Hello everyone!
Today’s topics are: Being trapped in an Elevator; Addition to Lift Shuffle Ace Production; Card in cigarette;
These are The Magic Memories 129, gone online Sunday, June 18th, 2023, at 0:07h sharp.
All The Magic Memories from 2021, 2022, including the Magic Advent Calendar from 2020, can be found HERE.
Gary Plants and his wife Debbie will be visiting this week-end, so today’s The Magic Memories will be short (but hopefully very sweet…). I’ll prepare a succulent dinner with some good wines and Cuban cigars, so hope to convince Gary to part with one or two of his excellent creations to be shared with you in the upcoming The Magic Memories 130.
Meanwhile, here are a few things that you might find worthy of your attention…
Being Trapped in an Elevator
Leo Hevia, from Silver Spring, USA, sent in a video clip in reference to last week’s quote that everyone should be able to do a card trick, tell a joke and recite a poem by heart, just in case you got trapped in an elevator (see “On Terminology” in The Magic Memories 128).
The clip is over ten years old, and I had forgotten about it, so, if you didn’t know it, you’ll be mighty amused, as I was, especially if you knew Ricky Jay personally, as I had the pleasure of doing, or if you know about his eccentric character. To see the clip Leo sent, CLICK HERE.
Speaking of Ricky Jay, who deserves that I dedicate a very long post to him – I promise to do so one day – I recommend you take a break of fifty minutes and watch a piece that the BBC did on this genius of magic. If you didn’t know this, it will make your day, I promise.
I remember that after watching this years ago, when it came out, for a felt eternity I looked for that chair in the library that transforms into a stair – I finally found one at a flea market in Strasburg, Alsatia (France), and it is still in my library now 🙂
To watch the BBC documentary CLICK HERE.
PS: I have an unpublished interview I did with Ricky when he was the curator of the Mulholland Collection, at that time located in downtown Los Angeles. Sometime in the future, remind me…
Addition to Lift Shuffle Ace Production
In one of my virtual publications, Secret Twitter, I had an item I had forgotten about, so, I assume, that even those who have Secret Twitter have forgotten, too. Below it is to refresh your memory, and for those who haven’t even got it, maybe an incentive to get it HERE (it is really very cheap, compared to the work it took me to make this up… and I promise you’ll love it, or I will personally refund your money).
Here is an addition that occurred to me upon rereading this item, a very simple one, but practical and effective, e.g., for a Multiple Revelation Routine, or to put in your list of “Quick Tricks”, very useful if you fail the Classic Force…
Shuffle the selection to the bottom of the deck, or bring it there with a first Overhand Shuffle. Before starting a second Overhand Shuffle, the right thumb gets a break above the bottom card at the deck’s inner end (see “Bringing the Bottom Card to the Top”, Card College Volume 2, p. 253).
Now start the Overhand Shuffle, asking a spectator to call ‘stop’ anytime.
When she does, drop all the cards above the break on top of the cards already shuffled off, which results in the bottom card being withheld by the thumb and middle finger of the right hand still in Overhand Shuffle position; this card will protrude about halfway from the deck’s right side. Stop for a beat, letting it be seen that the card comes from somewhere in the center of the deck, and then pull it completely up, turning it face up lengthwise (Stuart Gordon Double Lift style).
Since we’re talking “Stuart Gordon Double Lift” (explained very well in my video tutorial Card College 3&4 – Personal Instruction, Lesson 28, “Double Lift Part 3”): If initially you keep the break above two cards instead of one, you will be able to produce a double card – maybe the wrong one? – which you can then transform into the correct one. Correcting an error is one of the main reasons one would want to be able to do magic, making the symbolic charge of this simple item very high…
Card in Cigarette
Since I’ve mentioned Secret Twitter, here is another item that could find your favor, as those who have Secret Twitter will have forgotten about it, and those who haven’t got it at all, well…
As you’ll see, it is a very good trick (I came up with it…), but it also shows a way one could approach a subject that in the current tendency to be (over-) careful with what one says and does, has become delicate, cigarettes.
In the piece descried below a cigarette is used, but in a context that is very acceptable for all audiences, I feel. You can, e.g, say that you’ve stopped smoking years ago (so, you could do this even for children with an educational message), but you’ve kept your “last cigarette” out of sentimentality, or others reasons… (don’t make this too “educational”…).
Now do the trick as described.
Alternative ending: If one day you forget the salt shaker, you can directly take the cigarette and wave it over the card like a magic wand. When the card is then revealed to be blank, it makes all surreal sense in the (fairytale) world to find the card inside the cigarette. Certainly, the salt shaker filled with tobacco is a really good idea that adds that “certain something” to the piece.
Additional idea: You are left with the cigarette case, which could be one of those “changing cigarette cases” with a false bottom that hides a playing card, a billet, a banknote etc., and that you could now logically use in your next piece. It has to be said, though, that the following piece needs to be a very strong one, in order to follow “Card in Cigarette”.
Wish you all an excellent week!
Roberto Giobbi
