Card Go by Jack Hughes

The legendary British Inventor, Craftsman, and Dealer, Jack Hughes, invented this item c. 1938 when he was building magic for Davenport’s.

This is a very rare find and the first time I have seen a genuine Jack Hughes original – if you look closely on the base, you can clearly see the name “J. Hughes” stamped not once but twice. Not only is this the original, it is the best version of the effect I have seen.  Some key points:

• It works with both Bridge and Poker sized cards
• Allows for more than one card to be vanished with zero reset.  You can vanish one after the other up to five cards (not that you would want that many, but multiple vanishes does look good).
• The release uses two prongs made from clock springs, one on either side, which are very reliable and make for a clean vanish almost every time.
• Easy load – just drop the card in the frame (as though it was just a frame!).
• No premature Vanishes.
• The Vanish does not require visual queues, you can stare at the audience the whole time.
• Never misses – some versions of Card Go can miss and seeing a card flutter to the floor maybe funny but it is not very magical.
• Almost silent operation.

Effect: One of the finest vanishes of a card you will ever see! A card is placed in a small frame, open back and front and with a flick of a silk handkerchief it vanishes without trace! A wonderful utility prop that can be used to vanish or change cards. It can be used to vanish a card for later production in Jack Hughes’ invented TV Card Frame. A very clever idea that you will be very pleased with.

Effect 2: Here is my routine that is shown in the video.  Have two cards chosen (in my routine they are both forced, but you could structure it such that only one needs to be forced).  Have the frame hidden with a silk hanky and say you have a prediction beneath the frame which matches the first card.  When the card is revealed under the frame it is shown to be the wrong one.  Cover it briefly with the hanky and now it changes to the chosen card!

Take the second card and tear a corner from it and give it to the spectator to hold.  Place the rest of the card in the frame. Show an empty card box, close it and give it to the spectator to hold.  The card now vanishes from the frame and the spectator opens up the card box and there inside is the chosen card with the corner missing, and of course the corner matches perfectly!

What I like about this effect is you use the frame for two distinct effects (a change and a vanish) but you end up far away from the frame with the card box taking some heat off the frame. Either way it is a very clever idea and this original version is the most practical version I have seen. 🙂

Jack invented Card Go between 1936-1939 and later improved it c. 1945. This is the account in World of Magic – Vol. 1 (pg. 11-12):

In London, Jack met Will Goldston and was soon busily engaged in making effects for this world famous dealer. Moreover, Jack’s reputation as a maker of magic gradually grew amongst the higher circle of magicians; whilst his inventive ability for devising new effects, soon caused his services to be much sought after.

In the years of 1936 and 1937 he produced what has now become known as the .  It (‘Television Glass Frame’) was distributed by Davenport’s in 1938 and it was acclaimed a ‘winner’ … so much so that it was purchased by magicians in the four corners of the world – but few of the purchasers knew that this was the invention of a young man named Jack Hughes.

Other original or improved items combined with expert craftsmanship were now speeding from his magic maker’s bench. Sold as exclusive effects to the leading magicians of the time, were the ‘Card Forcing Stand’, the ‘Examined Jap Box’, ‘Card Go‘ (a poor name for such an ingenious device), ‘Attaboy’, the ‘Single Handed Nest of Boxes’, the ‘All Round Production Box,’ to name only a few. In 1939 came the ‘Coins in Glass’.

As with many great inventions a number of other people have claimed the creation of this truly clever device.  According to Eric Lewis in The Crowning Miracles (pg 194) the original Card Go was in fact invented by The Great Norman but he sold the rights to manufacture to Jack Hughes, and since then it has been attributed to Jack Hughes.  The Great Norman’s real name was Norman Hazeldene and he grew up just outside Manchester in Stockport, Cheshire, England. But I wonder if this was the effect that Eric Lewis is referring to, because it is similar to Card Go, but not the same (hence Improved).

In addition, in 1975 Jack Hughes refutes the claim in Abra (9th August 1975, pg 110):

Jack Hughes points out that Cuban Release and Card Go were his own originations and not those of The Great Norman as stated by Edwin last week, and that he was the first to manufacture Good Shot.

Joe Berg also claims to have invented it with his Mysto Card Frame. But I have found nothing else to say that Jack Hughes did not invent Card Go, including many ads and reviews from the 1940’s and later, and of course Jack Hughes’ World of Magic Books.

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