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This Month's Featured Story
from a BBM Reader: Preston
Good Monday morning BigBlind! As I read your newsletter I am sitting in my easy chair with my friend Ken Scott's little magic kit we got for my seven year old after seeing him at a local library show and was reminded of the last show I put on as a favor to her. BTW, it's a tradition each year to take her to see Ken and "Crocko" getting an annual photo of my daughter, Ken, and Crocko together. That's another story though.
I always enjoy seeing Ken and how he's improved his timing, routines, and general character since we've known each other for almost 30 years and both doing church youth shows. He rarely has a mistake that wasn't planned, but myself and his helper that day noticed one or two and both commented on how well he handled saving those moments! On Ken's behalf, he had just had surgery a few days before the show and still did it in spite of certainly not being his best physically! I could tell he wasn't feeling normal but the audience had no idea, other than when he mentioned it as part of a routine. This guy is a class act in the business and shows us that even the most experienced and established can and will have those fails, but it is how we handle them that makes a special and professional performer!
I was then reminded of my last attempt at doing a show after many years. I had to quit doing stage/parlor shows since being disabled but kept up with performing the close up that got me started. My daughter was then a few months from turning six and had asked me to do a show for her kindergarten class as she had been constantly telling classmates about "daddy's magic" so how could I say no. As I began hauling props into the cafeteria at her school, I was reminded why I hadn't done this in a long time. I had kept a good bit of my parlor stuff that could easily be used for stage and put a show together with what I had. The only stage prop I still had was a set of the foldable cubes that you could use for a fancy version of the old carton illusion.
I had pulled my daughter from class since she was my helper and planned on producing her from the "empty" cubes. She was planted in one of the cubes ready to be produced and as the class came in and she heard them, she began talking loudly in response to them. Immediately the kids hollered "Gracie's in the box!" Uh oh... What to do since it was supposed to be empty on start and I would be showing it as such in a moment. There was no way to deny what the kids "knew" from what they heard. I had to think fast and then blurted out to them "are you sure?" They were all yelling yes and since I had their attention at that point, I excitedly said "let's find out!"
The kids were on the hook at that point and thankfully as I showed the box empty, my daughter did her part as practiced and those kids freaked out when I showed it empty! The rest went as planned when I put the boxes together and my daughter popped out, amazing her classmates! I got two great responses from an illusion that usually only gets one because of quick thinking! The rest of the show was a lot of fun for everyone and they talked about the box trick for weeks. I packed it all back up and realized that as much as I loved it I couldn't do that kind of show again but could teach others how to.
We can spend hours, days, weeks, months, and years learning magic tricks and techniques, but it doesn't matter what tricks one performs as it is how it is performed and presented. I can't tell you how many mistakes or fails I've had in performing professionally and semi professionally since I was eighteen years old (I'm 55 now), but most of those I learned from taught me to think on my feet and that no matter how good I would become, mistakes and fails were going to happen. Magic entertainment is more about the entertainment than it was magic! It will happen, even to the best, but how you recover from a mistake or fail is a big part of what makes a performer great and is a sign of a true professional!
- Preston
From BBM: If you would like your story featured on our newsletter, reply to this email or any other Big Blind Friday email, with an interesting story and we might feature it next month!
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