The desire of every magician is to be able to do one "miracle" with cards which will stump a heckler... an effect wherein the performer divines a card without handling the deck or without asking any questions whatsoever. Here is one I use, released to JINX readers because I promised its Editor a mindreading effect. I call it Smeero ! because Ted seems to like tricks ending with "o" such as Whisko or Ghosto, etc. While this effect may be used as part of any card routine, it is much better to hold it in reserve until heckling starts... if…
A spectator is requested to think of any one card in the deck and the performer writes something upon the back of a playing card. This he places aside face up for the time being. Producing a pack of blue-backed cards which he demonstrates as such, the performer holds them in a face up fan behind his back. He asks the spectator assistant to locate his thought of card, withdraw it from the fan, lay it face up on the table, mark his initials on it and return it to the deck. This done the performer turns around and shows…
Editor's note : While I am only too well acquainted with the fact that card reversals are far from new, the following concept struck me as being cute and not to be found in print as far as I know. Please excuse both Mr. DeLaney and myself if it doesn't impress -- after trying it out at least once. The effect is quite short and sweet, but one of those ideas suitable for fast table work. A selected card is placed, by the performer, face up in the pack. The cards are cut and, eventually, the card is found face…
One of my currently favorite pets for a "quick turnover" which doesn't stall enough to bore the onlookers, is a tricky (to figure out) transposition of two cards. With your ordinary deck, and a strong point here is that it may be borrowed, you need but one double faced card. Let us assume it to be the Ace of Clubs on one side and the Two of Diamonds on the other. From the deck take the ordinary Ace of Clubs and put it in your right trouser pocket. On the face of the deck have your double card with the…
Effect The performer writes on a piece of paper a number and the name of a card. On another paper, a spectator also secretly writes a number and the name of a card. The pack is dealt into two piles. The performer's card is found in one of the piles at a position corresponding to the spectator's number; the spectator's card is found in the other pile at a position corresponding to the performer's number. The idea of this problem is that the performer makes a double prophecy to start. He writes down a number at which later is found…
One of the most pleasing and typical English card problems for discriminate performers has been for quite a few years the sympathetic arrangement of values between suits as originated by Herbert Milton. Long a favorite of Leipzig, this mental stimulator recently appeared in print again (Milton published it years ago in a British magazine) but through uncontrollable circumstances was incomplete in its most salient details. A feature which can be used before club audiences, this effect should receive careful consideration by all those who want practical and well conceived material. Two packs of cards are at hand and a spectator…
Between more startling tricks, the following neat bit of eliminating magic may be welcome if for nothing else than its difference "face". The selected card is noted and returned. It is necessary that the performer control it to the extent that it eventually lands 22nd from the top. This can be left to the individual prowess of each reader, but a simple and impromptu method is to start running the cards for the selection, counting them in groups of three. The card removed, keep on running along through the 21st, and hold the deck apart for the replacement after which…
This force is a departure from the usual run, since the deck itself is resting on the table at the time that the actual force is made. Other features of it make the entire procedure appear to the audience as fair beyond a doubt. The flexibility of this method allows not only the force of a single card, but also the force of any number of cards and the force of one card any number of times. There is no uncertainty as to the results; the force is positive. Assuming that you have control of the card you wish to…
Have you read Hilliard's Greater Magic? In that gargantuan tome of ephemeral mysteries emphasis is placed on subtlety rather than on "finger-flinging", which Hilliardesque term is undoubtedly destined to live through the ages. Tricks of inspired artistry, gleaned from the minds of those high in subterfuge, seem to live for the sole purpose of refuting that misguided adage, "The hand is quicker than the eye". I feel quite sure of having here evolved a new and different effect for card table entertainment, but there is no reason why the presentation cannot be used before an audience of a size to…
There isn't much to this convincing mystery, but I can assure you that a revelation of a thought of and pocketed card while everything remains with the spectator will put plenty of people back on their heels. Individual performers will make use of the principle in various ways according to their temperament. So far I merely use it straight, getting the correct answer apparently directly from the mind. The deck is handed a volunteer who stands with back to audience and facing performer. He is told to slowly and deliberately fan through the cards looking at the face of each…