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...

This is a multi-stage multi-climax routine with a deck of cards. If you already know George Blake's Dream Poker, you will love this one.

There is a lot of magic here - very easy to do (it is almost automatic…). You repeatedly find a chosen card with seemingly impossible conditions, by logic, by spelling it out and by chance. Then you deal to the spectator a Royal Flush in Spades in a freely chosen position on the table. And finally the spectator finds his chosen card in the deck that he had shuffled, by spelling it himself!

From the foreword:

Frank Lane, in his book, "Help Yourself", published in 1931, wrote:...

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. ...

This is the perfect two person act to start with, if you have never performed anything like it. The performers only need to memorize 21 items. In the words of George Armstrong:

Here at last is a method for combining the fascination of horoscope readings with the mystery of telepathy, and a method in which the medium, who does all the "talking", has only ten code words and eleven signals to learn for the Telepathy part of the act, and absolutely nothing for the Horoscope readings. Everything is done for her by the innocent but clever piece of apparatus described in these pages.

Any person...

Ken de Courcy's no gimmick version of Scalbert's "The Mystery of the Seventh Card".

The perfect telephone test to present under challenge conditions. No Feke's. No Gimmicks. Yet the medium at the other end of the phone unerringly names the thought of card.

Scalbert's "Mystery of the Seventh Card", sold many years ago, was a commercial principle applied to the transmission of a card to an assistant playing the role of a medium, waiting on the end of a telephone. The distinct novelty at the time was the fact that all communication with the medium was done by a spectator. The secret was an...

Stage card magic routines are relatively rare. In this ebook, however, you will find a complete stage card magic act with a lot of surprises and fun. The performer talks about a trip around the world. Six cards are chosen by six members of the audience. The performer then demonstrates how the cards would be found in several countries: China, USA, France, Russia and India.

A great routine packed with mystery, surprise and a lot of fun. Can be worked with the help of an assistant or solo.

1st digital edition 2013, 17 pages.

A complete 7-minute act or interlude of crazy inventions with easily obtainable props. Complete with patter and full presentation. Funny! Unusual! With a laugh in every line.

A special supplement is included with full details of a smashing attache-case vanish of all the props used. Easy to make, you can gimmick any case in 10 or 15 minutes.

1st digital edition 2013, 11 pages.

A bestseller on our site has been Joe Karson's The World's Fastest Card Trick. A great lesson of showmanship packed with loads of laughter for the audience. Now it is a pleasure for us to present an in-depth discussion of this trick by the great master Ken De Courcy. In this manuscript, you will find the complete presentation of the trick by De Courcy, enriched with many different endings that make the trick memorable. The trick is a real comedy of errors in which a spectator is invited on stage to pick a card and then...the fun begins...Everything seems to go wrong while the performer tries again and again to find the card miserably...

Un manoscritto di grande successo sul nostro sito è stato quello di Joe karson " il gioco più veloce del mondo". Una vera lezione sull'arte della presentazione e un carico di risate per il pubblico.

Ora è un piacere per noi presentare una approfondita discussione su questo gioco del maestro Ken De Courcy.

In questo manoscritto , troverete la personale presentazione del gioco da parte di De Courcy, arricchita con molti finali diversi che renderanno il gioco memorabile. Il gioco è una vera e propria commedia degli errori in cui una spettatrice chiamata sul palco per scegliere una carta...

An unusual presentation detailing probably the easiest system for the two-person mind-reading act yet produced.

EFFECT:

A clip-board is tossed into the audience. Under its elastic band is a pencil. The performer asks the person who catches it to pass the board to anyone in the row behind him. That person then writes anything he likes in the top space - a name, a date, a phone number, a question - anything. He then passes the board to someone behind him, who does the same thing, then the board is passed again.

When six people have written their thoughts, the board is returned to the...

Another great trick by Ken. You can do it anytime, anyplace with any deck. You can perform it even if the deck is incomplete. It is a perfect impromptu trick. It has all the elements of a great trick: an entertaining patter, comedy and a surprising finish.

THE EFFECT

A pack is shuffled and a card is selected by a spectator, shown to a few other people, then returned. The magician shows the face card of the pack and asks whether it is the chosen card. This is denied. The performer tries to right the things.

He drops the pack face down on the table but the top card is face up. But once...

These were Ken de Courcy's USA lecture tour notes. It includes great material which puts entertainment first and foremost.

• The Haired Card - a comedy surprise with four outsize cards from a pack.
• Balloon Prediction - three balloons, the audience nominate the colors, these magically burst one at a time ... then you show that you knew the order the spectator chose and made a prediction to that effect!
• The Economy Card in Balloon - a simplicity version of the great classic effect.
• Explosive Rope Cut - cut and restore a rope with a bang. Unusual and good!
• Seeing is Disbelieving - spectators...

Here is a mental effect that is useful for after-dinner shows.

EFFECT:

On the performer's table stand five bottled drinks. All contain different drinks, but they are all the same size. A spectator is invited to mentally choose one, then they are covered by him with five identical covers and, finally, mixed so no one can know the position of any particular drink. At this point, the performer turns his back and directs the spectator to move the bottles himself. Then one by one they are eliminated until only one remains.

He is asked to name the drink he chose, then lift the cover from...

Very easy to do, impromptu and with a big effect! What else would you ask? Count Down by Ken de Courcy is a card trick that you can present in several ways, all well explained in this little manuscript.

The basic effect is the following: A spectator shuffles his own pack (Yes! It can be his own pack of cards and he really shuffles it...), then counts ten cards in a reverse order. If a number of spots on a card happens to match the number he is counting aloud at the time, the card is thrown out face-up. If none match during the count, a card is dealt face down in front of the magician.

This...

Si tratta di un effetto impromptu, molto semplice da eseguire e dal grande effetto! Cos'altro volere di più?

CONTO ALLA ROVESCIA di Ken De Courcy è un gioco che può esser presentato in diversi modi, alcuni spiegati nel dettaglio in questo piccolo manoscritto.

L'effetto base è il seguente: uno spettatore mischia il proprio mazzo di carte (si proprio il suo mazzo che viene mischiato veramente!) quindi conta dieci carte facendo un conto alla rovescia. Se il valore della carta corrisponde al numero contato, la carta viene messa sul tavolo a faccia in alto. Se nessun valore delle carte...

The title of this little booklet is self-explanatory. In the pages of this lecture Ken gives advice on how to create a card act. He begins explaining his twists on classic card moves as the pass, card changes and force. Then he gives a brief description (direct to the point) of several card tricks that can be included in the act.

The majority of the tricks are improvements of other tricks or are Ken's original. Many are loaded with comedy in the usual Ken de Courcy style. In the manuscript you will find

• The face to face routine
• Nap hand Sam
• The Indian rope trick
• The triple cut discovery ...

From the introduction:

"Rink (van Rinkhuyzen) of Holland has a keen trick brain. Like most of the great magical inventors, he individualises every effect he obtains and, if he likes it, he continues to work on it. The result; a string of often unbelievable variations that astounds everyone, including the man who invented it.

Some time ago, Supreme marketed Tommy Talbot's "Loop La-La", an amusing little thing with two unfaked rope loops. As it stood, it was basically a compere gag. It could be repeated over and over again, but there was no build-up, and no end.

Rink took "Loop La-La"...

It is a children's game...it is a great magic trick...it is a mystifying series of magic tricks...it is SPOTITIS!

Do you remember the simple origami fold called "the salt cellar"? Well, Ken de Courcy in this manuscript teaches you how to use that simple fold for performing wonderful magic tricks. Ken says:

"In the 1956 edition of Robert Harbin's "Paper Magic" (beautifully illustrated by Rolf Harris) you will find an easily-made paper model titled "The Salt Cellar...Magic Colour Changer". It's a paper-fold that goes back many years; in fact, in 1948, Ernie Kob marketed an amusing use...

From the FOREWORD

In this short thesis I'm going to discuss a fairly well-known plot ... "The Card in the Card-case". If you think about it, there's more 'logic' in this effect than in, for example, "The Card in Matchbox"; the card-case is already there because the cards were in it. Unless you smoke while performing, there is little reason for introducing a matchbox into the equation.

"The Card in Wallet" is a good, well-tried effect, but I submit the "Card in Card-case" is more "impossible" because it's in view all the time. This last point, obviously, creates difficulties which I'll...

From the fertile mind of Ken De Courcy, Edwin Hooper and Ian Adair, here is a manuscript loaded with wonderful ideas to magically introduce and produce your business card...

From the introduction:

"This little book fills a long-felt want. It is the only publication, we believe, which deals with the subject of the novel presentation of your card to agents, bookers, etc.

May many bookings follow the presentation of "your card".

Imagine you're in a club, pub or other hostelry where people meet to drink, eat and be merry. You're ready to perform and need an audience. If you have a couple of friends...