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Cut-Up Card Trick

Crandall, Senator

Ron Bauer

(Based on 1 review)
From the man who claims credit for Spicy Peanut Butter!

Here's your chance to become an instant psychoanalyst! In #13 of the Ron Bauer Private Studies Series, all you need is a deck of cards, a pad of paper, scissors, and this book! (A willingness to make outrageously ridiculous claims in public helps, too!)

This was a favorite of Chicago's sardonic sorcerer, Clarke "The Senator" Crandall, and is published here for the first time.

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Reviews

David Acer

Official Reviewer

Dec 22, 2003

Ron Bauer has unleashed a popular favorite from the repertoire of the late Clarke Crandall (known to many as "The Senator") in this, the 13th installment of the Private Studies series. The effect is a simple one, but presented in the manner suggested here, it has enormous potential for a substantive impact. (I've been possessed by Jon Racherbaumer!)

The magician has a card chosen, then returned to the deck, whereupon he proposes an experiment in psychoanalysis to extract the name of the card from the spectator without her ever actually saying it. He asks her a series of questions, none of which appear to have any connection with playing cards, as he cuts chunks out from a little piece of notepaper based on each response. In the end, he reveals the image of the chosen card now cut into the notepaper.

As with all the installments in this series, Ron goes into great detail regarding both the performance and execution of the routine (i.e. he discusses the "whys" as well as the "hows"). However, there is a "corny" vibe to much of the scripting that may speak more to the time when Senator Crandall was performing this (the fifties and sixties, I presume). For example, "My experience, by the way, is because of my brother-in-law. He's a psycho ceramic. In laymen's terms, that would be a crack pot." Or "How do the insane avoid getting lost in the woods? They take the psycho path." This stuff may fly at a magic club meeting, but in the real world, good luck.

Other than that, this is a good routine, well told.

David Acer
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