Price$4.50
Media TypeBook
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedMar 16, 2003
A Ray of Magic
Ray, Jimmy
Morrissey
(Based on 2 reviews)
Reviews
(Top ▲)
I purchased 'A Ray of Magic' awhile back as it had that 'old school' look to it. I tend to sometimes look for dated booklets hiding in forgotten corners of the U.S. Toy / magic book section. The book contains two card effects that I spend time with - 'The Berlin Swindle', and 'Backdoor Aces'. The latter, is a twist type effect, except that aces turn face up one by one. When I do this, I use jacks. The method here allows for a kind of trap door sudden appearance of the jacks, which people are surprised and amused by. 'Backdoor Aces' is also something I practice with to keep my fingers nimble. I revisit my books often and there's more I haven't commented on, but, 'Backdoor Aces' is a novel, 'peekaboo' effect that is cute and visual enough to use as a quickie effect.
(Top ▲)
While much of what is considered "old school" in magic continues to stand the test of time, there are some strategies, both methodological and presentational (and anything involving a fez) that can fairly be considered obsolete. For example, imagine laying eight coins on the table, four copper and four silver, picking up the former (one by one) in your left hand and the latter (one by one) in your right hand, then slamming the coins back down on the table to show that one copper coin has transposed with one silver coin. Now imagine repeating this three more times until all four coins have changed places. It's certainly not a bad effect, but for today's audiences, it would definitely benefit from:
Jimmy Ray's above-mentioned routine, one of 20 items in his first (now hard-to-obtain) 1950s booklet, Between the Acts, offers none of these features, and the rest of the contents left me with similar reservations. Consequently, my expectations when I started reading Jimmy Ray's next (1980) book, A Ray of Magic, were not high, and while they were probably exceeded, it wasn't by much.
Three routines sparked my interest--a commercial version of Don Alan's "Ranch Bird," called "Dumb Bird," a potentially pretty coins-through-table-into-glass effect (mis)called "Matrix Under Glass," and a basic (but functional) endless-chain routine with a magic-oriented climax in which the chain becomes knotted, whereupon the magician removes the knot and drops it to the table. But even these items could use some technical and presentational upgrades.
Apart from that, I suspect you will find little of interest among the remaining card and coin tricks (four of which are reprised from Between the Acts). While every routine here probably worked well for Jimmy Ray (he was, by all accounts, a very likeable performer), I've seen better versions of most. On the other hand, you might find a few things to play with (I did), and for six bucks you can hardly go wrong.
David Acer
- A procedure that doesn't require you to dump, then pick up eight coins after each transposition.
- A method that doesn't necessitate being seated.
- The use of fewer coins.
- A twist or additional challenge with the last coin.
Jimmy Ray's above-mentioned routine, one of 20 items in his first (now hard-to-obtain) 1950s booklet, Between the Acts, offers none of these features, and the rest of the contents left me with similar reservations. Consequently, my expectations when I started reading Jimmy Ray's next (1980) book, A Ray of Magic, were not high, and while they were probably exceeded, it wasn't by much.
Three routines sparked my interest--a commercial version of Don Alan's "Ranch Bird," called "Dumb Bird," a potentially pretty coins-through-table-into-glass effect (mis)called "Matrix Under Glass," and a basic (but functional) endless-chain routine with a magic-oriented climax in which the chain becomes knotted, whereupon the magician removes the knot and drops it to the table. But even these items could use some technical and presentational upgrades.
Apart from that, I suspect you will find little of interest among the remaining card and coin tricks (four of which are reprised from Between the Acts). While every routine here probably worked well for Jimmy Ray (he was, by all accounts, a very likeable performer), I've seen better versions of most. On the other hand, you might find a few things to play with (I did), and for six bucks you can hardly go wrong.
David Acer