Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants - Magic show

and gentlemen may I introduce my 52 assistants notice the contrasts of style and character they range from ingratiating simplicity to regal splendor some are passive and inert others brazen and belligerent some suicidal just like you and me with card artistry just like other theatrical forms music and dance has its own styles its own classics its own genres I'm going to start my show tonight by doing the same effect in three different ways first in the flashy American style you'll all remember from the 1970s well on my way to the luckiest night of my life now the same effect is you might have seen it performed by a European ooh an old meteors tune just kissed my baby going back for number two think about how much better this might look with a frilly shirt or a bowtie think about how much better I might look now the same effect as you might have seen it performed in a drawing-room very much like this one at the turn of the century ladies and gentlemen I shall endeavor to illustrate and show how feudal are the attempts of plebeians down to that select circle of society known as the Beau Monde and indeed to show how such entree is prevented by the polite yet frigid exclusiveness of its gentle or members let us assume it is the occasion of a public reception our table the hall our deck of the common herd and we would fittingly select the four Queens as representing the feminine portion of the smart set now as would naturally be the case I shall beseech these high-strung patrician ladies with attentions from the lower orders which these next twelve cards shall represent I shall start by placing one two three commentaries on Her Majesty the Queen of Hearts the next three Outsiders on the queen of diamonds and though the mention our notice of all these suitors is equally a pour into the grande Tom's I shall treat them alike by placing on the Queen of Spades one two three more rank Outsiders finally the last three who have been closest to the bottom therefore least crowding and most deserving to proffer their own on the queen of clubs ladies and gentlemen as you have seen I have brutally taken advantage of these tenderly nurtured and unsophisticated young creatures by placing them in positions which must be extremely galling to their aristocratic sensibilities can they enjoy can they enjoy indeed they can having some knowledge of the marvelous subtlety resources and finesse of the sexes I feel confident these women can with tact and discretion easily elude their persecutors and form a more congenial coterie amongst themselves watch first the queen of clubs watch her as she turns her back on the suitors and then goes to Windsor for the weekend next the Queen of Spades slightly more daring than the others tantalizes the man goochie goochie goo amidst their consternation makes good her escape the queen of diamonds knows the aphorism it's easiest to diss here in a crowd now you see her and the last now you do not or as I suggested only a moment ago is it possible these women could seek out each other's company the fatal vanity of the sex could prove me correct that's one that's two that's three boos and the blow ins top the life anybody have any idea when I'm talking about this is the refrain from a 15 century poem a poem by Francois theone it says no matter how you earn your money you're unlikely to keep it whether you hustle or swindle or con or cheat because in the end booze and the blow ins wine and women take it all suppose you screever go cheap jack or fake the Broads or figure nag or thimble rig or napa yak or pitch a Schneider smash a rat suppose you'd uh for nose and lag or get your straight and land the pot how do you melt the multi swag booze and the blow ins cop the law suppose you try a different tack and on the square you flash your flag at a penny lining make your whack or with the mummer's mump and gag fornix for nicks the dibs you grab at any graft no matter what your merry goblin soon strove AG booze and the blowings cop the loss it's up the spout in Charlie wag with the wipes and tickers and whatnot until the squeezer grabs your scrag booze and the blowings count a lot this is William Henley's 19th century translation of the own rich in the canting language the criminal slang of its day it talks about the basis of coin shortchange artists dice mechanics card hustlers these people are my friends I spent most of my formative years learning the techniques of deception now many years later I can tell you that I believe there are more differences between the cheater and the sleight-of-hand artist and there are similarities take for example an evening like this if I perform badly I might suffer the disapprobation of the audience or an empty house if I perform equally poorly at the card table I could suffer loss of limb or even life notwithstanding I would like to demonstrate art ruse and subterfuge at the card table to do this I have to be sure there are a number amongst you who are familiar with the basic laws of poker blackjack gin rummy we have any serious card players in the house well thanks it's been fun performing it for you you play some cards on a fairly serious level great can I induce you to help me for a moment and I need somebody else as well a card player someone to come up no harm will come fine if you can get out you can get in would you have a yeah you can drop the Joker and leave that at your seat that would only be confusing and this gentleman has found the outside aisle which is also good please be my guest your first name is Jeff Jeff Ricky appreciate your coming up and you are Larry Larry still Ricky so Jeff and Larry have been kind enough to join me for what will be a brief philosophical discussion on the nature of cheating Jeff Larry let me pose a scenario to you gentlemen if I said to you these cards were marked they are not but if I said they were marked visualize that and we played with these cards and I subsequently want a lot of money from you would you be more inclined a Jeff to call me a hustler a cheater or someone taking advantage which of those three terms cheater cheater and Larry and I would say a cheater I think we have no problem with agreement on this particular issue let's try another scenario let's say we're playing pool instead of cards let's say I was capable of running 30 or 40 balls every time I addressed the table you gentlemen could run three or four we played games to a hundred points we played for a lot of money not only did I win but I want a hundred to 96 100 to 99 100 to 98 what term do you think would apply there husband no disagreement from me you've all seen that movie with Paul Newman having a the hostler it's a classic I mean and why is that because it's a specific situation it's a man who's staying in a game longer playing less well than he can to keep his opponents there longer to win more money pool players call it playing under speed well is that ever applicable at the card table well perhaps what if we were playing poker and at the end of an evening I owed each of you gentlemen $80 and we decided we cut high card double or nothing winner-take-all and you've cut a queen and I cut an ace you've got a nine and got an ace and you cut a ten and I cut an ace I have a sense this wouldn't last for very long which is kind of the point so what if we were in a situation where I was trying to subtly beat you rather than to beat you badly in this case Jeff what I want you to do is reach into the deck anywhere at all just pick up a group of cards like that could be high low in the center and we'll see what's on the bottom of your hand there you mind turning it over that's akin show that to the audience unfortunately that doesn't allow much room for subtlety it's possible to beat you but the only way I could if i cutting an ace i can but let's move on so the idea here is really to do something that's slightly different so Jeff what I want you to do is Larry what I want you to do is just pick up a group of cards anywhere at all yourself and let's see what you've cut to take a look what is that a two which is indeed why you've been invited here at the seizure well not necessarily I mean I could cut it two as well here's the idea if I wanted to keep you around I might want to tempt the fates by just beating it what do I mean what if I could cut a three to just eke out a victory over your two I can and that's sort of the point that I was talking about I have to confess if we were playing for $80 I might want to cut to three to beat it to if we were playing for thousands I might want to try to get a nice so you gentlemen are really the eyes of the audience I want you to watch me very closely as I do what should be good solid riffle shuffle something that you would be happy to see within the course it didn't do what gamblers call a dead cut which is literally trying to let my hands reach the deck and cut an ace this is an acquired skill and once again please notice that there are no breaks or protrusions in the deck there are no dog ears I'm gonna take the deck I'm gonna divide it very cleanly in half I really am gonna solidly shuffle the cards and once again I'm gonna try to do what's called dead cutting an ace to reach down into this part of the deck and cut out another ace and by the way notice if I cut even one card too few or one card too many I would have not a cut amazed by the way this is all someone breaks my right thumb let me try to cut the ace of spades for your left-handed oh lucky me those of you who follow the game would understand that each time I cut an ace it's so much harder for me to cut the next one this has something to do with the law of probability concept once again gentlemen I'm gonna ask you to watch me narrowly as I shuffle the cards and Jeff I'm gonna give them that some cuts at any point while I'm cutting would you say stop stop that's good be my guest very well can I induce you to stay for the postgraduate the lecture here Thanks tonight I've chosen three topics for discussion in the first part control what happens when cards are shuffled and cut then I'm gonna talk a little about false dealing you've heard the term dealing from the bottom of the deck probably I'm gonna discuss that then maybe end up with a demonstration of card stacking but first can cards be controlled well yes I'm gonna demonstrate how this actually might look this is very strange this is really a gamblers exercise it's something that's distinctly non-theatrical in tone but I hope you'd find it intriguing so what I'm gonna do and again these gentlemen are close by they can see that I'm putting aces in the center of groups of cards at random and then they are at least for this second out of my control and what does that mean it means it's an exercise in isolation so there are many cards in between each ace and yet when I push them into the debt I don't leave them protruding by a sixteenth of an inch or 1/32 of an inch at least for the moment the aces are out of my control I mean they're squared and they're in the center they're not sticking out how do I get them back in my control well I'm gonna be honest with you I get them in my control by shuffling how do I shuffle the parts well this is a complex issue if I were a cheat I would want to shuffle the cards in a way so I did not seem more clever or less clever than anyone else in the game let's say we were playing gym in Miami Beach and people shuffled in the old-fashioned way like this then that's the way I would want to shuffle cards if we were in a rather elegant New York the bridge parlor you might see someone shuffle the cards in this way and then do a little bridge afterwards that's what that's called a little flourish but it's a simple riffle shuffle if you're in Las Vegas you wouldn't be allowed to shuffle cards like that a pit boss would actually say to you you must shuffle cards with them flat on the surface of the table why they're afraid that if you put the cards in your hand I could glimpse them or you could glimpse them so this way it's much more procedurally cautious for them you would actually shuffle the cards like that then I'm sure you've all been to private games where people turn half the cards over and talk about you know anaconda past the garbage were asked in poker and in this case they're literally shuffling face-up cards into facedown cards like this leaving a distinct of parts from various positions well what does it sheep do well I can't speak for everyone but I can tell you I've done this long enough that I can make three statements of absolute fact about the condition of the cards at this very moment the first statement is even though the aces were widely separated after all that shuffling they are now together one next to the other the second statement is they're in the dead center of the deck the third statement is to make it easier for you to see them I've straightened out every other card so only the four aces are face-up so that's an example of part control we'll be in a flamboyant example but nevertheless so how do you deal with this in a real situation let's say we're in Miami Beach we give an overhand shuffle we're now gonna play some gin rummy and now this should look serious and aboveboard two hands of ten cards in turnover a knock card you play a little gin good what I've tried to do is deal my opponent a solid gin hand but more than thirty unmatched points so take a look with me and see if we've been successful and you can see that there's a meld here and a meld here but two kings and a ten and the three that would be 33 on match points I know this is a little technical for some of you if you don't play gin by the way this is gin that's the nine eight seven [Applause] let's try some 21 I'm sure you play a little blackjack now remember we're gonna play 21 you're gonna see me shuffling like you wouldn't a Vegas casino you'd see these strip cuts I'm gonna be like the house which means I'm gonna stand on 17 but hit on 60 and you can make any choice you want I'll even show you what I have you're gonna stay on okay yeah you have 18 I have 16 so I have to draw so I'd be looking for a well 5 would make 21 just like Vegas huh that's 21 sorry let's try another one you could split on fives but it's much better to double down if you happen to have a pair of fives learn so that'd be 17 for you what I won't get 21 every time I have 8 in 5 or 13 and 6 would be 19 enough to eke out a minor victory try one more over here I'm sorry I gave you three well simply see that some casinos let you double down on a three card 11 yeah that's not a bad let's see that's 17 again and I have 10 and for 14 [Applause] they're sorry in Vegas still I know look if these parts aren't marked that I told you they're not I mean I don't know if you're gonna believe me but they're not how does somebody do this I think they're two things at play here one is I have a very good memory and the other is I I kind of know what happens when cards are shuffled but what does this mean it means while we were playing gin while we were playing 21 I was trying to remember where the Aces were and leave them at various portions of the deck where I could find them that's two 31 down three and if I can go left-handed let's see that's four that's card control we're going to the second phase here I did tell you that I talked a little about false dealing you've heard the term bottom dealing second dealing is that something you've heard of yeah you too as well all right you guys have been around the block here's the way this works if I had the ace of spades on top of the deck and we were playing in a game I'd want to do like part two Larry unless I didn't which means that I wouldn't dlm the top court I'd make it look like I was dealing in the top card but I would be keeping it on the top that's why it's called second dealing it's an odd concept it looks like the top card is coming off the deck but in fact it isn't so this is something that one could do and this requires practice now bottom dealing some people say it's even a little more difficult in this case you'd place four aces on the bottom of the deck and again I want you to see that this is not an optical illusion the aces really are on the bottom what I'm gonna be doing here this works with five or six hands in the game but in this case I'm gonna deal my opponents a card in myself apart his cards come off the top my cards come off the bottom this is she hit down the most elaborate form of false dealing is something called senator dealing this was literally unheard of 70 70 years ago it's almost never been seen then well actually tell you about its origins in in 1933 a two men who I believe were the greatest part handlers in America man named Charlie Miller who is living in El Paso Texas and a man named die Vernon Canadian living men in New York received a phone call from a mutual friend and this guy said there's a fellow out here in Wichita who can deal from the center of the deck these two men hung up the phones pack their bags and left for Wichita well what made two grown men travel so fast and so far I'll try to explain in layman's terms if I were gonna deal four aces from the bottom of the deck in any normal game bridge or gin or Canasta or poker I would ask the person on my life and on my right in this case Jeff to cut the cards so if the Aces were on the bottom you would be cutting them into the middle so before I deal them from the bottom I would somehow have to nullify your cut now this is possible I could do the hop that passed the ship saw Taylor coupe but these are difficult maneuvers and they're especially difficult with everyone staring at your hands at that important part of the game if instead I could leave the four aces anywhere in the deck and deal them by feel this would be an enormous advantage and that's why Charlie Miller and Vernon went to Wichita and they knew the name of the man they were looking for was Alan Kennedy but they didn't know where he lived so they went the gambling joints pool halls bowling alleys they wound up having a very frustrating week and they were actually unable to find him they were packing their cards to go home when Vernon noticed a little girl eating an ice cream cone with obvious pleasure and she tripped and it fell to the ground and being a gallant soul he gave her a nickel and she came back with another cone smiling and he said little girl you know a man named Alan Kennedy and the girl said sure mister he lives up the road a block and a half and that's how they found Kennedy and saw the center deal and Vernon love to tell the story when he was in his 80s he'd always kind of leaned back and say yes and the little child shall lead them that thought in mind a demonstration of the deal you can see what I'm doing may look odd in one sense because I'm putting the aces in the deck face off why am i doing that because it's a demonstration if we were in a real poker game obviously the aces would be facedown but this is a case where I want you to see me cheating and what I'm gonna do is give a little shuffle and then try to sense where those aces are as I deal then there shouldn't be any directly near the top or near the bottom let's say we're playing for him we'll make it five little more theatrical I would be dealing out five hands and I'd be trying to get the ace in my hand now you could see there was no ace on the top so in that split second I choose not to take the top part and somehow dig below the deck to where I feel an ace you see if I can do that one more time and one more and if I can that would be false deal well as you George Bernard Shaw fans know he said every profession is a conspiracy against the lady Jeff I want to thank you very much for helping Larry nice I should point out that it's actually very difficult to come up under the hot lights and make rational card-playing decisions I thank you both very much indeed in the course of that demonstration I mentioned two people who had a profound influence on my life Charlie Miller and dive urn and they both died just a couple of years ago Charlie was 80 Vernon was 98 the reason that I moved to Los Angeles more than 20 years ago was to spend what I thought would be a few years with these men and it turned out to be two decades and not only that I have the great pleasure of watching them perform they also would regale me with stories of the sleight-of-hand artist that they saw when they were younger and I think the name that was mentioned more than any other was the name of Max Malini Malini was born in austria-hungary in 1873 he immigrated to the United States to New York as a small boy and began to make his living he showed great promise with sleight of hand by busking in the most notorious bars along the Bowery literally passing a hat for nickels and dimes and he got so good at this that he was ready to branch out and in 1902 he went to Washington DC he had no advance bookings but as luck would have it the first day he was in the Capitol he noticed mark Hannah on the steps of Congress very prominent center of the day there was much less security than there is now and he literally ran up to mark Hannah and suddenly swooped down and bid a button off his suit coat and before people could grab him and take him away he made one of those magical passes and when the senator looked down the button was now sewn back perfectly in place so instead of being arrested as a lunatic you received a lucrative engagement and his career was made but since the show is devoted to playing cards I'm going to show you a concept that maleeni invented around the turn of the century the idea here was that more than one person would take a card during the course of an effect so I'm actually going to step into the audience you don't have to join me on stage and I'm gonna ask a number of people to take cards if for some reason you don't want to help that's fine if you do that would be great I'll ask the woman on the end you don't have to get up but if you just say stop at some point when I play these in front of you and if you'd actually look at that part and try to remember it I'm gonna ask the gentleman next year to remember it as well otherwise I'd have an effect with no plot so remember that card and as a gentleman with the moustache would you also say stop for me okay and that's one for you good and well you've done yeoman's work already Larry the woman sitting next to you if you don't mind would you say stop good that's one for you and if you'd help try to remember that I'm perhaps this gentleman with the tie thank you stop good one for you and the gentleman on the aisle this one or the next one the next one that's fine so I've had a number of card selected I was just thinking that also a pleasure living in Southern California's I've gotten to know Ossie Malini this is max Malini son who's now a retired businessman and a while ago he told me a story about his father that I'll share with you it seems that many years ago Malini was asked to perform for Governor Brown of the Philippines and Governor Brown knowing that Malini was Jewish decided to play a joke on him and at a very important dinner he served him an enormous roast pig with an apple in its mouth and Malini looked at this pig uncomfortably for some time and then took out his table napkin and covered it he paused for the requisite dramatic moment whisked the napkin aside the pig had completely vanished and the cooked chicken was in its place fortunately for me this the show is devoted to playing cards so I'm not obligated to conjure with poultry which means I have to ask you to take a card that's all I do in life so would you be so kind as to just say stop at some point okay and if you'd remember that and the gentleman behind you would help would you remember that card as well and if I can ask this gentleman also say stop for me okay that's one for you and the gentleman next to you if I can get you to say stop stop good please remember that one and and you as well yes good I think that's enough well I shouldn't prejudice Rosa further back than the first I see a gentleman with a tie in the second row can I also get you to say stop stop okay and one for you affirm stoppage I my dad so I've had I don't know 11 or 12 cards selected I'm going to shuffle the cards and try to find those cards again actually I have to confess at this point during the show every evening I wonder what it would be like if I didn't find those card just the thought so the woman on the end if I can get you to actually mention your card out loud the eight of Hearts I'm gonna try to find it in mid shuffle that sounds odd but look one card has stopped halfway in the shuffle deck unfortunately at least for me that is the eight of Hearts let's see who took the next card would you be so kind seven the seven of Hearts [Applause] [Music] would you mention it six of spades when I try to get the deck to sort of shoot out and cut itself right at your card which is the six of Spades and your sir the seven of diamonds from the six to the seven of diamonds and the gentleman on the end the ten of spades by means of a simple cut that is the ace of clubs the card the woman on the Isle took your ace of clubs your card was you're shaking your head now ace of clubs what was it if you insist I'm looking for a little sympathy you give me nothing play the chill for me I see you took one I believe would you be so kind as to mention it for me Jack of Diamonds out of the deck into my hand as if propel air I'm gonna try to find yours in the South American or Carioca fashion if you'd be so kind as to name it the Ace of Hearts what was that the nine of clubs the last card yeah you didn't take one did you were you oh whoa in the second row what was your sir six of diamonds six of diamonds now I have to find both of them nine of club night of clubs six of diamonds here nine of clubs year six of diver how many of you are interested in astrology well there's the rousing response I was hoping for it I read in the newspapers that 71% of Americans read their horoscope how come none of them ever come to the theater I just made that up you occasionally look at your hosts i only claim to be 90% correct madam can i induce you to help me for a brief moment thank you you'd have to have a chair watch your step please thanks and if you would sit over there for me I have to confess that's perfect that even when I do astrological experiments I also use playing cards there's a surprise if you'd be kind enough to examine them for me take a good look at them and when you think they're okay you can kind of spread them facedown on the table and please do that and then slide out a card from the middle somewhere that will be your card don't show it to me I would like you however to write your name on if you have a felt-tip pen I do I'm gonna turn around when I do I want you to write your card not on this side of the car your name but on the other side just your first name and very large letters would be helpful okay and then I'm gonna ask you some questions logical significance of those answers I'm going to determine something about something have you done that so far almost take your time good may have the pen back I'm not a wealthy man all right so the first of the many questions I'm going to ask you is to tell me the date of the month you were born on but don't answer just yet and I have the card I'm gonna ask you for the date of the month which means I don't want the year and I oddly enough don't even want the month so if you were born in the 15th of March you say 15 so what date would that be no so that means you have to make 14 piles with the cards quickly would you do that because 14 equals 9 and the mysterious triangle of Ike lon quickly though this is dead time you're doing well you're doing well but just keep moving so alright were you born in in January no no how many piles do you have here eleven well 12 is just perfect so you were born in January take away any two piles quickly good were you born in March take away one pile were you born in February take away two piles were you born east of the Mississippi it's a maybe take away three piles how many piles do you see on the table take away any pile now yet mysteriously four piles remain do you read the classics take away one pile who killed Laura Palmer we born under a picture of Balzac and that page take away four cards ladies and gentlemen by a strange process of elimination so peculiar I myself am amazed we're left with one card in my favorite phrase one card only for the first time would you mention the card you selected with your name on it the that's okay I had no intention of finding your card that would be much too easy but you are in luck us I have the only mind-reading toucan in the world the toucan will find your car well go into the center of these cars will narrow it down and find one o'clock yes right there your cart the king the king is your signature there why not Oh a different thing oh I'm sorry the this hippopotamus head will find your phone this head will move around and find your cord look at that using the famous key measurement system no I'll take that you know in this case this snail will find your cell actually push out a card it's gonna go somewhere here moving as snails do a predator sniffing if they do look at that look at that he's eating yes absolutely no that's enough all right so this turtle with the human head [Music] yes no that's an apart this rabbit this rabbit will find your card or die would you be surprised if your card was in this can of peanut brittle so what I have been doing this since oh it's for everyone as the ladies and gentlemen that comes a time in every strange person's life when he must get serious for me that time is at hand look here is a case that I have not opened in a month inside one brand-new sealed pack of cards is your name by any chance Aaron I would take this as a very good sign and is that your name on the king of if I could go back in history and I can the performer I would most like to see would be Johann Nepomuk hopson's er the famous Viennese card magician who charmed Victorian Vienna do you mind if I ask you to shuffle these cards as I chat for a moment dr. hopson's are opened up a wonderful theater in Vienna I actually have a card to the XIV of the doctor here you can see that he's in a rather strange Napoleonic pose I'm gonna ask you to hold this but gently it's one of my prized possessions and if I can also get the cards back from you hopson's are opened up a theater in the mid years of the 19th century in Vienna and he charged twenty golden ducats for admission that's more than a common laborer earned in a year just to see sleight of hand in a theater about a third of the size that we're in since you were also kind enough to shuffle would you say stop at some point while I'm moving these cards like this okay that's fine I'm gonna ask you to take that card in your own hand and show it up to a number of people an 1851 at a state dinner dr. Hobson sir was president also at this particular dinner was a beautiful woman that none of the other diners had ever seen and someone sitting next to her said my dear you have lovely teeth and the woman said thank you let me show them to you and she called for a goblet and one by one took the teeth out of her mouth and placed them in a glass which was then circulated to the rather confounded diners at one point the glass wound up in front of dr. Hobson sir he covered it for an instant with his hand when he lowered his hand the teeth had vanished from the glass he pointed to the woman who with the dazzling smile showed that they had returned to her mouth it was in that way that he introduced his wife Wilhelmina too polite Viennese Society pottsy's are asked for all his props and effects to be destroyed at the end of his life he thought he had no worthy successors and if not for a German lawyer named autocar Fisher this would have happened but I don't care Fisher painstakingly tracked down the early students of Hopsin zero man and George Lloyd back another named Karl von puppet shell and collected the material in this volume so it's really because of Autocar Fisher that I'm able to perform for you my favorite of his many experiments one which dr. Hoffman's are called everywhere and nowhere can I see the hands of the gentleman who selected the card please ah in the second row and actually I'm gonna give you some cards and ask you to return it somewhere in this portion don't let me see it and give them one final cut or shuffle if you'd like and also to drop that to drop that here fine and I actually I'm going to take the card Divisie from you as well and I must also confess that I use this photograph of dr. Hobson's er in the Proceedings makes it much harder to do this under the rather baleful glare of the doctor but it shouldn't affect your enjoyment in one way or the other so if the gentleman would concentrate on the court don't say anything but do concentrate well I'm gonna make a definite statement here your court is one of these three apparently not the rousing day naman you were hoping for well what would dr. hopson's are doing this situation well he said that the most powerful magic on the earth was the power of a woman's gaze so I'm gonna ask that gentleman to point to a woman close by you who from their seat in the audience can help me complete the experiment would you do that for me you're gesturing for the person at your side for the benefit of those behind you who can't see your gaze with your voice would you identify for me select one of the cards closest in the center or furthest away any one of those three the center and I'm going to ask you to stare at that card and I'm telling you if you do it must be the card selected by the gentlemen so would you stare at the center card thank you when you sir would you name the card which you selected two clubs good this is since your reaction that you're somehow unrequited perhaps it was the power of my statement maybe you want me to take this a step further so I will I'm gonna ask the woman now to change and select the card either closest to me or furthest the way would you designate one of those two closest to me and would you stare at that card because if you do then this card would have to become the two of claws the plot thickens there is one other option that we could talk about and perhaps we will I'm gonna ask you to stare at the card which is in my hand if you don't mind doing that for me would you thank you because that is now the to literally look away from the car just look away for a second because if you do it could no longer be the two of gods you see and if you look away again please do this card could not be the two of clubs and if once again you look away this could not be the two - you witnessed an experiment from the 19th century an experiment called everywhere and no way many of you know that I throw playing cards further than anyone in the world thank you very much I'd like to demonstrate my unusual skill for you this evening but unfortunately this theater is much too small consequently all I can really do is speak about the advantages of cards over more conventional weaponry first they're inexpensive secondly if you're good with them you can make a small fortune before the actual attack third there have been no convictions for carrying cards as a concealed weapon you are for instance attacked by a door you could kill the door but I know what you're saying you're saying sure this man throws cards with incredible speed and uncanny accuracy but can I throw a card and have that card returned to his hand a simulacrum of the Australian boomerang but I know what you're saying you're saying sure this man can throw cards and have them returned to his hand a simulacrum of the Australian boomerang but can he upon that cards return cut it neatly in half with a pair of giant scissors yes he can does anyone here have a pair of giant scissors I do and I my dad I feel so much better now so here's how this works I throw it out the card comes back I cut it and I should point out if you're attacked by a pair of giant scissors you may throw the card act the scissors disabling the scissors come quickly but for those of you who prefer skill to verbiage apparently all of you I will throw the card in the air and upon its return cut it neatly in half with a pair of giant scissors in half quod erat demonstrandum I will however go Suns scabbard for the remainder of the show or as the Elizabethan say go but I know what you're saying you're saying sure this man can cut cards neatly in half with a pair of giant scissors but can he defend himself against plastic this seemingly mild-mannered plastic doc once on an otherwise festive night in Rio took a small portion of my Anatomy home with him I keep him around as a reminder of how difficult life on the road can be if you're attacked by a plastic duck I suggest three methods of self-defense first the stare this angers the duck next the bold gesture this infuriates the beasts finally I suggest firing a card at the duck yeah it's this kills the dock'n serves as a healthy reminder to would-be hecklers you're attacked by an animal band or a band of animals fire [Music] they're saying sure this man can defend himself against plastic can he defend himself against fruit ladies and gentlemen I will not waste your time with pamphlets pears or prunes and no no no no you guessed it the most prodigious of household fruits his majesty the watermelon out of season then dreadfully expensive this evening I will attempt to penetrate the rich red interior of said melon with a few perfectly placed tosses from the ordinary pack many of you will notice that my last two shots have landed in exactly the same slip in the watermelon a feat so impressive I am forced to mention it myself no doubt the last time you saw this done was when Errol Flynn did it in Robin Hood understand that I could continue throwing cards in the same slit in the melon all night long but I'm forced to stop because it's too much fun for the melon but I know what you're saying you're saying sure this man can throw cards into the rich red interior of said melon can he penetrate the even thicker pachyderm Attis outer melon layer but encouraged by your approbation I could attempt to penetrate the even sicker watch me work this scares the melon this news this pisses me [Applause] you know until johann nepomuk options are called playing cards the poetry of magic a conjurer skill was determined entirely on his ability to perform one effect that was called the cups and balls there many people who'll tell you it's the oldest effect in the history of magic then on the tombs of the King Benny Hasan of ancient Egypt there are representations of Nile magicians doing the cups and balls I'm not one of those people I will tell you the game was known to the Greeks and Romans that Seneca wrote about it that the earliest iconography in our venerable art the famous planetary drawings of Ulm in the 15th century do show cups and balls conjurer's the game has been played continuously for hundreds if not thousands of years with your kind permission I'd like to end my performance this evening by showing you my version of this classic which I call the history lesson in 1584 Reginald Scott wrote the first practical treatise on conjuring in the English language and in it he spoke about putting the ball under a common object like a candlestick he also said one might use a salt cellar a bowl or even a cup and if the conjurer was clever he could make the ball vanish and appear almost it will only a short time later the game was played with bowls of China played in the Orient anthropologists love the concept of independent invention in Western Europe it was played with cups of cheap metal a tin which on occasion had the strange ability to seem penetrable this evening I'm going to use cups of spun copper personal favorites for a reason I will not reveal one of the things I love about this game is it independently exists in the genre of the gambler as well as the magician this is a scene you may remember as the old three shell game I mean this raced course it was called thimble rigging the language of The Hustler it might be known as the hints the Dinks the blocks or the nuts the idea that you'd either put a ball or pretend to put a ball under one of the cups but the ball would appear where it was least likely once again if I place the ball over here and I move this moving these cups you might think the ball was here but it jumps to over here one last time this is why people have been known to lose houses and even clothing playing this little game one last time if I place the ball here and move that to here the ball now jumps as well now a conjurer would do this in a slightly different fashion the conjurer would take the object put it in his hand make it vanish using a magic wand Conger is also cheap they use many of these actually the game was traditionally played with three cups and three balls I'm going to show you an actual sequence of events from a 17th century bestseller called hocus pocus jr. the idea here that I will cover the center ball with a cup and place one on top then I'll actually cover this and try to make the ball penetrate solid through solid joining its mate below now that you know the sequence why don't you follow it again this time a ball penetrating through two solid copper cups this method a personal favorite of mathieu Buchinger the little man of Nuremberg he was only 28 inches tall the cups obscured almost his entire body look that's enough for three balls to appear below Mathieu Buchinger had no arms or legs but he did have 14 children the most famous man to ever play the game the Italian Bartolomeo Bosco Bosco appeared in the beginning of the 19th century cut an unusual figure on stage you were a black satin weskit black velvet trousers he made sure his sleeves were carefully rolled up he took out his magic wand and polished the tip a wand which he said was made of a strange amalgam of metals known only to himself and Erasmus of Rotterdam above this table was a brass bell he hid the bell and said the word spirit I mean a finale oboe DJ infernal spirits obey my command Bosco sequence with the cups vada Juby of celerity three gone and yet three returned Bosco had only one contemporary rival the slightly older Frenchman named CONUS who in 1795 announced that he would make his wife who was five foot seven appear under one of the cups practice though I have I've been unable even to get married wouldn't even touch these with his hand actually he said the only reason a magician used three was to confuse you so he took one ball and placed that aside in his pocket he took the second ball and also placed that away it still left one ball over here but it didn't explain how this ball came back CONUS explained he said the magician did a feint he only pretended to take the ball actually what he did was to pretend put his hand back and then insinuate the ball under the cup CONUS said I do no such thing when I place the ball in my pocket it really stays there how could it come back and indeed where perhaps back to the 16th century many of you may prefer the game the way it was played in the Orient with two balls and two balls or you might prefer the European version with three cups and three balls and if you have been paying attention you know there would be one ball under the center cup but now there are three and that's the way the game was played for another hundred and twenty years until it was revolutionized once again by Max Malini the man I spoke of earlier Malini would take three glasses and wrap them in newspaper he would take a cork from a wine bottle and cut it into three sections he would take the three sections of pork and place them in his pocket then fashioning an impromptu on that of a celery stalk or an asparagus spear you attach the glasses and say spits I mean finale Oba detai or anything else that came to mind and that's the mystery [Music] [Applause] this year

Channel: Sebastian Tabany

Views: 32,341

Rating: 4.8717203 out of 5

Keywords: Ricky Jay, Magic, Card magic

Id: z7InE1zXAY4

Length: 58min 8sec (3488 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 25 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/LeicaM6guy]

Ricky Jay. The man was a national treasure.

Also, he could probably kill you with a pack of playing cards.

[u/[deleted]]

He was considered the last living card legend to many magicians

[u/Bateman8149]

Loved him in deadwood