Embarrased to admit it...

[cataquet]

OK, there are threads out there with "tricks to impress magicians", best tricks with X, "tricks you do most often", etc. Here's a new one that hopefully will get a decent number of replies.

The question is "What is your favorite ridiculously simple trick?" It must be a trick that you would normally do for a lay audience. So, if it's a trick you like, but don't do, you can't really list it.

I suspect that there will be many self-working card tricks in the list, but I expect "Hopping Half" to get a few mentions as well.

Bye for now

Harold

[Guest]

Out of this World. Even I can perform this masterpiece and get a great reaction.

[Pete McCabe]

Gemini Twins.

From "More Self-Working Card Tricks" by Fulves.

What could be simpler? And the spectator does all the work.

[Sam Kesler]

I was re-visiting "Lazy Man's Card Trick" the other night and persuaded my wife into seeing another card trick (patient woman!). While she was cutting the cards face-up I asked her when her hair appointment was (don't ask!). She replied "On the 11th." and proceeded to cut to the Jack of Spades. Imagine the look on her face when I howled with delight at my good fortune, and the synchronicity of the moment.

[IanB]

Originally posted by Pete McCabe:
Gemini Twins.

From "More Self-Working Card Tricks" by Fulves.

What could be simpler? And the spectator does all the work.

Pete,

This Gemini Twins seems very different to the Gemini Twins I know from Bro John Hamman - certainly not self working. Is this a mis-recollection of the name (by you or me), or a different trick?

Ian

[Pete McCabe]

This Gemini Twins seems very different to the Gemini Twins I know from Bro John Hamman - certainly not self working. Is this a mis-recollection of the name (by you or me), or a different trick?

Ian:

I'm certainly talking about a different trick, whose name I probably have wrong. (Maybe it's Gemini Mates)

In the trick I'm talking about, you take any shuffled deck and remove two cards. Hand the deck to a spectator and have them deal cards to the table. Anytime they like they stop, and place one of the two cards face up on the pile.

They reassemble the deck and repeat with the other card.

The deck is spread and the two face up cards have been placed directly next to their mates.

I've been toying with the idea of spreading the deck, to show that it's not in any order, and culling the two required cards under the spread, so that I can have the spectator just take the two cards off the top, eliminating the part where I choose the cards.

I'm not sure if I think this might improve the trick, or if it gives me an excuse to do a spread cull in an otherwise sleight-free trick.

[Matthew Field]

Originally posted by Ian Brodie:
This Gemini Twins seems very different to the Gemini Twins I know from Bro John Hamman - certainly not self working. Is this a mis-recollection of the name (by you or me), or a different trick?

Ian -- Yes, these are two tricks with the same name.

The Karl Fulves trick, virtually self-working, is an adaptation of his "Impromptu Opener" manuscript reprinted in the "Self Working" series from Dover.

Bro. Hamman's trick, which is in "Secrets of Bro. John Hamman," utilizes his Gemini Count and is hardly self-working.

Matt Field

[Guest]

Actually, the two tricks do not have the same name. The Hamman routine is "The Twins." No mention of Gemini appears in the title.

And to respond to the original question: "The Piano Trick" from Royal Road to Card Magic, and Stewart James's "Further Than That" are a couple of self-workers that I do from time to time. I feel guilty about the good response the James trick always elicits, as it's so easy...

[luigimar]

The 21 card trick. You can do this trick and many people are still surprised. You can even teach them this trick if they ask you to teach them some magic and they go home happy because they learned something.

Sometimes laymen know this trick and try to do it for you and you can pretend you don't know it and ask them to teach it to you. They do so and when you are 'practicing so you don't forget' what you are really doing is Marlo's variation where you only divide into three packs once, you ask them where their card is and then you magically reveal it and they are fried with the outcome! They are expecting your dealing three times and you just do it once, that's what kills them. Of course they ask you how you did it, you don't tell them etc, etc... I learnt this trick from a set of notes by Racherbaumer when he came to Mexico City. I don't know where else it has been published. Probably he could shed some light on the subject. ;) :D

luigimar

[Guest]

Once A magician is correct,

The Brother Hamman Trick is "The Twins", the self working trick from Fulves is "The Geminii Twins".

I thought Geminii Twins was the Hamman trick and didn't know the name of the other trick until I saw it in the Fulves book years later.

Geminii Twins is a great self working trick.

[Ian Kendall]

Hi all,

The simplest trick that gets a good reaction is to cause a coin to vanish and then reappear.

I remember a magician in Glasgow years ago watched me do a short coin routine for some strangers, and afterwards commented that a simple false transfer got such a reaction...

KISS,

Ian

[Guest]

A vanishing silk or a quick color change is simple enough but very visual for any lay audience. Always fun.

www.JeffEzellMAGIC.com

[IanB]

Thanks for the info on The Twins vs Gemini Twins. Strange that The Twins is the one with the Gemini Count!

Rgds,

Ian

[Brian Marks]

any simple two card transpo. My favorite for close up is Lovell's fingerd three.

[Guest]

Irv Weiner's Knick Knack (or Nick Nack, I don't recall the spelling. Never had to spell it when I was performing it.}

This is also great for impressing magicians if you are so minded.

I modified the handling so that the spectator is sure that I never touched the deck.

[Pete Biro]

The most "rediculously simple" or "Simple rediculous" trick?

Drop a coin and as you pick it up you toss it between your legs to the other hand.

Show hand you "appeared" to pick the coin up with is EMPTY.

Pretend to place a borrowed pen into the outer jacket or shirt pocket of a spectator, only you take it back out and sleeve it in one motion.

Reproduce it from behind his/her ear, then seemingly put into your inside jacket pocket, but drop down your sleeve and produce it again.

Borrow a coin and switch it via sleeving.

[Ira Rush]

Originally posted by Harold Cataquet:
...
The question is "What is your favorite ridiculously simple trick?" It must be a trick that you would normally do for a lay audience. So, if it's a trick you like, but don't do, you can't really list it.

Here are my favorite ridiculously simple tricks...

For Adults:

Coins - well-executed French Drop with the marked coin reappearing from the "Magic Coin Box" (you know the one where the coin is found in a little bag in a nest of boxes).

Also

Dime & penny in the spectators hand (yes it's Scotch & Soda, but the dime and penny is something most people relate to more than a half and a centavo)

Cards - Mike Skinner's Ultimate 3 Card Monte

Also

Alan Alan's "SharpShooter", the Invisible Quarter/Coin, and Max Londono's "Crystal Vision"

For Children:

"Multiplying rabbits"
"Glorpy"
Bob McAllister's "Molly McBubble"

The classics are still the best !

[Ira Rush]

I should have added one more for the children's department to my previous post:

Bob McAllister's "Chocolate Chip Cookie Classic" - a Miser's Dream that children relate to.

I still say, the classics are the best !

[Guest]

Originally posted by Ira Rush:

... Alan Alan's "SharpShooter" ...

Out of interest, what is a good source for Alan Alan's work please? Tarbell 7?

[Ira Rush]

Originally posted by Graham Nichols:

Originally posted by Ira Rush:
[b]
... Alan Alan's "SharpShooter" ...

Out of interest, what is a good source for Alan Alan's work please? Tarbell 7?[/b]

Hello Graham...

Alan Alan's "Sharpshooter" was an effect on the market many, many years ago, I don't know if it is being made/sold anymore.

Hank Lee ( located in Boston, Mass.) had an effect that was similiar to it. You may want to check his web site.

While Tarbell is a great source, this particular effect is not in it, at least not listed in the Volume 7 index. Volume 8 has other items, but I don't think it's there either.

As for other sources for Alan Alan's work, let me think of where else you could check and I'll get back to you.

Hope this helps

[Guest]

My favorite ridiculously simple trick is one using a loop of invisible thread. It came with the instruction booklet by Mesika. The trick is called "Falling": You wave your hands around an upstanding Matchbox or lighter or Cigarette box or what have you, and the thing falls down on the table through "psychokinesis". When I performed this trick for the first time I was quite surprised at the strong reaction it received. In fact it was so strong, that I had to repeat it several times on request. One spectator later told me, that he couldn't sleep that night because of this miraculous effect! Compared to the rest of my repertoire this great little jaw dropper is really ridiculously simple to perform.

[Edwin Corrie]

Gemini Twins:
There are a few variations in Alan Ackermann's "Las Vegas Kardma" and also in Jerry Mentzer's "Cunning Card Miracles".

Alan Alan:
Can't help much here, but he did have a routine in Lewis Ganson's "Art of Close Up" (Volume 1, I think) called "Dual Control", a sort of magnetic pencil effect with two pencils that seem to stick to your fingers, which is good for children who know the old method using a finger of the other hand. It was also a marketed trick in England years ago. One one of my visits to Alan Alan's Magic Spot in London (now closed down) he mentioned that he was responsible for the only card trick in Ganson's "Art of Close Up", and I think he was referring to a card rise using the same principle (sorry, I don't have my copy here to check).

[Ian Kendall]

Alan's shop was, er, weird to say the least. The first time I went I thought Alan was sitting down, then we walked to the other end of the counter...

I saw him do Mesmer (dual control) there and bought it on the spot. He put out a video with the prop through Vic Pinto's TAT lable, many of which have arrived in the US via L&L. You might want to check with them. And Mesmer is not just for Kids. Glasgow magician George McBride handles it wonderfully, and he was halfway through the routine when I realised what he was using :)

Take care, Ian

[Herman Koster]

Most favorite simple (maybe stupid?) trick is the jumping toothpicks (or magnetized?) People keep rubbing them al night.
Or the moving cigarette on the table.

[Guest]

Many thanks on the Alan Alan references Ian, Edwin and Ira. Much appreciated.

Alan is the biggest short guy you'll ever meet. He is the British Houdini, and has done it all in his time (and he's still doing it!). A very clever man, who also brought us artists like Neil Rousseau and Michael Vincent. Hopefully, his story will be captured in print. It will make for very captivating and entertaining reading.

[NCMarsh]

favorite ridiculously simple effect:

the bit where you try to vanish something in the hand with your pen...pen vanishes instead and as you show it behind the ear the original object is ditched...

ridiculously simple, ridiculously effective, and my first real lesson in misdirection...

incidentally, paul gertner uses this to great effect in a tossed-out deck routine that he now lectures on...

best,
nate.

[Guest]

Originally posted by Ian Kendall:
Alan's shop was, er, weird to say the least.

I saw him do Mesmer (dual control) there and bought it on the spot.

I did the same - saw him perform it, and bought it. And it's dead easy to do.

But it has two problems.

It has to be wired up in your jacket, and I often don't wear a jacket, and if I am wearing a jacket it's not always the same jacket.

And the other problem is that the gimmick is too visible to be used under bright lights.

Dave

[Richard Kaufman]

I spent many pleasant hours in Alan Alan's "The Magic Spot" over the years. Once I got past the rubber eyeball floating in his coffee, the arrow through his head, and the various "shocking" items on the counter (candy bar, lighter, coin--all of which zapped the hell out of you when you touched them), he was a lot of fun to chat with.
"Dual Control," by the way, is an old old item. It is contained in a Tenyo magic set I have from 1949!

[Guest]

One is a rope thru spectator's finger bit which works like a garrotte. Idiotically simple, but it brings gasps from the crowd.

Another is a comedy bottle vanish acting as if I'm going to throw it up and make it stick on the ceiling. On the third swing up from a low hold, I just put it between my legs. (my back is to the audience at the time) I even used this to "vanish" the garter at my wedding!

Lastly, popping your thumb out of a thumb tip as a demonstration of the power of a trained hand is one that will have kids running around for a week trying to get their thumb to POP out of their fist "like the magician dude did!"

Lee

[Pete Biro]

Jay Marshall is a master with Dual Control. I used it for years to do a rising card effect. As good as it gets! ;)

[mike cookman]

Thumb tip and a silk, vanish the silk. Good attention getter. And I, too, like the Gemini Twins.

[Carl Mercurio]

Embarrassed to admit it, but I'm not familiar with dual control. Can you fill in the blanks...

[Glenn Godsey]

Jenning's "Close-up Illusion". I follow it with Paul Wilson's "Gypsy Curse" (ala Color Monte). These two effects combined get enthusiastic audience response for very little effort.

[Scott Fridinger]

Has anyone mentioned Scotch and Soda?

[Guest]

Originally posted by Carl Mercurio:
Embarrassed to admit it, but I'm not familiar with dual control. Can you fill in the blanks...

Also known as "The Loop" which pretty much describes it. Dual Control is described in several places including Gansons Close Up Magic (I think is the title of this 2 volume monster - I'm away from home at the moment).

One can do some killer routines with this little gimmick. Jay Marshall demos it on his video Table Cr*p, available from Stevens.

Lee Darrow, C.Ht.
http://www.leedarrow.com

[Carl Mercurio]

Thanks Lee, I got it now!