CARDOPOLIS 31

Kreskin, Pub Tricks, Spies, and another Sandwich

Hello, I hope you all had a pleasant summer. This month’s Cardopolis features a silly pub trick, an homage to Kreskin, a self-working ACAAN, and an idea for Shiv Duggal’s Sandwich Spread which was described in the previous issue, Cardopolis 30.

PAID SUBSCRIPTIONS

Cardopolis is introducing paid subscriptions. Let’s call it Cardopolis Plus. There will be a 12 issues a year consisting of a mix of varied issues, and a new feature called Cardopolis Lab. These are newsletters about odd notions that occur to me during research. Stuff I’m thinking about now that on occasion might well address topical tricks. Same video tutorial format and represent work-in-progress, things to come back to, or deep dives into quirky ideas. Here is a sample of Cardopolis Lab:

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There will still be the usual free issues, and paid subscribers will automatically receive those too. If you're a free subscriber, would like to keep it that way but feel like supporting Cardopolis, you can always do so via the Buy Me A Coffee button.

First paid issue, Cardopolis 32, will go out next month. There’s even a trailer!

A MAN IN A PUB DOES A TRICK

I’m fascinated by the card tricks non-magicians do. It’s as if they mutate out in the wild, perhaps starting in a book someone read, then going through changes as one person teaches another until they arrive in the hands of someone that makes it their party piece. In that person’s hands, they are magnificent tricks.

Here is a video about a trick I saw someone perform in a pub in Liverpool many years ago together with some thoughts it prompted.

HYPNOXIS

Kreskin’s TV shows were a part of my childhood. I’d run home from school at lunchtime to catch them. I even made notes on the tricks he did. What was unusual about Kreskin for me, is that he often did tricks I recognised from books or dealer advertisements. He had a very nice presentation of Al Koran’s Lazy Magician’s Card Trick in which he played piano while the spectator repeatedly cut the deck. He performed tricks like Glorpy, Ed Mellon’s Synonymental, Devano’s Rising Cards, Eric Mason’s Papier, and Dai Vernon’s The Challenge. As a budding magician, I recognised all these effects and could see the value of them in Kreskin’s performances.

The trick here is one I really enjoyed, figured out (I think), and used. I’ve tweaked the handling, as usual, but while the method is old the presentation is all Kreskin and well worth knowing.

Some regard Kreskin as a controversial figure in mentalism, but I looked forward to his television shows, and am grateful that they formed part of my magical education. I regret that he has not written a book for magicians about his career and his magic.

SPYCATCHER

Dealing tricks can be deadly dull. However, I am drawn to their mathematical cleverness. One problem with dealing tricks is the dealing is rarely motivated. You deal in peculiar ways because the dealing is the method. The goal here is to make the mathematical process part of the effect. It’s one of a series of effects I developed. You’ll find another, called Person of Interest, in an upcoming issue of Genii.

SLOPPY SANDWICH

This is a handling for Shiv Duggal’s Sandwich Spread which was described in Cardopolis 30. Check that issue for a full explanation of the handling. All that’s added here is the effect of tossing the finder cards into the deck as cards are dribbled onto the table. The handling should be self-explanatory if you’ve read Cardopolis 30. If not, then mention it in the Comments section and I’ll try to clarify.

THE CHALLENGING CHALLENGE

Kreskin had a spectacularly unlucky run of luck on one of his UK TV shows. The show was recorded in England in July 1973 and Kreskin was performing The Challenge from The Dai Vernon Book of Magic (1957). I know it was from the Vernon book because he even used the same cards, Three of Spades and King of Hearts.

If you’re familiar with the trick, you’ll also know that you need to deliberately get this trick wrong so that you can proceed to the 'surprise' transposition finale. On this occasion, Kreskin couldn’t make a wrong guess. He kept trying but got it right six times in a row and you can sense him desperately trying to find a way to end the trick before it runs longer than the show.

It was seeing this performance that led me to create Zennerphobia (Psychomancy, 1986) to ensure I could get to the transposition in a timely manner. But on reflection I think the Vernon trick can also come to a guaranteed satisfactory conclusion by upping the stakes. If, say, on the second or third round, Kreskin had offered the contents of his wallet as a reward, then he could have finished the trick whether he guessed correctly of not. The Challenge is a great trick and Vernon might well have done this given that the wallet is in play but perhaps this detail didn't find its way into the book Lewis Ganson wrote.

WISE WORDS

Richard Wiseman is always reminding me that a trick can have greater value if credit for its success is given to the spectator rather than taken by the magician. With that in mind, why not bring a second spectator into The Challenge? You put up your wallet as a show of confidence in the second spectator’s psychic abilities. This second spectator is invited to guess which card the first spectator is thinking of. With any luck, and a little psychological nudging, you’ll get a couple of good guesses before you have to resolve the matter using magic. That could make for a fun routine.

Until next time…

David