I was trying to be so busy with stenographic scribblings and photo records of the weirdest conclave in the annals of magic that my own contribution has suffered a bit from lack of originality, that is, if one considers what I have offered before in the line of billet reading effects and routines. Most of such routines have depended upon the assistance of several or more spectators, and there is a need for "reading" tricks wherein only one person is used throughout. I used to find occasions when it would have been very good for business could I have done…
One of the cleverest single die and cup effects I've ever seen was shown to me by a gambler several years ago. The secret of this truly impossible trick has been closely guarded. It is impromptu and uses only one die and a regular dice cup or a paper cup. The onlooker shakes the die in the cup and then turns the mouth of the cup downward upon the table. The seer takes hold of the cup without lifting it, shakes it a bit back and forth upon the table, and then announces the top number on the cube. He…
This very effective experiment, although built around the evergreen trick of a slate with a loose flap, offers sundry points of novelty in the details. Two slates, after being marked on both their sides with identifying numbers, are tied together with a piece of tape and entrusted to someone in the audience to hold. The titles of well-known periodicals are called out by various spectators and written down in succession by the performer on plain postcards, EACH NAME BEING VERIFIED AS IT IS WRITTEN by a gentleman who stands at performer's side. About half-a-dozen having been suggested, the cards are…
These two effects may be presented together, one after the other, and serve as welcome proof that a principle may be duplicated immediately if dressed entirely differently the second time. Both effects are workable with subtleties which very effectively cover their principles, even to those quite initiated. To me. At least, the simple idea of reversing cards end for end is an immortal magical thought. I hope my applications will find favor. The magician's apparatus consists of two decks of cards to be described, a slate with chalk, and a one-inch cork ball at the end of a length of…
Let ALPHA represent a conjurer and BETA an assistant from the audience. ALPHA presents a school satchel telling the audience that it belongs to his young nephew. Unfastening the straps he removes about half of a dozen books, five of which should be read at school, and one which obviously shouldn't. Next he removes the slate, a piece of chalk, a small writing pad and a pencil. (If he is a performer who essays the humorous manner he will no doubt fill in time by removing lengths of string, bits of toffee and the like) "There is Magic in everything"…
Locations are drugs on magical markets, especially when they pertain to cards instead of beautiful blondes of the type picturized by California press agents. But let's suppose a blonde is your "medium". Put her in another room. Give a spectator the deck for plenty shuffling. He thinks of one card. Take back the deck, ask him for the card's name. From among them you pick out that card and put it before him. The deck is laid down and you retire from active service. "Put your card anywhere in the deck," you say, "give them all a shuffle, and then…
The trick is ruthless, but effective. The audience sees four envelopes passed out, and four cards taken from the pack by those people. The cards are sealed, collected by a fifth person, mixed well, and laid, BY HIM, in a row on a table between performer and audience. Now the magus speaks out. He wants to show that a sympathy exists between people and the objects they have touched. To emphasize that sympathy he will let each of the four people pass through a sieve of chance. Each of the four persons is given his chance. Each, in turn, keeps…
The performer picks up a fair size ball of wool with a pair of knitting needles through it, saying, "My grandmother used to be quite renowned in our village because of her ability to tell fortunes. I never could get her to read the cards for me because she said I was too young to understand. That she did possess some weird powers was believable, though, for night after night, at bed time, and while she was knitting, she'd call me to her, ask if I had studied my school lessons, and then do the very thing I'm going to…
If this routine is given the proper practice and presentation it will prove to be a reputation builder. After steady use for four years I know it is good. It can be done at any time and anywhere with borrowed material. EFFECT #1. First of all the magician is securely blindfolded. I always borrow two coins, half dollars or quarters, and place one over each eye. Then a pad of gauze is placed over each coin, followed with a cloth blindfold over all. This is a genuine blindfold and the method has a decided appeal to the layman. The magician…
That telephone mystery is quite simple and easy when the lid is lifted. The use of drawings, word, and cards serves to make it look complicated and also keeps the mind of the person busy. The 5 designs you use are those made famous by J.B. Rhine of Duke University in his extra-sensory perception experiments. In order they are: circle, cross, wavy lines, square, star. First you draw them on a sheet of paper. Ask the subject to look them over as long as he cares to, and finally choose any one. If he takes one of the first three…