Jinx Navigator

Issue #25 opens with Annemann falling off a boat at a magician’s picnic and billing the suit to the Jinx expense account. The effects include a flag production with no gimmick, a sleightless ambitious card built around a short card, a coin divination that works because Canadian nickels are magnetic, and a stack-based book test with a built-in out.

Effects Covered

[1:06] 21st Century Silks — Lorne Dubois A flag appears knotted between two ordinary silks with no switch and no sympathetic silk gimmick. One corner of a duplicate flag is prepared to match one silk and rolled tightly inside it — the visible knot at the start is real, just tied around the hidden corner.

[2:14] Editorial — Theodore Annemann Annemann fell overboard at a magician’s picnic and is billing the new suit to the Jinx. He praises the debut issue of The Genie while noting its editor publicly sided against him in the ongoing Gravitt piracy dispute. A substantial section covers nightclub magicians being pressured into unpaid extra work — his advice: refuse it, and you’ll probably keep the job anyway. A Nebraska magic club has removed Blackstone from their membership over his exposure series, a move Annemann clearly approves of.

[4:23] The Modern Eye Popper — Dick Madden A sleightless ambitious card built around a short card that makes every double lift automatic. The selected card keeps returning to the top through multiple visual phases, with one genuine double lift saved for the end.

[5:28] Numus Matagic — Stuart James Five coins — four American nickels and one Canadian — are sealed in envelopes and mixed. The performer identifies the Canadian one every time from behind his back. The secret is genuine physics: Canadian nickels of the era were magnetic. A strong magnet under the coat does the detecting. Jay notes the comments at jinxnavigator.com list which years the Canadian nickels were actually magnetic.

[6:47] Letters — Theodore Annemann Period correspondence from the era — at jinxnavigator.com under Issue #25.

[7:02] The Word on the Page — Theodore Annemann A stack-based book test using the 1415 stack. Four cards lifted from anywhere in the spread always produce one of only two possible words, and Annemann’s handling includes a verbal out — starting to spell one word and smoothly switching to the other backwards if the first turns out wrong.

[8:20] Cards in the Cases — John Braun and Theodore Annemann Two stacked decks, never crossing hands. The performer places a card at a position in the blue deck before the helper selects from the red — and the card at that position in the blue deck matches exactly. The performer never touches the deck the helper selects from.

[9:50] Outro Links and a preview of Issue #26 — featuring R.M. Jamison’s Here or There.

Issue #24 is a strong one — Stuart James contributes two effects including Jay's personal favorite, Annemann's Think It Over column returns with a long run of practical performance advice, and the issue closes with a two-person card match that hinges on a fan the helper thinks they can see through but can't.

Effects Covered

[1:05] Editorial — Theodore Annemann Blackstone has wrapped seven weeks of exposure columns without exposing a single trick from his own act — Annemann repeats his standing dare. Also: a con man's trick with a roll of bills, and practical advice on what to do when a spectator catches you mid-trick (don't walk away).

[3:14] Miraskill — Stuart James This one is Jay's personal favorite. A shuffled borrowed deck sorted by color pairs produces two piles whose difference the performer predicted — then a second shuffle produces piles of equal size, also predicted. The deck does the work; the only move is quietly removing a few cards before the first phase and secretly returning them before the second.

[4:56] Think It Over — Theodore Annemann Drop the clichéd opening line. Vary your handling between effects. Ten minutes of daily mirror practice beats ten magicians' opinions. Never borrow something you could easily carry. Don't needle your helpers for laughs at their expense. Buy the best materials you can afford — cheap materials cap the performance.

[6:29] Business Cards — Theodore Annemann Period magicians' business cards — at jinxnavigator.com under Issue #24.

[6:36] The Candy King — Stuart James The Mirror Skill principle adapted for a children's show, using candy kisses in red and white wrappers instead of playing cards. The prediction of who wins and by how many is revealed on the inside of the paper bag — or a cardboard crown, if you prefer.

[7:49] A Mental Test Revamped — Herbert Hood A refinement of Annemann's torn-newspaper billet method from Issue #6, moved to a deck of cards. The helper merely thinks of a card, writes it on a slip, the slip is torn and burned — and the correct card is produced. No impressions, no switches, no gimmicked paper.

[8:47] The Reticent Queen — Newton Hall A helper writes a deceased person's name on a card. The Queen of Hearts is supposed to relay it — but keeps failing, needing privacy, needing the helper to place the card herself — until finally the name comes through. The earlier failures are covering the glimpse. Jay's note: please come up with a presentation other than "who's your favorite dead person?"

[10:11] Climax — Henry Christ A helper thinks of a card from a fanned deck — convinced they saw the whole spread, they actually only saw one card. That card is forced on a second helper across the room who stops a riffle at random. The two match. Annemann calls it startling in front of a decent-sized audience.

[11:28] Outro Links and a preview of Issue #25 — featuring Lorne de Blois's 21st Century Silks.

Issue #23 delivers calendar math, a complete pocket act built around a pencil, a 25-minute mentalism program assembled from earlier Jinx effects, an odd-backed card that keeps switching decks without anyone claiming to do a trick, and a touch-based divination that's been sitting in Annemann's notebook since 1928 with no author attached.

Effects Covered

[1:13] Editorial — Theodore Annemann Annemann sketches a complete impromptu pocket act built around a single pencil, goes after a dealer whose second encyclopedia is more up to date in its plagiarism than the first, and closes with a verdict on collaborative magic shows: doomed by ego.

[3:18] Calendar Conjuring — Tom Sellers Three effects built on the fixed mathematical relationships in a calendar grid — name four dates from the total, work out nine from the highest and lowest, derive three from a row total. Annemann suggests stringing them into a complete routine and closing with a torn and restored page.

[4:28] A Mental Club Act — Theodore Annemann A complete 25-minute mentalism program built from seven previously published Jinx effects, all pocketable except a small slate, sequenced for clubs, lodges, and banquets.

[5:49] What the H — Vincent Lynch Not a trick — a piece of business where an odd-backed Ace of Spades keeps switching between two decks, presented as a puzzling personal observation rather than a formal effect. Lynch argues the lack of a trick frame makes it land harder.

[6:51] Dr. Daley's Death Divination — Dr. Jacob Daley A living-and-dead test with flash paper, aimed at convincing a genuine skeptic. Jay suggests flipping the premise so the living names burn and the dead one survives — proof they live on in memory.

[8:19] The Touch That Tells — Unknown The performer touches cards in a 4x4 grid while a helper plays cards from behind their back one at a time — and at the exact moment the helper plays their last, the performer's finger lands on a card whose value matches the number secretly pocketed. Annemann has had this since 1928 with no idea who originated it.

[9:28] Last Minute News — Theodore Annemann Two losses in the magic community, a new club forming in Syracuse, and a dry observation that Harry Blackstone's weekly exposure column is careful never to expose anything from Blackstone's own act.

[10:23] Outro Links and a preview of Issue #24 — featuring Stuart James's Mirror Skill, one of Jay's personal favorites.

Issue #22 opens fresh from the IBM convention, where a Toledo burglar declined the key to the city on professional grounds and proceeded to pick everyone's locks anyway. Annemann makes a career-defining argument about signature effects, surfaces a federal model for stopping piracy, and delivers a number total that spells the helper's name, a joker that keeps returning, and a coin routine where the half dollar quietly becomes loose change.

Effects Covered

[1:12] Editorial — Theodore Annemann One good trick can make a career, and it's almost never a new one — Annemann runs through a list of working performers each built on a single signature effect found in older literature. Also: attorney Jacob Steisel's account of stopping piracy by going directly to the U.S. Attorney's Office, and Bob Geisel of Toledo picking his way through every locked and bolted door at the convention. Max Holden hadn't laughed that hard in ten years.

[3:59] Numero — Al Baker A helper's rows of freely written figures produce a total that matches a prediction — then the digits of that total, run through an alphabet chart on the back of the slate, spell out the helper's own name.

[5:19] Business Cards and Notes of the Notables — Theodore Annemann Period business cards and newspaper clippings from the era — both at jinxnavigator.com under Issue #22.

[5:32] A Question of Power — Dr. L. Vosberg Lyons A joker shown at the top of the deck gets replaced by each of three chosen cards in turn when the deck is snapped — and at the end, turns back into the joker one final time. Three repetitions that actually earn it.

[6:46] The Card Phenomenon — Oddly Walsh A helper secretly counts cards, pockets some, notes a card, and returns the rest — the performer never knows the card or the count, yet the helper spells out their card and lands on it exactly. Walsh notes the performer's genuine ignorance is what fools people who think they've spotted the method.

[8:06] Here's Your Change? — Lou Brent A borrowed half dollar travels hand to hand — until the final transfer produces three nickels and a quarter instead. The missing dime turns up behind the knee. Brent's observation: a casual coin sequence as byplay before the main routine often impresses more than the main trick.

[9:22] Outro Links and a preview of Issue #23 — featuring Dr. Jacob Daley's Death Divination.

Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 21: Issue #21

Issue #21 opens with an obituary for a coin legend, scatters into a long stream of trivia and dispatches including a notable visitor list that ends with Mike the Educated Rooster, and then delivers a two-phase ace routine, a triple prediction, a clamp-coded denomination divination, and a name that appears to sew itself onto a handkerchief in colored thread. The Think It Over column returns with more items than usual and a quote about knowing five tricks worth repeating.

Effects Covered

[0:58] Editorial and Trivia — Theodore Annemann

[3:21] Notes of the Notables — Theodore Annemann

[3:30] The Oddly Walsh Coincidence — Oddly Walsh

[4:36] Prophecy Plus — Dr. L. Vosberg Lyons

[5:38] Triple Coercion — Theodore Annemann

[6:45] Money Mentalism — Charles Rosenthal

Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 20: Issue #20

Issue #20 arrives with a dedication: no card tricks whatsoever. Annemann is busy going after plagiarists, weighing in on the SAM's long-awaited exposure charges against Harlan Tarbell, and delivering a column of performance advice that holds up just as well today as it did in 1936. The effects include a dollar-and-five transposition that works itself, a free-choice coin through a handkerchief, a ten-cent substitute for a three-dollar switching tray, and an effect Annemann had been sitting on for years and finally decided to just give away.

Effects Covered

[0:55] Editorial — Theodore Annemann

[2:51] Think It Over — Theodore Annemann

[4:48] March of Events

[4:54] Inflation — Monte Crow

[6:00] Silver or Copper — Conrad Bush

[7:07] Letter at Hand and Acted Upon — Bruce Elliott

[7:54] From Beyond the Grave — Theodore Annemann

Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 19: Issue #19

Issue #19 finds Annemann 14 weeks into his nightclub tour, mid-dispute with Frank Lane, and with strong opinions about dealers writing in the margins of subscribers' copies. The effects this issue include a rapid calculation piece that fools people who already know the original, a thought-of card found without a single question asked, a behind-the-back stop trick dressed up as muscle reading, and Annemann's most personal contribution to the Jinx so far — a billet routine 15 years in the making.

Effects Covered

[0:55] Editorial — Theodore Annemann

[3:43] The Addition of the Age — Charles Nagel

[5:01] Letters to the Jinx / Business Card Pictures — Theodore Annemann

[5:10] The Scarny Thought Card — John Scarny

[6:13] Another Stop — Paul Curry

[7:11] A Version of the Al Baker Three-Billet Trick — Theodore Annemann

Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 18: Issue #18

Issue #18 finds Annemann fresh off nine weeks touring 117 nightclubs, mid-argument with a Boston magician who called him a cock-eyed liar, and with enough opinions about magic publishing ethics to fill half an editorial. The issue also delivers the Jinx's first collected improvements column, a pantomime cigarette production, a card spelling effect built around the performer's own name, and a press piece involving a named dead person that Jay is pretty sure would still get into a newspaper.

Effects Covered

[0:49] Editorial — Theodore Annemann Annemann opens in the middle of a dispute with Frank Lane over the origin of a billet card effect — Lane called him a cock-eyed liar, Annemann offers him a dozen life subscriptions if he can prove he's wrong, and notices Lane is now wearing a question mark ring just like the one he admired on Annemann's hand. The bulk of the editorial covers nine weeks on the road with the Green River Review, including a week at Grand Central Palace where the show was recorded with applause gaps that audiences declined to fill on cue. He closes with a sharp statement on publishing ethics: any magazine that takes advertising money from dealers known to copy, fail to deliver, or ship shoddy merchandise is doing its readers a disservice. He uses the word "pediculous" and helpfully defines it: lousy.

[3:14] The Miracle Speller — Vincent Dalban A helper silently spells their own name, dealing one card per letter, and notes the card that falls on the last letter. The performer — without knowing the helper's name or the card — spells out his own name and turns over the last card: it's the chosen one. The method uses a single gimmicked card and a name chosen in advance that's one letter shorter than the performer's own, and that relationship locks everything in place regardless of how long the helper's name turns out to be.

[4:20] The Phantom Cigarette — Lou Brent Pure pantomime: the performer mimes taking out a cigarette case, removing a cigarette, tapping it, tucking it between the lips, then reaching for a match — and when both hands come away from the lighting action, there's a lit cigarette actually in his mouth. The cigarette has been hidden and pre-lit in a small holder under the coat, with the steal covered by the match-lighting move. Annemann adds his own note on the retrieval sequence, describing a slightly different handling he's found more reliable in practice.

[5:32] Improvements — Theodore Annemann The Jinx's first collected improvements column — reader-submitted refinements to effects going back to Issue #1, tested and selected by Annemann. Highlights include: the Supreme East Indian needle trick gets a cleaner load with no faked spool needed; the lemon and the dollar gets upgraded to three different fruits so the performer can identify at a glance which bill is out; the divination with matches gets loosened so a mostly-full borrowed matchbook works; and 20th Century Cards gets a full apparatus upgrade with a small display stand and nickeled rod so the ribbon production plays to the whole room.

[6:56] Thoughts in General — Theodore Annemann Annemann's notebook column returns with practical ideas rather than polished routines, owing to four shows a night on tour. The card-on-ceiling effect gets a thorough treatment — wool co-paste from Woolworth's in a small tin, last-minute dovetail shuffle, and the specific rotary spin when throwing the deck that makes the effect reliable rather than hit or miss. Other items: make tube apparatus from square cardboard so it folds flat for a suitcase, learn lip reading for close-up work, and perform card tricks with three specific cards removed from the deck so that if a helper names any of those three, it can be produced from the pocket.

Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 17: Issue #17

Issue #17 opens with a sharp warning about cameras and sleight of hand, delivers a blindfolded cigarette identification built on a coat dropper, a deceptively clean two-card prediction with a Magician's Choice structure, and closes with a historical essay on the torn deck from the SAM's national president. The Burling Hull situation also resurfaces — this time with attorneys and Post Office complaints.

Effects Covered

[1:00] Editorial — Theodore Annemann Annemann leads with a warning: don't do sleight of hand in front of cameras. Two performers he respects were recently caught on film, and his point is that a lens that can catch a bullet in flight isn't going to miss a sleight. Jay's commentary: please, nobody tell him about YouTube. The editorial also covers U.F. Grant's new photo-electrical effect, a genuinely positive update on Percy Abbott's The Tops, a pointed dismissal of an anonymous free publication called The Links, and a reluctant apology for the delayed winter extra — Annemann had spent the holiday stretch doing four shows a night on a nightclub tour while simultaneously editing the Jinx.

[3:03] Cigarettes in the Dark — Theodore Annemann Blindfolded, the performer reaches into a hat of mixed cigarettes, lights one, takes a puff, and names the brand — three times in a row, three correct. The blindfold is genuine; the cigarettes aren't coming from the hat. The coat dropper Fischer described a couple of issues back is loaded in advance with three brands in a known order, and the reach toward the hat covers the actual retrieval each time. Jay suggests a modern variant using coins and a bowl that works the same angle without requiring anyone to light up.

[4:38] The Spectator's Choice — Stuart Judah Six piles of cards, two freely chosen cards added to any two piles, a dealing procedure that ends with exactly those two cards — whichever of two apparently independent predictions the helper decides to keep. Judah admits it didn't look like much on paper and he nearly set it aside, then saw it performed. The Magician's Choice structure is particularly clean here because both slips look like independent predictions and the helper genuinely doesn't know until the end which two cards they'll be holding.

[5:53] To Our Associated Dealers — Burling Hull Another chapter in the ongoing saga: a letter Hull sent directly to magic dealers, printed in full, addressing attacks in the anonymous publication Annemann had been calling The Stinks. Hull's attorney has characterized the attacks as a perfect case of libel by innuendo, a lawsuit is proceeding, and Hull is filing with the Post Office to have the publication's mailing privileges revoked. The practical point to dealers is that distributing defamatory material through the mail could make them liable alongside the publisher. Annemann prints the whole thing without editorial comment.

[6:56] Finger Exercise — Otis Manning A thimble routine framed as a demonstration of finger dexterity — one red thimble and one blue, appearing to jump positions and then swap simultaneously, closing with a helper invited to try it themselves. No vanishes, just a series of apparent transpositions using the simplest thimble steal. Annemann's note: he can't do many sleights himself, but this one he can manage. Manning's closing advice — never mention you're using two thimbles, and learn when to talk and when not to.

[8:10] A Novel Glass Through Hat — Alvin C. Thompson A drinking glass with a red silk inside, covered with paper, passes through the crown of a borrowed hat and appears inside it. The key is a moment early in the routine where the paper-covered glass is briefly placed inside the hat on an apparently incidental pr

Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 16: Issue #16

Issue #16 rings in 1936 with Annemann reporting from a turbulent SAM club night, closing the Burling Hull matter with two words, and delivering a book test built on a pocket index, a magic square from a birthday, a comedy coin-to-candy-cone switch, and a thought-of card transposition that Annemann couldn't crack until Dr. Jacob Daly figured out the core method in about five minutes of conversation.

Effects Covered

[0:58] Editorial — Theodore Annemann Annemann skips the standard SAM club night recap in favor of what other reporters missed — including Cardini spending the final three minutes of a magnificent eleven-minute act doing a deliberate expose of a rubber band trick, which Annemann says ruined everything that came before it. He closes the Burling Hull dispute with a two-word response: "I apologize." He also welcomes Percy Abbott's new monthly publication The Tops with measured skepticism — though Jay notes from the future that it ran for 21 years, relaunched, and ran another 33.

[3:05] A Visible Cigarette Vanisher — Lou Brent A cigarette holder of the kind actual smokers carried in the 1930s is shown openly with the cigarette seated inside — then both vanish. The prop never registered as apparatus because it looked like an ordinary accessory, which Annemann notes is exactly how magic props should look. He adds a practical tip: adhesive tape inside the holder keeps the cigarette firmly seated during the vanish. Jay suggests the principle adapts naturally to vaping, with an obvious presentational angle ready-made.

[4:15] Again, a Prediction — Doc Mifflin A card is freely chosen from a mixed deck, the helper opens a small book of poems to the matching page number, finds the word at that same position, and the prediction already in the cup matches it exactly. The method requires thirteen outs and a pocket index — and Jay points out that if you have a pocket index collecting dust and never knew what to do with it, this is the answer.

[4:59] The Lucky Number Magic Square — Royal V. Heath A helper names their birth date, the performer writes it above a blank 3x3 grid, the helper makes two apparently free choices along the way, and the completed grid is a magic square — every row, column, and diagonal adding up to the same total. That total reduces to the helper's personal lucky number, the whole thing fits on the back of a business card, and Jay notes in the comments at jinxnavigator.com there's a free crash course on numerology readings to pair with it.

[6:10] Burr — Otis Manning A borrowed nickel vanishes under a handkerchief and reappears as a candy ice cream cone, handed to the helper as an even trade. The cone was a one-cent candy counter item in 1936 that passed for the real thing at three feet, and Annemann notes the second laugh when the helper realizes it's candy is just as good as the first. Jay acknowledges his earlier snarkiness about nightclubs and handkerchiefs and admits the effect has genuine promise — and suggests there are plenty of modern substitutes for the candy cone worth exploring.

[7:27] The Acme Thought Card Pass — Dr. Jacob Daly and Theodore Annemann Two people each silently think of a card from a packet held in the audience — both packets are sealed in envelopes, one pocketed by a helper, one kept by the performer. The thought-of cards travel invisibly: the helper's envelope comes up two short, the performer's has two extra, and both named cards are right there. Annemann had been trying to crack this with unprepared cards for a long time; Daly solved the core method almost immediately when the subject came up in conversation, with the preparation built entirely into an ordinary stack of envelopes.

[8:46] Outro Links