Muttenz-Chicago Opener by Roberto Giobbi
Regular readers of the blog may have noticed that I’ve written several posts on the trick commonly known as the “Chicago Opener” or “Red Hot Mama” (see all of my articles on this topic). The trick is still popular with magicians more than seventy years after its initial publication. However, the more I study, ponder and explore the Chicago Opener plot, the more dissatisfied I’ve become with the standard “magician in trouble” presentation of the effect. That’s why I’m extremely excited to share an utterly brilliant variation that solves many of the issues I have with this approach—the “Muttenz-Chicago Opener”. This masterful handling elevates the original plot into something far more motivated, compelling and logical. Trust me, you’re going to want to add this killer trick to your repertoire immediately after reading this.
The Trouble with Magicians in Trouble!
I’m not that keen on “magician in trouble” as a thematic device because it is overused and clumsily applied to most card tricks. More often than not, the difficulty the magician is apparently experiencing doesn’t feel authentic or remotely convincing. The situation worsens when the magician succeeds, and everyone realises that the whole thing was a paper-thin ruse to add some theatrical drama to the trick.
This is also the case with the “Chicago Opener” when it is performed with a magician-in-trouble theme. The back of the first spectator’s chosen card changes from blue to red. So far, so good. Then the magician offers to repeat the colour change but fails. After a bout of bad acting, the odd-backed card is revealed to be the second spectator’s selection.
Now, I’m not saying that a skilled performer cannot successfully present the trick in this way, but so often, the whole thing feels staged and horribly artificial. And our audiences know it!
Roberto to the Rescue!
Luckily, Roberto Giobbi, widely considered one of the best card magic teachers in the world, has come to our rescue! In a recent post on his blog, The Magic Memories (173, April 21), he shares a new way of performing this card magic classic.
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| Roberto Giobbi. Photo Credit: Zakary Belamy via RobertoGiobbi.com |
In “Muttenz-Chicago Opener”, one card in the deck turns red. But surprisingly, it’s not the spectator’s chosen card—it’s the wrong card entirely. The performer then finds the correct selection still lost in the deck and unsuccessfully attempts to turn the back of this card red.
Despite all his efforts, the card’s back stubbornly stays blue. However, in an incredible transposition, the face of the card has bizarrely transformed into the red card from earlier!
Finally, when the red-backed card is turned over, it’s revealed to be the spectator’s chosen card, leaving your audience utterly amazed.
Read The Magic Memories (173) (Opens in new Tab/Window)
If you want to improve your presentation of this time-honoured classic, this is a good option. What makes this version so brilliant is the more substantial, compelling conflict, motivating the magical solution. The trick goes wrong from the beginning, and the magician’s continued struggle to change the back colour feels more genuine and adds a greater sense of tension to the proceedings, better communicating that the magician is in a bind and has to pull off an incredible feat to save himself from embarrassment.
Like the trick it is based on, the “Muttenz-Chicago Opener” relies on some basic sleights (a force, double lift, and top change). The attempt to change the back colour provides the perfect cover for executing the top change seamlessly. Unlike “Chicago Opener”, the initial placement of the blue-backed duplicate card is also not important, so it is much easier to get into the trick. You can also easily perform this with a borrowed deck, so long as you have an odd-backed card in your pocket that you can secretly add to the bottom of the borrowed pack.
So, there you have it. Thanks to Roberto Giobbi, we have another excellent version of this plot that is sure to leave your audiences shaking their heads in disbelief. If you'd like to explore more variations of the Chicago Opener plot, take a look at my post Card Plot Chronologies: The Hot Card Trick.
I also encourage you to subscribe to Roberto Giobbi's free newsletter. His site has a lot of great content that's worth reading, absorbing, and reflecting on.
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