Magic Trick

[Fredric]

Figured out how Orson did the magic trick on the Merv Griffin show the night of his death. If anyone wants me to spoil it for them, let me know. Otherwise I'll respect the magician's rule.

[Fredric]

I'm sad that no one wants me to explain the trick. Oh, well, can anyone tell me the identity of the woman who shuffled the cards for Orson on the show? She looked familiar.

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

don't be upset, fredric.

i don't even know what the trick was.

do tell. do tell.

but you might have to do it privately so not as to spoil it for them.

bye now!

nat

[Jeff Wilson]

Fredric, I hate to let your insight go to waste, so please explain. It's a great trick. For anyone who doesn't want to know, or hasn't seen the show, just put SPOILER tags above and below it...

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

come one fredric. tell all about it.

you didn't actually give enough time for us to respond to this. some of us can't get on the computer every day now.

you'll have to give us longer time than that to respond.

bye now!

[mteal]

Shame on you, Frederic, for wanting to give away Welles' secrets. Here's an excerpt from his foreword to "Magic As A Hobby":

"...magic's worst enemies are that spreading section of the audience who know how the trick is done....a puzzle solved before it's shown is just about as publicly attractive as an unmade bed. A real magician's task is to abolish the possibility of ANY solution in the minds of those he seeks to amuse.
And this much is certain: He'll fail to amuse if he doesn't amaze...magic's surely done for unless secrets...are more carefully kept from the merely curious".

OOPS!! Shame on ME!!!:
SPOILER ALERT ********************************
The two guys counting cards from the audience were planted by Welles. That's my guess.
SPOILER ALERT *********************************

BTW, I saw David Copperfield a few weeks ago (he does a terrific show), and in the brochure he says one of his favorite movies is Citizen Kane. Not surprising ,perhaps, since Kane, in addition to all of it's other glories, is also one of the great magic shows in film history.

Did anyone ever see that Doug Henning TV special back in the 80s where he performed a magic trick using Orson Welles (in black and white footage from the 40's) as an assistant? I missed it, but I was told it was an amazing trick. It's too bad that Welles numerous TV appearances doing magic tricks can't be rounded up somehow and released on video. That would be fun.

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

mteal: i'm still wondering how he got marlene dietrich's legs to wallk off stage. do you know that too?

don't worry, fredric. i wont tell.

send it to me.

bye now!

[Fredric]

I was just reading about the trick with the OW footage. I think it was Copperfield, not Henning. Anyway:

Spoiler Space


































The woman in the front row is a plant. She acted too nervous. Not removing the jokers from the deck was planned. She shuffled the deck, then he asked her if she removed the jokers. She hadn't. As she took the jokers out. She put two aces on the top of the deck and two in the center, holding the place with her pinky. Then he asked her to put two piles on the stage. Now we have two stacks with two aces on the top of each. Counting any number of cards from the top of each stack and then "dealing" those cards into two hands will put an ace on the top of each of the four hands.

And that is that. I'm usually not good at figuring these things out, but I did it just by watching the trick and keeping the most open mind possible.

I wonder who that woman was and what relation she was to Orson. Gary Graver was the plant a few times, so she could have been a friend. Cute, too.

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

THANK YOU FREDRIC!

tell more

[ChristopherBanks]

I have seen the David Copperfield special with the Welles footage trick...if you know how THAT was done, Fredric, I would certainly be interested and so would my other half.

[Fredric]

Well, I'm pretty sure that it was a card trick, and so all Dave needed to do was force the right card. Anyone see that Drew Cary show with Penn and Teller? They teach you how to force the queen of diamonds and then record a segment of the show with your VCR. What you are then supposed to do is invite someone over, force the card, fail to guess it, then give up and say "Let's watch some TV." Unbeknownst to your victim, you hit play on the VCR at the same time. "Oh, Drew Cary is on." A little "authentic" Carey style comedy plays out until the punchline comes, where Drew has the forced card painted on a T-shirt beneath his suit. Penn and Teller then say to the screen, "Is this you card?"

The Welles trick was probably done similar to that. alt.magic, alt.magic.cards or alt.magic.secrets might have more on it.

[ChristopherBanks]

We were wondering more about how they made it so interactive. Orson talks specifically to David and vice versa.

[Fredric]

Ah, I get what you're asking. I think that the OW footage was a film made by Welles in the 40s or 50s for a magician named Richard Himber. Welles speaks one side of the script and Richard has the other half memorized, so it's like they're having a conversation. Welles called Richard "Dick", so when David Copperfield got hold of the film, he overdubbed "Dave" over "Dick", and then memorized the Richard half of the script. That's how I understand it.

[ChristopherBanks]

Thanks muchly...another mystery solved.

Or ruined, depending on whether you appreciate that sort of thing...

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

mr. banks, which way do you look at it?

tv actually did it first. they've had behind the scenes with magicians telling secrets about the hoodini and other famous magicians.

if they don't want to find out, they don't have to read it.

fredric & mteal:

encore! encore! tell more

bye now!