[Ads-l] cut the cards (UNCLASSIFIED)

[MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM AMRDEC (US)]

CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED



> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of James A. Landau
> Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2018 11:03 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: [Non-DoD Source] Re: cut the cards (UNCLASSIFIED)
> 
> ----
> 
> On Tue, 16 Oct 2018 20:06:11 Zibe + 0000 "MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM AMRDEC (US)" wrote:
>          <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL>
> <quote>
> "The Expert at the Card Table" is a seminal book on sleight of hand with cards, and an interest of mine (the author, S. W. Erdnase, is
> presumed to have been named E. S. Andrews [reversal], and is otherwise unknown).
> <snip>
> I find "Put your faith in Providence and keep your powder dry" in 1894 (newspapers.com).
> <end quote>
> 
> I presume S. W. Erdnase is the inventor or maybe popularizer of a magician's trick known as the "Erdnase one-hand shift".

Yes (inventor):
https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2010houd11604/?sp=103 [from Houdini's copy]

A difficult sleight to do at all, much less to do well (deceptively).

> Source:  a magician named Clayton Rawson (an old friend of David Mauer's, by the way) circa 1940 wrote 4 detective novels featuring a
> magician named Merlini (Too Many Magicians, The Footprints on the Ceiling, The Headless Lady, and No Coffin For The Corpse; he also
> wrote one detective book under a pseudonym).  In at least one of them is the line "the Erdnase one-hand shift, which is not, as you might
> suspect, a lady's garment". (quoted from memory, probably not exact).

In addition to the Merlini books (some of which have been adapted to film, and are available online to watch:
https://forums.geniimagazine.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=47497&p=320159&hilit=rawson#p320159 ), he wrote short stories about a 
magician detective named Don Diavolo
http://www.philsp.com/homeville/fmi/s/s6357.htm#A163330
He was a co-founder of the Mystery Writers of America, and came up with their slogan:  "Crime Doesn't Pay -- Enough".

I've been aware of the Rawson-Erdnase connection for some time:
https://forums.geniimagazine.com/viewtopic.php?p=12811#p12811 
and really ought to pick up one of his books and read it.
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