Great Offer – Great Cause

Martin Grams has made an incredibly generous offer to
magicians wanting to help the Red Cross. We are so proud to be in the
same profession as Mr. Grams and will take him up on his offer.

My wife and I along with our children
sent off a check to the Red Cross to help with the victims in
the south, and while sitting and watching the devastation, I thought of
an idea to get some of you guys to pitch in as
well.

If you’ll send me a check for $30 made payable
to the Red Cross, and
I will send you one of my DVD’s The Art of Card Splitting free and
postpaid. We will then take all the checks received
and send them together to the Red Cross at one time showing support
from Magicians.

Let’s pick a date say September 15th
as the cut off for this.

You get to make a donation
to a very worthwhile cause, and you will receive a free DVD as
well.

Send your checks
to:

Martini’s
Magic

P.O. Box
189

Delta, PA.
17314

Please indicate
on the envelope: ATTN
RCD (stands for “Red Cross
Donation”)

Be sure to make the checks out to the Red
Cross, not me.

All the Best, Marty

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Wynona Rider

We take exception to Tony Giorgio’s column in Genii this month.

Not because it isn’t true ? we’re sure it is ? but because it is unnecessarily hurtful and self-aggrandizing.

We
don’t think we’ll be more popular for writing these things but we felt
it had to be written or we wouldn’t have written it ? we think that
makes sense.

So what’s the connection between Mr. Giorgio, Dai Vernon, Wynona Rider and Inside Magic?

Okay, let’s begin with the disclaimers:

1) We’ve never met Mr. Giorgio ? not even once;

2) We enjoy his acting but have never seen him perform magic;

3) We do not doubt if we did see him perform card magic, he would be very impressive.  We conceded he has skills;

4) We did meet Dai Vernon, did see him perform card magic, and did hang out with him during a convention in 1974;

and, 5) We have never cheated at cards in a real game, never met the author of Expert at the Card Table,
and have no idea why Wynona Rider, with all her money, would
shoplift.  We do believe she is a beautiful and talented actress,
however. So she is like Mr. Giorgio but we’re not saying we think he’s
“beautiful” or “an actress.” 

The central theme of Mr. Giorgio’s latest columns has been:

1) I know more than you do;

2) I know more than Dai Vernon did;

3)
I know more than all “card magicians” (put in quotes for no apparent
reason because magicians who perform card magic are fairly called card
magicians); and,

4) Only a person who would cheat at cards is
qualified to speak about the validity of card-cheaters’ methods as
applied to magic.

We may be a little harsh on the
last point. After all he gave credit to Charlie Miller for having some
sense.  He praises Mr. Miller’s knowledge of a “real card game for
real money” and the difficulties to cheat when being “burned.”

The subject of this month’s attack on magicians living and dead is the famous story of Dai Vernon’s search for the center deal.

Mr. Giorgio’s point?

So, are we saying Dai Vernon was a liar or a dope?

The
Professor claimed to have spent time and money to find a person who
could actually perform a center deal.  Even if that was true, Mr.
Giorgio posits, it was on a foolish quest.

The quest was foolish because, in Mr. Giorgio’s humble opinion, the move would never be used by a card mechanic in a card game.

He
points out that Dai Vernon never claimed he saw the move used in an
actual card game. He also points out that Charlie Miller, when asked by
Mr. Giorgio if he could perform a center deal, responded with the
authority of the Oracle at Delphi: “Why bother?”

Let’s assume Mr. Giorgio is right.

Assume, arguendo, The Professor wasted his time and money attempting to find the mythical center deal.

It
follows Mr. Vernon also wasted his time learning and working on the
move because there was no need for it. At best, points out Mr. Giorgio,
the center deal only defeats the cut of the deck. So a stack of cards
at the top or bottom of the deck will now be in the center after…
Read the rest of this entry

Wynona Rider

We take exception to Tony Giorgio’s column in Genii this month.

Not because it isn’t true ? we’re sure it is ? but because it is unnecessarily hurtful and self-aggrandizing.

We
don’t think we’ll be more popular for writing these things but we felt
it had to be written or we wouldn’t have written it ? we think that
makes sense.

So what’s the connection between Mr. Giorgio, Dai Vernon, Wynona Rider and Inside Magic?

Okay, let’s begin with the disclaimers:

1) We’ve never met Mr. Giorgio ? not even once;

2) We enjoy his acting but have never seen him perform magic;

3) We do not doubt if we did see him perform card magic, he would be very impressive.  We conceded he has skills;

4) We did meet Dai Vernon, did see him perform card magic, and did hang out with him during a convention in 1974;

and, 5) We have never cheated at cards in a real game, never met the author of Expert at the Card Table,
and have no idea why Wynona Rider, with all her money, would
shoplift.  We do believe she is a beautiful and talented actress,
however. So she is like Mr. Giorgio but we’re not saying we think he’s
“beautiful” or “an actress.” 

The central theme of Mr. Giorgio’s latest columns has been:

1) I know more than you do;

2) I know more than Dai Vernon did;

3)
I know more than all “card magicians” (put in quotes for no apparent
reason because magicians who perform card magic are fairly called card
magicians); and,

4) Only a person who would cheat at cards is
qualified to speak about the validity of card-cheaters’ methods as
applied to magic.

We may be a little harsh on the
last point. After all he gave credit to Charlie Miller for having some
sense.  He praises Mr. Miller’s knowledge of a “real card game for
real money” and the difficulties to cheat when being “burned.”

The subject of this month’s attack on magicians living and dead is the famous story of Dai Vernon’s search for the center deal.

Mr. Giorgio’s point?

So, are we saying Dai Vernon was a liar or a dope?

The
Professor claimed to have spent time and money to find a person who
could actually perform a center deal.  Even if that was true, Mr.
Giorgio posits, it was on a foolish quest.

The quest was foolish because, in Mr. Giorgio’s humble opinion, the move would never be used by a card mechanic in a card game.

He
points out that Dai Vernon never claimed he saw the move used in an
actual card game. He also points out that Charlie Miller, when asked by
Mr. Giorgio if he could perform a center deal, responded with the
authority of the Oracle at Delphi: “Why bother?”

Let’s assume Mr. Giorgio is right.

Assume, arguendo, The Professor wasted his time and money attempting to find the mythical center deal.

It
follows Mr. Vernon also wasted his time learning and working on the
move because there was no need for it. At best, points out Mr. Giorgio,
the center deal only defeats the cut of the deck. So a stack of cards
at the top or bottom of the deck will now be in the center after…
Read the rest of this entry