This may seem like a lot of trouble for the vanish of a half dollar but it is so clean and startling that once you use it you'll not stop doing it at all available times. To a half dollar size coin solder a small wire loop near the edge but not projecting over. Tie one end of an 8 in. piece of catgut to the wire loop, attaching the other end to ordinary black elastic used for pulls. The pull is fastened to the back of the vest and comes around left side of the body through a belt…
(Editor's note: This is a trick evolved, finally, from virtually a bit here and a bit there. The effect in itself first was published by Tom Sellers about five years ago. The use of burning paper (Sellers laid a burning cigarette on the tray to melt the wax, but this had no real reason) as a coin fold was the improvement of Charles Harris, of New York, and the superlatively clean-cut coinfold used herein came from our scrapbook as penciled to us by H. G. A. Lambie, of Vancouver, exactly eleven years ago this month.) This has been called, by…
Tommy Downs was how he was introduced to us when we met the Koin King along with his ever present buddy Eddie McLaughlin. It was around 1928-29 that it happened and the man who wrought up London with his manipulations in 1907 treated us fairly and squarely when our tricks so pridefully displayed morning after morning for a week did or did not fool him. It meant a lot to our, then limited, perspective on magic and magicians. We can never forget the Downs' trick of being cordial to the point of putting his hand upon the shoulder of an…
This is one of those subtly simple methods for producing, not a too startling effect, but one which will appear very clever and quite mystifying to audiences of the more intimate type. Two small plates and two bowls are at hand and the performer shows ten coins on each of the former. These are set upon the bowls while the magician explains that he will be very slow in all of his actions to prove (?) that he is not attempting deception by sleight-of-hand. Thereupon he tips the plates allowing the coins to fall into their respective bowls. Continuing the…
(Editor's note : We are happily doing the following stunt at every available opportunity. It is a far cry from the school days effect of 25 cards dealt into 5 hands twice and Mr. Christ has brought into being a subtle problem with ramifications that cover all trickiness.) Any deck is shuffled, and the reader should have a deck in hand while he reads, for the effect and method are being combined. The performer states that he will demonstrate a little "psychic poker" and show how one accomplished in the reading of minds could very easily know exactly what cards…
Stewart James introduced this principle in Jinx #25 under the title of Numismatigic. That erudite discoverer of oddities had found that Canadian five cent pieces were magnetic while the like coins of the U.S. were not. (It should prove both interesting and probably practical for residents of other countries ((and we get to 22 other countries, too! Ed.)) to test their own metal currencies for magnetic qualities.) My presentation here is completely different from that of Mr. James. I have also added a subtlety not heretofore used (in print) by those who have made use of magnets. It is simply…
Roxy Theatre, New York City, October 28, 1939 Time : 12 minutes. Reviewed by Wm. Henderson. Martin has changed his act quite a bit since seen here last. His pocket handkerchief thrown over hand is raised to show a full glass of wine. This is drunk and followed by a one hand production of five silver dollar coins, each of which is dropped into the glass. The coins are poured into the handkerchief and vanished. The handkerchief is stuffed into the glass which, in turn, is wrapped into a piece of newspaper. The paper is torn to bits and the…
The moves in this interlude for the "close-up" man are child's play once that you get the idea or knack. Every time, it seems, that I take out a dime and penny, no matter what the trick may be, there is somebody in the audience who is certain that I'm using the fake dime and penny, letting on to everybody about it in no uncertain terms. The trick has been capably exposed but in this case, not only the ones not in the know but the wise boys also get a beautiful fooling. And there are very few among us…
I have had a great many magicians and laymen tell me this is the best coin trick they ever saw. This can be said without braggadocio because I did not invent any of the sleights. I put them together and there is the real secret. All these moves are to be thought of merely as different parts of ONE stunt, not as separate sleights. They should be executed very deliberately, in SLOW MOTION in fact, and it is the gestures which make it a natural. The moves should be learned with the patter for the timing of the words to…
Neither of these tricks is original, but as far as I know they have not appeared before in print. I believe they are worth passing on. To perform the first trick, balance a penny on the tip of your right forefinger. The finger is slapped vigorously several times on the open palm of the left hand, but the penny remains balanced on the forefinger. Others are unable to duplicate the feat. Follow the drawings carefully. As the right hand approaches the left it turns over and the right thumb is placed on top of the penny. The forefinger and thumb,…