Hi All,

Can anyone describe the Nick Trost Fly Circus routine for me? Where is it available?
Is it available in large cards?
Thanks,
Kristian Skovbo
Denmark

STEP RIGHT UP! See The Trained Flies! A NEW and NOVEL effect packed with action and a funny, funny double climax. Three trained flies preform their antics and vanish one at a time from a packet of blank cards and appear with the "leader fly". The last fly, your pet, fails to go fast enough and ends up in a SMASHED CONDITION. What it leaves behind is also a surprise!! This is what the instruction read. Never seen it in large cards.

Couldn't find anywhere, but Aldo Colombini had one somewhat similar out.
Try here

http://www.mymagic.com/colombini.htm

Sounds funny, but not great.

You could try contacting Harries in Sweden. I bought it from them ca. 5 years ago, together with a bunch of other Nick Trost stuff. It's probably a long shot, but you never know.

edit:

The Colombini routine is a "progressive collection" routine with a twist-ending, and I like it very much.

Bjørn

There is a move where four cards turns blank one at a time. This can be used for a double effect.

The Colombini routine is excellent - always gets a great reaction.

I use a little fly-swatter to "swat" the flies, but they always are faster than me and end up congregating somewhere else.

But in the end, I FINALLY get them - whew!

(Just sorta' the feel of my presentation).

Cheers.
J.Warrens

Hello all. Sorry for bumping an old thread...

I recently found my old set of Nick Trost Fly Circus cards. But unfortunately cannot find the instructions. It's probably been ~30 years since I last did the trick. I vaguely remember the shuffle move for this trick. But don't remember the card setup or patter. I would love to perform this for my 7 yr old son who is now interested in magic.

If someone has the instructions, could they share it with me?

Or if someone can share a link to the trick online somewhere, that would work too. I tried YT with no luck.

Thanks!!!

Strange bit of synchronicity: have been immersed in old catalogues this weekend. The Paul Stone Ace Place catalogue has another card routine with a fly. I will copy the description here, in the hope that it inspires:

‘BENJAMIN: THE FUNNIEST CARD TRICK FOR YEARS!!! A card is freely selected from the pack, returned and pack shuffled. The magician states he has trained a fly called Benjamin who finds selected cards. Business follows and the insect is introduced. Several cards are shown but nothing happens. Then the intelligent insect appears on the back of a card. It must be the selected one. The card is shown, but there’s been a mistake, so you bring the pack down and kill poor old Benjamin. [nb. Seems a bit harsh, if not psychopathic!?! DD] Blood, sweat and not a few tears are all that is left on the back of a card which when turned over has changed to the very card which was freely selected.
‘IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to put the full effect into words. Each time the result differs for there is no force of a card. The manuscript is written in the classic Ken Brooke style and gives you the full presentation details.’

I don’t know if this is Ken Brooke —or simply in the style, as stated — but most interesting that it’s not a force.

Sorry, gsrr, I know this doesn’t answer your Nick Trost request, but thought it might inspire you should your son want more fly-based illusionment.

I’m a great fan of insect magic. Think I should probably make it my next post!

There's also "Buzzkill" by John Bannon, which is available from Big Blind Media. John first released this in 1994 and was inspired by Aldo Colomini's trick.



I like the artwork on the cards, and the effect sounds similar to the Nick Trost trick.

Marty

Thanks Marty -- Buzzkill does look similar to Fly Circus (from my vague recollections .

Or "Bumblebees" by Woody Aragon:
https://youtu.be/wFxBSDFIoC0

Finally found this on YT! The patter is different from the original instructions, but I *think* the moves are all the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1ScyhvAk2w