The Very Best of Martin Nash - Volume 1

PART 1:

HUSBAND AND WIFE ACES - An amusing interlude where a woman spectator is seemingly able to find the Aces from a shuffled deck while her male counterpart fails. After the woman finds the first two Aces, the magician finds the remaining ones under increasingly difficult conditions. A great routine to incorporate audience members into your magic.

SLOW MOTION SLEIGHT OF HAND - Three cards are selected and shuffled back into the deck. The Aces are placed face up on top of the deck and, one by one, they vanish. When the deck is spread face down, the face-up Aces are discovered in the center with three cards in between them. When the cards between the Aces are turned over, they’re found to be the three selections. 1-2-3

SIMPLICITY - An Ace, Two and Three of Diamonds are set aside. A card is freely selected from the deck, remembered and shuffled back in. The spectator is then asked to select one of the three cards set aside earlier. The named card is isolated and when it’s turned over, is found to have changed into the spectator’s card.

SEGREGATION SHUFFLE - Cards are visibly turned face up and face down yet at the performer’s whim, they all magically turn the same way.

PAUL LEPAUL COLOR SEPARATION - Two spectators each choose a card. The selections are shuffled back into the deck and the performer asks the first spectator a number of questions to discover the name of the card. The second spectator is asked directly to name his card. During this time, the performer has been repeatedly shuffling the deck. The deck is split into two halves and, when the halves are turned over and spread, it’s found that one half consists of all red cards, except the first spectator’s black card, and the second of all black cards, except for the second spectator’s red selection!

PINOCHLE PINNACLE - A deck of four cards is shown to consist of two Queens and two Jacks. When the cards are shown a second time, all four of the cards are Queens. On the third display, all four cards are now Jacks. For a finale, the cards are shown to now be four Aces.

ANY FOUR OF A KIND - A spectator is asked to name any card in the deck. After a number of shuffles, executed by both the performer and the spectator, the deck is cut into four piles with the spectator’s card, in addition to its three mates, on the face of each.

THE IMPOSSIBLE STOCK - The performer produces four Aces and four Kings from the deck. The eight cards are shuffled back into the deck and the spectator is asked for a small number. Several poker hands are dealt and the Kings are dealt to the spectator’s designated number. The performer still wins, however, as he ends up with the Aces!

MARTIN’S A-2-3-4 - The Ace, Two, Three and Four of any suit the spectator names is set aside. The spectator is also asked to remember a peeked-at card in the deck. The performer causes the four cards to turn over in a very magical way, one card at a time. The spectator is asked to select one of the four cards, which also begins to behave in a very mysterious way. The spectator’s chosen card is finally turned over to reveal that it has changed into the previously peeked card.

PART 2:

KINGS INCOGNITO - A deck of cards is split into two halves. One half is turned face up and the two halves are shuffled together. The cards are even cut into piles to prove conclusively that the cards are really mixed face-up into face-down. However, when the cards are spread out, they’re all going the same way except for the four Kings. For the big finish, the performer counts the Kings into his hand yet when they’re dealt on to the table, they’ve magically transformed into the four Aces!

INVISIBLE PALM - One by one, the four Aces assemble into the leader pile despite the fact that the performer shows his hand empty each time. Martin Nash’s superb handling of Larry Jennings’ Open Travelers plot.

10,000 DOLLAR ACE ROUTINE - The classic four Ace assembly with the Nash touch. One at a time, the Aces change places with indifferent cards - while under the hand of a spectator!

DOWN THE GARDEN PATH - The four Queens are removed from the deck and a spectator’s chosen card is mixed among them. The performer claims that the spectator’s card has vanished and proceeds to show the four Queens, albeit somewhat suspiciously. Finally, the four Queens are tossed to the table, proving that the spectator’s card is no longer among them. It’s found to be face up in the deck that was set aside at the beginning.

LIMITED AMBITION - The Ace, Two, Three, Four and Five of Spades are removed from the deck. The Five is placed into the middle of the deck and magically returns to the top. This is repeated once more and to apparently make everything simpler for the spectators to understand, the Five is set aside. The Four is placed into the center of the deck and also returns to the top. The Four is removed and the Three is placed face up between the two remaining cards. However, when the cards are fanned, the Three has turned face down. Then, just as mysteriously, it turns face up again. It, too, is set aside, leaving only the Ace and Two. The Two is placed underneath the Ace yet it appears back on top of the two-card deck. Setting the Two aside, the performer asks the spectator the name of the remaining card but when they answer, he turns over it over to show, not the Ace, but the Jack of Diamonds!