| I practiced the routine quite a bit and got ready to show it to someone. For my first try, |
| I visited my friend and magic mentor, Warren Stephens. I showed him the trick. He |
| looked up at the ceiling for a second after I performed it and said, “You almost got |
| me there!” Then we talked about other things. On my way home from his house |
| that night I felt crushed. I thought it was a good trick and it seemed barely acceptable. |
| I didn’t play much with it immediately after that. However, one Saturday down at |
| the magic shop I showed it to one of the other guys that hung around the shop. The |
| trick blew him away. He was overwhelmed with its magical appearance. I offered to |
| do it again, he accepted and I did it again. He offered me five dollars if I would teach it |
| to him. I thought that was great. |
| About this time, I went to a magic convention in St. Louis. I have always considered |
| this one of the better conventions. I met a magician named John Brown. I was in the |
| mode of doing Coins-n-Cards for anyone that would care to watch. So of course, I |
| performed it for him. He seemed to like it. He was very nice to me and he apparently |
| knew many people. Therefore, he helped me out by taking me around to meet |
| everyone at the convention. He would introduce me and allow me to do Coins-n-Cards |
| for this person. Then we would be off to meet someone else. I certainly did get a lot of |
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