Magic Roadshow

Hi All

Welcome to the latest issue of the Magic Roadshow. I hope I've included a little something for everyone. As is the Roadshow's policy, I want to first thank all the new subscribers who have graciously signed up to receive email notifications, and I hope you find something to benefit your magic in every issue.

The 'magical' time of the year is closing in on us, and I'm really looking forward to it. Last year, Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec. were great months for the Roadshow. For some reason, once school is in sesson, and the work force is back from summer vacations, readership picks up substantially. I hope the same holds true this year.

I want to thank those of you who took the time to send in submissions via the web form. If you don't see your contribution in this issue, don't dispair. I like to spread them out among several different issues. If you haven't sent in a link, article, or effect to share with readers around the world.. you can now easily submit by visiting..
SUBMIT MAGIC HERE

Please be sure to notice the first 'Magic Roadshow Survey' link in one of the last articles. I would really like to have your input about the direction we need to go in order to grow the Roadshow even bigger and reach more subscribers worldwide. I'm sorry, but only the first 100 readers will be allowed to take the survey. It's a simple 'click the button' type survey that only requires a couple of minutes..

Comments, requests, rants and raves.. EMAIL ME

 
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In This Issue
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- Worlds Greatest Card Trick - maybe..

- Card Tricks and Magical Mysteries - blog

On with the Roadshow...

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World's Greatest Card Trick

Welcome to the Worlds Greatest Card Trick. I didn't name it.. I'm only going to try to explain it, and that is somewhat easier said than done.

Is this actually the worlds greatest card trick? I don't know. But I DO know that this is one of the most impressive card tricks I've encounter, and definitely the best two-person card trick I've come across.

Here's how it plays..

The performer gives a deck of cards to a spectator and asks them to look through the deck and remove any five cards, keeping them secret from the performer. The spectator then gives the cards to the performers assistant, and after carefully studying the cards, the assistant lays one card, face up, in front of the performer. After carefully studying the card, the performer asks the assistant to lay down a second card.. and then a third. Finally, the performer asks that the fourth card be layed face up with the others.

The performer tells the spectator and the assistant, despite the fact that he had no control over the five cards picked, that he will name the fifth card. The performer, true to his word, sucessfully names the suit and number of the fifth card..

The other 47 cards in the deck are not touched by the performer. He relies ONLY on the four cards on the table to deduct the identity of the fifth card. And he can do it again and again..

Nice, huh..

Before I go any further, I want to take a moment to give credit where credit's due, and explain the complexities I've endured to present this effect to you in a way that's both understandable and do-able. Don't go anywhere though, because understanding the mechanics of this effect is like riding a bike - there will be a moment or two of doubt, and then suddenly you're on the straight and narrow path to success.

This effect appears to have been created by William Fitch Cheney Jr., according to Wallace Lee, author of Math Miracles. ( Published by Seeman Printery, Durham, N.C. 1950 ). Fitch, known as "Fitch the Magician", was a mathematician, having earned the first math Ph.D ever awarded by MIT, appropriately titled " Infinitesimal deformation of surfaces in Riemannian space".

There is a legitimate line of scholars who have passed this effect amongst themselves and, in some cases, among their college students, until it was published in Mr. Lee's book, and later by Michael Kleber in Mathematical Intelligencer 24 #1 in 2002 and taught at Hampshire College by mathematician and magician Art Benjamin. Mr. Kleber advises that " Fully appreciating the trick will involve a little information theory and applications of the Birkhoff–von Neumann theorem and Hall´s Marriage theorem."

As we all know.. " The Birkhoff–von Neumann theorem states that the convex hull of the permutation matrices is precisely the set of doubly stochastic matrices: matrices with entries in [0, 1] with each row and column summing to 1."

I have to admit that I'm not on top of my Birkoff-vonNeumann and Hall's Marriage theorems, and thus lies the difficulty of putting this effect in print, but.. I'm going to give it my all..

The 'secret' to this effect is that your assistant is going to lay the four cards down in such a way as to tell you with 100% accuracy the identity of the fifth card..

Imagine each of the thirteen different numbers of a suit as being in a circle, like a clock, and not a horizontal line, like a ruler. With that image in mind, no two numbers are more than 6 digits apart. If you look at the 13 numbers in a suit as being in a circle, a Queen is four numbers removed from a Three, as they run (Queen), King, Ace, Two, Three.. Every time you get to the King the circle continues with an Ace, Two, Three, Four.. Think of any two random numbers in a deck and you will see that using the circle imagery as a guide, they are separated by six or less numbers.

Some numbers, like a Four and a Nine for example, are separated by six numbers or less the old fashoned way.. (Four) Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine. Others, as in the examples above, require you to "go around the circle" to find the '6 or less' connection.

In any group of five cards at least two will be of the same suit. Agreed? The 'hidden' card, the card that is going to be predicted by the performer, will be one of the two cards with duplicate pips. If you have two sets of two cards of the same suit, select the hidden card from the 'smaller' of the two sets, with the smaller being whatever suit you and your assistant agree will always be the smaller.

I always think of the suits in terms of hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades, with hearts being the smallest and spades the highest. If the two sets of duplicate pips are diamonds and clubs, for example, my assistant will always select the hidden card from the diamonds, as that is the smallest of the two in our pre-agreement. Likewise, if the two sets were Clubs and Spades, the selected card would come from the Clubs.. Many performers use the CHaSeD standard; Clubs, Hearts, Spades, and Diamonds. Use whatever standard you want, or make up your own. It doesn't matter as long as it's consistent.

When my assistant lays down the first card, it must be the SMALLER, or I should say LOWER, of the two cards in my assistant's hand, when thought of using the numerical circle. Thus, if the two cards are the Ten and Two, the Ten is actually the lower of the cards because I can't get from the Two to the Ten in six digits. I have to mentally count "(Ten), Jack, Queen, King, Ace, Two.."

It's understood that the assistant will ALWAYS lay down the 'lower' number for the performer to see first. Likewise, the magician always knows to count AHEAD one to six cards to determine the 'hidden' card. In the above example the performer see's the Ten and knows the hidden card is either the Jack, Queen, King, Ace, Two, or Three of the same suit as the tabled card. If he had seen a Four, for example, he would have known the hidden card was a Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, or Ten. Think about it.. after seeing only ONE card, the performer is able to eliminate every card in the deck - except for the six cards above the tabled card - and he knows the suit of the six as well.

After laying the first card down the assistant now has the 'hidden' card and three indifferent cards in hand. To signal the performer the number of the hidden card , the assistant will lay the three remaining cards down in a particular order. This is why you and your assistant must decide beforehand on a low-suit to high-suit order.

Let's assume the five cards are the Four of Hearts, Ten of Diamonds, Two of Diamonds, Queen of Clubs, and Six of Spades. The 'hidden' card will be the Two of Diamonds. (Remember the example), so the first card down will be the Ten of Diamonds, signaling the performer that the suit is Diamonds and the number is between the Jack and the Three.

If the hidden card is one card above the first card down, the assistant will signal the performer this by laying the three remaining cards down from the lowest to the highest. In the above example, the assistant would lay down the Four of Hearts, then the Queen of Clubs, and lastly the Six of Spades. (Using my personal method of hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades). So, the signal for 'one above' is.. Lowest, Middle, Highest. (1,2,3)

To signal the hidden card as being two above the tabled card.. Lowest, Highest, Middle (1,3,2)

To signal as three above.. Middle, Lowest, Highest (2,1,3)

To signal as four above.. Middle, Highest, Lowest (2,3,1)

To signal as five above.. Highest, Lowest, Middle (3,1,2)

To signal as six above.. Highest, Middle, Lowest (3,2,1)

In my example above, because the hidden card, the 2D, is five above the first tabled card, the 10D, my assistant would have laid down the 10D, signalling me that the hidden card was a Diamond, and either the JD, QD, KD, AD, 2D, or the 3D, and then the signal for five.. Six of Spades, Four of Hearts, and then the Queen of Clubs. I immediately know that the Six of Spades is the highest, the Four of Hearts the lowest, and the Queen of Spades the middle.. like 3,1,2, and that combination represents the fifth card above the tabled card - in this example, the Ten of Diamonds.

I now know that the identity of the hidden card is - jack, queen, king, ace, TWO! The Two of Diamonds..

This code has enough 'order' that it's really not hard to remember once you begin to use it in practice. Believe me.. if my wife and I can use it successfully, so can YOU.

Begin by taking five cards out of the deck, one of each suit and then one extra, and practice the above method by yourself. You will shortly see that devulging the hidden card is very simple, so simple that you will be able to easily instruct someone to serve as your assistant.

When performing, instruct the spectator to pick five cards of different numbers and color. Stress the need of the cards all being "different and unique from one another", and they will often pick one of each suit without any further coaching on your part. This only makes your job easier..

This effect is all about performance. The more mystery you can add, the more amazed your spectators will be. With a tad of practice, you can perform this effect either blindfolded -or- with your back to your assistant . That's really effective!. All you need is for your assistant to call out the numbers and suits as they lay them down.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me and I will gladly assist you through your problem. Till then..

Rick Carruth

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Free Magic eBooks from Lybrary.com

Here's a brief list of the Free ebooks available at Lybrary.com, the internets top site for downloadable magic ebooks. I've been on their mailing list like.. forever, and I still amaze at the number of ebooks available to magicians and mentalists. Dozens and dozens of rare and out-of-print books converted to an electronic format.

4 Most by Peter Duffie
This is an ebook with four lovely card effects put together by Peter Duffie.

Tarbell Course sample by Harlan Tarbell = Tarbell Course full ebook
This is lesson 9 of the original Tarbell Course from the 1920s as PDF.

Card College 1 sample by Roberto Giobbi = Card College 1 full ebook
This is the chapter on the glide from Card College 1

Card College 2 sample by Roberto Giobbi = Card College 2 full ebook
This is the chapter on the double lift, part 2

Hugard's Magic Monthly sample = Hugard's Magic Monthly full ebook
This is issue no. 5 of volume 2 as a searchable PDF_facsimile.

The Sphinx sample = Digital Sphinx full ebook
This is issue number 1 from volume 48 as a searchable PDF_facsimile.

Self-Publishing by Tom Stone
If you want to learn more about how to write your own ebook, then download the shareware ebook Self-Publishing by Tom Stone.

Junx by Gran'pa Chet = A parody of Jinx

Click to visit the Lybrary

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The Magician´s “Swipe File"

When I first started out selling though direct mail, many of the books and courses I studied would talk about "Swipe Files". Unfortunately, many of today's modern marketing courses either fail to mention this simple concept at all, or downplay the important role it has in improving your sales copy writing skills.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "A swipe file is a collection of tested and proven ads and sales letters. Keeping a swipe file is a common practice used by advertising copywriters and creative directors as a ready reference of ideas for projects."

You as a professional entertainer should collect the marketing pieces of other successful entertainers. These are not examples meant to be plagiarized. You aren't copying work here; you're adapting it to your own copywriting needs.

"Most writers, when they start out, mimic their favorite authors. Eventually, we developed our own styles, which were richer for having first gone through this mimic stage.

The point is this: part of any effective learning process is to mimic what has been successful before you.
This is true of copywriting, too. And it's the reason you need to start a "swipe" file if you want to become a successful copywriter." David Silva

By comparing David Copperfield's posters with Lance Burton's and other magicians. you can find the common elements that make them work. Collecting headlines from sales letters, advertisements and press releases, you will get ideas you can adapt to your own use. Too many new business peolpe try to re-invent the wheel. It is much better to see what works and highlight, change, and improve on that.

How do you decide what to put in your swipe file?

Whenever you come across a piece of sales copy, whether it's on the web, in your email, in a newspaper or it arrives in your postal mail, you need to take a couple of moments to look it over. If the headline grabs your attention and the letter draws you in then the chances are you are holding a good piece of copy in your hands. It may be for a totally unrelated product than your show, but study it to see why it grabbed you.

Having a swipe file is vital to become a master copywriter. There´s no need to reinvent the wheel. Do not copy the exact same words, but copy the ideas and gain inspiration!

Are you interested in starting your swipe file? You've read my articles on marketing at BellaOnline, Visions Online and several other websites. Perhaps you've even been a special client of mine and I've helped design marketing promotions for you in the past.

Now, 25 years of marketing expertise is combined in one super CD to help you. Go to: MagicMarketing

Dennis Regling
http://magic.bellaonline.com

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Free Magic Posters Online

Lee Asher wants you to have a wall full of magic posters. What's the catch? Nothing. Just visit his site and follow the directions. Lee gets visitors and you get free posters... Choose one or all.

American Card Star Lifestyle : The Ripper Explanation Poster : Classic Erdnase Poster : Catch 33: Three Card Monte : Be Stylin' : The infamous Hong Kong Lecture : Thunderbird : The Modern Ace Production

Lee explains how you can create 11 x 17 professional grade poster to make your walls happy. This method isn't free, as you must download the posters and go to your local Kinko's, or something similar, to get the proper results. But, even at that, the cost is a fraction of a store-bought poster..

Click for Free Posters

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Mind Reading Exposed..

Full of 'top shelf' mentalism, Mind Reading Exposed will explain the... PIN Number Revelation..

"Imagine if someone walked up to you and was able to reveal your PIN number for your bank account - that´s exactly what you can do in this effect. Just by looking at a person's eyes you write a prediction of their PIN number. What´s written on the paper matches their PIN. This method can be used to reveal surnames, names of pets & more."
 
Read more at: Mind Reading Exposed

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The Magic Lantern podcast..

Thanks again to my friend Jim Canaday at the Magic Portal for this link. Like Jim, I've been in the dark about this website until now. Catch amazing interviews with some of the true treasures of magic. Guys who have been around the (professional) block so many times they deserve to call it their own..

Al Cohen, Steve Dushek, Bill Palmer, detailed business ideas from Eric Henning, Eric DeCamps, Denny Haney, Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brooks from the Houdini Museum.. and the list goes on..

Look for a free effect or two as you work your way through the interviews, most of which are in the forty-five to fifty minute range. Folks.. this is REAL magic..

Reels In Motion

Jim Canaday - The Magic Portal

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4 Card Effect..

Pete Walterscheid performs a 4 card effect shown to him by Criss Angel's tutor.. Johnny Thompson. I like Johnny, and I like Pete's performance of this 'do as I do' type effect.

Although Pete doesn't actually tell you how he performs the trick, he does tell you the sleights he uses to perform the effect and the order in which he performs the sleights. If you're half the magician you thnk you are, then this secret will be clear to you.. but NOT your audience..

It's nice to see something on YouTube that's not out-and-out thievery AND requires a little thought..

See if you can figure it out..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnvI4TCss I0 *(magicbypete)

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At the Movies with Ebert and Roeper

Everyone who reads the Magic Roadshow regularly knows I enjoy taking a side trip every now and again, a wandering down a path that has little to do with magic. Generally, what these links do have in common with magic is they are both related to entertainment..

At the Movies is both a current and an archive site for the works of Ebert and Roeper, and the many movie reviews they have bantered between the two. The site also includes 'The Balcony Archive', which includes many of the reviews with Ebert and Gene Siskel.

Now, you can search this very large website and view past reviews, in video format, exactly as you would have seen them on TV, plus all the current reviews of new movies. It's constantly updated to include movies coming out this week and next, as well as classic reviews of movies like The Godfather, Titanic, Die Hard, Fight Club, and dozens upon dozens of movies I/we loved and hated..

It's interesting to go back and watch the reviews of classics like Full Metal Jacket, and the insuing monumental arguement between Gene and Roger. Thanks goodness they had the foresight to hold on to old reviews during a time when no one would have believed that twenty years later viewers would STILL be enjoying their work.

Over 5000 movies.. that's how many they have in the fully searchable archives. This is one of those sites you visit for a 'moment'.. and an hour later you're amazed at how quickly time flies when you're having fun...

Visit At The Movies

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MTV's Room 401

I posted to my blog recently that I was very surprised at the lack of conversation in the magic community about MTV's new hit.. Room 401.

Produced in part by Ashton Kutcher of Punk'd fame, this plays more like Punk'd on steroids. Illusionists from around the world, including Cyril Takayama, pull very 'intense' pranks on unsuspecting spectators. In the link below, Cyril boards a bus and appears to be intoxicated and sickly. After walking up and down the isle, to the chagrin of the other passengers, Cyril suddenly performs his famous 'head falling off shoulders' effect. Needless to say, the passengers freak..

This is one of four effects in the thirty minute episode. Each of the four effects will play in it's own segment, so you will be watching four segments of roughly five minutes each to fully view each show.

This link is to episode 2. If you check the left nav bar you will see links to all the past episodes to date.. eight of them as of publication of this issue.

To quote MTV's own description of issue 2:

"Inside this creepy episode of Room 401 a chainsaw accident cuts an ice sculptor in two, an old head inside a jar shows signs of life, a taxi driver floats out of a speeding ticket, and a sickly bus rider loses his head, literally.."

Although these are only illusions and stunts created by members of the magic community, they are NOT for everyone. Some of you may find some of the episodes disturbing.. You've been forewarned..

Click to Watch

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Magic Roadshow Reader Survey

I've offered readers my help for a little over three years now.. and the time has come for me to ask for something in return. No.. I don't need a donation. ;o) - I need your input.

I need for 100 readers to take this quick ten question survey. You will not be required to type in any information, give your name or email address, or jump through any hoops.. I promise.

This is strictly multiple choice answers, designed to assist me in getting a grip on what the Roadshow readers are thinking. I'm old enough and slightly smart enough to know that what I like and what others like may not be one and the same. I don't want to wander down a path that no one else wants to take..

So.. help me determine the path the Magic Roadshow needs to take to remain revelant and well read. Remember, only one hundred readers will be able to take the survey.

Help me help you...

Take the Survey
     

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Card Tricks and Magical Mysteries

This is probably the most exciting blog on the web... assuming it's the only blog you've ever visited. Actually, it's a new blog I've begun in order to publish anything magical. I will NOT forsake Magic Bullets, but Magic Bullets is tied into the StreetMagic website, and I'm limited as to what I can publish.

Oh, I can publish magic related material, but I can't publish anything related to pok_r or gambl_ng, for example, as the search engines will put their big foot on my throat. I've been forced to go back through the blog recently and remove any reference to those two words as I've been penal'ized by one of the two biggie's, as best I can tell, for links to sites that are magic in nature, but have links to casin_s on THEIR sites.

I have two video's published, one to a flourish titled 'Boomerang' that I'm sure you'll like, and another to a color change that I call a 'brush color change', as you brush one card across the face of another and it changes into yet another card..

Check it out..

Card Tricks and Magical Mysteries

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I encourage you to send any magic resources my way. If you know of a site that has a free ebook or a wide assortment of magic related material, let me know. I'm sure all the other readers will appreciate it..

Remember too, the new form that allows you to send your articles and effects to the Roadshow for publication.

http://www.streetmagic.info/submit.html

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Email me..
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Download Erdnase Expert at the Card Table HERE

Please don't forget to visit some of my other sites.. see what's new -

http://StreetMagic.info
http://MagicRoadshow.com
http://StreeMagic.info/blogger.html
http://StreetMagicSecrets.info
http://Mentalists.info
http://LasVegasMagicShows.info
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May my next issue find you well..

Rick Carruth / editor

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