The Genii Forum

Greetings Head Genii,
Richard, I rarely post, but had to write and thank you for the gift of this great trick. I've truly enjoyed your book "The Secrets of Brother John Hamman" over the years. It's wonderful to know there's more of his unpublished card magic floating around out there. I look forward to further Hamman surprises down the road. Thanks again, Jess Cone

P.S.Thanks Mr. Acer for your clear instructions. It was a breeze to learn.

Thank you, Jess. It's unfortunate that Brother John took a lot of his unpublished material with him. With Doug Gorman's help, we were able to publish a few more items. (There are also several items that didn't make the book in our memorial issue published when Brother John died.)

I apologize Doug for failing to acknowledge your contribution. I caught this error after I'd made the post. Thanks Doug, this was a real treat for me. Jess

Thanks Jess. As I was walking through the trick for our photographer to take pre-illustrative photos, he actually lowered the camera at one point and said, "How the hell is that happening?"

I am a HUGE Bro. John fan. The big yellow book is my most favorite book I own. "Interplay" is very sweet. As I have written on this forum before I had the pleasure of being in the seats at Bro. John's taping for the Greater Magic Video series from Stevens Magic at KAKE studio here in Wichita. I'll name drop, Roger Klause, Lance Pierce,and of course Papa Joe were also in the audience. What a kick, a great day. I have the date written down on the inside cover as Jan. 24th 1990. I will always perform the Signed Card, Pinochle Trick, Invisible Card, Underground Transposition, ect. Wonderful effects by a master. To say more would be redundant.LOL! A tip of the hat to RK for one of the best card books ever printed. Peace all.
Lee,

I liked the trick very much too. The first one published a few months ago was pretty good but I liked this one even more.

Outstanding routine. Just worked through it. Thanks David and Richard. This one's a keeper!!!!

Glen

A lovely routine and a real treat for us Hamman fans.

Matt Field

I've worked out two ways of doing this that doesn't use the extra two cards. It also doesn't use any of the sleights mentioned. If I have time, I'll write it up and post it somewhere.

Great trick, but there seems to be one part where the description says to spread the 4 fives and there will be a face up queen the same color as the one just seen. It actually is a different color.. unless I am doing something wrong

Same here -- I've been through the effect dozens of times with the thought that I was missing something, or had incorrectly set up the queens.

The same color queen does occur, only it is earlier in the referenced paragraph.

Hi Bob,
I sincerely hope you'll make the time to write up your no extra cards routines for Interplay. I'm a fan of your magic also and enjoyed you recent take on the Christ Aces. Thanks, Jess Cone, Salt Lake City, Ut.

Okay,okay -- I'll do it this weekend with photos and anybody who wants one can email me. I'll post the notice here. I've since decided the first version I came up with isn't as good as the second, and since the first version uses some odd moves I've never explained in print (and according to Richard Kaufman, no one can do except me), I think I'll just post the second -- because it's really, really sneaky and really, really easy.

While I'm writing this up, interested parties in the meantime should brush up on two moves, "The Carlyle Turnover" and "The Tenkai Move" (aka the "Tenkai Turnover" & the "Optical Revolve"). Both moves are described in exquisite detail in Nick Trost's SUBTLE CARD CREATIONS VOL. 1. SEE:

http://www.magicbookshop.com/product_in ... s_id=11146

I must say, from what I have viewed from those DVDS, most impressive. Ah! For some one learning the "The Tenkai Move", very impressive. I personally enjoy viewing an Magician who has learned the difficult slights properly, rather than many self working tricks.

Any update on when Bob Farmer's variation will be ready? I have spent the past few days mastering the Tenkai Turnover. I have it just about nailed - I am a Big Bammo Bob Farmer Fan and I sure the trick will be worth the many hours I have spent perfecting the Tenkai move...

Joe

I e-mailed Bob about this a few days ago, and he said to keep an eye on this thread. He should be posting an update when its ready.

-Jim

Bob sent me his routine for proofreading and to make sure he didn't claim to invent something that Marlo already had in print.

The routine is a killer.

Patience, my friends.

Matt Field

Bob

Anything posted up yet, please? If so where?

Thanks and Regards

Anthony

Farmer's trick will be going into Genii.

Yes, yes, be calm my children of the night. Mr. Kaufman and Mr. Acer have insisted that my version must appear only in the pages of Genii.

Now, I do have a crediting question: in the original Hamman "Interplay," a six-card packet (two face-up cards + four face-down cards) is Elmsley Counted and gradually the entire packet turns face down (one card at a time).

Is this an original Hamman sequence? I think I've seen this before, but I don't know where. I looked at Sam Schwartz's "Back Flip," which also uses 6 cards and his other effect, "Playback" -- and these are definitely related (see his book, THE MAGIC OF SAM SCHWARTZ) -- but does anyone know of the Hamman sequence being used anywhere else?

If so, then this would be Hamman's version of how to get into the situation.

Comments please.

I think there might be something like this in one of Jerry Mentzer's Card Cavalcade books.

I had a quick look and couldn't find anything, though Max Maven has an effect with a six-card packet that uses the Ascanio Spread.

In doing some research for my version of this effect, I came across a despicable omission by Jim Pace and Steve Dobson. I was looking at 6-card packet effects that use an Elmsley count and of course the most famous one is "Back Flip" by the late Sam Schwartz.

A few years ago, I picked up a packet trick called "Alien Autopsy" by the aforementioned Pace and Dobson. Actually, I bought several of them because they were being sold real cheap and the trick came with some very nicely made plastic cards with pictures of aliens dead and alive. This was also a 6-card packet effect using the Elmsley Count.

As I dragged it out this weekend to check it out, I realized these guys had simply ripped off Sam Schwartz's "Back Flip." It's the same trick. The moves are exactly the same (both tricks use the Back Flip Count) and the cards are analogs for the cards in "Back Flip." They had changed the order of one sequence, but the effects and the method were exactly the same. It's as if someone had painted Harbin's Zig-Zag a different color and then claimed it was a new trick they had invented.

Nowhere in the instructions for "Alien Autopsy" is Sam Schwartz or "Back Flip" mentioned. These guys are beneath contempt.

Too busy to think for themselves, they overlooked some alternate methods they could have used that would have improved the trick. Sam Schwartz was miles ahead of these guys: he kept thinking about his trick and in THE MAGIC OF SAM SCHWARTZ by Allen Zingg (Magico 2003) he offers "Playback." Using just 6 non-gaffed cards (counted as four) and a clever patter story about a lazy gambler he gets four amazing effects. The kings turn face up one at a time. Their backs change from blue to red one at a time. All the cards turn into the king of spades. Finally, the cards become 4 different blue-backed kings.

Maybe Pace and Dobson made a deal with Schwartz for his trick. If they did, good for them, but at least they could have mentioned it in the instructions. Their cards are very nice; they obviously went to some trouble to produce some excellent props -- but my autopsy shows who's really responsible for this trick, Sam Schwartz. He should get all the credit and, at least, his family should get some of the money

As an exercise, I decided to work out a version of "Alien Autopsy" that does not use Sam Schwartz's moves and routine. After that, I worked out a card analog of the routine using some of the ideas from my version of the Hamman "Interplay" trick. So, now I've got this effect:

1. Four double-blank cards are shown.

2. The backs print one by one so there are four blue backs.

3. Flipped face-up, the packet is spread to show the four kings.

4. The faces and backs instantly disappear and the packet is just four double-blank cards (and it's automatically reset).

If I have the time, I'll write this up too. Using the "Alien Autopsy" Cards the routine would be:

1. Four immigration cards with blue backs are shown (back and front - 1-2-3-4).

2. One by one the immigration cards turn into dead aliens (it's the germs in the earth's atmosphere).

3. The dead aliens regenerate four different colored aliens, alive and well.

4. The regenerated aliens instantly transform into four, blue-backed immigration cards (and the packet is reset).

Hamman's routine doesn't use successive Elmsley counts, it uses a push off to a small fan display that is essentially does the same technically as a buckle count.

If you are reserching these types of displays and twisting sequences, I would think Roger Smith's 'Maxi-Twist' should be there somewhere. There are certainly many many effects based on that sequence.

Ryan, Hamman starts with an Elmsley Count to reveal the first face-down card and then, as you note, uses the Small Packet Reverse Fan Display to reveal the remaining three face-down cards. I think a series of Elmsley Counts works better because it's faster, though you could use, as Hamman does, an analog to the Buckle Count. Now I don't claim any credit for this idea -- I'm sure I've seen this before with a 6-card packet.

Mr. Farmer,
In knuckling under to the pressure from the Head Genii and Mr. Acer, I do hope you lobbied for placement of you Interplay version in the relatively near future. I think it would be a shame (at least for me anyway) to have to wait for the next several months to enjoy it! What do you say, Richard, will it arrive in a somewhat timely manner? Thanks in advance. Jess

Maybe it will appear with the Cardwarp idea I mentioned elsewhere?

Bob Farmer wrote:Maybe it will appear with the Cardwarp idea I mentioned elsewhere?

I would not complain about a one-man Bob Farmer Magicana...

-Jim

Jim Maloney wrote:

Bob Farmer wrote:Maybe it will appear with the Cardwarp idea I mentioned elsewhere?

I would not complain about a one-man Bob Farmer Magicana...

-Jim

Even a two-trick one-man Farmer-ama..........

I've now created another effect, "Blank Flip" that uses elements of my method for "Interplay." I've sent this along to Genii, so perhaps it could be included. It's a walkaround packet effect (you walkaround, the packet doesn't): four double-blank cards become four red-backed cards. Turned face up they are revealed to be the four kings. Then the packet instantly reverts to all-blank cards, both sides.

The trick is easy to do and automatically resets. The patter revolves around two Gates: Bill and the ones leading to Hell.

Would going up to 7 as 4 help on this so you end up with examinable cards (or start...) ?

If taking a "packet trick" approach - perhaps also a good time to get specially made thin cards?

Jonathan, I get jumpy with a packet over 6 cards. It looks too thick. I've never been hung up on this whole "examine-the-cards" concern. Can they examine the cards? If they ask, I say, "NO!" This is my show mot theirs.

If you're really concerned about this sort of thing, Mike Close's idea is genius: you ask the audience if they would like to take the cards home and try it themselves. They always agree they would, so you put the cards in an envelope, seal it and hand it over. When they open it they find your business cards (a simple envelope switch).

Part of the attraction of packet tricks for me is to create tricks with a high-effect to low-number-of-cards ratio -- and with minimal moves or reordering.

Incidentally, Paul Hallas has a very good discussion of "Back Flip" and it imitators, including "Alien Autopsy" in his excellent book on packet tricks, SMALL BUT DEADLY (pp. 61-62).

I hereby announce an agreement made today between Bob Farmer and Genii to produce a one-man Magicana shortly and swiftly, which will include his two spin-offs of Brother John Hamman's "Interplay," as well as handful of additional routines and maybe a new song from Rush.

Will Geddy Lee go to the hen house and bring us all back some chicken to eat? I like mine fried on a cast iron skillet like Grandma did back in the day. Just wondering.

Mr. Acer,
Thanks for the heads up. I'd hoped for the response you've given for the printing of these routines and a full Magicana of Bob's creations certainly whets my appetite. Many thanks Bob!

Here's the Rush song:

http://www.rush.com/v4.html

I would have thought 'Presto' (from the 1989 album of the same name) would have have been the appropriate Rush song for this forum.

(Also would have thought that Bob would have taken the opportunity to sneak in a plug for Rush's cameo in the movie 'I Love You, Man').

Anyways, enough about Canadian Power Trios already - any news on the oft-discussed Flim Flam book?

Cheers

Andrew

Actually, "The Pass" from the "Presto" album might work better.

The Flim-Flam book is written and done. It's a big volume and contains lots of new material and updates. However, I haven't taken the many photos required because my day job has kept me too busy (see "I Love You Man" note above).

Maybe by this summer!