The Video of Secrets &
Carney on Ramsey
by John Carney

Genii
Matthew Field

Two of John Carney's inspirational sources were his teacher, Faucett Ross, and the great Scottish sleight-of-hand master, John Ramsay. Another was Dai Vernon, with whom Carney, born in Des Moines in 1958, studied; Ross and Ramsay were also two of Vernon's favorites. The influence of these three great magicians can be felt in much of Carney's work and in his books, including Carney Knowledge, Conjuring con Carney Carney Up Close, his monographs on the Hold-Out and Torn and Restored Card and his magnificent Carneycopia, written by Stephen Minch. He's released several videos, including Classic Carney, Up Close and Far Away, Commercial Carney and Chicarnery. Recently John self-published The Book of Secrets, which received deservedly rave reviews, and now he is releasing two videos of selected routines from that book as well as a third video devoted to two routines for which Ramsay was best known.

Each of the Secrets DVDs contains five effects chosen from the book, shot with a live audience and John performing on a stage. Volume 1 starts with "Cigars from Purse," one of Carney's favorite tricks and a fooler, although I'm not sure if you will want to pull a wooden cigar three times from an impossibly tiny purse (a purse John admits will be difficult to find), but there are excellent lessons in misdirection John drives home in the course of the explanation. John teaches two Linking Ring moves which in his book are called "Dissolving Steel," and explains his great version of the classic "Balls and Net," here performed with grapes and a handkerchief. I love this routine, which John explains is great at a party and in which the props are gradually consumed. The classic "Miser's Dream" is next, a valuable lesson for anyone who wants to add this great classic to his act. John downplays the bucket used to receive the coins and gives his reasons for doing so, even though the bucket he uses is one made by Paul Fox and what a beauty it is. Finally, we have "Leipzig's Opener," here called "Leipzig-Skinner Surprise" because of a Michael Skinner addition to the trick, in which a selection, lost in the deck, repeatedly appears face up on top of it in surprising and dramatic fashion. John goes into considerable detail on Marlo's Deliberate Side Steal, a sleight well worth mastering for use in many effects, such as any Multiple Selection routine. For someone like me, who has had difficulty with the Side Steal, this section alone is worth the price of the video.

Volume 2 of Secrets contains the Victor-Vernon "Five Coin Routine" with productions and mysterious appearances in a glass, featuring John's great illusion of a coin visibly arriving in the glass. "Cards Up the Sleeve" is a classic and John teaches his complete routine, including the gimmick which makes one card visibly and hilariously travel across his chest. John's Multiple Slip is taught in great detail—it's an adaptation of the Hofzinser Cull (adapted by Marlo as the Prayer Cull), and its use in several applications is explored. John turns to thimble magic for the "Rosini/Ramsay Thimble Routine," a quick and visual display of appearing, vanishing and jumping thimbles. Finally, "Rubbed Away" is a silk vanish using John's adaptation of the deKolta Pull or Hold-Out, with many valuable tips on this underutilized secret accessory, one which he has made a special study of over the course of many years.

There is some good material here, which John stresses should be used as an adjunct to his book. As he puts it, in a letter which accompanied the reviewer's copy of the DVDs, "I felt that the video should be merely a companion to the book, rather than one's exclusive tool. I have long held that for the student's own good, he should make some effort to interpret the material he is learning in order to expand his own ability. To not simply imitate, but participate. Learning by video alone can result in a loss of personal exploration and potential contribution. If every detail is laid at our feet, we tend merely to imitate, ignoring our own unique character, experience and choices." Amen, brother.

The final video under consideration is John's exploration, in great depth, of two classic tricks by John Ramsay—"The Cylinder and Coins" and "Coins in Hat." This is a simply-shot video, with John standing in his living room, and there are no close-ups. This is deliberate; John is exploring misdirection, in which the magician's entire body language plays a part and his choice is appropriate. In "Cylinder," four half-dollars vanish one at a time from the hands and appear in a leather tube standing on the table; but they appear beneath a small piece of cork which was placed in the tube first. "Coins in Hat" is also a mysterious passage of coins, here "hung" in the air, before being passed invisibly into and out of an inverted hat.

Seventy minutes devoted to just two old tricks? How can I best put this— This video is phenomenal. John explores Ramsay's lessons in misdirection in great detail. He teaches the Ramsay coin vanish and concealment (the Ramsay Subtlety), explores the psychology of magic, shows how to get maximum impact from vanishes, stresses the importance of what Mike Skinner termed "The Moment of Magic" and much more. This is a complete lecture on magic from one of our finest practitioners of sleight of hand and I consider it one of the very best videos of the past year.

John Carney is an excellent performer, unmannered and deliberate. He does not take himself so seriously that he can't step into characters like Mr. Mysto and Dr. X, two bizarrely funny and utterly original creations. He has also participated as an actor in Jim Steinmeyer's recreations of John Nevil Maskelyne's magic playlets for the Conference on Magic History in Los Angeles.

But when Carney is playing it straight in sleight-of-hand performance, well, that is something special. You will learn some of his deep thinking about magic on these videos and, especially on the Ramsay volume, some of the best lessons in magic ever to be recorded.

Magic Magazine
Michael Close

One of the things learned early on in my product-reviewing career is that you don’t need many words to review a quality product. The phrase “this is really great” pretty much sums it up. Any more verbiage than that just pads the column. Everything you really need to know is summed up in the previously quoted four words. John Carney has released three new DVDs. The first two contain effects from his wonderful book The Book of Secrets. The third DVD focuses on two routines by John Ramsay. All three DVDs are really great.

Okay, okay. I’ll tell you a little more about them. The Video of Secrets Volume One contains the Cigars from Purse, two moves for the Linking Rings, the Miser’s Dream, a routine using grapes, and some handling variations of Leipzig’s Opener. Volume Two contains the Vernon-victor Coins and Champagne Glass, a card control that Leipzig would have loved, a thimble routine that combines ideas from Ramsay and Rosini, and a version of Cards Up the Sleeve using the entire deck. The production values of both these DVDs are very high, with a professional studio setting and an attentive and enthusiastic audience. If you own The Book of Secret, you are aware of the high quality of the magic it contains. John’s written explanations are very clear, but since many of the routines are manipulative in nature, it may be helpful to watch John perform and explain them. The explanations on the DVDs are very thorough, and even if you never perform any of the routines, there is information that can be applied to your own routines.

Carney on Ramsay focuses on two of John Ramsay’s classic effects – the Cylinder and Coins and the Coins in the Hat. These are masterful examples of motivation, misdirection, and audience management. What John has done is to apply Ramsay’s principles to his own mannerisms. John’s mannerisms will probably not fit you exactly, but you will learn how to adapt the material so it suits your style. And for those who don’t know, the Cylinder and Coins is one of those routines that separate the master from the hacker. Learn to do this well and you establish yourself as an expert. (I should mention that the production values of this DVD are more spartan than the previous two, but everything can be seen and you will be able to learn from John’s explanations)

As most of you know, I prefer books to videos. The Book of Secrets explains these routines to the nth degree. However, I love to watch John Carney do magic. He exemplifies the sensibilities of the past masters, and for that reason, I would certainly recommend these DVDs to you, regardless if you own the book.

Magic Week
Reviewed by Ian Keable

Rather carelessly I failed to get a copy of John Carney’s The Book of Secrets before it sold out; so I have had to be content with watching these DVDs of at least some of the material contained in this modern classic (an oxymoron if ever I’ve written one!).

The problem with John Carney is that he is everything a magician is not – and in the process becomes more of a magician than the rest of us. Everything he does is so understated, so devoid of any magical moves, so effortless, that you are almost tempted to demand your money back on viewing him. Where’s the skill, where are the flourishes, where’s the obvious practise? It is quite clear that he was just born with the ability to make coins disappear before your eyes, remove wooden cigars from small purses and produce thimbles out of thin air.

In some ways when you see the explanations it is almost more infuriating. Because there are no particularly technical moves, nothing individually that you could not crack in half an hour, certainly no knuckle breakers that you can show off to your magical pals. It’s just a seamless whole of impeccable misdirection, natural handling and the elimination of all outward displays of skill.

I think that anybody who bought these DVDs to perform move for move what John Carney does would be wasting their money. John has so individualised the routines that they fit him like a glove – and on anyone else they would be a fashion disaster. However if you can begin to absorb the thinking behind everything he does and try to apply it to some of your own routines, then you cannot help but become a better magician.

Nearly all of the tricks are performed before a live audience and are excellently shot (only one routine I thought was a little too distant from the camera to fully appreciate it). The explanations are lucid and complete. I have not watched many magical DVDs so cannot make comparisons. But I found these uniformly first class on every level.

Volume One contains Cigars from Purse (my personal favourite), a couple of Linking Ring moves, the Miser’s Dream, Vernon’s Three Ball Transposition done with grapes and one card trick, Leipzig’s Opener. Volume Two has Coins in Glass, a Knotted Silk routine, multiple control of cards and two of Carney’s best tricks – Cards up the Sleeve (and I had always thought that the card passing across his ‘carpet of pleasure’ involved some incredibly complex pull mechanism) and his Thimble routine.

If you have not encountered John Carney before, and prefer DVDs to books, I would recommend before these two volumes his Carney on Ramsay, Lessons in Misdirection DVD. This has the complete performance and detailed explanation of his masterful ‘Cylinder and Coins’ and ‘Coins in the Hat’, with a plentiful supply of the Ramsay philosophy thrown in for good measure. If you thought that all John Ramsay had to say was ‘if you want your audience to look at something, look at it yourself; if you want them to look away, look at them’ then this will be a real eye opener.

†Unreservedly recommended.
©Ian Keable, October 2003

Little Egypt Gazette
Steve Bryant

MASTERPIECE THEATER -- Although John Carney is capable of cutting edge, off the wall comedy (e.g., the strange world of Mr. Mysto, or John's "Astral Projection" trip to Hawaii), I suspect that his heart lies with the classics of magic. In the new two-volume The Video of Secrets, John brings some of the classic routines from his The Book of Secrets to your tv screen. To mention a few of my favorites, "Just a Cigar" is a delightful cigar from purse routine that John attributes to G.W. Hunter. (If you wish to learn this, I highly recommend obtaining wooden cigars from my friend John Rogers. Find him in the dealer section of my Favorite Links.) "Money for Nothing" is John's "Miser's Dream" routine, and it's hard to think of a finer one in print. When I saw John compete at DMS some years ago, I was surprised at how similar John's moves and gags were to those I used. I shouldn't have been: we were both heavily influenced by Charlie Miller's routine. But John also brings elements of Al Flosso's routine (the best ever, viewable on Don Alan's Magic Ranch videos) into play, for a superbly entertaining and quite accessible routine. "Off the Vine" is a ball and net routine done with grapes to make it an ideal impromptu effect. I saw John lecture at Columbus a few years ago, and I came away mightily impressed by "Rubbed Away" and "Silver and Glass." I hoped they would be on these videos, and they are. The former is the real work on vanishing a silk, and the latter is John's work on Vernon's coins and glass routine with the coin star finale. It's the most difficult item on the videos but will more than repay your investment. It's one of the most beautiful standup pieces of coin magic available. Turning to cards, "Multiple Slip" is a very cool way to distribute (yet secretly control) four aces into random parts of the deck. "Up My Sleeve" is a hilarious card up sleeve routine in which all the cards eventually pass up one sleeve, across John's chest, and down the other sleeve, with the very funny sight gag of the chosen card visibly gyrating across John's "manly chest." A gem in this trick is John's detailed work on the dribble force. John is a patient and thorough (very thorough) teacher, and if he keeps this up people are going to start calling him the Professor. Along with these videos John is also offering Carney on Ramsay/Lessons in Misdirection. This video contains Ramsay's "Cylinder and Coins" and "Coins in the Hat." Each item is taught with John's usual meticulous care, and mastering either of these comparatively ancient routines will enable you to blow those modern "Three-Fly" guys off the stage.

Magic Spin
All Magic Guide
Jim Sisti

There are a number of top performers today who number John Ramsay as one of their chief influences. John Carney is, of course, one of them. Carney, in print, has given Ramsay credit for motivating the priority change in his work from technique alone to the subtler tool of misdirection. Ramsay also caused a stir among other magical icons as well. Carney reports in his book, 'Carneycopia,' the following:

"An example of Ramsay's powerful misdirection is well illustrated in an anecdote told by Dai Vernon. Ramsay's reputation reached the States well before he himself did. Vernon asked his friend, Jean Hugard, just what did this Ramsay fellow do that warranted his great reputation.

"'He makes coins disappear,' was Hugard's reply. Vernon continued, 'Well, Jean, what sort of method did he use?' Hugard shook his head and replied, 'They just disappear.' Vernon grew more impatient. 'You can tell me. I'm a magician. Does he sleeve the coins, lap them, use a pull?' Hugard grew more intense and, addressing Vernon, he emphatically said, 'He holds up the coin and it melts away!'

"Considering that the key to the whole trick (referring to the Cylinder and Coins) was the fake transfer of a coin, something familiar to every magician and schoolboy, Ramsay must have had something else, something exceptional, to make this impression on such a knowledgeable man. That something was an applied understanding of human nature, coupled with precision timing. It was misdirection."

This ethereal something - the essence of John Ramsay's work - is what John Carney has set out to capture in his new dvd release in which he uses two of Ramsay pieces, the Cylinder And Coins and Coins In The Hat to dissect and distill the misdirection lynchpins that make both of these tricks so strong.

Of course, only someone with John Carney's technical prowess and performance know how could pull something like this off without making it seem as if some hay were being made from someone else's work. This was the case with a couple of projects in recent years that seemed to be ghoulishly 'borrowing' from the work of others. However, Carney's exposition of Ramsay's magic on this dvd is obviously a labor of love and, what's more, it's obvious that he's put the time in. Carney can perform both of these tricks extremely well.

To boil either of these tricks down to a mere description of their plots does them a great disservice and in fact, would probably only serve to dissuade potential viewers from watching it. That would be a big mistake, however. As Carney himself notes in his introduction to these tricks, Ramsay's principles of misdirection are applicable no matter what kind of magic you perform.

Technically, the video is well shot. The lone camera captures every detail and though it's been said that you can't misdirect a camera, Carney succeeds in making many of these principles of misdirection work even in front of an unblinking lens. You'll be drawn in on a number of occasions even after you watch the explanations, a true testament to how well Carney has synthesized Ramsay's work into his own.

The menuing structure allows the viewer to watch either trick as performance only or to jump right to the explanation. The Cylinder And Coins explanation is further broken down, allowing viewers access to chapters explaining the construction of the gaffs along with the fine points of the moves.

Carney on Ramsay: Lessons in Misdirection is a homage from a student to a teacher that transcends barriers of time and space and it should be inspirational for any magician to watch a modern day master perform the magic of one of his inspirations, just for the joy of it.

Customer Comments

Wow! The 3 new dvds of yours are just great! Worth ten times more than I paid for them! Its great to finally see the old school in action … the real stuff!
Seth Backus

Received the DVD's yesterday. What can I say but they are great! I loved seeing some of the routines from your book … especially loved your cards up the sleeve and seeing the Cylinder and Coins again. Such a beautiful routine! Great production, good filming, great routines, and great THINKING!
John Houdi

You have done it again. GREAT DVD's ! I watched those DVD's three or four times through already. I could go on and on about these DVD's and the book they are based on, but I'll just say that they top my list.
Jeff Borden

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