Doing a little research on "The Watch Steal"....was wondering if anyone could give me references/history sources for it.
How far back does it date?
First performed?
First published?
Literature on it?
Much appreciated!
george1953 Inner circle
Mallorca (Spain)
5943 Posts
Posted: Apr 27, 2014 09:39 am
0
No idea sorry, but just wanted to say that the watch steal has been part of my act for as long as I can remember, but lately I have found that fewer and fewer wear watches these days. Has anyone else noticed this.
By failing to prepare, we are preparing to fail.
LeoH Elite user
437 Posts
Posted: Apr 30, 2014 09:48 pm
0
Most people carry cell phones that have the time - it's unnecessary to wear a watch.
oralroberts Special user
South Africa
930 Posts
Posted: May 1, 2014 07:36 am
0
Quote:
On Apr 30, 2014, LeoH wrote:
Most people carry cell phones that have the time - it's unnecessary to wear a watch.
You'd be surprised by how many people still wear a watch; and, it makes it all the more impressive when you do steal it
Todd Robbins V.I.P.
New York
2922 Posts
Posted: Jan 9, 2017 03:27 am
1
The wearing of wristwatches came into fashion around WW1. I would assume that someone started stealing them soon thereafter. Francis Carlyle did a watch steal back in the 1940s. Whit Haydn reintroduced the watch steal to the magic community back in the 1970s.
I was taught by Brian Gillis, who learned the Carlyle steal I believe from Karl Norman. Later Jason Randall taught me the one handed steal which he had developed independently, which was identical to one Ricky Dunn used. Ricky was very mad when he found out that I taught it to Michael Finney who eventually published it on a teaching video.
I used it as part of my walk around and bar magic, combining it with the Ring Flite and Watch in Envelope:
So, we need to figure out how to steal cell phones. The real reason I posted was that there was a time you could tell when a pickpocket act was fake because they would steal the whole shirt at the end. But, at that time the act doing the real work was Dominique, a french act I think. My guess is he was the first guy really doing the work. Finally, to practice, I am reminded of the School of a Thousand Bells in Bogota' Colombia, where they had a dummy with tiny bells sewn on the costume on the dummy, to practice on.
Pop Haydn Inner circle
Los Angeles
3695 Posts
Posted: Apr 19, 2021 09:16 pm
1
Quote:
On Apr 12, 2021, gregg webb wrote:
So, we need to figure out how to steal cell phones. The real reason I posted was that there was a time you could tell when a pickpocket act was fake because they would steal the whole shirt at the end. But, at that time the act doing the real work was Dominique, a french act I think. My guess is he was the first guy really doing the work. Finally, to practice, I am reminded of the School of a Thousand Bells in Bogota' Colombia, where they had a dummy with tiny bells sewn on the costume on the dummy, to practice on.
The School of the Seven Bells. It is probably myth. The same story has been told of ninja's.
Ricki Dunn did the shirt steal, but all his pick-pocketing was legit.
Cell phones are stolen just like a wallet.
There is many a slip between the stall and the dip...