Stephen Minch - The New York Magic Symposium - Vol. 4

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Produced, Designed & Edited By

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Illustrated By Marina Trayham Design & Layout By H.I.P. Productions Published By The New York Magic Symposium Technical

Assistance By Louis Falanga

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Contents

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Author's Introduction PART I-THE 1985 MAGIC SYMPOSIUM Written By Adam J. Fleischer, Symposium Producer The New York Magic Symposium In Los Angeles, California 1985 Magic Symposium Highlights The $10,000 "Magic Entertainer Of The Year" Competition Looking Back: The 1984 Symposiums in San Francisco and New York PART

11- THE

1985 SYMPOSIUM

Michael Ammar A Cut & Restored Rope Replacement Daryl Volte-Face Paul Harris The Tallahassee Tent Pat Hazell The Great Sugar Swindle Th e Flyin g FIou ri s h Cut Richard Kaufman Vacilation Jeff McBride Necktie Party David Roth Twice The Tithe And Paint The Roses Red Coni unctio - Traiectio - Disiunctio Jay Sankey Bit By Bit Descartes Meets The Pop Outs Slydini The Invisible Tailor

14 15 18 21

STARS' MATERIAL

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35 38 .41 43

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56 58 62 65

SPECIAL GUEST CONTRIBUTIONS Harry Anderson Con t ra ry Him b er

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Leslie Anderson Telepathy

Plus Woman

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Richard Bloch & Robert Cassidy In The Shadow

Of The Synchronous

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John Cornelius Oartanian's

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Release

Paul Cummins 81

Just One More

Louis Falanga 84

Jazz Fusion

Bill Goodwin & Ray Kosby The Camel's Back

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Ray Hyman The Zoellner

92

Phenomenon

Larry Jennings 97

The L.J. Add-On

Ken Krenzel Half-Passed

Histed

101

Geoffrey Latta &Jamy Ian Swiss Po in t B Ian k

104

Lisa Menna Blotched

111

Turk Pipkin S' No Ball

116

Gary Lee Williams M

0 un t Of

Ve nus

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This is my second year of involvement with the New York Magic Symposium and its annual Collection. Last year Adam Fleischer coerced me into editing the Collection with him. As soon as it was put to press he suggested that I take over the entire project for the following year. I laughed. Adam talked. I am here, sure testimony to the fact that Adam Fleischer is a very persuasive man. However, Adam could not have convinced me had the project been a bad one. I was impressed with the first two years of the Symposium and the growth of its resultant anthologies. Adam has the knack of drawing the very best magicians in the country to him and his enterprises. Did I mention that Adam is a very persuasive man? Last year I had a box seat, at The Symposium held in San Francisco, and I was astonished at the quality of talent and material that Adam commanded. Part of that astonishment arose from a curious notion I conceived about five years ago. As I watched the magical market overflow with fresh and exciting new work from a number of hands, I became convinced that it would soon have to peak and dwindle. Each generation is capable of only so much innovation and ground breaking. But the flood of good work and new thought has continued, only very slightly condensing; and I have come to see that I was too pessimistic. What I failed to understand was that exciting work begets further excitement and work. It is self- perpetuating; ideation is seemingly immune to entropy. The New York Magic Symposium has become one of the major focal-points for the best in today's innovation, attracting the finest talent in the field. I view the mass of magical invention that reaches print as generally divisible into three strata. The lowest is that which is weak in both creativity and practicality. This class of material is, at best, grist for voracious journals who can't always command the better material and continue to produce an issue a month on deadline. It is a foible inherent to magazine production; but such material, despite its intrinsic lack of merit, does serve a useful purpose. It is the sandstone which forms the bedrock upon which journals rest so that they may print the good pieces when they come available. The mid-stratum is made of material that may not contain anything genuinely fresh in either plot or method, but recombines existing elements into interesting and often improved variations that can elevate the craft in meaningful ways. I by no means disdain such work. It is valuable. But I do relegate its place mainly to that of journal fodder, though without any sense of belittlement in so doing. It just seems to me that books are a format of publishi ng that, ideally, should be reserved for the best and most creative work in a field. However, this middle bed is fundamentally metamorphic, and it can occasionally bear crystals of such quality that they are forced up into the third stratum. This uppermost stratum of the tectonic metaphor is reserved for the shining ore and gleaming gems; that stuff that breaks new ground, either in effect, in presentation or in methodology. It is material that is shaped by novelty. It should not be thought that I condone novelty for novelty's sake. There are of course other factors that determine the worth of any given piece of innovation. But all the classics and neoclassics of magic were at their inception novelties. Unfortunately, "novelty" seems to carry a connotation of triviality. This should not be the case; for something that is novel is something that has not been done before - and if something has already been done, there seems little reason to commit it once again to print. (Encyclopedic and basic reference works, for obvious reasons, are exceptions to this evaluation.) This course only recommends a conservation of energies and resources. It may be a shrewd business tactic to repackage old materials and sell them to uninformed buyers, instead of guiding them to the existing sources; but it seems to me also a diminution and a dilution of the field. It is a practice I personally would rather avoid.

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And that is why I let Adam Fleischer persuade me to help him produce another volume of The New York Magic Symposium Collection. For it is one of the few true oases wherein a book is possible that consists of the highest sort of work, that sort with which I enjoy being associated. Incautious Adam placed the sole power of selection into my hands for this volume, and I have striven to be true to the values I have expressed above. Every piece in this Collection has been chosen for inclusion because I felt it had something good, fresh or novel to offer the craft. In some instances, the breakthrough is in plot; in others it lies in methodology. And in a surprising number, forward strides have been made in both areas. Those who know me know that I don't believe in pure blacks and whites. There are no manmade absolutes, and every rule has its willful and rightful exceptions. It would be out of character not to have included several here. The reader will find a handful of items that are constituted by standard plots and established means. Several contributions by Jamy Swiss, Geoff Latta, Michael Ammar and Larry Jennings come immediately to mind. Such pieces would seem to warrant classification in the second stratum. However, they are among the metamorphosed rarities mentioned. Each, in its own special way, was such a remarkable piece of structuring or routining that it became vastly superior to other things of its kind already in print. When one comes upon such inspired structures, rules must be abandoned for sheer quality of thinking. Another aspect of this assemblage is its diversity. It ranges from simple tricks that require no great skill to tricks and routines that will challenge the most Spartan of technicians. The middle ground, too, is well laden. There is a satisfying diversity of types of material: close-up, stage, casual and professional. There is even a respectable selection of mentalism, a genre of which there has been a paucity in past Symposium Collections. One unifying factor, though, is common to it all: quality, both in the magic and in the entertainment potential. Looking over the material in the pages you are about to turn gives me a thankful feeling of satisfaction in having been involved in its production. I genuinely feel that each and every piece included has something important to offer the craft - something of genuine worth. And I honestly hope the reader shares my enthusiasm. In doing so he will have fallen prey to the same force as myself and the many contributors to this collection. For Adam Fleischer is a persuasive man. Stephen Minch February, 1985

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The

New York

mff1~fi@ ~~~®§fimLQ]J The New York Magic Symposium In

LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA

May 24, 25 & 26, 1985

The New York Magic Symposium 1982: New York City -

Sold Out!

1983: New York City -

"In a class of its own."

1984: San Francisco & New York 1985: Los Angeles, California

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Spectacular! May 24, 25, & 26. BE THEREI

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Anyone who has been involved in magic within the past few years knows of the young West Virginian with the soft drawl and immediate smile. Most have seen one or more of his award- winning lectures for magicians or his recent performances on television's Merv Griffin Show, where he has become an obvious favorite. (Incidentally, those who viewed his fourth appearance on this show saw him perform the "Topitized Silk to Egg" which was published in the second Symposium Collection.) And everyone should have bought and digested the books this FISM champion has authored, several of which are surely modern classics that will be studied by many generations of future magicians. Michael has been a star performer

at every Symposium

except for one.

Michael Ammar does not look or act much like the popular conception of a magician. But when he starts working, there can be no doubt that one is witnessing pure magic in its finest form. He is one the New York Symposium's foundation blocks. Involved from the first, he has been a contributor to each of the yearly anthologies. Michael is beyond doubt one of the shapers of tomorrow's magic. He is doing this presently and shows no sign of stopping. He has chipped off a little bit of that shaper's work for this year's Collection. What is offered is not a complete effect, but an exquisitely simple bit of finesse. As those who try to create know, it is this element of exquisite simplicity that is often hardest won. Case in point: The Cut & Restored Rope trick has been a staple of magicians for centuries. The method most often used is that wherein a loop of the rope near one end is secretly exchanged for the center when the rope is cut. Thousands upon thousands of magicians have performed the trick using this means; and over the years a scant handful of elegant handlings have been devised for accomplishing the covert maneuver. However, I cannot remember seeing anything that comes near the clean, direct and deceptive appearance of Michael's approach (excepting perhaps the scissors method by Shigeo Takagi). The substitution of the end section for the middle of the rope happens in an instant of smooth natural motion. The configuration of the rope as it is readied for cutting is quite different in appearance from the standard one, and more deceptive. Pick up a length of rope and work through this move several times while in front of a mirror. It is difficult to envision this maneuver from the printed page; but the visual illusion quickly becomes evident when seeing it from the audience's vantage. Three to three-and-a-half feet is about the right length for this effect, though ropes of greater or lesser length can be used. The rope should be of a type that is limp and flexible, such as the standard cotton magician's rope. Begin by holding the rope before you with an end lying across the fingers of each palmup hand. The ends should hang over the front side of the forefingers by about four or five inches, while the center of the rope hangs off the backs of the little fingers and down between the hands. This beginning position is shown in Figure 1. It is a very open and guileless pose. What will apparently occur is that the right hand will carry its end of the rope forward and loop it over the left hand, so that the center of the rope hangs down over the backs of the left fingers. However, in this seemingly innocent action a loop of the right end ofthe rope is switched for the center section. Begin by bringing the right hand forward of the left so that the right end of the rope passes just behind the left fingers; i.e., between the left hand and the audience. The right end is then passed over the left end as the right first and second fingertips nip the left end slightly forward of the left forefinger. This can be seen in Figure 2.

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At nearly the same instant the right end of the rope is clipped in the crotch of the left thumb. The right thumb may aid in positioning it there if necessary. It is important that the section of rope that is hung over the left fingers by the right hand does not slip off those fingers. The left forefinger insures this by straightening and then bending in slightly to engage this portion of the rope. The very tip of the left thumb also aids in this objective by lightly pressing the rope to the left forefinger. This adjustment will be quickly comprehended when you try the move. Figure 3 exposes the position at this point, as the right hand begins to draw its newly acquired end (originally the left's) slightly upward and back toward the body. This end is, as can be seen, caught in the loop formed by the opposite end.

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The substitution has been accomplished at this time. It only remains for the right hand to carry its end back and down, apparently coiling the center of the rope around the left fingers, as in Figure 4. The left thumb holds the loop securely as the right hand draws the center of the rope through it. With the rope coiled in a position that appears, from the front, as if the approximate center is hanging just over the left fingers (Figure 5), the right hand may release its end of the rope and pick up a scissors. The rope is cut where it hangs slightly below the left fingers. The illusion of its being severed at center is perfect. In reality, it has been cut only about six inches from one end. At this point one may proceed with any of the restoration sequences desired. Of course, there is no hesitation or break in the action of the above maneuver. It all happens smoothly in only a few seconds. The illusion of innocent and unconfusing action is remarkable. It looks exactly like the honest action for which it has been substituted!

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I genuinely hope that everyone who reads this anthology has had a chance to see Daryl perform. Daryl is the essence of pure fun in magic. His charm and humor are infectious. The lowest, most unimaginative, scowling, magic-hating sourpuss could not withstand a performance by Daryl without having a good time. Not only is Daryl one of the most engaging entertainers one could ever wish to see, he performs magic that entirely fools even the most knowledgeable. And he does it with a technical expertise totally disguised behind an ingenuous humor and disarming nonchalance. Anyone who has not seen Daryl perform has missed one of the sparkles in this world that make life brighter and richer. Daryl was a featured star performer at the Premiere Symposium, appeared with "The Magic Hedonists" at the second Symposium, attended the 1984 Symposium in San Francisco, and he continues his perfect record of attending every Symposium to date by once again starring in The Symposium held in 1985 in Los Angeles. Combined with his talents for entertaining and deceiving, Daryl has another: that of invention. His contributions to modern close-up magic are widely recognized. Daryl has been a frequent contributor to the New York Magic Symposium Collections. It is a pleasure to have him back once more with this very fine bit CT card magic. EFFECT: A spectator calls for any four of a kind he wishes and it is fairly removed from the deck. This spectator then cuts the face-down pack and the selected foursome is buried face-down at that spot. The Tagician snaps his fingers above the pack and, without the trace of a false move, the deck is Ribbon Spread to show that the four of a kind have magically reversed themselves! METHOD: While the above effect may seem hackneyed, nothing could be further from reality. Of ccurse. card reversals have been standard fare for many generations of magicians. But Daryl's method of achieving this effect is so remarkably clean in appearance and economical of method it will pull startled gasps from audiences. If ever you wished a fast impressive trick with cards that would gain attention and '.'.in respect for your abilities as a magician, this is it. It is quick, clean, strong, uncomplicated in effect, .irtually sleight- free. And it can be done impromptu with a borrowed shuffled pack.

Pick up the deck and ask someone to name any four of a kind: Aces, Sevens, Queens, Kings; anything they like. When they do, spread the cards face-up in your hands and openly cull the named four of a kind to the face of the pack. Square the deck, catching a left fourth-finger break under the fifth card from the face as you do so. The right hand comes immediately over the deck and lifts the five cards above the break away, while the left hand deposits the pack face-down on the table. The left hand casually returns to the packet, palm-up, and takes it into dealing position. The right hand moves just to the right of the packet, still palm-down, in readiness for a Stud Deal. The left thumb deals over the face card of the packet and the right hand takes it. This hand revolves palm-up, turning its card face-down. The card is immediately placed in-jogged for about half its length beneath the packet. Or so it appears. Actually, the face-down card is placed second from the bottom of the packet. This is accomplished by pulling down the right inner corner of the bottom, indifferent, card with the left fourthfingertip. The face-down card is slid into the break created by this action. (A Buckle might also be used here, but a Pull-Down makes the insertion of the card a bit smoother.) The Pull-Down should be done just an instant before the face-down card is moved toward the packet, so that the gap cannot be glimpsed "'rom your extreme right side.

The moment the face-down card has been inserted "below" the packet the right hand turns palmdown, in a continuous action, over the cards and performs a Christ-Annemann Alignment: The right thumb comes to rest on the near end of the face-down card; the right forefinger comes down on the center of this same card, its nail contacting the inner end of the face-up packet; and the second fingertip lies on the face of the forward packet. Figure 1 depicts this posture of the hands. The top three face- up cards and the in-jogged face-down one are now slid, as a unit, forward over the hidden indifferent card until the inner end of the in-jogged card comes flush with it. The right thumbtip is a sure guide in reaching this position. As soon as this alignment has been completed the right hand moves forward over the out-jogged face-up packet and tilts its front end down slightly, openly creating a gap of approximately a quarter of an inch between the inner end of the packet and the face-down card below it (rather like an open Tilt position). This situation is shown in Figure 2 from the performer's vantage. This placing of the face-down card beneath the packet and the following adjustment of the cards should take but a moment and is executed as a single action rather than a sequence of separate actions. The still palm-down right hand draws the next face-up card of the foursome from the top of the packet, turns it face- down, Stud-Deal fashion, and slips it square onto the in-jogged card and below the remaining face-up pair. This dealing maneuver is repeated with the third card; and the fourth is turned end- forend face-down onto the rest with the same righthand action.

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3 In this seemingly open manner you have displayed all four chosen mates as they are turned face-down. Their singularity should be obvious without emphasis. Despite the apparent fairness of the display, a fifth card has been cleverly hidden and is now face-up below the face-down four. This displaying action is accompanied with simple explanatory patter: "We have the Five of Hearts, the Five of Spades, the Five of Clubs and the Five of Diamonds. All the Fives are here."

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As the last sentence is uttered the left hand counts the packet as four cards into the right hand. Each card is taken, fanned to the left, below the previous one, so that their order is unchanged. The last two cards are handled as a single one. The left hand turns its palm to the right and the left fingertips tap the fanned cards square against the right palm, as shown in Figure 3. The squared packet is then grasped by the left hand as it turns palmdown, thumb at the right side and fingers at the left. This position is similar to that used for the Glide. Look at the spectator who chose the four of a kind and gesture at the tabled deck as you ask, "Would you cut off about half of the deck, please." Accompanying this request, both hands make a gesture toward the deck and then rise together into the air, in indication of the action the spectator is to make. The hands both turn from a palm-down to palm-up position as they make this helpful sign. See Figure 4. In so doing, the packet in the left hand is reversed, bringing the indifferent card, face-down, into view. The four of a kind lie hidden and face-up beneath it. This reversal of the packet is very subtle and will be overlooked by everyone if performed in an off-hand manner. The spectators' attention is momentarily occupied by your instructions and your helper's response to them. The moment of misdirection is excellent, the turnover is over in an instant, and the gesture that accomplishes it is totally natural.

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.'i"'en the spectator has lifted the top half from the tabled deck, take the packet from your left hand with :"'S caim- down right hand and place it neatly on the tabled portion. Then have the spectator replace the the deck upon it. The foursome is seemingly buried face-down in the pack. It only remains for you :: 'T1aKe whatever magical gesture you feel is appropriate, and widely Ribbon Spread the deck across the ::a:e to reveal the instant reversal of the chosen four.

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P'ease do not pass this by without a trial or two. The secret reversal of the packet is exceptionally effecNo one ever catches it. The effect is extremely direct and so very magical. You don't seem to do a ::•..•..g It looks truly impossible. You will see eyes open wide when you perform this. It is simple in effect, :_:J::terly devastating.

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Paul Harris has influenced the course of modern close-up magic more than any other individual I can bring to mind. Paul has widely affected not only the tricks that one sees today, but their methods and very presentation. Paul's tongue-i n-cheek performance style has spawned thousands of you ng and not-soyoung imitators. But none can do it as Paul does, or even approach it. Paul is an original, as an inventor, performer and human being. He is a creative force that, despite the detractors, has cut a swath the influence of which is still being felt and assessed. Paul was one of the star artists at the Premiere Symposium in 1982, appeared again in 1983 with "The Magic Hedonists" (Michael Ammar, Daryl and Paul), and appeared at the 1985 Symposium in Los Angeles. "The Tallahassee Tent" is another indication of a mind at work that is totally unordinary and totally special. EFFECT: This trick is the result of a problem that Paul set out to solve: the performance of a two-card transposition using only two ungimmicked cards and with no recourse to the deck. Before you read Paul's solution, sit for a few minutes and contemplate the difficulties of this problem. Most two-card transpositions are not terribly strong or appealing in effect. By attempting the minimalistic restrictions mentioned above, Paul has not only solved the problem beautifully, he has achieved a transposition the appearance of which is so direct, quick and visual, it approaches the real thing. METHOD: As stated, only two cards are required. While they may be any two cards, two cards of obvious contrast are preferable; for example, a red court-card and a black spot card. The effect is introduced with ...

"Off the coast of Florida and centering around a small group of holiday islands is an area called the Bermuda Triangle. Strange and unexplainable things are said to occur there. But you needn't leave the coast of Florida to find weirdness. In Florida's capital city there is a bizarre phenomenon known as the Tallahassee Tent. It's a geometric oddity involving large land masses - but for your safety and convenience I shall construct a miniature Tallahassee Tent right in this room, using two ordinary playing-cards."

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Remove and display the two cards you are going to use; for this description they shall be the Two of Spades and the King of Hearts. Place the King face-down on the left palm, roughly in dealing position. The right edge of the King should rest along the creases of the fingers' center joints (those joints between the proximal and medial phalanges). The Two is propped face-up at an acute angle above the King, its left edge supported by the tip of the left thumb, its right edge resting on the right edge of the King. This is commonly known as the Findley Tent Vanish position, but will be passed off as the Tallahassee Tent to an unwitting audience. It is pictured in Figure 1. 35

Turn your left hand inward at the wrist, until the left palm and back of the King face Then release the edge of the Two from the left thumb, allowing the card to lie upon the fingers. in this position the Two will rest face-down, parallel with the table's surface and :~e .