I was wondering your thoughts about the illusion that Lance Bruton dose where the kids shoe gets burnt and it comes from the ciling I thought about getting one and dose any one know who makes it?

Yours Magically,
Kyle

Hey Kyle;
There is one up on Magic Auction right now, also I'm fairly certain that Chalet makes one as well. Hope this helps.

Magically yours,

Matt Kielbiski
Quick Change Artist

Chalet magic makes these, and has the patended for the orginial "Wiz-Kote" model, DennyMagic.com also has this.

Produced a show up here today and another magician I had there performed the Wiz Kote, he noticed that all the kids had come in winter boots and left them out in the hall boy did he have a great way to get around this!!!

Blair

Thanks Blair,

That's right, I found out very early on that it's a good idea to have back ups to the the running shoes. We first started using the Wis Kote three years ago at a theme park where we were performing for the summer. The stage was right next to the beach area and you can imagine my horror when I went out in the audience, at the first show, to find a boy with running shoes and found that ALL the kids were ether bare foot or wearing sandals!!!! So now I have four different items I can use in the Wiz Kote...a burnt shoe, a burnt baseball cap, a burnt sandal and a burnt men's tie. I've mutilated all of them and painted them flat black so they don't have any identifying marks. It a simple matter of having a quick look before the show to see which one I need to load in beforehand. Yesterday not a single kid had running shoes and on two had baseball caps!!!

John

I too have run into this problem...I now also have a burnt cell phone. They are so readily available now days. I really like using my Wiz Kote but I just don't get to as much as I would like. Good luck.

Robert Jones
MRJPRO.c

Chance Wolf want to produce a Wize Kote maschine. I think he will bring the item to the market this year but I don't really know.

Markus

A burnt wallet works good. So does a burnt glove in winter areas of the country (not too many, though, down here in Phoenix).

The burnt shoe that Lance does is a Jim Steinmeyer piece as is the piece on magicauction.com.
I have had a tremendous response to the shoe routine - just looking to recycle - that's why it is for sale!

Its obviously very good, but it is very expensive still. Any reviews on this and are there any makes of this to avoid.
Nick

They are selling a used one in great shape at magic auction

As far as I know, the only ones who build the steinmeyer piece are Bill Smith and Owne Redwine - Owen built mine.
The Wiz Cote and the original shoe trick are like a ford and a cadilac -IMHO -
Having performed the shoe routine many times - we are talking 150 or so ! I have found that it is the routine that sells it - the interaction with the kid that makes it a great piece -
By the way - the one on the auction site sold in 3 days ! Its that good !

Steve Hart is the originator of this effect.

I'm not too sure about that but I can say that there are many ins and outs ot the routine - the obvious is the shoes need ot match - we always carried a few "burnt" shoes with us on the road - keeping in miond that the audiences we are working for are in their growning years and it was pretty easy to find "matchable" shoes at wal Mart while out in the trenches.
Unlike Wiz Cote - the routine we did involved a retriever box that was placed in the audience before the show or hung from the flys - Timing is a must for the part of the routine due to the reveal of the restored shoe.
I really enjoyed the routine but decided to move on with a few more original ideas for the tour -

Steven

I hate to upset the shoe debate, but the originator of the effect was Jim Gerrish who published the effect in Genii magazine in the 1980's under the name of "Shoe-Fly!" The Chalet version (unauthorized, by the way) is just a variation of the so-called "Indian Doves to Rabbit" box. The original shoe-box used by Gerrish's group The Wiz Kids was called the "O.O.P.S!" machine, which stood for "One and Only Polisher of Sneakers." When the original box fell open, each piece had a letter on it to spell out the word OOPS!

Good job Spellbinder! I was going to say that too.( old magazines are great) But you know more info. good job.

Hey Steve, you did a great job at Magi-fest as always.

Thanks Andrew -
And thanks Spellbinder - it is always interesting to find out things like that - I was told a while ago that Steve Hart did not originate the effect but didn't want to stir up anyting here......

Is Spellbinder Jim Gerrish?

Spellbinder,

Do you know specifically which issue of Genii had the "Shoe Fly" article?

Thanks!
-DeWayne

I'll ask Jim Gerrish to dig through his old issues of Genii and try to find it. He saves everything like a pack rat. The shoe vanishing box is so unique, I was trying to find a way to work it into The Wizards' Journal, even though Wizards abhor box tricks as a rule.

Re: Is Spellbinder Jim Gerrish??? We're good friends and have been for years. I was always lurking in the background as his assistant back in 'da day. Then I struck out on my own and went bad by giving up magic and becoming a Wizard. Harry Potter made me do it.