Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 19: Issue #19

Issue #19 finds Annemann 14 weeks into his nightclub tour, mid-dispute with Frank Lane, and with strong opinions about dealers writing in the margins of subscribers' copies. The effects this issue include a rapid calculation piece that fools people who already know the original, a thought-of card found without a single question asked, a behind-the-back stop trick dressed up as muscle reading, and Annemann's most personal contribution to the Jinx so far — a billet routine 15 years in the making.

Effects Covered

[0:55] Editorial — Theodore Annemann Annemann opens with a genuine question to readers about whether sponsored free floor shows undercut working magicians, then surfaces a practical flash paper idea for the living-and-dead test — four slips vanish instantly, one survives — that Jay admits is actually kind of cool even if the theme isn't. The Frank Lane dispute from Issue #18 reaches its conclusion when Annemann produces the citation proving he credited Stanyan back in 1934, and closes the matter. He also describes a stacked deck used as a secret message carrier, a soft-pencil locator card that catches the eye only when the deck is fanned, and addresses dealers who have been writing comments in the margins of subscribers' copies — with a promise of replacement issues for anyone affected.

[3:43] The Addition of the Age — Charles Nagel A 25-square grid, five two-digit numbers from the helper, five more from the performer, and a diagonal row filled in by the helper with whatever numbers they choose — and the performer's total, written before anyone has added anything up, is correct. The method involves a complementary relationship between the two columns of numbers that locks the arithmetic in place regardless of what goes in the diagonal. Annemann notes the filling of the squares can be varied each time so it never looks the same twice.

[5:01] Letters to the Jinx / Business Card Pictures — Theodore Annemann A selection of reader letters and a page of period business cards from magicians of the era — both worth a look at jinxnavigator.com.

[5:10] The Scarny Thought Card — John Scarny The deck is riffled vertically so the cards flash by, the helper simply thinks of one they see, cuts the deck themselves, and deals face down while counting silently to their card's number — and the card at that position is the one they thought of. No questions, no elimination, no obvious force. Scarny notes that with practice the riffle can be timed so the cards of interest pass clearly while the rest flash by too quickly to register.

[6:13] Another Stop — Paul Curry The deck goes behind the performer's back, a helper calls stop during a riffle, notes the card, then shuffles the deck — and the performer names it. Curry's preferred presentation frames it as muscle reading, slowly approaching the correct card in a face-up spread while appearing to read the helper's reactions. The method uses a short card and a small setup that can be put in place in seconds, and the muscle reading frame keeps the method invisible even to people who know card work.

[7:11] A Version of the Al Baker Three-Billet Trick — Theodore Annemann Annemann's most personal contribution to the Jinx so far — a routine tracing back to Al Baker's original, through Annemann's 1924 acquisition of the method, his 1929 development of billet switches allowing slips to be returned after reading, and a significant discovery about shuffling a stacked deck without destroying its usefulness. Three helpers each select or think of a card through three different procedures, three slips are written and collected, and the performer reveals all three one at a time — saving the most impossible for last: the card that was only thought of, never written, until after the revelation had already begun. Annemann closes with a point Jay finds worth quoting directly: there's no method that compares to having a helper genuinely think of a card, and that point alone is what makes the trick worth doing the way it's described.

[9:03] Outro Links and a preview of Issue #20 — featuring Conrad Bush's coin effect, Silver or Copper.

Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 18: Issue #18

Issue #18 finds Annemann fresh off nine weeks touring 117 nightclubs, mid-argument with a Boston magician who called him a cock-eyed liar, and with enough opinions about magic publishing ethics to fill half an editorial. The issue also delivers the Jinx's first collected improvements column, a pantomime cigarette production, a card spelling effect built around the performer's own name, and a press piece involving a named dead person that Jay is pretty sure would still get into a newspaper.

Effects Covered

[0:49] Editorial — Theodore Annemann Annemann opens in the middle of a dispute with Frank Lane over the origin of a billet card effect — Lane called him a cock-eyed liar, Annemann offers him a dozen life subscriptions if he can prove he's wrong, and notices Lane is now wearing a question mark ring just like the one he admired on Annemann's hand. The bulk of the editorial covers nine weeks on the road with the Green River Review, including a week at Grand Central Palace where the show was recorded with applause gaps that audiences declined to fill on cue. He closes with a sharp statement on publishing ethics: any magazine that takes advertising money from dealers known to copy, fail to deliver, or ship shoddy merchandise is doing its readers a disservice. He uses the word "pediculous" and helpfully defines it: lousy.

[3:14] The Miracle Speller — Vincent Dalban A helper silently spells their own name, dealing one card per letter, and notes the card that falls on the last letter. The performer — without knowing the helper's name or the card — spells out his own name and turns over the last card: it's the chosen one. The method uses a single gimmicked card and a name chosen in advance that's one letter shorter than the performer's own, and that relationship locks everything in place regardless of how long the helper's name turns out to be.

[4:20] The Phantom Cigarette — Lou Brent Pure pantomime: the performer mimes taking out a cigarette case, removing a cigarette, tapping it, tucking it between the lips, then reaching for a match — and when both hands come away from the lighting action, there's a lit cigarette actually in his mouth. The cigarette has been hidden and pre-lit in a small holder under the coat, with the steal covered by the match-lighting move. Annemann adds his own note on the retrieval sequence, describing a slightly different handling he's found more reliable in practice.

[5:32] Improvements — Theodore Annemann The Jinx's first collected improvements column — reader-submitted refinements to effects going back to Issue #1, tested and selected by Annemann. Highlights include: the Supreme East Indian needle trick gets a cleaner load with no faked spool needed; the lemon and the dollar gets upgraded to three different fruits so the performer can identify at a glance which bill is out; the divination with matches gets loosened so a mostly-full borrowed matchbook works; and 20th Century Cards gets a full apparatus upgrade with a small display stand and nickeled rod so the ribbon production plays to the whole room.

[6:56] Thoughts in General — Theodore Annemann Annemann's notebook column returns with practical ideas rather than polished routines, owing to four shows a night on tour. The card-on-ceiling effect gets a thorough treatment — wool co-paste from Woolworth's in a small tin, last-minute dovetail shuffle, and the specific rotary spin when throwing the deck that makes the effect reliable rather than hit or miss. Other items: make tube apparatus from square cardboard so it folds flat for a suitcase, learn lip reading for close-up work, and perform card tricks with three specific cards removed from the deck so that if a helper names any of those three, it can be produced from the pocket.

[8:51] Death Flight — Tom Sellers A named dead person travels invisibly between two sealed, initialed envelopes — one helper ends up with six blank cards where there were seven, and the other ends up with eight where there were seven, with the written card right there among them. The entire method happens during two brief seemingly casual envelope-handling moments, and by the time the helpers are initialing their envelopes, the outcome is already decided. Jay's verdict: it's a cool effect — just do something other than a dead person.

[10:14] Outro Links and a preview of Issue #19 — featuring Annemann's version of the Al Baker three-billet trick.