Category: The Magic Memories

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: CCCCC – The Criss-cross Cut Count Convincer Force; The Top-card Dribble Glimpse; Mysterious Kid Cutting the Aces

These are The Magic Memories 188, gone online Sunday, August 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.

It is full summertime here in Basel, Switzerland, and it is hot. I cannot say whether it is my age, or my overweight, or the global warming, or all together, but it is exhausting and almost feels like work.

Fortunately, in such situations I am quick to remind myself of what Confucius is reported to have said: “If in life you do what you like, you will never have to work.” I have appointed myself to that occupation a long time ago, so…

This wise man hit the nail on the head, but still, it is a bit too warm…

Therefore, and in spite of all climatic adversities, I am working full-time at finishing Unexpected Agenda. 

That is, Barbara and me are working, Barbara having already passed by far the two-hundred-hour work time to produce the photos and illustrations for the book, and is now layouting each and every page of what will very probably be a 384-page publication. (I started the Unexpected Agenda-file in October 2021, so by now have already invested over one thousand work hours in the project.)

Recently, Maxwell Pritchard, who already helped us with Sharing Secrets in an admirable way, has joined the team and is donating most of his time in August to editing the book (I cannot count his hours…). As a favor to him, please, nobody who is reading these The Magic Memories tell him about them: If he read them, he would suffer a heart-attack (as I have said repeatedly, the The Magic Memories are completely unedited, and I read through them only once, with all the consequences, for which I take up all responsibility…).

Soon Mike Vance will reread the entire book once again, to make sure that I correctly installed all of Max’s edits; if you count at least ten minutes per page, that will be another 3’840 minutes (64 hours!).

After that we will print out every page for the second time (you have to print the text to see how it really looks…), look through everything again for the n-th time, and finally send off everything as a print-PDF to my friend Francesco Mugnai, who sits in Florence, Italy (yes, “bella Italia!”), with his Florence Art Edizioni, and will set the finishing touches on the printable PDF, plus create the cover and supervise the printing, binding, cellophaning, shipping, etc. All this done by different companies to optimize the costs of production, which are getting worse every day.

Add to this that eventually I will be paid in Euros and in Dollars, once the book starts to sell, and that these two currencies keep falling toward the Swiss Franc (one Dollar used to be 1 Franc 80 Cents in 2000, today it is less than 90 Cents…), but the Cappuccino now costs up to CHF 6.50 (today equivalent to €7 and US$7.6), well, then you might wonder why we are doing all this.

Answer: I am stupid, but I would not know anything else to do…

I had to say this, it’s therapy… thank you for listening 🙂

All this said, let us turn to today’s The Magic Memories, all on cards 🙂

The CCCCC Force – The Criss-cross Cut Count Convincer Force

No, the sleight did not originate at FFFF…

The first three C’s  are a natural from the Criss-cross Cut Force, also known as Cross-cut Force.

The “Count Convincer” part came from rereading what is possibly Dai Vernon’s very first publication – certainly the first publication for the lay market – namely Secrets of Magic, from 1924 (take note!), in a trick named “The Whispering Queen” (I will reproduce that with an addition on one of the 365 days of Unexpected Agenda).

The spectator is handed the deck for shuffling. Ask another spectator to cut it, and then complete the cut by placing the lower half askew on top of the other; that is the standard procedure.

However, note that the deck was shuffled before it was cut, or else the cut does not make any sense. You will obviously have to glimpse the top card now, if it does not matter which card is forced, or replace the force card(s) from the Palm, or (false) shuffle the deck yourself (use the Curry–Tamariz telescoped-deck ploy).

Ask, “Do you know how many cards you cut off?” This is, of course, Ascanio’s “Clouding Question” (Sharing Secrets, p. 30).

Quickly count the upper packet’s cards face down onto the table, e.g., twenty-two.

Immediately take the top card of the tabled packet and give it to the first spectator, “…you get the twenty-third…” Give the next card to a second spectator, “……you get the twenty-fourth…” Ask the third spectator to take the next card, commenting, “…and you get the twenty-fifth card. Please look at the cards and remember them.” This is in case you want to force three cards. Adapt to one card, etc.

Lest I forget…

In spite of its simplicity, the Criss-cross Cut Force has received quite a bit of attention over the years. If you are interested in the subject, the indefatigable Jon Racherbaumer has published an e-book available from library.com, titled CRISS-CROSSINGS – Unleashing the X-Force, 34 pages all dedicated to this polyvalent Force. It was actually while reading in that publication that I forced myself to look again at the Criss-cross Cut Force, identifying its illogical bits. As a result I came up with what I think to be the best handling of it, at least to my criteria, and I called it “The Arete Crisscross Force”; it will be the entry of December 10 in the upcoming Unexpected Agenda, and the first time it sees print in English. 

The Top-card Dribble Glimpse

This is an extension, or variation, if you will, of what I have dubbed the Top-card Riffle Glimpse in Card College Volume 2 (p. 355).

Cannot remember if I ever told you how I got the idea of the Top-card Riffle Glimpse.

In an older book by Rolf Andra (Karten-Kombinationen 1949 and Karten-Magie – Das Handbuch der Magie 1956), he described what he called “das Ankippen”, where you lifted the inner end of the deck’s top card to glimpse it.

Albeit practical, I found it a bit obvious. So, I thought that the Glimpse would be better covered if the deck’s inner end was lightly riffled, and the last card lifted off a bit more and its index sighted.

This was a bit better, but still obvious to the attentive spectator.

Then I was reminded of Erdnase’s “Blind Riffles – I. To Retain the Top Stock.” Look at figure 6 on p. 35:

Erdnase glimpses the top card during a Riffle Shuffle by slightly drawing it inward as the riffle ends.

If you have older cards, you might not be able to cleanly pull the top card inward.

So, I started to obtain a break under the top card before starting the riffle, and this worked like a charm.

It had the added advantage, that I could sight the index of the top card already when mid-way through the shuffle, so that I could lift the gaze and look into the audience, saying something, as the Riffle Shuffle ended.

In an act of interdisciplinarity, I transferred this idea to Rolf Andra’s original “Ankippen” and as a result got the Top-card Riffle Glimpse.

And now for the variation, which is really minimal, you will say, but I found it to be really very practical: Hold the deck in Dealing Position, obtain a break under the top card, briefly holding it with the little finger. With the other hand grip the deck in End Grip, the thumb taking over the break, and then dribble the cards onto the table.

As with the Top-card Riffle Glimpse, you will be able to glimpse the top card’s inner left index when you have dribbled off about half the cards, so you can then look up and say something (meaningful!), e.g., “Your card is somewhere here in the pack – please do not forget it.”

To avoid flashing the maneuver, turn to the spectator furthest to your left, if you are right-handed.

Mysterious Kid Cutting the Aces

This next item will probably only please a few among you, so I apologize to the rest, but I find it a lovely item.

I got the inspiration by reading “The Cull Riffle of the Mysterious Kid” on p. 212 of Dai Vernon’s Revelations, which Vernon called “the final book of the New Testament” 🙂 I still prefer the edition of 1984 that respects the original pagination of The Expert at the Card Table, and has Persi Diaconis’ superlative “Introduction”.

Here it is, directly from my Evernote-Notebook:

Cutting the Aces with Block Transfer

Variation I

Inspired by reading Cull Riffle Mysterious Kid

Effect

The deck is riffle shuffled 4 times, each time about a quarter of the deck is cut forward to the table. Eventually 4 packets rest on the table – the top card of each is an Ace.

Method

False shuffle and false cut to retain the 4 Aces on top.

Do the 1st part of Vernon’s Cold Deck Cut, ending up with about one quarter of the deck separated on top. Undercut at the break to the left, and Riffle Shuffle the packets together, letting an Ace fall last. Do Vernon’s Triumph Shuffle, transferring the top Ace onto the right packet, which is then pulled out and cut forward to the table: it will have the Ace on top, with the balance of the deck having the other 3 Aces on top.

Repeat twice, leaving 4 packets on the table, each with an Ace on top.

To vary the handling, use a Pull-out Shuffle With Block-transfer, or a Push-through With Block-transfer, or a Zarrow Shuffle, or a Slip Cut (on the last 2 Aces).

Variation II

In my small white notebook it says «Fechter Cutting the Aces with Zarrow», but I couldn’t find it in Fechter’s book. It reminds me of a similar effect and handling shown to me by Jason England in Toronto, in a lunch break at 31 Faces North.

Effect

The deck is riffle shuffled and run cut, then about half the cards lifted off – the top card of the lower packet is an Ace, the card below and above being shown as indifferent cards. The deck is completed, and the other 3 Aces are found in a similar way.

Method

The 4 Aces are on top. False shuffle and false cut to retain them there.

Add 2 x-cards in 2 ordinary Riffle Shuffles. Show that there are no Aces on the top and the bottom.

For the first Ace: Do the first two parts of Vernon’s Cold Deck Cut, Zarrow under 2 cards, retain a break between the two packets as you square up, slide the deck forward, and then cut and complete the cut. Turn the first Ace face up and leave it on the table.

For the second Ace: Do the first two parts of Vernon’s Cold Deck Cut, undercut to the left, Zarrow under 2 Aces, retain a break between the two packets as you square up. Slide deck forward and with your right hand cut off at the break, turn top card of tabled packet face up to reveal the second Ace. Show top few cards and bottom few cards of tabled packet to be indifferent cards. Complete deck by placing the packet in your right hand on top of tabled packet.

The third Ace: Dribble cards on the table, as you say that the third Ace is at position 37.» Do the Benzais Spin Cut to cut off apparently 37 cards and reveal the third Ace. Show top and bottom cards, and then complete the deck to bring the last Ace on top.

The forth Ace: Add 2 x-cards in 2 ordinary Riffle Shuffles. Show that there are no Aces on the top and the bottom.

Do the first two parts of Vernon’s Cold Deck Cut, undercut to the left, Zarrow under 2 Aces, retain a break between the two packets as you square up. Undercut to the left. Riffle the packet from the right hand into the left packet, dropping the top 2 cards last. Do a Vernon Simple Push-through, run-cutting the extracted packet on top of the tabled packet, retaining a break. Slide deck forward, cut at break, and reveal top card of tabled packet to be the last Ace.

To end replace the 4 Aces on top of the balance of the deck and do three Riffle Shuffle à la Vernon Top Stock Control (see Secret Agenda, May 26 – Top-Stock Control with Riffle Shuffle… this is sensational) ; reveal the Aces to have returned to the top.

Wish you all a successful and happy week,

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Cups & Balls from “Tio Cigueño” (1839) by Joaquín Matas with video; Jimmy, the Card Cat

These are The Magic Memories 187, gone online Sunday, July 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.

Cups & Balls from “Tio Cigueño” (1839) by Joaquín Matas

In The Magic Memories 186 I made a few comments on Kai Borchers, alias Kalibo, performing at the “Hintertuxer Zaubertage” his Cups & Balls routine that lasted over twenty minutes, and how excellent I thought it was in spite of me having expected the contrary due to its length.

Well, there I also mentioned the talk Jesus Etcheverry, Toni Cachadiña, José Angel Suarez and I gave on the history of magic books in Spain at the Magialdia convention in Vitoria in 2016.

At the end of the almost 90-minute presentation we had asked our friend Joaquín Matas, one of Spain’s most successful and celebrated professionals and one of the most outstanding students of Arturo de Ascanio and Gabi Pareras, if he would be interested in presenting the Cups & Balls routine as it appeared in Juan Mieg’s landmark book El brujo en sociedad from 1839.

The book is one of the most important in early Spanish magic literature. There are reprints available – in Spanish, of course – one of which by Frechiné Editores with an almost 20-page introduction by Juan Tamariz, to whom this is one of the favorite books. Since this edition is no longer available, I should ask Juan Tamariz on my next visit if he would allow me to scan and translate the text for you. Remind me…

Similar to “Erdnase”, the book is mostly referred to as “El Tio Cigueño”, the alias of author Johannes (Juan) Mieg, rather than by its full title “El brujo en sociedad, o sea breve instruccion para aprender a ejecutar con destreza muchos juegos de manos, y otras varias suertes curiosas y divertidas”. Good idea…

In the book that boasts 350 pages, plus five two- and three-part fold-outs, the description of the Cups & Balls routine goes from p. 146, titled “Juegos de cubiletes”, to p. 191, that is almost fifty pages of text without a single illustration (there are a few on the fold-outs, though…).

As a historical curiosity I would like to mention that Juan Mieg originated from Switzerland, having been born in Basel, the same city I was born…

He lived from 1780 to 1859, where exactly one hundred years later, in 1959, I would be born.

Therefore, I will have to double-check if I might not be his reincarnation! (I must, though, ask Magic Christian and Steve Cohen for advice, as a rumor is going about that they might possibly be the reincarnation of Hofzinser and Malini, respectively…)

Anyway, below is – for your summer entertainment pleasure – the video clip extracted from the presentation we did at Magialdia 2016, with the kind permission of Joaquin, the performer, and José Ángel, the organizer and producer of Magialdia.

I assure you that you will be able to enjoy the performance even though you might not understand a word of Spanish, which is Spanish of the 18th century anyway, and I would like you to consider the situation and cultural context this performance took place. If you try to understand why certain things are done the way they are done, you will gain a better understanding of magic, I promise.

So, watch the video like an innocent bystander in the streets of an unnamed city in the late Age of Enlightenment, just for enjoyment, and then like an art critic would the painting of an old master.

Now, how was that for a C&B Routine, eh?

For the benefit of those who do not understand Spanish, the last words of “Juan Mieg”, who at the end has converted back to Joaquín Matas, are, “What you have seen is only a part of the routine as it is published in the book… the part with the production of the oranges is about half-way through the entire routine!”

Jimmy, the Card Cat

A few days back my young friend Lorenz Schär, one of Switzerland’s outstanding talents, visited.

As usual we spent a non-stop-magic-talk long afternoon plus an evening-night that ended in an Alsatian gourmet restaurant (how else?).

Below is a photo he sent in from our session, proving that card tricks put certain individuals asleep…

Anyway, it is a hot summer day in many parts of the world, it is summer vacation time, and therefore I do not want to tax your patience too much.

Besides, we are working (almost) around the clock setting the finishing touches on Unexpected Agenda – right now I put my “final” edits on every one of the 365 entries before all goes to Max Pritchard, my editor, and Mike Vance, my proof-reader. After we have installed all the edits, corrections, additions, etc. we hope to be able to get the PDF to the printer, so that the book can be with you for the Holiday Season.

Briefly: I quit this week’s The Magic Memories here, and go to work on the book…  All your cheers, support, encouragement, etc. are invited 🙂

Wish you all a successful and happy week,

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Hintertuxer Zaubertage 2024 – a report

These are The Magic Memories 186, gone online Sunday, July 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.

Hintertuxer Zaubertage 2024

I am back from this most unusual and unique “magic convention”; as promised here are a few impressions.

First of all I should say that this is already the tenth year in a row they book me for that event, interrupted by three Covid Years, and always in combination with two or three other magic colleagues.

In the past  I have done this together with Markus Zink, Jörg Alexander, Christopher Borer, Thomas Otto, Alex Ray, Wolfgang Moser, and several others, all highly qualified performers and workshop instructors. I do not even try to understand why they keep asking me back year for year… it probably is because I have not yet drunk myself through their exquisite wine list 🙂

The Set-up

There are several things that set this event apart from any other event I have attended in my magical life.

First, it takes place in a location where “fox and hare say goodnight to each other”, as a German idiomatic expression says, meaning “in the middle of nowhere”, which is actually at the end of a valley, at a height of ca. 4’500 feet, that is limited by a huge glacier that allows skiing all year round.

This again means that once you are stuck in that beautiful four-star-plus hotel, you will not move away from there for the entire duration of your stay.

At almost all other conventions attendants get off in all directions to go to restaurants, bars or shows (Las Vegas), but here everyone gathers in the lobby and the bar, and the magic goes on until the last falls from the chair…

View from hotel room

Second, the hotel, which boasts a spa with swimming pool, sauna, etc. , offers full meals, one of the best breakfast buffets I know (and believe me I know A LOT), with exclusive regional specialties, virtually all made by hand, including half a dozen breads, salads, sausages, home-made jams, juices, and a large etcetera.

Then they have what they call a “Late Lunch Buffet” which starts at 2pm and could keep you busy for hours, plus all-day free soft drink, coffee and tea… and that is just the lead-in to the seven-course dinner.

What is absolutely fantastic about it is that unlike what sounds like the food offer of a luxury ocean liner, this is all in small portions, so that you do not gain weight even by a gram, not even I do!

Third, the attendance is limited to about twenty people. This year, due to the European Soccer Championship and other conflicting activities, we had only thirteen participants, which we split into two groups.

Fourth, the program ensures that every participant receives individual attention and there is lots of time to discuss all aspects of magic if you are so inclined.

This year’s artists and workshop conductors, beside myself, where Pit Hartling, who needs no introduction, and to me is one of Germany’s top magician, with unequalled skill, originality, and performance abilities, the three qualities which make up the Artistic Trinity; I consider him a genius, who has only one fault, as he drinks apple juice instead of wine for dinner 🙂

The second artist this year was Kai Borchers, Kalibo, a street performer with lots of experience working in other venues, too, such as cruise ships, and whom I had never heard of before, but who very pleasantly surprised me with his human qualities and his artistic competence.

I think we made up an ideal team to teach and perform magic.

Night Before Party

Although the activities start on Thursday mooning, due to the location, everyone is already there the night before.

Years ago, when they first booked me, it was just an informal welcome affair with drinks, but since I cannot not do magic 🙂 I immediately suggested that I would give a “Night Before Lecture”, which I did for the next years, each time on a different subject, and reduced to ca. one hour.

This year I asked Pit and Kai if they wanted to join in, and what a good idea this was, as Pit started out with a twenty minute card act that floored everyone present, at the same entertaining them royally. This blog is too short to tell you about the effects he did, but believe me, they were all outstanding.

I did an introductory talk to the subject I was going to treat in my workshop, namely Stand-up Card Magic, and as a finale did my Card Stab (“Stickler” from my Stand-up Card Magic), a trick which would serve as guiding theme to discuss the various problems of performing standing-up in front of an audience.

In my short talk I handed out my contact sheet to all attendants and explained how I use it to make sure I get all the necessary conditions needed for a successful performance. This is as important as the tricks and their performance, in my opinion and professional experience (see my comments below in the section “Saturday Night Gala”).

Kai then closed the 75-minutes explaining what he would discuss in his workshop, and performing his street-version of the Endless Loop with a captivating presentation.

After that the hosts welcomed all with a coupe of real French champagne (is there another one?), a vintage Moet Chandon, served from a magnum bottle… that tells you the class of the affair.

The Program

With three workshop instructors and thirteen participants leaves a lot of possibilities for magical interactions and teach-ins.

Thursday and Friday mornings started at 10:30 with each participant taking a 40-minute private class with one of us instructors. This is a very successful unit I introduced last year, where each participant can ask any type of question, discuss a problem, get a personal coaching. etc.

After a one-hour break each group attends a three-hour workshop on a specific subject; this goes from 1pm to 5 pm, interrupted by a one-hour break for “Late Lunch”, and taking place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

After that most take some time off with their families who accompany them, in the spa, sauna, swimming-pool, etc., only to meet again at the bar for drinks at around 7pm, in order to go to dinner a little after.

At 10 pm on every day there is an activity: Thursday has a 75-minute Q&A Session, where every participant writes three questions on three billets, which are subsequently drawn by each instructor, who then tried to answer within three minutes. That is always great fun, but also instructional.

Friday is a special night, were most of the participants perform in a kind of open show they organize all by themselves, to an audience of ca. forty people made up of the hotel guests, who get a free magic show, and the rest of us. There is always a lot of excitement around this, and my impression is that this is what they enjoy most, at least some of them.

Saturday Night Gala

One of the highlights for everyone is the final gala on Saturday night that officially closes the three-day event.

It starts after dinner at 10 pm and is in its entirety carried out by the workshop instructors, one of which acts as the MC, a simple but efficient formula.

The real challenge of this part is that it takes place on a floor at the end of a beautiful hotel lobby, which has not been constructed for visual performances, as most hotel lobbies are not, of course.

However, thanks to years of experience as a professional working in practically all conceivable situations, and with the help of the hotel staff, we managed to shift around the various types of seats, bar stools, and small tables, so that all of the ca. sixty spectators had a good view on what the artists presented; this, coupled with a good sound system and an adequate lighting, set the stage – forgive the pun – for a successful show.

The only thing that is also needed, especially in such difficult situations, are capable performers who know how to present their tricks and how to interact with an audience, and who also know which repertoire to choose.

This goes to show that it is not enough to be a technical virtuoso and to know a lot of tricks, but it is as important to know what type of tricks work in what type of situation for what type of audience.

Precisely this was part of my three-hour-workshop, besides the tricks and techniques taught, but I wonder how many really understood that…

Back to the gala: Pit Hartling took it upon himself to act as the fil rouge of the show, which he started with a 25-minute segment and his incredible Linking Fingerring Routine, the one he had also done at the Magic Castle and which made several “experts” scratch their heads.

He then topped it with an original take on the Rubik’s Cube.

This was the second time I had seen Pit in a parlor situation, and found him as brilliant and at ease with the audience as he is in a close-up situation, where he is simply world-class.

After a lovely and emotional introduction by Pit, I was on next and opened with my interpretation of Shigeo Takagi’s Rope Routine, a piece that has been in my repertoire for the past thirty plus years.

It is one of the few pieces in my repertory that plays equally well in front of a dozen people in a private home, as it does before an audience of 800 on a large stage.

The routine, which after an introductory sequence of seven (!) visual effects that last two minutes, continues with an assisting lady who is kept busy in several surprising interactive effects, ending with her performing a restoration to her own amazement and to the entertainment pleasure of the audience. Although the total of twelve effects have meanwhile become a standard of rope magic acts, I know how much time, thinking, and experience it took me to bring it to the present form, with a multi-lingual presentation inspired by Paul Potassy, and with a pacing that can keep a sophisticated audience’s attention for eight minutes – that is not an easy matter.

Also, I have developed strategies that keep it “fresh” even after having done it for over thirty years. Among other things, I do this by always thinking of Heraclitus, who said about the passing of time: “You never step twice into the same river.” It is exactly the same for magic, just a bit different…

Had I known, years ago, how this routine would form part of my magical career that has virtually taken me around the world, I would gladly have paid $10’000 for it. This is also true for some other pieces, among them the Card Stab I do, and with which I finished my part and which lasted all in all a bit over twenty minutes.

Pit came back and introduced Kalibo, who did over twenty minutes with just the Cups & Balls! When he told me he would do this before the show, I was very skeptical about its success, but after having seen him (he worked without a mike!), I gladly admit that his performance was superb, with a very unique style, yes, a bit loud, but perfectly in sync with his street-performer persona.

I had only seen Joaquin Matas do such a long routine, years ago, from the Minguet, the earliest Spanish magic book from 1733, as the finale of a talk on old Spanish magic books I did together with Toni Cachadina, Jesus Etcheverry and Manolo Tena.

I will try to dig out the video of it for one of the upcoming The Magic Memories (I hope I will not forget…)…

Anyway, Kalibo did a great job, and together with Pit and myself we were able to offer a very divers show, with different performing styles and different types of tricks.

Needless to say that the audience in that remote corner of the Tirolean Alps did not expect this type of show, and therefore reacted sufficiently enthusiastic about it to confirm to the three of us that we are in the right kind of profession 🙂

Like every year, the gala ends with the “graduation” of the participants: Each gets to come forward and receives a nice certificate of attendance, together with a photo with the “stars” 🙂

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Photo “Hintertuxer Zaubertage; The Magic Memories pauses

These are The Magic Memories 185, gone online Sunday, July 14th, 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.

Hintertuxer Zaubertage

As announced in The Magic Memories 184, as you are reading this – provided you read it on SUN, 14th July 2024 – I am attending a small convention in the Austrian Alps, more precisely in Hintertux, which is why this week’s The Magic Memories goes on hiatus.

Below is a photo taken in front of the “Hotel Bergland” that now has been renamed “Adler Inn”, less than a mile away from one of Austria’s most famous glaciers, which promises skiing all year round.

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Where to Get Hidden Agenda; Actus Interruptus Double Undercut; Handling Variation of McMillen’s “Injog Shuffle Control”

These are The Magic Memories 184, gone online Sunday, July 7th, 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.

Today I offer to look at two techniques, a False Cut/Transfer Cut and a Control, hoping that it might be useful to some of you, or at least make you find your own solutions to the questions.

But before we get into this, here is a brief piece of information that should please some.

Where to Get Hidden Agenda

Last week I gave you an update on my upcoming Unexpected Agenda, and this week I confirm that we have started making the photos and some of the graphics that will go to illustrate the book. Furthermore, the first month has been layouted…

I also mentioned that although Secret Agenda is still available thanks to the publishers Hermetic Press and Penguin Magic, Hidden Agenda, by another publisher, probably will never see reprint again… no comment (but you can get the e-book HERE).

However, Maxwell Pritchard, who has undertaken the gargantuan task of translating and annotating Volkmann’s monumental history of magic (available from The Conjuring Arts Research Center), and who also edited my Sharing Secrets and promised to help with Unexpected Agenda, tells me that he was able to obtain a new hardcopy of Hidden Agenda from UK’s Merchant of Magic.

I admit I had never heard of this dealer, whose webshop looks very professional, and lo and behold, upon checking their site, it says that Hidden Agenda is still available at a very reasonable price.

I remember that as a youngster I ordered most of my magic books from another UK dealer, Magic Books by Post, which does no longer seem to exist, at least not under that name. Doing so was a major enterprise, as I had to go to the post office here in Switzerland, fill out a complicated form to transfer money, which I then did. Then I had to wait what felt like an eternity, but finally received those wonderful books, full of miraculous instructions to that infinite universe of magic, mostly card magic.

Nowadays all that has changed: with a few clicks you can get almost everything, from almost everywhere, almost immediately. Having experienced both of these worlds, I can definitively say that I would not want to miss the emotions I experienced at that time, priceless.

Anyway, if you are interested, to order a hardcopy of Hidden Agenda from Merchant of Magic CLICK HERE.

Actus Interruptus Double Undercut

I minor problem of card magic that is being debated to this day, is how to transfer cards from bottom to top with a Double or Triple Undercut. (If I write “minor” I do not mean that it is unimportant, but it is less important than other things…)

What seems to bother some experts is the fact that this usually requires two different types of cuts, a Swing Cut, followed by a Double Undercut.

As a working professional, but also as someone who does care for subtlety, I can tell you that this problem is purely academic, in my opinion.

No-one, nowhere, has ever been bothered by combining two different types of cuts, except some purist card experts.

The secret is simply to make a pause between the two cuts, to wit: You are holding the deck in Dealing Position with the left little finger holding a break above the bottom card(s) you want to transfer to the top.

Swing cut about two thirds from top to bottom, slapping the right hand’s packet on top, all the while retaining the break, which is first transferred from the little finger to the thumb, and then back to the little finger (try the idea with the “slap” as it looks quite convincing). Do this by saying, e.g., “And of course the deck must be cut.”

Pause.

Continue, “Well, today is Sunday (or the day it is…), so we give it three cuts… one… two… three.” As you are saying this, execute the “”The Double Cut” to the table as explained in Card College Volume 1 (p. 95), of which Michael Close says, each time we meet, that this is one of the best things in the Card College books 🙂

You might agree that, done in this way, the sequence is perfectly deceptive and does what it needs to do.

BUT, for the two or three among you who do not agree 🙂 … here is a solution that should satisfy even a hardcore purist.

To transfer cut one or several cards from bottom to top, hold the deck in Dealing Position and get a little-finger break above the card(s) to be transferred.

Start Actus Interruptus False Cut, by swing cutting about the top half into your left hand, and moving the right hand with its packet forward (with the right thumb still holding the break), with the intention of putting it on the table. But then you see some “dust” on the table, or want to move an object (card case, etc.).

So, interrupt the cut, by replacing the packet in your right hand on top of the packet in your left hand. In this action the broken cards from the bottom of the right packet are added to the top of the left packet, but the left little finger takes over the break held above the broken cards. The left hand has the deck again in Dealing Position, with the left little finger holding a break in its approximate center.

The right hand, after “cleaning” the table, comes back, cuts all the cards above the break to the table, and then drops the remaining packet on top; this looks alike an ordinary Straight Cut.

(From my notebook, 10th AUG, 2017)

I have another six solutions to the “problem”, which, as I said, is not really a problem 🙂

Handling Variation of McMillen’s “Injog Shuffle Control”

The original idea can be found in Michael Landes’ book Jack McMillen; see my take on it in Confidences (p. 90).

Here is a little different way of handling the situation.

Hand the deck to a spectator and ask her to shuffle and cut it.

Look at her stating, “You’ve shuffled and cut the deck, so nobody can know the position of any card, correct?”

As you are saying this simply stretch out your hand to retrieve the deck, which you then hold face down in Dealing Position. I call this procedure of getting the deck back from the spectator without paying attention to the deck the “Gesture of the Jedi” (mentioned in Mike Perovich’s The Vernon Companion, p. 6).

As you turn your head away, take the top card with the other hand and show it to everyone from left to right, “Please remember the card that the hazard of your shuffle has brought to the top of the deck.”

After having done so, insert it about a third from the top into the deck, weaving it into the deck’s right side (see “November 5 – The Lateral Insertion” in Hidden Agenda). From here on you may control it any way you know. Instead of inserting the card into the deck, simply put it back on top, and then do an Injog Shuffle followed by a multiple cut to the table.

This is very good, especially for stand-up situations in a parlor or on a small stage.

The Magic Memories 185 Pauses

Next week-end The Magic Memories 185 will go on hiatus, as I am attending what is possibly the tiniest magic convention of the planet, the Hintertuxer Zaubertage.

As a tit for tat I will tell you about it in The Magic Memories 186 🙂

Wish you all a successful and happy week,

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Update on Unexpected Agenda; The Magic & Gastronomy Lecture; Consecutive Ambitious Card

These are The Magic Memories 183, gone online Sunday, June 30th, 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 I am writing this on SAT, June 29th, 2024, it is what the Swiss call “Bündelitag”, i.e., the day you make your “bundle” and take off for vacations, it is the beginning of the summer school vacations that last six weeks.

Update on Unexpected Agenda

Several wrote in to ask about the status of my upcoming book project Unexpected Agenda.

I have been working the past year or so at assembling what I find to be the best of my notes from various sources (notebook, videos, audios, etc.), the majority of my own vintage, and some from close friends who have agreed to share their ideas with the rest of us (Lennart Green, Juan Tamariz, etc.), as well as some information scattered here and there, mostly from old books and magazines that are difficult to access.

I have finished rereading the 365 entries (!), each one page long, for the second time, which took me another two months, and next week we start the photos, graphics, drawings etc., followed by layouting, until the final PDF, which we hope to have ready by end July.

Then I will send it to the proof-readers, and hope to install their corrections, suggestions, additions, etc., before end SEP, so that we can send the PDF to the printer’s by OCT, so as to be able to ship in NOV/DEC to you.

That’s the plan…

As you can sense from the above, and from what I have written about “how to write a book” on other occasions, doing a book is a hell of a lot of work, sells a lot less than some silly trick that is over in five seconds and gets to be nominated “best trick of the year”… Plus with the increased costs in paper, labor, and logistics forces us authors and publishers to increase the price of a book; a publication that BC (before Corona) could be offered for $ 55 now needs to be priced at $ 75, and the profit is about the same as before, however, the costs of living have gone up meanwhile.

All this considered, this might be my last book… (I have said that after writing Card College Volumes 1 and 2 in German, in 1992… meanwhile I have written another sixteen books…)

The Magic & Gastronomy Lecture

Today I would like to tell you about one of the 67 lectures I have conceived in the past.

Maybe it will inspire you for a lecture of your own, provide you with a presentational idea for a trick, or just be for your academic pleasure (what kind of pleasure is that?).

In 2004 my dear friend Jesus Etcheverry (1943 – 2020) calle me up and invited me to a very special event in his native Basque country, to the III Jornadas Gastromágicas, which took place in Lekeitio, 27 & 28 March. They asked me to do a two-hour performance-lecture, which is the format I like.

The idea was to combine magic and gastronomy, and I admit that this immediately convinced me 🙂

They had done the event twice before, the first time with Juan Tamariz, the second time with Gaetan Bloom, so I felt in good company 🙂

While preparing, the first obvious thought – obvious to me, at least – was to structure the lecture like a gourmet menu with at least seven courses, maybe nine… what else?

A magic performance, whether formal or impromptu, is a complete experience. Although a detailed discussion of this issue would require a book in itself, the essence can be explained in a few sentences, with a succulent analogy:

A gourmet meal has several courses, maybe five to seven, even more if the portions are small.

Of these, only two or three are major courses, such as one important starter, a main dish and a featured dessert.

The remaining courses are conceived as appetizing transitions between the others and act as delicious “marriage brokers”. Such courses are the amuse-bouches, which tickle the palate at the beginning of the sensual journey: the soup, say, that allows the patron to move effortlessly from the fish and seafood to the plat de résistance, as the French colorfully call the main course. Then there is the sorbet, sometimes called un trou (a “hole”) by the French, a very small course, served after the main course or cheese board, which gives the mind and body a little rest, and seduces the customer to explore the dessert. And finally we come to the petits fours or friandises, fireworks of tiny sweets that accompany coffee and liquor, maybe even a cigar.

A magic performance—similar to a gourmet meal as an act of seduction and sharing—has a similar construction, although arguably with a greater artistic intention.

There is a captivating opener, a smashing middle effect and a memorable finale.

Between them are smaller pieces that consolidate the major effects, pieces that allow the performer and his audience to become acquainted and get personally closer. This makes the whole experience rich and pleasurable, a complete happening.

Neither in gastronomy nor in magic are these connective “minor works” treated as less important or done with less passion and talent than the “major works”.

They are just not as complex, prominent and loud, but they are equally conducive to the magic atmosphere and experience. They require the same discriminate attention from the performer as do his other works. As Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935), the famous Portuguese poet, said, “The full moon is reflected in the large ocean, but also in the smallest puddle.”

From the mind map below you can deduct everything I did, and in what order.

To download the mind map as a PDF for better reading, to make your additions, comments etc., CLICK HERE.

The mind map, obviously, was made just for myself, so it is written in a mix of Spanish, English, and German.

For those who are interested, here is the breakdown in English and in form of a list, with the literary references, just in case you want to look up one or the other.

Gastromagical Menu

Aperitif: I briefly explained the concept behind the Card College books and how I got the idea. I also showed the mind maps of the books (see Secret Agenda “December 18•Mind Map of Card College, Volumes 3 and 4”)

Amuse bouche: “Cups & Balls Opener” (see Confidences, “Overture for Cups and Balls”, p. 119, or a video performance HERE)

Entrée (meaning “Starter” NOT “Main course” as it has been mistakenly adopted and perpetuated in US-American menus): “Color Changing Deck” (see Card College Volume 5, p. 1333, or to watch a video performance of it HERE)

Soup: “A Psychological Test” (see Card College Volume 5, p. 1139)

Fish & Seafood: “The Endless Loop” (see Card College Volume 5, p. 1269)

Plat de Résistance, meaning “Main Course”, with three(!) of my favorite tricks from my professional repertoire: “Study for Four Aces”, “The Joker Folds Up”, “All’s Wells That Ends Wells” (all are in Card College Volume 5)

Cheese-board: “Stop!” and “The History of Playing Cards” (again, all from Card College Volume 5)

Pre-dessert: “Finger-trick” (see “May 11•Ultimate Magic of the Hands” in Secret Agenda, but you can see a video HERE)

Dessert: “SuperLative Lover” (Card College Volume 5, p. 1344)

Friandises (coffee, liquor, cigars): “Stickler”, my version of the Card Stab (see Stand-up Card Magic), and as finale “Prophecy” (see HERE)

That’s it. As you can see, a menu comme il faut… maybe not for ever day, but certainly for every second or third day!

Consecutive Ambitious Card

I just had an idea: Three decks on the table in their boxes.

From the first deck a card is selected, then lost in the deck, and the deck replaced in the box. Taking out the second deck, the card selected and lost in the first deck is seen to have risen to the top.

It is lost in the second deck, which is then replaced in its box.

Upon taking the third deck, the selection is seen to have risen to its top, too.

Solution? A forced card and two set-up decks.

At the end all three decks could be taken out and the top card turned over simultaneously by three spectators. The selection is seen on top of all three.

I have no idea how this would play in the real world, and if someone has not had this thought before.

Anyway, today is a hot day (32 degrees Centigrade), and Switzerland just won against Italy 2:0 in the European Soccer Championship, which leaves me ambivalent, as I am Italian and Swiss… but in any case it is time to stop and celebrate.

Obviously, in such cases it is an asset to have a double citizenship: If the Swiss win, my Swiss part celebrates, if the Italians win, my Italian part celebrates. I am thinking about a nine-course dinner…

See you next week-end 🙂

Wish you all a successful and happy week,

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Skinner Tapes Photo Credit; Monte Scam; The Prague Experience; Hidden Agenda as E-book

These are The Magic Memories 182, gone online Sunday, June 23rd, 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.

Monte Scam

The article on the Svengali Deck Switch and Jim Swain’s description of the “Cold Deck Scam” reminded Josef Held of Moosburg, Germany, to share a link of a most amusing and, yes, historical video, for which we thank him.

Although the video quality is poor, you should be able to recognize Paul Wilson, Gazzo, Pop Haydn, Chef Anton, and at the end Billy McComb stars as a “benevolent” pick-pocket 🙂

The Prague Experience

I have often mentioned that I believe magic to be like a facetted diamond, as every facet connects to something in life. Once you have developped an “antenna” for it, it cannot be ignored, very much like not reading a text once you can read…

This is quite apropos in the case of my visit to Prague, because although I did not do any magic – no shows, no lectures, just “visiting” – and did no meet any magicians (!), there was “magic” all around us (the “us” being my wife Barbara and me).

This was my first visit to Prague, the capital of the Czeck Republic, so, before anything else, let me say that it is an amazing city and for me now ranks among my personal top five cities; I say this although I had only three days to explore it (without magic). “Picturesque” is too weak a term to describe how beautiful this city is.

Due to its popularity there is a price to pay: Lots of tourists, but, hey, we were tourists, too, so…

To know more about the largest city of the Czeck Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia, CLICK HERE.

What follows are a few of my personal impressions related to magic, of course.

Ondrej Psenicka

Ondrej, creator of the famous Butterfly Playing Cards, is arguable today’s internationally best known creator and performer of the Czeck Republic.

Unfortunately for me he was out of town, fortunately for him and the magicians in Chicago he was working at the Chicago Magic Lounge during the time of my visit.

(BTW: Just in case you are wondering what the red beast is on the plates, it is a “Carabinero”, and I prefer it over lobster or any other seafood… goes very well with an Albariño.)

Ondrej has one of the most didactical lectures I have ever seen; I really loved the way he brings across his ideas and creations. Do not miss the chance to see him perform and lecture.

To know more about him CLICK HERE.

In the video below you can see him for P&T:

Museums

Although there are lots of museums to visit in Prague, we did only two, and both were a highlight.

Illusion Art Museum Prague

This was twice as good: First, well, because it was good, second, because it far exceeded my expectations. The museum has only recently opened its doors to the public and is already experiencing great success with the locals and the tourists.

In their brochure it says: “The museum bridges the history of illusory art techniques and current artistic trends.”

Not such a bad description, and considering its manageable size – you can enjoy the exhibits in less than one hour, which is perfect for me – you get to see and interactively experience quite a few two- and three-dimensional illusions you have probably never seen before.

I think that the greatest challenge for a museum, any museum of any type, is to make the objects shown larger than life, to make the visitor not only look at the exhibit, but to create some kind of real-life connection between the visitor and the art object. This is hard to do.

The psychology and technique behind solutioning this problem is closely related to our work as magical performers, as we also need to think up ways and means of connecting to our audience and making them experience the “effect”.

I do have quite a collection of books depicting optical illusions of the most diverse type, but in spite of this, here they had some illusions, two- and three-dimensional, I had never seen before… and very well done, some by very talented and little-known artists.

Briefly, this is worth visiting!

To know more and see a lot of great photos, CLICK HERE.

THE MUSEUM OF DECORATIVE ARTS

Now, one could think that there is little more boring and less connected to magic than decorative arts.

However, for the n-th time, I had to tell myself that I am completely wrong. This is what I thought before visiting the Museo Balenciaga, in Getaria, Spain, which is about fashion(!), or the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart. But nothing could be further from the truth. Both museums are truly splendid.

Quite generally my experience has been that a well-curated museum, or any exhibition for that matter, has an interest far beyond its own discipline. Provided the visitor has an open mind… which occasionally is a problem with me, as I can be quite stubborn about some things… if I hadn’t this defect, I would be perfect, wouldn’t I 🙂

This museum was just round the corner of our hotel, and again could be visited in less than one hour.

The objects shown – furniture, paintings, household accessories – were all created by artists from the Czeck school of cubism, inspired by the French cubism of its time.

Now, this concept of having schools of thought, how they come about, and how they influence each other, is a most interesting topic.

To my knowledge the only person who has tried to transpose this idea to magic, to try to identify and define schools of thought in magic, their content and leaders, is Juan Tamariz.

He wrote a lengthy essay on the subject in an issue of La Circular, the journal of the Escuela Magica de Madrid (I thought it was reproduced in The Magic Rainbow, but I cannot find it… maybe someone can help).

Another thing that is interesting in museums is what art critics write about an artist’s work.

I have very ambivalent feelings about this: One one side, I find it a pain in the neck when the art critic intellectualizes each and everything in the work, coming up with what I occasionally find to be absurd explanations of what something is supposed to mean. They come up with ideas that the artist very probably has never had (although it is hard to prove, especially if the artist is dead…).

On the other side, it is precisely this language that we are lacking in magic, we do not even have the vocabulary to talk and write about it, at least not in the measure art critics and historians of other disciplines have.

But it is what we need for magic to be recognized as an art, and magicians as artists, at least to a certain extent.

A huge subject to be thought about and discussed… I wish that at magic conventions, but also in the big and important magic clubs (AMA, Magic Circle, etc.) they would at least reserve some time and space for the intellectuals among us to debate this and other problems, organizing fora to meet, and taking care of the finances to do so. We have still a long way to go…

Anyway, to know more about the museum itself, which I recommend you visit if in Prague, CKLICK HERE.

To sum up the “museum experience”: Each time I go to a museum – and I should do this more often – I find so many similarities to what I do, to what we all do who are into magic.

Invariably I come out with some kind of uplifting feeling, plus occasionally with some very practical ideas.

Also, I truly think that such moments are a vital part of our intra-personal architecture, and they make us who we are, each one unique, and that is what cannot be copied by anyone else, and it is that which makes our performances “artistic”.

Black Light Theatre

This was advertised as Black Light Theatre Comedy Show in Prague, and I knew that it was not the “real thing”…

As a matter of fact, there must be about a dozen such shows in Prague, made up for tourists (us!), and at least this one was not what we were looking forward to see.

The theatre itself was located in an old vault in the heart of the city, really a great setting. But the whole room, including the stage, had the size of a large living room with a capacity of ca. forty spectators; there were about thirty when we attended.

That space would certainly have been wonderful for a close-up show, but not so for a black light theater performance.

Although there were only four rows, the stage being on the same level as the the entire seating (!), it was hard to see what was going on in the lower half of the stage.

I was sitting in the third row and missed everything that was not higher than a meter.

One of the five performers was a person of short stature (Wikipedia tells me that  this is medically referred to as “dwarfism”), and I missed everything this person did.

At least they should have built a small stage…

But even with a stage, the closeness revealed more often than not the “method”, which is of course like seeing the thread when you are doing a flooring bill: the illusion is dead.

I was simply surprised that nobody ever seemed to have told them… (I didn’t either).

I had the good luck to have been able to see the “real” Prague theatre company decades ago, here in Basel in a big theater, when they were touring the world. That was quite something!

If you do not know, to see what this is about, to see what is possible, watch the clip below (an search more for yourself, please):

In 2004, when Martin MacMillan booked me for his magic convention in London, next to the British Library (that’s were I got the first idea for the Agendas!), I had the great pleasure and honor of appearing in the evening gala together with Omar Pasha (actually a French family)!

Since all the artists working the gala shared a huge dressing room, I got into a conversation with “Omar Pasha” (not his real name, of course), who carried on the tradition founded by his father and grandfather; the act is now in its fourth generation, and you can read more about it HERE.

Below you can see the “Omar Pasha” I worked with in London of 2004 – if you have never seen this, let it be said that there is absolutely no film editing involved: All you see is exactly as you would see it if you were sitting in a theater!

Gastronomy & Tours

Like any city as popular, an endless amount of tours are offered.

We missed a “food tour”, which usually is a three-hour tour you take on foot, visiting various places that offer local gastronomical specialties.

We have done this in Berlin, Copenhagen, etc., and I have yet to be disappointed by any of these.

Alas, for an organizational misunderstanding, we were not able to take it…

The Bohemian cuisine is quite heavy, traditional, but succulent, what our American friends would call “comfort food”.

I was particularly pleased with coffee, which I found d to be as excellent as in Italy and Vienna.

As for ice cream I recommend to stay away from names that you can find all over the world, but go for a local manufacturer, Angelato, divine, as close to Italian ice cream as it can get, for more info CLICK HERE.

Not always, but from time to time, we like to take the Tourist Bus, a hop-on-and-off tour that allows you to get a first impression of a city we have never been to.

I am reminded of Barcelona, which must be the best of all bus tours.

Well, on this occasion we did not, as the weather was so fantastic, that we decided to explore the historical center of the city purely on foot. This is all the more beneficial, as I truly think the city itself, its streets, houses, squares, shops, and people ARE a museum and need the attention you can only give if you walk.

However, on the third day, we decided to take advantage of a unique offer I have not seen before in other cities, i.e., a ninety-minute tour in an old-timer car with a chauffeur.

You can relax and see the most important spots of the city, and the price is less than a gondola in Venice. The difference is that the gondola is a real one, while the “oldtimer” car is a replica of a model that no longer exists.

Anyway, we enjoyed this very much, and I recommend it to anyone.

Humor

Several instances proved that in Prague they have a sense for both art and  humor.

Below one of several “street art” pieces.

I sent the following to Denis BEHR, as they had not only misspelled his name…

Hidden Agenda as E-book

Last but not least I would like to draw your attention to the fact that Hidden Agenda, which had been out of print for several years, is now back, albeit only as an “e-book”.

It is actually a simple PDF that is easily searchable, certainly a great advantage if you are looking for a particular subject.

Normally I am not a fan of e-books, but the Agendas are ideal to be read on tablets, even mini-tablets, as almost every entry is just one single page.

I am not allowed to offer it to you directly through my webshop, but you can download it from the publisher HERE.

Secret Agenda is still available as a book (order from Penguin Magic or from me directly if you want a personal dedication to your name, plus an autographed photo, also inscribed to your name).

Wish you all a successful and happy week,

Roberto Giobbi

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Mind Map Sample; Pseudo Deck Switch From Skinner Notebook; Jim Swain on the “Cold Deck”

These are The Magic Memories 181, gone online Sunday, June 16th, 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.

Mind Map Sample

I keep being asked about the use of Mind Mapping in magic.

This is a big subject, and I have dealt with it in two places: One, as part of my lecture I did at Mark Leveridge’s 7th British Close-up Magic Symposium (see HERE). Two, in an essay as part of the Genii magazine that had me on the cover years ago; you can download the PDF for free HERE.

In the past I have used Mind Maps to prepare for talks, workshops, articles, and even books; see the Mind Map for Card College Volumes 3&4 in Secret Agenda, entry for December 18, or the one for my lecture on Dai Vernon, entry for December 19.

Without further comment I submit for your perusal the Mind Map I created for a personal study on the Color Change: Some of the writing will not mean anything to you, but you might pick up a term here and there, and if you just get one thing out of it, it will be worth the few minutes it takes you to study the map.

Here it is as a PDF, so you can blow it up and should be able to read everything (to understand it is another matter…).

Pseudo Deck Switch From Skinner Notebook

A few years back Kaufman & Company offered The Skinner Tapes, advertised as:

The CDs are personal audio correspondence sent to Allen Okawa of Hawaii, and have been edited down from over 30 hours of material. It’s like having Michael sit in the room and talk to you.

Plus there were two DVDs with private footage of Michael Skinner performing for his friends at various occasions.

Similar to the Vernon Revelations tapes, or the Daley Notebooks, there is a lot of material and information there. Not all is interesting to everyone, not all is intelligible, but if you enjoy deep-sea diving, I mean in a figurative sense… then you will experience several moments of great happiness.

To me, however, the best part of the package that came with The Skinner Tapes, were the PDFs of Skinner’s private notebooks.

I had the great luck to have come into their possession years before, and have taken a full month, while vacationing in the South of France with my family in a beautiful mansion we rented there, to study them in great detail. This resulted in my personal annotations that far exceeded the length of the original notes 🙂

I am not sure about how interesting this is to most of you, and also not about the copyright situation, being an author myself, but thought that for today’s The Magic Memories I would share one of my notes on one of Skinner’s notes from his Skinner Green Notebook #2 (there are several as the #2 implies…).

Here is the original note:

15. “Sudo [sic] Deck Switch”

Svengali Pack – show all same. Put in pocket, bring out same deck, show all different, make phony move and show all same. Say you switched decks!

Not all notes are like that, fortunately, some being more detailed, but it is such notes that are of interest to me, as they function as triggers, similar to some of the entries in my own Agendas, and you know I love those.

Maybe you want to stop reading for a few minutes here, and think about the note… what does it suggest to you?

Welcome back 🙂

Following is my annotation I made to Skinner’s note. As you will see, it inspired me to use it as a deck switch.

Have a normal deck and a Svengali Deck in the same pocket, both in similar boxes and with similar backs, of course.

Show both decks, saying one is a “special deck”, the other a “normal” deck, and announce you are going to switch decks like card cheats do.

Explain why the switched in deck is called a “cooler”, which makes for a lovely and colorful prologue (see Jim Swain’s note below).

Put normal deck in pocket.

Show Svengali all the same. Then show all different, implying that decks have been switched – use some kind of “realistic action”, such as coughing and turning away for a second to make switch half-believable.

Apparently repeat the switch and again show all the same.

Take out normal deck from pocket and show.

You have apparently switched a deck twice, back and forth.

Put Svengali away and use normal deck, which could be stacked.

This can be made into a short and baffling little routine, in the course of which a stacked deck is introduced, the pseudo-explanation taking the heat off the switch.

Although the product as such is no longer available, as far as I know, at least not legally… here is the link to Penguin’s description of the content, and by reading it, you might get an additional idea or two.

Jim Swain on the “Cold Deck”

After I had published The Art of Switching Decks (2013), I received quite a bit of most interesting feedback, a lot being variations on the deck switches in the book, a few were new deck switches, and there was also some additional information such as the one Jim Swain – yes, THE Jim Swain – wrote to me via email:

“My name is Jim Swain, and I’m a big fan of your books and articles in Genii.

I wanted to make you aware of something which was brought to my attention several years ago by a retired card hustler. Many people (myself included) believe that a “cold deck” is a prearranged deck which hustlers switched into a game.

This is not correct.

A prearranged deck which is switched into a game is called a “cooler” by hustlers, and never a “cold deck”.

A “cold deck” is a scam used by a gang of hustlers, and works like this:  During a game, one of the gang spills a drink on the cards, forcing the deck to be thrown out. A brand new, unopened deck is then introduced. This is the “cold deck.”

The deck is in a prearranged order and will “kill” several of the players in the game (suckers).

One of the gang removes the deck from the box, and takes out all the jokers and junk cards (a wonderful touch). The deck is then false-shuffled by another member of the gang, while one of the gang tells a story or joke (the shade). The game is then resumed, and the suckers are fleeced.

The “cold deck” scam using the box and junk cards has been around for over a hundred years. It’s a wonderful way to switch in a deck without having to do any sleight-of-hand, and always gets the money.”

Nice story, eh?

… and it fits into the category I created and named “The No-switch Deck Switch”, a chapter of its own in The Art of Switching Decks (p. 127); just in case you missed that, look it up right now, as you will immediately be able to use at least one of the deck switches in your own work.

As the Looney Tunes says, “That’s all folks!”… for today.

I shall be back in The Magic Memories 182 with some ideas I got from my visit to the uniquely beautiful city of Prague, plus a few more things, as usual.

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Negative comments on Internet/webshops; How To Be a Better Magician; How To Prepare For A Competition

These are The Magic Memories 180, gone online Sunday, June 9th, 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.

Negative comments on Internet/webshops

“One plus one is two, and not four, just because everyone is entitled to their own opinion.” (Volker Grass)

I do not look often into what people write about my products, nor have I ever been part of any forums (or fora), nor joined any discussions, but occasionally a link takes me to one and I cannot help reading them.

Of course, it pleases me to read all the positive things people have to say about my publications, and some of the negative comments amuse me, such as a twelve-year old who said about my Card College books: “These books are so boring, I did not even read them.” We will cross that bridge when we come to it 🙂

Some of the comments really surprise me, as the posters seem to be quite uninformed and still voice an opinion. Wonder if “poster” is the correct term for someone who writes a post… it seems so close to the “imposter” 🙂

Anyway, it is pointless to discuss such comments, as here is nothing to be done against negative criticism, because it is the price we are paying for freedom of expression and democracy. I am willing to accept that price, but I want sincerity and transparence.

My solution to the dilemma is this: Everyone must reveal their real identity, full first name and family name, and why not a photo. In any case they should not be allowed to hide behind a pseudonym.

After all, they are voicing an opinion about authors who also reveal their full name, most of the time including one or several photos of said author, plus, of course, revealing a lot about themselves by giving away their secrets. As far as I know this is the same regulation newspapers apply when they publish reader’s letters: If you voice an opinion, positive or negative, state the full name and city.

Wonder what your thoughts about this are. Let me know on the occasion of a magic convention we might meet.

How To Be a Better Magician

Not all, but many of us, are trying to get better at what we do, in small and big things, and a few of us recognize that this is arguably the best way of also becoming a better person. Because in order to improve as a human being you need some kind of “vehicle”, and to many of us this is the study and practice of magic.

In a recent show I did together with other performers, I had a chance to rethink a few ideas concerning how one could improve one’s performance. The occasion was a formal close-up gala of about 100 minutes, with a 20-minutes intermission, in front of an audience of 30 people, and I was asked to do the complete second part of ca. 40 minutes.

I usually do not watch the other acts going on before me, as I need to go through some kind of mental preparation before going on (I know, this is another interesting subject…). But on this occasion the break between the two parts gave me a chance to watch the other performers of the first part closely.

Here are a few thoughts I had:

Do not open your performance with lengthy chatter: Neither with a lot of talk, nor with verbose tricks that more often than not are also procedural, i.e., require lots of actions from you and, even worse, from audience members.

This, of course, means that card tricks and mental tricks are out, as a rule. However, I will quickly add, that there are exceptions to the rule. For Card Magic I am thinking of “Six Card Repeat”, or a short card manipulation routine to music. For Mental Magic maybe a quick succession of number predictions (Nail Writer).

But generally speaking, the vast majority of card tricks – and I mean the very best ones – are procedural and are not ideal to open a show.

What struck me, is that three of the acts who performed with me on that particular afternoon did just that.

The first performer, for instance, did a really very good card trick, but it took him about five minutes to get to the first effect, and to me this felt like an eternity.

The proof that some of the audience members must have felt similarly, was that after the lengthy introduction and procedure, the performer asked a lady in the audience to decide on a card suit, whereupon she answered, “Oh, sorry, I did not pay attention, what should I do?”

There and then I was reminded of the true challenge of the teacher, the eternal question: How do you get the information to the students, and once you have been able to formulate that information, not an easy task in itself, and have been able to deliver it understandably, with adequate metaphors and examples, how do you get the students to instill this Information, i.e., how can you help them transform the knowledge in a skill, the actual ability of doing what you know should be done.

In many of my books, also in live and video lectures, I am saying, explaining and demonstrating these ideas, e.g., that you should not open with a lengthy, verbose and procedural trick.

And all readers or attendants of the lecture nod their heads in agreement, or shrug their shoulders thinking, “Of course, I know that… can you show another trick…”

But the truth is, and the reality proves it, as it did for me on that afternoon, that even if they have read or heard it, or both, they do not do it!

This leads to the ultimate question: How else can it be instilled, learned?

And this is my ultimate answer (for now): Take a coaching with someone you trust being more knowledgeable than you in the matter.

In that one-to-one, private, personal coaching, a good coach will tell you: “This is an excellent card trick you just did, and you did it very well. It is a very good trick to do later in the act, as it is not an ideal opener. Let’s discuss this in the second part of today’s session. In the first part let’s look at a fundamental question: How do you open? Let’s look at how to be introduced, how to enter, how to greet the audience, and what to do then. What do you say, and what trick do you do?”

This is what I would say to such a performer.

To be thought about.

How To Prepare For A Competition

Just before FISM 2022 I received a lovely message from Marc Bittar, aka Markobi, who won first prize in the category of “Card Magic” at FISM in Quebec in 2022.

Since it fits in with the subject discussed in the previous article, some of you might be interested in the additional information contained therein.

Hello Roberto,

First of all, thank you for all you have done for magic: For The Art of Switching Decks, Secret and Hidden Agenda, your articles on Mind Mapping and many other subjects, the videos, and other publications, the magic community owes you a lot of resources, and I have had the opportunity to study some of them in the last few years.

I am currently preparing for the next FISM in July, and I ask magicians who have been part of my apprenticeship, or my journey, without their knowledge or not, and who have already competed, the following question, if you are willing to answer it: What would be your best advice, or flagship advice, before this competition, or in order to approach it as well as possible?

In any case, thank you for your attention.

Yours truly, Marc Bittar (magician‘s name: Markobi)

I did not at the time answer his question, but did something which I hope has been far more useful, I sent him the essay I wrote from my Ask Roberto project, an e-book where I answered fifty-two questions, on a total of 332 pages.

Practically the same question had been asked by Craig Longhurst, and I answered it as the 29th question:

Dear Mr Giobbi,

A personal goal of mine is to enter the annual close-up competition at my local magic club. I am interested in your approach to magic competitions – building the act, choice of material, rehearsal process, etc., and any top tips that you can offer me.

Thanks, Craig Longhurst

If you are interested to read my six-page answer, along with the other fifty-one answers, you can get it HERE.

Wish you all a successful and happy week,

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Javi Benitez Visiting; The Brittany Experience; The “How to Do a Book” Lecture; A Quick One On Erdnase; The Missing Link (Richard Wiseman)

These are The Magic Memories 179, gone online Sunday, June 2nd, 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.

Javi Benitez Visiting

One of the additional benefits of having written books that are translated into various languages – for Card College it is currently eight – is that I have many “friends”, in the sense of Jean Paul’s utterance that “books are only thick letters to friends”. Friends, of course, visit with each other occasionally. This is why I get pleasant visits from time to time from people I haven not met before.

Now in the case of Javi Benitez, from Sevilla, Spain, I have known him for some thirty years from my visits at the Escorial Card Conference. He has always been an eager attendant, and I have seen him grow from a very young man to the mature artist he is now.

Although we have had many friendly but short interactions on those occasions, we never spent much time together, and I followed his admirable career mainly through the media.

So, imagine my surprise, when I received an email from Javi, saying that he and his wife Lourdes (yes, like the pilgrimage site) were in Switzerland for a private show, and asking if I would be available for visiting.

And so we did finally meet for a long late afternoon and evening at my home in Muttenz, with lots of magic talk.

Like mots first-time guests, of course, Lourdes and Javi were treated to Barbara’s famous interpretation of Frank Garcia’s “Super Meatloaf” from Super Subtle Card Miracles! Plus amuse bouches as starters, a great chocolate mousse as a dessert (recipe by Paul Bocuse, again thoughtfully adapted by Barbara), accompanied by some fine wines, since “life is too short to drink bad wines”, as Goethe used to say, and who am I to argue with such smart people…

A highlight of the evening was Javi performing for us the routine with which he fooled Penn & Teller. It is an homage to his idol and teacher Arturo de Ascanio, who was also one of my most important teachers, even so far, that he considered me one of his “spiritual sons”.

Javi certainly is one of his closest followers, and what he does would certainly make Arturo proud.

If you have a few minutes you can watch what he did in the clip below, and I have nothing more to say than: BRAVO, olé!