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Loompanics Unlimited
PRESENTS
Our featured Author
Paul Price
Please Note: This title is now "OUT OF PRINT"
Author of The Real Work, Essential Sleight of Hand for Street Operators showcased in the Loompanics Summer Supplement, Paul Price hasn't shared much about his earliest years, but at the age of ten, he had a life changing experience. He went to a magic show.
After watching a magician produce coins, cards, and doves with his bare hands, young Paul decided he had to learn the secrets of the magician's tricks. After the performance he approached the magician and asked if he could join his act. Seeing Paul's enthusiasm, an agreement was reached to take him on as an assistant. Recalling those early weeks, Paul says, "I remember that the methods used to perform the tricks amazed me more than the tricks themselves."
After some months of training his magical mentor helped him put together his own magic act. Eventually they convinced Paul's school principal to hold an assembly that would feature his magic show. During the act, Paul read minds, made pencils levitate, and of course, materialized cards from thin air. He got so much recognition from the show that people started booking him to perform at children's parties. Apparently, they liked the idea of a kid magician.
However, after eight years of suffering through the sugar induced temper-tantrums of spoiled five year olds, in Paul's own words, "the exhilaration of performing magic gave way to the frustration of babysitting rowdy brats." One weekend he skipped out on a show and went to San Francisco with some friends instead. As they strolled the wharves, they came across a game of Three Card Monte. "The thrower had the crowd in the palm of his hand. People were laughing, clapping and laying down twenties like they were pennies. It was then," recalls Price "that I decided I absolutely had to throw away my magician's costume and work the streets instead."
Since he was already familiar with the magician's version of Three Card Monte, he went to San Francisco the following weekend armed with three cards and a lot of confidence. To his surprise, he made $200 in three hours! After a few months of working the wharves, an older gentleman approached him. Price refers to him simply as "Mister E". The old gent pulled out three plastic soda tops and a wadded up rubber band, then without a word, made the band teleport from one cap to another. "His patter and sleights were impeccable", says Price.
Naturally, this fueled our author's interest and he asked "Mister E" to teach him the moves of the routine. The old gent agreed to tip him in on the real work, but only if our author agreed to help him "sell" some real estate in Anonymous, California. For the next two years, "Mister E" taught Paul Price all he knew about street sleights. They spent countless hours watching each other's hands, devising different ways of switching in crooked dice, mucking cards, and picking pockets. In fact, many of the sleights, routines and scams the two of them created have been included in this book.
Regarding his plans for the future, our author is fairly tight lipped. You may still catch him on a street corner pulling a Three Card Monte with a glint in his eye.
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