Introduction

I met Marty in 1995 at the Florida State Magic Convention. He has been a good friend and frequent contributor to my efforts for many years.

Fortunately, Marty ran short on time while working on this book and decided that finding the right person to write the introduction was not as important as finding a person to write the introduction… and so, here we are.

For Marty it was mission accomplished, for me it is an honor, and for you…

Well, your participation is not mandatory. And, since Marty already has your money, your presence at this point is no longer required.

The fact that I like Marty’s magic is evidenced by the impressive quantity of top quality magic of his I have published over the last twenty-plus years.

In addition to dozens of tricks published separately, his magic was featured in three one-man inserts in The Trapdoor and a one-man chapter in Volume IX of Semi-Automatic Card Tricks.

And I am not the only one who has published his work.

Mutual friends Aldo Colombini, Peter Duffie, Michael Powers, Jon Racherbaumer, Robin Robertson, and many others, have dipped their fanning-powdered fingers into the Marty Pool and published what we will call, for lack of an official designation, his B-material.

(For our purposes, we will define “B-material” as any material I didn’t publish first. Sure. That’s why we call it that.)

This is not a collection of magic from his friends. The tricks in this book are all Marty’s.

And, when it comes to Marty’s magic, Marty is an itinerant tinkerer.

The “send” button on his keyboard is often still warm from sending his latest version of a new effect when he labels that version inferior and dashes off the description to a “new and improved” version.

As the frequent recipient of these minute (often sub-atomic) variations of the same freakin’ effect, I can tell you that I don’t bother opening an e-mail with an attachment from Marty until the next day, knowing there will be an update within 24 hours.

Sometimes there are multiple variations that arrive before I read the first version. This type of hyper-tinkering leads to such inane responses from me as “I prefer the 10:19 p.m. version to the 10:21 p.m. variation #6.”

Magic is not Marty’s only interest.

In his free time, he likes to hang-glide alongside disease-riddled mosquitoes, take one-day trapeze courses because you never know when that skill set might come in handy, and go on jetpack joyrides just because zipping around in the Delray Beach tourist traffic isn’t dangerous enough.

Amazingly, he applies this same high level of energy and enthusiasm to reverse faros, down-under deals, and other mathematically – based card magic.

In fact, I blame Marty for dragging me and many others further into the dark side of math-based magic.

Marty will tell you he is not a professional performer. Like most magicians, most of his performances are for friends and acquaintances.

Opting for the practical, he almost never incorporates difficult sleights, gimmicks, complex setups, or special decks.

He also does not run from mathematical processes or procedures, preferring instead to disguise them with engaging presentations.

Fortunately, Marty has a quirky sense of humor and he uses it to justify, misdirect, and cover most necessary mathematical procedures.

And while his presentations may not “it your performance style, they illustrate the approaches he uses to add life to his performances.

As I often say, if you can make a down-under deal entertaining, you can make just about anything entertaining. (Disclaimer: This does not apply to mentalism.)

For example, I love to start a card trick with a great hook, and you will find many in this volume.

At the beginning of Trick with a Week Ending, he needed to remove an ace through seven, all of the same suit.

He covered the dead time spent retrieving those cards from the deck by saying he learned the trick that follows during a midnight session at a magic convention he attended back in the spring of ’67. 

“It’s easy to recall the exact time because it was one twenty-three in the morning… on April “fifth… back in ’67.”

He tables each of the cards in order as he recites the patter. Compare that to the usual “Let me show you something with seven cards.”

Marty’s tricks occasionally convey personalities to the cards themselves. In Sole Mate, Marty removes six of the most popular (frequently chosen) cards in the deck.

When the participant chooses one by sliding it to the center of the table, “You’ve chosen one of the most popular cards in the deck. Look at it there, all alone. It doesn’t look very popular now.”

Tell me you aren’t interested in what happens to this poor card that has recently fallen from grace. I bet you’re already flipping the pages to that trick right now.

One of my favorite “Marty tricks” is one he invented and then allowed me to personalize for my own use (see Cursed by an Evil Spell in this volume).

In this hilarious standup routine, the audience, in unison, makes an obscene gesture toward the magician. It never fails to win over the audience.

I would like to think that Marty has collected material in this book that will encourage – no, it will virtually guarantee – that audiences will be flipping off a growing number of magicians for a long time to come.

And, in that spirit, I hope we can all come together and join them in their efforts.

Steve Beam
August 2016