Ken de Courcy

Based on a Bob Hummer and Karl Fulves principle. A spectator is handed seven playing-cards. He shuffles them, then places one of them aside face-down without looking at it. Now squares of cardboard are shown with cut-out windows. Spectator follows the magician's instructions and, at the end, looking through the cut-out windows in the cards, an index of a card appears. The chosen card is turned over and has been correctly revealed.

You will have to make up the squares of cardboard for this. The trick itself is self-working, the real work having been put into the evolution of the effect, but they are useful for...

Routines with the Himber type linking finger ring.

• The Original Himber Routine
• Richard Himber's StaggeRing
• The K de C Triple Link (Ken de Courcy)
• About Rings and Things (George Blake)
• Ring, Pin and Cord
• Chinese Coins and Rings
• A Ring and a Loop o'String
• Sefalaljia-By Hand
• BewildeRing

1st digital edition 2018, 19 pages.

From the Foreword:

A word about the tricks themselves. As far as I personally am aware, every item is original in some way, either in effect or method.

• Introduction ...
• Foreword ...
• CHAPTER ONE: MAGIC WITH CARDS
  • Reggie the Rattlesnake
  • Ri-Ki-Ki Poker
  • Silken Card Discovery
  • The Travelling Phoenix
  • The Snake Charmer
• CHAPTER TWO: MAGIC WITH THE MIND
  • Eve v Adam
  • "Hail, O Swami"
  • Tangled Thoughts
  • The Devil's Key
• CHAPTER THREE: MAGIC WITH ANYTHING
  • No Knot
  • The Sympathetic Note Trick
  • The Jeweller's Dream
  • Which Witch?
  • The Chinese Picture
  • The Fiddled Furniture
  • The Ju-Ju...

Here is Ken's version of the signed card to wallet. A classic effect in a beautiful version with the complete presentation. The Effect: A card is chosen and signed by the taker. When it has been returned to the pack, a wallet is introduced. Inside it is a card which proves to be the one that was chosen and signed.

• No palming
• No force
• Use any wallet
• Easy to do
• Diabolical method

1st edition 1985, 1st digital edition 2018, 4 pages.

Ken de Courcy and Billy McComb took an old chemical effect, figured out the secret that makes it work reliably, and worked out all the other kinks, to make it ready for real world performances. The effect reads like one from Lubor Fiedler.

Effect: The magician introduces a circle of yellow tissue paper and hands it to a spectator to crumple into a ball. He receives it back then, holding it at his fingertips, concentrates on it for a few moments. The tissue ball is placed on an ashtray then ... it suddenly bursts into flames and burns away.

PDF 6 pages.

From the introduction:

The Four Ace Trick is deservedly popular. There are many versions, from the semi-automatic to the almost impossible finger-flinging variety, so it's within the scope of every performer. It starts, necessarily, with the abstraction of the four Aces. One can simply run through the pack, locate them and toss them out. Or, if you want considerably more impact, you can produce them magically. That's what this is all about ... producing the Aces in an interesting way as a lead-in to whatever Four Ace Trick you normally do. Here, you'll find both easy and more complicated...

From the introduction:

"Four Ace Tricks" there are in plenty and most are effective when properly handled; at that, they can rarely be as telling as a complete routine. Here is my own Four Ace Routine formed over the years of bits and pieces from everywhere. I've found it extremely useful, for example, at dinners, and also at parties where I've been asked 'to do a trick '...commonly known as 'singing for one's supper'. I would do this, and no more. It proved sufficient yet always left them wanting, which is how it should be. A modicum of sleight-of-hand is needed....

The description of the...

From the introduction:

It must be fifty years since Will Blyth wrote his two books on Matchstick Magic. Yet, with coins, matches are the commonest articles carried with which magic can be performed.

AT THE DROP OF A MATCH describes a number of impromptu tricks with matches that have served me over the years. Most have been gathered from books and other magicians; some are original and others have been given new slants.

Learn a few, give them a little practice and you will never be at a loss when a party is flagging, or someone suggests you "show them a trick.

Content

• PART ONE - Match Puzzles ...

A brilliant card-up-the-sleeve routine wherein you perform the effect first with regular cards and then with JUMBO'S.

Not difficult to do - a pleasure to learn and a delight to perform. Complete with Ken de Courcy's original fully illustrated routine, (based on a concept by R. M. Jamison), and full patter presentation to perform this unusual and entertaining mystery.

The effect is the following:

The magician introduces three playing cards, for example, a Two of Hearts, a Three of Diamonds and a card which is conspicuously different to the other two, an Ace of Spades. The cards are...

Which is one of the best forces in magic? Undoubtedly the PATEO force! PATEO stand for "POINT AT TWO, ELIMINATE ONE", because that's exactly what happens.

The PATEO force is very easy to do end can be used not only with cards but with a variety of objects. It is a very strong force because the spectator seems to have very free choice. In this wonderful manuscript, Ken De Courcy give us, 33 ways to use the PATEO force. You will find card magic, mental magic, close-up magic, club magic, party magic and, yes, stage magic too. A real treasure house of good effects. You can surely find at least...