Jim:
here at The Cafe you often here folks refer to effects as "commercial" or "a real worker" to indicate that it is a usable effect.
How would you define a "commercial" effect?

Paul

That's a tough one because "commercial" can be very relative. I've seen performers take pieces I've overlooked over the years and kill with them.

I think the magic we most commonly define as "commercial" do have a couple of common denominators, however. I believe a commercial effect has broad audience appeal (and I'm speaking here of laymen as the audience), it looks very magical and is usually has a very streamlined plot (Dai Vernon, I believe, said that the plot of an effect should be able to be summed up in one sentence...).

The real bottom line is that oftentimes, our presentations and personalities are what makes an effect truly magical.