(Editor's note: This is the first time that we have featured an improvement on a previous Jinx trick. Heretofore any variations and improvements have been part of a page devoted to such. But, as we noted with Half and Half's original appearance, few would take advantage of the ingenious Stewart James idea. Now Voz Lyons has what we think is a set-up in the words and general working. I hope that the stunt won't go begging this time as much as it did the first.) In Jinx #134 there appeared a Stewart James' miracle of close-up effectiveness. Here is my…
A fortune is at stake! Not yours -- the gullible sitter across the table from you. With a deck of cards you read his past and future, and answer any question secretly written. Then you prove your reading correct and that the cards do not lie! Spread the deck face up on table. Invite your consultant to remove any spot card. Upon its face he is to write a question. Gather up the remainder of the pack, turn your back, and during the writing of the question turn the deck face up and reverse the top card. Hold the pack…
The performer writes a prediction upon a slip of paper which is folded and placed aside. He shuffles a deck and gives it to a person for cutting. The spectator looks at the top card of the deck and puts it face down on the table. Onto it he deals seven cards, and then deals eight cards in a pile for the performer. The performer picks up his eight cards, remarking that the spectator knows the name of the card at the bottom of his (spectator's) pile, so therefore he will look at the bottom card of his pile ---…
More often than not the very simplest kind of method applied to a very direct and uncomplicated effect makes the best table trick in a performer's repertoire. There have been a lot of reputations made with cute, close-up masterpieces passed by and over with undiscerning eyes. While that which follows will not win eternal fame or renown, it well may serve as a reliable talk-maker for others as it has me. The magician writes a short prophecy on a slip of paper which is folded and held by a spectator. A half-dollar is borrowed and placed on the table, date…
As dictated to his private secretary Stuart Towne the effect is that, while a spectator shuffles his own deck, the performer writes a message on a slip of paper, folds it, and puts it someplace in full view. A second spectator takes the deck, cuts it, and deals out six cards from any places in the pack. The performer picks up these face down cards, fans them, and allows a third person to freely select any one of them. The prediction slip is opened by the fourth spectator and read aloud. "One minute after this is written a card will…
I was trying to be so busy with stenographic scribblings and photo records of the weirdest conclave in the annals of magic that my own contribution has suffered a bit from lack of originality, that is, if one considers what I have offered before in the line of billet reading effects and routines. Most of such routines have depended upon the assistance of several or more spectators, and there is a need for "reading" tricks wherein only one person is used throughout. I used to find occasions when it would have been very good for business could I have done…
When more than one person helps in a card effect and the revelations are different from each other, there seems to be a better reaction from the onlookers, that is, as long as things aren't drawn out too much. Borrow someone's deck, have it shuffled, and offer it to spectator #1 for a selection. Turn your back while he shows it to the others, and at this moment peek at the deck's top card and remember it. Undercut the deck, have the card returned to the top of the original upper half, place the lower half on top of all,…
To describe this effect as one would find it in most magical catalogues might be a bit presumptuous, for the reader will know the secret immediately after without the fun of sending to his dealer and waiting until the reply makes everything clear. Imagine, though, reading somewhere that the performer says he will write a prediction for one of his spectators. He hasn't paper handy so jots down a few words upon the face of one of the cards from his deck. Then he tosses the written on card into the spectator's own hat, never to touch it again. The…
Several methods for doing similar effects as given here have been invented, but my ideas will be found to give maximum effect for the least trouble. No memory systems are involved, neither are there complicated formulae or procedures to drive the magus to distraction. The effect is simply this : A spectator is allowed to remove a card from the pack. The performer, running through the cards but once, proceeds to mentally eliminate all the cards but the one held by the spectator, thus naming it. There is a popular belief among the masses that certain gifted people are able…
A subscriber's letter fits into place now, and the answer, The Ballot Box Divination, is forgotten proof of the date when my indexes were in constant use. In the Sphinx for May 1926 was published a note from me asking priority claim to the effect. No method was given. A miniature revolving ballot box of the standard type (screening around the drum to leave contents visible) contained wooden counters of the Lotto type numbered from 1 to 50. It could be turned by a small crank. It was entirely unprepared. The performer would attempt to forecast a drawing of a…