💎 Hidden Gems #3: Harlequin 🃏🃏

A highly visual sandwich effect with an unexpected ending that belongs in your working repertoire.

I haven’t written an instalment of Hidden Gems for a long time—whoops! My original intention was to write a monthly column that unearthed forgotten tricks from old magic books, manuscripts and periodicals. Given that I’m not sure whether I should continue writing magic reviews—they take ages to research and write, and I’m uncomfortable with the way they contribute to the overcommercialisation of magic as a hobby—I thought resurrecting this column would provide me with a good middle ground. With the Hidden Gems format, I’m under no self-imposed obligation to write a detailed review, and I can shine a light on forgotten tricks that were either overlooked on initial release, or that quickly sank in the relentless sea of new magic trick releases.

Consequently, I’ve decided to reboot the series—can you reboot something that was only two issues in?—and expand the source material to include e-books, VHS tapes 📼 (yes, I’m old enough to still own a few, although I don’t have a VHS player any more), DVDs and video downloads. After all, I started buying digital magic well over twenty years ago, so it seems silly to exclude them.