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Canasta called his effects "experiments" rather than tricks. He performed experiments in thought using two packs of playing cards. He would ask a spectator to think of a card then another to pick the unstated thought-of-card from a different pack; or he would place cards onto a table and ask a
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Chan
Canasta was born Chananel Mifelw in Poland in 1920s. Mifelew's father was an emigre from Russia. Mifelew attended Krakow University where he studied philosophy and natural sciences for his first year. However, he then left Poland and went to Jerusalem to study psychology. His studies were
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spectator to pick up one card that another spectator was only thinking of. The effects were risky, and he would often fail on live television. Contemporary magicians decried
Canasta's approach but this element of "risk-taking" has been a major influence on the current generation of magicians.
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Among magicians, Canasta is recognised for inventing the principle that eschewed perfection, believing that making an occasional error made his other effects stronger and more entertaining, an approach later followed by comedy magician,
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Canasta's signature routine was his "Experiment With Books". He would invite a volunteer from the audience to choose a random page, then would predict precisely the number of words comprising three
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Chan
Canasta (1966) Chan Canasta's Book of Oopses : Being a Collection of Thrilling Experiments in Which the Book Itself Plays the Part of the Mind-Reader; George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd.
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it contained. He was not concerned if he made the odd mistake when performing this trick, believing a few errors along the way simply highlighted the validity of his normally correct answers.
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Canasta didn't refer to himself as a magician or a mentalist; he often used his own term "psycho-magician" but was most commonly billed as "A Remarkable Man".
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in the 1950s and 1960s, becoming the first TV celebrity magician in the 1950s, and then in later life he turned to painting. Born in
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and book tests during the late 1940s. Over the course of his career, Canasta performed at the
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Canasta retired from the stage at the height of his fame to pursue a dream to become a
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has cited
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Obituaries in the
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David
Britland (2001) Chan Canasta: A Remarkable Man Volume 2
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Britland (2000) Chan Canasta: A Remarkable Man Volume 1
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