Obsession is good thing. It can drive us to the edge, take us places we would never normally go and squeeze us dry...
That was the case with C2P. What started as a ‘little exploration became years of research and a flood of creativity. I love it when that happens. I found so much material that I wanted to share it, the idea of these amazing routines and moves and gimmicks being lost to antiquity disturbed me. And so the C2P project was created. The ultimate resource for Cards to Pocket, and so much more.
Ten Cards to Pocket, I love this trick. As a young kid, watching the great street performer, Dick Turpin, kill with his routine again and again, and ALWAYS missing the palms and moves was an inspiration for me and a lesson in handling and misdirection.
The trick has a few names, Cards to Pocket, Cards up the Sleeve, The Traveling Cards, or more unfortunate title of Hand To Pocket... and if you take a look at the magazines of yesteryear, the Magic Wands, the Gens, the Sphinxes, the Worlds Fairs and Geniis, and you’ll see that everyone worth their salt and many who weren’t, featured this trick in their shows.
It was the trick of its time, the dancing cane of the 70’s, the zombie of the 80’s and stupid rubber-bottle-vanish- in-paper-bag of today. Everyone had their own routine, the legends: Vernon, Leipzig, Hugard, Bobo, John Booth, T. Nelson Downs, J.Warren keene, Tommy Martin, La Home Masque, Martin Chapender, Ross Bertram, David Devant and Charles Bertram ‘The Court Conjuror’, who was responsible for giving this trick a ‘new lease of life’ at the turn of the 19th century!
A new lease of life? Yep, it was old way back then. Charles Bertram performed for Royalty ALL THE TIME, he always performed Cards to Pocket, it was always a hit, in fact he made it, or it made him, famous.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the master, Robert Houdin, who more than once talked about how having this trick at his disposal saved his bacon, and gives two routines in his classic book.
The legends loved the trick, their audiences loved the trick, so where is it today? Where did it go? Why don’t we see Cards to Pocket performed by magicians any- more?
To me, it has everything, magic, skill, built in plot line, totally impromptu. If I have a deck of cards available, I can do a 5 minute routine for 2 or 2000 people... and the audience would get the impression of seeing some- thing special requiring great skill. The perfect trick. I needed to find out why it had died in the hearts of ma- gicians and I needed to fix the problem. My multi-year investigation yielded a tremendous array of material, and I believe most of the answers.
The result is my insane, seven DVD disc, 20 hour project called C2P. Everything from sleight of hand, to self work- ing gimmicked routines. It’s a project I’m very proud of,
and that’s why - for a limited time - I want to share one of the many routines with you - free of charge.
THE GIFT OF OBSESSION
As a gift to the readers of VANISH, I’ve released down- load of the Fred Culpitt Six Card Routine, from the C2P collection, just for you, ABSOLUTELY FREE.
The Culpitt Six Card routine was one of my favorite
discoveries. It takes the complete opposite approach to any C2P method I’ve found. Unlike many C2P rou- tine that have to be performed in a swift fashion, this routine can be done as slowly as you like, the spreads and proves are just wonderful. Also check out my extra ideas at the end for improving the handling and knock- ing them dead with final card.
Go to:
http://www.stevevalentine.com/store/p53/THE_FRED_ CULPITT_SIX_CARDS_TO_POCKET_.html
and use the coupon code FORVANISH and the down-
load will be yours. You are welcome:) Happy magic - Steve Valentine
A GIFT OF OBSESSION
THE GIFT OF OBSESSION
By Steve Valentine
Obsession is good thing. It can drive us to the edge, take us places we would never normally go and squeeze us dry...
That was the case with C2P. What started as a ‘little exploration became years of research and a flood of creativity. I love it when that happens. I found so much material that I wanted to share it, the idea of these amazing routines and moves and gimmicks being lost to antiquity disturbed me. And so the C2P project was created. The ultimate resource for Cards to Pocket, and so much more.
Ten Cards to Pocket, I love this trick. As a young kid, watching the great street performer, Dick Turpin, kill with his routine again and again, and ALWAYS missing the palms and moves was an inspiration for me and a lesson in handling and misdirection.
The trick has a few names, Cards to Pocket, Cards up the Sleeve, The Traveling Cards, or more unfortunate title of Hand To Pocket... and if you take a look at the magazines of yesteryear, the Magic Wands, the Gens, the Sphinxes, the Worlds Fairs and Geniis, and you’ll see that everyone worth their salt and many who weren’t, featured this trick in their shows.
It was the trick of its time, the dancing cane of the 70’s, the zombie of the 80’s and stupid rubber-bottle-vanish- in-paper-bag of today. Everyone had their own routine, the legends: Vernon, Leipzig, Hugard, Bobo, John Booth, T. Nelson Downs, J.Warren keene, Tommy Martin, La Home Masque, Martin Chapender, Ross Bertram, David Devant and Charles Bertram ‘The Court Conjuror’, who was responsible for giving this trick a ‘new lease of life’ at the turn of the 19th century!
A new lease of life? Yep, it was old way back then. Charles Bertram performed for Royalty ALL THE TIME, he always performed Cards to Pocket, it was always a hit, in fact he made it, or it made him, famous.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the master, Robert Houdin, who more than once talked about how having this trick at his disposal saved his bacon, and gives two routines in his classic book.
The legends loved the trick, their audiences loved the trick, so where is it today? Where did it go? Why don’t we see Cards to Pocket performed by magicians any- more?
To me, it has everything, magic, skill, built in plot line, totally impromptu. If I have a deck of cards available, I can do a 5 minute routine for 2 or 2000 people... and the audience would get the impression of seeing some- thing special requiring great skill. The perfect trick. I needed to find out why it had died in the hearts of ma- gicians and I needed to fix the problem. My multi-year investigation yielded a tremendous array of material, and I believe most of the answers.
The result is my insane, seven DVD disc, 20 hour project called C2P. Everything from sleight of hand, to self work- ing gimmicked routines. It’s a project I’m very proud of,
and that’s why - for a limited time - I want to share one of the many routines with you - free of charge.
THE GIFT OF OBSESSION
As a gift to the readers of VANISH, I’ve released down- load of the Fred Culpitt Six Card Routine, from the C2P collection, just for you, ABSOLUTELY FREE.
The Culpitt Six Card routine was one of my favorite
discoveries. It takes the complete opposite approach to any C2P method I’ve found. Unlike many C2P rou- tine that have to be performed in a swift fashion, this routine can be done as slowly as you like, the spreads and proves are just wonderful. Also check out my extra ideas at the end for improving the handling and knock- ing them dead with final card.
Go to:
http://www.stevevalentine.com/store/p53/THE_FRED_ CULPITT_SIX_CARDS_TO_POCKET_.html
and use the coupon code FORVANISH and the down-
load will be yours. You are welcome:) Happy magic - Steve Valentine
SHOW ON THE GO