Search found 71 matches

by David Britland
February 23rd, 2012, 10:34 am
Forum: Buzz
Topic: Martin Breese has Passed
Replies: 23
Views: 8875

Re: Martin Breese has Passed

Martin Breese was one of most enthusiastic magicians you could ever hope to meet. I worked with him when he had his magic business in London. First a basement studio under a grocers shop in Shepherds Bush and later the top floor of a fine house that once belonged to Biba fashion founder Barbara Hula...
by David Britland
November 11th, 2010, 8:14 pm
Forum: Buzz
Topic: www.CheatingAtTexasHoldem.com
Replies: 126
Views: 36237

Re: www.CheatingAtTexasHoldem.com

Checked out the website and was surprised to see videos of Steve Forte from Hidden Secrets of Magic and also Paul and Alex in a sequence from the BBC's The Real Hustle being embedded in the site and used to promote it. To me it seems misleading to use other people's videos in this way. I don't know ...
by David Britland
November 8th, 2010, 8:30 pm
Forum: Other Magic Publications
Topic: Amazing Geometric Vanish - MAGIC magazine
Replies: 22
Views: 44833

Re: Amazing Geometric Vanish - MAGIC magazine

Terri Rogers showed me a very similar trick in the 1980s. It too was based around the Bermuda Triangle mystery but, more logically I think, used the Paul Curry triangle from Gardner's Mathematics Magic & Mystery book. The triangle had drawings of ships on it. Simple bird's eye views of the hull ...
by David Britland
May 25th, 2010, 4:58 pm
Forum: Buzz
Topic: Real Magic
Replies: 3
Views: 1340

Re: Real Magic

The use of animated projections on buildings has been used in the UK quite a lot, most recently by SKY TV during the election debates. There are some amazing examples on the web. And there was the projected '3D' Loch Ness monster in Japan used to publicise a movie: 3D Japanese Monster Marco Tempest ...
by David Britland
February 1st, 2010, 6:05 am
Forum: Buzz
Topic: Ebooks - the pros & cons...
Replies: 171
Views: 27807

Re: Ebooks - the pros & cons...

I'm not sure it is easy to compare the small magic market with the wider public market for books and dvds. However, thriller author Joe Konrath has a remarkably candid blog in which he reveals the part that piracy, digital sales and other marketing factors impact on his work and income. He even incl...
by David Britland
January 2nd, 2010, 10:45 am
Forum: Close-Up Magic
Topic: Dai Vernon in Expert card Technique
Replies: 63
Views: 13639

Re: Dai Vernon in Expert Card Technique

Hi Leonard The description of Vernon achieving the trick 'by gaze' sounds like the one in Hofzinser. It is possible that Hugard included the trick in Expert Card Technique because he had previously added it to the revised edition of Encyclopedia of Card Tricks. There it is called The Psychological S...
by David Britland
December 28th, 2009, 3:47 pm
Forum: Close-Up Magic
Topic: Dai Vernon in Expert card Technique
Replies: 63
Views: 13639

Re: Dai Vernon in Expert card Technique

Re the psychological force used in The Psychic Stop, there is a version of this in Hofzinser's Card Conjuring. It is in the very first trick, The Sympathetic Numbers. It described as a forcing procedure but is used to force the number of cards dealt as opposed to revealing a card at that specific nu...
by David Britland
August 11th, 2009, 6:29 am
Forum: General
Topic: A New Mathematical Principle - George Blake
Replies: 13
Views: 3295

Re: A New Mathematical Principle - George Blake

Hi Michael

Yes, it's the prediction that one of the hands will contain a singleton. But you don't know which one.
by David Britland
August 10th, 2009, 8:40 pm
Forum: General
Topic: A New Mathematical Principle - George Blake
Replies: 13
Views: 3295

Re: A New Mathematical Principle - George Blake

Hi Joe I wrote about George Blake's Mysterious Mis-Deal in an article for Stan Allen's Magic Magazine called Tricks of Faith. It was about tricks that don't really work. Although the idea was in the April 1954 issue of Max Andrews' Magic Magazine I think he believed it worked. Though Peter McDonald,...
by David Britland
August 7th, 2009, 8:33 pm
Forum: General
Topic: George Blake - 'Impromptu Out Of This World'?
Replies: 7
Views: 2592

Re: George Blake - 'Impromptu Out Of This World'?

Hi Joe I don't know if it is the version you mean but George Blake published his handling in Max Andrews' Magic Magazine. Now published on CD Rom by Martin Breese and available for download from Lybrary.com. It's in the January 1954 issue. I think there were some corrections in a later issue too. It...
by David Britland
June 27th, 2009, 9:24 pm
Forum: Mentalism & Mental Magic
Topic: David Berglas' Matchmaker effect
Replies: 31
Views: 7441

Re: David Berglas' Matchmaker effect

Anyone else will find the two paragraphs describing this stunt on page 1101 of The Phoenix.

Thanks to searchable pdfs at Ask Alexander no researchers were tortured in order to bring you this information!
by David Britland
June 27th, 2009, 1:33 pm
Forum: Mentalism & Mental Magic
Topic: David Berglas' Matchmaker effect
Replies: 31
Views: 7441

Re: David Berglas' Matchmaker effect

Hi Psychic Lawrence You can get the entire run of Phoenix on CD rom for less than $25 at a magic dealer. A google search will turn up a bargain. If we had to put everything David Berglas did in the book, we'd still be writing it! I'm glad we managed to write up as much as we did. After two and a hal...
by David Britland
June 27th, 2009, 8:47 am
Forum: Mentalism & Mental Magic
Topic: David Berglas' Matchmaker effect
Replies: 31
Views: 7441

Re: David Berglas' Matchmaker effect

Hi Psychic Lawrence. I saw David do the light trick. It's great gag and he plays it brilliantly. It's described in The Back Room column of issue 275 of The Phoenix magazine (1953) where it's attributed to Tommy Vanderschmidt although it's not clear whether Vanderschmidt created it. Well worth lookin...
by David Britland
April 14th, 2009, 7:17 am
Forum: Feature Articles
Topic: Uri
Replies: 139
Views: 50590

Re: Uri

Or maybe we'll see a credit line in a magic book that says, 'This is based on an unpublished routine of Uri Geller' Re the key bending effect you mentioned earlier, this also appears to be originated by Uri Geller. He performed it in the UK in 1973. Magicians devised key bending devices and the slot...
by David Britland
April 13th, 2009, 9:49 pm
Forum: Feature Articles
Topic: Uri
Replies: 139
Views: 50590

Re: Uri

I think it's fair to credit Uri Geller with the effect of metal bending as we now know it. I've never found anything comparable to spoon bending before Uri came along. And I've really searched! The nearest thing I've found is the bending of cutlery as it flew through the air during so called polterg...
by David Britland
March 1st, 2009, 9:11 am
Forum: Light from the Lamp ONLINE.
Topic: Anyone Get their Set of True Astonishments Yet?
Replies: 44
Views: 14896

Re: Anyone Get their Set of True Astonishments Yet?

Hi Beyond Control I haven't seen Ripped and Fryed yet but I presume from the adverts that although it uses the sawing a lady in half presentation I used in Tearing a Lady in Two the method is completely different. Incidentally, Stephen Tucker (who suggested the effect in the first place) described a...
by David Britland
February 25th, 2009, 9:10 pm
Forum: Light from the Lamp ONLINE.
Topic: Anyone Get their Set of True Astonishments Yet?
Replies: 44
Views: 14896

Re: Anyone Get their Set of True Astonishments Yet?

Hi Dustin Roswell was 1947 and the years that followed saw lots of newspaper reports about flying saucers. In fact the summer of 1952, which seems to be around the time of the release of George Pierce's The Flying Saucers manuscript, saw some spectacular saucer sightings in Washington and, apparentl...
by David Britland
February 25th, 2009, 2:41 pm
Forum: Light from the Lamp ONLINE.
Topic: Anyone Get their Set of True Astonishments Yet?
Replies: 44
Views: 14896

Re: Anyone Get their Set of True Astonishments Yet?

Hi Ethan/Dustin The same riffle shuffle stack idea was used by George Pierce in his marketed effect, Flying Saucers. Here too the spectator riffles shuffles packets together which are stacked to produce a red/black separation at the finale. Here is a description of the effect as given in the instruc...
by David Britland
September 15th, 2008, 9:20 pm
Forum: Mentalism & Mental Magic
Topic: Table Lifters
Replies: 25
Views: 15135

Re: Table Lifters

Dr Q's Gyrating Tables routine was reprinted in Vol 5 of Ormond McGill's Psychic Magic series. It was published by Abbott's in the US and Supreme in the UK so there are probably plenty of copies around. I wonder if this was the inspiration for Kreskin's presentation of table tipping. David Berglas d...
by David Britland
September 3rd, 2008, 1:54 pm
Forum: Magic History and Anecdotes
Topic: BRITS AT WAR AND MASKELYNE
Replies: 16
Views: 4663

Re: BRITS AT WAR AND MASKELYNE

The Maskelyne story is best told on Richard Stokes excellent website:

http://www.maskelynemagic.com/

Well worth a read and a much truer picture of what happened than is commonly told.
by David Britland
August 29th, 2008, 3:05 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12020141

Re: ERDNASE

The title page of Erdnase says the illustrations were 'drawn from life.' And Smith didn't mention seeing any photographs. If Erdnase made photographs he would have taken them to the meeting with Smith otherwise they wouldn't have served any purpose either as reminders to Erdnase about what the drawi...
by David Britland
August 29th, 2008, 11:15 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12020141

Re: ERDNASE

Hi Jason If Smith's account is accurate then he made detailed sketches of all the positions from life during a single meeting with Erdnase. I've found that the most time consuming aspect of illustrating magic books is getting the preliminary sketch right. Taking a good photo can also be time consumi...
by David Britland
May 22nd, 2008, 11:02 am
Forum: Close-Up Magic
Topic: Elmsley count with mechanics grip
Replies: 64
Views: 14590

Re: Elmsley count with mechanics grip

Hi Mitch Peter Kane used to say that the Elmsley Count should be heard as well as seen. If you want the spectators to note that you have four cards, then snapping them during the count is one way of underlining that idea. Oddly, one of the problems that comes up when first learning the original Four...
by David Britland
March 30th, 2008, 6:06 pm
Forum: Buzz
Topic: David Britland
Replies: 3
Views: 1388

Re: David Britland

Hi Don Yes, have been very busy recently finishing a number of projects. Unfortunately the blog isn't noted for the frequency of its posts. But I post when I can. But have just put an update on it so that people know it's stll live. With any luck I'll have time to post some more pieces in April. David
by David Britland
March 15th, 2008, 12:24 pm
Forum: General
Topic: Pure Magic
Replies: 40
Views: 15816

Re: Pure Magic

Terri Rogers worked out Star Gate having seen Bob Neale's Trapdoor Card. Here's the timeline as I recall it. Karl Fulves (a pioneer when it came to publishing topological card tricks) marketed Bob Neale's Trapdoor Card in 1983. I'd seen Michael Weber perform the Streamlined Trapdoor from the manuscr...
by David Britland
March 5th, 2008, 8:33 am
Forum: Close-Up Magic
Topic: Swindle Cut Aces
Replies: 72
Views: 15514

Re: Swindle Cut Aces

Sorry to contradict Harry but his Spread Control goes even further back than 1962.

He'd published it in Hugard's Magic Monthly, ten years earlier, in 1952!

Amazing.
by David Britland
February 13th, 2008, 6:39 pm
Forum: Children's Entertainment
Topic: Haunted Hank
Replies: 32
Views: 39105

Re: Haunted Hank

The original Solid Ghost, created by Dik Van Brummer as performed by Sam Hughes, was published in the Gen in 1958 and was practically impromptu given that the preparation took only a moment. If you were careful you didn't even need to fix the gimmick to the handkerchief. Indeed you could smuggle pra...
by David Britland
February 1st, 2008, 8:56 am
Forum: Magic History and Anecdotes
Topic: Vernon's "Mental Control"
Replies: 8
Views: 2965

Re: Vernon's "Mental Control"

As I was searching Ask Alexander for Vernon's Mental Control effect I found another Vernon and Horowitz marketed item that is new to me. It was called Think. Here's a description of the effect from a 1941 Sphinx: 'Think, by Dai Vernon and Sam Horowitz, this is a method allowing the performer to answ...
by David Britland
January 31st, 2008, 2:12 pm
Forum: Magic History and Anecdotes
Topic: Vernon's "Mental Control"
Replies: 8
Views: 2965

Re: Vernon's "Mental Control"

'Magnetic Mental Control' was Ralph Hull's trick and was published in Gravatt's The Second Encuclopedia of Card Tricks in 1936. That's two years after Hull advertised the trick. But the Vernon Horowitz version of Mental Control doesn't appear until 1941 so it looks like it's probably a different ver...
by David Britland
January 30th, 2008, 1:52 pm
Forum: Close-Up Magic
Topic: Looking for a GOOD ACAAN
Replies: 24
Views: 15388

Re: Looking for a GOOD ACAAN

I've published some more material regarding ACAAN on my blog.

Don't expect miracles. But some of you might find it interesting.

Cardopolis Blog
by David Britland
January 12th, 2008, 11:12 am
Forum: Reference Room
Topic: reference needed
Replies: 12
Views: 3865

Re: reference needed

Hi Philippe

Are both those tricks credited to Jay Dee?

In the Pentagram the trick that is credited to Jay Dee appears to be the one involving a packet of cards.
by David Britland
January 12th, 2008, 9:03 am
Forum: Reference Room
Topic: reference needed
Replies: 12
Views: 3865

Re: reference needed

I think there might be some confusion here. Just checked Ask Alexander and found the following information. When Jack Potter writes about Jay Dee's version of 'Do As I Do' in The Pentagram, it's in the context of a trick in which the spectator and magician are handling packets, not decks, of cards. ...
by David Britland
January 12th, 2008, 8:11 am
Forum: Close-Up Magic
Topic: Looking for a GOOD ACAAN
Replies: 24
Views: 15388

Re: Looking for a GOOD ACAAN

You could check out the one on my blog: Not The Berglas Effect.

Cardopolis Blog

I'll also be distributing a mss on this type of effect. It's free. See blog for details.
by David Britland
December 29th, 2007, 8:39 am
Forum: Close-Up Magic
Topic: Coming soon! New ACAAN - Order of the Holy Grail
Replies: 23
Views: 6397

Re: Coming soon! New ACAAN - Order of the Holy Grail

I'm currently posting some thoughts on The Berglas Effect (ACAAN) on my blog. First article is already there with more to come shortly. Cardopolis First trick is called The Bogus Effect. A one deck method that lives up to all the usual advertising hype while being just as disappointing as the latest...
by David Britland
November 20th, 2007, 1:46 am
Forum: Alternative Media
Topic: Amazon's Kindle--Cool New eBook Reader
Replies: 14
Views: 4090

Re: Amazon's Kindle--Cool New eBook Reader

The big disadvantage of the Kindle seems to be that it will not read pdf files.

Unfortunately that's the format that most magic publications are in, including the Ask Alexander database.

Another Review

I guess they want to sell us their books, rather than read the books we already have!
by David Britland
July 21st, 2007, 1:31 pm
Forum: General
Topic: Criss Angel
Replies: 150
Views: 34804

Re: Criss Angel

Another way of comparing fame on the internet is to use Google Trends. This measures the number of searches made for key words. It enables you, for instance, to compare the number of searches made for 'David Blaine' with those for 'Criss Angel.' It even produces a graph showing the highs and lows ov...
by David Britland
May 20th, 2007, 2:47 pm
Forum: Close-Up Magic
Topic: Poosh, The Four-Dimensional Pencil
Replies: 5
Views: 1464

Re: Poosh, The Four-Dimensional Pencil

A search via the all knowing Ask Alexander at the Conjuring Arts Library turned up a set of instructions complete with illustrations. I remember that Bill Thompson of the UK had devised a very similar trick (though much later) in which a pencil pushed through one side of a cube came out at 90 degree...
by David Britland
May 6th, 2007, 4:41 pm
Forum: Alternative Media
Topic: Mind Power
Replies: 3
Views: 881

Re: Mind Power

Hi Bob I agree that there a better ways to design the interface. My original dream was to have the software in a PDA or other device that could secretly be consulted by the performer. Jim's present online version proves that the basic idea works and anyone with any programming talents - not me - can...
by David Britland
May 6th, 2007, 2:50 pm
Forum: Alternative Media
Topic: Mind Power
Replies: 3
Views: 881

Mind Power

Years ago I wondered if there was a way of using an electronic dictionary to update the working of Bob Hummer's Think-A-Word trick. This is a trick in which the spectator thinks of a playing card and a word and the performer divines both. Then in 2004 I saw Jim Baumgardner's excellent programming wo...
by David Britland
April 29th, 2007, 10:19 am
Forum: Alternative Media
Topic: Richard Wiseman's Colour Changing Card Trick
Replies: 7
Views: 1612

Richard Wiseman's Colour Changing Card Trick

I think I can safely say that this is the most unusual colour changing card trick ever :)

Colour Changing Card Trick

Sleight free too!

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