Best Ace Assembly

[Guest]

No, I think it was called Grandfather's Favorite. I may be wrong, but it was something similar to that. All I did to mine was add roughing fluid to allow the spread to show the aces vanished, and it worked great.
Rick

[Guest]

After reading Mcuesta's post, I agree that the gaffed Ace Assemblies are stronger than non-gaffed, but I wholeheartedly disagree that Ace assemblies are not that strong.

Jazz Aces is one of the strongest effects I have performed and although the Aces are not face up, the audience is convinced that the cards that are traveling are aces. (Reinforced by displaying the black cards. If they see 4 black cards and they know you are using 4 black cards and 4 aces, then the cards face down must be aces). The other benefit which contributes to its strength is how crystal clear it is what you are doing. Using 8 cards instead of 16 helps clarify what is happening without diminishing the scope of the routine.

Also, Open Travellers doesn't use gaffed cards and in the hands of the capable performer almost looks like movie special effects.

Just my opinion. ;)

[Guest]

One of my favorite ace assemblies would have to be "The Invisible Palm." I believe that Harris has a version, Jennings has a version as well. And I even had the privledge of seeing L.A. perform a version that I have not seen before. It was one of the best that I have had the pleasure of witnessing.

Spydur

[Richard Kaufman]

Spydur:
Larry Jennings INVENTED "The Invisible Palm Aces." You should buy the book "Jennings '67" because not only does it give a full history of the creation of the trick, it also gives many different versions created by Jennings.

[Sean Macfarlane]

I've seen DC perfrom this live twice, the first time he did it flawlessly, the second time there was some fumbling with the pop out move, which suggests to me he was really doing the routine.
Also towards the end of the routine his video monitor went blank and he had to improvise while the technicians fixed the problem, he was extremely professional during this and kept us all entertained.

[Guest]

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
Spydur:
Larry Jennings INVENTED "The Invisible Palm Aces." You should buy the book "Jennings '67" because not only does it give a full history of the creation of the trick, it also gives many different versions created by Jennings.

Richard,

I have spent some time looking into the history of "Invisible Palm Aces/Open Travelers" and I can tell you that both Jon Racherbaumer and Wesley James would dispute your "invented" credit to Larry Jennings.

By the way, Open Travelers is my all-time favorite effect to perform; I had the pleasure of meeting Larry and watching him perform it at a table in the basement of the Magic Castle (not the Close-up Gallery) many years ago; the first version I learned was from Mike Maxwell's book on Larry's magic.

Regards,
Thomas Wayne

[Richard Kaufman]

Actually I believe Jon Racherbaumer would now concur with my view on "The Invisible Palm Aces." I don't need to go into the whole rigmarole again (you can read Jennings '67 for that). The only person who continues to beat this dead horse is Bruce Cervon. His only claim is to have reinvented Bill Miesel's method for "Invincible" (published decades earlier) and NEVER crediting him whenever he's reprinted "Aerodynamic Aces." The invisible palming plot was suggested to Bruce by Dai Vernon (after seeing Jennings' trick). Cervon has NOTHING to claim here.
I don't recognize Wesley James as an authority on the history of "The Invisible Palm Aces."

[Guest]

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
Actually I believe Jon Racherbaumer would now concur with my view on "The Invisible Palm Aces." [...]
I don't recognize Wesley James as an authority on the history of "The Invisible Palm Aces."

Richard,

If Jon Racherbaumer "would now concur" with you, that must be a relatively new position for him. From his writings of last year entitled "Tracking the Open Travelers" (which he was kind enough to send me copy) I quote his concluding remarks: "At the [sic] stage of the 'game', the provenance regarding this trick is still in dispute. However, Cervon's case seems more persuasive to me..."

As for Wesley James, in his 1990 "Pasteboard Perpensions" he has a very nice section detailing the various forms of Ace assemblies with some history/credit details, but in private correspondence with me, he has additionally mentioned his belief that the basics of the Open Travelers routine - only Aces used, individual vanishes and reveals, use of Findley "Tent Vanish", refence to palming "invisible" Aces - predate Jennings claims by some amount of time. Whether James' peer relationship and familiarity with Vernon, Jennings and other of that era makes him an "authority" is , of course, a matter of opinion; I have found him, however, to be a very accurate and thorough souce of information regarding the history of many, many effects and would be inclined to consider his opinion with a great deal of weight. Naturally, you are free to give it as much or little weight as you deem fit.

By the way, I would hasten to point out that I absolutely love Larry Jennings' work and found him a wonderful performer to watch and a fascinating person to talk to. That there has been some concern over who should be credited with [some of] his material cannot diminish in the least my opinion of him as a wonderful member of the magic community.

Finally, I might mention that I am not an authority, in the least, on the evolution of this wonderful routine; I merely report what I perceive other, more authoritative sources to believe. So don't... um, you know... shoot the messenger.

Regards,
Thomas Wayne

[ October 07, 2001: Message edited by: Thomas Wayne ]

[ October 09, 2001: Message edited by: Thomas Wayne ]

[El Mystico]

On the topic of ace routines - and McDonald's in particular - I would love to remind people of what is considered the McDonald one handed vanish. McDonald only had one arm, so he vanished one handedly. The Ganson write up in Vernon's book amends the vanish to be worked with two hands - which loses all the impact of the vanish. yet, in "And a pack of cards" by Jack Merlin the one handed vanish is there - by someone who had two arms. The point is - the handling can be completely justified by saying "In case you think i've been cheating in some way, I'll use just one hand now"; the effect is all that could be desired.

[Richard Kaufman]

Thomas: I repeat, I do not accept Wesley James as an authority on the history or crediting of "The Invisible Palm Aces." I can't imagine why anyone would.
I think Racherbaumer found my case in "Jennings '67" to be extremely persuasive.
Now, Dom, as far as doing the vanishes in "McDonald's Aces" with one hand--I can tell that you have not read "Hofzinser's Card Conjuring!" If you had, you would know that not only did Hofzinser invent the trick, he also vanished the cards using only one hand! And he had two hands.

[Guest]

As long as you folks are keeping this thread alive, I noticed that no one mentioned Alex Elmsley's "Atomic Aces." In the early 1970s, I used to kill with this routine, which at the time used bridge-sized red Aviator gaffs. Then I gravitated toward straight sleight-of-hand with unprepared decks (except for the Brainwave in my back pocket for emergencies). Now I'm curious -- does anyone still do the Elmsley Aces, and is it available in more commonly used cards?
--Ralph

[ October 22, 2001: Message edited by: Ralph Bonheim ]

[Richard Kaufman]

Ralph, if I'm remembering the trick correctly, "Atomic Aces" was really a mildly reworked version of Brother Hamman's "Final Ace Routine" using double-ended cards. Correct?
I believe Gary Plants can make the necessary gimmicks for almost any routine in whatever cards you want!

[Guest]

That's correct, double-ended. Glancing at the instrux, I do see that Hamman received proper credit. Thanks.

[Pete McCabe]

Speaking of Open Travelers, Chris Kenner has a terrific version in his legendary book "Out of Control." This uses an extra card with a bit of preparation to extremely clean effect.

Here's a little tip for anyone who does Chris's version: Start off by doing the Asher Twist with the four aces, then go right into Open Travelers. Chris's nifty gaff does not prevent you from doing Lee Asher's great routine, which will thoroughly cancel any thought of extra cards in the mind of your audience.