Sleight of Hand:Winthrop Magician Keeps Even Penn and Teller Stumped

By Sue Ellen Woodcock

It is the ultimate trick to perform in front of professional magicians, the other thrill is to fool them with a trick that they can’t figure out.

That’s what Winthrop resident Paul Gertner did a couple of weeks ago on “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” on the CW Network.

On Penn and Teller Fool Us Paul had a little something extra up his sleeve.  Knowing that Penn had bought the book and knew how the trick was done, Paul decided to add one additional element at the finish that if done perfectly… just might fool the boys. It worked.. Paul Won!

The name of the trick is called “Unshuffled” done with a deck of cards and a black magic market. The magician makes several marks on the side of the deck and as he shuffles different words appear. Penn and Teller were familiar with this “Unshuffled” trick but not with the twist at the end were the word “Shuffled” appears.

As a result of this win Gertner will be opening for Penn and Teller in their Las Vegas Show on October 3.  You can see the video for yourself by going to www.Gertner.com and clicking on the video link.

Gartner, who lives in the Cottage Park area in a large apartment with his wife surrounded by huge antique magic posters. He started magic as a kid and with seven kids in the family they always made trips to the library where Gertner always got magic books. He also had  an audience of seven kids in the family.

“At 16 I began to do slight of hand tricks,” Gertner said. “He had a book with harder tricks.”

Gertner met Penn & Teller more than 40 years ago when they were all just starting out on their magic careers.  At that initial meeting in Atlanta, Paul performed a new creation he called “Unshuffled”, a trick where a deck of cards is magically unshuffled as the name of the selected card appears on the side of the deck.  It made quite an impression on the duo and years later Penn purchased Paul’s book Steel & Silver with the express purpose of learning the secret to the trick that fooled him years ago.

On the show Penn praised Gerstner, saying “I am a huge fan of Paul Gertner… a huge fan.”  He went on to say knows how  most of the trick is done because he bought the book, and even though he practiced for years and he never got good enough to be able to perform Unshuffled.  “But I’m not dead yet… I’m going to keep practicing,” Penn said.

Paul has worked for more than 1,000 companies Like IBM, Siemens and Konica Minolta at shows in more than 25 counties around the world.  His credits include numerous First Place Awards in International Magic Competitions including the Gold Medal at FISM the Olympics of Magic. He has been named the Close-Up Magician of the Year from the Magic Castle in Hollywood twice.  Paul was the first magician to win the Siegfried & Roy Gold Lion Award in Las Vegas. He has been feature in two TEDx talks, at The Presidential Inauguration and performed on many television shows including multiple appearances on NBC’s Tonight Show, HBO, CBS, ABC and even Mister Rogers Neighborhood.  His schedule last year included a 31-city tour of China performing in 2,000 seat theaters where almost every show was sold out.

Paul Gertner is nationally recognized speaker and corporate magician, whose honors include multiple Tonight Show appearances, performing at a presidential inauguration, and winning three international competitions, and fooling Penn & Teller. He can be hired as a trade show magician or keynote presenter. For more information, visit www.gertner.com.