The oil and water effect is a classic of card magic, some love it, some hate it. If one has ever seen Rene Lavand do it slow motion with one hand you probably love it. But there is only one Rene Lavand. Some say the effect of red and black cards separating is rather weak, until Roy Walton added a kicker in 1969 where half the cards change to Queens. Dave Bendix tweaked Walton’s handling. Bob Stencil and Terry LaGerold devised a narrative that logically excused the surprise appearance of the Queens. Jon Racherbaumer and Jeff Busby independently expanded the kicker to not only change half the cards but all of them. And from there others took a stab to further develop the method including Steve Hamilton, Gene Castillon, and Peter Duffie.
If you like the plot and if you like to follow how it morphed and changed over the years, both the effect as well as the method, you will really enjoy this ebook. Racherbaumer includes in the last section of the ebook a detailed account about various claims and disputes about the question who originated the 'oil and water' effect. Considering the fact that nothing ever is created in a vacuum and ideas are mixed and combined in various ways, some creatively, some mechanically, some purely randomly, one will come to the conclusion that Edward Marlo, as Racherbaumer puts it, distilled the plot.
- PROEM
- OIL AND QUEENS (Roy Walton)
- CONSISTENT OIL AND QUEENS (Dave Bendix)
- AGE OF REASON (Robert Stencil - Terry LaGerould)
- MIXING WITH ROYALTY (Steve Hamilton)
- OIL, OIL, EVERYWHERE (Jon Racherbaumer)
- EIGHT-CARD OIL EVERYWHERE (Gene Castillon)
- OIL, OIL, OIL (Gene Castillon)
- DISGUISED WATER (Jeff Busby)
- VANISHING OIL AND WATER (Jon Racherbaumer)
- KOLOR KILLER (Peter Duffie)
- CLEARING THE WATERS
Here is a performance by Jon of "Vanishing Oil and Water":
1st edition 2017, 57 pages.
word count: 19848 which is equivalent to 79 standard pages of text
