I realize now how so many tricks are printed and then passed up by magi until they actually see them performed. On paper, the following effect didn't seem very strong to me, but after holding it for a time, I had the good fortune of seeing it done. Then I came to and started doing it myself to get the angles before I used it in these pages. It is a cute impromptu effect that can be done at any moment and should find favor with not a few. Deal out six heaps of five cards each face down. The…
Seldom a trick comes along with a truly genius-like idea behind it and I honestly think that everyone who reads this now will do it immediately and continue to use it in preference to many others. Mr Dalban suggests that it be used as a followup to one of the regular spelling effects. It is true that this could be so used in order to circumvent the 'do-it-again' person but even alone I think it of the best. The only requisite is a deck in which there is a short card. While the performer's back is turned a spectator spells…
In most versions of the now very popular business of having a card thought of and finding it, it is necessary to go through several mixings and runs through the deck, with a bit of adroit, and sometimes not so adroit pumping and eliminations. This version has simplicity of method behind it. It is done quickly with little or no asking of the spectator this or that. Try it out a few times and see how perfect is the effect on the layman. Prepare any deck by arranging ten cards of mixed suits from Ace to ten, the ten spot…
It is with regret that I can't insert the name of the originator of this effect, but the instructions were on a single sheet in my file and offhand I can't remember the source as it wasn't marked*. Being on the road has its difficulties and I'm unable to check back by letters. If the person will drop me a line, I'll be only too glad to make good because I've used the effect a lot and have found it very effective to say the least. Just try it out and see why, because of the directness in working, it…
Fifteen or sixteen years ago, Al Baker originated an effect using a deck of cards, three pieces of paper, and a borrowed hat. To the audience the procedure was to have three cards selected and thought of while the pack of cards was in their own hands. The names of these selections were written on pieces of paper, folded, and collected in the hat. One by one, the performer would take out the papers, and apparently by divination reveal the selected or thought of cards. I first obtained the original method in 1924 and later, around 1929, added somewhat to…
Have a deck in hand for following these paragraphs to make it much easier. In effect, the performer genuinely shuffles a borrowed deck and fans them down. One after the other, four people (two alternatively, or even one) select any card freely by pulling it only half out of the fan. These are openly shifted to the bottom of the deck which is handed to a watcher who puts these four bottom cards face down on the table in a row. As yet no one has seen their faces. The spectator is asked to run through the deck and remove…
Versions of a chosen card in an inflated balloon are many, but invariably by mechanical methods. The following was designed as an emergency method and its simplicity will be appreciated by all Club performers. Effect The performer exhibits four colored balloons on a small tray. A spectator who will act as an assistant is requested to select one of these after which it is inflated by blowing air into it. A tape ribbon is tied securely around the neck to keep it so. Another spectator selects a card, a corner is torn from it for the spectator to hold, and…
The performer borrows any deck and proceeds to deal four piles of eight cards each. The onlooker selects any one of these piles, and picking it up, the performer has him think of a card when they are fanned face outward. The four piles are grouped together and again dealt into four piles. Fanning each pile for the spectator to glance at, the performer asks him to state when he sees his thought of card. The others are discarded and this pile dealt into two rows of four cards, one under the other, and with all of the cards face…
Although there isn't much originality in this effect, it is one I have been using quite constantly and with which I have had much success. To the audience you have performed quite a miracle in psychic tests. Your assistant or medium goes out of the room and the performer then spreads a deck of cards face down on the table. A spectator is asked to step forward and take three cards in a bunch from the pack. He is then to give two of the cards to different people in the gathering and keep the other for himself. All of…
There has long been a need for a simple and deceptive way of dealing seconds. This method was devised to fill that need. Take a sharp razor blade and slit along the long edge of the closed end of your card case at the opposite side to the flap. Make the slit exactly along the crease of the cardboard and it will not be noticeable. Sometimes the whole end of the case will open out when you do this. When this happens, a couple of daubs of glue on the side tabs will remedy the trouble. Now, if the cards…