6 by Six by Michael "Six" Muldoon

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Tom Frame
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6 by Six by Michael "Six" Muldoon

Postby Tom Frame » April 29th, 2013, 11:25 am

6 by Six (DVD) by Michael “Six” Muldoon $29.95
Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Available at: http://www.system6magic.com/products/6- ... ix-muldoon


Michael Muldoon, the polydactylic pasteboard prestidigitator is back with a half dozen effects from his working repertoire. The productions values of this DVD are good. Mr. Muldoon does a fine job of teaching the material.

Unfortunately, he neglects to provide proper attribution for the majority of the plots and techniques. About halfway through the DVD, he alludes to a credits section that can be found at the end of the DVD. If this section exists, I couldn’t find it.

I asked Mr. Muldoon about these crediting omissions. He acknowledged that the DVD that I received did not include the credits section. He assured me that the updated version of the DVD contains appropriate credits.


New Found Blood: The performer tables the face-up Ace of Diamonds and the Ace of Hearts, and a face-down prediction card. He riffles the deck until a participant stops him. He breaks the deck and the participant notes her card, say the Six of Clubs. The performer squares the deck.

The performer places the red Aces face-up on top of the deck and then he turns them face-down onto the deck. He spreads them and the participant’s selection is face-up between them. He turns the prediction card face-up and it is the Six of Spades. The performer turns the Aces face-up to reveal that they have transformed into the red Sixes.


Mr. Muldoon also includes an alternate tabled version and a flashy, in-the-hands version.

I like all of them.


Two Ton Triumph: The performer spreads the face-down deck and a participant freely touches a card. He cuts the deck in half, displays the selected card and inserts it into the bottom half of the deck. He flips the top half of the deck face-up and shuffles it into the face-down half.

A face-up card is on top of the deck. He turns it face-down onto the deck. He turns the deck over and another back is seen. The performer waves his hand over the top of the deck and all of the cards turn face-up except for a lone face-down card. He turns it face-up and it is the selection.


This is a nice handling of Vernon’s classic.

I like it.


Invisible Flush: The performer removes the four Aces and places them face-up on top of the face-down deck. He lifts the Aces off of the deck and displays their faces and backs. He turns the Ace packet face-down and tables the deck.

The performer drops the bottom Ace to the table. He places the packet in his left hand, raises the top Ace to “tent” position and holds it in place with his left thumb. With his right hand, he openly palms the top Ace. He turns his right hand palm-up to reveal that the Ace is invisible. He turns his hand palm-down and places it over the tabled Ace. He moves his hand away and the face-down Ace is now resting atop the tabled Ace.

The performer transfers the in-hand Aces to his right hand. With his left hand, he picks up the tabled Aces and holds them face-up in his hand. He uses the right hand’s packet to flip the left hand’s Aces face-down. He tables the right hand’s Aces face-down and slightly spread.

The performer raises the top Ace in his left hand and holds it in tent position. He palms it with his right hand. He turns his right hand palm-up to reveal that the Ace is invisible. He turns his hand palm-down and places it over the two tabled Aces. He moves his hand away and the third Ace has joined the other two.

The performer drops the remaining Ace onto the tabled trio, picks up the face-down packet and places it in his left hand. He removes the top Ace, displays its face, turns it face-down and places it on top of the deck. He spreads the three face-down Aces on the table.

Using his right hand, the performer palms the Ace off the top of the deck. He turns his right hand palm-up to reveal that the Ace is invisible. With his left hand, he turns the top card of the deck face-up. It’s the Ten of Spades. He turns his hand palm-down and places it over the three tabled Aces. He moves his hand away and the fourth Ace has joined the other three.

The performer turns one of the cards face-up, displaying the Ace of Spades. He turns the other three cards face-up to reveal that the remaining Aces have transformed into the Jack, Queen and King of Spades, giving him a royal flush.


As I watched Mr. Muldoon’s performance of this effect, I was on the verge of dismissing it as an insignificant tweak of Larry Jenning’s wonderful Invisible Palm effect. But the royal flush climax blind-sided me and made me grin.

I like it.


The Royal Tantalizer: A participant freely selects a card which is lost in the deck. The performer deals the deck into two face-down piles. He picks up one of the halves and deals it into two piles. He picks up one of these piles and deals it into two piles. He repeats this procedure until only one card remains. It is the selection. He turns the top cards of the dealt piles face-up and they are the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten of Spades.


Mr. Muldoon provides a surprising O. Henry ending to this nifty effect from The Royal Road to Card Magic.

I like it.


Fool Me Once: A participant freely cuts to a card and shuffles it into the deck. Without looking at the cards or asking any questions, the performer names her card.


I can imagine a beaming Eddie Fields frying the card cognoscenti with this powerful effect.

I really like it.



No Stopping Me: A participant shuffles the deck. The performer turns his back. The participant cuts off a small packet of cards, silently counts them to establish her secret number and then puts them in her pocket.

The performer turns around and counts/displays the top 20 cards of the deck and the participant remembers the card that falls at her secret number. The performer mixes the cards and gives them to the participant. He turns his back again.

The participant deals the cards into a face-down pile and the performer tells her that he will stop her when he feels an impulse. Unfortunately, the participant deals through the whole deck before the performer he stops her.

The performer turns around, picks up the dealt pile, squares it and tables it face-down. The participant removes her packet of cards from her pocket and places them on top of the deck. The performer turns his back and the participant deals the cards into a face-down pile again. The performer stops her and turns around. The participant turns over the top card of the portion she is holding and it is her selection.


Mr. Muldoon’s method involves too much dealing. The published record contains numerous Stop Trick handlings that are more straightforward and require much less dealing.

I don’t like it.


In 6 by Six, Michael Muldoon shares his creative renditions of a handful of enduring effects. I enjoyed this DVD and I look forward to his future offerings.


Recommended

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