc…)

For almost all shows I also insist on a 50 % deposit with the return of the signed contract, and payment in full the night of, and prior to the show. You will be amazed how many companies will send the payment in full when you ask for a deposit. When that happens, make sure you keep track. It’s a bit embarrassing to ask for your check when they were nice enough to pay you in full weeks before the show!

For birthday party shows, family picnics, or church shows, I’d take a chance and do not collect payment until after the show. The odds of your getting an extra $20, $50 or $100 as a little bonus will go up if they pay you after they’ve had a great time!

Now I am fully aware that just because you’ve spelled out your needs in detail with a contract that it is no guarantee that everything will be done as agreed upon, and I’ll talk later of what to do when it doesn’t, but without the contract you are begging for something to go wrong.

Along with a contract I, and many other magicians I’ve talked with, include a “Helpful Hints” page. I’ve used one for years and it can help a lot with things that may sound too petty to include in a formal contract. My helpful hints page includes:

• Asking for the wait staff not to clear or serve during the show (if it’s an after dinner show)

• Have management on hand to quite or in worse case remove drunk or disruptive audience members. (When the boss asks you to stop, you stop!) When I did birthday parties I insisted that an adult that represented authority was always present.

• Do not announce the death or serious accident of a co-worker or family member before the show. (Yup! It happened to me… twice! After the second time I put it in the hints page.)

• The show will not start any later than 15 minutes past the agreed time. (Less leeway if I have another show following it.) A variation on this that I have seen is that the show can start later, but will be shorter, and end at an agreed time.

• The client is to check all sound equipment before the show. (I’ll double check it when I get there, but it saves time and helps insure that the microphone is set up and ready to go when I arrive.)

There’s more, but you get the idea. Now, what do you do if in spite of all your efforts something happens that could ruin the show? First of all I strongly recommend that for all your shows you arrive 30 minutes early. That is 30 minutes earlier than you need to set up. The old axiom “If you’re not early, you’re late!” applies even more in show business. Very often you’ll find that many corrections can be made just because you are early. If everything is running smoothly, use the extra time to meet the boss, the vips, or the hotel manager. Do a little shmoozing.

Next, stay calm and take control. They may be the one who signs your check, but this Is your show! And it‘s your reputation on the line. Your confidence in asking for what you need will be seen as professionalism by your client! Trust me, this works far more often than not. Preface your request by telling the client that, “We want your event to go as smooth as possible, and more important, that everyone has a great time.”

Now hit them with your changes! Here are some of the changes that I have been able to get. Notice that I always frame my request as being in the best interest of the audience, which of course it is. The tone of the request is always helpful, not demanding. When I first adapted this attitude, I thought some of my requests were quite ballsy!  But by displaying the attitude of a professional who wants what’s best for the client, you’ll be surprised at what you can get:

Problem: No microphone, or the mic’s not working:
Tell the client, Since there’s no mic, and we want everyone to be able to hear the show, let’s move the two tables closest to the stage to the back of the room, and have the participants move their chairs right up to the stage after dinner.

This works very well and is one of my favorite solutions! The tight fitting audience always seem to have more fun, the laughter rolls like a comedy club atmosphere, and no-one chit-chats because everyone can hear them!

Problem: The stage is set at the end of a narrow room:
Tell the client, If we move the entire stage over to just off center the room, more people will be able to see the show.

That’s right! I got them to move the entire stage!

Problem: The audience is much smaller than expected, and spread too thin.  This is bad, too few people spread out in a large area makes your show seem small and insignificant. Picture 40 people in a theater that seats 300. Yuck!  But herd those people into a smaller section of the theater and it will rock! I‘ve even moved everyone right on to the stage before!

Tell the client, “Since there are so few audience members, why don’t we invite them all to come up close and I’ll come down and perform right up by the tables. I’ll even mix in some fantastic close up magic! “

Problem: The room you are to perform in is horrible in just about every way!
Tell the client, I noticed that the room down the hall would be perfect and would create a better atmosphere for the entire show. If it’s not being used, why don’t we switch rooms.

This happened to me at a college where many events were going on all over campus. My show was going to be at eye level with no stage with over 300 people attending in a narrow room. Because I was there early I took a look around and found a lecture hall that would work better, and we moved the show.

Not so hard is it?!  Use a well written contract and hints list, arrive early, and be willing take control and make demands, I mean “suggestions”, and you’ll avoid many pit falls.

One more suggestion, and this may seem to contradict everything I’ve said in this article, but it doesn’t really, and that is to Stay Flexible. Sometimes you just have to deal with what’s handed to you and make the best of it. In such cases I smile at the client and tell them, “We’ll make it work!” And if it doesn’t work, if they didn’t listen and the show went south fast, try to laugh it off… all the way to the bank to cash their check!

Have fun!

Dan Paulus

copyright 2008, 2010 Dan Paulus  all rights reserved.

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Introduction

This is yet another effect that takes advantage of the new Bicycle card boxes. This is an idea that Dan just came up with off the top of his head over pizza one day. The guy is a genius.

Effect

The pasteboard prestidigitator shows gives the audience a brief lesson in the history of cameras via the use of – you guessed it – playing cards. First a blank card (representing old-school Polaroid film) is shown on both sides and placed in between a red back Joker and a blue back Joker. The three cards are then placed inside the camera (card box).

A card is chosen. The magi/photographer aims the camera card box at the selection and the box clicks (snaps a picture). The “film” is removed from the box to show that a picture of the card has developed. The blank card is no longer blank. Next the freelance photographer points out that today, we use digital cameras. He then points the card box at the three cards (two Jokers and selection) laying on the table and “shoots” a picture. The card box is then shown to have actually printed on the card box an exact copy of the cards as they lay on the table. The card box has a permanent picture of the cards that were laying on the table, and the card box is examinable.

Props

• The New Bicycle Standard Style Card Boxes
• A red backed Joker
• A blue backed Joker
• A blank backed Ten of Hearts

Note

I recognize the fact that a Blank Backed Ten of Hearts isn’t exactly the easiest thing to get a hold of. The best thing I can tell you is either order a blank back deck (they’re about 8 bucks) from your favorite magic dealer, or make one by splitting a blank facer and a Ten of Hearts, then putting them together. There are many resources for splitting cards. I teach a very basic partial splitting of a card in my Gemstones DVD, but you’re likely better off getting a Card Splitting DVD such as The Art of Card Splitting.

As for the deck of cards, below are images of what they look like. Click on an image to enlarge it.

When I published Diamond Jim’s Effect, The Standard, in the April 2009 issue, I got many emails saying that people could not find the cards anywhere. Here in Salt Lake City, Utah, I can’t find regular cards. I can only find these new ones, so if you’re having a hard time finding them in your area, you can now purchase them from my site for $9.95.

Method/Performance

The method should be pretty clear at this point. Inside the case you have the red backed Joker, the blue backed Joker and the blank backed ten of hearts between them. The case is “ten-side” down. The only thing in the box is those three cards. The deck is out of the box, and you will use it to force the Ten of Hearts. Lay the Ten face up on the table.

Remove the three cards from the box. Remove the Ten blank side up with the right hand. As you set it on the table for a brief second (so that you can display the two Jokers – one in each hand), do a false turn-over move to apparently show both sides of the blank back card as if the card is blank on both sides. If you are not familiar with the false turn-over move, then go talk to you magic buddies or go to a magic club meeting and ask someone. Get off the dang computer and interact with some humans!

With one Joker in each hand show them and claim that these Jokers represent the chemicals used in old Polaroid cameras and that the blank card on the table represents the Polaroid film. Place both Jokers face up in the left hand. Place the Ten (blank side up) in between the two Jokers.

Place the three cards back in the box. Hold the box with the long end parallel to the floor, with the back of the box toward you and out of the spectator’s line of vision. Aim the box at the forced Ten on the table and click the box just like you would if you were clicking to take a picture (a Fism flash would be a nice addition here if you’ve got one).

Open the box and remove the three cards and remove the Ten from between the Jokers to show that you actually took a picture of the card on the table. Casually toss the newly created Ten on the table face up, then seemingly casually place the red and blue Jokers on top of the face up ten so that it looks like the picture on the back of the box (see the image above).

Then as an afterthought, you mention the fact that these days, people don’t use Polaroids. Everything is digital, and you can preview the image even before you decide to print it. Then you point the box at the tabled three cards. This time you are holding the box with the short end parallel to the floor. The back is still toward you. You then pretend to snap another picture after which you reveal the back of the card box to the audience to show that you captured the picture of the cards as they lay on the table.

Extra Ideas

Idea 1:
Rather than using Jokers, you could use a red blank facer and a blue blank facer. This is a little more complex, but it gives you a really nice show of a blank card on both sides. Here’s the set up: place the two blank facers face to face. Then place the Ten face down (blank side up) on top of the two face to face cards. You can now do a block pushover double to apparently show both sides of the blank card as being blank. Once you’ve done the double turnover, you’ll be left with the Ten sandwiched face up between the two face up blank facers.

You will not, of course, reveal this. However, you will turn the entire three card packet face down and perform the glide to apparently place the bottom card on the table. However, due to the glide, you will will end up placing the Ten blank side up on the table thus leaving you with the red and blue cards face down in your left hand. From the audience’s perspective, you’ve just shown a card to be blank on both sides and placed it on the table. Next show the red and blue cards, one in each hand and proceed as in the original version.

Idea 2:
Another little tip you can do that will add a little depth to the effect is cover the back of the case to hide the picture of the Ten. To do this, when removing the cellophane wrapper from the deck, just remove the top portion and leave the bottom portion in tact. If you remove the plastic right at the pull strip, you will find that you can leave the cellophane wrapper on the bottom 3/4 of the box.

The wrapper will come right up to the bottom of the half moon on the back of the box. Next, slip the red backed Joker (or blank facer if you are using Idea 1 from above) between the cellophane and the box with the red back showing. This will make the box look like an ordinary Bicycle box.

Then place the other two cards inside the box. Now the box can be shown freely on all sides. In performance, show the box around (casually), and rattle it as you deliver your presentation. You rattle it so that the audience can hear that there is “something” inside. Hold the box close to them so they can see both sides. You might even say something like, “There is something inside. Can you hear it? It’s inside, not here on the outside and not here on the outside, but here, in the inside.”

As you say the words “not here on the outside” point to one side of the box. Then as you say those words again, turn the box over and point to the other side of the box. Later they’ll remember that they saw both sides of the box. In order to remove the card, simple open the box (moon side down), and when you pull the two cards out of the box, also make sure you grab the card on the outside of the box and  let it slide along the other two for the ride.

By the way, in order to pull this steal off effectively, you’ll need to make sure you’ve removed the half-moon sticker. So that’s it; I hope you enjoy this effect. It has a lot of presentational potential and is a good effect to really allow your performance personality to flourish.

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