Very foolish are the magi who do tricks in front of cameras. And it is a weak alibi that they ‘didn’t know it was a fast one.’ You can’t beat a lens that will catch a bullet in flight and there is no sense trying. Dave Allison tried it with the bird cage and Russ Walsh with his golf stick to handkerchief, and both of these men present their effects in a manner far above average. Mr. Walsh’s position in the world of magic is such that no one can suspect him of exposing deliberately. Therefore, it was ignorance of the lens’ speed or a gamble which lost. Mr. Allison’s explanation has been that a fast camera was used and promised deletions were not made. But no matter what the excuses are up to now, the lesson is not to attempt sleight of hand tricks before cameras. Do something in which the working is mechanical and hidden if you work before any lens.

U.F. Grant’s Magic Eye is a clever adaptation of modern science. As is usual with Grant effects, a number of variable tricks have been figured out, and the magical hobbyist who likes to have something set in his home for the mystification of his guests will be more than happy when he can use this photo-electrical principle to perform any number of weird and varied tests.

Responding to a number of inquiries at once, I can state that I will have no books published in the near future. It is not my idea of being exactly fair to accept material from others for The Jinx, and then publish effects of my own in a separate book or manuscript. As long as The Jinx is received favorably by magi at large, any and all material I may have to release will be found among its pages.

Hating apologies as I do makes this doubly hard to write. The Winter Extra has been delayed, not because I was spending time and money writing and publishing sour notes on a worn-out piano, but because I left New York just before Christmas with a nightclub revue on tour and have been jumping steadily since that date. In between packing, unpacking, and working four shows a night, not to speak of the time lost in traveling, I’ve kept all mail answered and gotten out one Jinx and one of the Jordan Series. The Extra has been slowly finished, and it is with a sigh of relief that it finally leaves my hands. I promise not to get caught for time again.

Percy Abbott’s new magazine The Tops has turned out to be a worthwhile contribution to magic. The first issue had good tricks, many ads, and an array of writers which should make any magazine a success. More power to it.

Another bit of publishing made its appearance during the month entitled The Linx. No price was given and no publisher’s name attached, although it wasn’t necessary really because all writers in the magical field are too well typed to be mistaken. This extremely unpresuming sheet will henceforth (according to the modest editor) make a practice of revealing the merciless truth about everything except good tricks. Don’t fail to obtain a copy (if only for your magical library) from any of those upon whose shoulders has been shifted the liability of sending copies through the mail. My own little personal giggle is because the half-mad writer can spend time and money to publish poorly laid out leaflets while his very sincere subscribers to other publications have to whistle for their due. I sympathize deeply as it must be a great comedown when one has to publish his writings free and anonymously in order to get them read.

Here is a happy thought from across the seas. Clement de Lion postcards me from France with a pretty improvement on forcing with a single die. In my book on forcing, I included the idea of forcing a card in a row of four where it can be counted as two or three, and five or six. I suggested rolling again if the ace or four showed with the remark that to show different numbers would turn up was the reason. This long-distance improvement is not to make any excuse when the ace or four turns up but merely say, “We will use the hidden number. Please lift it up and see what is on the underside.” It has to be a five or a three! Thanks a lot, Mr. de Lion.

I’ll do my best to have an ‘improvement’ sheet in the next Jinx. Many letters have come in during the past year with added touches for the various tricks within these pages, and I have selected the best of them to pass on to you. And after that, I’ll have a set of suggested programs of different types and for different conditions, the tricks for which have all appeared in The Jinx since its inception.

Do you use my Psychic Writing effect, which I marketed a number of years ago and which has appeared in several books since? If so, try this variation. Show and number the four sides of the two cards. Fasten them together with a paperclip and have a question written or a row of figures put down on the outside of one of them. Now let them be opened, and the answer to the problem or question is found inside, and all may be kept. Use the old Hardin Divination of the Nile principle for the figures and either plant a question or use the answer “Next year,” which will cover just too many questions to be believed.

Go over this carefully. Robert Parrish has sent me a most logical solution to the second half of the question propounded in Jinx No. 7 for April 1935.

— Then the deck is dropped inside of the tambourine, it is allowed to slide over to the left side where it is grasped by the thumb and first finger of that hand (other finger on the outside of the tambourine). The affair is held some distance from the body by the left hand as it is slowly turned vertically, but as the right hand is plunged through it, the tambourine is naturally brought back to the body and, in an instant, the thumb and first finger thrust the deck into the right coat pocket. The tambourine is at once pulled off the right arm and tossed aside empty! It is well to have a rubber band around the pack. The partly broken paper conceals the deck at all times. — It’s nice to know that back numbers of this sheet are being thoroughly gone over.

And now comes one for the ‘fanners’ of the card brigade. Ben Badley forwarded this from St. Louis. Mr. Badley disregards the various and sundry powders on the market for making cards fan and slip easily. His formula, if it may be called such, is to use a cake of Colgate’s Floating Soap (White Toilet). Most of the hotels are carrying this now in the usual small cakes which are just right in size. Otherwise, get a large bar and cut it into four or five pieces. As a pad, use a folded newspaper. Do one card at a time, rubbing it back and front six or eight times, working from the center of the card. Use soap like a crayon and with a circular motion, not touching it with your fingers after applying and not letting it get wet. Use a soft cloth to remove all lumps and bits of soap, but do this lightly. This deck will fan under all conditions, and through much experimenting and many trials, this particular brand of soap has been found to be the best.

This is a free ad in a way, but it can’t be helped. In the current Sphinx is a full-page bit of copy offering an Encyclopedia of Self-Working Card Tricks. There are 540 modern card miracles according to the wording, and after carefully going over it all, it seems to me that the compiler, Dr. Von Deusen, has certainly figured a way to make money by job lotting off at a fair figure the manuscripts and secrets he has collected.

So far, this bit of monthly magicacity has not been put in a position where the acceptance of advertisements was a necessity to publication. When that day dawns, we expect to fold up through mediocrity.