Today, "Moe From Pittsburgh" is a legend in card magic from a previous era. Like most legends in any field, little factual information is known about him. Moe, whose full name is Morris Seidenstein, first appeared on the national magic scene at the International Brotherhood of Magicians Convention at Lima, Ohio in June, 1929.  Moe won the third prize for the "Best Pocket Trick" at this convention.

One year later, Moe really hit the top at the I.B.M. Convention in Fort Wayne, Indiana: According to Frank Lane in the Linking Ring, Volume 10, Number 4: "Moe from Pittsburgh fooled everybody forty million times." In the same issue of the Linking Ring, Gene Gordon commented in his column, Within The Shuffle: "Moe and his card trick was (sic) the sensation of the lobby - he fooled them all, yours truly among them."

In the same issue of the Linking Ring, it was reported that Moe won the third prize for the "Best Card Trick" of the year. I am assuming that the card trick he did on the contest show and the one that he did around the lobby were the same; his Look At A Card.

Also, found in this same issue of the Linking Ring, dated June, 1930, is an advertisement from Frank Lane for Moe's Look At a Card. A copy of that ad is reproduced on the following page to further explain the effect that Moe created at Fort Wayne in 1930.

Now that I have gained your attention with the advertisement and some notable quotes pertaining to Moe's Look At a Card, here is the text of the instructions to the effect as published by Frank Lane in June, 1930.

The above is from Chapter 1 of MOE AND HIS MIRACLES WITH CARDS
This section written by William P. Miesel and Copyright 1986 by Jeff Busby.