Thumb Tips & Green Fingers

I looked at my hands in disgust. Six of my ten digits were bright green.

I was setting up for a library show celebrating the 2022 Summer Reading Program theme of “Oceans of Possibilities.” One of the tricks I had selected was Silly Billy’s wonderful “Sneaker Juice.”

In it, a child’s shoe is filled with water. A small dixie cup is then inserted. After some comedy by-play, the cup is removed. Not only has all the liquid miraculously made its way into the cup (leaving the child’s shoe dry) but the liquid is now colored. In my case, green.

I deviated slightly from David Kaye’s setup. He uses Kool-Aid mix and I settled on green food coloring. To me, it was easier to set up.

But for this show, my food coloring bottle had sprung a leak. I always transport food coloring in a Ziplock bag to prevent my other props from getting ruined. But I didn’t notice until after I handled the bottle just how bad the leak was.

After several minutes of scrubbing with soap and water, my fingers were still green.

It was then that I remembered an old bit of advice about thumb tibs. Namely, forget you are wearing it.

Many magicians seem to suffer from “thumb tip anxiety” and constantly worry the tip will be spotted by an audience.

The truth is, act casual and no one will notice. I say all of this because I LOVE thumb tips. I use a ton of them in my shows.

To any magicians who worry that thumb tips have been over-exposed, let me assure you that the average audience doesn’t know or care what tools we use in our shows. They just want to be entertained.

Case in point: Years ago, I was finishing up one of my anti-bully school assemblies. The show had gone well, and a few fifth graders approached me after the show to ask a few questions.

They were very respectful, and one said he did tricks.

I immediately asked, “Oh that’s great! What do you do?”

He shyly said, “Well, just beginner tricks. I do a few things with that plastic thumb that came in my kit.” His body language showed he was embarrassed to admit he was using such a ‘beginner’ type of magic prop.

I picked up on this and quickly said, “Those thumb tips are one of the greatest inventions in magic! You can do so many awesome tricks with them.”

His eyes widened and he looked hopeful as he asked, “Really? Do you use them?”

I smiled and said, “Yup, in fact, I used three thumb tips in the show you just saw.”

All of their jaws hit the floor. They simply couldn’t believe what I was saying. But I was telling the truth. I had indeed used three different thumb tips in my assembly show. And no one had a clue.

I do think the thumb tip is one of, if not, the greatest, multi-purpose tools ever created in magic. But so many magicians scoff at it.

One of my favorite tricks arrived at my house years ago. I was so thrilled because I was eager to add it to my show. Unlike a lot of magic I buy, I didn’t have a clue how this one worked.

As I played the DVD, the trick’s creator introduced two thumb tips and apologized, but assured viewers the trick would still be great. It was and is a great trick. No, I’m not going to say what it is here.

I felt bad that the magician had to apologize for teaching his trick with a couple of thumb tips.

Me? I was thrilled. I always look at magic tricks like tools. My character education show might need a claw hammer, a box of nails, a jigsaw, and a socket set. My anti-bully show may require a set of pliers, a circular saw, and a set of screwdrivers. Whatever.

So, when I’m learning something new, if it uses a method I’m already comfortable with, it shaves some serious time off my learning curve.

But back to “thumb tip anxiety” for a moment. If you suffer from it, I echo the sage advice of David Parr, who said in his Penguin Live lecture to simply wear a thumb top all day as you go about your business. It’s a quick and easy way to get over the fear.

Because people just don’t notice. Paul Gross, owner of Hocus Pocus magic shop in Fresno, CA once told me a story about a Caucasian magician performing magic with a Black thumb tip and no one caught him.

Rejoice that magic has given us such an incredibly versatile tool.

Oh, and that story I started this newsletter with?

Rather than stress about my green fingers, I decided to just own up to it. I was originally thinking of starting the show and showing my hands, offering a quick apology, and moving on.

Instead, remembering the stories I just shared with you, I decided to wait and see if anyone noticed.

I had placed “Sneaker Juice” at roughly the 15-minute mark in my show. So, the kids had a full 14 minutes to notice my green fingers before I got to that trick. As the show progressed, nothing. Nobody said a word.

I didn’t for one minute think the kids were being polite. Kids will shout out the secret of the trick if they think they know it. Or if I pull out a puppet, the younger kids will start shrieking, “It’s a puppet!”

But so far, nada, zilch, nothing.

When I finally got to the part of the trick where I pulled the cup filled with green water out of the kid’s shoe, everyone reacted appropriately: “Ewwww! Gross!”

Testing my theory, I set the cup down and said, “And I even got sneaker juice all over my hands! Look!” And I proudly displayed my bright green fingers.

The kids reacted even more. “Ohhhh that’s GROSS!”

If I can ‘hide’ six green fingers from an audience of 50 kids and adults for 15 minutes in plain sight, I guarantee no one will notice if you wear a thumb tip for a few minutes while doing a routine.

You’re welcome.

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