These Card Tricks

Dec 28, 2017
63
14
Hey guys.
So, there are 2 David Blaine card tricks that I kind of want the "inside info" about...
I perform these from time to time, and see a lot of people do it online too... But I want to know the history and variations...
The first one is... David Blaine's version of a classic trick, the Ambitious Card... You can see his version here (if you don't know)


The second one, is the two card monte, or so he calls it... This is a very good effect when done properly, however what is the history of this one, did Blaine invent the WHOLE trick or is it just a variation?

Here is the performance in case you either don't know or just lazy to look it up or something...



So these are very beautiful effects, the ambitious card is a classic that was around LONG before Blaine, but his version seems to be dominating today, so did he invent that type of handling?

And the 2 card monte, can TRULY leave the spectator amazed... I have actually done it several times, and the times when it is done correctly, is truly amazing... But I don't know the history. Is it described somewhere? Did David Blaine invent the concept of it? Or did you he just do a variation or what?
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
4,076
New Jersey
There is nothing original about Blaine's ambitious card routine. It is merely a series of controls, DLs, tilt/depth illusion and the Braue Pop Up Move.

The two card monte is Eddie Fechter's "Be Honest What is It". It was originally Published in Magician Nitely in 1974 and you can find it in "Fechter: The Magic of Eddie Fechter" by Jerry Mentzer.

The history of the ambitious card routine is more difficult to pinpoint. The version most people perform in part (using a DL) is from Dai Vernon in Stars of Magic, Series 5, Volume 2 (1949).

However, there are some earlier versions.

Lynne Serles - The Jinx (Summer 1936)

Annemann in Hugard's Encyclopedia of Card Tricks (1937)

Dai Vernon, Arthur Finley and S. Leo Horowitz in John Northern Hilliard's Greater Magic (1938)

Hugard and Braue - Expert Card Technique (1940)

Arthur Buckley - Card Control (1947)

Hugard and Braue - Royal Road to Card Magic (1949)

The "tilt" or "depth illusion" that we use in our ambitious card routines is credited to Dai Vernon and Ed Marlo but may have earlier roots. The most complete book on it is Daryl's Ambitious Omnibus.. which is an amazing book but out of print.
 

ID4

Aug 20, 2010
482
228
The second one, is the two card monte, or so he calls it... This is a very good effect when done properly, however what is the history of this one, did Blaine invent the WHOLE trick or is it just a variation?

That's basically it. Blaine gave "Be honest, what is it?" A new name.

There is nothing original about Blaine's ambitious card routine. It is merely a series of controls, DLs, tilt/depth illusion and the Braue Pop Up Move.

Blaine also used Jack Merlin's Tip Over Change.

The "tilt" or "depth illusion" that we use in our ambitious card routines is credited to Dai Vernon but may have earlier roots.

Fixed that for you. "Tilt" is just the name that stuck. (Marlo concedes credit to Vernon in the introduction to the Tilt booklet.)
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
4,076
New Jersey
Wait we pay him? lol

I get three times as much as what you get paid.
Is this thread where the mods just chill?

No, there is a double super secret place where we do that.
Pro tip: If you're on a respectable magic forum, there's a solid chance it's mods that are going to answer questions regarding history.

To bastardize George Santayana, those who do not study magic history are doomed to reinvent it.
Fixed that for you. "Tilt" is just the name that stuck. (Marlo concedes credit to Vernon in the introduction to the Tilt booklet.)

Marlo really only conceded independent creation by stating "I was informed that Dai Vernon had independently thought of the Single Card Tilt and also preceded me by several months."
 
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