Hello everyone!
Today’s topics are: Escorial 2025; The Colmar Gastronomy & Magic Summit; The Brissago Magic Summit; The Advent Calendars; The Italian Job; Roberto Giobbi Bibliography Status 2025; Happy Holidays!; Confusion is not Magic
These are The Magic Memories 222, gone online Sunday, December 7th, 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.
A number such as 222 is called a “Schnapszahl” in German, “repdigit” in English: I have discussed this most curious category of numbers in The Magic Memories 111, and there is no need to repeat myself – simply adapt to 222 🙂
However, what I find even more remarkable is that this “publication” got to that number at all!
Don’t ask me how I did it… probably with the same strategies and techniques I applied when I wrote the five Card College books. Looking back to those, I honestly wonder how I did those… but like a good magic piece, it does not matter how it is done, the only important thing is that you, my readers, and I, have enjoyed the result. As far as I am concerned, this is the case… I hope it is the same for you.
And now on for a Rädäbäng of magical reports and other ideas…
Jornadas Cartomágicas de El Escorial 2025
This year marked #51 of this most unusual gathering. It started out as a part of the activities of the Escuela Magic de Madrid, about which I’ve reported in several of my writings as well as in other issues of these The Magic Memories, possibly most completely in Ask Roberto, which can still be obtained as an e-book, and should be available as a really nicely made-up book by Vanishing Inc. in 2026 (along with yet another book project to be announced soon).
The topics of 2025 were:
Transcription:
OCTUBRE 31 – NOVIEMBRE 2, 2025
Translation:
- the life and card magic of Jimmy Grippo
- memorization of color and number sequences
- gags in card magic
- flat palm and Tenkai palm
As you may easily guess, each of these topics deserves a book, and considering that some sixty of the world’s best cardicians from all continents attended (almost… as far as I know we miss Africa and Australia), who each know a lot about each of the subjects, well, you will understand that I can only give you a very rough overview of the happenings, with a few photos…
Topic # 1: Jimmy Grippo (1898–1992)
The material about Jimmy Grippo, a most interesting subject to study for various reasons, is scant and scattered.
Those not so familiar with the man and his work can get an idea by viewing a few videos on YouTube of Grippo performing under various situations.
See for instance HERE.
From here you may go further, depending on your time and interest.
Just by watching, you can learn a lot of things, not just techniques and tricks, but also strategies; try to identify and name them (see Sharing Secrets for help in identifying these concepts and their names). Then try to apply them to a trick in your own magic. From then on you have instilled the concept and will be able to use it infinitely. Yes, it means work, but I would not know of any shortcut to success other than work.
Here is just one example of the out-of-the-box thinking, which he applies to the classic “Collins Aces”, sometimes called “Aces for Connoisseurs” (e.g., see Cy Endfield’s Entertaining Card Magic – Part 2, p. 46): Instead of bothering about how to make those Aces reappear that are lost in the discard packet (albeit at known positions), Grippo simply reaches into his pocket and produces a set of duplicate Aces! A brilliant solution, like the Gordian Knot!
(How to get rid of the duplicates you ask? Basic, Watson, basic: Replace the set on top of the deck, but immediately palm it, and then get rid of them by reaching into the outer pocket of your jacket and taking out e.g., the card case you placed there to begin with, or just ‘use your head’.)
For the moment (DEC 2025) there is only one book by and about Grippo, co-written with Geno Munari and published by Gambler’s Book Club (1981), simply titled The Magic ofJimmy Grippo. (Another one with Grippo’s “real work” has been announced by Munari for years, so…).
However, the book does not contain Grippo’s professional working repertoire, nor any mention of one of the key principles of his work, which is a point criticized by the presenters of the topic.
In spite of this, I believe that it would have been worth devoting a part of the presentation to the content of the book that has several interesting ideas from which one could go.
To tease you, here is the effect of “The Torn Card Miracle” as it could appear to an innocent audience: A spectator selects a card, signs it, and then loses it in the deck. The spectator and the performer each take half of the deck and start to tear it up in quarters; with a deck of 52 cards that will make 208 quarters. These are throuroughly shaken up and mixed in a hat that has previously been borrowed and examined by the audience. Showing his empty hand, the performer reaches four times into the hat, each time taking out one quarter, which is then stuck to a large piece of glass, backs to the audience. When the glass is turned over, the four pieces are seen to compose the originally selected card, including the signature! Now, how do you like that for an effect…
You can find it on p. 49 of the above-mentioned publication.
This performance piece should prove very successful for anyone who will go through the trouble of making it up, and with good showmanship and lighting it would work even on the largest of stages.
Juan Tamariz and a group of Spanish magicians, among them Ascanio, Pepe Carroll and Camilo Vazquez, had witnessed Grippo’s private show in the Eighties in Las Vegas.
He told us of the many impossible looking pieces he performed for them, some of which you can see on the YouTube-videos.
The most interesting part, however, was when Juan told about how Grippo met the group in front of Caesar’s Palace, and then took them through the gaming areas to the salon, where the performance took place. This obviously took at least ten minutes, and all along that time Grippo talked about himself and the miracles he would perform, thus starting the build-up of his performance as he was taking them to his show.
What a strategy!
The subject took all the time up to dinner break, which in Spain is around 9:30pm… in order to the restart the activities, in theory, at midnight, in practice, after 1am…
Breaks
Breaks and private sessions are an integral part of the information transfer at the Escorial Card Conference.
Below you can see Yves Carbonnier from Paris and Aurelio Paviato from Milan trying to teach a beginner the basics of card magic… after a “light” lunch…
The photo above, by the way, was taken at Cafetín Croché, the “coffee shop” (so-to-speak…) of Charoles (the flagship restaurant of San Lorenzo de El Escorial), which also harbors a small theatre (ca. 60 people), were Juan Tamariz decades ago started the tradition of doing a full-evening show on every Friday night.
This tradition has been carried forth by Manolo, the owner of the place, and to this day boasts some of the best Spanish performers, who in spite of their fame are willing to perform for a modest fee, just out of loyalty to a tradition.
You do not find this kind of attitude often in our modern world…
Spontaneous Shows
The talks, breaks and waiting times are interspersed with occasional top-notch shows.
The photo below shows Michael Close, who flew in from Toronto, give a talk on card tricks done from a shuffled borrowed deck.
Topic #2: Memorization of color and number sequences
This is a complex subject that was treated over several hours with many contributions from experts on the subject.
Essentially we are talking about mnemonic systems to remember color sequences in a deck, but also how to remember the order of the full card, up to memorizing a deck.
If you have ever had the good luck of witnessing Juan Tamariz do “Out of This World” from a borrowed and shuffled deck, then you know what a devastating potential such techniques have… and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Talking to the other experts present, we agreed that this was way over the head for most of us…
(This reminds me of when I attended G4G7 in 2006 in Atlanta, USA, a congress dedicated to Martin Gardner with ca. 200 participants – mathematicians, puzzlers and magicians – sitting next to a math professor from a top US university. After a talk John Conway had given on a subject the title of which I forget, I asked my neighbor if he had understood what Conway just talked about.
His answer was, “I have no idea.”
He then proceeded to explain how specialized the mathematical sciences are, and why one specialist did not necessarily understand another. This greatly comforted me, as I did not understand anything, even without being a specialist!
Juan Esteban Varela from Chile then took the stage and gave an academic dissertation on his system of memorization… since I did not understand much of it, I did not have a lot to remember… for once, a blessing 🙂
Topic #3: Gags in Card Magic
As you will imagine this was hilarious, with numerous original contributions… and others that reminded us of the enormous repertoire of historical funny magicians.
Wish you had been there…
(Check Chapter 64 in Card College Volume 5, “A Cardman’s Humor” to get an idea.)
Topic #4: Flat Palm and Tenkai Palm
This is indeed another very interesting topic, especially because most cardicians do not use these techniques! Unjustly so, as the presentations on these two subjects proved.
To avoid becoming too technical, which would go beyond the scope of this report, let me just mention a few things.
The Flat Palm is clearly a technique that comes to us from the gaming table… but then again, what technique isn’t! Briefly: The Flat Palm is in many situations superior to the Classic Palm, especially when you perform seated at a table. Considering that close-up performance in small theaters are flourishing all around the world, techniques such as Lapping, Flat Palm, etc. are experiencing a renaissance.
As for the Tenkai Palm, which seems to be underemployed, similar to the Flat Palm, I encourage you to study it and try it out, especially in stand-up situations: you will be surprised how much better the angles are as you might intuitively suspect. (This would also lead to the Rear Palm, which is discussed in Expert Card Technique, and which was a favorite with Alex Elmsley – see his books.)
All is well that ends well…
Finally, as with every good story of Asterix and Obelix, the Gaules assemble around a good table to celebrate magic and life.
PS: What makes this meeting interesting, on top of everything else, is that the participants share private videos and PDFs of their contributions with the rest of the attendees.
The Colmar Gastronomy & Magic Summit
A few days after Escorial and a visit to Madrid, and before embarking on the next magical adventure, a three-day meeting in Brissago, Switzerland (see below), I had the great pleasure of hosting my friend and past-publisher Stephen Minch for a few days at my home.
The photo below shows us discussing the fine points of the Side Steal as opposed to the Pass, after a glorious lunch at L’Atelier du Peintre (my recommendation if you ever go to Colmar, France), where Pit Hartling, who came all the way from Frankfurt and Lorenz Schär from Berne, Switzerland’s capital, joined us.
The photo below shows us after visiting the Musée Unterlinden in Colmar, which hosts the world-famous Isenheimer Altar, thus proving that we are not only interested in magic and gastronomy 🙂
The Brissago Magic Summit
Thanks to the initiative of Peter Samelson (if you want to learn more about this remarkable gentleman, CLICK HERE to see him on Fool Us), a small group consisting of Mike Close, Stephen Minch, Aurelio Paviato, Peter and myself met in the former house of Peter’s aunt on the shores of Lake Major (Switzerland and Italy).
Today’s report already got longer than I would allow, therefore suffice it to say that over two full days we all gave shorter and longer talks and performances for each other on various subjects, ranging from techniques, effects and presentations, over historical, psychological and philosophical, to very practical professional everyday advice, a Secret Agenda type of gathering, you could say 🙂
I have reported on the first gathering in Brissago in The Magic Memories 152, there called “The Samelson Reunion”, and you can find more details there, if you so desire.
And since the spirits of Asterix and Obelix are omnipresent, also this magical adventure ended with all of us around a good table. In the photo below, from left to right: Aurelio Paviato, Stephen Minch, Peter Samelson, RG, Michael Close.
The Advent Calendars
Since we are at the beginning of Advent time (for some of us), I would like to inform newcomers – and remind my faithful readers – of the Magic Advent Calendar I published in December 2020.
You may either go through the individual contributions for free, or take the easy route and get the PDF of it HERE – I think you will find it well worth your time (the financial investment is a joke, of course).
As an additional gift to all of you, if you care accepting it, I give you a PDF HERE with all twenty-four entries of the Magic Calendar of Good Ideas I published in 2023, and which was sent to all who are on the Newsletter list daily from DEC1st to DEC 24th (if you are not on the NL, go to the webshop www.robertogiobbi.com and subscribe to receive future benefits such as these.)
The Italian Job
And if you think that all these travels reported in the previous and this The Magic Memories are more than enough, then you would be wrong. On Sunday morning after the Brissago Magic Summit had ended, Aurelio, Stephen and I took a leisurely drive along Lake Major, enjoying the spectacular scenery of the Swiss, Italian and French Alps, and drove to Castellamonte, to enjoy the yearly truffle lunch at Tre Re.
After this memorable meal, Aurelio and Stephen took off to Vigevano, Aurelio’s home, from where Stephen would then return to Seattle the next day. Whereas I did what I do every year after this event: I took a room at the Hotel Tre Re, and then had a restful sleep after having taken a long walk around the quite village of Castellamonte, reliving in my mind all those marvelous events of the last days and weeks.
Next day I met Marco Aimone, president of Italy’s largest magic club, the Circolo Amici Della Magia of Torino, in Carru, at the Ristorante del Borgo, where they arguably make the best “Bollito misto” of this planet.
We then spent the rest of the day and evening in Don Silvio Mantelli’s magic library, which boasts over 22’000 volumes dedicated to all aspects of magic and allied arts.
Nowadays I no longer buy the latest books, as many of them are huge, heavy, and take a lot of space, along with costing a fortune for shipping and custom – the post office and tariffs are ruining a lot of the cultural patrimony on this planet (instead of subsidizing such areas of human endeavor, countries are now spending the money on arms and ammunition). But I always look them up in Don Silvio’s library.
Since I have mentioned my stays in this most wonderful place in Cherasco many times before in The Magic Memories, I would just like to mention that Don Silvio’s Museo della magia, the museum of magic, has made an enormous leap forward, with lots of new and original exhibits, incorporating among many other things a large part of Silvan’s collection, which the latter donated to the museum, was well as many original pieces from Fred Roby, the world-famous ventriloquist, who left us in 2022.
I met Fred Roby years ago, and once we even shared the same stage (he was the star act, of course). Most of his performances were in French and German, but I found a very early appearance of his in the USA HERE.
Anyway, next time you travel through the North of Italy and are interested in magic, you will not regret a stop at Don Silvio Mantelli’s Museo della magia in Cherasco (and then have a meal at “La Torre” in Cherasco, or at 20 minutes car drive at “Osteria Veglio” in La Morra, where you can get some of Piedmont’s top wines at a fair price… make sure you are six people, so you can taste at least four different bottles… invite a seventh person who does not drink, but drive…).
Roberto Giobbi Bibliography Status 2025
As an annual accounts of 2025 – not of finances, but of works – I thought to have a look at what I’ve written/produced/published up to now.
If you are interested, here is my updated bibliography as per December 2025, probably incomplete, as some of my articles from magazines have been taken over, translated and published in other smaller magazines (and they forgot to tell me…). Also, when I started to compile the bibliography of early works I worked from memory…
To read or download the Bibliography of Roberto Giobbi as a PDF CLICK HERE.
Happy Holidays!
Last, but not least, my friends, I would like to wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas – or whatever your belief or non-belief is – have a good, relaxed and inspired time.
As an agnostic I do not mind any belief, as long as it is peaceful and friendly and productive for oneself and all others.
I once thought of converting to every religion so as to be able to enjoy all their festivities, which would make a year full of celebrations, but then realized that some religions contradict each other, which confuses me, so I thought why not just cut directly to the celebrations and let the rest in peace.
Therefore: Happy Celebrations to all of you, and whenever your new year starts: Happy New Year, too!
Confusion is not Magic
Talking about confusion…
All the best!
Roberto Giobbi
