Issue 19 - Mar 08
21st
Century Phantom DVD
Oz Pearlman
Available from: www.penguinmagic.com
Price: $29.95 (approx. £15.00)
A one trick DVD should be quite a special effect to warrant
the format. 21st century
Phantom may not be quite special enough although it’s a cute commercial mental
effect with a unique revelation and a memorable souvenir to leave with the
spectator – probably the best element of the trick. It was previously in Oz
Pearlman’s lecture notes Into the Abyss
and is based on Annemann’s Phantom
Artist routine (from Annemann’s Practical
Mental Magic).
Here is what a small audience would see. A pack of business
cards with famous celebrities written on each one is shown and a spectator
chooses one. The magician takes another business card and with a pair of
scissors starts to snip pieces out of the card as if cutting a silhouette.
Barely a minute’s worth of snipping leaves the card well cut about. The
spectator is asked to reveal the name of the person they chose after which the
card is revealed to be a perfectly cut recognisable portrait of the chosen
celebrity. The cut out portrait can then be stuck to an adhesive business card
magnet with your contact details on the rear and handed to the helper as a
souvenir to remain on their fridge for ever more!
It’s a simple and straightforward effect with an unusual
revelation of the chosen name. The method is easy to do and you won’t have to
learn how to cut a perfect portrait of a chosen celebrity! The method and
preparation are both well explained. Three or four different celebrity names
could be used if working around tables and although it is repeatable it’s
probably better kept for one-off presentations. A certain amount of preparation
is required making up the finished cut portraits in advance but these are easily
made and a dozen could be produced in half an hour. You will also have to make
up the pack of celebrity cards either with your own business cards or a pack of
blank playing cards.
Templates of four famous people are supplied with the DVD
and many more are available online. The
DVD gives you four performances of Oz presenting the trick at various corporate
and cocktail bookings in
Oz Pearlman makes little of the mind reading aspect of the
trick in his presentation and consequently the apparent skill of cutting the
portrait sometimes gets more credit than the mind-reading, as it does look like
you have a finely tuned skill. There’s
more to be made of the mind-reading I’m sure, but this is up to you to suit
your own personality. It should be noted that the picture is a cut out
‘image’ and not a silhouette so that it has to be held against a dark
background (Oz uses his suit) for the cut out sections to become the dark areas
and the picture to become recognisable. This actually makes the skill of cutting
the picture seem to be all the more impressive! I think there is an effective
way of slowing down the revelation of the portrait as when you show the cut card
first it won’t mean much until you gradually bring it against your suit or
against the black business card magnet when it will suddenly become instantly
recognisable.
It’s a cute and very commercial item that will probably
be very popular with audiences but not one I think that will make reputations as
claimed and combined with another routine from his recent lecture (as 21st
Century Phantom was) would make better value in a DVD format. You
certainly couldn’t wish for a more memorable giveaway! PP
What’s Hot: Great souvenir to give away
What’s not: Expensive format for
one trick
Star Rating: ***
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