The Genii Forum

performer

I have decided that it would be a terribly good idea for groovemaster to read this particular old thread. Of specific interest to him will be the second and fourth post but I think the entire thing would also be valuable to him. In fact to anyone who has the sense and astuteness to read it. https://...

performer

I bet you are a teenager working to other teenagers! If so, in the long run it will be a blessing in disguise. I know I found it so when I was young. I used to love it! I would let them bully and underestimate me then I would go in for the kill. I may expand on this once I see how this thread develo...

performer

I spoke to him once and he admitted that he mainly performed for other magicians. I know he did one trade show and refused to ever do another one. He just wasn't suited to it. On the other hand I did see him perform parlour magic at Caesar's Palace and he was quite pleasant to watch.

performer

OK. Perhaps this is the best way to explain it. Look at 9 seconds in at Darryl doing the move. The left hand position is all wrong and as a result the cards are less secure and not under proper control. Now look at this video of me doing it. And look specifically at the hand position (the left hand)...

performer

Oh God! I hate describing technical manouvres! It is not an easy thing to do. Someone stole the entire Darryl svengali DVD and put the entire thing on you tube so people wouldn't have to buy it. It is not there now so obviously there was some copyright complaint. All I can find it is this and he mak...

performer

I have seen Darryl attempt to use the svengali deck. He puts his thumb in the wrong place for one of the moves. A common beginners mistake.

performer

As I said the strongest trick is showing the same card on multiple piles. There is no method in existence where you can do that with a regular deck, or at least with the same directness. Also you can indeed show the deck to be all the same with the Hindu Shuffle but that is a very weak substitute fo...

performer

Mark, I find one of the biggest reactions is when the spectator cuts to their own card the first time. And it suddenly occurred to me, why in hell are we both arguing for anyone to be doing this? If they think its old and only good for pitching, shouldn't we just keep it to ourselves? I suppose thi...

performer

Absolutely correct. The reaction is astonishing! In that story of the nightclub gangsters I recounted above this was the point that they really went nuts with really loud shouts of laughter and yelling. In fact when I am pitching them this strong reaction is actually a dangerous part of the pitch be...

performer

Oddly enough showing the cards to be all the same and all different is NOT the best trick you can do with the deck. It is merely the second best. I wonder if any of you can guess which bit in the svengali demonstration gets the strongest reaction? It actually is the best thing you can do with a sven...

performer

OK. Here is the proof that you can perform the svengali deck in a non sales environment. This extract is taken from two sources. One is from my memoirs, "The Lives of a Showman" and the other is from my book on the svengali deck,, "The Long and the Short of It" The same extract i...

performer

I shall now go over this thread and see who I was addressing. One moment please. Ah! It seems you were only half right. I was half addressing you and half addressing someone else. I was merely making the point that for most of my life in magic I have been utterly puzzled at how differently magicians...

performer

So it is no good quoting big names in the world of magic to me since the odds are that I will sniff derisively at them and suggest they have rather a lot to learn. I think you misunderstood Mark, I was addressing someone else. But thanks for sharing such valuable information. [censored], there I go...

performer

Well, I NEVER carry a svengali deck around with me! The last thing I want to look at if I am not working! As for Martin Nash or Darryl I am afraid I don't share your opinion of them. I did think they were adequate enough but nowhere near as exceptional as magicians think they were. But then I don't ...

performer

I think Harry Anderson was almost right. You can overdo the ambitious card routine and I think Darryl did precisely that. However, I don't think it is sensible to make it come to the top just once. The trick builds with repetition. All I am saying is that it should not go on for ever like Darryl's r...

performer

1) riffle-shuffle the deck x 3 2) have a card selected via dribble force. (Be sure they be dribbled high and long so faces can be seen diff.) [Throw in a couple of jests of having them say stop with all the cards being dribbled into the other hand] 3) have the stopped card shown around and placed b...

performer

I suspect if you strung together the same effects with a regular deck you could not get the same impact as doing them with a Svengali deck. The routine would not have the same flow due to some of the compromises made necessary when using the normal deck. I would suggest that Daryl's Ambitious Card ...

performer

P.C. Sorcar sounds like he was a real showman. However, all I really know about him was a very rude remark about him from the late John Salisse at a lecture for the London Society of Magicians Junior Section. I was a teenage magician then but I always remembered the words of Salisse and in fact ther...

performer

I never saw Sorcar work although he used to bombard me with magic posters and publicity about his show in the mail. I could never figure out why he would send them to me but I suppose he would send this stuff out to all and sundry if they happened to be in the magic business. I did see his son perfo...

performer

I have been informed by a highly irritated Mr Dickens in the spirit world that David Kotkin is not the only entertainer who has stolen the title of his book and used it as a stage name. Here is another chap doing the same thing. Some might say he is more entertaining than Mr Kotkin. He is certainly ...

performer

I have met that dog. I would suggest that before you teach it magic it might be a better idea to teach it to stop urinating all over the Toronto Subway System.

performer

I understand there is a possibility of an appeal.

performer

Bloody hell! Have you still not figured it out yet? I suggest you put a list of names down and use a pendulum. It will probably work quite well. Or at least just as well as the methods you are all using. Or just write each name down on a slip of paper, jumble them up and put the slips in a hat. Draw...

performer

I mentioned Close Up Card Magic ages ago. I do wish people would pay attention. In the Curry Turnover section. On page 224 rather than page 106.

performer

I wouldn't call it perfect. He was still found negligent. I know I wouldn't be terribly happy to be told to "run, run" through an unfamiliar area through construction. It does sound dangerous to me. And he still has to pay lawyers. And endure the stress of a trial. And it must have a negat...

performer

Yes. I have also only used the two hand plunger method. I like the angleproof aspect of it.

performer

I think Paul Daniels had a long run somewhere or other. Possibly the Prince of Wales theatre in London. Of course I may well be wrong.

performer

I have recently worked out a method for the last card that has not yet been tried out with laymen. I will not describe it here since it breaks all the rules of magic. However, I have added one line of patter to satisfy that objection. I shall have to try it out first on laymen to see if it works. It...

performer

I never liked the squeezing/buckling idea in Expert Card Technique so I figured out a way to avoid it. It is actually quite unnecessary, not to mention suspicious and difficult.

performer

Harry Lorayne has it in the last chapter of Close Up Card Magic. However, the in and out plunger principle may or may not have been invented by Jack McMillen--I really have no idea. However, he certainly invented it for the Rising Cards which isn't quite the same thing. I have been using the plunger...

performer

I am getting a vibe that the backwards spelling to make it E. S. Andrews was a deliberate red herring that seems to have worked spl
endidly.

performer

I am an expert on false names. Still I will mind my own business.

performer

Oh, it probably WAS Vernon then! Even though I know it can't be! Still, I swear he wrote the book as a prank!

performer

What about Dr. James William Elliott (1874 - 1920). Is that a silly suggestion? Did he live in Chicago? Oh, but just a moment---I think I just remembered something as I type. Oh dear! It probably wasn't! I do remember reading that Vernon was extolling the book to him and he snorted that the bottom ...

performer

I have no idea who Erdnase was and in fact I don't really care. However, I would have imagined it would be fairly easy to figure out who he was but of course I must be wrong with all the various theories and speculation. Still, it seems to me that you should be looking for an amateur magician ( I do...

performer

Yes, there may be a tiny, tiny, tiny percentage of skilled card cheats with a vast knowledge of sleight of hand.. However, I can assure you they are in the distinct minority. VERY distinct minority! Less than 5% is my estimation. Magicians are the ones who have all the knowledge of those fancy techn...

performer

I have nothing to do with the "new" candidate, nor am I (at this time) presenting him. The "tizzy" part regards the identity of the person. It is not "my" candidate, and I have yet to be convinced that the person is a viable suspect. But knowing who it is, I am certain...

performer

I am positive it was a magician. I have led a somewhat wicked life and have met various wicked people, a few of whom were card cheats. Contrary to mythical perceptions they were not the romanticized picture one would imagine at all. They tended to be a little uncouth and would never in a million yea...

performer

There is a little bit of information about Gresham in the Jay Marshall biography. It seems that Marshall knew him personally and there are descriptions of his interaction with him.

performer

The worst thing you can do is hide from creditors or people you owe money to. It only makes things worse. Best to tell them up front that you screwed up and you will try hard to pay them back one day. It won't make them feel any better but at least it won't make them feel any worse. The moment you s...

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