Can someone tell me the history of invisible deck? Like who invented it? What is the original idea of the deck? or wad does the deck look like originally?

thanks

magically,
Perl

I think the Invisible Deck goes back to Don Alan, a popular Chicago magician.

Originally, when I first saw it performed, it was a think of a card or name any card. Performer spread the deck to reveal thought/named card was only card reversed.

Originally, it was produced in Fox Lake Bridge size deck I believe.

Wasn't it Eddie Fields creating the *Invisible Deck* premise?
Jon Racherbaumer would know

Correction, just sprung to mind it is Dai Vernons original Brainweave deck???

The actual deck is Joe Berg's Ultra Mantal Deck. The "invisible deck" is a presentation made famous by Don Alan that uses Joe's deck.
Best wishes,
Steve

However, Werner was right. Don got the "Invisible Deck" idea from Eddie Fields.

Oh sounds confusing...
any webpage I can refer to the history of id?

Any webpage? I really want to noe the history behind.... someone pls help me...

thanks

An overview of the history on the invisible deck can be found in Jon Racherbaumer's "In a Class by Himself - The Legacy of Don Alan". I have only summarized the history below - for additional details, I would suggest that you purchase Jon's book.

ROOTS: The brain wave principle was claimed by Dai Vernon in 1930, and it was published in the Jinx (October 1938). It was immediately a popular trick with both magicians and dealers. Paul Fox added the additional climax of having the named card be one with a different colored back.

At the same time, Joe Berg released his "Ultra Mental" deck. Berg's deck was different from the "Brain Wave" deck since the cards were roughed back-to-back, instead of face-to-face. The person who came up with the "invisible deck" presentation was Eddie Fields, who showed it to Don (Alan) in Chicago.

Thanks a lot... that is fantastic

For those interested, I found some more information about the history of the invisible deck. You can read the specific details in Jon Racherbaumers's "The Greater Artful Dodges of Eddie Fields". But in brief: Eddie Fields first saw Joe Berg's Ultra Mental deck in 1942. Fields purchased a deck, but he didn't come up with a presentation right away.

Later, Fields went to visit a friend at an army base in Florida. Field's friend "Roger" was trying to fake a mental illness and get a "section 8" - much like Klinger was trying to do in M*A*S*H. Roger eventually succeeded and did get sent to a mental hospital. When Fields went to visit his friend at the hospital, they passed some time by playing checkers. After a couple of games, a group of doctors came onto the ward. At that point Roger suddenly threw the checker board onto the floor, stood up and yelled at Fields saying that " (Fields) never let him win a game" . Roger then shaking moving his hands erratically. Fields asked his friend what he was doing, and Roger said that he was shuffling a deck of cards, and that he was "going to beat (your) ass at poker". In front of the doctors, Fields then played a number of hands of invisible poker with his friend.

Eddie Fields realized the power of that theatrical presentation, and that incident, along with stuff that he had seen Marcel Marceau do, caused him to create the invisible deck presentation.

Cheers !

The Invisible Deck is the only trick that I used to routinely carry in the glove box of my car. It was the quick and dirty trick that would allow me to "do a trick for ..." and go eat. Now I usually have one in my coat breast pocket. Those and Hopping Halves often go to the dry cleaners. (It's still magic to me!)

Bob
Magic By Sander

As informative as the internet is, it should NEVER be taken as the repository of the sum total of knowledge of the human race. ANYONE can put up a web site with any piece of information on it they might want to.

To understand what I mean, go to http://www.sybilmagic.com

There are references to magic books on the internet that are actually items that were scanned in from old Encyclopedias. At the bottom of some of these web pages are disclaimers about the accuracy of the information.

When a book is published, at least there is some kind of editorial filter that screens out some of the misinformation.

However, although the Don Alan book is accurate on this one item, there are a number of places where it falls short.