OCTOBER 1937

NYCTALOPIA
ather a nightmarish effect is this, it going pad, pencil, and envelope are placed before the
R slightly beyond the pale of things. It is
the only feat of its kind, to our knowledge, in
spectator on a small table, pad upper right cor-
ner being towards part of room where magician
which the materials used never leave the posses- is about to retire.
sion of the spectator, and at no time is he ap-
proached by the performer. When lights are out, magician removes pre-
pared pad from pocket with a few feet of thread.
A pad, pencil, and envelope are put before He picks up the articles on table one at a time
spectator. He thinks of someone who ia dead and and replaces them, telling spectator he had bet-
unknown to the performer, another spectator now ter leave them as is so they won t be knocked
turns off the light, and with the magician in off table. In so doing, the prepared pad is put
the corner of the room, the first person prints, down in place of the ordinary one. kagiclan now
on the pad, the name of the thought of person. goes to his corner of room, letting out thread
He then tears off the written on sheet, rolls so it will lie along floor.
it into a ball, seal it in envelope, and holds
it to his forehead. After due concentration, the After spectator has printed his name that he
performer, although he has never left the cor- thought of, he is told to tear sheet from pad
ner of the room, successfully spells out the and roll it into a ball between his hands. This
name in question I 1 is an important point as it not only keeps both
his hands occupied, but also makes sufficient
Requirements: A pencil, two small pads about noise to cover any possible sound produced as
the size of a playing card, a pay envelope, a the performer, from his corner position, draws
fountain pen flashlight, and a small piece of the "Auto-copy" towards himself by means of the
carbon paper called "Auto-copy" and obtainable thread.
at woolworth's. "Auto-copy" is a new idea in
which the paper itself takes the Impression. During this time, the performer may keep talk-
ing and direct the spectator in sealing the pa-
To prepare, cut a piece of "Auto-copy" the per inside the envelope, and then holding it to
width of one pad, but a trifle shorter. Attach his forehead. In the meantime, he has secured
a 20 foot length of black silk thread to the the "Auto-copy", turned his back so as to face
upper right corner of the "Auto-copy by paste- the corner as closely as possible, removed the
ing a small sticker over thread onto paper. The pen flashlight, and in a space of about five
"Auto-copy" is placed under top sheet of pad. seconds learns the thought of name!! He now fin-
Prepared pad is placed in upper left vest poc- ishes by spelling it out correctly, and stays in
ket with thread tucked in loosely beside it, his place until the lights are on and everything
and free end tied to one of the vest buttons. is checked, he, of course, having done away with
Wrap a small piece of red cloth around end of his apparatus of charatanism. In closing, it can
pen flashlight. Tie tightly, and have cloth of only be said, and it'3 a truly old saying too,
a quality that only a red glow comes through. that the effect should not be confused with the
Put this in inside coat pocket. The unprepared. method. Just give it one or two fair trials!

PAUL CURRY Page 245

 l.iayfair Mountebank?" I wonder why Lloyd Jones
recommends so highly (Tops, Sept.) the Signal
Oil Co. of San Francisco second expose booklet
which is tossed out free, and was written, as
well as the first, by Carl Zamloch, one of the
This poster west coast "boys." A friend? The Midwest
was in Lon- Magical Society recently had a full page spread
don's "Vari- of their annual outing pictures in the Sunday
ety" bearing Wo^ld-Herald of Omaha, Neb. No exposures, just
the date Aug pictures of tricks and illusions in action. The
ust 10, 1932 payoff remark is that the 3 year old organizat-
which was a ion "kicked out" a world famous magician when
week before he demonstrated secrets of his tricks to a news-
Clark sailed paper syndicate. Too bad more groups can't see
first to the the light, and also the publicity value of do-
U.S.A. Keith ing the same thing. The bigger the fellow is,
did the pic- the quicker the AP and UP wire services will
ture himself carry a story about the Great rthosis being boot-
while play- ed out because of pediculous practise. The soc-
ing on the iety becomes greater than one magician in the
continent. public eye, and a rep could eventually be built
up so that the public would think a magician
had to belong to the organization or not be worth
a broken pull. By getting such news items across
first, any subsequent exposures by the person
would paint him as a sorehead par excellence.
Some society's press agent is either asleep or

a uite a lack of essential notes and news is

evident this month, but people of our clan
just didn't seem to do things worthy of being
recorded for posterity. Jacob Daley sailed off
decomposing.

Jack Handy, Box 737, Lynchburg, Va., secured

a large supply of cellulose tape for the Card
to Haiti and thereabouts and H.Y. appears card- Angler in Jinx No.36, direct from the manufact-
less. Prank Lane took his pocket full of tricks urer. Those ./ho possibly can't obtain this very
and several trunks of gags and is entertaining useful item for many effects, can gat a supply
his way across the Atlantic and back. Burling from Mr. Handy by sending him a business or per-
Hull entrained to Minneapolis, and I'm sitting sonal card for his collection. The Piff-
around painting that new pip liquid (It's a Pip) Paff-Poofers held their annual Port Erie, Ont.,
of Caryl Fleming's and Judge Chas. Fricke's on convention over Labor Day '.veekend. I under-
all the gadgets in the house. They've got some- stand that Joe Ovette did a 100 foot rope es-
thing there. cape while hanging by his necji from a building.
Later, when he didn't show up at the swapping
Speaking of Judge Pricke, he's got a very session, one of the boys found him in a corner
very funny (practical, too) production of a ma- of his room nearly choked to death by a recal-
gician's wand from a match box, no leas. It citrant necktie 1 Practical Idea Dept., Ov-
seems as if we made a grievious error last la- er in Turkey an itinerant wonder worder hypno-
sue when we reported that Julian Proskauer had tised a localite and buried him for 8 hours.
turned copies of the August Genii over to his When the subject was dug up he was dead, so the
attorney. Mr« Proskauer calls it "ridiculous", incensed crowd put the corpse back and buriea
regretfully refuses my offer of a full page for the magician with it!
any statement, says he will pay no attention
now to these matters because he believes that Jean Hugard is to be well thanked for his
harmony is essential in any fraternal organiza- new terms invented for cigarette manipulation
tion., and hopes that the Jinx will refrain from in the Keith Clark opus. He noticed the prac-
publicizing this matter further. In reply we tise of French writers to give an appropriate
can only apologize for the error, and sincerely name to every sleight so the reader does not
try to make no such mistakes in the future. (continued on back page)

I hope that classic remark of A I Baker's nev-

er is lost. It came up the other day at a lun-
cheon. When an advertiser wrote Al and told him
he should have such-and-such a great effect be-
cause 500 other magicians had bought it, Baker
replied, "That's why I don't want it. Because
500 other magician's have itl"
This- photograph of a
I wish those who want a couple more of those display board was tak-
Phantom Artist (Summer Extra 1937) cut outs would en in the lobby of New
let me know, and if a fair amount come through, York's Hollywood Res-
I'll run them, A number have mentioned this to taurant on July 2Snd,
me personally as they are using the effect to 1937. The originality
good results. — - New Yorkers who want to com- undoubtedly is in the
plete bookshelves can pick uptaulholland'sStory fact that a cigarette
has been omitted.
of Magic now for forty-nine cents at Gimbel's.
They fill mail orders too. Glen Pope is mak-
ing use of Keating's catch line, "The Aristocrat
of Magic," which I suppose is all right as long
as Fred has tossed his magic aspirations aside.
I wonder who'll pick up his other line, "The
Page 246
 CREATION

W ith this issue, the beginning of our fourth year, we would like to take the opportun-
ity of reproducing Mr. Rose's conception of "Creation," as of The Saturday Evening
Post for May 29, 1937. It depicts exactly the method by which The Jinx has been produced
for 37 months, and can be accepted also as an authentic reproduction of our Editorial
Office, Piling Department, Mailing Room, Experimental Laboratory (the deck of cards is to
the left of the typewriter), and the full quota of our staff during working hours. It ia
with grateful thanks to our subscribers and readers that this number is distributed, and
we are looking forward to another three years of worthwhile material for worthwhile magi.

THE CHEAT The entire secret is that you play normally

when your deal is coming up. If you win that
hand naturally (and honestly) you can't ask far
much more, so just pass your next chance by.
TVAM TZAVEZ3 But if you lose, just pick up all the cards
and keep your hand on the bottom. Dovetail
sing the Annemann switch of hands as was des-
U cribed in a poker hand trick last month, a
completely new method of cheating at Rhummy is
shuffle and leave the bottom seven intact. Use
any shuffle at which you are most proficient as
long as you keep your hand in its place. If
possible. It Is strictly a high powered per- the cut is passed by, ab It will be a lot of
centage method because you get TWICE THROUGH the time, thumb count the seven bottom cards
THE DECK ACTION ON ONE HAND! How many times as explained, and make the deal. Switch your
have you carefully built your hand to a fair dealt cards for your old, and familiar hand,
point, and someone else has gone rhummy? And and continue on through the game. It's like
havenit you cursed under your breath (No?) and meeting an old friend, to see that hand pop up
wished you could have had just one more draw? before you again, and have the chance to do
In this case, you actually keep the hand you've right by it.
worked on, and keep right on working on it
through the new deck. And if that isn't per- (Editor's post-script); Here's the switch data
centage heaven, nothing could be. to save you buying another copy, or bothering to
look it up. With seven card break held by left
The method does not allow of a cut after the little finger make the deal normally. As you
shuffle, but you know also that many a cut is deal your last card everybody is looking over
passed by in average games, especially when his hand. Your right fingers and thumb square
you slap the deck down deliberately for it. It hand at ends, pick up, and same hand now takes
is common practise for the cut to be knocked deck from left hand by right fingers and thumb
by. The secret work is always put into action at ends, the seven picked up cards being dropped
when you get the deal, and it can be seen that on top of deck, and deck is placed on table a bit
in a two handed game it comes often. At any to your left, the seven "cold" cards below finger
rate, you only have to use it a few times dur- break being left behind in left hand which turna
ing en evening to keep ahead. A fairly quick them over as pight comes back to help fan. Bold
rhummy means a lot of points or pennies. but perfectly clean as per last month's reference.
Page 247
 ror after .vhich, copying it as closely as pos-
THE 9TANVON If S?ON? fO«_TH£ sible, the ball should be actually transfered
from the right to the left hand a nunber of
times, the reflection being still closely watohed;

fllPS AND i.e., study to gat the counterfeit (feint) an

exact imitation of the natural action.

(Second Method) In this case the ball is

first passed from the tips of the thumb and first
finger' to the tips of the third and fourth fin-
gers .vhich then press it into the palm proper.
(continued fror.i page 241) Jith very little extra practice a second ball
may be palmed in this position alongside .the
G eneral Effect As I have already stated,
the performance resolves itself into two
distinct olements:- (l) The magical production
first, while, if desired, a third may be palmed
by the first method, all as shown at "D" in Fig.
of a ball "beneath a cup; and (2) its disappear-
ance from such place. The general procedure is (Third Method) In this case the ball is
as follows:- (1) The performer commences by palmod at the base of the little finger by a
calling attention to the fact that his hands, slight contraction of the same (see "E" in the
also the three cups, ere quite empty. He may Fig.). Here again it is held at the outset be-
then produce a ball from his wand or, with it, tween the tips of forefinger and thumb. The lit-
knock over one of the cups and find the ball tle finger then approaches the ball, which is
underneath. Replacing the cup he takes up the
ball in his right hand, transfers it to the left,
and orders it to pass thence under (lther of
the three cups chosen by the audience; the left
hand is eventually opened and found empty and
the ball is, sure enough, found beneath the
chosen cup. (2) The ball is next openly placed
by the right hand under one of the cups; or it
may be first transfered to the left hand, which
then openly places it under the cup. Yet upon
raising the cup the ball has disappeared, or
it may be pulled through the bottom of the cup
without raising the latter, or the cup may be
tapped with the wand from the tip of which the
ball is then produced. These simple eleuents
are capable of producing the numerous and sur-
prising combinations indicated by the headings
of the Passes hereafter described.

General Principles of Sleight of Hand Be-

fore proceeding to explain the various Passes tween the tips of forefinger and thumb. The lit-
the reader must be made acquainted with the var- tle finger then approaches the ball, which is
ious Sleights and Feints necessary to their suc- transfered to its tip, the thumb rolling it down
cessful execution. These are as follows:- (1) To the finger into position. This is a very simple
"palm" a ball (several methods); (2) to repro- palm and suitable for either the 5/8 or li inch
duce the palmed ball at the fingertips; (3) to balls, especially the latter which are too large
produce a ball from the wand; (4) to return a to be palmed by the first method. The position
ball into the wand; (5) to secretly introduce a is also an excellent one for secretly conveying
ball under a cup, or between two cups; (S) to a ball under a cup when raising it with the same
simulate the action of placing a ball under a hand.
cup; (?) to cause the disappearance of a ball
placed between two cups; (8) to cause the dis-
appearance of one to three balls placed between H.B. To palm a ball or other object is
the two bottom cups when the three are stacked synonymous with, in the .vords of the old-time
one on top of the other (9) to secretly intro- writers, "To conjure it away." In oar own time
duce a large ball or other object under a cup; it is understood to be preliminary of causing
(10) to pass one cup through the other. Theae its disappearance, either by seeming to throw
be treated seriatim. it direct from the right hand into the air; to
a point previously indicated; or by apparently
transferring it from the right to the left hand,
1. To Palm a Ball (First i.lethod) The ball is from .vhich it is, presumably, made to disappear
first shown between the extreme tips of the a monent later; in either case the object remains
tJnimb and forefinger of the right hand, the idea, pained in the right hand. The operation is some-
of course, being to silently suggest the impos- ttaes reversed, the object being "palmed" in
sibility of conveying it from such position to the left Instead of in the right hand. Experi-
a place of concealment in the hand. (See "A" in ments will show that the natural actions of the
the Pig.) The tip of the second finger then as- hand are in no way hampered by the presence of
sists to roll the ball on to the second joint the ball "palmed" by either one of the methods
of the forefinger (see "B" in the Fig.) from above described.
which position it will then be found the thumb
may roll it to the base of the second and third
fingers which open slightly to receive it. then 2. To Reproduce the Palmed Ball at the Finger
close and grip it securely as shown at "C" in Tips If palmed by either the first or third
the Fig. inethods, the process is simply reversed, the
thumb rolling the ball back again to the fin-
ger tips. If palmed by the second method, the
In practice the several movements above des- third and fourth fingers first transfer the ball
cribed will be found to resolve themselves into from the palm proper to the position shown at
one only, the ball being readily "palmed" in "E" (third method) whence the thumb rolls it to
the nanner described, in the act of seeming to Its original position at the finger tips.
place it in the left hand. This counterfeit act- (To be continued)
ion should be well practised in front of a mlr-
Page" 248
 g close to spectators makes it more
difficult for them to watch anything but your
face and the envelope which you are holding
out. They have to cnange their glance over too

ANNfMANN much space, .'/hen writing is done, step back

to the front, bringing out the right hand v.-ith
palmed card and letting it rest on belt or at
front of waist line for a minute as you men-
P rophecy, in the form of what has become known
as "The Sv/anii Teat", since Claude Alexander
first made magicians "Swami" concious back around
tion that you wrote something on the sealed
card before any person mentioned a number or
1920, has been a much experimented with, and color.
much nangled effect in many an instance. I have
filed exactly 16 variations and methods that AS you are saying this, bring envelope down
have been marketed at prices from #1 to #10. and grasp between two hands aa before, but on-
The following is my own method which is exactly ly for a second, then bringing envelope into
twelve years old this month, and during that right palm as before, and mention is made that
time I've certainly had ample opportunity to the envelope was initialed for identification.
test it out under most of the possible condit- Nov/ take envelope from right palm as before,
ions that will beset a club and close-up worker. but this time the card is kept behind it. Grasp
from the top with right thumb and fingers, and
You use one small card, one small envelope, with the left hand, tear off left end of the
one pencil, and nothing else. Both card and envelope. Pinch this end with thumb and fore-
envelope are examined and initialed. You write finger of left hand, and take this new grip with
something on the card, seal in envelope, and put right; thumb at bottom, second and third fin-
it in full view, it never leaving sight for as gers at top, and first curled up at back hold-
much aa an instant, A number of three figures ing card against envelope. Now the left fore-
is called out, and someone else names any col- finger goes into envelope while thumb goes be-
or. 'Hie mark on envelope is identified first, hind, and the card is apparently withdrawn and
and then opened and card withdrawn. On the given to nearest spectator for reading.
marked card is founa written the exact number
and correct color, everything being left with Just remember to keep talking when first put-
audience at the finish. ting card into envelope, and speak about "seal-
ing the envelope" rather than talking about put-
Don't work too close to audience, but stand ting the card inside. They'll take that as nat-
back about eight to ten feet. Have card and en- ural. All moves ure done casually and they worX
velope examined and marked with pencil, which smoothly once in your Blind. Try it before the
is about two and a half inches long. You take mirror, and once you have confidence, you'll
pencil and card back, pretending to write some- just go ahead and do it without a thought.
thing on the card, but actually nothing, and
then put pencil In right trouser pocket.

Hold the envelope in left hand, flap up, and

address side towards spectators. Put the card
into envelope, from spectator's point of view,
but it really goes down behind envelope, being
held by left thumb, and envelope is lifted to
tongue and flap moistened, A S the flap is bent
down with right hand, the forefinger of left
goes between end. of card and envelope which,
allows flap to go down behind it, right thumb
and forefinger being drawn back and forth a-
cross envelope, one on each side, to seal flap. Tti£ NEW ffiLL ME
The envelope now is held between the two hands,
thumbs of each hand at back holding card up
against it and forefingers at front. Release
the side held by right fingers, and left hand
cnusi
comes over towards wrist of right, leaving
envelope and card in palm of right, the envel-
O n page 195 of Jinx No. '60 for March 1937 was
a new departure in "spell out" card effects.
It received comment upon its publication ae be-
ope still at front and hiding card. The right ing original in conception, and a decidedly
is now held out so envelope can be plainly seen fresh -./ay of finishing the usual wind up, rhia
for a second while talking. Left fingers and to follow is by far a great improvement upon
thumb now come back and pick Ujj envelope at the first thought, and also allows of a special
same end as before, bringing it out to same po- deck being r.iauc to present the problem as"a pro-
sition as at first, between thunb and forefin- gram it. en.
gers of both hands, but in so doing, the card
has been left in the right palm.

Try this, and It will at once be seen how

easily the card stays in palm because of its
stiffness. The left hand nov/ hold3 envelope up
In full view, while the right drops to right
trouser pocket where the pencil is grabbed. The Jinx is an independent mon-
You now close in on the audience, getting as thly for magicians published by
near as possible. Pick out one person to name Theo. Annemann of Waverly, N.Y.,
a number, which you Immediately scribble on the U.S.A. It can be obtained direct
card in pocket as you look around for someone or through any magical depot for
else who is asked to name a color. The moment 25 cents a copy, and by subscrip-
it is mentioned you start to write it on card tion is $1 for 5 issues postpaid
under the number, but ask spectator why he chose to any address in the world.
that particular color, if it is his favorite,
etc., in order to create a few second's stall.
Page 249
 In effect, the card is selected, noted and cigarette held pinched between two adjoining fin-
returned by one of the audience. The magician gers by its edge. "Finger Hold, Back and Front",
states that he will find it in a peculiar way oigarette held between two alternate fingers,
that never fails because of adouble check at the finger between being pushed forward or back,
every point throughout. The card is named, for covering the cigarette. "Finger Grip", cigarette
instance the Two of Heart3. The magician slowly being held by one end against the first joint
spells T-'.V-O. Turning up the last card it is of a finger, the other end against the palm or
seen to be a two spot. He proceeds by spelling tho base of the thumb. "Tip Tilt": for all moves
0-F. On P the card is turned over and shown to where the cigarette is tipped UDwards from one
be a Heart. Then he continues by spelling H-E- hand to the other by pressure on the upper end.
A-R-T-S. The last card is turned up and it is "French Drop": cigarette apparently seized bv
the Two of Heartsl! one hand, really allowed to drop secretly into
the obher. "Back and Front": for showing both
For the ordinary pack version, twelve cards sides of the hand. It was Voltaire ./ho said,
are arranged as follows; 4C - JC - 9H - K3 - "Define your terms, gentlemen," and if such
4S - JH - 9C - KC - 4H - JS - OS - KH. It wj.ll terms and definitions aa the above are adopted,
be noted that the values 4-J-9-K. are repeated It will mai-e for clarity to both readers and
over and over, while the suit3 are doubles of writers, with a great saving in printer's ink.
Clubs and Spades twice, with a Heart card be- Perhaps Ur» Hugard is starting a new trend in
tween each set of doubles. This order is from magical writing, and the next generation will
the top (or back) down. The thirteenth card of have a much more practical baa is from which to
deck is down crimped at the inner right comer work than we who will have gone before.
so that the stock of 12 arranged cards may be
lifted off together.
A card is. selected from among the top 12.
The left little finger is holding a break un-
der the top 12. When spectator removes card,
the top stock of 12 is cut at the spot of re-
moval just as is done with any fully stacked
deck. In this case, however, werely the top
12 are cut. iJith cards in hand it will be seen
that this is a very simple moneuvre, the cards
above the spot where one has been removed, go-
ing into the spot where the break is being held.
DUFLfV DATf JADING
The deck is squared and the top stock of 11
CHAS. T.JORDAN
above the crimped card is lifted for the re- or an old trick, this has seen but very lit-
placing of the chosen card. After this, a dove-
tail shuffle may be given deck, keeping the top
F tle usage, and in this day and age, when pub-
licity is freely given to those who apparently
12 cards intact. The spell oat now works auto- can see through all sorts of blindfolds, etc.,
matically. First spell the value, letter by let- it should be an excellent impromptu test. Argam-
ter. On the last letter, the card in hand will asilla, the Spanish nobleman who confounded 11.Y.
be of the correct value. Then spoil 0-F, and on. critics for a short time with his reputed abil-
F, the correct suit '.'ill show up. Then spell the ity to aee through metals, could have used this
suit. If Clubs, always turn the next card AFTER stunt to good advantage for press interviev/s.
the last letter. For Hearts and Spades, turn up
the card on the last letter. If the spelling Two parties note the date on their own half-
process does not reverse the cards, the effect dollar and place the date sides of the two coins
may be repeated without new arrangement, as the face to face. The performer takes them in that
12 arranged cards can be cut indefinitely with- condition in extreme left finger tips, rub3 them
out hurting the •.vorking. with right palm, and then takes them with right
finger tips and rubs them with left palm. Again
For larger audience use with giant sized cards, talcing them in left fingertips they are passed
a deck is made up to consist of 4 set3 of IS back to owners, still with date sides face to
cards, each set being a duplicate of the others. face. Everything seems absolutely fair, yet the
The 12 cards are the ones as given above, and performer is now able to correctly name the date
in the same arrangement. This pack of 48 card3 on each of the borrowed coins.
can be cut indefinitely afc the start and a cw.rd
removed freely from any portion of the deck. The Though simple, the effect is exceedingly im-
deck is merely cut sit the point of removal, and pressive. It all lies in a subtle exchange and
the cut completed. The only thing necessary for re-exchange of one coin. Have in the right palm,
the replacing is to have the card Inserted any- date side out from palm, an extra half dollar.
where below the top twelve cards. It's dupli- Take the two borrowed coins by their edges in
cate will be in position automatically for the left thumb and fingertips which are bunched in a
successful spell out. This makes an excellent circle about the coins. Right hand, in stroking
spell effect for those who want to incorporate upper coin, silently leaves the extra coin on
one good showy card number in their routine. top of it, and at same instant left fingers al-
low the borrowed coin on bottom to fall into
left palm, date side up, where it Can easily be
road. Kothing seems changed, as two coins are
at fingertips, upper one date side down. Right
hand rubs them, and then takes them from above
(continued from page 246)•»«^*»*1\ by fingertips, exactly as left hand held them.
have to wade through detailed descriptions. Jean Turning right hand over, date of former upper
devised new names for the various sleights, the borrowed coin is exposed. Left hand in rubbing
American all-embracing term "palm" being espec- them leaves borrowed coin on top, date side down,
ially erroneous in the case of cigarettes, since and performer's coin falls into right palm. Left
the palm is not used as it is for coins and oth- hand again takes the coins and returns them to
er small objects. "Thumb Grips" takes the place company in same position as when received. Right
of thumb palm. "Pinch, Back and Front, Upper, hand pockets of the extra coin as performer re-
Middle and Lower" in the place of finger palm; veals the two hidden dates to best advantage.
Page 250