WJ17-01
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The curtain opens on a
graveyard. The backdrop shows black silhouettes of trees
rising up to a midnight blue sky twinkling with stars and
a full October moon with a few whispy clouds trying to
hide it. The lighting is blue, occasionally broken by a
white spotlight as needed… after all, this IS a
show.
A few feet from the background is a picket style fence
made of skeleton bones rather than of wood.
On the downstage side of the fence are a few tombstones,
most of them leaning or fallen.
From behind one of the tombstones, a coffin rises,
standing erect. The coffin lid opens towards the
audience, and the magician, dressed in white, is seen
inside. He opens his eyes and steps out. “Good
evening. Welcome to the Boneyard.”
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WJ17-02
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You open an envelope and
remove a greeting card. It has some kind of face on it,
like a smilie face, or a clown, etc. Suddenly, the eyes
on the face begin to move. The mouth opens and it begins
to talk! You open the card, there's nothing inside. You
show it on all sides... there's nothing to account for
why the face can move its eyes, open and close its mouth,
wave its hand, make words appear on the face... it must
be magic! Plus a little ventriloquism on the side!
The idea is based on
Steve Axtell's Magic Drawing Board, but this does not
require you to do any drawing, and it works completely
differently, so we have Steve's permission to share it
with you. It really fits inside an envelope which fits
inside your pocket, and if you wish, at the end of the
effect you can give the card (which you print yourself on
your computer printer) to the birthday child and he won't
have a clue how to make it work, but will cherish it
always.
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WJ17-03
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Duke Stern (1913 -1973) invented his
Dye-Version in the mid-sixties. This is a variation on
it.
A blank white paper tube is shown empty
on both sides, a wand appears, then one by one, four
white silks and a black silk are blown from the tube. The
paper tube is again opened and shown empty, then rolled
up again. The four white silks are pushed into it and
four colored silks are blown out of the other end. The
black silk is blown through the tube, but
"refuses" to change colors.
Two helpers are given the four color
silks to hold, one in each hand, and the black silk is
once again wrapped around the outside of the tube. The
helpers decide the order of the color silks going into
the tube and the audience is asked to help them remember
the order, because there will be a test! A new helper
from the audience is asked to stand and take the color
order test. No matter what happens, at this point a long
multi-colored streamer is revealed, first at one end of
the tube, then at the other, and then it is stretched
across the stage.
The paper tube is unrolled and the
inside of the paper contains the words “THE
END” printed in large colorful letters. The black
silk finally changes to be covered with multi-colored
stars, or transforms into a second multi-color streamer
as you wave it in the air.
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WJ17-04
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It is known by many
names; Dutch Looper, Kitson’s Miracle, The Three
Card Trick and perhaps others. Unlike the Three Card
Monte, which uses three different and genuine
(ungimmicked) playing cards and is accomplished by skill
and sleight of hand, the Dutch Looper (can we settle on
that name?) is a trick with a gimmick, played with two
identical spot cards and a face card (usually king or
queen). The trick usually ends with the performer showing
three identical spot cards, front and back. My version
eliminates some of the difficult moves of earlier
versions, and some of the quirky "obvious"
moves as well.
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WJ17-05
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From time to time Jim Gerrish or the Wiz Kids bring
me interesting challenges gathered from Dollar Stores,
Craft Stores or flea markets. From the Craft Store
(Michaels in our area) Wiz Kid Qua-Fiki brought me some
bangle bracelets that he wanted me to use to make him a
miniature linking rings. What I ended up with requires NO
key ring, and every single bangle ring can be examined.
You can also link on borrowed finger rings and beads,
necklaces (baubles) and just about anything with a hole
through the middle, like a key chain, etc. You're
thinking the "M" word? The items linked can be
made of anything, metal or non-metal, plastic, glass,
etc.
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WJ17-06
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I have not been able to figure out where this
venerable old trick came from or who invented it. I have
found catalog advertisements for it dating back to the
1940's, but no inventor's name has ever been mentioned.
The original Four Card Monte effect still plays very
well and fools audiences today, so I’ll show you an
old version that I was using back in the 1960’s with
Rabbits and Top Hats. I will also provide you with other
options so you can make your own versions of this trick
in either Jumbo Size for stage presentations, or regular
playing card size for close-up. Just print out the cards
from the templates I provide in the e-Book, or make up
your own.
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WJ17-07
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Known as Michael Skinner’s Ultimate 3 Card
Monte, written up by Mike Maxwell (1990), this
effect in regular sized gaffed playing cards was based on
an Eddie Taytelbaum routine called “Find the
Ace” found in Dai Vernon’s Ultimate Secrets
of Card Magic, compiled by Lewis Ganson (1967).
Michael Skinner worked out cleaner handling and created a
masterpiece of mystery and simplicity. In 1995, I
converted the cards to Ultra Jumbo Sizes (7” x
10”) and discovered that the routine could be used
on stage with the addition of a stand to hold the cards
upright, instead of laying them on a table as one does
for close-up. While I was at it, I created a deceptive
clear Plexiglas stand that allowed me to display the
cards on both sides before and after the effect, showing
each card separately and apparently un-gaffed. This
e-Book describes both the stand and the routine I devised
for using the stage sized cards, plus gives you templates
for making the Ultra Jumbo Cards on your computer
printer.
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WJ17-08
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Double Dutch
Loopers (above) covers only the
close-up playing card sized versions. In this e-Book,
I’m going to show you how easy it is to perform on
stage or platform using my ultra jumbo (7” by
10”) playing cards. If you had to use the Patrick
Page or the Bob Sheets moves, you would run into trouble
working with such large cards. However, my
“Spellbinder Moves” were developed for use with
the jumbo cards and I discovered they worked equally well
with the small playing cards, so that’s what went
into that earlier article. I will also reveal my ending
where I turn all three cards into Queens (or whatever
royal playing card you wish to use). I call it the
"Royal Finale."
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WJ17-09
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The effect of this is similar to Zodiac Test by
Astor of Hungary. The methods, however, are quite
different, and Astor has graciously consented to my
mentioning his effect in my e-Book for comparison. You
will note that his version is designed for close-up,
while mine is definitely designed for platform or stage
presentations.
A Zodiac Chart is displayed and the Seer and Sooth-sayer
(that’s you!) makes several predictions on it using
a variety of colored felt tip markers and setting the
chart on a stand or easel so the audience cannot see the
prediction just yet. Several spectators are invited to
locate their Zodiac signs on jumbo cards. The colored
felt-tip markers are passed to the spectators who are
holding cards and they each freely choose one.
The Zodiac chart is now shown and around each Zodiac
symbol are colored circles. The performer shows that the
Zodiac symbols on the chart had been predicted by the
performer by being circled with the same color as the
marking pen chosen by that spectator long before the
cards and pens were distributed..
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WJ17-10
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If you know the song, you can imagine the effect!
Twelve cards are shown on both sides. They have a regular
card back on one side and are blank on the face side. As
the song plays out, black and white drawings of the gifts
suddenly begin to appear on the faces of the cards, one
by one. The song leader (that's you!) runs back and forth
between the blank cards and the appearing gift cards. The
gift cards are displayed on a long stand that can hold
all 12 cards in a row. At the very end of the song, all
the cards change at once into beautifully colored
pictures of the 12 gifts of Christmas as drawn by John
Green and used by permission for this effect.
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WJ17-11
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This is based on TWO levitations invented by U.F.
Grant circa 1965, but the old master wouldn't recognize
either of them in my Vampire Levitation
variation.
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How does it work? When do I get my purchases? How
are they delivered? Where is everybody? 