Here is one of those rare effects that have an anticlimax but become greater because of it. The base of the trick, or the addition part, is not, by any means, a new idea. Around this, however, Mr Baker has woven a bit of chicanery which dresses the problem in a not soon to be forgotten guise. A spectator is chosen for the problem, and is handed a folded paper upon which the performer has scribbled something. Showing a large size slate, the performer hands him a chalk with the request that he write down a line of figures as…
Very few magi haven't a set of the five dice used in Heath's Dyciphering Dice Trick, it being one of the few highly effective pocket tricks of the past several years. After using it for a time I discovered several points which make for a subtle test in connection. Produce the five dice and mention that they are used for some money game, (without going into that part further) as an excuse for their being numbered with three digits to a side. Let someone shake and roll them. You line them up in a row, and turning your back ask…
Fifteen or sixteen years ago, Al Baker originated an effect using a deck of cards, three pieces of paper, and a borrowed hat. To the audience the procedure was to have three cards selected and thought of while the pack of cards was in their own hands. The names of these selections were written on pieces of paper, folded, and collected in the hat. One by one, the performer would take out the papers, and apparently by divination reveal the selected or thought of cards. I first obtained the original method in 1924 and later, around 1929, added somewhat to…
For a nice club or drawing room item, this will be found to cause comment and it is extremely simple in the working. Back in the early twenties there were many methods for accomplishing this feat and I gave my own in The Book Without a Name. However, the one weak point, to me, was in the necessity of jotting down the items as selected when any simple minded person would find no trouble in remembering them. I think this to be almost as simple as it can be done, but that has been said before of many tricks. On…
For two people this is a cute idea in clairvoyance with coins or other objects. I like the money version. The medium or psychic is sent from the room. The performer asks someone to donate for the time being a piece of money and it may be either a coin or a bill. Stating that the psychic has a strange faculty where money is concerned (so have a lot of people), the performer puts it in an ordinary letter envelope and fastens on a spring paper clamp to one of the tabs (where you pinch them together to open the…
Faked envelopes all run along the same basic principles but I think that I have a new variation and also a very practical improvement on the old style. I've never considered such envelopes as sound magic when used to obviously change an article. We know they do, but if an audience sees the Four of Spades go in, and the Ace of Clubs come out, they at once consider the envelope as the medium of exchange and center their interest upon it. However, if a card is freely chosen and sealed without being shown, and later removed to be revealed…
Simplicity is ever a virtue in magical effects. This should find favor with many because it is effective, to the point, and there is little chance for the subject to miss. Writing a prediction on a slip, the performer folds and deposits it in a cup. A deck is mixed and spread on the table. A spectator freely chooses one and is given a small book of poems or fiction. He is asked to open the book to the page corresponding with the number of spots on the card and then count to the word at the same number. The…
One of the subtle methods for the transmission of signals has been passed around a good deal in its original form. The switching on and off of an electric light in another room was found to act on the radio with sharp static like snaps. Presumably the performer would be given a number or card and leave the room before the medium returned. In another room he would signal her through the radio which had been turned down a little but not off during the test. I played around with this idea and found out an important secret which allows…
(Note: Mr Read needs no introduction. As the author of The Calostro Mindreading Act, he can be thanked by the profession for a most practical and much needed system. The following is another of his very original ideas.) Having stolen, or otherwise secured, original written questions, or duplicates thereof, this new method of tabulating them for later secret reference is one of the cleverest means yet devised for the mentalist. It is so innocent looking and so easy to handle that no suspicion can possibly be aroused. It is now released for the first time and will fit in with…
I thought for quite a while before deciding to release this secret because I've used it a lot for press work and the effect is absolutely original. I had it listed as a dollar trick should I ever let it go, but Spring has made me weak so here it is. Pick out a friend from the telephone book. Count down and remember its position from the top of its column. Make 26 one inch square cards containing letters of the alphabet. Make 25 more all containing the first letter of the friend's last name. Put the 26 duplicate letters…