Monthly Update #18 (June 2024)
In this update, we talk about names, card games, and two new card tricks based on a the jazz-loving Axeman of New Orleans. Oh, and I share a new version of Dr. Daley Last Trick.
This month, I’ve channelled my inner serial killer (well, sort of) to create two new “true crime” card tricks. They’re both inspired by the terrifying real-life story of the Axeman of New Orleans. 🪓 I first mentioned the Axeman about six months ago in Monthly Update #12! It usually takes me a while to finalise a routine because I enjoy trying out various options, especially different methods, before deciding on the ones I think are the best. In this case, I ended up creating a second, similar effect, so you’re getting two tricks instead of one; I hope that makes up for the wait.
Anyway, I’ve taken the classic Ten-Twenty Force and given it a murderous makeover. Both tricks expand the age-old force (also known as the Countback Force) to work with any number between ten and thirty. This makes the process feel much fairer. While writing these tutorials, I also devised some ways to cover numbers beyond thirty, although they’re a lot less practical—perhaps I’ll share these as well (if people are interested in this kind of thing).
I also wrote up one of my many variations of Dr. Daley’s Last Trick, “Laughing Boy and Lumberjack”. The presentation for this trick was inspired by the trick-taking card game of Euchre (pronounced yew-ker) and the American folk song “Jack of Diamonds” or “Rye Whiskey”. This routine will be included in my upcoming book, Developing Daley.
“Laughing Boy and Lumberjack” is a powerful multiphase packet trick that uses regular playing cards, and it will be exclusively available to Ruseletter subscribers until the book is published, which, unsurprisingly, won’t be anytime soon! (I’ll be including three variations of “Laughing Boy and Lumberjack” in the book: one that uses a different handling and another that only uses the four Jacks.) If you have any feedback on the trick, I’d love to hear it.
As usual, I’ve also included three videos which I think are worth watching. Let’s get going!
Why Remembering Names (and Pronouncing Them Correctly) Matters
Before we dive into this month’s updates, I have an apology to make. In last month’s update (Monthly Update #17), I accidentally got Rudy Tinoco’s name wrong; I called him Randy. Sorry about that, Rudy! And thank you to Marco, a Ruseletter subscriber, for pointing this mistake out to me. While this is an understandable error, I believe it is important to remeber people’s names and try your best to spell and pronounce them correctly. This is especially true if you’re a performer. I’ve seen quite a few magicians ask a person for their name and then never use it because they’ve clearly forgotten it! Doing this is dismissive of the people who help you with your magic. It may also be considered disrespectful, especially if you don’t learn to pronounce a person’s name correctly.
Even if you have a terrible memory, there are a few simple things you can do to remeber names when performing your magic:
Perform a trick, such as Ambitious Card, where your spectator must write or sign their name on a card. Every time that card rises to the top, you’ll be reminded of their name and be prompted to use it.
Perform any routine that uses the spectator’s name in some way. For example, in “Hello, My Name Is…”, my variation of Jim Steinmeyer’s “The Nine Card Problem”, the spectator is asked to spell/deal their name. This trick’s presentation naturally prompts you to ask a person for their name and provides you with an opportunity to confirm the spelling and correct pronunciation of it.
Ask your participant to wear a name badge or sticker. Not only is this the easiest way to remember a person’s name, but it also helps the rest of your audience to remember the names of your volunteers, making them a more integral part of your show.
Use mnemonic techniques to improve your own working memory. I recommend reading any of the memory books by British mnemonist and eight-time World Memory Champion Dominic O’Brien (Learn to Remember is an excellent place to start). And, of course, there are also several books on this topic written by magician and prolific author Harry Lorayne (see his 1957 classic How to Develop a Super-Power Memory, for example).
It always amazes me how many magicians say they have a bad memory. This seems like a really odd thing to admit if you’re also claiming supernatural mental abilities! Years ago, I saw the renowned English mentalist Derren Brown perform at my local theatre. While I enjoyed the show immensely, I noticed a small flaw in his performance. On that particular night, he threw a cuddly toy—an orangutan, if I remember correctly—into the audience to choose random participants to join him on stage. However, he accidentally picked the same woman who had already assisted him on stage minutes earlier in the show. He didn’t recognise her and had to ask her for her name again. What made the situation even more assuming was that his next performance piece was a demonstration of his supposedly remarkable memory! And it wasn’t just me who noticed this contradiction.
It’s not just important to remember a person’s name; you should also make an effort to pronounce it correctly. I work at a university where around 40% of our student population comes from foreign countries to study in the UK. We also have many international lecturers, so I always try my best to learn and pronounce people’s names correctly, even if I have to ask a few times before I get it right. Yes, it can be a bit awkward, but it’s better than consistently getting a person’s name wrong. I’ve noticed that most people are too polite to correct you, or worse still, they get tired of correcting others who consistently mispronounce their names. This clip of Hasan Minhaj is worth watching because he corrects Ellen’s mistaken pronunciation of his name (the H is not silent).
Hasan also produced this follow-up video, which, while obviously meant to promote his comedy show on Netflix, actually highlights some helpful mnemonic techniques:
As Hasan suggests, I try to find an alternative spelling to remember the correct pronunciation. If you’re lucky, the person with the difficult-to-say name will provide one. For example, many people seem to struggle with the first name of the current vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris, because it isn’t spelt phonetically. It isn’t “cam-el-uh”. It’s not “kum-mahl-uh”, and “karmel-uh” isn’t correct, either. Her first name is pronounced “comma-la”, like the punctuation mark (a tip she shared in her 2018 autobiography, The Truths We Hold: An American Journey).
I also often hear magicians mispronounce Roberto Giobbi’s name. His last name is pronounced like the words “job” and “bee” combined. So Giobbi is correctly pronounced “jobee” and rhymes with the word hobby.1
Why Don’t More Magicians Play Card Games?
Many magicians, myself included, don’t play card games regularly, which is odd when you consider how many of us perform card tricks. While this doesn’t really matter, I think finding ways to talk about card games when you perform your card tricks—as is the case with “Laughing Boy and Lumberjack”—is an excellent way to add interest and a memorable hook. In a social situation, it also gives you the opportunity to teach someone how to play a card game like Euchre (rather than feeling the pressure to teach them a card trick, which sometimes happens). Let’s face facts. Most people enjoy card tricks but don’t want to put in the time or effort to perform them. However, many more people enjoy playing card games (once they’ve got the hang of the rules).
These days, you can find many helpful videos on YouTube that teach you how to play various card games. Here’s a good one from Bicycle Cards on the rules of Euchre:
And here’s the full playlist of how-to-play videos from Bicycle Cards. In it, you’ll find videos on Rummy, Crazy Eights, Euchre, Solitaire, Spades, Go Fish, Egyptian Rat Screw, Canasta, and Blackjack.
A card game could also be the basis of a card trick’s presentation. For example, the Paul Harris routine “Whack Your Pack” is reminiscent of the actual card game Slapjack (see the below from Kings Wild Project).
New on MBOT
This month, I authored three new blog posts and three trick tutorials on my blog, Marty’s Bag of Tricks.
Jazz, Murder and Magic! 🪓
In this blog article, I discuss the playing card nickname “Man with the Axe”, which typically refers to the King of Diamonds but can also be applied to the Jack of Hearts. I’ve used this fact to develop a chilling prediction effect based on the Axeman of New Orleans, a notorious, unidentified serial killer from the early 20th century. The article discusses various ways to incorporate this true crime story into the trick’s presentation.
I also touch on the Axeman’s influence in popular culture, mentioning his appearances in literature and TV shows (like American Horror Story: Coven) and how this inspired me to create a darker version of the magic trick called “The Axeman’s Ghost”. 👻
You can learn the full details of “Man with the Axe” and “The Axeman’s Ghost” on my blog (these are secret pages, hidden from search engines like Google).
Devastating Fire at Vanishing Inc. Warehouse
You may have heard about the devastating fire at the Vanishing Inc. Magic warehouse in Sacramento, California, on June 6th. You can read about the incident in this brief blog post and learn how you can support Vanishing Inc. during this difficult time.
Roman Armstrong subsequently wrote a more detailed article on the fire for One Ahead, including interviews with Josh and Andi, which you might also like to read.
Learn Laughing Boy and Lumberjack
This month, I also finished writing up a variation of Dr. Daley’s Last Trick, which I call “Laughing Boy and Lumberjack”. You’ll find it on another secret page on my blog. I’ve had this one knocking about in my head for a while, but I only recently developed a presentation I’m happy with. It talks about the history of the Joker, the trick-taking game of Euchre, and a folk song from the Old West called “Jack of Diamonds” or “Rye Whiskey”. This is my latest attempt to incorporate a little poetry and music into my magical performances. If you have the confidence, you can sing the song as part of your performance!
You might be familiar with the song if you’ve played the video game Red Dead Redemption 2 (I haven’t, although I’d like to. Being a dad of three means I don’t have much time for video games these days). The song is now a favourite of my two-year-old daughter, Adelaide (who, if you’re wondering, was named after the Queen of Magic). There’s something very amusing about a toddler singing, “Oh whiskey, you villain, you’ve been my downfall. You’ve kicked me, you’ve cuffed me and caused me to brawl.” I’m expecting a phone call from social services any day now!
I’d love some feedback on the method, presentation, and clarity of the write-up itself.
RIP Shiv Duggal
In the latest edition of the Cardopolis newsletter, David Britland mentioned that Shiv Duggal had died. This news shocked and saddened me. Unlike David, I didn’t know Shiv well. In fact, I only met him a couple of times. However, I had a wonderful time talking magic with him on both occasions. He was very creative. He had a unique viewpoint on many topics related to the performance of magic. I really wish I had spent more time with him. Take this small regret on my part to make more effort to seek out and connect with magicians you admire.
You can learn one of Shiv’s tricks in Cardoloplis #30. I’d also encourage Ruseletter subscribers to read his published material; he created some excellent card and coin tricks. Rest in peace, Shiv. You’ll be missed.
Three Videos Worth Watching
Here are three more videos that I’ve watched this month, and I think you should watch them, too!
Starter Kit for a Psychopath
Thanks to The Disclaimer crew, I found this video clip from 2017 of Diane Morgan on the British TV show Room 101. Although she’s a comedian, she makes some valid observations about magicians, especially how needy we can be!
5 Easy Card Forces
Here’s an excellent tutorial from Erik Tait on basic card forces that every magician should know. A longer version of the video is available to download for FREE on the Penguin Magic website.
The Joy of Music
And finally, this short film by musician Ben Rector has nothing to do with magic, but you should still watch it. (Well, that isn’t entirely true. The song “Supernatural” does make some passing references to magic. And Ben previously released another amazing album in 2018 called Magic, too.) Ben is an extraordinary artist. The Joy of Music is a beautiful album to play while practising your double lift, pass, or second deal!
That’s all for June. Until next time.
Yours Magically,
Marty