If I'm not careful, I might just turn into a table hopper! I filled in for my friend at the restaraunt again last night. I'm beginning to like this!



Margarette

Hi Margarette,

I recall in another post you saying that you only know a couple card trick & I know that you do stage work & escapes. What kind of stuff are you doing at the restaraunt? I'm sure it would be difficult table hopping in a straight jacket.

At the restaurant, I did the linking paperclips, linking ropes, professor's nightmare, and the insurance policy. I also was prepared to do Crazy Man's Handcuffs, but kept forgetting! I did 5-10 minutes of magic and then balloons for the kids. Time went by quickly!



Margarette

Sounds great, thanx Margarette.

Sounds to me like you are ready to become a table hopper!

For someone who hasn't done it before, your selection of tricks is just about ideal.

Work on it! You may have a whole new career ahead of you!

cheers,

Peter Marucci

showtimecol@aol.com

Bravo! Margarette, Bravo! Watch out, you’ll be hooked by Table-Hopping. It is a venue that calls for well thought out short routines. It is also a venue that you will have to use all your interpersonal skills in dealing with all the various personalities and moods from customers, the wait staff, and of course the managers! It is a slice of life! And tons of fun!

My only advice is to stay away from repeating effects, such as to two or three routines that link things, or "across" effects. To a spec, these are all the same trick with different props, very monotonous.

Otherwise...good luck.

What force are you using for the insurance policy? make sure it's a good one.

There is some superb patter for the linking paperclips in the book The Wit and Wizardry of Norman Houghton by Ariel Frailich. Routine ends with appearance of a bunch of tiny clips.



Don't know what your insurance policy routine is, but best to force all three cards rather than the last one. Some people force the last card and apparently get a couple of misses. Try revealing all three you'll find it plays better.



Paul.

"linking paperclips" ..>?

is that the one with the folded bill, or something different?

Cool, Strolling or table work can be fun.

It seems like a lot of people find balloons
are very popular and can turn into a main feature of the work.

Recently I saw a " server" making very
elaborate balloons for her patrons.
Perhaps she will branch out into this as well.

Finding something that sets you apart from other workers in your area is important.
Mine is my Nearly Normal Puppets (marionettes and magic) that I mix with the magic.

Keep growing and glowing and have fun.

They say if you enjoy your job, you do not
have to work a day in your life.

Harris

Yes! Norm Houghton's routine for this is a gem.I almost started doing it myself at one point.

Paul.

Now this name comes up quite a lot, but I have no idea what the effect is. Could someone describe what the trick looks like to a spectator?

Thank you very much for any help you can give me on this!

Professor's Nightmare....three ropes of unequal length are displayed...then these three same ropes are showed to be the same length. It's a trick that lots of potential for fun! I know I have a blast with it!!

Margarette

Phonic, you probably know it as "Unequal Ropes"?

Paul.

I just want to ask: table hopping implies working just for tips?
Because I find it not advisable.
I like an idea by Vernon, he used to say that a magician working in a restaurant should behave like the owner, and if one is working for tips only, well...It´s not easy to follow Vernon advise...

Truquero,
Getting tips from Vernon on work is a bit like getting tips from the Boston Strangler on door-to-door selling.

cheers,
Peter Marucci
showtimecol@aol.com

I´m very interested in what the strangler thinks about that (kidding) but, seriously,
I really think that Vernon advise is sound, although he may never did that kind of job.
Or as Eugene Burger writes in some book: a good way to get a really nice tip is to demostrate you don´t need it (It is not textual)The image one have before an audience is vital, that´s why I think it´s very important to work with a fee.

Thank you all for filling in that little hole in my magical knowledge!

Personally I don't like rope effects and I don't think spectators do either. Am I right or (as usual) wrong? Is a rope effect as incredible as some card and coin effetcs?

I suppose it's horses for courses!

For a while, Phonic, I did a handling of George Sands' Sandsational Rope Routine...people really DO like it. It's (to them) novel and baffling, and I found myself often giving the ropes away because they wanted to see them so badly.

And do you want to know a weird feeling? Being asked to autograph a rope.



TCR

There are no valid statements that you can make that start out: "All rope tricks...." Or "All card tricks...." Of "All coin tricks..."

Tricks and props do not entertain; entertainers do. I've seen some magicians get amazing entertainment out of almost any prop they touch. And the opposite is, unfortunately, also true.

There are some lay people who will say they don't like card tricks. But, they just havn't seen an entertaining performer that uses cards.