BOOK REVIEW BY DAVID SUTHERLAND VARIATIONS REVISITED BY EARL NELSON

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…

VARIATIONS REVISITED BY EARL NELSON

BOOK DETAILS: 150 pages (Hardcover), Publisher: Mike Caveney’s Magic Words, Published in 2003. Photography by Bill Taylor. Available at: www.browsersden.com

Earl Nelson was born in 1951 and started out professionally as an on-stage assistant in an illusion show. In his early twenties he decided to make Los Angeles his home so he could study with Dai Vernon. A few others would do the same, most notably: Bruce Cervon, Ricky Jay, Larry Jennings and Michael Skinner. If you watch Earl perform, you’ll see that he works at a deliberate, slow pace and it seems like nothing sneaky could possibly be happening in any of his presentations*. This makes his effects that much stronger when the denouement occurs. Later, Earl moved to Arizona and passed away in 2022 at the age of 71.

His book Variations came out in 1978 and it became an instant classic. It was out of print for many years until the updated version was released twenty years ago. If you can find a copy of the “Lost Tapes” DVDs you won’t be disappointed. Some have said that his tutorial on the Jiggle Pass is worth the price of the set.

The Foreward is by Dai Vernon. A nice touch is that it is written in Vernon’s handwriting on his own personal letterhead.

Earl dedicates this book to Alan Wakeling with whom he co-authored The Chop Cup Book alongside Mark Wilson in 1979. Alan was the illusion builder behind the scenes of Mark Wilson’s The Magic Land of Alakazam and The Magic Circus.

For an excellent article about Earl, check out the Exhibitions section of www.magicana.com and read Jamy Ian Swiss’ Take Two #38.

The book has five sections. The first is Cards and the first effect is Reset Reset which is a reworking of Paul Harris’ Reset from Supermagic. In Earl’s version he eliminates the redundant showing and counting of cards that were used to execute secret moves and adds a visual kicker. The effect is that the Aces change places with the four Kings one at a time and at the end the Kings change back into Aces.

Between Your Points of Departure is my favourite trick in the book. It was Max Maven (Phil Goldstein at the time of the original publication) who came up with the idea of combining Alex Elmsley’s Between Your Palms and Point of Departure. Earl has made some technical changes to the routine. Four Aces are shown and given to a spectator to hold between their hands. A card is selected from the remainder of the deck and that card is also placed between the person’s hands. When asked to remove the selected card, the spectator finds that it has vanished leaving only the Aces. The deck is spread revealing the selection face up in the centre.

Colour Changing Deck uses Earl’s theory of not proving that the deck has a certain coloured back and instead letting the audience observe that themselves. The deck is placed face down in the middle of the table, the hands are passed over the deck and the backs change colour. 

A card is selected and lost in the deck. The deck is placed on the table and given a cut. The selected card mysteriously pivots out of the centre, face up. This is The Haunted Card. 

In Exploding Aces the deck is face down on the table and one at a time the Aces are cut out of the deck in a fast and flashy manner, the last one being produced via the Haunted Card method.

Next is Pass the Sandwich wherein the top and bottom cards of the deck are openly turned face-up. A card is freely chosen, the deck is riffled and the two face-up cards vanish.  Upon spreading the deck, the face-up cards are found in the centre trapping the selection.

In Submarine Sandwich a pair of Kings is placed face up and protruding from the lower half of the deck. A selection is made and left protruding face down in the upper half. The selection visibly travels to the lower half and on spreading the deck is found between the two Kings.

About Faces Aces is a contribution from Frank Simon. The four Kings and four Aces are shown. The Kings are placed one at a time in different parts of the deck. The Aces then magically turn face down one at a time and for a startling finish, the Aces turn into the Kings and the Aces are found in the deck.

Many will put the next item, the Wrist Turn Bluff Shift into practice. And why not? If it was good enough for Marlo and Nelson…

Sleeve Aces is based on Al Leech’s Discovery of the Aces in his book Super Card Man Stuff. The deck is cut and odd cards are shown on the face of each half. By rubbing each half on the sleeve, the odd cards change into the two red Aces. The red Aces are then rubbed on the table top and change into the two black Aces. When the black Aces are tossed to the table, the missing red Aces appear, one at the face of each half.

The second section is Cards & Coins.

Pretty Good Coins Across is different from other versions of this classic because it eliminates the constant showing of coins in order to execute a secret move (e.g. H.P.C., T.P.M., S.P., etc. (acronyms have been used to protect the innocent)). Earl’s version involves four half-dollars which are placed slowly into the left hand and, with no unnecessary moves, the coins pass one at a time to the right hand.

Coined Card sounds interesting doesn’t it? Read on to find out more…A card is chosen and lost into the deck. A coin is introduced and dropped on the deck. The coin suddenly vanishes and the deck is cut to reveal the coin in the centre above the selected card. This was inspired by Larry Jennings’ Coin Cut. Earl’s version is done entirely in the hands and uses a new vanish technique for the coin.

Earl mentions that the $1.50 Vanish is the result of many jam sessions with Al Schneider (the inventor of Matrix). Three half-dollars are displayed on the table. Using a playing card as a scoop, the coins are picked up on at a time and vanished. All three coins reappear beneath the playing card.

Four the Hard Way is another collaboration with Al Schneider in which they tried to recreate Jerry Andrus’ Miser’s Miracle**. Two playing cards are shown and placed face to face. A half-dollar slowly emerges from between the two cards and is dropped to the table. This is repeated to produce four coins. This miracle will require considerable work.

Four the Easy Way is the same effect as above but with less finger gymnastics. However, you will have to pay…

The third section is Finger Rings.

I first read about Clifton’s Ring Move in Peter Samelson’s Theatrical Close-Up. It was mentioned as a reference for Peter’s trick, In the Hand-Off. A borrowed finger ring is threaded on a piece of cord. The hand is placed over the ring and the ends of the cord are wrapped around the hand. The hand is opened and the ring has vanished. The ring reappears on the little finger of the opposite hand.

While Clifton’s move is a vanish and reproduction rather than a penetration, the next item, Earl’s Ring Move, falls into the penetration category and could be used as a follow up to Clifton’s. A borrowed finger ring is threaded onto a piece of cord and the ring is displayed on the centre of the cord and yet, the ring penetrates the cord.

Up next The Impromptu Flying Ring. In this, a borrowed ring is shown in the left hand. A magnifying glass is handed to the spectator as the ring is transferred to the right hand. It sinks into the right fist and when the fist is opened the ring has vanished. The ring is produced from a key case in the pocket. This version is designed for use under conditions where you have no time or place to reset.

The fourth section is Bonus Effects.

Hit and Run Aces comes from the popular Roll Over Aces theme created by Ron Ferris. A deck is cut and riffle shuffled on the table. The two halves are not pushed flush but are left protruding from each other. The deck is rapidly rolled over four times, leaving four face-up Aces on the table. You may have noticed that Earl has decided to eliminate the two other effects typically involved in this routine, namely Triumph and the finding of four Royal Flushes. His reason for doing so came from watching numerous audiences watch the triple climax version and realizing that the strongest reaction was generated at the location of the Aces.

The Changing of the Card is based on Bruce Cervon’s performance of Razzle Dazzle (found in Frank Garcia’s Million Dollar Card Secrets***) with an impromptu, un-gaffed handling. The deck is spread face up and a spectator is asked to name any card. The deck is closed and a silver dollar is placed on the face of the deck. The magician passes his hand over the deck with fingers wide apart and the face card changes beneath the silver dollar to the spectator’s named card! This sounds like a great trick! I’ve had the Garcia book for at least fifteen years and the Nelson book less than three years, so I could have worked on this a long time ago…I wonder what the lesson is here?

The fifth section is New Material.

The Miller Variable Replacement is definitely the star of this section. The purpose of this move is to exactly duplicate the actions of pushing an out-jogged card squarely into the deck. In reality, the card is brought to the top. This move is by Tony Miller (in case you were thinking Charlie) and first appeared in the June 1991 Apocalypse. Check out the MVPalm at the end.

Low Fat Sandwich is a simple application of the MVPalm to create a very direct sandwich location. A pair of Jacks is placed face-up in the deck. A card is chosen and replaced in the deck. The deck is slapped, and the Jacks vanish. The performer claims that the Jacks have gone in search of the selection. A hand is waved over the pack and the Jacks return with the selection trapped between them.

Face Up Flyers Re-Blocked are a few touches from Earl on Bruce Cervon’s Face Up Flyers from The Cervon File.****

Earl closes his book with a section called Commentary – Why and Why Not. In it, he expresses his opinions on the current status of magic, theory of magic, and ethics in magic*****.

I’m sad that I never had the opportunity to see Earl Nelson perform in person. No one would ever accuse Earl’s hands of being quicker than their eyes. If anything his magic must have been devastating to audiences who would have to admit that he didn’t do anything; the magic just happened. Is this not the level we’re all trying to reach?

Until next time… read your books.

*Watch Earl perform at www.magicana.com (the Exhibition section showing The Magic Palace).

**Search “Doug Henning – Coins & Cards” on YouTube.

*** Thanks again Conjuring Archive! (www.conjuringarchive.com) 

**** Watch Bruce perform his version at www.magicana.com (the Exhibition section showing The Magic Palace).

*****You’ll see that much of what he talks about back in the day still applies now.

Buy Variations Revisited from Browser’s Den: www.browsersden.com