Ambitious ace to five -- Nick Trost book

[swamy]

The handling of the effect "Amitious ace to five" published in the book "Subtle card Creations" by Nick Trost is really good in terms of simplicity and consitency of moves.


Trost in his book mentions that the effect titled "Too Many Cards" appears in Ron Zollweg's notes. This means that there are two effects with the same title "Too Many Cards", one from Derek Dingle and the other from Ron Zollweg.

[bobon]

Larry Jennings has two version of it.Amitious classic with four and five cards.Though plot is common but Dingle made it famous.There is one more with only with Aces.

[Richard Kaufman]

The plot is not "common"--it was created by Jennings ... Ace through Five, Ambitious Card done with a small packet, at the end the last card turns color. That's the Jennings plot. The Dingle handling is based entirely upon Larry Jennings. Jennings' inspiratation was a trick of Bill Miesel's in Ibidem which used an entire 13-card suit for a more standard Ambitious Card type handling.

[Chris Aguilar]

The plot is not "common"--it was created by Jennings ...

Is there any good reason to discount Cervon's different take on that? (As espoused in his book "Ultra Cervon" where Cervon claims that Dingle and also Vernon performed this based his original handling.) I seem to recall (in the Dingle book) that Dingle mentioned seeing Cervon perform this early on. Was Dingle mistaken?


For those who have the Castle Notebooks (so far) is there any mention of this plot?

[Richard Kaufman]

Yes, there's every reason to discount Cervon's version of events. Until that book came out (or shortly before) he had never claimed the trick, yet Jennings had published his handlings two decades earlier in Epilogue. Cervon had twenty years to make a claim--he never did. Too late and sour grapes.

[Jonathan Townsend]

Does this effect have similarities to the "Devil's Elevator" trick?

[Dustin Stinett]

Regardless of Bruces revisionists account of history in this regard, I do believe that his handling is superior.

Dustin

[Richard Kaufman]

Superior to which of Jennings' handlings? All of them? Do you know all of them?

[Chris Aguilar]

I also prefer the Cervon handling to Dingles's "Too Many Cards" or the Jennings version in "Classic magic of Larry Jennings".

Are there some nifty previously unpublished versions coming in the new Jennings books?

[Richard Kaufman]

Yes.

[Dustin Stinett]

To answer Richard's question: I once knew the Jennings' version, but cannot recall it now. To the best of my recollection, I ditched that for the Dingle version because I believed there was more going on (and maybe it had a better blow-off?). Then I ditched the Dingle version for the Cervon handling because it's less cumbersome. So I find it better than both the Jennings and Dingle renderings.

Dustin

[Richard Kaufman]

There are at least three different Jennings versions already in print.

[Chris Aguilar]

Ok, two handlings in the Mike Maxwell book, so what is the third version in print? And is it substantially different?

[Richard Kaufman]

There are two more versions in Epilogue. And unpublished versions.

[Dustin Stinett]

The Jennings version I knew was from a lecture, though I don't recall if it was in the notes (sometime in the early/mid '80s). It also might be in the Maxwell book.

Dustin

[Philippe Billot]

See An Ambitious Classic in Epilogue Special N 3 (1975)
Then Ambitious Classic and Ambitious Classic Variation in The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings (1986)

[David Prouty]

Bob White has a great take on Larry Jennings "Ambitious Classic"
in the March 2006 Genii (Vol 69, #3) (Penn & Teller on the cover) entitled "Ambitious Classic Revisited"...

[cardstuntman]

Anyone ever play with the Geoff Latta version from Apocalypse 12/78...
...Twist till it Hurts?

I like the Too Many Cards Version as well. Will have to check out Bruce's version.

[Richard Kaufman]

Ambitious Classic is not a version of Twisting the Aces.

[cardstuntman]

never said it was, I only mentioned it cause of the color change at the end and the flipping that happens in Too Many Cards with the 3 of spades. sorry to get so off the topic of ambitious card plot.

[JKeppel]

This is a great trick to use as a follow up to the version of open travellers in David Regals new book. At the end of the trick the 4 aces turn into the ace to 4 of hearts. Perfect for a lead in by saying "let me get a 5th card here and Ill show you something else "

PS, Richard, whats the story of the version of this in Mentzers Card Cavalcade II. Its one of the few tricks in the book that is not credited in the table of contents but in the write up itself its credited to an unpublished trick of Dingle.