magic books – MagicShow.Tips

The Best Card Magic Book for $10

A few weeks ago, I started reading the booklet Card Man Stuff by Al Leech. This booklet is full of card tricks that feel modern. In fact, I’d have no problem doing all of them (except for one) at a close-up magic gig! The effects are direct and have solid methods. It was written in the 1950’s so if you update a few methods to techniques that didn’t exist then, you have even better tricks!

One of the tricks, I updated by giving a theme and changing a couple of moves and the sequence, and ended up with a new trick that I call Discount Transposition.

Want to Watch the Card Tricks?

On my Facebook and Instagram, I’ve documented the whole book with the original techniques. Here are some of the videos:

Where Can I Get the Book Card Man Stuff?

This book is still available from Magic Inc in Chicago for $10! It’s totally worth the ten bucks, and you’re supporting a brick and mortar magic shop! I don’t make anything if you buy from them, I just think this is a really cool “forgotten” book and a hell of a deal at $10!

-Louie

Card Man Stuff by Al Leech

I picked up the booklet Card Man Stuff by Al Leech recently and I’m digging it!

The stuff in it is older school card magic, and the clunkiness, I think, can be easily fixed. For example, he used the cut deeper force to have a card selected, and that’s a move that I really dislike. I think the problem with that force is that when the cards aren’t in face up and face down clumps, it kinda gives it away. There are better forces that can be done in its place.

The first trick is the production of a four of a kind, and that naturally flows into the second trick, which is a transposition of the two four of a kind sets of cards. I like things in books that can be routines that flow from one to the next to eliminate set up in the second trick, but still work as stand alone magic tricks if needed.

Despite the clunkiness, the tricks are pretty direct, which I like!

-Louie

Tommy Wonder’s Card in Ring Box

Tommy wonder card in ring box by jm craft

The other day, I started playing with Tommy Wonder’s Card in Ring Box. This prop is detailed in Tommy Wonder’s book The Books of Wonder. The effect is pretty straightforward, it’s a signed card to ring box. What makes it cool is that the audience sees the card drop out of the ring box.

Before I give my review of this, I should mention that I didn’t pay for it. I don’t know if that really affects how I feel about this, but figured I should mention that.

I took it out and gave it a try at the fair I’m performing out, here’s a peek at it in action:

@louiefoxx The Card In Ringbox is a vintage Tommy Wonder magic trick idea! #cardtrick #magictrick #magic #tommywonder #jmcraft ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

The box looks great, and the measurements are what is in the Books of Wonder. I really like it, and I think it works great for doing a card under a box, then ending with the folded card in the ring box.

My only issue with the box is how the card is attached to the box. In the Tommy Wonder Books of Wonder, there’s a loop of thread that you slip the card into. In the JM Craft magic’s version of it, the card is permanently attached to the box.

This doesn’t sound like a big deal…until you are in a situation where you have a blue deck and the gimmick is red!

At the gig I’m at, I took a brick of Bicycle Cards, which are 6 red and 6 blue. I go through a deck each roving set. That means that on my 7th roving set, I couldn’t do the trick.

Not being able to easily change the gimmick is an issue for me. Sure, I can pack only red decks, since I buy my decks by the brick, which means that I can’t do the trick in half of my shows.

If the gimmick color is an issue for you, like all your gimmicks or whatever are one color, make sure the gimmick matches that! Other than the change from how the card attaches to the box being different from what’s in the book, the JM Craft version of Tommy Wonder’s Card in Ring Box works great!

-Louie

Sideshow Book

A couple of months ago when I was performing on the Oregon coast, I picked up the book Step Right Up, which is a memoire about the author’s time performing with a sideshow.

This book is a fun, but in my opinion, simplified journey of how the author learned sideshow acts. He does talk about injuries and close calls, but pretty much every time he tries, he’s great at it, which isn’t how it normally happens in the real world!

The book goes into some magic and mentalism, including the author learning a two person code and Q & A act!!

This book does highlight the colorful characters that perform in and work around sideshows! A few years ago I did 10 days performing in the longest running 10 in 1 side show in the USA, and it was a blast!

I think I paid $4 for the book, and I’m happy with my purchase!

-Louie

A Toast To Nick Trost #1

Here’s the first videos of what I’m calling A Toast To Nick Trost. These are videos where I do a trick from The Card Magic of Nick Trost as written, and then I do a variation of the trick that I’ve come up with. Usually this is just adding a move or theme that didn’t exist when Nick came up with the trick.

Here’s Nick’s Observation Test:

And here’s my updated version of the trick:

Here’s a quick tutorial of my version:

I think what I like about my update is the final display of the cards face up, then flipping the cards face down to reveal the color change!

-Louie

Nick Trost’s 7 Card Count: Rollins-Hamman-Longe Routine

Nick Trost was a BEAST! He was a pioneer of modern card magic. I’m rereading The Card Magic of Nick Trost. One of the things that I’m doing is learning the original routine and then trying to update or add something to each routine. I’m only four tricks into the book, which has 122 effects!!!

The second trick in the book is the 7 Card Count and after Nick’s original routine there’s a Rollins-Hamman-Longe variation of it. The first trick is good, but this version is better!

I did come up with a variation on the original, but also a variation on the variation! If you have the book, it’s the exact same set up and routine, except these are the card, and the final display is slightly different.

The card second to the left has a picture of a stop sign, but it could just be a blank card that says “stop”.

What this setup does is change it so each card that’s eliminated reappears in the packet. Also, I like the 1-2-3 of each color to sell the premise of only using three cards of each color.

Right before the final display, you’ll have three face up black cards, and you’d normally put them on the bottom, in this case put them face down on top. Next, pull the three red cards one at a time off the bottom and deal them face up on the table. Then deal the top three cards (black) face up onto the table, and that will leave you with the final (stop) card face down in your hand. Say, “This never works, we might as well stop now” and then reveal the final card!

The only downside is this trick is no longer impromptu.

Mr. Fingers: The Magic of Irv Weiner

The book Mr. Fingers: The Magic of Irv Weiner came in the mail the other day and I’m excited to start digging through it!

I’ve done Irv’s Red Tape Thumb Tie in my show for a while and have read many other the booklets of his routines. Somehow books that I’m excited to read show up when I’m not in a position to read them for a while. I’ve gotta finish up reading The Bat, which I’m almost done with and have a few projects in the workshop to finish up before I can start this book.

Once I get into it, I’ll write a review.

-Louie

Trickanalysing: The Close Up Magic of David Copperfield

On a flight I read the book Trickanalysing The Magic of David Copperfield. This is a book from 1997 that goes through 20 of David Copperfield’s close up magic routines that he’s done on TV. This book is about the theatrical elements in the routines, not about specific methods.

The first 2/3’s of the book is the author going through and breaking down what’s theatrically happening in the routines. The final third of the book digs more into the author’s definitions of the theatrical devices used and how they could be applied to your magic. Then at the end, there are some worksheets for you to go through your magic and see what you’re using, or could be using.

Honestly, I don’t know how I feel about this book. I didn’t dislike it, however, I’m not in love with it. It was definitely interesting, but I’m not sure how much of the Trickanalysing system that I’ll personally be using. It is always neat to read about someone’s system.

-Louie

The Chefalo Knot

One of the tricks in The Bat magic magazine was a description of the Chefalo Knot. This is a series of three knots that are tied into a piece of rope, then dissolve when the ends are pulled. In The Bat it’s mentioned that there are no descriptions of it that are correct. Well, even the description in The Bat wasn’t correct (at least how I read it).

If you ever tried to learn it from Tarbell, the illustrations are incorrect. Here’s the pictures from Tarbell:

In the last picture (fig.51) where the red are is pointing is incorrect. What it should look like is the picture below where the green arrow is pointing:

If you layout the rope with my updated illustration, the trick will actually work.

I put about 90 minutes into figuring out this dissolving knot trick one night and that made me committed to it. I wanted to figure out something to do with it. Since it’s a vanish of three knots, the first logical step was to make them reappear. Then I wanted to add something more, so I added a ring that penetrates onto the middle knot.

I’ll post a video of it when I get a chance.

-Louie

Magic Books at Powell’s Books

Whenever I’m near downtown Portland, OR I try to visit Powell’s Books. They have a huge inventory of used books and many magic books.

If you look at the picture above, it’s a mix of new and used magic books. Frequently, they have a lot of professional magic books, not just standard bookstore stuff. This trip, there wasn’t anything super crazy, but I did pick up these two books:

Both of those books were about $10 and things that I can read when I’m on a plane or whatever.

If you’re ever in the Portland, OR area, you should check out Powell’s Books!

-Louie