I have come to realize that the TT, is more than likely the best gimmick in magic, it is really funny, I was talking with this woman on the train heading for Queens... 2 hour ride yuck.., she saw me doing Erdnase color changes, I have altered the handling to make the card vanish, instead of change.

So we get to talking and she says that she bought her son a magic set and she is telling me of what came with is...and yes, it had a TT. So she is talking about how when she checked the items for her son, she was dissapointed by some of the things in it.

She even said that " How deceptive is the TT thing?" I just played it dumb, and said.." hmmmm... I dunno... never used one." So I was doing a few card effects.. and I decide to pull a Bill switch.

I take a single turn it into a $20... and she goes all google eyed. " How the heck did you do that? Is that Bill real?" So I showed her the bill,... then changd it back...

I Just said to her as it was a good half hour after she gave her opinion about the TT." Just make sure your son practices what is in that set, there are several very good items in there. "

That is a great story. I really got a kick out of the last part where you played dumb, then did a bill switch! Funny!

What I really love about handing things out for a spec to inspect is... I ask" would you like to inspect the bill?" she says " sure..." and I am wondering...what does she think she will find? Most specs stand there with the stuff in their hands... wioth no clue what to look for.

So I do the old Ammar thing.." No trap doors? or hidden mirrors?"

I did not want to give the TT importance since in my opinion she MAY have bought the magic set, but she's Not the magician, her son is. I feel it's up to him to bring her in on stuff if he wishes.

Just curious, How do many here feel when the parents of a magician ask for explanations? Do you feel as I do? or am I carrying the whole secrecy thing too far?

I feel as you do. My nephew, who is now 9, began showing a SERIOUS interest in performing magic at about age 6. I purchased a magic kit for him for Christmas one year that was appropriate for his age & skill level. I assisted him with some things and now when he gets any extra cash, he wants his Dad, (my brother-in-law), to take him to the magic shop. When they come down to visit us, I always have a new trick for him or teach him additional handlings of tricks he's already grown adept at. Without fail, when he stuns his Dad with an illusion, my B-I-L will insist that he be told how it was done. To his credit, my nephew will not tell his Dad. When he needs to talk to me about the handling of a trick and others are around, he'll say, "magician's conference" and drag me into another room to have a whispered conversation about the issue at hand. He's very good at keeping magic secrets and resisting his Dad's insistence to know. If he can do that successfully with his Dad, he should have no problem keeping those secrets out in the real world. I am proud of him.

But I agree. I bought my son, (who is now an adult), a musical instrument when he was young. I'm no musician; but he is. At no time did I play his instrument or insist that he teach me. Why should it be any different with magic? It's an art and a skill and by its very nature requires a degree of secrecy. Just because a parent has purchased the illusion and/or kit does not make them a magician any more than buying a musical instrument make me a musician. If they want to support their child in their love of magic, they - if they are not magicians themselves - should respect the art enough not to insist to be taught the secret.

i like to use it to eat dirt and pencil shavings

Happy to see the "just go for it" strategy is paying off Clarissa.

Keep wearing the little guy everyday, eventually, you'll forget it's even there - then, it's truely invisible.

BILLET SWITCH

It is a great story. I still feel that examination does nothing. They don't know what to look for and if you tell them to look for trap doors or hidden mirrors, they won't look for those because they think you are misdirecting them.

Also, they will still give the credit to the props that they have seen because even an hour later, thinking about it, reconstructing the trick, they will find that they must have missed something about the bill.

I do a fun little effect where I pour sugar (and the paper from its package), a small square of tin foil, and an "invisible cocoa bean" into my closed fist. I reach into my pocket to get out a lighter (ditching the TT). Hold the lighter under my fist for a few seconds to cook the "mixture" and open my hand to reveal a Hersey's Kiss.

I usually use the silk from dollar bill. it's a classic but it still works. i borrow a bill from the spectator and do the patter of that a dollar bill has bits of silk in it and then proceed to pulling the silk out. And then make it vanish again in the bill

i have darwins dvd on tt magic and really they are all great!