I saw Juliana Chen produce cards on stage on the worlds greatest magic, just wondering what exactly is the name of the move she is doing, when plucking out the cards and where it can be found at so that I can learn it?

This production is from the Chavez Course in Magic now handled by Dale Salswek (SP) If I remember correctly without pulling my course out, it is called the 'pop up' card production.

Yeah, but the angles are horrible, and the technique is decidedly "old school."

Zombieboy,

All card productions are old school. You are more then welcome to come up with a whole new way to produce cards. I look forward to your new techniques.

The angles are horrible because of the way the camera wanted to expose her magic. Noone checked with the camera operator or producer before hand. It was also the way she wanted to hold her hands high above her head. That was her decision.

Lastly, this is stage magic not close up. It is ment to be performed from the front, not in the round.

Supermagic,

I have not seen this discribed anywhere else in print. Not even Jeff McBride tapes have this on it.

I heard Chen used 'plastic' cards or her boomerang sequence. The extra weight would exert more force when 'shot' from this technique, increasing the distance of the cards. It could be dangerous if they hit members of the audience though! Normal cards are sore enough.

I have the Chavez course. I will have to go through it and see if I can't find this reference for myself. It sounds intersting and I often wondered if she had modified it any.

Kyle

Wmhegbli, contrary to popular belief, there is a distinction between old school and new school manipulation techniques. If you want to know more, talk to Jeff McBride. He is also the one who told me that the move had to many bad angles, and specifically instructed me not to use it.

Also, it is described in Sheridan's new DVD. Volume two.

I have Jeff Sheridan's Vol. 2 and it is not on there. It is a part of the Chevez course they call the Chinese Production. This is several different production methods to do with just a few cards.

Chen has used this move exclusively without using any variations. I suppose she did this because of the size of her hands. She could have used cut down cards but it looked like she did not choose to go that route.

Plastic cards may work, but when I tried them many years ago I found they do not have the right resistance to perform the move smoothly. I found that manipulation cards do not work as well with this production method. It is best to use fanning cards or regular cards that have some resistance to them.

She did the production very well alternating each card from her hands.

I just stumbled onto this topic and while it might be late coming....Juliana graciously showed me this "Chinese/Pop Out" production a few years ago. In my opinion, it is a superior production because, when produced, the entire card is visible at the fingertips. In the "perfect" production, the card is more or less cradled in your hand and looks less natural. The only drawback is the angles and this creates a problem if you have small hands like myself and Juliana do. The way to get this production to work with thinner cards is to apply force in opposing directions with your fingers once the card is in the "produced position." The middle finger exerts force outward while the first and ring fingers exert pressure palm inward. The result will be a straightened card. With Plastic cards, the production comes a lot easier and faster. No "get ready" is needed, which eliminates one step, and because they are plastic, they will pop into view, thereby eliminating the need to apply force with the fingers. -- Having said this, unless you are in a nice stage situation, the "perfect" production is a much safer route.

Christopher Moro, I have to disagree with you discription of the 'Pop Up'. You are discribing another single card production.

We might be talking about two different productions, I'm not sure. It's difficult to tell when reading only written words. However, all the posts seemed to indicate to me that the production performed by Juliana Chen is the one of topic...and that it is the particular production wherein both hands are palm up and the cards appear at the fingertips, alternating back and forth: Card at the right fingertips, card at the left fingertips...etc.
Is this what you guys were talking about? If not, then the technique I described is not said production. --- Also, I recently discovered that the one I am speaking of was described on Sheridan's Vol 2 video.

The one I'm talking about was shown to me by Juliana Chen herself, but never given a name. And I don't know what Dale Salwak calls it. So the "Pop-up" Bill has mentioned could be a completely different production. Juliana does a number of different techinques.

If instead, we are talking about a production she does that resembles what Jeff McBride has named, "perfect production," then there's another story to that too. Juliana says it has no name because she made it up. I believe she saw a mannequin in a department store and liked the position of mannequin's hands. So she adopted that pose (which resembles a more feminine version of the perfect production).

Anyway, I am interested now...which of her productions are you guys talking about?

Try Tony Clarks new DVD featuring his card act. He explains this move and his method has been the easiest one for me to do..........

Take care, Bry

There a clip of this production being preformed? or can someone describe it?

Juliana uses her own brand of cards - they are available for purchase (at least they used to be). They are extremely thin and are indeed made out of a more plasticy material than regular cards. They are SO thin though (a lot thinner than even nielson cards). I found them to be TOO thin to work with..

I heard from a friend that Jeff McBride called this production (Juliana Chen) the million dollar production because magicians used to produce dollar bills in this manner..any idea of its truth?

I'm not positive but the production Juliana Chen uses looks like the method on pages 112 & 113 in Ellison Poland's "Wonderful Routines of Magic"

I'm not so sure. Dollar Bills could hypothetically be produced this way, but the name "Million Dollar Production" refers to a different move.

Look at the new DVD available from Stevens Magic. Juliana Chen's Original Card Shooting video.

Now all the your questions can be answered without guessing and it is only $40.

http://www.stevensmagic.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=6981

Does this DVD explains how she maked her fast card production?

I have no doubt that Jeff is referring to an old trick that Tannens used to sell called “Grab-A-Dollar” (which I believe was invented by a man named Charles F. Harad. The gaff involved folding real dollar bills (almost in half) and reinforcing them with a piece of clear plastic. Since the folded bills were almost the size of a playing card they could be bent and palmed in the same manner as the card production that Ms. Chen uses. As the bills were produced they would unfold to full size and the plastic backing made them appear with a real “Snap”. The reason I know about this is because I performed the trick on an industrial film in the 1980s.

Levent