Card Control A Post Graduate Course On Practical Methods
Supplemented by Forty Original Card Experiments
Photography Reliance Studios Copyrighted and Published by
ARTHUR H. BUCKLEY
Dedicated to my devoted wife, Helena, my partner on and off the stage since nineteen hundred and ten.
ARTHUR BUCKLEY
COPYRIGHT 1946 BY ARTHUR H. BUCKLEY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THIS BOOK OR ANY PART THEREOF MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION IN WRITING FROM THE PUBLISHER. SECOND EDITION
PHOTOGRAPHY RELIANCE STUDIOS CHICAGO. ILL.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1946 BY THE WILLIAMSON PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY SPRINGFIELD, ILL.
PREFACE Forty years experience conjuring with cards, diligent in the search for better and more suitable principles, ever pursuing that mythical thing, perfection — the experience gained throughout this time, I feel, qualifies me to write this text on card principles. Per haps my compeers will forgive me if I have unwittingly erred in the assumption of being the originator of many of the methods and sleights herein described, though some have to my knowledge already appeared in print with the source of origin not always cor rectly defined. This is a compendium of advanced principles, master sleights and card effects, and it is therefore assumed that my reader is already in possession of a marked degree of skill and aptitude for such things with cards; furthermore, that he is a student of other practical works on card magic by such authors as Hugard, Erdnase, Merlin, Tarbell, Downs and many others. The sleights of this compen dium are of major importance and great practical value. They are unsurpassed by hitherto known and published methods; many are difficult to accomplish and require patience and constant practice before they can be mastered or performed in a creditable manner. Each sleight involves a certain technique peculiarly its own, these details are carefully related, both in the text and the accom panying illustrations. The instructions, when intimately followed, will permit the sleight to be mastered and then executed indetectably and repetitiously, even though performed before the con centrated attention of one versed in this art and not entirely un familiar with the modus operandi or technique being employed. It hardly seems necessary to say that a sleight is not intended to be employed for the mystification its execution affords, but rather as a subtle artifice secretly employed to bring about a magical climax. It has been said that “practice makes perfect.” This is a mis nomer unless the methods practiced are basically correct and are adaptable to the end sought. Always make certain that the methods you are about to encompass are the best ones available before seri ously commencing to practice, or you may find often to your sorrow that a great deal of time has been lost and many hours are necessary for the undoing. Among my friends whose assistance and suggestions in the preparation of this book I have found most valuable are John Brown Cook, Harold Ripley, Waldo Logan, William Nicola, Richard Cardini, Bert Allerton, Russell Swan, James Thompson, Harlan Tarbell, Paul le Paul, George Coons, Dai Vernon, Samuel Berland, Joe Berg, Paul Stadelman, Werner C. Dornfield (Dorny), Alex Purrell and John Mulholland.
To these I extend my thanks and gratitude.
ARTHUR BUCKLEY
If you haven’t met Arthur Buckley personally, you have missed knowing one of the finest performers in the field of Magic. Born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, in the year 1890, Arthur came to America in 1918. It was not until my return from Europe a year later that I met Arthur and his wife, Helena. Most magicians start as amateurs, develop into semi-profes sionals and finally reach the professional stage. Not so Arthur Buckley; he started off a professional in 1908, billed as “Dante, King of Kards”, this after seeing Alan Shaw, the American Coin Manipulator and Carlton, with his card magic. After a few months of almost continuous practice, Buckley believed his act was ready for the theater. His brother, friendly with the manager of the Theatre Royal in Brisbane, Australia, ar ranged for his tryout. The manager, Ted Holland, after seeing the show, said, “Come back in about seven years and I will give you a job.” Two days later an American actor named Harry Salmon was getting a road show together and went to see Ted Holland about some acts, and whether to spite Salmon or help Buckley, we will never know, Holland gave Salmon Arthur’s name. Salmon called on Buckley, who demonstrated his coin and card act in such a cred itable manner that although he entirely lacked stagecraft, he was signed as a magician to a six months’ contract. The first show the house was packed, but when Buckley ap peared on stage he was struck speechless. The stage manager lowered the curtain. Salmon, having Buckley under contract, had to make the best of it. Early next morning Salmon had Buckley at the theater and proceeded to teach him how to walk on the stage and how to speak his lines. The show toured to the far north of Queensland, touching Thursday Island, Cooktown and Cairns. Under Salmon’s guidance Buckley improved rapidly. In the early stages of Buckley’s stage career he gained first hand knowledge from many expert gamblers. Many of the most highly valued and closely guarded secrets of method of sleights, cuts, builds and shuffles were imparted to Buckley by these people during the leisure hours between track meet ings and the shows. The very cream of all this knowledge with many important improved ideas are incorporated in the chapter of “Conjuring at the Card Table” in his book, “Card Control.” His card work was highly popular with them. They would always insure him of a full house for his performances. After his magic show, which lasted two hours, they would sub-lease the theater or hall from Buckley for their card games. For this favor they would start a regular ballyhoo at the race track, between themselves, of the wonderful magician in town, etc., etc., and in the show ap plauded out of justification to that warranted. These experiences all took place within a year and a half from starting.
In eighteen months instead of seven years, Buckley returned to Brisbane to headline the vaudeville bill at the Theatre Royal. From that time on he played the metropolitan theaters. Then, encouraged by the newspapers in Australia, he tried his luck in America, and was placed under contract for a period of three years as a feature attraction with the Benson office and the Orpheum Circuit Club Department in Chicago. Later he played the Orpheum Circuit, and then returned to Australia under the management of the Tivoli Theatres, Ltd., and later the Williamson and the Sir Benjamin Fuller Circuits, where he and Helena, his wife, doing “mental magic”, broke all records for capacity houses during their engage ments; this according to newspaper reports of that period. In 1934 he returned to America, this time as an electronic and communication engineer, which occupation he is now following in a consultant and creative capacity, associated with the George Gor ton Machine Corporation of Racine, Wisconsin, the Whitney Blake Company of New Haven, Connecticut, and the Reliable Electric Company of Chicago, Illinois. He has developed numerous com mercially successful patents, some of which are intricate business machines, and at the present time he is developing others. Magic with cards is his hobby. Arthur Buckley is the logical man to write a book on “Card Control”, for not only does he present his methods and original sleights, but many practical sleights which he gathered from the top magicians of the world. His inventive knowledge has enabled him to develop and present practical card sleights and magical effects to an unusual degree of perfection, many of which have stood the test of stage, club and close-up. The book is truly a post graduate course on card handling, and is amply illustrated from photographs of the author’s hands in action. This adds greatly to the clearness of the instructions. Harlan Tarbell