The Magic Memories (213)

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Palindromic Flashback; Autobiographies of Women in Magic; Comments on “Peek & Glimpse Do as I Do”; Swiss National Magic Convention; The Vernon Companion by Mike Perovich; Remembering Dave Solomon; Review of Unexpected Agenda; On the Philosophy of Magic

These are The Magic Memories 213, gone online Sunday, March 2nd, 2025, at 0:07h sharp.

All The Magic Memories from 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 including the Magic Advent Calendar from 2020, can be found HERE.

Palindromic Flashback

First and foremost, thank you to those who wrote in with comments on last month’s The Magic Memories, the one with the palindromic number 212, a fact that I forgot to mention, but will do so now, as it reminds me of one of my favorite “natural packet tricks” (these are those which can be logically created from the deck in use, rather than taking out some strange looking sets from a plastic wallet and then doing something meaningless to them…).

I hope you will forgive the (un-)intentional sarcasm… I was thinking of “The Palindrome Card” from Card College Volume 3, p. 585 (a palindromic page number!!!).

I wrote up the trick in 1994 (31 years ago!!!); meanwhile I have come up with a few more subtle details of handling, as well as with a better paced presentation that adds sophistication. When I showed this to Dave Williamson on the occasion of a common gig we did in Barcelona for a Swiss bank years ago, he insisted that I teach it to him.

This is certainly one of the pieces that are easily overread, but where a video clip will show what a pearl this is (I am not blowing my own horn here, as the concept of the tricks is not mine, but is the synergy of several creators – I have just newly choreographed them and added a text that hopefully makes this more meaningful).

You can see my latest version in my Card College 3&4 – Personal Instruction (Lesson 28: Double Lift – Part 3) project.

However, keeping with my self-imposed restriction of not using The Magic Memories to force anyone to buy any of my products – just to mention some IF the context asks for it – you do not have to obtain the complete course, but can watch the three-minute clip for free: CLICK HERE.

I was saying: Let me start today’s The Magic Memories with comments that were sent in reference to some of last month’s topics.

Autobiographies of Women in Magic

In last month’s article about the autobiography of Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin I wrote that I did not know about any autobiographies of women in magic, and to “please notify me if you know on an autobiography of a magicienne”.

The first “notification” came from my well-informed friend Denis Behr of Munich, Germany, who reminded me that Frances Ireland has not only written one, but two autobiographical works: You Don’t Have to be Crazy But it Helps (1946) and My First Fifty Years (1981). These are not readily available, but a search on Internet will lead you to some secondhand offers that are acceptable.

And both Pekka Gunst from Helsinki, Finland, and Marco Pusterla from Italy via UK, reminded me of England’s Romany Diva of Magic, Spun Into Gold: This one is still easily available from the author herself, CLICK HERE.

I cannot comment on any of these titles, as I have not read them (shame on me!), but have heard good things about them and will try to get them soon – I actually ordered Romany’s paperback version right now 🙂

Comments on “Peek & Glimpse Do as I Do”

I received a few pertinent comments on last month’s trick “Peek & Glimpse Do as I Do”.

For a quick check-back I made a PDF of just the entry, so you do not have to wade through the entire month’s content; to read CLICK HERE.

I really liked your speedy handling of Do as I Do.

This morning, since I only had one deck available, I performed a one-deck version of “Peek & Glimpse Do as I Do” for my wife.

Once I had “memorized” my card , I took the deck back from her, gave it a quick shuffle, and told her that we should both take out our cards and leave them face down on the table.

I placed the 4H (her selection) face down and handed her the deck to do the same.

She went through the deck once and said, “It’s not here…” Then, she started to go through it again, stopped halfway, and pointed to the face-down card, saying, “If this is the 4H, I’m going to kill you!”

I let her turn the card over and she burst out laughing—it was a great moment!

I’m not sure if I did justice to your effect by performing it this way (since I saw it more as a gag), but it was well received by my wife, who’s seen a lot of magic and is hard to impress.

[RG comments: That’s a lovely idea! We should give it a few performance trials… the only drawback I see, is that it is a bit short. But why not use it to get into something else with a similar theme, as a Prologue, or even repeat the effect, but now with a second deck.]

I think most of you who read so far, will now grab the first available spectator and try this on him or her 🙂 Warning: I tried it on my cat, but it did not work…

A few days later Claudio Imperiale (BTW: if you look up the etymology of “Claudio” and “Imperial”, you will find the names to be interesting opposites) sent an extension of his idea, and I believe it will please you and/or make you think:

You’re very welcome to write up the trick and mention my name.

I’ve performed the effect several more times, and it has been well received. The elements of comedy and surprise were often present as my sober presentation did not telegraph that the selections would be the same.

However, one spectator suggested that I had simply ignored the card I looked at and instead pulled out the one he had chosen.

When I asked him to elaborate on how that would be possible, he had no answer —he couldn’t determine how I knew his card— though he felt it was the logical conclusion.

I don’t see this as a major issue though, particularly if the trick serves as a prelude to a more elaborate routine, as you suggested. Nevertheless, I believe I have found a satisfactory solution.

Solution: The performer selects a card first and writes its name on a piece of paper.

Handling: Have the spectator thoroughly shuffle the deck.

[RG reminder: This is still the version using one deck only!]

Explain that you want them to riffle through the deck [they have shuffled and cut!] and stop when you say “stop,” so you can note the card at that point.

When they stop, pretend to write down the selected card name on a piece of paper (or business card), but actually jot down the name of the bottom card. Fold the paper and leave it on the table.

Get the deck back, shuffle [and cut] it to bring the bottom card about one-third from the top, and get a break under it.

Force the card using the Peek Force [Card College Volume 4, p. 796].

Hand the deck back to the spectator for shuffling, then retrieve it—or perhaps simply give it a quick shuffle yourself.

Remove the forced card and place it face down on the table next to the folded piece of paper.

Hand the deck back to the spectator so they can take out their own selection.

Finally, turn over the card on the table to reveal that you both selected the same card. The written prediction serves as verification in case anyone questions the process.

I think this handling could serve as a repeat or an “out” if the original method is questioned. Since the modus operandi is different, there is little risk of the audience catching on.

[RG Comment, which is similar to what Claudio wrote in a separate mail: Wonder how this would look, if both write their “card you have in our minds” on a piece of paper. The billets are then opened simultaneously to show the same card… what happens to the card in the deck… the card could reverse itself in the deck when placed in the card case along with the two billets… or it is shown to be in the zip of the wallet (from which the billets are taken initially). P: A Mental Mirage… using the white triangle optical illusion: We can see things that do not exist. You can see me do a different trick using that premise as a presentation HERE.

In my original text of “Peek & Glimpse Do as I Do” I wrote that my inspiration for that trick came from a deck switch I dubbed “Do As I Do Double No Switch Deck Switch”. It is a very simple thing, but maybe you find a use for it. So , here it is: To read or download the PDF CLICK HERE.

There is more to say about this subject (with further ideas by Claudio), but I will leave it at that, or else this will be endless 🙂

Swiss National Magic Convention

Last month I mentioned the Swiss Magic Convention in Baden; so, here is a quick report with a few pieces of information that might be interesting to even those who do not care about such reports…

The affair took place on two days. The first day used a small theatre as the location, one that takes about 80 spectators, and it had my favorite format, namely that of a symposium that plays to the entire audience.

Similar to the TED talks, various speakers talked (and performed!) about a great variety of subjects.

All in all, I found this an excellent idea, one that I favor over those conventions where you have lots of activities going on at the same time in different rooms.

I would love to give you a more detailed rundown of the events, but considering my time and above all yours I will stick to just a few items.

The History of Card Magic in Switzerland

A few years back Lorenz Schär and I gave a 75-minute talk about the history of card magic in Switzerland on the occasion of an Escorial Card Conference, where one of the subjects was precisely the history of card magic in various countries.

The “big” countries of card magic such as France, Italy, Spain, England, Germany, Austria and USA had been dealt with in an earlier edition of the conference.

This time we had a look at the “smaller” countries, such as Sweden, Switzerland and Swaziland…

As a matter of fact we immediately got the audience’s attention when we speculated that Switzerland’s country Code, CH, which as everyone does (not) know means Confederatio Helvetica (Helvetic Confederation in Latin) really means “Cartomagicae Helvetica” (Helvetic Cardmagic!).

Seriously now, I won’t reproduce the talk which was scheduled to run for 30 minutes, but took 60…

Here are just a few pieces of information that you might not be aware of.

First of all, Switzerland has one of the very earliest documentations of the use of playing cards in the world. 1370 sees the first prohibition of card play in an Italian document, but it is possible that there was one already in Switzerland in 1367, banning the use of cards and dice from play. And 1759 saw the publication of Carlo Antonio’s book „Trésor des Jeux“ in Geneva, which contained card tricks.

The famous Louis Comte, mentioned in Robert-Houdin’s autobiography, was born in Geneva in 1788, and Juan Mieg, better known as Tío Cigüeño, was born in Basel (my hometown) in 1780. Juan Tamariz maintains that his book Juegos de manos from 1839 is one of the most important books in early Spanish literature (along with Minguet and Zamorano).

I am certain that many who are interested in the history of magic will be surprised to learn that Edward Victor (1887- 1964) of Magic of the Hands fame was Edward Victor Neuschwander, of Swiss parentage.

And Howard de Courcy’s (1914 – 1990) real name was Martin Veglio, born in Corzoneso, the Swiss speaking part of Switzerland (Ticino).

Carlos Bucheli (1903 – 1981), another native of Switzerland, immigrated to Spain and took over their oldest magic shop, “El rey de la magia”, from Partagas, and held the shop from 1932 to 1981.

In 1982 Flip Hallema of Holland took over the shop… etc… and you may now understand, that bringing all these people and events into a cultural and historical context, is a most interesting endeavor… but I’m digressing.

Lorenz and I then mentioned various people in Switzerland – performers and authors – who played a more or less important role in the propagation of card magic, such as Ron Wohl and Piet Forton.

As many of you know, Pavel Lubomir Pomezny (1945–2011) left his native Czechoslovakia during the political turmoil in the sixties and in 1969 came to live in Geneva, Switzerland, where he conducted a successful career as an inventor and dealer of things magical.

Albeit not a card expert, in each of his (excellent!!!) lectures he would perform and explain several original and interesting card tricks. As an example I did the following trick of Pavel’s:

A spectator shuffles an invisible deck of cards. The performer shows one card after the other, naming them, and the spectator can call ‘stop’ anytime he likes; in this case I had asked Fridolin Kalt aka Calindo to assist me, and he choose the Seven of Diamonds. I placed his freely chosen invisible card into the invisible card case, and the case into my pocket. After a moment I took the card case again from the pocket (Calindo put his hand into the pocket to check that there was only one card case)… the card case had now become visible.

I handed Calindo the card case, he shook it, and everyone could hear that there was something in it. Upon opening it, he confirmed that it contained one card, and one card only: the Seven of Diamonds!

I am glad to say that this trick became the talk of the day… and I did of course not explain it 🙂

If you are curious and would maybe even like to put this fabulous trick into your repertoire, you can find it under the title of “(In)Visible Card in Case” in the fourth DVD of The Creative Magic of Pavel, produced by L&L Publishing (not sure if this still exists after Louis Falanga left us).

Maybe Lorenz and I will be invited to some international convention to give this talk… and you will have a chance to (hopefully) enjoy it.

The photo below shows the new generation of Swiss cardicians, from top left clockwise: Marco Bertolla, Pat Perry, Jan Imhof, Borsalino Lupetto, Tino Plaz, Pierric Tenthorey, Lorenz Schär, Blake Eduardo, Peter Marvey, Michel Gammenthaler

Saturday Evening Gala

A gala at a magic convention is typically hosted by an emcee who introduces several acts over the course of two to three hours—often a bit too long, as I can attest after attending nearly a hundred magic conventions over five decades.

For this event, however, organizers Kevin Stieger and Lorenz Schär (co-presidents of the Magic Ring Switzerland) and their team made a bold choice: they entrusted the entire evening to Wolfgang Moser from Vienna, Austria.

Simply put, it was an inspired decision. Wolfgang captivated the sold-out theater audience from the very first minute and held their attention for nearly two hours (including a 20-minute intermission). Many of you are likely familiar with his award-winning FISM act featuring a teapot, but rather than detailing it here, I encourage you to search “Wolfgang Moser magic” on YouTube—or simply CLICK HERE.

The night before, I had the pleasure of spending time with Wolfgang, as we share an appreciation for the finer aspects of gastronomy. If you ever have the chance to see him perform, I wholeheartedly recommend seizing the opportunity.

Sunday Lecture

On Sunday the activities were transferred to the convention hotel – now only about 40 registrants attending – and consisted of three lectures. One by Christian Scherer, an inspired amateur who has been studying and practicing magic for now over six decades and has had a great influence on card and close-up magic in Switzerland. Vanishing Inc. will soon publish a big book about him and his magic called Mosaic– it is actually there already, awaiting its release whenever the publishers are ready… it has been on their back-burner for several years now, as I wrote the foreword dated October 2022…

Anyway, Scherer’s lecture was mainly on card magic, with some coin magic interspersed, with lots of practical advice and subtleties, the result of a lifetime in magic. I have met Christian for the first time at a Swiss magic convention in ca. 1978, and ever since I have had a great admiration for his profound knowledge, his creative output, and his impeccable technique. It is hard to find such a combination of passion and talent in one person. The photo below was taken by Jean Garance (1937 – 2010).

The other two lectures were from Andreas Fleckenstein, each almost 2 hours long, one dealing with the life and work of Stanley Jaks, the other on standup magic. Both were very well presented; I particularly like the one on Jaks, and would recommend it to any convention. I am convinced that magic conventions need at least one talk that presents topics other than the performance and explanation of tricks.

The Vernon Companion by Mike Perovich

In the intro to The Magic Memories 212 (February 2025) I mentioned that instead of buying new books I am going back to my own library, and that it would take me until age 145 to read it all…

Well, I received quite a bit of feedback on that utterance, so thought you would be interested to know what books I have recently reread. Besides a few crime fiction and thrillers, which I also enjoy reading, I just finished rereading Mike Perovich’s The Vernon Companion (Hermetic Press, Seattle 2014).

Not only do I find this a delightful book – and so do all to whom I have spoken and who have read the book – it also has lots of very practical advice, subtleties, techniques, presentations and tricks.

It is in the nature of this work that all these items are not described in detail, but the mere mention of them will more than please the reader, especially if you have an advanced knowledge of magic and know Vernon’s work a bit (see my double-DVD-set “The Vernon Seminar” for a crash-course on the life and work of Dai Vernon).

To wet your appetite here is such a pearl of wisdom that I enjoyed, and where Perovich gives an additional interpretation of the well-known Vernonian concept of “naturalness”:

But there was another side to Vernon’s naturalness: the way he moved his hands. There was nothing of the carnival huckster in it, none of the dramatics of the Veg-O-Matic demo man, nor the suave, deft moves of the stage manipulator, nor the slowed, soft handling techniques often associated with the modern close-up performer. Certainly, there are renowned card workers with chunky fingers and a somewhat studied clumsiness, but this was not Dai Vernon either. No, Vernon handled things naturally.

Perhaps “craftsman-like” is as close a description as can be given. Vemon handled cards and coins as a woodworker handles his spokeshave or a clockmaker his precision screwdrivers: with the knowledge of a lifetime. He handled them naturally and with utilitarian directness.

After reading the book for the first time in 2014 I wrote Perovich a lengthy letter pestering him with endless questions I had about the book and its content, not thinking that he would ever answer. Imagine my surprise when shortly afterwards he indeed replied… with an even lengthier letter!

We then met for the first time in person in 2015 at the FISM convention in Rimini, Italy, a year or so later at the Magic Castle, of which he is a well-respected member, and where I gave a two-day seminar on the subject of deck switches and stand-up card magic. Ever since we have kept up a lively correspondence.

I assume that some of you are now curious about the questions I asked and the answers he gave. So I just wrote to Mike to ask his kind permission to reproduce some of them in my The Magic Memories. As is typical of him he graciously agreed, and also sent in additional information and some great photos, all of which will be one of the topics in The Magic Memories 214 in April. Stay tuned.

Remembering Dave Solomon

Last week I received the sad new of the passing of my good friend Dave Solomon (1944 – 2025) of Chicago.

I cannot say enough good things about the man and his magic, but I admit that writing about him at the moment is too taxing for me, as we were kindred spirits, sharing not only a passion for subtle card magic, but also other areas of interest; among other things he was a wine expert, and I will never forget the first bootle of Mondavi’s Opus One I had with him.

I’m moved to tears right now.

I intend to write more about him and our relationship, which was quite wonderful, with him and his wife Madeleine visiting with us in Switzerland, and me visiting with them several times in their home in Chicago.

Meanwhile, I refer you back to The Magic Memories 9 (!) of February 28th, 2021, where you can access an interview I did with Dave and which will give you an idea of his philosophy in magic and in life: CLICK HERE.

I took the photo below of Dave and his great friend Simon Aronson (1943–2019) on the occasion of my first visit to Chicago in 1996, where I stayed in Ginny’s and Simon’s apartment, and where I met Dave for the first time.

Review of Unexpected Agenda

Several reviews have appeared meanwhile on my Unexpected Agenda.

Here is one in English by Reviewer EndersGame that was published on various fora. Wonder if you agree with it 🙂

To read and download the review CLICK HERE.

On the Philosophy of Magic

For those who have not got Unexpected Agenda, and for those who do not read forewords (…), to close today’s The Magic Memories 213, I will quote from my own foreword, if I may.

The meaning of magic

People often ask why I practice magic, and after many years of dedication, I am beginning to grasp the answer. I engage in magic because of its inherent beauty. Everything about our craft possesses a unique beauty: the centuries-old manuscripts, books and teachings that have been handed down; the tools we use, such as decks of cards, intricately designed coins, and elegantly crafted props; and the precision of a well-executed sleight, the delicate handling of a deck and the artistry involved in creating illusions. Our workspaces, adorned with the tools of our trade – props that become instruments in the hands of the inspired performer – reflect the beauty of our art.

The finest magical performances are also beautiful. The moments of astonishment they create, the reactions they evoke and the connections they forge with an audience are all manifestations of beauty. Our methods of practice, the relentless pursuit of perfection and the ability to evoke wonder are beautiful as well. In a world often marked by division, selfishness and deception, the pursuit of beauty through magic might be one of the most endangered yet essential endeavors.

Dai Vernon once said that to excel at anything, one must devote one’s life to it. When, at the age of fourteen, I first discovered a magic book in the public library and fell in love with magic, I had no idea it would open the door to my future. I have indeed devoted my life to magic and though I never planned to become what I am, perhaps this lack of premeditation has contributed to my success.

Wish you all the best for the month of March!

I will be back with The Magic Memories 214 un Sunday, 6th April, at 0:07h sharp – make a note in your calendar so as not to miss it.

Roberto Giobbi