"Think of a card" by Paul Curry - Worlds Beyond, P.202/203
Skill level: easy

A spectator shuffles a deck of cards, looks at the cards and thinks of one of them. Then he gives the cards back to you. You put the deck in your pocket and take hold of the spectator's wrists trying to read his mind. You can't. So you take the deck from your pocket and give it back to the spectator. You can turn your back in order to not see the spectator. You say to the spectator that he must have a clear picture of his card so he he must find it in the deck and look at it intensely. Then he can loose it in the middle of the deck (your back is still turned). He gives the deck back to you and you put it in your pocket. You take hold of the spectator's wrists and after a moment you can tell him the name of his card.

Very good trick and as Paul Curry said : as close as the real effect as it can be.


à Vlad : Very very good topic. You give us the opportunity to rediscover miracles from our own library or to "discover" books that we want immediatelty to add to our "buying" list.

Hey Paul, sorry for the late response. This item could be found in Chapter 7 "Double Back Principles In Card Magic".

I hope you find it interesting!

Sincerely,
David

Thanks so much David, got it!

Paul

Cutting Corners by Christof Bohrer
Concertos for Pasteboard, edited by Oliver Erens
pp. 13-16.

Effect: A corner is torn from a selected card and the remainder of the card is buried in the deck. After some amusing by-play, the card is restored but this causes all of the other cards in the deck to lose a corner!

Skill level: beginner for the main trick, intermediate if you want to end completely clean although the display at the climax is so nice you really don't have to end "clean" as it makes a superb closer.

Concertos for Pasteboard (Concerti for Italian purists although both plural forms are technically correct) is a brilliant book IMHO which seems to have passed under the radar. That's unfortunate BUT it is still available from Stephen Minch's superb Hermetic Press. The book features brilliant card magic from 29 German and Swiss magicians - the Swiss magician being Roberto Giobbi. Other known names include Magic Christian, Reinhard Muller, Pit Hartling, and Helge Thun.

I've been revisiting this great book and over the next few weeks I'll be peppering this thread with a few selections from it. I have read threads here and heard magicians in the so-called real world state that they like books that give you a sense of the difficulty of a trick/routine at the outset. This book does it nicely and there is something in the book for all skill levels. Yep, there are even a few knuckle busters for the move monkeys.

Most of the book however at most requires intermediate sleight of hand skill and the tricks and routines are really very strong and all of them are workers. I know that not many of us are flush with cash. But if you are one of the fortunate few with a little extra dosh and want to try something a bit different, Concertos for Pasteboards is an excellent addition to a working library. The illustrations are crisp and Ariel Frailich's translation from German is perfect.

For those who DO have the book, check out the next trick also by Christoph Bohrer beginning on page 17. For the rest of you, I'll post it soon unless someone beats me to it. It's a really strong and rather offbeat prediction effect.

Best,
Vlad

Solid Gold Prediction by Father Cyprian Murray
The Elegant Card Magic of Father Cyprian by Frank Garcia
pp. 27-29.

Effect: The performer places a gold backed playing card face down to the side, stating that the card is her/his "solid gold prediction." The pack is shuffled and given to the spectator who is instructed to deal cards one at a time from the top of the pack and stop any time she wishes. The performer takes the deck and openly deals the stopped at card face down next to the prediction card. The performer deals the next card face up showing the identity of that card had the spectator stopped there. The performer then turns the deck face up and of course shows all the remaining possibilities, i.e, th cards are all different. The stopped at card is turned up and it is, say, the Six of Diamonds and the isolated prediction card is turned face up and they both match.

--

Skill level: beginner (with confidence)

I know that I wrote that I would be citing a couple of more routines from Concertos for Pasteboard but there is a routine being discussed on another thread that prompted me to remember this one. So, I decided to post it. Obviously there are MANY ways to accomplish the above effect. Also, it should be obvious that the prediction card need not be gold. I was looking at the copyright date of the book and it is from 1980. Weren't the "Solid Gold Dancers" around then?

Anyhow, Trini (MagicT) described this effect in that other thread and I replied that I remembered it from a book containing Fr. Cyprian's card magic. There are no sleights in this routine but there IS one very OLD - according to Frank Garcia - move that has to be done. That's the reason I wrote that the skill level is a beginner with confidence. Regardless, it's a nice routine and it NEVER misses.

Best,
Vlad

The Joker Knows
The Royal Treatment by Robert McDaniel

Effect: A card is selected and lost into the deck. The performer states that he needs to remove the Joker as it gets in the way of finding the selection. Without showing its face, the performer slides just the very corner of the Joker under the card case. He then announces that he has made the selected card vanish! The speccy names her card To prove his miracle monger claims he begins dealing cards face up on to the table and her card is nowhere to be seen. All eyes stray to the face down "Joker" that was set aside earlier. The performer allows the spectator to turn over the "Joker" and indeed it is ... The Joker! But, on the face there is a little cartoon balloon with the words "Look in the card case" written on it. The spectator opens the case and inside is her selected card; everything is examinable.

Points to consider: No palming and at no time does the performer load the selection.

A little history is in order. I picked this wonderful book up about ten years ago at the Cuckoos' Nest. I hadn't heard of Robert McDaniel but I was - and am - a big Paul Harris fan and I noticed that the book's design had that same "look" as Paul Harris' book Super Magic. I also saw that it was published by Paul Harris' former publisher Chuck Martinez. I figured that if Chuck Martinez thought this Robert McDaniel dude was good enough to be published then I should buy the book. I should add that this book has been long unavailable and somehow, this stray copy was hanging around on the shelves. I was a demonstrator at the shop and it was a slow day so I decided to page through the book and I was immediately impressed with the quality of magic inside. Fast forward a couple of years to 2006 and I joined this wacky place and lo and behold, I eventually ran into Robert McDaniel right here at the Ol' Green Monster (TM)! I PMd him and thanked him for a great book and was curious if there were plans to reprint. I still occasionally nudge him about a reprint. (Hi Robert, are you going to reprint this?)

I know that this thread is sort of supposed to be about discoveries we have made while reading/researching. Okay, sue me or shoot me because I cheated! I have wanted to cite this brilliant routine and talk a bit about Robert McDaniel's book.

I LOVE this routine because it really leads the spectators' down a garden path. Think of how preposterous it is to remove a card calling it a Joker and THEN claiming that the selection has vanished. To me "'dis is a beeyootiful ting." The spectators aren't taking the performer seriously and are thinking that at MOST it was a just a fun little way to find a card. When that Joker is turned over and the spectators see "look in the card case" there has been for me at least that delicious moment when I can almost feel the spectators get that WTF look on their faces BEFORE the denouement; they STILL don't believe. Believe me sister and brother ne'er do wells that every time I have performed this routine the result has been utter shock. It really IS strong. That face down card plays such a significant role in the psychology of the routine that the entertainment value of the routine is almost automatic.

I didn't list a skill requirement for this routine because I have tweaked it so that I can perform it walk around. The original routine is more situational, i.e, a more formal type of show where the performer is stationary. So, skill level for the original is advanced beginner, and for my tweak, early intermediate. I should hastily add that my "tweak" is NOT an "improvement" over the routine whatsoever. Rather, I wanted to be able to perform it wherever and whenever I desired.

This book is worth the search. Perhaps Robert McDaniel MIGHT consider publishing it as an e-book (HINT HINT, I HAVE COOKIES). As an added bit to whet your appetite, the title of the book is also the title of a VERY strong, VERY visual routine aptly titled "The Royal Treatment." Remember when you first saw the film Shade? Remember that little bit in which the fan of indifferent cards turned into a Royal Flush? The Royal Treatment is sort of like that. [Note: Sorry to waste bandwidth but isn't the phrase "fan of indifferent cards" linguistically ambivalent? Does it refer to a sentient being who is a fan of indifferent of cards? Does it refer to the cards? Only my therapist knows for sure].

I realize that this entry is rather obscure given the ephemeral (I like that word as it makes me sound like Jon Racherbaumer ) nature of magic publishing. Nonetheless, I wanted to present to the cognoscenti (*grin*) a wonderful gem with the nefarious agenda to coerce the erstwhile Mr. McDaniel to reconsider publishing this book and for those of you who might HAVE the book to take it down and learn the routine. If you learn it, I am sure you'll figure out the "tweak" I made.

Best,
Vlad

"OH SNAP"
Harry Lorayne
Hex by Bill Madsen & Al Forgione, 1969 pages 25-29

Effect: The effect is simply that you pick up any rubber band to show a trick. Unfortunately, it snaps, or breaks. But, being a great magician, you immediately restore it by magic!

I will admit that I have my own way of accomplishing this illusion, that version is now dead to me! This is without a doubt the way a broken and restored rubber band should look and sound like. As I'm writing this, a performance was thrown into the mix to a stunned wife. Talk about a discovery!!

Correction its not OH SNAP, its simply SNAP.

And what does this have to do with card magic?

Sorry, what was I thinking. Nonetheless a great discovery.

I may be wrong, probably am, but just took the time to read the opening post in this thread. I can't seem to find, in that opening post, where it says that only card magic should be spoken about. Yes; all the posts up to yours, MichaelJae, are about card magic, but I still can't find where it says, in that opening post, that that should be the case. So, unless I'm missing something (probably am) don't let Kabbalah make you feel sorry. You posted an EXCELLENT choice (in MY opinion) - I've been told that my Snap! started the rubber-band craze, back in 1969. I didn't/don't say that, countless others did/have. It may give quite a few people something to look/search for. So, here's a tip of the hat to your good taste! (Modesty is becoming a drag!! Wanted to say that before Kabbalah does!!!)

Pick a card...any card -

~The workers

~Serious discussions surrounding tricks and effects which use pure skill and sleight of hand. Lovers of the pasteboards unite!

The fault lies with me as I should have been crystal clear that this thread was only for cards. I didn't take into account that newer members might cite non-card magic. That's not a slam on you MichaelJae. The Workers section particular and the Pick a Card Any Card area of The Café is the most widely visited. It makes sense as card magic overwhelmingly dominates all other subgenres of magic just in the sheer amount of tricks and routines. I'll ask the admins if I can edit the initial post.

@MichaelJae: I see you've reached the magical mystical 50 plus posts needed for the secret areas of the Café. Once you have access, go to a subsection titled Secret Sessions. In there, I started to rather large threads three years ago titled Classic Periodicals and Book Gems. In each, ANY magic and mentalism are fair game. Additionally, method is allowed to be discussed to a certain extent. You might have to dig s little to find them as they have gone a tad inactive. Or, if you want to start some threads for non-card magic in other areas I think that would be VERY cool actually.

Please do continue to contribute card items here? I am hopeful that it can be a resource from which to draw. I know that for myself I have found at least 4 routines that I was unaware of or had forgotten and thanks to this thread I have "found" them again.

Best,
Vlad

In Genii, Harry Lorayne (let's talk about him becauses he's here) had a chronicle where he took great disregarded tricks from his books and shared it with us. It was some years ago and it was excellent.

Peter Kane was one of the best card magicians the UK has ever produced. When I started out in the late 70s his three Card Session booklets were essential reading. If they're not still in print they should be. A couple of quick routines I always liked but are easily overlooked:

Aces A-Risin! is from his first book (A Card Session, 1967). The effect is simple: two black aces are removed from the pack. One at a time the performer places each ace on top of the pack, gives the cards a single tabled cut (clearly a real cut), and the ace immediately returns to the top. That's it, the whole thing is over in a minute, but the handling is so clean it is truly baffling to an audience. It's a pretty simple thing to perform too.

The Unkind Cut is from his third book (A Further Card Session, 1975). Again it's quick and direct, and the method is relatively simple. The performer states he will cut a four of a kind. The pack is shuffled and cut into four packets. The top card of each packet is turned face up to show four random cards. The performer turns each packet face up to show the bottom card of each matches the top card in colour and value, making a different type of four of a kind.

Hi Ian,

I wish I had the first book but I have the second and it's a gem. I wonder if there is a sort of "complete" Peter Kane work somewhere. Anyhow, you description of Aces A-Risin' makes me wonder if Larry Jennings might have been influenced by this routine when he created Always Cut the Cards.

Thanks for the contribution! The UK has produced some truly great card magicians like Peter Kane, David Britland, Jerry Sadowitz, Fred Robinson, Walt Lees, David Carre, Peter Duffie, Dave Campbell, Roy Walton, Gordon Ramsay, Steve Hamilton, and so many others. Sometimes we American magicians think only in terms of Vernon and Marlo and perhaps Walton, but paging through publications like The Gen, Spell-Binder, The Magic Wand, The Wizard, Pabular and more reveal a thriving influential force in card magic that is IMHO as influential as the magic of America, Spain, Germany, and France among others.

Best,
Vlad

Hi Vlad. I was good friends with both David Britland and Stephen Tucker in the early 80s, when they were just starting to make names for themselves in London. I haven't seen either of them for years, but now my interest in cards has been rekindled I will get back in touch with them. The UK card scene in the 70s and 80s was great, it was easy to meet and session with lots of really good people, quite a few of them (like me) just teenagers, or in their very early 20s. I used to pretty much live in Martin Breese's Magic Lounge in west London from about 1980 to 1982, and everyone on the scene passed through at some time. It was a fun period.

Hey Vlad...

I know Gordon might be considered a *kitchen magician*...



but I missed his card handling skills.

Did you mean John Ramsay?

Hi Kabbalah,

Ack!!! My bad!

No I didn't mean John Ramsay, but, I must have been thinking of him when I was commenting to Ian. Lesson learned not to post at ridiculously late hours. The person I meant was Scottish card magician Gordon Bruce.

Thank you for catching the error as wel as the fun video!!

Best,
Vlad

PS: I think I need to cite something from Gordon Bruce and I just found a rather nice false overhand shuffle from him.

If it's the one in 5x5 Scotland, which is the only one I know, then it's well worth mentioning.
Ray.