Pretty much. Romaine taught Jeff a lot of those moves. But, if you're serious about card manipulation, it's best to see everything that's out there. Then you can pick and choose what's best for you.

Ben S

Does anyone have a list of the flourishes taught on the card portion of it?

I found demo video here http://themagicwarehouse.com/realaudio/dv4011.wmv

So would you suggest monarch of manipulation over worl class manipulation and art of class manipulation by jeff McBride or are they two hard to compare.
Whos better value for money as I'm a bit skint.

If I could only bring one DVD-set to a desert island, and had to choose between McBride's "The Art of Card Manipulation" and Romaine's "Monarch of Manipulation" I'd probably go with McBride. So, yes, SwissKid, there is a lot of duplication of sleights - a lot of the same material is covered by both men. But there's enough variation that I'd try to sneak both of them to my desert island.

I'll post the DVD contents later.

Steve

Here's the contents of "Romaine: The Monarch of Manipulators" taken from the DVD menu:

Disk One:

Stage Show
Introduction
Preparation
Producing Fans
Single Card Productions
Interlocked Finger Production
Huegard production
Devices for Manipulation
Front and Back Palm
Thruston Method
Card Spinning
Camouflages
The Big Five
Vanishing and Reproducing Cards
Walter Cummings Finger Snap
Hand Washing
Working With Gloves
The Color Changing Deck
Flourishes
Card Clips
Posture for Manipulating
Sequencing
Closing Statement

Disk Two:

Stage Show (same performance as on Disk One)
Billiard Ball Act
Working With Billiard Balls Intro
Vanishes
Color Changes
Loading the Balls
The Routine
Using Shells
Help Hints
Card Bonus
Cigarette Bonus
Tips and Advice
Perplexing Pearls Trick

Ok here goes my review for this set of DVDs.

Each DVD starts with Romaine's full Cards and Billiard Ball routines.

Card Manipulation DVD:

First Romaine goes into the prepearation required and describes what cards to use. Then he starts off with explaining Fan productions and then Single Card productions. He also explains the Interlocked production, the Huegard production, the front and back palm (to show hand empty), the Thurston Method and Cummings Finger Snap Production.

He goes into devices available which make manipulation easier and he also into some clips for placement on teh body. He discusses the use of gloves and also camouflage.

He explains the color changing deck sequence he uses and also some flourishes, (although he does not use them himself, since his persona is of a drunk magician) together with card spinning. He discusses Hand Washing, Posture and Squencing. These three parts contain very useful information. Finally he also goes through the Big Five sequence, which is a beautiful sequence of fan productions which you don't see coming.

Billiard Ball Manipulation DVD:

He starts by discussing different types of balls and then goes through some droppers available. Then he goes into various Vanishes and Productions, and various Color Changes. He talks about loading and then goes through his routine step by step. Then he discusses and explains productions, vanishes and color changes with a shell, although he does not use it in his act. He ends up with some hints and tips for performing and getting the job.

As a bonus he performs and explains his Perplexing Persian Pearls routine. This is a very beautiful piece of close-up theatre. It has everything, from productions and vanishes to transportations and splitting. May be well worth half the price of the DVD set.



I highly reccommend this DVD. There are a lot of tips scattered here and there. It's immediately apparent that Romaine is a working professional with many years of experience in the field. He may not be a great teacher, but his experience really shows through his teachings.

Now, some of you may be asking, "How do these compare to Mc.Bride's?" Well Mc. Bride's are six volumes if you want to cover Billiard Balls and Cards. You can't fit all the information that is available on MB's on these two DVDs. Both are great, and both contain knowledge which the other doesn't have. This set is a good starting point. Then one could go with Mc.Bride's for further knowledge and various other productions and vanishes. For those who already have Mc. Bride's and are serious about Manipulations, I would also suggest this one, for the added knowledge.

Hope I was of help.