Card Toon and Card Toon 2 by Dan Harlan
Trick Type: Full Deck of Cards (including 3 jokers!)
Prices: Each £13.95 (April 2003)
Difficulty: 2/5
Examinable: Nope – apart from the 3 jokers!
Angles: Table
Reset: Less than a minute in private, but could equally be done ‘observed’ if you are clever enough - which I'm not!
Instructions: 5/5
Both are a similar effect although 2 has a revised alternative working to ring the changes. (Both can be viewed as video demos on
http://www.penguinmagic.com )
Effect: Magician ribbon spreads a deck of cards face up to show full deck in suit and number order and asks for someone to name any card – a genuinely free choice! Magician removes selected card places it face up on table, introduces his ‘assistant’, a small stick figure magician drawn in marker pen on the back of the cards, and explains that the little man (called ‘Bob’ in the videos) will find the selected card in a very magical way. Bob is ‘shown’ the selected card and the Magician then starts to riffle the pack which animates the cartoon figure and Bob is seen to remove his top hat, reach inside, and eventually withdraw a marker pen version of the selected card. In Card Toon 2 he climbs inside a circus style canon, lights the fuse and is blasted out into a shower of cartoon cards but still gets the right one!
Review: Both are described as ‘charming’ effects and I agree 100%! There’s only one ‘move’ to make and it’s quite straightforward even for a fumble fingers like me – the effect when the chosen card is found at the end is quite staggering. Having only received these within the last 3 hours, I’ve shown it to just 2 people and they’re still gobsmacked. Just think how good it will be after I’ve practised! It’s the sort of routine where you can really go to town on the patter and presentation and let the mechanics almost look after themselves. Just one gripe, the blurb for Card Toon 2 says it’s printed on Bicycle stock but the version I received wasn’t. 1 and 2 are both on the same funny Belgian cards but are red backed and vaguely similar to Bikes. As it’s unlikely you’d ever want folks to assume it’s an ordinary deck – it’s covered in ‘marker pen’ drawings! – this is probably just a small whinge. The videos show the correct card stock so you can check them out beforehand.
Not really a ‘proper’ magical trick but, as the pack says, a charming routine which the kids will like and, for some strange reason, women seem to find ‘Bob’ quite fascinating. Size might not always matter but it’s obviously important!
8/10