Methods of improvement over old procedures persist in popping up. Dr Daley has gone far in making the forecast of a sum total as positive as present thought allows. Surely there is no loophole in the following for a spectator to locate. It is as fair as the genuine could be. The effect is practically the same as of old. Four people are asked to stand and think of a three figure number. The performer looks at each in turn and writes something on his side of an ordinary slate. He draws a line, is seen to be adding columns…
All magicians who have bought and use the addition slate invariably do it the same way. I used it twice, up on the northern peninsula of Michigan, back in 1927, but stopped for two reasons. One was that I had personal reasons for not doing it, and the second was that everybody hopped on the band wagon when it was first sold, and made it too common. Dr Daley doesn't like the idea of prophesying the total, so evolved an entirely new presentation. Have four people stand. Each is to think of a four figure number. You hold a slate…
Using two decks of cards, one is handed to the subject and the other kept by the performer. The performer shuffles and so does the subject. The performer now covers his deck with a handkerchief and the spectator cuts off a portion by lifting them through the cloth. The card below this cut is laid aside or given to another person. Turn about is fair play, so the spectator now is asked to cover his deck with the handkerchief. The performer cuts off a portion and the spectator himself removes the card below the cut and places it with the…
When Mr Nagle first showed this to me I was much impressed by the fact that here was an old mathematical trick remade into a perplexing presentation which would fool those in the know. I'll explain as I go along. First make a 25 square diagram. Ask the onlooker to give you five two figure numbers, one after the other, and you write them in order down the left side of the square. Then you follow this by writing five more down the right side. Now dot the diagonal row of squares from the upper left corner to the lower…
Lucky number magic squares are scarce even though magic squares themselves are not. Most of these squares are complicated bits of figuring which do not find much favor with the spectators. In this case, however, Mr. Heath has a novel presentation that uses the spectator's birth date and is not too long to become boresome. We shall explain it as we go along, and the reader can follow with paper and pencil. Illustrated here is a magic square made from the numbers 1 to 9. This must first be learned perfectly so you know the position of each number as…