AANSWER: Kind of. He hosted several TV specials featuring magic. He starred in a good movie, "The Invasion of Johnson County" where he performed several bar tricks. These included: standing an egg on its end, belt loop challenge, floating two forks from the end of a toothpick, making five pat hands from 25 random cards, and picking five ears of corn that all have an even number of rows.***Standing an egg on its end:HOW: Before attracting attention, surreptitiously put some salt in one hand. Challenge the viewer that you can make an egg stand on its end without breaking the shell. Get permission to blow first and then blow on the end of the egg, and wet it with your lips as you do so. As a joke, stand the egg in your palm that has the salt, the salt will stick to the wetted end. When the viewer scoffs, carefully stand the egg on the table. The salt will form a base and the egg will stand upright. As the viewer gawks, casually drop your hands to your side, dropping the salt. After the viewer has gotten a good look, pick up the egg and casually pretend to brush it clean of any dirt (while actually brushing away the salt) so that you can clearly show the viewer that the shell is not broken. Now offer the egg to the viewer so that he may attempt the feat, but with the salt gone it won't work. Notice how much attention to detail was used in the presentation of this simple trick.***Belt loop challenge: Coil your belt tightly, forming three folds that form loops near the center coil. Challenge the viewer to place a pencil through one of the loops such that when you use the ends of the belt to pull the coil straight the pencil catches the middle fold and prevents you from pulling the belt away. No matter where the viewer places the pencil, you are able to freely pull the belt away.HOW: Take notice of where the viewer places the pencil, and then adjust your grip on the ends as you pull such that you grasp the proper ends. (More details later...I haven't learned this one yet. If you have info...please post or e-mail.)***Floating two forks: I can suspend these two forks from the end of this toothpick, and the other end of the toothpick will only touch the rim of this glass. The forks won't touch the glass or the table, and I won't support them in any way.HOW: Point the forks directly at each other, tines to tines. Interlock the tines of the forks in the same way you intertwine your fingers. The forks will form a single rigid stick, bent into a slight U or V shaped curve (I'll call it V) in the same direction as the curve of the tines. Wedge one end of the toothpick into the tines between the 2nd and 3rd tines, counting tines from the top of the assembly, inserting the toothpick starting from inside the V. It will be a tight fit and you will just be able to get the very tip of the toothpick in there. Use your finger on the stick of the toothpick for a trial balance. The handles of the forks will try to swing down toward the floor, twisting the tines, which will then try to twist the toothpick towards the floor. Your finger will prevent the toothpick from dropping and thusly suspend the entire assembly. Because the handles make a V shape, the center of balance is not at the tines (apex of V) as it would appear, but rather somewhere inside the V. That's the point where the toothpick needs to hit the rim of the glass. Make adjustments as best you can and then move to the glass. Ask no one to shake or even touch the table, and then place about the middle of the toothpick on the rim of the glass, with the forks outside the rim (i.e. not in the middle of the glass). Slide the toothpick on the rim of the glass until you sense the balance point (it will be between the middle of the toothpick and the tines, usually close to the tines, sometimes very close). When you find the balance point you may let the entire assembly hang freely. Then, for the coup-de-grace (i.e., the part that will really murder your audience) use a match or a burning toothpick to light the end of the toothpick inside the glass. It will burn up to the cold rim of the glass and then extinguish, leaving the new end of the toothpick hanging on the rim of the glass. It's great.The balance is sometimes easy, sometimes more difficult. Obviously the point at which the toothpick rests on the rim of the glass is the key, but you can also adjust the angle that the forks form with the toothpick. This is especially critical if you use unmatched forks, or a fork and spoon (covered below).A variation is to use a fork and spoon. Hold the spoon and fork point to point and then insert the bowl of the spoon into the tines. The first and last tines go inside the bowl of the spoon and the middle tines go outside the bowl. This forms a nicely rigid stick and inspires more confidence than do to the two forks. However since the fork and spoon are probably not the same weight or length the stick will probably try to tip to one side. Counteract this tendency by adjusting the point on the fork where insert the toothpick. Also adjust the angle between the fork and toothpick.Another really great variation is to balance the assembly on a saltshaker instead of a glass. Start by jamming a toothpick straight down into a hole in the top of the saltshaker. Then balance the forks/toothpick assembly on the top point of the vertical toothpick in the same way that Bixby balanced it on the rim of the glass. Again the balance point will be between the middle of the horizontal toothpick and the tines. Once balanced, burn the horizontal toothpick but this time you will need to extinguish the flame before it burns too far, maybe with a drop of water. This is all tricky but the result of the point to point toothpicks holding the forks is truly astonishing.***Forming five pat hands from 25 random cards:
A pat hand is a hand dealt to you in five card draw poker that is so good that you keep it intact rather than draw any cards. The name comes from "staying pat" rather than accepting new cards. Commonly accepted pat hands are: a straight, flush, full house, straight flush, royal flush, or 4 of a kind. It seems incredible that you would be able to form five such hands from only 25 random cards, but according to Bixby it's possible 9 out of 10 tries.***Choosing ears of corn that all have an even number of rows of kernels.
All ears of corn have an even number of rows. Anywhere from 8 to about 22, although Bill mentions in the movie somewhere between 11 and 15. Here is an interesting article:
http://www.foodreference.com/html/fcorn.html
AIt's a Boeing 720, a lighter, faster, but shorter-ranger version of the well-known 707 model. Establishing shots of the airplane on the runway show the single over-wing emergency exit of the 720 rather than the dual exits of the 707.The plane is sometimes mistakenly assumed to be a 747 Jumbo Jet. However, the aircraft are completely different, as the 747 is a much larger wide-body airliner with passenger capacity starting at over 450 (fewer on planes that include more spacious first class seating) while the 720 is a narrow-body airliner with a standard capacity of 167 and has no first class.The rear cargo ramp that Tony drives his Corvette onto does not actually exist on a 720. Those scenes were filmed in a military cargo plane that includes such a ramp, probably a Lockheed C-130.Stock footage used in the takeoff scene in the pilot episode shows a two-engine aircraft, likely a 737.
AMaybe not you, but Tony could.Legally: It is not legal to own owls as pets in the United States or Canada, but it is legal to own them in the United Kingdom. However, a person like Tony could probably get special permits to own exotic animals that would normally not be allowed, like the tiger he uses. In the USA, owls are protected under various federal, state, and local laws, such as the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. In the United Kingdom, a snowy owl like Hedwig, who serves as Harry Potter's messenger/pet in the Harry Potter movie, can be bought for about 400 pounds (U.S. $576), as of 2007.Practically: Owning an owl would be difficult and labor-intensive, and require a large cage the size of a large room. A normal bird cage, however large, would be cruel imprisonment. Owls are wild and have sharp, strong talons and beaks, and they know how to use them. This makes them dangerous. Leaving the owl uncaged as depicted in the show would be unwise. Cleaning owl feces from a cage the size of a room is a job better left to zookeepers. Because of these complications it would not be practical for most people, but an exotic animal handler like Tony could swing it, with some hired help.All that said, obviously in the United Kingdom people are doing it, so ultimately the answer to this question is: "yes."
