Do you know how people pretend to swallow baloons , well does anyone know how it works , I think I have a rough idea but I'm not sure how it works
if anyone knows then please pm me
thanks

This has been discussed several times here at the Café.

The best resource is Steve Bidwell’s videotape “No MD required”. He gives a bit of history of the trick and full instructions on how to perform it.

It is very, very, easy.

Careful Harry the cops are always looking for those balloons.lol Ya know what I mean ?
Skulldini

LOL!!! Know exactly what you mean!

I also agree it is quite simple.

Kevin James is the inventor of this trick.

No, Johnny Paul the famed sword swallower is the inventor of the trick.

Strike that Johnny FOX, I meant to say

Are you sure it wasn't Johnny Sword the famous Fox Swallower?

Johnny Fox did NOT invent the balloon-swallowing trick. Steve Bidwell did NOT invent the balloon-swallowing trick. Kevin James did NOT invent this trick.

A juggler in England (his name excapes me at this time) invented the bit and used it as part of his street act almost for two decades (or longer) and well before Johnny Fox or Steve Bidwell saw it and put it into their acts.

I know that Steve does credit the inventor on his tape. Johnny doesn’t have a teaching tape out or any book or pamphlet so has no need to provide a reference.

Johnny Fox has included the bit in his regular Festival and street act for about 20 years. During a summer at the Maryland Renaissance Fair he is seen by hundreds of kids of all ages. I have never seen one kid try to do the balloon-swallowing bit. Fox is a skilled magician but his main act is that of sword swallowing.

The trick was made popular with magicians by Steve Bidwell and can be found on Bidwell’s tape “No MD Required”.

I know Fielding West looked into the history and asked Fox for permission legitamtely believing him to be the originator, however I would be very interested in getting the history of this effect cleared up. Harry, can you provide the name and any contact info for the alleged British creator of the effect?

Steve Bidwell is your contact person. I believe that he references the performer on his tape "MD Not Required". I no longer have the tape so cannot review it. In conservation with Johnny Fox at the Maryland Renaissance Fair about this very topic, he did not claim to invent the stunt but did not share where or from whom he learned it.

I believe that Bidwell actually has performed the trick as part of a professional act for a bit longer than Johnny. I saw Bidwell perform it a season or two before it became a part of Fox’s sword swallowing act. The first couple of seasons that Fox performed at the Maryland Renaissance Fair did not include the trick as part of his act. I have watched Johnny’s act for over 20 years, have a few early on video, including an act that does not include the balloon swallowing. I do have his swallowing a rifle barrel and firing mechanism bit and then shoots (by pulling a string) a target (cracker) from above a spectator’s head. He rarely does that bit anymore.

There are many people who do the trick. I know an “exotic” dancer (stripper) that includes it in her act. She does not know whom she learned it from but has never seen Fox or Bidwell (at least has never seen their shows!). I also ran across a young street performer in Mexico City two years ago performing it. He was a fire-eater, juggler and included the balloon-swallowing bit for comedy. He was all of 19 or 20 years old. We talked briefly during one of his breaks. He had never heard of any magician that I named or of John Fox. He told me that he had never seen anyone else who did the trick and that he invented it! Go figure!

Frankly, the secret is fairly obvious if you play with balloons at all. I wonder how many clowns and balloon twisters have independently discovered the secret over the years only to disregard the stunt as worthless? Remember that the Needle through Balloon trick sat on shelves of Magic Shops for almost a decade before Doug Henning dusted one off and performed it on a TV special. Al’s Magic Shop had ten in stock that he could not move for over five years until that show then he couldn’t keep them in stock!

As to Fielding West getting permission? Well, the trick is a signature piece for both Johnny Fox and Steve Bidwell and asking permission to use another performers bit is only showing professional courtesy. Even if that performer did not actually invent the trick!

Here is a little sweetie doing it for the hosts of a talk show on cable. Done very well I might add.

Link my take a while to download with dial up but if you have Cable or DSL your all set.

http://www.kontraband.com/show/show.asp?ID=544