Andy C: Hi there.

I guess in a resort town you get a lot of repeat customers. Having seen all of your tapes, I imagine there are a few places where you really don't want anyone shouting out, at least not the right answer! The ending to your 3 card monte routine springs to mind. If someone watches it enough, they are bound to work it out eventually, do you get this happening, how do you prevent it, and what do you do if it does happen?

Cheers

Andy

Doc Eason: I do get repeat customers but they are often repeating on the same week in January, for example. So they are not necessarily in all the time... now we do have locals of course. But they know to be quiet.

If I get a rambunctious spectator, I will often try to engage them and with a conspiratorial wink, make them part of my team...

If they insist on jumping up and down when I put the card under the glass, I will often times just tell them to let the rest of them discover it on their own. I have been told I have amazing patience and that many other folks would snap sooner and “rip someone’s throat out.” There are those times however, when some bozo takes great joy in disrupting the timing of the thing .... if that happens, I try to just walk away... it is a bit like wrestling with a pig...

Do you know this?... never wrestle with a pig... first of all you get slop all over yourself and ... the pig likes it...

This sage advice has served me well... in many areas of my life.

doc

Paul Smith: Is there anything in your career that you would've changed in your career? Anything you regret doing, or not doing? Also, if you'd never become a magician, what do you think you'd be doing right now?

A good old philosophical question there

Regards

Paul

Doc Eason: Wow... I am not sure that there is the time or room here to fully answer this philosophical question...

What would I be doing now if it wasn’t magic...? I sure don’t know this answer, but I know it would be doing something with people. I am a people person... I imagine it would be something with sales.

Would I do something different? Wow... I would have put more money away ... done more to cover myself ...

I am proud of what I have accomplished and think that my legacy is worthwhile...

I am still dealing with raising kids and doing the best thing that I can on that score.

doc

Shaun Robinson: The effect Anniversary Waltz is one of my all time favourite effects, whenever doing paid gigs and the situation is right, this really is my secret weapon. If you get a chance to look in our Library, you might actually see my version.

When it first came out, there was a lot of controversy about the ending. The fact that you are exposing the gimmick to laymen. What are your thoughts on this?

Doc Eason: Yes.. Chuck Fayne called me down in his review in Magic about just that. he has since recanted...with reservation.
My position is this... I am against exposure as well. But I don’t think this is exposure from a layman’s standpoint. Face it, I am not putting a tt in their hand ... I am laying a zombie gimmick in their hands... the power of their love has caused the two obviously separate cards to fuse together. If you perform this for an anniversary couple who are celebrating a significant number of years together and their lives are truly intertwined and ‘fused’ together, the look on the woman’s face is not one of “oh look a double faced card!” no no .. This woman is charmed beyond words. This affects people on a deeper level than any other card trick I know.

To prove a point, I have followed this trick (which is hard to do ...it is a stand alone piece) with MacDonald’s Aces ( which uses the same gaff) and NO ONE makes the leap. So do I do any damage by giving out the card (and the gaff)? I don’t think so... I think the emotional reaction that this trick generates is so strong that it overshadows the question of exposure.

I could be wrong and am open to discussing this further...

doc

Paul Smith: In the thread named "achievements", you said that you had achieved a lot in your career. Which of all these achievements would you have considered to be your greatest ever achievement?

Regards

Paul

Doc Eason: This is a real tough question... it is hard to rank the things I have done into any kind of hierarchy...

My three kids are ongoing achievements... seeing them develop into adults is an amazing thing...

Through just showing up to work, I have established a record of sorts .... 26 years at the same venue is nothing to be sneezed at... while this isn’t something I set out to do... I have done it and I am pretty proud of that...

In doing that, I have touched many lives. I have been woven into the ‘fabric of life’ for many of my patrons over the years... this is quite special.

Though I might not be able to get back to you, this is a question that I will continue to mull over in the future.


doc