Secret Agenda by
Roberto Giobbi
illustrations by
Barbara Giobbi-Ebnรถther
Hermetic Press, Inc. Seattle, Washington
Jason England, Mike Henkel and ÂNewell Unfried served as beaters for this volume, flushing out several dozen typos hiding in the text, so that they might be shot before they could reach public land. Good readers will wish to add their thanks to those of the author and publisher.
Copyright Š 2010 by Roberto Giobbi and Stephen Minch. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Hermetic Press, Inc., Seattle. Printed in the United States of America. ISBN 978-0-945296-67-6 first edition 654321
Preface First Things First I almost didn’t write a preface, wanting only to place on the page customarily used for that purpose this quote by Francis Bacon: Prefaces are the labor of lost hours and hide the author’s vanity beneath false modesty. He is right—in a sense. In another sense he is not. (He should have liked that, being a philosopher.) I vividly remember reading my first magic books and wanting so much to know a little more about their authors, about their motives, about their personal thoughts on the books it had taken them years to write; but I was disappointed to find very little in this regard. It is said everything made by hand carries something of him who made it. This might be true as well for the author of a book. I think it impossible to write something, even a technical text, without putting some part of oneself into it. The question then becomes: Why should anyone care about the author? One could easily read this book and appreciate (it would be hoped) its content, without knowing anything in advance about the book or its author, much as you might enjoy a painting in a museum without foreknowledge of the artist who did it. If, however, you know something about painting, about the painter’s life and philosophy, about the period and culture he lived in, about some of his other paintings, then you will be able to expand your appreciation into other dimensions. Whether you want to do this is quite another matter. So, for some readers, that was the preface and you can now proceed to the main body of the book. The others are cordially invited to stay with me a little longer before attacking the more pragmatic parts of this work.
About the Book In the introduction to his third volume of that wonderful series of books, the Tarbell Course in Magic, Dr. Harlan Tarbell writes, “If I give you a dollar and you give me a dollar, we each still have a dollar; but let me give you an idea and you give me an idea, then we each have two ideas.” This is a typically Western way of expressing what is essentially a beautiful thought; and it concisely, plainly and perfectly explains what this book is about. Secret Agenda, whatever its intrinsic value, offers two services. First, it represents a body of knowledge, and everyone can, from this point of view, usefully refer to it. There are ready-made ideas that
you will find of immediate use: tricks, techniques, presentations and words of professional advice; some lost within the annals of conjuring and unearthed here for your edification, some original and hitherto unpublished. This is information you will be able to add almost instantly to your active repertoire, or at least use to expand your conceptual mastery of magic. The latter is quite important, for the sheer pleasure of it; but this information might also come in handy at a later date, when problems have to be solved that require you to have a backpack of knowledge and a toolbox of skills to refer to. The second service provided by this book is escape. It is an open door to adventure, even if it is not the most audacious. A work of art is always an adventure. A piece of magic does not escape this rule. I have therefore included items intended to make you stop and think, to reconsider some of the things you thought were true, to find out if they still are—or maybe to find they are only half true, which is worse than being false. Some of the items included may just make you smile as you look at something you’ve always known, but from a different viewpoint. Still other things are interesting problems you’ll want to solve for yourself. If one felt the need to categorize this book, it would most probably fit into the genre of notebooks. In magic we do not have an overwhelming number of contributions to this branch of literature, but I wouldn’t want to miss them; such as Jacob Daley’s Notebooks, The Fred Braue Notebooks and Bruce Cervon’s Castle Notebooks. Of course, notebooks are also a literary genre. Among my favorites are A Writer’s Notebook by W. Somerset Maugham; and maybe best of all, Georg Christoph Lichtenberg’s Waste Books. In his preface, Lichtenberg writes: The merchants have their waste book; there they record from day to day everything they have bought and sold, one after the other, without organization. From there the entries are transferred to the journal, where everything is arranged more systematically; and finally it goes to the ledger, using double entry in the Italian style of bookkeeping. This practice should be imitated by scholars. First a book in which I write everything just as I see it or as my thinking guides me. This then can be copied to another, where subjects are separated and better arranged; and the ledger could then contain the various subjects in a connected fashion and, from this ensues an elucidation, expressed in an orderly way.* * A Small-World Note: The double-entry system mentioned by Lichtenberg was invented by the Italian Luca Pacioli, who in his 1496 work De Viribus Quantitatis gave us what presently is considered the earliest description of a card trick!
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When I read that, I immediately thought: “Wonderful! I want to write a book like that for magicians.” And here it is. When I started this work several years ago, I was reminded of a story Dai Vernon told about himself. When he was still a child he set himself the challenge of gathering a dozen tricks, all using a piece of string. It took him some time—but he eventually assembled more than a hundred! I had a similar experience when I started thinking of and gathering material for this book. I thought I would never find 365 interesting items. But after several months I had material for almost two years! What you are reading here is what I think is the best of the lot. If I had to sum up this book in one sentence, that sentence would be: This is the kind of book I would like to read myself. This is, I fear, a cliché, but it is more meaningful than you might think. The hundreds of items assembled here were written over several years. When I reread the entire work before sending it to press, I rediscovered many items I had forgotten since writing them! And I found them of such value and practicality, I reincorporated them into my repertoire (having used them years ago and somehow forgotten them). So I can truthfully say this is a book I would like to read myself.
How to Read Secret Agenda This has turned out to be quite a large book, in both size and scope. If you look at it with the intention of reading it in one breath, it would be like looking at the menu of a gourmet restaurant and wanting to eat every item at one sitting—impossible. But if you were to go to the same restaurant once a week and each time order a three-course meal, after a year you might easily become the happiest person on earth. Secret Agenda was conceived to share with you one item per day. I seriously suggest that you adopt this reading diet. Read just one item each day, perhaps as you’re having breakfast at home. (We decline all responsibility for our friends who are consuming their donut and “commuter coffee” in the car and reading Secret Agenda at the same time.) Or read an item during your lunch break; or (second to) last thing before you fall asleep. It’s nice to make a habit of it. If you find this doesn’t work for you, do it anyway you like. (That must be the Italian in me speaking.)
A Few More Thoughts One of the greatest challenges an author faces is to condense his knowledge of a highly complex subject into seemingly simple concepts, so that an interested reader—that’s a prerequisite—receives an enjoyable and concise synopsis. For to understand something is difficult enough, but to be able to say or write
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it succinctly is even more demanding. This is especially true if you are like me, and become fascinated by the depth and breadth of a topic and want to tell it all. I certainly did my share of that in my other books, the Card College and Card College Light series, so here I am attempting something else. I admit I have not succeeded with every entry, as the complexity of some topics demands that their discussions be longer; but I hope you will still find them worth your while. This book may even make you a happier person, through the satisfaction of improving or learning or even just remembering one thing in your magical life for every day of the coming year. Good things attract other good things. So reading one good thing each day not only gets you that thing, it also builds your attitude for doing good things. In a sort of “butterfly effect”, it will lead to more good things for you and for those around you. Excellent, isn’t it? Even if this wasn’t true, it does have the undeniable advantage that at least one good thing has happened. Max Maven, a friend and mentor of many years, in a documentary on Dai Vernon called Spirit of Magic, says, “Nothing he ever did was trivial.” I’ve tried to make that the guiding principle of this book. I hope I have succeeded. In those cases where I might not have, I ask your indulgence and hope to be judged on what I did well and not on what exceeded my reach.
On My Own Account As you work through Secret Agenda, you will find some entries whose connection with magic isn’t immediately obvious, such as lists of favorite quotes, books and films; things outside the boundaries of conjuring. Some readers may perceive these items as padding. Nothing could be further from the truth, as I didn’t have to fight with myself over what to put into this book, but rather what to leave out of it. A car is not just the engine, and magic is not just tricks and techniques. After being involved in magic for over forty years, twenty-two of them as a full-time professional, I’ve come to believe the most important part in a conjurer’s performance is his or her personality. But it isn’t easy to pinpoint what constitutes a personality. Despite this difficulty, I will dare to submit that it has to do with what one believes and with what one knows and says and does, and the way all this happens. This is one of the reasons I have included certain items. They are very much a reflection of my personality and are given here to share, but most of all to inspire my readers—especially those still open to being influenced—to find other interests than magic and to see how these interests relate to magic; and to become aware of the importance of the interests you already have. Such characteristics are as much a part of a performing personality as tricks and techniques. Even more so! And they are quite simply wonderful things, things that uplift the mind and heart.
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I just read an effect where the twenty-fourth card from the top is marked with a “subtle” pencil dot, so that the deck can later be divided at this spot and a spectator handed the top twenty-three cards. Here’s a way to solve the same problem with an ordinary deck. First the impromptu simple version: Before your performance, place the guarantee card from the deck, or a Joker or any card, face up and twenty-fourth from the top of the pack. When you introduce the deck during your show, give it an overhand shuffle, using an injog to retain the top stock. Next, ribbon spread it face down, and notice that a card is reversed—apparently this happened during the shuffle. If you have used the guarantee card or Joker, you remove it from the spread and discard it. If you have turned another card face up, turn it face down and reinsert it in the spread. In either case, you manage to leave a bit more back area exposed at the point where the card is removed or reinserted. It is then an easy matter to obtain a break at this point as you gather the cards and take them face down in dealing position.1 Alternatively, you may pick up the deck, spread the cards in the hands and turn over the reversed card. In the process you establish a break below twenty-three cards. Now the “expert handling”: Again use the injog shuffle to retain the top stock. Spread the deck face down on the table and notice the face-up card. Gather the deck and spread the cards in your hands until you reach the reversed card, which you discard or turn face down. Square the deck, keeping a break under the top twenty-three cards. Convert the break into a step and fan the cards.2 Close the fan, which re-forms the step, and set the deck down as you say something. Then pick it up again, reestablishing the left little finger’s break. With your right hand, cut off slightly fewer cards than those above the break and set them in front of someone. On second thought, cut off the remaining cards over the break and add them to the cards already given to the person: “Oh, perhaps a few more.” Immediately shuffle your packet and ask your helper to do likewise with his. Done in this manner the subterfuge is totally deceptive, even to the initiated.
January 1
January 1•To Separate a Deck at a Specific Point
As the term actus interruptus suggests, an action that has been started is suddenly interrupted for a reason apparent to the audience, and then is picked up once more and completed. During the interruption the necessary sleight is executed and remains psychologically invisible. As an example, assume you want to steal the bottom card of the deck, using a gambler’s cop. With your right hand, take the deck from lefthand dealing position and begin to hand it to someone: “Please take it in your hand...” When the person reaches out to do so, interrupt the action by replacing the deck in left-hand dealing position and turning your empty right hand palm up in demonstration: “Like this, please, and ten-point-three inches above the table, over here.” As you say this, look at the person and keep looking at him as your right hand once more takes the deck, and then puts it onto his hand, while your left hand steals the bottom card in gambler’s cop. The humorous comment provides added cover, but any other verbal strategy could serve here, such as asking a question (what Ascanio called an “obscuring question”). When the right hand initially takes the deck, it is a good idea to gesture unobtrusively with the palm-up left hand, so that the audience will at least peripherally perceive that it is empty. The strength of actus interruptus is that it combines with two other powerful principles: “conditioned naturalness” and “in-transit actions”, in Ascanian terminology. Starting and interrupting the action is practically the same as executing it once in an honest context, making the set of movements familiar to the audience. In the above example the spectators know you simply want to hand the deck to one of them—the action now has a Gestalt; it is anticipated. When the interrupted action is then repeated, in respect to its Gestalt, they assume it is the same one seen before. But replacing the deck in your left hand is also a secondary, in-transit, action. It is obviously necessary to free your right hand, so that you can show your helper how and where you wish him to hold his hand (the main action). Taking the deck—at which time the cop occurs—is also an in-transit action, the main action being that of handing the deck to your helper. Protecting the secret with three layers is like packing a dead rat inside three boxes—the audience won’t be able to smell it. The procedure has to be used with discretion, and only once or twice for the same audience, as it would make you appear stupid and unpracticed if you repeatedly interrupted and resumed your actions.
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January 23
January 23•Actus Interruptus
February 8•How to Memorize a Serial Number Entertainingly February 8
In some effects it is necessary to write down the serial number of a bill for later identification. This takes time, usually calls for additional props and therefore is a problem to be identified and solved. Here is my solution. It is fast, entertaining and uses no props at all. As I write this, I’m taking a hundred Swiss franc bill from my wallet. We will use its serial number to give you the basic idea: 04B5769202. Ideally, you should have a spectator at your side to verify that you are reading the number fairly. “04—these first numbers indicate the year the bill was printed; so that’s 2004, an excellent wine year in Spain. I see this gentleman is a connoisseur of wines, so please remember 04, an exceptional year for Rioja and Ribera del Duero. “A letter always comes next. On this bill it is B, as in Birthday. Anybody’s birthday today, tomorrow or in the coming week? Okay, madam, then please remember the letter B, as in Birthday. “We then have 57. Well, that’s five weeks more than a normal year. You, sir, I’m sure will appreciate five extra weeks in a year. Please remember 57. “Next comes 69.... Well, you may think what you like. “Finally 202. Oh, that’s an easy one. You can remember it both ways, like Anna or Otto. What do you call these—have we got any linguists here? A palindrome, right. By the way, do you know who pronounced the first palindrome? It was Adam in paradise. When he met his wife to be he said to her, ‘Madam, I’m Adam.’ ” Let the reaction subside. “And she answered with the shortest palindrome—Eve. Anyway, you remember 202.” When you reproduce the bill and have the serial number confirmed, do so at an accelerated speed. The cues will be strong enough to bring back the mnemonics you’ve planted. If you are reading out the number on a bill you’ve switched in, you can plan the mnemonic cues you will give. Once you’ve done this a bit, you will find the associations pop up easily. Numbers like 17, 18, 19, etc., may be combined with the two digits that follow them, to form a year, like 1750. An Internet search will provide events for the year, which can be used as mnemonic cues. There are numbers, too, that may be connected with the event you are working. Though you may have one longer exception, like the palindrome above, make connections with concise associations that can be explained smoothly and rapidly, to maintain interest. Some hesitation, though, is desirable, to make it seem credible that you’re coming up with the mnemonics spontaneously. When faced with very long serial numbers, it will suffice to have the last five digits remembered. This usually requires three cues, just the right number for a fast-paced performance.
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February 23•Swing Cut at a Break February 23
Problem: To use a swing cut to cut the deck at a little-finger break. Here are two solutions: Solution 1: In Card College, Volume 3, I describe a useful stratagem by Rafael Benatar to insert a card into the outer end of the deck, yet have it surely enter a little-finger break.14 The same dynamic can be used to swing cut at a break. Hold the deck in lefthand dealing position, with the little finger holding a break. Take the deck into right-hand end grip, grasping the cards above the break, and then riffle the right thumb gently up their inner end. In doing this, transfer the break to the heel of the left thumb. This position can be retained until you need to cut the deck. As soon as the left thumb relieves its pressure on the top of the deck, a gap will open at the outer left corner. This allows the right forefinger to perform the desired action, lifting all the cards above the break for a swing cut. Solution 2: Once more, you hold the deck in left-hand dealing position, and have a left little-finger break. With your right hand, take the top packet into end grip. Now, with your left fingers, twist all the cards below the break as a unit slightly clockwise, just enough for the right forefinger to engage the outer left corner of the top packet and swing cut it into the left hand, which immediately carries it to the left. You then audibly drop the former bottom packet on top, completing the cut.
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