Conjuring Credits

The Origins of Wonder

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Bluff Card to Pocket

Ralph W. Hull, in his “A Trick Exposed, But How?” in Eye-Openers, 1932, p. 16, ends by palming off a random card and producing it from the pocket as a specific card. He doesn't show its face, but the audience, in theory, takes it for granted that it is the card claimed and anticipated, as it comes late in the routine, after the magician's abilities have been proved. This can be seen as a precursor to the less daring bluff Card to Pocket in Francis Carlyle's “Homing Card” from Stars of Magic, Series 4 No. 2, 1947, p. 61 of the 1961 compilation book. Dai Vernon is reported to have said that Jimmy Grippo came up with a very similar construction before Carlyle; see The Linking Ring, Vol. 66 No. 11, Nov. 1986, p. 89. Vernon also commented in private that Grippo claimed to have taught the idea to Carlyle.