The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley - Volume II

494 Pages·1996·58.41 MB·Romanian

by  Stephen Minch

Collected
Worlds of
UT^ 'EhnsCey
Volume II
Written By Stephen 3/iinch
The Collected Works
of Alex Elmsley
Volume II
This second volume continues the
)ageant of scintillating Elmsley magic
>egun in Volume I. It begins with a series
>f five original flourishes, most drawn
rom a youthful Alex Elmsley's compe-
ition, stage, manipulation act. Following
his decorative opening set, the book pro-
ceeds immediately to a remarkable
collection of more than 103 exquisitely
conceived, entertaining and unfathom-
able tricks, ranging from baffling
predictions and feats of mind reading to
glittering coin magic and bewildering
card mysteries.
Established Elmsley classics are here,
such as "Between Your Palms", "Point of
Departure", "Brainweave" and "Diamond
Cut Diamond", along with a generous
assortment of previously unpublished
material, including such sought-after
gems as "The Elmsley Rising Card", the
"Dazzle" packet routine and "En Voyage",
one of Dai Vernon's favorite Elmsley
effects.
One chapter is devoted entirely to
Elmsley tricks using the faro shuffle.
Here can be found Mr. Elmsley's seminal
essay on that shuffle, along with his
exciting Penelope's Principle.
Volume II ends with a detailed descrip-
tion of one of Alex Elmsley's crowning
achievements: his "Cardworks", a bril-
liant act that baffled and inspired master
magicians throughout England, Monte
Carlo and the U.S.
This volume and its predecessor
chronicle the creations of one of the most
jexceptional minds magic has ever
jenjoyed. Within these pages, indeed, lie
Inarvels of rare and cunning device!
The Collected Works
of
Alex Elmsley
Volume II
I
I
Elmsley

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This volume, like the first, was made possible through the help and
generosity of a great many friends and acquaintances. Gordon Bruce of
Glasgow, Scotland, and Milt Kort of Birmingham, Michigan, did immense
amounts of research, unearthing scores of articles in old journals and
scarce booklets. Jack Avis, through his notebooks and correspondence,
is responsible for the preservation of a significant portion of the previously
unpublished magic that appears here.
Those who volunteered to contribute unpublished and rare Elmsley
items and information include Gordon Bruce, Dr. Edward Brown, Roy
Walton, Richard Kaufman, Herb Zarrow, Bruce Cervon, Anthony Brahams,
David Michael Evans, Roger Klause, Simon Aronson, David Solomon, Harry
Riser, John Thompson and Allan Ackerman. Of those who patiently
answered and researched countless historical points, foremost are Milt
Kort and David Michael Evans, ably followed by Peter Warlock, Jack Avis,
Roy Walton, Reinhard Muller, Francis Haxton and Edward Mario.
Supreme Magic of Devon, England kindly granted permission for the
inclusion of "Animal, Vegetable and Mineral", a trick for which they hold
manufacturing rights.
Concerning the material in Chapter Eight, special bouquets are ardently
tossed to Milt Kort, Dr. Gene Matsuura, and Ron and Patty Bauer. It was
Milt Kort who had the foresight to tape record Mr. Elmsley's 1975 "Card-
work" lecture. This recording, supplemented with copious notes provided
by Ron Bauer and Dr. Matsuura, made possible the complete and precise
documentation of this lecture.
For the task of proofreading the manuscript for this volume, I have once
more imposed on three trusted and exceptionally knowledgeable friends,
David Michael Evans, Max Maven and Darwin Ortiz, whose efforts and
suggestions have made this a better book.
Finally, of course, my renewed thanks go to Alexander Elmsley, who first
invented all the wonderful magic, then took valuable time to ferret through
private notes containing unpublished items from decades past, corrected
my text and provided important historical insights.
To all these men I owe an incalculable debt of gratitude.
Stephen Minch
FIRST EDITION
© Copyright 1994 by Louis Falanga.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or any information storage and
retrieval system now known or to be invented, without the permission of
the publishers.
Printed and bound in the United States of America
6 5 4 32 1
CONTENTS
THE MICROCOSM OF MAGIC 1
CHAPTER ONE: Flourishes 3
The Tower Bridge Cut 7
Little-finger Spinner 11
The Multiplying Aces 13
The Rosette 19
Two-ball Roll 22
CHAPTER TWO: Hidden Thoughts and Future Deeds 27
The Fan Prediction 29
Hidebound Forecast 33
The Mexican Prediction 37
Face Your Brothers 39
A Delicate Balance 45
It's a Small World 48
Halfway to Heaven 51
Verbum Sapienti 53
Open Intruder 56
Brownwaves II 60
Brown waves III 64
Multiple Mind Reading 67
Double-cross 69
Like a Rolling Bone 73
Failure 76
Auto-prediction 80
Divina-sign: 83
A Card from Cagliostro 85
Aussi-mental 87
Animal, Vegetable and Mineral 89
The Octal Pencil 93
Verbum Veritas 97
Pack of Lies 100
CHAPTER THREE: Exotica 107
Still Taking Three 109
Point of Departure 118
Economy Class Departure 122
The Fiddle with the Biddle in the Middle 129
The Red and the Blue 133
The Shy Chameleon 136
Turn-about Card 140
A Small Revelation 144
Fool's Mate 149
Jubilee 153
Separating the Men from the Boys 161
A Problem with Duplicate Identities 166
The Imp of the Inverse 168
Sum Talk of Alexander 171
Switchy-coo 175
Half Packed 178
Second Link 183
Diamond Cut Diamond 186
Signing Off 189
Signature Piece 192
Shakedown 197
CHAPTER FOUR: Marsupial Favorites 205
Pocketpick 207
Pockets Full of Miracles 211
Reluctant Cards to Pocket 217
Duplicitous Cards to Pocket 222
Flight Plan 228
En Voyage 233
Processional 241
Daley Double 243
Between Your Palms 246
Only Child 250
Incommunicado 254
CHAPTER FIVE: Coinages 259
Devaluation 261
Revaluation 264
Boston Two-step 268
The Astral Coin Rides Again 273
Milling a Coin 280
Sucker Silver 282
The Spider's Treasury 287
CHAPTER SIX: Faro Tapestries 293
Indulgences 295
Deck Preparation for Faro Shuffles 295
Weave Corrections for Miscuts 297
Placing a Key at Twenty-sixth Position 300
The Mathematics of the Weave Shuffle 302
Out- and In-weaves 303
The Odd Pack and Weave 304
Equivalent Odd Pack 304
Returning a Pack to the Same Order 305
Solving the Shuffle Equation 306
Stack Transformations 307
Royal Flush Deal 308
The Constant Stack 309
The Restacking Pack 309
Binary Translocations 311
Double Control 312
Penelope's Principle 313
Penny Wise 315
Prediction by Proxy 317
Tuppence 319
Meet Me on the Road 223
A Woven and Cut Case 325
Autopilot 326
Direct Link (Featuring Bill Reid's "Automatic Discovery") 329
The Custodial Card 333
The Fan and Weave Controls 335
The Fan and Weave Control 335
The Fan and Weave Double Control 337
Brainweave 338
The Obedient Faro 346
Spell by the Numbers 349
Paraspell 353
Collinspell 357
Arab Roto-pack 365
What a Party! 369
Late Night Location 372
Auto-discovery 374
The Elmsley Rising Card 376
CHAPTER SEVEN: Stray Stacks 383
Computer Dating 385
Empty and Full 387
Wedded Ambitions 389
Topsy-turvy Stay-stack 391
Parity Failure 392
Tell Me Three Times 396
Future Stock 398
Through Darkest Peirce 401
Blind Stud 406
Mental Boxer 410
Kingfisher 414
Pursuit of Thought 419
CHAPTER EIGHT: The Dazzle Act 423
The Dazzle Act 425
The Properties 427
Fate's Datebook 433
Cold Steel 440
The Tale of the Old Timer 449
Dazzle 463
Tour de Force 471
Notes on Structure 481
Bibliography of Works by Alex Elmsley 485