The Amateur Magicians Handbook - Book

This lavishly illustrated fourth edition of the classic handbook for conjurers is designed to help magicians of all levels, from beginning to advanced. It will let you hone your skills at legerdemain and develop new and exciting illusions to baffle the mind. Written by Henry Hay, with an introduction by Milbourne Christopher. Features a new section on Shows for Children, as well as a new essay from The Amazing Randi (James Randi) on Coaching yourself with videotape. Contents: ix Introduction by Milbourne Christopher xi A Few Words Before Curtain Time 1 Chapter One: The Magic State of Mind: essay 10 Chapter Two: Hard Easy Tricks and Easy Hard Tricks: essay on practice, learning magic, presentation 19 Part One Hand Magic 19 Chapter Three: Hand Magic With Cards: 20 Hand Magic: Requirements 21 Hand Magic with Cards: cards to use and so forth 22 1a. Breaks: little finger 24 1b. The Glimpse 25 As Easy As Spelling Your Name: Spectator peeks at a card, shuffles the deck, and spells his name to the selected card. Uses glimpse. 27 1c. Permanent Breaks: the crimp or bridge 28 Paul Rosini’s Location 29 2. Shifts or Passes 30 2a. The Conventional Two Handed Shift 32 The Stabbed Pack: effect 34 2b. The side Steal or Side Slip 35 You Must be Wrong: effect 36 2c. The Herrmann Pass 37 2d. One Handed Shifts “New-Method” Robert Houdin 30 2e. One Handed Shifts Old Method 40 2f. One Handed Shifts: The Charlier Pass 41 3. Forcing 41 3a. The Fan Force: the Classic Force 42 3b. Thought Forces: similar to classic force 43 3c. Sure-Fire Force: The slip: my personal favorite 44 3d. Sure Fire Force: Stanley Collins Method (knife) 45 Everybody’s Card: Four spectators each pick the same card, but end up holding a different card. The selection ends up in performer’s pocket 46 3e. The Shift 47 4. Palming 48 4a. The Top Palm 48 Charles Bertram’s Four Ace Trick 51 4b. The Bottom Palm (right hand) 51 4c. The Bottom Palm (left hand) 53 5. False Shuffles 53 5a. Overhand: provides definitions from Erdnase for Stock, Run, Jogs, etc. 56 Luis Zingone’s Table Spread: Cards selected from table spread end up in performer’s pocket 58 5b. Dovetail: extensive coverage 64 5c. Hindu Shuffle 64 6. Changes 65 6a. The Double Lift 65 6b. The Top Change 66 Step on It! Magician and spectator cards change places 67 6c. The Bottom Change 68 6d. Palm Change 69 6e. Double Palm Change 70 The Phoney Aces: Three’s passed off as Aces turn into the real Aces, then Three’s again 71 7. Color Changes 72 7a. The Clip (Felicien Trewey) 72 Wiping Out the Spot and a Production Flourish 73 7b. Sidesteal Color Change 74 Correcting a Mistake: effect 75 7c. Far End Steal Color Change 75 7d. Snap Change 76 8. Trick Deals 76 8a. Second Deal 77 Five Hands: effect 78 8b. Bottom Deal 79 Flourishes 80 9a. The Riffle 80 9b. Springing the Cards 81 9c. Fanning 83 9d. The Back Palm 87 Vanish and Recovery: effect Using the Back Palm 88 9e. Scaling or Throwing Cards 89 Chapter Four: Give Them A Rest (Tricks where no cards are chosen) 89 1. The Four Aces: Aces assemble to one packet; variations 92 Nate Leipzig’s Slap Aces: Effect 93 Cardini’s Ace Trick: effect 94 2. The Cards Up the Sleeve: includes false count, variations 98 3. The Diminishing Cards 100 4. The Thirty Card Trick: cards pass from spectator to spectator 103 5. More Flourishes: Cards from the mouth and Fan Away 104 6. The Ambitious Card: The whole deck becomes Jokers 105 7. The Three Card Trick: Basic Monte explanation with pointers to references and the Mexican Turnover 108 8. Reading the Cards: various methods mentioned 110 Chapter Five: Please Take a Card – Standard Card Tricks 111 1. Locations 111 1a. The Tap (in-jog) 111 1b. The Side Crimp 111 1c. Approximation, with the Optical Fan Location 113 The Optical Fan Location (John Mulholland) 115 2. Card at Any Number 116 3. Stop Me 117 4. Spelling Trick with Spell Charts 119 4a. The Automatic Speller (chancy!) 120 4b. Mental Selection Speller 121 5. Reversed Cards 122 6. The Card in the Pocket 123 7. The Rising Cards: sleight versions, IT, etc. 129 Chapter Six: Hand Magic with Coins 130 1. The Tourniquet or French Drop 131 2. The Finger Palm 132 3. The Flat Thumb Palm 132 4. The Regular Thumb Palm 132 5. The Regular Palm 133 6. The Edge, Oblique, or Downs’ Palm 135 7. The Change Over Palm 136 8. The Back Palm 139 9. The Crotch Palm 140 10. Sleeving (Brief Coverage) 140 11. The Downs’ Click Pass 141 12. The Downs’ Fan Pass 142 13. The Squeeze Pass 143 14. The DeManche Change 144 15. The Handkerchief Fold: for vanish or penetration through handkerchief 145 16. Flourish: Coin Roll or Steeplechase 147 Chapter 7: The Miser’s Dream and Other Great Coin Tricks 147 1. Miser’s Dream: lengthy discussion of approaches 151 2. Catching Five Coins (Downs’ Eureka Pass) 152 3. Manuel’s Thumb Gag 153 4. Nate Leipzig’s Slow Motion Vanish 156 5. Leipzig’s Coin from Hand to Hand 157 6. Coin From Hand to Hand: 3 methods 159 7. Silver and Gold: Three silver join 3 gold coins. Version of Dai Vernon’s Winged Silver 160 8. The Sympathetic Coins: Coin Assembly/Matrix. Downs’ Version 164 9. Coins Dissolving in a Handkerchief (click pass) 164 10. The Shake Penetration (Senor Mardo) 165 11. Coins to Handkerchief 167 12. Coin from Handkerchief to Handkerchief 167 13. Trouser Leg Vanish 168 14. The Dissolving Coin (no disk version) 169 15. Finding the Chosen Coin: Spectator 2 finds Spectator 1’s coin 170 16. Date Detection (Eddie Joseph): similar to above, uses one ahead principle 171 17. Coins Up The Sleeve: Coins travel from left hand to right trouser pocket 174 Heartbreakers: lots of practice, but little reward 174 18. Heads or Tails: always predict coin flip 175 19. Coins to Glass 176 20. Coin Star (One handed) 176 21. Coin Star (Two handed) 178 Chapter 8: Hand Magic With Billiard Balls 180 1. The Palm 181 2. The Finger Palm 181 3. Simulation (acting as though the ball is in the palm) 182 4. Standard Passes 182 5. The Trip Pass 183 6. The Kick Pass 183 7. The Change Over Palm 184 8. Color Changes 185 9. Flourish: Cardini’s Climbing Billiard Balls 187 Chapter 9: The Multiplying Billiard Balls 187: Hay’s Routine: basic 192 Chapter 10: Other Hand Magic With Balls 192 1. Cups and Balls: small ball palm, Bosco little finger palm, loading, tips on routining 196 2. Sponge Balls: basic ideas only 198 Chapter 11: Hand Magic with Thimbles 198 1. The Thumb Palm 198 2. The Steal Pass 199 3. Thimble Changes 199 4. The Multiplying Thimbles 201 Chapter 12: Hand Magic With Cigarettes 201 1. The Thumb Palm 202 2. Tip Tilt Pass 202 3. Poke Through Pass 203 4. King Size Pass 204 5. Tonguing 206 6. Lighted Cigarette Through Handkerchief 207 7. Card in Cigarette 209 Part Two: Applied Art: Head Magic 210 Chapter 13: Head Magic With Cards 210 1. Locations 210 1a. Unprepared Key Cards: With applications. One Way decks, pointer cards, divided deck 214 1b. Prepared Key Cards: Thick, long, short, cornered, rough & Smooth, pop-eyed popper deck 216 2. Mechanical Decks: stripper, Svengali (Mirage), Mene-Tekel, With brief application. 218 3. Setups 218 3a. Systems: Si Stebbins, 8 Kings, Nikola 220 Behind Your Back 220 The Shuffled Setup 221 The Foolproof Card in Pocket 222 3b. Special Setups 222 Sound of the Voice 223 Spot Location 224 Got any Good Phone Numbers? 224 The Royal Marriages (Dai Vernon) 226 The 10 Card Trick 227 4. Card Reading 227 4a. By the One Ahead Method 228 4b. The Whispering Queen: Perfect self working 229 Chapter 14: Varied Head Magic 229 1. Find the Dime (Al Baker): find dime under one of 3 cards 229 2. Who Has Which? Mathematical coin find 230 3. Money Sense: As above, but different method 231 4. Date Reading: 2 methods, read the dates of coins 232 5. Coin Telepathy: cards match the coin date 232 6. Torn and Restored Paper: various methods (brief) 234 7. Pellet Paper Repeat: One is thrown away but comes back 235 8. Rubber Pencil: illusion 235 9. Rising Cigarette from Pack 235 10. Restored Matches: impromptu with pack of matches 236 11. Linking Matches: held between thumb and ring finger 236 12. Ring On Stick (Major Branson, Indian Army) 238 13. The Potsherd Trick: Image transfers from sugar cube to palm 241 Part Three: Apparatus Magic. An essay on logical apparatus 241 Chapter 15 – Silks 244 1. Productions: 244 Stillwell Ball 244 Roterberg Vanisher 245 False Finger 245 Drumhead Tube 246 Phantom Tube 246 2. Vanishes: 247 Traditional Method 247 Poke Through Vanish 247 Pulls 249 3. Color Changing: 250 Color Changing Handkerchief 250 Dye Tube 252 4. Knots 252 Dissolving Knot 253 Appearing Knot 255 Fake Square Knots 257 Knot That Unties Itself 258 Sympathetic Silks 260 Chapter 16: Small Gimmicks and Fakes 260 Thumb Tip 262 Finger Tip 262 Thumb Writer 262 Card Index 263 Card Box 264 Card Frame 265 Pulls 265 Hooks 266 Tumblers 266 Mirror Glass 267 Chapter 17: Standard Stuff 267 1. Cut and Restored Rope: 3 methods, no graphics though 269 2. The Egg Bag: skeleton routine only 271 3. The Passe Passe Bottle and Glass: description and basic routine 272 4. Liquid Tricks 272 4a. The Lota: inexhaustible vase of water 274 4b. The Rice Bowls: old style 275 4c. The Funnel: comedy water funnel 275 4d. The Ching Ling Foo Water Can 276 5. Productions: what to produce 277 5a. Hat Productions 277 5b. The Tambourine 278 5c. Carpet of Bagdad: servante load 278 5d. The Jap Box: False flip bottom 279 5e. The Organ Pipes: nesting tube production 280 6. The Chinese Wands: strings seem to be connected 281 7. The Linking Rings: Parts of a routine provided with some photos. Link, Crash Link, Crash unlink, simple count, slow unlink, some routine basics. Okay as an intro. 287 Part Four: Mental Magic 287 Chapter 18: Mental Magic – Theo Annemann 287 1. Magician or Mind Reader? Spelling Master from Chapter 5 288 2. Psychic Slate Test: setup deck 289 3. Extrasensory Perception: setup picture cards 290 4. The Stolen Center Ruse: center tear 291 5. Question and Answer: billet switch 292 6. Stuart Robson’s Newspaper Test: uses classified ad 293 7. Sid Lorraine’s Forty Thousand Words: book test 295 8. One Ahead Reading 295 9. A Day of Your Life: Performer divines items about person’s day after he has written them down. One ahead principle. 297 10. More Alive Than Dead: Performer determines “dead” note among 4 papers. Also, Dead or Alive variation. 299 11. A Mentalist With Money: serial number identification 300 12. The Lyons Bill Switch: no TT 301 13. Dr. Daley’s Slates: flap style 303 14. The Mystery of the Blackboard: blindfold 304 15. Taps: steel ball raps answer (TT) 305 Part Five: Intimate Magic 305 Chapter 19: Close Up Performance 309 1. Matches 309 1a. The Fire Proof Hand 309 1b. The Extinguisher 309 1c. The Balanced Match 309 1d. The Leaping Flame 310 1e. The X-Ray Cross 310 2. Coin in Roll 311 3. The Torn Cigarette 311 4. Tumblers 311 4a. Balanced Liquid Diet 311 4b. Glass Levitation 312 4c. Coin Through Glass (Bertram) 313 4d. Vanishing Tumbler (glass through table) 313 4e. The Ghost Echo (tuning fork) 313 4f. Singing Glass, Peculiar Pellet 314 5. Stringing ‘Em Along: 315 5a. The Spiral: Endless Chain, Chain of Chance move 315 5b. The Snare 316 5c. The Triple Circle Routine (Jack Salvin and Fred Lowe) 317 5d. Jumping Rubber Band on Fingers 317 5e. Wild West: throw knots in a rope equal to numbers thrown on bottom of dice 319 6. Knocking the Spots Off: paddle dice trick 320 7. Coin Boxes 320 7a. German Box: Ganson routine (summarized) 321 7b. The Okito Box: Tea for Okito from Lewis Ganson’s Close Up Vol II 323 7c. Boston Box: Fred Lowe’s Boston Three Step from Ganson’s Close Up Vol 1 325 Part Six: Children’s Shows 325 Chapter 20: Performing for Children 325 Children’s Venues 326 Resources 326 Your Audience 329 Casting Yourself 329 Children Are Your Guests 330 Assistants 332 Sucker Gags 333 Never Lose Your Temper 333 Noise Level 335 Closing the Act 335 Time 336 How Should You Dress? 337 The Act 339 Music 340 Animals 340 Hand Puppets 342 Giveaways 342 What Tricks? 344 1. The Afghan Bands 345 2. The Breakaway Fan 345 3. The Cake Baked In a Hat 347 4. Nest of Boxes 348 5. Sun and Moon 351 Part Seven: Platform Magic 351 Chapter 21: Platform Magic 351 Things You Should Know 354 Take Those Articles Along 355 The Wand 356 Clothes 356 Faked Furniture 356 Servante 357 Black Art Wells 359 Coaching Yourself with Videotape (The Amazing Randi) 365 Chapter 21: How to Stage a Magic Show: Some Professional Advice 365 1. Comedy 367 2. Pantomime (Louise Gifford) 371 3. Music (Henry Blanchard, Boyd C. Roche) 372 4. Night Club Shows 374 5. Business Methods 376 6. Publicity 379 Appendix: Further Tricks and Illusions Glossary 393 Biography and Bibliography: Index of magicians and publications 405 Index Publisher: Castle Books Pages: 414 Location: Edison, NJ, USA Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.75 x 9.5 inches Binding: Hardbound Publication date ‏ : ‎This edition January 1, 1996, prior editions 1950, 1982 Language ‏ : ‎ English ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0785802045 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0785802044