The Genii Forum

There's some terrific material in the May Magicana, but the one trick that might get overlooked is Rob James' excellent "Cardboard Metamorphosis." Try it out with cards in hand - you won't be disappointed!

Would it be possible to put a little more info about the magicians that contribute effects to magicana? If not in Genii, maybe here on the board.

Many times I'm not yet familiar with them.

For example, is this the the Rob James that contributed Cardboard Metamorphosis http://www.rob-james.com/?

David, I'm glad you called our attention to

Cardboard Metamorphosis , I learned it yesterday

and I like it. I had been working on a Peter

Duffy similar effect from " Card Compulsions "

called " A Willful Sandwich Transposition "

Thanks......Mike Walsh

Originally posted by Joe Pecore:
For example, is this the the Rob James that contributed Cardboard Metamorphosis http://www.rob-james.com/?

Hi Joe,

Yup, that's him. He has a very slick website, by the way - one of the better ones I've seen geared to real-world clients (not magicians).

Department of Inevitable Corrections Note: The item starts with this:

While there is a precedent for convertng stage illusion plots into close-up card tricks, Rob James may be the first to make the leap with the the Substitution Trunk.

Jim Swain\'s 21st Century Card Magic (1999)has a version of Reset (Metamorphosis, p. 11)which uses this plot, using the card box as the Sub Trunk.

Originally posted by James in Toronto:
Department of Inevitable Corrections Note: The item starts with this:

While there is a precedent for convertng stage illusion plots into close-up card tricks, Rob James may be the first to make the leap with the the Substitution Trunk.

Jim Swain\'s 21st Century Card Magic (1999)has a version of Reset (Metamorphosis, p. 11)which uses this plot, using the card box as the Sub Trunk.

See also, "The Pasteboard Substitution Trunk Mystery" from the ...from a shuffled deck in use... lecture notes (1996, but concieved in the late '80's).

Paul

Originally posted by Paul Cummins:
...See also, "The Pasteboard Substitution Trunk Mystery" from the ...from a shuffled deck in use... lecture notes (1996, but concieved in the late '80's). Paul

I believe Doug Edwards had something similar published in Apocalypse magazine some time ago on that theme.

There were some Fulves manuscripts at Tannen's on card case magic in the mid 1970s.

Taking inspiration from watching Doug Henning perform the trick in central park on the news when he first arrived in NY... that was my first attempt at a card trick presentation. Working from the Scane book, I saw the costume change part as a way to do the trick when a dupe was not available. I'd be surprised if I was the first to take this approach. Seems a nice way to remember Doug Henning.

On the theme of illusions going to pasteboards; I believe Don England has done work on the Zig-Zag and Peter Kane explored the Elongated Lady theme. Would Michael Giles Contortionist be a rendition of Harbin's Heads Off illusion?

French magician Francois Ziegler (a friend of Dominique Duvivier) had a playing card version of the sub trunk effect some time in the 80's. Not sure if it was ever published, so it might not count (?).

One of the Karl Fulves booklets has a sort of sub trunk thing too, but I'm not sure if he referred to it as such.

On the subject of other illusions, David Britland and Ben Harris have both published playing card versions of Sawing a Lady in Two.

Other possible references (courtesy of http://magicbooks.be):

Karl Fulves, Pallbearers Review, Vo. 9 Autumn: page 0804, Substitution Trunk -Stewart Judah

Show Stoppers with Cards by Jean Hugard and Fred Braue, Page 16, The Great Trunk Trick

Apocalypse Vol 11 No 7 Jul 1988 page 1523 Metamorphosis in Miniature (Doug Edwards): simple double lift card "metamorphosis"

Apocalypse Vol 6 No 11 Nov 1983 page 843 Harry and Bess (Virgil McDonagh): Metamorphosis with cards

Giobbi, Roberto Giobbi: Card College 1 Chapter 16: Tricks with the Top Change: Metamorphosis

David Harkey's "Persuasion" from "Simply Harkey" is the best box version of Reset out there. It predates Jim Swain's and the handling is far better and much more streamlined.

Well, don't know how this all slipped by. There must be at least a dozen methods that predate the one we published in Genii.

We are DEFINITELY overpaying the research staff.

Originally posted by Jonathan Townsend:
I believe Doug Edwards had something similar published in Apocalypse magazine some time ago on that theme.

The trick "Packs A Wallop" in Doug Edwards Packs A Wallop is an excellent trick, and a Sub Trunk patter theme would work perfectly with it.

When I do it, I do it with a jailbreak patter theme, but Sub Trunk would actually make more sense.

Originally posted by Joe Pecore:
Would it be possible to put a little more info about the magicians that contribute effects to magicana? If not in Genii, maybe here on the board.

Joe,

Rob is a good friend - I have seen him perform this effect frequently. In his hands, it's killer. Here's a little background that you probably won't see on his site, because it's not focused for magicians:

He has performed at the Magic Castle on a number of occasions, co-organises The Session convention with me and has performed at one or two UK conventions. He's truly one of the busiest magicians in the UK and spends most of his time on the road. He contributes to The Cheetahs Handbook e-book and frequents the annual TSD convention.

He can get quite big-headed too, so I'll leave it at that! :)

--Andi
P.S - Jay Sankey also has a similar effect on his Sankey Very Much video (circa 1999)

----------------------
Dominatricks - out now

Rob lives near me and is ALWAYS working. He has to be one of the most successful magicians in the UK at the moment. Whenever I am out doing tricks for friends someone will almost certainly tell me that they have seen Rob at some event or other. People rave about him!

I met Rob at the Bristol Day of Magic last year and I remember seeing him doing this trick along with quite a few others and I think it is fair to say that while this idea has been explored before (although certainly it is extremely unexplored in comparison to many other tired plots), this version is ingenious and very well choreographed.

I hope we see more stuff from Rob soon.

Show Stoppers with Cards by Jean Hugard and Fred Braue, Page 16, The Great Trunk Trick, was the first place I encountered this plot. I think there may be another by Weigle or Parish, need to check Alexander.

There is also something similar, but not exactly the same framework for presentation, by Alexander DeCova. I think he sold it separately. Really a killer.

Originally posted by New Guy:
Show Stoppers with Cards by Jean Hugard and Fred Braue, Page 16, The Great Trunk Trick...

Wonderful, I feel better now. I got reactions like "cheesy" when I showed a version around 1975. Nice to know other (and sane) magicians took that path.

Just got to read David Acer's write up of my trick - he did a great job so thanks! With regards to the orginality of the plot, I don't think it is too much of a leap to go from a simple card transpo to a trick emulating metamorphosis. I was aware of other versions, especially Paul Cummins' excellent one which he showed me a year or two ago. Method wise I think you'll agree that mine is very different though...

If anyone wants to see a performance video of this trick then email me via info@ rob-james.com and I'll be happy to send it over.

Hey Guys,
Count me in as yet another fan of Rob's wonderful wonderful routine. I saw him perform it last year in Florida and my eyes almost burst open, Mac King style. You truly owe it to yourself to take Rob up on his offer of sending it to you on video, he has such incredibly smooth chops that you'd swear he was a hand model or something.

Thanks Rob for finally publishing this bad boy, and thanks Mr. Acer for writing it up so well that even I could learn it.

Tyler Wilson

Just for the sake of completeness, Max Maven points out in the June issue that he too published a card trick with a substitution-trunk plot in The New Tops in 1980. I guess thats everybody but Melinda.

Still with the Sub Trunk theme, but a rather different procedure: "The Great Escape", from Karl Fulves' "New Self-Working Card Tricks" (2001).

I put out a similar handling to this in 2002 called 'instant switch'. It doesn't follow the 'sub trunk' presentation but the handling is very similar as it uses a one card pass and a bold packet transfer.

Would love to see your handling Euan, can you email it to me?

Sure thing.

For the record, there's a version in my book, Cardventures (1984), called SUBSTI2TION featuring the "Tally-No Card".

Robert McDaniel

Anonymous wrote:... With regards to the orginality of the plot, I don't think it is too much of a leap to go from a simple card transpo to a trick emulating metamorphosis. ...

Not such a short walk from being a less than dilligent student to being disrespectful is it?

It's the trip back to being aware of other people's feelings that can take a while.

I also had a version with a sub-trunk theme published in the September, 2005 issue of the Linking Ring called "Four Men in a Trunk."

LaMont

And Magicbob has a version called "Harry & Bess" in his "I Hate Card Tricks Book 1."

But the one I prefer to the Metamorphosis Theme is his "In Over His Head" in Book 2 "I STILL Hate Card Tricks." This trick replicates the Water Torture Cell Escape with cards. The King of Hearts, representing Harry Houdini, is locked into the cell and placed underwater. The spectator verifies that the King is securely shackled. Yet, he escapes effortlessly right before the spectators eyes.

The spectator handles all the props before and after the effect. You can even let them take the whole thing home as a souvenir! That's the part I like!

Jonathan Townsend wrote:

Anonymous wrote:... With regards to the orginality of the plot, I don't think it is too much of a leap to go from a simple card transpo to a trick emulating metamorphosis. ...

Not such a short walk from being a less than dilligent student to being disrespectful is it?

It's the trip back to being aware of other people's feelings that can take a while.

As this is a two year old topic, I don't think anyone really cares too much - but as Jonathan Townsend has decided to refer to me as being less than dilligent (sic), allow me to clarify:

When the trick was published the write-up suggested that it may be the first time the stage illusion had been recreated as a card trick. Note that in my correspondence with David I did not suggest anything of the sort, being aware of a couple of other versions already. If you think about it, a couple of double lifts could achieve a basic replica of the metamorphosis. My method for the trick however is, as far as I or anyone I showed it to a few years ago, original.

Rob James wrote: When the trick was published the write-up suggested that it may be the first time the stage illusion had been recreated as a card trick. Note that in my correspondence with David I did not suggest anything of the sort...

He didn't - that idiotic statement was mine and mine alone. (though not quite as embarrassing as a miscredit on a DVD I just watched in which a Vernet Thumb Tip is referred to as a "Vernon Thumb Tip").

We've already settled on the gaffe by the article's writer (Acer) as regards the sub-trunk theme. It's your comment about the presentation work to sell a card trick in a stage illusion frame that got me to take issue. What may seem trivial some thirty years after the fact was taking a risk (and sometimes taken to task or ridiculed by some magicians) back in the 70s. Card zig-zags and mismades followed shortly after their stage counterparts in that time frame as well. Yes it's "trivial" or "seems obvious" today. That does not mean it's fair to belittle those who did that exploring.

Your work on the transposition effect looks quite good. As things stand I'm wondering how closely it might tie in to something like the Jennings Visitor plot where after getting one card to jump and then you get two to change places.

For the record, in about 1973, I invented, "The Card That Could Walk Through Walls."

Two cards are removed from a deck and signed.

One of them is placed between two face-up jacks and locked into a steel, skeleton card case.

The second card, also signed is placed aside.

The locked card case is covered with a silk and the second card is placed under the silk -- it is immediately removed but is now the card that was locked in.

The silk is removed. The spectator unlocks the deck and removes it and finds the second card between the two face-up jacks.

Everything can be examined. Nothing is added or taken away.

I used this during my performance to qualify for membership in the Magic Circle in 1975, but I've never published the method.

I also invented David Acer but unfortunately the method got out and now he's an actual person.

David Acer was based on an old Marlo idea.

David Acer pre-dates Marlo by several centuries, and is in fact described in "Discoverie." Some of the terms are rather obscure and obsolete, but if you just take the cards in your hands and step through the instructions, you'll see that it's clearly David Acer.

I thought Melinda was David Acer

Show Stoppers with Cards was published in 1948 but in Abracadabra Summer 1947, page 19, there is a trick entitled :

The £1,000,000 Trunk Mystery with Cards by Peter McDonald (according to the Potter's Index).

If someone can cheek as I haven't this issue...

Philippe Billot wrote:...
The £1,000,000 Trunk Mystery ...

Curious about the title - as it's been adopted by a different illusion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HImr9rA3fLs

no grouching... also okay to notice the gorilla and the guy appearing at 0:30

Perhaps, it's a reference to Million Dollar Bill Mystery by U.F. Grant (1936)