Collection: Mff1[£fi@ ~jf'[q]jj])®§fil]jliq1

The

New York

mff1[£fi@ ~Jf'[Q]JJ])®§fil]JLiQ1

Collection Three

Written & Edited By Adam Fleischer & Stephen Minch

Contents The 1984 New York Magic Symposium Programme The Sym posium Story

9

The 1984 Symposium Stars

12

Schedule Of Events

16

The State-Of-The-Art In Magic Adam Fleischer

20

Max M a ve n H a r ry Lor a yn e

22 23 24

Mic ha e I Am mar Jay San key

26

In My Own Words: Jeff McBride, Mime Magician

28

The Collection Three Int rod uct ion

9

Part I THE 1984 SYMPOSIUM Bro. John Hamman The Lie Detector Case Th e Ph 0e nix Fo ur ..··

PERFORMERS

12 16

David Roth Ringing The Change Revised Chop Cup Routine

19 21

Jeff McBride Cigarette Tear Cigarette Extra vaganza

25 31

Derek Dingle TheRa in bo w Deck Hands Off

36 40

Tom Mullica Egg Bag Finale On e- 0-0 n e

42

43

"""'Il

er Michael Bust Weber

. ... .46

Martin Nash Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas Richard Kaufman The Face-Up Incredible Pin c hed Ag a in Bob Read Handkerchief

.47

Card Tunnel

52

58

Through Glass

61

John Ferrentino Topsy Turvy Finely Finished

64

Harry Lorayne Po ke r C haile ng e

67

Jay Sankey Remarker Able

70

Part II SPECIAL GUEST CONTRIBUTORS

1984 Tom Ogden

.

Doug Bennett Trip Ie Wham my Tom Gagnon The Scoop-Displacement The Scoop-Displacement

74

81

Coin Vanish Coin Change

83 88

Steve Dusheck Coin-Nection

90

Terry Lagerould Pia n a Can c e rt a

93

Phil Goldstein San s Fro n d s

96

Ben Harris Alloy Division

1 00

Ray Kosby Cooking With Oil & Water

103

Ken Krenzel Post Hoc Miracle

106

Fabian Ha n Ping C up Move

1 09

Joe Safuto The Trick That Never Was

111

Sol Stone The Laced Coin

115

J.K. Hartman A Suit With A Futur e

11 8

Michael Gerhardt Hoover Cards

121

Fantasio Any Reel-

Locking Reel

F u /I Va I u e Roger Klause

Paul Cummins Co un tin g On It

123

. 125

132

I

ANOTHER BOZO'S FIRST

I

Part

I

~®®~ ~®[f~@[fmm®[f@

12

Bro. John Hamman

The Lie Detector Case Effect: A thought-of

card materializes

1. The card is genuinely

thought

inside the card case. Notice these strong points:

of, not touched

or peeked; no questions

are asked, etc.

2. The magician names the card without looking through the deck. He sees only two cards, neither of which give any trustworthy clues as to the card's identity. 3. The thought-of cates.

card is really inside the card box; yet there is no palming,

Bro. John's patter theme revolves around the story of a lie-detector the truth and fi nally materializes thoughts within itself.

nor dupli-

box which discloses

Method: Explain that you wish the audience to all think of a card together, combined thought-power can effect the impossible. Have someone shuffle the cards and put the deck on the table. He nu mber from one to ten. Then, when your back is turned, he is to slowly off that number of cards one at a time from the deck into a small pile on is then covered with his hand. The audience is to watch his count so know the thought-of number without it being spoken.

so that their

is to think of any and silently count the table. This pile that everyone will

When this has been done, turn around, pick up the deck and shuffle it casually. Tell them that you will show them ten random cards from the shuffled pack. They are to think of the card that lies at the number they all have in mind. Hold up the top card of the pack, face toward them and away from you. Callout, "One," and drop it face-down to the table. Count, "Two," as you show them the second card and drop it onto the first. Continue in this manner until ten cards have been shown and their order reversed on the table. Explain that the spectators need no longer remember the number, only the card. This method of choosi ng a card must be presented as an obvious necessity (not an oddity), providing a logical method for having everyone think of the same card without having it touched, shown or otherwise revealed in a manner that might offer any clues of its identity to the magician. Pick up the pile of counted cards without looking at them and place them onto the pack. Give the deck a convincing false shuffle that retains the top ten cards intact. As this is done you are pattering about the power of "collective thought," etc.

13

Ask for the cards under the spectator's hand - again, don't them to the deck. Execute another false shuffle, retaining the top gathering and shuffling procedure all your attention should be on what you are doing with the cards. The impression you wish to mean nothing. Due to the procedure followed, the thought-of eleve nth card fro m the top of the deck.

card will

look at them - and add stock. During this entire what you are saying, not convey is that the cards

now automatically

be the

Hold the deck in your left hand as you pick up the closed card case, flap toward the audience and the half-moon cut-out on top, in your right hand. Explain that the case is a liedetector box. Place it on top of the deck in the left hand. (By doing this you are setting up a psychological precedent for a move that must be made shortly.) Leave the case there, held under the left thu mb and overlappi ng the deck for about half its width. See Figu re 1. It is kept there as you talk about the properties of the box. Then set it back down on the table.

Deal two hands of five cards each face-down onto the table, one to the left, the second to the right. Tell a spectator on your left to pick up the lefthand packet, keep one card and put the remaining four back on the table. You tell him that the card he chooses to keep is to be an indicator of the suit of the thought-of card. However, he is under no obligation to be truthful in his choice of a "suit" card. It mayor may not match the suit of the mentally selected card, just as he wishes. In other words, he may lie or tell the truth. As he makes his choice and all eyes are on him, get a fourth-finger break under the top card of the deck in the left hand. This card is the thought-of card. Pick up the card case once more and place it half overlapping the deck just as you did previously. Ask a spectator on your right to pick up the righthand packet and choose a card from it as a "value indicator" of the thought-of card. He also is given the option of lying or telling the truth in his choice. He then places the other four cards back onto the table. It is as the second spectator is making his selection that you use this misdirection to steal the top card of the deck under the card case. The right hand grasps the case from above, fingers at the outer end, thumb at the inner. The deck is brought momentarily flush under the case and the top card is picked up. See Figure 2. Then the left hand casually sets the deck aside to your left. That hand returns to the case and takes it from the right hand into deali ng position, the thought-of card hidden below it. See Figure 3.

14

Ask the spectator on the left for his "suit" card. Put it on top of the card case, half outjogged and right-jogged, so that you can receive the righthand spectator's card with your right hand. (Notice that all actions are motivated and logical.) Place the righthand card on top of the jogged card in the left hand (see Figure 4) and slide both together under the card case. They go face-down beneath the hidden card and all three are squared with the left hand as the right hand moves the case forward to open the flap. See Figure 5. The case is shown casually empty. All your actions here have been reasonable. Don't invite suspicion by rushi ng guiltily through them.

3

5

Say that you will now put the two cards in the lie-detector box to check them for lies. Lay the card case, flap open, on the table. They must be sure it is empty. Casually show the three cards you are holding as two as follows: grasp the cards from above with the right hand, fingers on the outer ends, thumb on the inner. The left fingers then drag off the bottom card into the left palm, leaving the top two cards squared as one in the right hand. Briefly display the faces of the si ngle and double cards. See Figure 6. All is as it should be, with the thought-of card hidden behind the righthand card.

15

Place the lefthand card back on the face of the righthand double and put them all into the case, faces toward the half-moon cut-out. Close the case and lift it to your left ear. Rattle it. Then rattle it at the right ear. You explain that you are checking for lies.

6

Open the box, half-moon cut-out and cards' faces toward you. Take out the foremost card and toss it face-up to your left on the table. This should be the "suit indicator." Remove the next card and toss it face-up to your right. This is the "value indicator." At this point the thought-of card's index will be staring at you from the case. Note it and close the flap. Set the case between the two face-up cards on the table. This makes a nice visual display. Now, in your most entertaining manner reveal the lies and truths that have been told. End by naming the thought-of card as you have the audience all picture the card in their minds. Finally, make a magical gesture and produce the card from the case!

16

Bro. John Hamman

The Phoenix Four Effect: While the pack is out of the magician's hands, four cards are freely selected and randomly buried in the deck. Yet, with no apparent manipulation of the cards, it is convincingly shown that all four selections have vanished from the deck. The deck is cut into four groups - as each group is cut, one of the selections is named by the magician, though there seems no way he can have discovered their identities. As each card is named it is spelled with the group of cards that has been cut off ...and the selection appears face-up at the end of each spelling! Bro. John performs this routine to a story of the Phoenix. can be obliterated, yet reborn from their own ashes.

Like that mythical

bird, cards

Method: First, this routine must be done with a full deck of fifty-two cards. Four spectators are enlisted as helpers. The deck may be shuffled by one of them before you start, if you think it is necessary. Each of the four spectators is given a group of cards. The first three spectators are each given eleven cards, while the fourth is handed sixteen. This leaves you holding three. It is important that your counting of these packets not be obvious. The cards are pushed off the pack casually in clumps. For the three packets of eleven cards, spread three off with the thumb, then two more groups of three and finally two cards. When you reach the fourth spectator, simply Back Spread the bottom three cards from the talon and hand him the balance. This method of counting can appear quite unpremeditated if done off-handedly while pattering. The entire process is done quickly, before anyone can worry about it. The four spectators are now asked to mix their cards. You demonstrate what is required by Overhand Shuffling with the three cards you still hold. (This is a very canny way of providing a motivation for your having kept back three cards: you need them to show your helpers what they are to do.)

•••••• 1

Once the packets have been mixed they are placed face-down on the table in a row, with the three-card packet on the extreme left and the sixteen-card packet on the extreme right, as shown in Figure 1.

17

You are now going to apply Gene Finnell's Free-Cut Principle in a very clever manner. Have the first spectator cut any number of cards he wishes from his tabled packet (that second from your left), note and display that face card of the cut-off group to everyone but you and place this group face-down onto your three- card packet. Have the second spectator cut off a group of cards from his packet (third from your left), note and display the face card, and place the group onto the second spectator's packet. The third spectator follows suit, cutting a group from his packet, noting the card cut to and placing the cards onto the center pile. And the fourth spectator cuts into his packet (the righthand one), notes the card and places the cut cards onto the third spectator's packet. Notice that all four cards are shown to the entire group so that, later, everyone can appreciate their vanish ment and reproduction. It is also important that you not be allowed to see any of the cards as they are shown; yet you must direct the helpers' actions clearly with both directions and gestures. If only one group of cards goes to the wrong place, everything is lost. Make your directions clear and point to the various packets; but don't touch any of the cards. Casually gather up the packets, working from right to left: Spectator Four's packet goes onto Spectator Three's, Three's onto Two's, Two's onto One's and One's onto your pile. While there seems no outward way the cards could be controlled, due to Finnell's principle, the four selections now rest at positions sixteen, twenty-seven, thirty-eight and forty-nine from the top of the deck! At this point, you do not know what the selections are, but you do know where they are. Give the deck several convincing false shuffles that retain full-deck order. Then Ribbon Spread the pack face-down on the table. Make some gesture to indicate that something magical is being done and claim that you have caused all four selections to vanish from the pack. This is a contention for which most audiences will desire proof. Gather the spread and place it into lefthand dealing position. Fan over the top five cards and flip them face-up onto the pack. Spread them between the hands and ask that the audience look for any of the selected cards in the group. When they have seen that there are none, close the fan and drop it face-up onto the table. Thu mb off another group of five cards, turn it face-up and display the cards. Then drop this second group face-up onto the first. Repeat this procedure with a third group of five; but this time, as you spread the five off the deck, obtain a break under the sixth card with the left fourth finger. Turn the five cards up and fan them. However, as they are squared and removed from the pack, the right fingers steal the face-down sixth card beneath the face-up group and all six are dropped onto the tabled pile. This stolen card is the fourth spectator's selection. Continue to turn up groups of five cards and display them. But the same stealing of a single face-down card is repeated as the fifth, seventh and ninth groups are dropped onto the tabled pile. These stolen cards are, of course, the third, second and first selections. Using this very open and casual method of displaying the pack has at once vanished the four selections and reversed them at strategic positions in the pack! It should go without saying that the display procedure must be made to look very casual and the honest displays must be made to appear the same as those when a card is stolen. Smoothness, uniformity of action and lack of hesitation are the qualities to be striven for. Now you offer to divine the identities of all four vanished cards. Square the face-up pack on the table and turn it face- down, long edges toward you. Reach over with the right hand and cut off the top eleven cards. This is made si mple as the fourth selection lies reversed

----.-....,.... .....

18 eleven down from the top of the deck. It will provide a natural bridge at which the cards will break when the right fingers cut the top group off. Use a light touch. Place this eleven-card packet into lefthand dealing grip. The fourth spectator's selection is face-up on the bottom of this group. As you turn to the fourth spectator and ask him to picture his card in his mind, the left thumb does a Block Push- Off of all the cards above the reversed bottom one. These cards are only glimpsed when the left thumb is raised. The packet should be necktied slightly as the glimpse is taken. As soon as the card is seen, the packet is squared over it agai n. Divine the card as dramatically as you can. Then offer to "restore it to life." This is done by spelling to it. Each card is ducked under the packet as you spell with it. Most any card can be spelled to using eleven letters. You may have to add or drop an "of" or the final "s" of the suit, but it can be done with very little thought. The only exceptions to this rule are the Seven, Eight and Queen of Diamonds. (The Three of Diamonds can be managed by counting three instead of spelling it.) For these three problems Bro. John merely uses a Down-Under Deal as he recites the phrase, "Your card is (value) of Diamonds." The top card is dealt to the table. The second card is ducked under the packet. As it is ducked you say, "Your ..." Deal the third and duck the fourth as you say, " ...card ...", etc. The selection will appear face-up on the last word. When you have spelled the fourth spectator's card and produced it face-up, deal it to the table before hi m and table the balance of the packet. Cut another group of eleven cards from the tabled deck, using the third selection's bridge as your guide. Glimpse the face-up bottom card, name it and then spell to it. The remaining two selections are produced in the same manner. Once again, smoothness and absence of any hesitation are important to the effect. Do not fumble as you cut off packets from the deck. It should be an easy casual procedure. A good portion of this routine's power is provided by the apparent effortlessness with which everything is accomplished. Performed in this fashion the routine is extremely impressive. Also, no thinking should show as you spell each of the selections. It takes only a little practice to know how to spell to each card with eleven. Lack of hesitation, pacing and an air of knowing just what you are doing will cover any differences necessary in the spelling procedures required to arrive at the four selections. This is not a difficult routine. Give it the practice it deserves and you will have an important bit of magic at your disposal.

19 //////////$//////"//#//////////////////-//'//$/////////////////////$/////////////////////////////7//#///$//////$/////$#$/$///////$///$////////////////////////#///$#////////////#////////#///$////////0'////////////$"//~//////"

David Roth

Ringing The Change David calls this his "Bell Coin Trick." It is not a feature routine, nor an opening effect. It is an interlude piece for a coin routine. Despite its brevity, this effect is typical of the charm and novelty with which David invests his coin magic. You will need a small round bell such as are commonly found on or in pet toys or Christmas ornaments. Find one that measures only one-half inch to three-quarters of an inch in diameter. These bells have a little metal loop at their top to attach them to the toy or ornament. Through this loop you must feed about a one-inch length of good cloth or fabric tape. Fold the tape double onto itself, sticky side to sticky side, once it is through the bell's loop. This creates a sturdy half-inch tab by which the bell may be held. See Figure 1. Place this bell in your right jacket pocket.

1 Also required is a Franklin Bellon its back.

half dollar. This half prominently

bears a figure of the Liberty

When ready to perform this piece, casually reach into your jacket pocket and palm the bell by clipping the cloth tab between the tips of the right first and second fingers. The bell should hang just behind the insides of the fingers. By keeping the right thumb pressed lightly on the bell it will not jingle prematurely. When the bell is securely clipped in place, remove the hand from the pocket. This procuring of the bell is, of course, done under cover of the reaction of relaxation that follows the preceding effect. The left hand picks up the Franklin half (which has been in play in an earlier trick) and displays it at the fingertips as the right hand is coming from the pocket with the bell palmed. Transfer the coin to the right fingertips, held mainly between the forefinger and thumb as in Figure 2. Be sure the coin is held with the Liberty Bell toward the spectators. Make some mention of this unique symbol on the Franklin half dollars and hold the coin up to your right ear. Shake it gently. It rings! Look at the coin in astonishment and shake it again. Everyone can hear it.

20

At this point you can hold the coin to a spectator's ear and let him hear the bell ring if you like. Just take care not to flash the bell gimmick as you do this. It is really rather well covered by the posture of the hand.

I t

2

Ask the spectator to hold out his hand and let the half fall from your fingers into it. Place your right thumb on the bell gimmick to dampen its ringing. Then drop the right hand to your side if standing, your lap or the table if seated. Or you may prefer to transfer the coin from your right hand to your left before giving it to the spectator. The bell is pocketed at the first off-beat moment.

21

David Roth

Revised Chop Cup Routine In 1977 David published his Chop Cup routine in his lecture notes. As with anything in the hands of an artist, with constant use, little improvements are made over the years that add polish and clarity to the piece. That is what David has done with his Chop Cup routine. David's routine has a number of features to its credit, not the least of which are its difference from most of the routines currently in use and its avoidance of the potentially awkward situation of asking a spectator to guess where the ball is. Notice also the smoothness of action and the lack of illogical procedures throughout. The routine is done seated at a table. Two large load balls - each of which nearly fills the cup - are resting secretly in your lap. When placing these balls in the trough between the thighs, set them about six inches apart. Later in the routine you will be lapping smaller balls. This space between the load balls insures that the small balls will land safely in the lap and not roll off it. The non-magnetic Chop Cup ball is sitting in the cup at the start. The matching magnetic ball is Finger Palmed in the right hand. A third ball of contrasting color is in the right jacket pocket. This ball is also magnetic. David uses a black pair of Chop Cup balls and a white ball as the third, so it will be described that way for simplicity's sake.

The routine begins when the right hand picks up the Chop Cup. It does so with the thumb, first and second fingers. The third and fourth fingers are Finger Palming the magnetic black ball and are curled naturally under the bottom of the cup. See Figure 1. This

22

position shields the palmed ball from all angles. Tip the cup forward, in it onto the table. As this is done the cup may be seen to be empty.

rolling

the black ball

Pick up the black ball in the left hand and display it. Place it down again and take the cup in the left hand. Let the right hand with its Finger-Palmed magnetic ball drop in a loose fist to the table. Tilt the cup mouth toward you, displaying its solid bottom to the audience. At the same time the left palm can be seen empty. These opening actions take but a few moments and are accompanied by the line, "A little trick with a small ball and a cup that is open at one end and closed at the other." Pick up the black ball from the table in the right hand between the forefinger and thumb. The left hand turns the cup mouth-up and the right hand drops both the visible ball and the Finger-Palmed one into the cup. The backs of the right fingers completely cover the introduction of the second ball to the cup. The right hand immediately grasps the cup at its bottom and turns it mouth-down, pouring the non-magnetic ball onto the table. Of course, the cup should be turned in such a manner that the magnetic ball is not exposed as it clings to the cup.

,

You explain, "The idea is to get the ball into the cup." Gently place the cup mouth-down on the table as the left hand picks up the black ball. "The hard part is to do it magically. I will do this by passing the ball through the bottom of the cup." As this is said, transfer the ball from the left to the right hand. Lift the cup with the left hand to show nothing beneath it. Then replace it on the table, this time dislodging the magnetic ball from the cup. Now perform any sort of convincing vanish wherein the visible ball is false-transferred to the left hand, but is actually retained in a right Finger Palm. Open the left hand to show the ball is gone - and lift the cup with the left hand to reveal the magnetic ball beneath it. You've done what was promised! Replace the cup over the magnetic ball. Pause a moment, then tilt the cup back toward you a bit with the left hand. This once more reveals the magnetic ball sitting beneath it. The right hand travels in front of the cup to apparently remove the ball. In reality the FingerPalmed ball is substituted for the magnetic ball behind the cover of the right fingers. The cup is lowered over the stationary magnetic ball and the right hand moves away from it, displayi ng the ordi nary ball. Once more perform a pass with the ball, secretly retaining it in right Finger Palm. Show the ball has gone from the left hand and lift the cup with that hand to show the ball has returned. The left hand gives the cup a light toss and catches it mouth-up. The right hand picks up the magnetic ball and drops both it and the Finger-Palmed ball into the cup, just as was previously done. The right hand grasps the cup by its bottom and turns it over to let the non-magnetic ball roll out. The cup is placed gently mouth-down on the table. A variation of Charlie Miller's Cup and Ball Penetration will now be performed. The right hand picks up the visible ball and maneuvers it to a position atop the right fist. The ball lies

23

cradled on the curl of the closed forefinger and thumb. The left hand steadies the cup while the right fist is rested lightly on top. The left hand now raises the cup several inches from the table to show nothing is under it. The right fist with ball rides along as shown in Figure 2.

2 Now comes the penetration. The cup is brought sharply to the table, knocking the magnetic ball loose. Simultaneously, the right fist follows the cup as if attached to it - but the fingers open slightly to allow the black ball to fall inside the fist and into Finger-Palm position. Instantly raise the cup and fist again to show that the ball has passed through. Timing is crucial to this move. Properly done, the penetration is visual. Bad timing can make the move transparent. Under cover of the surprise of this penetration, transfer the cup from the left hand to the right and load the Finger-Palmed ball beneath it as it is set on the table. Then pick up the magnetic ball in the right hand and display it as you say, "I don't always make the little ball disappear. Sometimes I just put it away." Suiting action to words, place the black magnetic ball in your right jacket pocket and Finger Palm the white magnetic ball while you are there. The left hand lifts the cup to reveal the black ball beneath it just as the right hand is coming back from the pocket. Toss the cup gently with the left hand and catch it mouth- up; then transfer the cup to the right hand while the right third and fourth fingers retain the palmed white ball (Figure 1 again). The left hand picks up the black ball and displays it. It is replaced on the table and the cup is retaken in the left hand. The right hand picks up the black ball between the forefinger and the thumb and drops both black and white balls into the cup. It then takes the cup by its bottom and pours the black ball into the waiting left hand. Set the cup gently mouth-down. "I will do it just once more." Lift the cup with the right hand to show nothing beneath it. Return it to the table with enough force to dislodge the white ball.

1I

24

The right fingers claim the black ball from the left, display it and then do a false transfer. Lap the black ball from the right hand, allowing it to fall between the two large balls. Show the left hand empty, then the right. Lean back a moment into Rest Position, letting both hands drop to the lap. Pause a few beats to build the tension of the lifting of the cup. The left hand now moves to lift the cup ...and the white ball appears! As this is done the right hand quietly grasps the first large ball - the one farthest from your knees. The left hand brings the cup back to the edge of the table as all eyes are on the white ball. The right hand meets the left at table's edge and loads the large ball into the cup. The left hand then carries the loaded cup forward to table it as the right hand moves to pick up the white ball and displays it. The left little finger can aid in keeping the load ball in the cup as it is put down by bending in under the cup's mouth. Vanish the white ball and lap it, letting it fall behind the second large ball to insure it doesn't roll from the lap. Show the hands empty and drop the right hand to the lap as the left hand lifts the cup to expose the first large ball. Under the misdirection of this production, the right hand can load the second large ball and sets it on the table as the left hand picks drops it to emphasize its solidity. Finally, draw produce the second large ball.

bring the cup back to the table's edge so into it. The right hand claims the loaded up the first large ball, lifts it a few inches attention to the cup once more and raise

Cup and ball routines always read dryly. If you will take the time to work through routine several times you will be rewarded with the discovery of its magical quality great beauty.

that cup and it to

this and

25

Jeff McBride

Cigarette Tear This is a stand-up torn and restored cigarette. The "teari ng" of the cigarette flourish, while the restoration is a visual masterpiece.

is a pretty

Preparation: Have a cigarette, filter side up, in a thumb tip in your right pocket. Since the cigarette is whole, some of it will be extending out of the tip. When ready to perform, get the thumb tip on the right thumb, with the cigarette on the underside of the thu mb - see Figure 1. The filter end of the cigarette extends out of the tip and along the underside of your thumb. You will find that this is not an awkward situation; if you keep your palm downward and your thumb behind your fingers, there are no bad angles.

Roll up match the ing actions of the right

your sleeves. Borrow a cigarette or get one of your own - this cigarette should cigarette in your thumb tip (see Notes at end of routine). During all of the followyour right shoulder should be toward the audience, helping to take the heat off hand.

Hold the cigarette in left hand "smoking position" - that is, between the forefinger (on top) and the thumb (below), holding the cigarette right at the point where the filter meets the cigarette - see Figure 2. Now, position the pinky and third finger below the cigarette, and the first and second finger on top of the cigarette. Put the cigarette to your lips, and grip the end of the filter between your teeth, not just your lips - Figure 3. You will now rip the cigarette into three pieces. This will be done as a flourish, actually make some impromptu "brass knuckles" out of the three cigarette pieces.

and you

26

First, with the cigarette held in the left hand as described above, and the teeth gripping the filter end of the cigarette, move the left hand to the right, keeping the filter between the teeth, while the left hand takes the other two-thirds of the cigarette away to the right. Holding the left thumb and forefinger right at the point in the cigarette where the filter meets the tobacco facilitates this being a clean break.

2 Move the left hand down. The left forefinger changes position on the cigarette, from above, to the "u nderside" where the thu mb is - to the left of the thu mb. The first fi nger, the thumb, the third finger and the fourth finger are underneath the two-thirds of the cigarette, while the second finger alone is on top - see Figure 4. Use the thumbnail to crease the long piece of cigarette dead center. Now roll and crease the cigarette between the fingers until you get a clean break. The second finger on top of the cigarette acts as a fulcru m for this break. When the cigarette breaks, the two pieces will automatically be held as shown in Figure 5 - with one piece between the left first and second fingers, the other piece between the second and third fingers.

,.--

)

(

4

5

The left hand moves back up to the mouth and grabs the filter part of the cigarette from the mouth (where it has remained); this filter piece is held between the left thumb and first finger. Show the three separate pieces between the fingers, with your left little finger up

27 (showing that nothing is concealed in the hand), your cigarette brass knuckles - Figure 6.

perhaps

mentioning

something

about

6 The left hand moves up and returns the filter part of the cigarette filter end goi ng into the mouth.

to your mouth, with the

Now, two things occur at once. One is a flourish with the cigarette which draws all attention away from the second, which is the loading cigarette from the right hand into the left:

piece in your mouth, of the thumb tip and

Either openly "tongue" the cigarette as a flourish, or wiggle it rapidly between your lips. This latter flourish is accomplished by holding the cigarette third loosely between your lips, and inside your mouth your tongue rapidly flicks it - the butt at your mouth will appear to have a life of its own, as it rapidly flicks back and forth.

7

As all attention is on the cigarette third at your mouth and the flourish, the left hand lowers and the right hand loads the tip and cigarette into the left palm. The tip is loaded into the left palm diagonally across the palm, and the left thumb moves up to cover the filter top of the cigarette extending out of the tip. The loaded position is shown, without the left thumb covering the top of the extended cigarette, in Figure 7, an exposed performer's view.

28

The left fingers still hold quickly or cleverly done; fingers and palm remove flourish being performed

onto the two basically, the the tip off the at your mouth,

parts of the cigarette. The actual load need not be right hand moves into the left hand, while the left right thumb. Remember, all attention will be on the so no heat is on your hands.

Now take the butt of the cigarette from your mouth with your right thumb and index finger. The following move should appear as if you are replacing the filter third of the cigarette from your mouth to between your left thumb and first finger. In fact, you drop the filter third of the cigarette into the thumb tip, while you kick up the filter end of the whole cigarette (which is partly inside the thumb tip) to between the thumb and first finger. As the right hand moves over to the left hand, partially covering the left hand, drop the butt into the tip, and the right middle finger kicks up the filter end of the whole cigarette into viewsee Figure 8, a rear view just after the butt is dropped into the tip and the middle finger has kicked the filter end of the whole cigarette into view. Also see Figure 9, an audience view, which looks like you are holding the three parts of one cigarette between your fingers.

Take the middle cigarette piece between your first and second fi ngers, and put it to your lips where you leave it. Take the third piece of cigarette and drop it "into the fist" of the left hand, actually dropping it into the thumb tip. Take the piece from your mouth and put it into the tip, supposedly just into the fist.

29

The right hand comes over and grabs the filter end of the whole cigarette between the thumb and first finger. The back of the right hand and fingers are toward the audience and cover this action: pull the whole cigarette out of the thumb tip (thus it goes up and above the fist, which is hidden from the audience by the back of the right hand and fingers. Once the whole cigarette has cleared the tip, immediately lower it back into the fist, right next to, but outside of, the thumb tip. Leave part of the filter end of the cigarette still sticking out of the fist. This move should be very quick, and the audience's view of this should be that you are preparing to push the last third of the cigarette into your fist. Show the right hand empty, palm to audience. The right fingers now "pat" the back of the left fist, which hides the right thumb going into the left fist and into the thumb tip. Figure 10 is the audience's view and Figure 11 is a rear view.

12

Remove the right hand from the left (the tip is now on the right thu mb). Poi nt the right index finger at the audience, while your second fingertip touches the end of the thumb tip. This is an excellent position for showing the hand empty with the tip on it - see Figure 12.

30

Keep the right index finger pointed. After pointing at the audience, move the right hand to the left hand, and push the remaining bit of cigarette that is extending from the left fist into, through, and out of the fist. The left hand should be tilted so the protruding filter end of the cigarette was toward the right. The effect to the audience is that the last third of the cigarette is pushed into the fist, and it visibly joins together with the other two pieces in the fist into a complete, restored cigarette. Leave the cigarette extending out the left side of the fist and pause - Figu re 13.

13

Briefly show the right hand empty, again using the position shown in Figure 12, but with a "looser" and more casual pointing gesture this time - but remember to have the second fingertip touching the end of the thumb tip. The right hand takes the cigarette between the first and second fingers. Show the left hand empty. Put the cigarette to your lips. Display the back of the hands. Display the front of both hands, with both hands assuming the position, casually, as shown in Figure 12 again. Ask for a match. Notes: One added touch to this routine is using a special brand of cigarette. If you are at a party or a club, and someone you are with is smoking an elite or bizarre type of cigarette, borrow one early in the evening. Supposedly smoke it, while in fact switch it for a different cigarette. Load this cigarette into your tip, and later when you perform the effect, borrow the cigarette to be used fro m the perso n with the special cigarettes. Jeff's inspiration for this effect was Slydini's torn and restored cigarette, unquestionably a classic, but Jeff wanted to perform it stand-up and without lapping. He has succeeded tremendously. This effect is visually startling and the routining is all smooth and everything makes sense.

31

Jeff McBride

Cigarette Extravaganza Effect: The basic effect here is the production of two cigarettes and then their vanish. But, this is a power- packed routine which looks like such to the audience: The performer takes a regular cigarette rolli ng paper and holds it in one hand. His other hand, seen to be empty, reaches into the air and pours out loose tobacco into the paper. The performer rolls the paper and tobacco into a cigarette with an impressive one- handed flourish. The cigarette is put to the performer's lips. Now, the performer actually lights his thumb, and lights the cigarette using the flame on his thumb. Another rolling paper is taken out by a spectator. The performer holds onto this rolling paper - it explodes into a burst of flame, leaving a second cigarette at the performer's fingertips. Finally, both cigarettes are placed into the performer's fist and they vanish.

You need the following items: Three filterless cigarettes (Camels or Pall Malls); a pack of Big Bambu oversized rolling papers; a thumb tip; a pack of paper matches; flash paper; one round balloon; and a striking surface for matches on your belt or some similar place. Preparation: Pierce a small hole in the end of the thumb tip; the hole should be big enough for a paper match to be stuck into. Stick a match into the hole, with about oneeigth of an inch of the match sticki ng out of the tip. You also need a small rubber cover for the thu mb tip. This can easily be made from the balloon: Without blowing the balloon up, tie the end. Now cut the balloon apart at a point just after the knot, before the main body of the balloon. This will act as a rubber cover for the thu mb tip. Remove the tobacco from a filterless cigarette; put this tobacco into the thumb tip. Cover the tip with the rubber cover. This setup tip is shown in Figure 1. This fully loaded tip goes into your right pocket.

1 2

Take one of the oversized Big Bambu rolling papers and trim its width so it is the same width as the cigarettes you are using. Now lick the gummed strip on the paper and stick it to one of the cigarettes - see Figure 2.

32

Cut a piece of flash paper into the pack of Now place the "loaded" ers, as shown in Figure

paper to the same size as one of the rolling papers. Insert this flash rolling papers so it is the next paper to be pulled out of the pack. rolling paper (with the cigarette attached to it) into the pack of pap3. Place this into your left pocket.

3

One of the regular cigarettes goes into your right pocket, along with the loaded thumb tip. Wrap a rolling paper arouncjthis cigarette so it appears to have been hand rolled. Performance: Go to the left pocket with the left hand and remove the rolling papers hold as in Figure 4, which is the audience's view. The paper with the attached cigarette hanging down at its end is hidden behind the left fingers - Figure 5 is the performer's view.

4 Open up the flap of the papers with the right hand, pause, and slyly smile at the audience. Quickly and casually pull the pack of papers away to the right with the right hand, leaving the one prepared paper in the left hand. The loaded cigarette is still hidden behind the left fingers. The right hand closes the pack of rolling papers one-handedly, raises the pack to the nose, gives it a pleasant whiff and, once again, you slyly smile. Place the pack of rolling papers into the right pocket. While your right hand is in the pocket, grab the thumb tip, knock off the rubber cover, and get the tip onto your right thumb. Bring the right hand out of the pocket, keeping the thumb behind the fingers. Hold the rolling paper with both hands, fingers in front and thumbs in back - Figure 6 is the audience's view. Briefly stroke and crease the paper, as if you were preparing ally roll the attached cigarette into the paper a bit.

to roll a cigarette,

and actu-

33

Move the right hand away, and briefly display the right hand to the audience. Jeff always uses the following position when showing his hand, with a thumb tip on it, to the audience. It was described in the last routine, and throughout this routine I will refer to it as the "display gesture." Figure 7 is the audience's view of this display. The important points to note are the casual and loose hold of the entire hand, and the fact that the middle fingertip touches the end of the thumb tip. This is a completely natural position. In this routine, the second finger must be in this position to cover the match that is sticking out the end of the thumb tip.

6

7

After briefly displaying the right hand, wave it around, as if you were trying to pull something magical out of the air. Look for some invisible something off to your right. Pretend to grab something, and throw this invisible stuff toward the rolling paper held in your left hand. Finally, pretend to grab something out of the air again, while your right hand forms a fist and you load the thumb tip off our thumb into your fist. Now, with the same actions you used above to throw invisible stuff to the rolling paper in your left hand, pour the loose tabocco out of your fist (out of the tip) onto the rolling paper. The loose tobacco will cover the real cigarette attached to the rolling paper.

34

Spread out the tobacco, evenly, with the right forefinger. Don't worry about being sloppy and spilling some of the tobacco to the floor. Lick the top of the rolling paper. Readjust the left hand's grip on the paper to the position shown in Figure 8, a rear, performer's, view.

8

Holding the cigarette in in the left hand in this position, the thumb rolls upward, and in a single motion you roll the cigarette up. Im mediately place this cigarette to your lips. Twist the cigarette, sealing the end that is in your mouth. Turn the cigarette end for end, putting the other end of the cigarette to your mouth. Again, twist to seal the end of the cigarette. Give the entire cigarette a lick to seal it, if needed. Leave this magically created cigarette in your mouth. This flourishy one-handed, one-motion roll is not difficult, and it is not expected to produce a great-Iooki ng cigarette. But when all the actions are followed, they flow smoothly, and you have a magical, flourishy creation of a hand-rolled cigarette. While the left hand was rolling the cigarette, your right hand got the thumb tip back onto its thumb. You now strike the match that sticks out of the tip against the match striking surface that is on your belt. Use your right index finger held firmly against the thumb tip to give stability to the tip when striking it against the striking surface. Briefly show that you have lit your thumb on fire, with the right hand in a fist, with the thumb pointing up. After the audience gets a brief glimpse that you have lit your thumb on fire, move the flame to the end of the cigarette in your mouth, and cup your left hand over the flame and the end of the cigarette - as people do when lighting a cigarette in a breezy place. When the cigarette is lit, blowout the flame. Do all of the above actions smoothly yet quickly. You still have your right thu mb up near the end of the cigarette at your mouth, and the left hand is still cupped over the cigarette and the right hand. Using your thumbs, remove the tip from the right thu mb and place it onto the left thu mb - this occurs behi nd the cover of your cupped left hand. You've just lit the cigarette, so give it a few puffs, which will help to create a mysterious smoky cover for this and the following actions. Move your right hand away. The left hand takes the cigarette out of the mouth, and the mouth blows on the just-lit right hand. Show the right hand casually empty, using the dis-

35

play gesture described earlier, although use the same position and gesture.

this time you don't have a tip on the hand; but still

The right hand goes into the right pocket and brings out the pack of rolling papers. Flip open the pack and offer them to a spectator, getti ng them to take out a paper. This will be the piece of flash paper. If you don't want to use a spectator here, you can remove this piece of paper yourself. Take the paper with the left hand, which will cover the tip on your left thumb. Put the papers back into the right pocket and cop the regular cigarette that is in your right pocket. Make between displays paper to paper.

a fuss about the special rolling paper in your left hand. Display the thumb and second finger, keeping your hand in the display the paper, hides the tip, and shows the hand to be otherwise the right hand, making sure the copped cigarette is hidden by

the paper, holding it gesture briefly. This empty. Transfer the the hand and-or the

Take the cigarette out of the mouth with the left hand. Knock ashes and blow smoke over the paper in the right hand. Touch the end of the cigarette to the paper. The paper will flash. As it flashes, the right fingers swivel the copped cigarette into view - this is a visible magical production of a second cigarette. Place the right hand's cigarette in the left hand.

to your lips. Light this cigarette

with the lit cigarette

held

Put both lit cigarettes to your lips. Show both hands with the display gesture. The tip is still on the left thumb. Puff lots of smoke, getting attention focused on the cigarettes at your lips. Casually brush your hands together, ditching the match that has been stuck in the thumb tip. Merely pull it out and drop it to the floor while you brush your hands together. Do a classic load of the thumb tip into the right fist. Put both cigarettes into the thumb tip and vanish them. You have completed the production and vanish of two cigarettes.

36

Derek Dingle

The Rainbow Deck This is Derek's version of Senator Crandall's

"Rainbow

Deck."

A deck of cards is openly displayed fronts and backs. It is, to all appearances, an ordinary blue-backed deck. However, it is admitted that there is one" marked" card in the pack. This card is found and is seen to have an obviously contrasting back-design to that of the deck. The odd-backed card is lost in the deck without revealing its identity to the spectators. One spectator is now asked to try to guess which card in the pack is the odd-backed one. The deck is turned face-up and the spectator selects a card at random. The performer proclaims that his helper has been remarkably successful at determining the stranger card in the deck. He proves this fact by running through the deck and finding an identical mate to the chosen card. Thus, the selection must be an extra card. But the audience finds this indirect proof a bit too subtle for their tastes. So the selection is turned over. Alas, it has a blue back. But the magician makes good his clai m by causing the rest of the pack to change to a variety of cards with different back designs ...with not a blue-back in the pack! Therefore, the spectator did choose the 0 nly odd-backed card in the deck - sort of - the only remaining blue-backed card! A special Rainbow Deck is required for this trick. A Rainbow Deck is a full deck of cards with regular faces, with the backs of the cards solid colors with white borders. The deck should have at least a dozen different bright colors for the backs, thus truly making it a "rainbow" deck of cards. You can make a deck like this with various graphic arts supplies and lots and lots of work (Derek originally did this), or you can now buy the deck which is manufactured by Mystic Madness Supply, P.O. Box 1181, Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004. Setup: From the top down, have four regular blue-backed cards, then one rainbow one more regular blue- backed card, and the rest of the Rainbow Deck following.

card,

Hold the deck in face-up dealing position and casually spread through the deck, showing the faces of the cards. Square the deck. With the deck face-up in left-hand dealing position, do a Pull Down with your left little finger of the "bottom" card of the deck. The right hand comes over the deck and grips it from above in a Biddle-type grip with the fingers at the front of the deck and the thumb at the rear. The right forefinger swivels the top sixth or so of the deck to the left into the left thu mb crotch - see Figure 1. The right hand moves to the right, leaving both the swivelled-out top packet, and the "bottom" card which was pulled down, in the left hand. (In other words, excute a Kick Cut

37

while retaining the bottom card in place.) With the proper pressure of the left hand's fingers against the deck, the Pull Down with the left little finger may not be necessary. The right hand turns over, showing the back of the card on "top" of the right-hand's pack - it is a regular blue card. As you do this display, and the followi ng ones, patter about one of the cards in the deck being special and different. Point with your left forefinger at the back of blue card displayed in the right hand, which will flash the regular blue back on "top" of the left hand's packet - see Figure 2. Do not call attention to the left hand's packet, just make sure that the back of the card is flashed.

I, I

1

2

Repeat the Kick Out of a packet from the right hand packet to the left hand's packet, although no Pull Down is performed as described above. Do this quickly and casually, while displayi ng the back of the righthand packet, so meti mes flashi ng the back of the lefthand packet, and still pattering that one card in the deck is a special one. When about one sixth of the deck is remaining in the right hand, execute a Pull Down with the left little finger on the bottom card of the left hand's pack - Jennings' Pull Down Move is excellent for here.

,

Grip the remaining packet mainly be its outer left corner in the crotch of the left thumb. The left forefinger helps steady it there while also creating a slight sidewise bevel to the packet. This bevel travels from bottom to top, with the top of the packet slightly leftward of the bottom. The beveling insures that the bottom card of the packet can be cleanly separated from the rest. The left fingers now straighten out flat, away from the packet. However, the left fourth finger bends up at its innermost joint slightly so that the fleshy pad of the third phalanx (the innermost one) can lightly engage the right rear edge of the bottom card and pull it down. This creates a gap between this card and the packet, while the open position of the fingers would seem to deny such a condition. See Figure 3 and you will understand why this method of performing the Pull Down is preferred. The hand's open posture is a more natural one, in the context of this routine, than if the tip of the fourth finger were used to pull down the bottom card. Insert the right hand's packet under the left hand's pack, secretly above the one pulleddown card, from the side, as in Figure 4. Spread the deck face-up between your hands, telling the spectator that you believe she can pick out the one special odd-backed card in the deck. This idea here is at the crux of

38 the theme of the trick, so sell the idea that there is one special odd-backed card in the deck, and that you thi nk the spectator can pick it out, without looki ng at the backs of the cards.

3

4

Tell the spectator that you'll help her - you'll show exactly what "the little mark" on the special card is. Turn the deck face-down into left-hand dealing position. Slowly spread the top cards, showing four regular blue-backed cards, and then getting to the fifth card, a rainbow card. Spread the rainbow card a bit to the right, showing the back of the fifth bluebaced card, but don't expose the backs of any of the rainbow cards below this final bluebacked card. Out jog the rainbow card, while keeping the four blue-backed cards sidejogged to the right - see Figure 5. While keeping the four blue cards sidejogged, pullout the one out jogged rainbow card, and insert it face-down (without showing its face) into the center of the deck.

5

As you push the positioned above the which pushes upward in the right hand. See

6

out jogged rainbow card flush into the deck, your right hand is four side-jogged blue cards. With the help of the left third finger from below the four blue cards - the four blue cards are top pal med Figure 6, an exposed bottom view.

39

As the "one odd-backed card" in the deck is pushed into the deck - and as the right hand palms the blue cards - you say, "I'd like to make a bet." Reach into your jacket with your right hand, as if to pull your wallet out of your inside jacket pocket (to get the money to make the bet, supposedly). Unload the palmed cards. Bring out your hand and say, " ...it doesn't matter, there's no money in it anyway ..." Turn the deck face-up and spread, showing the face-up cards, and again say that you think, and bet, the spectator will pick the one odd-backed card. Now you will force the "bottom" card of the deck (if the deck were held face-down, it would be the top card). Derek uses the following simple force, which he stresses has never failed him or raised suspicion: The deck is held face-up in the left hand. The right hand takes the deck and lets the cards drop in small clumps (they "dribble") back into the left hand. Ask the spectator to say "stop" anytime. When "stop" is called, drop the right hand's upper half of the pack onto the table off to the upper left. The right hand then grabs the left hand packet from above, while the left fi ngers slide off the bottom card of the packet. The right hand stays still while the left hand places this "selected card" forward on the table or close-up pad. The right hand then places its pack on top of the pack on the table, and spreads the deck out. You have yet to show the back of the "selected card," but you now "prove" it is actually the special card of the deck by looking through the spread and finding and showing the face of the card's duplicate. Thus, you were right, the spectator has somehow chosen the one card in the deck which is special ... Square up the face-up spread. Show the back of the chosen card, and - surprise - it is blue. "Whoops, I'm sorry ...we've made a mistake.,. no, no, you see, you really did pick the odd card ..," With this, spread the entire deck face-down, showi ng the Rainbow Deck. This entire routine runs smoothly and the theme of having a spectator choose the one "special" card in the deck is commercial and lends itself to a number of strong presentations. The handling throughout the routine is easy and unsuspicious, and the killer ending is as powerful as they co me.

40

Derek Dingle

Hands Off You need a small rubber hand for this routine. These can be bought in novelty and joke stores. Place a small piece of double-sided masking tape on the palm of the hand. Credits: Bob Farmer was the first we know of to use this small hand in a similar way, and Darryl Harris created a routine with the hand using a coin. This routine is Derek's handling of the hand, with a surprise finish. Start with the rubber hand stuck onto the little finger large coin - a half or silver dollar - in your left hand.

of your right hand. Finger Palm a

Pick up or borrow a small coin, like a dime, with the left hand's fingertips.

See Figure 1.

Turn the right hand over. The left hand places the coin at the top of the thu mb pad - see Figure 2. Form a sort of cup over the right hand with the left hand, hiding the rubber hand, forming a cave-like opening for the hand to come out of.

1

2

Tell the spectators to watch; move the left hand back to the open position shown in Figure 3. The tip of the right hand's second finger pushes the right hand's previously-palmed coin against the left hand, thus enabling the open position shown in Figure 3. After a brief repose in this position, move back to the cave-like position, re-Finger Palming the large coin in the left hand. Now move your right pi nky up and maneuver the rubber hand out of the openi ng - Figure 4. Have the little hand hover over the dime, and then place the rubber hand on top of the coin, making sure the double-sided tape in the rubber hand's palm goes on top of the di me. Push down with the upper part of your left forefi nger and with your left hand, applying pressure to the top of the rubber hand, insuring the coin will stick to the rubber hand. Slowly move the hand with the coin back into the "cave."

-

""" I

41

Knock off the rubber hand from your pinky, letting it fall onto your right palm. This is facilitated by moving the little finger back, pressing the rubber hand up and against the top of the left palm. Get the rubber hand into left hand Finger Palm position. Hold your hands as in Figure 5.

3

5

6

You will now sleeve the rubber hand and dime while producing the large coin. This is done in a single motion using Derek's Bounce Change handling of Hope and Olson's Flick Change (ref. Hugard's Magic Monthly, Volu me XVI, No.1, p. 1 and The Complete Works Of Derek Dingle, pp. 166-167). The action is as follows: The hands are turned over once again, still palm toward palm in respect to each other. In this rotation of the hands the right hand smartly snaps inward, flexing at the wrist. It also drops down ever so slightly from beneath the Finger-Palmed rubber hand and dime. This small quick wrist-snap will toss the rubber hand and dime neatly into the left coat sleeve. Simultaneously - or perhaps just a split instant after the Sleeving snap - the left hand releases its Finger-Palmed large coin and the right hand returns to catch it. This action is pictured in Figure 6. This Sleeving switch will take some time to get the timing right. The right hand's snapping action is fully covered by the larger motion of the hands' rotation. Also, don't overlook the right hand's dropping slightly away from the rubber hand and dime as they are snapped into the sleeve. This little motion minimizes friction between the rubber hand and the right fingers and insures a clean straight flight of the hand and coin into the sleeve. In the action of this switch the large coin appears from nowhere coin disappear without a trace.

and the little hand and

42 ,/////////////////#//#////?//////////,///~'////§/#//////////$////////$//$/$///#////////////////////////7#$/$/$/////////////7$/#$///$,,://0///~/)//)/--0.///Y/7/--0.//////$/W///////////////////////7///#//$////$/$/////#//-

Tom Mullica

Egg Bag Finale Tom fi nishes his Egg Bag routine with the production of a glass followed by a bottle of beer. On his servante he has the glass and the opened bottle of beer. The bottle of beer is sitting covered by a mouth-down duplicate Egg Bag. The glass is to the right and the bottle in the bag is to the left. Make the egg vanish and appear three times. When removing the egg from the bag for the last ti me, hold the bag with the left hand and remove the egg with the right. While the right hand is removing the egg, the lefthand fingers pinch the two bottom corners of the bag together so the opening of the bag is forced to stay in an open position. The bag is being held up-side-down by the left hand - mouth downward. See Figure 1.

While the right hand is in the bag (entering from the open end hanging down) to get the egg for the last production, the left hand re-grips the bag from the outside, pinching the two corners together. The right hand removes the egg and swings outward and upward to the right as the left hand with the bag lowers to the servante. As soon as the bag has been placed over the glass, the left hand grabs the glass through the material and moves upward to chest level. While the left hand (with bag and glass) is movi ng upward, the egg in the right hand is placed in the right jacket pocket. Immediately, without showing the right hand empty, the right hand goes into the bag and with a downward pull produces the glass. As soon as the right hand with glass clears the bag, it moves again upward and to the right for display. As the right hand moves upward to show the glass, the left hand with bag lowers again to the servante to get the beer bottle in the second Egg Bag. Tom tried picking up the bottle the same way he picked up the glass for a long ti me ...but every now and then Tom would have trouble re-shaping the bag for the second steal. Tom finally figured out how to solve the problem - the use of two egg bags. When the left hand comes down after the production of the glass, the first bag is dropped on the servante and the second bag is gripped along with the bottle. As the glass is placed on the table, the left hand rises with the bag and bottle and the right hand produces the bottle from the bag. 7///////'//////////////#///#/7///.-'/5"///#////#//0'//////////////$$///#$////$///#//$///$#//////7//$////$/////////7///////#//////':///////////5'/"///7///////40://'///$///0///@//W//////"$//////0/$///////////;0/$#/$///&

43

Tom Mullica

One-O-One The requirements for this effect are five coins: two silver dollars (one with a finger-sized hole drilled in the center), a penny, and two oversize pennies - one silver dollar size (large) and the other about six inches in diameter (huge). The huge penny and the silver dollar with the hole are placed in the right pants pocket. The large penny is Classic Palmed in the right hand and the regular penny and silver dollar are placed on the table. You explain how the two tabled coins are completely different - one copper and one silver, one large and one small, etc. Pick up the silver dollar with the right hand and have your helper hold out her hand palm-down. Place the silver dollar on the backs of her fingers. Pick up the tabled penny and place it on the center of the back of her hand. Pick up the silver dollar with your right hand and ask her to raise her hand a little more. During these instructions balance the silver dollar on the tips of your right second and third fingers. The fingers of the right hand should be in a semi-closed position. The silver dollar is now pressed against the right palm at the pads near the base of the fingers as in Figure 1.

1 The left hand approaches the right from below. The large penny is released from the right hand and allowed to fall into the left, which closes immediately. The left hand approaches the spectator's pal m-down hand and places the large pen ny into it. Ask her to close her fingers around the coin. While this action is being executed the right fingers Classic Palm the silver dollar and pick up the penny still resting on the back of her hand. Explain you are about to make the two coins change places. Apparently toss the penny (really pinching it between the first finger and thumb, doing the old Pinch Vanish) into the left hand releasing the silver dollar. After a magical gesture announce that you now hold the silver dollar and she has the penny. She disagrees! Another gesture is made, followed by repeated assurance that she holds the penny. Because of its size she will swear she has the

44

silver dollar. Again attempt the transformation - then show the silver dollar by dropping it on the table from your left hand. While she opens her hand discovering the large penny, your right hand goes into the pants pocket, ditching the penny and Finger Palming the silver dollar with the hole. Your helper is examining the large penny at this time. Pick up the silver dollar from the table with your left hand and, holding it at the extreme tips of the fingers of each hand, show the flexibility of the coin utilizing the old optical illusion of the "Bending Coin." Openly place the silver dollar on the back of your outstretched palm-down left hand. Explain that by rubbing the coin with the tips of the right fingers it will penetrate the back of the hand. During this explanation the right fingertips are placed over the silver dollar. The Classic Palmed hole coin is released and allowed to drop unnoticed into the opening of the left fist, between the thu mb and first finger as shown exposed in Figure 2.

2 Pick up the silver dollar from the back of the left hand with the right hand and, with a throwing motion toward the left fist, Classic Palm the silver dollar. Open the left fist and display the coin between the left thumb and first finger as in Figure 3.

3 With the thumb on one side of the coin and the index finger on the other, the hole is not visible during the display. With the right hand reach over and push the coin into the left index finger ...down toward the first joint. Wiggle the finger showing the penetration. In the next action, pull the coin off the left forefinger with the right hand and release the palmed silver dollar from the right palm at the same time. The right hand grips the extended left index finger in a semi-closed fist, the left index finger with coin entering the hole formed by the right thumb and index finger. The penetrated coin is held by its edge at the curvature formed by the right thumb and index finger (like the Downs Palm). See Figure 4.

45

Now in a pulling-popping held in the Downs position correctly, the pulling action ing. Pause and let the effect

action, the hole coin is removed from the left index finger and while the silver dollar is released from the right palm. Timed and the dropping of the genuine silver dollar are very convincregister.

4 When the attention is off you and on the tabled coins, go into the right pants pocket leaving the coin with the hole and secretly remove the huge penny. Pick up the large penny with the righthand thumb and index finger and, in an upward gesture (toss), drop the huge penny on the table. There is no need for palming the pinched large penny due to the strong misdirection of the huge coin hitting the table. This last switch is bold but very strong due to the audience believing the effect is already over.

46

Michael Weber

Buster A pencil is visibly and audibly snapped in two while out of the performer's hands. All of the props are ordinary, and everything may be inspected at the conclusion of the effect. Effect:

Method: Required are an ordinary pencil and a plastic cup. The plastic cup must be of the variety that has a bottom that can be pushed out from the inside of the cup and will snap back into place with a loud pop when squeezed. The seven ounce plastic drinking cup manufactured by the Alchem Plastic Company is one brand that works. (These cups have on the package: "Stock No. 71 00-12R - Alchem Plastic, La Mirada, Calif. 90638.") Upon inspection, many cups will be found to have this property. Prior to performance, carefully snap the pencil in the middle. You should be able to press the broken ends back together with no difficulty. Press the bottom of the cup outward. Introduce the cup and pencil and explain that something strange happened the last time you were preparing your tax return. You became angry, and a pencil in your pencil holder snapped in two. Offer an impromptu demonstration with the pencil and the plastic cup. Stand the pencil in the cup and hold the cup in your hand with your arm extended. With some obvious concentration, secretly press the bottom of the cup. The plastic will snap back into place, and the sound replicates the sound of a pencil snapping in two. The movement of the bottom of the cup will knock off the top of the broken pencil which will fall to the floor. The illusion, visually and audibly, is perfect. All properties may now be inspected.

47 '////$////$///////#///7//////////////$///$//7////##'7$//////////////W/#//////////#////Y////////////rW///////////////////////////////////////////////#////////$////7//////#/7////$////////////#//////////////////#/////////#/////////h

Martin Nash

Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas When doing card tricks for the public, one often hears the question, "Are you barred from Las Vegas?" Martin Nash is far from an exception in this. He has heard it so often over the years he has developed this routine to playoff the question. It leaves an intense impression that he can do anything he wishes with a pack of cards. While it will take some work to master, the effect gives the appearance of near super-human skill - much more than is actually required. If your goal is to impress with a pack of cards, this routine will do it for you. Martin introduces it - usually in response to the question mentioned above - by saying, "Am I barred from Las Vegas? Well, I'll be honest with you. They really don't like me much and I'll show you why. Will you please think of any card you see as I riffle through the deck?" At this point three spectators are each asked to peek at and remember a card. Martin does his Triple Clip-Steal to quickly control the three peeked cards to second, third and fourth positions from the face of the pack. This sleight will be briefly described, but it is recommended that the student refer to the original description on pages 339- 346 of Sleight Unseen for fuller details. In fact, this recommendation for consultation of the original sources holds for all the sleights used in this routine. The deck is held in the left hand, slightly beveled to the right. The left fingers lie lightly along the right edge of the deck. Starting on your left, hold the deck face toward a spectator and riffle the upper right corners of the cards slowly off the right fingertip. Ask the spectator to stop you at any time. The riffling is done slowly so that he will stop you in the bottom third of the pack. Open the pack enough for hi m to see his card when he calls for a stop. As the pack is closed the left fourth fingertip catches a break below the peeked card.

The same procedure is repeated with a second spectator in front of you and a third spectator to your right. The second spectator's card should be located near the center of the pack and a break is held below it with the left third fingertip. The third card should be peeked at a position about two-thirds up from the face of the deck, and the left second fingertip holds the break below it. The situation is seen from an exposed view in Figure 1.

48

By working from left to right you will end in a position with the right edge of the pack shielded from the audience's view. This is done to insure that no accidental glimpse of the three breaks can be had. The deck is now lowered to dealing position and the right hand comes over it to square the cards. The right fingers rest on the outer end of the pack while the right thumb holds steady all three breaks at the back. This frees the left fingers so that they may dig into the breaks and push the three peeked cards to the right in Side-Steal fashion. Each finger controls its own card: first the second finger, then the third and fourth. The three cards are side-jogged smoothly and quickly with a rippling action of the three active left fingers. As each card is pushed out its outer right corner is cl ipped in the crotch of the right third and fourth fingers. This action is seen in progress from underneath in Figure 2. As soon as the three cards are securely pinched between the right fingers the left fingers contact the face card of the pack and push it into the right finger-clip too.

Now, in a righthand squaring action the four clipped cards are pulled from the pack and allowed to fall between the left fingers and the bottom of the deck. They are then neatly brought flush onto the bottom as the squaring action is completed. When they come square with the pack the left fourth finger catches a break above them. This whole process takes only a few seconds and nothing can be seen. Immediately after the right-left squaring action of the right hand, the deck is given one back and forward squaring action. During this the right thumb takes over the break and the four bottom cards are moved into Gambler's Cop grip. You are now in position for Martin's Disarming Hide-Out (ref. Apocalypse, Vo!.7, No.1, p.873). As the deck is brought forward again during the last action of squaring, the front of the left hand until the rear end of the pack can be gripped thu mb crotch (Figure 3).

it is carried over deep in the left

The right hand immediately follows through by fanning the deck from left to right with either the right forefinger or thumb. The fanned pack will completely cover the copped cards. This position is made clear in Figure 4 (fan almost completed). Run your right forefinger from left to right along the fan as you say, "Each of you is thinking of a card somewhere in the deck." When the right forefinger reaches the right front

r i

,

49

corner of the fan it pushes the fan closed from right to left. Due to the position of the copped cards they will remain in place (Figure 5). The right forefinger misses them as it closes the fan.

3

4

The deck is now grasped from above by the right hand and given to a spectator for shuffling. The four copped cards stay in the left hand and that hand travels to a rest position at the edge of the table until the shuffling is completed. The right hand then reclaims the deck, replaces it in fanning position in the left hand (Figure 3) and fans it just as before, over the copped cards. Gesture at the fan ned deck and say, "Now no one can know the cards you are thinking of, or even their approximate posi-

----~ 50

tions in the pack." Square the fan, but this time the right forefinger pushes from a position closer to midwayan the right edge of the fan, engaging the copped cards and adding them to the botto m of the deck as the fan closes. This combination of Triple Clip-Steal and Disarming Hide-Out is totally convincing. You have outwardly done nothing to the cards but handed them out for shuffling. Control of the three "thought-of" cards seems impossible. Turn the deck face-up and place it into lefthand Mechanic's Grip. Turn to the first spectator who peeked at a card and ask him to name it for the first time. Riffle fairly quickly down the outer left corner of the pack with the left thu mb. As you do this, let the first four or five cards off the thu mb as a block so the selections aren't flashed. Ask the spectator, "Did you see your card?" Of course, he hasn't. "Don't worry. I did. It's about twenty-fourth down from the top." Just as you say this you perform a One-Handed Second Deal into the right hand. The deal Martin uses is this: the left thumb pushes over the top card of the face-up deck to the right, and follows through by contacting the face of the second card from the top. This second card is also pushed to the right, beneath the top card. The left second and third fingertips contact the back of this second card and hold it in position as the top card is drawn back onto the deck with the thumb. The left thumb continues to pull the top card to the left until it rides slightly over the left edge of the deck. Once here, it can be levered up slightly off the pack by pushing down on its left edge with the thumb. This posture is shown in Figure 6.

6 This leaves the second card from the top jogged to the right and lying loose between the top card and the deck proper. The left hand now moves sharply to the right and back, snapping the second card from the deck and causing it to fly into the waiting right hand. Place the first selection that has just appeared before its owner and turn to the second spectator. Ask him to name his card and go through the same byplay of riffling the corners of the deck and fictitiously noting the card's position. This time Martin uses the Gambler's Slap Second (ref. Sleight Unseen, p. 317). The mechanics are the same as in the previous Second Deal, but rather than throwing the card into the right hand, it is dealt smartly to the table with a sharp downward snap of the left hand. The third spectator names his card and you once more pretend to spot its location in the deck with a quick riffle. You then produce it on the face of the pack with the Erd nase Plus

51

Vernon Color Change (ref. Inner Secrets of Card Magic, p. 49). The right hand comes flat over the face of the pack and covers it. As it does so the tip of the right fourth finger contacts the outer right corner of the top card and secretly out-jogs it about half an inch. The pads at the base of the right fi ngers can now press agai nst the exposed rear edge of the second card from the top. The right hand draws back to apparently give one last view of the face of the deck. In this action the second card is pulled back under the hand until it just clears the rear edge of the face card. Then the right hand moves forward once more, carrying the second card over and onto the face of the pack. The left forefinger pushes the two out-jogged cards square with the pack under cover of the right hand ...and the right hand lifts to reveal the transformation. That's the routine. It leaves the spectators with the impression that you can spot and count cards at an incredible speed and then deal them from wherever they lie in the pack. It is a formidable demonstration of skill that can't help but make your performance memorable. "-7/////#////////////////////##///#///$//////////////////$//////////////#////////#///#///////#/////////////////////////////?////////#///;/////////////////////////////////,-j/////////P////////»//////;////////#////////////////////////////////A

52

Richard Kaufman

The Face-Up Incredible Card Tunnel The inspiration for this effect was Ken Krenzel's "Incredible Card Tunnel" (see The New Stars Of Magic), where two blank cards apparently changed into two selections as they were "tunneled" through the deck. There were two things about the routine I didn't like. One was the fact that you didn't really have two blank cards, and so they couldn't be examined; and the other was that when the blanks changed into the selections one was face-up while the other was face-down - you had to keep turning the deck over to show that both cards were changing. This handling eliminates both those restrictions. You must make a rather bizarre gimmicked card for this. One look at Figure 1 tells the story. The upper ends of two blank cards have been used; one is pasted flatly onto the back of a regular card (let's say it's the Five of Hearts) - the other is affixed at only its left end by a piece of Scotch-brand tape on the inside so that it swings freely back and forth (a flap, in other words). Finally, corner short the indicated corner; when the card is in the position shown it's the outer right.

1 You also need the gimmick and blanks on top of without turning it

two blank cards whose backs match that of the deck used. To set up, take lay it face-up on the table with the flap beneath its right side. Place the two it, face-up; and place the whole business into your pocket, faces outward end for end.

53

Once you're set you can do this effect any time. Whenever you're ready simply cut the Five of Hearts to the face of the deck that you've been using. Hold that in your left hand in face-up dealing position. Your right hand reaches into the pocket containing the prepared cards and brings them out, dropping them directly onto the face of the deck. Your left thu mb immediately spreads them to the right as you say, "Two blank cards with photographic abilities." Take the two blanks with your right hand and table them or, if necessary, place them onto a spectator's hand. (They can be examined if you like.) The card on the deck's face has remained the same throughout - the Five of Hearts - so everything looks as it should. Actually, of course, you've secretly added the gimmick to the deck. Turn the deck face-down and shuffle without disturbing the bottom card. Have two cards selected and control them to the top without disturbing the gimmick on the bottom. I usually do the Kelly Bottom Placement twice, getting both cards to the bottom, and then Double Cut them to the top. No matter what method you use, add the followi ng cut to the end of your sequence; your right hand grasps the face-down deck from above, thumb at inner end and fingers at outer end. Your first finger lifts about a quarter of the deck at the outer end. Your left hand undercuts about a quarter of the deck to the left and inserts it into the break created by your right first finger. Square the deck. All you've done is relocated the gimmick at the center without disturbing the selections on top. Obtain a left fourth-finger break beneath the selections; you're going to switch them for the blank cards using J.K. Hartman's Secret Subtraction move, as follows: Your right hand lifts the two blank cards from the table and drops them face-up onto the deck. Your right hand lifts all four cards above the break, thumb at inner right end and fingers at outer end. Your left thumb pulls the top blank to the left, revolving it face-down as it passes around the side of the packet. Slide it beneath the packet maintaining a right thumbtip break between it and the three cards above. Repeat with a second blank, revolving it face-down beneath the packet. As soon as it's beneath the cards your right hand moves directly over the deck and releases the two cards beneath the break. The blanks will fall secretly flush onto the deck.

2

)'

Without pausing your right hand moves diagonally forward and to the right a tiny bit. Your left thumb pulls the upper card of the pair to the left about a half inch - Figure 2. Your left thu mb clamps down on it, holding the spread pair firmly on the deck for a moment so that your right hand can regrip.

54

Your palm-down right hand grasps the inner end of the face-down pair; first and second fingers above and thumb beneath (Figure 3). Lift the pair and raise your hand, tilting the faces of the selections toward you - be careful not to allow the spectators to see them beause they still think these are the blank cards.

Your left thumb riffles down the outer left corner of the deck the corner-shorted gimmick. (Prior to this, so the corner short point, your left thumb should riffle down to check. If you have once, from side to side, the corner short should automatically be

and automatically stops at is at the outer left at this only turned the deck over in the proper place.)

4 You actually stop riffling in the middle of the deck, and also Le., between the flap and the base card to which it's attached. face card of the pair between the flap and base card. Your left past it, and the rear card of the pair goes behind it (Figure 4 -

in the middle of the gimmick; Insert the right corner of the thumb lets the base card riffle an exposed illustration).

55

Push the pair In counterclockwise a bit, sidewise in tunnel position; then grasp the whole deck with your right hand for a moment so your left hand can regrip; thumb at the left end, first finger curled beneath, other fingers at the right end. Your right hand arranges the selections so that they fill the length of the deck and are nearly aligned (Figure 5). You must keep the faces of the pair toward you when you insert and arrange it.

5 Squeeze your left thumb and fingers toward each other to provide a strong crossgrip pressure so the gimmick does not move as your right fingers push the pair downward (see Figure 6).

6 Once the upper end of the pair is aligned with the deck your left fingers change grip pressure. Relax your left thumb and fingers and press firmly upward against the bottom of the deck with your first fi nger. Your right thu mb now moves onto the lower end of the pair and pushes it upward - the gimmick emerging at the deck's upper side (Figure 7). Lower your left hand so that the spectators can see the top of the deck, and two apparently blank cards protruding.

56

Move your left first finger onto the outer end of the pair and push it inward a tiny bit _ just enough so that some of it protrudes at the inner end (Figure 8). Note that your right hand hovers over the deck to cover the inner right "bad" corner where a pip might show.

7

8 Let's backtrack a second. You've got to ti me the lowering of your left hand properly; it can't be too soon because you'll expose the inner ends of the selections before they're in the deck; and it can't be too late because you'll expose the back of the gi m mick as it is "plunged" out of the outer end. It's not nearly as tricky as it sounds, and if you make a fairly large motion out of lowering your hands you don't even have to push the cards through very quickly. After you've paused to patter for a moment (and with your left first finger now pushing firmly upward beneath the deck), your right thumb pushes the inner end of the pair flush with the deck. Your left first finger immediately moves to the outer ends of the protruding cards and pushes them back toward you - the faces of the selections appeari ng at the inner end (Figure 9). Quickly squeeze the deck between your left thumb and fingers so the gimmick stays in place and push the pair back out the outer side of the deck with your right thumb (Figure 10). The faces of the selections instantly appear!

57

Maintaining the strong left thumb and fingers crossgrip pressure, your right hand reaches arou nd and pulls the two selections out of the deck and drops them onto the table to end.

9

10

I "

I'm going to leave the cleanup to you. The gimmick is still in the center of the deck, but can be easily located, cut to the bottom and copped. The blanks are on top of the deck. It's vital that you do the last series of two push- through movements very quickly - the less time that elapses between the display of the blanks and the appearance of the selections, the more magical it will look.

'//////////////////////////////////////////////.///////////,r//.///////////////.//././//////./,//.//.///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////,

58 '///////////////////////////////8///////////////'////////////////////////////////////////'£'////////1"'-""////////F////////////////////////////////////////////////////////.//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Richard Kaufman & Piet Forton

Pinched Again This is a two-deck variant of Daryl's In The Pi nch bIer, pp. 81-87). The use of two decks with contrasting of visual conviction to an already strong illusion.

(Secrets of a Puerto Rican Gamback colors adds an extra element

You need a regular red deck and a blue deck for this routine. Place a red card on the bottom of the blue deck. This can be done before the trick begins, or you can do it when you bring out the two decks to perform the routine, as follows: Hold the red deck in the left hand, with a left little finger break below the top card. The blue deck is held in the right hand, from above in a Biddle Grip. Before you actually start the routine, you hold the two decks in your hands as described. Bring the blue deck in the right hand over the red deck in the left hand; the right hand's fi ngers take the top card off the red deck. To perform, place the red deck on the table in front of you. Have a card chosen from the blue deck, making sure not to reveal the back of the red card on the bottom of the blue deck. Cut the blue deck, holding a little finger break beneath the red card which is now in the center of the deck. Grab the deck with the right hand from above, with the right thumb getting and holding a break above the red card. The left hand now moves half of the deck - the cards below the red card - to the left. The chosen blue card is replaced on top of this half pack. Get a left little finger break below the chosen card. Bring the hands together. The right hand's red card goes on top of the left hand's chosen card - both the left little finger and the right thumb retain their breaks, while the red card and the chosen card come together. Thus, you hold a break above and below the two cards - see Figure 1.

2 The left little finger kicks the inner right corner of the two cards to the right, until the inner left corner of the two cards is held by the right thumb - Figure 2.

59

The double card is gripped diagonally between the right little finger (at the outer right corner) and thumb (at the inner left corner). The kicked-out cards are hidden from the audience's view by the back of the right hand. You now perform Vernon's Transfer Move, transfering the two cards from the center of the deck at your hands to atop the red deck that is on the table. Say that you'll give the spectator the blue deck, and you want them to shuffle the deck s9 their selected card is lost forever. Position the right hand with the blue deck four inches directly above the red deck on the table. The left hand moves back and grabs the inner left corner of the blue deck with the thumb on top and fingers below. The two cards stay in the right hand, as the left hand moves the rest of the deck forward and to the left, and then the right hand descends down on top of the red tabled deck, loading the two cards on top of this tabled red deck. Thus, as the blue deck is handed to the spectator for shuffling - which is what he will focus his attention on - the right hand loads the selected card and the extra red card to the top of the red deck. As soon as the cards are loaded on top of the deck, the right hand picks up the red deck for shuffling. Thus, it makes sense that as your left hand gives the blue deck to the spectator for shuffli ng, you grab the red deck with your other hand for shuffling. Figure 3 shows the left hand's blue deck moving grabbing the tabled deck as it loads the two cards.

3

,

to the spectator

and the right hand

4

The selected card is now second from the top of the red deck. Pass or Double Cut the top two cards to the bottom, leaving the blue selection on the bottom of the red deck. Get ready to execute Piet Forton's Pop-Out Move. While the Pop-Out Move has been published in a number of sources in recent years, it will be described here briefly for the sake of completeness. Hold the pack by its ends between the two hands, rather like you would if about to cut the deck for a tabled Riffle Shuffle. However, the deck is being held up off the table. Cut the top half of the pack to the left with the left hand and carry it under the righthand half. The halves aren't squared, however. They are held in an inverted V formation, the point of the V toward the audience. The left forefinger contacts the inner left corner of the righthand half and steadies it while the right thu mb procures a break above the bottom card of its half. See Figure 4 for this position. The right fingers may slightly bevel their packet so that the bottom card may be cleanly and quickly separated from the packet at its right inner corner. Note that the break is held by the thu mb at the very corner of the packet.

~

60

As soon as the right thumb's break is secure, the packets may be separated - the righthand half is raised a few inches above the left, but the packets are kept in their V formation. To get the card to pop out, all that is necessary is to drop it from the bottom of the right half. An instant after the right fingers release the card the packets are brought smartly together, catching the card at an angle between them as in Figure 5. There is a certain knack to this release and catch that is discovered after a short time. A bit more practice will provide the accuracy required for dependability. With this understood, we return to the action of the trick.

5 Have the spectator dribble the blue deck from about eight inches above the table down to the table top. Do the Pop- Out Move so it appears that you reach into the dribbling blue cards with your red deck, catching one blue card. Tilt the hands back to display that this card is the selected card.

r !

61

Bob Read

I I;

Handkerchief Through Glass A handkerchief is threaded through the handle of a half pint mug. The two ends are gathered and the handkerchief is pulled and seems to penetrate the solid glass handle. Effect:

To make the illustrations

clearer, they show a tie rather than a handkerchief.

Method: Hold the glass in your left hand, first finger and thumb on the outer surface, the remaining three fingers inside the glass. The handle projects upward between your first finger and thumb. The handkerchief is passed from the front, beneath the first finger, through toward the body, and drapes over the thumb and glass, as in Figure 1.

the handle,

2 The right hand curls around the glass, palm parallel to the bottom of the glass, fingers pointing toward the rim of the glass on the audience's side. The right fingers move over the outer surface under the handkerchief, until the right first finger strikes the left first finger through the handkerchief. The right third finger then takes over, passing below the right first finger, below the left first finger and up between the left first finger and handle, as in Figure 2.

62 The right third finger is still below the handkerchief and naturally, when it is raised about one inch it drags the handkerchief back under the handle. The left first finger presses the handkerchief against the glass.

t

•

;

I t

3

4

The right hand is raised, and bri ngs up the forward end of the handkerchief. The middle is pinned to the glass by the left first finger. The action of the right third finger beneath the handkerchief brings the nearest corner of the handkerchief back out from beneath the handle. The right thumb takes over from the third finger and the hand continues upward as shown in Figure 3. From the front it looks as if the handkerchief Figure 4.

___________

is still threaded

through

the handle -

see j, t)

------tl

63 In reality the left first finger merely pins the middle of the handkerchief to the glass. This finger then pushes the middle of the handkerchief through the handle, where it is gripped at the rear by the left thumb - see Figures 5 and 6. (Watch the handkerchief!)

5

6

The right hand tugs the handkerchief a couple of ti mes and it apparently handle. The whole sequence is over in less than ten seconds. This item is reprinted

penetrates

the

from Bob's book, Thanks To Pepys.

For clarity, the illustrations be used for performance.

show a tie being used instead of a handkerchief.

Either can

;'////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////f/ff//fff//f/.

64 '///#//#/////////#/#/////////-07//////#/$////////#/#$////$/,;//;////#///////////#////7$#//Y/ZY//#ff////////////7/////ffi'#///////////////////////////$/#///////Y//7//#///W/////////#//////#/0"/////$#///#//////#////#/,;Wffi'///;

John Ferrentino

Topsy Turvy Finely Finished A long-time standard of magic is U.F. Grant's "Topsy-Turvy Bottles." Actually, Grant called his method for the Topsy-Turvy Bottles "Tricky Bottles." Despite this, most magicians still cling to the older title. John's routine can be done with either version; however, since the original Topsy-Turvy Bottles are now collectors' items, it is assumed that most will be using the Grant set. Topsy-Turvy Bottles is the trick wherein a spectator follows the actions of the magician with a bottle and tube; yet the spectator's bottle always ends upside-down from the performer's. A great deal of situation comedy can be derived from this effect as it is repeated four or five times. However, there was always one problem with the Topsy-Turvy Bottles to which few performers found a solution: the trick never had a strong finish - an applause cue. It could only become repetitious, with no seeming way to build to a climax. There was always that feeling of a lame conclusion signaled by a usually awkward dismissal of the assisting audience member. John recognized both the entertainment value of Topsy-Turvy Bottles and its lack of a climax. This is his excellent solution to the problem. He has used this routine in over fivehundred shows to date. It is full of comedy, surprise and good psychology. You will need a standard Topsy-Turvy Bottles set, available through most dealers. This consists of two bottles, two tubes that can cover them and a metal sleeve that looks like the bottom of the bottles on either end. The sleeve nests closely inside either of the tubes. Also required are: Four 24" silks, two of which should be black; Four or five very tattered silks - the worse the condition, the better for comedy purposes; An old 18" silk or rag; Two metal hooks John uses fish hooks from which he has cut the barbed tips; A miniature bottle about three inches high - this must be small enough to be easily hidden in the hand; And a pencil or chop stick. HOOK

~

The setup is si mple. Take the old 18" silk or rag and tie its corner to that of one of the 24" black silks. Tie the diagonally opposite corner of this black silk to the second black silk; and the other two 24" silks are tied in a line to this second black silk, creating a chain of five. To the extreme corner of the last silk - that silk opposite the rag-silk - sew one of the metal hooks. Then tie the rag-silk into a large round knot. Figure 1 shows the completed assembly.

,...-------65

Force the knotted-up rag-silk down into the neck of the bottle you will be using during the performance. This is done with the pencil or chop stick. It is most important that this knotted cloth cannot slip from the neck of the bottle. The bottle must be able to hang securely from the silk chain without the knot slipping free. Follow through by pushing the rest of the silk chain loosely into the bottle with the stick. The last portion of the chain to go into the bottle should be the corner of the silk with the hook. Engage this hook over the edge of the mouth of the bottle as shown in Figure 2, so the corner of the silk chain can be neatly grasped when required.

2 Make a chain from the four or five tattered silks (having different sized silks for this group can enhance the hu mor of their appearance) and sew the other metal hook to the extreme corner of one of the end silks. This chain is loaded into the bottle the spectator will use. Again, make sure the hooked corner goes in last and engage the hook over the mouth of the bottle. Notice that no knotted cloth is used on this chain, as you wish the silks to pull free of the bottle. The last thing necessary is to place the miniature

bottle in your right coat pocket.

The routine begins with the standard Topsy-Turvy Bottle sequence. You give the spectator a bottle and tube, while you work with the set with the sleeve feke. Go through the usual you-do-as-I-do business with the spectator. When you reach the end of this sequence arrange it so that both you and the spectator are holding the bottles rightside-up. Both of you show your tubes empty and place them over the bottles. You announce, "Now for the magic!" Make a magical gesture over your tube and get the spectator to mimic you. Then reach inside, grip the silks by the hooked corner and dramatically pull them from the tube, stopping when you feel the knotted cloth bind in the neck of the bottle. Cue the spectator to do the same. John says here, "Go ahead. I set it up for you." This line will usually bring a laugh. The spectator's production of the ragged line of silks will create an incredible response of both laughter and applause. There is some wonderful psychology behind this production. All through the Topsy-Turvy sequence the spectator is made the goat. He is always wrong. It is a funny situation, but it can tend to make the performer seem like a "heavy" as he unfairly makes his poor volunteer look foolish. However, when the volunteer successfully pulls the silks from his tube he is made a winner; albeit not a perfect success, it is a triumph of sorts after the complete failure of the bottles. The audience knows that you have set up this situation and recognizes that you are letting your poor

II

---------------------------

.._--

66

helper off the hook. Thereby you reap the benefits of both the sight-gag and the spectator's success. Depending on your character you may wish to reinforce this image with a comment like, "Come on, it's his first time." At this point we must backtrack slightly. As you pulled the silks draped over the free hand. As the spectator now produces his line misdirection to lift your bottle secretly from the tube by the silks. fectly camouflage the dark bottle and the four 24" silks completely

from your tube they were of silks, you have perfect The two black silks percover it.

Take the spectator's silks from him when he has pulled them completely adding them to your silks. Then put silks and bottle away.

from his tube,

Explain that you will try teaching him one more trick. Raise your tube to expose the bottom half of the sleeve feke. Have the spectator follow your actions to show his bottle. Lower the tubes onto the hand again. Tell him that he is to reach into his pocket and get a pinch of that ancient staple of conjurers, woffle dust. You go to your pocket and Thumb Palm the miniature bottle there. (See Figure 3.) Bring out the hand and pretend to sprinkle the woffle dust into your tube. The spectator should be duplicating your actions.

"It's amazing how much woffle dust looks like pocket lint, isn't it? But it's incredible how it works!" As this line is delivered you finish your sprinkling actions and secretly drop the little bottle into your tube. It shouldn't make much noise as it drops; but your patter and the supposed presence of a bottle in the tube will cover any noise it makes. Tell the spectator, "Show them your bottle!" Nothing, of course, has happened and there will be a laugh. "Nothing, huh? Me too." Pick up your tube and expose the bottom of the sleeve feke once more. Then lower the tube, wave your hand over it and pick up both tube and sleeve, leaving the miniature bottle on your hand. Display the little bottle in one hand while casually showing the tube empty with the other. That is a certain applause cue. This routine will play beautifully for either children or adult audiences conditions. And it is solid fun and entertainment from first to last.

and under any

7////////////////////////////////#//////#//##//#//////////////////////////?'/////////$$/Y/ffi'//////////////////?///////#///////ff$#////#//?//////#/$//#//////////////#/////////&//////#/////////7/$////////////#h07/////////#///////'-;

•

I

67 07$#/07////////////$/7/#//////////////////////////////$////##/#//////////ffi'/ffi'////-/ffff//##//////////////ff#///////////Y///Y//////////$/////////#//////////////////'/////$/////////////////#///////'////./////////$//////////////////////-

Harry Lorayne

Poker Challenge This routine of Harry's is described

in his own words.

I saw a poker effect performed where the magician had to force one particular card and hand (third card in third hand). I know this because I saw it performed a few ti meso I believe the effect is in print. I wanted to do it without a force of one particular card. In trying to work that out I may have inadvertently come up with a new idea. It will be easier to explain the effect and method at the same time. Get the five high spade cards (royal flush) to the top, in any order, preferably during a previous routine. After a few shuffles, keeping the flush on top, start talking about poker, and cheating at poker. "To avoid cheating, professional gamblers shuffle like this." Do two In Faros (top card is lost each time). Then Double Cut one card from bottom to top. You're all set. If you don't want to Faro and Double Cut you'll have to set the cards into proper positions in advance. They are fifth, ninth, thirteenth, seventeenth and twenty-first from the top. In either case, follow up with a Jog Shuffle and-or a False Cut. Deal out five hands of poker - in a horizontal row - one card on top of the other, in the usual man nero Spread each hand downward so that the cards overlap. See Figure 1.

1 Say that in order to demonstrate how cards can be manipulated and controlled in poker, you want him to remember one card. The easiest card to remember would be the first card in the first hand - indicate the top card of the first hand; the second card in the second

-----------------

-

.•....

68

hand - indicate the second card from the top in the second hand; the third card in the third hand - indicate the center card of this hand; the fourth card in the fourth hand indicate the second card from bottom; and the fifth card in the fifth hand - indicate the lowermost (bottom) card in that hand.

It doesn't matter which he selects because the five high spades are at those positions! Check it. So, let him have a free choice of one of the five positions. Let's assume that also assume that it's Spades is the fourth hand. Keep the King hand.

he selects the fourth card in the fourth hand. Turn up that card (let's the King of Spades). Name it; stress that he remember that the King of card in the fourth hand. Manage to flash the other four cards in that of Spades in its proper place; do not disarrange the cards. Replace the

Pick up the five hands from left to right; first hand onto the second hand, these two onto the third hand, etc. Place them all on top of the deck proper. Patter: "Most capable professionals can control a card during a shuffle. Every once in a while, however, something happens that upsets the apple cart. For example, if a cheater has 'set' the deck for a five-handed deal, and just as he's about to deal, someone sits down, and says, 'Deal me in' - he's got a problem. He has to deal six hands now. Only a few experienced pros can handle that." While talking, do an Overhand Shuffle or two. All you have to do is to shuffle three cards onto the top twenty-five card stock. (You always shuffle one card less than the selected hand onto the stock.) "Let's see what I can do." Deal a six-hand poker layout. Deal the sixth hand beneath the horizontal row of five - as if dealing that hand to yourself. As you deal, count the hands aloud, stressing that you're dealing six. When you deal the fourth card to the fourth hand, stress that, and place it above (out of) the other cards of that hand. There's a little subtlety here. When the card (and hand) is originally selected, the card you indicate as, say, the first card in the first hand is really the fifth card that was dealt to that hand. In other words, except for the third card in the third hand, it was all reversed. Now, during the second dealing, it really is the fourth card in the fourth hand that you must show. For the one in a hundred spectators who may just spot that discrepancy - placi ng the card out of the hand takes care of it. No magician has ever caught it. It isn't necessary to do it if the card the spectator selects to remember is the third card in the third hand. All right; finish the dealing. Indicate the fourth hand, and say, "Here's the hand - and the card position - you selected. Let's see what we're playing against." Turn up each of the other hands. Take advantage of any good hand that may appear. Act as if you knew it was there! Finally, turn up the card you placed out of the fourth hand. It's the King of Spades first climax. "But, if you're a pro, you've got to do more than that. Look!" Turn up the other four cards of that hand, to display a royal flush! Afterthoughts: I'm quite pleased with this routine. Presented properly, it always gets a great response, particularly from poker-playing laymen. I think magicians will hav~ a hard time "backtracking" it. Don't forget to Double Cut one card from bottom to top, if you use the Faro Shuffles.

AI

69

The new idea - so far as I know, that is - is the dealing of six hands after dealing five hands. That was the only way I could get it to work out, so I took advantage of it. It fits perfectly into the patter line, the presentation, because it seems logical. I call this "Poker Challenge" "There was one guy in the room So, he sat in at the last minute, "throw" me, of course. That's the

because, originally, I presented it that way. I would say, who knew I was stacking the deck for a five-handed deal. and said, 'Okay wiseguy, deal me in.'" He was tryi ng to "challenge."

You might try that presentation. This item has appeared in print before, in Harry's publication

Apocalypse.

70 7////#$/////////$##//7/////0////#///$//#/////'///0"/////////////$///7////////////////////##..0"////#//////$/7////7/////////-:'//$/////////$/#//////////////#////////////,,0///////////////'/////'///#///7/0//////#///////&'//7//////,1;

Jay Sankey

RemarkerAble Jay is one of the few young and truly innovative thinkers in magic today. His thoughts and writings on the philosophy of magic - as an art - impress some, incense others, while we hope all will at least respect the fact that he is thinking. Jay was one of the special Close-Up Hosts at the 1984 Symposium in New York. This routine is given in Jay's own words. The following truly visual and startlingly impromptu production of three magic markers was created to avoid the tedious and definitely anti-magical task of having three people share one magic marker while they sig n previously selected cards. And though it was designed for a three-selection routine, this three marker production can also be utilized in a single- selection routine. It is so easy and so fun do do, I've actually made a point of performing it even though it meant that the three spectators would sometimes all sign the same card. That's how much I like it. You will need a jacket with two inside breast-pockets, and three identical magic markers. I use "Marks-A-Lot" (Carter's) indelible felt-tipped markers which have big plastic end-caps, metallic exteriors, and measure about five inches in length. Put two of the three markers in your left inner breast- pocket, and the remaining marker in your right inner breast- pocket. All the markers should be pointing with their caps uppermost. Now, due to the fact that the markers are going to be effortlessly (and secretly) sliding down your jacket sleeves, you may fi nd it helpful to roll up your shirt sleeves. I just pull, not roll, my shirt sleeves up my arms until the cuffs touch my shoulders. This not only makes the production smooth, but also keeps you cool. Slip into your jacket and you are set to go. To perform, mention that you would like each of the three spectators to sign their names across the faces of their respective playing cards. While you are mentioning this, several natural actions occur, during which you load a marker into both sleeves: First, your left hand goes into your inner right pocket, slipping the marker from that pocket down into the right sleeve while there; then bring the hand out empty, apparently not being able to find your marker. Then, your right hand goes into the left inner breast-pocket, pulls both markers upward until they clear the pocket, slips one of the two markers down into the top of the left sleeve, then moves out of the jacket to introduce the remaining marker which is already in its possession. Therefore, in checking the right pocket, then the left, both markers are loaded into the sleeves and the third marker is obtained. This handling is natural and straightforward. I cannot over-emphasize the brevity and casualness of the above actions. You should now have a marker resting in the upper half of each sleeve and a marker held in your right hand. Toss the marker into your left hand where it is held at the finger tips.

I

71

Gesture with the marker while saying: "I know what you are all thinking.uno, I'm not a mind reader. ..though I know you are all thinking, 'What an unprofessional performer! He's going to have three people sign three cards and yet he only has one markerf' ...not to worry ... " Lean slightly toward the spectator on your left, simultaneously letting your right arm fall to your side. This causes the right-sleeved marker to silently slide down into your loosely cupped right hand - Figure 1.

1 Your right hand pauses a beat or two as you gesture with your left hand's marker and say to the person on your left, "You can have this marker..." The right and left hands simultaneously swing together at about chest height, clicking the two markers together, and then immediately pull them apart with a theatrical effort - Figure 2.

The production of this second marker is very surprising. It is an audio-visual tion of an apparent impossibility: the ripping of one magic marker into two.

demonstra-

Hand the righthand marker to the spectator directly in front of you and say, " ...you can have thismarker..." Then toss the lefthand marker into your right hand, naturally allowing your left arm to fall to your side and momentarily rest there as you lean toward the spectator on your right. This causes the marker in your left sleeve to slide down into your loosely cupped left hand. Finish your sentence, and the production, by saying to the spectator on your right, " ...and you can have this marker! ... " Swing your two hands together and repeat the "splitting" action, breaking the marker, yet again, into two.

i I I

Part II

@M®®~ ~@ITD~[fD[Q)M~@[f®

74 ~/#//7#/#/////#///$///////#///#///////#//////////////#/////////&'/ff/7/////////////#/$///////////$/#/Y/.//////h'iY//#//////#///#///7#//////////#///////////#///////#//#///////////$////#//////#////////##//////$///////////////.

Tom Ogden

1984 Dear Adam: Here's the trick for the 1984 Symposium book. The plot of 1984 struck me as being particular relevant with the theme of Doublethink. As I mention in the patter line, as magicians we deal in Doublethink everyday. And this is the first year of the Doublethink Symposuim - one in New York and one in San Francisco. And speaking of Doublethink trivia, does anyone know that George Orwell was not his real name? It was Eric Blair. Even he was a product-victim of his own nom de plume - Tom. Effect: The Ace, Nine, Eight and Four of Clubs are displayed; and a patter story evolves around George Orwell's book, 1984. The Ace of Clubs, representing Winston, the hero, develops a "big heart" when the card changes into the Ace of Hearts. The Nine of Clubs, representing his girlfriend, Julia, follows suit and changes visibly into the Nine of Hearts. To right the wrong, the remaining cards, O'Brien and Big Brother, also change into Heart cards. As a final twist, all cards instantly change back into Clubs. Method: Stack the deck, from the top to bottom, Ace of Hearts, Nine of Hearts, Eight of Hearts, Four of Hearts, followed by the remainder of the deck. The Ace, Nine, Eight and Four of Clubs are scattered randomly throughout the pack. When ready to perform, remove the cards from the case and casually spread them faceup. Openly cull out the Ace, Nine, Eight and Four of Clubs and arrange them face-up to read "1984" from the spectator's left to his right. Square the pack, turn it face-down, and hold it in dealing position. "1984. The apocryphal year of Orwellian Newspeak and Doublethink. Finally the year is upon us - and who is not to say that the horrors described in 1984 are not already upon us, too? Wasn't Jimmy Carter's description of the bungled rescue attempt from Iran as a 'limited success' a perfect example of Newspeak? And don't we, as magicians, deal in Doublethink every day?" Arrange the "1984 of Clubs" in a face-up fan, with the Ace at the face. Display the fan on top of the deck, secretly picking up the top face-down card from the deck beneath the fan.

Square up the five cards and remove them from the deck - Figure 1. You will now perform this version of J.K. Hartman's Secret Subtraction: The left thumb drags the Ace faceup onto the top of the deck, jogged slightly to the right - Figure 2. The small packet in the right hand flips the Ace face- down onto the top of the deck, still jogged to the right - Figure 3.

75 The right hand picks up the face-down Ace beneath the packet, maintaining a thumb break between the single Ace and the remainder of the packet. Turn the right hand palm-up to show the Ace - Figure 4.

2

1

3

4

5

6

The right hand passes over the deck and drops the Ace below the break onto the top of the pack. In the same motion, the left thumb drags the face-up Nine from the top of the packet onto the deck, jogged slightly to the right - Figure 5. The packet flips the Nine face-down, and the Nine is picked up beneath the packet, holding no breaks. The right hand turns palm-up to display the Nine on the bottom of the packet - Figure 6.

, t 1

I

76

The Eight is now drawn onto the deck, flipped and picked up under the packet and displayed. Finally, the Four of Clubs is displayed in the same man nero The packet of four cards is dropped face-down onto the table. Double Cut the top card of the deck to the bottom and set the face-down deck to one side. "In this story, the Ace of Clubs will represent our hero, Winston, a man trapped in modern society where everyone is told what to do, what to think, what to dream. These other three cards will represent other characters we will get to in just a second." Pick up the packet and spread it face-down to show all the backs are the same. Close the packet, obtaining a break beneath the top two cards. Flip the two cards as one, face-up, onto the packet. Turn the packet over, so that the Four is now at the face. With the left fingers, draw out the face-down bottom card of the packet (the Nine), turn it face-up and return it to the bottom of the packet. Openly shift the top card (the Four) to the bottom of the packet. Turn the entire packet over and perform an EI msley Count. "All of the citizens of the Society seemed the same. You might even that they all belonged to the 'same club.' Well, I wouldn't, but you might."

go so far as to say

Perform the Vernon Through-the-Fist Flourish in the following manner: the left palm perpendicular to the direction of the fingers - Figure 7.

7

Set the packet in

8

Curl the thumb and fingers around the packet. Turn the left hand palm-down. The left thumb pushes the packet through the "tunnel" formed by the left hand, and the right hand withdraws the packet from the left little finger end of the "tunnel." Reverse fan the packet to show that one card, apparently the Ace of Clubs, has turned face-down - Figure 8. Snap that card face-u p to reveal that it has changed into the Ace of Hearts. "But Winston was different, even in a civilization where such a difference was not tolerated. He resented the control, the sameness, the Ministry of Love that told him how to feel. He was an anachronism - a man with a Heart." Drop the packet, reading 1984, onto the table. Remove the Nine of Clubs. Display it on top of the deck, secrety adding the top face-down card of the deck beneath it. Remove the

77

two cards as one from the top of the deck. Perform the Snap Turnover change in the following manner: Hold the two cards as one with the right thumb along the inside. of the long left edge of the card. The right middle finger holds the cards toward the inside of the right length of the card, and the forefinger rests, curled, on the back of the card - Figure 9.

9

Brush the cards twice along the left sleeve. On the third brush, release the middle finger. The cards will snap over, so that they are now held between the thu mb, on top, and the forefinger, beneath - Figure 10.

10

The double card is now immediately dropped onto the deck, and the top face-up card is dealt to the table. "But what of Winston's girlfriend, Julia? At first they are afraid to speak of their love and their similar feelings against the system - after all, Big Brother was everywhere. But soon Winston captured Julia's heart and they met in a secret tryst far from Big Brother's eye."

Casually Double Cut the top card to the bottom of the pack. Obtain a break beneath the top two face-down cards. Place the black Eight and Four face-down beneath the face-up red Nine and Ace, and display the fan on top of the deck - Figure 11. Square up the packet, secretly adding the two cards above the left fourth finger break to the bottom of the packet. You will now switch-out the black Eight and Four for the red Eight and Four using this variation of Kosky's Switch: The left thumb draws the red Ace to the top of the deck, out jogged for about half its length - Figure 12.

78 The next two face-down cards are drawn on top of the Ace, squared with each other and with the deck beneath them. The remaining cards are dropped as one (the Nine) injogged for half of the cards' length - Figure 13. With the right forefinger, Figure 14.

lift the center two cards enough

to give a peek of their faces -

t

II

4C 11

12

13

14

Then drop them back squared once again with the deck. Hold the deck and the jogged cards tightly with the left hand, while the right thumb and forefinger slightly lift the injogged down at cards Four)cards squared the deck without until thedisturbing outer edge the cards the (the back black insideEight edge.andThese are with slid forward, the offaceNine is even with the outer edge of the out jogged Ace - Figure 15. Pinch the Nine, the two cards hidden beneath it and the red Ace at the outer righthand corner and pull the four cards away from the deck. Fan the packet of cards with the right hand as the left hand sets the deck aside. "But the remaining cards, representing the eternal Eight Ball, Big Brother, and his fourflusher yes-man O'Brien, are not to be outdone. They trap Winston and Julia in their own

I..

79

sentimentality and reinstate order ...not by changing Winston and Julia back to fit in the club, but in this version of the tale ... they change to match the other two. The status quo is restored."

15

Turn the two face-down cards in the fan face-up and rearrange the packet on the table to read "1984" in Hearts. Casually Double Cut the bottom two cards of the deck to the top. Pick up the red "1984" in an overlapping fan with the Ace at the face and display it on top of the deck - Figure 16.

16

Square up the packet and remove it from the deck, secretly adding the top four facedown cards from the deck beneath it. You are now set to perform Father Cyprian's version of the Snap Change: Hold the block of eight cards in the right hand, the fi ngers beneath the right edge of the packet, the thumb pinching on the top face of the packet. The deck is held in the left hand face-down dealing position - Figure 17. In one motion, the left hand drops the deck face-up onto the packet; then, instantly following, the right fingers turn the entire deck back onto the left hand, adding the packet of eight cards squared to the top of the deck - Figure 18. The left thumb spreads the top face-up cards, the black "1984" into the right hand. These cards are rearranged to read "1984" of Clubs on the table and the deck is removed.

80

"Once again, a happy ending. But for whom? For Oceania? For Winston? For Big beliefs Brother? Or is it all a lesson in Doublethink, the power of holding two contradictory in one's mind simultaneously and believing in both of them. After all, haven't we just seen that Black Is Red? Or should we say, Red Is Black? Welcome to 19841"

17

18

Additional Notes: To dress up the story - since any effect where you let one thing "represent" something else is like a storybook in drag - you might pull the cards out of a pack of "Winston" cigarettes instead of a card case. Or you might collect a half dozen pocket mirrors or compacts to represent the giant Big Brother screens and position them about the table top. Of course, you might also just avoid this foolishness and go right on to the next trick in the book. Especially if it's late and your clock is already "striking thirteen."

If you are going this route with extraneous gag props, why not have a rubber rat in a toy bird cage? The packet of Hearts is brought near the caged rat and the cards are frightened into changing to Clubs again. The patter would have to be adjusted slightly to include this gag. Readers and spectators will have to be familiar with the novel to understand this gag.

r

81

•

Doug Bennett

Triple Whammy Effect: A selected card is lost withi n the deck. A Joker, which is seen to have a corner missing, is removed from the card case. The corner in question is dumped from the case and shown to match the Joker perfectly. The piece is now tabled face-down in plain sight. You now explain that the Joker has been marked for easy identification via the missing index. The Joker will now be used to fi nd the selected card. It is shuffled into the deck and the f

latter is given a face-down Ribbon Spread. Much to your delight the joker has positioned itself right next to the chosen card! (Whammy #1.) To prove that this was no coincidence both cards are shown and snapped together face-down. Upon being turned face-up the Joker is seen to be completely intact! The chosen card, however, has a missing corner! (Whammy #2.) When the tabled corner piece is turned face-up it is seen to have transformed itself into the corner belonging to the selected card! (Whammy#3.) Preparation: To make up the effect obtain a Ten.of Clubs and a Joker. Place the Ten faceup on top of the Joker and square them up. Now tear a fairly large piece from the upper right corner of both cards simultaneously, making sure that you tear off at least half of the upper right club pip on the Ten. Toss the corner from the Joker away and note that the torn corner from the Ten also matches the torn area on the Joker perfectly. This is due to the simultaneous tearing. By matching the piece in puzzle fashion and making sure you cover the part of the club pip on the torn corner with your left thu mb you can show the Joker together with its apparently matching piece. Obtain whole duplicates of the Ten and Joker and set your deck as follows: About twenty cards up from the bottom place the whole Joker face-down. On top of the Joker place the torn Ten face-down so that the torn area occupies the upper left corner. Place the intact Ten face-down atop the deck and the deck is ready. Place the torn Joker inside the card case and drop the torn piece in face-down beneath the Joker. Now fold the lid flap inside the case and firmly against the Joker, which of course goes beneath it. This partitions the Joker and torn piece off from the rest of the deck which is now slid into the case. You may also want to tear the little side tabs off of the case to insure an easy withdrawal of the deck from the case. Presentation: Slip the deck from the case and thumb through it, being careful not to expose the setup near the bottom. Slip force the Ten of Clubs, instructing your spectator to show the card to everyone in the room excluding you, of course. Turn away while the card is bei ng shown and riffle down the outer left corner of the deck with your left thu mb. Due to the missing corner the cards will break right below the Ten as the card acts as a locator or short card. Allow the thumb to count down one more card (this will be the whole Joker) and open the deck at the point just below the Joker. Ask your spectator to replace his card atop the twenty-card packet, burying the chosen card. You may now cut and Hindu Shuffle the deck all you want as long as you don't disturb the critical three cards, all of which lie together.

82

Table the deck, pull the flap from the card case, and du mp out the contents. The Joker should come out face-down, covering the face-down torn piece. Pick up the Joker and show it openly, face-up in the left hand in a Dealing Grip. The right hand picks up the torn corner while the left hand tilts upward so that the back of the Joker faces the audience. The right hand now holds the torn corner in puzzle-piece fashion to the torn section on the Joker. The left forefinger and thumb grip the torn piece so that the thumbtip covers up the partial 10 pip on the corner piece -

see Figure 1.

1 The left hand is now lowered to show, from the face, how good a match the torn corner is. The right hand now grips the torn piece and tables it face-down. The Joker goes facedown atop the face-down deck so that the torn corner is at the upper left. You will now give the deck a few cuts while watchi ng the left corner to make sure that the three special cards remain together. Upon completion of the cutting sequence the three-card group can end up anywhere in the deck as long as it is closer to the top than the torn Joker. You will now thumb through the deck face-down until you come to the torn corner of the Ten of Clubs. Your audience will assume that this is the torn Joker. Set all of the cards above the Ten aside and lay the Ten face-down on the table. (Note: Do not miscall the card as the Joker. In fact don't call it anything or make a big deal of tabling it.) The next two cards are the whole Joker and the whole Ten of Clubs. With a little bit of build-up execute a Double Lift and reveal what appears to be the chosen card. In reality it is the chosen card with the whole Joker hidden beneath it. Replace the double card face-down and thumb off the top card which, again, is the Joker. As far as your audience is concerned you have merely shown and tabled the chosen card. You now have two face-down cards on the table, one of which is missing a corner. To prove that the chosen card was found by magic and not coincidence, use the intact card to scoop up the missing corner with your right hand. When the hand has both cards in its possession turn the hand so that the cards are now face-up and execute a two-card Monte spread of the cards; i.e., the right thu mb pushes the torn card away as the right fingers pull the whole card inward. Allow the pair to drop to the table revealing a most impossible transposition. This is an extremely strong effect and may catch a few of your fellow magi off-guard. You now have a restored Joker and a torn Ten. Patter to the effect that the tearing of the Joker never really happened but in fact was just an illusion. In reality, you claim, the chosen card was torn all along which made it easy to find. To prove your outlandish claim allow a spectator to pick up the torn corner and match it to the Ten of Clubs. There is no need to clean up after the effect. In fact you are left with a torn corner card in the deck which could be used as a locator.

t

--~

,._ •....

83

Tom Gagnon

The Scoop-Displacement

Coin Vanish

Effect: This for-magicians-only coin vanish uniquely combines elements of Ed Marlo's "Scoop Move" and Tom Gagnon's "Pickup and Displacement" maneuver. In effect, the conjurer, while using a playing card, scoops up a coin from the table and promptly deposits the coin into his left hand. Immediately his hand closes around the coin. The conjurer then tosses the card onto the table, thereby displaying his right hand to be unmistakably empty. Yet, the coi n vanishes from the left hand.

Method: While standing, place a quarter onto your close-up pad and, with your right hand, grip a face-up card by its lower right corner between your thumb and the first and second fingertips - Figure 1. The card's short edge contacts the edge of the third finger. This insures that the card and, ultimately, the card with coin, remain stable throughout the forthcoming actions.

2 ,:.

2 With the audience's attention focused on the coi n, casually flip the quarter over on the pad with the left edge of the card. While this is being done, position your left hand, palmdown, adjacent to the coin. Refer to Figure 2, the spectators' view. Stating that you will deposit the quarter in your left hand, commence to scoop up the coin with the card while simultaneously revolving your left hand palm-up - Figure 3, the spectators' view. With an uninterrupted motion, pin the quarter against the card's face with your thumb (Figure 4, an exposed view) and, as you continue to swing the card and coin inward, promptly brush the card's lower edge across your left fingertips. Refer to Figure 5, an exposed view.

".,

------

84 To the onlookers, the above actions appear as if you have merely scooped and dumped the quarter into your left hand. By brushing the card's face across your left fingertips as depicted in Figure 5, the card effectively screens your empty left palm from the audience's view. Now, using an unbroken rhythm, close your left hand into a fist, as if receiving the quarter, and swing the card and coin inward as shown in Figure 6, a performer's view. Continue without pause to swing your right hand inward as though preparing to toss the card face-up onto the table.

4

6 As the hand withdraws, the arm should pivot at the elbow. See Figure 7, side view, which shows the proper angle the card should assume as the hand swings inward. In the midst of swinging the card and coin inward, bend your third finger toward the base of your palm while straightening your fourth finger. Refer to Figure 8 (performer's view) and Figure 9 (an audience's perspective). This finger action creates a space between your third and fourth fingers. As your hand continues to swing inward and the arm pivots at the elbow, shift the coin between your third and fourth fingers with your thumb by moving it to the right. See Figure 10, the performer's view. (Note: the thumb continues to shift the coin to the right, and to-

_______

---.......jL

85 ward the opening between the third and fourth fingers until the right edge of the coin contacts the tip of the little finger. This leaves a small portion of the coin's right edge protruding slightly over the right end of the card. Refer once again to Figure 10.)

N.~

8

9

•

-.-< N·:<

11

As the quarter becomes positioned as shown in Figure 10, promptly close your third and fourth fingers around the protruding edge of the coin, clipping the coin in a somewhat incomplete Goshman Pinch. Refer to Figure 11, the performer's view, which depicts this same action, but with the thumb removed for clarity. With the hand now reachi ng the end of its inward arc (Figu re 12, the spectators' view), reverse the direction of travel, and commence to swing the hand outward. As the hand

" 86 swings outward, shift your thumb to the upper corner of the card (Figure 13, the performer's view), and grip the card between your thumb and the first and second fingers. Now, as the hand continues to swing outward, in preparation to toss the card, rotate the hand slightly at the wrist in a clockwise direction as indicated in Figure 14, the spectators' view. In syncronization with this action, promptly straighten the thumb and the first and second fingers, simultaneously bending your third and fourth fingers (with the clipped coin) inward toward the base of your hand. Refer to Figure 15, an exposed view. Note how this action of the fingers causes the card to extend away from the clipped coin, creating a space along the card's right end. See also Figure 16, which shows an exposed underside gripped in the standard Gosh man Pi nch position .

•

view, and note how the coin ends

• ~-<

14

N-:-<

All right -

using an uninterrupted motion, swing your right hand outward, all the while moving your third and fourth fingers (together with the clipped coin) under and around the card's right end. Refer to Figures 17 and 18, both performer's views.

r I

.

I

'.'

87 Now, in one continuous motion, revolve the card to a face-up position and end with the face of the card tilted down toward the audience (Figure 19, the spectators' view, and Figure 20, an exposed underside view). See how the fi ngers and the clipped coi n end up beneath the card.

I

I

•

I

20

19

I 22

21

<;;? 23

From the position shown in Figure 19, continue without pause to toss the card face-up onto the pad. The action ends with your right palm briefly displayed, as shown in Figure 21, the spectator's view. (Note: Remember, you are supposed to be revolving the card back face-up and tossing it onto the table - so this is how the above actions should appear. To the onlookers, the coin has been dumped into your left hand; therefore, the tossing of the card should appear merely as a secondary flourish and nothing more.) At this time, withdraw your palm-up right hand until it clears the rear of the table (Figure 22) and drop the hand to your side. Once there, promptly revolve your right hand over (Figure 23, the spectators' view), all the time transferring the coin from the back of your hand to the Classic Pal m. (Refer to page 360 of J.B. Bobo's Coin Magic for a detailed description of this transfer move.) To conclude, wiggle your left thumb for effect, snap your right fingers over the left fist and open your left hand to show that the coin has vanished. W///#////////////////////////////////////////////#/////////////#//////7////////////////////##/#///////////////.4-'///..0'//////////////////////////////////Y/$////////////////#/,///////////0"////////0'/////0"///////$////$///#/$///////////%

88 7&////'/////////#,.11//$/..0////////7////////"/////////////7/'/9/$/$///////###/#/Z0".$//,0'/#///////7////7////////////#//////4///////////////#/////#///#//////////////////////////////////////#//////#//#/$/.//#///0/////$////#////.-0.

Tom Gagnon

The Scoop-Displacement

Coin Change

This offering is an outgrowth of the preceding vanish. In effect, the conjurer scoops up a half dollar with a playing card. The coin is promptly deposited in the left hand, which closes into a fist. At that moment, the conjurer opens his left hand to display an English penny, tosses the card to the table, and drops the English pen ny onto his otherwise empty right palm. The English penny is then thrown to the table for examination. Method:

You will need a half dollar, an English penny, a playing card, and a close-up

pad.

With the English penny secretly gripped in the lefthand Finger Palm position, toss the half dollar onto your close-up pad. That done, grip a face-up card by its lower right corner between your thumb and the first and second fingertips (Figure 1). As with the preceding vanish, the card's end must contact the edge of your third finger to insure stability throughout the following actions. Draw the audience's attention to the half dollar by casually flipping it over onto the pad with the left long edge of the card. As this action takes place, quickly position your left hand palm-down on the pad, adjacent to the half. Now, while explaining that you will place the half dollar in your left hand, begin to scoop up the coin with the card, at the same time revolving your slightly cupped left hand palmup. Continue without pause to scoop up the coin, simultaneously pinning the half against the card's face with your thumb (see Figure 4, a performer's view). As you continue to swing the card and coin inward, brush the card's lower edge across your left fingertips. Refer to Figure 5, a performer's view. From the audience's perspective, the above actions appear as though you have si mply scooped and du mped the half dollar into your left hand. The purpose for cupping your left hand during the above, and for your having to brush the card across your fingertips, is to screen the onlooker's view of the Finger Palmed English penny. Close your left hand around the English penny (supposedly the half) and, using the same actions as set forth in the "Scoop-Displacement Coin Vanish," toss the card face-up onto the pad while stealing the half into Goshman Pinch. Refer once again to Figures 6 through 21 of the preceding vanish. At the precise instant that the right hand releases its card (Figure 21), quickly open your left hand palm-up, reveal the presence of the English penny, and promptly drop the penny onto your poised pal m-up right hand (Figure 24, the spectators' view). Then pitch the English penny onto the pad (Figure 25, the spectators' view).

89

To conclude, withdraw your palm-up right hand until it clears the rear of the table and drop the hand to your side. Then quickly revolve the hand over and transfer the coin from the back of your hand to Classic Palm.

24

25

An interesting variation of the above sequence is to begin with two quarters in the left hand Finger Palm position, and with a half dollar resting on your close-up pad. By following the actions described, you appear to change the half into two quarters.

-------

90 '0'$//#////#///////////////7////////"///"$//////////$////:///$/////////@//Wh//////7@/$/Y///h0//$////////Y//////////Z/////////////////////#//////////////$#////#//#////////////#/.-07///////////////&$//////#/////00"/////4

Steve Dusheck

Coin-Nection The principle exploited in this routine is not new. It has been used variously and ingeniously by Sam Schartz, Ned Rutledge, Ed Mellon, Steve Skomp and Larry Becker. But as it is applied here - to automatically effect a prediction in the innocent act of picking up an object - credit goes to T.A. Waters. Steve Dusheck has used this clever idea several ti mes in marketed tricks. But never has he twisted, turned and squeezed so much work from this delightful principle. Where one effect is usually achieved, Steve manages three! You will have to assemble a few simple props to perform

this:

A small cardboard box - preferably an attractive one, such as a jewelry box. It must be of the type that has a lid which lifts straight up off the box. It also must be large enough for a penny, a nickle and a dime to rest on comfortably. Steve uses a long, narrow, bracelet or necklace box. On its lid he has printed "U.S. Mint Set" with dry transfer lettering. This is a nice psychological touch. Inside the box is a neat cotton pad just the size of the bottom of the box. This sort of cotton pad is commonly found in jewelry boxes. Two shell nickles and two shell pennies - these are easily had by buyi ng two sets of the old Adam's Nickle to Penny to Dime Trick, a standard and inexpensive dealers' item. Cement small magnets or bits of magnetic-rubber strip inside these shells. (Alternatively, you can use the examinable magnetic and steel-core coins on the market. These are more expensive, but allow a bit of extra freedom in handling during the routine, as will be explained. They can be had in various denominations.) Three steel ("Kling") cards or steel-shimmed cards - one should be an Ace, one a Five and the third a Ten. With a broad-tipped permanent marker write, "I knew you would select the penny," on the face of the Ace; "I knew you would select the nickle," on the face of the Five; and "I knew you would select the dime," on the face of the Ten. Two unprepared

dimes.

To set up, place one of the dimes in the bottom of the box and cover it with the cotton pad. Hold one of the magnetic nickles good-side against the underside of the lid. Place the second nickle on top of the lid, directly over the first. The visible nickle will hold the other in place beneath the lid. Position the pair of pennies similarly. Then place the remaining dime on the lid with the nickle and penny and you are set. See Figure 1. Place the three steel cards in your pocket. They must be in a known order so any of the three may be removed quickly and without fu mbling.

91

To perform, bring out the box with the three coins resting on its lid. Explain that the box contains a prediction. Ask a spectator to name any of the coins he wishes. Stress his freedom of choice and the fact that whichever coin he names will be the one used. You wish to avoid any suspicion of Magician's Choice procedures.

5<:

1

10<:

1<:

10<:

If the spectator names either the nickle or the penny, pick that coin up from the lid and gesture with it as you say something like, "You had total freedom in choosing a coin; yet this is the coin you decided upon." Then place the coin back on the lid again. This action of course releases the matching coin from beneath the lid so it may fall silently onto the cotton pad inside the box. This procedure is not necessary if the dime is chosen. (If you are usi ng mag netic and steel-core coi ns rather than shells, you can have the spectator pick up the chosen coin himself. This does not greatly enhance the effect; but there is a perverse and secret satisfaction in having the spectator unwittingly perform the trick for you.) It only remains to lift the lid from the box and show coin by placing a duplicate coin inside the box. If the mate will be resting on the cotton pad when the lid have the spectator lift the cotton pad from the bottom

that you have predicted his choice of nickle or penny has been chosen, its is removed. If the di me was chosen, of the box to reveal the second dime.

Explain that what has been accomplished is something a magician would approach the problem differently.

a mindreader

might do. However,

At this point in the routine one of two alternative procedures is followed, depending on the spectator's choice of coin. If either the nickle or pen ny was chosen, si mply pocket the chosen coin and its mate. Then replace the lid on the box with the other two coins still resti ng 0 n it. If the dime was chosen the lid of the box is placed on the open palm of the free hand. Ask that the spectator name another of the coins. The one left unnamed is eliminated. He must of course choose either the nickle or the penny. Pick up the unnamed coin from the lid and pocket it. This will secretly release the duplicate of this coin onto the fingers under cover of the lid. Finger Palm this dropped coin as the other hand takes the lid and replaces it on the box. Thus, you have arrived at a similar situation no matter which procedure is required. The lid is back on the box with the dime and one of the magnetic coins resting on it. The twin of this magnetic coin still clings to the underside of the lid.

•• 92

Ask for one last decision. The spectator must name either of the remaining coins. The second he does so, go to your pocket and cleanly remove the steel card with the message and value that matches his choice. If you have a coin Finger Pal med it is left in the pocket as the card is withdrawn. (Be sure the coin does not cling to the card.) Keep the back of the card to the spectators. Bring the card over the lid of the box and snap it flat against the coins resting there. Immediately lift the card. The magnetic coin will cling to it. Only the dime is left on the lid! Pause a few moments for the vanish of the one coin to be absorbed. Then lift the lid to reveal that the vanished coin has penetrated the box! This moment provides strong misdirection for you to drag the magnetic coin from the face of the card and palm it. To cap the effect draw attention sage can be read.

to the card; then snap it face-up so its value and mes-

There is a nice touch of psychology running throughout Steve's routining. Notice how the few weak points in the routine are ramified by the overall effect. The spectator's first choice is an obviously free one. The later choice between the dime and remaining coin has an element of equivoque in that it is not specified whether the named coin will penetrate the lid or remain upon it. However, this is covered perfectly, following in the shadow of the free first choice, the shock of the penetration and the kicker of the unexpected message on the card. Also, there is so much that happens in this routine it is highly unlikely anyone will recall that the card was removed from your pocket after the choice of coin was made. It is always a delight to see so much magic managed from such simple means.

93

Terry Lagerould

Piano Concerto The Piano Card Trick is an old classic, yet it is seldom seen performed these days. Nate Leipzig, Dai Vernon, Francis Carlyle and John Mulholland are just a few of the professionals who recognized the power of this simple trick and used it often. Its first appearance in print was in the August 1902 issue of Ellis Stanyon's Magic. Its creator is unfortunately nameless. It has been reprinted many times over the years, but little further thought has been given it. In the late 50s and early 60s there was a small flurry of re-examination in Ibidem, mainly by Ed Marlo, but with assists by Tom Ransom, Martin Gardner and Anthony Gugliotta. Then, once again, silence. Terry Lagerould has taken a new look at this fine old effect; and to it he has added some clever and entertaining presentational points, a bit of finesse which covers a possible weak point in the original handling and a novel "kicker" that nicely caps the transposition of the card. The only preparation uses Queens.

necessary is to secretly set four of a kind on top of the pack. Terry

He presents the trick as one taught to him by Liberace. This immediately sparks interest. As the introduction is made the cards may be casually shuffled, retaining the Queens on top. A spectator on your right is asked to assist in the trick by lightly resting his two hands palm-down on the table, fingers outstretched but slightly curled, rather as if he were playing the piano. You proceed to place pairs of cards between the spectator's fingers, starting with the space between the left fourth and third fi ngers (that nearest you) and worki ng forward toward the right third and fourth fingers. The top pair of cards from the deck (two Queens) is put between the left fourth and third fingers. The next pair (the third and fourth Queens) goes between the left third and second fingers. The third pair of cards goes between the left second and first fingers, the fourth pair between the left forefinger and thumb, the fifth pair between the right thumb and forefinger, etc., until you reach the space between the right third and fourth fingers. A pair is not placed there, but rather a single card is slid under the tip of the right fourth finger. The state of affairs is pictured in Figure 1.

While these fifteen cards are being things are being done:

placed between

the helper's

fingers

several subtle

1) The cards are handled as openly and fairly as is possible so that there can be no doubt that the number of cards represented is the number genuinely used. However, the faces of the cards are never shown during this display and placement process; or, for that matter, until the very last moment of the effect.

--------

94

2) The faces of the pairs of cards are positioned toward the performer and away from the audience. That is why a spectator on your extreme right is used; so that the faces of the Queens will not be seen prematurely. (Of course, a spectator on your extreme left may also be used. The adjustments in handling will become obvious when the effect is comprehended.)

3) As the cards are placed between the fingers, each pair is called an "even notes." After all, this is Liberace's trick. Yes, an "even pair" is redu ndant; but the even and odd is very important to the effect. It is constantly emphasized. The last, card that is placed beneath the right fourth finger is called an "odd flat note." That ously why it goes flat onto the table.

pair of idea of si ngle, is obvi-

4) There is a much less obvious reason for placing this last card flat, face-down, on the table. This card will be the "odd" card that will seemi ngly travel fro m packet to packet in a few moments. While, in the original handling of the trick, no one card was specified as the card that traveled across, it was impossible not to imply that the one single card was the one that made the trip. The problem was, it obviously did not change piles. By placi ng this card flat beneath the spectator's fourth finger, no one can get a glimpse of its face, a possible later argument is neatly avoided. This little touch, based on performing experience, has not to our knowledge been mentioned in print before. When the fifteen cards have all been placed between the fingers, the balance of the pack is put aside. Now cleanly remove the first pair of cards (Queens) from between the spectator's left fourth and third fingers, separate the cards and place them face-down and widely apart on the table. Treat the next pair of Queens likewise, placing one on each of the tabled Queens. Proceed to split each of the remaining five pairs similarly, working forward toward the single card under the right fourth finger. Once more, as each pair is removed and split you call it an "even pair of notes." And when all seven pairs have been split into the two packets you call the packets "two piles of even notes." Finally, remove the single card from beneath the spectator's right fourth which pile he wishes the "odd flat note" to go on. Do as he instructs.

finger

and ask

Now comes the swindle that you have been setting up all along. Claim that you will cause the flat odd note to travel from the one pile to the other. If you work through to this point with cards in hand you will discover that both piles consist of an odd number of cards before the last card is added. This last card makes its pile even. But the constant emphasis on

~

95 even pairs throughout the presentation makes the spectators think the opposite is the case. This is one of those blatant bits of manipulative psychology that never fails; and it is the basis of the Piano Card Trick. At this point you have two face-down piles of cards on the table, each with a pair of Queens on its face. You now make some magical gesture to indicate that the odd card is flying from the one packet to the other. Pick up the packet upon which you dropped the "odd" card and count it into two piles as follows: deal off the top card into the right hand. Place it onto the table as the left hand si multaneously deals the next card from the packet to the left of the first card. Callout, "An even pair of notes ..." Repeat this dealing procedure with the next two cards, saying, " ...an even pair of notes ..." And continue with the final two pairs similarly. Notice that you do not at any time refer to the number of cards or pairs of cards - only to their even quantity. At the finish of this deal you have secretly brought the Queens to the top of the two new packets. And you have proven that the odd card is no longer with them. Pick up the untouched pile and deal it into two more packets just as you did the first. You call each pair dealt "an even pair of notes," until only a single last card is left. Snap it to prove its singularity and drop it on the rightmost of the two newly formed packets as you drive home the point with, "And the odd flat note has flown across!" You have completed an impressive transposition of a card. A Queen is now lying quietly atop each of the four piles. Allow the major effect to register. Then say, "As you know, Liberace has performed before the crowned heads of Europe ...and wherever he plays, all the Queens love him." With this, turn up the four Queens atop each of the piles and finish. Their appearance is a definite applause cue that can't be ignored. There is a double-entendre of questionable be played up or left dormant at the discretion

taste inherent in the punch line above. It may of the performer.

On the page, this effect may read poorly or seem transparent. It is neither in performance. It packs a surprisi ng wallop. And it yields so much effect for so little work. Here are a few more presentational ploys Terry uses to build this effect into a major piece of entertainment. When he begins the presentation he places a small squeeker from a toy on the table. He also has a miniature toy piano. Into this little plastic piano he has mounted a Joy Buzzer (that peren nial wi nd-u p practical joke of S.S. Adams). He has attached the Buzzer under the piano so it will buzz loudly when he presses down on the piano. Terry uses these items as follows. Whenever an even pair of notes is mentioned he hits the squeeker. Whenever the odd flat note comes into play he hits the little piano and gets an awful raucous noise. This silly bit of business is not only very entertaining, it further emphasizes the even/odd psychology upon which the whole effect depends. Two other thoughts occur here. First, the squeeker and piano-buzzer might be given to a second spectator to operate on cue to your words and actions. This further strengthens their misdirective role while it provides lots of room for comedy byplay. Depending upon the spectator's timing on hitting the noise-makers or missing his cues, a lot of fun can be had. Secondly, an alternative punch line could be provided by using the four Fours rather than the Queens. As the Fours are revealed on each packet at the end the accompanying line would be, "This is one nu mber that Liberace always performed fo(u)rtissimo !" '/$////7/////////////'////////////#/&'#//////////////////#/##//#//'//#///////////##/////////////////////////////////////////////$/////////////#///////////,////7/////,0/;::-;:';;;;;;;;;;';;;////;;///-.;/;////////////////////d/////////////7//'//)/h'i;

-----96

Phil Goldstein

Sans Fronds Dai Vernon is fond of posing problems for Phil to solve. Some months ago he described to Phil a routine he had seen done by Larry Jennings. The plot bore a relationship to some Elmsley effects: First, an unidentified "mystery card" was openly placed into the performer's coat pocket. Now, a freely selected (and, if desired, signed) card was sandwiched between two Jokers. The sandwiched card vanished from the pocket. The spectator reached into the performer's pocket and removed the single card therein ...which proved to be the selection. Larry had demonstrated the effect but once to the Professor. In describing the item to Phil, Vernon stated that there were no palming maneuvers involved. Knowing Jennings' style, Phil presumed that, in fact, there were such actions, but that they had not registered on the Professor upon first viewing. (Indeed, when Larry performed the routine for Phil the next night there were three such actions.) However, Phil was stimulated by the Professor's challenge to work out the handling described here. Jennings' routine has since been published, 1, Wi nter 1984). Quarterly

#

entitled

"The Mystery Card" (see West Coast

The effect is impromptu, and there is indeed no palming required. This does not, however, render the working easy, as there is some delicate precision necessary in the areas of management and timing. You will need a pack of cards, with two Jokers. Your left jacket pocket should be empty. Start by shuffling the pack. Explain that you will place a single card .into your pocket ...a "mystery" card. Hold the pack from above with the right hand. The left hand openly removes the lowermost card. Explain that you do not want anyone to know the identity of this card just yet... Now, you apparently place the lefthand card into your side pocket. In fact, you swivel the upper portion of your body to the left, and in the process of this movement the hands come together for a moment. As the hands "kiss," the left hand's card is simply stolen back beneath the deck in the right hand. This action is almost like doing a Bottom Change, but without taking the second card. The left hand continues moving around the side of your body, entering the side pocket and depositing the non- existant card there. The above is an exercise in acting and timing. The steal of the card takes place under cover of a natural body movement, and at a moment just as the card is going out of view. Properly done, no one will consider for an instant that there is no card being pocketed.

97

Return to face the spectator. Go through the deck and openly remove the Jokers. Place these face-up onto the spectator's left palm. Now spread the pack and allow the spectator to remove any card with his or her right hand. Square the pack, holding it face-down in your left hand. With your right hand, pick up the pair of face-up Jokers, and direct the spectator to insert the selection face- down between those two cards. You will now steal away the sandwiched selection, with a si mplified version of Rick Joh nsson's "Empty Kosky Switch," as follows: The three-card packet is squared, and regripped with the right hand from above (the left fingertips can assist in this readjustment, but you should avoid allowing the packet to align with the deck during this). The hands now come together, and the left thumb draws the top card of the righthand stock (a face-up Joker) onto the deck, out jogged for about half its length - Figure 1.

1

2

The next card (face-down selection) is drawn onto the pack, in alignment with the deck. The final card (face-up Joker) is taken on top of all, injogged for about half its length Figure 2.

-~-

98

You are seemingly

performing

these actions

purely for the sake of clarity and display.

The trio of cards is now apparently removed from atop the pack. The right hand grasps the injogged card at the inner end, fingers on top, thumb below. This card is slid forward, until aligned with the center card of the group. Pause for an instant, as if picking up the center card beneath the first; then continue sliding forward. Actually, you continue to slide only the top card, until it is aligned with the out jogged card - Figure 3.

Now, the right hand regrips the out jogged forward, away from the pack. See Figure 4.

cards at the outer end, and strips those cards

4 Properly done, it will seem clear that the face-down the two Jokers.

selection

is still sandwiched

between

By now the spectator will have lowered his or her hands. Direct the spectator to extend the right hand. The Joker packet is deposited onto this outstretched palm. In the course of this action, your body again makes a slight swivel to your left. As the left hand (holding the deck) goes out of view, it drops momentarily and the top card of the pack (the selection) is thumbed into the side jacket-pocket.

99

Your focus during this must be completely on the cards being placed into the spectator's hand. Quite obviously, if the spectators have any inkling that you are blatantly shoving a card from the left hand into your jacket pocket, the mystery is dead. Confidence in manner is the key to misdirection at this point. By the ti me the audience's attention re-expands to take in your entire body, your left hand with the deck will be nowhere near your coat pocket. The deck is now placed into the spectator's left hand. (Rather than awkwardly crossing your body to do this with your left hand, it is far cleaner blocking to take the pack from your left hand with your right, and then place it onto the spectator's palm.) Re-cap the supposed situation:There is a "mystery card" in your side pocket,and a selection trapped between two Jokers in the spectator's right hand. During this explanation, make it clear (without specifically stating the point) that your hands are empty. Retrieve the Joker packet from the spectator. Perform a Half-Pass to secretly reverse the lowermost card of the packet. Now, use a Victor or Hamman counting action to display (apparently) three cards in the packet you hold - two face-up Jokers with a face-down card between, as expected. Hold the packet between your palms, and perform an Elmsley Prayer Vanish, dropping the two Jokers cleanly onto the spectator's outstretched right hand. At the conclusion of this action, your hands will be held splayed in front of you. Maintain this pose, as you turn your left side to the spectator, inviting him or her to reach into your jacket pocket and remove the mystery card. It is, of course, the selection.

You are clean.

'///#//////#//#//://////"#///////#/////////$/1'#/#///)/#/'//;0'////////////////////7//#//////////////////#///////////////////////"//////$//////////////7//#//////////#///////////////////////////#///////////$/////#/////$//$#///7/7///

100

Ben Harris

Alloy Division This is one of Ben's favorite coin turns. A casual reading of it will not give you the full power of this item. Read it with care - at least twice - and try to understand what the spectators must believe they see. Its simplicity of plot and boldness of method are deceiving. The effect is of surprising strength. Borrow as large a coin as you can from a spectator - a half dollar is desirable (should you be lucky enough to be offered one), but a quarter can be used. The important poi nt is that you must secretly get a coin of matching denomination into righthand Classic Palm, head-side against the palm. Take the borrowed coin, tail-side up, into the left hand. As you do this you explain that magicians have become notorious for severing women into two halves. In recent years this continued preference for the splitting of ladies has been, in some quarters, suggested as betraying sexism. In an attempt to break with tradition you will instead cut a president in two. As this introduction is delivered you casually transfer the coin from the left hand to the right, actually performing a Shuttle Pass. Ben recom mends that of David Roth (see Coinmagic, pp. 10-12), which is certainly one of the best. When the coin is shuttled from hand to hand it is apparently turned head up, coinciding with the mention of cutting a president in two and lending motivation for the Shuttle Pass. At the finish of the transfer the borrowed coin is left lying on the left fingers in Fingertip Rest position. The shuttle action has also of course subtly shown the hands empty of anything but the visible coin. Pause a few beats and then pick up the exposed coin from the right hand between the very tips of the left forefinger and thumb. Hold the coin with the head toward the spectators and point to it with the right forefinger. (This position provides a natural reason for the left fingers to remain curled with their concealed coin.) Now grip the coin by its opposite edges at the very tips of both left and right fingers, as if you were about to bend it. As the coin is taken into this new position it is allowed to rest more fully on the right fingertips while the left fingers uncurl with the borrowed coin still lying on them. The left thumb moves slightly to clip the borrowed coin against the left fingers so it won't drop. The position at this point is shown in Figure 1. The visible coin is now apparently broken into two halves. pressing the nails of the left fingers firmly against the near side two actions occur si multaneously: the left hand pulls slightly to firmly over the visible coin being held steady by the right fingers;

This illusion is created by of the exposed coin. Now the left, dragging its nails and the left thumb pushes

101

the hidden coin to the right until about half the coin protrudes beyond the left fingertips. It is still out of sight, however, behind the right fingers and visible coin. As the left hand continues to draw to the left, the left fingers will slip from the righthand coin with some force, due to the outward pressure they have exerted. This causes the edges of the two coins to

I

snap smartly against each other, creating

a sharp "breaking"

sound.

Ii

, 'i

I

1 Both hands immediately turn palms upward and inward as shown in Figure 2. The fingers and thumbs of each hand cover about half of their respective coins. As the breaking action is performed the spectators catch a glimpse of silver coin in each hand - apparently the halves of the broken coin. However, this is not the place to stop and prove a point. Don't rush your movements, but do keep moving. The moment the hands and coins are separated bring them together again. The left hand turns palm-down and places its coin onto the other. Use the fingers to keep at least half of the coins concealed from the spectators' view at all times (Figure 3).

4

3

You are now going to reunite the broken halves. The hands raise the coins toward the mouth so you may blow gently on them. In this action the fingers quickly place one of the coins into righthand Edge Grip (i.e., clipped edgewise between the second fleshy pad of the middle finger and thumb). The hands are then lowered to chest level again with only one coin visible, held at its extreme edges by the tips of the second fingers and thumbs as in

102

Figure 4. With the second coin safely concealed leaving the visible coin at the right fingertips empty.

in Edge Grip the hands can be separated, while displaying the hands as otherwise

4 The action is kept going as you suggest that it would be a much better trick if you could break the coin in two and then restore each half into a whole coin, doubling your money. While explaining this, drop the visible coin into the left hand, keeping the Edge-Gripped coin in position. Then perform Roth's Shuttle Pass from Edge Grip (Coinmagic, p. 14). Briefly, what happens is that the left hand turns palm-downward, Finger Palming its coin as the right hand turns palm upward beneath the turning left hand. As this is done the right thumb releases its pressure on the Edge-Gripped coin and lets it fall forward, flat onto the right first and second fingers ...and the left hand moves away. Pick up the exposed coin from the right fingers and grip it by its edge between the left and right fingertips. This is the starting position for the breaking sequence (Figure 1 again).

Repeat the illusion of breaking the coin in two, but rather than placing the coins onto one another at the finish, simply allow them to slide down the fingers of each hand as the hands are closed into loose fists. Make kneading motions with the fingers and reveal that the halves have become whole coins. Ben always gives both coins to the spectator to keep. This is logical - you made them from his one coin. And it exercises a nice psychological ploy, suggesting that you can afford to do this because the money was doubled by magic; something you can do anytime you wish. (This shrewd ploy has become known as the Michael Webber More-Money-ThanBrains Gambit.) It is the impromptu and offhand nature of this effect that makes it so strong. Simply borrowing a coin, breaking it into two coins and giving them both back to the spectator is a thing that leaves a strong impression. That and the combination of sound with sight creates a nice illusion that will be remembered and related to others. Where else can you buy so much publicity for 50 cents or less? ~///////§///7.00/7////Z////////&///00:0'#/#h0'&'///W#///W//////////#////,,0'///###////&0///////$//////#/$////'///////////////////#//#/7/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////#/0'///////////_-'i/////////J

i r

I

103

Ray Kosby

Cooking With Oil & Water There are many Oil and Water methods in print. But few can equal the direct, seemingly moveless appearance of this sequence of Ray's. Eight cards are alternated red and black by a spectator. The magician causes the colors to separate and then to mix again in a remarkably clean and visual manner. No extra cards are used. To begi n have a spectator alternate any four red cards with four black cards. Spread and display the cards' alternating colors. Square the cards and hold them face-down in the left hand. Your handling must be obviously fair and open throughout this display and squaring. The Separation: Indicate with some gesture that something magical is happening to cards. The left thu mb then pushes off the top card to the right for about half its width. this is done the left thumb is also made to contact the second card from the top and pushed to the right about the width of a border. Get a left fourth-finger break beneath second card as it is squared back onto the packet by the left fi ngers. Si multaneously right hand flips the top card over sidewise and face-up onto the packet. Let's assu me card is red.

the As it is this the this

Take the cards above the break, squared as one, in righthand Biddle Grip - from above, fingers at the outer ends, thumb at the inner. Carry this double card away and to the right of the packet.

1

Push over the new top card, which is red, with the left thumb and again procure a break under the second card down. Use the left edge of the righthand double card to flip the red card face-up onto the packet. Pick up the two cards above the break below the righthand double card and side-jogged slightly to the left, as shown in Figure 1.

------------------------------------------------------------------------104 Repeat this process, placing a third double card jogged to the left beneath the righthand cards. The left thu mb pushes the next card to the right and the righthand cards flip this last red card face-up onto the remaining face-down black card in the left hand. However, the audience believes this single face-down card is the remainder of the packet; i.e., the four black cards. Throughout this handling the cards should be held with the front ends pointed well down. This both covers the thickness of the double cards and the packet, and gives maximum display of the cards' faces to the spectators. If you have managed the above series of turn-overs and pick- ups of the double cards smoothly it will appear to your audience that the four red cards have magically risen to the top of the packet and are being displayed in a spread as seen in Figure 2. To clinch the illusion of the color separation you will now show the four black cards.

2

Take the one face-down card remaining in your left hand under the righthand spread. It must be aligned squarely with the leftmost single red card of the spread. Now you pretend to spread the face-down black cards under the red-card spread with the left fi ngers. In reality, nothing moves but the left fingers; but this false spreading action must look convincing. The left hand must look as if it were genuinely push-spreading the black cards beneath the red ones. Turn the right hand palm-up to display the four black cards as in Figure 3. This display is quite convincing.

r !

105

The Mix: Turn the right hand palm-down and close the spread in the crotch of the left thumb. In the same motion steal the bottom card into the right palm with a Side-Steal action. Cover the packet with the right hand and add the face-down palmed card onto the packet. Press both hands together as you spread your right fingers, revealing the visual change of the top card from a face-up one to a face-down one. (Ray has adapted this pressing action from an idea in Paul Harris' Press effect from pp. 39-40 of The Magic of Paul Harris).

Remove the right hand and spread the cards to show the face- down black cards have alternated with the face-up red cards! Looy Simonoff is to be thanked for the finish to this sequence. The appealing aspect of this Oil and Water handling is the apparent absence of manipulation. The cards seem to segregate and mix again in a magical instant. It is a very visual approach.

;;;///#//////////////0:'////////////#/////////#//0///7/////////////////#///////////////////h0'///7//////h////#///;-///$///#$#//////////#///##///////#$/'/////#&'/£1'/////#/////////////////////://///////////,0/////////////,7/////$////,,0/';

--.

106 '////#//#/7///#/#///'/7///////#///////////////////#/#&/////////////#/////7////////7////////////////////////////////////////////////////##/,////-::'i:W/////;-hW///////;;X////////#/////////(////////-//4M/////(///(//:v//X;////////#//#//~

Ken Krenzel

Post Hoc Miracle In 1953 H.A. Adams published "Trilemma" in the 280th issue of The Phoenix. The first effect of this article was a transposition of thought-of cards in shuffled packets. The trick, unfortunately, fell into that all too common class in which the method was far more intriguing than the effect it accomplished. The principle involved was fascinating; but the effect was beset with a long, tedious process of calling off each and every card of the deck as two piles were formed. To make matters worse, the cards could not be shown as they were called and dealt, for they did not match the called sequence. Such a procedure could not hope to remai n unsuspected for 10 ng.

Ken was intrigued shortcomings. "Post many knowledgeable

with Mr. Adams' principle, but was also acutely aware of the effect's Hoc Miracle" is his solution to the problem. With it Ken has baffled cardmen as well as laymen.

Begin by having a spectator shuffle the deck. (It may be borrowed if you wish.) He is then asked to place the deck face- down on the table and cut it into two reasonably equal piles. He is to choose either half he likes, fan it faces toward hi mself, and merely thi nk of any card he sees. He com mits it to memory and shuffles his half deck so as to leave no clue as to the mentally-selected card. As these actions are explained to the spectator you pick up the unwanted half of the pack and physically demonstrate what you wish the spectator to do with his half. Fan the cards to yourself and then shuffle them. While he is followi ng your example, you take advantage of the misdirection the situation provides to Top Palm four cards from your half. Put the packet aside casually as soon as you have done so. When he has finished shuffling, have him place his cards face-down on the table. Casually pick them up, secretly adding the four palmed cards to the top of the packet. These actions must be as clean and deliberate as you can make them. It should be patently clear to the spectator that his thought-of card is honestly lost in the packet your are now holding. At this point you must secretly gain knowledge of the bottom card of this packet. Often it will be flashed to you as the spectator shuffles. If it isn't, you must subtly glimpse it in some fashion as you gesture with the cards, square them, etc. Explain that you are going to divide the packet into two face-up piles; and the spectator is to watch and remember in which pile his mentally chosen card resides.

-.-

107

Flip up the top card of the packet and callout the name of that card. Then deal it face-up onto the table. Flip up the second card and call it. Deal it face-up to the right of, and well separated from, the first card. Turn up and call the third card, but deal it onto the first tabled card. The fourth card is called and dealt face-up onto the righthand card. Suddenly stop the calling and dealing. Explain that often a magician can discover a person's thoughts merely by watching his eyes ...and your helper's eyes, you claim, are extremely expressive. They are reacting strongly to the faces of the cards. This makes things too easy. You don't want his unconscious eye motions to give you any clues; so you will deal the cards face-down to eli mi nate the problem. Cleanly turn each of the two dealt piles face-down

in position

on the table.

Now continue to call and deal the cards from the packet alternately into two piles. However, from this point everything is a swindle. You will be calling the cards "one behind" their actual positions. Take the top card from the packet, glance at its face and remember it. But as you do this, call it as the card you previously sighted on the bottom of the packet. Deal it face-down onto the lefthand pile and glance at the next card, noting it but calling it as the card just dealt. This card goes on the righthand pile. The procedure of miscalling each card as its predecessor is continued throughout the entire packet. For example, if the packet ran in sequence from Ace of Spades to King of Spades, you would call the Ace as the bottom card - the King; the Two would be called the Ace; the Three would be called the Two, etc. Needless to say, no one but you must see the cards as they are called and dealt. Once the entire packet has been divided using this system of continuous miscalls, whatever the spectator's thought-of card, it must secretly lie in the opposite pile from that he thinks it is in. Have him point to the pile that (he believes) contains his card. He is instructed up and shuffle it briefly. He is then to spread it face-down on the table.

to pick it

You proceed to hold your forefinger an inch or two above the cards and dramatically trace the spread's length, finally allowing the finger to come down on one card. Push this card from the spread and slide it into the unspread pile of cards without revealing its identity. Pick up this pile. Briefly recap the impossible conditions of the test, recalling the spectator's total freedom in thinking of a card, his precautionary shuffling of the cards throughout the experiment, etc. As you mention his shuffling, casually give the pile a quick mix. This destroys any clues of approxi mate positio n of the inserted card in the packet. Ask the spectator to name, for the first ti me, the card he merely thought of. When he does, fan the packet you are holding toward yourself and remove his card. Slowly turn it over to display its face. You have seemingly divined his mentally selected card under incredible conditions! Ken's improvements

over the origi nal A.H. Adams effect are three:

1) He has eliminated half the pack early in the procedure, minimizing the calling and dealing process.

thus speeding

up the action by

108

2) He has added the subtlety of secretly introducing four extra cards to the stock, which allows the very convincing touch of showing the first four cards during the calling and dealing. This one touch has contributed heavily to the confoundment of more than a few knowledgeable cardmen. 3) He has twisted the original presentation from a magical transposition of mentally selected cards from packet to packet into a more believable mental effect that misdirects away from the real method. The trick is not a difficult one. The only sleight required is the Palm, and this comes early in the routine when nothing has yet happened. The spectators are relaxed. What does take a bit of practice is the smooth and unhesitating miscall of the cards. You must be able to quickly and convincingly note the one card while calling that which preceded it. It is not difficult, but must be practiced until confidence is gained. It should be mentioned that Ken will occasionally vary the presentation by having the spectator push the random card out of the spread and insert it in the other pile. Here it seems as if he has somehow impossibly divined his own card's position and transferred it!

Y#//#40////&//////////////////$///$///$/$/##////#/7////#/hW////#/////////////////#////////////////////////$//////////////#////#///"//////////%/%.

;';;/,//,07//////?///ff////////h///Y///////;//////;-//:Y//////////://&//(///////;

I

109

Fabian

Han Ping Cup Move This is an interesting adaptation of the Han Ping Chien coin sleight that may be incorporated into any Cups and Balls or Chop Cup routine. Start with a ball perched atop the cup. The right hand grasps the cup by its sides, lifts it three or four inches from the table and tilts it forward and to the left, tipping the ball off the cup. The ball is caught neatly in the waiting left hand. This is shown in Figure 1.

1

f

The left hand closes loosely over the ball, pausing just long enough before doing so for the audience to see that the ball is genuinely contained in the hand. The ball is allowed to fall inside the fist down near the left fourth finger. This finger curls in just enough to lightly keep the ball from falling from the hand. The left fist is held with the thumb uppermost and the fourth fi nger nearest the table. The right hand still holds the cup, slightly

higher than the left fist and just behind it.

Now the cup will be lowered to the table. As this happens the left fourth finger loosens its grip on the ball, allowing it to drop from the bottom of the fist. This finger action should be very slight. The ball is released from the fist an instant before the cup in the right hand comes down. The cup actually overtakes the falling ball in midair and covers it as both reach the table. A frozen pose of this action is given in Figure 2.

••• 110

As the cup comes down with the ball the left fist moves slightly to the left to clear a path for the cup. You are now in a position to show the ball has vanished from the hand and may reveal it under the cup either immediately or after some delay, depending upon the routine. It will be obvious that this same sleight may be used to add a ball to others already under the cup.

2 As with all moves of this sort, timing is the crucial factor. This will come only with work. Keep in mind as you practice that the cup is brought straight downover the ball. Do not jerk or swoop to the left as you make the move. Also, do not bang the cup down over the ball. The whole set of actions must be performed in a gentle relaxed manner. It is not done quickly and with a lot of tension displayed in the hands and arms. The actions flow. This sleight can be totally deceptive if these points are adhered to.

::;;;)//////////////////$//////$/7/////#///7/////////"//#//$///'/#/////////////////////////////////////<-%///'///////////////////$////0'///////J;//$////$/////////,@/W#$h'?/////?////$///#////P:07/#///#///////////////#////////.

111 "/$/////#//ff/#//////#///#//#/////'l'/////////##///$$////'/////##/&///"//$#///##/////1////##////////#///////////////////////&'/$#/////:5';/;

//>/7/'$///////$///////#/#///////#///0///////'/////////$//////#////////////,ij,

Joe Safuto

The Trick That Never Was Effect: This cigarette routine is an artful blending of a number of classic elements: Chink-a-Chink, a Slydini sort of restoration, and a curiously effective combination of the sealing container with the Time Travel theme.

The performer begins by taking out a new pack of cigarettes. He opens it and removes a cigarette. This cigarette is torn into four pieces (three lengths of tobacco and the filter). The pieces are laid at the corners of an imaginary square on the table in traditional assembly formation. As the performer lightly places his hands over the pieces of cigarette, one at a time from their positions to join the filter!

they invisibly jump

But things become even stranger as the performer tells his audience that everything they have witnessed never happened! In proof of this, the four pieces restore instantly into a whole cigarette again. Then this restored cigarette vanishes completely from the hands! To cap it all, the cigarette pack is given for inspection ...and is found to be a full pack with the cellophane and foil wrappers still unbroken. It was never opened! Method: The pack of cigarettes is prepared in the following manner: Buy two packs of cigarettes. Remove the cellophane wrap from the top of one and very lightly glue this to the top of the second pack. It must be glued so that it may be easily detached from the pack during performance, giving the illusion of opening the pack. Now remove two cigarettes from the opened pack and use a few dabs of magician's wax to stick one of these cigarettes to the back of the unopened pack, as shown in Figure 1.

1

f

u

This routine may be done either sitting or standing, depending These conditions will be discussed at the proper times during the the second cigarette is secretly placed in your lap. If standing, pocket. The gimmicked pack of cigarettes is placed in your left tached cigarette nearest your body.

upon various conditions. routine. If you are seated, it goes in your right coat breast pocket with the at-

_

112

One final thing: You will require a quarter pack. The rest of the pack may be discarded.

length of a third cigarette

taken from the open

When ready to perform, secretly get the quarter piece of cigarette into the right hand, clipped betwen the first and second fingers near the tips as shown in Figure 2. You introduce the routine with a speech along these lines: "I am going to demonstrate a true illusion. It is a true illusion in that nothing that you will see in the next few moments will actually happen. That sounds a bit confusing - but let me show you what I mean." Remove the gimmicked pack of cigarettes from your breast pocket with your right hand. In doing this, the Finger-Clipped cigarette piece and the cigarette on the back of the pack must not be exposed. Apparently open the cigarettes by pulling off the extra cellophane top from the pack. Tilt the top of the pack slightly toward you as you do this. Of course, no great importance is given to this action of opening the pack. Do it casually as you talk, paying no attention to the task. Only after the false cellophane top has been removed do you look at it. Glance around for a place to discard it and, seeing nothing convenient, place it to one side on the table.

2 Casually take the pack in the left hand, seem to look into it and remove a cigarette. In reality, it is the cigarette stuck to the back of the pack that is drawn forth, as if coming from the pack. The back of the right hand screens this action as the right thumb clips the cigarette and pulls it up as in Figure 3. This whole set of actions, opening the pack and withdrawing a cigarette, are performed very casually. No importance should be placed on them. Your acting ability must be exercised here. Place the pack to the side of the table with the left hand. Casually position it with the top of the pack angled away from the audience so that the unbroken seal cannot be seen. It is now that you bring full attention to your actions. Carefully break the filter cigarette you hold and place it at the near (lower) right corner of your imaginary ance square on the table. For convenience, this corner will be called Corner D. remaining body of the cigarette into three equal pieces and place them at Corners C of your square; Le., upper right, upper left and lower left. See Figure 4.

from the performBreak the A, Band

Now begins a brisk visual assembly of the four pieces. The left hand covers the lower left piece of cigarette while the right hand covers the filter at the lower right. The left hand im-

113

mediately clips its bit of cigarette between the tips of the first and second fingers, just as the right fingers have been doing all along with their extra piece. At the same time the right fingers release their clipped piece to join the filter. (If you have dry hands, you may experience a bit of difficulty in quickly clipping the pieces between the fingers. If so, the hands should be lightly moistened with a hand cream or on the side of an iced drink.) The left hand smoothly moves away from Corner C to reveal that the piece has vanished. Then the right hand moves from Corner 0 to show a piece arrived with the filter.

A

=

=

c =

B

D 4

5

The left hand now covers the filter and piece at Corner 0 while the right hand moves to Corner B (Figure 5). The right fingers cover and clip the piece of cigarette there and the left fingers release their piece to join the two already at Corner D. The right hand moves away to show its piece vanished; the left hand lifts to display the three pieces below it. The right hand now travels to cover the three pieces at Corner D while the left hand covers the final piece at Corner A. This piece is Finger Clipped in the left hand as the right hand drops its clipped piece with the other three. Then the left hand moves away to show its piece gone ...and the right hand rises to reveal all four pieces together at Corner D. As the impact of this fast visual assembly is being absorbed, the extra piece in the left hand is discarded while the whole cigarette is Thumb Palmed in the right hand. If you are standing, the hands go casually to the pockets to accomplish these tasks. If seated, they drop briefly to the lap as you move into Rest Position. Some performers may prefer to Finger Palm the cigarette in the right hand, rather than Thumb Palm it. Either is fine. Things are now set for the instant restoration of the cigarette. The right hand covers the four pieces at Corner 0 and seems to scoop them up. Actually, they are drawn to the edge of the table and allowed to fall off it. If you are sitting, they go to the lap. If standing, they fall to the floor. (This latter condition will be discussed further at the end of the routine.) There is no hesitation as the right hand secretly drops the pieces. It closes into a fist, as if holding them, and moves forward away from the table's edge. Then the right thumb enters the fist and pushes the whole cigarette from it, as shown in Figure 6. Openly display the restored cigarette and your empty hands as you say, "You see, everything you have seen is an illusion. The cigarette was never broken. In fact, it was never here ... " On this line you vanish the cigarette. Any of the many good methods for cigarette vanishes may be used here: passes, Lapping, Cigarette Pull, etc. Just make it clean and convincing.

114

Pause a beat for the vanish to register; then continue, " ...because it was never removed from the pack!" Pick up the cellophane top from the table and vanish it (again, any clean method you are comfortable with can be used). Or simply place it in your pocket. Pick up the cigarette pack on the table, make a magical gesture over it and display its unopened top.

6

As mentioned, if you are performing standing, the pieces of cigarette are secretly dropped to the floor during the restoration phase of the routine. It is obvious that various measures may have to be taken to clean up, these being governed by the performing conditions. If you are working behind a bar, nothing need be done. If working for an intimate group seated around a table, the pieces may be left to lie until later when some unobvious time arises in which the pieces may be surreptitiously gathered up. If conditions are such that people may easily see under the table, other measures may be used. The back of the tablecloth may be pi n ned up to form an i mpro mptu servante. Or your close-up case may be left open on the floor to catch the pieces as they fall. Performers, knowing their performing conditions, will quickly see how this problem can be handled conveniently. There is therefore no reason to stop you from performing this excellent routine.

W///$/$////.//'l'///////#//#////////$//////#////$////$////////////h0'///?//#//////////////////J///////////#/#/////////////////////////////#////'Y////////////////////////$//////#///#/////$////////////////////////#/////#//////////

,

u

115 ~ffi/'///////////////'///:'////////////////////#//////////////;///////$////$///////////////&/////////////////J/h0///J//7///$$/7$/////////////////7//////////////////////$///7///$////$/////-////7$///////////:///////07///$////////$

Sol Stone

The Laced Coin A Chinese coin with a hole through its center is handed out for examination. The performer then causes it to penetrate a shoelace, the ends of which are being held by a spectator. The performer's hands are empty at the finish. Effect:

Method: Place a Chinese coin in your right jacket pocket. Thread two and one-half inches of a thirty-six inch shoelace through a duplicate coin, bunch up the rest of the shoelace and place it in the left jacket pocket. The short length of shoelace and the coin should be toward the front of the pocket. The bunched up part of the shoelace is toward the rear of the pocket. See Figure 1.

1 2

When ready to perform, place your hands in your jacket pockets. Remove the coin from your right pocket and hand it out for examination. Finger Palm the threaded coin in your left hand as you reach into the left pocket, grasp the end of the shoelace between your thumb and the second phalange of your forefinger and withdraw the shoelace from the pocket. Untangle the lace, grasp the free end between the thumb and second phalange of your right hand and stretch the shoelace horizontally between your hands. The palms of your hands are facing the audience. Thanks to the Finger Palm, your hands appear to be empty except for the shoelace - Figure 2. Bring your hands together. Place the right end of the shoelace with the left end, between the left thumb and forefinger; close the second, third and little fingers into a loose fist around the lace. The ends of the lace protrude an inch above the left thumb and forefinger and the remainder of its doubled length runs through the fist to hang below the left little finger - Figure 3. Grasp the ends of the lace between your right thumb and forefinger, pull eight inches of doubled shoelace above your left fist - the one strand runs freely through the FingerPalmed coin - and ask a spectator to hold both ends tightly - Figure 4.

_

116

Take back the examined coin between your right thumb and forefinger and place it in your left fist which opens to receive it. Your left thumb and forefinger and your left fingers cover the backs of your right fingers - Figure 5. Now, your right forefinger rubs along the underside up your right sleeve, then it moves back to its original - Figure 6.

of your thumb which propels the coin position against the ball of the thumb

4

5

6

Try to make this a soft, rubbing motion rather than a hard, snapping one. (See issues 26 and 50 of Apocalypse for further information on the Soft Sleeve and A Beautiful Vanish or Change.) The left hand moves away from the right, closes into a loose fist and both hands turn palms-up simultaneously. The right hand is seen to be empty - Figure 7. The spectator is asked to pull gently on the ends of the shoelace. As it passes through your hand, it pulls the Finger- Palmed coin into view, thus creating the illusion of a penetration - Figure 8. Open your left hand and show that it, too, is empty.

- -.....•••...

117

If this routine is performed sitting down, you may reclaim the examined coin and place it two inches from the rear edge of the table before proceeding as described above. Instead of vanishing the coin by sleeving, you secretly lap it as you pretend to pick it up and place it in your left fist.

7

8 '//////////#$////$/$#///7//#//$//////#////////////$//////////////////,.C//:?/'///////h-/'/7////#///XW////#/7#///$//////////##////#///////////////'#//////#&#////7/////////////////$/#////$////#/50////////////////////////////,,2

J

_

'l//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

J. K. Hartman

A Suit With A Future The following is in essence a combination of two excellent items which have seen print beforee - Larry Jennings' "Your Best Suit" (from The Symposium's Collection Two, p. 60) and Tom Mullica's "The Future Spread" (from Lorayne's Best Of Friends, p. 56). Other than some tinkering at the outset of the former and its altered climax, the only original contribution is the combination itself, but the fit seems good enough and the effect is strong enough to warrant the redescriptions. The only through Ten them aloud. Joker, Joker,

requirement is a deck with two identical Jokers. Begin by extracting the Ace of Diamonds and the two Jokers. Do not expose the faces of the cards or count Set the remainder of the deck aside and arrange the cards from back to front: then Ten to Ace in consecutive order.

Formi ng a break above the two Jokers, hold them as one as you lower the cards and spread them to expose their faces - Figure 1. Call attention to the fact that you are using the Ace to Ten of Diamonds and a Joker, and maintain the position long enough to allow the spectators to verify this.

1

2

Square the packet and turn it face-down as you repeat, "Ace to Ten of Diamonds ..." As you then go on, " ...and a Joker," flip the top card face-up, obtaining a break beneath the next card in the process. Concluding, " ...which we'll get back to in a moment," grasp the upper two cards as one with the right hand from above. Revolve the balance of the packet face-up, sliding it above the double card (Figure 2) and retaking the packet in the left hand.

119

One Joker is now face-down beneath the face-up packet. Obtai n a break above it. Ask a spectator to call out a number "between one and ten." Assume he chooses six. Take the packet with the right hand from above, the thumbtip maintaining the break. Begin to pull off cards one by one with the left thumb, Biddle style, counting aloud (in this case) to five. See Figure 3.

3 "And Six is the one you selected," you continue, as you pull off the Six, releasing under it the card beneath the break. Simultaneously obtain a left little-fingertip break below the Six. The change in patter allows this Reverse Biddle action to be performed slowly, insuring that the face-down card is not exposed. Carry the remaining cards over those in the left hand, stealing the Six beneath them as you proceed, "You might have decided on the Seven ..." Continue by pulling off the Seven and each of the remaining cards through the Ten as you comment, " ...or any of these other cards ..." " ...Except," you go on, "the Joker - which we'll get back to in a moment." Atthis stage, the right hand holds two cards as one, the Joker uppermost. Set the double card carefully on the table to your right, distracting from this action by saying, "For now, watch what's goi ng to happen to your card, the Six." Snap your fingers over the packet, take it with the right hand by the sides, and Ribbon Spread it from right to left, starting the spread about an inch-and-a-half to the left of the double card - Figure 4. "It turns face-down!" you point out, and the spectators will deduce that this indeed appears to be the case.

4 After a brief pause, move both hands - palms down, fingers extended together - a few inches above the spread, momentarily coveri ng the face-down card and say, "Watch carefully now because it's goi ng to turn face-up right before your eyes!"

••

Slowly separate the hands, the left moving to the left hand touching the tabletop, and the right hand moving second fingertip fractionally above its outer right corner. card. Yours, accordingly, can look directly at your right posit io ned.

end of the spread, the side of the directy over the double card, the All eyes will be on the face-down hand to make sure it is properly

You are now going to sweep the right hand to the left, scooping up the spread in the process. Just before doing so, lower the hand so that the second finger contacts the uppermost card of the double and brushes it to the left as well, below the spread. The lower card remains in place, undisturbed, and the action happens so quickly that the transfer cannot be seen - cannot, in fact, be depicted; one moment the hands are at either end of the spread, the next moment, the spread has been gathered and is held by both hands off to the left. See Figure 5.

5 The spectators' eyes may well follow your hands which should rise away from the table. Maintain this position for a moment; then, with the right forefinger, point to the single card remaining on the table, saying, "Over here!" The Six is indeed in view, where the Joker had been. By way of denouement, spread the packet face-down on the table, concluding, "And here is where the Joker comes in!" The Joker will appear face-up, presumably having changed places with the Six. The extra Joker, meanwhile, is face-down, and thus indistinguishable from the remaining cards. Note: You may find it necessary to moisten the right second-fingertip climax and before moving into The Future Spread.

just after the first

////-','/////////////////./////////.////////////////////////////////////
121

Michael Gerhardt

Hoover Cards This is a funny, very commercial routine which I'm using regularly in my professional close-up program in restaurants and night-clubs. Basically, it's a card revelation. I use it as one of a series of revelations. The cards are selected, returned to the deck, controlled to the top and then revealed in different ways. In the beginning, the unsigned cards are produced (I use Piet Forton's Pop-Out Move, color changes, etc.). The last revelations are so seemingly impossible that I have these chosen cards signed by the spectators. For this revelation a signed card should also be used because of the unusual place in which the card will be discovered. Preparation: You have to go to a toy shop and obtai n a children's vacuu m cleaner Figure 1. It works with four batteries in the handle and is about twenty inches long.

switch zIpper

1

switch

see

hole

engine

2

You will have to modify the operation of the engine. It is normally switched on by pressing a button. First, unscrew and open the plastic housing of the vacuum cleaner so you have access to the cable which goes from the switch-in-button to the engine. The idea is to disconnect that cable in the vacuum cleaner. You cut off this cable and fix it to a separate electric cable with a large electric plug on the other end - see Figure 2. This separate electric cable is about thirty-five inches long. In order to put the plastic housing together again, drill a little hole through the plastic for the extra cable.

--_.~ 122

You will also need a ten-inch long electric extension cord with a female plug on one end and a safety pin attached to the opposite end. Inside the female recepticle, you must wire the two prong channels together as shown in Figure 3. If you now put the plug into the female cable, the power circuit is closed and you can switch on the vacuum cleaner.

3 Finally, if the bag of your vacuum cleaner doesn't have a zipper (for removing the dust) you will have to sew a zipper in - see Figure 1 again. Cut a slit in the side of the bag and you are ready. Setup: The vacuum cleaner is behind your table on a chair or in your close-up case. The zipper of the bag is closed, but you should have access to the inside of the bag via the slit in the side. The extension cord is pinned inside the right arm-hole of your jacket. Performance: When you are ready to produce the sig ned card, bri ng it secretly to the top of the deck. Say that you have a new invention with which everybody can find selected cards. It's foolproof. Palm the top card in your right hand and spread the cards from left to right on the table. Reach with your right hand for the vacuum cleaner behind the table and quickly fold the palmed card using the Mercury Card Fold from Expert Card Technique, pp. 305-306. Slip the folded card through the slit in the bag and immediately display the mini-vacuum cleaner. This should get a laugh. Take the electric cable with the plug in one hand and look for a wall socket. Most likely the cable won't be long enough. Explain that you have your own socket and pull the plug and cord out of your jacket into view. Put the plugs together and push the button on the vacuum cleaner. The engine will kick on. Say that you have only to "hoover" over the cards and the selected card will automatically adhere to the vacuum cleaner. Make a little mess with the cards on the table and run the vacuum cleaner. The suction of the engine is strong enough to pull in a card. Of course, the card can't go into the vacuum cleaner, but it can cling to the vacuum's mouth. Announce that the card that is sticking to the vacuum cleaner is the selected card. Turn it face-up. It's the wrong card, of course! Search a bit through the spread on the table. Then act as if you have an idea. Unplug the vacuum cleaner from the cord under your coat and the engi ne will stop! This should also get a good laugh. Ask the spectator signed card!

to open the zipper and look into the bag. He will find a folded card ...his

'«'l'///'///>/'/////(,/////-(/«7/#/'((//////.///;//'/////0//'/:/)//;:;/;//////;;/;:;;;/jX//;j;/;//////////'////////J/,0/////)//////////////&/1/$/////////0'#/////////'///&0"/##$#////0///0"/////////#-0///7////////////'/////0://///,,0/#/////0.

Fantasia

Any Reel - Locking Reel The Stop or Locking Reel is a dealers' item that sells for no less than twenty-five dollars. However, here is a si mple method that Fantasio uses that can transform any regular Reel into a Locking Reel without damaging the prop. Find a small piece of leather about one-eighth of an inch thick and cut a circle disc of about three-eighths of an inch diameter. Using a needle, make a hole in its center as shown in Figure 1.

1

C--:J

Pullout the Reel's thread and insert the end through the hole in the disc. Then tie the end of the thread to something to prevent the thread sliding off the disc (a safety pin is good) as in Fig u re 2.

2

3 How To Lock It: Say you wish to lock the Reel about twenty inches from the pin to the Reel case: Pullout the thread and place the disc at twenty inches from the pin - see Figure 3.

124

Twist the thread three or four times at the disc, holding the thread double with the one hand and making sure you don't slide the disc - Figure 4.

4

20"

5

Slowly, move the disc (without untwisting the thread) until it reaches the hole in the Reel case. The disc and thread will lock there - Figure 5. To Unlock: When you pull the thread it will automatically through the disc and into the case.

untwist and will run freely

125

Roger Klause

Full Value Effect: A dollar bill is borrowed and a tale is told about the old silver certificates which could be redeemed at the bank for one dollar's worth of silver. This is how it was in the old days. But it is little known that, if the bill was folded just right, the silver could be extracted without a trip to the bank. The borrowed bill is displayed cleanly on both sides and then folded ...and a half dollar slips from its folds! The coin is put away and the bill is folded once again. The other half of the silver value - a second half dollar - emerges from the bill! With full value received, the bill is returned to its owner.

The production of a coin from a bill is far from new. Roger's handling leans heavily upon Jerry Andrus' "Dollar Bill Delusion" (ref. Nameless Notes, p. 4 and, later, Five Dollar Trix, pp. 36-49). However, Roger has added a number of nice handling touches, the idea of using one coin for both productions, and a presentational psychology that is both noteworthy and aesthetically impressive. Only one half dollar is required - that and a right pants-pocket containing some change. When ready to perform, Classic Palm the half dollar in your left hand and ask for the loan of a dollar bill. Method:

Take the bill, handling it casually, and lay it across the left fingers. The left thumb rests on the center of the bill from above as shown in Figure 1. Notice that the coin is hidden from view by the pal m-pad of the left thu mb (the Kaps Subtlety).

1 Now curl the left fingers in farther, until they clip the bill to the pad of the left thumb and the coin is hidden beneath the bill. At the same time, the left hand rotates palm-up at the wrist. This displays the underside of the bill and the palm of the left hand while concealing the coin, as seen in Figure 2.

-----126

After briefly showing this side of the bill, return the hand to the position shown in Figure 1 by rotating it to the right and opening the fingers again. As these motions of display are made, you begin to explain how the old bills used to bear the legend "Silver Certificate" somewhere on them. This line of patter gives a motivation of searching the bill's printing for this device, both front and back. It is done merely as an explanatory gesture, as you don't expect to find these words on modern bills. But the psychology is to give a reason for showing the bill and hands seemingly empty without appearing to have that purpose in mind. You aren't proving anything at this point; therefore, the surprise of the production of the coin is not spoiled. The bill is now claimed by the right hand. Picking it up by the center of the right edgefingers beneath, thumb on top - the right hand turns palm toward you so that the backs of the fingers and the reverse side of the bill are displayed to the audience. The right hand does not move far from the left as it turns to display the bill. Rather, the bill effectively screens the left hand in this position, as shown in Figure 3. It is under cover of this innocent screening action that the left palm releases its coin onto the shelf of the curled left fingers. The right hand turns palm-up once more and returns the bill to the left hand. The coin resting on the left fingers is naturally introduced under the bill in this action. Roger equates this loading move with that used to load a cup. It has that sense and feeling to it. There is a slight turning action of the left wrist as the hand moves to retake the bill and load the coin. It is a combination of the turn of the left hand and the cover of the bill that keeps the coin from flashing as it is loaded. A bit of mirror practice will quickly give you the feel and timing for this maneuver.

4 The left thumb comes down on the center of the bill, clipping it to the fingers and holding the coin steady beneath the bill. This allows the left forefinger to move around and over the edge of the bill, so that it can clip the bill between itself and the second finger as in Figure 4. The right hand moves to grasp the forward end of the bill, turning in at the wrist with thumb above and fingers below. It then begins to pull the bill forward, through the grip of the left first and second fingers (Figure 5). Just at the moment that the coin is about to be exposed by the near end of the bill being pulled away from it, the right hand turns palmdown and moves back toward you, flipping the bill over and neatly back onto the left fingers as in Figure 6. Thus, the coin remains hidden. This procedure looks simply as if you were casually turning the bill over - toying with it. It is at this point that Roger begins to tell of how his grandfather used to be able to fold a silver certificate in a special way, so as to

127

extract the silver content from it. But, he claims, it has been years since he has tried to do this. "Let's see...How did it go?" This Ii ne of patter and a bit of acti ng give a firm motivation to the last turnover of the bill and the actions to follow. Again, the bill and hands are plainly seen empty at all times; but it never seems like you are proving anything. Instead, you are fumbling a bit with the bill, turning it this way and that, in an effort to remember the curious fold that your grandfather used to do. This by-play is an excellent piece of psychology; really, this is the finest touch in Roger's routining.

5

6

Now the right hand comes to take the bill once more from the left hand. As it does so, the left fingers spread just slightly beneath the bill so that the right second fingertip can contact the underside of the coin. The right forefinger is placed above the bill and the coin is clipped through the bill between this and the right second fi nger. The right hand then slides down to the forward end of the bill, carrying the coin with it. It stops just at the end of the bill, as in Figure 7. The left thumb holds the bill steady on the left fingers as this gentle sliding of the hand and coin occurs. As soon as this position is reached the right thumb takes over the forefinger's pressure on the bill and coin, and the forefinger moves under the bill to join the other right fingers there (Figure 8).

7

8

The right hand having taken over the gripping of the bill and coin, the left hand is freed to move to the near end of the bill. It turns palm-down and grips the bill's end with fingers above, thumb below. Then it moves forward while turning palm-up. This action doubles the bill over on itself - but not straight over. Rather the bill is formed in a sort of "V" shape with the poi nt of the "V" toward you. In other words, the bill is doubled over at so methi ng less than a ninety degree angle to itself. See Figure 9.

128

Immediately as the bill is brought into this position the right fingers shift the coin under the bill, pushing it into the left fingers as shown in Figure 10. As soon as this secret transfer has been made the right fingers release their hold on the right end of the bill and allow it to straighten out; i.e., this right end is unfolded back and then up. As soon as the bill has been unfolded the right hand grasps its end again with the fingers above and thumb below, as in Figure 11.

12

This folding and straightening maneuver is repeated once more, but with the hands' roles reversed. That is, the right hand carries its end of the bill over and onto the lefthand end, forming a "V" with the bill as in Figure 12. The left fingers slide the coin to the right and into the right fingers under the folded bill. Then the left hand opens the bill out flat again by carrying its end down and back. At this point the bill and coin are held in the right hand, right thumb above and fingers beneath. The right forefinger is brought around the forward end of the bill and on top of it, taking over the thumb's pressure. This shifts the grip of both coin and bill to between the right first and second fingers. The left hand casually pulls the bill up and down through the right fingers several times, stopping just before the coin is exposed at either end of the bill. At the finish of this little back-and-forth toying with the bill, it should be held at its near end between the right first and second fingers, as in Figure 13. There is really no pause at this point as the left hand now begins to roll the bill around the right first and second fingers and the coin. In continuation of its forward pulling action of the bill, the left hand carries its end of the bill down and back, beginning the rolling of the bill around the right fingers. Several important points must be noted at this ti me:

129

First, while Roger's words and actions up to now have implied a slight uncertainty in what he is doing with the bill, as soon as he begins to roll the bill around his fingers this uncertainty is conquered. It becomes apparent that he has finaly remembered how his grandfather's fold goes. All actions become sure from this point forward.

Second, the coin should be clipped at the very tips of the right first and second fingers inside the rolled bill, as shown in Figure 14. The importance of this fingertip grip will be made clear in a moment. When you have finished rolling the bill around your fingers, it should be rolled approximately in quarters; that is, two complete turns around the fingers. The right thumb clips the outside end of the bill lightly against the right fingertips so that the bill does not unroll as the left hand changes grips on it. Grasp the rolled bill and the coin in its center at the left end of the tube with the left hand, thumb above and fingers beneath. Then withdraw the right fingers from the bill. It is here that the righthand fingertip grip on the coin becomes most important. If the coin were pinched between the fingers too deeply, friction would tend to drag the coin from the bill as the fingers are withdrawn.

15

As soon as the right fingers are free of the bill the right hand reclaims the whole package at the right end of the tube, thumb above, fingers below. It casually displays both sides of the rolled bill. Then the tube is tapped several ti mes on the tips of the now outstretched fingers of the palm-up left hand. It is only as these tapping gestures are made on the left fingers that the audience may begin to suspect that there is something a bit more substantial than a folded bill in your hands. Pause for a brief moment. Then allow the half dollar to slide slowly from the open end of the rolled bill and onto the left fingers as in Figure 15. The coin's front edge should contact the second phalanges of the left fingers as it slips from the

•••

130

bill. Just as the coin is about to drop completely from the tube the right hand uses the bill to flick the back edge of the coin up, tumbling the coin over and onto the innermost phalanges of the left fingers as shown in Figure 16.

Pause a beat to let the coin's appearance register completely. Then lift the right thumb from the bill's outer end so that it starts to unroll. Clip the loose end of the unrolling bill between the left first and second fingers and let it finish unrolling as the right fingers release it (Figure 17). Notice that about one quarter of the bill's length should extend above the left fingers. Also note that this natural position shields the just produced coin from the audience's view.

Roger now says, "But wait a minute ...That's only fifty cents worth of silver." He apparently dumps the half dollar from the left fingers into the right hand and pockets it. Actually, a simple but convincing Fake Transfer is made. The coin is held back. It is in perfect position to be Finger Palmed by the left hand. The right hand pretends to receive the coin and to put it in the right pants-pocket. The loose change in that pocket is jingled, giving a strong illusion of the half dollar having been pocketed. The right hand comes empty from the pocket. This should not be proven. It is implicit in your actions and attitude. As this pocketing action is being done, the left thumb comes down on the upper end of the clipped bill and pulls the bill back over the fingers enough so that the coin is hidden beneath it when the hand is brought palm-up again. The left forefinger shifts to join the other fingers beneath the bill. The right hand grasps the near end of the bill - fingers above, thu mb below - and pulls it up through the left fingers until the coin approaches the forward end of the bill. Then the bill is doubled over and forward into the "V" formation of Figure 12. The coin is slid under the doubled bill and into the right fingers as the left hand brings its end down and back, straightening the bill once more. You are merely displaying the bill on both sides again.

~

131

Repeat the entire sequence of rolling the bill around the right first and second fingers, as just described for the first production. Use the same actions to produce the coin again from the rolled bill. Allow the bill to unroll and clip it between the left first and second fingers. The same actions are followed for the transfer of the half dollar from the left hand to the right; however, you genuinely take the coin in the right hand this time. Ask, "May I keep these?" and place the half dollar into your pants pocket. Then snap the bill briskly several times between the hands as a sort of finishing gesture. Say, "And this is yours," and toss the bill toward the spectator who loaned you it. It is important to understand that Roger's handling throughout this piece is very casual. None of the moves look like moves and they all flow together smoothly. He is merely toying with the bill, trying to remember his grandfather's trick fold. It is this presentation that really hooks the attention of the audience and "sells" the handling. Due to its nature, it has taken much space to get the actions of the routine across, but they are not difficult and the whole thing takes a minute or less to perform. Don't take the second production of the same coin from the bill lightly. When Roger does this, there is no other thought than that two coins have been produced. This is an exceptional bit of impromptu magic.

132 //'$/////#////#/#/,,0"///////#//#////#///////////////#//#/////#//////////////ffi'////#////////////////$$////$////7/////ffi'///////////////////////$/7////////////-?;'/'l'/:-/'WhY//#/////A~////?,ij/;·;,,//-X;:~;;';;;5)/-1/,//,,0'//#--:////$//:

Paul Cummins

Counting On It This plot is the brainchild of Bill Herz, who showed it to Paul in March of 1984. The method described here, though, is origi nal with Paul, and he has used it with terrific success. Have a card selected and control it to the bottom of the deck. Paul uses Frank Simon's Versatile Out jog Control (Versatile Card Magic, p. 12) because the chosen card is so cleanly and deceptively brought to the bottom. Hold the deck for an Overhand Shuffle and" milk" off the top and bottom cards counting "two" to yourself. Run six more cards, mentally counting to eight, and pause, asking your spectator to think of a number between ten and twenty. Continue running cards and injog the thirteenth. Out jog on the count of seventeen and Shuffle Off. Square the deck without disturbing either jog; then push the out jogged card into the deck using any technique that obtai ns a break above it.

Paul uses J.K. Hartman's Friction Jog here (Means and Ends, p. 13). Briefly, the deck is held in lefthand dealing grip. The left thumb extends straight out, alongside the out jogged card but making only light contact with it. The left forefinger rests at the outer right corner of the pack, lightly touching the right edge of the out jogged card. The right hand comes over the deck, fingers at the outer end, thumb at the inner. The right fingers contact the out jogged card and push it evenly into the deck. These fingers do not attempt to angle-jog the card. Rather, the left forefinger accomplishes this by tightening its pressure on the outer right corner of the deck. See Figure 1 for an overview of this position.

I

T 133

It is the drag caused by the pressure of the left first fingertip that causes the card to pivot to the right as it is pushed into the pack. It ends up with its right rear corner angle-jogged from the right side of the deck. At this point the left fourth fingertip can pull down on this protruding corner and establish a break above it as it pushes the card flush with the pack.

I

Your situation should now be as follows: You have a fourth finger break above the bottom seventeen cards; the thirteenth card from the bottom is injogged; and the bottom card is the selection. Ask the spectator for her nu mber. The idea here is to get a break above the selected number of cards very quickly. For the numbers 12, 13, 14, 17 and 18, the break is obtained almost instantly. For 11,15,16 and 19 the deck must be quickly spread and closed. I'll describe what to do for each number in a moment, but first I want to describe the basic cutting sequence used. Assume the spectator chooses thirteen. Drop the fourth finger break, push down on the jogged card and obtain a new break above it. Say, "All right, I'll cut exactly thirteen cards from the deck." Then perform the following cut: Pick up the deck from above with your right hand, your right thumbtip maintaining the break. Swing Cut the top third of the deck into your left hand. Place the cards below the break onto the lefthand cards but outjogged for half their length. The remaining righthand cards go on top of all, but even with the lowermost third of the pack, as shown in Figure 2.

2

Immediately place your right second finger against the left long side of the out jogged group and begin to pivot that group clockwise around your left second finger - Figure 3. When the out jogged packet is about to clear the deck, nip it between your right first and second fingers and pull it clear - Figure 4. Table the lefthand cards face-up to your left and take the righthand packet into lefthand dealing position.

134

Count the cards to the table slowly, letting the suspense build; but hold onto the last card. At this point people almost forget they have chosen a card because they are so impressed tht you have cut exactly the amou nt of cards they designated just a heartbeat after they announced it. Say, "And what was your card?" When they name it, drop the card you hold, flipping it face-up onto the tabled pile and say, "How did you know it was thirteenth?" Although 12, 13 and 17 are chosen more often than the other possible nu mbers, and the procedure is arranged to capitalize on that, a simple method for reaching each number follows:

l

Dropping The Break 11 - Pull up on the injog; quickly spread the deck, say, "Any reason you chose eleven?" and obtain a new break one card below the existing break; go into the cut.

I I! i. ,f

1

j

12 -

Pull up on the injog and go into the cut.

13 -

Push down on the injog and go into the cut.

14 - Push the card above the jogged and get a break above it; go into the cut.

card slightly

to the right with your little fingertip

15 -

Push down on the injog, spread quickly asking, "Any reason you chose fifteen?" and get a new break two cards above the existing break; go into the cut. Squaring The Jogged Card 16 - Spread quickly and get a new break one card below the existing "Any reason you chose sixteen?" and go into the cut.

break asking,

17 - Go into the cut. 18 - Push the card above the break slightly get a break above it and go into the cut.

to the right with your little fingertip;

19 - Spread quickly asking, "Any reason you chose nineteen?" two cards above the existing break; go into the cut.

then

and get a new break

Although this may seem complicated, it is actually very simple once you understand what you are doing from a logical standpoint. For numbers ten and twenty you may use the old line, "I said between ten and twenty." But I prefer to spread quickly and obtain break above the appropriate cards. Avoid Thumb Counting at all costs; it looks exactly like what it is - and you are not supposed to have to cou nt. I've also tried using cri mps, but they are not as expedient as the jogs and breaks. Finally, you will rarely miss, but if you do, it will be by one card. Here are two "outs": Assu me the spectator says thirteen and you count thirteen cards to the table but still hold one! Don't pause or skip a beat, just ask for the name of the card, drop it face-up onto the

135

pile and say, "How did you know it was thirteen down?" If the nu mber is thirteen and you get to your last card on the count of twelve, again, don't pause or skip a beat. Just take the last card into your right hand counting twelve. Then turn it face-up with a flair and toss it onto the pile, triumphantly saying, "Thirteen!"