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…
In the book Shh-h-h–! It's a Secret by Annemann is an effect where the spectator takes ten chances to find the performer's card and fails, whereupon the performer takes one chance to find the spectator's card and succeeds. The method as explained used an impression device, but this improvement in procedure for gaining the information simplifies it, and may make it more desirable an effect for many. The subject is asked to think of any card in the deck and write it on a slip of paper which the performer hands him. This is folded and dropped into a glass…
Passing through Waverly, this summer, Mr Hummer, of Binghamton, N. Y., gave me this excellent subterfuge for the disappearance of a card, together with an astonishing idea for the reappearance. Having noted a card in the deck, the spectator sees the performer openly drop the deck into a borrowed hat or receptacle. Asking the person the number of spots on the noted card, the performer reaches into the hat and pretends to take out that number of spots and flip them away. The spectator is now asked to remove the deck and see if the card is there, but it…
Quite a few methods similar to this have been evolved, but I just fell onto it while playing with a deck, and it has its points. The card is selected, noted and replaced as is customary. Shuffling the deck, four cards are dealt off face down in a row and the selector asked to put his finger on any one. The number on it is called, cards counted off the deck to that position and the selected card is found. Very little preparation is needed, it being necessary only to have a 6, 7, 9 and 10 on top of…
I have been using what I consider a very practical and mystifying little conception with a big effect. It is impromptu and can be done anywhere and at any time, something that is pretty rare for worthwhile effects of this nature. It can be learned, with an assistant, in five minutes, which is another point in its favor. No apparatus is needed. Any pack of cards is borrowed from the host or hostess. Mixing the cards, the performer requests that the assistant, or medium, be sent to a distant room for the time being. He now states that one person…