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…
Gibson’s Houdini’s Magic describes a card trick in which a spectator selects a card from a fanned deck, counts down through the pack from there, spelling the name of the suit, one card per letter, and arrives at a card of the same suit. He counts further, this time spelling the value, and ends with a card of the same value. Defects in the trick are the calling of the Jack and Two by the unusual, in this country, Knave and Deuce. These latter two names are best avoided in spelling tricks if possible. By a rearrangement of this trick, the names…
Of all the bare-face swindles to cross my path in many moons, I consider this original effect of Mr. Solomon's worthy of the highest award. I only fear the reader will think it all too simple and not give due consideration to the effect upon the witnesses. I think it to be the acme of parlor and drawing-room conceptions. Presentation The performer has a deck of cards, a gummed sticker, a pencil, and paper. He starts by taking a card from the deck, for instance, the Two of Diamonds, on the face of which he makes a notation and covers…
A neat version of the think of a card spelling principle is to be had in this effect, and it also brings out a nice mixing idea of which I wasn't aware. I'll describe the working as I go along. Have six extra cards to match your deck and they are such that they can be arranged to spell out with 10-11-12-13-14-15 letters. I've been using the AC-6H-JS-8H-9D-QD. Take these same cards from the pack proper and arrange them as above from back to face. Put them on the deck with three cards above (any three from the deck). On…
During the summer I met a bartender who told me about a trick he had seen years ago and done by some transient bum who had been in his place. As he related it to me, the fellow had taken the house deck and asked for a tray. A card was selected, replaced and shuffled. The tray was placed on the floor bottom side up, the deck dropped upon it from a standing position, and upon turning the tray over, the card was found beneath. I realized that the working could be very simple but the bare bones of the…