Review: Happy Birthday Vest by Lee Alex

I have never before ventured into the world of quick change artists. I'll leave the flashy and bewildering effects to pros such as David and Dania.

But with Lee Alex's Happy Birthday Vest, any magician can cause a white vest that he is wearing to change into one that shows a colorful birthday cake. The changes are fast and impressive and the vest is a well made, a high quality item.

The Change

You wear a plain white vest that's buttoned in the front. You can choose to wear the vest under an open jacket or use any other cover that you wish for the brief, split second change. In a flash, the white vest shows a black and white line drawing of a birthday cake.

In the next phase, the vest turns into a full color picture of the cake and the candles light up. If you like, you can have the birthday honoree "blow out" the candles.

The vest is a high quality item that allows you to quickly and easily perform the changes and should be durable under constant use. I was amazed with the slick change mechanism that is fast and convincing. To help you learn how to use the prop, the vest comes with a DVD that teaches you the techniques and offers different ideas on covering the change.

The vest is rather heavy (it's got a battery and LED lighting system) and if you're like me, you'll probably get overheated wearing it through a show or strolling gig. The vest zips in the back which means that it's secure, a plus. But this also means that it's a bit of a pain to get the vest off and on by yourself.

And regarding this specific vest, I'm not real fond of the cartoon-style birthday cake image and purple color. I can't see myself wearing it at gigs. By the way, the vest is available in different sizes.

My understanding is that the vest works in the same manner as several others that Alex markets to the magic community. And based on the mechanism that I've seen in this vest, I whole heartedly recommend the others, assuming that they feature the same quality workmanship and gimmick.

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