Hi there,

I'm looking for a detailed history of the Ambitious Card routine for a university project, can you suggest any videos/books, or online resources.

Thanks.

PM'd you.

HI Clark, thank you for your PM. Do you have any information detailing how the ambitious card routine has progressed over the years, and Dai Vernon's performance for Houdini, which fooled him.

I'm looking for a rough timeline of major players (magicians) who contributed heavily to the sleights used today for this routine, etc.

Any more help would be appreciated.

Hi!
could I also please have a copy of the history?
I'm working on a video for a local competition here in the philippines..
thanks

The logical starting point would be Daryl's Ambitious Card Omnibus.

BTW, there is very little evidence that Vernon actually originated the Ambitious Card. Methods exist that do not require a DL.

The trick actually dates back at least to Alberti, a French magician, who is said to have developed the idea in the early 1800's. The first written record of it appears to be in Prof. Hoffmann's "Drawing Room Conjuring" from 1887.
Here's an excerpt of the description:

THE AMBITIOUS CARD.
To place a card in different parts of the pack, and yet to make it always return to the top.

"SINCE I have taken to the study of prestidigitation, I have noticed a very curious fact, namely,that cards, like human beings, are extremely fond of positions of dignity. To them the highest honour is to lie on the top of the pack, and when one of them has been chosen by a spectator, it consider that it has become very superior to its companions, and will persistently elbow them out of the way in order to get to the topmost place. If you like, I will give you a specimen of these little domestic dissensions among the cards..."

There you go! That's the basic plot, even down to the name.

I left iashraf a PM with a few important questions, not the least of which was how much technical information he was going to release to non-magicians. He has neither read it nor responded to it.

Until he answers these questions to my satisfaction, I will not be sharing any information with him.

We don't know if this person is a magician. We don't know if he is going to keep our secrets.

If this fellow is really serious about the Ambitious Card, he certainly hasn't showed it.

My conclusion -- non magician, troll, potential exposer.

You're probably right. I do already regret my post above. Sorry, just wanted to be helpful.

You have nothing to regret. All of us occasionally make the mistake of being too helpful from time to time. If he is just an exposer, he won't be able to do anything with ANY information.

I am publishing a card routine that uses an Ambitious card element as well as a Triumph element. I want to give crdit where credit is do for the origins of these two effects. How would I cite the information about the origins? Is that small blurb about Alberti correct for Ambitious? I had always thought it was Vernon because of the stories I've heard about how he fooled Houdini.

Please PM me if you feel there's critical information involved.

(P.S. Anyone know the originator of Triumph (using the Zarrow Shuffle instead of a C2C Deck?)

The Alberti reference is correct.

AFAIK, Triumph first appeared in the Stars of Magic series and it was by Vernon. It may actually be earlier than that, of course, but it is a LOT older than the Zarrow shuffle.