(Close Window) Topic: Favorites in "Scarne on Card Tricks"?
Message: Posted by: cristo (Aug 23, 2007 4:20pm)
The title says it all.
Message: Posted by: Ace of $pades (Aug 25, 2007 10:59am)
What is Scarne on Card Tricks?
Message: Posted by: Hideo Kato (Aug 25, 2007 12:01pm)
It is a card magic book Scarne authored.

Hideo Kato
Message: Posted by: closeupcardician (Aug 25, 2007 11:54pm)
And a great one at that.
Message: Posted by: rayg1952 (Aug 26, 2007 12:48am)
I think I use to have that book.
Message: Posted by: Hideo Kato (Aug 26, 2007 12:55am)
You should regret you don't have it now.

Hideo Kato
Message: Posted by: rayg1952 (Aug 26, 2007 2:09pm)
LOL
Message: Posted by: John Nesbit (Aug 26, 2007 3:11pm)
No one wants to talk about their "Favorites" in this book ?
Message: Posted by: Hideo Kato (Aug 27, 2007 12:18am)
Becasue all are my favourites.

Hideo Kato
Message: Posted by: cristo (Aug 27, 2007 4:42pm)
Quote:

On 2007-08-26 15:11, johnjnesbit wrote:
No one wants to talk about their "Favorites" in this book ?


My sentiments exactly. Maybe I was mistaken about it being well liked, but I thought I saw that in some thread around here.
Message: Posted by: mrehula (Aug 28, 2007 9:57am)
It's a great book. My favorite is probably Braude's Mental Card Trick. It uses a simple but deceptive key card principle. I've reworked the handling a little, but it's a nice direct effect.
Message: Posted by: cristo (Aug 28, 2007 11:25am)
I'll have to check that one again. I think it was one I liked as well...

I particularly liked "Buckle Up" - not much to it, and it is (to me) a completely novel method of locating a reversed card without looking.
Message: Posted by: the fritz (Aug 28, 2007 4:42pm)
Cristo,

I really love the Francis Carlyle effect where both spectator and magician select cards and replace their cards in each other's respective halves. The cards are them placed together face up packet between two face down packets. The deck is spread and everything proves to face the right way except the two selections. I don't remember the title! I think it may be "The Upside-Down Cards" or something of that nature.

I also loved "Cardini's Color Discernment" the second I read it.

There is a Dai Vernon effect that I love. The only way I can describe it is it resembles an Ambitious-Card-meets-Oil-and-Water-style routine in which three cards of the same value are interlaced between three indifferent cards with the entire six-card packet placed on top of the deck. When the cards are dealt face-up the three of the same value are seen to have "melted" back to the top. Again, I don't recall the name!
Message: Posted by: Hideo Kato (Aug 29, 2007 12:00am)
Quote:
On 2007-08-27 00:18, Hideo Kato wrote:
Becasue all are my favourites.

This was not a joke. There are many good tricks in the book. I recommend to read all, you won't regret it.

If you don't read all tricks, it is posssible you miss very good ones because nobody knows all of your favourites.

Hideo Kato
Message: Posted by: serge storms (Aug 29, 2007 11:58am)
Check out "Future Deck" and "Miraskill". Miraskill is a great impromptu effect with anyones deck anytime anywhere type thing (as long as its a full deck) and Future Deck is great though it takes a one time lengthy set up but once done its ready to go.
I've used them both over the years and get great reactions. Worth a look.
Message: Posted by: apple123 (Aug 30, 2007 8:45am)
I have always liked The Quickie Card Trick.
Message: Posted by: cristo (Aug 30, 2007 2:19pm)
Quote:

On 2007-08-28 16:42, the fritz wrote:
...There is a Dai Vernon effect that I love. The only way I can describe it is it resembles an Ambitious-Card-meets-Oil-and-Water-style routine in which three cards of the same value are interlaced between three indifferent cards with the entire six-card packet placed on top of the deck. When the cards are dealt face-up the three of the same value are seen to have "melted" back to the top. Again, I don't recall the name!


That one's Vernon's 3 card assembly.

Interesting, on first read through, that one seemed *completely* uninmpressive. It seemed so obvious since you show all the cards except the one that makes it work. But clearly Vernon knows a wee bit more about card magic than me... : )

I guess one of my biggest difficulties is trying to judge which effects will be good ones (and thus which ones to learn and practice.) When you know "the secret," some of them seem so ridiculously obvious that anyone could see right through them. This is one that fell into that category for me. I thought "that one is so simple and obvious it wouldn't fool anyone."
Message: Posted by: cristo (Aug 30, 2007 2:32pm)
Quote:

On 2007-08-28 16:42, the fritz wrote:
...There is a Dai Vernon effect that I love. The only way I can describe it is it resembles an Ambitious-Card-meets-Oil-and-Water-style routine in which three cards of the same value are interlaced between three indifferent cards with the entire six-card packet placed on top of the deck. When the cards are dealt face-up the three of the same value are seen to have "melted" back to the top. Again, I don't recall the name!


That one's Vernon's 3 card assembly.

Interesting, on first read through, that one seemed *completely* uninmpressive. It seemed so obvious since you show all the cards except the one that makes it work. But clearly Vernon knows a wee bit more about card magic than me... : )

I guess one of my biggest difficulties is trying to judge which effects will be good ones (and thus which ones to learn and practice.) When you know "the secret," some of them seem so ridiculously obvious that anyone could see right through them.
Message: Posted by: the fritz (Aug 30, 2007 4:28pm)
Cristo,

Yes, I've had the same thoughts before. I tried the trick a few times and the response everytime was "Wait a minute, do that again," which I can only assume means it was NOT easy to see through. It is really difficult to know how a trick will appear until you try it. This was one of those for me.
Message: Posted by: Steve Haynes (Aug 30, 2007 10:58pm)
Drunken poker deal is a hard hitting scam that is very nice and quite diferent than any other gambling routine out there.
If there was an award for sucker tricks, this would be in the running.
Message: Posted by: Andy the cardician (Sep 6, 2007 9:08am)
It is a great book. A lot sounds simple, but packs big
Message: Posted by: Eric Fry (Sep 11, 2007 7:45pm)
There is a clever variation, attributed to Cardini, on the usual spelling trick. It's not impromptu. But after the spectator mentally chooses from among six cards, the spectator can shuffle the deck, yet the card will still spell out.

As with a lot of the tricks in the book, if you know sleight of hand you can heighten the trick. For example, a false shuffle and use of the riffle force to break the deck at the six-card stack gives the impression that the six cards were chosen at random. And remember, don't ever look at the faces of the cards.

I thought I read once that Scarne didn't actually write the book. Anyone know anything about that?



Message: Posted by: ScotDeerie (Sep 13, 2007 9:22am)
Hi everyone,
I'm new to the list and to magic. I'm trying to get together a library and some simple tricks together to teach my nephew (age 11). Would this be a good book for us to look at? We have the basic magic books on order and will start there, of course, but is this one I should bookmark for later? Can it be used fairly early on by a beginner or is it best left to experienced folks?

Thx,
ScotDeerie
Message: Posted by: the fritz (Sep 13, 2007 5:23pm)
Yes, Scott. This book is aimed at beginners because all the sleights have been removed from the tricks in the book. I would suggest this be one of the first books you purchase... and it's pretty inexpensive! I've always thought that if I had to choose only five books to keep with me for the rest of my life, this would be one of them (along with a Bible, The Royal Road to Card Magic, The Magic Book by Harry Lorayne, and one other one... perhaps The Card Magic of Nick Trost?). I digress-- you'll do just fine purchasing a copy of this book. Highly recommended for anyone into magic, but especially for beginners. I'm sure you'll get lots of seconds from others in this thread. Good luck Scott!
Message: Posted by: magicupclose (Sep 13, 2007 8:48pm)
I agree with the poker deal, laymen are amazed & simple to perform, just build it up with presentation & people won't play cards with you!
Message: Posted by: Picard (Sep 14, 2007 7:13am)
Quote:

On 2007-09-13 17:23, the fritz wrote:
Yes, Scott. This book is aimed at beginners because all the sleights have been removed from the tricks in the book. I would suggest this be one of the first books you purchase... and it's pretty inexpensive! I've always thought that if I had to choose only five books to keep with me for the rest of my life, this would be one of them (along with a Bible, The Royal Road to Card Magic, The Magic Book by Harry Lorayne, and one other one... perhaps The Card Magic of Nick Trost?). I digress-- you'll do just fine purchasing a copy of this book. Highly recommended for anyone into magic, but especially for beginners. I'm sure you'll get lots of seconds from others in this thread. Good luck Scott!

I must say I do not agree with you. Even though this book does seem as it's for beginners, I found that most of the effects are not impressive at all if performed exactly as written in a book. (and that's how beginners will perform them)
I did find that book has some nice ideas that could be integrated in a more deceptive routine but that does require knowledge of at least some basic sleights and even more importantly the ability to create - and that's something that beginners lack.
There are of course few really good effects that could (almost) stand alone nicely but with some sleights (or at least some false shuffles, cuts etc.) they become even more impressive.
Let's not forget that Scarne's goal in writing this book was to make it as sleightless as possible and that meant eliminating even the most basic sleights which every card magician should know.
I don't use this book to learn new effects, I just read it from time to time as an inspiration.
Message: Posted by: cristo (Sep 14, 2007 9:50am)
Quote:

On 2007-09-14 07:13, Picard wrote:
Quote:

On 2007-09-13 17:23, the fritz wrote:
Yes, Scott. This book is aimed at beginners because all the sleights have been removed from the tricks in the book. I would suggest this be one of the first books you purchase... and it's pretty inexpensive! I've always thought that if I had to choose only five books to keep with me for the rest of my life, this would be one of them (along with a Bible, The Royal Road to Card Magic, The Magic Book by Harry Lorayne, and one other one... perhaps The Card Magic of Nick Trost?). I digress-- you'll do just fine purchasing a copy of this book. Highly recommended for anyone into magic, but especially for beginners. I'm sure you'll get lots of seconds from others in this thread. Good luck Scott!

I must say I do not agree with you. Even though this book does seem as it's for beginners, I found that most of the effects are not impressive at all if performed exactly as written in a book. (and that's how beginners will perform them)
I did find that book has some nice ideas that could be integrated in a more deceptive routine but that does require knowledge of at least some basic sleights and even more importantly the ability to create - and that's something that beginners lack.
There are of course few really good effects that could (almost) stand alone nicely but with some sleights (or at least some false shuffles, cuts etc.) they become even more impressive.
Let's not forget that Scarne's goal in writing this book was to make it as sleightless as possible and that meant eliminating even the most basic sleights which every card magician should know.
I don't use this book to learn new effects, I just read it from time to time as an inspiration.


That's an interesting viewpoint.

I guess the elimination of sleights and requirements for greater skill may in fact have "watered down" the power of some of the effects.

But it is that very lack of sleights in the book which makes it beginner suitable - beginners can't do all that stuff!

So, the result may well be that beginners can't do effects that are as impressive as ones that contain sleights - but that shouldn't be a surprise, should it?
Message: Posted by: the fritz (Sep 14, 2007 4:21pm)
Picard,

I respect your opinion, however I still believe the book is aimed at beginners.

One reason I believe this book is for beginner's comes from Scarne's introduction to the book. In my opinion, advice like "Never reveal how a trick is done" or "never repeat a trick for the same audience" is clearly directed toward someone new to performing card tricks. Scarne knew, as well as the rest of us who have performed before, that the temptation to reveal a secret or repeat a trick because people are dying to know how you did it can be overwhelming. Seasoned performers know why Scarne gives this advice.

Another reason I believe this book was originally intended for beginners is because Scarne mentions in his introduction, that he deliberately placed the simpler tricks at the beginning of the book and the more advanced ones near the end. Hugard and Braue also use this technique in their "Royal Road to Card Magic" because they know it is the most efficient way for a beginner to progress toward becoming an expert technician in card magic. This tells me Scarne had beginning card magicians or just someone interested in performing card tricks in mind when he wrote the book. He even quotes a statistic about people who've played card games before attempting a trick with cards.

Finally, as far as performing the tricks competently goes, Scarne talks about including "stories" to go along with the tricks, urging the performer to present the patter as written. In my mind, this book is definitely aimed at beginners.
Message: Posted by: Picard (Sep 14, 2007 7:32pm)
Quote:

On 2007-09-14 09:50, cristo wrote:
So, the result may well be that beginners can't do effects that are as impressive as ones that contain sleights - but that shouldn't be a surprise, should it?

I think they can, but you won't find that kind of material in Scarne's book.
It was one of my first magic books, in fact I already knew some moves when I first started reading it. I was skipping through many stacked card effects (since I wasn't even able to pull off a decent false shuffle at the time) and those few impromptu ones that caught my attention - well they didn't go to well. I performed them perfectly in a technical sense but they looked very automatic and boring in my hands and it's simply because I did them exactly as written there. Now that I know more (and I don't mean more about sleight of hand only but generally more about magic and how it should be presented) I have found it much easier to spot weak spots of the effects in the book and cover them with some sleights or at least some kind of misdirection (including more interesting and more convincing patter than the one suggested in book).
So yes, I still stand behind my opinion: some of the effects in the book do have potential but ONLY in the hands of at least a bit more experienced card handler then the average amateur. The effects in the book are generally NOT strong, actually some of them are very weak but it's ideas that make this book valuable to me. I am not sure what makes it valuable to complete beginners... And I think that being beginner does not excuse somebody for performing unimpressive and weak magic.
Message: Posted by: the fritz (Sep 15, 2007 12:08am)
Picard,

I definitely agree that many (if not all) of the tricks in the book can be made better with some appropriately used sleight-of-hand. I also think your opinion that experienced performers will do the material more justice than beginners is right on the money.

Unfortunately, beginners have to start somewhere (as you and I have) and that somewhere is always the inexcusable place of "performing unimpressive and weak magic." I think that's part of the learning experience. That being said, I'd rather have the unimpressive and weak magic be from a beginner's book instead of being something involving sleight-of-hand in which the performer unwittingly gives away secrets by performing poorly. Just out of curiosity, do you remember which trick you performed first? I don't remember which one I did, but I cringe to think how bad it must've looked!
Message: Posted by: jquackc (Sep 20, 2007 10:52pm)
I am not only a performer but a collecter of magic effects. I spend some of my time taking a break from practicing my working material just to search and practice other tricks, from difficult to "self-working". Scarne on Cards is as great book if your a collector of card tricks... there are some classics and even a card trick in there by Houdini. These "see through" tricks are great and fry laymen just as easily as ambitious card. If your a card trick collector than you should have this on your bookshelf (after reading through it of course).
Message: Posted by: Turk (Sep 24, 2007 10:50pm)
[quote]
On 2007-09-13 09:22, ScotDeerie wrote:
Hi everyone,
I'm new to the list and to magic. I'm trying to get together a library and some simple tricks together to teach my nephew (age 11). Would this be a good book for us to look at? We have the basic magic books on order and will start there, of course, but is this one I should bookmark for later? Can it be used fairly early on by a beginner or is it best left to experienced folks?

Thx,
ScotDeerie
[/quote]

First of all, Scot, welcome to the Magic Café. I hope that you enjoy your stay here.

BTW, it would be helpful to members if you enanbled the PM function in your profile. By doing so, you might find that members would be more willing to share more details with you that might not be appropriate on a public forum.

As for the Scarne book, I stumbled across a copy of it in a used book store and purchased it--particularly because Scarne mentioned that he had taken killer tricks from many experts and then reworked them to remove the sleights and to allow the performer to concentrate on presentaion.

I love this book so much that I buy 2nd and 3rd copies of it just to have it around so that I can give it out to friends of mine who are just starting out in magic. Just yesterday, I purchased yet another copy of the book here off of the Café.

What I especially love is being in the magic store (where the owner has/had 2-3 copies of the book that he had acquired from estate sales. Some of the finger-flingers might ask if the book is "any good" or they might have read the forward and seen that the book mentions that the sleights have been removed and then derisively "talk the book down" because it has no sleights in it. I then perform a few of the effects in the book without telling them where the effect(s) came from. When they ask where the effect came from and I point out the Scarne book, their jaws drop open in amazement. (I'm kind of like the Prego Spaghetti Sauce ad--"It in there".)

Now, its true that in order for the "tricks" in the book to garner any appreciable reaction, you should come up with your own entertaining presentations. The tricks will stand alone but, combined with an entertaining presentation, takes them to a new level and changes them from "tricks" into "effects" and/or "routines".

Picard is correct that the tricks as taught by Scarne are rather lean on presentation scripting but that is the beauty of it because this fact frees you up to come up with your own unique presentations. At the same time, it also lets beginners "immediately get into performing" (some interesting very credible magic tricks).

Just, IMHO. Hope this helps you in your evaluation of the book.

Mike
Message: Posted by: cristo (Sep 25, 2007 8:51am)
Quote:

On 2007-09-24 22:50, Turk wrote:
I then perform a few of the effects in the book without telling them where the effect(s) came from. When they ask where the effect came from and I point out the Scarne book, their jaws drop open in amazement. (I'm kind of like the Prego Spaghetti Sauce ad--"It in there".)



Care to name any of those effects which you like from the book? They don't as a rule read very impressively, so I'm hoping to try out some that others have found to be good ones.
Message: Posted by: Steve Landavazo (Dec 6, 2007 3:19pm)
I have had Scarne's book for years and it is AWESOME! Years ago this was considered by many the definitive work on card magic! It should be in everyone's library. You will use and appreciate many of the great effects in this publication! My favorite is the, "Do As I Do" version with one deck. Get it!

Stever
Message: Posted by: Steve Landavazo (Dec 6, 2007 3:20pm)
Also Houdini's Affinity In Numbers is a classic...

Stever
Message: Posted by: Scott Cram (Dec 6, 2007 5:09pm)
Stewart James' "Miraskill" is in a class of its own. It's part of the basis of David Williamson's "Aunt Mary's Terrible Secret", and the Stewart James books have a great chapter called "Miraschool", in which the trick is taken to incredible new directions (including an ESP card, no-take-away version that's different each time you do it!).

Among my other favorite routines:
The Uninvited Joker
Future Deck
Einstein and the Magician
The Si Stebbins routines
Hands-Off Miracle
The Wizard
Scarne's Drunken Poker Deal
Piano Card Trick

BTW - I also have a least favorite. It's Egg A La Card, which is the close-up equivalent of the Hindu Rope Trick. Nobody has seen it themselves, but everybody seems to know someone who has seen it.
Message: Posted by: airship (Dec 9, 2007 10:56am)
I have almost 50 bookmark tabs stuck in my copy of this book. :)
Message: Posted by: Steve Landavazo (Dec 9, 2007 9:05pm)
Did you know Scarne compiled his card book along with his magic tricks in one volume. Just some useless trivia for those that care...

Stever
Message: Posted by: Hansel (Apr 4, 2012 3:09pm)
Future Deck
Message: Posted by: galerius (Apr 9, 2012 2:33pm)
At the moment my favorite ones are "The upside down Deck" and "Traveling Aces", but I have to read it almost entirely...there are, I know, many many treasures to discover...!
Message: Posted by: the fritz (Apr 13, 2012 5:32pm)
Looking back at posts I made almost five years ago, I am still of the same opinion about the effects in this book. It is probably my favorite magic book and the only one in my library that I go through from cover to cover every year. I even have a gambling set I perform that is completely impromptu and the basic effects (with a few tweaks) come straight out of this book. I have yet to find an equal to this book (for self working effects anyway)!
Message: Posted by: james_thecanadian_magician (Apr 17, 2012 4:07pm)
Yes, I use "Up Side Down Deck" as my impromptu triumph style routine. The reason being because I think it's easy and strong . I did the triumph to a friend who likes to watch me like a hawk when I perform. It went over really well.

I plan to go back to this book soon.
Message: Posted by: Jon W. (May 6, 2012 5:56pm)
I just peeked inside the book on Amazon and decided to get it from looking at the table of contents and one or two tricks I was able to see in the preview. Based on some of the posts within this thread I am excited to dive into everything. Will be curious to read through and find my favorites to add to the list.
Message: Posted by: Ihop (May 17, 2012 4:32pm)
I bought mine when I was playing with magic when I was about 23 yrs. I was never really serious about magic. It was just a way to get attention & meet girls. I bought the book but never read it.
Now, that I am retired and hopefully a little wiser, I read most of it and even learned the value of "Practicing"

My copy was printed in 1973.

Ihor
Message: Posted by: RSchlutz (May 17, 2012 5:46pm)
Funny... I just started re-reading this book and this post starts up. It is cool to see the difference 10 years makes between reads. I actually made notes on each page of my opinions of the trick like... "awsome trick!", "great magician trick" and etc.

However what a difference time makes. I didn't appreciate the material at that that younger age. The last few days have been insightful. Like the books intro says, he eliminated sleights from each trick. If you put your thinking cap on you can turn a lot of the tricks into lethal weapons.

Ryan
Message: Posted by: Jon W. (Jun 26, 2012 10:56am)
I am still not halfway through reading, but so far two of my favorites are Mind Control and The Magic Number Trick. I already have 11 tabs myself in which I want to go back to and reevaluate when I am done.
Message: Posted by: WalterPlinge (Jun 28, 2012 11:15pm)
I tried Mind Control. I think there is a mistake in the second to the last paragraph. Shouldn't "left" be replaced with the word "right"?
Message: Posted by: Pompey2L.A. (Jul 9, 2012 9:02pm)
I've only recently managed to pick this up second hand, what a bargain this book is.

I'd say future deck has to be my favourite.....
Message: Posted by: Cipher (Jul 9, 2012 9:20pm)
Drunken Poker Deal and Future Deck stand out as some of the best. I also agree with those who have mentioned that because of the large "self working" nature of most of the tricks, some can feel a little flat and "meh". However, this book is still a classic, because of its cost and how much inspiration can be gleaned out of it.
Message: Posted by: Hideo Kato (Jul 11, 2012 6:27pm)
Quote:
On 2012-06-28 23:15, WalterPlinge wrote:
I tried Mind Control. I think there is a mistake in the second to the last paragraph. Shouldn't "left" be replaced with the word "right"?

Maybe Scarne ribbon spread cards from right to left.

'Mind Control' is one of very important tricks in the book, because the key card placement in the trick is very useful and the Distant Key concept can be used in many effective ways.

Hideo Kato
Message: Posted by: WalterPlinge (Jul 13, 2012 9:32am)
Quote:

On 2012-07-11 18:27, Hideo Kato wrote:
Quote:
On 2012-06-28 23:15, WalterPlinge wrote:
I tried Mind Control. I think there is a mistake in the second to the last paragraph. Shouldn't "left" be replaced with the word "right"?

Maybe Scarne ribbon spread cards from right to left.

'Mind Control' is one of very important tricks in the book, because the key card placement in the trick is very useful and the Distant Key concept can be used in many effective ways.

Hideo Kato


Yes -- I had assumed that the spread was from left to right -- but the book doesn't specify.

thanks