About ten years ago I "invented" a spelling card idea which found favor with some professionals. Max Holden, then late of vaudeville, and freshly embarked upon a dealer's career, saw fit to use it in his club program until his business of supplying magi with their necessities made time more important. I, of all persons, cannot say that the method used was not good. But, in a later day light, we can tell readers that times have changed and that the count down method by numbers is not so good for this generation or more-to-the-point spectators. Two decks of cards…
I was at the Professor's house helping him get lined up for his September session. While we were resting he told me to take up a new deck of cards from off the desk and shuffle them while he went to the kitchenette to make a sandwich. I finished doing that and yelled, "what about it?" Between rattling knives and the banging of the refrigerator door he directed me -- "All shuffled? O.K. Now turn over the top card and lay it face up on the desk. If it's a picture card, discard it, they drag the problem out too…
The mystic shuffles a deck and asks three of his audience to step forward. They stand to the left of the performer's table, facing the audience, and in line. The deck is spread in a fan face down across the table. The man on the far end is requested to come over, take any card he may wish, and put it in his right side coat pocket. He is told not to look at it, because, as the performer then tells his audience, this will not be a case of mindreading, but an experiment of new relations between animate and…
I feel this version of the 15 Card Pass far surpasses any other in regards to method and presentation. Any pack of cards (no duplicates) and some envelopes may be borrowed and are all that you need. With a person standing at your left, and another at your right, the cards are produced and given the right hand assistant. He shuffles and counts 10 onto your right hand. They are sealed in an envelope by the helper and his initials put on the outside. The man on the left next shuffles the cards and counts 10 of them face down…
When you happen to go into your host's or hostess' lavatory during your times within their walls, wash your hands to dampen the soap, and let it set for the interval you need to dry those magical fingers. What you are going to do will be a seeming miracle to those who pay attention to your efforts, even if the reader of these lines may snort at it as being "old stuff" to him. That reader, however, will have to admit that he "never actually tried it out" although he did know the "secret". From an old and soft deck…
There is one magical adjunct long since neglected - the mirror glass. We don't mean the tumbler which catalogues of other days said was perfect for the exchange of a handkerchief, but the 3 x 4 inch or larger straight sided and fluted glass jar which used to have a lid. We can dispense with the lid, and the flat piece of nickeled metal which divided the jar into halves. We won't replace the lid, but we will replace the other item with a zig-zag piece of nickeled metal, each zig and each zag of which is about a half…
Of the many and exhaustive of principle tricks in that modern "Erdnase" entitled Expert Card Technique put together by Hugard-Braue by the grace of publisher Jones, a most outstanding subterfuge was called The Twenty-sixth Location by Bert Allerton. We think that we've varied and improved upon the original, no matter what anyone (almost) may think - before actually trying it. Borrow a deck of cards, being certain that it contains a Joker before doing this particular trick. The Joker never has a specific use other than make the pack contain 53 cards instead of 52. Run through the deck with…
In endeavoring to present a four-ace trick not requiring the skill of a Vernon, Cardini, or Daley, this which follows should help many. No blanket claims for originality is claimed. Aside from certain rather minor improvements which I made in collaboration with Mr. Ralph Schugar, his combination of moves are different from anything previously published. The fact that a borrowed deck may be used should appeal to the most fastidious. Three double faced cards are added to any deck, an accomplishment not impossible even to the newest member of the I.B.M. These cards are the aces of hearts, diamonds, and…
The wonder worker makes use of any deck within borrowing distance. A card is chosen, remembered, and returned amongst the others in a very fair and above-board manner. The performer takes back the shuffled pasteboards and deliberately looks over their faces. He looks wise, picks out one card, and places it face down upon the table. The deck also is put face down on the table a bit to one side. The performer says that he has found the selected card. "Yes, or no?", he asks. The spectator looks at the single card on table. The answer is "No". The…
The magus lets a card be chosen from a deck. The spectator tears it into three pieces across, puts the pieces together and then tears them into three parts to make nine about equal sections. The performer now has a silk handkerchief which he throws over his left hand and onto which are dropped the torn pieces of the card. Next he picks up the silk's corners and drops them over the pieces. He pokes the entire bundle into his fist to make a compact ball of silk with card inside, and this is given to the spectator to clench…