Immmm sooooo *****, this new street magic masked magician is revealing all magic, all the good stuff. including, cig thru quarter,tarin head off dove, invisible string,and levitating! and all of the tricks we perfome.

Im really mad about this, I do all the tricks!! And there about 20 more of them. I am soo mad I was stomping on the ground after watching this!!!

I was a bit tense after that show too. Nothing you can really do about it. What gets me also is tapes like "Jaw droppers" and "King Rising" marketed to the general public on TV. For me that's when I think the effects are not worth doing anymore. These boys I feel care less about magic and more about $$$$$$$. A disservice in my opinion.

I just wonder if magicians have any legal recourse. It may be hard to justify suing Fox if you're a mostly amateur magician who works tables two Fridays a month at a local restaurant. But some of the manufacturers of tricks or the big Vegas acts who may use some of the expensive stage magic routines revealed in the Fox series, may have grounds for a lawsuit.

I had heard somewhere that the Pendragons were involved in litigation with Fox over a trick of theirs being showcased, but don't remember the specifics, or if it's been resolved at this time.

The problem with the Street Magic special is that they did go over many popular effects used by us. They totally revealed the workings behind the Raven, for example--Chazpro needs to nail Fox to the wall for that and the psychokinetic match routine.

Additionally, it looked like they took a standard Johnson cigarette through quarter and added a rubberband to it for the cig through coin effect. They even showed how a poor shuttle pass is performed to switch the gaff in and out. And as already mentioned, the rising card effect gimmick was revealed.

I would imagine that Blaine may also be pretty p*ssed off, as they went over a good part of his repertoire, right down to the encased in ice trick. Interestingly enough, when they showed the levitation portion, they failed to credit Balducci for the initial effect--which is yet another faux paux they should be called on.

I don't know if we can stop these guys, but if anyone's a lawyer and thinks we might have grounds for suit against Fox, I say, let's get a big group together and rip 'em a new one!

I was on fire after viewing this! Not only are they exposing methods that have remained guarded for generations, but they're also attacking currently marketed material (i.e. Raven). I thought it was going to be the throw away effects, but it was the good stuff people have spent time and $$$$ to learn.

To top it off, they throw in a few jabs "Not too magical is it" "Do you fell cheated" insinuating magicians are on the level of con men & crooks.

I fear this could really kill a big chunk of audience interest. I'm sure Fox will continue attacking the close-up worker as long as it gets ratings.

No good can come from this.

Yha lets all get together and a a big trial. We can have some one wright in the linking ring about it, and have a big magician protest!!! Lets do it. lol yah I tuned in toward the end of the show but i didnt know they showed the raven. I do that all the time. we did spend lots of money on some of these effects!!! Im juts really ***** right after I watched it I ran to the cafe totell everyone we are getting ripped off!

We should all join, WAM, copy a letter to fox and their sponsers. Come on who's with me....?

I was ***** off too. I can't believe some one is not suing fox. The Balduci lift, the johnson product,.., the nail writer...man.

COme on lets all send email to fox.
HEre is the WAM site.

http://www.magiciansalliance.com/index.html



E-LEoni.

I refused to watch it. My dad had it on in the living room though, and they were exposing the 2 card monte, and later realized the revealed the Raven
Boy was I steamed, I am trying to get a hold of one of the Chicago newscasters (Walter Jacobson) to explain that fox is giving away closely guarded secrets. Well I think that the exposure of marketed affects should definatly be stopped.

Yeah these secrets are so closely guarded that anyone can walk into a magic shop and buy them. Heck you don't even have to leave the comfort of your own home if you have an internet connection and a credit card.
It's a two way street boys. You all clamor for an endless supply of new effects but get upset when magic gets too commercial and falls into the hands of the guy off the street. Magic is a business and enough money can buy you whatever you want. So what can we do about it? We can unite, all join WAM nd stage large protests thus garnering a whole lot of publicity for FOX who will then keep producing these shows. Or we can just sit quiet and bide our time until the whole thing blows over and the shows are all but fogotten which should be next Wednesday.
More magic is exposed everyday by inept performers than in all the Masked Magicians specials combined. So just take a deep breath and remember that
You must accept the things you cannot change.
Change the things you can
And have the wisdom to know the difference.

You're missing the point. They didn't just expose store-bought effects. They also described in detail the workings of the shuttle pass, triple lift, and top change--to mention just a few.

This thing isn't going to blow over quickly. This is just another in a long line of specials that Fox has produced. There are enough self-working tricks out there that they could have material for the next ten years, but in exposing some tricks, they're automatically exposing principles to many others that don't require gaffs--even if they aren't showcased on the special itself.

Additionally, a bad performance may reveal the workings of some tricks to a small audience, but there's nothing like beaming the secrets of magic into millions of homes worldwide--big difference. Now, if you perform a shuttle pass, for example, you never know who in the audience has seen the Fox special and knows that you're not showing the same coin, and who hasn't.

I hate the way some dismiss this controversy as not that big of a deal or the concern of over-emotional magi, indulging in the slippery slope fallacy. They didn't get to your effect yet? Give 'em time, they'll get around to it. Then you can tell us all how it's no big thing.

now I don't want to get into a whole argument but let me put it like this. You can but the secret to just about every trick, and yes, at the comfort of your own home, but tell me this, who other then a dedicated magician would purchase the secret to lets say healed and sealed. You walk up to a layman and ask them how to do healed and sealed, and about 99.99999 % will not now how. Now, after the fox special, ask somebody how to do the balducci levitation (though they might not know it by that name), I will gurentee about 25% of the world will know. You try performing the Raven right after a special like that. BTW, This thing will not blow over, it is up to us as a community to do something about it, or else it will NEVER stop.

O yes and also, lets be thankful the ambitiuos card routin was not revealed, and BTW, Payne, if the AC routine was exposed, I am sure you will not have the same attitude you have now

Listen, this is exactly what they want. If we blow up, make a fuss, they win. If we keep quiet, work on getting better, then it doesn't matter what they expose.

I learned on thing today about this whole thing. Not one person I work with even watched the stupid thing. One even said that they'd rather watch me do magic than bother with that crap.

Effects I perform regularly have been exposed in these shows. Am I upset, have I removed them from my performances, no I have not. Why? Its a number game. Of all the shows so far the first one was the most widely watched. I don't have the numbers handy but I remember running them and coming up with the figure that for every 100 people you performed for you might have one or two that saw the show. Of those two the odd of them remebering much of anything after a few weeks was remote. It's not enougfh to worry about.
Who cares if a triple lift or a top change was exposed, there moves that are suppose to be covered with misdirection and timing. Thanks to the wide distribution of the Svengali deck to the lay public
the double lift is no longer a well kept secret anymore. Everybody should just take a deep breath and calm down. By getting upset and contacting the media or writing FOX or attempting lawsuits that don't stand a snowballs chance in you know where of succeding we are just adding fuel to the fire.
Its not about tricks it's about presentation and you can't expose presentation.

I was told three times by 3 different people, "Did you watch that magic revealed?" Them knowing I practice magic, I said no even though I did. And one of them actually tried to perform one of the effects and failed. Sure 2/10 (or whatever stat you want) wont remember or have seen it but that just cut down the number of people I would perform to. I choose my audience carefully and I care not to have someone say, "Yeah I saw someone turn over 3 cards as one and there was this magnet on pulley and there was coin with a hole..." That goes with sleights, sure some people know you can lift two cards pretending it's one and how a Svengali works but that just cut down the people who would think you have a hint of "magic" when doing magic. I like to have the odds work in my favor.

But yeah, I was disappointed cause I actually bought some of those products. I would of been real mad if they exposed effects like Ambitious Card or Reset.

Also, I also think we should take a deep breathe and relax. There are people in other countries that are having their hands cut off so Fox revealing effects and sleights on should be the least of our problems.

Presentation is what sells a trick. If you have a good one, it no longer matters if the person knows the secret.

Just the other day my friend Corey Burke (creator of Five Finger Discount and other effects) and I were playing with linking rings. Two guys off the street came into the magic shop. They watched Corey do a routine with the rings.

It was amazing. They were standing there looking for the gaff and complaining that they know how it's done.

But after the mind blowing presentation, they walked out of the store with blank expressions of disbelief all over their faces.

Like my friend Reian said above. Most people will not remember all of what they watched on those exposed T.V. shows. So go out there and perform.
Brian Proctor