Whitestar

THE BLURB:
A Perfect Separation of the Living from the Dead

The performer is seated at a table opposite two volunteers.
The performer places a small article in front of each
person, such as an old coin and an old fountain pen (these
are to act as 'markers').

The performer now takes out from his wallet, a small packet
of old photographs which he quickly thumbs through as he
mentions to the volunteers that they may recognize some of
these as they have appeared in books or programs about the
Titanic as they were all passengers on that ill fated liner.
The packet is squared and turning to the first volunteer,
the performer says that he is going to show him/her the
photographs one at a time and if they feel somehow drawn to
some, they should tell him and they will be placed in front
of them and their 'marker'.

The performer shows the photographs, one by one to the
volunteers, who either decides to take one and place it on
the pile forming in front of them or reject it. The rejected
photographs forming a discard pile in the center of the
table.

'Look at this young lady please, what emotions do you think
she is feeling.....'

When all the photographs have been chosen to be kept or
rejected, the performer brings attention to the discard
pile. Thumbing through the photographs the performer starts
talking about specific photos (the person's name etc)
stressing how absolutely any of the photos could have been
retained by the volunteers.

The performer explains that what they have both just done
was part of an experiment. He also explains that he has
found that the best results only occur when nothing is
explained beforehand and that the results are always
different (quite true to a point).

The performer then states that the old coin was taken from
one of the bodies found in the wreckage of the Titanic and
the fountain pen was used by a clerk to write out the list
of all the survivors. The person with the coin is asked to
turn their photographs over and in doing so they see each
photograph has printed on its back, the name of the person,
a few details about them and that they DIED! The spectator
holding the fountain pen turns their photographs over and
sees the similar details but all their photographs have
SURVIVED printed on them! The discarded pile is turned over
and shown that there is a complete mix, in no sequence of
both the DIED and SURVIVED photographs!

After the initial amazement, the spectators may ask how this
was possible to which the performer replies, "As I said, it
was an experiment. The fact is I can't explain it! It seems
to be just another mystery surrounding the Titanic".

At this point, the performer can sit back and relax as the
volunteers spend the next half hour or so looking at all the
photographs and reading the details on the backs. Onlookers
too will want to read the backs and quite often a chat
session about the Titanic takes place.

If you only want to perform one effect in an evening, this
is it. If you want to finish an evening on a high note, this
is it.

Comes complete with 28 high quality professionally produced
cards and a detailed, photo illustrated 21 page book
teaching you the full routine, presentation and tips and
techniques to make this effect a reputation maker.

FEATURES

No Sleight of Hand Required!

The cards are completely ungimmicked, and fully examinable!

Instantly resets to perform again!

The cards REALLY are completely mixed up and shuffled by the
spectators. The performer does not change the order of the
cards AT ALL once the spectator has mixed them, or after the
spectators have chosen the cards they want to keep!

No switched or swapped cards or packets. The spectators
decide if they want to keep the cards or discard them and
that's FINAL. The performer does not need to do any sneaky
switches or adjustments to the cards the spectators have
chosen!

Jim Critchlow goes into great detail about the creation of
White Star, the history and origins of the methods used and
the psychology that can be applied to the effect to not only
surprise and amaze the spectators, but to leave a lasting
psychological impression on them long after the performance.

Additional Routines Included:

White Star Revisited - An alternative handling for the
effect created with the help of Karl Bartoni

Beyond White Star - A version of White Star using a regular
deck of genuinely shuffled playing cards with additional
endings from Karl Bartoni and with a borrowed shuffled deck!

MY COMMENTS:
My first impression when seeing the blurb was, "Here we go
again with another Out of this World variation." But this
one is good. Very good. I've not seen this approach before
and the tie-in to the Titanic (White Star was the name of
the shipping line that ran the Titanic) is really a clever
touch, though admittedly it may not be everyone's cup of
tea. The pictures are quite clever in that they are marked,
and everyone can see their marks, but they only mean
something to the performer (hidden in plain sight!).

I'm sure that this is another one of those effects that when
you read the instructions, you'll think "OK, how can ANYONE
be fooled by this!" But, then, realize that Out of this
World is a killer and this one is just a variation. I
performed this for my students and thought that, for
certain, they wouldn't be impressed. Not only was I wrong,
but they wanted me to do it again immediately! And they've
been asking me to do it again every day since!

The package includes a glossy 21 page instruction manual and
28 photographs which are 3" x 4". If you don't like using
the Titanic theme, you can always adapt it to a theme of
your choosing, although you'll have to gather your own
props. There is a also a method with playing cards. Though
it's still effective, I found that stepping back into the
use of playing cards makes this more mundane, although a
borrowed shuffled pack is not a bad alternative if you want
an impromptu version. Definitely recommended.