This may not be the best place to post this question but I couldn't find a better place so here goes...

If you could have great patter for one trick, which trick would it be?

Chameleon Cards. It is my favorite trick, but I cannot seem to come up with any patter that I am happy with.

Now, I am fully aware that my opinion of what makes for good magic differs greatly from the majority of magicians, but...

Call me crazy, but...

I may be pushing it, but...

All Your Tricks Should Have "Great Patter"!

(ahem)

-Ryan Pilling

I concur.
--WD

Totalpackage writes: "If you could have great patter for one trick, which trick would it be?"

Professor's Nightmare -- and I do!

My vote would go to Strat-o-sphere.
I have thought long and hard and haven't been able to come up with anything good and original.

I disagree that all tricks must have patter.
That is not true at all. I do several mime routines. My favorite is the zombie ball. However, I do use music.

A fine point: All tricks DO have to have patter; sometimes it's not spoken (as in mime or music) but it's a form of patter, nonetheless.

I have never considered music to be patter. Patter is the spoken word. Music does not have to have words.
But I understand your point.

The linking Ropes; I just can't get anything good, aside from play by play as to what I'm doing as I do it.

Pete

That's why Henning Nelms, in his excellent book "Magic and Showmanship,” suggests using silent scripts to make the performer's gestures and facial expressions more expressive. The patter or words on the silent script are conveyed to the audience via the pantomimic stage movements of the performer.

That's a long-winded way of saying I agree with Pete's view that all tricks, including those performed in pantomime, have patter.

Ben Benjay
Manila, Philippines

Patter is perhaps the last part of the routine a magician learns and that is sad. Even worse, many never even get to the body gestures. I'll always give Johnny Thompson an A+ for his ability to "Mug it". It says it all.

Magic is an acting job. The lines are not the main thing. However, they are part of an entire set of behaviors to support an activity. Fit is everything.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander