Does anyone know any effects that involve a Hat? I use a hat in my cups and balls routine for the final load and would like to use it more in my act to give a reason for it being used.

Ideas such as using it as a cover for silk untying trick or to vanish something under etc.

Any ideas would be great,

Cheers,

Matthew

I have Wizard's hat change bag that my wife made me. So basically any change bag routine I can do with this.

Hi Matthew:

What kind of hat are you using?

Ron Reid

Here is a picture of the hat I use:

http://www.bates-hats.co.uk/images/velour.jpg


The picture is also an attachment on this message.

Any Ideas for tricks with it or ones that use a hat like this would be great.

Matthew

Click here to view attached image.

Matthew,

I have baked a cake in hat...and gotten quite a few laughs!!!

Mmm...could be a bit messy for the street!

Mat,

I started a thread about hat magic a while ago in the Ring, Strings, and Things area, here is the link...

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......4&11

I have seen a nice trick involving a hat called Nest of Clocks. It involves producing several clocks from inside a hat or wherever you want. It is in the Davenports catalogue.

Cheers, I'm working the street so it is better to have effects that don't take up much room and are light weight. Cheers Mark, must have missed that post.

Good question and topic. I recall seeing some effects using this type hat in Tarbell. Some were matrix-type effects and "Benson Bowl/Sponge"-type of routines. I have used my hat for the "cascade revelation," i.e. Eddie Fechter and also performed by Ricky Jay.

I do a Two Card Revelation, Card Thru Hand followed by the Cascade Revelation, first spreading the hank in the hat, doing the Cascade into the hank/hat and then easily gathering up the cards in the hank to disposed of them for clean-up, putting them in my ditch bag at the end of the effect and the hat back on my head.

Also, I think there is an effect or two in Tarbell using the hat in a "wand penetrates hat" kind of effect.

Gee, I hope this helps. I would also be interested in knowing other effects that can incorporate the hat. Feel free to PM me with questions.

Mark

If you don't mind causing a bit of damage to your hat, Gaeton Bloom has a very nice effect using a rope, a hat, and a deck of cards on his videos.

Jason

John Ramsay had a couple of effects using a hat. One was a six-card repeat and the other his hanging coins routine. Both would work on the street.

Eddie

I attempt to catch a rabbit with my hat with the multiplying carrots. If you don't actually want to produce a live rabbit, you could produce a rabbit silk with aid of your TT.

Another effect I've found that works well is using the Professor's Dream rope set to produce a chosen card after tossing the deck inside the hat and mixing them all around.

http://trickswithhats.org/

I know you guys clearly mean "magic tricks" with hats but it's always a good idea to add a little juggling. A hat is an excellent prop. I usually use it for flashy introductions and maybe some clowning.

I always thought of putting a black flap in my nils poll and hide a bright red silk in it. I like the idea of the production. The effect is very visual and I can see it working pretty well with your average crowd.

I've never really thought about it much, but now I've gotten started.

There are endless ways to use a hat in a magic show. My absolute favorite is anything that is body loaded. With a hat the audience lets you get away with murder. Any time you see me holding a hat with my thumb and little finger under the brim, the thumb is hooking a load. And a top hat will really hold a big load. The brim is hard so the hat is very easy to control. I also have a hook that hangs on the back of my table and allows me to steal a second or third load from my tabletop by dragging the hat across the table.

If you can use a cowboy-type hat like Bubba Whodini, the brim itself gives you more cover to change decks of cards (even jumbo decks), silks or other items. The flashy silk linings of good hats help convince the audience they saw it empty (and they did) before you turned it upside down and swung a load into it.

Then there is the obvious use. Put in your lap to use as a servante before passing off to an assistant to get out of your way as she hands you something else under the hat.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

Hat loads used to be a staple of the stage magician.

I bought one previously very cheaply and personally never really got comfortable with it, so I just use my hat as cover for a number of things, particularly useful for taking it off in surprise as though a bird just made a deposit, and looking up while you do any number of magical things as everyone is looking up with you.

You can also, at an appropriate time, do as I do, where I take it off, hold/prop it against my chest and I wipe my brow. At that moment I can load a horse into it, (assuming I can hold the the horse in a load inside my jacket lapel).

BroDavid

Patrick Page has a video on Bits of Business and in the video are several stunts and tricks you can do with a hat.

Darryl the Wizard

In my show I flip my hat from my head to my foot, then I flip it from my foot to my head, first by using my hands, and the second time I do it with no hands. It was not a hard trick to learn and when you get it right you receive both applause and respect from your audience.
See Ya
Al Angello

A stunt that Al's post brought back to memory was one that rodeo clowns do in outdoor arenas. Find an overhead wire in the arena (Speaker wires are my favorite.) and toss clear fishing line over it. Attach both ends to your belt buckle, jeans loop, etc. When the opportunity arrives, attach one end of the line to your hat (Gem clip through the sweat band works for me), stand directly under the wire and throw the hat (brim up) as far high and away as you can and step back to tighten the line. (That will also make it go up.) When the hat starts around behind you step forward. The hat will continue to circle you but higher. Step back under the wire and the hat will drop to elbow level and you can grab it as it circles. Break the line and put the hat on. (Don't forget to break the line end tied to you too.) I personally prefer breaking the end tied to me first and let the hat fall in the arena. Go stomp it for discipline and put it back on. Bad Hat!

Bob

Bob
I do an "R" rated top hat trick with velcro in the lining of the hat and the other end of the velcro hooked to my belt. I call the trick "natures hat rack" and it kills in comedy clubs. After I remove the hat from the velcro on my belt, I laugh at the audience and tell them "at my age I would need at least 200 milligrams of viagra to do that".