It’s clear that at Vanishing Inc., we’re a big fan of Alex Elmsley. He was an amazing thinker and a pioneer of close-up magic. This 2 DVD set is from a lecture and workshop that Alex gave in England during his final few years with us. It was filmed at Colin Rose’s house and was attended by my friend Richard Morrell who recounts the events for us:

The workshop (DVD 1) itself was a mix of a teach-in on Alex’s false counts and stories and memories of his meeting famous magicians, and his thoughts on magic in general. Plus performance/explanations of amongs other things his Everchange count, Twisters Flush, One Poor Lion and an in-depth look at his Kasual Kosky swtich which is a great re-thinking on the Kosky Switch. To finish the workshop we were talking about the inherent discrepancy in doing the Ghost Count face-up and someone mentioned that you could do some routines with Jokers, and casually asked Alex if he had any such routines. Mr Elmsley stands up and without any build-up launches into a performance of his Dazzle routine, with the original cards, and blew us all away!

During the lecture (DVD 2) I was sat on the front-row and got to help in a couple of things, didn’t quite practice my L&L style reactions, but I hope I did it justice! The highlights for me were Power Poker which is a great poker routine where the spectator can choose his own hand, yet you still end with a Royal Flush. Color Filter which is Oil and Water meets Cards through Handkerchief. His Kasual Kosky (as mentioned a great casual alternative to the Kosky Switch) and his Andrews Color Change. Three in Hiding is a great routine based on the spectators hiding objects in their pockets, and you divining what they are, here done with playing cards, also supplied is a great way to frame this around poker. I got to help Alex with his Oyster Shells routine which is a brilliant way of having some fun and letting the spectator take the spotlight for a bit.