THE BLURB:
The magician displays a plastic pen, which is shown to be a
solid, working pen. He chats a little about the people who
are able to bend spoons and keys just by mental
concentration. As he's talking, the performer rubs on the
pen and it becomes flexible, bending like rubber. The pen is
rubbed once again and becomes solid, and can be handed out
to the audience for total examination!
* Only One Pen Is Used
* Nothing Is Added Or Taken Away
* No Sleight-of-Hand
* Working Pen
* Totally Examinable
* Instantly Resets
MY COMMENTS:
When I first heard about this product and that everyone was
raving about it, my curiosity was piqued. Slightly. John
Cornelius is a high-tech man who puts out wonderful products
for the magician, not for the mentalist. His Thought
Transmitter is a nicely made device and very impressive, but
many mentalists have complained about it. It doesn't look
like anything a normal person would use and its
functionality is, indeed, quite limited. But enough
prattling.
His new item, the Bendable Pen, is a hoot and a must-have
for those performers who do bending work. The pen really
does look just like a standard black PaperMate stick pen.
It really can be used as your everyday pen. In fact, I now
carry this around with me wherever I go. It is refillable,
unlike other pen effects, using the same ink cartridge and
nib (the pen tip) from the aforementioned PaperMate stick
pens. I haven't had to use a replacement for my pen yet,
but I've certainly checked it out to verify that this can be
done. And the spectators really see this puppy bend,
unlike some other effects where the bend is covered up by a
tube, a bill, or your fingers. Finally, it can be handled
freely by anyone, before and after the effect is done with
very little fear that the secret will be detected.
Here's basically how I use it: After having the participant
use the pen (preferably), I balance the pen between my thumb
and forefinger, move my hand up and down, and do the common
illusion of bending the pen. Explaining that my actions
trick the eyes into believing all sorts of things that
normally can't bend will, I pull on the nib and remove the
ink cartridge and bend it for them. Of course, they're
unimpressed. I replace the cartridge and nib and proceed to
bend the entire pen. When I stop I hand it to them,
explaining that the illusion lasts for only a few seconds
and then the brain and the eyes can start to see true
reality again. The pen is handed out for examination.
When you get this, you'll realize that I set the gimmick
during the routine. It's real easy to do.
The drawback to this effect is that you can really only use
it for close-up and that the end of the pen, not the side
with the nib, is colored red, which is somewhat unusual and
also may tip the gimmick. It hasn't yet been a problem for
me. The body of the pen, incidentally, is made of rubber,
not plastic. That's why it bends, folks. And rubber must
be cared for or it will harden and crack. The gimmick may
in fact need work, too, after time. But these are very,
very minor points.
I haven't had this much fun with a gimmicked item for quite
some time. I'm sure you'll feel the same way about this
item. (And it IS cheaper than many other Cornelius items!)
