Show Days

I decided I am not going to talk about a single show this weekend. I am going to talk about doing shows in general. This is what happens when I am doing shows.

Load the show.
Drive to the show location.
Unload the show and show prep.
Do sound checks
Do the show at the agreed upon time.
Pack the show.
Collect my show fee.
Drive home or to another show location and do it all over again.
If I drive home and it is the last show of the day I unpack.

And that should cover what I am doing this weekend when I am doing grad nights.

Cheers!

The Scissor Bottom And The Punch Cull

The first part of this video shows the scissor bottom deal. This was an idea I had one night when I was on the road performing hypnotic shows. I was in the hotel room hanging out before the show. Dealing cards to pass the time. I worked out the straddle grip and used the take I used for a center deal.

When I saw Dai Vernon lecture back in the 80's. He talked about the second deal. And he said something interesting. He said the take was just as important as the timing and the grip.

So I changed the take using the straddle grip and I called it the scissor bottom.

The second part of the video is me doing the punch cull to run up the 4 kings. The 4 kings are placed into different parts of the deck. Jog shuffled and then cut. And 5 poker hands of draw poker are dealt and the magician - card shark - ends up with the four kings.

On the video is an advanced method of culling and staking with the punch. However when I was starting out with this as a new idea. Using the punch cull. And only the punch with the cull. I used to cull the 4 kings to the bottom of the deck. And then use the scissor bottom deal to deal out the hands.

And I would get the 4 kings in the demonstration - or I dealt them to one of the audience members.

I still find it amazing today that I was able to advance this technique and how few magicians have no idea - how good it is.

The Scissor Bottom And The Punch Cull.

Cheers!

Charlie Miller - Charlie Miller - Charlie Miller

I never got to meet Charlie Miller.

 

 

My dad the late Billy Bishop met him in Texas. My dad was performing in night clubs and in theaters down in the lone star state at the time. Charlie Miller came to see my dad perform. He was younger than my dad was and Charlie was going to see every magician he could. Looking for program material for his own show.

 

The story goes - he liked the way my dad did the miser's dream (producing coins out of the air and tossing them into a sand bucket). He also got along with my dad because he was a student of erdnase just as my dad was.

 

 

In the 80's we had a magic shop in the Old Chicago shopping mall. This shop had a lecture room and my dad wanted to open the lecture room with a big name in magic. It was Dai Vernon or Charlie Miller that came to mind. Vernon did not do lectures away from the Magic Castle at that time. So my dad got Charlie Miller on the phone and we booked him.

 

As I said I never met him - Charlie canceled - I did get to talk to him on the phone. And he did send me film that was put onto video tape. That was going to be used in the magic shop to promote the up-coming lecture.

 

 

Well the lecture fell through - but here is the film footage of Charlie Miller - Charlie Miller - Charlie Miller.

Enjoy!

Jack Pyle One of my Mentors

One of the things I learned from Jack Pyle was the idea to learn how to control a deck when doing poker deals. After that I did little set up the deck poker deals and routines. Jack Pyle used to do as a close up act, card tricks and poker and bridge deals.

Here is video of Jack Pyle in action doing card effects.

After doing card effects Jack Pyle would close the act with his bridge deal.

Enjoy!

Harry Lorayne The Legend

As I remember it was back in the 70's when I was living in Chicago. I got word through the magic grape vine that Harry Lorayne was going to have a teach in. It was an eight hour event where he would do and teach all the classic routines from his books.

Harry Lorayne was a magician that had been on all the talk shows of the day. Mike Douglas, Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, Dinna Shore. My dad the late Billy Bishop also said that he was the most entertaining magician with a deck of cards he had ever seen.

So I took the day off from the magic shop.

And I went to the teach in.

And I have to agree with my dad. Harry Lorayne was the most entertaining magician I had ever seen. I watched him entertain a group of magicians. He got up on a table and he did all the classic card magic tricks that I read about and learned from his books.

He went on - performing for eight hours - card trick after card trick. That alone to some might be amazing. Harry Lorayne was an "old school" performer and he did an eight hour set and seemed to enjoy performing as much as the audience of magicians enjoyed watching him.

Here is video I found on you-tube of the Legend Harry Lorayne performing the Magician VS. The Gambler.

Cheers!

And enjoy!

A Day Off Before A Crunch Weekend

Nice to have a day off before a busy weekend.

My last season performing grad nights.

I spent the mourning working out. And then I did some new stuff at my web site.

www.bishthemagish.org

I hope your day is going well.

Cheers!

This is the last Grad Night Season

I have my last shows comming up this month for my last grad night season. I still will do hypnotic shows at collages, night clubs and high schools. However I will no longer be doing grad nights at the end of this season.

Cheers!