Behold the Secrets of the World's Greatest Conjurer!
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8787 behold the secrets of the world’s greatest conjurer!78 Stretch Handkerchiefs! Bend Spoons! Levitate Small Children! And More! ntil his untimely death on stage in 1936, the Amazing Mr. Mysterio was one of Uthe world’s most celebrated magicians—a brilliant showman who rivaled Harry Houdini and Howard Thurston with his astonishing performances. And now, with the publication of his Encyclopedia of Magic & Conjuring, Mysterio’s secrets are finally made public to the world. This giant compilation of techniques and variations features illustrated step-by-step instructions for card tricks, rope effects, money magic, mind-reading magic, stage illusions, and more. Readers will learn how to vanish coins, levitate glassware, predict the future, escape from captivity, and even make a person disappear. With effects ranging from intimate tricks to epic on-stage illusions, Mysterio’s Encyclopedia of Magic & Conjuring is an indispensable reference for magicians of all ages. Mr. Mysterio was the stage name of Alphonse Zenobius Rekulak, a Ukrainian immigrant to the United States who rose to become one of the world’s foremost illusionists. He died in New York City in 1936. Gabe Fajuri serves as associate editor of MAGIC Magazine, the world’s largest independent periodical for magicians. He is also the president of Squash Publishing, which produces scholarly and instructional titles on conjuring. He has written many books on the subject of magic and magicians, and he produces and consults on magic-related television programs, live events, and publishing projects. He lives in Chicago. Magic Distributed by Chronicle Books. To order, 7¼ x 9, 360 pages, 400 1-color illus, hardcover call 800.759.0190, fax 800.286.9471, or contact your sales representative. In Canada, contact • National and local print, online, and Raincoast Books at 800.663.5714. broadcast campaign • Blog campaign For publicity inquiries, contact • Radio drive time campaign Melissa Monachello at 215.627.3581 x217 or [email protected]. ISBN 978-1-59474-263-7 $24.95 U.S. / $27.95 CAN For subsidiary rights inquiries, contact November 2008 Jessica Schmidt at 215.627.3581 x216 or [email protected]. www.quirkbooks.com • CONTENTS• 06 12 46 189 219 252 chapter I chapter II chapter VI chapter vii chapter viii introduction BODY MAGIC: CARD MAGIC: ROPE MAGIC: MAGIC OF THE PARLOR MAGIC: Mr. Mysterio’s grand PROPLESS WONDERS PASTEBOARD CONJURING WITH MIND: CONJURING ON STAGE undertaking is described for These tricks (apparently) PRESTIDIGITATION CORDAGE MENTAL MARVELS These are tricks that demand the reader, and the rules that require no props whatsoever. a moderate amount of “The Poetry of Magic,” card An ancient category of tricks, Predictions, telepathy, and the any aspiring conjurer should They involve either the preparation. Most (though tricks reign supreme over all rope magic has developed over like are among the most live by are set forth. magician’s body or a spectator’s not all) of them are suitable that is magic for the amateur the ages for a simple reason: enduringly popular of the body, and are both physical and for a larger, more formal set (and much of the profes- when it is well done, rope magician’s arts. These tricks psychological. audience than those described sional set, too), and will magic is always fascinating. are suitable for close-up, in “Close-up Magic.” continue to do so until cards platform, and stage work. themselves become obsolete. 78 78 78 78 78 78 91 132 164 278 302 appendix chapter Iii chapter IV chapter V chapter Ix chapter x 334 CLOSE-UP MAGIC: CUPS AND BALLS: MONEY MAGIC: HANDKERCHIEF ILLUSIONS: words of wisdom SMALL MIRACLES THE OLDEST DECEPTION CONJURING WITH MAGIC: STAGE-FILLING CONJURING Stage magic in its historical context, with notes from both Pocket tricks—including One of the fundamental skill CURRENCY SILKEN SORCERY The grand illusions—tricks like authors on the best practices tricks with napkins, matches, sets of any accomplished sawing a woman in half—often A category of small magic, Though handkerchiefs may for performance. and other ordinary objects— magician, the cups and balls require significant preparation, money magic has been given be a quaint relic of bygone can make a performer the life help to hone coordination of up to and including custom- its own chapter because there days, handkerchief magic of the party. This chapter the hands and eyes, strong built stages. The tricks in this are so many tricks that one can remains a beloved staple of 348 prepares the itinerant trickster misdirection, subtlety, and chapter have been chosen do with money—and because the magician’s art. for any situation he may sleight-of-hand technique. money magic, with its because the preparation they required reading and encounter, arming him with suggestion of instant riches, require, while significant, is yet further resources magic that can be performed exerts its own special power within the grasp of the without preparation. over any audience. beginning magician. 78 78 78 78 78 78 CHAPTER II ince the invention of playing cards them- selves, people have used them to perform tricks. Card magic is perhaps the most expansive and endlessly CARD MAGIC Sfascinating branch of the art of conjuring. PASTEBOARD PRESTIDIGITATION “Hofzinser’s dictum rings true for me, even today,” Mysterio wrote in the margin of one of the manuscript pages concerning card magic for this book. The comment is a 78 reference to Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser, the great nineteenth-century Viennese conjurer who termed conjuring with cards “the poetry of magic.” It is not the intention of the chapter that follows to give the reader a complete, be-all, end-all course in card magic. A compilation of every move and trick in the canon would require thousands of pages—and, indeed, thousands of books have already been written on the subject. Instead, working from Mysterio’s notes on the subject, these pages offer a succinct overview of card magic. Study and learn the material in this chapter, and you will have an above-average understanding of how card magic works, why it works, and different ways to accomplish effects—not to mention a healthy number of excellent tricks in your repertoire. Pay particular attention to the different ways in which the same goal—for example, secretly bringing a chosen card to the top of the deck—can be accomplished, and learn them all. Very often, card magic is performed under informal, impromptu circumstances. Having a large arsenal of sleights and techniques to draw on will allow you to adapt to the situation at hand. Also worth an introductory mention are the effects that conclude the chapter, termed “Reputation Makers.” These tricks have been selected because their impact is strong and the impression they make on audiences has been proven. These effects can do much to create a lasting and magical impression on your audiences. c a r d m a g i c 46 47 Pick up her card, and without looking at it, place it face down DOUBLE REVERSE78 into your (apparently) face-down half of the deck. “I didn’t look at your card, so don’t look at mine,” you say. “Put it back in your The magician Paul Rosini headlined America’s leading nightclubs and hotels in the half somewhere, so neither of us knows its location.” 1930s and ’40s, just as Mysterio’s star began to fade from prominence (due to his Now ask your spectator for half of her half of the deck. untimely death). Rosini’s charming “Italian” accent (his real name was Paul Vucic) and Take it from her, turn it face up, and place it underneath the the intimate nature of his performances made tricks like Double Reverse even more cards you’re holding. “We’re going to mix up the deck in an entertaining. unusual way,” you say. “Let me have the rest of your cards.” Take what’s left in her hand and place it, face up, on top of the Effect: The magician hands half of the deck to a spectator. She selects a card from cards in your hand. See Figure 3. Apparently, the deck has her half, while the magician selects a card from his. The cards are traded, the magician’s been reassembled in a face-up/face-down/face-up fashion. card being inserted among the spectator’s cards and the spectator’s among the magician’s. “This is incredible,” you say. “I’ve trained the cards to do Next, the entire deck is reassembled—in a haphazard fashion. Some of the cards are back flips. Watch!” As you say this, square the cards in your face down and some are face up. “Let’s try to make some sense out of this mishmash of hand and spread them in a wide arc on the table. The entire cards,” the magician says. He spreads the cards in a wide arc on the table and shows deck will be in order, with the exception of two cards. See that, magically, the entire deck has righted itself—with the exception of two cards. Figure 4. Here’s where the final deception takes place. They are, of course, the selections! “I picked the Jack of Spades,” you say, naming the card you reversed at the outset of the trick. “What card did you select?” Required: A deck of cards. The spectator will name her card. “It happens every time I do Figure 2 this. Turn them over and take a look.” Of course, when she does, she discovers that her Preparation: Reverse the bottom (face-out) card of the deck card and the Jack of Spades are the only two reversed cards in the deck.