Meir’s Muses
MyMagic eNewsletter #920
April 10, 2021
One of my best-selling routines has an interesting history. When I came up with it, I didn’t really think much of it. Thought it was a nice variation of Wild Card. Showed it to Harry Lorayne, he liked it and asked me to contribute it to Apocalypse… so I did.
I kept performing it for my friends and in my shows. When Mike Gallo saw it, he insisted that I market it. I asked Harry if I can have it back and he graciously agreed. I called it Cardinal Cards and marketed it and started teaching it at my lectures. It became the best-selling item at my lectures.
Can you guess who is pictured with me? Does he look familiar? When I first met him at an Abbotts’ convention he came to my booth after my lecture and was asking about Cardinal Cards.
I told him, You look familiar. You look just like the manager on The Partridge Family television show. The guy standing next to him said, He is Reuben Kincaid, and we all laughed as he introduced himself as Dave Madden and said, I will take three.
As a side note I asked him if he was working on anything and he said that he now only does voiceovers and would have never gotten into acting if he knew at the time how lucrative voiceovers were.
For the next few years, I would get an occasional check from Dave for $30 for six sets of Cardinal Cards (they used to be $5 each). He was wearing the cards out and ended up buying more of them than most magic shops did.
Although he was the first magician to buy six at a time from me, he wasn’t the only one. Very often when I would have a booth at conventions outside the US the magicians who were addicted to this routine would rush to my booth and buy 3-12 sets… before I sold out.
Using this routine to close my lectures also gave me the confidence to close some of my formal layperson shows with it. But on those occasions, I would switch the cards out at the end and give the blank cards as souvenirs.
I haven’t performed this routine in more than ten years, so I had to relearn it. The good news is that I taught it on my Published & Unpublished video, and I got some personal instructions from the younger version of myself.
More good news: I re-purposed the instructional video and am now including it with every purchase. I also just re-shot a performance for the new trailer: HERE
â–şCardinal Cards:
An astounding routine that can be used as an opener, a middle or a closer. It has a logical, funny and visual premise with twice as many surface changes as the average Wild Card routine.
The routine starts with seven identical cards. One of the cards is dramatically stripped of its face and back, which leaves a blank-on-both sides center layer, referred to as The Cardinal Card. And is it magic!
As soon as you touch it to any of the other cards that card also becomes blank on both sides, until your finale when you show that all the cards have become blank on both sides!
Watch and buy: HERE
Although I always spoke during the routine it was pointed out to me that the second half is pretty to watch without sound or to music. Try muting the audio and watching it again. I should also mention that the three sleights used are: Hamman Count, Flustration Count, and a double turnover.
â–şeBay:
I have 10 items at auction that are expiring on Sunday night that I think you might like:
â–şDirect auction link: HERE
â–şMyMagic eBay Store: HERE
Stay safe, Meir
PS: After seeing me perform this routine for decades Fr. Cyprian asked, “I always wondered why you called this Cardinal Cards?” My answer will be in next week’s newsletter.
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