SYNOPSIS:
Al Baker’s Pet Secrets collects a wide-ranging selection of Al Baker’s professional routines, utility techniques, and practical methods for close-up, parlor, and platform magic. The book is organized by branches of magic rather than as a progressive beginner’s course, beginning with Baker’s influential work using hair and thread for secret animation, levitation, rising-card effects, and hands-off movement.
Later chapters cover rope restorations and penetrations, card discoveries and forces, billet reading and telepathy, torn-and-restored money, coin vanishes, spirit photography, silk effects, productions, and assorted magic with familiar objects. Notable material includes the Baker General Utility Hook-Up, The Deck That Cuts Itself, Simplex Rising Card, Arabian Beads, The Doctor Cuts a Rope, The Impossible Force, the Baker Billet Switch, Mental Masterpiece, the Baker Bill Tear, The Bill in the Borrowed Lemon, and the Baker Chewing Gum Trick.
Because the book gathers many different kinds of material, its central value is Baker’s direct, economical approach to creating strong effects with simple methods, concealed hookups, prepared props, and carefully managed audience attention.
Book Details:
Author/Creator: Al Baker
Publisher: George Starke
Publication Year: 1951
Subjects: Cards, Mentalism, Ropes, Money, Everyday Objects, Parlor Magic
Pages: 111
Skill Level: Intermediate
Availability: Out of Print
TABLE OF CONTENTS
• FOREWORD by Dai Vernon (p. 5)
• INTRODUCTION by Jean Hugard (p. 7)
1: HAIR MAGIC
• Hair Secrets (p. 9)
• The Baker General Utility Hook-up (p. 11)
• The Double-Ended Hook-up (p. 12)
• Double-Breasted Hook-up (p. 12)
• The Balancing Card (p. 13)
• The Card From the Hat (p. 14)
• The Deck That Cuts Itself (p. 16)
• The Simplex Rising Cards (p. 18)
• The Rising Ring (p. 20)
• The Grandfather Clock Trick (p. 21)
• Miscellaneous Hair Tricks (p. 22)
2: THREAD MAGIC
• The Al Baker Arabian Beads (p. 25)
• Floating Glass of Milk (p. 29)
• The Hindu Thread Trick (p. 31)
• Coin Production (p. 35)
3: ROPE MAGIC
• The Instantaneous Visible Restoration (p. 36)
• The Al Baker Lightning Pull (p. 36)
• The Doctor Cuts a Rope (p. 39)
• Ring and Tape Penetration (p. 39)
• Variation on Stretching a Rope (p. 40)
4: CARD MAGIC
• The Jet-Propelled Card (p. 42)
• Double Impossibility (p. 47)
• Color Flight (p. 49)
• The Spectator Does the Trick (p. 51)
• The Impossible Force (p. 53)
• The Baker “Readers” (p. 55)
• Mental Discernment (p. 56)
• The Lie Detector (p. 57)
• Long-Distance Telepathy (p. 57)
• The Clairvoyant Spectator (p. 57)
• How To Force a Card (p. 58)
• The Card Between Glass Plates (Baker Improvement) (p. 58)
• Jumbo Switch (p. 59)
• Giant Gambling (p. 61)
5: MENTAL MAGIC
• Double Thought (p. 62)
• One-Man Billet Reading (p. 64)
• The Baker Billet Switch (p. 64)
• Center Tear Tip (p. 66)
• Mental Masterpiece (p. 67)
• The Telepathic Miracle (p. 69)
6: MONEY MAGIC
• The Baker Bill Tear (p. 75)
• The Stack of Quarters (New Method) (p. 77)
• The Vanishing Quarter (p. 80)
• Fun With the Money-Making Machine (p. 81)
• Dime and Penny Gag (p. 82)
• The Bill in the Borrowed Lemon (p. 83)
7: MAGIC FROM ANOTHER WORLD
• The Baker Spirit Photo (p. 85)
• Magnetisn’t (p. 90)
8: VARIOUS MAGIC
• The Baker Chewing Gum Trick (p. 91)
• Finesse With the Dye Tube (p. 95)
• The Vanishing Glass of Water (p. 99)
• Salt Flight (p. 101)
• Silk Transportation (p. 102)
• Sugar Cube Vanish (p. 103)
• Goldfish Production (p. 104)
• Bar Trick Fooler (p. 107)
• Egg Finale (p. 108)
• Rabbit Production (p. 108)
• The Obedient Snake (p. 110)
• The Short Highball (p. 110)
