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Jeff Prace’s Gum, A Practical Review

Have you ever seen those spaghetti western movies? You know the Clint Eastwood westerns like “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” or “A Fist Full of Dollars?” I ask you because I can’t decide which title would fit best the review of Jeff Prace’s Orbit.

The Good
First let’s visit “the Good.” I must say it’s a stunningly visual piece of magic. The vision of the appearing full pack of gum is mind blowing. Jeff has very creatively used an old principal in magic and applied it excellently to something new! The gimmick is clever and easily made. It only took 30 minutes or so, and when completed you have two gimmicks. Additionally there is no practice to speak of required for this. Play with it a half a dozen times and you are ready.

My co-workers at This Is The Place Heritage Park, and surprisingly my family, were completely fooled by this. It seemed the closer the relationship to me, the more it “chewed them up and spit them out!” My wife, who busts me on everything, looked at me and said “I got nothing; how’d you do that?” On a side note she still doesn’t know and it’s bugging her.

The Bad
“The Bad” part is that it doesn’t really play for strangers. It’s not a performance piece. It’s one of those quick tricks for friends. For example, I stopped one guy in the grocery store and showed him and his kid. When I got finished he could have cared less about the appearance of the gum. His exact words to me were, “You offered him one (a piece of gum); now are you going to give him one?” It just didn’t have the impact of the “street trick” that I expected.

It may be partly due to the 2 fatal flaws that are inherent in the trick.

The Ugly
“The Ugly” thing is the display at the beginning with one sole piece of gum in the front center of the box. Who saves this one center piece of gum for the last one? It’s almost always the first one consumed! The gimmick didn’t perform as well when the non-gimmicked piece of gum was in other locations, such as the back corner of the pack, and if you change where it lays in the pack, it then becomes almost impossible to dig out if you want to give it away.

That brings up the other flaw. You can only give that one piece away. Yes you can switch out the pack for an un-gimmicked pack (an idea NOT mentioned on the DVD), but that means going to a pocket, or some other hokey move. No matter what I did for a switch it just seemed like an unnatural thing to do.

In a lowdown here’s how it appeared with a switch.

Offer someone a piece of gum
Open the gum box
Recant on the offer (because you only have one piece)
Close the box
Re-open the box
Show it full of Gum
Conveniently forget to give away the gum

— OR —

Only give out one piece
Put it back in the pocket from whence it came
Act like you can’t believe that everyone wants gum
Retrieve the pack from your pocket again
With a sudden show a manners offer gum to everyone

Fist Full of Dollars
Surprisingly, the trick got real expensive, real fast. Partly because I don’t have a “gum budget,” and giving a way a lot of gum “eats a hole in your pocket!” The initial purchase for the materials was about twelve bucks. That included 3 packs of gum, one for the gimmick, one for the switch and one for a refill. I burned thru the refill the first day, so if replenishing is an issue, don’t do this for a crowd in which you don’t want to buy them gum! On day three I had to get another box for the gimmick! In a three week time period I purchased 17 packs of gum at $1.29 each! I spent more on this trick than I did on E.A.R. last month!

I can think of one place, however, that I can’t wait to perform Jeff Prace’s Orbit, a major corporate event sponsored by Wrigley!

On a side note, it appears the company has changed the design of the Orbit box recently. The new design may complicate things slightly. I did discover a way around it, however this article is not the place to divulge that info.

All in all, Orbit “burst my bubble.” I think that only 2.5 out of 5 dentists would recommend Orbit.

Next month a double whammy . . . Ed Marlo’s (performed by Bill Malone) Leipzig Would Have Loved This and James Prince’s Brain Freeze.

Please take a moment to comment and “like” this review.

3 Responses to "Jeff Prace’s Gum, A Practical Review"

Jeff Prace says:

March 2010 at 7:56 am

Hi Diamond Jim,

I much appreciate you taking the time to try out Orbit in the real world.

As you saw, it is a very fooling mystery if you use it correctly.

All magic is made for certain performing situations. I wouldn’t expect Orbit to work on stage, nor would I expect Modern Art to work close-up. The tricks on the Gum DVD are meant for casual performances. When you and your buddies are sitting around, the tricks on the disc are the perfect pieces to bring out.

However, the tricks might not be the best to do for strangers, which you call a “bad” thing. All tricks can’t work for all venues, and that’s a good thing. It indicates there is much variety in the magic community. Also, as a side note, if I was a parent, and another adult asked my child if they wanted a piece of gum, I would get away from the creepy stranger. Here, I think you used Orbit in the wrong place.

Obviously, magic is a performance art, and you are supposed to perform for unsuspecting audiences. And there are brilliantly designed tricks to accomplish this task. But performing for unsuspecting audiences isn’t your only crowd. Friends all the time ask me to do magic at school, and leaving the deck of cards at home is a great feeling. One of my magician friends keeps his gimmicked pack of gum in his office drawer, and friends regularly ask for gum, of course not knowing he will perform magic to give them a piece.

If you are doing a one-on-one performance, you can immediately hand out a piece of gum to a spectator. There is no recanting your offer, nor do you have to switch the gum boxes. If you are doing this for a larger group, you mentioned chewing gum is expensive nowadays, and that’s a valid reason for not sharing your gum with everyone. Switching the packs of gum is a tacit thing to do if you know you are going to be in that certain situation. Casually putting your hands in your pocket is not a bad thing to do; there is not much heat on the gum if you act surprised that so many people want a piece. Acting provides proper misdirection to discretely switch the packs.

I admit there is a discrepancy in where the single piece of gum is located. Yet, in literally thousands of performances over the last years, not one person has called me on this fact. You don’t bring attention to where the piece is located, just as you wouldn’t bring attention to a discrepant moment in a card trick. The audience is more focused on the fact you have only one piece remaining, and they are not concentrating on where the last piece is positioned in the gum box. A magician, on the other hand, might be concerned, but they are simply thinking like we are designed to do, think like a magician. I designed the gimmick to act the most natural at the end of the effect, where the audience is paying the most attention to the piece of gum. In the beginning, they’re more focused on your reaction to the discovery.

Personally, I don’t think price is an issue. With 17 packs, you will be able to make two gimmicks, and have 225 performances. That’s assuming you only give one piece away at a time, which it sounds like you did. If you switch the gum boxes, you will obviously go through more gum. If you are that concerned about spending too much money on gum, it can be bought in bulk costing less than 1¢ per piece. I found Orbit gets incredible reactions if used properly, and I think it’s worth the cost.

Wrigley has indeed slightly changed the design of the Orbit box, but that doesn’t affect how the gimmick is made. The center piece should cover the gap in the gum box, and nothing should be out of place. If anyone is still having trouble solving this problem, I would happy to provide solutions. Still, if you browse the candy aisle, you will find a myriad number of brands of gum will work with Orbit.

Thank you once again for reviewing my effect, and I hope you can continue to perform and amaze people with it. And if you do ever get hired for a Wrigley sponsored event, please notify me on how Orbit played!

Best regards,

Jeff Prace
Jeff Stone says:

March 2010 at 3:54 am

@Jeff:

I think you may be missing the point of “The Diamond Mine.” The intent is to take an effect and try out all the different aspects, venues, costs, construction involved, etc.

I will say that one of the reasons Jim tested it on strangers was that you performed it for strangers at a carnival on your DVD, so Jim wanted to put that to the test. Yet in your comments above you say that you would not do this for strangers, so was the group of people at the carnival a set up on your DVD?

As for the cost, I’m sorry to be so blunt, but you’re 15, Jeff. My guess is you’re only supporting yourself, and likely living at home. Jim is raising a very large family. That kind of money in that short of a time can make a difference.

The only part of Jim’s review that I would disagree with is the part about the location of the gum. While it’s true it’s a little out of place, it’s not something that would stop me from doing the trick.

When it comes to the switch, you gave Jim advice on timing and theater, etc. Jim’s too nice of a guy to say this, so I will. The advice you gave, while it is sound, is advice that Jim was well aware of many years before you were even born. He is a veteran performer and has performed for more years than you and me combined.

When he did the switch, it didn’t work for HIM and for HIS venue. Remember, the Diamond Mine is simply to test the effect in the real world, and that’s what he did. Just because HIS opinion is that it didn’t work for HIM doesn’t mean that it won’t work for others.

One other thing that you may not be aware of is the fact that at your age, most adults who see you perform will give you much better praise than they would a 30 year old with your exact skill and performance level. Also, your friends will always think your magic is much better than it really is.

You asked for some real world feedback from me last month and from Jim this month. I’ll leave you with two pieces of advice:
1. Never Ask a Question Unless You’re Willing to “Hear” the Answer – Jeff Stone
2. Never Believe Your Own Press – Doc Eason
Peace,

Jeffro
Diamond Jim says:

March 2010 at 12:55 am

Hey Ladies and Gentleman,
I would love to get some feed back on things from everyone. I really need some thought about what you’d like to see reviewed. So speak up!!!

~Diamond Jim

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