Cover

The Imp

Vol. 1 No. 1 June, 2002

ISSUE No. 1

Conceived, written and published by Frank Stone. I dont know about you but I loved and still love those four page magazines or magazinetes (doubt if that is a real word) that appeared in the thirties till late eighties e.g. The Jinx, The new Phoenix, Mahatma, Swami/Mantra etc. As well as the influence they still have on Magic today. I thought it would be neat to revive the medium in some way or other, and what better way to do it right here on the World Wide. So welcome to the very first issue of:-

The Imp

The only four page Magic magazine on the web.

I do not want this magazine to be a crusading one man parade sheet. I really would like to ask all magicians to try to contribute in some way or other to it. Only with your help can this succeed.

Magically Yours

Frank Stone - Editor


Screwed !

		By Frank Stone

	A few years ago I was doing a “SSpring Cleaning” of my Magic Den when I came across an old Locked Deck lost somehow amongst all the clutter. I started to play around with it a bit and then I came up with this effect. In essence it’s still a locked deck effect but dressed up so differently that I even fooled a few of my fellow magicians. Effect:- The Magician introduces a peculiar deck to his audience. It’s strange since the complete deck as well as the card case has *a hole* right through its center. The spectator selects a card. This is then lost in the deck. The deck is returned to its case, and now the magician shows a screw and a wing nut. The deck is securely fastened by the spectator. The spectator is asked the identity of his card. With no sudden movements the magician reaches into is pocket and retrieves the spectators card. The deck is unfastened and spread. The spectator’s card is nowhere to be seen. They just witnessed an impossible escape. All this with *no sleight of hand involved* makes for a very commercial effect! SET UP:- This effect does require a bit of set up. The first is that you need to drill a hole through the deck. This can easily be done by using a drill press and keeping the cards in the card case so that they all stay completely square. If you don’t have access to a drill press just take it to any hardware or timber store and they will be glad to do it for you. While you at the hardware store, pick up a screw and a wing nut as well. The last thing you have to do is make a gimmick card. This is a kind of modified short card.

Take the card you want to force and any other card. Cut the one card a bit shorter on the topside than the other cards. Then put a dab of glue on the back of the card at the bottom, and place the force card on top. You now have a card gimmick with a short card stuck at the bottom to a force card. (See Fig. 1) Simply place this force card in the center of the deck and place a duplicate force card (make sure it’s got a hole in the center as well) in your pocket and you are all set for a miracle.

Method:- Bring out the deck and talk about the hole in the middle. Riffle the cards and let a spectator say stop. With a bit of practice it’s easy to stop at the short card since you can feel it when you get to it. Let the spectator remember the card. Now all the dirty work is done the rest is just presentation. After a few cuts place the cards back in their case and introduce the screw and wing nut. Ask the spectator to close up the deck. Ask for the identity of his card once he is done. And take the duplicate force card from your pocket, thus revealing the selected card. Open up the deck and spread the cards, due to the double card gimmick the force card cannot be seen. Truly an amazing escape!

More to do:- I sometimes vary the effect and fold up the card and slip it under the spectators watch when I ask them to hold the deck in their open hands. I also sometimes show the disappearance of the card first before I reveal it. Due to the simple nature of the trick you can focus more on the presentation of it and dont have to worry about any finger flicking sleights.


	[Cover] [Page 2] [Page 3] [Page 4]