Found it! Christine the Duck in Pretty Sneaky. Thanks for the tip, Bill.

In another thread I decided I was going to try and remember any bits or gags I did when I did kids parties. And that was in the early 70s. I had one of the Card Ducks. I don't remember reading Pretty Sneaky, but I had some gags I would do. I'm assuming Don Alan beat me to them, but, just in case, here they are:

Along with one card that was just a regular letter, I would force a Y and a U. So the first person, with the regular card was asked to think of his letter. Of course, just before that I would say the traditional, "Make your mind a blank" and the duck would pull out a blank card. Now he would think of the letter and the duck got it.

Next I would go to the one with the Y and ask, "So tell me your letter and the duck will find it." Of course, they answered Y and I could continue the gag of saying, "Because the duck needs to hear the letter." With kids that gag could go on and on because they would laugh at the magician's error. Well, after finding the letter I would go to the U kid and say, "Well, now you know. All you have to do is say your letter out loud and duck will find it" And they would say U and I would go, "No, not me. You have to say it. Say it" and once again U and the gag goes on with "No, I don't say it. You say it." They say U and I say, "No, I don't mean you say you I mean you say your letter." And on and on.

And I did a lot of this in Miami with bilingual kids so sometimes I could add a C and think they were answering with a Yes when I asked if they knew their letter and could call it out.

Anyway, that's what I remember from those old days.

Greg

I agree that the Hamilton version is great!! Mine is about 65 years old and works perfectly.

Was fortunate to locate and buy a vintage Hamilton Card Duck. And yes inside the duck it has rubber stamped on it "Hamilton The Magician".

Want to add more to its routine other than just having the duck grab the spectator's picked card.
Looked at Don Alan's routine but it is kind of dated.
I believe it was the guys at Magic Trick who did an impression of a duck by actually ducking his head which kids would find funny.

Next I tried to find a quack noisemaker. I know there are many dog and pig noise makers but could not find one to make a quack.
There are duck calls you can get at Cabelas but just trying to find the cartoon version of a quack.

Ed Eckl did a funny routine called Myra Duckenridge. It is a bit dated but came out when the Racqel Welsh movie "Myra Breckenridge" was out. It might be written up in the Precursor.

I purchased a second-hand Viking Card Duck several months ago. I worked up a comedy routine, borrowing ideas from here and there, but the meat of the routine was mostly my ideas. Tonight was my opportunity to perform my routine for my fellow Ring 76 members as part of our Ring's annual Standup Contest. The routine went over surprisingly well, I received multiple compliments from Ring members following the meeting. I had a lot of fun performing the routine.

Now I have to wait until July to find out if I placed in the contest. We had 6 contestants (out of 73 members) and there will be awards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. So, I guess I have a 50/50 chance of placing.

Personally, I think the whole idea of having a wooden duck select playing cards from a food trough is downright funny all on its own.

I love the Viking Card Duck. It works very well. It always grabs a card properly, it never misses.

Mark

Love to hear this, Mark!

Here's a photo of me during my routine at last night's IBM Ring 76 meeting.




Mark

Looks great, Mark!

F.Y.I.> I believe George only made these for awhile in the early 2000's. Really a nice apparatus.

Julie