On 2006-08-28 07:36, Sean Macfarlane wrote:
I should also ask, if any Black Widow users have Fitch/Koher holdouts, and how they compare to each other.

On 2006-11-27 07:41, Al Angello wrote:
If mere mortals can not see the emperors new clothes, why then is he marching in a parade? Why has there been 71 posts made on the CIA's new top secret project?

Magic Chris,
You forgot to say, "HA HA HA!"
Al

On 2005-11-08 13:09, Bob Kohler wrote:
It's interesting to check in occasionally to see what's happening at the old Café. Some interesting observations. Here are a couple of thoughts we had while attempting to figure out the best way to share our holdout solutions with the magic community.

First, my main initial motivation was to make sure that the magic world was aware of Bob Fitch. He blew me away with his use of the holdout in the early '80's. Behind the scenes Bob worked with and was a major influence to a lot of working pros including but not limited to David Copperfield, Jeff McBride and many more.

But the community at large was unaware of Bob's talents. After a multitude of major Broadway shows and over 250 nationally televised commercials I can tell you that Bob has an eye for performance that sets him apart from the rest. His observations are priceless. To get him to critique your act would be one of the smartest things you could possibly do.

When we were attempting to release our work on the holdout we had many challenges. How to make it.
How to release it without seriously compromising the secrets etc.

It's been available now for a little over two years. As far as we're concerned the release has been successful. Many thought the license would kill the project. Many thought it was too expensive.

Those who have the system know how complex the project is. It's extremely diffcult to manufacture with literally hundreds of steps. Creating 7 DVD's of training took a ton of time and effort.

I judge our success by customer satisfaction. 100% of the users were blown away by the final product.
Out of all of the units we've shipped only two have changed hands. The circumstances that forced the tranfers were both due to financial hardship/health issues.

Our system is essentially a tool set. How magicians choose to use it and how well each performer handles it is completely out of our hands. I can tell you this. Holdout work give magicians a tool that creates miracles. The Mishell book is title "Holdout Miracles."

I've fooled countless well informed magicians with the holdout during my career. Laymen don't stand a chance. I'll share a story about my first day at the Magic Castle to make the point. I had lunch with the Professor. After lunch he asked me to do a trick for him. I was wearing the system so I did two tricks for him. Vernon ran around (he was in his early '90's at the time and yes, he was running} and he comes back with Albert Goshman and about 20 other guys. So I do a couple more, nobody has a clue what I'm using to fool them.

I'd been using the holdout at trade shows to perform Goshman's classic Salt Shaker routine. I had it down pat. So I ask him if I can do it for him (yes, I'm an idiot) he says OK and we all go down to the close up gallery. We find a couple of laymen for me to do it for and I do the show.

The effect looks much the same as Albert's but the choreography plus using the holdout for complete coin vanishes for each phase has them all stunned. I'm watching their eyes. I know they're fooled. Vernon and everybody rave about the show. Then Vernon looks at Goshman and asks him "what do you think about the kid?" Goshman answers "He's got a ****ty classic palm." (This is a direct quote, don't edit it out!!!) Everybody laughs...the truth is I never classic palmed a coin the during the entire routine!

That night I went to one of Albert's last performances at the Castle before he passed away. After they introduced him he spotted me in the crowd. He did one of the greatest close up shows I've ever seen.
After the show he told me "kid, you can really do the moves but you can't entertain like me!" It was one of the best days of my life.

Having the holdout as a "secret" weapon is most important. These days if Mr. Fitch or me show up wearing any clothes at all, everybody thinks if we fool them we used a holdout. Maybe...

We also get a lot of guys who try to sneak around to find a bad angle. Hey, whatever turns you on.

The main reason I decided not to put a ton of little holdout video demo clips up on the internet is there's just know way you're going to get the feeling that good holdout magic can give you. You'll know in advance of the method and you'll watch it a million times until you think you've figured it out.

Holdout work opens unlimited horizons. On the training DVD's we are teaching the use of the tool. We perform many examples but there's so much more we just didn't have the time to get into.

Another question that seems to pop up is comparisons between the holdouts currently on the market.
To me there's just no comparison. I have all of them, I've used all of them. None of the holdouts out there really are professional in my opinion. They all suffer ione fatal flaw or another.

I constantly have been getting letters about when the next batch will be ready. I should have them back in stock in December. Another question is how much longer will we be making the system. The answer is I really don't know. Our system uses a lot of very expensive, high impact plastics which are an oil based product. The cost are going up, way up. Thomas Wayne is the only craftsman who can make it. His main business is not making magic. If he decides it's too much work for the price that could be the straw that breaks the camels back. My best guess is we'll makes systems only every few years after this batch.
We want to make other attachments we've had on the books for years. This way we'll have the time.

I do have one personal opinion I'd like to share. I really wish everybody on all of the magic forums would change and use their real name. When you read a post from Paul Chosse, Paul Green, Dan Watkins, Bill Palmer and many others you know who they are because they stand behind what they post by using their name.

Personally I just don't read, correspond or answer posts by people with names like "Sleight King" or "Gluestick." If he or she really were a sleight king wouldn't we either know about them or they would want us to know who they are. I feel that using a fake name is like wearing a mask. I guess this is OK if you're really Zorro, going to a Halloween party or are robbing a convenience store...just my two cents. Change your log in to your real name! If all of us that use are real name just plain stop answering any post by those afraid to use their real name, the Café and the Genii Forums would be much more useful to all of us.