Juggling Money
The Coin Juggling section of the DVD focuses on coin rolls-intense variations on rolling coins over your knuckles (not to be confused with coin roll-outs-rolling coins on their edges between your fingers). Turner teaches how to roll dimes and giant coins, and roll coins in opposite directions at the same time, and offers another variation where coins roll under and over the fingers.
Turner increases the difficulty by adding coins until he rolls seven coins. I’m not sure that there are lots of magicians out there who are interested in rolling four, five or seven coins, but if you want to learn the patterns, Turner teaches them. With this heavy-handed emphasis on coin rolls, I think that the coin section has rather limited appeal. I know that I regularly receive positive reactions from my lay audiences by simply rolling a single coin on each hand in my shows. I have little desire to add more coins.
Serious Finger Flinging
For finger flingers, Turner offers his amazing “One-Handed Triumph,” which is as impressive to magicians for its difficulty, as it is to lay people for its effect. There’s a fun “Do As I Do” routine that makes use of four cards. The final routine is Turner’s stunning “5 Pound Matrix,” a coin matrix that uses jumbo cards and features a large load at the end, in this case, a five pound barbell weight.
The DVD features some history on Turner himself and a couple of entertaining routines that show him performing eggs from the mouth and a musical gambling act. Both showcase Turner’s talents as a mime as well as a skilled magician.
Fans, Flourishes, and False Shuffles - Richard Turner is a good DVD. Whether you want to purchase it will depend on where you currently stand with your card work and what you wish to learn. Beginners can learn a lot from this DVD. And if you already know the basic card flourishes, you will probably enjoy Turner’s variations, particularly the impressive one-handed cuts with backflips, Double Bridge Shuffle and one-handed strip-outs.
-Wayne N. Kawamoto
Dealers can purchase from Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc.
