Okay everyone. I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the massive Stewart James books. It is very easy to overlook interesting material here. These are incredible books (for so many reasons) but the material is of a particular style. Often a Stewart James effect feels like it is half puzzle/half magic. And even with his best material it is clear that something ’semi-automatic/mathematical’ is at work. Nevertheless – these books stand as a monument to a strange and wonderful creative vision. I will go over some of my favourites…

I should just mention this. Stewart invented a number of clever poker deals over the years. Sadly – I have yet to make a detailed study of these, so I won’t be passing comment on them here. Also – check out the latest DVDs from Michael Close for a devious trick based around Stewart James’ legendary status…

So – Pull out your copy of…

STEWART JAMES IN PRINT – THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS:

JOGESTJA MAGAZINE TEST – Page 64 – An incredibly strong magazine test. This is powerful stuff. It is impossibly clean – looks like the real thing…

MIRASKILL – Page 102 – See this trick HERE for a version by John Bannon which is my favourite…

A CHINAMAN’S CHANCE – Page 117 – A cute way to find a mentally selected card which is based around a swindle…

PAGING A SNAPPY NUMBER – Page 185 – This is a magazine test based around a diabolical mathematical principle that I have never seen used before or since…

QUARTER DECK QUANDARY – Page 204 – Interesting to see Stewart make use of GRAY CODES here. Esoteric stuff. If you become interested in this sort of thing then check out Leo Boudreau’s revolutionary work in this area…

HANDS OFF – Page 242 – A clever mathematical effect with a nice twist at the end…

ECHOING VISION – Page 270 – This is a fun card divination which looks impossible. It also uses an unusual principle which I have never seen before…

VANISHING PROOF – Page 299 – This is a great effect. It is an adaptation (and improvement) of a strange principle discovered by Charles Jordan. It allows for a totally ‘hands off’ card vanish. NOTE: See TRANSCENDENTAL BAR BET by Paul Harris for the best use of this principle…

REMEMBERING THE FUTURE – Page 341 – A classic. I rate it up there with MIRASKILL. It is a beautiful and elegant principle which will fool you when you play with it…

BIBLICAL PROPHECY – Page 362 – You will be astonished at how Stewart discovered this book test. The method is just incredible…

THE NEW LOOK – Page 404 – An interesting double-colour change with a strange method. It is a strong effect, and is the sort of weird effect that Gaetan Bloom might invent…

AN ESSAY – Page 409 – See this essay for a fascinating insight into the workings of Stewart’s creative mind…

JAMESWAY DICE TEST – Page 491 – This is a great effect which I first saw in MATHEMATICS, MAGIC AND MYSTERY. I still remember being delighted with the sneaky idea used at the end of the effect…

NEW DEPARTURE ROPE MYSTERY – Page 555 – The method for this rope trick is great fun. The boldness always makes me smile…

WORDITTO – Page 569 – This is a brilliant magazine test and amazingly the method makes use of the MIRASKILL principle. This is my favourite use for this principle…

MATCHIMERA – Page 614 – A card matching effect done from a shuffled deck. I can’t imagine a more ingenious method than this one…

ATLANTIC AVENUE – Page 664 – This is an excellent variation on a lovely Mel Stover principle. Two further variations are featured in THE JAMES FILE. These are some of the strongest tricks in these books…

THE OPEN PREDICTION NO. 8 – Page 678 – David Britland says that this version counts as a solution to the FIFTY ONE FACES NORTH problem. See his analysis HERE. Other versions I like are one that Steve Beam published in SEMI AUTOMATIC CARD TRICKS VOL. 1 and a cheat version which Paul Gordon published in CARBON FOOTPRINTS which makes sneaky use of a stooge. Also you can find out more about Stewart’s legendary solution to the 51 FACES NORTH problem over HERE.

MATHEMATRICKER – Page 696 – Another clever mathematical effect with a cute twist at the end…

PERSON TO PERSON – Page 763 – This is a great Telephone Effect. The method is diabolical and you will be sure to fool anyone with it. See page 1870 for a variation by Max Maven…

CAM-O-NEYRD – Page 878 – This trick contains a nice subtlety for use with a double-sided coin which I have never seen before…

SNEAKY WILL – Page 942 – This is a real favourite. It is a brilliant re-working of a classic puzzle. It will actually fool you the first few times you use it…

KORADOR – Page 946 – This is a clean card location which reminds me of the principle used in the UNDO INFLUENCE by Simon Aronson (which itself was based on an Alex Elmsley effect which was based on a Jack Avis effect).

LETTERS FOR A STRANGER – Page 952 – I first came across this principle in a variation called VOODOO CLUE by Karl Fulves. It is a brilliant principle which will astonish you when you use it. It is up there with the other classic principles discovered by Stewart…

RETURN FOR SATAN – Page 959 – This is a lovely transposition which reminds me of BORDER CROSSING by Roy Walton…

MY UNCLE’S ANTE – Page 984 – The date on a borrowed coin reveals the location of a selected card. Brilliant method…

JUST FOUR FUN – Page 985 – This effect uses an amazing mathematical principle. It is very little known and it delighted me for a whole day when I first used it. The perfect trick to end this amazing book with…

Okay – Let’s continue our look at Stewart James’ work with…

THE JAMES FILE – BOOK ONE:

LII-KELIHOOD – Page 1018 – This is a real fooler with an ingenious twist at the end. A good one to pull on magicians…

PACKAGE DEAL – Page 1089 – A fascinating thing here. Stewart re-discovers THE GILBREATH PRINCIPLE and then applies it in a unique way…

A USA TRIAL – Page 1105 – This seems related to Alex Elmsley’s 16th CARD PRINCIPLE…

THE ROBOT DECK – Page 1137 – In Stewart’s words: ‘It is a stack within a stack within a stack within a stack within a stack within a stack within a stack plus a stack.’

And in the words of Gordon Bean: ‘There’s something thrilling about looking at the apparently innocuous face of the deck in its Robotic form and realizing how much work is contained therein. Performing the routine seems like unfolding a house out of a suitcase.’

FOURTH INCARNATION – Page 1173 – This is a trick well worth making up. It will easily fool other magicians. Steve Beam had some variations on this in one of the SEMI AUTOMATIC CARD TRICKS books…

OBJECTIVE X – Page 1291 – This is a brilliant two-person test and is based on a wonderful principle which has been buried in print…

NO-CAL TELEMATHY – Page 1293 – This is another excellent use of the principle mentioned above. This is one of my favourite effects by Stewart James…

TROST-WORTHY – Page 1297 – A good variation of a strong Nick Trost effect. It uses an ingenious principle and is one of the more ‘commercial’ tricks in this book…

CODEAL – Page 1575 – This is a great version of THE OPEN PREDICTION. It has a clever twist at the end which makes it more fun to do than most other versions…

Let’s finish off our overview with…

THE JAMES FILE – BOOK TWO

WHIM-BORROW – Page 1782 – This is a lovely trick. It is unlike most of the tricks that Stewart invented. To be honest it feels like the sort of trick that Roy Walton might invent. It also doubles up as my favourite use of the Progressive Speller principle…

PUSHING THE ENVELOPE – Page 1845 – This is a great prediction effect which is incredibly sneaky. Gordon Bean correctly mentions it as being one of the best tricks in the book…

MYRIADSKILL – Page 1904 – This is an essay by Bob Farmer about the MIRASKILL principle. It is very interesting and includes a simple tip which will strengthen your performances of this trick ten-fold. By the way – Karl Fulves has stretched the MIRASKILL principle so much that he managed to uncover another priniciple lurking inside. Check out THE SURVIVOR PRINCIPLE which was published in his hard-to-find magazine DISCOVERIE. Check out Issue 6…

BOCCA DELLA VERITA – Page 2410 – This is an amazing principle. It seems to my brain to be a kind of ‘inversion’ of The Gilbreath Principle. It is incredible that Stewart managed to discover this all the way back in 1928…

TWO-PART HARMONY – Page 2421 – This is a variation by Stewart of one of my favourite Bob Hummer tricks. It is one of Hummer’s best effects and contains a devious principle which is rarely used…

An interesting addition to my look at Stewart James’ work here. It is a reproduction of the contents of THE ESSENTIAL STEWART JAMES book which was published a couple of years ago. Consider it an additional overview to the remarkable ideas in these books…

The Boy’s World
The Knot of Enchantment
A Match for Gravity
Murder by Suggestion
Spell of Mystery
Balldown
Freedom of the Size
Simplicity Four-Ace Trick
Miraskill
Face-Up Prediction
The Book of the Dead
Sefalaljia
Sefalaljia Jr
The Man in Aberystwyth
The Love-Sick Tennis Ball
Remembering the Future
Further Than That
Half and Half
The Robot Deck
Silkscreen
Vocalculate
The Prophet’s Choice
Go Go Vanisher
The Clincher
The Other Place
First Class Passage
Jamesway Poker Deal
Ten Nights in a Cardroom
Pokericulum
So-Fair Poker Deal
The Gobak Card Mystery
The Purlooined Letters
Pocket of Persistence
Essay by SJ
Ring Leader
Falling Card
MicawberBaker’s Dozen System
The Doozer
Matchimera
Lejun
The Gofar Ball
The Tenth Variation 1 3 4
My Father’s House
Card V
The AAG Principle
Split Second
Stranger From Two Worlds
Double Boomerang
Incantations
Oraclew
Dollars and (6th) Sense
Parenth-Thesis
The Secret Partner
TRY aNother FIELD
Ontene Prediction
The Dream Goes On
A Class by Itself
Anger with a “D”
Package Deal
While at the Talking Table

Two dwarfs go to Vegas on vacation. It’s been awhile since they’ve been with women, so they decide to hire a couple of escorts to visit them in their hotel rooms.
The first dwarf is in bed with his girl but he can’t get a hard on. To make matters worse, he keeps hearing his little friend in the next room screaming, “1,2,3…. Uhhhhh! 1,2,3…. Uhhhhh!”

He tries for a few more minutes but can’t get aroused. Again, he hears his friend in the next room yelling even louder, “1,2,3… Uhhhhh! 1,2,3….. Uhhhhh!”

The escort finally gets fed up and leaves. The guy is frustrated and goes to sleep.

The next morning, the two dwarfs meet in the lobby for breakfast. He says to his friend, “Man, last night was so embarrassing… I couldn’t get a hard on.”

His friend says, “You think that’s bad? I couldn’t even get on the bed!”

Wesley Jameson is an innovator.  He made the Erdnase series first.  Can’t you find anything positive in the 7 DVDs?  I’m confused, is it worth buying or not?  And what is the best trick to try if I get it.

Simon Loweel helped James in producing this series, so there is obviously nothing obviously obvious about him.  Get a few drinks in him and look out!  Didn’t you see any of Tool Box?  Yeah, you probably think that is a funny name, but it goes well with Wesley Jameson knows mayonnaise set.

B+W Cashews is old and irrelevant in the modern world.  See above.

Day Vernors was cranky and his son is a drunk.  Also irrelevant in modern times.  We have Justin Miller aka JM and see above minus RW Horseshoes.

JB Hofflehassle is dead.  Irrelevant.  He didn’t even make a DVD like see above.

Pie Hollysbirth made only one book, and another book that is gaffed with fairy tales.  That’s not very much. The artwork is a rip off of Robaire Houdini.  

Fred Groucho was a good dancer and comedian.  He didn’t surf though.

Larry Madkovich draws penis.  Have you seen this?  The obscene rantings of a mentally ill person.

Axel Elmsbee made that false count which is cool and all, but he over used it.  His books only got like what 50 in print.

Troy Walden made that Card Warp which was improved by Paul Green. Pass pass pass.  Irrelevant like swatting a fly with a sledge hammer.  His book is out of print and too hard to find anyway.

Renee Lavant has to use a table.  Irrelevant.

Anyone remember the old Ragu tag line “it’s in there”? A good effect for the most part speaks for itself, and thus will a good performer. There is little in life worse than a try hard. For those that enjoy clubs and bars like me, we see try hards all around. Magically speakng we can say the same. Trying to impress, and impressing without trying, the latter wins the race every time.

The best magicians around have one thing in common in that magical things “just happen”. I feel sorry in many ways for some that never get over the “lord of time and space” aura. It’s like Ragu in the end though. We all know your a hip, cool dad, or a lady killing stud piece, because you told us so. The coolest fuckers out there just do what they do without any type of predetermined verbal or physical “hints”.

It’s rather fun to experiment with, amature or advanced. The world is our lab, and our eviroment at the time our holodeck. I’ve found it useful in the past to imagine this rather nerdy analogy. It’s just a training machine from time to time for experimenting. Not only in technique but aura, social tactics and the like. How do people respond when I touch thier arm in rapport? Can I begin to tell somewhat who would want that kind of rapport and those that don’t? Is that 5 packet cut just showing off or is it worthy? Is a pass false cut more practicle? Do I make proper eye contact? Is it creepy, calming, too bed room eyes?

Sooner or later whatever answers we find become part of us for the better. It becomes Ragu. Can you spot the ones that perform without it “being in there?”. Personally I see oil and water still not mixing……Gumps will think it’s peas and carrots. Since we are on the analogy bit, a little like a fist full of pussy beta try hard vs. the end.

With much gratitude to Mike Jacobson and Jamy Ian Swiss.

I could go on and on about about it. But most know what I mean allready. These two kept my sanity this month in a mostly pole smoking magi world. Mike did much better (and proved a few simple points). And Jamy is a rare alpha in magic land we should be thankful for. We should take it to the bank, Jamy did a very good, informative, opinionated yet worthy of the points given podcast. Would anyone actually debate Mike’s simple yet supreme act to Shawn’s? Probably. Shame really.

Three cheers.