APPLAUSE

& HOW TO GET IT

HENNING NELMS

© Copyright 2016 by Trickshop.com. All rights reserved. TRICKSHOP.COM

 APPLAUSE AND HOW TO GET IT

By Henning Nelms

Getting applause requires a definite technique. Mistakes in this

technique will choke off applause, even when you have a strong
act. Many magicians actually throw away more applause than they
receive. They could double their applause simply by avoiding mis-
takes. On the other hand, real skill in controlling applause will
make your audience appreciate you more and help you build a repu-
tation.

BASIC PRINCIPLES

Applause technique is based on two principles which actors use as

a matter of course, but which are unknown to most magicians.

MAGIC WORDS. Every performer expresses his emotions by his move-

ments, his facial expressions, and the inflections of his voice.
The effects are so subtle that any attempt to imitate an emotion
without feeling is apt to seem artificial. You may get away with
a forced smile on stage. But if you try it on television, you
cannot hope to convince anyone.

A good actor does not fake emotions. He feels his character’s

emotions by thinking his character’s thoughts. If he is to enter
in an angry mood, he thinks things that make him mad; if he is to
enter in a happy mood, he thinks things that make him glad. These
are real Magic Words. If you think the right thoughts, you can
make yourself smile or frown, show surprise or triumph, and the
expression will seem spontaneous because it responds to what you
are thinking at the time. Furthermore, if you always think the
same Magic words at the same point in a routine, they will evoke
a spontaneous expression each time even if you repeat the same
act daily for years. Magic Words are the actor’s chief secret.
They will work just as well for you if you give them a fair tri-
al.

I have suggested appropriate Magic Words at many points in these

notes. However, these particular Magic Words will not work for

2
everyone. Try mine first. If they do not seem natural to you,
hunt for ones that suit you better.

TIMING BY COUNTING. Perfect applause technique requires perfect

timing. The only way to practice timing is by counting. Expert
timing involves subtle variations in rhythm. Fortunately, these
are not required for applause technique. The timing for this is
as regular as the beats of a metronome. Practice counting until
you can do it without thinking and still make each move come on a
beat.

You can time yourself while you think Magic Words if you substi-
tute the Magic Words for some of the numbers. For example, I end
The Cups and Balls by counting eleven, like this:

Count “One.” Lift left cup.

Count “Two.” Pause and look at large ball.

Count “Three.” Put down left cup. Put right hand on right cup.

Count “Four.” Lift right cup exposing second large ball.

Count “Five.” Shift cup to left hand.

Count “Six.” Put right hand on center Cup.

Think Magic Words, “Here it comes!” instead of counting “Seven.”

Pause.

Think Magic Word, “Climax!” instead of counting “Eight.” Lift

last cup.

Think Magic Words, “That was it,” instead of counting “Nine.” Re-
lax.

Think Magic Words, “There you are, folks,” instead of counting

“Ten.” Put cup down.

Think Magic Words, “I hope you liked it,” instead of counting

“Eleven.” Smile.

3
 START WORKING FOR
APPLAUSE BEFORE YOU ENTER

1. Check your props from a list to free your mind from worry.

2. Relax: (A) Hold your head high. (B) Take a deep breath to
loosen your chest muscles and hold it while you count ten.
Breathe out, but do not let your chest sag and pull your head
forward. (C) Rotate your shoulders to relieve tension in your
shoulder muscles; you can do that even with a full body load.

3. If you have time to kill, chat with someone on a subject

that has no connection with your act. This goes far to prevent
pre-performance jitters.

4. When the M.C. starts to announce you, move into a position

where you are out of sight but can get on stage with one step.

5. Think the Magic Words. Think about how good your act is and
how much the audience will appreciate it.

ENTRANCE TECHNIQUE

When the M.C. finishes his introduction, start counting.

“One.” Pause.

“Two.” Take step with foot further away from footlights.

“Three.” Take second step.

“Four.” Take third step. Start turn to face audience.

“Five.” Bring up other foot. Think Magic Words, “Here I am.” Nod
greeting. Note that on this count and the next, you think Magic
Words instead of counting.

“Six.” Think Magic Words, “You lucky people!” Smile. If applause

has not already started, it should do so at this point.

4
“Seven.” Bow.

When applause begins to die, kill it by turning to one side and

starting your first trick.

NOTE. The Magic Words, “Here I am, you lucky people,” would sound
unbearably conceited if you said them aloud, but you never do.
Think them only to give yourself confidence and put yourself into
a happy frame of mind.

GETTING APPLAUSE AFTER A TRICK

Small, close-up audiences rarely applaud. Nevertheless, good

technique gives any trick much greater impact and makes people
appreciate it more.

The whole secret of getting applause depends on the tact that

there is one Magic Moment in each applause-worthy routine when
applause comes easily. If you spot that Magic Moment and make the
most of it, the spectators will applaud a poor trick. If you miss
the Magic Moment, you will be lucky if they applaud a good one.

The Magic Moment comes just two counts after the climax of the
trick [Fig. 1]. Without a climax, you lack a Magic Moment; and
without a Magic Moment, you cannot look for applause.

CLIMAXES. The first step toward winning applause consists in lo-

cating the precise instant when your climax occurs. This is ba-
sic. I know magicians who could get much bigger hands simply by
pin-pointing their moments of climax. This is easy in a trick
like The Four Aces, but just when does the climax come in a levi-
tation? Paddle tricks and silk productions often have no climax-
es; they simply stop. When you cannot find a climactic instant,
something is wrong. You certainly cannot use applause technique,
because this is built around climaxes.

You will be wise to choose tricks with strong climaxes. The next
best choice is to find climaxes for tricks that lack them. Thus,
you might end a production of silks from a phantom tube by pro-
ducing a rubber apple. If you must do a trick that lacks a cli-
max, at least decide on a point that you will treat as a climax.

5
6
For example, in a six-card repeat, you might consider that the
climax comes when you count the last card. Such an imaginary cli-
max is far from ideal, but it does provide a point around which
you can build your applause technique.

You cannot expect people to recognize a climax. You must tell

them when it arrives. Otherwise, they will wait for you to con-
tinue -- and they may go on waiting until the Magic Moment has
passed, and it is too late to applaud. Watch other magicians, and
you will see this happen over and over-again. Hokini does a silk
production. He displays the last silk and stops. How does the au-
dience know he is through? Or perhaps he produces a dove from the
silks. Is that the climax? Not necessarily. He may intend to top
this by producing a rabbit.

Unless the performer gives some definite, indication that he has

reached his climax, no spectator can tell that the trick is over
and that it is time to applaud. Applause technique has two parts:
(1) Building, which creates the desire to applaud, and which also
gives advance notice of the exact instant when the climax will
occur. (2) Technique for stressing the climax and cueing the ap-
plause.

BUILDING. When you start low and rise to a climax, you: (1) In-
crease the dramatic effect; all good drama builds in this way.
(2) Create a desire to applaud. (3) Announce that the climax will
come at the top of your build. (4) Indicate that when the build
stops, you have reached your Climax.

You build by making the beginning of your routine just interest-

ing enough to catch attention. Add more and more interest at an
increasingly rapid rate. Then, present your climax at the exact
moment when you cannot make interest rise higher. The curve in
Fig. 1 shows how interest should be built up to a climax. Compare
this with Fig. 2 which represents the usual interest curve for a
trick like The Four Aces when there is a strong climax but the
presentation does not build. A build like that in Fig. 1 obvious-
ly provides much greater interest. Also, audiences enjoy rising
interest far more than they do falling interest.

7
You can build by increasing a dramatic element like mystery, ex-
citement, or tension. You can also add more of any technical el-
ement such as speed, movement, sound, or color. A strong build
usually requires some increase in both dramatic and technical
elements.

Try to introduce material in the order of increasing interest.

Thus, if you use a silk, a dove, and a paper bag, show the bag
first, the silk second, and the dove last. Avoid quick or dramat-
ic movements at the beginning but increase both the speed and the
breadth of your actions as the routine proceeds.

FAULTS IN BUILDING. A high start leaves no room to build. Also,

as you cannot keep interest level, it soon sinks and does not
start up again until too late to reach a high climax [Solid line
in Fig. 3]. When you build too fast, interest reaches its peak
before your climax [Dotted line in Fig. 3]. This has the same ef-
fect as starting too high.

8
Gaps in interest make a build sag [Fig. 4]. If you must spend
time assembling apparatus or waiting for a volunteer to come up
from the audience, cover the gap with patter. Have plenty of pat-
ter, see that it is good, and rehearse it thoroughly. If a vol-
unteer arrives quickly, this may mean discarding a few pet wise-
cracks, but the important thing is to keep interest rising. It
tends to sink when you pad your act with patter after the volun-
teer arrives, even when the patter is clever.

Do not stop in the middle of a routine to tell a joke. You can

use a joke that fits the routine to cover dragging action. Or
you can tell a sure-fire joke between routines. However, a joke
forced into the middle of a presentation kills the build [Fig.
5].

If you worry about making a switch or getting a gimmick, you will

be tense when you should relax and relaxed when you should be
growing tenser. Master your magic. Any uncertainty will make you
lose control of your build [Fig. 6].

TECHNIQUE AT CLIMAX. This will usually produce applause even when

you have failed to create a strong build (see Fig. 1).

9
The technique itself requires perfect timing. It takes just seven
counts. However, except on “One,” you think Magic Words instead
of counting.

“One.” As you count, make some decisive gesture to indicate that

you are through with the preliminaries and that the climax is ap-
proaching.

“Two.” Pause. This is the Warning Pause. Grow tense and think
Magic Words, “Here it comes!” Do this quickly to get all three
words on one count. Note how hurrying this thought builds up your
own sense of excitement. Avoid any movement during this pause.

“Three.” Climax. Think Magic Word, “Climax!”

“Four.” Pause. This is the Assurance Pause. Relax and think Magic
Words, “That was it.” Do not move a muscle. Audiences need this
relaxed pause to assure them that the trick is really over so
that they can stop concentrating and applaud. Failure to give an
assurance pause is responsible for at least half of the applause
that magicians throw away.

“Five.” Turn dead front. Think Magic Words, “There you are,
folks.” This should cause you to make some spontaneous gesture
which will act as an applause cue for the audience. If it leads
you to smile, so much the better. When you leave the timing to
the spectators at this point, some start sooner than others and
the applause will be ragged. Hence, you must give them a cue just
as a symphony conductor gives his orchestra a cue to be sure all
the players start together.

10
“Six.” At this point, the audience will probably applaud. Howev-
er, you should think Magic Words, “I hope you liked it.” Smile if
are not already doing so.

“Seven.” If the audience has started to applaud on “Six,” you bow

here. If not, simply pause. Do not move. That may choke off the
applause. If the applause comes on “Seven,” bow on “Eight.”

APPLAUSE CUES. When you pause for the count of “Four” and think,
“There you are, folks.” On “Five,” you will almost automatical-
ly make some gesture which invites applause. I spread my hands
slightly at hip level. Charlie Miller spreads his a foot or so
higher.

You do not need to hit an audience over the head to make it ap-
plaud. The secret lies in the technique. You may prefer a little
gesture with your wand. Do not trot down front and hold up your
arms like an acrobat unless you are working for a huge, noisy
crowd. For an ordinary audience, such antics do more harm than
good because they ruin your timing.

NEVER COMPLAIN WHEN AN

AUDIENCE FAILS TO APPLAUD

If no applause comes by “Eight,” do not wait longer. Turn to one

side and commence your next trick. Waiting merely calls attention
to the fact that a trick has missed fire. When you go immediate-
ly into your next number, many people will not even notice that
something went wrong.

Lack of applause means one of three things:

1. You chose a trick which did not appeal to that particular au-
dience. A conventional presentation of The Mutilated Parasol will
not delight an audience of magicians.

2. You fumbled either your magic or your showmanship.

3. You failed to handle your applause technique properly.

11
In any case, the fault is yours. You undertook to entertain that
audience. You did not do so. It owes you nothing.

Try to glide quickly over your lack of success. A complaint em-

phasizes it. A complaint also destroys your public relations. No
one who hears a performer complain ever wants to hire him.

CLOSE-UP TECHNIQUE

Although you cannot expect applause from a small audience, you

can expect appreciation. Good technique will help you get it.
This technique is essentially the same as that which you would
use in a stage act. In fact,the first four counts are identical.
Suppose you are to reveal a card by spreading the deck face down
and having the chosen card appear face up.

Start low and try to build interest as high as you can with your
preliminaries. Be careful not to leave dead spots or interest
will droop.

When you finish the preliminaries, take the pack in your right
hand and make some broad gesture to indicate that the climax is
about to arrive. This happens as you count, “One.”

Pause dramatically on “Two” and think, “Here it comes!”

Spread the deck and think, “Climax!” on “Three.”

Give an assurance pause on “Four” as you relax and think, “That

was it.”

So far, you have followed stage technique exactly. Close-up tech-

nique after “Four” will vary with the trick. For our example,
you should point to the face-up card on “Five” and ask “Was that
your card?” instead of giving an applause cue. You do not expect
applause, and the audience is looking at the card instead of at
your face.

Most close-up tricks call for similar treatment on the count of

“Five” although you will have to make words and gestures fit the

12
exact situation. However, some mental effects, and a few other
routines end with the audience looking at your face. In such cas-
es, give an applause cue on “Five” (preferably by spreading your
hands) as you smile and think, “There you are, folks.” On “Six,”
lean back and think, “I hope you liked it.”

PROBLEM TRICKS

If all your tricks have strong builds and clear-cut climaxes,

the technique for getting applause after these climaxes can be
learned in an hour. However you should practice it with each item
in your repertoire until you can handle it without thinking. If
you need to think about any technique while you use it, you will
become self-conscious. That is something which no performer can
afford.

Unfortunately, many good tricks lack builds or have blurred cli-

maxes. These require special treatments if you are to get the
maximum applause.

CONTINUOUS CLIMAXES. Zombie, Fountain of Silks, paddle tricks,

and split fans go on and on. Almost any point may seem like a
near-climax. When you perform one of them in a dramatic fash-
ion, some enthusiastic spectator may start clapping before you
are ready to stop. If others join in, the desire to applaud will
dribble away and the hand you get at the end will be weak. This
is especially annoying when you end with a real climax such as
producing a dove.

When applause starts before a trick is complete, you can usual-

ly check it by frowning at the audience and thinking the Magic
Words, “Shhh! You’ll kill the magic!” If you have a free hand,
hold up a warning finger.

PREMATURE CLIMAXES. Many routines have two or more climaxes. This

is an asset when each climax tops the one before it and when
the applause can be delayed until the final climax is reached.
In fact, the best way to close an act is to provide a series of
three rising climaxes with a really strong punch for the last
one. In most cases, however, the second and third climaxes are

13
too weak to top the first one. This turns the last climax into an
anticlimax -- especially when the performer is foolish enough to
take applause after an earlier climax.

Cards Across is often spoiled by the fact that it has a built-in

double climax. Logically, you have demonstrated your magic power
when you prove that three cards have left the first packet. Show-
ing that they have arrived in the second packet is little more
than corroborative evidence. A production is technically more
dramatic than a vanish, but the difference is not enough to make
counting thirteen cards seem like a climax. Many performers make
matters worse by stressing the vanish. I have even seen one per-
former who was foolish enough to ask for applause at that point!
The proper procedure is to give the vanish just enough stress to
be sure the audience knows that three cards are missing. Then,
without a pause, turn and walk to the second volunteer. Look over
the heads of your audience as you turn, and start to speak at the
same time. This avoids any suggestion that the trick is over. At
the same time, it announces that something is about to happen. It
delays the hand until after you reach your climax when you count
the thirteenth card.

EPILOGUES. The second climax in Cards Across is barely strong

enough to top the first one, even when you strengthen the con-
trast with all the technical devices at your command. The climax
of Sawing a Woman in Half comes when the halves are separated.
Putting the girl together again is hardly interesting enough to
act as an anticlimax. Inserting the swords in The Sword Box is
dramatic. Taking them out again is mere tidying up. A bare-hand
dove production is magic. Walking over and dropping the dove in a
cage is a dead bore.

In all such cases, we can sustain the climax by technical means.

Think of the last move as the climax and treat it precisely as
though it really were the climax. This requires you to continue
your technical build past the true climax. For example:

Count, “One” as you produce a dove. On “Two” turn right, take one
step with your right foot, and lift the dove so that its feet are
level with your forehead.

14
Take a second step on “Three.”

The third step-comes on “Four.” It should carry you to the cage.

Pause on “Five” and think “Here it comes!” At the same time take
a half step to bring your feet together. Also prepare to open the
cage with your left hand. Learn to do this without looking and
without fumbling.

Kiss the dove on the count of “Six” and think “Climax!” Hold the
dove’s feet with your thumb. Otherwise, it may fly away as you
lower your hand.

Pause again on “Six” while you think, “That was it.”

On “Seven,” face the audience, open the cage, and insert the
dove. All three moves should be simultaneous. Think, “There you
are, folks,” and smile.

When you present The Sword Box routine your actions to speed up
the epilogue and make it as brief as possible. Do not waste a
fraction of a second when taking the swords from the box. Pull
out one sword with your right hand while you are disposing of an-
other in some sort of rack with your left.

When you withdraw the last sword, slap it against the box for the
count of “One.”

Pause and think,”Here it comes!” on “Two.”

Open the box on “Three,” and think, “Climax!”

You and your assistant both pause for “Four” while you think,
“That was it.”

The girl takes your hand and steps out on “Five.” Practice this
until she can stand erect on one count. You should both face
front at this point, and you should give a fencer’s salute with
the sword. This acts as a strong applause cue.

15
For Sawing a Woman in Half, announce solemnly that you are go-
ing to present a demonstration which involves real danger to your
assistant. The slightest interruption may have fatal results. You
must therefore ask the spectators not to make a sound until the
demonstration is complete. In fact, it will help if they hold
their breath. Saw, separate the halves, and walk between them. If
the audience starts to respond in any way, look horrified, put
one finger to your lips, and hold out your other hand in protest.
Then swiftly shove the parts together, remove the slides, and
lift the lid. Peer into the box in a worried manner as though you
feared the worst. Pause. Think, “Here it comes!” Lift the girl to
her feet. Look at her as you do this and have her look at you.
Think, “Climax!” Pause. Think, “That was it!” Face front and walk
with your assistant toward the footlights as you think, “There
you are, folks. We hope you liked it,” and smile. If you do this
convincingly, you can count on a real ovation.

GENERAL RULE. When you want to delay applause, keep tense, keep
going, and don’t face front. When you want applause, pause, re-
lax, and look directly at your audience.

QUICKIES

These are all climaxes. They leave no room for either a build in
interest or a warning pause. Avoid applause after a quickie. You
cannot get a good hand, and a poor one drains off the desire to
clap. This weakens the applause for your next trick. Use quickies
to embellish major tricks.

Treat them casually as though such minor miracles were all in

the day’s work for a magician. If you handle them in this way,
they will greatly enhance the impression created by your act as a
whole.

A quickie at the beginning of a trick catches attention without

making the interest curve for the main trick start too high. Ex-
ample: for Twentieth Century Silks, your assistant offers you
three green silks. You ask, “Where’s the red one?” She shrugs.
You look annoyed, but take one green silk and turn it red before
proceeding with the routine.

16
In the middle of a trick, an appropriate quickie gives the inter-
est curve a boost.

This is a good way to handle a dull spot. Example: If you present

Twentieth Century Silks with a volunteer from the audience, knot
two green silks. Pretend to have mislaid the red silk. Say, “Ah,
here it is.” Pick up an empty(?) crystal box. Open it and take
out a red scarf.

When you do a routine with one type of prop, such as cigarettes

and then go into another routine with a different type, say dol-
lar bills, a quickie makes an ideal transition. Thus, you might
push a lit cigarette into one side of your fist and pull a
rolled-up bill out the other side.

Or you might take a silk that you have been using, produce a ball
from it, and go into a ball routine. This is extremely effective
if the quickie is instantaneous, and if you make real use of the
first prop before the transition and do something important with
the second prop afterward. Do not imagine that you are using this
technique if you display a handkerchief, show that a box is emp-
ty, put the handkerchief into the box, waste thirty seconds mak-
ing passes over the box, open it, take out a ball, put the ball
down, and go on with something entirely different, such as a card
trick.

ARTIFICIAL CLIMAXES. Continuous tricks, like Zombie, need climax-

es. A quickie will supply this provided that it is appropriate to
the mood and is strong enough to top the main trick. Opening the
Zombie ball and displaying a handful of paper flowers does not
provide a climax. It breaks the mood and creates a weak anticli-
max.

The English dealer, Harry Stanley, sells at “Unique Flash Ball”

that shoots flame when opened. Another idea is to switch the Zom-
bie ball for a dummy which can be opened to display a white ham-
ster dyed red or green. The hamster not only provides a neat cli-
max but also “proves” that the ball is heavy.

QUICKIES IN SERIES. Inexperienced performers often do a string of

quickies and wait for applause after each one. I have even seen

17
a teenager do The Bi1liard Balls and expect a hand as each ball
appeared. This is torture for an audience.

Nevertheless, a series of good quickies makes excellent enter-

tainment when each one grows out of the one before it with no
break in the action. The safest way to handle such a series is to
have it lead up to a major trick and not take applause until that
trick is over. However, if the series builds nicely so that each
effect is more surprising than the one before it, and if the last
quickie is fairly spectacular, you can take a hand after the se-
ries and before starting your next trick.

BUILD YOUR WHOLE ACT IN WAVES

Every major trick constitutes one wave. Each wave and each trough
should be higher than the one before it [Fig. 7].

Take applause after each major trick but avoid it after quickies
or after tricks which last less than half a minute.

Audiences like to applaud, but their hands soon tire. If you let
them clap themselves out, you will have trouble starting them
again. This makes it hard to raise the next climax higher.

To avoid these effects, conserve applause by killing it as soon

as it begins to fade. Do this by turning to one side and commenc-
ing your next trick. If you use patter, start to speak at once.
The audience will stop clapping to hear what you have to say.
Your first sentence should be a throwaway line, something mildly
interesting if it is heard but unimportant if it is lost.

You lose nothing and gain much by killing applause in this way.
The audience has expressed its pleasure and appreciation by the
time the applause begins to die. Clapping that continues after
that point adds nothing but simply drains off any desire to ap-
plaud again. When you kill applause, this desire is dammed up.
It grows stronger and gives you a credit balance when you want a
hand for your next trick. Also, audiences have watched experi-
enced performers in other fields and remember subconsciously that
these people killed applause. They recognize this as a mark of a

18
19
professional. If you let a hand die out, you brand yourself as an
amateur.

WALK-OFFS

After your last climax, you want to encourage applause instead of

killing it. This raises problems. You take your bow center stage,
and you must walk at least seven steps to get off most stages. If
you start while the applause is still strong, it will begin to
fade with your first step. If you wait until the applause is al-
most over, you may exit in dead silence.

A good walk-off will avoid this and start the applause up again
just when you need it. A walk-off is a quickie that fits the
closing mood of your act. Either The Appearing Cane or Silk to
Cane will make a good walk-off if you do it casually as you take
your fourth step. Handle the timing like this:

The instant the applause begins to die, count “One,” and take
your first step with the foot nearer the exit [Fig. 8].

Take your second step on “Two.”

On “Three,” take your third step.

Take a catch step on four. This is the action that a soldier

makes when he is out of step and wants to change feet. Howev-
er, a soldier who does this immediately steps off with the other
foot. You should present your quickie as you take your catch step
and then pause for the remainder of this beat. That tiny pause
stresses the quickie.

On “Five,” step off again with the foot nearer the exit. At the
some time, start to turn toward the audience.

Take another step on “Six” and turn further.

On “Seven,” shift the other foot slightly to complete your turn

(see Fig. 8) and bow. Think “Thank you,” and smile. You should
now be within one step of the exit.

20
21
On “Eight,” swing around and step off stage.

The walk-off will send the applause up again, and the bow will
make it last until you are off. That will justify you in taking
at least one strong curtain call. Fig. 9 outlines the steps for a
proper curtain call with your assistant.

22
23