McPIPHANY

In the last posting I reported on the Dan Harlan show and lecture. As wonderful and meaningful as that was it was only the biginning. Because later that day was the incredible Jeff McBride. I have seen him on video, read about him in magazines and studied his work on DVD. But none of this prepared me for the outstanding evening of magic I was about to be treated to. Jeff McBride’s show was magnificent! Every movement was graceful. Every magical moment led to the next. Everything was seamlessly interconnected like an ascenting spiral staircase. I have heard the term “Breaking down the walls” before, but never have I seen it done so beautifully. Jeff is able to personally connect with the audience in a way that is almost scary. Everyone in that auditorium felt as though Jeff was performing just for them out of friendship.

I have seen many “Miser’s Dream” routines over the years. But Jeff McBride’s handling of it was by far the most entertaining I have ever seen. His interaction with an assistant pulled from the audience was a thing of beauty. Everyone felt they were extremely fortunate to have been present for that particular performance. And although we were, the real magic is that Jeff makes all his audiences feel this way. Amazingly the performance did not end in a crescendo of dazzling light, sound and color. (Although there was plenty of this during the show). But instead it ended in a profound calm. Like climbing a mountain and finally at the end being dumbstruck by the vista. Or being launched into space and just when you think “What’s next?” finding oneself floating weightless over the curve of the Earth in silent astonishment. What more would there be to say? It was extraordinary and satisfying. Genius.

Once the show was over it was time for the lecture.

Jeff McBride is much more than a master magician. He is also an outstanding teacher and communicator. The effects he demonstrated and taught were practical and effective. Any magician's repertoire would benefit from these illusions. Stagecraft, platform or close up, there was something there for everyone. Jeff shared two very special effects. Both of these are geared toward the daily interaction with friends, family, service people and total strangers. One of them involves a rainbow streamer and a small silk rose. Powerful stuff, gift magic.

Jeff taught multiple card productions, dancing cane moves and surprising productions. But in my opinion, the most powerful information fell into the category of "theory". Jeff McBride offered sound advice on a multitude topics such as "nerves", sweats, connecting with the audience and pushing one self to be the magician one aspires to be.

For many years I suffered from a common affliction to amateur magicians. The quest for that ONE trick that will put me where I "ought" to be. Well, that trick does not exist. Or "If I just practice in the mirror enough or perform enough I will be as good as so and so". I realized how flawed my thinking was. I understood what I really needed was serious study in the theory of the art. I was now well on my way toward becoming a better magician once I realized I already knew enough effects. It was now time to dive head first into "Deep Magic". That is, how to transform a good trick into a meaningful and powerful presentation that people emotionally respond to and remember for years.

The elusive missing piece was now in my hands. It is a coin. Stamped on one side is..."FOCUS" on the other side, "THEORY"

Beginning To See The Light

During my entire magical experience from the time I was 8 years old to last June I was walking around in the dark. I was under the spell that as far as magic goes, the trick’s the thing. Although there are several blocks of time in my life when magic was missing, I would always find my way back. But this time was different. I came back to magic 17 months ago after the longest non-magical period of my life. It was an injury that snapped me out of my sleep. (See 1st post). My eyes were finally opened last summer. By late June I had just finished the main goal of this blog. That is, to document my thinking and progress in taking magic more seriously. It involved learning or perfecting a classic of magic every week. And at the end of each week present it 5 times to 5 different audiences and reflect on the process. It was (in my opinion) a very successful exercise. I was able to take magic to the next level. And it was a blast. But in some ways I was still operating in the dark. Until June. That’s when the switch was thrown and all shadows vanished under a brilliant light of understanding. I could now see the missing tools. I not only discovered the tools but found instructions on how to use them. It was a major turning point.



This epiphany followed the intersection of 5 elements. More specifically: 3 books and 2 performers. The books are “The Trick Brain” by Dariel Fitzkee, “Magic and Showmanship” by Henning Nelms and “Strong Magic” by Darwin Ortiz. The performers are Dan Harlan and Jeff McBride. In late June I had the opportunity to attend a weekend of magic with these two magnificent performers. For now I will focus on Dan Harlan.


Dan Harlan’s performance was a riot. His timing and delivery was razor-sharp. While his physical appearance is like that of a rock star tough guy, his interaction with the audience reveals the thoughtfulness and depth and of a concert pianist. A true artist. During the lecture portion of Dan Harlan’s appearance his passion for magic was evident. At times he seemed like a kid at recess. Dan Harlan’s magic was everything you could ask for but my favorite moment was what can only be called “World Class Dairy Manipulation”. A verbal description would not do the bit justice. I can only say that it was the funniest magical parody I’ve seen since Bob Little’s “Cups and Tips” business about 25 years ago.

Dan was extremely generous with the wonderful ideas he shared. If one wanted to, one could build and entire act based solely on the information Dan presented to us. Of course no self-respecting magician would do that. Instead, the real gold was the thinking behind his presentations. Dan even presented a 500 year old trick in a fascinating new light. The food for thought was nothing less than a banquet.

I came away from that show/lecture with many wonderful thoughts and ideas but the most remarkable thing was a 16 page booklet called “More Than Meets the Eye”. Don’t let the size fool you. There is more practical and powerful information packed into those 16 pages than you could find on a drawer full of DVD’s costing upward of $300.00. There is no magic carpet ride to success in “More Than Meets the Eye”. But what is there is a set of powerful tools for creating entertaining effects and building an entire show. I’m not qualified to be a reviewer. All I can tell you is this booklet has made a huge impact on me and has been instrumental in raising the quality of my own magic.
Remarkable stuff. Thanks Dan!

Absolute Beginner

Nothing puts one back into the position of a novice more effectively than a bit of learning and growth. Last year I started the blog to chronicle and reflect on my re-immersion into magic after a long absence. My goal was to polish and present some of the routines I did years ago, and to learn and perform some classic routines which contained the chops any decent magician should be familiar with. Every Friday I performed a new routine for each one of my 5 classes. The successful effects went into a working repertoire while those that didn’t go so well were analyzed and bumped down to a lower cell on my spreadsheet for future refinement. Each week I made a blog entry as a self-reflection on my personal process and progress of practicing, building and presenting magic. This of course was not intended to be instructional to anyone but myself. By putting my journal “out there” it forced me to keep up with it and not get too sloppy or lazy.

That was my first step back into the art of illusion. I really don’t know why I love it so much. I’m not an attention seeker. In fact, quite the opposite is the case. It just feels like something I must do. At ant rate, the purpose of continuing the blog has changed in some respects and remained the same in others. Some entries will resemble those of the previous year. But my goal is not focused on learning new illusions and routines. The goal now is to take the effects I know and elevate them (and my presentations of them) to a higher level. I expect future entries to be more about the subtleties and philosophy of performing magic than anything else.

Although for two or three real stinkers, last year’s experiment was a great success. Most of what I presented went adequately, to very well. A hand full of effects played as strongly as anyone could hope, while (as I said) a couple of them were epic failures. But these too were very useful in that I was able (after some analysis) to determine what went wrong and flag them for future refinement. So by last June I had worked my skills back up to an almost acceptable level. I felt that I had succeeded in my self-challenge. My passion for magic became even stronger than it was when I was young. (I didn’t see that coming!). The experience was exciting and humbling. But there was so much I still did not know. But that was about to change.

Hoops of Steel

Well I’m about four weeks behind in posting. The end of the school year is always a crazy time. Things are still pretty busy but I’ve been away from the blog way too long.

The next to last effect for Magic Friday this year is the ever-classic Linking Rings. Often when performing with the rings magicians claim that “The Chinese Linking Rings is the oldest known magic trick”.


In 1898 a successful Chinese conjurer, Ching Ling Foo brought his show to the United States. This may be the west’s first introduction to a multiple linking ring routine. But origin of the rings may go back to the first century in Asia Minor and Egypt. Either way the Linking Rings became a staple of the “Golden Age of Magic”. And to anyone who has seen a fine performance of the effect, it’s easy to understand why.

The apparent melting of solid metal rings through one another is visually stunning when well handled. The added element of musical sounds as the linking and unlinking occur brings another layer of texture to the effect.


Individuals who, at some time possessed a passing interest in magic have probably tinkered and dabbled with a cheap set of rings. Nonetheless, when they witness a professionally presented ring routine their amazement is just as strong as someone seeing it for the first time. Not only that but most magicians enjoy watching other magicians perform the rings with the same interest that one trial lawyer would be fascinated to see how another lawyer would handle a similar case.

The rings may be presented with elegance and refinement. Or as a raucous, almost cartoon-like comedy effect or anything in between. It all depends on the style and persona of the performer.


I have worked on routines by Tarbell, Jack Miller, and Dai Vernon. The routine that I perform is basically Vernon’s routine with a couple of Tarbell’s ideas added. Last winter I purchased a copy of Whit Haydn’s 4-ring routine. I have had the pleasure of watching Mr. Haydn perform this routine on several occasions and was always astounded by his skill, timing and interaction with the audience. Brilliant. Someday I may be able to do it justice.


All 5 performances of the rings went well for this installment of Magic Friday. It was smooth and blunder-free. There was a good hand-full of “Ooooo’s” and “Ahaaa’s” and plenty of applause but something was missing. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something wasn’t right. After some thought I concluded the problem was a lack of "building". The most magical moments of the routine happen during the initial stages. That first link or two are beautiful. There are a couple nice moments during the “figures” portion as well. But by the time the end of the routine comes along, the most powerful magic has already taken place. The routine (as I perform it) seems a little anti-climactic to me. I will have to give this some very serious brain sweat and figure out what I need to do to make the routine best work for me. This will also require getting out in the public and working out my solutions.
Doug Henning

The Travelers

Great accidental discoveries in science don’t just happen by accident. They present themselves in the presence of intellectual curiosity, discipline, scientific integrity, joy and passion. Only then are the unexpected elements or dynamics recognized as something new. Something important and wonderful.
Around 1911 Ernest Rutherford “accidentally” discovered that the atom consisted of mostly empty space with a dense positively charged nucleus. He was shooting alpha particles at a thin sheet of foil to measure the angle through which they were deflected when they passed by an electron. At that time it was thought that the atom was a positively charged “gel” with negatively charged bits floating around in it. (J.J Thompson’s “plum pudding” model).
Rutherford and his colleagues were investigating the structure of the atom with intention and discipline. By measuring the deflection angle of the positively charged alpha particles as they passed through the atom they were hoping to catch a glimpse of matter’s fundamental building block. Then something amazing happened. On a fluke, Rutherford set up the equipment to measure a wider dispersion of alpha particles. At once Rutherford found alpha particles flying straight back at him. This did not make sense. In his own words…

“It was quite the most incredible event that has ever happened to me
in my life. It was almost as incredible as if you fired a 15-inch shell
at a piece of tissue paper and it came back and hit you”!

The only explanation for the observed event was that the atom must have a great deal of empty space and a dense, positively charged core, or nucleus. And with that our understanding of the universe made a leap of astronomical proportion. Nothing would ever be the same. The modern era with all its technology, hopes, dreams and fears was begun. The point is this; someone didn’t just walk into a lab and say “What’s this button do”? Rather, these were brilliant minds. They set up brilliant experiments with intention. The discovery may have been unexpected, but they were already hot on the trail of something big. And that was no accident.


So what has all this got to do with some old hack trying to become a competent magician? Being a science teacher I couldn’t resist the analogy because science and art are not so different as one might imagine. There is an art to science and a science to art. For example, Einstein is famous for saying…”Imagination is more important than knowledge”. Indeed, a scientist needs the creative power to imagine how things “might” be and devise ways to investigate them. Conversely, just ask any artist about the foundations of visual composition, the physics of light or color theory. An artist’s world is full of science. And how many books and essays have been written on psychology of magic? Before anyone thinks I am about to compare myself with the greats of science or magic, allow me to state for the record… On my best day I couldn’t muster half the intellect of Rutherford on his worst day. And all the creative powers I possess focused into one concentrated beam would be like a firefly against the white hot spotlight of Jeff McBride, Whit Hayden or Daryl. But something wonderful happened today for Magic Friday. And it was an accident. Sort of.




I have always wanted to learn and perform that Dai Vernon palm-fest known as “The Travelers”. I’ve had “Stars of Magic” for about 25 years and for a long time felt the effect was way over my head. Not only does it require a fair amount of mechanical skill, but the misdirection required necessitates a set of brass ones. So while I was working on the routine for the past few weeks I had what I thought to be a great idea. I decided to have the 4th card wind up in a sealed envelope in a wallet that had been sitting on the table. I altered the handling to facilitate this ending to the effect. I wrote a snappy script for it and justified all actions and movements. I was pretty excited to see how well I could pull this off.



The first performance was successful and went very well. The reaction was warm and enthusiastic. But on the second performance, I made a huge blunder. When it was time to pull the 2nd spectator’s card from a pocket, it wasn’t there! What was I to do? I said…”Hummm, I’ll get back to you later”. I continued with producing the 3rd card and of course the 4th one in the wallet. Everyone thought that was pretty cool but wondered what happened to the 2nd guy’s card. I was stumped. I knew I goofed and everyone was waiting. I decided to take the honest route. “Okay guys, I have no idea what happened to Brian’s card”. (Of course the audience assumed I was playing them). I picked up the pack and found the card on top and acted quickly. I took the indifferent card in the front right trouser pocket, held it up triumphantly and asked Brian to name his card. He did and I smugly flipped over the card to show its face. Of course it was not his signed card. I feigned resignation to failure, executed a T.C., handed the card to him and asked him to wave it over his neighbor’s head. With that he turned the card back over to look at it and held it up for all to see. He and the rest of the audience were visibly stunned. And so was I by the reaction. A roar of amazement and disbelief went up such as I have never heard. I never, ever would have expected such a reaction from such a simple revelation as a climax. It was a blunder gone right. (I later realized that I had completely forgotten to do a O.H.T.P). It was a careless and inexcusable error. But it turned out so well.


The next two performances I played it straight and again, like the first performance of the day the response was strongly positive. But it was not over the top like the 2nd performance was. The “accident” performance. Now I was curious. So for the last performance I got rid of the wallet, slightly altered the handling and intentionally recreated the accident from the 2nd performance. I also included one of my bad-ass students. Nothing phases this guy. He is tough, brash, uninterested in educational success and cynical. Sometimes he’s downright disrespectful, but his home life really sucks so it’s easy to forgive him. Anyway, I recreated the blunder from earlier in the day. Only this time it was controlled. When that final card was turned over the reaction was just as powerful as the 2nd performance. Even Joe Badboy threw his hands over his reddened face and exclaimed “Holy s____”. I decided not to write him up for language. I also decided that this was the way for me to perform this effect.

So now it seems I am in possession of my own personal handling of Dai Vernon’s “The Travelers”. It’s uniquely scripted and has a powerful and surprising sucker punch as a climax. No wallet needed and instantly reset. This newly acquired routine fits my personality like a glove and may be the strongest effect I’ve presented this year. And all thanks to a careless mistake. An accident. But like the unexpected discovery in Rutherford’s laboratory, it didn’t “just happen”. Because I have been working my chops I was able to recover an effect that was headed toward failure. Because I have been on my manipulative toes while keeping my nose buried in the classic books, I converted a potential disaster into an unquestionable success. In the old days I dreamt about magic more than putting in the hard work to make those dreams a reality. It takes more than passion and creativity. But now I have a healthy mix of discipline and artistic integrity to join with the joy and passion I already had. I’m a little wiser now than I was back then too. I feel encouraged. I feel I may be getting closer to the day when I can drop the word “hack” and replace it with “competent”.

Cups & Balls

For anyone not familiar with it, there is an online community and magic forum called The Magic Café. It is a place for magicians: professional, amateur or beginner to ask questions and share thoughts. With 43,459 members it is a resource like no other.

I have found the people there to be friendly and generous. I read a post in one of the forums where an individual was asking about the Cups and Balls. He wanted to know whether or not it was worthwhile to learn and perform the venerable effect. One of the respondents on the thread urged the poster to keep working on the trick. The reason, he said, was that a good Cups and Balls routine by its very nature requires all of a magician’s best skills. Misdirection, pacing, timing, presentation, and
quality sleight-of-hand. Lots of sleight-of-hand. I agree completely. It’s been said that the measure of a magician’s ability can be gauged by how well he performs the Cups and Balls. More chops are brought to bear in this one effect than anything else I can think of. So this week’s Magic Friday sampling is the ancient Cups and Balls.
25 years ago I purchased a beautiful set of copper cups from the great Ross Bertram.
These cups sing beautifully when they contact one another. They also have a wide top so the Charlie Miller bit of business (with multiple penetrations) works as well on the top of a cup as it does on the table. The only drawback is the balls used must have a diameter less than an inch for the cups to nest properly. And a smaller ball can look a little less impressive sitting on a large cup. But I think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
I choose not to polish my cups very often. I prefer them to be tarnished for two reasons. The first reason is because it makes them look antique. If it’s antique, it couldn’t have come from a magic shop. Right? Even though the cups are not tricky or gimmicked in any way, a shiny pristine copper cup seems too well cared for (If that makes any sense). The other reason is more practical. I took the small crocheted balls and covered them with foil a la Cellini. After a few layers I got the balls to be as large as possible while remaining less than the critical 1 inch diameter restriction. Because the cups are a bit dull with tarnish the foil balls show up brilliantly in contrast to them.

This also serves to make them look bigger canceling out the size restriction stated above. Retention of vision is nice too.
So 25 years ago I worked on Dai Vernon’s Cups and Balls routine. I don’t remember how long it took me to work it out, but eventually I had it down. The problem was, I was either too chicken to perform it for a real audience or the venue wasn’t right for it. And when I went back to college 20 years ago, my beautiful Ross Bertrum cups (along with all other things magical) got packed up into a trunk and remained there until last August.

All this week I have been feverishly relearning Vernon’s routine. Although there are 1 or 2 minor changes I would like to make to fit my own style better, but I decided to play the routine straight from the manuscript. There will be time enough for variation later. Right now what I needed was solidity. By Thursday night I felt I had it ready. There were only 2 minor parts I was a little squirrely about. But when I showed the routine to my lovely wife she was blown away. She did manage to recognize one of the mildly rough spots. So I stayed up a little later and smoothed out the 2 points that were bothering me. Now I was set.
The last two weeks I was a little discouraged because “Silk and Silver” and “3 Ball Transposition” did not play as well as I had hoped. This was going to be a test for me. I really needed a boost. Well, I got it. And then some!
All 5 performances today went very well. Not flawless but good and solid. I had two slip ups during the 4th performance. The fumble was during the very first move. Unfortunately it was not well recovered. I was forced to restack the cups, put the balls back in my pocket and start again. Once I hit my rhythm all was forgotten and forgiven. The other slip was easily recovered and looked like part of the routine. By the time I got to the end and final revelation, they were amazed and responded by
breaking into applause. My only worry at this point was I feared that my earlier error would get inside my head and interfere with the final performance. I have been paying very close attention to my performances and what can be improved and how. Indeed, that is why this blog exists in the first place. This is only a personal journal of my return to magic. The fact that it is online gives me a sense of a deadline. I know myself. If I tried to do this in a bedside notebook I’d have only 3 entries. At any rate, for the final performance of the day I stayed focused and hyperaware. All went well. A few spectators held up their hands with fingers wide apart indicating an enthusiastic “10”. I worked hard on the routine and it payed off. It was just the sort of encouragement I needed. It was a great day.

Silk & Silver

I have been working on Dai Vernon’s “Silk and Silver” for over 8 months now. The routine appears in The “Vernon Chronicles: Lost Inner Secrets Volume I”. I have never seen this routine performed before.
Although I did see a video of Fred Kaps performing his own version of it on YouTube. Just by the description of the effect one could tell that this was a beauty. Not easy by any stretch, but well worth the effort if mastered.

After many months I felt I had the effect ready to perform. I have some beautiful 1923 “Peace Morgan” silver dollars and a nicely contrasting silk handkerchief. I never thought I'd be able to produce silver coins from Downs position. The hard work really seems to be paying off. So it was “Silk and Silver” for Magic Friday today.
The 1st performance was adequate. I did not feel comfortable enough with the angles in my classroom to produce the coins from downs palm with the palm facing the audience. So I produced them from Downs with the back of my hand facing the audience. (After showing both hands empty). I also did the routine in pantomime to music. I think this was a mistake. Music for a stage would be fine. But in the intimate atmosphere of the classroom I just felt goofy. I Scored a 7 on the “Magiscale”.
For the second performance I dumped the music, took off the jacket and rolled up my sleeves. I just pattered off the cuff about what I thought were insects buzzing around my head but turned out to be coins. I didn’t want to lose the coins so I wrapped them in a handkerchief…etc. The response was much stronger than the 1st performance. An “8”. One person said it would have been even better if I used 4 coins instead of 3.
So for the 3rd performance I added a fourth coin. I used the “Cervon Opening” described in the book. (I already practiced it both ways). The result was somewhat successful but not outstanding. I still scored a “7” on the prestometer.
On the 4th performance I went back to 3 coins. I felt something was “off” as I was performing. But as it turned out, according to my audience I did better than I thought. Another “8”. Still not where I wanted it to be.
The last performance was just different. I had a hard time getting everyone corralled into the “Cone Of Safety”. This is a kinetic group and difficult to settle down. As I performed, some people moved. I tried to alter my body angles to accommodate but was not entirely successful. The extreme right side of the room (about 3 or 4 people) saw where the coins were coming from. And as a result the routine was a dismal failure. On the other hand, the left to middle portion of the room had the perfect angle said it was one of the best tricks ever. (All “9”’s and “10”’s).


So my performance of Dai Vernon’s “Silk and Silver” had an average rating of roughly “7.5” to “8”. I must admit I’m a little disappointed and discouraged. Last week’s “Three Ball Transposition” played out about the same. It is frustrating to work so hard on a true classic for 8 or 9 months only to have it play out about as well as an average store bought packet trick. Of course I understand the responsibility of the audience response is all on me. Especially since the above mentioned effects are tried and true classics. The shortcoming must be in my delivery, timing and presence. I wonder how much of the problem can be attributed to inexperience in performing the effect and how much of it is due to lack of skill or readiness. Just as there is a learning curve for acquiring sleights and arranging routines, there must also be a similar curve for learning how to time and pace a routine for maximum effectiveness. A magical presentation is not a predestined metronome of action, pause, reaction etc. That may be alright for the mirror or videotape, but audiences are not machines. It should be an unpredictable flow. Even the most practiced and well rehearsed routines must take on an impromptu nature. No two performances should be the same. The performer must lead, but at the same time follow the audience willingly toward its own aesthetic satisfaction. I’m just wondering out loud here. I guess the only way to improve the effect and make it the perfect "10" it was born to be is to perform it as often as possible for anyone that will watch.

Three Ball Transposition

If I were asked the difficult question…”what’s your favorite magic book”, the answer would probably have to be “The Dai Vernon Book of Magic”. If one was strictly a card or coin guy there are so many other great choices it makes one’s head spin. Hugard, Jennings, Bobo and Roth come quickly to mind. I love The Dai Vernon Book of Magic for several reasons. First there is some interesting history. And in Chapter Two “The Vernon Touch” is
itself worth more than the price of the book alone. Gold! The effects taught here are a perfect mix of cards, coins, balls and rings. All effects teach fundamental and valuable sleights. Everything is clearly described by Lewis Ganson and the accompanying photographs are perfectly illustrative. I have spent a lot of time in this book since August and the beginning of my return to magic. I have presented about 35 effects so far this year for magic Friday. The effects I choose usually come from classic books I already own. If you count the Tarbell Course as a single source, I suppose that would be my most valuable resource. But if you want to consider density, The Dai Vernon Book of Magic packs more power, knowledge and practicality into its 140 pages than anything else I know of. Again, if you want to talk strictly cards or coins, etc. there are certainly better resources. But for practical fundamentals and variety, Gotta go with the DVBM.
For months I have been working on “Three Ball Transposition”. When I began working on it I had never seen the effect performed. Recently I saw Johnny Thompson perform his handling Silent Mora’s version of it on the internet. Thompson is such a great
performer. His patter is pretty straight forward. The effect is presented as a demonstration, more or less. Thompson manages to mystify his audience while putting them through fits of laughter. Surely, this is the most powerful combination possible in magic. Not being blessed with such a sharp and quick humor, I try to script my performances as a story when appropriate.
I love the way many Vernon manuscripts describe the “basic sleights” before getting into the meat of the routine. So I played along. I worked on the basic sleight for “Three Ball Transposition” before reading any further. After a week or two I felt comfortable with the move. So I read on. I soon realized the “basic sleight” must also be mastered while…doing something else. This took another 7 to 10 days before I felt confident with that. As I continued reading I discovered another move that would vex me. A sort of Han Ping Chien deal using balls. I was beginning to feel discouraged but pressed on all the same. After a few days I felt I was ready to begin putting it all together.


In the mean time, I found some beautiful 1” diameter marbles on Ebay. They were just the right size and visually stunning. Cheap too! But now I had a new problem. Vernon recommends rubber, plastic or wooden balls for this routine. Mine were glass. They talked a lot. But the script I was writing for the routine was inspired by the marbles. If I changed the prop I would have to change the premise and motivation of my presentation. I would just have to come up with a handling that keeps the marbles quiet when necessary. After a few weeks of working with them I hammered out a successful method. I even found a way to make the “talking” work in my favor and add an audible component to the illusion. I was now ready to start putting the routine together. And again after a couple weeks of practice and writing I had a unique and pretty (I hope) presentation of Dai Vernon’s “Three Ball Transposition”. This whole process was an on again / off again affair and took about 8 months from first reading to first performance.
Results: The first performance was fine mechanically but a little weak in presentation. Overall the performance was pretty good. This is normal with a lot of the effects I do. Especially stuff like this. That is, effects I have never performed before. The second performance was better and even scored an average of “9” on the “Magiscale”. I often poll my students. I tell them the reason is to separate the cream so next year they only get the best stuff. The truth is it’s easy to know the difference between an astounding success and epic fail. But it’s harder for me to determine whether an effect is a”6” or a “9”. Just inexperience I guess. Anyway, during the third performance I think I “flashed” a ball at one point. One or two folks may have seen something. Watch Those Blasted Angles! This performance came in at about “8.5”. During the 4th performance there was a tiny but audible “clink” where none was welcome. Oh well, I’ll just have to get over that one and stay hyper-aware of my angles. It was an otherwise good performance. They gave me an “8”. The fifth and last performance of the day was cleanly executed, but I think the delivery was a little off. I scored an “8”.


All through the day I was more unnerved than I expected to be by the proximity of the two net-holding spectators. Their eyes are only inches away from the action. And the angles are a bit tricky. This was not a problem for me doing Jim Tyler’s ring and string routine a few months ago. The sleights in that routine are not exactly easy, but they are beautifully camouflaged. The helpers can be as close as they want. But for “Three Ball Transposition” the heat is seriously on.
By the opinion of the high school students in my classes, today’s Magic Friday came in at an average of “8.2”. Not bad. I am not overly hung up on these numbers. But I am comforted by the knowledge that I have taken a classic and advanced (to me at least) piece of magic, wrapped it in my own presentation and performed it reasonably well. I also find great encouragement in the knowledge that once I zero in on the natural rhythm of this effect I can make it a “10”. If the great Johnny Thompson can present this effect as a perfect “10” in his own hilarious and wonderful style, that tells me the effect has “10” potential. Now I must find a way to make the effect a “10” in my own style.

Rising Card Escape

You’ve heard it said that the harshest conditions cannot dampen a pure heart and courageous spirit. That’s how I started Magic Friday off today. It was a story about an ancient Mayan Kingdom. It was about oppression, courage, redemption and freedom. Anyone familiar with the Tarbell Volumes
would have instantly recognized “Rising Card Escape”. This effect always appealed to me but I never worked on it, much less perform it. It has (in my view) all the elements of quality card magic. A card is freely selected and returned to the middle of the pack. After showing the top and bottom cards to be indifferent, the pack is then placed back into the box. A handkerchief is used to tie the card case to the performer’s hand. The card is then seen to penetrate the card box and rise up its full height out of the pack. I’ve never seen it performed but it seemed to me to be a strongly visual effect. Recently I have been itching to do an effect with a full deck of jumbo cards. After rejecting a number of interesting card effects I remembered “Rising Card Escape”. I tried strapping the jumbo deck to my hand to see if it would work. It did! So I set down to adapt this effect to jumbo cards.
The first hurtle was how to deal with the pass. Naturally, classic, turn-over and their like were right out. Next, I tried the “Simplified Pass”. I didn’t like that because it involved shuffling cards after the selection was returned to the deck.
(Something I try to avoid). In fact, that reminded me of something I recently read in Ian Kendall’s wonderful column in MUM. A “Hindu Control”. Perfect. Many thanks Ian!
Next I tried a rough version of the trick on my 11 year old daughter. She liked it, but saw right through it. Dilemma: Be casual, never “prove” anything. On the other hand casually showing the cards on top and bottom to be indifferent wasn’t strong enough to power up the magical moment. If I was going to do this effect for Magic Friday I would have to fix this problem. So after a little thought, a top change and a double lift I felt I had the mechanics down for an effective “Rising Card Escape” using a jumbo deck.
It took a little longer than I thought it would to become natural with the basic sleights using a jumbo deck. But after a couple of days I felt pretty good about them. The real struggle was the storyline. Why would the signed (labeled) card rise up through the card case anyway? Was the card hypnotized? Nah. Should I go science? “…The card has a positive charge and will be repelled by…” Nope. That didn’t feel right either. How about a “Houdini” card that can escape? No. Too done! This is always the hardest part for me. I never was much of a story teller.
Anyway I settled on a story of humility, courage, persecution and yes, life after death. Although it’s a Judeo-Christian value I clothed the story as an ancient Mayan folk tale. The two black jacks (which were removed at the beginning of the trick)


served as the jailors. After the card was lost in the deck one jailor was positioned at the front of the jail and the other at the rear. This was my solution (and justification) to demonstrate the chosen card was not on the top or bottom but indeed lost somewhere within the deck.
So how did it go? Frankly, not so good. When it was time for the first performance, I was still having trouble with my own script so I decided to forgo the storyline and do the trick straight. It went okay, but as I feared, it was emotionally barren. Later, while my students were working, I went over my lines. Memorizing them and fine tuning the script with the action. The second performance would include the script.

This performance turned out to be messier than a train wreck but not quite as pretty. I began the routine by screwing up right from the start. The top change was damn sloppy, and at least two people saw what I did. Fortunately since there is no transformation in this effect, it would be difficult to know what was effected or even why. All the same, no excuse. It was still fumbularity at its worst. I also forgot to show the two black jacks as the top and bottom cards. Without this
subtlety, all mystery would be sucked out of the magical moment at the end. I also couldn’t get the card to rise at first. After a painfully long time I had to adjust the pack tied to my hand. After that it started to budge and then rise. Eventually I discovered the label with signature was not placed flat against the surface of the card. This caused it to buckle and hang up inside the card case as it started to rise. And as a smelly little bow on an otherwise odiferous package, I stumbled all through my own script. Yep, all in all pretty sucky presentation. Without question, the worst performance I have ever subjected my students to. But wait, there’s more.
Toward the beginning, as a young man was signing the card, I had a visit from two of our assistant principals. One of my colleagues told them about “Magic Friday” and it was clear they were interested and even excited to see some magic and how the students positively respond to a 10 -15 minute entertainment break after a long week of school. Of all the gin joints and all the Fridays and all the classes, why in the name of everything that is holy did they have to be present for this stinker? Frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t alert the authorities and have me charged with performance art abuse! Hackney mimes rejoice!

On the other hand, I am happy to report that I was able to pull everything together and the rest of the performances were astronomically improved. Passed Magic Friday effects like “Silk in Egg”, “Card in Orange” or “Silver & Glass” were enthusiastic “10’s”. Today’s later performances of “Rising Card Escape” scored about a “7”. (This of course doesn’t include the train wreck described above). If this effect, (when properly performed) scores a “7”, I am confident that with some more work on the script, more mirror time and a few more performances I can bump this effect up to at least a “9”.
I was prepared today to perform “Invisible Deck” just in case “Rising Card Escape” did not work out for some reason. After the fiasco of the 2nd performance I nearly dumped the effect all together. It’s funny. I was stubborn to perform my jumbo handling of “Rising Card Escape” before it was 100% ready. And I paid dearly for it too. But it was that same pig-headed stubbornness that told me not to give up and whip this thing into shape. It felt like I was breaking a horse, but before the day was over the effect surrendered to my handling and even purred a little. I look forward to working out the rough spots and putting some spit and polish on this routine. I believe I can make it an astounding winner with the right presentation. If I am wrong, I hope I will have the wisdom to put it down and work on something else. But for now I believe in the effect.