I like to use my snow storm but the problem is I can't think of a good story to perform it, I live here in the philippines so we are a tropical country we don't have snow here.. any suggestion for a good story? I like the story to be a serious one that it could be an illusion to all audience. I like the version of DC snow storm and I like his story in his special ILLUSIONIST.

thank you!

Whydon´t you tell about something that happened in a country far away, in Switzerland?

Magixx

I Wanted mine to be a bit different from all the other snowstorms. So I changed the color of the paper and told the story of my first visit to Japan and how magical the Cherry blossom were…. remember, it’s doesn’t have to be ‘snow’

How about a story of how the stage hands want to wring your neck after you do this effect?

I'm paraphrasing a story I once heard... After being booked to do a show, a famous magician (name ommitted) approached the stage manager after his appearance and his version of SNOW STORM - He knew that Dai Vernon and played the venue earlier that season and asked how his version compared with Vernon. The stage manager replied something along the lines of, "On no, Mr. Vernon is too much of a gentleman to leave such a mess."

Darwin,

if you recall david Copperfield presentation, he said that there is no snow in the states that they lived in before when he was a child.... he was very excited to witness one... watch the dvd again of 15 years of magic

and like TC said it doesn't neccessary to be a snow. how about petals of sampaguita....

The story that David Copperfield told doesn't seem to fit him very well. (After all, he grew up in New Jersey and his name was David Kotkin. I can assure you that if you grow up in New Jersey, you'll get a chance to see some snow.) It sounds like the sort of presentation that might have been originated by someone who grew up in California, maybe someone like Kevin James...

The best presentation that I have ever seen for "The Snowstorm in China" was that of Peter Samuelson's. Very original and very moving. It is his featured closer in his show. There is a video online of his Snowstorm performance but I cannot find it right now. His presentation was also published in an older issue of Genii Magazine quite a few years ago.
Scott

In Japan, when the flowers of the cherry trees lose their petals, those fall per thousands. One believes to see snow falling.

The presentation I use for my snowstorm routine is based on a true story that happened in my life. People tell me it is very moving, (it sometimes brings tears to people's eyes) and very personal.

It seems that snow itself is so magical (to me antway) that there should be plenty of presentations that one could come up with.

Regan

I've not performed, this stunt yet, but plan to in my next major appearance. I already checked with the custodial staff who replied, "Go ahead and make a mess everyone else does and we gotta' clean it up anyways, Just don't use glitter, We're still trying to remove that from the carpe from 10 years ago." They also thanked me for checking in advance for the Okay. I'm split between two different ways to perform this stunt. As I live & perform in Minnesota a sob story about never having seen snow won't work so I'm going the other way and telling of the Blizzard of 86 for which there is a popular childrens camp song sung to the tune of MacNamara's Band. I like to sing as I perform, kinda' like Shari Lewis but more of a baratone. My other option is to ask how many in the audience have see :The Karate Kid" and I speak of the scene wher Mr. Miagi slaps his hands together to make his Chi hot them fixes the kids broken leg. I then plan to use a DeLite to make my hand glow and dry the tissue paper and blow it around with a hot air drier.

Thanks everyone! now I have my own story for my snowstorm! thanks everyone! your tips helps me a lot in making my storyline... thank you so much guys!


ei sennead!

long time no see! I hope we can jam with our magic again sometime! see you on our next meeting sinnead!

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......14&0

What a beautiful story, Caleb. (see link in post above)

I do a similar snow story (with a snow storm ending) about the Winter of 1884 on the Blackfeet reservation where the US government agents intentionally starved hundreds Blackfeet families to death during one of the worst winters of the century. It sounds grim, but it is a beautiful story and there is never a dry eye in the house.

Isn't it nice when we can teach history in such a magical way?

How about a story about a volcano? The snowstorm could be ashes from the volcano. I can't think of a particular story. It doesn't snow in my country of origin (Ecuador) either but there are a few volcanoes. It can be a story of fleeing and reunion or destruction and rebirth. Let us know what you come up with, Cardcaptor.

I agree with Morning Star, Caleb. Yours is a beautiful and touching story. And, Morning Star, your story also seems quite strong and relevant. It is a reminder that there have been a holocaust of sorts to different people. Thank you both for sharing.

Jimmy

In the practitioner:journey into the grey by Eugene Poinc has a diferent handling {snow storm} in the tale the beckoning cold one.

I think snowing in the tropics can be even more magical.

I based this on a REAL Phillipines story that I found on the internet... The first half is the original tale, the back half (from the point where the lady gets taken into the sky is what I added.

As I was writing this- I started to visualize a pair of actors acting this out (If on stage) or using a Daylight Seance arrangement and a set of themed dolls (in traditional clothing, maybe woven from palm husks) on a small platform to cause the story to happen as the tale was told.

If you needed to cover the noise of the "business" you could have the whole tale pre-recorded, music and all, and then concenstrate on the acting out of the tale...

And here it is:


(An actor representing the first man and woman, or two dolls representing same are used to act out the tale)

People ask about a time long ago when something happened here (or in my home of the Philippines) many years ago…..

Long ago, our elders say, the sky was so close to the earth that one could touch it. But there were only two people who could avail of that fact. They were the first man and woman.

It has been said that the first woman was so vain. She wore so much jewelry and despised work. Whenever the first man would ask her to do something, she would pout. She pouted when he asked her to clean the house. She pouted whenever he asked her to cook. She pouted whenever he asked her to grind the rice grains everyday for their food.

"But if you don’t grind the rice, we don’t get to eat," the first man reasoned, and even the vain first woman could not dispute that.

But it was so much work grinding the rice with a little pestles and mortars. So she poured all their rice for the day into a very large mortar and took up a very large pestle to grind it with. The pestle was so tall that when it hit the mortar, it touched the sky. The first woman was oblivious to this. She only knew she had to grind all the rice before her husband came home for supper.

She still wore all her jewelry. She noticed that her jewelry kept falling off or hampered her in any other way whenever she worked. So she hung her larger pieces of jewelry upon the sky, which were her silver comb, her gold ring, and her long pearl necklace. And then she went to work with the huge pestle, unknowing that as one end of the pestle pounded onto the rice grains, the other end was pounding onto the sky. The first woman only knew that having the sky so low only made her task more difficult. So she pounded harder and harder on the rice. Higher and higher the sky went, until with one enormous stroke, the first woman sent the sky flying up, never to come so close to the earth again.

She sensed a draft behind her neck and looked up. She was astonished to see that the sky had risen so high – and taken her most precious things with it! She could see her silver comb shining where the moon is now, and the beads of her lovely necklace twinkling all around it. Her golden ring was nowhere in sight. The first woman grumbled, "I would have worn those things again if I’d known they would go to waste."

(Girl/ doll vanishes in smoke chamber or some other way that leaves cloud behind)

So, a wind God heard her, and whisked her high into the sky where her spirit could be closer to the things she loved. She suddenly realized how much prettier they were as stars and suns- and her vanity faded from her. Her soul became pure and white and spread out over the whole sky. A great cloud. But her heart was still cold.

(Start your snow Schtick)

The first woman started to weep at her state- and her tears froze from her cold heart- the water froze in mid air and became delicate flakes of ice… called SNOW.

That was the FIRST time it snowed in my homeland….

When the snow fell it blanketed the land…. The flowers, the animals, and even the first man had never felt anything this cold, and they stood looking up at the sky. They looked and looked until they were covered with a thick cover of this strange substance and it froze them solid!

(At this point an actor playing the first man is standing on some platform wrapped in thick white blanket- or a doll representing first man is placed on platform and covered with white cloth.)

And for a time, everything in the Philippines slept under a thick blanket of ice and snow.

The first woman watched on for some time, until she missed her man- and the last bit of anger melted from her soul. (Maybe have an ice heart that melts?)

Free from Vanity AND her Anger, her warmth melted the snow… and she was reunited with the first man. The flowers grew and in time, their children grew into the beautiful people of the world!

(Taking away the white cloak reveals woman, man, children and flowers….)

and that was the first AND LAST time it snowed in Philippines.

ENJOY!

Nice presentation leaping lizard

it is a tale how the sun, moon and stars were made...
I love the additional twist you added... first and last time it snowed in the Philippines

We have two different items being discussed here -- one is the Kevin James "Snowstorm," in which snow is sprayed out all over the place, and the other is "Snowstorm in China," which some people use to lead into the Kevin James effect.

I've seen Kevin do this one several times.

Thanks so much for the cherry blossom idea. I am going to use it immediately. The cherry blossoms will be coming on in about three weeks.

This winter I have used a story with hen who escapes from the farm to lay a special egg under the cover of a snowstorm. However, before she can make it to the good farmers yard she looses her way and lays the egg. The bad farmer catches her and sends the egg to market. I was told of this tradgedy by the farmers wife who, although unable to secure the egg herself, made a special mark on it. I searched all the stores and I found the special egg inside the package which I produce and show the marked egg inside. I tear open the carton of eggs (a fantastic effect in Japan, because there is a plastic strip that rips so loudly and visually across the whole front of the package, it basically screams "This package has never been opened.") Then from the special egg comes the Snowstorm in China, where the egg was captured (a shocker, really!) and then from the snowstorm--the chick.

I am going to try to work up patter for the cherry blossoms this weekend. Thanks so much for the idea.