Author: Roberto Giobbi

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Folded Card to Box in “Nada x aqui”; Seminar in Paris (announcement)

These are The Magic Memories 169, gone online Sunday, March 24th, 2024, at 0:07h sharp.

All The Magic Memories from 2021, 2022, and 2023, including the Magic Advent Calendar from 2020, can be found HERE.

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Frank Garcia Anecdote; Festival de Magia Madrid 2024 by Jorge Blass; Computer Glasses Next Week

These are The Magic Memories 168, gone online Sunday, March 17th, 2024, at 0:07h sharp.

All The Magic Memories from 2021, 2022, and 2023, including the Magic Advent Calendar from 2020, can be found HERE.

Frank Garcia Anecdote

In The Magic Memories 165 I discussed my presentation of Frank Garcia within the meeting of the German Card Conference (CardWorkshop), and received several comments of appreciation.

Mark Gallo, from Northport, USA, wrote in to share this anecdote:

I met Garcia at one of the Abbott’s Close-Up Conventions in Colon, Michigan, USA, in the late ’80s or early ’90s.

He did a fabulous trick with two toy cars (like the British “Matchbox” cars).  He put a dark blue one in one hand and a white one in the other.  He spread his hands.  A little woo-woo and they had changed places!  I was astonished!

The next week I was in the local magic shop and told the owner about this impossible piece of magic.  He calmly and patiently explained to me that these cars–with heat-sensitive paint–are available at every toy store.

Well, sure–but if you never go to toy stores…

Festival de Magia Madrid 2024 by Jorge Blass

Last week I gave you an insider’s view of a two-hour event honoring Juan Tamariz, for which they flew in Gaetan Bloom and myself from Paris and Basel respectively.

The editing of the event is still in the works, and Jorge Blass promised to send me the finished version when ready – it should then go on YouTube for you to enjoy, too, and I will let you know. I promise you will find this most interesting.

Since both Gaetan and I never miss a chance when we can stay one or two days longer in a fascinating location – and Madrid is one of the most fascinating in the world, especially when it comes to magic and gastronomy – we gladly accepted Jorge Blass’ invitation to the magic show of his Festival de Magia; the night before we had done the Homage for Juan Tamariz on the same stage.

In the show I was sitting next to Gaetan Bloom. Briefly: We both were most impressed by the show, its concept and, of course, its artists.

Here are a few scattered impressions for your enjoyment. I did not take notes, so all of this is from memory, making these The Magic Memories in the real sense of the term 🙂

Show Production

One should consider that such shows, albeit running for several weeks and within a super-professional setting, do not have the privilege other theatrical productions have.

In the case of  magic shows, the likes we usually get to see at magic conventions, the rehearsal time is limited to one afternoon.

But even with a show that runs over three weeks, as does the one by Jorge Blass, the artists coming from several parts of the world, with a tight budget, the rehearsal time is one day.

Nonetheless, and in spite of these restrictions, Blass manages to put up a complex show, and this is only possibly thanks to his immense experience as a producer and performer of various kinds of shows for television and theaters.

The first thing that surprises most magicians who are used to the “magic galas” at magic conventions is that the presentation of the artists breaks out of the traditional format emcee-artist-emcee-artist etc.

Instead, a modern choreography, where light and music are matched, accompanies the audience through a diverse universe of magical artists and effects: Each artist is announced on the large lateral screens, one on each side of the large stage, but still part of it, so that visual unity is maintained.

Then the artist is greeted from the off. The entrance, the performance, and the exit are well thought out in an attractive but untypical way, giving the whole proceeding an up-to-date touch using state-of-the-art technologies. Very well thought out and executed.

Jorge Blass

Blass himself, as the host and producer of the festival, which is now in its fourteenths edition, did an excellent interactive piece where he had everyone in the audience use their mobile phone to go through some apparently completely haphazard calculations to reach a result, which he had predicted.

Not only that: The final number gave the day’s date and the exact time. (In the back of my head I remember seeing this somewhere, but cannot recall where – maybe someone can help…).

Blass had two more appearances, one of which being a very nice routine, which stared with an Out of This World theme using Polaroid photos.

Normally I find such adaptations corny, but in this case the presentation as well as the method were really good.

The routine ended with the ring of the female spectator vanishing in a very convincing way, and reappaering in a sealed box, which had been created by a 3D-printer!

The printer, which had been standing far away from where the performance took place, had been introduced before the spectator even had come on stage, and Blass explained that it was about to create “something”.

The routine was brought to an end by having the assisting lady’s husband come on stage and putting the wedding ring back on his wife’s finger, amusing and a bit sentimental, but certainly fitting for Spain, and it made the whole piece well-rounded, a great trick for sure.

Gaetan and I booth looked at each other and had no clue, although I am sure that Gaetan knew how he would have done it… but that is the way geniuses work🙂

Gonzalo Albiñana

Gonzalo Albiñana from Spain, who had won a major award at last year’s Spanish National Convention (I have reported about the convention in The Magic Memories 135), was the fil rouge of the show with some very good shadowgraphs and a repeat bird-cage vanish routine, all wrapped in a theatrical presentation with poetry and mime.

The silent tones characterizing his performance registered well with the theater-going audience, and were a lovely counterpoint to the louder productions in the show.

Personally, I tend to agree with Juan Tamariz when he writes in his The Magic Rainbow, that when magic is combined with a “theatrical story”, the magic suffers.

I remember seeing Harry Blackstone Jr. doing his bird cage vanish live with lots of children on stage, and it touched me emotionally much more than the poetic staging of Albaniña’s, although the latter was by all definitions more “artistic”, while Blackstone simply had more down-to-earth “showmanship”.

These things are had to pinpoint in words, but the emotions do not cheat.

Anyway, well done, but not my cup of tea.

Bruno Tarnecci

Bruno Tarnecci came all the way from Peru, and did a very elegant act with lots of effects and great complexity.

In such an act there are hundreds of things that can go wrong, but everything worked in unison and created a very magical atmosphere that enchanted the audience.

You can see a small part of the act he presented – the floating cane in the clip below:

Mortenn Christiansen

All the artists up to here had been received extremely well, but Mortenn Christiansen from Denmark, who was up next, brought the house down, as they say.

I also admit that this is my kind of magic: Formal minimalism, just the Artistic Trinity formed by the artist, his instrument, and his words – no special effects, no music, no smoke and mirrors, the pure thing, magic.

I had seen Mortenn already several times, last time I believe at The Session in London Heathrow, were he was good, but here in Madrid he was incredible.

First, he is a “stand-up magician” in the real sense of the word: He stands on a huge stage, almost always in the same spot, and commands the attention of at least 800 spectators; this already is remarkable.

Second, me, who is not such a friend of comedy, he made me laugh, and he kept surprising and fooling me. What I particularly liked is that his comedy does not come in the way of his magic, as so often happens when performers start to be “funny”, or start to tell “stories” to make tricks “more meaningful”.

Mortenn has intuitively understood that a good effect speaks for itself, and with a most natural way of expressing himself, combines situation comedy of the finest caliber with original and impactful effects.

This man has a great future ahead.

If you have never seen Mortenn, you can get an idea from his performance at Penn & Teller’s Fool Us, but the act is by no means the same as the one I saw here in Madrid, which was far more complex and complete.

Juno Park

Juno Park, from South Korea, did a manipulation act that leaned on the well-known South-Korean school of magic, but had a clear identity of its own.

An act of sheer beauty, that is characterized by the fact that magic effects and musical queues seamlessly form a poetic-visual unity.

With the precision of a piano player, and the coolness of the modern manipulator, he captivated the Madrid audience from the first to the last moment. (Traditionally, the Madrid audience is the toughest of Spain: For the bull-fighters, if they made it in the Arena of Madrid, they had reached the peak of their career!)

Although you can get an idea of his performing persona, his style and some of his effects in the video clip below, the act I saw in Madrid was now much more complete and rounded, of great artistic quality, a joy to behold.

Here is another man who has a great future ahead, and you will see him at many magic conventions.

Personally, I still prefer real playing cards being used in card manipulations, rather than colored pieces of cardboards, as most in the South-Korean school of manipulation do, because playing cards have a meaning, while colored cardboards look like made props… certainly, beautiful props 🙂

I predict that someone from that school will soon revert back to real playing cards, or at least pieces of cardboard that look like real playing cards, and be a smash hit. If it happens, remember I said that in The Magic Memories 168, 2024, if it doesn’t happen, well, forget that I said anything… (this is how prophecies in the history of civilization work anyway).

Josephine Lee

Josephine Lee from the UK, who had already had a part before, got to close the show with some truly well presented and spectacular illusions.

The plots were classic, but the design of the illusions was exquisite. This is very important, since the solution of an illusion is usually too linear, and more often than not the illusionist fools him- or herself into believing that the audience doesn’t know how it is done, but really many do…

Therefore, if the design is well thought-out, the Space-Information-Continuum on the stage is correctly managed, the actions are motivated by an apparent “story”, and the synchronization-timing has been well rehearsed, also with the assistants, then a large scale illusion, like the big opera in music, can overwhelm an audience. And this it did.

Josephine Lee brought an excellent finale to a superb magic show.

I should mention one more thing that was brought up by Juan Tamariz when we discussed her performance over dinner, which he liked a lot (Lee’s illusions and dinner), as I did: Lee does “Sawing a Woman in Half”, an illusion occasionally criticized by female magicians in the sense that male illusionist always use female “victims” to stab through, saw in half, etc.

Well, Lee, as a lady magician, used a female assistant to saw through…

One more thing made me think: Lee’s show is professional in every detail, no question. What men used to do before, and are still doing, she does with equal charm and competence, in her very own way.

I was just wondering if a woman could maybe do those things men do in a different way, in a “Yin-way”, as opposed to the “Yang-way”. How that could look? I do not know. One day someone will come along and show us…

Finale and Resolution

At the end all the artists and the production team received a well-deserved standing ovation, led by Gaetan Bloom and myself (my readers in the New World should remember that in Europe standing ovations are not as common as in the USA).

I made a note to travel to Madrid in spring next year to see the new show… if you have never been to Madrid, I humbly advise you to make this one of the 100 things to do in life…

Computer Glasses Next Week

After my cataract operation on both eyes I will finally get my glassed to work at the computer screen next week! (Ophthalmologist, “You have to wait about two months until the eyes calibrate…”. Me, “I see…”)

This is why I will stop this week’s blog here, as my eyes get strained, but truly hope that I will get back to “normal” by next week, and if so, promise a longer blog with some magic.

Among other things I will tell you about my experience working with Jorge Blass and his partners in a TV series of his, Nada por aqui, and a taping they did of me, with the discussion of a very interesting trick.

Stay tuned 🙂

Wish you all a successful and happy week,

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Magic Day in Łódź, Poland; Homage to Juan Tamariz at Teatro Circo Price, Madrid

These are The Magic Memories 167, gone online Sunday, March 10th, 2024, at 0:07h sharp.

All The Magic Memories from 2021, 2022, and 2023, including the Magic Advent Calendar from 2020, can be found HERE.

I am just back from two trips abroad, one to Łódź, Poland, the other to Madrid, Spain, two destinations that could not be more different from each other, and both fascinating and memorable.

Magic Day in Łódź, Poland

Arsene Lupin, Poland’s premier conjuror, had invited me to lecture and perform at his magic day in Lodz on Sunday, 3rd March 2024. Here are a few brief impressions.

The City of Lodz

The title shows the exact spelling of the city’s name, the third largest in Poland, but to save me breaking my fingers on the keyboard, I’ll spell it simply Lodz, with all respect 🙂

Poland has a colorful past, and so do its cities. What is so remarkable about Lodz is that the ugly and the beautiful are so close to each other.

There were places which were simply magnificent: the architecture, the museums, downtown. Instead of pulling down old buildings many are thoughtfully renovated, and it looks like the city has a bright future.

I wish I had the time to tell you more, but will concentrate on the magic (below). For more info on the city of Lodz, CLICK HERE.

To me, who is fluent in six languages, this was one of the few “culture shocks” of my life, as I did not understand a word of Polish, nor could I read the signs. I had similar experiences only in Japan and China. Fortunately, most in Poland understand English, and some speak it quite well.

Poland’s Magic Tradition

Poland has an interesting magic tradition, like so many countries, and it is little-known. I wish we had more people, resources and finances to conduct more research on this particular aspect of magic, namely that of investigating the magical history of each country, the important and less important figures they brought forth (performers, inventors, authors, historians, craftsmen, etc.).

You may want to ask ChatGPT and see what you get (…), meanwhile here are a few names of outstanding Polish magicians who have left an indelible mark on the history of magic: Max Malini, Chan Canasta, Johnny Thompson, Salvano, all of whom have left us.

Fortunately, their work has been documented in books and videos, and anyone who is interested can find out more about them, just enter their names in your favorite search engine, or go to YouTube, and you will be spoilt for choice.

I had the great fortune of meeting Salvano early in my life, when I was still a student in Paris.

He came to a very early lecture of mine, and afterwards approached me saying some very nice things to me. At the time he was working at “Le Milliardaire”, one of Paris’ top night clubs, that is now closed, and he invited me to see his show.

This was quite incredible to Young Giobbi, as I had never been in a night club before.

Briefly: His was one of the most sophisticated acts I had ever seen, and I think that most who have known Salvano will agree if I now write that his act was in the same class as the acts of Cardini, Pollock or Fred Kaps.

Later in life I met Salvano several times, booked him for a lecture in Basel, and even hosted him at my home.

See The Magic Memories 74 for more on Salvano.

Arsene Lupin

For the past decades, Arsene Lupin, has been Poland’s most successful magic performer and inventor.

He is also a Past President of the Polish magician’s association, and in this function organized several national magic conventions.

Lupin – the man and his work – deserve a book that I will not be able to write here, but the first thing you might want to do is to have a look at a few videos to see his work, among other things his act with which he won a FISM prize, clips from his full-evening shows, etc.

For years Lupin had his own magic show on Polish TV, and his inventions are being performed by some of the world’s top professionals.

In one of our conversations we found out that we had competed at the same FISM conventions in 1991 in Lausanne and both won the 2nd prize, Lupin in Manipulations, I in Card Magic… behind Lennart Green 🙂

The Magic Day

For the day I flew into Warsaw Chopin Airport (yes, Chopin was Polish and another credit to this amazing culture), where Arsene met me personally and had me as his house guest for the next three days.

He is one of the most charming hosts I have ever had, showing me around the city of Lodz and taking care of anything I needed; I spent a wonderful time, and made a new friend!

The magic event itself took place in Lupin’s residence which hosts a small theatre that can take up to 40 guests; the little theatre was filled to capacity and had sold out months in advance, as Arsene told me.

The program was varied, with performances and talks, all of which were in Polish, so I did not understand a word, but could see some excellent ideas as well as the positive reactions from the audience.

I did a two-part lecture: One, one hour from my Stand-up Card Magic lecture, the another 90 minutes with more tricks, but with a focus on their psychological construction, based on my book Sharing Secrets.

Although I had my doubts about speaking in English to people who were non-native speakers of English, my presentations went over very well. So well, actually, that I got a long standing ovation at the end.

Arsene later told me that in all these years only three people had received this honor: Dani DaOrtiz and David Stone… so I am in good company 🙂

One of the nicest additional benefits of such events is that I get to know a lot of new people, and also get an insight into the magic of a country I had never been to before.

This is one of the main reasons I have never accepted to do those “Lecture Tours” many of my colleagues have done: I make it a point to come in one day earlier, and to stay at least one extra day to see the city/country and meet people.

In the evening, after the event, several came for a traditional Polish dinner; Arsene told me that only rarely do so many attend the dinner, so I take this as another compliment. On the back end you can see Arsene and myself.

In the photo below, which was taken after dinner, I am with a group of very talented magicians who came all the way from Krakow. Michael, on the right in the photo, promised to organize a one- or two-day seminar in his hometown, so I look very much froward to coming back to Poland soon.

BTW: Poland’s national beverage is Vodka. As you can see in the photo above, there is a row of empty glasses… guess what was inside.

During the three days of my stay I was able to taste over a dozen different Vodkas, not so bad…

Homage to Juan Tamariz at Teatro Circo Price, Madrid

I came back from Warsaw on Monday evening, and Tuesday morning had my flight to Madrid, taking me there just in time for lunch at Dantxari, one of my (and Tamariz’s!) favorite restaurants.

Whenever you go to Spain and meet up with magicians, you should know that their dinner time is not earlier than 10 pm, rather 11 pm, therefore, when you arrive on the first day, I recommend you get a good lunch so you can survive until dinner…

In Madrid I had been invited, along with Gaetan Bloom, who flew in from Paris, to participate in a two-hour Homage to Juan Tamariz, as part of a three-week Festival of Magic organized by Spain’s magic celebrity Jorge Blass (see The Magic Memories 164 for more info).

We met up at 7 pm at the theatre, which used to be a in-house circus, and set up the session, which was masterfully arranged and organized by Jorge Blass and his team.

With ca. 500 people the theatre was filled to capacity and we found a very enthusiastic audience who came to celebrate the Great Master of Magic, not only of Spain, but of the world.

The people who attended were about 30% magicians, mostly from Madrid, and 70% laypeople, young and old, who had seen Tamariz in one of his many TV-shows or performances in the theatres of Spain.

The lay audience in Spain knows Tamariz mainly as a star magic performer, but only few know about his role in the world of magic. Therefore, the idea of this event was not only to honor Juan Tamariz, who in October of this year will turn eighty-two, but above all to shed light on the many facets that make Tamariz one of the most important and influential magicians of all times.

I like to compare any profession with an iceberg: As an outsider you only see the 10% above the water, and ignore the 90% that are invisible.

In the two hours at our disposal Jorge Blass had arranged an excellent mix of photos, video clips, and personal talks with some surprise guests.

Jorge started out with a lovely introduction showing some amazing film clips of Young Tamariz I had never seen before myself, followed by a thoughtful interview about Juan’s beginnings.

Next Gaetan Bloom came on, and the two chatted about the many TV appearances and theatre projects they had done together. This part of the interview was preceded by a hilarious bit where Gaetan performed in French, and Juan translated in Spanish.

Next I came on and conversed with Juan about him as an author of magic books, lecturer, and founder of the Escuela Magica de Madrid (EMM), along with its mouthpieces, the Escorial Card Conference and the Circular, a printed publication of the EMM, that went on for over thirty years, and where the forty members would publish thousands of essays on the most diverse topics related to magic. This is of great interest to any intelligent practitioner of the art and should be translated into English (maybe one day when we will have a foundation that finances all of this).

And so it went on with Luis Piedrahita, a star magician and stand-up comedian, and Yunke, who won the first prize for Illusions at the recent FISM in Quebec.

At the end Juan did one of his interactive card tricks, with the entire audience joining in and throwing cards into the air, until each is left with a previously selected card; I’ve seen Juan do this many times, once when we worked together on the TV show Carta Blanca , and it is always a hit – in the photo below you can see everyone throwing cards in the air and having a great time, most of all the Maestro himself 🙂

This event will eventually be available on YouTube, and I will let you know through an upcoming The Magic Memories. Although it is in Spanish, of course, you will still be able to enjoy some rare video footage, and see Gaetan and Juan perform.

In the photo below you can see all who joined in the “Dialogo Magico con Juan Tamariz”, a memorable event, if there ever was one.

The icing on the cake of such events, especially in Spain, is that the participants in the adventure, like the Gauls from Asterix and Obelix, will gather around a table in a restaurants for human beings (which is NOT a fast-food restaurant, nor one where you eat sandwiches etc.), and enjoy a copious meal, with great wines, and even greater company – viva la magia!

Forgive today’s accounts, which read a bit disruptive, but I did not have the time to put them in a more elegant form 🙂

Wish you all a successful and happy week,

Roberto Giobbi

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Pause for travel.

These are The Magic Memories 166, gone online Sunday, March 3rd, 2024, at 0:07h sharp.

All The Magic Memories from 2021, 2022, and 2023, including the Magic Advent Calendar from 2020, can be found HERE.

As you are reading this I am giving two lectures at Arsene Lupin’s studio in Poland, and right after that I will head to Madrid, where I will be part of an evening honoring Juan Tamariz at the Teatro Circolo Price

I shall report about both events in The Magic Memories 167.

Meanwhile, go back to some of the older The Magic Memories – there is plenty you might have overseen 🙂

Wish you all a successful and happy week,

Roberto Giobbi

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: CardWorkShop 2024; Basler Fasnacht playing cards clique

These are The Magic Memories 165, gone online Sunday, February 25th, 2024, at 0:07h sharp.

All The Magic Memories from 2021, 2022, and 2023, including the Magic Advent Calendar from 2020, can be found HERE.

CardWorkShop (CWS) 2024

I am just back from the 56th German CardWorkShop (CWS). As promised in The Magic Memories 164, here is a report about the event.

For those who came in late, I remind you that this is a yearly event of card aficionados that takes place in Germany. For more background information see The Magic Memories 113.

Location

During the years the location kept changing, but for the past decade it has been taking place in Stephan Kirschbaum’s Wundermanufaktur, the most recent from FEB 18th to 20th, 20024: Sunday evening, Monday full day, and Tuesday (late) morning, plus individual sessions at night with varying bedtimes…

Similar to the Spanish Escorial Card Conference, this is an invitation-only event which brings together some of the best cardmen of German-speaking Europe (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland).

Yes, “cardMEN”, as in the entire history of the CWS there has never been a woman who asked to be invited; she would certainly be welcome.

I should further mention that, similar to Escorial, everyone comes at his own expenses, pays his own hotel, and pays a flat fee for drinks, snacks, and meals (there is no “convention fee”, the costs are simply that: costs).

Depending from how far you arrive and whether you stay an extra day or not, this costs ca. $ 500 (it takes me over six hours from door-to-door to come from Basel to Nuremberg). So, this would sound quite remarkable for an outsider for doing card ticks during three days – for us, of course, it is something else…

The Subjects

The idea of the gathering is that subjects are decided upon at the end of the previous meeting, with those who want to participate in the relative presentations putting up their name in a list.

The group then works on the subject during the year and delivers a group-presentation in the following year. Well, that’s the idea, in theory, fact is that most start their work at the last moment…

In 2023 we decided on the following subjects to be presented in 2024:

1. The magic and publications of Frank Garcia (Markus Zadina, Tom Merten, Karl-Heinz Ritter, Magic Christian, Kurt Freitag, Roberto Giobbi)

2. Card tricks that require a set-up or lead into a set-up (Denis Behr, Pit Hartling)

3. Multiple Card Revelation (Helge Thun, Wolfgang Moser, Jörg Alexander)

4. Magic of Japan (Lorenz Schär, Tino Plaz, Marc Haufer)

The Schedule & Content

So that you get a general idea of how things work, here is an approximative schedule with a few of my comments.

When the CWS started out in 1975 it was composed almost exclusively of amateurs, i.e., people who had a “real” (!) job and card magic as a hobby, some at a high level, but still, a hobby.

Nowadays things have changed, as about 75% (!) of the participants are full-time professionals making their living exclusively from magic. An astonishing shift that has led to many changes in structure and content (again, see The Magic Memories 113 for more on the history).

In the past the CWS took place on FRI, SAT and SUN, work free week-ends for amateurs. Now it does on SUN, MON and TUE, as that is when professionals have less shows.

This year twenty-two attended.

Attendants start to come into the Wundermanufaktur on SUN late afternoon; there is greeting, small-talk and, of course, an apéro , i.e., drinks and delicious snacks, without which no worthy event in Europe is imaginable.

At 6 pm the first scheduled event starts, “The Personal Minutes”, where each one relates something outside of the main subjects. This can be a brief summary of what one has done in the past year, the presentation of some personal ideas, a book review, etc. This lasts about 90 minutes and is always a lovely ice breaker.

I gave an ultra-short presentation of one of Padre Ciuro’s booklets Juegos de manos y bolsillo, a first edition of which goes for several hundred Euros. Tamariz started out with these books, a whole series of them, and keeps recommending them – I agree.

I pointed out a presentational idea – how to steal someone’s memory – and an application I found with it. Those who follow this blog have seen it before, for newcomers, HERE IS the video clip.

After that we usually have a rich buffet, with lots of drinks and camaraderie, until about 10 pm, when the first big subject starts.

This year we began with “The magic and works of Frank Garcia” that lasted until well past 1 am, with presentations about the life of Garcia, anecdotes, comments on his books, the performance of some of the best tricks in the books, plus a large etc.

The man, his magic, and his publications could make for a substantial lecture.

Some of you will have seen my take on three tricks published in his legendary Super Subtle Card Miracles which I have discussed in Favorites, a video project I did with Vanishing Inc. several years ago. (You can get the DVD with two more “lectures” on it about Vernon and Elmsley, or get the download from the VI webshop).

Garcia was certainly a controversial figure because of the many uncredited entries in his books, although he did add several pages of credits at the end of Super Subtle Card Miracles about this book and Million Dollar Card Mysteries.

I, for my part, am thankful to Garcia, as especially the two aforementioned books where like a fresh breeze at the time they came out, with lots of truly magnificent material, techniques and tricks. The descriptions, though, I must say, are not very good, and certainly most beginners who bought the books at the time where at loss.

Well, these books typically show that magic is a profession, and that you need to learn the fundamentals of the art and its instruments. It is not the purpose of a magic book on great tricks to explain every technique and procedure from scratch. This is one of the reasons I wrote the Card College series.

Anyway, several of us who had met Garcia personally (Kurt, Christian and I) told various anecdotes, and we did lots of tricks from his books. These books are insofar a goldmine for the experienced card worker, as they require a lot of interpretation in the execution and presentation, the descriptions being so terse. They are a great exercise for creativity. And anyone, who learns the basics first, then studies the detailed work of the masters, plus reads material from “unfinished” books such as the one by Garcia, well, this person is on the way to become a fine magician.

(Nowadays beginners have the good chance to be able to supplement this written heritage with video material, but I am convinced that videos alone cannot replace written instructions and/or personal coaching.)

Back to the schedule: After this, it’s “open night”…

Monday morning talks start at 10 pm until 1 pm: “The card magic of Japan”.

Lorenz Schär, a professional from Berne, Switzerland, whom I have mentioned several times in these The Magic Memories, gave an excellent overview of the history of playing cards and card magic in Japan, before and after the opening.

This was supplemented with tricks, comments, etc. by Tino Plaz, another professional and very talented young man, and by Marc Haufer, who can certainly be called an inspired amateur with lots of performing experience and a very pleasing personality.

After a lunch break, the presentations continue, from 2:30 pm to dinner time, which is around 8:30 pm.

The main subject treated in this time slot was “Multiple Card Revelations”, presented by several. The subject is huge, of course, but we got a nice panoramic view of several of the problems that this interesting topic brings along.

Pit Hartling, a genius if there ever was one, performed a very original routine, where he had several cards selected, then, by tearing up a “wrong” card, managed to fold and hold the torn pieces in such a way, that they represented the chosen cards. I hope you have a chance to see this one day.

Denis Behr performed and walked us through one of his complex card concoctions which rely heavily on the fact that one trick sets up the order of the cards needed in the following trick. Denis, the creator and manager of the “Archives” and “Conjuring Credits”, is a remarkable man, and if you have a chance you should see him.

The topic, however, of setting up decks and delaying stacks, harbors more complexity than the presenters were able to disclose. There is certainly a lot of work that can be done here.

After dinner and the next morning, Tuesday, until almost 2 pm, there were more presentations, among others by Peter Grandt on the symbols hidden in playing cards, and Reinhard Müller on Mozart and his interest in card magic.

Break-out Sessions

A nice part of the gathering are those small moments of relax between the heavier talks and performances.

Below a take from the Coffee Shop right below the Wundermanufaktur, which does a great Cappuccino, here accompanied by a Portuguese pastel de nata. For me remarkable that Germany, who as recently as ten years ago had one of the worst coffees in Europe, now boasts many places that equal the best… as in Italy and Vienna, the two arguably, and of course only in my opinion, best in the world 🙂

And then it’s dinner time…

Varia

The CWS is also a great opportunity to meet some friends I see only once a year. Kurt Freitag from Vienna, one of my oldest friends in both senses of the term, had a wonderful photo he gave me that showed him and me in the company of Ascanio.

Although he could neither remember who the photographer was, nor where the photo was taken, my guess is that it was at the Austrian national convention in Graz that took place from June 5th to 8th, 1980, that is forty-four years ago!

The photo shows me in my youthful innocence performing some kind of Ace Trick to Ascanio. We had previously met at FISM 1979 in Brussels, my first World Convention, so he had already taken me under his wings 🙂

Basler Fasnacht 2024

As some of you might know, the carnival of Basel, along with that of Rio and Venice, is considered one of the three most important in the world.

The city of Basel that counts ca. 200’000 inhabitants grows to several millions during the three days of the carnival, quite amazing.

The Basler Fasnacht is by far the biggest event in the city that has also gained world-renown through the Art Basel and the Baselworld, the Watch and Jewelry Fair; not so bad for a city the size of Fayetteville in North Carolina 🙂

This is not the place to report about this quite beautiful and complex event; If you are interested, you can see some representative photos, film clips and read some info (in six languages, including English!) by CLICKING HERE.

Let me just mention that over 300 “groups” called cliques celebrate the Fasnacht with music, songs, texts and colorful costumes, plus huge lanterns, wagons, etc.

Below you see a clique that has playing cards as a subject… what else!

Wish you all a successful and happy week,

Roberto Giobbi

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: 56th German CardWorkShop (CWS); Irasshaimase Card College; Juan Tamariz at the XIV Festival of Magic in Madrid; A Useful Acquitment – Old Paper; Fred Kaps – It’s So Simple (Introduction)

These are The Magic Memories 164, gone online Sunday, February 18th, 2024, at 0:07h sharp.

All The Magic Memories from 2021, 2022, and 2023, including the Magic Advent Calendar from 2020, can be found HERE.

56th German CardWorkShop (CWS)

As you are reading this, I am on my way to the 56th German CardWorkShop (CWS), a yearly event that this year takes place in Stephan Kirschbaum’s Wundermanufaktur from FEB 18th to 20th, 20024: Sunday evening, Monday full day, and Tuesday (late) morning, plus individual sessions at night with varying bedtimes…

I have reported before about the CWS in The Magic Memories 112 & 113, and the info plus a few photos are just a CLICK AWAY.

Click HERE to now more about Kirschbaum’s “Pocket Theatre”, certainly one of Europe’s most charming and unusual cultural institutions.

Irasshaimase Card College

The Japanese translation of Card College came out after the French, Spanish and English translation, and was supervised by Ton Onosaka with whom I had signed a one-page hand-written “agreement” at the FISM convention in Lissabon in July 2000, twenty-four years ago.

After about fifteen years or so, I inquired if there ever had been another edition, and indeed it had, so thanks to my proactivity managed to get paid for that second edition.

In the following years it seems the publication had been discontinued, or the publisher failed, well, I never found out…

But four years ago Atsushi Takizawa and his Script Maneuver, who had already published Card College Volume 5 and Stand-up Card Magic, renegotiated the publishing rights, but for reasons that I still do not understand had to redo the complete translation and layout.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I received my six author’s copies, and if you want to learn Japanese and cannot get yourself a Japanese wife or husband, the best way to learn a language, go for the second-best way by buying a copy of the Japanese Card College 🙂

Juan Tamariz at the XIV Festival of Magic in Madrid

A few weeks ago I got a call from Jorge Blass, who many have called the “Copperfield” of Spain, who asked if I was willing to join him, Gaetan Bloom and others in Madrid to honor Juan Tamariz within the frame of his yearly Magic Festival.

“The XIV Festival Internacional de Magia”, the official name of the event, will be held at the renowned Teatro Circo Price (pronounced “pree-se”), a former In-house circus remodeled as a theater, and will take place in Madrid from FEB 14th to MAR 3rd, 2024.

The fact that this is already in its fourteenth edition, in Spain’s capital that boasts some of the world’s top cultural activities, tells you something about its quality and success.

In the video clip below you can get a one-minute idea of last year’s edition.

As part of the festival, Jorge Blass  will stage an exceptional Homage to Juan Tamariz, who is not only a legend in his own lifetime for us magicians, but who also has the highest status an artist can have in his own native Spain.

To mention just one honor: In 2011 the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en Bellas Artes was bestowed upon him, the highest honor a civilian can receive in Spain, and it is the King of Spain himself who presents it. Needless to say that Tamariz refused to kneel in front of the King and sent someone else to collect the medal…

The event will take place on Tuesday, 5th March, at 8pm at the Teatro Circo Price.

To the public Tamariz is known as a TV celebrity of magic, having starred in a dozen of his own shows until ca. 1990, when he stopped doing TV and started to conquer the theatre circuit, filling the largest theaters across the country for the next three decades.

However, few “muggles” know about Tamariz’ importance and influence in the world of magic, although large interviews in the national and international press have appeared, including a much-noticed portrait in the New York Times’ literary supplement (I spent more than an hour over Zoom with the journalist who authored the portrait and who had contacted me for information only those have who have known Tamariz for the past almost fifty years, as I have; I was neither mentioned nor thanked in the essay… ingratus mundi).

So, the idea is to present Tamariz to the Spanish lay public from a different angle than he is known for. Among other bits, Gaetan Bloom and myself will each spend ten minutes or so to interview the Maestro.

In my part I will try to talk about his importance as lecturer and author of some of the most significant books in magic, without obviously revealing any secrets (I will thus not be able to mention his two books Mnemonica, as that would implicitly give away one of Tamariz’ most used methods…).

If you have any suggestions for good questions, please send them along over the “Contact” menu item on the webshop.

A Useful Acquitment – Old Paper

My friend Claudio Viotto sent in the video clip below about how to make a piecer of paper look old.

Some of you might use that for those “Story Telling Magic” pieces…

Fred Kaps – It’s So Simple (Introduction)

In yet another attempt to put some order in the thousand of items I have accumulated in my magic life, I came across an old lecture audio tape that was sold by Martin Breese in the 1980s titled It’s So Simple, this being the recording of a magic lecture Fred Kaps gave in England. The audio cassette fortunately came with a 28-page booklet, where the entire lecture was transcribed and supplemented by a few illustrations, far too little, of course.

As a little aside: As a student I spent several months in England to perfect my English (as you can tell from these unedited The Magic Memories it is far from perfect…), and visited Martin Breese on several occasion as he still had a brick-and-mortar shop in London. I was there in 1984 – I know because on one of my visits Dai Vernon’s book on Erdnase, Revelation, had just come in. When I looked at it and commented on the large amount of white space in the comments column, David Britland, who was also there and a kind of “adviser” to Martin Breese, said to me, “Don’t judge the white space, judge what is written.” He was absolutely right: Like a large Cognac snifter you do not drink the large empty part of it, you drink the comparatively little amount of Cognac in it 🙂

At that time I had written my first book and gave the manuscript to Martin, who refused to publish it, probably because David told him that it was not good enough (he was again right…). But, had he accepted to publish it, I would very probably have gone with him as publisher for the Card College books, which later were published by Stephen Minch and his Hermetic Press. But I digress, as I often do…

At any rate, although the Kaps lecture is not always easy to follow, as it is an audio of a visual lecture, there is a lot of information that still today I found captivating.

I have taken the liberty to reproduce for you the introductory words with which Fred Kaps addressed his audience. From this introduction, and from the subsequent lecture, you can tell that Kaps was not an intellectual, but rather an intuitive genius, as is so often the case with most artists in most disciplines (except maybe literature, where most authors are intellectuals). Nonetheless, you will find that Kaps was very clear about what magic is and what made a successful performer and performance. I have listened to all his interviews available (see The Patrick Page Audio Archives) and am a big fan of what he says and how he says it.

I hope you find the following as interesting as I did.

It’s So Simple

Peter Warlock has asked me to give you a lecture. Now I am not a lecturer but a full-time professional magician, as you know. This is not going to be a lecture about tricks; all I want to show you are principles; principles on which you can build further and make something out of them. You have to do that because there is nobody like yourself. There is no trick that everybody can do exactly the same: that is absolutely impossible, in my opinion.

First of all, there are the fundamentals.

We all know that there are only a few fundamentals in magic, and I think that they are absolutely necessary. For instance, you buy a trick and read the instructions, do the trick, and call yourself a magician. This is, of course, ridiculous.

You can buy fifty tricks and still not be a magician. You can be an entertainer, but that’s another thing. Because the tricks never are important. You have a library in which these principles are written down, thought out, put down for you to read.

And what do we do, most of the time? We take a book and just look at the tricks that are in there: ”Oh, that’s nice. That’s nothing. Oh, there’s nothing in this book,” and you put it back. Don’t do that. When you have the Tarbell Course or the Dai Vernon Book of Magic and several others, for instance, the most interesting part of those books are in the preface.

For instance, in the Dai Vernon Book of Magic, the first two chapters are the most important of the whole book. You will find the basis of all the techniques he lectures about, like Slydini did.

There was a time when Slydini was here and in Holland and all over Europe, and everybody was crazy about him: this was Slydini.

Dai Vernon cannot do what Slydini does; Slydini can’t do what Dai Vernon does. They are masters in their own fields. They don’t copy each other because they know it is impossible. They are that far that they know it’s impossible. You have to translate the moves for yourself. I cannot tell you to do a move this way: I can only tell you what it is, so you understand for yourself how to translate a move or a sleight or a principle for yourself.

Wish you all a successful and happy week,

Roberto Giobbi

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Quick Revelations – Vernon One-handed Shift Production; Shadow Theory; Visiting Giobbi; The Missing Link: How Houdini Named Buster Keaton; Hilarious Last Word

These are The Magic Memories 163, gone online Sunday, February 11th, 2024, at 0:07h sharp.

All The Magic Memories from 2021, 2022, and 2023, including the Magic Advent Calendar from 2020, can be found HERE.

Quick Revelations – Vernon One-handed Shift Production

Here is something for those who like to flick their fingers.

As I am sifting through thousands of notes in my notebooks to find interesting material for my upcoming Unexpected Agenda, I hit on the following item, dated August 1989, and which was inspired by reading and practicing a One-handed Shift by Dai Vernon that starts out from an Altman Trap. This unusual Shift, very few seem to know and even less use it, is described on p. 25 of Stephen Minch’s The Vernon Chronicles Vol. 1 – The Lost Inner Secrets. 

If you are a Vernon fan, or simply enjoy refined card magic in all its aspects, I highly recommend you get all four volumes: The first three are on Vernon’s magic, the fourth is a biography – these are among the books in my library I read several times…

Coming back to the “Shift”: It is the fastest  One-hand Pass I know, and as you can see here, it can be put to other good uses than to merely restore the cut, which very probably was its original intention (maybe done as the other hand reaches for a glass, or puts the ante into the pot).

Here is a quick run-through: Control the selection to the bottom of deck which is held in Dealing Position. Gently riffle its inner end, thereby obtaining an Altman Trap (a break held by the heel of the left thumb).

Start the first part of Vernon’s “One-handed Shift”.

When the former bottom portion flops back, insert the left thumb between the packets; the left thumb then drags the bottom card of the upper packet to the left and flips it face up on the closing deck. The selection now rests face up on the face down deck and can for instance be one-hand spin-dealt to the table.

Here is yet another application of this Shift you might want to explore: Do the old gag of shuffling the cards with a Riffle Shuffle in the Air and then extending the deck toward a spectator, saying, “Would you please cut the deck?” As she reaches for the deck, give it a One-handed Cut, “Thank you, that’s enough.” Done with kindness, to paraphrase David Devant, this will always produce merriment.

However, by using the Vernon One-handed Shift, instead of the traditional Charlier Cut, you will notice that you can see the full face of the shifting packet’s bottom card, and you can then catch a break between the packets as they close; use both hands to facilitate the final square-up.

You now have a known card in the approximate center of the deck, located by a break, which you can use as a force card, a key card, or anything else.

Shadow Theory

Years ago Tamariz mentioned the “Shadow Theory” to me, the fact that if you turn slightly sideways to display something on a stage, rather than doing so full-front, it will be seen better from far away.

The first time this most useful idea saw publication was in my own Stand-up Card Magic, p. 16, there still called “Shadow Rule”. Seven years later (a magic number!), in Sharing Secrets, I discussed it in more detail, calling it “The Shadow Theory”.

I was reminded of this when I saw the drawing below, published in the puzzle section of a popular Swiss magazine: You had to find the shadow that matched the drawing.

And maybe you are now reminded of this concept, too… if you apply it, it will make your magic better, promised.

Visiting Giobbi

It is said that if you read, you are never lonely. And if you write books has even more far-reaching consequences.

One of the pleasures of being an author of magic books is the meeting of readers at conventions, club meetings etc. Meanwhile, so it seems, there are several generations of magicians, many of whom started their career with my Card College books… the disadvantage of this is, of course, that it makes me old🙂

Another benefit is that books make friends. I am reminded of Jean Paul who said, “Books are merely thick letters to friends”.  So, I keep making new friends with every book that goes out into the small world of magic (which has meanwhile become a big world, I should add…).

And then there are the “old friends” , most younger than I, who visit with me regularly. Below is a photo of Denis Behr from Munich, Germany, and Lorenz Schär from Berne, Switzerland, who joined me for a rich lunch and an afternoon of magic.

Both gentlemen are talented far above average, and do some superb magic.

Both are also authors of books, and if you enter their names in Google (always add “magic” after entering a magician’s name!) you will find them. Denis wrote three books, and Lorenz one, all in English, and all are original and good.

The Missing Link: How Houdini Named Buster Keaton

The video clip, which was brought to my attention by my friend Marco Aimone, is interesting for various reasons.

First, it connects Houdini to Buster Keaton – notice at the beginning how Houdini gave him the name “Buster”.

Second, witness yet another use Artificial Intelligence can be put to.

Third, it is fun and instructional.

Hilarious Last Word

The clip below popped up as I was looking for a term that was not included in Behr’s Magic Archives, only for insiders, no comment 🙂

Wish you all a successful and happy week,

Roberto Giobbi

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: An Additional Thought on “And Yet It Is!”; Countdown Stop Trick; The Finest Magic of Pedro Lacerda.

These are The Magic Memories 162, gone online Sunday, February 4th, 2024, at 0:07h sharp.

All The Magic Memories from 2021, 2022, and 2023, including the Magic Advent Calendar from 2020, can be found HERE.

An Additional Thought on “And Yet It Is!”

In The Magic Memories 160 I gave a few ideas on “And Yet It Is”, a lovely trick from Stand-up Card Magic.

My good friend and cardician extraordinaire Gary Plants wrote in and had this to say:

Roberto, the idea of forcing one of TWO cards is very good. The fact that either card could be selected is nice. Since the two cards are set ahead of time, I would consider to set up 3-4 pairs that could be forced and are easy to remember.

Now you can be even more free with the selection (force).

Just a thought.

Gary Plants

Goes without saying that this is a good idea, especially when performing in front of a lager audience, where you want methods to be as fool-proof as possible.

Countdown Stop Trick

Talking about tricks and how to make them better, or safer, or both: In Card College Volume 5 there is a “Countdown Stop Trick”, my interpretation of a very terse note in the infamous Dr. Jacob Daley Notebooks. Below is a screenshot of the intro to remind you – look up the details in the book, please:

Years ago, Helder Guimaraes came to see me at my home in Muttenz, and we had a Swiss Fondue, his first, I believe to remember 🙂

And of course we talked lots of magic. Among many other things Helder suggested a change in the set-up of the “Countdown Stop”; as you will see this is an excellent idea, and one wonders why nobody thought of it before. Of course, today, several years later, Helder has become a young star of magic, and this simple idea here shows why this is so.

This is another handling of “Countdown Stop” from Card College 5. The idea of using even instead of odd cards is from Helder.

Set-up

From top down in the face-down deck: 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 (suits do not matter).

Do a Slough-off Faro to alternate the set-up with x-cards, the Ten still on top.

An easy way to obtain this set-up is to start out by spreading the cards face up and to cull one after the other a Two, a Four, a Six, an Eight and a Ten to the top of the deck. Of course it would be nice if you had a reason to do so… or just do it in a moment of relaxation between two tricks, no problem in an informal situation.

To make this very elegant, either have the deck pre-set from the outset, then delay the set-up with one or two tricks, or obtain the set-up in the course of a preceding trick (see “Secret Setup”, still in Card College Volume 5, p. 1124), delay with another trick, and then go into “Countdown Stop”; such a procedure will deceive even knowledgeable pople…

Method

Spread the cards between your hands to have one selected, counting in 3-2-2-3 rhythm and trying to have the spectator take the eleventh card from the top. After the cards has been noted by the audience, have the spectator replace his card from where he took it from, in case he took the eleventh card.

If he did not, use the “Crocodile Technique” or other shenanigan you know to get the selection there.

In any case the spectator’s card ends up eleventh from the top, without disturbing the location and order of the set-up.

In an Injog Shuffle add five indifferent cards to the top. Use the “Intelligent Injog Shuffle” from Sharing Secrets (p. 54).

A brief check-up will reveal the selection to be at position sixteen from the top. If it is not, either my description is wrong, or you made a mistake…

Hand the deck to the spectator, and then proceed as explained in the book, to wit: Ask her to deal cards one by one on the table. As soon as she has dealt two or three cards, add that she may stop whenever she wants.

For years I had her deal the cards face down, until I realized that the set-up is well hidden, so that you may ask her to deal the cards face up; this will take some extra performance stress from you, as you will not have to silently count cards (easy to miss if you do not do this every day). See also “later addition” below.

If she deals too quickly, do a “slow-down” gesture with both hands, as you say, “Deal them with dignity, please, with dignity.” I must praise myself for this phrasing, as  nobody knows exactly what it means, but I can assure you from many years of professional experience that saying so, accompanied by said gesture, will make everyone slow down!

Regardless of where she stops, use the card she just deal or the next one to count down to the selection.

I leave the presentation to you, or check mine in the book.

Later addition: In order to eliminate any memory work, have spectator deal the cards face up, so you see exactly which card to use as the “countdown card”. This also gives you an automatic out, in case she deals over her selection: Simply use the “Circus Card Trick” ploy, i.e. stop her a few cards past the selection and say, “The next card to be turned over, will be your card.” Do not wait until she turns over the card, but directly reach into the pile of dealt cards and turn the selection face down. If she prematurely turns over the next card, without missing a beat reach into the pile and turn over the selection saying, “No, this one!”

Not as good as the original trick, but good enough. Alternatively, go the way of “The Trick That Cannot Be Explained” by using the card she stops at to get to the selection. Or make up your own out, there are some nice solutions 🙂

The Finest Magic of Pedro Lacerda

Just received the book from my dear friend in Portugal, Pedro Lacerda. Pedro justifies a book, and well, here it is!

Pedro is one of those few inspired amateurs who could compete with any seasoned professional.

He gained a lot of performing experience in the eighties and Nineties, did several lecture tours that took him around the world, but then decided to follow Vernon’s advice to keep magic as a hobby (he does so at a very high level) and became a very successful businessman in Portugal.

Best of all, of course, for most of my readers: The book is in English! Although occasionally it shines through that the author is not a native English speaker, all is absolutely intelligible and clearly explained, with lots of excellent photos.

In the first 86 pages you will learn more about Pedro Lacerda, the person, and magic in Portugal in general. Also, that he is one of Ascanio’s “spiritual sons”, which shines through in his thinking and performance. The tricks and techniques are all from his performing repertoire and most effective.

All is interesting, really, but two pieces stand out: First, his borrowed ring on tie – this is one of his signature pieces.

Second, his signed card to piano key, a pièce de resistance he used to do when he performed in a magic bar in Portugal during his most active days: In the deck of cards suddenly a piano key appears, as the pianist at the same time plays a wrong key. It turns out that the performer’s key is the one missing from the piano, while the signed card is now in its place in the piano. Good and original.

This is your chance to get a piece of outstanding Portuguese magic in your library.

For more information about the book and how to get it, email the author Francisco Mousinho at franciscomousinho96@gmail.com or Instagram: francisco_mousinho.

Wish you all a successful and happy week,

Roberto Giobbi

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Pause for lack of a clear view…

These are The Magic Memories 161, gone online Sunday, January 28th, 2024, at 0:07h sharp.

All The Magic Memories from 2021, 2022, and 2023, including the Magic Advent Calendar from 2020, can be found HERE.

All went well after my two-eyes operation, and I thank all of you who sent get-well wishes.

However, I have to wait for yet another week to get new glasses that allow for effortless work in front of a computer screen and a clear view for driving etc.

So, I decided to take this week-end off 🙂 I look forward to being back next week-end with the The Magic Memories 162.

Wish you all a successful and happy week,

Roberto Giobbi

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Thoughts on “And Yet It Is!”; The Mathematics of Shuffling Cards (Diaconis); The Missing Link (cardinimagican YouTube channel); Still One-Eyed…

These are The Magic Memories 160, gone online Sunday, January 21st, 2024, at 0:07h sharp.

All The Magic Memories from 2021, 2022, and 2023, including the Magic Advent Calendar from 2020, can be found HERE.

Thoughts on “And Yet It Is!”

“And Yet It Is!” is a card piece I describe in my book Stand-up Card Magic ( p. 119) and also perform on my first Penguin Live Video Lecture 1, the one devoted to stand-up magic with cards and reflecting pretty well the content of the homonymous book.

The trick is really a good one as it can be done in practically any situation, for a small audience and also for a large one, it has rhythm, enough situation comedy but not too much to ruin the effect, a double-reality climax, is easy to follow, and last but not least is an excellent exercise to practice basic techniques (a Force and a Top Change), assistant management and presentation. It is definitely not for the beginner but the ideal trick for the medium to advanced practitioner who likes performing. If you have never done the trick, you will be amply rewarded if you learn it and will then have a trick to keep in your active repertoire for a lifetime.

The trick itself, by the way, seems to be an old one whose originator is lost in the annals of magic, but which was popularized by Pat Page, who liked to perform and explain it in his lectures.

Although the trick can be done with any freely selected card (use a key card location if you do!), in my opinion best results are obtained if the card is forced.

In Stand-up Card Magic I suggest forcing the Jack of Hearts (JH), and then use the Ten of Hearts (10H) to top change. This makes the final transformation clear and visible even in a larger auditorium, and even those spectators who claim not to know cards can understand and appreciate the effect.

That claim, incidentally, that occasionally is brought forth by a spectator that he (or she) doesn’t know cards is just silly, because if they are literate – and most are (!) – they can read numbers and letters, and everyone in the civilized world recognizes a spade, a heart, a flower (club) and a diamond – so, is it that they don’t know? All these people want is attention, and I give it to them by replying, “Of course you do, you just didn’t know until now!” This inevitably causes a communicative laugh. But I am digressing…

Here is a small idea for the trick that occurred to me recently and that gives me that extra bit of confidence when classic forcing the JH.

Have the JH on top of the deck, immediately followed by the 10H.

Bring the two cards to the lower third, and hold break above them. Spread the cards between the hands trying to classic force the JH, BUT since you know that the 10H is following right after the JH, you have an extra leeway. When opening the spread a bit to make it easier for the spectator to take a card, spread both cards, so he can take one of two.

Although this is just one card more, if you have ever tried the Classic Force you know that this little thing is an enormous help. When the spectator looks at the card, casually cut the other card to the top and if you are like me, who does not like taking risks, glimpse it to make sure you know which of the two he took (I use the “Top-card Riffle Glimpse” from Card College 1, in my opinion the very best top-card glimpse for magic). Obviously the trick word regardless of which one of the two is initially selected.

The Mathematics of Shuffling Cards

Here is a book that was published recently and that might interest some of you.

The Mathematics of Shuffling Cards, by Persi Diaconis and Jason Fulman, explores the mathematics behind the question of how many times a deck of cards should be shuffled for effective mixing, using shuffling techniques such as riffle, overhand, and table smooshing.

It encompasses probability, combinatorics, and algebra, with applications to magic tricks and gambling, and also draws connections to advanced mathematical fields like Lie theory, algebraic topology, and stochastic calculus. Suitable for upper-division courses and researchers in mathematics, statistics, and computer science, the book offers insights into the application of probability theory in diverse realms, including card games.

Diaconis is the guy who ran off with Vernon at age fourteen, spent a few years with Vernon on the road (that would make quite a novel!), only to then go on to become one of the world’s most renowned statisticians. I met him on three occasions, and spent several days with him, and one day I might report about this, too 🙂

Talking to Denis Behr about the book and other publications by Diaconis, several of which relate to the world of magic, historically and technically, he sent me an interesting link: If you want to read and try to understand math of the highest degree as (sometimes) related to magic, you can find almost all of Diaconis’ scientific papers BY CLICKING HERE.

The Missing Link

Years ago I had founded a small “magic chat group” of a dozen people, not so much for “chatting” as I do not particularly like that, but with the idea that each member would contribute one item per month, usually without further discussions as this usually consumes more time than we have… The group’s name, by the way, was ViVaLuBa, and I challenge anyone to guess how it came about and what it means – don’t worry, it is not so important 🙂

The contribution could be an unpublished document or video, a short or long essay on any topic that somehow relates to magic, an opinion, a book review, an anecdote, etc. You get the idea.

If you consider that at the outset the group’s members were Max Maven, Pit Hartling, Howard Hamburg, Marco Pusterla, Reinhard Müller, Toni Cachadina, to name just a few, you can imagine that twelve times twelve high-caliber contributions made a more than just interesting addition to each member’s magic year.

Peu à peu the members thinned out, however, until only six were left, and then we stopped the project which had run a few years and provided all of us with a great time and exchange of excellent ideas.

In some future Magic Memories I might share a few items, although the consent was that all contributions were strictly confidential. Meanwhile, some of the members have sadly left us, such as Jesus Etcheverry and Max Maven, and so I will decide in their name what to release and what not.

One of the contributions came from my dear friend Stefano Rezzonico, who is one of those enlightened amateurs not many will know, and it came in form of link to a YouTube channel most of us were not aware of at the time.

The channel is named cardinimagican, and it contains mainly videos from the Spanish and South-American magic culture, so almost all is in Spanish language, but a lot being visual, you will be able to appreciate it anyway.

To get to the channel CLICK HERE.

Still One-Eyed…

That’s it for today, my friends, as I am still visually handicapped, waiting for the cataract operation on my second eye (not to be confused with my Second Sight…) on TUE, 23rd JAN 2024. Until then my eyes are out of sync, and I can only spend one or two hours in front of my beloved computer screen. I hope that with the second eye done view will return to normal, better than before… more in the next The Magic Memories 161.

BTW of “One Eyed”, if you have access to the books, check out “One-Eyed Jack Sandwich” in Lorayne’s My Favorite Card Tricks (p. 4), a good book… and Paul LePaul’s “The One-Eyed Jacks” in The Card Magic of LePaul ( p. 146), a sensational book…

Wish you all a successful and happy week,

Roberto Giobbi