DVD's
Basic Effect: Borrowing two different bills from a spectator, you fold each bill into eighths. Then, simply by touching the two bills together, they visually fuse into one bill. That's right, the two halves of the bill are made up from the two bills you just borrowed from the spectator. This hybrid bill is handed to the spectator for complete examination. You then proceed to rip the bill in half, ending up with one of the original bills in each hand. These are immediately given back to their owner.
This isn't just another bill switch: In fact, you can't really call it a bill switch at all. Hybrid feels just like a switch but from the audience's perspective, you're not transforming one bill into another... you're visually melding two of their bills into one unit, simply by touching them together. That's pretty amazing stuff.
Disc 1, of this two disc set teaches all the mechanics of the Hybrid switch technique step-by-step, in great detail, so you will be performing the effect within minutes of viewing the DVD. Disc 2 is a CD-ROM that contains several gaff templates, in multiple currencies, that you can print right from your home computer.
As an added bonus: Nigel will perform and explain "Fraction". A borrowed $10 bill (e.g.) is instantly and visually torn in half, into two separate $5 bills. Once examined by the spectator, the fives are fused together, visibly morphing back into the borrowed $10 bill.
Plus Nigel's "RIPT" (flash torn & restored bill) - A borrowed bill is torn into 2 distinctly separate pieces and immediately restored by merely touching the two halves together.
ITEM # DVD0483 PRICE $25.00
JUMBO CARD MANIPULATIONS by CYRIL HARVEY
From France comes F.I.S.M. award winner Cyril Harvey with this astonishing collection of ground-breaking Jumbo card manipulations for stage. Over fifteen Jumbo card techniques carefully explained step by step! This DVD features the next generation of sleights and routines for manipulators, drawn directly from Cyril Harvey's F.I.S.M. act, in addition to material he regularly uses as one of the busiest stage performers and magic lecturers in Europe.
Techniques Explained
ITEM # DVD0484 PRICE $35.00
COMEDY 4 RING ROUTINE by WHIT HAYDN
This DVD includes a live performance of Whit's award-winning routine, and instruction that includes all the moves, patter, and presentational tips that make it easy to add this masterpiece to your repertoire. Along with an introduction by Earl Nelson, and Billy McComb's interview with Whit, this DVD includes twenty minutes of video clips from Whit's performances over the last twenty years on cruise ships, at the Magic Castle and at Magic Island, and on large theater stages.
These clips illustrate how to handle various types of spectator volunteers, and various reactions and comments from the volunteer. This routine, originally developed for Whit's street magic act in the 1960's, is considered by most experts to be the most commercial version of the linking rings available for any venue. Dai Vernon claimed that this routine had "the first completely new comedy premise I have seen in magic in thirty years."
"If you don't have a linking ring routine and you want to add one to your stand-up repertoire, Whit Haydn's Comedy 4 Ring Routine is the place to start. Ring routines don't get much better than this." - Michael Close
ITEM # DVD0485 PRICE $35.00
INTRICATE WEB OF DISTRACTION by WHIT HAYDN
Whit Haydn is one of the best minds in magic when it comes to routining classic magic. Routines such as Whit Haydn's Four Ring Routine, the Mongolian Pop-Knot, the Teleportation Device, Chicago Surprise, Fast & Loose, and many others have become standards in the arsenals of many top-flight professionals.
The "Color-Changing Knives" is a wonderful close-up item, but until now, it has had several weaknesses in method and presentation. With Whit Haydn's "The Intricate Web of Distraction," these weaknesses are overcome.
This routine is both practical for the working magician and powerful in performance. The patter is entertaining and funny, and yet, because the humor is based on the situation, it easily adapts to the individual style of the performer.
Whit has performed this routine thousands of times in front of audiences at the Magic Castle, Caesars Magical Empire, trade shows, hospitality suites, and cocktail parties. It never fails to enthrall his audience as he wraps them in a web of intelligent humor and amazing prestidigitation.
The DVD shows a live performance of the routine and then every detail of technique and performance is carefully and thoroughly explained. Watching this DVD is like having a personal lesson in magic from one of the best and most entertaining magicians around today.
ITEM # DVD0486 PRICE $35.00
THREE-CARD MONTE by WHIT HAYDN AND CHEF ANTON
The School for Scoundrels DVD Three-Card Monte contains close to three hours of video on two discs, including fine-point instruction in all the major moves, psychology, and misdirection used in the monte, plus a three-camera shoot on the street of a reenactment of Cracker Parker's London mob scam, an interview with Gazzo discussing the methods of the London Mob, and actual footage of three-card-monte being played on the streets in Khiva, Uzbekistan.
The DVD also contains Chef Anton's complete presentation and explanation of Three-Card Gold, an excellent, unique exhibition routine created by Chef and Whit Haydn.
Also on this DVD are appearances by Gazzo, R. Paul Wilson, and Doc Eason discussing their original handlings of the climax of the monte in exhibition, as well as a unique contribution to the bent corner ruse from Ron Wohl.
Whit Haydn demonstrates and explains Bob Kohler's incredible ending for the monte, called Knifed! In this sensational ending, the performer has the spectator hold on to a quarter of the Ace, and pin the rest of the Ace facedown with a pocketknife. Even so, the Ace escapes. The spectator ends up holding on to a quarter of the Joker, and the penknife is stuck firmly through three-quarters of a Joker! Bob has worked out every detail of this ending to make it practical, certain, and a real killer.
Further, both DVD's can be opened in a computer as data discs. Inside is found a complete non-printable e-book (.pdf file) version of our most recent edition of the book The School for Scoundrels Notes on Three-Card Monte. This book contains over 160 pages and more than 180 photos and illustrations, and contains a ton of material on the patter, psychology, moves, glossary, history, and application to magic of three-card monte. Most authorities consider this book to be the best resource on the monte to date:
What People are Saying
"If you've missed anything, I can't find it! Your historical research is astounding." - Gary Ouellet
"This is clearly the definitive book on three-card monte. Nothing else even comes close." - Darwin Ortiz
"The School for Scoundrels Notes on Three-Card Monte is the best resource for information on this con that I have ever read." - Michael Close
"This is the best single reference on the Monte to date." - Jamy Ian Swiss
Also included on the ROM section of the discs is an historical appendix containing a collection of interesting and printable photos, and long passages from several of the most important primary sources on the monte, including eye-witness accounts of three-card monte being played in the nineteenth century from "Beyond the Mississippi," and "Wanderings of a Vagabond," as well as George Devol's defense of Canada Bill Jones from "Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi," and Allan Pinkerton's eye-witness account of Canada Bill in action from "Criminal Reminiscences and Detective Sketches."
Both the video and ROM portions of the disc are meant to provide the student of three-card monte with the most complete, accessible, and illuminating resource on the game ever offered. Much of the information contained in this set is original and/or unpublished.
Whether you are a magician, gambling expert, historian, or hustler-everything you need to become a true "expert" on the game is right here in this two-volume DVD.
ITEM # DVD0487 PRICE $55.00
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