CAAN CRAFT Reviewed by David Britland

[Richard Kaufman]

This review appears in our October issue. I just got my copy of the book in the mail today and it looks great, so I thought it might be nice to reprint the review here so more of you are aware of this great book and have a chance to buy one of the copies signed by J.K. Hartman.

CAAN Craft
J.K. Hartman

Reviewed By David Britland

In the 1970s I eagerly looked forward to the card books of J.K. Hartman. Odd Lifts, Packet Magic, Means and Ends and several others were distinctive products in the days before publishing on-demand made books cheap to print. These tanged-fastened royal blue office folders contained hundred of card tricks and sleights. Densely packed material revealing an inventive mind that found new ways to manipulate and switch cards while playing with contemporary plots. The magic was close-up, self-contained, impromptu, and with the deck firmly in the crafty hands of the performer. Which is why CAAN Craft is such a surprise because few card tricks are as removed from the Biddle and Buckle approach to card magic as Any Card At Any Number.

ACAAN has gained much traction in recent years because of The Berglas Effect, a seemingly impossible version of the trick that has gained legendary status. Yet the method for making any card appear at any number is fundamentally simple.

You use a memorized stack and when the number has been named you secretly cut the deck to bring the card into position. Unfortunately few magicians relish the prospect of memorizing a stacked deck. And even fewer have the showmanship or skill to make that cut without the audience noticing it. Which is why there are now dozens, if not hundreds, of versions of ACAAN that use roundabout, but theoretically less demanding, methods to accomplish similar effects.

CAAN Craft is Hartmans riff on the notion of finding named cards at chosen numbers in the deck. His starting point is an unpublished routine of Tomas Blomberg. As Hartman explains in his introduction, Blombergs idea was to use a second card in the trick, effectively revealing two cards at chosen numbers. This provided the slack necessary for a new range of maneuvers and strategies to be employed. The Blomberg concept is the foundation for Hartmans own routines.
The first routine is CAAN CAAN. Two cards are named, one by the performer and one by the spectator. The spectator then decides upon two numbers and each card is revealed to be at one of the chosen numbers. The trick makes use of Hartmans Slipswitch, which enables the performer to put a card at any number as he deals cards from one hand to the other. The idea is not without precedent. Sylvan Barnet explained a similar move in his At a Mentally Chosen Number in Genii (July, 1944). And Rusduck had a reverse handling he called Utilitarian in The Phoenix just a couple of years later (Issue 112). I always thought it was really tricky to get the timing right on this kind of move since you are switching in the card at the very moment that the spectators are paying the most attention. But, judging by Hartmans routines, it would certainly be worth the effort to perfect it.

The routine does use a stacked deck but not memorized deck. The disadvantage of this approach is that although the stack is simple, the cards cant be on display for very long and you need to calculate the position of the named card. The advantage of a memorized deck is that the stack can be entirely random and you know the position of the card as soon as it is named. On the plus side CAAN CAAN also contains a very simple idea for holding out a card when the spectator cuts the deck.

Hartman uses it again in J-CAAN. And theres a novel cut force, reminiscent of a Bluff Pass. The routines are rich in handlings and strategies and these can be cherry-picked and used in other effects.

CAAN Con is another double card revelation, but the first revelation is used as sort of dry run for the main effect. Again the Slipswitch and stack are used, but its the plot that makes the routine interesting for cardicians. In fact, one of the strengths of Hartmans book is the way it shows how new presentations for ACAAN can also provide additional opportunities for chicanery.

There are eight routines in all and halfway through the book Hartman leaves the stack behind and offers up an impromptu handling in CAANARD, in which a named card is found at a chosen number and then a double version, CAANTU, in which two cards are used. In J-CAAN the Joker is used to cause the named card to appear at a selected number. The plot reminded me of Ralph Hulls lost effect, The Hypnotic Joker, but rather than Hulls predilection for gaffs we have Hartmans unswerving nerve when it comes to making a switch right under the noses of the spectators.

CAANS KICKER uses a specially printed card which comes with the book. This time a spectator reads out some unusual instructions found on the advertising card in the deck. The instructions ask that a card be named and a number chosen. And, of course, the card is eventually found at the chosen number. The finale effect in the book, CAAN KIN, is what Hartman describes as a second cousin to ACAAN. Think of it as that exercise psychiatrists use, calling out an object and asking the patient to name the first thing that comes into their head. In this case the performer calls out the name of a card and the spectator responds with a card of their own. The performer than spells the name of his card to arrive at the spectators freely chosen selection. I really like this premise and think theres a whole other book to be had from it. CAAN Craft is rounded out with a couple of additional sleights, a false running cut which is easy to do and a false Charlier Shuffle which might come in useful when appearing to mix your stacked deck.

The versions of ACAAN described here are principally for the card worker. I suspect that mentalists will prefer methods that create more distance between themselves and the deck and do not require switches and sleights to be made near the finale of the trick. But those who like to have doors opened to further thinking will find much to enjoy in CAAN Craft, from Hartmans innovative use of sleights and subtleties to the novel dressings he has created for this popular plot.

CAAN Craft * J.K. Hartman * 9 x 6; Hard bound; 96 pages; 37 illustrations by Tony Dunn * $35 plus $5 shipping in the U.S., $10 int. Available from Beans Magic at www.gordonbean.com. 2315 Plum St., Schenectady, NY 12309. * The first 100 copies sold will have a bookplate signed by J.K. Hartman.