Every Which Way and Loose
“At A Loose End” is Bedwell’s powerful three-phase rope routine that consists of a stretching rope, a cut & restored segment and an endless loop and restoration. It’s an amazing routine that features lots of audience interaction, and Bedwell’s use of his ear as a holdout is comical fun. I highly recommend this rope routine as it can be a highlight in your act.By the way, if you’ve seen Bedwell perform a hilarious rope trick where a volunteer sees a rope being restored but doesn’t know how it’s done but the audience does, this is not that routine. It’s called “In Over Your Head” and is sold separately.
A variation on Marlo’s ace cutting routine, "It Doesn't Matter Estimation Aces” offers a means to cut to all four aces. Here, Bedwell offers a novel way to hold-out and arrange the cards that isn’t difficult and is accomplished in a casual manner. As the name implies, at two points, you will have to estimate and cut to an ace. This effect is impressive to laymen as well as magicians, however, I’m not sure that most can make this one entertaining as Bedwell does.
Travellers and More
“Subtle Travellers” is a “travellers” effect where four signed cards travel invisibly to four different pockets. Bedwell’s impressive version is fast and mystifying.My favorite effect was “Parked Card!,” where a selected and signed card magically travels from the deck to the top of the card case - right under the audience's nose - twice. The third time, the selection ends up folded inside the card case. The use of the card case is a nice alternative to the traditional card under glass and the three phases, with seemingly a more difficult task the third time, makes this one build to a great conclusion.
Much like a “card stab” but with the hands, in “Cloudburst Catch,” a selected card is lost in the deck, the deck is sprung into the air and the magician snatches the selection from the cloud of cards. This one is visual and plays well on stage, but, of course, leaves a mess of “52-pickup.”
In the course of explaining the effects, Bedwell teaches a couple of nice utility moves: “The Dribble Toss Control” and the “Convincing Fold,” a method to secretly control and fold a selected card under natural actions.
Walk On
While it’s touted as the DVD’s highlight, “The Walkman Act!” (performance only), which awarded Bedwell the IBM Gold Cups, is hilarious but dated. The routine features a Sony Walkman-style portable tape player (remember those?) and Bedwell does tricks with red sponge balls that appear to be part of his old-style headphones. Bedwell makes his walkman player appear three times under a baseball cap, to a spectator’s surprise, and there’s also an impressive bottle vanish with a non-gimmicked bottle and a paper bag.Of course, Walkman-style portable tape players and headphones with red spongeball-like ear pieces have long gone the way of 5.24" floppy discs and vinyl records. But Bedwell is always worth watching.
I like this DVD for the rope routine and the “Parked Card!” effect. As you would expect, you’ll need some solid card skills to get into the routines.
-Wayne N. Kawamoto
MSRP: (US) $29.95
Dealers can purchase from Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc.
