The Genii Forum

Done with 10 Bee-Backed playing cards

[ mistakes ] ( Freudian slips )

F- U- C- K

F- O- U- R

S- E- X

S- I- X

Please elaborate!

I think he's referring to the Edward G Brown spelling trick using a stack.

I don't like the sucker punch aspect of the trick, but love the way it works. So the "mistakes" are my fault not the spectators in a spelling-touretets sort of presentation, where the mispells and seven become a running gag.

The E.G. Brown ref. may be hard to track down if the Castle Library isn't a place you have access to. Fortunately, Vernon has a nice handling of Brown's twist on a classic plot in "The Vernon Touch" column in Genii.

Genii July 1975 (Vol. 39, #7) p. 232 (HB)

As for the ten: "A big fat hen"

Extra Credit

"The Spelling Trick," The Card Magic of Edward G. Brown (1946)
https://www.conjuringarchive.com/list/book/1043

"Joker Spelling Trick," by Ralph E. Hull
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_W._Hull

"Spelling the Spades," Mathematics, Magic and Mystery by Martin Gardner (1956)

"Trick No. 65," Scarne on Card Tricks (1949)

The Jinx Winter Extra (1937-38)

"The Improved Chevalier Card Trick, Or The Spelling Bee," Charles T. Jordan's Method Greater Magic (1920)

Addendum

"The Interfering Joker," Verbal Magic by Juan Tamariz (2005)

"The Persistent Joker," Card Tricks That Work by Tom Sellers (1934)

"The Spelling Bee" (19th Century)

A nice follow-up for the ten-card version using the risky spelling errors would be Juan Tamariz's "Joy & Pleasure" from Verbal Magic (2008)

P. Diaconis also suggests the spelling trick as an opener to a three-part routine in the introductory remarks to Vernon's Revelation (1984)

Add David Williamson's version.

Bob White also has a nice version of this on his DVD.