But in my half century plus of magic there are not one but three magicians who impressed me the most -Dai Vernon, Fred Kaps and John Ramsay, particularly the latter. I saw Dai Vernon when I was in my twenties and whilst I was nowhere in that league I was impressed with the sheer breadth of his knowledge and ability and particularly with the fact that he was not just a specialist in one faction of magic technique. He was as adept at doing a bottom deal as he was in using a hook coin, a faked card or a pull to achieve the miracles that he presented. All credit to Harry Stanley who first brought him over to this country.

Then Fred Kaps. His perfection in thinking and handling was superb and whatever he turned to was the result of outstanding natural ability and technique at which he practised much more than most. To present the floating cork on television with Michael Parkinson, so casual, so natural and then hand the cork to Parkinson was masterly and made you believe in magic. And if you see his tapes note his facial expressions both on and off stage. He showed real surprise and enjoyment in what he was doing and that emotion was conveyed to the audience who joined in. He was magic.

And lastly Johnny Ramsay. I was privileged to see this Scottish grocer and amateur magician in many private sessions in our hotel bedroom at conventions along with other Ramsay fans Jack Avis, Roy Walton and Bobby Bernard.An event that was photographed and published by the national press. But it was Johnny’s naturalness, timing and misdirection that would beat you, long before such strategies blossomed in the USA. Vernon praised Ramsay as the finest close-up magician he had seen and many overseas magicians travelled to his little town on the West coast of Scotland just to witness first-hand his unique and very personal magic. I could write reams about Johnny Ramsay (and probably will) for he was well ahead of his time with outstanding magic that was disguised with his Scottish mannerisms and quaint ways. There are a few (very few) films of him working around today but if you want to get a very good idea of his magic and his way of working get hold of a tape of his magic performed by Scottish magician Andy Galloway (available from International Magic U.K.) who was a protege of Johnny and who was taught his methods and presentations for over a period of seven years. You’ll be fooled (as you always were with Ramsay) and its the nearest thing you’ll see to the original. Or if you fancy diving into the very special world of Johnny Ramsay and his routines, Galloway has published many of his original  effects in several books available from Andy Galloway and dealers.

You’ll probably gather from the above wordage that I am a great fan of Ramsay but I also would count as great close-up workers Vernon and Kaps. There aren’t so many around like that today. They had a very special charisma. They were something special that made them stand out in the crowd. More about Ramsay later and a few routines perhaps that I published based on his style.

 Many of our finest magicians have presented this effect over the years with great success. Max Malinimade a feature of the effect performing in the drawing rooms of the great and the  good, spreading the cards on the host’s antique table and stabbing the correct card with a dagger whilst blindfolded. Ignoring any concern for a fine piece of furniture, Malini, always the hustler, boasted that his client would proudly display the damaged surface saying “The great Malini did that”  Well, that was Malini’s version!

Al Koran had a fabulous card stab years ago with a borrowed pack and was offered large amount of money by rich magicians before he generously published it in his book “Mastered Amazement“ which he co-authored with Jack Lamonte.

He’d borrow a pack of cards, have a card selected, returned to the pack that was cut several times and then wrap a banknote around the edge of the deck. With a borrowed pen knife he would then stab through the banknote into the pack, open up the deck and show that the knife was next to the selected card. He lived off that trick for a long time and it was quite sensational and helped establish his reputation.

Another excellent card stab was created by master craftsman and magician Bob Swadling who I believe designed this version for his daughter Crystal who was a professional magician. Again a card was selected and replaced in the pack which was wrapped completely in tissue paper and string. A dagger was plunged into the side of the packet which suddenly burst into flames, the cards now released dropped into a champagne bucket and the selected card was seen impaled on the dagger blade. It was a real show biz style presentation which was excellent  for cabaret and stage performance and was a highlight of Crystal’s act for some time.

Bob made a few of these and marketed them through his company Swadling Magic, which was excellent in concept and construction and featured in the act of many of our working professionals.

If you want a surefire, one-off,  no problems, ideal for television presentation version of the card stab you could not do better than to use a Svengali Deck. Card is selected, place back in the pack, cut many times and  a knife plunged through the side of the deck by the spectator.  Bingo. Right on the card.

Lastly , years ago Harry Stanley used to hold magic luncheons in a Chinese restaurant called Ley-Ons, situated near his studio in Wardour Street  where in town magicians used to meet, eat, and do magic including many overseas magicians from time to time.

One such visitor from the USA was a magician called Arnold Furst and he did an apparently impromptu card stab at the dinner table. He had a card selected, shuffled the deck, balanced the cards on a table knife, tossed the deck into the air and plunged the knife into the snowstorm of cards to produce the selected card impaled on the knife. It was very good. I’ll tip the gaff later on if you’re interested.

I’ll be setting up a password shortly for magicians so that detailed explanations of effects shown on this blog can be revealed to bona fide readers as I am aware that we are getting quite a few hits from lay people in other countries and the whole purpose of this feature was news and tricks for magicians.Watch this space.

Finally there is an excellent presentation of the Card Stab by Roberto Giobbi of Card College fame. All in all it’s one of our classics of card magic.

It would have been invaluable to see Nate Leipzig actually performing  and Max Malini whereas we have the descriptions that were written by some of their contemporaries, but the nuances of performance, subtleties and misdirection really had to be seen.

 I knew Johnny Ramsay quite well and other than a few clips of amateur 8mm film showing him throwing a thimble into the air and making vanish and his legendary four coins hung in the air, I don’t think there is any other evidence. His protege Andy Galloway who studied with Ramsay for seven years has some of these clips and Andy’s own performance of Ramsay’s routine closely echo the masters style and luckily have been recorded for future generations courtesy of Martin MacMillan

We have had a few scattered clips turning up around the world. I’ve seen Roy Benson’s TV act with the Chinese Sticks and the Salt Pour also his stunning Billiard Ball routine (taught to him by Leipzig!) but it’s his unique personality and style that is so valuable in studying magic presentation. And his voice and style of humour isn’t a bit like I imagined before seeing the film.It’s better.

I never saw Al Flosso but someone sold me a clip of his famous act and his wonderful Miser’s Dream and then you realise why he was so unique and good. Don Alan, another idol of mine appeared on TV and fortunately there are some recordings available notably the Magic Ranch TV series where he had many  guests of the 50’s and 60’s. Clarke Crandall, Richard Himber, Johnny Platt and many other names of that period.

If you pull up You Tube on the Internet and insert Cardini you can see a clip of his act – cigarettes, cards, billiard balls and realise why he was so good and everyone raved about him. And to back up your interest in this icon of the last century somehow get a copy of John Fisher’s fabulous book “Cardini – the Suave Deceiver”. It’s worth every penny of the near £100.00  it’ll  cost you to secure a copy in the U.K.

With the mainstream of magic performance today being close-up, I think that the study of the performance style of some of the greats of the last century is valuable and could lift some close-up performers to much higher levels of entertainment. Pat Page once said to me that some of our best close-up workers are magicians who have worked on stage. He said it shows in presentation.

For a long time I begged Jack Avis, one of Britain’s top card and close-up magicians,  who was not a performer, to let me privately  film some of his unique work on a camcorder but self-effacing man that he was he never said no but never got round to it before he died four years ago. This saddens me.

Fortunately Alex Elmsley was not so shy and his unique work has been recorded by L&L Publishing in the U.S. by The Magic Circle during their centenary celebrations and by Colin Rose of Five of Hearts Productions who has two discs of Alex in session in their studio. Effects and casual talk and demonstrations to a private group of magicians at Colin Rose’s studio. It’s priceless and preserves the legacy of one of the last century’s greatest magician’s.

And lastly the third member of the great triumvirate – Jack Avis and Alex Elmsley is famed card magician hiding in Scotland - Roy Walton. I’ve known Roy since we were teenagers and again I’ve implored him to put some of his work on film or tape perhaps in the company of his close magic friends Gordon Bruce and Peter Duffie. Again a slightly self-effacing individual and whilst I have pestered him many times fearing that we would lose a permanent record of his magic, he told me recently that it is being done within the Davenport family and will be available through that source at some time in the future.

I am delighted and relieved at this news as I am passionate about preserving the performances of some of the greatest magicians of our time.

( Steps down from the soap box).