5 Stars

Magic dealers and creators often like to use the word Ultimate and Definitive when describing their shiny new version of a classic effect. Sadly, quite frequently these versions still leave a lot to be desired.  But with Clift Mitchell’s Ultimate What’s Next that is not the case – Clift has addressed every issue I could think of and then some and really produced the Ultimate version of Tenyo’s popular effect What’s Next from 1965.

Clift created his first version in 2016 and made a run of 10 in 2017.  In 2022 he made some changes to the design and as of October 2022 he has created 22 units in total (though the numbers go up to #23 as he skipped #11 when he started the second build at #12).

What I particularly like about Clift’s version is how the dots align pretty much automatically without having to watch them at all.  I just did it while I was writing this description with my eyes closed and I nailed each change perfectly – try doing that with Tenyo’s or the others.

The Ultimate What’s Next is hand made by Clift and he spends about 20 hours on each unit.  The board is made from wood and has a special aluminum flashing surface which is smooth and hard wearing. Embedded in the board and spots are 14 neodymium magnets and no expense has been spared on the production.

I like this version so much that I’m going to be placing it behind the bar in The Porcupine for use as a sobriety test for those local trouble makers.

Great job Clift and I hope to feature more of your exclusive treasures on my site in the future 🙂

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This wonderful item was first released by John Snyder c. 1936 and it was a big success.  This is set 471 and John sold more than 500 sets of these and at almost $100 a pop in today’s money that is not bad for a mentalism effect.

The Improved version was an add on to the original effect with a custom made stand and was released c. 1938.  These stands are much harder to find and this one is in like new condition.  The effect is the same method but with a stand to lay out the envelopes so you can do everything hands free – the performer never needs to touch the keys or the envelopes once they have been handed to the spectators.

The stand is really nice but is otherwise ungimmicked and could be used for other things too.  The stand allows you to find the key without even touching the envelopes or stand.   What is interesting in the ads that appeared announcing the “Improvement”, they don’t have a picture of it in the ad and don’t say what it is.  But they do say “Item supplied for Improvement can be used in other effects.” – well yes it is a card stand. 

There were no instructions included in The Improvement box – just the stand itself, but I’m not sure if there ever were any instructions.  Both boxes are original and were opened for the first time when they were shipped to me. Anyway, you can see in my video how I use the stand.  You don’t have to touch the stand or the envelopes but you do need to wave your hands in front to get a psychic reading.  I found this effect easier to do with the stand for sure.  Of course you don’t need the stand and can just perform the original method if you prefer.

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I really like this book test.  The books are very well produced and look like great fun movie coffee table books.  They have lots of cool movie facts and the method is hidden 100% in plain sight with nothing to find at all.  You could spend a month reading over them and would still find nothing. 

I like how they have structured these so you have nothing really to remember.  The method is very easy to learn and just by watching the tutorial video you immediately get it.  There are about five things you can reveal on every page:

1. Movie Title.
2. The # of movie in the franchise (if a franchise movie).
3. # of times this movie has been watched by the reviewer.
4. # of daily only views.
5. Picture of Movie Treat.

But on every page these items are clearly different.  All you need is for the spectator to tell you the simple one line review and the rest reveals itself.

If the movie is part of a franchise (e.g. Harry Potter) the Movie Title is slightly misleading because you can automatically name the movie franchise and the # in the franchise (e.g. Harry Potter 3) but you have to remember the full name of the movie yourself.  Now for many of the franchise movies this is not difficult because they are simply the franchise and the #, but for movies like Harry Potter there is a little more to actually remember – however many people already know the full series anyway.  Like anything else with practice and use you will become more and more polished.

I like these so much I’m putting them behind the bar in The Porcupine and hopefully one day soon I’ll be having fun with movies and some friends over a beer and wowing them at the same time 🙂

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Don Esposito created this wonderful Checker Cabinet back in the 1970’s.  Don ran a well stocked Magic Studio in the town of Rockville Center, New York that opened c. 1973.  He filled the studio with a lot of great magic some of which was designed and built by Don himself in his Workshop.

This Checker Cabinet is one of the items built in Eposito’s Magic Workshop and it is very simple to use but has a lot going on.  You have plenty of options for dressing up your routine, and below you will see the effect I chose to prepare for my next Speed Demo this weekend 🙂

When I received this cabinet the single lever which is used to cause the change would stick and was fairly noisy.  It would be acceptable for a parlor set-up but not so much formal close-up.  I removed the unit and noticed the wood was scraping against wood.  I think it was probably like this when it was first purchased too.  So I stripped it down and added some industrial dry film graphite lubricant which creates a wonderful slick layer on both sides of the wooden base – now this thing moves smoothly and silently. It is night and day different and the way it should have been from day one.  As a side benefit it covers the unprepared wood with a black coat so now it even looks more pleasing inside (nothing changed from the outside of course).

I then set about working on a routine to maximize the features of this cabinet. I really like this routine and although there are plenty of other things you could do, this works for me.  A really great and colorful item, that is easy to do and has plenty of surprises and action.

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The first reference I could find to a Silk Gun or Pistol was in Stanyon’s Magic May, 1910: Pistol to Vanish a Handkerchief. Mr. Joseph created his version c. 1925 and released it in small quantities. By the time of World War II all supply was eliminated and there was no supply until Lloyd Chambers took over manufacturing c. 1948.  In July of 1950 Bev Taylor of Town House Magic bought complete rights to manufacture and sell this beautiful item.

Based on the instructions and the bonus sixteen page Silk Gun Routines by Bev Taylor this gun is almost certainly from 1950 or later.  As far as I am aware there are no significant differences between the versions of the guns.

I have tried out a number of silk pistols over the years and the reason I think the Joseph Silk Gun is the best are:

• It is custom built rather than retrofitted from an existing toy gun being primarily made of cast aluminum.
• It is a compact size.
• It looks like a real pistol.
• The vanish happens by placing the silk on top of the gun away from the barrel tip instead of dangling from the tip.
• It is very reliable.
• It allows for a cap to fire too for extra bang action!
• It is easy to reset without tools.

The only two downsides with the Joseph are:

• Each use can slowly damage the silk.
• Unless you use a black or dark silk you have some angle issues in that you cannot show the top of the gun once vanished.

With care the damage can be kept to almost nothing, but you are likely to need to replace the silk every 30-50 vanishes.  What they recommend is to practice with an old silk and only use the better silk when performing live.

For my money this is the best Silk Gun 🙂

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The Vanishing Alarm Clock has been built by many manufacturers over the years but the original ones were invented by Willmann and Conradi  c. 1904.  Versions by Thayer, Brema, Abbott’s, and others have been created through the years.  Probably the company that popularized the effect the most in the USA  was Petrie-Lewis c. 1932 and their version is shown here.  It is a beautiful version that works very smoothly.

This is a a wonderful effect that looks as amazing today as it did 70+ years ago. Even in the extreme conditions of a Speed Demo where everything if focused on the props it looks pretty convincing, so imagine how good it would look in your parlor or stage act or as a show piece in your collection 🙂

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The inventor of this effect was the German Paul Corduan (17. Februar 1894 – 4. Januar 1961). His stage name was “Doc Corten”. First sold by the German dealer Heinz Jacobi under the name “Corduan-Verwandlungswürfel” (translation: Corduan Change Dice).

Thomas Pohle created his first version of this effect when working with Eckhard Boettcher who provided the routines c . 1984. Over the years Thomas has created a number of versions and this is the prettiest version I have seen. These are probably from his earlier time with Eckhard but I am not sure precisely what year these were made.

The professionally translated instructions (so you can understand them!) feature three routines, and I based my routine on parts of a lesser known routine where you use these blocks as practice blocks for illusions such as the Mis-Made Lady and any Divided Lady effect.

The method is very clever and easy to do but if you don’t read the instructions on how to do it you might do it the wrong way (as I did for years). By referring to the parts of the assistant (head, body and legs) the effect becomes more interesting to the spectator. Now that I’ve spent the time to work on the routine I like it even more – who knew reading the instructions could bring so much enlightenment 🙂

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