Andi Gladwin - Ego One Man Issue Vol1 - Issue12 (29 P)

ANDI GLADWIN

Andi Gladwin & Lance Burton during the filming of “Young Magicians Showcase,” 1999

EGO ONE MAN ISSUE

Volume 1, Issue #12 June 2002

The Andi Gladwin One Man Issue

Edited by José Muñiz

Assistant – Proofreader Jamie Badman

Copyright  2002 José Muñiz All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, photography, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, now know or to be invented, without prior written permission from the author.

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Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………….3 All Over The (Dis)Place .............................................................4 Gotcha ....................................................................................7 Ambitious Chameleon ............................................................. 10 Splitting Hairs ........................................................................ 11 The Convincing Tabled Bluff Pass.............................................. 15 Lie Deck-Tector ...................................................................... 17 Ambitious Boxing ................................................................... 20 Bound To Stern ...................................................................... 22 Bizarre Card Switch ................................................................ 23 Visi-Rip ................................................................................. 24 Ripped Casebreak................................................................... 25 Double Decker Ripper ............................................................. 26 Forever Ripping...................................................................... 28

Andi Gladwin [email protected] http://www.asquaredproductions.com

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INTRODUCTION: Well the latest EGO is here and this time you’re in for a real treat. Andi Gladwin is England’s answer to David Blaine without the camera tricks and the really cool girlfriend (though not for want of trying on Andi’s part – Britney, if you’re reading this, check him out; he’ll treat you right!). I’ve known Andi for a few years now and have found him to truly be one of the nicest people I’ve met in the world of magic. A great bloke, outstanding magician and an excellent mind. He certainly has the magical pedigree, having appeared with Lance Burton a short while back in Vegas. I mean, what are the chances of getting a call one evening and it’s Lance Burton wanting you to do a few things for him on stage and for the pleasure, he’ll fly you across the world, put you up in lavish hotels and make your bank manager a very happy man ?! Just pack your cards, your doves and a large tub of Vaseline (hey, what in this life is for free, eh ?) ! What’s also immediately apparent when meeting Andi is his willingness to share what he does with others driven by his passion for the art – hence this collection of effects which I know you’ll all enjoy. They are varied and well thought out – many of which will provide you not just with an effect to use but also food for thought; springboards for new ideas of your own. Of course, if you do come up with new effects as a result, please send them to Jose and we can all read about them in a future issue of EGO! Anyway, I think I’ve told you enough about Andi now and I can hear the footsteps of his lawyer approaching (hey, wait a minute; since when did lawyers carry baseball bats ?!) so I better leave you with his offerings to you, which I know you’ll love… Fellow subscribers of EGO – may I present to you a glimpse into the clean part of the creative mind of Andi Gladwin… enjoy ! Jamie Badman. Assitant - Proofreader Ego Magazine

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All Over The (Dis)Place The main reason that I am publishing it is to beat the rush of variations that will no doubt appear after Troy Hooser published his independently created effect “Displ-ACE-ment” in his new book, DesTROYers (Joshua Jay, 2001). The effect itself is almost identical to Troy’s, although in my opinion, his uses a number of unnecessary moves. Suffice to say, I find this routine much cleaner and less awkward to perform. EFFECT

The four aces are cleanly displayed and placed face-up on top of the deck. With a wave the aces fade away from the deck and are shown to have scattered to four different locations in the deck. It’s that clean! The aces vanish, the deck is spread and they are sat in different locations of the deck! METHOD

Openly cull the four aces and place them face-up on top of the deck. However, it is important that at this stage you don’t call too much attention to the cards as you will be displaying them in a more thorough manner in just a few moments. Hold the deck in Biddle Grip and catch a thumb break at around six or seven cards from the top. The exact number isn’t important but anything between six and eight will be ample – any more and it will be obvious 1 that you have extra cards. Pick up the cards above the break (four face-up aces along with two or three face-down random cards), but take with it another two or three cards – Photograph 1. After a few attempts you’ll be able to pick up these cards as one. Ensure that you do not lift up the cards too high (else it will become obvious that you have extra cards).

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Execute the general mechanics of Marlo's ATFUS to display the aces one at a time on top of the deck. Briefly, drag the top ace onto the deck and drop the cards below the thumb break onto this card as you continue to pull the second ace onto it. After pulling the third card onto the others, catch a pinky break bellow it and finish by placing the remaining cards as a block onto the deck. Pick up the packet from the pinky-break (consisting of the face-up fourth ace, a couple of face-down cards and the third ace) and neck-tie the deck. If you’re working on a table gently toss the apparent packet of aces to the table, allowing them to slightly spread to show a small portion of the white borders of the cards in the packet. The motivation for doing this is to inform your audience that, “We’re going to use the four aces and of course the rest of the deck.” As you say this, casually turn the deck face-up, spread a few cards and cut the deck (the exact number of cards cut isn’t important, but I normally cut around forty cards from the face to make the Pass a little easier later in the routine). Turn the deck face-down and place the tabled packet on top of the deck. Perform your cleanest Pass (I normally use Luke Dancy’s Shadow Pass), making sure that you don’t pass to any of the face-up cards. If you haven’t got a thoroughly clean Pass, a small wiping action over the top cards often helps to move the attention and make a nice moment of the vanish. If you can’t Pass at all, openly cut the deck and slightly alter the angle of the effect so that the aces separate from the centre, to throughout the deck. You’re done! Spread the deck to show that you have caused the aces to separate throughout the deck and move on to a four ace effect. A slight variation of Lee Asher’s Erect Aces / Put Your Treys In An Upright Position would be a perfect interweaving effect to lead into another, longer routine. NOTES

• ATFUS was originally published in TOP Magazine (April, 1964) and can also be found in M.I.N.T. Volume One (1988).

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• Luke Dancy’s Shadow Pass was originally published in a very limited edition manuscript and published by Reputation Makers. It will eventually be re-published in a booklet along with moves and effects by myself, Luke, Andy Leviss and Chris Wilcox. • Lee Asher’s Erect Aces was originally published in Trapdoor Issue #65 (1997) and later under the name Put Your Treys In An Upright Position in his notes, Close Cover Before Striking (2000).

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hoto 1 hoto

Gotcha I devised the Gotcha plot around four years ago – it was the first effect I ever created and I have continued to develop it ever since. This is the first time that I have published the plot, and is the handling that I use most often.

EFFECT

A spectator takes a card from the deck, looks at it and returns it. After the cards are shuffled they are spread face down across the table. A 'lethal weapon' for a deck of cards is displayed - an elastic band! The performer fires the band towards the tabled deck, one card is hit and slightly slides out of the pack. Yes, it's the spectator's card!

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REQUIREMENTS

A deck of cards and an elastic band, the thicker the band the more the card will slide from the pack. METHOD

Have a card selected and controlled to the top of the deck. I simply dribble the cards between my hands and ask someone to stop me. When they do, I catch a pinky-break above the card as I replace the other packet on top and execute a Pass at the break. Spread the deck, face down in an arc along the table and bring out the rubber band. You will receive better results later in the routine if you make as large a spread as possible because you will find it easier to make one card move out of the deck instead of three or four. Aim the band at the deck and fire it at the cards - if you hit at the correct angle then one card should move slightly away from the deck. Describing the correct angle in print is extremely difficult, so I would suggest grabbing a deck and investigating for yourself. I will mention that it is important that you do not hit the card too hard, as you do not want it to move completely from the spread.

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With the card still out jogged, square up the cards and turn over the out jogged card using a move that I call The Twist Shift: Although I came up with the move independently, it is actually an unnamed Jerry Sadowitz move which in turn was based on a Gordon Bruce move. It is most useful when an indifferent card is out jogged for half its length from the centre of the deck and the card that you would like to switch it for is on the bottom of the deck. You will apparently pull the card from the centre with the left hand and flip it face up on top of the deck, in reality the switch happens before the card is turned over. Have the face down deck in right hand dealing grip with the indifferent card somewhere in the centre, out jogged for a little less than half its length (Photograph 1). Move the palm up left hand towards the out jogged card and slightly twist your hand so that your fingers point on the same axis as your right arm. The index and second fingers are actually positioned under the deck and apply a gentle upward pressure on the bottom card. In this position, your thumb should automatically touch the end of the out jogged card.

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In one action, push the out jogged card flush into the deck with your thumb and 3 curl the index and second fingers into the hand so that you drag out the bottom card: Photograph 2. As soon as the thumb has pushed its card flush, it grips the moving bottom card from the top and pulls it from the deck as shown in Photograph 3. However, when all but half an inch of the card has been pulled out, the left hand turns palm down so that the card is pivoted around the end of the deck, and is finally dropped, face up on top. Display the card, face-up on top of the deck and you’re all set to continue onto your next routine.

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NOTES

• If I happen to hit more than one card I normally comment, “Dammit – my aim is a little off today. Which one do you think was hit the most? It’s your choice.” • The unnamed Sadowitz move can be found in Contemporary Card Magic (1984) and is explained within the routine IDCEPT.

• Another, perhaps rather obvious idea that I have been using with the Sadowitz move is to force the bottom card. Dribble the cards between your hands and ask someone to stop you. Stop dribbling when your participant requests and out jog the selected card for a little less than half of it’s length as you replace the top portion. In a continuing action, execute Twist Switch but stop as the card becomes vertical and display it to the participant.

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Ambitious Chameleon This plot has been in the back of my mind for a couple of years. I have only recently started using it in performance and it has been an immediate hit.

EFFECT

A spectator selects a card, but does not remove it from the deck. The card isn’t removed from the deck because the card will go through a series of obedience tests. To start with, the performer whistles for the card to come running to him – the top card is turned over and the selection has made its journey. The card is buried in the deck again, and once again it passes its obedience test and jumps back to the top. Even when the card is placed all the way to the bottom of the deck, it runs back to the top on the magician’s command! All of this running gets the card tired – in fact, so tired that it turns red in the face! The card is turned over to show that the card has changed from a blue backed card to a red backed card! The rest of the deck doesn’t want to feel left out, so all of the other cards turn red as well! SET-UP

Remove two cards from your blue backed deck and replace them with two matching red cards, which are placed on top of the deck. METHOD

Spread the face-up deck between your hands and ask the spectator to name one of the cards that they see in the spread. When a card has been named, continue to spread the cards, and as you do, cull the named card so that it finishes its journey between the two odd backed cards (second from the bottom of the face up deck).

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Turn the deck face down and whistle (like you would if saw assistant editor, Jamie Badman in his best strapless evening dress!), and double lift to show that the selection has run to the top. While you are displaying the double card, catch a break under the top card of the deck in readiness for the Vernon Depth Illusion. Insert the double card into the Tilt (best keep Marlo happy too!) and catch a break under the double card as you square the cards. Take the top card, flash it’s face and say, “Obviously it hasn’t risen to the top yet… we need to command it to rise,” And casually insert the card into the break. Whistle to command the card to rise, and once again double lift to show that it has jumped back to the top. Place the double on the face of the deck and turn the deck face-up. When you have explained that this will be the ultimate test of obedience, turn the deck over and execute a Turnover Pass with the two face cards. Once again, to display the obedient card, execute double lift from the top. As you take the double use a KM Move to peel the blue card back onto the deck. Use the line, “Any minute now, he’ll get tired and turn red in the face,” And turn over the card to show the colour change. If you’re using a blue deck, you can simply substitute the word red and change it to blue and it still fits perfectly in the sentence. To turn the rest of the deck to red cards, place the red card face down on top of the deck and perform a Paint Brush Change, pulling the two cards below it (blue cards) back with the red card. Casually place the triple card on the bottom of the deck and spread the cards to show that the entire deck has changed colour. NOTES

• Vernon didn’t officially publish the Depth Illusion, although Marlo did in his book, Tilt (1962).

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Splitting Hairs Along with All Over The (Dis)Place, I performed this routine a lot at the 2001 Blackpool Magic Convention and although I wouldn’t consider it to be a magician fooler, it is a nice flowing routine that never fails to get a great reaction from lay people.

EFFECT

The performer attempts to find the four aces with the assistance of a spectator, who is instructed to stop him as he riffles through the pack. When the magician reveals the card he was stopped at, it actually appears to be a four, and not an ace as he earlier promised. The performer quips, “Well, we’ve got the four, all we need to find now are the aces!” The audience are less than impressed, so our magician takes the four of hearts and impressively plucks an ace from the card, leaving him with the ace of hearts in one hand and a three in the other (due to the fact that one ace has been removed from the four). He repeats the magical change once more, pulling the ace of spades from the three of the same suit, leaving him with the two of clubs remaining in his hand. With a click of the fingers, the two of clubs splits into two cards; the ace of clubs and the ace of diamonds respectively. The basic effect; four aces are all plucked from the four of hearts. SET-UP

Starting at the top of the deck, have the four hearts followed by the ace of hearts, face-up three of spades, face-down ace of spades, face-up two of clubs and the face-down ace of diamonds and clubs. Place this stack on the remainder of the deck and have the cards ready to perform. METHOD

Take the deck in your right hand and riffle force the top card from the stack onto the spectator. As they call, “Stop” place all of the cards above the break onto the table. Turn over the For Cardmen Only

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top card and act surprised that the spectator stopped you on a four and not an ace as previously mentioned. You will now execute a variation of the Shapeshifter variety of change. As you display the four in your left hand, catch a break below the top card of the pack and place the four faceup onto the top of it. Next, place the 1 ball of your index finger onto the left front corner of the double card (assuming the deck is in right hand dealers grip) and by applying slight pressure onto the two cards, they should be pressed into the fleshy part of the base of the thumb causing the cards to slightly buckle, as shown in Photograph 1. Similarly, Photograph 2 shows another exposed view from the back of the deck; 2 from the front everything looks perfectly normal. To execute the change, bring the left hand over the deck, taking the double card with the thumb on the back left corner and the second finger or the back right corner (you may prefer to use your index finger) and gently, but sharply pull the cards 4 from the deck, where they pivot over on the right index finger (as shown in Photographs 3 and 4). To cover this action, the left hand immediately moves across around ten inches to the left. This should now leave you with the ace of hearts held in your left hand (actually a double card that is held between the thumb and second finger) and the three of spades face-up on top of the deck; the visual appearance of plucking an ace from the four has occurred.

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Place the double card, with the ace face-up onto the tabled packet and once again focus the attention on the deck. Repeat the same splitting action as you apparently pluck the ace of spades from the three of spades. However, instead of For Cardmen Only

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placing the double card onto the tabled packet, lift the ace of hearts from the top of the tabled packet with your right hand (this is reasonably easy, even though you have the rest of the deck in dealers grip) as you comment, “We’ve found the ace of hearts and the ace of spades, that’s just two more to go.” As you say, “Ace of spades,” place the double card onto the tabled packet and then the ace of hearts on top of it. This just makes a final display of the aces possible towards the end of the effect. To conclude, as you patter, catch a break below the third card from the top of the pack and execute Looy Simonoff’s ‘Flippant.’ However, as soon as the cards are flipped, I like to push the top ace over a little to the left with my thumb to show that there are now two face-up aces on top of the deck. As a dramatic gesture, drop the two remaining aces onto the table with the others and continue to your next four ace effect. NOTES

• This is a major re-handling of Stephen Tucker’s marketed item, “Aces From The Fore” and his later non-gimmicked version, “Impromptu Aces From The Fore” from his video, Pandora’s Box. • Marc DeSouza’s Shapeshifter Change was originally published in Trapdoor Issue 48 and later in his booklet, The Art of Artifice (1995). According to Richard Kaufman, the Noel Stanton's "Pivot Color Change" from The Gen Vol.20, No.2 (June, 1964).

• Flippant was originally published in Apocalypse Volume 1, Number 9 (September 1978).

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The Convincing Tabled Bluff Pass I love the principle behind the Bluff Pass and have spent a long time trying to make it believable. This one resembles a move by the British magician, Bobby Bernard in that attention is focused on a tabled card during the move.

Have a card, lying face-up on the table, to your left and hold the deck in right hand dealer’s grip. Start to riffle down the corner of the deck with your right thumb and stop once you have riffled around fifteen or twenty cards: Photograph 1. In the same motion, move the right hand slightly to the left and reach towards the deck with your left hand and appear to pick up all of the cards above the thumb break. In reality, drop the break and only pick up the top card and continue moving the right hand across and down to pick up the tabled card. All of the above actions happen, as the deck is in motion and the left hand stays, back outwards in around about the same position as it picked up the card.

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The right hand turns palm down on top of the tabled card, picks up the card and moves back towards the left hand. The card is picked up by pinching the fingers and adding it to the bottom of the face up deck and is left out jogged for around an inch. During the short journey back to the single card, use your right index finger to 2 move to the front of the deck and push the card square onto the deck as you turn your hand palm up. Immediately place the single card (apparently a stack of cards) on top of the deck and in a squaring action, pull around fifteen cards back around a quarter of an inch or less and push the card below them forward so that it is out jogged for just less than an inch as displayed in Photograph 2.

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The result of these actions is that you are left with a card out jogged in the centre of the deck (Photograph 3) and the selection is second from the top.

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NOTES

• The final, out jog move sounds very complicated in print, but in action it takes milliseconds and is totally covered as it appears as if you are squaring the cards immediately after placing them back on the deck. • The Bobby Bernard move that the first part of this Bluff Pass resembles can be found in Apocalypse Volume 4 Number 5.

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Lie Deck-Tector This has been a ‘worker’ of mine for quite some time now and hopefully will remain as one of my favourite performance pieces for a long time to come.

EFFECT

A card is selected and shuffled into the deck. The participant is asked a series of questions about the card’s identity, and she is even allowed to lie and give you an incorrect answer for any of the questions. If she answers a question positively, three cards are dealt to the table to spell yes. Similarly, if she answers negatively, no is spelt. After a few questions, to which no one could know the answer, the top card of the deck is shown to be selection – the King Of Hearts. “One more question,” The performer comments, “Would you be impressed if you could find the other three Kings?” The spectator takes the deck and deals three cards to spell yes – they are indeed, the three Kings. SET-UP

Have any four of a kind on the bottom of the deck. METHOD

Force one of the Kings onto a spectator with a Classic Force. You have a four card leeway, so missing the force is almost impossible! Square up the deck and control the selection to the bottom, without disturbing the order of the bottom three cards. A possible method would be to simply Swing Cut the cards into your right hand, have the card returned on top of the packet, catch a break below it and Shift the packet back to the top. I prefer to use a Convincing Control. Whatever you choose, the selection should now be on the bottom with the other three Kings above it. Explain to the participant that you will ask them a series of questions, to which they can either lie or tell the truth and the For Cardmen Only

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deck will act as a lie detector and decide if their answer is correct. I sometimes ask a female spectator to help warm up the detector by asking them a question like, “Is your name Bob?” Whatever the reply I make a loud siren sound and say, “Yup, it works!” Feel free to ask the spectator any questions about the card; the ones I use are: • • • • • •

Is your card a red card? Is your card a black card? Is it a picture card? Does it have a red back? Does it have big pink dots on the back? Have you told any lies during the question process?

This is done very quickly and after two or three questions I remind the spectator that they need not always tell the truth. The questions are also structured so that the spectator can contradict their self to cause a little confusion! After each question, throw two or three cards onto the table depending on the answers you receive. If I’m working a walkaround event, I’ll simply deal them into a participant’s hands as I spell Y-E-S or N-O. As soon as you have dealt the cards for the final question, look up and execute Allan Ackerman’s PIP Bottom Deal. If you don’t know the PIP Bottom, simply deal a card from the bottom and keep it face-down in your other hand as if you’ve just removed the top card. “Let’s see how we did, the deck has calculated your questions and believes that this is your selection.” Turn the card over, display it and place it face-up on the table to your right. Look at your spectator in the eyes and ask, “Wouldn’t it be cool if, using the lie detector, we could find the other three Kings?” Shift or Double Undercut the bottom three cards to the top of the deck as you speak. Upon receiving a positive answer, hand the deck to the spectator as you tell them, “Then you better spell that, Y-E-S.” Since the card is placed to your right, the spectator is able to comfortably deal a line of three cards using your card as a starting point.

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NOTES

• Don’t let the simple handling fool you into thinking that this isn’t a strong routine. I wanted to eliminate any apparent handling (other than the simple action of dealing cards), along with any confusing spelling procedures. Also, over the years I have managed to remove the praise from the ‘magical lie detecting deck’ and put it back onto my participant and myself. • Allan Ackerman’s PIP Bottom Deal can be found on Volume Two of his excellent Advanced Card Control Series

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Ambitious Boxing You will probably have gathered that I love Vernon’s Ambitious Card plot and also like to attempt to take it in totally different directions. This effect is another attempt at doing that. You’ll also learn the two unpublished moves that I have been playing with recently over the course of the next few pages.

EFFECT

The deck is placed into the card box, but left outjogged for about an inch and a half. A participant stops the performer as he riffles down the edge of the deck, and the stop at card is outjogged a little more and displayed. The card is squared back into the deck and almost immediately the top card is pulled from the box to show that the selection has risen to the top. This is repeated once more, but this time the box is turned over so that a small portion of the face of the cards can be seen. And yet again, the card manages to rise to the top. METHOD

Take a shuffled deck and insert it face down into the card box, so that around an inch and a half is outjogged from the box. Be certain that the flap of the box is on top, with the halfmoon cut out parallel to the floor. Riffle down the corner of the deck and have a participant call stop at any time. When they do, insert your finger into the break and pull out the selection for a further half an inch or so. You will now show the card and apparently push it back into the deck, when in reality you perform Bound To Stern. Push the card flush into the deck and a moment later, pull the top card from the box and pivot it face-up. The card is actually pulled so that it pushes the flap of the card case back and is held in this position for a second or two. Continue to perform Bizarre Card Switch as you comment, “Many people want to see me do it with the deck face-up… so

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here goes!” Wait a second or two, and pull the cards out of the case as you say, “Well, it’s already happened!”

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Bound To Stern With the deck and box in dealing grip, tilt the hand in order to show the face of the selection to the audience: Photograph 1. Use your other hand to hold the deck and selection in place, but while you do this, and unbeknown to the audience, push the

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block behind the selection back into the case as shown in Photographs 2 and 3.

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Pull the selection up slightly in order to move it free of the back, lowered packet and apparently to give the spectator’s a clearer view of the card. As you push the card back flush into the deck bend it so that the bottom of the card actually moves to slip into the case as the now, new top card of the case: Photograph 4. Push this card flush with the case as you tilt the deck towards the ground use your index finger to push all of the other outjogged cards into the box. All cards, that is except for the top card of the outjogged portion, which is held back by the other index finger. By the time the box is parallel to the floor, you should be left with the entire deck in the card box, except for a random, outjogged card. The selection is now on top of the cased deck: Photograph 5.

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NOTES

• Bound To Stern is a variation of Tomas Blomberg’s “Proteus Bound,” from The Second Deal website (1999), which in turn is a variation of Ernest Earick’s fantastic “Bow-to-Stern Control” from By Forces Unseen (1993).

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Bizarre Card Switch The box is in Mechanics Grip and the selection is resting on top of the box and is being held from the front by the index finger and from the sides by the thumb and second finger: Photograph 1. With the index finger, pull the card over the box so that it flips face-down below the box. When the card is in this position, immediately use the other hand to push the card flush under the box. Done at speed, it should look as if the card goes straight into the centre of the deck: Photographs 2 to 4. Hold the card in place under the deck and with your other hand, pick up the box from the back end of the deck and pull it away from the cards. This way, the cards will fall from the box and onto the hidden selection. As soon as the box has cleared the cards, turn it over so that the back is now facing up and slide it back over the deck. Once it’s over the deck, turn the box over so that the deck is now face-up. This is a very illogical way of putting the selection at the face of the deck, but it is covered within the explained routine (Ambitious Boxing) with the lines, “Many people want to see me do it with the deck face-up… so here goes!”

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NOTES

• I also have a variation on Bizarre Card Switch that allows me to load the selection straight onto the face of the deck, but feel that it tends not to be foolproof, so I prefer to use this method. You may like to develop the idea further though.

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Visi-Rip Since publishing Ripper in the UK EGO (Issue #9), it has become a favourite performance piece of mine and over that time I have created a number of small finesses that I thought you might like to hear about. You will need to have read and learn the routine before reading these ideas, as well as the proceeding effect.

EFFECT

A card is selected and replaced in the deck, which is immediately placed into the box. With the card flap still open, the cards are visually pushed through the wall of the card case; all except the selected card, which is the only card that remains in the box. METHOD

Apparently insert the deck into the card box, but execute the Ripper load move as normal. Ensure that the single card inside the box is pushed up close against the inside wall of the box that is nearest to the audience. Careful examination of a card box will show that there is enough space to hold a card between the two small tabs and the front of the deck, and this is the best place to insert the card as it stands upright in the box. Hold the cards behind the box in Biddle Grip with the thumb at the top and as you pull the deck from behind the box, simply pull the single card to the back of the box with your thumb. This way the deck appears to merge from the box and into your hand.

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Ripped Casebreak Paul Cummins is the ultimate gentleman who performs some killer magic! Just spending a few hours with Paul at the TSD Convention in New Orleans, I felt that my magic had improved massively. This is simply a variation of Paul’s effect, Casebreak from Part One of his amazing FASIDU book (1996).

EFFECT

Without paying attention of his actions, the performer places the deck into the case. Immediately afterwards he is seen to be shuffling the deck even though the cards were just placed in the box! METHOD

Simply execute Ripper and place the deck in your inside jacket pocket. As you remove the deck from covering the cards, immediately move your hand to your side. After a second or two, bring the hand back into view and start to shuffle the deck. NOTES

• I label effects of this nature as “Confusion Effects” and tend to only perform them for small groups of people that seem to be extremely well ‘switched on’ to my effects. Performing them on any other audience simply invokes confusion and the thoughts, “He did something, but we haven’t got a clue what. It was probably a move that we weren’t supposed to see.”

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Double Decker Ripper Paul Harris’s Double Decker plot is an excellent example of Paul’s extraordinarily visual magic. I wanted to create a streamlined version where the magic happened almost in an instant, and my Ripper effect seemed to be a perfect way to achieve this.

EFFECT

The deck of cards is placed into the card box and the magician apparently switches the deck for another. The audience see straight through the performer’s bluff and notice that it’s exactly the same deck! “Oops,” The perform comments, “The other deck must have got stuck in here.” He reaches into the card box and pulls out another, different coloured deck! SET-UP

Take a red deck and insert it into a blue card box and place it in your jacket pocket, or somewhere that will be suitable to switch for a box already in play. This routine would probably loose its strength as an opener, so I suggest that you also have another, blue box on the table, and a blue deck already in use. METHOD

Any time before performing this routine, switch the empty card box for the one in your jacket pocket. The earlier you switch the boxes, the stronger the effect will be, so its advisable that you do it as soon as possible – this also gives you the added bonus of being able to find the required misdirection. When you’re ready to perform the routine, pick up the box and appear to place the deck into it, but really perform my Ripper move. This will take a little more concentration, since the top card of the deck needs to be inserted at the front of the cards already inside the box, but it is still perfectly simple!

For Cardmen Only

June 2002

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Take the box (with the cards behind it) in the left hand with your fingers on one edge, and thumb on the other as you inform your audience that you will switch the blue cards for a different deck. With your, now free right hand, apparently reach in to the box and pull out the deck, while actually reaching behind and pinching the top of the deck with your index finger and thumb. Ensure that you remove the deck in a quick and smooth manner so that the audience are not aware of where it truly came from. As soon as the deck has been removed, spread it along the table or form a one-hand fan to show your apparent, new deck. Obviously, your audience will understand that it is the same deck, so after a few seconds, reach into the box again (mimicking your previous actions) and pull out all of the cards, except the top, blue one. NOTES

•

Paul Harris’s original Double Decker routine can be found in Close Up Fantasies (1980) and on the Stars of Magic Paul Harris video number five.

• This is extremely strong magic and as with the original Ripper (EGO #9, February 2002), considerations must be taken with regards to the angle limitations. • You may like to consider the possibility of using this to bring in a new, stacked deck or to even use take advantage of the blue card on top of the second deck for a colour changing deck routine. A similar idea would be to place two blue cards into the box and perform my Ambitious Chameleon from this issue.

For Cardmen Only

June 2002

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Forever Ripping When my journey of magic started, I spent a considerable amount of time learning stage manipulation. Since none of the moves I learnt are useful today, I have started to adapt them into my current routines. This is an example of such an adaptation.

EFFECT

A card is selected and replaced into the deck, which in turn is closed into the card case. The cards are quickly ripped through the walls of the box and fanned to show that the deck is complete. The fan is waved over the box, which vanishes from the performer’s hands. With another wave, it appears again, with the spectator’s selection inside. METHOD

Perform Ripper as normal, and when you pull the deck from the case, use it to form a one handed fan. Wave the fan at the cards and as you do, perform the old, well known stage manipulator’s packet vanish: Hold the fan (in your left hand) considerably close to the box (in your right hand). As you wave the fan over the box, use your left second and third fingers to grab the box and continue waving the fan. At the same time as you steal the box; turn the right hand so that its back is facing towards the audience. Continue to wave the fan and turn the hand around to show that it has vanished. You only have to see manipulator’s perform this move to understand its strength. Wait a moment and wave the fan over your hand again. After two or three waves, simply take the box back in the same position as you stole it from to cause it to re-appear. Place the cards on the table and open to box to show the selection.

For Cardmen Only

June 2002

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