Reviews of products by Walter Gibson
Popular Card Tricks
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christopher Reynolds (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Tuesday 13 September, 2022)
Many magicians still follow the unwritten, antiquated rule that says there are three ways to learn card magic: practice, more practice, and still more practice.
But, with so much time spent alone practicing, learning intricate sleights, and complex routines, the results can end up disappointing. Constant practice not balanced with live performance in front of an audience can produce magicians skillful at everything except entertaining people.
Walter B. Gibson, considered one of the greatest authorities in the history of magic, created a new rule: the best way to learn magic is to begin by doing it.
Even with years of practice and the best instruction, skill can be challenging to duplicate. Popular Card Tricks is the perfect book for amateur magicians who want to learn (and start performing) well-known card tricks that deceive the eye and mind while further developing their expertise without years of tedious practice.
Here, he reveals the secret methods behind 90 easy-to-learn effects. The emphasis is on subtle deception rather than elaborate sleight-of-hand, assuring success within hours for anyone looking to become a magician.
By carefully following the simple instructions, you'll develop a well-rounded repertoire of astonishing effects on which you can draw for a lifetime of enjoyment.
"To explain how magic is done is one thing," said Walter Gibson, "but to tell how to do it is quite another."
The card tricks comprising this book are self-working and quickly learned, yet still baffling to spectators because of the unsuspecting principles on which they depend. And it's not just beginners who will benefit from this book, but intermediate and advanced magicians, finding new tricks and simplified ways of performing the classics.
Chapter one presents a series of clever card tricks relying on self-working methods. Combined with proper presentation, these simple effects are some of the most baffling in card magic.
Chapter two deals with "Pick a card, any card" type tricks, explaining techniques for finding and revealing cards chosen by spectators.
Chapter three, Mysterious Card Tricks Performed With The Aid Of Special Systems, teaches you little-known mathematical principles used by magicians around the world.
Chapter four deals with one of the oldest principles in magic, the prearranged packs of cards, arranging an entire deck according to a secret method that looks accidental but allows the performer to calculate the exact position of each card.
In chapter five, you'll learn several unique, unclassifiable tricks performed with odd cards, additional packs, and unusual conditions that separate these effects from the typical run of card tricks.
The author drew upon a lifetime spent in professional magic for his expertise. Not only was Gibson well-known as one of the best writers on the subject of magic, but he was also a personal friend and confidant of some of the most outstanding past performers like Thurston and Blackstone.
The book was initially ghost-written for Harry Houdini, which Gibson compiled using Houdini's handwritten notes. The two men were working on a three-volume set on intermediate magic when the escape artist died in 1926. In 1928 the book was released under Gibson's name.
Have you ever been astonished by the flawless performance of a card trick and wanted to learn how they did it? Have you ever dreamed of mystifying audiences with a deck of cards? If so, this eBook reproduction of the underrated 1920s classic is for you.
Blackstone Magic Comics
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Chet Cox (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Sunday 15 July, 2012)
The art was pretty darned good, and the scripts weren't bad either - ranging from VERY exciting to fairly entertaining. Gibson was one of those writers who was always strong on plot and mood - and with Blackstone, he had the best of all of his fanboy skills in play.
Walter Gibson loved magic. Can't ask for a better protagonist for mysteries starring a magician than Blackstone. - check Walter Gibson loved mysteries. The guy who created the character we know as The Shadow brings that same strong scripting here.
Walter Gibson loved comics. He may have disparaged them from time to time - the pay sucked mop water, and comics were generally frowned upon, especially from the late 1940s through the 1950s. But he never wrote down to his readers, and always gave us his best.
Whether comics, magic books, magic magazines, or pulp adventures, no one has done it better than Walter Gibson. And the many comics that he wrote of Blackstone were among his best!
The New Conjurors' Magazine: Volume 1 (Feb 1945 - Jan 1946)
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Chet Cox (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Tuesday 14 December, 2010)
The greatest writers in magic got together and appeared in one magazine - and this is it! One cannot begin to list and describe the advice, the history, and the effects that Gibson showcased within this magazine in just one year. From the controversial Houdini attack on Robert-Houdin to secrets and advice of and from Hardeen, Blackstone, Cardini, and others of whom you just might have heard. 703 pages of the best in magic, reviews of magic, reviews of books and performances, history (including history-as-it-was-happening), and much - MUCH more! As soon as I finish reading and using all this material, I'm getting the next volume. And the next!