The Magic Memories (217)

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Zaubersymposium 2025 Frankfurt – German History & Collector Day; German Cardworkshop in Vienna; What Did Not Make it Into Unexpected Agenda – Signed Card in Envelope; A Trick Problem – The Four Question Marks; Confidences Is Back!; I Will Be at FISM; Barbaras Orimotos

These are The Magic Memories 217, gone online Sunday, July 6th, 2025, at 0:07h sharp.

All The Magic Memories from 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 including the Magic Advent Calendar from 2020, can be found HERE.

The months of May and June have seen me travel around Europe quite a bit, attending some interesting functions; as usual I will give you some personal impressions.

As you are reading this I am getting ready to participate at the FISM convention in Torino, Italy, which takes place from July 14th to 19th, 2025.

To answer your question: No, I am not booked to do anything, not even judging in the so-called “World Championship of Magic” – read more below.

Zaubersymposium 2025 Frankfurt – German History & Collector Day

Although I am neither a collector nor a historian, I am interested in all aspects of magic.

I have mentioned this before in my publications and lectures, and it warrants repetition here: Magic is like a facetted diamond, where every facet links to a discipline of life.

Therefore, knowing more about other topics in general, and other disciplines within the magic world in particular, will cause a broader understanding of magic, with direct consequences to our Ethos as performers (remember Aristotle’s logos, pathos, ethos – the trinity of successful communication).

In May I attended a two-day meeting on magic history and collecting, which was held in Frankfurt, Germany’s financial capital, and ably organized by Andreas Fleckenstein and Jan Isenbart.

The night before I met up with Richard Hatch, and we had dinner at Mon Amie Maxi, a French-style brasserie.

This is a great place I can recommend to all who enjoy adult food (fast food is for juveniles, and hamburger & sandwiches are not real food but snacks) – we had the “Canard du Rotissoire”, one of the best ducks I ever ate, and a major reason to go back to Frankfurt (there are not many…), with a bottle of Remelluri Reserva 2016, possibly the best vintage of the past 15 years in the Rioja, Spain.

I recommend to start with a Foie Gras and to end with a Tarte Tatin, each accompanied by an appropriate sweet wine, and to finish off with an Espresso and an Armagnac (instead of a Grappa, being in a French rotisserie!).

It was a bit of a culture shock for Richard, but I explained to him that this is the way we do it in Europe… it certainly was a good start to the more intellectual presentations which would follow in the next two days (you need a happy body for your mind to enjoy living in it).

Richard has translated the first four volumes of Card College, and we had not seen each others for a long time, so had a lot to catch up.

(For the curious: I wrote Card College Volume 5 directly in English, with a little help by Stephen Minch, as I did not have the heart to wait for Richard’s excellent translation, since excellence takes its time, as we know…).

Jan Isenbart’s Report

I was going to give you a short report about the presenters and the topics they discussed, but my friend Jan Isenbart, the co-organizer, has authored such a magnificent account of everyone and everything that I will simply refer you to his professionally edited blog ZZZauberBlog – as most know by know, your browser will instantly translate the German text into very understandable English (and other languages!): if using Google Chrome simply click on the three dots on the upper right edge of your screen, and then choose the “translation” function, voilà.

To enjoy Jan’s review of the event and to see some photos of the presenters and the happenings, CLICK HERE.

Personal Comments

Now that you have read Jan Isenbart’s comprehensive report (thank you, Jan, great work!), here are a few constructive comments.

The group certainly could need some fresh blood, as the average age was around 80, and I with my 66 years felt like a teenager… as we know, magic conventions in general have a problem attracting a young audience, and this is a topic that should be discussed at various levels.

I was amused to see that very similar to some performing magicians, who cannot distinguish between a good and a bad trick, some presenters got lost in some irrelevant historical topics and details.

I agree that this cannot be measured objectively, and not everything is everyone’s cup of tea. But like a performer, who should always remember that the goal of an artistic magic performance is to share the experience of wonder in a fascinating way with their audience, and that you should never bore an audience, well, presenters of any talk should make sure that their subject adds something to the understanding and betterment of magic, and do this in an engaging and interesting manner.

Certainly, the enthusiasm was great, and it is uplifting to see how people who have been interested in magic for decades have kept up their spirits, and visibly get twenty years younger the moment they start to talk about their passion. However, it seems to me that they should also do this in a minimal “professional” way. Some things are really so easy that anyone can do it as soon as you think about it.

One basic skill is to know how to make a Powerpoint presentation (virtually everyone was using a Powerpoint, but only few knew how to do so): Even if you have never done a Powerpoint, simply enter “how to do a ppt presentation” in Google, and then spend twenty minutes to read and watch what they tell you, it is really as easy as pie.

The only other thing you then need to know is that when you speak you do so by facing the audience, and not by looking at your slide on the wall. The reason why almost everyone does that is obvious: The talk is delivered for the first and possibly last time, and there is no time to learn the presentation by heart.

This is absolutely no problem, as all you need is either to have a laptop in fron of you, so you can look at the screen and over it into the audience, or use the “poor man’s method”, which consists in simply printing every slide on paper and have that in front of you, again enabling you to look at your notes and into your audience.

To be able to do this – and that is the last step in “Basic Powerpoint Presentation” – do not clutter up a slide with lots of text, but have three to maximum five bullet points, clearly separated one from the other, and never ever have a lengthy text that you read out to your audience. As a rule that might have its exceptions: do not read out word for word what is on your slide, as they are perfectly literate and can do so by themselves, use synonyms, or say in a complete sentence what is referenced by one intuitive term on the slide.

The easiest way to implement this and make sure that everyone has this information (they might just ignore the advice, but that is another conversation…), is for the organizers to send a one-page sheet to all participants, reminding them of “How to Do a Powerpoint Presentation” before the event takes place.

To end on a positive note: I think that this kind of “small” conventions are a necessary complement to other major events in the world of magic, as they show its complexity and depth, and remind us at all times that the study and practice of magic is not just about tricks and amusement, but a serious art and science… it will not be for everyone and every time, but it will be for many and often.

I for my part am planning to attend their next gathering, which will take place in a most interesting location, namely the Zentrum für Zauberkunst in Nottuln-Appelhülsen, Germany.

German Cardworkshop in Vienna

Similar to the Jornadas Cartomagicas de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, the German Cardworkshop (CWS) gathers some of the best cardicians from the German speaking countries for a three-day full-immersion meeting, where the various complexities and intricacies of Card Magic (capital “C” and “M” intended) are discussed, from early in the morning (maybe not sooo early…) into late at night (definitely late…).

I came into Vienna a few days earlier, knowing that the CWS would not leave much time to explore one of the most beautiful cities I know.

BTW: According to the results of the Economist Intelligence Unit in their latest annual Global Liveability Index, Vienna has been named several times the world’s most liveable city. I am the last to argue with them…

To keep this report short, here just a few impressions.

At Magic Christian’s

My friends Hannes Freytag and Vicente Noguera called Magic Christian – arguably Austria’s magic man number 1 – and asked if we could visit his collection. I had been at Christian’s before, but on this occasion we had more time to explore his immense collection, not just books (…), and to listen to his many anecdotes, and also learn about some of his upcoming publications, among which will be a book on Ottokar Fischer (among many other things he did he wrote the Hofzinser books), and one on Valentino Graziadei.

After spending the late morning at Christian’s, Hannes and Vicente invited Christian and myself to the Cafe Sperl for lunch. I mention this because Cafe Sperl is one of the oldest coffee houses in Vienna, and worth a visit. Since it is less than ten minutes by foot from the Naschmarkt, another Viennese institution not to miss and where you should have lunch at one of the dozens of eating places at least once during your stay in Vienna.

The Cardworkshop in Session

As for the CWS itself, the sessions took place in the facilities of the Magischer Cercle Wien. You can get an idea of the place by CLICKING HERE.

The event was organized by Wolfgang Moser, the president of the Magischer Cercle Wien, and his team-colleagues Markus Zadina, with Robert Stacher and Honorary President Kurt Freitag – they simply did an outstanding job!

This year’s topics of the CWS were:

• The Card Magic of Gary Kurtz
• Total Coincidence
• Everywhere & Nowhere
• Carlhorst Meier – The Man And His Magic

Needless to say that all topics, which had been prepared by groups during the year, brought back many memories, and added some new information.

I have spent quite a bit of time discussing magic with Gary, years ago before he started into stardom as a mentalist, and I can recommend you study his work, which is documented in several publications (easy to find now with Internet and AI).

Just a little anecdote, if I may: Years ago I was booked to perform for Autodesk, at that time the world-leader in CAD/CAM-technologies, at a Trade Show (yes, I have done that, too :-). On the last day I was walking through Vienna and guess who I meet on the street: Gary Kurtz!

“Hi, Gary, good to see you – what are you doing in Vienna?”

“Oh, I’m lecturing.”

“Great. So you’ll be here one or two days?”

“I will be here for whole week.”

“What do you mean a whole week?”

“Well, there are five magic clubs in Vienna, and I’m giving a lecture every night at a different club!”

Yes, that’s Vienna! I believe that at a certain point they had up to seven magic clubs. I know, because over the last forty years plus I have been involved in magic, I have given at least one lecture to each of these clubs, but never did I do so in one week, one after the other, like Gary did on that occasion.

The topics always leave a little time for short talks on other subjects, such as Chris Wasshuber’s presentation on the man he thinks was Erdnase – we still do not know if this is true, but his talk was certainly engaging and convincing.

Those who are interested in this subject will find a very detailed account in his book The Card Sharp And His Book.

The photo below gives you a view into the exclusive club room, equipped with all the necessary: flexible stooling for stage and close-up, a stage, a library, and of course a bar!

In the breaks there are lots of sessions going on. In the photo below, in the background, Jörg Alexander and I are discussing his talk on Carlhorst Meier. In the foreground you can witness a cross-generational tri-national session with Tom Merten (Germany), Jan Imhof (Switzerland) and Kurt Freitag (Austria), an amazing constellation in itself 🙂

Below is a “round table of magic” in the truest sense of the term…

When Magic Christian showed some original Hofzinser special cards, everyone watched!

Praestigior, ergo sum

Although I had not enlisted to talk about any of the scheduled topics, due to my many years of studying magic diligently, I was able to comment on various topics…

Then, on Sunday morning, the last day, I gave an unscheduled talk entitled Praestigior, ergo sum (pretending I know Latin, but I do not, as this would make it the seventh language…).

 If you want to know what I said about the various schools of thought in magic and the Escuela Mágica de Madrid in particular, HERE IS my talk as a PDF (it is in German, but thanks to AI you should be able to get this quickly into English). The talk is still unfinished, but I know that a few among you will want to know what it is about, so, here it is, but do not circulate it, please (send your friends to The Magic Memories 217 instead).

Bye, Bye Vienna

Vienna, as an international metropole of history, culture and gastronomy, has a virtually infinite number of attractions of all colors to offer.

Below you can see Michael Swatosch, the cofounder and -owner of the Circus- & Clown Museum Vienna,  and himself an accomplished magic performer, collector and historian, giving us a tour through his amazing museum.

I have reported about this exceptional place in an earlier edition of The Magic Memories 147.

The museum, being within walking-distance of the Prater, you can kill two birds with one stone in an afternoon.

Talking of Prater: Below you get a peek into the unofficial part of the Cardworkshop, the fare-well lunch at the “Swiss House” located in the heart of the Prater, where classic Austrian specialties are being served (and a little beer).

PS: Although Austrian beers are impeccable, some of their wines are outstanding, white and red, and if you are a wine drinker and have never tried Austrian wines, on your next visit to an upscale restaurant ask your sommelier for an Austrian wine and you should be more than pleased to discover something different 🙂

PPS: Perhaps I should mention one last anecdote. On the day before the CWS I had dinner with my dear friend Kurt Freitag, who deserves a small book, which I cannot write now… After the meal – I recommend you go to Plachutta in the Wollzeile, and have their specialty “Tafelspitz”, as Hofzinser resided there for years on the first floor of the building – I suggested we go to Cafe Central, another Viennese institution, and have their specialty “Milchrahmstrudel” (the best in the world!).

When we arrived at around 9pm there was a huge line of people waiting outside. Kurt, a native Viennese, suggested we take the back door, which we did. But as soon as we entered the sacred hall of the coffee house, a waiter in tails explained that we cannot get in and that we have to stand in line like everyone else.

As Kurt starts to explain that locals deserve a special treatment, the maître d’ appears from nowhere, “Oh, aren’t you Kurt Freitag, the magician!?” Kurt, who is now over eighty and has performed magic in Vienna in nearly all places one can perform, knows virtually everyone important in Vienna, and they know him… To cut this short: Within two minutes we were sitting at one of the best tables, ordered “einen kleinen Braunen und Milchrahmstrudel”, which we consumed with relish, sitting and chatting in that wonderful place for almost an hour… that’s magic!

PPPS: One last thing (really!): Vienna, together with Italy, has some of the world’s best coffees. As a rule, which dates back to the Habsburg Monarchy, a glass of still water is served with each coffee – the upside-down spoon placed across the top of the glass shows that the water is fresh.

Now here is an important thing: You always drink the water before savoring the coffee, to cleanse the palate, and NEVER EVER afterwards, or else you will wash down the taste that will persist in your mouth for at least another hour, provided it was excellent coffee.

What Did Not Make it Into Unexpected Agenda – Signed Card in Envelope

A few editions of The Magic Memories back I started to bring you a few of the hundreds of ideas that I did not put into any of the agendas, for various reasons.

Here is another such item.

Nothing spectacular, but try this and note the details of handling and timing, and you will have a very useful technique to imperceptibly load a card into an envelope that comes from a wallet, or has been held by a spectator all the time.

To load a card into an envelope as a postcard is taken out of it

The selection is controlled to the top of the deck, which is held in Dealing Position in your left hand; a little-finger-break is held under the top card.

The right hand displays an envelope: In order to cut it open it is momentarily placed on top of the deck – as the envelope is placed on the deck, the broken card is given a little push to the right and slides beneath the envelope, which is now held offset to the right on top of the deck, secured by the left thumb.

The right hand takes a knife and cuts the envelope open at its right side, a common way of cutting an envelope open. The right hand sets the knife aside, and the grasps the envelope at its right side, thumb on top, fingers below.

As the letter/postcard is slid out to the right, the card underneath the envelope is taken along. Stop briefly when the postcard is about half-way out, and use the stopping action to slide the hidden card partially back into the envelope. Look at the spectators and say sg as you do this. Continue to extract the postcard, but in the action push the hidden card fully into the envelope.

Have the text on the postcard read out. Obviously, it should connect with the fact that you will find their card inside the envelope next…

Ideas: If the card is forced, the text in the letter/postcard could first reveal the card’s name, then say that if you cannot find it, a “back-up card” is enclosed… “… However, if you had the card signed, that would be impossible. But remember that it is your vocation to make the impossible possible…

PS: The letter could be from a famous person, and come from a well-known place… (so many possibilities)…

A Trick Problem – The Four Question Marks

For a change, here is a trick problem for you to solve…

Effect: The performer displays four cards with a question mark on their back, and sets them aside. From a shuffled deck a card is selected and signed on its face, e.g., the 8C. The cards with he question mark on the back are turned over one by one: the first says «black», the second «Clubs», the third «8», and the last… is actually the previously selected card, including the signature! This card is given to the spectator as a souvenir.

End of problem.

Read the wording of the problem again carefully, as you might make assumptions that are not stipulated in the challenge…

I will offer my solution(s) – as always there are various, depending on the price you are willing or capable to pay – in the upcoming The Magic Memories 2018.

Confidences Is Back!

Finally, my favorite book, Confidences, originally published by Hermetic Press in 2014, and out of print for now almost ten years, made it through US custom and is now available again in a beautiful edition, just as nice as the first edition.

The copyright-holder is now Penguin Magic, who is also publishing almost all of my English books.

In an unselfish act of altruistic brotherly love, they are selling this new edition at the ridiculously low price of $ 47, the same price as eleven years ago.

Considering that the prices of virtually every product on this planet – especially print products! – in the meantime have increased, mostly doubled, Christian charity is my only explanation…

If you want a copy dedicated to your name, together with a signed photo postcard, you can order the book from my webshop HERE (please do mention that you want the book signed, and your name, in the comment field of the order form – this book is also a great gift to a friend!).

For all of you who do not care about my signature and want to save the shipping costs, order directly from my publisher Penguin Magic HERE – if you click the link you can then also watch a ten-minute interview where Dan Harlan and I discuss the content of the book (those who like this sort of things should like it…).

For those who always wanted to know how much an author earns on a book, here are the approximate figures (the actual rate depends on varying shipping rates, currency fluctuations, etc.):

The book costs $ 47 (ca. 47 Euro or a little more in most magic shops outside of the USA)

1. If you order directly from my webshop I earn ca. $ 20 per book
2. If you order from my publisher Penguin Magic I earn ca. $ 9 per book
3. If you order from any other dealer I earn ca. $ 3.75 per book

Consider that for $ 1 I get ca. 0,80 Swiss Francs, and that a basic Big Mac (no chips, no drink, just the “burger”) in Switzerland costs 6,90 Swiss Francs, which is $8,625 as of 5th June 2025. Fortunately, this is purely academic, as I never set foot in such establishments…

I Will Be at FISM

I shall be in Turin, Italy, at the FISM convention, arriving Sunday 13th and leaving Sunday 20th… and during that time I have nothing to do except enjoying the convention program (I hope…), greeting old friends, and meeting new ones 🙂

So, if you attend FISM, please come up, identify yourself as a reader of The Magic Memories, and say ‘Hello’.

I shall also be happy to sign any books you are willing to carry around, using my favorite (travel) fountain pen, a Pilot Capless Link Black limited edition 2020 with rhodium plated 18Kt gold nib and original Pilot midnight blue ink. I challenge you to find any other contemporary author of magic books who would care about such details…

You can try to find me among the ca. 3’000 participants during the scheduled program and inside the convention center… occasionally I may be at the stand of Florence Art Edizioni, my Italian publisher, to sign books, take photos, meet & greet, etc. Watch out for the announcement on the event board of Florence Art Edizioni.

I look forward to seeing many of you in Turin!

PS: If you want me to bring something from my webshop for you to FISM, let me know via my direct email, including your mobile number so I can WhatsApp you where to meet at the convention (you get 10% discount on the Euro price on my webshop if you pay cash and in Euro).

Barbaras Orimotos

Since in the past months we had quite a bit of new readers of these The Magic Memories, may I remind you that Barbara does some beautiful Orimotos, each one handmade from real books, and every one a single copy.

Depending on the complexity they are at EURO 240 to 360, including shipping to any part of the world.

If you want one, please send me an email, and I will let you know how we can get this to you.

PS: If you come to FISM, I can bring one for you, and you will get 10% discount as we will not have to ship it.

PS: Barbara also makes personalized Orimotos with your name in it – if you let us know before Monday evening, I can bring a freshly handmade copy to FISM 🙂

All the best!

Roberto Giobbi