The Genii Forum

Brad Jeffers

I have also encountered two people that, upon observing an ambitions card routine, expressed the thought that, “… that is how cards behave.” I'm thinking of appropriating this for use as a tag line when doing a series of card tricks. When I finish the first trick I will explain that of course I don...

Brad Jeffers

The Too Perfect principle is Too Silly. Magic generally requires five steps: Precondition, change, post condition, review, conclusion. In Too Perfect tricks, one or more of these steps are missing. Please give an example of a "too perfect trick" and point out which of the five steps is mi...

Brad Jeffers

What's funny is that the aces being there "by accident" is the effect. You have somehow bucked the 1 in 270,725 odds of this happening. A once in a lifetime occurrence. A minor miracle! The mathematics of the situation being lost on the woman, I wonder what kind of response Jennings would ...

Brad Jeffers

Once I watched Larry Jennings do a card trick for a young lady. He had her cut the deck into four stacks. Then the top cards were turned over to reveal aces. She did not respond. Larry inquired and the lady said the aces were there by accident. The lady could have been right. Read this blog post fr...

Brad Jeffers

But magic on TV is like ventriloquism on the radio. It is hard to engage with since it doesn't truly deceive you. Does ventriloquism in person truly deceive anyone? Children perhaps. However, ventriloquists unlike magicians do not rely on deception to create a magical experience. There's something ...

Brad Jeffers

Al Schneider wrote:Now the same routine can be done in your birthday suit.
I plan on making a video of it and sharing here.

Brad Jeffers

I agree with Ian.
Using the sword analogy, the effect of mental floss is like sword swallowing, whereas the effect of blockhead is a little closer to sword through the neck.
Given the method used in blockhead, what is the purpose of THIS ?

Brad Jeffers

Is the intention to mime sliding the top card over using the left thumb? Where's the performer's eye contact/focus during these actions? My focus during these actions is on the cards and my hands, as that is where I want the audience's focus to be. Done correctly, the double lift creates a perfect ...

Brad Jeffers

Another useful tip I saw Bill Goodwin give once (in The Penumbra magazine) can be used from time to time as well (depending on the purpose of the move). The idea is that as the second card (actually a double card) arrives in your hand - you spread it to show 2 cards. And as the final 2 cards arrive...

Brad Jeffers

I was just recently looking around for a good purse frame and ended up buying 5 of THESE.
I was very pleased.
I like the way they look, and the quality is a notch above those I've purchased from magic dealers in the past.

Brad Jeffers

Bjorn Hanson wrote: so E. S. Andrews is a "semordnilap".

I prefer the more mellifluous term anadrome to the clever but rather clunky semordnilap.

Brad Jeffers

Danny Cole fooled them with this very neat trick.
Apparently thread was not used, in which case it fooled me too.
Really beautiful.

Brad Jeffers

On volume one of Trilogy of Magic, consummate professional Johnny Ace Palmer gives a standing ovation technique which he developed for use in his award winning close-up act.

You can see it in action HERE.

Brad Jeffers

I don't really see any antithesis between entertaining and deceptive , as such. Nor do I. I cannot think of any example of a trick or routine becoming more entertaining, by virtue of being made less deceptive. Not one. However, as to any Simon Aronson hypothetical, I will of course give deference t...

Brad Jeffers

Here's an example of a magician who sacrificed deceptiveness

for entertainment

Brad Jeffers

it's interesting that a magic shop owner would have the opinion concerning exposure of magic secrets that rpmagicshop has. Every magic catalog I ever owned had something similar to this (from Louis Tannen catalog #10) ... Important Notice Please be very careful in your selection of tricks from this ...

Brad Jeffers

The Magic Cafe has 66,906 registered members.
At any given time, there will be about 14 of those members browsing.

I see Genii has a banner add there.

Money well spent!

Brad Jeffers

The Stealth Professional Gravity Holdout is invisible, comfortable, flexible, and durable.
It's 35 times better than the Jack Miller holdout.

~ consider this an unsolicited endorsement ~

Brad Jeffers

Stevens Magic has been selling the Driebeck Die for many years.

Brad Jeffers

Brad Jeffers

erdnasephile wrote:There's a cool illustration of Robert-Houdin doing this "Ethereal Suspension" in Christopher's Panorama of Magic, which also includes the kicker.

Brad Jeffers

The Wikipedia article on misdirection states that "misdirection is the central secret of all magic" and goes on to describe the basic way of misdirection as being "to encourage the audience to look away for a fleeting moment, so that the sleight or move may be accomplished undetected&...

Brad Jeffers

Why is the Marshall Smith info posted next to a photo of someone else's grave?

Brad Jeffers

EndersGame wrote: what do you think of the idea of 'painting' just one side red after showing both sides restored as coloured, and then handing it out for examination?

A terrible idea, probably thought up by a dealer so the ad copy could say that the rod could be "handed out for examination".

Brad Jeffers

Bill Mullins wrote:The Gardner-Smith Correspondence has long been out of print, and copies don't often come up on the secondary market

Here's one

Brad Jeffers

The most famous version is “The Book of Fortunes,” by Alex Elmsley (pp. 347-351, The Collected works of Alex Elmsley, Volume 1 by Stephen Minch, L&L Publishing 1991) Elmsley's The Book of Fortunes is something different. I believe what you mean is Fate's Datebook , Elmsley's opening trick from ...

Brad Jeffers

I am faced with the following options for a particular trick of DeLand's. 1. Use DeLand's original cards so what you will get is a reproduction of an antique. I assume that the book will contain photos of all of Deland's original gaffs, so reproductions of these as actual cards (that I will not use...

Brad Jeffers

Ricky Jay's methodology in this trick, is arguably superior to the others. If one however, were to make the claim that it is definitely superior, they would get no argument from me. What is definitely not debatable is that Mr Jay's performance is far superior to the others, be it Blaine, that guy on...

Brad Jeffers

erdnasephile wrote: I couldn't bear to use a highlighter in any of my books.

Remember that book where Michael Ammar saved you the trouble ...

Brad Jeffers

There are important things to take into consideration when deciding whether to reprint or not. The most important is the value of a person's work and making sure as many people who want to know about it can know about it. It's very kind of them to reprint the book so that I too may be able to own a...

Brad Jeffers

Well at least jkeyes maintains a good sense of humor.

In his praise of Chris

jkeyes1000 wrote:He keeps his emotions under control better than most of you.

British wit.
I love it!

Brad Jeffers

... since both worked at the circus during the same time the chances of them having met and struck up a friendship is much higher than any other random guy like Sanders or E.S. Andrews. You keep referring to Gallaway and Houdini as having worked at "the" circus, as if there were only one....

Brad Jeffers

Let's see if we can find one thing for each day.

April 15, 1934
Benjamin Ruker aka Black Herman dies of a heart attack after collapsing on stage during a performance in Louisville KY.

OK ...

I've done my part.

Brad Jeffers

Christopher,
I see you have these up for sale on Ebay.
Looks like someone is going to get a good deal!
By the way, the four colored dice in the wooden box is Tony Curtis's Die-Abolical, a collectible Magic Wagon item.

Brad Jeffers

I take the length of the hand and multiply it by ten to get the height of the person.

Brad Jeffers

Jon,
Mahdi Gilbert's playing cards should be exactly what you've been looking for.

Poker size, no indices, white borders.

Case closed!

Brad Jeffers

Do you have any feelings about how to strengthen conviction and/or dispel suspicion, when a double lift or turnover is done. One way to strengthen conviction is to utilize an offset replacement technique, the most elegant of these being the one devised by Vernon. The Vernon method is used with a do...

Brad Jeffers

I once saw someone conclude their performance of Ultimate Monte by using the Eric Decamps ruse; which he employs in his Wild Card routine; of changing the gaffed cards into money.

I liked it.

Brad Jeffers

The last two pictures are Jack Avis's Poker Pot.
It's a neat variation of Chink-A-Chink.
A complete set has four dice and two of the little metal boxes.

Brad Jeffers

Our Channing Pollock was in fact named after the other Channing Pollock. His pregnant mother, met the famed Broadway playwright and essayist whom she admired greatly, and as the story goes, it was the playwright himself who suggested naming the new baby "Channing". PS - You can get a DVD o...

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