Desert Island Tricks
Each week we invite one of the biggest guests in the world of magic to maroon themselves on a desert island. They are allowed to take with them 8 tricks, 1 book, 1 banishment and 1 non magic item that they use for magic! We discuss their 'can't live without' lists and why those items were chosen.
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To find out more about the team behind Desert Island Tricks, please visit: www.alakazam.co.uk
Desert Island Tricks
Stranded with a Stranger: Steven Mills
Steven Mills brings sixty years of magical wisdom to "Stranded with a Stranger," offering a masterclass in practical performance choices that stand the test of time. His philosophy cuts through modern magic's endless novelty: "You are fooling people way less often than you think. Don't confuse polite silence with thinking they were fooled."
From pocket-sized miracles like "Jumping Arrow" to classic coin effects like "Hopping Halves," Steven's selections reveal a performer who values ending clean, working without tables, and delivering maximum impact with minimal props. His inclusion of Dan Harlan's "The Awakening" (which he considers possibly the best rope routine ever created) and Michael Close's "Pothole Trick" demonstrates his commitment to effects refined through decades of performance rather than untested novelties.
Perhaps most refreshing is Steven's appreciation for overlooked gems like "Starcle," a simple paper tear that transforms a circular piece of napkin into a star, a perfect addition to any magician's mental toolbox of impromptu miracles. His choice of Harry Lorayne's "Close-Up Card Magic" as his desert island book further emphasises his respect for material with lasting value over fleeting trends.
Steven's carefully curated list offers a blueprint for building a repertoire that prioritises practicality without sacrificing wonder. His selections remind us that sometimes the greatest magic comes not from having the latest release, but from perfecting timeless principles that continue to astonish audiences decade after decade.
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk
Thank you for watching. Hello and welcome to another episode of Stranded with a Stranger. This is our early week episode where you guys get to send in your list to us. That means, of course, we are joined with another stranded stranger. Today we have Stephen Mills. Now he sent us a little bio in, so that's what we're going to start with.
Speaker 2:He says I'm an old actually very old magic enthusiast. I've been studying and performing a little for about six decades. At my age I can no longer afford to attend any conventions or buy most of the latest stuff. That's okay, as I still enjoy reading, studying and taking the occasional social media journey. I've given myself several rules for my list to give it some clarity and organization. You will see I veered off the straight path in some situations. There's still some work to be done.
Speaker 2:Over the years I found it's impractical to rely on the availability of a table. In some cases the need for a table can be eliminated with a little thought. I've never been a fan of using a spectator as a table. I'm a big believer of effects ending clean as well. Of course people want to see the props and audience management just becomes sticking things in your pocket. Ironically, the desire to see the props is dramatically reduced. When everything is clean, there is a palpable relief and sense of freedom in the performer's aura, even in the most advanced practitioners.
Speaker 2:As you will see, I'm not perfect at reaching this goal. This is part of my general take on magic. You are fooling people way less often than you think. Don't confuse polite silence with thinking they were fooled. There's just too much good magic available to perform lesser effects. I'm particularly fond of well-honed ideas based on years of use by highly competent magicians. The make it your own mantra so often leads to strange stories and rationales for the sake of originality.
Speaker 2:Some tricks are just about perfect as released by the creator. Take advantage of them. Okay, so six decades is a really long time, which means you've been around a lot of magic, which I'm guessing means that this was quite a difficult list to put together. Now Stephen has actually given us some honorable mentions, so maybe this will give us some insight into his list. So these are his honorable mentions. He's gone for pencil through dollar bill.
Speaker 2:This would have been on my top eight, except each presentation requires creating a new gimmick each time you perform it, which makes it impractical for many situations. On the good. Good side, the needed ingredient is now more easily obtained, at least stateside. His second one is b wave both the original max maven trick and eugene berger's gimmickless version. Jamie swiss published the latter in one of his online posts. It shouldn't be too hard to run down. Being available in both close-up and stage platform versions is a bonus. This would have been in my top eight, but I opted for a different packet trick. Ooh, we've got a teaser there.
Speaker 2:Bill Switch. There are two here and very different. For the classic routine, my choice is John Lovick's personal method, which doesn't need a gimmick. It works close-up and parlor Found in his excellent book switch. The other is eugene berger's slow motion bill transpo. This may be the ultimate trick for someone that always wants to have a bit of magic with them. The download runs 30 minutes and is, unsurprisingly, a real lesson in teaching. Some arts and crafts are involved, but nothing terribly difficult. You do end dirty, but the heat is on the normal bill. And his last honorable mention is free will A wonderful impromptu mentalism effect using only three normal objects, for instance a pen, a watch and a coin.
Speaker 2:This was on my original list, but it was on so many lists so I removed it. The spectator completely controls where the objects are placed, yet the magician proves he knew in advance where they would be. Since everything is ungimmicked, you can perform this anywhere and any time. It's available in a lot of places. I like paul vigil's explanation in his penguin live lecture. Okay, so we've got some mentalism there and we've got some organic items there. Obviously, pencil through dollar bill, two organic items. We've got b wave, which is a mentalism card effect, bill switch, again organic piece of magic. And of course free will, which is another great mentalism piece but again can be used with organic items. So maybe this shows us where steven's list is gonna go.
Speaker 2:So let's get stuck into steven's top eight. He says a number one is jumping arrow by mark k young. I'll start my list, the same as andy nyman did with his, with a paddle style trick that puts puts me in good company. After much consideration, I'm settling on Jumping Arrow. This is a small wand with arrows on each side that jump back and forth in a nice visual manner. The wand is small, about three inches long and one fourth inch square, so it's easy to carry on those occasions where you just want to have a quick, solid trick in your pocket. The close second place is Turbo Stick by Leo Schmetzers. This is an updated version of the Blackboard and Chalk Paddle. This is made from dry erase material and you can use a marker to create a paddle on the fly. The trick is sold with a DVD containing several high quality routines.
Speaker 2:Due to the flexibility, this may well be a superior trick. I just prefer the simplicity of the single prop. This is great. I saw this a few years ago, I think Craig Petty or someone did it on YouTube and it looks great. And again, the simplicity of this arrow jumping from one end to the other, then to the middle. I think the ending ends up with an arrow either side and the one in the middle is stuck on the other side. So absolutely it's a great paddle routine. It's super, super visual. But that leads us to number two, which is hopping halves.
Speaker 2:I enjoy performing many of the classic mechanical coin tricks, eg copper, silver, brass, scotch and soda or shell and coins. Maximum effect can be realised by using gimmicks along with well-performed slights. Most of these can be routined to end clean. My current choice is Hopping Halves. Recently I've been using Mark Mason's set made with Chinese coins. It's a nice routine, easy to follow and ends clean and the setup for the next performance. Yep, an absolute classic and the first coin trick that we have here. So we've gone from a paddle trick into a coin trick.
Speaker 2:That leads us to number three, which is Color Monty. This needs no explanation, I'm sure. A quick packet trick using three ungimmicked cards and a story about how the magician loses money to a street hustler Basically an in-the-hands three-card Monty. I used the late Scott Alexander's pro version. The small changes to the cards make it much smoother and it's unlikely that anyone would ever notice it on the closest examination. He also includes his corny rhyming pattern, which just works Plays well for adults and kids. This is generally done with the aid of a table, but with a little thought easily can be done without one. It's also available in jumbo cards for parlor situations. What a great choice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, color monty is one of those routines I think most of us have had a version of. I know. Certainly I've had several different versions and some people come up with some really interesting handlings and ideas for them. I wonder how many of you guys do it out of a shuffle deck. So I know. Personally, I like doing it with the Ace of Spades, ace of Hearts and then having the Joker at the end. If you're on YouTube, then comment underneath whether you use the original color Monty cards and you keep that as a packet trick, or if you also do it out of a shuffle deck. Or maybe you have a different version, who knows? Let us know in the comments underneath.
Speaker 2:Number four, we have the Awakening by Dan Harland. In my opinion, this is the best version of the Professor's Nightmare ever created and arguably the best rope routine ever Can be worked close up. Parlor and stage. The secret will surprise and amuse you. Really nothing else to say except give it a try. Yet I think it is an absolutely phenomenal routine. Like steven said, if you haven't seen it, please go and find a video of it. Watch it. It is absolutely incredible.
Speaker 2:And this brings us to steven's number five position, which is the pothole trick. Michael Close, I consider this one of the best close-up tricks of all time. The first great and still the best moving hole trick requires a little cleanup, which Mike covers in his explanation. He suggests switcheroo by Mark Mason. This has been revised and reissued as switcher two, a neat utility item that works very well for this trick. Well, you've given us everything there, steven, thank you so much even a way to switch the items there, which is excellent. I know moving hole tricks are so visual and so baffling. There's so many of them around nowadays, though, so it's going to be nice to look that one up. I've not come across the pothole trick before, so I will definitely be seeking this one out. And that leads us to number six, which is Starkle by Dan Harlan. I didn't intend to have two tricks by the same creator in the list, but couldn't in good conscience leave either off.
Speaker 2:I know there are plenty of people that don't even consider this a magic trick and definitely not a fooler. I disagree, but even if they're correct, it's a type of trick that can give a series of tricks texture similar to a juggler or fire eater on a gala show. For those that are unfamiliar, a circle is torn out of the paper napkin and when unfolded, it inexplicably is in the shape of a star. I was certainly fooled when I first saw it. When Dan and others do it, it is generally accompanied by some serious and romantic scripting. When I try something like that, I just come across looking silly. I'm way better off doing it to music. It's one of those tricks that is strong enough that it can overcome bad presentations if they aren't too terrible.
Speaker 2:This is a great trick. And I know that we've often spoken about the mental toolbox. So this idea that you have a series of tricks or methods that are stored purely in your brain, so that should one day you be asked to do something specifically or maybe you're somewhere and your props get lost or any number of other things you just have this little toolbox of things in your brain that's ready to go. And this is definitely one of those things. As soon as you know the technique, you know the system behind StarCore, then you have something that's ready to go wherever you are in the world. It literally takes a napkin. And again, the fact that this one little trick it sort of reminds me of paper balls over the head. It's such a small prop, it's so organic, it's available everywhere, but it plays to a massive audience and I think it's David Penn who does this on stage, normally with a kid, and it's a really lovely, sweet moment. So I think it's a great, great choice of trick. And again, like you rightly said, stephen, there may be one that's been overlooked over the years. I urge anyone to check that one out. I think it's great.
Speaker 2:Now we're on to the tail end of Stephen's tricks. However, stephen has somewhat shortchanged us. He has only given us seven tricks, so we're going to have to take one of his honourable mentions as his eighth trick. Okay, so you guys can do that yourself. Remember his honourable mentions were pencil through, bill B, wave, bill switch and free will. Okay, so you can take one of those as his eighth trick. But his seventh spot he's put a deck of cards stacked and marked.
Speaker 2:When I first started this list, I was going to say I use the moniker as my stack. I've recently purchased Josh J's particle system and I've become enamored with its possibilities. I guess being on an island would be perfect time to get the stack down cold. They have an online training system, a very active Facebook group, and have included a number of videos for the purchaser. I'm really this impressed with the new product A great choice. I have also delved into Josh J's particle system. There's some really really smart thinking in there, some really great ideas, a wonderful cards across, which I really really like there as well and I think a lot of people have said this over the course of this podcast that sometimes we just don't have the time to put into something, however much we would love to. Memorizing stack decks, memorizing systems, stuff like that would be perfect if we had that time, if we all had. Maybe I didn't want to say a year off, because it sounds like we're back at pandemic situation, but if we had time off then maybe we would be in a position where we could, you know, learn these things and really get them memorized. But I think there's a great choice.
Speaker 2:We're going to move on to the two curveball items. Now. This was before our banishment, so we don't have a banishment. We do have a book and a non-magic item. So this is what Stephen put in his book position. He says my first real magic book was Close-Up Card Magic by Harry Lorraine. This is still my favourite, a great book, not a big book. However, volume 1 of the Lorraine, the Classic Collection, includes Close-Up Card Magic, personal Secrets, my Favourite Card Tricks Dexterity and the Epitome Location. There's a lifetime of usable tricks here. My alternative would be Richardard kaufman's mr jennings takes it easy. This is a large dense book full of great tricks, moves and techniques. These are two very different books so I guess it will be a last minute decision as I board the ship.
Speaker 2:Oh, we may have to check steven for illegal items. He may be sneaking two books onto the island. And it does lead us onto the non-magic item. He says the first easy item on this list, my iPad. Even if there is no Wi-Fi, there is plenty of memory to hold a lot of magic related info. I can write notes and even start a book. Yes, this is probably a cop-out, but this is my choice, not a cop-out at all. If that is the item that you would take, then that is the item that you would take and that's a great list.
Speaker 2:We've got such a great mixture of visual magic mentalism. We've got a coin trick in there Just to review it. We've got Jumping Arrow, hopping Halves, color Monty the Awak, the awakening, the pothole trick, starkle, a deck of cards that are stacked and marked. Your book is close-up card magic by harry lorraine. And you've taken your ipad with you. Thank you so much for sending this in steven. Now, of course, we know everything we know about Stephen, so he is a stranger to us and no more. Now, if you want to send him one of your lists, please send it to sales at alakazamcouk. Please include a little bio about yourself, your choices and, of course, why you chose those tricks as well. And don't forget, you can put in a banishment now, so you do have the option to banish something as well. So once again, thank you, steven, for sending this in. We're going to be back later this week with the next episode of the main podcast, but for now, have a great week.
Speaker 1:Goodbye hi peter nardi here and I really hope you enjoyed that podcast. I just wanted to make you know that Alakazam have their own app. You can download it from the App Store or the Google Play Store. By downloading the app, it will make your shopping experience even slicker. At Alakazam, You'll also get exclusive in-app offers and in-app live streams. So go download it now and we'll see you on the next podcast.