Hello, Magic Café!

I've been magicking for about 20 years, on and off, and after a lengthy hiatus, am back in restaurants and living rooms! I've been performing
2-3ish shows a weekend for about a year now, and am wrestling with this question: How different should a "family show" be from a "children's show"? I've been reading the café posts for a while now, and I know there are innumerable threads that address routining and different age groups. I guess I'm looking for tips about performing multiple shows a day--the first for all 5 year olds, the next a "family party" for a
1 year old birthday (audience, ages 3-111), and the third show for 3-6 year olds--mixed up shows like that. I don't keep 3 shows in my trunk! Though if many of you do and find that successful, I'd be willing to try! How many tricks do you switch out?

Thank you!

-Frank

For my kids show I include and disclude certain effects.
For example I include the magic coloring book and disclude card effects.

Many of my effects such as cut & restored rope, vanishing bottle, bill switch (paper to real money) remain in both shows.
And for the kids only effects, I try to make it as colorful & big as possible.

Thank you, Scott! Do you have it all written down in a set order for the 2 shows, or is your including and discluding sort of improvisational?

I realize these are pragmatic aspects.

What area do you live in? Sometimes, how much time is absorbed driving around can determine weather you have time to change things.
Packing and unpacking may effect things.
How large is your trunk and can you use your back seat?

Hey Jay! Good point. I'm in the suburbs of Chicago. I transport all my props in a large suitcase, a piece of luggage, and set up on a collapsible table I made (from the Danny Orleans Performing Magic for Children Video). So everything is in one suitcase. Some of the tricks appear in every type of show--Misers Dream, 21st Century Silks, Chop Cup--but some are strictly for the kiddies (pizza oven surprise) or for the family audience (anything with a deck of cards). My problem is deciding which tricks, and how many, to switch out. 3 Card Joe, for example. Would any of you keep that in a childrens performance? How about a PN/Fiber Optics routine? Adults are blown away by that, but the kids seem fairly indifferent to the rope thing.

We used to film every show
If we got three so-so responses from something, we dropped it.

Frank, you are on the right track of thinking. It just takes some of your real life experience to determine now, whether to include or disclude things from each show. Eem some family shows vary. If I am doing a family show and there are lots of kids sitting on the ground at the front, I will include the magic coloring book, and tell the adults to "take a journey back to your childhood. Wind the clocks back to when you were 5-6 years old." They still enjoy it and understand I am doing what's appropriate for the kids. And I will still do a card trick and some mentalism - the kids seem to understand that magic is happening, they will be patient as long as he majority of effects relate to them.

Terry Seabrooke did the same magic for adults and for kids. All he did was lighten up the words in front of kids. I watched him do both show and both killed.

That would be a dream, Pete, to perform the same 10ish tricks merely altering the patter. I find that effects like the Misers Dream, Cups and Balls, and Sponge Balls seem to work with any age, but other tricks/routines are a bit more fickle. I did the PN and Fibre Optics today, for example, and while the adults were mesmerized, the little ones couldn't have cared less. Then my next trick, the Pizza Oven (die box), had the 4-7 year olds in happy hysterics, while the 9-14 year olds seemed annoyed. Most of the adults are good humored and like it all.

It all depends on the tricks and the presentations.
While card tricks might go over well with adults, many kids don't really recognize the suits. They'd just perfer the sponge bunnies.
If you excite the kids well, most adults are pretty happy the kids are having fun and they enjoy themselves.
I do nursing homes. I found the crowds there often react the best when kids are around. The kids are loving the magic (going nuts) and the old folks actually enjoy watching the kids get excited and scream as much, if not more, than the show.

Some of David Devant, Lance Burton, and Howard Thurstons best stage tricks were with kids

A familly show features magic that fools the adults and includes the kids because they are unpredictable and fun

I don't like "kid" shows, I'm not sure the kids do, either

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I guess it's not the adults that concern me. Like I said, they always seem amused. (The booze helps but it's those shows with seven or eight 5 year olds, three older cousins ages 9-11, and a few teenagers. Actually, the teenagers are like the adults. Pretty good humored. But when I see ages 4-12 at the same party, I realize I'm going to have to ignore some snide comments from the pre-teens, then hit the box of wine with the adults.

I am with Bill Appleton on this. I think what bores kids most is "kids'" shows. Perform the best magic you've got; involve a kid; talk to the audience, not down to them. Kids are generally smarter and more mature than we give them credit for.

In a kids show you entertain kids, and in a family show you feature the kids to entertain the adults. The difference is subtle.

Thanks for all the feedback, everybody! I love your point about the family show subtlety, Al. So do most of you "aim" at the older audience at your mixed ages show and use the kids to entertain them?

No quite the opposite. You missed my point entirely. At a family show you make the youngest ones giggle which in turn makes all the women swoon, and everyone else applaud. The key to doing a successful family show is featuring the children in your show.

Got it, Al. Yes. That's what I do! Like I said, the adults aren't really the issue. It's those 9-12 year olds, the in-betweeners that are hard to consistently impress while still entertaining the 4-6 year olds. But yes, the adults are all thrilled to watch the children laugh and ooh and aah! If I had a show of 9-99 year olds, no problem. 4-8, no problem either. I know this is a much talked about topic. I just wondered if other magicians carried different shows, or just switched out a few tricks here and there to cater to the proper ages.

That is a FANTASTIC strategy!

That said, in my opinion, it is not a rule that has to be followed 100% of the time. The reason I say that is because sometimes I am in a situation where I have a ton of kids sitting on the floor, with adults in chairs at the back. If that happens and IF the time required is 30 minutes or less, then I usually do a verbal comedy magic act with No Audience participation tricks. I believe the reason this works for me, is because I do mostly visual magic at a fairly rapid verbal and physical pace that keeps the kids mezmerized by the action. But if I am doing more than 30 minutes, then I will do one or two audience participation tricks as a change of pace.

Hey Levent! When you say you do mostly fast paced visual stuff, what kind of effects are you referring to? I definitely do more comedy, talky tricks like Fibre Optics and Miser's Dream and Sponge Balls. I'd be interested in adding more fast and visual effects!

A good example is the stuff I did on TV's "Masters of Illusion" about 5 years ago. It's all on YouTube.