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the end of the trick. They simply stand
there holding a handkerchief bag with a
coin in the bag formed by the handkerchief.
One day I had a conversation with Frank
Tougas, a professional psychologist, about
this phenomenon. He said that when
people experience something that violates
there sense of reality they go into shock.
Part of shock is immobility.
With that, let's take up the items in the list
just presented and discuss them.
Level of Audience Interest
Let's begin by discussing Level of Audience
Interest. I was hanging out at the Magic
Castle one day and saw a junior
performer do a torn and restored card
routine for a customer. A card was
selected and torn into about six pieces.
The performer restored the card and the
piece the customer was holding matched
the other parts of the restored card. The
response was ho-hum. He said thanks and
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went about his business. As I recollect, the
moves were done fine. What I do
remember was the performer going into
detail about how the card was mending itself
as the pieces were pressed together. The
performer was telling the customer that
the molecules were rearranging
themselves as he spoke. The level of
interest the customer had in hearing this
patter theme was very low. He knew that
molecules were not rearranging
themselves and knew a miracle was not
happening before his eyes. He just wanted a
beer and take his best lady to dinner.
So how do you build interest? Well, I guess
you must assume they come with some
before you start and then you add to it as
you go. If you perform in an environment
where the audience goes to you to see your
show, they must have some interest when
you start.
Other performers need to build interest
from the get-go. Some people that do walk
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