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Fred Trick

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Fred Trick was the card routine created by Fred Lowe (with Paul Marcus) originally called "Christened Reverse". The magician predicts that a freely selected playing card will be named "Fred" by showing that it has the word "Fred" written the back.

Paul Marcus discusses in May-June 1982 issue of [Magicana (New Zealand)]] how he developed an effect in the 1950s based on an old vaudeville gag of someone yelling out the name "Bill" when asked to "name a card". When asked by Bill Madsen to contribute an item for his upcoming book "Hex" in 1969, Marcus offered up his "A Card Named Bill".[1]

When Fred Lowe was marketing his effect "Christened Reverse" (using a different method and presentation), he was told of Marcus performing a version of the effect, so he added him as fellow inventor.

It was seen by Dave Campbell in 1971, who developed another method to create "Fred the Card" trick (as a dedication to Fred Lowe).

Phil Goldstein developed a version in the early 1980s, entitled "Final Fred" which he presented at a 1985 FISM convention lecture in Madrid.

It was reinvented years later by Trevor Duffy, coincidentally calling it the "Phil" Trick.[2]

Publications

  • A Card Named Bill by Paul Marcus in Hex by Bill Madsen (1969)[3]
  • Oscar, marketed trick by Nick Trost (1980)
  • A Card Named Fred /Christened Reverse the Second by Ali Bongo in Abracadabra Vol. 73 (1981), popularized by Don Alan under the title "Clyde" and "Fido".
  • The Dream in The Smagorad by Denny Laub and Gary Inglese (1983) - inspired by "Say It Again Sam" marketed by Stoner's Magic Shop, a card was selected mentally by a woman in the audience from a deck that had different names written on their backs. The mentally selected card had the woman's name.
  • Female in Thirty Five Years Later (1986) by Ed Marlo - All the cards have a different name on the back and the card selected is the only card with the spectator's name on it.

References

  1. Paul Marcus, Magicana (New Zealand) Volume 30,No. 175 (May-June 1982)
  2. Nick Trost's Subtle Card Creations, Vol. 3, page 759, (2011).
  3. http://forums.spookclub.com/viewtopic.php?t=1756&view=next&sid=4a6e8ef686858f409025323c243d5556