What you're seeing 5:37-5:55 is complex billiard ball manipulation made to look easy by a master of this ancient and most beautiful form of entertainment. Cardini could perform knuckle breaking sleight of hand moves, while wearing gloves, that most magicians would find nearly impossible to do. This is what real magic and a real magician looks like. I have 44 years in this art, and I have met and watched pass some of the greatest magicians of all time. Cardini, a true master of the art.
Fun fact: Cardini actually endured a burn between his fingers when forced to rehearse before the show by pushy producers, and he clipped a lit cigarette backwards because he was distracted by the producers and directors and such. Harry Riser tells the story in another video, but yeah, the most flawless dexterity performance with a fresh first or second degree burn on his fingers. The most disciplined man in magic, truly.
Tecum Ilic yes it really is true! If your interested in Magic History then grab a copy of The Illustrated History Of Magic by Milbourne and Maurine Christopher! It says “illustrated” but it is not a picture book it’s full of written bios with some pics.
It is indeed true. Cardini learned card manipulation huddled in WWI trenches, wearing gloves to keep his fingers from freezing. The gloves made many card sleights impossible, so he focused on card productions. When he was wounded in the war and sent to a hospital in England, his insistence on wearing gloves while he worked the cards was seen as a sign of mental or emotional disturbance - an easy mistake to make, with eighty thousand British soldiers being treated for shellshock over the course of the war - so he was sent to a mental hospital. Fortunately the staff there saw the cards as a healthy pursuit rather than as a sign of illness.
@@bluesoul7163 The cards are just front and back palm, split fan production and body loads. Nobody does this kind of magic anymore. It's boring and everyone knows how it's done.
No Smoothini wasn't even close to what Cardini created (no insult intended, just not a fair comparasion)... Cardini is one of the greatest Magicians that will ever live!
Richard Forty No... Not even close. The closest thing that was in recent years was Lance Burton's Manipulation act (look it up its incredible). I also like Channing Pollock, but that was 50 years ago. Closest Cardini Successor working today would be Levent. Levent is a God!
The lack of appreciation for these magnificent magicians is truly a crime. The amount of practice and talent that goes into a 9 minute act just goes to show, how much the magician loves and is amazing at his work. I put great honor on these marvelous people, if only this generation knew what true talent was.
Jed in those days you could spend years developing and improving your show and then perform it for many years. Nowadays after it has been posted to the internet you need to come up with something new for next week.
Huh. Guess I haven't been watching in a while, because last I knew I didn't need a story to watch good magic. If "magic of story" is what's required enough to not get a thumbs down today, it's still ridiculous to give this guy, who was doing this stuff like anyone back then-- to music-- a thumbs down because the "Story" part of today's acts didn't come along with card tricks until well AFTER they borrowed and borrowed from guys that borrowed.... from THIS guy. So have some relative respect huh? It doesn't make any sense to watch something this old, know it contributed to things people had to take time to work out later... and still judge it based on how we know everything today. It's like driving a 1957 Chevy, then driving a 2017 Corvette, and then saying the '57 is boring, handles terribly and isn't fast. Duh. Without the development of the '57, the 2017 wouldn't exist.
He actually did this with fresh cigarette burns between his main manipulation fingers he got doing the stage run through just hours before he had to do this live routine (search youtube for Harry Risers story about this TV performance) and he still slayed it.
@@dayzr420 Eh, it's kind of a pantomime was how I saw it. A tipsy gentleman is coming home for the evening and these strange... Things keep happening as he attempts to dress down for the night.
Wish more magicians were like this - now the rely on a fixed deck or a manipulated coins or some othe rbs prop. True slight of hand, I remember when someone did a routine in remembrance of cardini and everyone knew the trick but were still amazed.
I came here from the recent _America's_ _Got_ _Talent_ performer Winston: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6roXhzyd4g4.html His performance is a very modern take on this man's techniques. We are so fortunate this video is still online to see. ♥ Thanks for having uploaded.
So what you're saying is.... David Blaine is better?(oozing with sarcasm) But I absolutely agree- Cardini is my favorite magician. I would even go so far as to say that he was a better magician than even The Professor- though Vernon was a better sleight man, his presentation wasn't quite as magical.
When Cardini came to America and started to be successful, other magicians quickly started copying parts of his act. So he switched to the things he taught himself how to do over the seven years he spent huddled in WWI trenches and recuperating in hospitals (including a mental hospital, because the doctors at the regular hospital thought his insistence on wearing gloves while he worked the cards was a sign of shellshock). There's probably a lesson in there, somewhere.
It's amazing he can have that much control WITH GLOVES ON?! Amazing! He wrote books about sleight techniques too. He's that fast, I'm having trouble just keeping up with what the effects are! Lol. Brilliant!
Loved that move where it looked like the billiard ball was levitating under his curved fingers and it slowly just kind of rolled down to position itself between the first finger and thumb. Amazing!!!
That technique in brilliant, but even better is the performance. It is like this stuffy British caricature is haunted by unseen forces which steal his belongings or make more of them.
This level of performance is only possible through dedication to and love of the real art of magic. I just wish the meddlers would leave the artist alone. Because you know the method does not mean you can perform. Cardini ignited a spark of creativity in all who witnessed his performance, THAT'S WHAT BEING AN ENTERTAINER IS ABOUT!
Does anyone know if he's using standard cards or backpalming ones? When he produces 8 cards in a row followed by a fan, I'm just in awe over it. I'm just now learning to backpalm standard cards, and my hands are *shaking* trying to hold just 7.
He used 1 specific brand of cards called Peau Doux (swapped to them about halfway through his career so they weren't essential to the act) They are standard playing cards but ever so slightly easier to do the tricks with if you have big hands. He wrote in his notes that using the same brand consistently helped him when he got arthritis and burns. I'd recommend with the internet shopping around for different brands and materials of standard playing cards until you find one that you like. The Bicycle standard is a very difficult card set to do this with because of the slick surface.
