Following is a rough draft for a Bizarre presentation... Please let me know what you think of the premise.

Enjoy!

The 4th Dimension

The storyteller uncases a blue backed deck of cards and sets them on the table.

Ladies and gentleman Magic is the Mother of Science. Shortly, I will demonstrate a phenomenon that at first glance will appear as an ordinary card trick, perhaps very much like the sort your uncle used to show you as a child. But I promise you; you are about to witness something that many have only dreamed of.

In the early 1900’s Einstein caught a small glimpse of this phenomena as is evident in his Theory of Relativity, but he did not push hard enough…He…could not see the forest for the trees, so much for linear thinking.

The storyteller takes the deck face up and looks for the 4 of spades, it is found somewhere in the middle of the deck. The 4 of Spades is given to a spectator so that they may sign its face. Once the spectator is finished the card is returned to the top of the face up deck and is forgotten about.

There was however a young German physicist by the name of Erik Schorr, and he is a rather interesting story.

The 4 of Spades is inserted in to the middle of the deck and the deck tabled. The storyteller pauses for a moment as if in reverie.

Would you mind mixing the deck please? Oh yes, the brilliant, the young, Herr Schorr. He died rather mysteriously in 1953. Some say it was a suicide, those who are more skeptical say it was murder.

Herr Schorr, it is rumored made some interesting strides with his work regarding the distortion of space and time. You see Einstein’s Theory was simply, physically impossible, but Schorr…oh well rumors are rumors.

The Storyteller removes an old envelope it is postmarked Berlin 1953. The envelope is sealed and bears a wax seal on the flap, it has never been opened.

I carry one of his letters with me it was to his sister, she never read it though; she died before it could be delivered. I carry it around for good luck, you see Erik and I have one thing in common…a love for card tricks. I believe that now may be as good a time as any to read it, perhaps we can come to know this brilliant man a little if we share his words.

The Storyteller opens the letter and unfolds it. From the opened letter an old and worn red backed card is removed and placed face down on the table.

The Storyteller begins to read the letter.

November 3rd, 1952
Dear Hilde,

I am sorry that I have not written you sooner, but work has kept me dreadfully busy. I believe we have made some progress in our work and that has certainly created quite a stir. Everyone is extremely excited I will share what I can when I come home for Christmas.

Love,

E.

The Storyteller tables the letter and partly obscures the old and worn red card. He then clasps his hands and remembers the deck of cards that the spectator has mixed.

Oh yes, I promised you a card trick didn’t I? Well let’s see! Can you spread the deck face up like they do in the Casinos? Thank you! Next, I would like for you to find your card.

After the spectator has given up hope of finding their card, remove the letter away from the red card and slowly turn it face up. This card that was sealed in a letter from 1952 and postmarked Berlin 1953 bears their signature.

Ladies and Gentlemen...Welcome to the 4th Dimension!

I like this presentation very much. It is a good story. Of course I am curious about the method, since the cards must be different, one new car and one old and worn. Then you must have method to transfer the signature to that card.

Provided you have a method for this maybe the card also could be a free choice?

Maybe the text in the letter should have some kind of reference to the card?

Without the bizarre presentation sounds like a trick from the Dave Campbell book.
Nice dressing.

Paul.

Very good
maybe a dreadful scary piano tune in the revelation part... something like the tune in x-files. will get the chill down in your spine...

Thanks folks. There are quite a few holes that need to be filled in, but I think the premise is a good one.

Take Care

Clever, but I'd be careful invoking Einstein and the theory of Relativity. Maybe a lesser-known physicist / mathematician from the same period, "a colleague of Einstein's" perhaps even "whose work was overshadowed by the more charismatic scientist" etc.

The only reason I suggest this (yes, everyone is a critic *sigh*) is because there are still lots of Einstein fans in the world and once one of them (well, "us" really... "Guilty, I am" as Yoda might say) grasps Relativity it ceases to be mysterious.

Willem DeSitter, Nathan Rosen, Heinrich Lorentz, and Henri Poincare all come to mind as valid substitutes for Einstein. Each of them made some fairly esoteric contributions to physics or mathematics and each of them was concerned with the geometric structure of space-time. Georg Cantor would probably be a wonderful figure to introduce as he is the father of transfinite set theory and also the archetypal image of the tragic / insane mathematician.

Kurt Godel would also be slipped into the mix-- but now I've gone too far over the "geek limit."

Of course, you probably won't get into trouble doing this for people whom you KNOW have no active interest in Einstein, mathematics, or physics.

Beyond this, I found it fascinating.

Hi Caspar,
There are a couple of things that bother me with this effect.

First, it lacks conviction. Not in the effect itself but in the story around it. No one will buy the fact that you kept this letter closed for so long and you are now opening it becauses this is a time as good as any other. If it really was a time like that, you would have openned it a long time ago.
Plus, consider the fact that you admit not to know what is written in the letter but in the end you know that the red card in the envelope is the selected and signed card. The fact that you don't mention the card when you open the letter and simply put it face down on the table and the fact that you know that this card is the selected card makes it clear that this is not a genuine letter and that you know exactly what is in the letter.
This, I think, harms the conviction of the entire story.

Second, it lacks clarity. I consider myself as someone who understands physics (I even know some of the names Victor mentioned!) but the presentation, as written here seems to portray you (the performer) as more interested in the story than in the magic or effect. At the end, you might tell a story but the audiance will be confused as to what was the effect at all.
Of course the audiance will understand that the signed card jumed inside the letter and changed it's back color and is a bit older. But that is not the effect in your presentation and you should sprinkle some words here and there to make the final effect clear in their minds.

The effect as I see it (correct me if I am wrong) is that somehow, the card that the spectator signed was sent back in time through some use of the 4th dimention or whatever. Then the old dude (see, I can't even remember his name...) put it in his last letter and now that you open the letter you get the card with the signature.

A couple of suggestions to make the effect clearer (not patter related, patter is too personal):

1. The back color of the card should NOT change. If this is supposed to be the same card, why does it have a different back color? It is just confusing and diminishes the conviction of the effect as presented.

2. The card should appear older (a coffee stain on the back? rough edges?)
This is actually the same thing as a different color back, but more true to the effect.

3. The letter SHOULD mention the signed card to add to the clarity of the effect.
I waited for this bit and it never came. Why was there a card in the envelope and how come the guy never said anything about it? it is unnatural.

4. The signed card may be placed inside a little envelope inside the first envelope. This way, when you open the first envelope, you get the old letter and another little envelope which you put on the table for the meanwhile. When you reach the "P.S." section of the letter (which I truly waited for... but it never came) you should introduce the small envelope and say something about it's content. You let the spectator search for his card and then open the envelope himself to find the old card.

5. You may want to do something with the deck before opening the letter. Some scintific way of sending the card through the 4th dimention, Something to indicate that something happened to the card as opposed to the current state that the magic is not stressed at all. Can't think of anything right now.

6. After all those suggestions, the main problem still exist. Why do you open the envelope now? In the middle of an act? Well, I found a way to make it right. This is just the root of an undeveloped idea but we are just brainstorming here.
What if you start the performance with a few letters wrapped with a rubberband.
You then proceed as usual (actually you will have to change the patter about the letters) and when time comes you take out the rubber band and search for a specific envelope.
The envelopes are open and you just take a glance in each one and take the right one.
When you read the content it is clear that this letter was sent specifically for this show and this spectator as his name is on the letter. The inner envelope however is still closed and you proceed as usual. The idea here is that you send the cards back in time and the guy sends the letters with the cards. Since you do this trick a lot of times, you have a few hundreds of letter in your house and take only the 3-4 letters that match the specific date in which you perform, The guy in the past knows from what date the card has arrived and from what spectator (the card is signed) and so simply mail the cards back to you.
He does this because he himself likes doing card tricks and enjoys helping others with theirs. he combines card tricks with his practical theories.

Anyway, those are just some ideas.

Good luck,
Mishel.

As I have said, you have a great insight.

Take Care!

Caspar,

I love the premise, but like Mishel, found it somewhat hard to follow and a few things didn't make sense.

I agree that the color of the card back shouldn't change. I found that to be quite confusing. After all, it is supposed to be the same card. Likewise, there needs to be more of a reason for doing what you are doing. Like Mishel I am just brainstorming off the top of my head but what if the sister had gotten the letter, but it stated on the outside that it was not to be opened until today's date. Schorr had called his sister and been adamant about that. It was not to be opened early. On her death-bed she entrusted the letter to you, asking you to open it in front of witnesses and follow it's directions carefully. Inside, the letter would state that Schorr had made a fantastic discovery but that no one would believe him. He must be able to show the world, even if that proof didn't come until after his death. There would then be directions for the choosing and signing of the card. The envelope would also contain a second sealed envelope containing the card -- signed but now old and battered. After all this time the old physicist has finally prevailed. He has his proof.

Just an idea.

Dave

Hi, Caspar!

There is a VERY good book entitled, "Geometry, Relativity, and the Fourth Dimension" by Rudoplh von Bitter Rucker (Rudy Rucker.) It is intended for the lay-person as well as the mathematician who has covered the first two-thirds or so of the calculus sequence.

In it, Rucker covers the 4D spiritualist issues of the 19th Century as well as the difference between time as a dimension and a fourth spatial dimension.

It is a Dover paper-back and fairly cheap.

I suggest that you grab a copy (your local library might have it, also) and skim over it. It COULD help you fill in some of the holes and explain issues such as the color-change problem Mishel mentions, etc.

I think that this effect could be very powerful, indeed. If you worked the patter up sufficiently it would probably appeal MORE to physicists, mathematicians, and such an audience rather than to lay-people in these areas.

When I do tricks for mathematicians, I often invoke strange mathematical principles (I'm working on using the Banach-Tarski paradox in at least ONE trick.) The mathematicians really enjoy it when the trick is hinged off of some silly pun like, "You've freely chosen a card. You did this by the Axiom of FREE Choice!"

I'm digging the effect, though. When you have it perfected and are ready to publish it, let me know so I can purchase it!

I personally love it...
in this case, youre not trying to really sell this whole Einstein thing, but youre building an otherwise average transportation around a great story...

I too try to do the same thing, and of course we learn as we grow...but I think this would work just how it tis, especially considering again, that youre not trying to push this story as a matter of fact, but giving the routine a beautiful premise...

good job, and good to see that I am not the only one here giving my take on routines and stories...

Mishel and mentalvic already pretty much said everything I was going to say, so, just take this as "I double that".
Well... I got a few more pointers, I guess ..

Some of us are real sticklers for authenticity and accuracy too, (Clifford the Red, myself, etc.) so, as mentalvic said, you want to study the whole Einstein angle a bit - and count me as an Einstein fan too. Most specifically, you might want to specify which theory of relativity you're talking about - but then neither really fit the trick.
The basic posulates of the SToR (Special Theory of Relativity) is that the speed of light is constant, which, in a vacuum,is roughly 186,000 miles per second.
(It can be slowed down depending on the "medium": fiber optic, etc.)
Second, it redfines "space" as a system of relative coordinates, that space as an absolute is meaningless without some point of reference.
This also lead to the famous E=mc^2 equation, the "marriage" of matter and energy, where E=Energy, m= mass, and c^2= the speed of light squared.
But the special theory only describes these things in the absence of gravity; it was the General Theory that fully described the concept of "Spacetime", and this might be what you want to focus on - since both space and time can be manipulated.

Also, I would suggest you drop the "4th Dimension" aspect or name - the 4th dimension is not a physics or cosmological mystery, it's time. Time, not a "place". For all tangible things to exist, they must exist in the 4 dimensions, they must occupy "space" in 3 dimensions, described in terms of height, width, and depth, and they must do so for some length of time, otherwise, it never existed.
You could also pull out a 5 of diamonds though, and talk about the 5th Dimension, so long as no confuses it with the R&B group from the sixties. The 4 points of the diamond could represent the other 4 "known" dimensions.


Additionally, I'd drop the Einstein deprecating bit - there's no need to belittle him to do the effect. In fact, I think it would fly better if you simply gave him the props and then listed somebody who built on his theories, or developed their own in parallel, like Poincare.

Keep workin' on it though, I like the concept of advanced science to build the magic around.

Caspar:

I had an idea to help with your presentation, if you don't mind.

You COULD have the card materialize within a wire-frame tesseract or representation of a hyper-cube. Here's an image of this critter:

http://scholar.uwinnipeg.ca/courses/38/4......ract.gif
While I agree with Mystician about dropping the 4D aspect of the routine, this kind of wire-frame box would be easy to assemble, could be built to contain a card relatively easily, and has LOTS of possibilities.

For that matter, imagine the other things that could be "produced" within such an item. Shown empty, covered with a black cloth, the mentalist makes some passes over the tesseract, and then pulls back the cloth to reveal... whatever!

Hey! I think I'm going to make one myself!

I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this thread. The ideas you folks keep bringing to the table has provided me with something to take back to the drawing board for this one. Once I have something more refined I will post it here.

Again thanks!

Chayne