Karson, Joe, Michael E. Rose, Chris Wasshuber (editors): Joe Karson Compilation ©2006 Lybrary.com eBook, 268 pages

Image courtesy Lybrary.com

Comments: a compilation of many of Joe Karson's magic books, magazine bits, and instruction sheets. Note, some of the books have also been listed here separately.

Contents (from eBook):

4 Introduction (Mike Rose)
5 Photo: B&W photo of Joe & Anne Karson
6 Contents

9 Chan Lin Chinese Magic Mystery Series 1934
10 Chan Lin Production of a Bowl of Water
12 Chan Lin Mandarin Chair Mystery: appearance of the assistant

14 Complete Club Act 1933
15 Contents
16 Introduction
17 Triple Glass of Water Production: from under a handerchief held in the hand
18 Giant Rope and Ring Mystery: with help of a spectator, a handkerchief penetrates a 10" ring
19 Card Burning and Magical Flight: burned marked card is found restored in previously empty envelope
20 Red and Green Mystery Silk Change: silk transposition between two envelopes
20 Simple Cut and Restored Rope
21 Beautiful Shower of Coins Act (Tom Zalkus): a Miser's Dream using a paper bag and just a few coins
21 Chinese Egg and Mat Mystery: an egg appears and vanishes in a bamboo mat
22 Magical Chink Grocery Mystery: wrong groceries of matches, rice, and money become right
23 William Tell Comedy: card in apple routine
25 Enchanted Broom Mystery: a broom suspends standing by itself
26 Japanese Parasol and Duck Production Mystery: duck production for stage
26 Watch Me Grow Six Inches: magician grows taller than the measuring stand

29 Complete Mental Club Act 1934
30 Contents: the manuscript originally came with some necessary props
31 The Augury Slate: idea for a slate used for thought transference and other effects
31 $1,000.00 Challenge Living and Dead: performer determines which envelope contains the name of a dead person
33 Karson Kard Kode: for a confederate
33 Arcanum Prophesy: borrowed magazine test
35 Challenge Billet Test: performer determines what is written on a folded card sealed in an envelope
35 Voodoo Test: a card selected by the spectator is sealed in three sets of envelopes, yet the value determined
36 Let the Volunteer Read Your Mind: using your volunteer as your confederate
37 Telepathism: method of reading sealed questions

39 Karson's Famous Magic Release No. 1, 1940
40 Dollar Bill In Electric Light Bulb: borrowed bill, bulb is not gimmicked
41 Strange Interlude: Red & Blue decks tranpose, but contain the selected cards from the opposite deck

42 Karson's Famous Magic Release No. 2, 1941
43 Marvelous Gloves To Bouquet: opener
43 One Minutes Set-Up Bowl Production: simple but clever approach
44 Positive Phantom Cigarette: invisible cigarette becomes real
45 Rice Lota: rice poured from empty ungimmicked vase
45 No Apparatus Marvelous Vanish Of Assistant: requires the proper stage

47 Hypnotricks First Edition, 1940
48 Contents
49 Hypnotricks: introduction
51 Stopping Anyone's Pulse: using pressure
51 Making A Person's Leg Stiff: spectator can't raise their leg
52 Twisting A Subjects Arm Like Rubber: illusion
52 Falling Backward And Forward Tests: influencing the subject
53 Magnetic Currents: hand stunt
53 Controlling The Beat Of Your Heart And Pulse: using breathing
54 A Bug In His Ear: spectator feels the sensation
54 Weak And Strong - Knocking Hands Apart: physical stunt
55 The Subject Can't Stand Up: from a chair
55 Taking Away The Sense Of Direction: hearing experiment
56 Taking Away The Sense of Taste: exploring the relation between smell and taste
56 Writing In Blood On Your Hand: a bizarre experiment
57 Light And Heavy Lifting Test: experiment in balance
57 Rigid Subject: can be propped between chairs and sat upon
58 Five Men Chasing Bees: impromptu confederates
58 Making A Group Of Men Fall Down: with a confederate
59 No Feeling - Needle Through Flesh: piercing the ear
59 Hypnotized Dancing Ducks: in a cage
59 Rooster and Duck Hypnotricks: the fowl remains motionless
60 The Subject Sleeps in One Minute: by pressure on the Arteries, potentially dangerous
61 The Psychology Of Handling This Type of Act
62 An Example Lecture In Miniature: intro
63 Hypnotizing An Entire Audience: two experiments for the whole audience
64 Conclusion

65 Hypnotricks, Second Edition, 1943; removed The Subject Sleeps in One Minute and added a few others
66 Author's Note (Joe Karson)
67 Contents
68 Hypnotricks: introduction
70 The Psychology Of Handling This Type of Act
71 Ideas for a Lecture: intro
72 Hypnotizing An Entire Audience: two experiments for the whole audience
73 Stopping Anyone's Pulse: using pressure
73 The Wooden Leg Test: spectator can't raise their leg
74 The Rubber Arm: illusion
75 Backward And Forward: influencing the subject
75 Magnetic Currents: hand stunt
76 Control Over Heart And Pulse: using breathing
77 A Bug In His Ear: spectator feels the sensation
77 Weak And Strong - Knocking Hands Apart: physical stunt
78 Subject Cannot Stand: from a chair
78 Lost Sense Of Direction: hearing experiment
79 No Sense of Taste: exploring the relation between smell and taste
79 Writing In Blood: a bizarre experiment
80 Light And Heavy Lifting: experiment in balance
81 The Rigid Subject: can be propped between chairs and sat upon
81 Men Chasing Bees: impromptu confederates
82 The Group Falls: with aid of a confederate
83 Needles Through Flesh: piercing the ear
83 Dancing Ducks: in a cage
83 Rooster and Chicken Hypnotricks: the fowl remains motionless
84 Human Corkscrew: subject can't stand straight up
84 Two Women Sampsons: two women easily lift a man
85 Soap is Delicious: with a stooge
86 To the Reader: conclusion

87 Illusion Magic, first edition, 1933
88 A Chinaman's Hop Dream: assistant appears in stacked boxes, after one box magically changes position in the stack
89 An Impromptu Levitation: under a sheet
89 Faust Comes Again: costumed magician and assistants transpose
90 The Giant Cigarette Mystery: doll put in case with giant cigarette changes to assistant with cigarette in her mouth
90 The Bullet Proof Magician: a glass breaks but the magician remains unharmed
91 Mid Air Skeleton Cabinet Mystery: assistant appears inside suspended cabinet
91 Mohametts Coffin: floating coffin to place in your den
92 Production and Vanishing Cabinet Improved: construction idea
92 Paper Framed Cabinet: idea for a lighter weight cabinet
93 The Vanishing Piano: rough plans
93 The Billion Dollar Indian Rope Feat: idea for how the Indian Rope trick might work
94 Solid Thru Solid: performer walks through a screen
94 The Giant Match-Box Mystery: assistant produced
95 William Tell Outdone: arrow through assistant, with ribbon still passing through at end, still a bit dangerous
95 Black Art X-Ray: apparently see through an arm in a box
96 The Allay Levitation Vanish and Reproduction: an Asrah type illusion
 
97 Illusion Magic, second edition, 1943
98 Dear Brother Magician: about the 2nd, expanded edition
99 Levitations and Suspensions
99 An Impromptu Levitation: under a sheet
99 The Tripedal Suspension: a stiff body rests between two stands, even when one stand is removed
100 The Allay Levitation Vanish and Reproduction: an Asrah type illusion
102 The Man in the Barrel Illusion: assistant in barrel had knife inserted into head under cloth without harm
104 The Screen and Parasol Mystery: assistant appears from behind a bi-fold screen
104 Faust Comes Again: costumed magician and assistants transpose
105 Chan Lin's Chinese Production: assistant appears from a cloth over a chair
106 The Open House Illusion: assistant appears out of a house-front
106 Mid Air Skeleton Cabinet Mystery: assistant appears inside suspended cabinet
108 Solid Thru Solid: performer walks through a screen
109 The Growing Performer: magician grows larger than the measuring stick
109 The Double Door Mystery: assistant appears in this doorway illusion
110 A Chinaman's Hop Dream: assistant appears in stacked boxes, after one box magically changes position in the stack
112 The Great Rubberneck Illusion: a head appears to be turned 360 degrees

114 Karson’s Rope Thru Body, 1943
115 Rope Through Body: spectator's pull a rope through the magician's body

116 Magic A La Mode 1939
116 Contents
117 Aces and Joker: card transposition with the black Aces and Joker
117 Aces and Deuces: Deuces and indifferent cards dealt into piles change into Aces at the bottom with the Dueces moving to the tops
118 I'll Show You How, Comedy: Do what I Do, requires a card color change
119 Magical X-ray: magician discovers card by looking through a tent made with the cards
119 Tele-phoney: card revelation done over the phone
120 She Names Your Card: simple revelation with a confederate
120 The Floating Queen: Queen card floats, for close-up
121 Sympathetic Aces: when one Ace reverses, the other does as well in the middle of the deck, twice
122 Simplex Silent Card Code: hand signals used to reveal card to assistant
122 Karson Four Ace Trick: Aces mixed in the deck come together
123 Miscellany
124 Impromptu Vanishing Cigarette in Paper: lit cigarette vanish
124 The Hindu Bean Trick: beans placed in the ear appear in the mouth
125 The Snappy Sympathetic Silks: three untied silks tie themselves while three tied silks untie
125 Challenge Living and Dead Test: using envelopes
126 Chair Balancing: glass of water balances on a tilted chair
126 Simple Hank Frame: knife is pushed through a handkerchief in a frame, the fame and hanky are ungimmicked
127 Silks and Lamp: silk production from a lamp shade
127 Karson Method Chinese Paper Burning and Confetti Mystery: burnt and restored with color change and then confetti
128 The Egg and Rice Trick: Egg and Rice in opposite hands transpose
128 Karson Bowl of Water and Tray: bowl of water production
129 Locked Ring and Rod: a ring appears on a rod even though the ends are locked
130 The Oriental Chest, Foulard, and Bowl of Water Mystery: fishbowl appears from a large cloth
131 Chan Lin Chinese Production of a Girl on Chair
132 Chan Lin Chinese Portals Mystery Opening: assistant or magician appears from two doors

133 Mental Superba, 1944
134 Mentalia Superba (Joe Karson): introduction
135 Effect No. One: a slate routine
136 Effect No. Two: borrowed article revelation using the Karson Mindreading Pencil, nested boxes
137 Effect No. Three: an ESP revelation by magician's assistant

139 Miniature Mysteries, 1934
141 Contents
142 Impromptu Vanishing Tumbler: while standing
142 Spirit Slate Ala Miniature: message appears on slate, using the paddle move
143 Phantom Pip: mechanical card changes from a 3 to a 2
144 Kid The Wise Guy Color Change: card color change appears to go wrong
144 Slicko, The Slick Card Trick: card counted to ends up reversed in the deck
145 The Cards Reveal Your Age: card representing spectators year of birth reverse in the deck, along with cards for her age
145 The Dillinger Card Trick: card transposition effect with a story of the criminal Dillinge
146 A Thought Of Card Turns Over: from seven cards re-inserted in the deck, the one selection is no longer reversed
147 Karson Method Simplified Card Change: move used in the above effect
148 Karson's 1934 Hit Card Trick - Nifty Nok-Out: performer's hand has all cards facing the same, but spectator's all have one card reversed
149 My Impromptu Half Dollar and Hat Trick: coin vanishes from paper to be found in a hat
150 Cut And Restored Hanky
150 The Bewitched Handkerchief: handkerchief takes on properties of soft metal
151 A Rising Cigarette: from cigarette packet
151 Balancing Cigarette And Coin: almost impromptu balancing a coin on the end of a cigarette
152 The Magnetic Knife: knife or wand sticks to the palm, only one hand
152 Another Method: for the above, with a special ring
152 Thimple Thimble Thrix: sucker thimble color change
153 Nest Of Paper Bags: borrowed item vanishes to be found in a nest of bags
154 Ala Ala Indian Fakir Ala: bowl of water production with a scarf

156 On The House, 1941. SAM Convention Special
157 Contents
158 Hot and Cold Cigarette: spectator senses one end hot and one end cold of an unlit cigarette
158 Card's Double: selection found near it's double, or two cards come together
159 Strictly Good Percentage: odds are in magician's favor of dealing one of three cards in three tries
159 Hindu Bean Trick: beans put in the ear come out the mouth
160 Passe Passe Milk Miracle: milk passes from one tumbler to another with aid of an assistant

161 Sensational Poison Swallowing Act, 1934
163 Contents
164 Purchase Agreement
165 Introduction (U.F. Grant)
167 A Few Minutes With the Author
170 A Few Things to Consider Before Performing: cautions
171 The Human Gasoline Tank: committee smells the gasoline, some is poured out and ignited, and performer swallows the rest.
173 Swallowing Triple Strength Ammonia: committee smells the Ammonia, yet performer is unharmed by drinking it
175 Swallowing Concentrated Hydrocloric Acid: dropper of acid is dropped on metal to show the reaction, yet acid is drank without harm
177 For Safety's Sake

179 The World’s Fastest Card Trick, 1948
181 Dear Brother Magician (Joe Karson): preface
182 Effect: routine where a simple revelation becomes a comedy of errors until final success
183 Requirements: deck of cards, ability to perform a top or bottom change, and a suitable spectator, not a stooge
183 Working: full routine detailed
186 Patter: suggested patter

189 Tips on Zombie, 1946
191 Before We Start (Joe Karson)
192 The Skull Idea: some challenges in using a skull
192 A Hole In the Cloth: making the Zombie partially visible
193 The Zombie Instructions: tip
193 If Your Finger Hurts: tips
194 The Luminous Idea: under black lights
194 The Story Helps: ideas for patter themes
195 Zombie is In the Movies: reference
195 Like a Magnet: move
195 Juggling the Ball: another move
197 The Desmond Routine: recommended
197 Two Ides for a Zombie Vanish
198 No Base Idea
198 Paging Gen Grant: another recommendation
198 Now For the Cream: two great moves
198 - Karson's Gimmick Move
199 - Karson's Zombie Through the Hoop
201 Conclusion
202 Advertisement: for Karson's New Deluxe Zombie

203 Trix With Round Cards, 1935
203 Useful Information
203 - Second Dealing
203 - Bottom Dealing
203 - The Pass
203 A Card Location
204 A Trik With the Card Box: idea
204 The Expanding Ace: center pip expands in size
204 The Mysterious Circle of Cards: spectator counts down to her selection
205 A Prediction and an Easy Force
205 Double Backs: idea
205 Back Palming Round Cards
206 The Gamblers Dream: producing cards at the fingers
206 Throwing Cards Into a Hat
206 Designs: flourishes
206 Final Thoughts

207 Biz for the Wiz Magazine, 1950, Comedy monologues, M.C. bits, etc.
208 Backstage: introduction
208 The Flying Saucers: gag
208 The Apples and Tubes Routine: comedy passe passe routine
208 Good Nite Irene: bit referring to a popular tune
209 For M.C.'s: bit about the need for an M.C.
209 Advertisement: items for gags, magic useful for M.C.'s

210 Biz for the Wiz, Nov 1950
211 Some One Liners
211 Making the Rounds: a mermaid joke
211 Anti-Dotes for Hecklers: witty responses
211 Stooging Around: gag lines for a stooge in the audience
212 Rear View: comments on the 2nd issue, with a few more one liners
212 Christmas: subscription information

213 Biz for the Wiz, Dec 1950
214 The Man Who Couldn't: a shaggy dog story
214 Nuts I Just Got Paid: comedy bit with peanuts
214 An Open Letter to Joe Laurie, Jr.: more comedy
215 Rear View: Christmas wishes and a few gags
215 Did You Know That...: subscription information

216 Biz for the Wiz, Jan 1951
217 A Complete Comedy Crystal Gazing Routine, or the Great Stanislousy
217 For Magicians: one liners
218 Comic: illustrated cartoon
218 Have You Got What It Takes?: Advertisement

219 Biz for the Wiz, Feb 1952
220 Eagle Eye Dick: monologue and routine for M.C.s
221 Exits: two comedy exit bits
221 Have You Got What it Takes?: ad for comedic props

222 Biz for the Wiz, Mar 1952
223 The Million Dollar Device: a medicine pitch type act for the coat hanger
223 Some Business on Walkoffs (Mitt Boosters)
224 For M.C.'s: more bits of business
224 Have You Got What it Takes?: ad for comedic props

225 The Instruction Sheets
225 Allay Oop: rising card trick
226 Hand Thru Body Illusion: using a small frame
230 Karson’s Crystal Card Rise: using a houlette attached to a glass tube
232 Karson’s 50 - 50 Rope Miracle: magician restores his two halves of rope, leaving spectator with two un-joined halves
233 Karson’s Flash: handkerchief shot from gun onto end of rod held by assistant
236 Karson’s Jewel Of A Case: cut and restored rope with a plot
238 Karson’s Magic Milk Can: ideas for this prop
239 Karson’s Oriental Butterfly: paper butterfly becomes animated
240 Karson’s Rice Trick: rice transfers to another tumbler under a cylinder
242 Karson’s Rubberneck Illusion: assistant's head is spun 360 degrees in a cabinet
248 Karson’s Servette: with ideas for its use
250 Karson’s Tray And Eggs: physical stunt
251 Karson’s Triple Triumph: stage card effect
252 Karson’s Twentieth Century Suspension: assisstant supension illusion
256 Karson’s X-Change-O: bill exchange utility with multiple ideas for use
258 Phantasia: card vanish in the hands
259 Poker Chip Monte: poker chip with the one spot can't be located by the spectator
260 Strange Interlude: red and blue decks, and the selected cards, exchange places
261 Voodoo: animated handkerchief from cabinet