Sardine: RB,

Bert Allerton, I suppose, was "da man" who started it all in the field of professional close-up. Other than Eugene Burger and Allerton's tiny book, I can't recall very much info on him or his routines. However, one of his routines that is a hidden gem is his "Aspirin Tin" trick. I perform it a lot and it always gets a great reaction. Fortunately, it's one of those tricks that can stand on its own even with a lousy presentation. Have you ever worked out a script for this that you could share with us?

I'm looking forward to the next release of Crandall's "Cut-Up Card Trick". Could you shed some light on how he got the name "Senator"? Also, He reminds me of Bud Abbott of Abbott and Costello. Is that the type of character he tried to portray himself as?

Thanks.

RBauer: I don’t have a completed (I mean publishable) script for the Aspirin Box, though it has been a favorite of mine since the Allerton book came out. But, here’s a bit from it... (OPENING THE ASPIRIN TIN TO REVEAL A COUPLE OF ASPIRINS, AND ADDRESSING A WOMAN) “I brought these for you. I thought you needed them... (TRAPPING HER INTO SAYING: “NO.”) You don’t? (TURN TO MALE COMPANION.) You know, this might be your LUCKY NIGHT!” (KICKER TO TAKE CARE OF ANY COMMENTS THAT MIGHT THREATEN YOUR CONTROL OF SITUATION.) “It may your first in long time, sir...” Of course, this is for kid shows...

While on the Allerton book... It was a frustration in many ways for a young magic nut (that would be me) because I had been anxiously awaiting the information (my mentors had been telling me tales of “under their noses” wonder about this guy), and it turned out that the people responsible for the book hardly knew and understood what Bert Allerton was about. They skimmed over his core material such as his handlings and presentations with the stacked deck, they hardly explained the Bird Cage (his OPENER!), they completely omitted the Rope Trick, and... Well, I’m feeling too exasperated to continue!

Some vaudeville comics were called “senator” because of their verbose and authoritarian style of presentation. (There still exists a cartoon rooster take-off on a radio comedian named Senator Claghorn. "It's a joke, son! I say, it's a JOKE!")

“Senator” Clark Crandall was far from boisterous. He affected the appearance of a southern politician (hat, string tie, cowboy boots), more or less, and had a droll presentation style closer to a political speech with rambling references often totally unrelated to the trick.

You can catch one of his “senatorial” deliveries on Magic Ranch. I don't consider this one of the most typical of his presentations, but, closer to his standard style is his post-performance conversation with Don Alan in which he explains why cowboy boots don’t “fetter the toes,” therefore leaving his mind also unfettered! Don is also officially enrolled in the “Senator Crandall Anti-Mustache Club.” (Clarke sported a prominent handlebar mustache. Not a real one, I might add. “I always keep the real one in my wallet.”)

BTW... His style was nothing like Bud Abbott.

Michael Jay: Ron, you have a DL that is smooth as silk. What technique is that, or is it based on?

Also, do you feel that technique is what's important, or should technique take a back seat to presentation?

RBauer: I developed my technique for to the double turnover over a period of time that runs approximately 1958 to 1961. Actually, more than my consciously developing the approach, it evolved during that two and a half years while I worked close-up magic every week at the Kenwood Club on the West side of Detroit to supplement my meagre income.

My method is more or less in print because of Charlie Miller. In 1982, Charlie and I had performed a few tricks after a Thanksgiving dinner (sort of a sing for your supper sortie). When we returned home, he asked me to run through the tricks so he could observe them from various angles (ostensibly for “analyzing,” but he was actually using “Malini diplomacy” for getting a closer look at something of which he was curious). When I casually referred to the “double turnover” during my explanation, his eyebrows arched and his eyes widened. “Double turnover?” He had missed it three times!

This surprised me because I was sure he had seen me use it at least once when he was a guest in our home in Michigan for several weeks in the sixties. Perhaps he missed it then, too, or, more likely, I never used it in his presence. Whatever the reason, he was greatly enthused, and immediately began making plans to publish it his monthly Magicana in Genii magazine.

Well, to me, this was the double turnover--a standard move. Although I’d privately explained my procedure and psychology to a few magicians over the years, I could never considered publishing it as “The Bauer Double Turnover.”

After much discussion, we agreed it wasn’t EXACTLY about the double turnover, but about TECHNIQUE. You see, it wasn’t so much that I had such a deceptive way of taking two cards as one, but I’d worked out actions that attracted no direct attention (there were no tells), and there was no obvious cause-effect relationship, i.e., I didn’t show a card in one place, then immediately show it in another, that would lead to uncovering the secret.

With that, I did my best to crowd an explanation into the limited space of the November, 1982 Magicana. Not only did this force me to omit details and background, Charlie’s illustrator didn’t understand the handling, and got the visual references wrong.

The publication caused several unanticipated hostile response. Not so much about the technique, but reacting to Charlie’s disclosure that when he watched me perform, the unique thing was he had not even suspected that I was employing a move. The most common complaint to follow (from several very well-known card men) was, “What about MY double lift?” The dispute went on for months. Oddly, though many magicians asked me about the procedure, I never received a single challenge.

Finally, one magician, with an Iago complex, wrote a multi-page letter that upset Charlie because he considered this guy a troublemaker and difficult to evade. The letter basically pointed out that I had “lifted” Martin Nash’s “Knockout Double Lift.”

Martin was appearing at the Magic Castle at this time, so I asked him. He told me he’d learned the basic mechanics from Dick Zimmerman. I was working with Dick on a project at the time, so I asked him. He told me he learned it from Dai Vernon... That one can send a chill during a controversy because many magicians believe that The Professor invented everything! Not to worry. Vernon told me he was shown it by Larry Jennings (my student in the early sixties), who told him he learned it from someone in the Midwest. (I wonder who?) Is that convoluted enough?

Now, understand, that up to now, nobody (including Ed Marlo, Bob Stencel, Carmen Damico, Dai Vernon, Milton Kort, Charles Aste, Jack McMillen, Paul Chosse, and many others who had discussed this technique with me) have questioned my originality. You’d think one of these guys would have recognized it or anything similar if such were the case.

Please excuse me for going on about this. But, in recent years a similar attack on my veracity regarding this technique has appeared here and there. So, this summer, I’m going to publish this technique in excruciating detail, and let the chumps fall where they may!

TECHNIQUE IN GENERAL...

Mike, you asked me if I feel that technique should take a back seat to presentation.

BRIEFLY...

Technique (the way in which the basics are managed) is prime!

I don’t see how anyone can expect that the illusion of being a conjurer is possible if the presentation and the technique aren’t REALLY harmonious.

And, that, of course, merely OPENS the subject. Doesn't it?