To: Alan Munro

Could you elaborate on your comment regarding "manipulation of what the spectator remembers". I don't relate to that.

The finale does require management of how the spectator holds the bag, and how he handles it when retrieving the egg—has to hold the bag with both hands high up, needs to let go with the correct hand, and needs to reach in with that correct hand. This is true whatever the design of the bag.

But all he has to remember is that the bag was empty when he got it, and was empty while it was in his own hands. And at the finale, with the performer coming nowhere near him, it has an egg in it.

It is possible we don't mean the same thing by Tarbell bag. Mine (I call it Sterling bag, but I think the pattern is essentially the same as what is called the Tarbell bag) is made of crepe de chine—silk-like material. Used with a blown egg it behaves just like the Malini bag. That is, the egg floats inside the works, and will drop into the bag while in the spectator's hands. Not like the bags made of wool or other heavy fabric, and that require a heavier egg—and more handling by the performer, less by the spectator.

I do agree that the bag needs to be well made.

Steve

Hello

I have the Malini Egg Bag and love this trick. My audience does too. I also prefer to use the Ken Brooke routine. This is great. Buy the Malini Egg Bag.

Markus

The Sterling, Mardo and Tarbell bags are so similar in design that the terms are often used interchangeably. The Tarbell bag that I use is really a Mardo bag, if I get technical.

As for manipulating what the spectator remembers about the finale, I hold the bag while the spectator examines it to make sure that it is empty. People can see that my hands are empty, in the process. They assume that the egg/ball isn't there. I then have the spectator hold the bag, for the finale. They assume later that the spectator examined the bag, while away from me, because they tend to only remember their interpretation of events and the picture of the spectator pulling the object from the bag.

I don't have Ken's instructions handy (as you may know if you have them, the illustrations were inked by Sid Lorraine from my pencil drawings of Ken's hands).

As I recall, but it could be different in print, it is easy to manage the finish as you have the spectator hold the bag (after looking into it as you display it) which she believes to be empty, by one corner with one finger and thumb. It is the corner that lets the egg drop to the gimmick corner inside.

When she takes the invisible egg, which you mime handing her into her free hand, and throws it into the air and mimes catching it in the bag...the little "jarring" from the fake catch helps.

The key here is that when she reaches in to get the egg the fingernail side of the fingers is against the gaffus and when she feels the egg...and jaw drops, etc. that is the CLIMAX...You can't beat that moment.

Thanks Pete,

I agree completely that the spectator's production of the egg is an unbeatable climax. However, when you do check Ken's manuscript, you will see that he has a strong statement about NOT letting the spectator remove the egg. I found this surprising.

Steve

I will go dig it up and read, thanks.

I bought one of Lynetta Welch's egg bags recently. I also bought the Ken Brooke routine and have been practicing it. However I just got the Ron Bauer "Siamese Goose Egg Bag" booklet and I really like it a lot. Like all of his booklets, he covers more than just the moves. Has anyone used the Siamese Goose Egg Bag routine yet? How did it go over? Thanks.

Bob

Bob, I got Ron Bauer’s “Siamese Goose Egg Bag” booklet some months ago and liked his presentation very much. I liked it so much that I spent the time to learn it, practice it, and rehearse it in an act. The routine is short, magical, and surprising.

So far it has garnered good reactions for me. It has not gotten the big “wow” that I get from my Bruce Elliott routine. However that might be because the routine is not mine yet. My timing (which can only be gained by performing for actual spectators) is just a bit off (I have only performed it for an acutal audience 7 times at this time). I suspect that I will get better (stronger) reactions when the whole routine becomes second nature to me.

Let me say that I have played with and performed many different egg bag routines. I’ve performed Brooke’s Malini egg bag routine, Mardo’s, Marlo’s, Mullica, and Lewis’ just to name a few. I even tried out Tommy Windsor’s comedy bottomless bag routine for a few months. I always come back the very first routine that I ever performed professionally (as a kid performer in a carnival). That is the routine published in Bruce Elliott’s “Classic Secrets of Magic.”

Ron’s Siamese Goose Egg Bag is a lot less to carry (prop wise) and maybe will end up playing just as strongly for me. Time will tell.

Thanks Harry and thanks for recommending the Ron Bauer routine to me in the first place. I'll have to try to dig up a copy of "Classic Secrets of Magic". Thanks again.

Bob

Bob,

I have known Ron for many years. I asked him NOT to release many of the things in the Private Studies, as I am a greedy guy and wanted them all to myself! RB ignored me completely, so now you can get the same reactions I get when I do the Siamese Goose Egg Bag - fantastic applause and stunned, nay shocked looks! Seriously, I have had most of the material RB is currently releasing for a decade or more, and use it continuously, to CONSISTENTLY good effect. It is, simply, THE BEST material available, as far as I am concerned. I just wish, now that he's started, that he would release the originally planned 99-part set, instead of this pared-down 24-part series...

Best, PSC



Just guessing Pete,

I'm not sure of the guys' name, but would his initials be: STEVE SHEPARD?

Those WERE the good old days, huh?

Best, PSC

Steve, followed by Glenn Haywood... Glenn's egg bag and knife through coat were miracles.

Did you know he did a Dr. Q hyp act? First time I saw him he blew me away with it. (I had not met him yet, and did NOT know about the Q act, thinking he was a real hypnotist--this was at my high school in an assemgbly show when I had just started to get into magic and knew little).

This is kind of a historical note. I have a Sterling/mardo Egg Bag that was actually made by Mardo's ex wife, Lynne Castell. She made it by hand and is one of My prized items.

Great item. I have one as well. None better, altho Lynn Healey made great bags of both types as well.

No one has mentioned that the Ken Brooke instructions have to be performed to understand all the things that are taught in the matieral.

When I first got the manuscript I did not get the hand stroke, after performing it,and when the audience laughed it all fell into place. The same goes for "look at the bag, egg, audience" instruction. IT IS FUNNY!!! So to simply read a routine from such a fantastic entertainer as Ken Brooke, has to be absorbed before you discard the printed page.

Also no one pointed out that Jeff Hobson routine is the Ken Brooke routine, with the added personality that Jeff as added.

I just think you have to give something a fair chance before you make a judgement about it, especially when that item has a name on it like Ken Brooke.

Bill

Just received my Malini Bag from School of Scoundrels; WOW it's excellent (I'll refrain from saying eggcellent!). A dream to use, I went for Red one because I wanted audience to see bag clearly (I ususally wear a black frock coat when performing).
This bag truly is the "ultimate". I use the Ken Brooke routine except I use, Thompson/Durham etc. spectator reaching in for final production.
Why do I do egg bag? It's first trick a professional magician showed me when I was 16 and having my interview for IBM British Ring, I was blown (no pun intended about the egg!) away. Pure magic, and it still has the effect on audiences I perform for. Plus it's great fun for me and audience!

Kindest Regards

Dominic