I just found my very first business card EVER! Circa 1985...



Then I did the math. This was almost 28 years ago.

Feeling very old...

That card is 28 years old and looks better than some I've seen recently!

You're young at heart. I know 20 year olds that act 75.

And a lot of (us) 50 year olds that act 14!

Beats the alternative.

I don't know...I'd rather feel very young.

You been talking to my wife again?

Time to grow some hair back and maybe snag some of those things skimming over the top, Christopher.

So have you noticed the conspiracy with the newspapers and mirror companies? The print is much smaller in the papers than it was 28 years ago and the reflection in the mirror appear a lot older than the person looking into the mirror really is.

The alternative isn't feeling young; it's being dead.

Cool Christopher. This would make an excellent study in marketing. Put a pic of your current card. I bet it's a lot different. I studied graphic arts in high school and college. With the advent of DIY desktop publishing, it's not uncommon to have guys do their own cards. I would often have someone, (usually a younger kid) hand me his card and he'd be proud that he did it himself. I don't hold back and tell him "Yeah, that's what it looks like." The ubiquitous rabbit in the hat clip art is something that is just done to death by performers....and I bet 90+% of them don't even produce a rabbit from a hat!

Simple and to the point is best. Too many flashy "photoshop" cards today that makes it look like the person is more of a photo editor than an entertainer. I do a few different styles myself. I just have my character on the front and my tagline, and on th eback I list more of what I do. Enough to get the point the across and still leave some mystery. But every card I used got me calls so that is all that matters. What magicians think of my card is irrelevant, so I don't post it.

There's a good chance they don't even know how it's done!

I have been in the magic business all of my life. I have never liked the old cards that have the traditional rabbit coming out of the hat. I also know that marketing is constantly changing. I have what I consider a cool business card. However many times I am still asked "Hey do you pull a rabbit out of a hat" . Go figure

Hocuspocusjay23, it is amazing how often that gets asked. With all the "street magic" that has been on TV in recent years, they ask about the rabbit out of the hat. Even if they never actually have ever seen the trick.

When I was much younger, I use to keep a sponge rabbit in my hat and would do it when asked that question. But, it actually only played like the "Pride and Joy" gag, so I stopped.

My first magic business card dates back to 1965 and I just turned 68 today. They say a woman is as old as she feels and a man isn't old until 'he stops feeling'. No matter how hard you try... you won't catch up to me. My card is 47 years old. I'm actually doing a 3 hour magic event this Thursday, Oct. 25th.

Ray

I once did a show for a father/daughter Valentine's Day party. I ended the show by producing a guinea pig from my top hat.

After the show, one of the dads came up to me and said that if I'd produced a rabbit he wouldn't have been particularly impressed, but the guinea pig impressed him: he wanted to know how I kept it quiet throughout the whole show.

I tried it once but all I got was a little hair.

28 years?!?!? How old were you when you started, 2?

I tell them I was having a bad hair day.

It depends on what you consider "started?"

My first "official" gig was when I was 8 years old. I performed strolling magic at a fast food chicken restaurant called Golden Skillet. I wasn't paid anything, and I got the gig b/c I had been playing around with magic for a few years up to this point and my father wanted to support that passion and give me an outlet. Dad had a friend who managed GS and asked him if he'd let me come in on Saturday's and do magic for people during lunch time. It gave my dad an excuse to get out and get a free lunch while I worked...lol!

I was 9 years old in 1985 and people kept asking me if I had a business card which I didn't. So my mother took me to one of the old "brick and mortar printing shops" (remember those?) and we searched thru a big book of clip art till I found one I liked. A couple of weeks later, I had my first business card. I remember being so excited to have one. It made me feel so grown up. I couldn't wait to get back to GS to perform to pass out my card to people. I felt like I was a real entertainer at that point.

Truth be told, I really feel sorry for those who had to endure my magic at my young age. I would usually perform a rabbit paddle, ball vase, and a draw box. I would borrow a quarter from them and make it vanish in the drawer box. I would never make it "re-appear" so I banked a quarter every time I did the trick....LOL! People didn't seem to mind.

So to answer your question, I got my first "magic trick" when I was 4 years old at The State Fair of Virginia and played with magic for a few years and then booked my first restaurant when I was 8, got my first card at 9, and began doing my friends birthday parties and nursing homes when I was 10.

This little walk down memory lane has been brought to you by the number 7 and the letter F.