Michael Skinner's Intimate Magic by Jeff Busby
Second printing, 1982, published by Jeff Busby Magic, Inc.
Please note: While this item is new and unused, it's been lounging in storage for decades, so expect a few quirks like rusted staples or pages that might resemble a banana (seriously, they’re not all straight).
From Jeff Busby Magic, Inc. advertisement in Genii magazine, April 1986:
Michael Skinner is the Resident Magician and star entertainer at the plush Lily Langtree restaurant in the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas - a position that he has held for the past eight years. Michael is one of the very few magicians to have won the coveted Magic Castle Close-Up Magician of the Year award twice and one of the very few close-up workers to have appeared on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show twice. He's recognised by magicians around the globe as a top-flight entertainer and technician and is considered by many to be the world's foremost close-up magician.
MICHAEL SKINNER'S INTIMATE MAGIC offers 11 close-up and stand-up effects with cards, coins, balls, rope, and cigarette papers. Each routine is practical and effective—this is professional magic from a top-notch pro.
The first section of this book details 5 clever routines suitable for either stand-up or platform work. Included is the Thought Projection Pack, where two spectators pick five cards each from a deck they’ve shuffled and cut (yes, it’s not a trick deck, we promise). The first spectator partakes in an entertaining "lie detector" test, where you not only reveal the card he fibbed about but also name his mental selection. The second spectator concentrates on his cards while you name all of his selections under conditions that would make a magician sweat—one by one. Then there's Michael's stunning Slow Motion Coin Vanish, where a half dollar disappears and reappears under almost test conditions, with hands shown empty on both sides (not a magician's sneeze in sight). Next, we have a stand-up coin routine, where a coin magically appears, instantly transforms from copper to silver, and back again, culminating in a jumbo coin’s grand entrance. Michael Skinner and Tony Slydini even teamed up for a three-phase Cut and Restored Rope routine, chock-full of subtleties. Rounding off this section is a comedy coin routine where a half dollar vanishes and hilariously reappears in ways that’ll leave your audience in stitches.
The close-up magic section includes Michael's stunning Bewildering Ball Vase routine, finally explained correctly for the first time, complete with Dr. Sawa's surprising colour change finale. Repeat Power Poker is an entertaining and easy Poker Deal in two phases, where the spectator shuffles the deck, yet you still manage to deal five incredible Poker hands (yes, it’s not a magic trick, just skill). The Transfixed Card showcases Michael's personal method for the Card on the Ceiling. Charlie Miller once said, "I have seen Michael work this trick several times and it is most effective. There are no false moves. Everything flows smoothly." All-Fair Cards Through Newspaper is Michael's take on a classic, where each card is shown cleanly before it penetrates the newspaper (seriously, it’s as fair as a tea party). Michael's Torn and Restored Cigarette Paper routine is refreshingly different from any other published version—a single sheet is torn, restored, then magically transforms, and one more time, it’s all done in the fairest way possible. In Michael's unique Cigarette Paper Transposition, two marked sheets of cigarette paper swap places right under the spectator's nose.
All of this in a 45-page treasure trove, a generous 8 1/2 by 11 in size, with a full 48 photographs to ensure you don’t get lost, spiral bound in glossy, photographically illustrated art board covers.
