Born in 1894 in Ottawa, the son of a Canadian civil servant, Vernon moved to New York - Manhattan - in 1915, and never looked back. Miracles flowed from his fingertips - effortlessly. The source of his secrets? The underworld and the gamblers, hustlers and con-men that roamed back-room dens of iniquity, bunked in jail cells and walked the streets of America. Vernon sought them out, befriended them, and made their work, their covert methods, his. This book, the first in-depth examination of Vernon's life, traces the first half of his remarkable journey - through Ottawa, Coney Island, Chicago, Manhattan, Kansas City and Colorado Springs - and the celebrities - Houdini, Billy Rose, and Roosevelt, that Vernon encountered along the way.
Dai Vernon: A Biography also details the evolution of magic in the 20th century. From the stages of London and Paris to the back rooms of magic emporiums where secrets were bought and sold, Vernon's life and work escort the reader through vaudeville, Broadway theaters, grand magic spectaculars, New York nightspots and the dawn of television. Here, cornerstones of the craft have been laid bare for all to see.
The book overflows with information – new, never-before-published tales and details – and insights into the secret world of sleight-of-hand, a world in which Vernon was the unquestionable king, a world in which his influence will forever be felt.
Hardbound, 370 pages with over 40 rare photographs and a full-color dust jacket.
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This book is a compilation of my seven softback booklets, the first of which appeared in 1993. They were issued in fairly short print runs, and they kept going out of print. Those I published myself were: Imp Romp 2 – Shampagne - The Spring of 52 - Con Sessions – Lusions - Counter Feats
Selecting material from these seven books and compiling the items into a single hardback has given me the chance to make them better. Not all of the items made it into the final cut. Some of them had been overtaken by time— for example, the number effects which relied on coin dates in the 1900s only. Some had already re-appeared as updated versions in other publications. Some effects have been shortened and tightened up. In some cases, I’d figured out better or simpler ways of achieving the same effect. Some have had the benefit of ingenious improvements suggested by friends. In fact, all the items have profited from second thoughts.
LIMITED EDITION!!!
There has never been a book quite like this before. It is the first-ever encyclopaedic collection of card forces. Many of them are well off the beaten track, and some are so new that they have never appeared in print before.
BLIND FORCES – COUNT FORCES – FORCING FORMULAS – LOCATORS – SPELLING FORCES – COMBINATION FORCES – CUT FORCES – GLIDE FORCES – MULTIPLE FORCES – STOP FORCES – COMEDY FORCES – EQUIVOCATION FORCES – HOLD-OUTS – PROBABILITY FORCES - SWITCHES
The word "impromptu" in the title means exactly what it says. These forces don't make use of gimmicked cards of any kind. The test for entry into this book has been a strict one. It assumes you may be away from home, with not a single magical aid of any kind in your pockets. Someone comes up to you and thrusts his own shuffled deck into your hands. If a force is usable in this situation, it passes the test. Otherwise it has been rejected.
The assumption of borrowed cards has brought other constraints. No pre-arranged decks. No defacing or marking of cards. No nail-nicks. No writing on cards. Not even a crimp or bridge.
This new, revised edition has been completely rewritten and extended. It now contains over 500 forces, and 100 specially photographed illustrations.
294 pages
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A Summit Meeting in the Rarefied Atmosphere of Jack Avis and Lewis Jones
When two of the finest creative thinkers in magic get together, there is an inevitable outpouring of theory, digital skill, originality, and presentation that opens new avenues of performance. These are guaranteed to delight the close-up magician be he beginner or advanced practitioner.
Here for the first time, two giants of conceptual magic combine to chronicle their creative ideas - the result of long, all day, regular weekly meetings that have taken place over a matter of years.
Wherever a pack of cards is shuffled, Jack Avis and Lewis Jones have been acclaimed world-wide for their original writings and contributions in magazines, books, and other sources of high profile magic.
Ahead of the Pack is a book that will undoubtedly stir the blood of true magic aficionados everywhere. In the pages of this book you will find devilish thinking that comes from a half century of passion and commitment to the creation of stunning magic in the mould of Dai Vernon, Ed Marlo, Alex Elmsley, John Ramsay, and Al Koran.
Here you will find gems that have been guarded secrets for ages, hitherto lodged in volumes of hand-written notebooks. Lewis Jones's amazing telephone effect Mystral is a mind-reading principle in which "people can make a free choice of virtually anything". And Jack Avis releases for the first time a totally new handling of the Centre-Tear that requires no palming, and no turning away for a secret glimpse - a method that will surely be welcomed into the repertoire of mentalists everywhere.
Just two highly imaginative ideas from an original and creative magic duo that together with sixty other new ideas, moves, and routines, will unquestionably find their way into the annals of 21st century quality magic.
Hardback with coloured dust jacket, 288 pages Clcik Here To See What People Have Said
From the mind of one of Mentalism's rising stars comes an important book of practical, simple and direct mentalism.
Why should you be interested in this book? Because it features powerful, entertaining close-up mentalism that has been sharpened to a razor's edge by constant use in the real world. Looch only performs direct, uncluttered effects that are guaranteed to astound an audience. Overcoming one of the problems with a lot of mentalism material, Looch has devised clever ways of retaining the element of surprise in his work, which elevates the material, even standard plots, to new levels of astonishment.
If you've ever wished that you had available effects that were more visual, presentations that were more engaging and methods that were more practical, then this book will delight you.
Design duplications, photographic-memory stunts, predictions, impossible co-incidences, ESP tests and psychic control are all given the Looch treatment and prove fertile ground for his beguiling presentations.
He even has a routine that will let you fake Superman's most well-known powers!
In all, there are over a dozen complete 'Simple and Direct' routines, plus three bonus effects, along with Looch's thinking on his approach to working with billets, books, playing cards and other props in a mentalism context.
The clarity of these performance pieces allows the mentalist to concentrate on the essence of each effect, communicating to the spectators a believable yet utterly incredible premise that they will be talking about long after the performance is over. If you want strong, contemporary material that will leave a lasting impression on your audiences, then this is it. Click Here For Routines Included
