THE GREAT MERLINI; b. Barnum&Bailey circus car en route through Illinois, Aug. 15, 1882; s. Victor and Edna (Bradna) M.; educated at intervals; Eton, Heidelberg, Beirut, Paris; m. Mary Cordona, Jan. 1, 1914; children, Michael, 1916, dec., Roberta, 1921; carnival and circus magician, 1903-1912; full evening show 1912-1929; magic dealer 1930- —;
Inventor of many effects and illusions including The Vanishing Elephant (Method #5), Haunted Alarm Clock, The Card From Hell, etc., etc.;
Authors : Legerdemainiacs, The Psychology of Deception, Sleight–of–Hand For Experts, Sawdust Trails; Editor : Conjurer’s Monthly 1920-28; Decorations : Sacred Order of White Elephant presented at command performance by the Maharajah of Saringapatam.
Clubs: U.S. Society of Magicians, Pres. 1923-26; Circus Fans Club, Secretary 1938; Lamb’s Club; Explorer’s Club; Author’s League.
Honorary member : New York Homicide Squad; British Circle of Magic; The Magic Wand; Associated Wizards of Aberdeen; Canadian Order of Magi; Magic Circle of Sweden; Association des Prestidigitateurs; Magischer Verein; El Illusionismos; Association of Chinese Conjurers.
Hobbies : Archery, Table Tennis, Mrs. Merlini.
Home : 13 1/2 Washington Square; Office : The Magic Shop, Times Square; Phone : Mephisto 3-8244
Clayton Rawson speaking. Ted Annemann asked me to beg, borrow or steal one of The Great Merlini’s pet effects for this issue. Armed to the teeth with a select assortment of burglar tools and wearing a black mask, I descended one dark night on Merlini’s infamous Times Square Magic Shop and jimmied my way in. Merlini was there working busily on a method for sawing a woman in two — lengthwise ! Asked for a trick for The Jinx, he pulled this one from a hat.
He gave me a dozen, small, visiting-card envelopes and went out of the room, leaving me alone. Following his directions to use my own deck of cards — a deck he’d never once as much as seen — I carefully selected a card (the Jack of Hearts); initialed it; placed it face down in one of the envelopes; sealed that; initialed the flap; and called Merlini in. He took the envelope, waved his hand once or twice over it — “to get the vibrations; each card has its own, you know”. Then, leaving the envelope in full view, he took another deck, his own. He discarded the Joker, and spread the deck face down on the table. A lone red-backed card that showed up among the other blue ones was thrown to one side. “That,” he said, “is another new trick. Show you some time.” He then passed his hand slowly above the spread, announcing that when his fingers passed above the duplicate of the chosen card the matching vibrations would enable him to pick it out. Then he began to look a bit worried and I began to wonder if, after all, The Great Merlini was about to fail !
But, suddenly, his hand veered away from the spread of cards, as if drawn by some magnetic force, and came to rest directly above that one lone, out-of-place red-backed discard ! “This,” he said in a surprised tone, “must be the card !” Sure enough, when he flipped it over, it was the Jack of Hearts !
He ripped open the marked envelope and drew out the marked card. There had been no switch. I grabbed for his deck, half expecting to find that he was using a “rough” deck. I was wrong there too. The cards were quite unprepared. He let me worry about it a while and then, finally, he broke down and told all. Did I kick myself ? Yes I did, good and hard. But I was also delighted because he’s shown me yet another use for that King of Gimmicks, the thumb tip.
Here, in Merlini’s own words is the lowdown. “Alcohol. That’s all. Old as witchcraft, but magicians don’t use it because liquids are a damn nuisance. I’ve solved that. Recipe : One thumb tip. Inside the tip, one small sponge rubber ball of a size that half fills the thumb tip. Anytime within three or four hours before I work, I pour some odorless alcohol (I carry that in my vest pocket — smallest size pill bottle) into the tip, just enough to saturate the sponge rubber — pouring off the excess. (The sponge rubber greatly retards evaporation) This gimmick can be carried in the trouser pocket and it won’t spill, even upside down. Press your thumb down into it and the tip immediately fills with alcohol — remove thumb and alcohol goes right back into sponge. Simple as that.”
“Take the sealed envelope from the spectator with the left hand, flap side toward him. Press the wet right thumb momentarily against the lower right corner of the envelope. Then wave your right hand over the envelope to get vibrations. The alcohol has, of course, made a transparent spot in the envelope and the pip of the enclosed card stares you in the face ! Put the envelope to one side to dry, alcohol side down. When dry, the envelope is opaque again.”
“As for my own deck — while I’m out waiting for the card to be selected I add two cards to the face of the deck. A red backed card with diachylon or magician’s wax on its face, and sticking to that, the Joker (blue back). When I know what card is in the envelope, I take my deck and run through it, backs toward the audience. I slide the two stuck together cards along the face of the fan until I come to the duplicate of the chosen card. I cut the deck below the chosen card; the double card going onto face of left hand half, chosen card on bottom of right hand half. Complete the cut. Show the Joker and, separating it from the diachyloned card, deal it off. Now, with the diachyloned card on top and the chosen card on the bottom, I merely need to cut the deck, and the selected card gets a red back ! The hokus pocus is all done. Finish as above.”
“The vibration patter serves not only as misdirection but also gives the alcohol time to dry out. If you’re doubtful of your timing, simply reach for the envelope, tear it open and exhibit the card yourself. No one ever asks to look at the envelope now because they’ve examined that before and the initialing shows that no switch has taken place. I usually finish by bringing out my red backed deck in its case and ‘replacing the red backed (double) in it’. Or I pretend to. Actually I push it down behind the case on the outside and return all to my pocket. If anyone is suspicious of that red backed card, I simply produce the case and hand it over. The double card remains in my pocket and they find a perfectly innocent, red-backed Jack of Hearts, or whatever, in the deck where it has been all the time.”
“And when you do this for a magician, instead of spreading the cards on a table, handle them as if you were using a “rough” deck. When he sees the one red card among the blue ones, he’ll be certain that’s what you’re using. Then hand him the deck !”
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