Description
With its origins in the magic bars of Chicago, the card under glass idea was popularized by Heba Haba Al (Andrucci). He handed it down to Bob Sheets who eventually performed it for a young man who would come to be known as Doc Eason. It made such an impression on Doc that he eventually took it to new heights.
Slipping a card under a drink while the audience closely scrutinizes every move, without getting caught, is hard enough to do once. But, even after telling his patrons he is going to do it, Doc does it an incredible 6 more times! –
This masterpiece of routining and misdirection takes the audience on a roller coaster of entertainment and amazement. Doc deconstructs the act and examines the hows and whys of the entire routine. It is an advanced lesson, not only of card handling, but of CROWD handling.
The routine is modular, meaning that each one of the tricks is strong enough to be performed by itself, but can also be left out for a more abbreviated version.
This set contains a great performance, complete instructions of the tricks, a ‘tool box’ of sleights, and a running commentary.
After 45+ years of performing, here is Doc’s ‘Magnum Opus’.
Voted video of the year in 2018.
With its origins in the magic bars of Chicago, the card under glass idea was popularized by Heba Haba Al (Andrucci). He handed it down to Bob Sheets who eventually performed it for a young man who would come to be known as Doc Eason. It made such an impression on Doc that he eventually took it to new heights.
Slipping a card under a drink while the audience closely scrutinizes every move, without getting caught, is hard enough to do once. But, even after telling his patrons he is going to do it, Doc does it an incredible 6 more times!-
This masterpiece of routining and misdirection takes the audience on a roller coaster of entertainment and amazement. Doc deconstructs the act and examines the hows and whys of the entire routine. It is an advanced lesson, not only of card handling, but of CROWD handling.
The routine is modular, meaning that each one of the tricks is strong enough to be performed by itself, but can also be left out for a more abbreviated version.
This set contains a great performance, complete instructions of the tricks, a ‘tool box’ of sleights, and a running commentary.
After 37+ years of performing, here is Doc’s ‘Magnum Opus’.
In case you need more info, check this review by none other than Bob Fitch.
Bob Fitch review
This is a review of the Card under Glass dvd from Bob Fitch.
Seeing your 2 DVD set on “Card Under Glass” gave twice the perks that I expected. The performance itself is funny, interactive, really a masterpiece not only in entertainment values but in showing us how to interact with an audience. There’s always a constant flow that always feels “in the moment”, an improvisational quality that if examined shows the power & ease of many years of experience and constant improvement. I remember how easy Fred Astaire made all his dances look, i.e. relaxed, simple and expressive. With Doc’s show, you have the same qualities. It’s accessible and gets you hooked on the fun. It’s a bit of a reality show and a little Candid Camera, i.e. you like him, you become part of the action and you love watching the other patrons and their reactions.
Then you watch the explanations: I was stunned at the many levels contained in the structure of Doc’s show. You want to catch him getting that card under the glass. Its a challenge, but each phase is built to outwit you & distract you from the move and the moment. His “in your face” misdirection is a real lesson for all of us. You hope to “catch” him, and, barring that you hope someone else will catch him.
His handling is simple and…invisible! It never gets in the way of the entertainment. Its enforced and at times he uses a delayed subtlety. He’s a bit of a devil behind those whiskers. He doesn’t want to fool us, he wants to fool WITH us! And…we love it!
It suddenly hit me, between my laughing and my awe at the complexity of this routine…Doc wasn’t using a teleprompter. His explanations were long and uninterrupted. He didn’t waiver or look at notes and the details just flowed effortlessly. This really showed the depth of Doc’s experience. I don’t really know many that could have accomplished this without lots of cuts and/or ah-er-ahms. He held your attention. His explanation was clear, simple and to the point.
And now for the icing on the cake: DVD # 2. At first, I thought perhaps it was unnecessary. The moves are fairly simple for a competent card man. Do I really need to see them again? Well, here’s his clever concept: After showing the moves, he shows you his performance again, but at exactly the spot where this move takes place, so you see it in action without having to go back to DVD #1. Brilliant. He also goes back through the performance telling you what he’s thinking in the moments of performance and what he’s thinking as he assesses his audience and how to deal with them. It’s like a cold reading during the actions of performance. This concept is revolutionary and really spells out how a real professional works. It couldn’t be clearer. This concept alone is worth seeing whether you perform any of Doc’s routines or not. This really sold me, not on just the act, but on Doc himself; his thinking, his performance, his character, his competence and experience, and his creativity.
Do I like this 2 DVD set? Don’t you dare!
and if you are still on the fence…
this in from a Dr Ayala who reviews it for the Magic Café.
Doc Eason Card Under Glass (2 DVD set) Review
Official Review
April 23rd, 2015 10:14pm Rating:
Reviewed by Dr. J. M. Ayala de Cedoz
[Bowing in reverence to Doc Eason] [Repeat] [Once more].
With that out of the way, WOW! Where to begin with this set?
If you have ever seen Doc Eason lecture or seen his live performance, if you have ever seen his Bar Magic videos produced by L&L or any of his other work, you have either seen, heard or read about his work on the classic “Card Under Glass”. If you have studied his handling in the past, you are in for a real treat with this because it goes much further beyond anything he has taught in the past.
The DVD quality is top-notch as with any other Kozmo Magic productions – the audio, video and lighting were fantastic, the menu was very well laid out and easy to navigate and the way the DVDs were shot were fantastic.
Supposing you click the ‘Watch All’ button in the menu, you will first see an intro from Doc where he briefly talks about his history and love of this effect. You will then see a full performance at a restaurant bar with various “characters” (local patrons) and then in the teaching segments, he breaks it down into explaining all of the effects in order, each one having their own chapter.
Doc also sits down with Kozmo Koz and discusses working in the real world and how to make it work best for you. He gives his insights and ideas from his own experiences over the years and he uses the main performance on the DVD to illustrate some of his points. This was a casual and candid discussion more than an interview.
You will also find some other performances with a completely different crowd in the same location (which was shot on a different night) just to show you how things change from show to show.
There is a wonderful section where Doc plays through the main performance of the DVD and uses spotlighting and freeze-framing to talk about certain aspects of routining, why/how things work, when/how to do certain actions or moves, what certain spectators and participants were doing at certain points, what they noticed/said, how they behaved and how Doc read them in real time. He also gives hints, tips and other ideas along the way – it is a very insightful and useful tool for viewers at home.
One great thing about this particular routine is that it is modular. You can perform one or two of the effects that are woven in between the “Card Under Glass” sequences, you can do the whole thing if you like or you can use your own effects that would play well with the plot. As Doc says, how much of the routine you perform and how long it goes is something you have to judge based on the venue, the crowd and all those other things that only come with getting out there and getting experience. Speaking of the versatility of this plot, you do not even have to use a glass – you can use the card box, salt/pepper shakers, cell phones, the sky is the limit!
Another cool thing about this set is that if you do not click the ‘Play All’ button, you can jump from chapter to chapter for the performances and the explanations. In the explanation section, if you click on a particular chapter (say for example you choose to watch the “Two-Card Transpo” explanation), you will see the section of the main performance, after which you are taken to a studio shot where Doc teaches you that particular part of the routine. If you so desire, you can skip the clip and go right into the explanation without watching it again.
There are certain things about the in-between effects (such as the Three-Card Monte) that Doc assumes you are familiar with already and he only teaches a quick version of the sleights used in those effects (such as the Hype used in the Monte sequence). This is okay because he even says, where applicable, that if you are not familiar with certain things, this DVD is probably not the place to start. Further, this DVD is not about teaching the in-between effects; it is about showing you how to do the ‘Card Under Glass’ and weave other effects into that to make a complete routine and make it entertaining. He does exactly that and more…in Spades!
To clarify that last bit just a bit more: Most of the in-between effects are standard plots in magic and are nothing really difficult to do and most magicians will already be familiar with their mechanics. He does go over all of the moves but not always in detail (again as an example: the Hype Move used in the Three-Card Monte).
The second DVD is what Doc calls the Toolbox. I have always loved the concept of the Toolbox as it relates to magicians. Here, Doc teaches his handlings on various sleights ranging from the Double Lift to the much-feared-but-too-often-neglected Top Change. Again, he uses his own experience to tell you why he uses certain sleights and even when to use some of them and when not to use them.
You may already know all of the moves he teaches on this disc but, even so, I promise you will still learn a thing or two about them here that you have never heard of before or may have forgotten about. Beyond that, you may not even use the sleights that he teaches here and that is okay. Learn them, practice them and know them well, and then, put them in your toolbox. To paraphrase Bill Malone from his ‘Malone Meets Marlo’ DVD series, “When it comes to sleights, I believe you should learn as many as you can and put them in your toolbox because although you may not use them all of the time, you may eventually find yourself in a situation where they will be helpful or useful and they may save you.”
This DVD set is easily one of the BEST products of the year and among one of the best magic videos produced to date by anyone. You cannot ask for better quality production, you cannot ask for a better teacher nor could you ask for a more in-depth instruction on the material presented. More than just the how-to part of this DVD set, you are getting years and years of insights, hints, tips and ideas gained only from experience performing in the trenches, you are watching someone that knows how to entertain a crowd and teach his material extremely well and you get to see all the inside work that nobody else gets to see. For everything that you are getting, this set is worth MORE than the $49.95/USD price tag. It could easily have been sold for more and still have been worth every penny!
If you have ever wanted to study this plot there is no better place to look than this DVD set, which is without question the finest of its kind. If you have studied this in the past, regardless of the source, you will still learn a lot of new things here.
5 stars, VERY, VERY HIGHLY recommended!
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