Chan Canasta- A Remarkable Man

It has been some time since I posted. Since then I was able to obtain a copy of David Britland's, Chan Canasta- A Remarkable Man. (Here is a video of Canasta doing his impossible book test.

Over at the magic depot one of the "reviewers" said he was greatly disappointed with the book. I think this is likely due to the reputation of Canasta as a remarkable mentalist vs. the methods that he used as revealed in the book. Magicians are constantly looking for fascinating methods to perform an effect and Canasta seems to have understood that it wasn't the method that was the focus but upon the audience, to lead them to an incredible experience of magic. This is clear from what he tells his TV host on the next videos:




Watch the videos, especially the card work. Canasta used the Eight Kings stack and was an expert at using it. Rather than calling out the cards in order, he often transposed or leapt around the stack to confuse those who had seem him before. One of the British newspapers had exposed Canasta's methods as well as those of Maurice Fogel. Canasta didn't care. And he didn't care if he failed... it only added a bit of humaness to the mystique that he created. During the first interview you can hear Canasta telling the host two of his most precious secrets: psychology and memorizing the cards. Both are true, but Canasta does it so well that people naturally attributed his abilities to some sort of mystical quality.

If you watch the first video you'll see Canasta doing his book test. It is impromptu and carefully orchestrated, so natural. All of these methods are revealed in Britland's book

On another note, there are effects that simply do not read well. They do not convey the incredible experience that an actual performance does. For example, watch this video of Al Koran:

Koran's effects:
Gold Medallion
Number duplication
Headline Prediction.

All three of these can be found in Hugh Miller's two books on Koran, including Professional Presentations. Koran's medallion is a classic effect, often duplicated to lesser impact upon the audience. Don Wayne's version that was performed by Copperfield (Room Service) is a good take on it but requires two persons. Imagine Koran walking out to the stage in the Ed Sullivan show with no visible props and performs for 9 minutes with nothing but a few pieces of paper, an envelope and a tabloid newspaper. It is obvious that it is not the magic or methods but Koran that is on stage.