Frank Garcia Books

[Bob Farmer]

I have all of the Frank Garcia books, including his lecture notes. These are unique because the explanations are so short and the tricks are so good. It's a shame they are not still available (unless you want to shell out $200 for original editions).

Someone should contact whoever owns the copyrights and other rights and arrange a reprinting, maybe in a single large volume. Maybe that's George Schindler, I don't know, but Garcia must have heirs somewhere.

[Tom Gilbert]

He had mentioned putting the better more popular effects into 2 bigger books. After he passed I heard (unknown if true) that his wife and son were in disagreement about his material.

[Leo Garet]

I have all of the Frank Garcia books, including his lecture notes. These are unique because the explanations are so short and the tricks are so good. It's a shame they are not still available (unless you want to shell out $200 for original editions).

Someone should contact whoever owns the copyrights and other rights and arrange a reprinting, maybe in a single large volume. Maybe that's George Schindler, I don't know, but Garcia must have heirs somewhere.

Agreed. Someone should.

As an aside, I think if it's done, it should be the whole lot, not what someone thinks is the better and more popular effects.

[erdnasephile]

As Providence would have it, I was rereading "Million Dollar Card Secrets" the last couple of days. There are a lot of practical, quick hitting effects there (although most do reflect a certain style of the era--small set ups, no elaborate story lines, few technical fine points described, etc.)

As I was reading, I was once again reminded that many effects were published without credit or permission. That would give me pause about any reprint of the Garcia books (as they stand now).

I would really love it if some more knowledgeable folks than me would put together a list of proper credits for the Garcia writings...

[Richard Kaufman]

His son, and the woman he married shortly before he died, were in a legal tussle about the rights to the books. I would gather from the lack of public activity, that this was never settled.

[Dustin Stinett]

Garcia had an incredible nose for great material (and yes, there were plenty of issues with crediting). It's too bad it seems this has not been resolved. But has anyone even asked lately? They might be waiting, figuring if no one asks, no one must be really interested.

[Pete McCabe]

Somebody ought to go through the books and make a list of every trick, and what was the original name of the trick, who created it, and where was it originally published. Then we wouldn't need those books.

[Richard Kaufman]

Jon Racherbaumer has already done that and it appears at the end of Million Dollar Secrets.

[Yehuda]

I believe it was put at the end of Super Subtle Card Miracles. No?

Yehuda

[Jonathan Townsend]

Jon Racherbaumer has already done that and it appears at the end of Million Dollar Secrets.

The note about Slydini and a slotted spoon?

[erdnasephile]

Jon Racherbaumer has already done that and it appears at the end of Million Dollar Secrets.

Thank you, RK--I had forgotten about that list.

I had no idea that Mr. Racherbaumer wrote that credits list. In Super Subtle Card Miracles, Mr. Garcia published the list using the first person voice and stated "these notes are limited to my own knowledge of their history", ironically implying that he wrote the credit list by himself. (Perhaps Mr. Garcia incorporated Mr. Racherbaumer's data into his own notes?)

PS: FWIW, the credits as published do seem incomplete/incorrect in several cases. Therefore, I think an updated/corrected credit list would still be of interest.

[Richard Kaufman]

Frank stole all kinds of things and put them in print, the most egregious being Fred Kaps' press quotes, which Garcia used in his own books and substituted his own name.

[Richard Kaufman]

I believe it was put at the end of Super Subtle Card Miracles. No?

Yehuda

Ding ding! Your first post on the Forum and you are correct!
Let's be kind and attribute my mistake to old age.

[erdnasephile]

Frank stole all kinds of things and put them in print, the most egregious being Fred Kaps' press quotes, which Garcia used in his own books and substituted his own name.

RK:
Do you think Mr. Garcia knew he was stealing, but eventually talked himself into thinking that the ideas were his? If not, how could he not know people would be pretty bent that their ideas and routines were going out under his name? How could he not know he'd get eventually busted for the Kaps' quotes?
He always came across as so affable a person, both in writing and in the small amount of video I've seen. It's hard to reconcile that image with how he behaved in such a cold-blooded fashion when it came to stealing stuff.
I guess he seems like a complex guy that contained the good and the bad, just like all of us.

[Max Maven]

I liked Frank. He was a charming fellow, and a really good magician.

But, it's clear that he had a condition that could be described as "intellectual kleptomania."

This is made clear by the use of the Kaps quotes, which Frank put into his publicity brochure. It was totally unnecessary. If he had simply made up quotes from international publications, he could have tailored them to more accurately suit his own style, plus it would have been (in those pre-Internet days) virtually impossible to show fraud with made-up quotes -- whereas the ones pilfered from Fred could be identified, as they came from Fred's own PR materials!

After those two books were published, there were jokes that made the rounds, regarding the title of Frank's next book. Someone said it would be called Million Dollar Lawsuits.

The better gag was more succinct: Your Best

[Q. Kumber]

Francis Carlyle was very upset when Garcia published his Card to Borrowed Envelope and Wallet in Million Dollar Card Secrets (1972).

Garcia on page 32 of the same book describes Three in a Million, and says he has been doing it for thirty years. Dick Koornwinder showed me his copy of that book which has pencil annotations by Fred Kaps who wrote, "No, I showed it to him in 1963."

While I never met Garcia, everyone I know who did spend time with him spoke very highly of him as both a person and a performer.

[erdnasephile]

Thank you for your insights, Mr. Maven and Mr. Reynolds.

[David Ben]

For what it may be worth, I believe the “Your Best” line was created by P. Howard Lyons, and made its appearance in an advertising flyer he distributed covertly (perhaps aided by Bob Weill) at an early FFFF. The flyer purportedly advertised a new publication, “Your Best”, a play on “My Best”, a work assembled by another and earlier Thompson, but attributed in this case to “Frank Garcia” AND “Harry Lorayne”.

[Richard Kaufman]

Frank was a sweet guy, very friendly and helpful. He had many friends, despite all the stupid things he did.

And he absolutely knew what he was doing!

[Bob Farmer]

I came up with a move for Triumph I dubbed the Drawbridge Move in 1975. It turns out Richard and I had independently come with the same move. See, Triumph Handling in CARDMAGIC, 1979, p. 11. I showed it to Frank Garcia. Richard Kaufman also showed Garcia the move. When Garcia started using it without credit to anyone we both thought he had “borrowed” it from us.

[Richard Kaufman]

I definitely know that he borrowed it from me, since I had given him a copy of my book, and he later apologized to me.

[Leo Garet]

I definitely know that he borrowed it from me, since I had given him a copy of my book, and he later apologized to me.

Did Garcia publish the "Drawbridge" move anywhere?

[Leonard Hevia]

Did Garcia publish the "Drawbridge" move anywhere?

Yes--in this book without crediting it's creators. It's under the title "A Subtle Piece of Business."

https://www.conjuringarchive.com/list/book/299

[Dick Koornwinder]

Quentin told it already…my copy of 'Million Dollar Card Secrets' has quite a lot of pencil annotations made by Fred Kaps. Usually I borrowed books from Mr. Kaps but this time it was he who borrowed Garcia’s book from me. Mr. Kaps is giving the credits throughout the book to magicians like Vernon, Marlo, Lorayne, Driebeek, Pollock, Scarne, Carlyle and others.
In the late seventies Kaps and Garcia stayed as guests of Monsieur Fihalho at the same moment in a villa in the South of France. As an eyewitness I can tell there has been no fight between the gentlemen….perhaps it was the presence of Bro. Hamman that prevent this. At the back of the book is a recipe and I remember Mr. Carcia cooked it for us the day before his departure…it was very tasty…so I’m afraid it wasn’t his own recipe.



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[PapaG]

Regardless of the scandal, what an absolutely fascinating historical document. Now if only someone would publish the books with those handwritten amendments...

[Philippe Billot]

In The Linking Ring, Vol. 42, no. 9, september 1962, Ward the Wizard proposed Quadruple Do As I Do which is the same trick as Three in a Million PLUS another coincidence (Spect and Magi cut the same numbers of cards). Do you think Fred Kaps show also his trick to Ward the Wizard one year before Frank Garcia ?

[Q. Kumber]

I have my own quadruple coincidence about Quadruple coincidence.

David Britland's Cardopolis column in the October 2017 Genii is about George Engel's Quadruple Coincidence that appeared in Hugard's Magic Monthly, May 1949. I immediately recognised it as Do As I Do -Extra by Dennis Sergeant and Graham Cheminais, Dennis said he was taught the trick in 1948 by Graham. I suspect Graham had seen it in HMM.

It is a trick I'd often meant to learn and went about doing so, especially when I found Scarne's simplified method.

The first person I showed it to was Dick Koornwinder who said, "I know this trick, Kaps used to it." I was surprised as I had assumed that the trick was 'lost'. Dick also said it was in Million Dollar Cards Secrets (It's also how the conversation in a few posts back came about).

The next person I showed it to was Martin Allcock, here in Manchester. He said, "That's Johnny Thompson's trick." Martin had been at the Michael Close & Johnny Thompson workshop in Ontario. Mike had done the trick and there was a story about it from Johnny.

Next, I'm at The Magic Circle in London and I'm showing the trick to Chris Wood. The chap beside us says, "I do that trick."
"From where did you find it?" I asked.
"I saw Penn & Teller do it on TV and backtracked it."

So that's my quadruple coincidence. First I recognise where I've seen it and then the next three people I show it to all are familiar with this 'lost' trick.

The best handling with great subtle touches is described in the Johnny Thompson books.

[Dick Koornwinder]

Do you think Fred Kaps show also his trick to Ward the Wizard one year before Frank Garcia ?

Mr. Kaps was with his annotation not claiming it was his trick....he was only surprised by the fact Mr. Carcia said he has been doing it for thirty years. Only at "Wild Cards" Mr. Kaps' annotation is more or less a claim the variation with signatures on the cards is his. You have to realize those annotations were rather brief...he didn't want to ruin my book.

[Bob Farmer]

What's the reference in the Thompson book?

[Q. Kumber]

What's the reference in the Thompson book?

Quadruple Coincidence.

[Philippe Billot]

I discover a funny thing. In Hugard's Magic Monthly, Do you know from who is the trick described just before Quadruple Coincidence by George Engel ?

It's A Penny for your Thought by ... Frank Garcia.

What a coincidence!

[Richard Kaufman]

Somewhere, a long time ago, I wrote about Frank Garcia's lifting of material. I concluded the piece by noting that the very first thing Frank published was lifted from an earlier description. That was in the late 1940s or early 50s. His behavior continued until his death.

[Ian Kendall]

Maybe 'Million Dollar Hands' was the value of all the stuff they lifted?

I'll get my coat...

[Tom Gilbert]

I was a friend of Frank's and have no idea what he was thinking. He did mention Jon R. helping with the credits. Calling Dr Frame..any ideas?

[Richard Kaufman]

I was a good friend of Frank's. He operated under some sort of delusion. If anyone else had done what he did, that person would have been completely cut off. But most everyone liked Frank. He was fun to be with, generous, and a good magician.

[El Mystico]

The earliest reference I've seen to the Quadruple Coincidence trick is in Daley's Notebooks; entry 384 Sid Radner’s Do As I Do. This is in Volume 4, so probably dates to 1944. (Crediting it to Radner is no guarantee it was Radner's creation; just that he learned it from Radner).
Radner worked for the government during World War II touring service bases and guarding servicemen from cheats. He had a great interest in Houdini.

[Richard Hatch]

A question for Dick Kornwinder: Fred wrote his notes in your copy of "Million Dollar Card Secrets" in English. Was that just because the book was in English, or were they perhaps intended to be seen by a non-Dutch speaking audience at some point?

[Tom Gilbert]

El Mystico, Sid was a student of Hardeen's (HH's brother). When Hardeen passed he got a lot of Houdini's stuff. Sid had an amazing gambling demo.

[El Mystico]

Thanks, Tom!

[Dick Koornwinder]

Fred wrote his notes in your copy of "Million Dollar Card Secrets" in English. Was that just because the book was in English, or were they perhaps intended to be seen by a non-Dutch speaking audience at some point?

Funny…I have never thought it was peculiar Mr. Kaps wrote his notes in English. He was just used to write in his notebooks in English and of course in his correspondence with his magic friends all over the world. You have to realize if Dutch magicians talk about magic among themselves they are also using already a lot of English words because there is often no good Dutch idiom available. Some time ago I posted on Instagram a part of a page from Kaps’ notebook…..yes in English.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVX1k7vlDak ... _copy_link