Well, wouldn't you be in fear with a couple of fancy, but sharp, knives looking for you? And especially so knowing they were in the hands of irresponsible spectators who didn't know and didn't care where they were stabbing? Of course, magic itself is not logical, but it has always seemed to me a bit incongruous for a knife to be thrust into a pack and selected cards found on either side. With two cards chosen and shuffled back it is quite a little miracle just to have them come together in the pack. This version of the stabbing trick…
The performer turns his back while a person among the group watching shuffles his own deck and discards three of them to leave a pack of only 49 cards. The spectator now thinks of any one of the cards he holds, and deals them into seven face up heaps from left to right, a card at a time. He announces which pile, counting from left to right, holds his mentally chosen card. Though the performer's back is turned, he says that he thought so, requesting the spectator to pick up the heaps by putting the 7th pile onto the 6th,…
EFFECT This is an original TRIPLE version of the now standard "you do as I do" trick. Two spectators and the performer each take a deck of cards and, after shuffling, freely select a card which is passed onto the next man. Upon comparison, all three are found to have taken the same card. REQUIREMENTS Three decks with white borders, and with contrasting back designs. (a) 1st deck is a forcing one of all one card, say the 5 of Clubs. (b) 2nd deck is quite ordinary except that the 5 of Clubs has been extracted. (c) 3rd deck is…
The two effects to follow are not new, at least as far as I'm concerned. Both were developed nearly ten years ago and have been constant standbys for the decade. Most of my magical friends and acquaintances have seen them done, possibly too often, but to date I've never put them down in type. The main reason for it now is because a few days ago I was shown my own trick and the realization came that I had better get what credit I could before the time came when the effects were worn and shoddy and I would hear…
The effect of all this isn't new. What with card men doing it from Bombay to Buffalo; with midget cards and Jumbos; in swanky spots and manholes; by fair means as well as foul; it has had a lot of pushing around. Categorically speaking, it sneaks about from magician to magician under the name of The Acrobatic Cards. Strictly speaking, this is an unusually easy method without a lot of arm-swing and wide open movements. Count off twelve cards from anybody's deck and hold them squared face down in the left hand as though ready to deal. Push off the…
"Before you think," says the performer, "I'll write something for you --- something that may occur in the near future --- an event, or happening over which I can have no possible control." And that is a general opening remark to a type of trick which has been ever popular with both mystery workers and audiences. The prophecy of occurrence --- whether it is a number to be thought of, a word to be pictured, or a playing card to be chosen. I'm not going to attempt a history of this work. It might come later to be included in…
The late Nate Leipsig told me shortly before his death that this effect was one of the most puzzling of impromptu numbers that he had learned for several years. It is extremely simple once known but magicians will cudgel their brains in an effort to figure it out by complicated stacks and mathematics. The deck is shuffled by a spectator and 12 cards removed. The spectator then shuffles these well, and, while the performer's back is turned, puts any number of the 12 cards into his pocket secretly. The remaining cards that the spectator holds he shuffles, notes the face…
There's one thing about a new trick -- it takes a second reading and twice as many tryouts to convince the reader of its worth. Magic has always been that way. You can do this one after the first reading. You'll appreciate it more and more depending upon how many times you present it. For once you will get a trick, depending upon the simplest of secrets, a trick which is a psychological mystery because its finale embodies (?) more than its preparation to the onlookers might presume. The spectator shuffles his own deck. From it the performer has a…
EFFECT The performer removes a card (the 5D, for example) from a borrowed deck and places it face up on the table. The deck is now mixed and cut. The performer asks for any number from 10 to 20 (16, for example). He deals 16 cards one at a time onto the table face down. The spectator looks at and remembers the top card of those dealt, and the remainder of the deck is then dropped on all. Again the performer asks for a number between 10 and 20 (14, for example). As before, the chosen number of cards are…
With pack in hand, note the bottom card - then request a spectator to deal three cards from the top of the pack onto the table, thus : (1) (2) (3), about three inches apart. Do this yourself by way of illustration. Now gather up the cards and shuffle the pack, bringing the bottom card, which you had previously noted (we shall call it the six of clubs) to second from the top. Now hand the pack to the spectator who you have chosen to carry out your instructions, and request him to deal the three top cards in the…