I recently bought some excellent toy wooden eggs (very realistic) and I'm looking for an impromptu egg bag routine, using a couple of eggs and a silk pocket square. I already cobbled something together using some billiard moves and an excellent vanish from Patrick Page, but I'm hoping someone here can point me toward something better...?

My routine is, pocket square is folded into a bag. Volunteer reaches into empty bag and produces egg. Bag refolded, volunteer replaces egg in bag, magician demonstrates that egg is still in bag, bag handed to volunteer, shakes out bag, egg is gone. Lots of eggs produced and put in bag, magician demonstrates that there really are eggs in the bag, then volunteer causes all eggs to vanish and bag is shaken out again.

Pretty simple, but even that's more complex that most of the egg bag routines I've seen. I like the continuous production of billiards for comedy, so it seemed to fit. Although it's obvious to the volunteer that there aren't any eggs in the bag for most of the production, and the Page vanish is tricky to handle with the volunteer right next to you.

Anyhow, I'm looking for pointers since this still doesn't seem right. I guess what I'm looking for is an egg bag routine that uses an ungimmicked handkerchief instead of a bag.

If the hankerchief trick that came Pat Page published is the same that I'm thinking of, then a large coin may be a better object than an egg. You could still use an egg bag plot.

You may want to take a look at an egg bag routine credited to Roy Benson, in Classic Secrets Of Magic, in which many eggs are produced from the bag. Today, either eggs or golf balls could be used for the effect.

Keep at it! You are on the right track and doing well on your own. Jim Gerrish shares his ideas on using various ungimmicked bags and kids hats for his "Ungimmicked Egg Bag Routine" in his Kid Magic section on my site, but the only thing he has that you don't is a method for producing real eggs from the bag (which could be your ungimmicked handkerchief as well as any other ungimmicked bag or hat) in the classic bit where you produce the eggs faster and faster and hand them to the kid to hold until he starts dropping them on the floor (plastic shower curtain protected). Jim also works in the egg can on the kids head, and ends up producing a huge inflatable birthday cake from a prop oven if you want to go that far, but you are free to use as much or as little of the routine as you want, piecing it together in a way that suits your own style. Jim's routine is not impromptu, since you have to do some preparation to do the real egg production, but it can be made to "seem" impromptu until you get to the part that uses other props, like the egg can and the magic oven.

Check out some of Jack Miller's moves with the Holdout.

Yes, the Pat Page 'Pranky Hanky' is this type of foulard hanky that can be handled like an egg bag. They are available through his web site. Makami also makes one for a coin.

You problem is that you want the spectator to do more that can be done with such a device as this. They cannot place the egg in the cloth, you have to, and they cannot even hold the bag before the production.

Then you want the bag to seem like it has a weighted item in it when it does not. I don't think that is possible, but you keep working on it, because we all know that if you can think of it, it can become real.

Currently the 2 products on the market can only do a very limited Egg Bag "type" of trick. If you want more you will have work out those on your own.

With the current offerings on the market, you can place the egg into the center of a scarf, make it vanish, show the scarf on both sides, then form the scarf into a bag by the 4 corners. Have the spectator reach in and remove the egg. That is kind of it for these (Page and Makami) hank tricks.

So you can:
quote
"pocket square is folded into a bag. Volunteer reaches into empty bag and produces egg. Bag refolded, volunteer replaces egg in bag, magician demonstrates that egg is still in bag, bag handed to volunteer, shakes out bag, egg is gone. Lots of eggs produced and put in bag, magician demonstrates that there really are eggs in the bag, then volunteer causes all eggs to vanish and bag is shaken out again."
end of quote

If you can do that just as worded, you have a miracle already.

Here is an idea, how about combining the Pat Page Pranky Hanky with the Devil's Hanky. This will let you do some added miracles and let the spectator reach into the bag. Now that I think about it that is a fabulous idea, if I do say so myself.

Notice: All manufacturing rights to the above idea are the sole property of WmHegbli.

This is the gimmicked "Hanky Panky" cloth. http://www.magicinc.net/hankypankyclothbypatrickpage.aspx

I was thinking of the ungimmicked method in his lecture notes. I think it may even be on one of his videos. I vividly recall the trick and it's excellent.

Alan Munro, I have most of Patrick Page's material, and don't remember an ungimmicked cloth effect. I would be intested in knowing, can you check your notes or tapes and let me know, please. Hanky Panky was in his notes as well.

As I said, it's a coin effect, but I remember seeing Pat perform it as more of a routine, unlike what you see in the notes. The title of the notes is "The Patrick Page Lecture" and the effect is called "A Coin Vanish". I've seen it on video, too, but I don't have the time to look for it right now.

I think it is on the DVD with the Funny Business and 25 Tricks. I know I saw this too. It is a coin vanish where he brings all 4 corners of a hank up to his hand, drops the coin in, taps it against the table to show that it really is in there, then pulls the coin through the bottom of the hank. As I recall it, he presented it as a penetration, not a vanish. I could see that it would be easily made into a vanish.

-Patrick

It was definitely a vanish. You're referring to the method. He would bounce the coin off of someone's hand and then bounce it on his hand. There's no need to pull the coin from the hanky. It falls out when struck at the proper angle.

Okay. I agree that there was no need to pull it through, but it looked like he did it for effect. Or else I'm combining his method with a different presentation. Been a while since I saw it, but it stuck with me as fun, just not the sort of thing I have a motivation to do.

The whole concept of an egg bag routine with just a hank and a wooden egg is really intriguing to me. Now I need to dig out a wooden egg and play with this idea. I think I have one in the garage.

Just a random thought: how about finishing the routine with a fancy painted easter egg in the hanky? If you are looking for surprise, that is. Or any incongruous load, ala C&B. For me, the real problem I have with a lot of egg bag routines is the lack of a decent conclusion. After a while, we get the idea that there is an egg there when the magician wants it so and not when he doesn't. We get that. But the best routines I've seen include some sort of finale. Lemon, stuffed chick, easter egg, something that signals the end of the darned trick!

-Patrick

I agree to a point, but if you seen Alan Munro's climax video to the Egg Bag he posted, one could not for a better climax then that. Of course the attention was all on the spectator and not the magician. Sort of broke that rule many famous magicians say is how the climax of a trick should be done.

I have been searching for a 'perfect' way to accomplish the climax of the Egg Bag surprise ending for years. I have not found a method as of yet from the material out there. The old pocket dodge is not that clean for me anyway.

Alan - thank you very much for the routine pointers, much appreciated, I'll check those out. Your own routine looked awesome! Also, you're exactly right, it's "that" method for the ungimmicked vanish of a large object from a hank. I thought it was in "Patrick Page's Lecture Notes" but, having checked, it isn't (I have the ones in the blue cover). In terms of DVDs, it's the first effect he demonstrates in his lecture, "The Page Boy Speaks", I bought the DVD from http://www.patrickpagemagic.co.uk . I think it's very, very strong, and it has a great old-school feel to it. He explains he got the idea from a trick in a booket written by E. Brian McCarthy, in which four coins are tossed into a handkerchief and two of them penetrate it. On the DVD I think he does it four times with the audience burning him and it flies by every time.

I agree that a large coin is the best object for the method, but I've found the egg works OK if you use the "closeup" method he mentions - just pull the back two corners up a bit. I've also been trying to find a way to make the fold a little more natural (by folding normally and then adjusting at the end), although Page doesn't even bother and it still apparently flies by the audience. I guess the only important thing is that the bag should appear to be folded the same way every time.

Spellbinder - thanks for the pointers.
mtpascoe - Again, thanks for that. I think that would be a great way to do some of this stuff on stage. I also toyed with the "flibbertigibbet" method (the coin vanish and reproduction requiring a jacket and a wand retrieval) and it seems to work ok, as long as the egg is fairly small.

Hegblini - thanks for all your comments. I too am a massive fan of the Hanky Panky cloth, but for this I wanted to go ungimmicked. The routine does actually go pretty much as I described, and really does only use two wooden eggs and a normal pocket square. Although the volunteer does (unavoidably) see something of the method, if they're sharp. The initial production uses the obvious method - the hank is passed through both hands and shown empty, then the four corners are folded up and the whole thing is handed to the volunteer. They then pull the egg out of the bag they are holding. Then I take the hank back, fold it again, the volunteer drops the egg in, I show that the egg is really in the bag (Page vanish), the bag is handed to the volunteer again, and they shake it out and show that it's empty. They then gather the corners up into a bag, they hold the bag, I do the continual production, apparently putting each egg into the bag they are holding. I genuinely deposit the final egg. I take the final egg back out of the hank to show it's really there, apparently put it back in, and the volunteer then shakes out the hank again to show that it's empty. The first two phases are a knockout, it's putting the continually produced eggs in the bag that's a little weaker, since the bag doesn't look the way it should. The final egg is fairly convincing though. Maybe the entire concept of a continual production is inherently weak, since the method becomes obvious after a couple of repetitions. I like the comedy of it though; it seems to play really well in entertainment terms, despite not being very strong magically. And the fact that they're eggs means that you would naturally put them in the bag carefully, rather than dropping them.

Mr Woolery - I really like the painted egg idea. I might try ditching the continual production altogether and just doing this transformation. It should be pretty easy to introduce a painted egg / christmas bauble / amusing seasonal object of choice into the bag.

I've only performed this three times so far, as a kids routine, but it's been a lot of fun. I've been a little skeptical about the whole concept of eggs and bags in the past but I think I'm now a convert

Jack Benny used to have Rochester steal some scenes for a very good reason - it made him appear secure as a performer. Insecurity can be the kiss of death for a performance, so it pays to be able to applaud the audience volunteer. If the person from the audience is really adversarial, rather than working with the magician, he shouldn't be on the stage. Most times when a volunteer gets a spontaneous reaction, it's a plus for the show.

Alan Munro, don't know what all that means, but I was complementing you on your performance, and the great reaction you shared with the Café members. Oh well.

I didn't mean anything negative by it. All I'm saying is that an audience member can make the performer look really good, especially if he picks the right one.