Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 11: Issue #11 Issue #11 is a card-heavy issue with a few pleasant surprises — a clever cigarette gag, a matchbook divination that requires nothing more than a book of matches and one quick calculation, and a borrowed business card that survives being cut in half. Annemann's editorial is in a reflective mood, anchored by a story about a fireman with an excellent memory for shoes.

Effects Covered [0:56] Editorial — Theodore Annemann Annemann opens with a summer complaint about slow mail, recommends a Liberty magazine article on university telepathy experiments, and highlights a magic newsletter disguised as a hometown newspaper. The centerpiece is a story about a fireman who remembered a substitution act from 20 years earlier in perfect detail — including the performer's shoes changing mid-routine — which Annemann uses to make the point that audiences are paying closer attention than performers tend to assume. [3:45] A Cigarette Rolled by Proxy — Orville Meyer Tobacco and rolling paper go into the mouth, a few chewing motions later, out comes a perfectly rolled cigarette. Meyer's version uses a rubber novelty cigarette and a well-timed switch, and produces a clean result every time — unlike earlier marketed versions that often left the cigarette looking the worse for wear. For close-up situations, Meyer suggests substituting ground coffee for the tobacco, signing off with a cheerful "after all, it's for the sake of art." [5:40] The Fan Location — El Rey A card technique rather than a complete effect — a method for secretly marking a selected card the moment it's returned to a fanned deck, using nothing but a finger's sense of touch and a tiny crimp. The right hand stays completely clear throughout, the helper can even be invited to reposition their card, and the deck ends up shuffled by the helper with the performer's hands nowhere near it at the crucial moment. Jay — self-described non-card-guy — tried it this morning and reports it works as written. [7:17] A Trick with the Fan Location — Theodore Annemann Annemann's own application of El Rey's technique, built around a neat reversal of standard card trick logic: the helper chooses their card from a face-up spread, returns it, shuffles the deck, and the performer finds it face-down. The presentation hook — chosen face up, found face down — gives the effect a tidy internal logic that, as Annemann notes, tends to stick in people's minds long after the show. [8:26] A Card to Be Thought About — Theodore Annemann A helper mentally selects one of three freely chosen cards, the deck is mixed, and the performer produces — incorrectly, then incorrectly again — before ultimately finding the card in the most dramatic way possible: from his pocket. The method is structured so that the pocket production is the most likely outcome, and the apparent failures along the way make the ending land harder whenever it arrives. [9:48] A Divination with Matches — Fred Demuth A helper secretly pockets some matches, tears out more to represent the count remaining, then holds an unknown number in their fist — and the performer names exactly how many without asking a single question. The secret is a fixed mathematical principle built into the standard 20-match booklet that always produces the same result regardless of the choices made, leaving the performer with just one quick calculation. Adapted from an older card effect, the matchbook setting gives it a pleasantly casual, impromptu feel. [11:15] The Card Unharmed — Theodore Annemann A borrowed business card is sealed in an envelope, both ends are cut off, the card is slid back through so both ends are visibly sticking out, and then the scissors cut straight across the middle — yet the card comes out completely unharmed. Annemann has been using this as a press piece for years, preparing batches of envelopes in advance and carrying them mailed and ready. Jay has a note about the moment when the card first gets shaken out after cutting the end off — check the comments at jinxnavigator.com. [12:59] Outro Links and a preview of Issue #12 — featuring Annemann's thoughts, tidbits, and ideas on several different magic effects.

Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 10: Issue #10

Issue #10 of The Jinx opens with Annemann on his soapbox about impromptu magic — and Jay gets on one of his own — before delivering a signed card on a ribbon, a startling deck production, a masterclass in cigarette vanish presentation, and a one-person picture-duplication effect that Annemann vouches for with characteristic honesty. A strong issue from start to finish.

Effects Covered

[0:52] Editorial — Theodore Annemann Annemann makes the case that working professionals who can't perform on the spot are failing at showmanship, pointing to Harry Blackstone and John Mulholland as performers who built their public reputations largely on impromptu work. Jay weighs in with his own take on the "I'm not a performing monkey" crowd. The editorial also covers news from the New York scene, U.F. Grant's new newsletter The Trickster, and a firm no to advertising in the Jinx — because, as Annemann puts it, he's selling usable information, not ads.

[4:30] 20th Century Cards — Theodore Annemann A helper signs their chosen card and punches a hole in it with a ticket punch, making it unmistakably theirs — then it vanishes from the deck and reappears threaded onto a ribbon between two other cards, everything examinable. The method uses one prepared card and a lead-based adhesive that Annemann called Diachylon, for which Jay suggests magician's wax as a perfectly reasonable modern substitute.

[6:07] Surprise!! — J. G. Thompson Jr. A full deck of cards is produced from nowhere by plunging a bare hand straight through a tambourine — the hand goes in empty, comes out the other side holding a fanned deck, faces out toward the audience. The method centers on a wire gimmick illustrated in the original article, and Jay suggests the gimmick itself is worth studying even if tambourines aren't exactly standard equipment anymore.

[8:02] The Henry E. Dixie Cigarette Vanish — Henry E. Dixie A cigarette is lit, smoked, pushed into a closed fist, and vanishes — performed entirely without words, unhurried, and utterly natural. Annemann's point isn't really the method, which uses a standard piece of apparatus working magicians will recognize immediately — it's that what made this remarkable was Dixie's presentation, and he uses it as a broader argument that performers spend too much time chasing new methods and not enough time on what actually happens in front of an audience.

[10:27] Extra Sensory Perception — Theodore Annemann Thirty-two cards bearing hand-drawn sketches are shuffled and distributed, helpers concentrate on their top card, and the performer reproduces the drawings on a slate from across the room — leaving everything with the audience at the end. Annemann is upfront that Julius Zansig's two-person act was the gold standard for this kind of work, but calls his single-performer version as clean as anything he knows of. Jay has performed this one recently and left notes in the comments at jinxnavigator.com.

Jinx Navigator Podcast — Episode 9: Issue #9

Issue #9 of The Jinx features one of the most widely used envelope techniques in mentalism, a mathematically driven counting effect dressed up in Depression-era politics, and the effect Annemann himself called one of the greatest one-man psychic pieces available — and it's hard to argue with him. The editorial is lively too, with convention news, a rare unprompted book recommendation, and a very satisfying mathematical footnote.

Effects Covered

[0:51] The Modernized Reading — Theodore Annemann A method for secretly reading the contents of a sealed envelope while it's still being held by the person who sealed it — using a prepared envelope, one piece of ordinary office supplies, and a natural-feeling moment of staging that arouses no suspicion. Annemann traces the idea back to 1924 and notes this is the cleanest version he knows. Jay points out it's almost certainly the precursor to Alan Shaxson's famous envelope work, and adds some tips of his own in the comments at jinxnavigator.com.

[2:41] The Renovated Sphinx Card Trick — Eddie Clever Three helpers each initial a freely chosen card, all three go into a hat, and from there the cards travel back and forth between the hat and the deck in ways that shouldn't be possible. Two specially prepared cards do the heavy lifting — one a familiar gimmick many card workers already own, the other a small but clever alteration to a single index. The sleights involved are minimal enough that Jay prefers to call them moves.

[4:08] A Matter of Policy — Theodore Annemann A mathematical counting effect built around a 1935 political joke — twenty oversized cards representing Republican and Democratic employees get counted off every tenth one, and every single Republican ends up out of a job. No sleight of hand, just a very old principle in a topical wrapper. Jay notes the method works regardless of what's on the cards, so the presentation is wide open for updating.

[6:20] Pseudo Psychometry — Theodore Annemann A dozen helpers seal personal objects inside envelopes while the performer's back is turned — and then the performer opens them one by one, sometimes describing the owner in detail, sometimes walking directly into the audience to return the object without asking anyone to identify themselves. The method requires nothing but the envelopes and a system simple enough to hold in your head while performing. Annemann called it one of the greatest one-man psychic effects available, and Jay wholeheartedly agrees.

[8:07] Editorial — Theodore Annemann Annemann reports on a busy convention season and notes the Jinx now has 859 readers as of May 2, 1935. He defends his five-foot shelf list from the volume of argumentative mail it generated, announces a new Jinx Extra — a 16-page special edition twice a year for $1 — and revisits the unauthorized endorsement controversy from Issue #8 now that he's actually bought and examined the trick. He closes with a mathematical curiosity from Royal V. Heath: 84 is the only number between zero and 4,800,000,000 spelled with ten completely different letters — which Annemann notes makes the Jinx's uniqueness official.

[10:19] Outro Links and a preview of Issue #10 — featuring Annemann's Extra Sensory Perception, a mind-reading effect that Jay calls one of his personal favorites.