Issue #23 delivers calendar math, a complete pocket act built around a pencil, a 25-minute mentalism program assembled from earlier Jinx effects, an odd-backed card that keeps switching decks without anyone claiming to do a trick, and a touch-based divination that's been sitting in Annemann's notebook since 1928 with no author attached.

Effects Covered

[1:13] Editorial — Theodore Annemann Annemann sketches a complete impromptu pocket act built around a single pencil, goes after a dealer whose second encyclopedia is more up to date in its plagiarism than the first, and closes with a verdict on collaborative magic shows: doomed by ego.

[3:18] Calendar Conjuring — Tom Sellers Three effects built on the fixed mathematical relationships in a calendar grid — name four dates from the total, work out nine from the highest and lowest, derive three from a row total. Annemann suggests stringing them into a complete routine and closing with a torn and restored page.

[4:28] A Mental Club Act — Theodore Annemann A complete 25-minute mentalism program built from seven previously published Jinx effects, all pocketable except a small slate, sequenced for clubs, lodges, and banquets.

[5:49] What the H — Vincent Lynch Not a trick — a piece of business where an odd-backed Ace of Spades keeps switching between two decks, presented as a puzzling personal observation rather than a formal effect. Lynch argues the lack of a trick frame makes it land harder.

[6:51] Dr. Daley's Death Divination — Dr. Jacob Daley A living-and-dead test with flash paper, aimed at convincing a genuine skeptic. Jay suggests flipping the premise so the living names burn and the dead one survives — proof they live on in memory.

[8:19] The Touch That Tells — Unknown The performer touches cards in a 4x4 grid while a helper plays cards from behind their back one at a time — and at the exact moment the helper plays their last, the performer's finger lands on a card whose value matches the number secretly pocketed. Annemann has had this since 1928 with no idea who originated it.

[9:28] Last Minute News — Theodore Annemann Two losses in the magic community, a new club forming in Syracuse, and a dry observation that Harry Blackstone's weekly exposure column is careful never to expose anything from Blackstone's own act.

[10:23] Outro Links and a preview of Issue #24 — featuring Stuart James's Mirror Skill, one of Jay's personal favorites.