Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 20: Issue #20
Issue #20 arrives with a dedication: no card tricks whatsoever. Annemann is busy going after plagiarists, weighing in on the SAM’s long-awaited exposure charges against Harlan Tarbell, and delivering a column of performance advice that holds up just as well today as it did in 1936. The effects include a dollar-and-five transposition that works itself, a free-choice coin through a handkerchief, a ten-cent substitute for a three-dollar switching tray, and an effect Annemann had been sitting on for years and finally decided to just give away.
Effects Covered
[0:55] Editorial — Theodore Annemann
The SAM has finally charged a member for exposure — Harlan Tarbell, whose cut-out illusions have been turning up in five-and-dime stores. Annemann finds Tarbell’s educator defense meaningless when the wrong people are being educated. He also surfaces a quick double-turnover mystery using a new deck’s scorecard, calls out Glenn Gravitt’s encyclopedia for lifting over 20% of its contents from Jordan and Annemann without credit, and serves a 60-day warning to a separate anonymous publisher running the same material in five separately bound parts. He closes by noting that Issue #20 has a dedication: it contains no card tricks whatsoever.
[2:51] Think It Over — Theodore Annemann
Annemann’s recurring column of short practical performance observations. Highlights include: use aces for card work with a distance audience — sevens through tens are invisible past the front rows; a white wand against a black suit gives better contrast than the traditional black one; showing off card flourishes before a trick actually drops the mystery level; always end on stage with nothing to return after the final effect; and handle a fake egg like a real one — carefully, as if it might break. Jay adds his own note: if you’re doing Out of This World with a full deck, stop it. Nobody has that kind of time.
[4:48] March of Events
A page of newspaper clippings from the era — worth a look at jinxnavigator.com.
[4:54] Inflation — Monte Crow
A dollar is laid on top of a five and both are rolled slowly together while the performer talks about inflation. Near the end of the roll, the helper puts a finger on the dollar to prevent trickery — and when the bills are unrolled, the five is now on top. The switch happens automatically during the rolling process through a physical moment built into the geometry of the two bills. Jay’s verdict: perfect EDC, as long as you have six dollars in your pocket.
[6:00] Silver or Copper — Conrad Bush
A half dollar and a penny are placed on a borrowed handkerchief draped over the palm, the hand turns over, the cloth is twisted around both coins, and the helper names which one they want — which is then pulled right through the fabric. A secret release during the turnover positions one coin behind the other, making either choice workable. There’s also a more visual handling for confident coin workers where the coin briefly travels through the air masked by the handkerchief. Annemann’s editor’s note suggests substituting a Green River souvenir coin for the penny.
[7:07] Letter at Hand and Acted Upon — Bruce Elliott
A reader letter printed in full: Elliott’s ten-cent substitute for the three-dollar card-switching tray. Glue the cover of one magazine to the back of another — a double-sided magazine looks completely natural and nobody suspects it. His refinement is to use the back advertising page rather than the front cover, since the same ad tends to run for several weeks, making a duplicate easy to find. Elliott notes the idea arrived during a combination of writer’s block and whiskey. Annemann prints it without comment, which is its own kind of endorsement.
[7:54] From Beyond the Grave — Theodore Annemann
An effect Annemann had been sitting on for years, originally intending to sell as a dollar secret, and now just giving away. A helper writes the full name of a deceased friend or relative on a blank card, returns it to a packet face down, shuffles everything, and spells out the name one letter per card as the performer deals — and the card in hand on the last letter is the one with the name on it. Annemann describes it himself as a card-spelling trick in weird dress, and notes that using blank cards rather than playing cards is deliberate: it doesn’t read as a card trick, which is precisely the point.
[9:09] Outro
Links and a preview of Issue #21 — featuring Charles Rosenthal’s Money Mentalism.