As the manufacturer of this effect and one who has already performed it hundreds of times I can tell
you that it has never failed to elicit a jaw dropping reaction from every single lay person who has
seen it. I have been in magic for over 50 years and I have come to realize that, with years of
experience in performing, my insights into the psyches of my lay audiences are quite different from
those of magicians who have only been doing this for a relatively short time. Many times I take it
for granted that all magicians understand the nature of discrepancies...how to see an effect through
laymen's eyes, and how to use that insight to fashion a routine that will deliver the desired
audience reaction. A video demo of street performances will be posted very soon so that everyone can
see just how powerful this effect is on lay people. In the mean time here are some clarifications on
the psychology of this effect from a layman's perspective. This effect should not be presented as,
"Hey, look at the new trick I just learned!" Rather, you should give your audiences a logical reason
why you can physically do something that they can not. I tell my audiences that I jammed my little
finger playing football in high school and now I can do this. The gimmick is not the critical
feature of this effect. It is the final convincer that you really shrunk your little finger to half
its size! The visual shrinking of the finger is the part of this effect that leads your audiences
down the garden path. For this reason when I turn my hand over to show the back side of my hand,
displaying the shrunken little finger with "everything" in place, I only maintain this display for
about five seconds before I "stretch" my pinky back to its original size. Five seconds (or less) is
all that is needed to convince your audience that your pinky has really been shrunken. During this
brief display no one will ever notice any slight discrepency between the shrunken pinky and your
other fingers. They're too busy gasping at the weirdness of your little shrunken finger. The
position of your other hand holding your shrunken pinky will be quite logical if you say something
like, "If I don't hold it in place it will pop right back out, and that hurts like Hades!" Finally a
bit of acting on your part as you shrink your pinky goes a long way to sell this effect. Grimace as
you shrink the finger and let out a sigh of relief as you stretch the finger back to its normal
size, thus letting your audience know that this is a physically demanding action for you. Remember
you are displaying a rather bizarre personal physical anomaly, not doing a magic trick! If you do
this effect as described in the written instructions and add a bit of your own personality you will
be thrilled with the results. I know I am! "Try it! You'll like it!"
Some quotes from the
net:
"I've been killing with it."
"I've done this 100+ times now and as skeptical as I
was in the beginning - I soon learned that laymen lap it up!"
"I love the effect..."
"I
must say it looks sick!"
"This really gives people the creeps!"
"It really elicits people's
GUT reactions."
"I had people screaming with this."
"I think this is great & the
instructions are excellent."
"I have gotten people screaming and running out of the room with
this little thing."
