And one could patter about trouble finding "the end" before producing "The End" silk. Great idea, Howie.

Tony;

I'd like to witness your reaction and see if you will "get uptight" if during a party a magician takes his hand and stuffed it down your wife's cleavage to insert a silk in it and then makes her chest the center of attention by pulling out a bra and then carries on about her breasts.

I bet any magician can make it funny as well, at your wife's expense

Michael, Since ChrisG posted about it, I have actually been thinking about using the Cheer's Rope Trick with the silks to say "thank you" or for an ending to my show, but I didn't want to discuss the idea for a routine just yet in this thread; my post was just my opinion to answer Chris's question.

Now that its out, I'm glad you posted that you liked it

I agree with Tony (a little higher up in the thread). In Europe the bra trick can easily fly by only producing laughs and not insulting anyone. I have done it at family shows. But for maximum laughs I do it on a father. I get one, that have been laughing throughout the show. I also tend to pick one, that looks rather masculine. It always kills. The kids and the other parents love it and the guy it happens to always laugh the hardest. So it comes down to cultural differences. I wouldn't do it on a woman, because I feel the comedic impact is much greater when it's produced from the shirt of a man. That also eliminates the weirdness of the magician fumbling his silks down the cleavage of a woman.

There are so many good "clean" comedy routines for kids that I don't understand why anyone would want to risk including anything objectionable in their kid show. However... to quote Cole Porter:

In olden days a glimpse of stocking
Was looked on as something shocking
But now, God knows--
Anything Goes!

Today's society is--for better or worse--much more relaxed about underwear.

When I was working as a Kindergarten to Grade 2 school media specialist in the 1990's, one of THE most popular books that kids checked out and read all the time was the "Captain Underpants" series as shown in this link for the first book in what is now a series of 14 books
http://images.scholastic.co.uk/assets/a/......5127.jpg
Personally, I'm not fond of the Captain Underpants books, but they are pretty much a staple of elementary school libraries and are a sell-out at school book fairs.

I also feel that George McAthy's "Houdini Outstripped" is a funny routine when done with a pair of striped boxer shorts, but for some reason I feel it would take on a slightly different tone if it were done with low-rise briefs.

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

Let me be clear on my opinion of Professor Cheer's Rope Trick; if you're a guy my age (late 60's) performing a show for 5 to 8 years old and you perform Professor Cheer's Rope Trick and end it with your underwear being pulled out of your pants, I am sure the magic show will stop dead by the parents in the room watching the show and you will now playing a game of Monopoly.

You will go right to jail, you will not pass go and receive your $200.00 for your show, there can't be a trial because the best attorneys in America could not come up with any reasonable defence for an adult male to be pulling his underwear out of his pants in front of children and holding them up for all to see; and then when you're convicted, for a few years you will be performing the 3 shell game betting for cigarettes with your fellow prisoners and you may occasionally perform a basic magic show for the children visiting the relatives on visitors day,


Now after you are released and you return to work, all your contact information on the internet including your address, city, state and photo will be listed on Megan's List forever.

If you're going to perform it anyhow, make sure the underwear you pull out of your pants has skid marks on the seat (kids really giggle at this) and hand the underwear out to the kids to examine and when the kids grab it, pull it back with the rope that's attached to it... that will really get the mom's

Does this answer your question ChrisG?

Which would be considered worse for a kid's show, the "bra trick" or fire eating? I know people who don't hesitate to do fire magic and fire eating for birthday parties.

Steve

Those guys should read the opening sentence in "Step Right Up" by Dan Mannix!

For the benefit of those who think that fire eating is safe, I'll quote the late Dan Mannix below.

I did fire eating in a carnie side show, when I was a teenager (mid '40s). I haven't done it SINCE! I would NEVER do ANYTHING with FIRE for kids at birthday parties, or similar events. Kids are curious. They will try to imitate!

Chicago schools have STRICT RULES regarding FIRE. (There have been deaths.)

You may have INSURANCE, >>>BUT<<< insurance will not heal child victims!!!

My friend, Penn Jillette, wrote an article in a national magazine, about four years ago. He explained the dangers! I'm not giving you the name of the magazine.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>FIRE EATING IS DANGEROUS!,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Here is the opening sentence of Dan Mannix's "STEP RIGHT UP" :

"I PROBABLY NEVER WOULD HAVE BECOME AMERICA'S LEADING FIRE-EATER IF FLAMO THE GREAT HADN'T HAPPENED TO EXPLODE THAT NIGHT IN FRONT OF KRINKO'S GREAT COMBINED CARNIVAL SIDE SHOWS."

I don't think there is a comparison between the bra trick and fire eating for a childs show as they are completely different; fire eating has no sexual component in which this thread is based

But I am quite sure in a home with 8'ceilings, the long stream of black smoke rising from the flames will leave a mark on the ceiling that will be remembered by the parents to be the last time they will ever have a magician come over for a party.

Now that Steve has posted about fire eating, all we have to do is wait for Tony to come up and tell us that we Americans are all uptight and backwards about eating fire at a child's party and his people in Europe are far advanced on fire eating at children's parties.

Based on his last posts, Tony will tell us that while he is performing his fire eating routine if a house happens to burn down, Tony will say that he always carries marshmallows to hand out to the guests to enjoy themselves while he goes out to the back field to pick out a cow to kill and gut; Tony will trim the meat into steaks so the burning house can turn into a BBQ and Tony will continue his show while the cow is cooking!

On the other hand, us Americans would just freak out and call the fire department and stand around whining about the whole thing

Lol

"fire eating has no sexual component in which this thread is based"

This thread is based on a live-performance that I saw in Germany - and this performance had no sexual component at all.

In the reality there was no sexual component - there was just big laughter - the sexual component is produced and added by the minds of some people posting here.

You are correct, I ill make the correction immediately

CORRECTED COPY

This thread is based on a live-performance that the OP, Daniel Ulzen saw in Germany were there was laughter within the audience. Daniel was kind enough to share the experience with us.


Here is my opinion on your question Steve;

I don't think there is a comparison between the bra trick and fire eating for a child’s show as they are completely different; fire eating has no sexual component in which the bra trick is based on. A trick that focuses on a woman's breast is sexual; a bra being pulled out of a woman's blouse has a sexual connotation; this is an undisputable fact.

But I am quite sure in a home with 8'ceilings, the long stream of black smoke rising from the flames will leave a mark on the ceiling that will be remembered by the parents to be the last time they will ever have a magician come over for a party.

Now that Steve has posted about fire eating, all we have to do is wait for Tony to come up and tell us that we Americans are all uptight and backwards about eating fire at a child's party and his people in Europe are far advanced on fire eating at children's parties.

Tony will tell us that in Europe people handle things differently then in the USA and while he is performing his fire eating routine if the house that he is performing in happens to burn down, Tony will tell us that he comes to a show fully prepared and always carries marshmallows to hand out to the guests to enjoy roasting on the fire while he goes out to the back field to pick out a cow to kill and gut; Tony will trim the meat into steaks so the burning house can turn into a BBQ and Tony will continue his show while everyone watches him and the cow is cooking and after his show is over, Tony will serve steak to everyone in attendance!

On the other hand, us Americans would just freak out and call the fire department and stand around whining about the whole thing

Howie, I merely asked which would be worse in a show performed for children &/or families. No mention was made of the venue or location or such nonsense. Just curious, since there's a guy in my area who does both in his shows, regardless of venue.

Steve

Steve; I didn't fully understand the question then.

In my opinion, since there's a guy in your area who does both in his shows, regardless of venue I would still say it's not safe to perform fire in a home and if the fire department deems it necessary by local code to issues a permit for performing with fire in a theater or no permit for fire in a theater is required in that local and the magician abides to the regulations, I see no issue.

I suspect that when he performs in a home, he uses a chemical that does not produce the long stream of black smoke, it's less theatrical but saves burning the spot on the ceiling

Interesting thread....I have been performing professionally over thirty five years with literally thousands of shows behind me. All I can say is Times Have Changed! When I first started performing in the early 1980's at school shows when the curtains opened the music would start and I did several minutes of my manipulation act which included smoking a cigarette and card fan productions. This went over great and no one thought twice about anything. Fast foreward to today: If I was foolish enough to enter the stage smoking a cigarette the curtains would immediately close and I would be asked to leave!

It is important for us as entertainers to keep in touch with current issues and trends which will ( should ) dictate what we use in our shows. You have to realize effects mentioned ( Grant's Outstripped, Twentieth Century Bra, etc. ) were from a different era. I personally would not use any of the above mentioned effects including Professor Cheers Rope. I recetly performed approximately seven minutes of stand up magic comedy at a local club, you can see this on youtube. I was amazed how raunchy and fowl mouthed the other performers were, I guess in this instance I was the one out of touch with current trends. Sorry, that is not for me and never will be....period!

It all depends where you are working as well as what you are peforming as well, if you are currently having success performing the bra and underwear effects, more power to you. I would suggest using the boxer shorts attached to the end of a string of silk productions....that will be funny, not offend anyone and still get a great reaction.

Sometimes one wrong can cancel out another. How about lighting a candle, vanishing it, then having a burning bra appear?
hehe.

Times have changed. We need to be sure we are really entertaining our audiences. that includes the unexpected.

Kids love when clothes get ripped off. It is hilarious. The key is the person has to be in on the joke, either an assistant or a stooge. Like with all magic, there is the element it just happened in front of my eyes, but it could not have been real. If it is a comedy act, it should be it from the start. Here is one of my favorite clothes getting ripped off acts
https://youtu.be/uwnFFJN2ZY0

As an alternative. I do the 20th century shorts (brief underwear) I do it to myself, NEVER a spectator. Kids love it as well as adults. I am the "victim" It is funny and I have never heard of anyone being offended. My personal experience.

Nah us over here in Europe (well for another 48 days at least) will tell you we teach all the kids to do the fire-eating .... it's at that point that the house will set on fire!

Oh you Yanks are so uptight!

I jest of course - no one should be teaching kids to fire eat... until the age of 18. And then you must charge them £40 an hour tuition.

I wouldn't do any fire stuff for kids - it's not worth the risk of them copying.