A magician was working his pitch at a very popular local spot here in Southern California very recently.
He had a decent crowd of about thirty or so citizens of this fine planet intently watching his performance.

On this day, he started very well and you could hear, "Wow, Whoa, Wonderful", in addition to much applause, after each "miracle".
The crowd literally was eating out of his hand.

Roughly fifteen minutes into his act, he noticed a man standing in the middle of the crowd, talking into the ear of a young lady next to him. The magician stopped the show, but didn't say anything to the man. He was clearly perturbed at the whispering. We couldn't help but notice the very same thing after each bit of business, due to the magician calling attention to it earlier in the show.

The show continued to rousing applause, but over and over again, the gentleman continued to lean over and explain all of the marvelous magic to the petite lady. We assumed it was his daughter. Her eyes lit up, she giggled, and clapped even more after he finished explaining it all.

Finally after putting up with this whispering over and over, the magician stopped the show and chastised the father for revealing all of his magic secrets and not allowing the young lady, to experience and appreciate, what she was seeing.

The crowd grew very silent in anticipation of the man's response, as a look of anger crossed the magician's face, they locked eyes. The little girl seemed horrified and dismayed, as if in shock at the abrupt silence.

The father's response in a very calm manner was this, "I'm so very sorry, my young daughter is blind." "I was only trying to tell her of each wonderful trick you were doing. We do not know how your magic is done. I was only telling her how amazing each trick looked. She fell in love with what I was telling her. We're going to leave now."

You could have literally heard a pin drop! The little girl seem mortified that she had caused such a disruption to the show. It seemed that she was embarrassed of her inability to see. The father gently tugged at the little girl's hand as they left the area. Some people followed to console dad and the little girl.

Many people left immediately, not tipping the magician of course. I cannot tell you how humiliating this was to watch. The magician seemed very contrite and generally shaken at the developments.
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There are many ways to handle this kind of scenario. Most of the time, I choose to ignore anyone who is talking into the ear of another. I ignore it, because they may be discussing what they are going to eat later etc.... It doesn't bother me, unless others are being distracted by the discussion, then I will call attention to the talking.

These aren't hard and fast rules. Each case is different for me. To make a show more special, I choose to really be cognizant of what is going on in my groups.

I will compliment what someone is wearing, someone's eyes, hair, figure, etc...the point is along the way, I have taken the time to pick up some subtleties by noticing at least one thing about each person as best that I can.

If a distraction arises, I can highlight some of the behaviour if it has the potential to lead to a more entertaining show, but I also try to know when to diminish or carefully deflect any distractions with diplomacy. Notice that I said, "Try". We are all human of course.

If I fail to foresee any surprises or react foolishly in response, I am prepared to suffer the consequences of my own blindness!
Devious

Ssssssss.... ouch.

Don't assume. It makes an --- out of you and me. I think I would have died inside if I were that guy.

But I'm like you, Devious- I pay no attention whatsoever to those not paying attention.
After all, if they're ignoring me, why shouldn't I ignore them?

Now if they get disruptive... that's another matter.

Take the inevitable:

"I know how that's done!" (generally from a child, and they're generally WRONG)

I immediately focus on them, smile, put a finger to my lips and say:

"Good for you! Practice it and you can be a magician too! But keep it secret so everyone else can enjoy the mystery, okay?"

This always gets a nod and a smile in return.

Ouch. best to ignore phone calls or texts or talking unless the person is just being a donkey and needs to be put in their place....only problem is if it backfires...otherwise it will kill the show

I haven't seen this magician around since. I kinda feel bad for the guy.

You shouldn't feel bad, dude learned a needed lesson.

Bet he went to a new location.

I bumped into this gentleman at a recent lecture. He told me that he will never forget the lesson.
I told him, that I posted the occurence on various bulletin boards, but never posted his name.

He said, "Good maybe they won't repeat my mistake too".
He also gave me permission to post his name and left it up to me.

I've chosen not to. Have a great day men!
Dev/

Bringing this up for Joaquin Ayala!
It was great catching up with you tonight hermano!

Glad you did Dev - what a sad, but at the same time, wonderful story to share. Many things can be learned from this! It was great catching up with you as well!



That is a beautiful way of handling such a thing, but also a wonderful way to inspire a young child and plant the seed of dreams in their memories. That is likely something any child will remember for most of their life, if not for all of it.

Recently I had a walk around gig at a wedding and there was a 12 year old blind girl there whose mother brought her up to me and asked if there was any way I could do some magic for her. I thought about it for a moment and then decided on a coins across for the audio aspect of it, and then a 'ghost touch' effect for the 'feel' aspect of it.

For the coins across, my hands were always in contact with hers through the entire routine, and we used the clinking of the coins going from one side of the body to the other to "illustrate" the magic taking place.

For the 'ghost touch' effect (I have no idea what you would call this, but if you have ever used LOOPS you will know exactly what I am talking about), I used an emotional hook about a lost pet or close family member that the family had lost somewhere in the past. If she really thought about that pet/person, she could feel them brush her arm as they watched over her. I told her that when she felt the touch, she was to say the word 'touch' out loud. She did, and she immediately asked her mother if I had touched her with a feather or my hand, and her mother told her I was nowhere near her - which to some degree was very true. Either way, these two effects were very magical to this girl, and even though she could not see them, she was still able to appreciate the magic - just in a different way.

Very well done, Dr. J!

And thank you for the compliment; I always prefer to turn a negative into a positive, especially with children.
I use a very similar speech in my opening bally, the main point of which you will find as my signature line.

What a special memory you created for that little girl; THAT is what magic is all about!

/applause

The last saturday, I was performing one table to table gig (wedding)... there was one table were all the people were enjoying and laugthing, except one guy... every time I try to mantain eye contact with him he looked to the side... kind of peculiar situation... I felt something was wrong there, shortened the performance and arrivederci...

Out of balance situations happens to everybody and are in a very wide range, and made us stronger...

sad creepy doll...

Thank to you all for sharing your own experiences on this.....
Going back and rereading Ekuth's quote by Dr Ayala was much
more profound this time around for some reason...thank you so much!

I really think its stories like these that cause the greatest inspiration for creating an emotional routine.

Thank you - and you are most welcome!

I get kids saying; "I know how that's done!" to which I usually reply;

"You mean there's a trick to this? I've been doing it the hard way all these years!"