BOOK REVIEW BY DAVID SUTHERLAND GARY KURTZ: UNEXPLAINABLE ACTS BY RICHARD KAUFMAN

A consistent lesson gleaned from almost every lecture I attend is: READ YOUR BOOKS.

I’ll return from these lectures, immediately begin searching through my library and invariably discover much of this great material was already in my possession!

We all know there’s good stuff hidden throughout the works of Hilliard, Stanyon and Tarbell. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some titles that aren’t always top of mind and have been sitting on my shelves for years without even a glance - to my disadvantage. Hopefully, we can all learn from my mistakes…

GARY KURTZ: UNEXPLAINABLE ACTS BY RICHARD KAUFMAN

BOOK DETAILS: 102 pages (Hardcover), Publisher: Kaufman and Company, Published in 1990. Illustrated by Richard Kaufman. Available at: www.browsersden.com

I first saw Gary Kurtz on NBC’s The World’s Most Dangerous Magic special where he performed Smash and Stab. I’m 99% sure I saw his hands performing Flurious a few years earlier on an episode of CBC’s The Journal and I’m almost certain that I must have crossed paths with him at the Bloor Street location of Browser’s Den or at Harper’s A Little Night Magic. I know that my parents also saw him perform at a wedding. In addition to being a highly-skilled magician, Gary is also a dancer, choreographer, poet and artist. I believe he currently lives in Montreal.

The Foreward is by Roger Klause who held Gary in great esteem. He first met Gary at the NYCAN convention in Toronto. He says that Gary “approaches magic with the intent to create an artistic mood…All of his routines share a common quality. They are visually aesthetic and leave an other-worldly sense of wonder with the audience.”

In the Preface Gary offers this sage advice, “As magicians, we have to begin by seeing for ourselves the magic inherent in the tricks.” 

The first item in the book is Hypothetical Possibilities in which Gary has made the spectator, his chosen card, his signature (and his past, present and future actions) the centre of attention. A card is selected and placed into the performer’s wallet, sight unseen, with the comment that this card is to be viewed in the future. A second card is chosen to represent the present. This card is signed and a brief Ambitious Card sequence is performed. The spectator’s signature then disappears from the card and then reappears. The card then vanishes and is discovered to be the one that was placed in the performer’s wallet at the beginning. By combining the influence of Darwin Ortiz’s The Dream Card and Alex Elmsley’s Between Your Palms, Gary has created an extremely strong piece of card magic. 

Next, is Inside/Outside which involves two blank pieces of cardstock. The word “inside” is written on one side of both cards. You initial one and the spectator initials the other and the two cards are stapled together so that the surfaces bearing the words “inside” are on the outside. In a flash, the words disappear and both sides of the stapled unit are shown to be blank. When the staples are pulled open and the cards peeled apart, the words “inside” are discovered to be where they belong – on the inside. The cards are then magically fused together into one card with “inside” written on both sides along with the accompanying signatures. This was inspired by Jay Sankey’s Inside Out and the ending may remind you of Doc Eason’s Anniversary Waltz.

Gary’s version of Copper-Silver is called Constant Return and it not only solves the inherent problems of the original, but it also adds a unique visual element that provides a built-in presentation. The transposition is done with a borrowed quarter and your own quarter which has the word “MINE” written on it. The book Coinmagic would be useful to have when learning this routine.

Remember the old trick where a ring rises or falls while it is on a pencil? Attraction uses a pencil, held horizontally, and the rings of a married couple. The couple each hold an end of the pencil, their rings are put on opposite ends and, while you are standing several feet away, the rings slowly move toward each other. Gary mentions that in Al Baker’s Second Book (1935) there is a routine similar to this without the pencil. He also credits Jamy Ian Swiss for a similar routine with one ring that was published in Jamy’s lecture notes. 

If you like a challenge, you may want to work on Wishful Thinking in which a signed card appears where the spectator chooses within the deck, top, middle or bottom while the deck is held by the spectator. This happens several times and then the card finally appears in the performer’s pocket.

If you can master the sleight described in the previous effect, then you should definitely try Split Disclosure. The spectator is handed a sealed coin envelope which is placed in a pocket. The deck is wrapped in a rubber band, riffled face up and the spectator calls stop at card and then signs it. The deck is dropped to the table and the performer reaches into their pocket and brings out a wallet. Inside is a sealed envelope. The performer asks the spectator to rip open their envelope and inside they discover half of their chosen card and the other half is in the performer’s envelope!

Body Heat is an amplified version of Scotch and Soda that should be performed for several people all of whom would like to have the coins change in their hands. The performer shows three different-sized copper coins and two spectators are given a coin to hold; the performer holds the third. All three coins change into silver.

Four-Fisted is a double copper silver routine with a twist. One English penny is placed in each of a spectator’s hands. The performer takes out two more English pennies and turns them into half dollars. The performer asks the spectator to open their hands and the pennies being held have turned into gold coins! Looking back at the magician’s hands, the half dollars have turned into gold coins as well. 

In Special Delivery an envelope is handed to an observer for safekeeping. A card is chosen and signed by a spectator and then lost in the deck. The deck is placed on a table. The observer opens the envelope and finds another envelope which is handed to the performer. The performer opens this envelope to find a third envelope and inside this are three cards. The first indicating the suit of the chosen card, the second its value and the third card is the signed selection.

Orange has shades of Gerry Andrus’s Mylar Mystery. The effect is that a large piece of heavy paper is shown thoroughly on both sides and formed into a cone. Into the cone are dropped a tomato and a lemon. When tipped over, the magical hybrid is an orange and the other items have vanished.

On the back of a business card you write a prediction which is handed to a spectator for safekeeping. A second spectator selects a card and the prediction is revealed to match the selection. When the chosen card is turned over, the spectator’s name is written on the back! This is Name It!

The Anticipator is a mental routine wherein the performer and the spectator have the same four coins in their pockets. Whatever coin the spectator removes from their pocket, the performer will have removed that identical coin a moment earlier. This is repeated with all four coins. 

The Empty Hand is Gary’s variation on the Vernon technique published in Further Inner Secrets of Card Magic. Learn it and you’ll be in good shape to work on the next trick called… .

Interchange. This is a routine I want to learn. Eight cards are shown (say Aces and Queens) and the Queens are placed into four different pockets. The Aces change into the Queens one at a time and then the Aces are removed from the pockets previously occupied by the Queens.

In Trio, three coins appear one at a time, vanish all at once, reappear, travel from one hand to the other and vanish again. This is Gary’s preferred and most often performed close-up or stand up coin routine. You’ll note the influences of John Ramsay and David Roth.

All Together is a very streamlined Collectors routine. Four Jacks are shown and dropped face up in a pile on the table. Three cards are selected and lost in the deck. The deck is placed aside. When the Jacks are picked up and spread, three face-down cards are seen to be interlaced between them…the selections. 

In Cigar, a bill is borrowed and signed. A cigar is produced from the bill and given to the bill lender to hold. The bill vanishes from the magician’s hands and when the spectator breaks the cigar in half inside they discover the folded bill. It is then unfolded and shown to be the same signed one!

Mirror Image plays off the optical illusion created when a word which is written backward is seen in a mirror. This might be a good one to use in conjunction with Twilight.

Flurious is Gary’s signature routine. If you haven’t seen it watch it now.** Want to learn how to do that? Order some jumbo coins and get this book.

Originally released with an orange cover and now with a black cover, Unexplainable Acts contains unique, strong material from front to back. Much work will be required from you to master these miracles that have been gifted to us from a talented Canadian.

You know how I’ve let many of my books sit forgotten on my shelves? To use a favourite phrase of Gary’s: Don’t let this book become a memory, misty like a dream…

Until next time… read your books.

*Search: “Gary Kurtz on The World’s Most Dangerous Magic 1996” on YouTube.

**Search “Gary Kurtz Flurious” on YouTube.