I’ve was a little sick over the last week of 2018, so the first video of the new year celebrated my new husky sexy voice (or what’s left of it) but it was fun to do, a passion project, a one hour lesson (yes ONE HOUR) on the late Paul Potassy’s routine for Cards Across. Done in the same style as my in-depth exploration of David Nixon’s Card In Cigarette.

Paul was a living legend and a man who thoroughly understood HOW to present magic to an audience of any size.

His Cards Across plays for 2 or 2000 people, it’s very funny, and unlike ANY other Cards Across routine it’s humor comes from SITUATION COMEDY. Meaning it translates into any language.

I saw Paul perform at The Magic Castle years ago, where he took over the Palace of Mystery and it was a revelation, I loved the routine then, but was never inspired to work on it. A few years later I bought his terrific three disc DVD collection detailing almost all of his material (this is a MUST GET if you want to learn magic - you can get it from L & L and your favorite dealer) but still, as much as I enjoyed his performance of Cards Across, it didn’t seem right for my style of performing.

It wasn’t until I found an old 1953 piece of black and white footage of Paul performing his Cards Across on live French television that I realized the full power of the trick, and even more amazing, that he’d left a few things out on the DVD collection.

His routine back in 1953 had an EXTRA stage, and I loved it. Even though I don’t speak French, I LOVED it.

So I pieced together what I believe is his full routine, presentation and methods, changed the third phase a little bit, studied his audience control, his misdirection, his showmanship and created this, something I’m very proud of, my full deep dive teach in on Paul Potassy’s Cards Across.

Additionally in this playlist you will find the updated PDF notes for the entire routine.

Here's the details on that.

Re-written and remastered :) This doc is your notes session from the Paul Potassy Cards Across.

Originally this method appeared in Hugard's More Card Manipulations. I dare you to go read Mene Tekel Upharsin, and compare the bare bones description with what Potassy created. It's a fabulous lesson in making someting your own.

These detailed notes will help remind you of the sequence AND the finer points in making this KILL.

Cheers all

Steve Valentine