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Pecking Bird

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Revision as of 06:29, 17 January 2015 by Roatc (Talk | contribs) (History)

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The Pecking Bird refers to the category of trick in which the performer uses a pecking bird, hopping frog, self-propelled toy car, or other mechanical automaton or toy, to find a selected card or cards. Probably the most popular versions are Don Alan's Ranch Bird and Dick Koornwinder's Koornwinder Kar.

History

Howard P. Albright's Gillegaloo Bird was the first popular trick of this type, and Albright was performing it as early as 1936,[1] although it has been speculated that the trick may have been performed earlier in Europe. Dr. Jaks was one of the early adopters of Albright's Gilleegaloo Bird. He named his "Hermann," and carried it in his "Book of Mysteries."[2]

Publications

  • Woodstock: Paul Gertner, Paul Gertner Lecture Notes]] (ca. 1980).
  • An Entertaining Card Discovery (Nun-zilla) (Eugene Burger): M-U-M, Vol. 93 No. 10 (March 2004, pp. 20-21).

References

  1. Gene Gordon, "Within the Shuffle", The Linking Ring, Vol. 16 No. 1, March 1936, p. 47.
  2. Barry H. Wiley, Notes for "Doctor of Imagination: The Incredible Stanley Jaks, Appendix C: Dr. Jaks Lecture at the Magician’s Guild, October 17, 1951," Gibeciere, Vol. 9 No. 2 (Summer 2014, p. 78).