Category: The Magic Memories

Hi everyone!

As this The Magic Memories number 28 is going online it is Sunday, 11th July, 2021, exactly 0:07 – welcome 🙂

Today, let’s talk money. I mean, not the money-money, but the magic-money.

The Miser’s Dream

First, I’ll remind newcomers to this blog that I have already talked about coin magic in several other blogs. You might like to see my take on the Coin Assembly plot titled “Coinvergence” in The Magic Memories (8), or the more recent clip “Le roi des dollars” by Segundo de Chaumón in the more recent The Magic Memories (25). BTW: You can find all past The Magic Memories blogs by CLICKING HERE.

The arguably greatest coin trick for laypeople is “The Miser’s Dream”. I remind all of you of Dany Ray’s wonderful routine that he used all his life in his cabaret act when he worked many of the top night clubs of the world. I discussed that in The Magic Memories (6) in more detail – here is just the clip for ease of reference; watch just the opening trick, which is his Miser’s Dream (CLICK HERE).

I’ve never had The Miser’s Dream in my active repertoire, for many reasons, but have read, studied and admired many versions. Only once in my career, as far as I can remember, did I use a routine – a fairly simple one at that – to open a presentation for a Trade Show. I’m glad you’re not asking me about technical details, because I have no recollection of them, although I might be able to find the script of the presentation. As an aside: I’ve never been a great proclaimer of scripts in magic, but whenever I did a trade show I wrote one. First, because there is quite a bit of text in it that I would normally not use and that was scripted for the company and the product. Second, because I would sell it, along with a preceeding treatment, and I would even charge for the hours needed to learn the text and practice the usually slightly changed trick sequences! Trade shows were fortunately only a short part of my career and I did them just for about ten years or so, and only three or four a year, alternating them with regular corporate and private show, lectures etc., in order to get a (for me!) healthy mix.

Anyway, I’ve been out of the Trade Show business for over ten years now, but could tell quite a bit about it, if you asked 🙂

Back to the Miser’s Dream: Although I can’t give you details of the performance, I will always remember one of the funniest anecdotes that happened to me on that occasion. It was the year 1990 and I was working for a renowned German company at an industrial fair called the “Hannover Industriemesse” – if you ask international trade show workers like Mark Phillips or Bill Goldman they can tell you more about this events which they, too, have worked several times.

I was doing a specially conceived performance to present the advantages of a computer controlled robot system for stock-keeping, at that time an innovative concept. To start my act I was using a simplified routine of the Miser’s Dream to attract people with the noise and visual quick effects – what else – and to mention the salient sales points which I would comment more explicitly later in the performance. I did six performances of ca. twenty minutes every day for 10 days. That, for me, was a lot of work!

On such a booth the employees change daily, at least there are people being exchanged every day. So it came that a new employee of the company arrived on the booth shortly before I was finishing one of my many performances. He caught maybe the last five minutes of the show, and of course the enthusiastic applause I usually received at the end of each performance – I was giving away things, so this made it easier. After the show I gathered, as usual, the few props I was using and went to my miniature dressing room on the booth where I met this newly arrived gentleman who complimented me on the performance. One of the props I was carrying was the coin pail for the Miser’s Dream. As he talked he suddenly became aware of all the coins in the pail. He instantly became silent, looked at me, then at the coins, then at me again with big eyes and exclaimed: “Whew, and they even give you tips!” If you think that in Europe tipping is far less common than in the United States, the situation was even funnier.

Checking my copious notes on the Miser’s Dream in my Evernote devoted to the subject, it almost made me pick up this wonderful trick again, but I won’t, as there are other projects requiring my attention. However, as this week’s contribution, here are three ideas that might put you on track.

The first is a note I made from Todd Karr’s amazing publication titled The Silence Of Chung Ling Soo – the book is out of print as far as I know, but you can ask at Miracle Factory (their site is currently under maintenance) or check second hand sites, such as bookfinder.com. CLICK HERE to see one of Mr. Robinson’s (his real name) ideas.

The second note is a one-page article by William W. Larsen, father of the Larsen brothers of Magic Castle fame and the founder of Genii magazine, from a 1950-issue of Genii, CLICK HERE to read.

And the third note is an idea of mine to open a Miser’s Dream routine, without any gimmicks and to be used with a normal champagne bucket (but you can of course use a gimmicked one, if you like… and have one). Here is the idea:

Pronunciation

Recently, while researching something completely different, I caught a little discussion on Internet on how to pronounce my name.

OK, very simple: It is Italian, of course, as “Roberto” suggests, and the last name “Giobbi”, which seems to be a Piemontese family name, is pronounced like “job” and “bee”, i.e. “jobee”, with the accent on the first syllable, “jóbee”. For the linguists among you, the “gio” is a voiced post-alveolar affricate as in “jungle” or “judge” or “job”, followed by the “bi”, which is a rounded closed front lingual vocal, and is not pronounced like “buy”, but like “bee”. So, you see, simple things can be quite complicated if you let experts at it… (the is why I wrote Sharing Secrets, to explain the complex in a simple way). Any questions?

And just in case you find these linguistic conondrums amusing, here is an entry from my own Secret Agenda, to remind those who have it, and for the rest, well, you can still get it, physical or as an e-book from the webshop (Hidden Agenda, unfortunately, is now out of print).

August 14 – The Ghoti is a Fish

This is not only fun and little known, it also shows the terrible logic that lies at the foundation of any language (especially English!).

Write the word “ghoti” in big letters on a piece of paper and declare that it is pronounced “fish”. Your audience will look at you, not knowing whether to be polite or tell you you’re nuts. You then proceed to prove your case.

gh is pronounced f, as in cough.

o is pronounced i, as in women.

ti is pronounced sh, as in nation.

Therefore, ghoti must be pronounced fish. Quod erat demonstrandum.

Interviews, Reviews, Blogs

I’ve given at least a dozen interviews, audio and video, in this year and the last one, the “Pandemic Years”, like many of my colleagues have. It is, of course, flattering to be asked for an interview, but also a bit time-consuming, especially with me, who speaks six languages, half the planet comes at me, since I always speak their language, which of course is a lot easier than having to use sub-titles or override-audio. The disadvantage is that the contents get repetitive and inflationary. I have therefore stopped this, at least for a while. So, if you like how I think and what I have to say, and you probably do if you are reading this right now, you can get a last (for the time-being…) ear- and eyeful of Giobbiwisdom. Here is a podcast interview I gave to Michael Close, and since he’s himself a very experienced and creative professional, there were a few question that have not been asked before, and you might find these interesting. To hear the interview you need to sign up to Mike’s free newsletter by CLICKING HERE. In the newsletter you’ll also find a very nice review of Sharing Secrets. For all of you who want to practice their French or who are native French speakers, Stéphane Bergounioux recorded a almost one-hour interview on his “Magic at Home”, and to see that FAITES CLICK ICI.

Sharing Secrets

Just a brief note to let you know that I ran out of my personal stock of Sharing Secrets, meaning that if you want the book for yourself or a friend, please go to your favorite dealer. If he doesn’t carry it, ask him why not (!), or go directly to the distributor penguinmagic.com. If you can’t find it, go back in a week or so and it should be there.

Have a great week!

Yours sincerely,

Roberto Giobbi

Hi everyone!

For the 27th time I welcome you to The Magic Memories, gone online SUN, 4th July 2021, at 0:07.

For a small part of the world, but a large part of my readership, the USA and its magic enthusiasts, it is a holiday, their Independence Day, and I send to all among you who are concerned my sincerest best wishes for a peaceful day and a successful future. I’ve been into magic for now over 48 years (wow!), and there are many amazing things I could tell, but possibly the best thing of all is that people of all nations, ages, social status, economic levels, religious, political and sexual orientation can meet and enjoy each others company and discuss and perform magic, without even mentioning their differences and simply enjoy that great passion they have in common, whether as beginners or as consummate professionals. I know, this has been said before, but it warrants being repeated time and again, because there is a big, important and far-reaching message here…

To Take Or Not To Take a Leave

As I’m writing this it is SAT, 3rd July, a few hours before this blog gets online. In Switzerland it is the first day of the summer vacation for most cantons, and they call it “Bündelidaag” in Swiss German dialect, “the day of the little bundle”, implying that today you’re supposed to pack a few things into a bundle and walk off for a well-deserved vacation. I immediately thought that I should do this, too, and take a leave from my weekly The Magic Memories post. Imagine my surprise, when this was confirmed by my horoscope (it is just opposite the crossword puzzles I like to solve in a weekly magazine I receive…), which read verbatim:

“That’s it, you’re worn out! Look at it as a welcome opportunity to slow down. Even you need a moment of relaxation from time to time.”

Now how is that? How did this astrologer know that I had spent a year writing, editing, correcting, layouting, marketing, unpacking, signing, repacking, schlepping etc. my book Sharing Secrets? Isn’t that incredible, especially because I, as a typical Taurus, do not believe in horoscopes. OK, I stole that line, sort of, as the original by Sir Arthur C. Clarke is: “I don’t believe in astrology; I’m a Sagittarius, and we’re skeptical.”

So, as I was about to write that I won’t write anything this month, I found myself in the midst of writing. I guess that makes sense, and proves that even nonsense has a meaning. If you have been into magic for such a long time as I have (see above…), and if you’ve decided to dedicate your life to the wonderfully complex  world of magic, it is not possible to think or say whatever it is, without finding a connection to magic. And this is precisely what happened here. As I was going to put you off until next week, I was reminded that astrology is, of course, a most interesting subject to use for presentations. It’s actually so easy, too easy… and experience has shown that you need to be very careful about what you say and to whom you say it. As magic proves to anyone who performs frequently, day after day, there are too many people out there who are incredibly naiv and gullible. I said it in several of my writings, and will gladly repeat it here: In my opinion magic should be used to edify and educate people, not to add to their ignorance. This means that if you use astrology with a serious presentation, several in your audience will be confirmed in their belief about it, and after the show you’ll have people come up to you and involve you in discussions you might not want. In this context I’m always reminded of Einstein’s quote: “Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity. But I’m not so sure about the universe.”

Back to the magic: two things, at least 🙂 One, returning to Sir Clarke, as I searched on Internet for the originator of the quote and found him, I have to admit to my ignorance that I did not know him, or maybe just had forgotten about him, yes, that’s it, I forgot 🙂 I clicked on his name, and up came dozens of clever quotes you might want to explore for yourselves. This one caught my attention: “This is the first age that’s ever paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one.”

Have a great week!

Yours sincerely,

Roberto Giobbi

Hi everyone!

Congratulation to you (and me): We made it to the 26th installment of The Magic Memories, gone online SUN, 27th June 2021, at 0:07h, this being mid-point of the second Pandemic Year.

Therefore, today’s leitmotiv is the number 26, naturalmente. I’ll do a bit of “free association” hoping that you’ll find one or two things that catch your fancy.

Half Forcing Deck

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of the number 26 is the “Half Forcing Deck” (HFD), i.e., one that consists of 26 cards all the same, and 26 indifferent cards. What sounds like a trivial thing is in reality quite complex. The basic application uses just the duplicates and the indifferent cards, usually separated in two banks, but also in groups or alternating. The next degree of sophistication is to shorten either one, in order to obtain one of two types of Svengali Deck. Although this is the deck par excellence to pitch to laymen on the street, in markets and magic shops, to the expert it is a powerful tool with which you can even fool people in the know. Just think “Partial Deck Switch” and “Faro Shuffle”… If you want to get an overview of what can be done with a Svengali Deck on a more sophisticated level, check out “Chapter 13 – Magic With a Svengali Pack of Cards” in Hugard’s (ed.) Encyclopedia of Card Tricks, and you’ll be spoilt for choice. This book, btw, is the book for the proverbial island: Descriptions reduced to the essential that require a lot of creative interpretation on the part of the student, i.e., the perfect starting point to practice “second degree originality”.

Yet another apparently simplistic application of the HFD is to treat the face of the duplicates and the back of the x-cards with roughing fluid to form 26 “Forcing Pairs”. You’ll find a most wonderful application of this rigged deck in Sharing Secrets, “The Trick That Can Be Explained”, p. 109, with which I’ve amazed some of the smartest minds in the business for years, including super-experts like Juan Tamariz and Bernard Bilis. If you have my book The Art of Switching Decks – A Guide for the Beginner and the Expert, watch the DVD (included at the back of the book!) again, just the first three tricks of the initial performance segment, and you’ll see me do that trick there. If you missed it, I promise that this will make your week 🙂

Years ago, I gave a lengthy lecture for my club here in Basel, the Zauberring Basel. For the record: The latter was originally founded under the name of “Hofzinser-Ring” in the year 1947, was later renamed “ZRB – Zauberring Basel” and joined as a local club the national organization Magischer Ring der Schweiz. In that lecture, however, I did not focus on what you can do with that Forcing Deck, but rather what you can do with the 26 indifferent cards! I can’t remember if people enjoyed it or threw eggs and tomatoes, but I still think that the subject is interesting, for various reasons you may now try to find for yourselves… I recommend you do this as a creative exercise: Make a list of ten tricks that can be done with this deck using the indifferent cards rather than the force cards. This is, of course, also very useful if you’re using a Half-Mnemonica (half of any memorized deck), to delay the use of the memorized part.

Sunken Key Card

If you are a card person, the number 26 should inevitably conjure up what might arguably be the most clever and deceptive use of the key card principle, the “Sunken Key Card”, sometimes called the “Distant Key Card Principle”, of which the “26th Card Location” is arguably the best-known example (but there are a lot more…). I first read about it in one of my favorite card books, Hugard’s & Braue’s Expert Card Technique, which I first read at age 16, and studied assiduously instead of chasing girls, which I should have done… but then maybe my Card College books would not be what they are. The lesson is: There is always a price to pay, and, as they say, nothing is for free, even death costs your life.

Anyway, the principle underlying the “26th Card Location” is put to effective use in “Routine 4” in Card College Light, pp. 63: I strongly advise you to re-study the complete three-part-routine, as not only is each trick a good one, but the synergistic idea connecting the three is a concept to note and retain. As I discuss in Sharing Secrets, recognizing and naming a concept is one of the most difficult, but also most useful things to do when you read or watch magic instruction. However, it is not enough to just do this, you must then also find one or two tricks in your repertoire to which you can apply the concept, in order to instill the concept and to make it part of your toolbox of skills, because that’s the point of real progress and the way to artistic maturity. And yes, it is a lot of work you can’t buy from magic store, BUT the results will be all you can hope for and contribute to your personal happiness – no esoteric beliefs and rituals here, just solid work. Isn’t it wonderful that you can reach happiness just by dealing with a key card concept 🙂

Incomplete Faro Control

The first to put the “Incomplete Faro” to good use was LePaul in his fantastic “Gymnastic Aces” from The Card Magic of Paul LePaul (p. 207), even after more than 70 years one of the best Ace-Openers. Marlo later concocted his control, where a card peeked at in the extended part of the telescoped deck, eventually ends up exactly in the center of an odd-numbered deck (26 – 1- 26). I discuss the principle in Card College Volume 3, in Richard Vollmer’s “The Two Detectives” (p. 697). Over the years Richard has come up with a few simplifications, which I have included in the revised edition of Grosse Kartenschule, so those who have the latest German edition of it can find it on p. 831. For the others who have the English edition, here is a very brief description: Instead of doing a Straddle Faro with the complete deck as described, hold the deck face down in elevated dealing position, cut off a little less than the top half of the deck, and then faro it into the larger lower part. Immediately extract the inserted part, discarding the few cards left on top and bottom of the deck. You end up holding a telescoped (incomplete) deck in perfect condition to execute the Incomplete Faro Control as explained in the trick. The advantage is that you don’t have to worry about your first Faro as much as before, and get into the trick smoothly.

Additional Suggestion

Try entering any of the above-mentioned terms into Denis Behr’s Conjuring Archive (such as “Sunken Key Card”, “26th Card Location” etc.), and you’ll be able to spend the rest of the week (at least!) exploring unknown galaxies of the Card Universe.

Final Comment

The Card College Playing Cards regular edition have been out of stock with many dealers, but Murphy’s just restocked, so you should be able to get them again. I predict that the first edition of 2019 (so marked on both sides of the card case) will soon be completely unavailable and become a sought-after deck. If you want to say “Thank you” and support yours truly (me!), order them directly from my webshop HERE (especially the brick with 12 decks is at a really good price). And if you do so, you’ll always get a personally signed greeting card and some “extras”.

Have a great week!

Yours sincerely,

Roberto Giobbi

Hi everyone!

Here we are with the 25th installment of The Magic Memories, gone online SUN 20th June 2021, as usual at exactly 0:07; so, we’re nearing mid-point, but more on that in the next post.

Segundo de Chomón and Georges Méliès

In my  Magic Advent Calendar, entry of December 10th, I wrote about French magician and father of artistic filmmaking Georges Méliès. You’ll find that it in the archive section of this website, or you can get all 24 contributions with all relevant links in one single PDF for a ludicrous price HERE. Alternatively, to get directly to the Méliès clip, CLICK HERE.

When Méliès success declined, Spain’s Segundo de Chomón (1871 – 1929) star started to rise. Rather than me telling you his story, those who are interested in the subject will find good information in several languages on Wikipedia by CLICKING HERE.

For years I started my presentations, especially my seminars and masterclasses, with the clip by Méliès (see above) or the following short video to break the ice and get into the subject in an unusual way. So, today’s offering is a charming short clip that shows just one of the many works of Segundo de Chomón, considered by film experts as the most significant Spanish silent film director. Although de Chomón was not a magician like Méliès, this clip shows not only his affinity for magic, but also quite an excellent understanding of it, or at least he had worked with someone who had an insight into magic. To watch the clip CLICK HERE.

Card College Playing Cards

I’ve finally managed to put my own Card College Playing Cards Regular Edition on the webshop, so you can order them, if you wish: Simply CLICK HERE. If you live in Europe, this is probably your best deal, if you live in the rest of the world, you might want to try your favorite dealer first, but they are out of stock everywhere I checked, and it might take some time before Murphy’s gets the next supply to distribute: Although the cards were printed by USPCC on their premium stock, the publisher is TCC, who also produces my books in China. It took a while until these cards were accepted, but now the dwindling stock shows an increased interest inside this crazy and unpredictable market, which is that of playing cards. But the thing with the Card College Playing Cards is really simple: they are very good cards, work out-of-the-box and the deck and its case have features I’ve never seen in other decks (the description of these features is HERE).

Besides, they faro top-down, as a counter-movement to those now called “traditional cut”, which faro from bottom up, and are only useful to those who want to practice their Table Faros in their free time, I guess as a sort of Zen Ersatz… However, nobody who is in his right mind would use a tabled Faro in a payed performance (you can count those who could on the fingers of one hand), as it is much safer to do an In-the-hands Faro, from top down, of course, because most faro applications are Partial Faros, and they are used to obtain a stack or to permute a card, and 90% of these applications go from the top. Now, since the mistakes in a Faro almost always occur at the end and not at the beginning of the Faro, the Top-down Faro is superior for anyone who wants to perform before real people. Needless to say, that exactly that method, the best I know, is taught in Card College Volume 3, pp. 681. You can learn the Partial Faro, which is sufficient for many applications, in five (!) minutes… provided you have the correct cards 🙂

Sharing Secrets

It seems that almost everyone who has pre-ordered and pre-paid the book from me directly has received his or her copy. If you haven’t yet, let me know and I’ll send you the tracking. I have now less than a dozen left in my private stock, so if you want a signed copy, please order it now. The book has sold much better than I had assumed, fortunately, as I need to sell 300 just to pay for the printing. From now on I’m on a profit, to pay for my and Barbara’s work over one year. How much would you pay yourself for a year’s work? Well, I can assure you, it’s going to be below that (unless a sponsor, donator or a patron of the arts decides to send some cash instead of the usual diploma). As for the books, you can still find copies at several European dealers right now, and from ca. end July order from penguinmagic.com, or your favorite dealer.

I’m glad to say that so far everyone seems to be pleased with the book, and some have even praised it to the skies – I’m embarrassed to say that, but of course very happy 🙂 Here is Michael Close’s review from his monthly Newsletter June 2021: To read CLICK HERE.

Have a great week!

Yours sincerely,

Roberto Giobbi

Hi everyone!

Welcome to  number 24 in the series of The Magic Memories, gone online SUN 13th June, 2021.

Thanks to all those of you who wrote in to say nice things, and ask a few questions, which I have taken note of and filed, so will answer them at some point as part of this series: More about Kaps (I have a lot!), how I take notes from watching videos, the philosophy of the Spanish School of Magic, what cards I prefer, and a large etcetera.

Interviews, quite a few…

In the past pandemic year, which seems to extend far too long into this year, I’ve been asked to give quite a few interviews, talks, lectures and private coachings. So, if you search Internet, you’ll find me answering all types of questions and do some magic in Spanish, Italian, German, French, and of course English. Just finished giving a lengthy audio interview to Michael Close, which should appear soon as part of his newsletter, and just the day before yesterday I chatted well over an hour for Stéphane Bergounioux from Paris and his channel.

Today, I would like to link you to my friend Fabian Weiss from Berlin, Germany, who has recently opened a YouTube Channel of his own, that bears the promising name “Wunderakademie”, and managed to collect quite a few interesting pieces you might want to explore – to do so CLICK HERE. Below you should be able to click on the “play” symbol of the photo and get my answers to some interesting questions he asked me.

The interview comes in two parts. Here is the first part:

And here is the second part:

Have a great week!

Yours sincerely,

Roberto Giobbi

Hi everyone!

Here we are on the 23rd installment of The Magic Memories, born into the virtual world on SUN, 6th June 2021, at 0:07.

Thank you to all who sent their feedback on last week’s topic discussing Fred Kaps’ “Chinese Sticks”. I could spend the rest of the year writing about him and his achievements, as he was such an allrounder, and tops in everything he touched.

“Gipsy Thread” done by Fred Kaps

My work and studies have several links to Fred Kaps, one of them is his “Thought Card In Cigarette”, which I discuss in my book Stand-up Card Magic, also available in German, Italian and French, and in my first Penguin Live Lecture (BTW: Those who say that cigarette tricks are outdated should use their head by putting the idea in a new context…). Another one is “Gipsy Thread” that has been one of the top five “battle horses” in my professional close-up work. There are so many great things about this essentially “simple” trick: it has a clear symbolism, the effect is straightforward and easy to understand, because of this it is easy to tell to others (the hallmark of all classics!), it can be performed for one person or for several hundred in a fairly large theatre, provided the light and sound are good, and of course it is an excellent trick for TV. Before I make a few more comments, see Fred performing the trick on The Parkinson Magic Show from 1976. (You can find the complete show featuring Richiardi Jr., a young Ricky Jay, and of course Fred Kaps with his stage act, plus various close-up pieces, plus his legendary “Eleven Dollar Bill Trick” as a stand-up item on YouTube. ) To watch Kaps do “The Gipsy Thread”, CLICK HERE.

It is only after watching it several times that you discover the many beautiful things contained. The handling with the spool is prodigious. I’ve never found an exact explanation of the handling he uses, and all the methods I’ve tried just did not work 100%. This is why I finally settled on the method I teach on my DVD/Download The Close-up Act. Another very interesting thing is how he handles the switch. Again, I’ve never seen this done by anyone, let alone published anywhere. Most handlings of this moment I’ve seen lack the absolute clarity Kaps’ handling has and which is worth its weight in gold. I seem to be the only one who has recognized and used it for decades now. Last but not least he has a lovely way of getting into and out of it, his management, technical and presentational.

I could give a complete talk about this trick alone, and I have (you bet I did – it’s one of my 58 talks). As far as I can remember I only gave that once at a a three-day workshop for young people (age 12 to 21) organized by the Magischer Zirkel of Deutschland. The poor chaps must have expected a firework of sleights and tricks, but all they got was the performance of one little trick, plus a 45-minute talk on all the tiny details making it up. It was a cruel thing of me to do this 🙂

If you are curious to see my handling and presentation of “Gipsy Thread”, CLICK HERE. You will appreciate that I’ve solved several problems of this trick, e.g. using a flat “spool”, a fool-proof unwinding (you can see that Kaps briefly has a problem when the ball unwinds), the Prologue and Epilogue, and a lot more.

Similar to The Linking Rings, this is one of the tricks that really play big and that can be used for all types of audiences, in virtually all types of situations – there are not many tricks that do this. I will be very candid with you and tell you that The Close-up Act is one of the items I produced in my lifetime that sold very badly, compared to my other products, similar to Confidences, the slowest selling book of mine. I was not surprise, but still very disappointed. In over 3 hours I teach only 4 tricks, but with many additional thoughts, unlike any other magic video I know. However, the tricks themselves are not novel, nor is the presentation eccentric, simply because I’m not an eccentric. But I can honestly say that I’ve been using these tricks (and some others, of course) in the past 30 years of my professional career, that has taken me to four continents, to some of the most beautiful places, performing for some very exclusive companies and private people. So, it is the Real Work, as they say, much more real than the novel stuff that dazzles the eye and is then put aside.

As a last comment, if you have Sharing Secrets, on p. 33 I give my script for the performance of “Gipsy Thread” in the theatre, inspired by Al Koran’s presentation of “The Torn & Restored Cigarette Paper”.

Did I say I like this trick?

Sharing Secrets News

Almost everyone in Europe seems to have received the book, and reactions have been very kind: judging from the feedback I got up to now, it seems that the book is not so bad 🙂 If you are in Europe and have not yet received the book, let me know, and I’ll check/send you the tracking – not all, but most books are trackable (I won’t let you into the intricacies of why some are and others are not, as this is one of the deep mysteries of the post office…). Once again: If you live outside of Europe you need to be patient. However, I’ve received notice that some in USA have already got their copy, so I’m confident this might be faster than the threats from the post office made me think…

Have a great week!

Yours sincerely,

Roberto Giobbi

Hi everyone!

Here we are with the 22nd installation of The Magic Memories, gone online on SUN, 30th May 2021, at 0:07 o’clock.

Today, let’s talk about Fred Kaps, just briefly, I’m afraid, as the man and his magic warrant a huge project. If you search Internet, you’ll find quite a bit of information, photos and videos. In particular I would like to focus on Kaps’ personal version of an old chestnut, the Chinese Sticks. In the PDF, which is today’s gift to you, I’ll give you a bit of info on the context. Before you read the text in the PDF, may I suggest that you watch Kaps himself do the routine. To see a young Fred Kaps, at the age of 37, perform his interpretation of the Chinese Sticks on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1963, CLICK HERE. (If, for whatever reason, the link shouldn’t work, simply search “Kaps Chinese Sticks” on YouTube.)

Kaps kept performing this trick long into his professional career. So, several years later, in The Fred Kaps Show, you could see a mature Fred Kaps doing the same routine, with the same text, but it has aged beautifully, like a great port. I couldn’t find the clip on Internet, and am reluctant to upload it from my private file for reasons of TV-copyright, which can be quite a hassle. To read and/or download the PDF with my script of Kaps’ Chinese Sticks, CLICK HERE.

Below is a photo of Fred Kaps performing in an informal close-up situation – he was a master at this. The photo was kindly given to me by Flip Hallema – if you know the photo credit, please advise.

Of course, we could go on a tour exploring the cultural history of the Chinese Sticks, and what an interesting and enlightening exploration it would be, I’m convinced it would even make the subject of a fascinating book, but since I just finished writing one, and know of its implications (!), we won’t do it here 🙂 BUT, if you give yourself 3 minutes, have a look at the British magician Sutherland Felce, who performed the Chinese Sticks in quite a different way, CLICK HERE to watch.

(Maybe…) Final News About Sharing Secrets 

Finally, it’s done! By the time you are reading this, the books have all arrived here at our home in Muttenz, Switzerland, near Basel, have been carried, stocked, unpacked, signed, repacked, taken to the post office, and are now in the hands of the shippers. Those who live in Switzerland and Germany can expect it Monday or Tuesday, or have it already received. Those living in Europe should get it the coming week, so keep an eye on the postman. For all others outside of Europe I’ll have to beg for a little patience. Due to Corona the post office announced that the planes are overbooked and do not exclude the possibility of sending via ship, which will take several weeks. We’re still living in an exceptional time, and need to put up with exceptional measures.

I wish you a pleasant and successful week!

Roberto Giobbi

Hello everyone!

It is SUN, 23rd May 2021, 0:07h, and time for the 21st edition of The Magic Memories to go online.

My gift to you today is a PDF with the notes I took when attending a two-day workshop held by Britain’s inimitable Patrick Page.

On the 28th of October 2008, Sven Bolliger (aka Sven Spacey), President of the Magic Circle of Switzerland, booked Patrick Page for a full two-day seminar in Switzerland. It took place in Reto Breitenmoser’s amazing Miracle Factory in Degersheim, a secluded village in the north-east part of the country, in the canton where the famous Appenzeller cheese is produced. It’s a great event place, houses the library of the Magic Circle of Switzerland (MRS/CMS), as well as a museum of magic, so, if you’re ever cast up in that corner of the world, it’s worth a visit.

Due to professional commitments, I could only assist at one of the two days, but inviting Pat for dinner the night before near Zurich Airport compensated for this. I thought that you might be interested in the notes I took at the time. The more experienced among you will recognize some great Pat Page classics, but I’m more than confident, that some of them will be worthy rediscoveries and some of it new – as it was to me when I attended this remarkable and memorable event. Now that Pat Page sadly has passed away, my notes and annotations might not only bring to you some really useful professional tricks, techniques, and presentations, but hopefully a bit of his incomparable personality and insight he had into magic.

To read and/or download the PDF, CLICK HERE. I’ll also put the PDF in the section of “Free Downloads” on the webshop, where you can find other essays of mine that mind find your favor. It’s all free 🙂

Sharing Secrets Update

The books are still on their way from Italy to me (Switzerland) – it’s only about 800 km from Florence to Basel – but scheduled to arrive beginning of next week, after Whitsun, so I’ll be able to ship all orders before next Friday. All who ordered from Switzerland and Germany will then get the book within one or two days, Europeans within 3 to 5 days. For all who ordered from outside of Europe (USA, Canada etc.) I beg for a little more patience: all books are insured and trackable, but the post office announces delays in delivery due to Corona (will this ever have and end!? There is only one other option, and that’s paying “Premium” delivery, which is ca. $ 80 per book! And this is just unacceptable.)

So, your books will arrive, eventually, but will take a few weeks. As announced earlier, 1’500 books will officially hit the USA-shores by end July/beginning August, and you can then order it directly from penguinmagic.com (they even pay shipping worldwide) or from your favorite dealer. However, I do thank all of you who ordered directly by me and thus help finance the book in advance. After one year of work, close to 1’000 working hours between Barbara, Francesco and myself, and an investment of close to $ 20’000, it is nice to get some of it back. If I was a professor at a University, the College, or a foundation, would take care of at least the printing expenses for such an important book, but in magic we are far away from such a model… You can still order at the pre-publication rate until May 31st BY CLICKING HERE.

Hello everyone!

This is no. 20 of The Magic Memories, gone online SUN, 16th May, at 0:07h.

On Vernon

As you will know, if you follow my publications, I greatly admire Dai Vernon. Like Hofzinser and Robert-Houdin in their time, and Juan Tamariz today, he created a major paradigm shift in the world of magic. I still think that the books Ganson wrote on his magic – the Inner Secrets quadrilogy – are as topical today as they were when they were published in the Sixties of the last century (millenary!) – I discuss a few of Vernon’s tricks in my DVD project Favorites.

I had the good fortune of meeting Vernon on three occasions, the first being in London, in 1979, at one of the legendary One-day Conventions, organized by the late, great Ron MacMillan. At the time the MacMillans (Ron, his wife Teresa, his son Martin, who now runs the shop, and his daughter Georgina) scheduled their unique conventions at the beginning of December, so by going to London you got the whole pre-Xmas hurly-burly as a Bonus. Fully decorated Picadilly Circus, exceptional Portobello Row Market, oh my, that was quite something for a twenty-year-old. And of course you’d stay at least one or two days longer to visit the Magic Circle on Monday evening, where luminaries such as Fred Robinson, Eric Mason, Ali Bongo, David Berglas held court. I have no idea why those people, stars of world-renown, would talk to Young Giobbi, do magic for him and even patiently endure some of his card tricks. I consider myself very lucky for this.

And then of course there was the visit to Ken Brooke’s shop in Soho. A friendly magician I had met at the German Cardworkshop took me there, and I remember the three things I bought on his recommendation: Fred Kaps’s “Working Man’s Wallet” that I’ve used all my performing life to this day, Jerry Andrus’s “Miser’s Miracle” that although a great idea I’ve never used, and Gaetan Bloom’s “Missing Diget” that became part of my FISM prize-winning act in 1991 and inspired the corner switch I’ve been using all my professional life for my “Bill in Lemon” routine. I mention this, because in my life I have only bought very, very few things other than books from a magic shop, a fact that might surprise some. Tamariz, whom I had met in 1978 at a German convention, even took me for a visit at Ken Brooke’s home. Ha, I will never forget that! There were Juan Tamariz doing his “Tamariz Rabbits”, Dick Koornwinder his “Koornwinder Car”, Gaetan Bloom his “3 Card Monte”, and Ken himself performed Fin Jon’s “Esoteric” by placing the deck on the floor of his living room, dancing around it (hilarious!), and then the deck started to split in three movements, only to produce the three previously selected cards. At that time I had no idea how this worked and was utterly amazed, to say the least. But the most astonishing thing to me, in retrospect, was, how the heck I got into that round, as an absolute nobody then. Anyway, these are indelible memories and have become an important part of my life.

To come back to Vernon: The convention took place for many years at the “Empire Rooms” in London’s Tottenham Court Road, how could anyone, who has attended one of these events, forget that! I’ll tell you some other time about when Ron booked me to perform close-up, with Tamariz on my right and Williamson on my left side… However, the real “action” took place the evenings before and after the convention in the Kennedy Hotel, which for some miraculous reason seemed to be able to host all out-of-town visitors, or so it seemed to me. Some kind of “Water from India”, but with magicians from a hotel instead 🙂

I can’t remember how this happened, but suddenly, in the bar, I was sitting at a table with Dai Vernon and Ron Wilson, who had accompanied him. With the innocence and naivité of an enthusiastic youth, I started to do card tricks for Vernon and Wilson! In hindsight I’ve asked myself several times if I had just dreamt that, but no, it really happened. And I know for one particular reason – here is the story: I had done several tricks for them, and then closed with “Aces Faroleros” from Frank Garcia’s Super Subtle Card Miracles. Vernon, as the gentleman he was, made some kind remarks, whereupon I said to him: “Professor, this is a trick by Frank Garcia.” Somehow, at the time, I wasn’t aware of the controversy Garcia’s two books had created in the world of magic. I attribute it to this fact much more than to my abilities that Vernon paused for a moment and frowned, but then jovially exclaimed in a loud voice that made everyone nearby turn around, “Oh, you are much better than Garcia, much better!” I confess I can’t remember whet happened then, nor how the evening continued, but I’ve never forgotten this little vignette in my life.

The photo below was taken at the Magic Castle in 1989, the third and lamentably last time I met Vernon, after a performance of mine in the Close-up Gallery, and you can see The Professor doing the unpublished version of his “Vernon-Giobbi hand-to-hand Palm Transfer”…

More on Vernon

One of my 58 lectures is on the Life & Work of Dai Vernon – some of you might have seen it. I have given that lecture many times, mostly as a 3-hour lecture, but occasionally also as a full-day Masterclass. Once I gave it in Las Vegas as a day-before Workshop to the World Magic Convention. On that occasion Michael Close interviewed me on Vernon and my talk on him, and published it in M-U-M, of which he was the editor. This will be my gift to you of this week. It’s not just bla-bla: If you read it, I believe you will get some very practical advice and ideas you will be able to use. To read the interview CLICK HERE.

I had always wanted to record this lecture, but it only happened at The Session in 2015, when Andi Gladwin and Joshua Jay invited me to their event; the day before I did the three-hours-plus lecture for a select group of attendants, and we taped the entire session. Because I’m very happy that my next book is finally out (see below!), I will extend a little extra offer to you: If you still don’t have my Dai Vernon Seminar, you can get it now at 25% off the regular price (only for 007 days). Notet: my publishers at Vanishing Inc. tell me that this physical double-DVD-set is out of print, and they are not planning on reissuing it. It really is a beautiful set with two DVDs  that folds out and is housed in an elegant slipcase. I only have about two dozens left, and then they will be gone. There is also a nice black page inside, where I can sign it to your name with a silver-colored Sharpie, but you must request that on the order form, please. To order a set CLICK HERE.

Sharing Secrets Breaking News!

The photo below was taken by my co-publisher Francesco Mugnai from Florence Art Edizioni at the binder’s in Florence, Italy: With me conceiving and writing it, Barbara taking photos and layouting, Francesco and Sylvia consulting and also layouting lots of details, the graphic designer conceiving the cover, Mike Vance and Max Pritchard proof-reading and editing, a company printing, another doing the hardcover, yet another binding all, still another putting the cellophane around and packing it, well, that makes eleven different “companies” producing that one book, and we won’t count those involved in the logistics to get it first to me and then to you. If you want to acknowledge all that work, and at the same time do yourself a favor, you can order it BY CLICKING HERE (at a pre-publication price until May 31st).

And now, my friends, have an excellent week!

As always, with much affection, yours truly,

Hello everyone!

These are The Magic Memories no. 19, gone online on SUN, 9th May 2021, at 0:07 o’clock.

Thank you!

First and foremost, a BIG thank you to all who sent in birthday wishes, all much appreciated, but it happens to all of us, once a year… so it’s no big achievement 🙂

Magic in the Springtime…

In the photo below you can see me under the beautifully blooming Japanese Cherry Tree in our garden, holding the three books from the Light Series – the Japanese version, of course.

Both the Card College and the Light series have now been translated and published in eight languages, no mean achievement in the small world of magic. So I’ll take your congrats for this 🙂

Talk on “How do you do a book, Mr. Giobbi?”

Second, in the last Magic Memories (18) I mentioned the talk I gave in Paris in 2005 for the “Club Magique de Paris”, of which I was the first and sole honorary member, which means I gave the lecture for free… This lecture was recorded by my dear friend and co-gastro-magician Yves Carbonnier and never intended to be published, just for archival purposes. It was a one-time talk I gave on the subject of what happens from the moment I have an idea for a book, to the moment the book hits the market. I do this on the occasion of the publication of Cours de cartomagie moderne – Tome 3, the French translation of Grosse Kartenschule Band 5, in English Card College Volume 5 (any questions?). I also perform and discuss three tricks from this book. Even if you don’t speak French, which is easy because it is so similar to Italian and Spanish and based on Latin, you can fast forward to the tricks. I perform “A Psychological Test” (CC5, p. 1137), “The Color-changing Deck” (CC5, p. 1333) and “The Joker Folds up” (CC5, p. 1349), which are superb tricks, if I may say so myself.  To watch the talk CLICK HERE.

Third, let’s talk shop, what else?

The above-mentioned “Color-changing Deck” from Card College Volume 5 makes the ideal offering for today. I’ve used this routine for years, and am still using it, to open a close-up performance. It is visual and interactive, has a good pacing, and has a very nice multiple-climax built-up at the end that is not confusing at all – a danger of this type of trick – but quite on the contrary is impressive and memorable. Furthermore, it has the benefit of starting with a set-up deck, a convenience that should always be taken advantage of. At the end you are left with a complete deck, “free from guile”, to paraphrase the Professor, which you can hand out for shuffling… and then start your next miracle. This is the performance part of an instructional video I did for Spain’s Dani DaOrtiz. To watch the performance CLICK HERE. You can find its explanation on p. 1333 of Card College 5. Danny also has the explanation in English and Spanish for sale on his webshop www.gkaps.com at a ludicrous price, and you’ll find an amazing number of talent on that page, too. (Pour la petite histoire, as the French say: The recording was done in the entry hall of Juan and Consuelo Tamariz’s home in the south of Spain, in the summer of 2014.)

Sharing Secrets – The 52 Most Important and Practical Strategies in Magic 

Last, but not least, for all those who’ve been following along the good and the bad times of a magic-book-author, here are the latest news: the book went from the printer to the binder, and there is a good chance that it will be finished by next week-end, in which case you’ll be told, of course. To take advantage of the pre-publication offer CLICK HERE.

Have an enjoyable week!