Nov_Dec_1998

November/December, 1998
By Jim "Crazy Frosty" Adams
1652 Almador Terrace
Atwater, CA 95301
Wanna know what makes children's magic shows
different from other magic shows? AGE. That's all. AGE.
You still have to be entertaining. You still have to go
through the motions of
being a clown, and you
have to entertain. No, I
didn't make a mistake, I
said entertain twice. You
are the center of activity
for however long your
party is for. Everything
that happens is a result of
your actions, because
you 're the Entertainer.
Just remember a few
important things:
ATTENTION SPANS!
The attention span of
most children is between
a micro and a macro
second. At least at times it
... Crazy Frosty, Snowflake appears that way. That
means, if you have a
great cut and restored rope trick that takes 8 to 1 O minutes,
your audience may be watching the spider crawl up the
living room drape before you get to the blowoff. Next time
you're watching TV, notice how many times the camera
changes angles or scenes. That's done on purpose. It
keeps your mind active and interested in what's going on.
Your show should be the same way. Keep it moving and
active. Try not to do two rope tricks, or two scarf tricks, or
two of any tricks of the same kind in a row. It is also not
completely necessary to have your tricks flow from one to
another like you might for older audiences . Kids usually
don 't follow the flow.
KEEP IT VISUAL! I've found over my 36 years as a
clown, that while you're doing a magic trick, the kids watch
more than listen. I tell the people who hire us that I basically
do the visual things for the kids and the verbal things for the
adults. While doing the trick you could say that the building
is on fire and we probably won 't make it out alive. The kids
will continue to sit there and watch you and the parents in
the back will be asking about the fire. That's why everything
we do at a children's magic show is visual. It either changes
places, colors, disappears or gets made into one piece .
And if you make something disappear , for heavens sake,
BRING IT BACK! If you don't, they might feel that you could
do that to them and might scare them.
KEEP IT AT THEIR LEVEL. When a client calls
about a birthday party, or a store calls about a grand
opening, they usually ask what we do, and I tell them,
"everything but windows." Then I get serious and tell them
we do children's magic shows. Of course they want to know
the difference, and I tell them that when we're done doing
the trick, you don't have to tell them what we just did. We've
all seen this happen: The magician does the blowoff and
the adults ooh and ahh, and the kids sit there and say,
"What did he do, Mommy?" Remember, you're dealing with
a 3 to 7-year-old mind. It's alert and active. Don't complicate
your show with a lot of pre-engineered patter. Try to see the
trick from their level, and remember the little child inside the
clown.
GET SILLY! I know the kids are having a good time
when they start saying things like, "You're silly, " or, "You're
a silly clown." I'm doing my job. All kids react to the clown in
trouble syndrome. When you mispronounce something, or
say the wrong color, or can't do something as simple as
blowing up a balloon, the kids become ecstatic. I usually
judge how much fun the kids are having by how much fun
I'm having. If I'm having a good time, the kids usually are,
too.
Remember, you set the tone for the party. If you are full
of energy and let that energy free from the start, everyone
gets in the party mood. Everyone wants to be a helper,
hollers at the right places, and has a lot of fun. Occasionally
we do what we refer to as a rock concert. You know, where
all the kids sit on their hands and look like a box of rocks.
Gotta get those hands busy, get their minds on the fun and
let them know that it's OK to make noise. In other words, get
them involved. That's the challenge.
NEVER DO HARM! You and you alone should
always be the fall guy where someone is going to look
foolish or stupid. Let them be smarter than you . It's OK .
Remember you're the buffoon, not them . It's OK to have
fun but not at someone else's expense. Also , I always make
it a practice to never do tricks that may be unsafe to others.
We don't do the needle through the arm trick, because we
don't want little Johnny going home and trying it out on his
baby sister with Mom's knitting needles . We also don't do
anything with fire for the same obvious reasons . Just
saying , "Don't try this at home," doesn 't always work. If you
don't give them the idea, they won't be as apt to try it.
ENTERTAIN EVERYONE! I have often heard
clowns say that the reason they are at the party is to
entertain the kids, and they don't care about the adults that
are there. Your main objective may be to entertain the kids,
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