Cards as Weapons (1977)
archive.org
archive.org
I'm going to recommend another really excellent, long out of print book by a famous magician:
https://avalonlibrary.net/ebooks/Derren%20Brown%20-%20Pure%2...
It's an absolute gold mine of tips on performance and full of detailed technical explanations of how he did some of his most famous illusions. (and the answer is not NLP or subliminal suggestion or anything he talks about in his patter, most of the time).
The aspects of showmanship and performance really stuck with me. I often remember snippets of the book even today.
One of my favourite stories is when Derren is having dinner with friends and their child says "Show me a magic trick!" So Derren asks the child to name a card. He then flips over, by pure coincidence, the card the child named. Of course, he was planning on doing a more elaborate routine but he was present enough to notice that he would not be able to top his accidental trick and put the cards away.
He talks a lot about taking risks in performance and being attentive to the energy in the room. Of course, you need some solid reliable tricks as well to back this up!
His real genius is in identifying a kind of pseudo-scientific patter that would allow a skeptic to enjoy a mind reading performance. You can do the same crude trick that a mentalist or spiritualist would do, and wrap it in patter about neuro-linguistic programming and subliminal messages and psychology and with a few winks to let them think they're in on the secret and suddenly a hard bitten skeptic falls for the same sleight of hand trick that a gullible grandma fell for in the 19th century. Like, he accurately says that what he's doing isn't paranormal or "real", but his explanation on stage almost never matches what he's really doing.
This vid explains Vernon’s signature trick.
One key to Jays magic (and really any good mahician) is that NOTHING is coincidence. Every hitch, stumble, and stutter is there for a reason.
https://youtu.be/KnSGHHeFxa0?t=33
Also, at the end of the video his laser routine is really nice.
The video has been cut and edited.
He could REALLY do this, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F93VCA_TCQ
Actual card throwing starts at about 4:30.
Also, be warned that book pages 33 and 34 may be NSFW in some regions on this planet ;)
https://archive.org/details/learnedpigsfirep0000unse
Which has an amazing title.
“Cards as Weapons” by Ricky Jay (1977) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26106453 - Feb 2021 (2 comments)
Cards as Weapons by Ricky Jay (1977) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26048850 - Feb 2021 (1 comment)
Quote:
" A Sad Footnote to a Sad Footnote
Famous Bullet-Catching Trick
Annemann was considered a strange figure in magic and, by all but a few, he was thought a genius in the methods of duplicating psychic or mental phenomena; he was a creative thinker but always a reluctant and nervous performer. It was big news when advertise- ments for his full evening show appeared in the New York press. Annemann was to ap- pear at "The Little Theatre in the Sky" atop the Chanin Building on New York's 42nd Street on January 26th and 27th, 1942.
The feature of the show was to be the famous Bullet-Catching Trick. A committee purchased, examined and marked a bullet which was then loaded into a rifle belonging to a spectator, a marksman, who had never met the performer, The marksman hoisted the rifle to his shoulder and took aim at the mouth of the performer who stood blindfolded on the opposite side of the stage with his hands behind his back. The commands, "Ready — Aim — Fire!" were given. A shot rang out and the performer dropped to his knees; there was a trickle of blood from the comer of his mouth and then miraculously the marked bullet was seen to emerge from between his lips.
Over the years twelve magicians had lost their lives presenting this spectacular effect, and the magic fraternity spoke of the upcoming Annemann attempt with strained antici- pation.
It is easy to speculate that Annemann, too, felt the strain, not only of this trick and this show but of the other confused pieces of his life. He did not do the performance. On January 12th, a few miles away from the theatre, he locked himself in his room and committed suicide. "
It skips the part where there's an attempt to "magic" the bullet?
I don't have time to read it right now, but surely will later, seems like a fun weekend book.
Fellow enthusiasts should also check out videos of card magician Jeff McBride who has a parlor trick would sling cards into the audience.