JANUARY 1937

MAGIC -- Age cannot wither, nor custom stale her infinite variety. — William Shakespeare

O ne of my favorite "story" tricks for the

past seven years, since 1929, is the one I'm
describing here together with the patter angle,
watchers hear you apparently get only four cards
to the face of deck. Now take these bottom five
in a bunch from deck which is placed face down
which is probably the really interesting part to one side for the moment. Hold the packet
of it all. It's the first time the trick has face down and as you remark that you will
seen print, although back around the time of use the four aces and introduce them as peo-
its put-together I sold three private copies. ple, shift one or two from top to bottom of
the packet to bring the chosen card to the top
First I'll give the effect, then the method, or back of the bunch. Now hold the packet
and finally the story. But, as I've said be- face out in left hand, with the fingers at
fore, the story is the dressy, and all import- bottom side, the thumb at top side, and the
ant part. A card is chosen, returned, and the forefinger at outer end.
deck shuffled by spectator. Running through the
cards face out, the performer removes the four With second finger of right hand, slide off,
Aces. These are shown separately and singly. towards you, the face ace, and put it on the
The spectator cuts deck at center, and the four table or floor face up. Do the same with the
Aces are placed face up at center, and the cut second and third. Count them as one, two, three
replaced. The deck is not even picked from the and four as you do so. The last card however,
table, but given a bit of riffling, for effect, is grasped at ends with right second finger '
with one hand. The deck is spread face down, and thumb and put on the others. You have thus
and in the center, of course, are the four face counted and shown four aces. Pick up packet
up aces, but between them now is a face down and hold face down in left hand, all fingers
oard. The fan of five is removed. The spectat- at one side, and thumb and its base at other.
or names the chosen card, the fan is turned Now remark that you will Introduce the peo-
over, and the card,mysteriously located by the ple in person. Right thumb slides off the
aces, is the same. top card at front end, and turns it over end
for end face up on the packet and squared.
Mention who it is, and the right second fin-
So much for the effect without the story. ger and thumb pick this card off by the ends,
You'll have to take cards in hand to get the and place it down again face up. Do the same
working in a practical manner. The card is thing with the next card, also naming it, ac-
selected and returned. It is brought to the cording to patter. Turn the third ace
top or bottom by your favorite method. If over same as usual, but this time take
to bottom, glimpse it, cut deck, and give hold of the packet with right second
to spectator for shuffling. If to top, do finger and thumb as before at ends, and
the same. At this point you need have on- the left forefinger slides the bottom
ly the knowledge of the card. I vary,when card out a bit on the left side, where-
possible, by forcing any card, then hand- upon right hand places its card (with
ing deck to spectator for the return and chosen card face down underneath) onto
shuffling of card. pile. Lastly the single card in left
hand is turned over, named, and placed on
After the shuffle, take deck, and with pile. The spectator cuts off half of the
the patter about finding four cards that
will represent prominent men, run through
them, cutting the deck at the first ace
to bring it to bottom. At this time make
the remark that you will use the aces for
people. How go right through deck looking
for the other three aces and the
chosen card you know. Each time
you reach one, snap it loudly to
bottom, or face of pack.Thus the
> face down deck, and these squared aces
are placed face up in the middle, and
cut replaced. The deck is now riffled,
without removing it from table, and when
spread, an odd face down card is seen be-
tween the center aces. The five
are removed in a fan, and when
(turn to page 175)
Page 169
I f you exploit the name of Cagliostro in any
manner, you should run to cover a moment af-
ter reading this newspaper answer to the ques-
v/ho put on shows and have a program for it.
I'll appreciate greatly any sent me, even if
you have someone else's whom you've seen.
tion, "'./ho was Cagliostro, and what is the pre-
sent-day application of the name?" The answer. Here's an extremely neat idea for those who
"Cagliostro was Giuseppe Balsamoj an infamous have one or more of the Davenport card silks.
charlatan, impostor, faker and literary thief, Dr. Jacob Daley has been making the transition
who assumed the title and name Count Allessan- from card tricks to silk tricks in this smooth
dro Cagliostro and toured Europe towards the manner. Take a ten cent, and hollow, rubber
close of the eighteenth century, posing as a ball. Cut a three-quarter inch hole in it, and
miracle man. He was born in Palermo, Sicily, in about three-quarters of an inch from the side
1743, and died in jail at St. Leon in 1795. of the hole push through, from the inside, a
Hence, the name Cagliostro is applied to any length of good elastic cord, knotted on the end
literary cheat, faker, forger or humbug. — - so it won't pull through. This makes an easily
When I met Dr. Edward Saint on his recent trip held handkerchief ball pull. Run the elastic
east, he very kindly gave me one of the signed from right side around the back to left side
invitation cards to the final Houdini seance through the belt straps, ending after going
held on the west coast. The seance was on Oct- through the one on left side. Put a silk into
ober 31st, I received my invitation on Nov. 23rd, the ball with the tip of same easily secureable.
but maybe it's just as well, because I heard After too many card tricks force the one, the
that nothing happened anyway. There's an picture of which is on the silk. Lay deck aside,
interesting story about Hermann and the bullet and as you reach for card with right hand, turn
trick that has never yet come to light. It seems a bit to the left, and left hand grabs the ball.
that Hermann did the stunt by switching the i- A trial or two will enable you to get it right
nitialed lead balls on a metal tray while on each time. Bring card, face outwards, back to
their way back to the stage. Several years be- left hand, as you turn still more towards left,
fore liadame Hermann died, she had his old as- and left hand comes upward with palm downward
sistant take the tray on a ferry boat between but turns towards audience as it goes behind and
Hew York and New Jersey and drop the thing in left fingers and base of thumb grasp card. The
the middle of the Hudson river. Incidentally, right thumb and forefinger now reach up, and very
Frank Ducrot still has some leaden balls that quickly pull out the silk from under the lower
belonged to Houdini, but I'll give a life sub- edge of card, A S right hand flicks the silk out,
scription to anyone who'll show me -./here there the left hand drops a little, the ball is re-
is any record of Houdini ever doing the bullet leased and disappears, whereupon a remark is
catching trick. made about the card carrying a handkerchief up-
on which its picture appears (very appropriate
where picture cards.are used). The card is flick-
Bob Gysel sent me a clip of the fellow who ed aside, the silk shown, and handkerchief ef-
was jugged in a Newport, Kentucky jail, and, fects are in line to follow.
although searched every time (and right down
to the nucleus, too!), he still managed to
produce ten dollar bills and fifty cent coins
and call for cigarettes. The story hit the air Better Than Statistics
waves too, and it strikes me that a gag like We know that good times are back. We
that would be a marvelous publicity idea for know it because twelve persons gathered the
any magus who gets incarcerated. I nean, of other night on the roof of the Hollywood Hotel
course, for a very minor infraction. (Hollywood, Cal.) with a loud speaker, a Ion
of radio equipment, spiritualistic parapherrralia
and newsreel cameras. Included was Mrs. So very often
Ed Wolff, of Rochester, New York is pub- Harry Houdini, widow of the famous magician. I hear magic-
lishing his methods of hypnotism. I knew him In the hope of communicating with the spirit ians grouching
for quite a while before I ever found out he of Houdini the group observed silence for about bad con-
was such a person, but when I did find out, thirty minutes. At the end of that time an an-
nouncer called upon Houdini to speak. "Harry," ditions. Maybe
it was in a practical way. I played the Roch- he called. "Harry." He shouted over a public- this newspaper
ester Ad Club, and in two days time, with a address system, so that his voice was audible clip of recent
lot of sweating and concentration, I went on for half a dozen blocks around. date from the
for 15 minutes over WHAM and broadcasted the All this, by the way, was broadcast over a New York Post
hypnotising of a lady over the telephone from radio network and in the presence of a Superior
Court Judge which made it official. In the will make them
the control room to the studio. The publicity presence, too, we might add of several press realize things
and pictures were very acceptable. There's no agents, for crowds gathered from all Los aren't so bad
reason why his methods can't do the same for Angeles, flood lights were turned on and the after all.
you. devices of the public relations trade were well
in evidence.
It's interesting to know something about the We said at the start that good times are back.
We know they're back because at the bottom
name of this sheet. Christy I.iathewson, the ma- of depression, the spirit is lacking for exhibi-
jor league pitcher of old base-ball days coined tions such as the above. When men and women
the word "jinx" as a synonym for hoodoo. To- are troubled in mind they don't stand on roof-
day there are four major league magical amateurs tops and cry "Harry!" In the sun of good times
on the subscription list, and three more whom the imagination of our people is warming itself
again.
I know have purchased at least one copy.
A book from India just popped in. Titled "Card
Sleights and Tricks",(don't ask me how I know)
it is the first and only book of its kind ever
printed in marathi, and has been assembled by
Dr. K. B. Lele after 25 years of study. I am
intrigued by the illustrations, at least, and
now I have only to go to Poona-Poona to find
out the secrets. I sincerely mean it though,
when I say that his monthly "The Indian Magic-
ian", (in English) is one of the rare buys of
magicdom. The July issue, -just past, carried
a full page of ads, the weirdest thing I've
ever seen — and I've written a lot of ads. --
Do you, you or you have a printed program? If
you'll send it to me I'll stack it with the
few I have now, and print them all at a near
date. I have lots of the bigger prof, pro-
grams, such as Thurston, Dante, Blackstone,
etc., but I want those of semi-professionals
Page 170
 Cf* ADKIC AMERICA'S FOREMOST
OV_AKINt CARD MANIPULATOR

i
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HARRY THALL
•k
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fit"

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Page 171
 second time as well as putting both marks on
jJlnx No. 9 - June 1935 - Page 35 the same side of each envelope.
|A Matter of Policy — Improvement by Andrew Brennan.

Ten cards - five Republican and five Democrats. Jinx No. 23 - August 1936 - Page 141
Arrangement done in front of everyone. Have Calendar Conjuring.
the two sets of five separate at start. Show
them as you start story and drop Democrats on The following formulae can be substituted to
top of Republicans face down. Carelessly mix advantage in the computing of the dates selec-
as you continue. Pan, draw out the middle ted. When the sum of a four figure square is
cards leaving two top and two bottom, and drop given, subtract 16 and divide by 4. This gives
on top. Now remove third and fourth cards from the smallest figure in upper left corner. Add
top and drop on top. The cards are now set to 1 to get the figure to right and 7 for the fig-
be stood in line from left to right and the ure directly underneath, and 1 to that for the
elimination started. The set up is D-R-D-D-R-R- figure to right of lower first figure. For 4
D-D-R-R. — Improvement by Andrew Brennan. figures In a vertical row subtract 42 from sum
and divide by 4 for the smallest or top figure.

I Jinx No. 21 - June 1936 - Page 122

Prophecy Plus
Use inch and a half sponge balls trimmed from
For 5 figures In avertical row subtract 70 from
sum and divide by 5. You do not have to be told
whether four or five figures are being used as
only one of these formulae will come out even.
different colored rubber sponges obtainable at For any 7 figures in a horizontal row subtract
Woolworth stores instead of handkerchiefs for 21 from sum and divide by 7. For a rectangle of
the force. Silks do not mix well and getting 6 figures, two wide and three deep, subtract 45
caught in each other more than one will come from sum and divide by 6 for smallest number In
out of the bag when selection is made. upper left corner. For a rectangle of 6, three
— Improvement by L. Vosburgh Lyons. wide and two deep, subtract 27 from sum and di-
vide by 6 for smallest number in upper left cor-
ner. — Suggested by Dr. Jacob Daley.
I Summer Extra 1935 - Page 41
Horrors 111
Jinx No. 25 - October 1936 - Page 157
Numismatlgic.
At Woolworth stores is sold a scratch pad called
the World's Biggest Little Tablet. It is made
up of five different colored pages, about 30 of Use a magnet from a slot machine of the "one arm-
each. Put your Horror words on these and you ed bandit" type. They are only about two Inches
reveal the information without ever being near long and can be concealed in the hand easily.
the subject.— Suggestion by L. Vosburgh Lyons. They are strong enough to pick up an eight inch
pair of shears, and are used in machines to stop
Jinx No 18 - March 1936 - Page 101 Iron and steel slugs. Can be obtained from any-
Thoughts in General. Paragraph Two. one who repairs these machines.
— Improvement by E.J.Oeinck.
Practice this effect with a deck tied each way
several times with heavy thread. It will save Jinx No. 24 - September 1936 - Page 151
a lot of trouble when getting the knack of the A Mental Test Revamped.
throw. — Suggestion by Scotty Lang.
After making a circle on paper, have spectator
Jinx No. 17 - February 1936 - Page 92 write a short question and the initials of any
The Spectator's Choice. card. Explain that the reason for card is to
check their thought with yours. In short, if
Instead of the 6th and 22nd cards being noted you fathom the card, you know you will be well
on the run through, note the 11th and 27th from on the way toward gaining correct knowledge of
the face of the pack as you fan them from left the question, which is then answered. Get all
to right. of the information as described, when running
through deck for card.

I Jinx No. 11 - August 1935 - Page 56

The Card Unharmed.
— Variation by William Larsen.
Summer Extra 1936 - Page 135
For a much better effect use an automobile Dice and a Book.
driver's card, a lodge card, or any personal
membership card belonging to the spectator or Use with a telephone directory wherever you are.
reporter. The apparent mutilation strikes right Vary by having two of the figures represent the
at home. -- Improvement by Monty Crowe. page, the third figure the column, and the last
figure the name in that column. It is easy for
Jinx No. 22 - July 1936 - Page 130 spectator to find the name and telephone number
The Card Phenomenon. as he never has to count down more than nine, i.
e., 3119 would be page 31, first column, ninth
Have the spectator count off a number from five name. When there happens to be a nought in the
to ten instead of any number up to a dozen. last one such as 3020, the page would be 30,
— Correction by Charles Larsen. second column, and then, as long as there is a
nought, you can tell them to look at the first

I
Jinx No. 18 - March 1936 - Page 102
Death Flight!
For the second envelope, turn the stack over
name. You would be able to instruct them in this
because you'd know all the time what they were
looking for.— Variation by Frederick F. Clark

and take the top one. Have It sealed and fin- IJinx No. 21 - June 1936 - Page 119
ish pressing down the flap with its face down |"Think It Over"
on the stack. Turn it over singly and openly,
and then, either In getting the pencil again, All animal men do know, and all magicians should
or in offering the envelope for marking, turn know, that it's cruel, harmful, and painful to
the whole stack over again (like a deck of hold a rabbit by the ears, as they are very sen-
cards). This gives them the original cards sitive. A rabbit should be held by the back of
which have been on the bottom of stack of en- the neck with its weight resting on the palm
velopes and makes a different switch for the of the other hand.-Correction by Orvllle Meyer
Page 172
 (continued from page 169) jTHE SECRET ORDER OF THE ACES. (Annemann) |
spectator names identity of the murderer, you
turn fpn over, and the right card flashes into
view. Now go on with the patter, end you'll see,
A round 1925 Hugh Mackay published his tome,
"Classical Conjuring", in vrtiich was a new
and novel two person telepathic effect using
With cards in hand, how it all fits together and tho four aces from any deck. I made a notation
makes a smooth running story to cover all action. at the time, and subsequently used the effect
whenever the opportunity arose. Mr. laackay's
"This is a story cf crime; a tale concerned method made necessary the learning of 24 dif-
with criminals and the lav/. The dock is to rep- ferent arrangements in conjunction with two
resent the underworld, and in it, there are 52 key cards (from the rest of the deck) for each.
lav? makers and law breakers all tryinr to out- This way is extremely simple, yet the effect
wit each other. First, I want you to remove one is still worked, and very different in theme
card, end look at chat card as a murderer of from other such problems.
the worst type. A man who is the cause of a great
manhunt. Wo one is to know the identity of this rhe lady assistant retires to another room
much wanted man but yourself, iifter you've seen with a spectator as guard. Any pack of cards
his face, drop him back into the underworld. This is used and handed someone who removes the 4
shuffling is to show the shake-up in the police aces. They mix the aces, and lay them, or stand.
deportment after present officials have failed them, in a face out row in any order. Lastly
to capture the criminal. Perhaps someone else they turn over (so that backs are outward),
had better mix them too, though. You, sir, give either the two red aces, or the two black aces.
them a shuffle, to prove that he's really lost The audience having noted down the position
in the dark alleys of iniquity, and not being of each ace in the row, and the color reversed,
protected by politics. a spectator mixes them up and leaves them on
the table. The lady now returns blindfolded,
At this time I want to introduce four great which is removed at the table, after perform-
nen in our story. These gentlemen are always er is put under guard. The lady immediately
trying to do their bit towards wiping out crime, carries out the exact movements which took
and this will be a test of what they can do. I place while she was absent.
use the four aces to represent these men, (when
an Ace happens to be a selected card, use the The whole thing is pure presentation plus
four Kings) and shall introduce them to you per- the finger nail bump. If you hold a card be-
sonally. Here are the aces, one, two, three, and tween tips of forefinger and thumb, and with
four. Introducing them singly, we have the ace nail of forefinger, press sharply against the
of (here, always use the same order of names, card over the ball of thumb, a slighlt bump
no matter what the order of aces), who is the is raised which can be instantly detected by
Mayor of the metropolis in which we are living. passing a thumb or finger over surface of the
Next we have the ace of who is the District pasteboard.
Attorney. Then comes the ace of , who is the
Gonnissioner of Police, and lastly, the ace of I advise having the cards stood against
, who represents a reporter from the --(lo- something rather than laid on the table. All
calize the name of paper)—, for one must know can see the row better, and it makes it eas-
what is going on. ier for you. After the row has been placed in
the desired position by spectator and the color
If Mr. -- will now lift the lid fror-i off the reversed, you ask someone to jot down the order
underworld for a moment, I'll place these four as they stand. You pick up the first, saying,
just men, with apologies to Edgar Wallace, in "Clubs" (or whatever it is), and toss it to the
the middle. This action of riffling is supposed table. Repeat with the rest, and finally mention
to represent great activity in police circles, for notation the color which was reversed. You
while the manhunt is on and the criminal is be- only have to nick three cards. And it doesn't
ing pursued. The drag-net is, of course, spread matter whether the card is facing one way or a-
over the city, so we, in turn, spread the deck nother as the three marks can't get mixed. The
over the table, and here, deep in the under- first card's bump is anywhere along the end,
world, we find the four men with a suspect be- on the second it is somewhere around the center,
tween the District Attorney and Commissioner and on the third it is anywhere along the side.
of Police. Who it nay be, or how he got there, The fourth needn't be marked. After all notes
we don't know, but they've picked him up some- have been made, you ask someone to go out and
where. And now, Mr. --, will you name, for the call in the lady, after mixing the cards. If
first time, the murderer? The ? Look you send out a lady, the reversed color has been
they've got himI blackj if a gentleman, red. If you are working
before only one sex, arrange with your partner
beforehand which of two people you'll send.

I THE JINX "ZIPPER" COCKTAILTf The lady returns, picks ur aces, looks them
over, puts up the second or third ace, then
SPECIAL DELIVERY: Philadelphia, Pa. another, another, and finally moves one and puts
Dear Ted; the other between, all of which builds the ef-
Jinx No. 26 sure is a "top notchnr." fect of concentration and uncertainty. Lastly
Will the receipe for the Jinx Zipper cocktail she turns over the correct pair of colors.
be included in the Dec. issue? If it is as good
as your material, it is a V/ow! Keeping very busy
with the club dates.
Ernest K. Schieldge
As is the case with all,Jinx offerings, this
cocktail has been tested exhaustively (not to
mention the danger point) over a period of time The Jinx is an independent mon-
by discerning magi. Use one part of gin with thly for magicians published by
the juice from one-half an orange. Ice, and mix Theo. Annemann of Waverly, N.Y.,
in a shaker as though being prodded with a Joy
Buzzer. Add a dash of honey and continue for a U.S.A. It can be obtained direct
minute more. Strain into a large cocktail glass, or through any magical depot for
consume, and repeat several times, whereupon 25 cents a copy, and by subscrip-
you will be amazed and gratified to see the In- tion Is $1 for 5 issues postpaid
dian Rope Trick being performed right before to any address in the world.
your eyes with an all native cast.
Page 173
A lmost everyone has tried out a torn card trick. Invariably, the per-
former underestimates the mentality of his audience, to the extent
that he thinks they think the pieces unite again in a solid piece. Re-
gardless of opinions, it's an absolute fallacy, because the modern aud-
ience, different from that of Merlin's time, KNOWS that a magus is CLE-
VER rather than SUPERNATURAL. And it would take a supernatural power to
actually renew the card. On the other hand, the
performer can perform to a natural climax and
receive credit for cleverness. None other than
P.T.Selbit, possibly the greatest of modern il-
lusion creators, once said that if a trick were
produced that had no conceivable solution, it
wouldn't be worth a dime as a mystery.Audiences
want to think and figure out how a trick may be
done. All of which is a prelude to a torn card
trick, radically different in climax.

Shuffling the card3 (as usual), one is sel-

ected (still as usual), and the selector is as-
ked to tear the card in four quarters (not so
different yet). Spectator is given an elastic
band to secure the four pieces. Taking the ban-
ded packet, you have another wrap it in a piece
of paper, but before this, one quarter is kept
out for later identification. At this point,and
with very little comment,you show a roll of ad-
hesive tape. Just make the remark that the only
way to mend torn pieces is with something like
that, and place it in view. Approach the person
holding wrapped packet, and have him put it on an ash tray or plate. Now
light a match and touch it to paper package. A glorious
flash of flame appears. Ask spectator to show everybody
the remains. The three pieces are shown to be restored
WITH ADHESIVE TAPE! At once you have the selector of the
card, who holds the left out quarter, match it with the
materially restored card, in order to prove it the same
card that was torn apart (that's different)11!1!I!!!I!!!

The preparation consists of taking a duplicate card

and tearing it in four quarters. Now take three of these
as in the larger illustration, and fasten together with
half or three-quarter inch tape, one piece on the face
and one on the back. Fold No. 1 over on top of No. 2 and
No. 3 is bent under. The separate piece is laid face out on the side 3.
Snap a rubber band around all. Put this in your left trouser pocket. In
another pocket is a four inch square piece of flash paper, matches, and
a roll of tape. Force the right card (or did you know that?).While being
torn and banded, secure your packet in left hand. Take packet from spec-
tator in right, turn towards left, and merely pretend to put it in left
hand which gives it to another. Give him paper, and then, as an after-
thought, slide the index (and loose) corner out while spectator has the
packet. Give it to selector as packet is wrapped. Produce tape and place
in view. Now burn the flash paper. Spectator opens card restored by use
of tape. The selector matches his piece. You've done something.