I've been into magic for a very long time. I'm 27 and started when I was 12. In all this time, I have done only 2 real shows or gigs. I have bad knees (long story), and because of this I'm in college while my wonderful wife works, as I'm unable to do most jobs available in my area because they require 8 hours of standing. That being said, I have been working on building a real show, and I have everything I need to get started. I've been thinking now for a while of finishing my show and performing, to help my wife with finances while I'm in college. That being said:

My sister just happens to work for a rehabilitation center that is, for the most part, a nursing home. She is the activities director. Meaning, it's her job to keep the clients happy, busy, and entertained. All I have to do to get my first show is call her and she'll set me up. The show would be in a small dining room, which I've seen, so I know what to expect from that. The part I'm mainly stumped on is will the older people be able to comprehend what I'm doing? I've never performed magic in a nursing home, and I don't want to perform things that will go over their heads. My sister assures me that the people attending are quite high functioning, but I'd like the opinion of anyone who has done this type of thing to chime in with advice. The routines I have in mind should be easy to understand, such as a rope routine, rocky raccoon, (she said they love animals), silk to egg, thumbcuffs, TNR newspaper, etc. Any suggestions or tips?

Now for the ethical/moral/legal question.

Because her budget is miniscule, and she's my sister, and it would be my first time in forever performing for a group, I'm doing this for free. It helps her out on her small budget, and in return she's agreed to help me with a letter of recommendation, which I can use if I decide to do paying shows. Because she was married, her last name is different than mine, so it won't look like I just had a family member write one. She thinks it would be best if I wrote it and she just signed it. I personally don't think this would be ethical, and possibly could be illegal too. I'm thinking it would be best to have her write it as she would for anyone else, and leave out any family bias. I could give her a few example letters so she knows how they are done. The other option of me writing it would of course help me more, and I could just have her sign it only if she agrees with what's written, but would that be ok? Or should I have her write it on her own.

Thanks for reading this long post, and thanks for your suggestions.

Brian

You may be surprised at the number of endorsement letters used in advertising that are not written by the endorser. (Now I feel like the Masked Ad Guy from Secrets of Advertising Finally Revealed!) Anytime we have written endorsements for a client, we have always gotten approval from the endorser that it reflects their true opinion. If this wasn't done, most of the testimonials would be lackluster and would all sound very similar to the others. This way you can throw in key words that are important to your prospective bookers. So to answer your question, I think it would be perfectly ethical to ghost write a testimonial for your sister as long as it reflects her true opinion.

Agreed. It's done ALL the time.

If you want to do the show, no reason not to. If you can get a letter of recommendation out of it, for use at a later date, that's icing on the cake. Have a great time!!

Mark.

I suppose we can look to a pretty lofty source for an answer...does the President write his own speeches? Rarely. Yet, we can assume that he agrees to the speech's content because he consented to speak it. The same can be said with a letter of recommendation. If your reference agrees to the words, she may as well have written the words herself. I see no problem with this.

Go for it. Keep it simple, talk slow.

Great advice, thanks to all. I think I'll write the letter and only have my sister sign it if she agrees with the contents. That way it helps me, but it is true. And pete, thanks. Taking my time and talking slow should help a lot, I'll keep it in mind.

Don't play music over talking for this crowd. Hearing aids make that a problem.

If her crowd is high functioning they will be great fun.

Don't do baby Magic just simple and fun Family Magic.

Keep in mind that volunteers should be pre-screened with the staff. Some of this crowd can't do certain things because of vision, hearing, cognitive or balance problems. The staff can give you some suggestions on who to pick.

Lots of letters of recommendation are written by the Magician, checked and signed by the client.

In your case, if you want to do this kind of show, your Sister can tell you what they like/need in a show and you can write a show for that crowd. She also knows which things to say to persuade others in her profession so it wouldn't hurt to give her a go at the letter and then you do some spicing it up with more descriptive and evocative wording.

You have a chance to get some real feedback on how to improve your show for this crowd and I'm sure you will have another chance to do it again. Make sure your show lives up to the letter before you move on.

Good luck!

-Mary Mowder

Thank you, Mary, good food for thought. My sister knows the patients well, and said there are a few who would more than likely love to help, but if not, some of her staff would volunteer, and the patients would get a kick out of seeing their staff on "stage" as well.

And yes, I intend on using this experience to better my show and get some good feedback to improve it. My wife would be there and will take notes as well, lol.

Good advice from the people here. Having done many nursing home shows over the years, I would add some thoughts as well. A sound system is hugely beneficial in this setting. If you don't have one, I recommend you ask your sister if there is one you can use. You would then need to block your show with the use of a microphone in mind. And regarding volunteers, be sure that you don't have older people in a routine where they have to stand to assist you for very long. If they can assist from their seats, that is best because many of them have difficulty standing up for extended periods, depending of course on how high functioning they are. The tricks you have listed above sound like solid tricks that should go over well. How long of a show do you have planned? These facilities usually like at least 45 minutes to an hour, because it takes time to get all the residents moved out of their rooms and into the main activity room, so they like it to be worth their while. Having said that, if you only have enough solid material to do 30 minutes, I would start with that rather than try to milk 45 minutes out of a 30 minute act. Good luck with it! These shows can be very rewarding, and I have found most Senior Citizens really enjoy magic and they like to have a good time. Have fun!

Jkvand, I do have a small, inexpensive, but serviceable microphone/speaker set. It has a Mic, and a headset both wireless. I haven't used it professionally of course, but I have tested it and know from the amazon reviews it has been used successfully in small churches and such, so it should be fine for this setting. As far as having them help, yes, I did intend to keep them up for a short time, and will be using a few in wheelchairs, as my sister has stated it would be good for them and the staff could bring them up. I have planned for about 35 min or so, as that's the time suggested by the sister. I will be afterwards going to some of the room for the patients who are unable to attend for various reasons, to do a few close up things, such as sponge balls/bunnies. (these patients are ones my sister knows would like it but can't come out because of medical apparatus and the like).

I do look forward to doing this, as I know they don't get much visitors and love the entertainment. My sister said as of now there's only a DJ that comes once every two months and plays oldies music, but they don't like him because he talks like a radio DJ instead of talking to them, LOL.


Also, I remember on one of the Jeff McBride tapes he mentions he used to go to many nursing homes and do free shows just to have the practice, and still does to try out new routines.

In a national survey, three out of four people prefer Jay Leslie.

I asked my mother, my father, my cousin and some guy off the street.

As for going into the retirement market - in your area - you said the budgets were very small, according to someone that knows. You may want to figure how much it really costs you to do a show (all told) and find- out that you're only making 5 dollars.

Not trying to discourage you, just sayin.

Ad far as what they like. Some will sit in their chairs and be as depressed as depressed can be, in assisted living homes, while others want to get- up and dance. They NEED the sound system. And- they may have seen every truck you do, at onevtimebor other, but are more interested in the joy you bring and the connection you make as a human bean.

And if the one lady in the back keeps yelling Thst she can't see or hear you can always walk up the isle to get
closer, a few times, orbput her on ignore and the other paients will eventually come to your rescue. Turn the volume up and smile.

Jay, no discouragement here, I understand what you're saying. The nursing homes aren't a circuit I'm trying to get into, as much as do a few in the community for fun, and to use them to get my routines and show worked out, before I'd do bigger things. Although I know I'd still do a few of these nursing homes once in awhile, but that's more for me than money. But you won't discourage me, I know pros like you know what you're talking about, and I'd rather hear the truth than have someone blow smoke, lol.

The great thing is my wife is now a manager of her own store for a big pizza chain around here, and the owners of the company love her because she went from a cook to manager overnight, and saved the store they gave her and turned it into a very profitable store (it was going under before). The owners and higher ups love her, and she's made changes they've implemented across their entire company in every state they are in. Once I get my routines worked out and tested better, I'm going to use this as a foot in the door and she's going to bring up the idea of corporate entertainment for their big christmas parties, store openings, and such....you get the idea

After that I'll have established myself and can move on from there.

I rarely use letters any more, but in the "old days" I used them all the time. I have ocassionally written a ltter and had someone sign it. If they don't agree with the content, they don't have to sign it. You are making their life easy. Who has times to write a letter? there is nothing unwthical or immoral about it.

As far as the show, do what you do best. Your sis says they are high-functioning; believe her. Stay away from things that rewquire them to stand. They can participate from their seats in ways like selecting things (colors, cards, etc.). It works very well, and I do it all teh time when doing nursing homes.

It is standard practice to have a letter of recommendation written by the person seeking acclaim signed by the expert. Your sister can offer changes, suggestions, and so on, but writing it yourself is completely ethical.

Unless you spell like I did in the above post. In that case, nobody would dare sign it!

While I have no comment on ethics, I would like to make a couple of comments about nursing home shows. At the the shows I have done, the audience consisted of not just residents and staff, but also of chilren and grandchildren of residents --- you could easly have four generations in your audience. As for the length of the show, it can be hard to hold their attention for more than about 30 minutes, but, as has been mentioned above, the staff likes to have the activity last long enough to make it make all the moving worth while --- the solution that works for me is to do the show in conjuction with a group of clowns. The clowns can even handle the job of announing and introducing you, then after the magic, entertain with balloon twisting, face painting, and the whole spectrum of "clown stuff". Something for everyone. Works for me!

Murf