Bill Malone is one of the funniest and best card magicians on the planet. I had to have this DVD to learn Sam the Bell Hop but learned so much more. You will really like the routine although it takes some work the reaction is fantastic and ongoing through the routine. Malone is a serious move monkey and some of the moves may not come easy to you but stick with it and you will have a great trick at your disposal. Any DVD with Malone's name on it I have found very good.

I don't normally purchase DVDs that feature just one trick, but in the case of Bill Malone's "Sam the Bellhop" DVD it was a really great purchase.

Malone first provides a performance in front of a lay audience of his version of "Sam the Bellhop". Then he explains the history of this kind of story-telling card trick in which each card has a meaning in the story as it is dealt off the top of the deck. This kind of trick has special meaning for me personally because when I was in grade school, a school chum showed me a very similar trick and I have never forgotten how entertaining it was. (This was in the 1950's!)

Then, and this is probably the best part of the DVD, Malone gives instructions for quite a few sleights and flourishes that make "Sam the Bellhop" not only entertaining, but extremely baffling. These include fundamental card sleights such as the Zarrow Shuffle, the Erndase Running Cut and many, many more. All of these sleights are essential to the basic skill set of card magic sleight of hand. These sleights are not easy to do at first and they will need lots of practice. But that practice will pay off!

Malone says very clearly that it is necessary to practice these moves hundreds of times. In fact, I would recommend that they be practiced a thousand times before doing them in front of an audience. The obvious reason for this is that a card magician's handling of the deck must be done mostly by feel while interacting with the audience. This kind of total nonchalance, ease and grace is what makes for the very highest sort of card magic. Just watching five to ten youtube videos of Bill Malone performing card magic will demonstrate what mastery of this caliber of card magic really means.

In the near future I plan to invest in the other Bill Malone instructional DVDs - "On the Loose" and "Malone Meets Marlo".