Robert Neale's Trapdoor Card by Karl Fulves - extra pages

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EdwinCorrie
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Robert Neale's Trapdoor Card by Karl Fulves - extra pages

Postby EdwinCorrie » September 24th, 2022, 6:33 pm

I have the original manuscript of the Karl Fulves manuscript on Robert Neale's Trapdoor Card from 1983, which has 12 pages. But looking through some old files today I found a photocopy given to me by someone years ago, which looks like a continuation of the manuscript. The pages are numbered 13 to 17 and the general style is consistent with that of the original MS (same kind of typewritten text, and Joseph Schmidt drawings). There are two items: Step by Step Trapdoor (step folds for the basic Trapdoor Card), and Harry Franke's Topological Tricks - a version of Star Gate using two squares instead of playing cards, and apparently dating back to 1986/1987, which Harry Franke claimed to have worked out independently before Star Gate came out (though Star Gate was published in 1985). There's also an extra effect which combines the Franke version of Star Gate with a Z-folded strip.

The Trapdoor Card/Parallax/Star Gate history has been discussed here before, and I really don't want to start any controversy, but I'm puzzled by these extra pages. Was there perhaps a second edition of the Fulves manuscript? Mine seems to be complete, and is exactly the same as the one in Denis Behr's Conjuring Archive, with only 12 pages and finishing with "Free catalog available on request" etc. So where do pages 13 to 17 come from?

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Q. Kumber
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Re: Robert Neale's Trapdoor Card by Karl Fulves - extra pages

Postby Q. Kumber » September 25th, 2022, 3:18 am

EdwinCorrie wrote:
I'm puzzled by these extra pages. Was there perhaps a second edition of the Fulves manuscript? Mine seems to be complete, and is exactly the same as the one in Denis Behr's Conjuring Archive, with only 12 pages and finishing with "Free catalog available on request" etc. So where do pages 13 to 17 come from?


Apparently you have to turn the manuscript inside out to reveal the extra pages.

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Re: Robert Neale's Trapdoor Card by Karl Fulves - extra pages

Postby Philippe Billot » September 25th, 2022, 3:23 am

Hi Edwin,

David Britland write a booklet entitled Star Gate by Terri Rogers in 1985

and you have

Card-Trek by Andrew Pargeter in Pabular, Vol. 7, no 6, oct 1982, p. 1050

May be these inspirations?

(Thanks to buy our book!)

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Re: Robert Neale's Trapdoor Card by Karl Fulves - extra pages

Postby Philippe Billot » September 25th, 2022, 3:46 am

Q. Kumber wrote:
EdwinCorrie wrote:
I'm puzzled by these extra pages. Was there perhaps a second edition of the Fulves manuscript? Mine seems to be complete, and is exactly the same as the one in Denis Behr's Conjuring Archive, with only 12 pages and finishing with "Free catalog available on request" etc. So where do pages 13 to 17 come from?


Apparently you have to turn the manuscript inside out to reveal the extra pages.


Very very good!

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Re: Robert Neale's Trapdoor Card by Karl Fulves - extra pages

Postby Q. Kumber » September 25th, 2022, 4:42 am

It was 1987 or'88 that Terri Rogers showed me David Britland's Parrallax at a Blackpool convention. I liked it and came up with the following presentation.

"You know how all these card tricks are done? (Show single playing card which should be a court card – they have the most print on them) Trapdoors. Oh yes. If you look closely you can see there is a trapdoor in the middle of every card. To make that easier to see , let me open it up. I need to fold the card once, twice and thrice … that’s French for three times. (Fold the card in half lengthways and then fold each half in half, so the card is folded into quarter lengths) Once more this way and once more this way. That’s English for again and again (Fold the card widthways one third up from the bottom and one third down from the top). And there is the shape of the trapdoor. Let me open it fully (Tear open the trapdoor along the creases - tearing three sides and the fourth side – the hinge – is parallel to the short edges of the card).

Now it’s going to come as a surprise to everyone but a bit of a shock to you because I am going to push you through the trapdoor. I will now push Adam through the trapdoor (Poke spectator with your forefinger through the trapdoor on their shoulder).

You’re not impressed. I said I would, so I will. Hold onto the trapdoor (Have spectator hold trapdoor with their forefinger and thumb).

At the moment you’re on this side of the trapdoor (This is vital. Point out that as the spectator is holding the card, they can see the back of it). You can see the back. Yes? When you pass through it will look like this … the jack of clubs will be staring you in the face (turn their hand over so the face of the card is facing them, this is very important as this is what they will see after they reopen their eyes). But you haven’t gone yet. That’s why it still looks like this (turn their hand over again so the card is face down and they see the back of the card again). Now, it’s such a shock to the system as you pass through, hold onto the trapdoor, do not let go, but for just a moment please close your eyes tightly.

You’re about to go, (turn card inside out) you’re going through, you’ve gone. Open your eyes now. (If you have pointed the back of the card and the face of the card correctly as described in the above paragraph, their eyes will pop with astonishment and wonder).

When I’ve gone, you’ll be asking your friends how did I do it. I don’t want them to have to lie, so I’ll tell you right now. I took you into an alternate universe and back through a time warp. That’s the truth, isn’t it?”

Handling: Once the folds are made and the trapdoor torn, have the helper hold the trapdoor. The back of the card is facing up and two-thirds of it are towards you. Fold the third nearest you down and under so it is flat with the centre portion. Now fold the sides down and under, so you have a little bundle. Fold it down and under towards the helper. Then open the out towards the spectator.

David Britland posted on the GENII forum:

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 manuscript when he visited London. It was a really entertaining presentation that made me take another look at the Bob Neal booklet.

I gave Terri the booklet, knowing that she had a flair for devising topological tricks, and a few weeks later she had created Star Gate. Incidentally it was Pat Page who devised the method by which the two cards were fixed together with an almost invisible hinge.

Martin Breese bought the marketing rights to Star Gate. I wrote and illustrated the instructions and it was while playing around with the cards that I realised there was a trick that existed somewhere between Trapdoor Card and Star Gate. That's where Parallax came from. It was a jumbo card that incorporated Bob Neale's original idea with the folding procedure devised by Terri.

Star Gate was marketed in 1985. I published Parallax in 1986 in New Talon 1. Later that year Martin Breese put out Parallax as a dealer item. This new booklet included additional ideas by Terri Rogers and Shiv Duggal under the title Hatch 22. In that version the card reverses inside out while the trapdoor stays right side up!

In 1987 New Talon 3 featured other ideas and handlings of Parallax from Gordon Bruce, Eric Mason and Mike Gancia.

Terri Rogers' Star Gate was reprinted in her book Top Secrets, published by Martin Breese in 1998.


I saw Charlie Frye's Ripped and Fryed on the True Astonishment DVD set. He credits David Britland's Tearing Through a Woman manuscript for his inspiration. David's inspiration was a trick by Stephen Tucker. Shortly after Stephen came up with the principle used in Charlie's handling. Stephen's handlings were published in a booklet on the T&R card in the late 1980's.

It's only recently came across Stephen's booklet. Anyway, back to Charlie Frye's version, which I found difficult to understand from the DVD. When he was at the South Shields convention about ten years ago, he kindly taught me his handling and mentioned he used it as a follow on to Card Warp. This started me on a journey of tearing up 200 decks of cards as I realised that after Roy Walton's Card Warp and Charlie's Ripped and Fryed, you were left with a single card that could be used for the Trapdoor effect.

Problem. Theatrically that would be a weaker finish. So, what if after the card turns inside out, the trapdoor were to be the wrong way round? (incidentally David Britland in Parrallax also played with this idea). That's where the 200 decks came in, working out how to do it and eventually marketed by Card Shark as Warped In Space

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Re: Robert Neale's Trapdoor Card by Karl Fulves - extra pages

Postby Ian Kendall » September 25th, 2022, 9:19 am

For the inquisitive; The Britland book Tearing Through a Woman and Terri Roger's Top Secrets are both available from the Lybrary. I still have the laminated card that Quentin gave me a few years ago at the culmination of Warped in Space. It's a wonderful routine.

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Re: Robert Neale's Trapdoor Card by Karl Fulves - extra pages

Postby Tom Frame » September 25th, 2022, 10:49 am

In the January 2021 issue of Genii, I highly recommended Ben Harris's Machinations. The book includes numerous sturdy cards and templates to print more.

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Re: Robert Neale's Trapdoor Card by Karl Fulves - extra pages

Postby katterfelt0 » September 25th, 2022, 12:30 pm

Tom Frame wrote:In the January 2021 issue of Genii, I highly recommended Ben Harris's Machinations. The book includes numerous sturdy cards and templates to print more.

I second that recommendation. I have the book and it's excellent.
Effect and method are inextricably linked.

EdwinCorrie
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Re: Robert Neale's Trapdoor Card by Karl Fulves - extra pages

Postby EdwinCorrie » September 26th, 2022, 5:24 am

Thanks to everyone for their replies, especially Quentin for the suggestion (I tried turning it inside out but all I got was a Hypercard) and information, and for detailing your routine. I saw you perform this a few years ago, probably at The Session in London. Great presentation!

And merci Philippe. I'd forgotten about Card Trek so it was nice to find that again. I'm also enjoying your book and wish I had been able to buy the previous edition (1001 sources).

But I'm no closer to finding out where the "extra" pages come from. My idea about a second edition is probably wrong, though I wonder if the material appeared in a different Fulves MS and just happened to start on page 13. Also a bit unlikely. I believe "Methods with Cards" has some topological stuff in it, but looking at the Conjuring Archive it seems it's not this. The pages are definitely very much in the Fulves/Schmidt style though, apart from the details of the Harry Franke version which look like they come from a private notebook.

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Re: Robert Neale's Trapdoor Card by Karl Fulves - extra pages

Postby Philippe Billot » September 26th, 2022, 7:37 am

EdwinCorrie wrote:
And merci Philippe. I'd forgotten about Card Trek so it was nice to find that again. I'm also enjoying your book and wish I had been able to buy the previous edition (1001 sources).

.


We are considering an expanded reissue of our book Conjuring: 1001 Sources. For now, we are working on it. I will let you know in due time.

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Re: Robert Neale's Trapdoor Card by Karl Fulves - extra pages

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 26th, 2022, 12:23 pm

EdwinCorrie: why don't you write to Karl and ask him. He answered a letter I sent several months ago.
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Re: Robert Neale's Trapdoor Card by Karl Fulves - extra pages

Postby EdwinCorrie » September 26th, 2022, 4:49 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:EdwinCorrie: why don't you write to Karl and ask him. He answered a letter I sent several months ago.


I might just try that. I'll post here if he replies.

Philippe: Sounds good! I printed a few out from Bibliomagies but not very many, and it would be good to have the updated versions.

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Re: Robert Neale's Trapdoor Card by Karl Fulves - extra pages

Postby Bill Mullins » September 29th, 2022, 11:41 am

I'm glad to hear that Karl responded to you, Richard. The last time I wrote to him (several years ago), he didn't respond, and others I spoke to said that their letters had gone unanswered. As he seems to have stopped issuing new material, I wondered about his health, etc.

Edwin -- Jeff Pierce is a big Fulves collector. You might ask him.

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Re: Robert Neale's Trapdoor Card by Karl Fulves - extra pages

Postby EdwinCorrie » September 29th, 2022, 7:44 pm

Thanks Bill. Not sure about contact details as his website at http://www.jeffpiercemagic.com/ doesn't seem to be working. Hope he wasn't affected by the hurricane.


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