Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 12: Issue #12 Issue #12 is an all-Annemann affair — editorial, notebook column, a stacked-deck solitaire hustle, and a stage four-aces routine built for maximum fairness. He's also bottle-feeding a puppy, which explains a few things about the issue's more notebook-jottings character. Effects Covered [0:48] Editorial — Theodore Annemann Annemann blames August heat and an eight-day-old bird dog for a lighter-than-usual issue, then pivots to a genuinely frustrated observation about magicians who ignore published effects until someone else does something brilliant with them — at which point the whole community suddenly discovers it's great. He closes…
Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 11: Issue #11Issue #11 is a card-heavy issue with a few pleasant surprises — a clever cigarette gag, a matchbook divination that requires nothing more than a book of matches and one quick calculation, and a borrowed business card that survives being cut in half. Annemann's editorial is in a reflective mood, anchored by a story about a fireman with an excellent memory for shoes. Effects Covered[0:56] Editorial — Theodore Annemann Annemann opens with a summer complaint about slow mail, recommends a Liberty magazine article on university telepathy experiments, and highlights a magic newsletter disguised as…
Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 10: Issue #10 Issue #10 of The Jinx opens with Annemann on his soapbox about impromptu magic — and Jay gets on one of his own — before delivering a signed card on a ribbon, a startling deck production, a masterclass in cigarette vanish presentation, and a one-person picture-duplication effect that Annemann vouches for with characteristic honesty. A strong issue from start to finish. Effects Covered [0:52] Editorial — Theodore Annemann Annemann makes the case that working professionals who can't perform on the spot are failing at showmanship, pointing to Harry Blackstone and John Mulholland as performers who…
Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 9: Issue #9 Issue #9 of The Jinx features one of the most widely used envelope techniques in mentalism, a mathematically driven counting effect dressed up in Depression-era politics, and the effect Annemann himself called one of the greatest one-man psychic pieces available — and it's hard to argue with him. The editorial is lively too, with convention news, a rare unprompted book recommendation, and a very satisfying mathematical footnote. Effects Covered [0:51] The Modernized Reading — Theodore Annemann A method for secretly reading the contents of a sealed envelope while it's still being held by the person…
Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 8: Issue #8 Issue #8 of The Jinx is a varied one — a mathematically clever card effect, two contributions from Dr. Duncanson, a borrowed bill in nested envelopes, and Annemann's own opinionated reading list for magicians. The editorial is packed: a victory lap, a moving tribute, and Annemann publicly setting the record straight on not one but two separate grievances. Effects Covered [1:07] An Improvement à la Carte — Theodore Annemann A helper names any card, then makes a series of apparently free choices as the deck is dealt and sorted — and somehow lands on the…
Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 7: Issue #7 Issue #7 of The Jinx is a strong one — a clean card transposition, a clever two-person code system, a prediction that disappears from the deck, and a classic bill-in-lemon with some real teeth to it. Annemann also pays tribute to a giant of the magic world and goes on a rant that's just as relevant today as it was in 1935. Effects Covered [0:57] The ELM Card Change — E. Leslie May A chosen card and a card initialed by the performer swap places — the helper's card ends up in the performer's pocket,…
In this episode, Jay browses Issue #6 of The Jinx (1934–1941), the legendary newsletter for magicians and mentalists. This issue is heavy on Theodore Annemann, with contributions from Russell T. Wise and a peek at the editorial page. Effects Covered [0:00] Intro Jay introduces the show and the episode's focus: Issue #6 of The Jinx. [0:45] Impromptu Frame Ups — Theodore Annemann Annemann explores using "instant stooges" — audience members who don't know they're confederates until the moment they're needed. Includes a card-calling effect, a watch-setting routine, and slate work. Jay notes the term "frame up" seems to have died out by the mid-1900s. [2:48]…
In this issue Jay talks about Annemann’s “Red and Blue Back Color Change,” a two-card back-swap, discusses L. E. Duncanson’s “With Sight Unseen,” a hands-tied, blindfolded identification routine requiring a homemade gimmick that Jay doubts can accomplish all claimed feats. He covers two solutions to a prior issue’s “lie calling” challenge: Charles Nyquist’s stacked-deck approach dependent on a clean dovetail shuffle and Stuart Robson’s “The Lie Detective” with constraints on when the lie occurs. Annemann’s “A Question and the Answer” uses slips, a switch, and a gimmick for answering written questions, and Nat Scherzer suggests using used envelopes as a…
In this issue we review Annemann’s “The Master of the Message,” an impromptu thought-reading effect. We summarize Martin Sunshine’s “Cigarette Perception,” where a blindfolded performer identifies cigarette brands, and suggests the method could be repurposed beyond smoking. Jay discusses Orville Wayne Meyer’s “Card Box Sympathy,” which uses a P&L Metal Card Box, but says the written handling seems inconsistent and asks listeners with the prop to test it. Jay explains Calvin Cole’s “One of Those Things,” a calculator-age-and-change revelation based on a simple math principle, with Annemann’s note that personal details like age increase interest and could be paired with…
Jinx Navigator Podcast: Jay Jennings reviews issue number three of The Jinx, a roughly 90-year-old newsletter for magicians and mentalists, to see which ideas still hold up and how they might be tweaked for modern use. Aside from the editorial, Jay covers four items from the issue: Les Gilbert’s “A Card in Transit,” where a spectator-initialed card vanishes from the deck and appears in the performer’s pocket using sleight of hand and a gimmick card; Annemann’s “A Real Psychic Card Test,” a simple thought-transmission drawing match using chalkboards (or business cards) and misdirection through distance/time; Annemann’s “Dead or Alive,” a…