Two-Card Reverse

[magicfish]

Hey fellas, hope you're all healthy and happy.
I'm in isolation like the rest of us. The wife is in bed and I'm having a whiskey and studying sleight of hand.
I'm wondering if any of you enjoy Lou Gallo's Two Card Reverse from Underground Man.
I love this book and this particular effect has always been a favourite. I also like Al Ackerman's from here's my card.
Thanks guys.
I hope you are all well.

[Edwin Corrie]

Thanks for bringing attention to this. I read the Lou Gallo book a long time ago and had forgotten about this. It's a nice version of Paul Rosini's Double Reverse from "Rosini's Magic Gems". Eugene Burger has a great handling and presentation in "The Performance of Close Up Magic", where he also says he prefers to leave out the topsy-turvy packets part because it obscures the basic effect.

Another version I like is David Solomon's Right Side Up from "The Wisdom of Solomon", and thanks to Denis Behr's incredible Conjuring Archive I was reminded of a Jack Avis version in the much underrated book "Ahead of the Pack".

There's also a simple version (more like Rosini's) called Faces Up in Walter Gibson's "Professional Magic for Amateurs" (published in 1948 - before the Rosini book). It would be interesting to know more about the history of the effect.

I'm inspired now to go back to the Lou Gallo book - it has some great material in it. Thanks again!

[magicfish]

My pleasure, Edwin.
And thankyou for those thoughts and references. I do like Burgers treatment of it a lot.
If you ever read Here's My Card, take s look at Ackerman's handling.

[Philippe Billot]

Thanks for bringing attention to this. I read the Lou Gallo book a long time ago and had forgotten about this. It's a nice version of Paul Rosini's Double Reverse from "Rosini's Magic Gems". Eugene Burger has a great handling and presentation in "The Performance of Close Up Magic", where he also says he prefers to leave out the topsy-turvy packets part because it obscures the basic effect.

Another version I like is David Solomon's Right Side Up from "The Wisdom of Solomon", and thanks to Denis Behr's incredible Conjuring Archive I was reminded of a Jack Avis version in the much underrated book "Ahead of the Pack".

There's also a simple version (more like Rosini's) called Faces Up in Walter Gibson's "Professional Magic for Amateurs" (published in 1948 - before the Rosini book). It would be interesting to know more about the history of the effect.

I'm inspired now to go back to the Lou Gallo book - it has some great material in it. Thanks again!

It seems the first trick comes from The Jinx no. 77, January 27, 1940.

Walter Gibson writes:

Let's start this off by getting fundamental. Every magician is familiar with the original "reversed or Yurned over" card trick wherein the pack is held face up, but with a single card face do%n on top of it. When a spectator replaces a chosen card, it will naturally be found face up, later on. The magician's one problem is to hide or get rid of the dummy card which he used on the "top'* of the pack. For the mystery lover who wants a close up effect away from the general run of things this oddity should fill the bill.
This trick not only gets rid of said card; it utilizes it to double the effect. The whole working is simplified to the limit, and has some sweet misdirection. If someone else has doped out something like it, I'm not surprised; contrarily, I'd be surprised if someone hadn't. Whatever the case, the idea to be described is something that I stunbled over while meddling around with a pack.

[Edwin Corrie]

Thanks Philippe. The version in The Jinx seems to be about the same as the one in "Professional Magic for Amateurs", and it does sound like Gibson was describing an idea which as far as he knew was new. It's also interesting with some of these older tricks that magicians didn't mind putting the cards behind their backs, whereas nowadays the emphasis is on doing everything as openly as possible.

Magicfish, I looked up the Allan Ackerman method (presumably Double Reverse?) in "Here's My Card" and it's a bit different. Still a nice effect, but I'm not sure I could get away with culling a card that's just been mentioned.

[MagicbyAlfred]

"The Upside-Down Deck," which is featured in Scarne on Card Tricks (1950), and attributed to Francis Carlyle, is my favorite among tricks of this genre. The only preparation is to know or ascertain the identity of the bottom card of the deck and to reverse it, which can easily be accomplished by a half-pass (or the sophisticated just-do-it-when-they're-not-looking approach). It is virtually self-working, just some clever subtlety, very baffling, and you are totally clean at the end. Although just prior to the revelation, the magician's portion of the deck is shown to be sandwiched (apparently) face-down between two face-up packets into which the spectator has cut his/her portion, I do not believe this obscures, but rather significantly enhances, the effect. The trick has never failed to get a great reaction from laymen and has even fooled magicians.

[magicfish]

Thanks Alfred, I will revisit that item.

[Paco Nagata]

Have a look to this great version performed by Rudy Tinoco:

https://youtu.be/CVbIVBKCNz0