Illustrated by Richard Kaufman, Edited by Adam Fleischer, Published by New York Magic Symposium. There are 6 volumes in the NY Magic Symposium collection. The books include material submitted by participants in the symposium, held in the 1980’s. Although most of the material is close up magic, there are a few stage and parlor type items. Each volume has some good material, and represents an interesting look at magic in the 80’s. The last volume was to be Collection #6, but instead was published as Spectacle, by Stephen Minch.

Contents:

9 Foreword by Richard Kaufman. Intro to book
11 Close Up Performers
12 Paul Gertner B&W Photo
13 Tobacco Road (Paul Gertner): borrowed bill in borrowed cigarette. Uses TT
16 Penetrating Dice Stack (Paul Gertner): dice stacking with a magical effect. During stacking, the dice penetrate up through the cup one at a time. For the last die. the penetration reverses itself, and the three dice on top end up underneath
20 Patrick Martin B&W photo
21 Hard to Swallo (Patrick Martin): a carrot is cut into the shape of a fish and turns into a live goldfish
24 Phil Goldstein B&W Photo
25 Short Jump (Phil Goldstein): Ace through 4 of spades are shown and 4 red cards are shown. cards are assembled on the table with Ace through 4 spread out and 3 reds in one pile. The Ace through 4 assemble in one packet
27 Area Code (Phil Goldstein): Black Kings removed. Three cards selected and returned to deck. Kings placed on top of the deck. Kings capture the selections one at a time
28 Frank Garcia B&W Photo
29 Reversible Mix Up (Frank Garcia): Card is selected and returned to deck. Deck is ribbon spread face down. Spectator picks his card from the face down cards, but gets the wrong card, which is placed to the side. Deck is gathered up, and top two cards are shown, but fail to be the selection. Finally the rejected card is inserted face up into the deck, to locate the selection. When spread face up, neither side card is correct, but the face down card is!
30 Big Fooler (Frank Garcia): using a crimp to locate a card
32 Michael Weber B&W Photo
33 Floored (Michael Weber): Performer hands deck to spectator as they enter the elevator. Spectator deals cards singly into performers hands and stops whenever he wants and is shown the selected card. When the two step off he elevator, the selected card is posted on the wall! Uses a Al Koran 5 Star Deck
34 20th Century Ten (Michael Weber): Magician takes 2 $1 bills and staples them at the corners, and puts them in the spectator’s shirt pocket with the ends out. He borrows a $10 bill and places it in his wallet for “safe” keeping. As a waitress passes by, he shouts Stop Thief and the $10 bill has vanished, to appear stapled between the $1 bills! Uses a Himber Wallet
36 Terry Seabrooke B&W Photo
37 Keyring Card (Terry Seabrooke): a novelty packet force: one of 5 tiny cards on a keychain has a sticker “why do they always choose me”, and just happens to match the card selected from a packet
38 Charlie Miller B&W photo
39 Torn Transformation (Charlie Miller): red card selected and magician states he will divine the card using just a corner, which is ripped off. The three quarter card is inserted in the deck, and the magician states the card is black. When the spectator says no, the torn card is removed from the deck and is found to be black, as is the torncorner. The black card is transformed into red, and the corner is now red, too
42 John Kennedy B&W photo
43 Watch (John Kennedy): coin vanishes and reappears under a napkin. Napkin moves each time. Finally, coin changes to a watch
45 Card Missile (John Kennedy): card selected and returned to packet. Packet is thrown through a sheet of newspaper, which when dropped, reveals he selection embedded in the wall
47 Close Up Guest Contributors
48 Switch on Elmsley (Derek Dingle): 4 Aces are removed from the deck and the order remembered. They are then mixed up and dealt into 4 piles. Spectator points to one face down card, and three more cards are placed on top, after showing which Ace it is. The other Aces are returned to the deck. The four cards in the pile now become the 4 Aces
50 Got You Under My Skin (John Carney): a stapled index card is said to contain a prediction. Spectator states a number or word, and the card predicts the number or word (boon writer)
51 Reversi (Mark Lefler): a reverse card & coin matrix using only two cards
54 Poor Man’s Card in Balloon (Mike Gall): no special props needed
56 Morlock’s Revenge (Larry Jennings): red and blacks separated, then shuffled together, then half the deck shuffled face up into rest of deck face down. Black card shown and inserted into deck, then red car stuck halfway into deck. Magician goes back in time to black card halfway in deck nd red card on top, then all the cards face down, then the reds & blacks separate
60 Your Best Suit (Larry Jennings): packet of Ace through Ten and a Joker shown face up, while magician state how difficult to flip one card over. Spectator picks number between 1 and 10 and performer deals to that card. It is indicated and the rest of the cards dealt, with the Joker going to the performer’s pocket. With a snap of the fingers, the cards are spread and one is reversed: the Joker! The selected card is now in the pocket
62 Tenkai Pennies Perpetuated (Sol Stone): Tenkai Pennies with an alternate grip
64 The Pop Top Catch (Piet Forton): a pretty card change
66 Dollar Bill Coin Fold (Steve Dusheck, Jr.): a coin fold using a dollar bill
68 Transfusion (Mono) (Jay Sankey): a double backer is shown and claimed to be stuck together simply with suction. Two cards are selected and signed and returned to the deck. The double backer is shown, pried apart, and the face to face cards are the signed selections.
70 Transfusion (Stereo) (Jay Sankey): Four card version of previous effect, good as a lead in to a four of a kind routine
71 Under My Spell (Tom Mullica): a four card spelling routine
73 Sympathetic Fans (Gene Maze): red backed deck is fanned, spectator points to a card which is outjogged. Rest of deck is turned upside down so outjogged card is face down in face up deck. Deck is turned over and fanned to show the single card face up. This is repeated with a blue deck, and two surprises are found: the cards match, and they both have different colored backs!
74 Okito Copper Silver (David Roth): copper silver transposition inside an Okito box
76 Any Floor Elevator (Jon Racherbaumer): an Ace is dealt to the table, and the spectator deals three more cards on top (Ace is face up). Ace is placed on bottom, but moves to the first floor, then 2nd floor, then top floor. Spectator is asked which floor to descend to. This can be repeated. Finally all the cards are shown to be the same: the Kings
78 Surprise Blue Intruder (Jon Racherbaumer): spectator shuffles deck and names a card. Deck is divided in three packets, and two cards are chosen and lost. Cards are shuffled and spread face down. An odd backed card shows, on either side are the two selections. The odd backed card is the named selection! Requires perfect faro
80 Flying Collectors (Ben Harris): Aces are removed and distributed in the deck. The Aces then jump from the deck. Three cards are selected and returned, and the Aces inserted in the deck again. Deck is faro shuffled (not perfect) and again the Aces fly from the deck, this time with the selections between them
82 As Ye Sew, So Shall Ye Reap (Harry Anderson): coin production during a hand sewing pantomime
83 Last Licks (J.K. Hartman): spectator deals off 10 cards, and 5 of these to a spectator 2. Each packet of 5 is shuffled, a card in each is peeked and shuffled again. The packets are handed to the magician who is holding some envelopes. The card packet is placed in a envelope, handed to spectator 2, and sealed with a rubber band. 1st spectator counts off 10 more cards, which the performer places in a 2nd envelope and gives it to spectator 1. Envelopes are opened, one has only 8 cards, other has 12: the 2 selections traveled
85 Close Up Host Contributors
86 Paul Harris B&W photo
87 License (Paul Harris): the performer’s license changes places with the spectator’s
90 Daryl B&W photo
91 Sunrise (Daryl): Tens are removed from deck, reds on top. Cards are counted from hand to hand. Reds are place beneath the blacks, but the reds rise to the top. This happens twice. Next the cards are mixed red black red black, are pulled out, and are found red red black black
94 Richard Kaufman B&W Photo
95 Every Everywhere (Richard Kaufman): (requires clean pass) Spectator 1 and 2 each take a card from opposite halves of a shuffled deck and the cards are replaced in the deck. The deck is cut. Magician states card on top of 1 half looks like spectator 2’s card, as does the card on the bottom, and a card in the middle (as each card is shown). This is repeated for spectator 1’s card in the other half. Finally, each half is ribbon spread to reveal one card is the only red in a black half deck and the other card is the only black in a red half deck
98 Michael Ammar B&W Photo
99 Topitized Silk to Egg (Michael Ammar): the silk to egg trick utilizing the topit effectively
101 Stage Performers
102 Vito Lupo B&W photo
103 Visual Color Change (Vito Lipo): visual transposition between two different colored billiard balls with a wine glass, silk, white and red balls
106 Jonathan Neal Brown B&W Photo
107 One Hand Vanishing Cane (Jonathan Neal Brown): the vanishing cane with no tape, thread, and the cane is held in the center
109 The Record with the Movable Hole (Jonathan Neal Brown): a “record” is shown in a sleeve with a silk through it. The silk is removed, and the record is removed from the sleeve. Next, the hole in the middle of the record is visibly slid up and around the record. Magician pokes his finger through it. The silk is draped over the record and then the silk can be seen through the hole. The hole is slid completely around the record where it becomes permanent.
112 Stan Allen B&W Photo
113 Sealed Cutter (Stan Allen): a silk is removed from a folded paper, and then stuffed back into the end of it. The middle of the paper is cut, severing the silk in the middle. The ends are put back together and the silk is pulled out: restored! Lead in to Phoa’s Cut & Restored Silk from Tarbell 7
115 Clean Sweep (Stan Allen): a cute vanishing ring effect. A borrowed ring turns into gold filings and must be vacuumed up with the magician’s mini vacuum. When the bag is opened, inside is found the ring!
117 Oral Gami (Patrick Martin): torn paper is placed in the mouth and “tied together” with the tongue. Paper expands into huge wad, and with a sneeze a bouquet of flowers appears. A dove appears out of the flowers!
119 Positive ID (Phil Goldstein): In wallet is an envelope, yellow or pink? Spectator guesses right. On it is a drawing, X or triangle? Spectator is right. Inside is red or blue paper. Again right. On paper is an odd or even number. Right again. Finally, spectator is correct about guessing a message left in the wallet
120 Scissoring (Phil Goldstein): a cute Himber ring routine. Magician will remove a ring from a rope, but fails, so the rope is cut while the ends are held by the spectators. Although the removal failed, the rope is instantly restored
122 Havanish (Charlie Miller): a box of cigars is shown, one is removed and lit. The rest vanish.
124 The Croquet Cabinet (Charlie Miller): a die box for a croquet ball
126 Cards Across (Terry Seabrooke): Three cars transfer from one spectator’s pocket to anothers. Designed for stage.
129 Stage Guest Contributors
130 Revenge of the 20 Foot Silk Worm (John Ferrentino): a can of peanut brittle is opened and two silks removed. Small silk is vanished, and large silk is placed back into the can. small silk reappears and is lost again, to be found with the large silk in the can. When the can is opened, a snake pops out with the small silk attached.
132 Semi Impromptu Silk Production (Levent): plucking a silk from the air
133 Time Piece (Leslie Anderson): 6 people write number from 0 to 69 on a pad. Page is torn off and handed to spectator, who picks 2 numbers to form hour and minute. Spectator 2 is handed your watch, spins the stem, and watch and time read the same
134 List of NYMS Performers