THE GREAT MERLINI; b. Barnum&Bailey circus car en route through Illinois, Aug. 15, 1882; s. Victor and Edna (Bradna) M.; educated at intervals; Eton, Heidelberg, Beirut, Paris; m. Mary Cordona, Jan. 1, 1914; children, Michael, 1916, dec., Roberta, 1921; carnival and circus magician, 1903-1912; full evening show 1912-1929; magic dealer 1930- ---; Inventor of many effects and illusions including The Vanishing Elephant (Method #5), Haunted Alarm Clock, The Card From Hell, etc., etc.; Authors : Legerdemainiacs, The Psychology of Deception, Sleight--of--Hand For Experts, Sawdust Trails; Editor : Conjurer's Monthly 1920-28; Decorations : Sacred Order of White Elephant presented at command…
This location principle is short and sweet but it packs a lot of dynamite. As far as I can ascertain it is original with me. Others in a select group have worked on similar ideas but I have never seen what I am going to reveal as much as attempted. Can you stir your imagination sufficiently to see a person going into another room with his or her own deck -- a deck you've never seen nor touched? Or imagine a card party where you are across the room -- calling over that you'll do a trick and that they…
Hindu Shuffle ! Even the name sounds mystical. I must confess ignorance as to its birth. John Northern Hilliard told me that he didn't know much about it either. In the fall of 1927 I was in Rudy Schlosser's old magic store on New York's West 42nd Street. Clinton Burgess had taken me there and we met, both for the first time, Emir Bux, an adept with the cups and balls, and an obsession (true or false ?) that he was the only Hindu who could do card tricks. What few tricks he did show us were and are quite…
:: EFFECT :: (1) The magus has any person freely select a card from a shuffled red deck, and another select any card from a freely shuffled blue deck. When selected cards are named, it is found that both persons have selected the same cards. (2) The red deck is shuffled by the spectator and placed in the magician's inside pocket. The other spectator shuffles his blue deck and places it in his own inside coat pocket. This person then reaches in the magician's pocket and removes any card. The magus also removes one card from the deck in spectator's…
:: EFFECT :: This is one of those extremely effective stunts which the subject remembers for many a year and thinks about whenever he has you in his mind. It makes a nice number also for the press. A card is selected, replaced and the deck shuffled. The performer shows a card and asks if it is the chosen one. The answer is "no." This card is placed on the table and the spectator told to cover it with his hand. The performer now tells him to look intently at his (performer's) forehead and imagine he sees an image of…
Effect : The performer mentions that two is his lucky number and to illustrate introduces a pack of cards and two envelopes, these later being stood in a prominent position against a book or candlestick. The cards are then brought to a spectator who is requested to deal two heaps, choose one and then shuffle the cards he has chosen. After this he is requested to deal the cards slowly one at a time face downwards onto a table or chair, and another spectator is requested to tell him to stop dealing whenever he wishes. When this point of the…
Eight years ago, in 1930, I evolved what was a new effect in subtle cardology. A mentally chosen card was to automatically turn over in the deck! There could be no sleight or fumble of a known nature, and the card must be an absolute free choice from among the 52. The method, with which I had good success in deceiving not a few of the experts, was based on a principle of preparing cards on their surface so that when a pair of these treated sides did come into contact they would adhere enough to prevent separation when the…
A NEW TORN CIGARETTE PAPER WRINKLE Versions of the torn and restored cigarette paper with duplicate waxed to thumb nail were deceptive close-up methods. For a small audience and under more stringent conditions, try this. Wax rolled duplicate to front or ball of the thumb instead, this portion of thumb being kept downward while presenting. Thumb should be dry and free from perspiration. For best results, apply wax, either diachylon or magician's wax, after slightly warming. In presenting, after tearing and rolling the first sheet, remove the duplicate roll, squeeze the two together, and show them as one between the…
Present this trick in slow motion, explaining to your audience that, while you use sleight of hand just like any other conjuror, yours is the new invisible kind. Have a spectator cut any number of cards from the deck (any number is right), and look at the next card down. He puts his card on top of the pack, cutting it to the center. Now, in slow motion, without the slightest move of any kind, the performer runs through the cards and shows that the chosen card has turned face up in the deck. The spectator is asked to remove…
You Do As I Do effects have become almost as common as Four Ace tricks, but it seems as if one can't stop trying to improve and vary the presentation in order to reach a limit, if there be one. I think this is the only one so far to repeat the general effect immediately with the same person and completely "top" the first time. It is perfectly suitable for any club or platform number. The first part is what is now a generally accepted method. Two packs are shown, a red backed deck and the other a blue backed…