The Genii Forum

Can anyone shed light on the the background of Jim Temple, the creator of "Color Monte"? He seems to have created one of the most popular packet tricks ever (put one of Art Emerson's children through college), yet I can find nothing about the man. Thanks!

The trick was created by Bill Elliott, the guy who printed Ibidem No.16 in March 1959 for Howard Lyons. Bill published the trick, "Three Card Monkey Business," in Ibidem decades before "Color Monte" existed. The original blow-off at the end was a blank card (regular cards were otherwise used).

Marlo had published "Quick 3-Way" in Ibidem the year before.

Who did the art work for the color monte cards?

Uh, drawing big diamonds isn't a challenge.

The third card has a cartoon

Clip art.

There are lots of references to Jim Temple in MUM, LINKING RING and other magazines, including the German magazine, MAGIE (he spent several years in Frankfurt in the mid-1960s). Here's an interesting quote from the November 1990 LINKING RING, p. 143:

Forty or so years ago, Jim invented the Color Monte effect which is still sold today. Enjoying magic as a hobby, Jim agreed to sell the rights to the effect. For Color Monte Jim accepted $5 plus a copy of the book Pale Face Pasteboards!

So the claim there is that Temple invented the effect circa 1950.
Assembly 226 in Williamsburg, Virginia is named the Baker-Temple Assembly in honor of Jim Baker and Jim Temple. The Magipedia entry on him has his death on December 12, 1996, but a typo correction in the August 1997 MUM (p. 64) says he passed away in February 1997.

Even the green color pay-off was mentioned in the original Elliott write-up.

Same alignment move in the original?

Yes, the same alignment move also used by Marlo in "Quick 3-Way" a year earlier.

If you like Color Monte, you might want to check out Michael Weber's twitter feed today if you haven't yet.

I knew Bill Elliott quite well. I had no idea he invented Colour Monte. Come to think of it I have utterly no idea what Colour Monte is even though I have heard about it for years.

I have all sorts of correspondence with Bill Elliott although I have absolutely no idea where it all is.

performer wrote:Come to think of it I have utterly no idea what Colour Monte is even though I have heard about it for years.

Many workers consider Color Monte their all time favourite packet trick. If you look at lists of the packet tricks that are the most popular with your typical magician, this one is usually right near the top, so it's good to be familiar with it. Penguin Magic advertises it as "The most popular packet card trick of all time" - http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/185

If you genuinely are unfamiliar with this routine, at the very least you should check out a quick performance of it. This particular example at the link below doesn't have an especially stunning presentation, but at least you'll know what Color Monte is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQjKrHFut38

Edit: This video clip featuring Rudy Hunter demoing the routine is probably a better example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqc9o7nCt7w

I shall watch the Rudy Hunter one. He used to work for me. There. I just watched it. And I watched the other one too. Both are equally boring. I shall stick to the regular version with regular cards, thank you. But at least I now know what Colour Monte is. I am sure it works well for those that like that kind of thing.

performer wrote:IBoth are equally boring. I shall stick to the regular version with regular cards, thank you. But at least I now know what Colour Monte is.

Out of curiosity, Mark, when you speak of "the regular version with regular cards", which routine specifically are you referring to?

I have a very short routine of the three card monte. It lasts about a minute. It is actually the Vernon routine described by Lewis Ganson.
Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SJExUhy9YY