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Facsimile 3Jon RacherbaumerThis issue of Facsimile includes the complete contents of the first two (and only) issues of Jon Racherbaumer's periodical Marlophile. Jon has reformatted Marlophile, and added some additional routines.
1st edition 1995, 50 pages; 1st digital edition 2020, PDF 50 pages. | ★★★★★ $15 to wish list | ||
Cull-MinationJon RacherbaumerCulling (cards) is not a particularly fashionable technique. During the past forty years, card magicians started to pay closer attention to various ideas and techniques, especially those having broad application. In this treatise three types of culls will be examined:
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All That JazzJon RacherbaumerJazz Aces was inauspiciously introduced to the magic world in 1971 when Peter Kane published Another Card Session. It was a fortuitous event because it appeared about the same time the Elmsley Count was gaining favor with magicians from coast to coast. Like weeds in an open field, packet tricks were also popping up everywhere. Furthermore, Kane's routine clarified the transposition aspects of basic Ace Assemblies. Using only 8 principal "players" (cards), his action procedure was simple and direct. Best of all, the final transposition was squeaky clean. As a result it did not take long for Jazz... | ★★★★★ $15 to wish list | ||
Mirroring Maximizing MiraskillJon Racherbaumer"One of the greatest card tricks ever invented." - George AndersonMiraskill came into being in 1935 when Stewart James self-marketed it. According to him, only one copy was sold. But it leaked out and Dr. Jacob Daley demonstrated it to Ted Annemann, who eventually published it in the Jinx, which was the starting point for much thought and commentary by other clever minds. ... | ★★★★★ $15 to wish list | ||
Mulling Over Mexican JoeJon Racherbaumer'Mexican Joe' refers to a specially crimped card or deck, one that is crimped at diagonal corners in opposite directions. The first person to publish anything on this crimp was Victor Farelli when he published Farelli's Card Magic. Several years passed before another mention is made. This time it was explained in Dai Vernon's More Inner Secrets of Card Magic. Racherbaumer collects a number of routines and ideas with this crimp. In so doing he weaves his way through some interesting nooks and crannies of card magic history.
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TwixtJon RacherbaumerReviving "Between the Palms" one of Alex Elmsley's most offbeat plots. This is sort of a "locked room" mystery with playing cards. It is an offbeat plot because the implicit aspects of effect, particularly its climax, are not immediately understood or appreciated. Yet the effect still has an emotional impact. Compared to other card tricks being done in 1952 it was very different. (Perhaps its closest cousins may be Fred Braue's "The Prechosen Chosen Card" from The Gen (February 1962) or Brother John Hamman's "Signed Card.") Effect: The performer removes a card from the deck and, without showing its face, places it between... | $15 to wish list | ||
Monte-MazementsJon RacherbaumerOffbeat alternatives of the Three-Card Motif This compilation makes a distinction between the well-known Three-Card Monte wagering game, and motifs using three principal cards in different ways. All of the motifs challenge a spectator's ability to follow the actions to keep track of certain principal cards as they are physically moved around. In some of the motifs, the principal cards are moved by the spectator while the performer's back is turned. Then, sight unseen, the performer is able to ascertain the location of a card previously designated as the "money card." In other motifs... | ★★★★★ $15 to wish list | ||
All Backs: a select compendiumJon RacherbaumerThe All Backs Motif is odd. For one thing, it casts a revealing light on we magician's claim (when it suits our purpose) that we use ordinary cards. That is our decks, which we prefer to borrow, consist of cards that have faces and backs on both sides. Therefore, if we show a deck that consists of all backs and faces we are admitting that such anomalies exist and the cards being used are probably gimmicked in some way. Why do this? A better question may be - What motivated someone to create such an effect using this kind of deck? That "someone" was Dai Vernon and my guess is that he wanted to... | $15 to wish list | ||
Facsimile 2 (used)Jon RacherbaumerA letter-sized booklet with glue binding in excellent condition. For the content see the digital edition. | $15 to wish list | ||
Facsimile 1 (used)Jon RacherbaumerA letter-sized booklet with glue binding in excellent condition. For the content see the digital edition. | $15 to wish list | ||
Dunbury DelusionsJon Racherbaumer"It is one of the very best tricks which can be done for close-up work." - Hugard and Braue from Show Stoppers With Cards From the Foreword: The Dunbury Delusion has an illustrious pedigree that has been up, down, and all around the magic scene for at least 100 years. Charlie Miller's method that was published in Expert Card Technique in 1940, more or less branded his name on it, but seven year earlier Victor Farelli published a modified version ("The Partagas Sell") in Farelli's Card Magic. He did not claim paternity but credited a Spanish magician named Partagas who apparently taught him the trick in 1908. Basic Plot: A selection "lost" in a deck is successfully found by using three... | ★★★★★ $16 to wish list | ||
Dreamwork 2Jon RacherbaumerThis short compilation follows on the heels of another compilation titled Dreamwork. Both relate to Bob Hummer's "The Midreader's Dream." Bob Hummer introduced to the magic world many interesting principles and effects. One of the first to make a splash was introduced in 1952. The dreamy dealer ad seemed too good to be true: A spectator merely thinks of a card and then performs a few, unseen dealing procedures with a deck of cards. The magician, whose back was turned throughout these actions, turns and faces the spectator. He takes the deck, briefly scans the cards, and consults a "dream book." He then names... | ★★★★★ $16 to wish list | ||
At the TableJon RacherbaumerBeautiful close up magic by Jon Racherbaumer, John Cornelius, Roger Klause, Ed Marlo, Jim Hunter, Steve Draun, Eddie Adams, Lee Fried, Chuck Smith, Phil Goldstein, Tom Mullica, and Simon Aronson. Here is magic that is unique and that you will not see in other books. The ebook is divided into chapters on Coins, Cards, Linking Pins, Mental Magic, and Diversions. You will find such unusual items as Marlo's complete presentation of the Color Vision box, Racherbaumer's close up Miser's Dream, Marlo work on Linking Pins, Cornelius' Coins thru Table, Mullica's version of Jarrow's Cig thru Hanky, and more. The section on card magic (mostly Marlo... | ★★★★★ $18 to wish list | ||
Picnic PocusJon RacherbaumerThis manuscript is about one trick that incorporates a seminal sorting procedure now given the name Belcho's Disbursive Deal. Over the years the trick eventually morphed into an organized compilation that shares the same identifiable title: "Poker Player's Picnic." It begins with Vernon Lux, an enterprising amateur who founded the International Society of Junior Magician in 1931 and began a magazine called The Dragon in 1932. Therein Oscar Weigle had a column called "Themes and Schemes" where he explained a trick called "The Million to One Trick." (Later it was changed to "Belchou's Aces.") It's unclear... | ★★★★★ $18 to wish list | ||
The Ascanio SpreadJon RacherbaumerThe Ascanio Spread is a beautiful false display move, generally used to display 4 cards and hide a fifth one. From the Introduction: The Ascanio Spread immigrated to this country from Amsterdam. Del Cartier, Herb Zarrow, Mike Rogers, and Pete Biro were instrumental in bringing this technique to America. In fact, Del Cartier is a close personal friend of Ascanio and was the go-between in obtaining the original Ascanio manuscript for Mike Rogers, who in turn passed it on to me.
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Elevation OvationsJon RacherbaumerAlthough Marlo is generally credited with the Elevator plot, analysis of the action steps taken in the Four Burglars, Jacob's Ladder, and Marlo's Penetration exhibit procedural similarities and could be presented as "elevating tricks" if accompanying patter expressed the "elevator" analogy. As far as the "elevator" trope is concerned, we can credit Bill Simon for naming rights.
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Analects and AnaloguesJon RacherbaumerTen card mysteries Annemann would have loved. This book was part of a two-person three-hour lecture session given by Harry Anderson that Jon gave at a Daytona Magic Conference. Excerpt from the foreword: Anneman believed that the effect is the most important thing and, to paraphrase Vince Lombardi, the effect is the only thing. Anneman believed, as deists believe in a god, that a magician must do something extraordinary with the ordinary…and what is demonstrated must also have no practical use or relevance in the real world. It is a demo, not an application of real power. Anneman... | ★★★★★ $19.50 to wish list | ||
Sticks and Stones: a leaflet for the left handJon RacherbaumerRacherbaumer, a man of words - sometimes strong words, sometimes exotic words, sometimes provocative words, sometimes strange words - but always thoughtful and worth reading, wrote a two year column in The Greater Son of the Bat Jr. journal (S.O.B.jr.). All 24 installments of this column are collected here. You will find a lot of Marlo-vian talk, good tricks and interesting articles. I was not a magician in the late 70s, so I cannot say how it was back then in the 'good old times', but reading Sticks and Stones allowed me to imagine how - I am sure - it must have been.
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Finessed ControlsJon RacherbaumerControlling a card to the top or to the bottom is the most fundamental technique in card magic. Every card magician should have at least one good method to do that. Consequently many authors use the phrase "control card to the top/bottom with your preferred method" and leave the rest to the reader assuming that everyone already has his or her preferred method. While you might have your favorite method, the search for better ones never stops. In this ebook Jon Racherbaumer describers several - as he calls them 'finessed' methods - to control a card to the top or to the bottom. You should find... | ★★★★★ $20 to wish list | ||
Marlo Without TearsJon RacherbaumerFrom the Foreword: MARLO WITHOUT TEARS began as a flip notion five years ago. My original plan was to prepare a salmagundi of previously published material by Marlo that was easy to do; to select methods which stressed subtlety and psychological cunning and required no difficult sleights. There is a neat irony here because such material is not associated with Marlo. The prevailing assumption about Marlovian magic focusses on its difficulties, complexities, and textual protraction. The look of his books are intimidating: pages of explanation, dense detail, allusions to other notes (published... | ★★★★★ $20 to wish list | ||
Timely TrickeryJon RacherbaumerWhile we all intuitively understand what time is, even a child can tell you what time it is, it is a hard concept to fully understand from a scientific point of view. It is hard to define, and wrap your head around. That is part of the intrigue of making it the topic of a magic effect. Particularly for an interested and sophisticated audience it can be a very effective plot line. Jon Racherbaumer explores how magicians have made use of it over the decades, and he has unearthed some remarkable gems.
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Harry Anderson's Square DancingJon RacherbaumerA selective history of magic squares and routines and performances which are somewhat unusual and different from the regular magic square presentation of 'give me a number and I write down a magic square of that number'.
1st edition 2008, PDF 31 pages.... | $20 to wish list | ||
The Legendary Kabbala (1971-1981)Jon RacherbaumerThe meaning of Kabbala, translated from Hebrew, means something received and handed down. This definition resonates. Knowledge of magic, after all, is handed down from generation to generation, from magician to magician, and from teacher to disciple. Prior to xerography and personal computers, most magical knowledge was transmitted in this primitive, semi-private, and intimate means. Word-of-mouth reigned supreme and to a certain extent still does. The magic scene in the Seventies was a blooming, buzzing place, atwitter with contentiousness and creativity. Close-up magic, particularly with... | ★★★★★ $49.50 to wish listPDF_facsimile | ||
The Legendary Kabbala (1971-1981) (used)Jon RacherbaumerHardcover with dust jacket. Like new condition. For details on the content see the digital edition. | $150 to wish list |