Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 13: Issue #13

Issue #13 arrives with two black cats overhead and Annemann unbothered — he notes the cat should be the worried one. The issue delivers practical stagecraft from a Viennese theater veteran, a publicity stunt involving a postage stamp and a ceiling, a newspaper prediction with mentalism flair, and a self-working eight-ace routine that Manning insists should be performed as one unbroken sequence.

Effects Covered

[0:56] Editorial — Theodore Annemann Annemann opens with a genuine pet theory: magicians do too many things in threes, and the third repetition risks nullifying the mystery entirely. Jay pushes back slightly — he's fine with threes, but argues that if you repeat something, at least vary what the audience perceives. The editorial also covers a bird cage update tracing Robert Heller's version, a recommendation for U.F. Grant's one-way deck booklet, a cigarette vanish by Calvert Cole that fooled Annemann completely, and Andrew Brennan's follow-up to last issue's shrinking dollar — which ends with a large souvenir penny and the punchline that the secret of 59 cents is that they have bigger cents.

[4:21] An Original Tie for Loads — Otakar Fischer A practical stagecraft solution from a man who spent 12 consecutive years performing two-hour shows at a magical theater in Vienna. The device is a simple endless loop of cord with a ring and a dress hook — a load secured diagonally releases instantly with a single upward motion of the hook, and the heavier the load, the more securely it holds until needed. Twelve years of professional use is about as good a recommendation as it gets.

[5:17] Higher Magic — Theodore Annemann A wet postage stamp pressed to a half dollar and thrown at the ceiling with a particular motion — the coin comes back down, the stamp stays up. Annemann's best version involves a card name written in ink on the back of the stamp, placed on a hotel ceiling during one visit and confirmed by forcing that card on a return visit. Practical notes: use ink not pencil, small stamps work best, and for a walking advertisement, have gummed stickers printed with your name instead.

[6:35] The Super Slates — Anonymous A two-slate effect where both slates are openly numbered on all four sides before anything happens — and when opened, there's chalk writing on the inside of each one. The method involves a precisely timed sequence of flap handling woven around the numbering procedure. Jay's honest take: lay audiences probably aren't going home wondering why only one slate had writing on it, but if you want to fool the folks at the next magic club meeting, this will do it.

[7:51] Cards and a Newspaper — Arthur Johnson A helper shuffles and cuts a deck into four piles, cards are moved between them, and the top card of each pile turns up a page number, column, line, and word — which matches a prediction written before anything began. The underlying card principle is one magicians will recognize from the classic four-aces location, but Johnson's repurposing of it as a newspaper prediction shifts the feel entirely toward mentalism. Jay notes it would work just as cleanly as a book test with a small adjustment to the presentation.

[8:58] Aces of Eight — Otis Manning Eight aces — two from each suit — are mixed and cut by a helper, and the performer produces them from behind his back in a sequence of escalating phases: matching suits, then matching colors, then a spelling sequence, then finally both hands emerge with reds in one and blacks in the other. No conventional sleight of hand — the work happens behind the back through arrangement and one simple repeated move. Manning's instruction is to learn it smoothly and perform the whole thing as one continuous unbroken effect.

[10:04] Outro Links and a preview of Issue #14 — featuring Annemann's Thoughts in the Air, an almost-impromptu two-person mentalism effect.