Two classics of magic: the Cups and Balls and the Egg Bag, are beautifully routined and patiently explained in text and illustrations, as only Senor Mardo can. Experts in magic agree that Mardo's "new thinking" in these routines make them a knockout addition to most any performer's act.
You get over a dozen effects and moves with coins, silks, thimbles, balls, cigarettes and a complete explanation of Mardo's improved gimmick for the Chinese Rice Bowls that will make you want to add it to your show. This is baffling, thrilling, entertaining magic with headline appeal.
Here's a partial list of contents:
- Mardo's Egg Bag Routine
- The Glass Mystery
- The Homing Ball
- The Shaker Penetration
- Strange Dr. Hoffman
- Mardo's Cups and Ball Routine
- Sleights Suitable for Sponge or Billiard Balls
- The Flight
- The Fist Drop
- The Scoop
- The Pounding
- A Thimble Routine
- A Thimble Acquitment
- The Perfect Rice Bowls
- A Move with the Coin Rattle Box
- The Crystal Casket
- ... and more
But don't just take our word for it. Here's what some of the best minds in magic have to say about
Routined Magic:
"Lovers of intimate magic will find many items of interest. Routines with the egg bag, cups and balls, and thimbles are especially good. Mardo demonstrated a few of his moves with the egg bag for me while I was in New York. This one item is worth far more than the price of the book." - J. G. Thompson, Jr.
"Good, solid magic." - Al Baker
"Smooth, workable routines. You're sure to find at least one item you'll use." - Sid Lorraine
"This is no mere book of explanations. It tells the reader how to perform the tricks well. One of the best books of the season." - Dariel Fitzkee
Paul Fleming wrote:
This little booklet contains 25 pages of explanations, illustrated with 49 line drawings, of tricks taken from Senor Mardo's own repertoire.
The most important of these tricks are an effective egg-bag routine, which omits the customary "sucker gag" and concludes with a change of the egg into a lemon; four pages of thimble effects, among which is the production of ribbons of various colors; and Senor Mardo's cup and ball feat, which he calls "as smooth a routine as it is possible to do without either confusing or belaboring an audience." This explanation of The Cups and Balls, which is given eight pages of print and 20 drawings, is (we feel) somewhat weakened - as are many of the present-day cup and ball procedures - by the performer continually dipping openly into his pockets, presumably to take out or dispose of a ball but actually to perform a secret operation which he hopes will not be suspected. Nevertheless, it is a very good arrangement of this old but still popular trick that is presented here, as we can testify from having seen it presented by Senor Mardo himself. It is, moreover, the highlight of Routined Magic.
The other items in the booklet include The Glass Mystery, in which four sponge rubber balls are passed, one by one, under an inverted tumbler about which a newspaper "shell" has been formed - the arrival of each ball being demonstrated convincingly by lifting the paper shell before lifting the glass; The Homing Ball, a smooth routine with a solid rubber ball and a small cardboard cone; The Shaker Penetration, a very slight "penetrating" effect which makes use of a coin, two glasses, and a Robert-Houdin coin fold in handkerchief; an even slighter coin stunt attributed to Dr. Harry T. Hoffman; a clever dodge for disposing of the celluloid disc in The Rice Bowls; a useful hint for those who employ the coin "rattle box"; and several suggestions for using the Crystal Handkerchief Casket, including a trick in which four coins are caused to pass mysteriously into the casket while the latter is covered with a handkerchief.
There is little that is strikingly new, but much that is good, in Routined Magic. Its chief merit, in our opinion, is its revelation of the exact methods employed by a practical as contrasted with an arm-chair magician - and this is real merit, indeed. It is a neatly printed pamphlet, acceptably illustrated by the author himself, stapled in soft board covers, and (considering the worth of its contents) very moderately priced.
1st edition 1945, PDF 49 pages.
word count: 15227 which is equivalent to 60 standard pages of text
