Out of This World

Out Of This World is a classic card effect created by Paul Curry in 1942. Many magicians have performed their own variations of this trick. It has been billed as the trick that fooled Winston Churchill, after amateur magician Harry Green performed it for him. The plot, history, relevance in magic, and many variations are the subject of a 2009 book by Brent Geris, Bob Postelnik and Duppy Demetrius called Best of All Worlds.

Effect: A spectator separates a deck of cards into reds and blacks without looking at the faces of the cards.

The method, though simple, is well hidden, and is usually enhanced by the presentation of the performer.

Variations

• Paul Curry's Out of this World in a Booklet by Paul Curry (1942).
• U.F. Grant's Nu Way Out of This World (Marketed trick) (1943)
• George Pierce's effect, Flying Saucers, marketed by Max Holden (1952)
• Harry Lorayne's Out of This Universe in Hugard's Magic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 5, oct. 1952, then in Close-Up Card Magic (1962).
• Paul Curry's Out of this World in Magician's Magic by Paul Curry (1965).
• Way Out Of This World by Ron Wilson in New Tops, Vol. 5, no. 1, January 1965
• Galaxy by Paul Harris in Magical Arts Journal, Vol. 2, No. 9-10-11-12, 1989, then in The Art of Astonishment, Vol. 3, 1996.
• Daryl's Out of This Hemisphere. (Marketed trick) (1989)
• Red and Black by John Kennedy in Genii 1989 March.
• Gary Ouellet's Netherworld in Close-Up Illusions (1990)
• Bob Longe's Get Out of This World in World's Best Card Tricks (1991)
• Lennart Green's Out of Sweden in The Looking Glass, Spring 1996
• Tony Chaudhuri's Feminine Side (Tony Chaudhuri), No. 3 in the Ron Bauer Private Studies Series (1998, revised 2000)

References

• magictalk discussions
• magic Cafe discussions