I was at a restaurant tonight where they have a magician doing table to table and waiting area routines. If you like what you see, guess what, you can see his assistant at a booth near the cash register and buy the effects. TTs, brainwave decks, Newton's nightmare and more out on display and for sale. Not a good idea to me.

Well, profitable for the magician doing the pitching.

Yeah, I agree. Thats more of a salesperson than a magician.

Sounds like he's more interested in making money than the actual magic itself.

If you ask me, thats a good way to lose credit and respect for what he's doing.
It's just a way of making quick money, whilst, ins some ways, exposing effects to people who will never touch the effect again, or perform it without practicing.

On the other hand though, I am probably being a bit harsh and biassed ; what he's doing could spark of someones interest into the world of magic aswell.

that sucks. that is how all of the magic secrets are being revealed!

Svengali pitches have been used for decades. It exposes nothing. You've probably all seen them done by Street Magicians at fairs, flea markets, farmers markets. Doing it inside a restaurant is just another venue, and a way that someone can make a career out of magic.

i think its better not to sell the tricks he just performed...

it s like i wanna ruin my buisness. unless he sells brainwave for like 25$

wat do u mean?

he'll ruin his buisness.. the people will be like i can do that... but if he charges like 30$ for brainwave thenhe can make more money and not many people would buy it and not as many people would know the secret

oh, ok

Assuming that 100% of the people he performs for are the only customers the restaurant has, and that every one of them buys a deck, and the restaurant does not pay him, and he doesn't work for tips.

You folks should remember that, real workers acts consists of more than a svengali deck and a pair of d'lights. Selling magic like this is nothing new.

The "old school" street workers would do it all the time but I rarly see it from those performers anymore for some reason. Probably because of that silly code we believe in.

exactly. Anything I do in performance is generally never something that is sold at a mall kiosk, such as a svengali, d'lites, whatever. Sure, virtually every prop I have or video I learned from is at a magic store or available online. I don't worry about this. If someone is that interested, they're no longer the general public. Also, magic is about presentation and performance, not method. Who cares if someone knows you have a svengali deck if you do the most entertaining routine with it?

Most every Las Vegas Magician has some sort of magic "shop" outside his stage. They are just trying to make a bit of cash.

I don't agree with it, but it happens.