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Ken de Courcy

Ken de Courcy

(Hastings, England: 10th March 1922 - 23rd July 2008)

Stage name of Kenneth William Gurney de Courcy Tyler since 1942. Learned at age 6 from parents gift of an Ernest Sewell magic set. Tutored by Stanley Collins 1938-42. Pro debut 1945-47 touring Southeast Asia for ENSA. Semi-pro c1947-c1964 while in business. Specializes in cabaret and close-up. Stage act with assistant-wife Sue de Courcy since 1969. Pet effect: Knife thru Coat. 1989 AMA Literary Fellowship. British Ring President 1989-90.

Wrote over 60 booklets, beginning with Genial Improbabilities (1949, 62pp; repr 1968), then Zodiac Telepathy (1951, 17pp), Automentalism (1953, 15pp), Dubbelkross and Simulkross (1955, 16pp), Son of Pentertain (1974, 29pp), Creditable Conjuring (1983).

Edited The Budget for 17 years and Magigram since 1966. Edits-publishes The Coffee-Break Chronicle (limited to 100 subscribers) 1988-?

Coauthors: Herb Rungay, Richard Himber, George Blake, Peter Pit, Edwin Hooper, Ian Adair, Ravelle and Andree, Ulysses Frederick Grant, Jack Yates, Billy McComb, Marc de Milo, Dick Turpin, Alan Shaxon

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Ken de Courcy
Danson's Diary Trick by Ken de Courcy

Danson's Diary Trick was first published in the New Pentagram Vol 2. It was an effect many magicians liked and subsequently several variations were published. Ken de Courcy compiles here several variations from Roy Johnson, from MUM magazine, including his own ideas, tips, and suggestions.

1st edition 1983, 20 pages; PDF 23 pages.

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Ken de Courcy
Automentalism by Ken de Courcy

A complete man and wife telepathy act.

A nicely worked out two-person act that eliminates long memorization preparation and training. The basic idea can be adapted and extended to fit your needs.

(Originally this booklet was sold with an 'apparatus'. The 'apparatus' was a set of cue cards or cue stickers which could be pasted onto cards. These are not included in this digital reproduction. However, the ebook does include images of all the cue cards and you can therefore make them yourself.)

A truly sensational mental telepathy act with ordinary playing cards and other objects handed...

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Ken de Courcy
Cards in Cabaret by Ken de Courcy

From the prologue by Billy McComb:

The thing which annoys me about Ken de Courcy is that he has a tidy mind. This means he correlates everything in his nut so that it all has a place. This I don't have. So I suppose my annoyance is goaded by envy.

Now if you were to ask me to give you a hundred commercial card tricks which were new to audiences, I'd swallow down the Six Card Repeat and the Brainwave Deck and die quietly.

Not so our gallant Ken de C. He just sits down and puts a gaggle of highly commercial card tricks into book form ... and readably so, too. And, blast me thumb-tips, he invents...

★★★★★ $7
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Ken de Courcy
The Systematic Seer by Ken de Courcy

A simplified system of fortune telling.

One of the most effective ways of entertaining informally is by Fortune-Telling and, as a magician, you must have been asked many times if you can "tell fortunes". To do this properly requires much study and memory work, time you can probably not afford. So here is a new, simplified system that can easily be applied to Palmistry, the Tarot, Sand Reading, and almost every other form of divination. Apart from anything else, it's a great way to make friends.

The problem has always been to obtain sufficient 'cues' with which to give a 'reading'. Whilst...

$8
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Ken de Courcy
The Astro Card File by Ken de Courcy

Effects with the Zodiac deck. (Deck not included with this PDF.)

Excerpt from the introduction:

Whilst this beautifully produced pack can be used for card games, as suggested in the small folder that comes with the deck, its main strength to a magician lies in the way that ordinary card tricks can be given an astrological slant and thus personalized. To the mentalist, of course, the pack represents one of the finest adjuncts to have come out for many years. Whilst a spectator may not be able to associate herself with the Queen of Hearts, she can certainly relate to her own birth sign....

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Ken de Courcy
Hot Ice 3: The Kosky Cut by Ken de Courcy

Here Ken de Courcy took a clever cut effect by Gerald Kosky, changed it, and altered it to make it completely self-contained and also impromptu. Whilst doing this, Ken hit on another use and here you are getting two for the price of one.

EFFECT:

A borrowed pack is shuffled by the owner, then the magician extracts two cards from it, hands the cards to the spectator and asks him to place them into a convenient pocket. The deck is placed on the table and the spectator is requested to cut off about two-thirds and lay it face-up alongside the remainder. He now cuts the larger packet roughly...

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Ken de Courcy
Hot Ice 1 by Ken de Courcy

A series of novel and above all entertaining card tricks, all requiring a minimum of skill, the simplest of apparatus and all designed for the maximum entertainment and audience appeal.

No. 1. "A Double-Dose": Predestined and Black and Red Computation II.

Two effects, both using the same subtle principle, credited to Nick Trost.

PREDESTINED is for platform performances. You can use a Jumbo pack of cards and four cardboard plates. You will make this up in a few minutes and have a good program item. The working is simplicity itself but, being more interested in the presentation possibilities...

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Ken de Courcy
A Card Exits by Ken de Courcy

This is Ken's take on R.M. Jamison's 'Yogi Tells' effect from The Phoenix. Someone thinks of one of four cards of the same value of different suits. After two brief shuffles, you spell "Y-O-G-I" three times discarding the card on the last letter, and the card that remains is the one the spectator chose. In Ken's version the spectator thought of card magically flys into the pocket of the performer.

1st edition 1984, 8 pages; PDF 9 pages.

★★★★★ $10
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Ken de Courcy
Sleightly Easier by Ken de Courcy

A book of alternative, easier, card sleights and tricks to go with them.

Excerpt from the introduction:

Many of the basic card sleights are not easy to do well. Take the Two-Handed Pass in which the top and bottom halves of the pack are transposed. The objective is to do it invisibly, which is just about impossible. To cover the action some very strong misdirection is required ... or an alternative method. This little book is about such alternative methods ... easier ways to bring about the same results. But because sleights, in themselves, are useless, I've endeavoured to include a few...

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Ken de Courcy & Ian Adair
The Magical Jumbo Chinese Coin by Ken de Courcy & Ian Adair

Excerpt from the Foreword:

Certain pieces of apparatus, not many, have a sort of built-in glamour. Maybe charisma is a better word. I'm talking about props you enjoy seeing and handling. Supreme's Jumbo Chinese Coin comes into this category. To coin a phrase ... "It looks good ... it feels good ... and, by golly, it works good!" For the close-up performer it will add an expensive appearance to your routines as well as a completely unexpected climax to any trick with coins. For the cabaret magician, it can be easily seen and appreciated and, since it is unfaked, examined if necessary.

In...

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Ken de Courcy
Magic in Cabaret Land by Ken de Courcy

From the introduction:

The word itself, "Cabaret", carries overtones that conjure exotic pictures of nude dancers, the "Moulin Rouge" and German Beer Cellars; a sort of high-class iniquitous entertainment enjoyed by the lucky few. But that is all changed. It's been brought down to the level of the man-in-the-street. Now he can have a ringside seat for dining, dancing, drinking, a show ... and gambling.

Yet he won't take advantage of all this 'loose-living' unless there is also a "SHOW", as the proprietors of these establishments well know. There is a plethora of singers and 'groups', and...

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Ken de Courcy
Son of Pentertain (used) by Ken de Courcy

Softcover booklet in excellent condition. For details on the content see the digital edition.

★★★★★ $10
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Ken de Courcy
Mistress of Pentertain by Ken de Courcy

Fiddling with figures.

More along the lines of Pentertain and Son of Pentertain. The fact that there is so much material here is due to the efforts of Geoffrey Lamb, Ralph Erlewine, Dr. Bernard Juby, R. C. Buff, Peter Rees and, in particular, Leslie May who sent in pages of figure oddities.

  • Acknowledgements
  • Foreword
  • The Power of the Pentagram
  • The Seven Dwarfs
  • The Charlie Chronicles
  • A Sanguinary Rise
  • In the Good Old Days
  • Tricky Crosswords
  • Discount Coffee
  • The Alternative Prediction
  • Practice Makes Perfect
  • Three-Way Prediction
  • F.T. Publicity
  • Medical Magic
  • Forbidden Fruit
  • Grandfather's Gimmick
  • 1089 and...
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Ken de Courcy
Son of Pentertain by Ken de Courcy

The sequel to Pentertain. As before, these oddities can be shown wherever you have pencil and paper. For larger audiences a chalkboard, whiteboard or flip-chart is better; you can even do them in sand on a sea-shore.

  • Introduction
  • A Timely Legend
  • No Time For Work
  • The Cure For Insomnia
  • Sheik A Leg
  • Sheik Another Leg
  • Cross Check

1st edition 1975, 17 pages; PDF 22 pages.

★★★★★ $10
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Ken de Courcy
Pentertain by Ken de Courcy

Fifteen minutes impromptu entertainment with pen and paper.

From the introduction:

Here is a short, entertaining act that can be worked impromptu anywhere you have a pen, paper and audience. For larger shows it can be done with chalk and blackboard. I have even done it on an Overhead Projector during a break in a Training Course.

  • Introduction
  • PENTERTAIN
    • THE REQUIREMENTS
    • THE PREPARATION
    • THE FORMAT
  • Only Heaven (and Einstein) Knows!
  • Everything is Relative
  • A Not-so-Proper Charlie
  • The Chinese Check
  • The Forgotten Phone Number
  • A Question of Degree
  • A Last Word

1st edition...

★★★★★ $10
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Ken de Courcy
33 Trucchi con la Forzatura I.D.E.U. by Ken de Courcy

E’ con grande piacere che presentiamo per la prima volta al pubblico dei prestigiatori Italiani questo bellissimo quanto ricco lavoro di Ken De Courcy. La Forzatura “I.D.E.U. ( In lingua originale PATEO) è una delle più versatili e apparentemente innocenti che siano state ideate. I.D.E.U. è un acronimo per “Indicane Due Eliminane Una”. Infatti un qualsiasi numero di carte (o oggetti) viene disposto sul tavolo in qualsiasi ordine e alternativamente lo spettatore e l’esecutore ne coprono due con le mani e una carta viene eliminata liberamente ogni volta. Eppure, questo processo...

$4
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Ken de Courcy
Nod ... è Possibile by Ken de Courcy

Ottieni il massimo da un trucco classico. Tutto ciò di cui hai bisogno è un unico pezzo di corda (che può essere preso in prestito) e sei sempre pronto a intrattenere il tuo pubblico. È così piccolo ma ha un effetto così grande. Puoi eseguirlo da vicino o per un grande pubblico. Puoi eseguirlo anche in VIDEOCONFERENZA!

Ottieni il massimo dal “Nodo Impossibile di Hunter” con questa routine del grande Edwin Hooper descritta dall’altrettanto grande Ken De courcy.

"The Impossible Knot", originariamente chiamato "G.W.Hunter's Puzzle Knot", era ben noto ai maghi cinquant'anni fa,...

$7
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Ken de Courcy
Ken de Courcy Discusses The World's Fastest Card Trick (used) by Ken de Courcy

Booklet stapled in like-new condition; 20 pages; Supreme Magic Publication.

$7
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Richard Himber & Ken de Courcy & George Blake
Linking Finger Ring (used) by Richard Himber & Ken de Courcy & George Blake

Stapled booklet in like-new condition. For details on the contents see the digital edition.

$7
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Ulysses Frederick Grant & Ken de Courcy
Walking Through a Steel Plate Plus (used) by Ulysses Frederick Grant & Ken de Courcy

Stapled booklet in good condition. For details on the contents see the digital edition.

$10
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Ken de Courcy
After Dinner Technique (used) by Ken de Courcy

Stapled booklet in like-new condition. For details on the contents see the digital edition.

$8
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Jack Yates & Ken de Courcy
Accusation (used) by Jack Yates & Ken de Courcy

Stapled booklet in like-new condition. For details on the contents see the digital edition.

$10
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Billy McComb & Ken de Courcy
Cabaret Card Divination (used) by Billy McComb & Ken de Courcy

Stapled booklet in like-new condition. For details on the contents see the digital edition.

$7
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Ken de Courcy
Creditable Conjuring (used) by Ken de Courcy

Stapled booklet in good condition; slight crease on cover and first three pages. For details on the contents see the digital edition.

$7
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Ken de Courcy
Stand-Up Sponges (used) by Ken de Courcy

Stapled booklet in like-new condition. For details on the contents see the digital edition.

$8
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Ken de Courcy
Even Stephen (used) by Ken de Courcy

Booklet, stapled, in good condition. Published by Supreme Magic. Describing an "even bet" gambling routine.

★★★★★ $10
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Ken de Courcy
Magic Balloons by Ken de Courcy

From the introduction:

It was that well-known West Country entertainer, Roy Van Dyke, who made me realise balloons can be used for more purposes than screwing into strange shapes sometimes resembling animals. He has a terrific opening trick that has colour, movement and noise that never fails to grab and hold the attention of today's show-saturated audiences.

  • Introduction
  • Bursting a Balloon
  • Explosive 20th. Century
  • Cut and Restored Rope
  • The Hydrostatic Glass
  • The Sharpshooter
  • Milk in Light Bulb
  • Upside Down Bottle
  • Balloon Bouncing
  • The Break-a-way Bouncer
  • Balloon Destroyer
  • The...
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Dick Turpin & Alan Shaxon & Ken de Courcy
Tearing Them Up by Dick Turpin & Alan Shaxon & Ken de Courcy

There can be no doubt about it, the "Torn and Restored Newspaper" is one of our modern classics. Many excellent versions have been published and marketed by dealers over the years. In the pages of this manuscript, we are pleased to present two excellent variations, Dick Turpin's "Torn and Restored Newspaper" and "Tearing Up the News" by Alan Shaxon, both first-class methods. Both versions are very easy to prepare and to perform. Additionally, we have included Ken de Courcy's patter presentation for the Dick Turpin routine, which of course, can be used for either variation. Ken’s patter is...

★★★★★ $7
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Ken de Courcy
Stand-Up Sponges by Ken de Courcy

A practical and commercial routine without difficult sleights.

From the Introduction:

For a long time Billy McComb and I have been searching for the "perfect" routine with Sponge Balls. It's taken a long time because we laid down some rather stringent conditions:

  1. The set-up (and re-setting) must be both quick and easy.
  2. It must be workable standing up without the use of a table.
  3. There must be no danger of the balls dropping off the volunteer's hand and bouncing all over the place.
  4. It must be loaded in such a way that it doesn't bulge out a thin mohair suit.
  5. If possible, it must contain at least...
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Ken de Courcy
Creditable Conjuring by Ken de Courcy

Magic with credit cards.

Credit cards are easier to handle than playing cards because they're smaller and they're also a lot more valuable. In short, a borrowed credit card is an ideal thing with which to conjure. This ebook will give you a few ideas to include in your program.

  • Foreword
  • Gimmicks
  • Crossed Credits
  • Credit Card In Wallet
  • Credit By Chance
  • Card To Cash
  • Credit Shower
  • Through Credit
  • Unlocked Credit
1st edition 1982, 12 pages; 1st digital edition 2020, PDF 15 pages.
★★★★★ $5
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Marc de Milo & Ken de Courcy
Le Carte Bingo by Marc de Milo & Ken de Courcy

Gli effetti con le carte adatti ad essere presentati su un palcoscenico sono piuttosto rari. La routine che state leggendo ha il grande vantaggio di poter essere presentata su un grande palco o in un locale per spettacoli, in un bar, etc. Può essere presentata ovviamente anche a distanza ravvicinata . Si tratta di una versione aggiornata del grande classico "Nap Hand", che si può eseguire senza grossi sforzi di memoria e senza alcuna abilità.

EFFETTO:

Il prestigiatore mostra un comune mazzo di carte, lo mescola apertamente e chiaramente ( il miscuglio è reale e può farlo anche uno...

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Jack Yates & Ken de Courcy
Foreshadowed by Jack Yates & Ken de Courcy

Foreshadowed is an impromptu triple prediction that would play well for a few people or a full theater. As a bonus Yates describe another incredible prediction that can be done over the phone.

Jack Yates really needs no introduction; his name usually comes up wherever subtle magic is discussed. He tends to produce devious principles, then simplifies them down so anyone can use them. Foreshadowed is an interesting twist (literally!) on the well-known three objects prediction (a la Mental Epic). What makes this version different is that the predictions are written on blank pieces of cardboard...

★★★★★ $5
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Marc de Milo & Ken de Courcy
Bingo Divination by Marc de Milo & Ken de Courcy

Card tricks suitable for stage presentation are rare. Bingo Divination can be performed successfully on a stage or in a cocktail-lounge. It is the logical, up to date version of the classic Nap Hand, without the necessary memory work or sleight-of-hand. Rehearse it carefully, paying attention to presentation, and you'll have a reputation-maker.

EFFECT: The magician introduces a pack of cards. The cards are genuinely shuffled and then dealt into two piles, one containing Clubs and Hearts, the other Spades and Diamonds. The Clubs-Hearts pile is again dealt into three face-down piles, one to...

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Ken de Courcy
The Australian Gambling Game of 31 by Ken de Courcy

The Ace to Six of each suit are placed on the table, and the two players turn cards face down alternately and a running total of the pips is maintained. The winner is the one who takes the total to no more than 31. Even after the spectator is told the secret to winning, the magician still wins. Ends with an extra kicker.

PDF 10 pages

★★★★★ $10
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Billy McComb & Ken de Courcy
Cabaret Card Divination by Billy McComb & Ken de Courcy

The Effect: The magician removes a pack of cards from its packet and hands it out for shuffling and cutting. He also gives a sealed envelope to another spectator for safe keeping. The shuffled deck is passed to someone else who is instructed to deal seven cards on to the hand of the person seated next to him. The performer reclaims the balance of the pack then asks the spectator to fan the seven cards he holds faces towards himself.

From the center of the floor, the magician says, "Sir, I think you are looking at a Queen of Spades. If I'm right, please remove it from the other cards and hold...

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Ken de Courcy
Fortunato in Amore by Ken de Courcy

Un'altra grande routine da Ken De Courcy , piena di mistero, umorismo e partecipazione del pubblico . Questo gioco di carte è adatto per essere eseguito in close-up, sul palco, in un locale o ovunque preferiate. Il colpo di scena finale, completamente inaspettato (seppur logico), sorprenderá enormemente il pubblico e non mancherá di regalarvi un lungo applauso.

EFFETTO: Una signora del pubblico viene invitata come assistente e le viene chiesto di scegliere una delle quattro buste presentate apertamente su un tavolo. Le rimanenti tre vengono lasciate in piena vista. Viene consegnato all’assistente...

★★★★★ $8
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Jack Yates & Ken de Courcy
Accusation by Jack Yates & Ken de Courcy

From the introduction:

"Accusation" is a court-room drama, not exactly legal, of course, but realistic enough to cause the accused to lie and the witnesses to commit perjury! If the trick does not have impact, it will be your own doing.

The Effect: From a list of criminals a spectator mentally selects a name and, from then on, 'becomes' this person. He also selects the crimes he will be accused of in the course of the examination. He also selects one, two or three witnesses who are put in the 'witness-box'. Despite the lack of clues, the performer reveals the criminal's name and his crimes. ...

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Ken de Courcy
After Dinner Technique by Ken de Courcy

From the preface:

This book first appeared in 1953 in serial form in Goodliffe's ABRACADABRA. At the time it was the first treatise to be published on the subject and many people were kind enough to say it helped them overcome the difficulties always found in after-dinner shows.

All the information it contained was learned by experience as it was a field in which I specialised. And, although it was written nearly thirty years ago, almost nothing has changed; which is surprising when you consider the sweeping changes in other spheres of entertainment.

  • Preface And Acknowledgement
  • Foreword Be Natural ...
★★★★★ $4
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Ken de Courcy
Hammanesque: Hot Ice 2 by Ken de Courcy

In one of the New York Magic Symposium volumes there is a trick by Brother John Hamman entitled "The Lie-Detector Card Case". In it, he describes a truly brilliant-in-its-simplicity method for discovering a merely-thought-of card. Here is an alternative ending to it which, for me, makes it easier for larger audiences to see.

EFFECT

A spectator shuffles a pack of cards, then merely thinks of a card as the performer counts some over before his eyes. The cards are shuffled, then the performer shows the cards at the top and bottom of the pack; the selected card is not among them. Next, he introduces two paper...

★★★★★ $7
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Ulysses Frederick Grant & Ken de Courcy
Walking Through a Steel Plate Plus by Ulysses Frederick Grant & Ken de Courcy

As usual with Grant instructions, they leave a lot to the imagination and "know-how" of the magician. However, the method was a clever one, simple but very effective. Ken de Courcy has taken the original instructions and added to them his own presentation points, and not only that, his improvements and various novel dressings which lift the effect up and turn it into acceptable modern entertainment.

In the original effect, a committee was invited on the stage to examine a solid steel plate. Then circular drawstring curtains were placed at the front and the rear, the magician walked behind...

★★★★★ $6
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Ken de Courcy
Calling all Cards by Ken de Courcy

A deck of cards is shuffled and put in trouser pockets, any card called for produced, then any non-playing card (birthday card, membership card, postcard, ...) called for, with gags and card castle finale.

This manuscript has not been available for a long time. This comedy and mysterious act, which has not been seen for a number of years, contains all the ingredients for hit entertainment today.

THE EFFECT

The performer comes on to a stage which bears only a table. He introduces a pack of cards and hands them out for shuffling, then has them cut into two halves and, after rapidly glancing...

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