Cards as Weapons (1977)(archive.org)
archive.org
Cards as Weapons (1977)
https://archive.org/details/Cards_as_Weapons_-_Ricky_Jay_1977
49 comments
That is a fantastic book. It was very much written for magicians and gives away many of Derren Brown's famous routines so reader beware!
The aspects of showmanship and performance really stuck with me. I often remember snippets of the book even today.
One of my favourite stories is when Derren is having dinner with friends and their child says "Show me a magic trick!" So Derren asks the child to name a card. He then flips over, by pure coincidence, the card the child named. Of course, he was planning on doing a more elaborate routine but he was present enough to notice that he would not be able to top his accidental trick and put the cards away.
He talks a lot about taking risks in performance and being attentive to the energy in the room. Of course, you need some solid reliable tricks as well to back this up!
The aspects of showmanship and performance really stuck with me. I often remember snippets of the book even today.
One of my favourite stories is when Derren is having dinner with friends and their child says "Show me a magic trick!" So Derren asks the child to name a card. He then flips over, by pure coincidence, the card the child named. Of course, he was planning on doing a more elaborate routine but he was present enough to notice that he would not be able to top his accidental trick and put the cards away.
He talks a lot about taking risks in performance and being attentive to the energy in the room. Of course, you need some solid reliable tricks as well to back this up!
Also where he talks about how the performance of mind reading. I think a way to think about it is that it _is_ mind reading in a way, in the sense that you have to understand how your audience is perceiving _you_, that you need to act in a way that matches their _expectation_ of how someone who could genuinely read minds would behave.
His real genius is in identifying a kind of pseudo-scientific patter that would allow a skeptic to enjoy a mind reading performance. You can do the same crude trick that a mentalist or spiritualist would do, and wrap it in patter about neuro-linguistic programming and subliminal messages and psychology and with a few winks to let them think they're in on the secret and suddenly a hard bitten skeptic falls for the same sleight of hand trick that a gullible grandma fell for in the 19th century. Like, he accurately says that what he's doing isn't paranormal or "real", but his explanation on stage almost never matches what he's really doing.
His real genius is in identifying a kind of pseudo-scientific patter that would allow a skeptic to enjoy a mind reading performance. You can do the same crude trick that a mentalist or spiritualist would do, and wrap it in patter about neuro-linguistic programming and subliminal messages and psychology and with a few winks to let them think they're in on the secret and suddenly a hard bitten skeptic falls for the same sleight of hand trick that a gullible grandma fell for in the 19th century. Like, he accurately says that what he's doing isn't paranormal or "real", but his explanation on stage almost never matches what he's really doing.
That's mind-writing, not mind-reading.
I'd like to recommend two of Darwin Ortiz's books, Strong Magic and Designing Miracles. They're high-level theoretical texts on the perceptual and cognitive basis of illusion and I've found them to have a great deal of applicability to UI/UX design.
It helps when the magician is Ricky Jay!
I am not 100% convinced that this isn't just actual magic. The manipulations are pretty amazing and then at the end it's mindblowing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWvRorX0KhQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWvRorX0KhQ
Many of the methods Jay used he learned from Dai Vernon.
This vid explains Vernon’s signature trick.
https://youtu.be/PQpQwLBDQKwP
One key to Jays magic (and really any good mahician) is that NOTHING is coincidence. Every hitch, stumble, and stutter is there for a reason.
This vid explains Vernon’s signature trick.
https://youtu.be/PQpQwLBDQKwP
One key to Jays magic (and really any good mahician) is that NOTHING is coincidence. Every hitch, stumble, and stutter is there for a reason.
The card throwing is just a skill, there is no trickery involved. But what is shown in this video is magic facilitated by extreme skill (as opposed to, say, a gimmicked deck).
He did use gimmicks sometimes, albeit it usually a set deck that he then pretends to false shuffle.
When I was into card magic a few years ago this move by Lennard Green was the one that impressed me most:
https://youtu.be/KnSGHHeFxa0?t=33
Also, at the end of the video his laser routine is really nice.
https://youtu.be/KnSGHHeFxa0?t=33
Also, at the end of the video his laser routine is really nice.
I've always found card manipulation magic like Ricky Jay did to be some of the most impressive. The flashier magic can be interesting in other ways but card manipulation feels so pure. There aren't any gimmicks, nothing super flashy, it doesn't require any equipment the average person couldn't acquire for a few dollars, it's just the end result of untold thousands of hours of practice.
Modern performance of the same core trick, with a musical and literary delivery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGvbaLl33CY#t=1m50s
Look at the left stack at 2:15-2:20. The cards in the stack move.
The video has been cut and edited.
The video has been cut and edited.
I think it's maybe a trick card? Nothing else in the scene jumps during the 'edit' (he's moving his arms around at the same time), and you can actually hear the card make a little 'pop' noise as it jumps up a bit.
It's a gimmicked card used to create a break in the deck (for controlling where to cut). Earlier in the video, you can clearly see it (or another gimmicked card) creating a break (gap) in the deck. The pop at 2:15-2:20 is a slight vibration (due to the flipping card) causing the card so slide or pop to become more visible.
good god. that's got to be a dozen separate tricks, and I can't see through a single one of them. granted, the pixels don't help, but sheesh, Ricky was a force.
That's brilliant! I love how he 'sorts' one suit, flashes a smug look at someone off-frame and proceeds to just spread the rest of the deck face-up and sorted!
My favorite magician of all time, and it's not even close. Was really said to hear he passed a few years ago.
He could REALLY do this, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F93VCA_TCQ
Actual card throwing starts at about 4:30.
He could REALLY do this, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F93VCA_TCQ
Actual card throwing starts at about 4:30.
Please forgive me for digging this up every other year, but I think this is such a wonderful tongue in cheek resource for a wonderfully weird topic.
Also, be warned that book pages 33 and 34 may be NSFW in some regions on this planet ;)
Also, be warned that book pages 33 and 34 may be NSFW in some regions on this planet ;)
I was just skimming through before even reading the comments and I hit what you were talking about on page 42 and thought "Wait hold up.."
The clothes obscured the careful position of the arms, they were removed for pedagogic reasons.
Page 56 is where it gets really steamy
Thank you for the, uh... Warning.
I note that on the books title, it says he is the author of this book:
https://archive.org/details/learnedpigsfirep0000unse
Which has an amazing title.
https://archive.org/details/learnedpigsfirep0000unse
Which has an amazing title.
It's also an amazing book. In addition to being an incredible magician and entertainer, Ricky Jay was also a wealth of knowledge on the history of magic and all things related. The referenced "Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women" is just scratching the surface of the subject.
Related:
“Cards as Weapons” by Ricky Jay (1977) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26106453 - Feb 2021 (2 comments)
Cards as Weapons by Ricky Jay (1977) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26048850 - Feb 2021 (1 comment)
“Cards as Weapons” by Ricky Jay (1977) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26106453 - Feb 2021 (2 comments)
Cards as Weapons by Ricky Jay (1977) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26048850 - Feb 2021 (1 comment)
Saw Ricky Jay 3 times in the 52 Assistants era in very intimate theaters and he was just amazing.
I don't understand what this passage is trying to say.
There's an obvious possible intent, but the wording seems to not match it.
Quote:
" A Sad Footnote to a Sad Footnote
Famous Bullet-Catching Trick
Annemann was considered a strange figure in magic and, by all but a few, he was thought a genius in the methods of duplicating psychic or mental phenomena; he was a creative thinker but always a reluctant and nervous performer. It was big news when advertise- ments for his full evening show appeared in the New York press. Annemann was to ap- pear at "The Little Theatre in the Sky" atop the Chanin Building on New York's 42nd Street on January 26th and 27th, 1942.
The feature of the show was to be the famous Bullet-Catching Trick. A committee purchased, examined and marked a bullet which was then loaded into a rifle belonging to a spectator, a marksman, who had never met the performer, The marksman hoisted the rifle to his shoulder and took aim at the mouth of the performer who stood blindfolded on the opposite side of the stage with his hands behind his back. The commands, "Ready — Aim — Fire!" were given. A shot rang out and the performer dropped to his knees; there was a trickle of blood from the comer of his mouth and then miraculously the marked bullet was seen to emerge from between his lips.
Over the years twelve magicians had lost their lives presenting this spectacular effect, and the magic fraternity spoke of the upcoming Annemann attempt with strained antici- pation.
It is easy to speculate that Annemann, too, felt the strain, not only of this trick and this show but of the other confused pieces of his life. He did not do the performance. On January 12th, a few miles away from the theatre, he locked himself in his room and committed suicide. "
It skips the part where there's an attempt to "magic" the bullet?
Quote:
" A Sad Footnote to a Sad Footnote
Famous Bullet-Catching Trick
Annemann was considered a strange figure in magic and, by all but a few, he was thought a genius in the methods of duplicating psychic or mental phenomena; he was a creative thinker but always a reluctant and nervous performer. It was big news when advertise- ments for his full evening show appeared in the New York press. Annemann was to ap- pear at "The Little Theatre in the Sky" atop the Chanin Building on New York's 42nd Street on January 26th and 27th, 1942.
The feature of the show was to be the famous Bullet-Catching Trick. A committee purchased, examined and marked a bullet which was then loaded into a rifle belonging to a spectator, a marksman, who had never met the performer, The marksman hoisted the rifle to his shoulder and took aim at the mouth of the performer who stood blindfolded on the opposite side of the stage with his hands behind his back. The commands, "Ready — Aim — Fire!" were given. A shot rang out and the performer dropped to his knees; there was a trickle of blood from the comer of his mouth and then miraculously the marked bullet was seen to emerge from between his lips.
Over the years twelve magicians had lost their lives presenting this spectacular effect, and the magic fraternity spoke of the upcoming Annemann attempt with strained antici- pation.
It is easy to speculate that Annemann, too, felt the strain, not only of this trick and this show but of the other confused pieces of his life. He did not do the performance. On January 12th, a few miles away from the theatre, he locked himself in his room and committed suicide. "
It skips the part where there's an attempt to "magic" the bullet?
The late, great Ricky Jay was one of the very best card magicians who ever lived...plus a fantastic magic historian.
As a kid I had access to that book and I got to be a pretty wicked card thrower. Haven't tried it in a while.
Same here, this was when I was a high schooler. I was a habitual card thrower for a while. I remember walking down the hall, flicked my hall pass. My enthusiasm was better than my aim and I nailed a girl in the back of the head. Whole lotta apologizing happened.
If you still have a copy, a coworker from a previous job said that it's worth quite a bit (hundreds, apparently).
Only the hard cover. Paperback is also valuable, but only about 15% of the hardcover.
Did your parents know about the pretty topless/naked lady in some of the pictures?
Oddly my parents owned a bookstore, so yea I was growing up in the opposite of the GOP vision for Florida.
I was not expecting a fully nude woman on pages 40-43. Perhaps could use a NSFW flag.
That very pleasant woman, both topless and fully naked later, also took me by surprise. No mention if her nakedness is part of the flick/attack position. I just browsed the book, but there's also a foot-card-flicking picture, and some ladies operating a man with a card.
I don't have time to read it right now, but surely will later, seems like a fun weekend book.
I don't have time to read it right now, but surely will later, seems like a fun weekend book.
Makes me wonder what the selling point of the book was originally
When I was a kid, my father and I used to hurl cards at each other in the unfinished basement, and as fast as we could throw 'em, I'm grateful that my vision was so historically poor that I wore glasses at an early age.
Fellow enthusiasts should also check out videos of card magician Jeff McBride who has a parlor trick would sling cards into the audience.
https://youtu.be/uUaYUk0alRo
Fellow enthusiasts should also check out videos of card magician Jeff McBride who has a parlor trick would sling cards into the audience.
https://youtu.be/uUaYUk0alRo
You're supposed to take turns trying to score a card tossed into an upturned hat lying in the center of a room.
I don't know about you guys, but I often think magician are great computer scientists.. pre-planning order and configurations to obtain a known result..
I remember running across this book in a bookstore in the 80s! What a blast from the past. In particular I remember the picture on page 73.
Lots of references to famous contemporaries. Very silly book! It certainly keeps you turning the pages.
If you don't know who Ricky Jay was, this is a nice introduction.
Well don’t bring a deck of cards to a fist fight
I'm going to recommend another really excellent, long out of print book by a famous magician:
https://avalonlibrary.net/ebooks/Derren%20Brown%20-%20Pure%2...
It's an absolute gold mine of tips on performance and full of detailed technical explanations of how he did some of his most famous illusions. (and the answer is not NLP or subliminal suggestion or anything he talks about in his patter, most of the time).