Jon Racherbaumer products: page 3

This 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.

• Publisher's Note
• I
  • Introduction
  • Marlo's Personal Annotation
  • Marlo's Variation Of The Zarrow Shuffle
  • MARLO In IBIDEM (1956-1969)
• II
  • Introduction
  • Marlo's Personal Annotation
  • The Easy Way: A Bottom Deal For The Millions
  • Two Memory Bits
  • Mental lie
  • Slop Shuffle Or Triumph?
  • Whispering Snitch

1st edition 1995, 50 pages; 1st digital edition 2020, PDF 50 pages.

Culling (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:

1. Desired cards are secretly culled during the logical and natural course of an effect.
2. Free selections are controlled (culled) to desired positions during a visible procedure that looks fair and above board.
3. A cull done during another fair procedure that results in separating the four suits in Ace to King order.

Jazz 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...

"One of the greatest card tricks ever invented." - George Anderson

"It fooled the hell out of me!" - Ted Annemann

"Without any possible doubt, Stewart James' 'Miraskill' is one of the greatest self-working card effects to have appeared in print. Apart from its own value, it is the ideal prelude to 'Out of this World'." - Peter Warlock

'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.

• Prologue
• Introduction
• Origins
• The Double Crimp
• Mexican Joe's Crimp: Dai Vernon
• Applying The Work
• Marlo Dead...

Reviving "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...

Offbeat 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...

The 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...

A letter-sized booklet with glue binding in excellent condition. For the content see the digital edition.

A letter-sized booklet with glue binding in excellent condition. For the content see the digital edition.

Diving into double-back transits.

• Jennings' Visitor: The spectator selects a card and the performer places it between two black Queens. The card becomes restless and upon command leaves the black Queens and is found face-up between two red Queens. Upon command, once again the card jumps from the red Queens back between the black Queens. The selected card may be initialed.
• The Visitor Sans Deck / Dave Solomon: Four Kings and four Jacks are removed from the deck. The Kings and Jacks are separated into two fours of a kind and are placed as two packets on the table. A spot card is selected from the...

From the Introduction:

• Marlo...

A different take on the usage of the mini-plunger or tiny plunger. When Danny Orleans showed the item to Jon it sparked his creativity. Read about the outcome here.

• About the Mini-Plunger
• How to Make a "Breather"
• Stuck Up
• Suck-Up Sleuth
• Malini Lite
• Pokerratum
• A Plunger Went A'Courting
• Aces Take a Plunge
• In-Depth
• Bonus: Ham-Fisted Find

1st edition 2013, 41 pages.

Henry Hardin's plot has been around for 107 years and his initial three methods are explained in The Art of Magic (1909). Card tricks of this kind were atypical when Hardin devised his trick. During his time, spectators physically picked cards. They seldom, if ever, mentally selected them. Because only five cards are used in "The Princess Card Trick," Hardin strengthened the challenge by finding the mental selection by tactile means while the five "possibilities" were in his pocket.

This is how the his trick appeared to audiences: Five cards are shown to a spectator who is asked to think of one of them....

A study of Daley's Aces its history and spin-offs.

This treatise is a compilation of methods for performing a simple transposition of pairs of cards - namely the red and black Aces. The basic plot has a checkered history and, despite being associated with Dr. Jacob Daley, there are lots of tangled connective tissue and ancestral than meets the eye.

Besides these aspects, you will discover that this treatise is a rich mixture of memes. That is, there are lots of bits and pieces to play with and, if you are the kind of student that likes to study the history of a trick and then work through...

Unpacking Dai Vernon's Pact

When Vernon's trick appeared, its puzzling aspect centers on the fact that the spectator chooses one of three cards and the one chosen changes into his selection. In other words, the spectator is permitted to make two decisions. He selects any card. Then he selects one-of-three cards, which changes into his selection. It is essentially a quickie.

• Introduction
• 1, 2, 3 Dai Vernon
• RECOUNTING ON 1-2-3 Dai Vernon
• LASSO-DOE-TRE Edward Marlo
• THE PROMISE II Edward Marlo
• STICKY ACE, DEUCE OR THREE Dave Solomon
• STICKING TO THE PROMISE Jon Racherbaumer
• ISOLATED 3-2-1 Jon Racherbaumer
• 1-2-3 INFINITY Jon Racherbaumer ...

This treatise is a detailed exploration of a glorified location-divination, framed by a whimsical conceit - namely that an inanimate object - a playing card - is the supposed agency that makes the entire trick work. In this regard it was an effort to upgrade an essentially puerile divination effect.

Here is the basic approach or plot: The way the performer learns the identity of a freely selected card is apparently due to enlisting the assistance of another playing card (usually a Queen), which whispers the name of the selection to the magician. The magician then acts as the Queen's proxy...

From the Foreword:

Note that different moves and techniques have been called 'Gypsy Switch' over the decades. See for example a technique to switch bills using an envelope: Gypsy Switch. The technique described here by Jon Racherbaumer uses a handkerchief and is mostly used with coins, but the basic technique is flexible and utilitarian, which means any object that is conveniently flat and compact can be switched for a similar object, using a handkerchief. This includes objects such as coins, poker chips, billets, cards (business and torn playing card pieces), and folded currency.

In its antecedent form this move appeared...

Explorations, examples, and routines using equivoque.

Hobson's Choice: the choice of taking either what is offered or nothing else; the absence of choice. [after Thomas Hobson (1544-1631) of Cambridge, England, who rented horses and gave only one choice, that of the horse nearest the stable door]

Eight select bits of rascality from Harry the Hat.

From the Introduction:

A deep dive into a key principle - the sunken key card.

• So It Begins ...
• Adding the Pips / Larsen - Wright
• Automatic Location / Oscar Weigle Jr.
• The Three Pile Trick / C. W. Jones
• The Twenty-Sixth Location
• The Triple Discovery / Charlie Miller - Jack McMillen
• Watching the Pitchman / Charlton Chute
• Improved Twenty-Sixth Location
• Middle Maze / Bruce Elliott
• The Twenty-Sixth Card Location - Using a Corner Short / George G. Kaplan
• Koran's Miracle Card Stab / Al Koran
• A New Use for a One Dollar Bill / John Henry Grossman
• Buried Treasure / Alex Elmsley
• Shadowed / Alex Elmsley
• S-D Location / Dave Solomon - Steve Draun
• S-D Plus / Simon Aronson
• An Exploration...

Remixing the Gardner-Marlo poker deal - its history and histrionics.

• Introduction
• How To Study This Manuscript
• An Effective Poker Deal / Jean Hugard
• Gardner-Marlo Poker Deal / Martin Gardner, Edward Marlo
• The Surprised Gambler / Martin Gardner
• Can You Deal A Good Poker Hand? / Jean Hugard
• Meyer Poker Deal / Orville Meyer
• The Lorayne Poker Deal / Harry Lorayne
• Of Course I Can Deal A Good Poker Hand! / Edward Marlo
• Solomon Meets Gardner-Marlo / Dave Solomon
• The Ultimate Gardner-Marlo/ Steve Mayhew, Jack Carpenter
• Marlo/Gardner/Britland Poker Deal
• Riverboat Poker / John Bannon
• Addendum: Duts / Edward Marlo

1st edition 2020, PDF 50 pages....

Unpacking the Smith Myth and the Rashomon Concept.

This collection of tricks focuses on a similar motif because they fit the precise definition of that word and, in each case, the goal is to show what unifies and specifically defines each one. I'm also using the term "curate," because I sifted through lots of material so readers can compare and analyze everything. I consider this to be a contextualizing exercise that reveals the motif's history and pinpoints its rightful place in the Creative Continuum.

The two motifs compiled here are the Smith Myth and what's popularly known as the Rashomon...