Apocalypse Magazine Vol 20

 

c   5.25

Ha fi fiyy Lofayne s © COPYRI COPYRIGHT GHT 199 19977 by H. Lorayne Lorayne,, Inc. Inc.

ISSUE NO. 229

R I

H

R D

o

V O L . 2 0 , N O . 

JANUARY, 1997

lypse

VOLLM ER

hrice Nic ice I'm having lots of fun performing t h i s .   It's an excellent piece of card m a g i c . I t ' s p a r t i a l l y b a s e d  on a   switch cut I used w ay back in   B E S T  

nt). (out book of   p r i(page Out  of H a n d  in that (pag e 3 3 7 ) ,  if you're lucky enough   to have o n e .   And Peter Duffie has  an effect (Divisory Capacity) that starts  ex actly the same way   t h e e f f e c t s , h o w ever, are entirely different.

OF FRIENDS, VOLUME

See

The deck is in red/black set-up. Plenty of room for shuffling, keeping the colors it doesn't m atter which color   is t o g e t h e r ;  to know   or remember where, nor do you have   which is where. (Ch (Check eck out The Super Riffle Diffle in   RIM SHOTS. After shuffling,  doa casual spread, o f cards toward you, and break the deck   a t faces   the color juncture. Drop one half deck (a (all ll one color) face down  in front  of one spectator,  and the other half deck in front of another s pectator. Say, The cards have been thoroughly shuffled, up your cards and shuffle but -you may each pick   s o m e m o r e , i f y o u l i k e . L e t t h em em d o s o . T h e n h a ve ve them table their face-down squared half decks. Instruct eac h to cut his (or (or her) card s anywhere and to look at and remember the face card of the cut-off pac ket . (Fig. 1.) 1.) Then ( in order  o really confuse   m e ) ,   they're to switch those cutoff pack ets. I.e I.e., ., each places his cut-off packet onto the other's still-tabled group. Each half deck is squared. Ask one spectator to place one half deck onto the other   his choice. Then he's to complete cut the deck. Let the other spectator cut also. The deck may be complete cut as often as you like. Then,   h a n d  to hand spread, faces  of  cards toward you  as if trying  to find the thought-of

 7 7

RICHARD VOLLMER

 

opposite color.

cards. You will see cards of one color at spread   of that color. The f a c e ;  ;   p r o b a b l y a   spread  f i r s t c a r d y o u c o m e t o o f t h e other e other c  c o l o r i s Cu t   at that one of the thought-of cards p o i n t ,  b r i n g i n g t h a t t h o u g h t - o f c a r d t o t o p as you say, "Le et t me try this another way." Remember; it doesn' t matter how many of one color you see at fa ce. It can be one or two,

T a b l e t h e r e m a i n i n g c a r d s ( de de c k p r o p e r ) a s i d e a n d f a c e   up ,   s p r e a d i n g t h e m a b i t sloppily so that   m i x e d c o l o r s  s   are seen. Don't sa y anything about that - it's a subliminal thing. (O (Or r do say somethi ng about it - up to you .)

or 15 . Always cut so that the first card you see of the opposite color comes to top. Table the squared face-down deck.

Repeat that you've tried to cut the same number of cards. Instruct him to pick u p h i s p a c k e t ; y o u p i c k u p y o u r s . " L e t 's count them together." Do so, one card at a time, counting aloud, reversing the order of the cards. You will have the s ame number nice)   e f f e c t . nice)  o f c a r d s First Square the two tabled packets ; ask for the names of the two thought-of car ds. When they're named, tur n the the squared  squared p  p a c k e t s f a c e up simultaneously - one selected car d is at face of each packet Second nice) nice) effect.

Ask one spectator to cut a small portion from top - "Less than half the deck." To make the ending fas ter, I usually ask him to cut "anywhere from, say, twelve to sixt e e n ,  ,  c a r d s . " T h i s p a c k e t i s t a b l e d n e a r

Turn the packets face down. Openly and slowly complete cut each one, as you say,

h i m . P"slou i c k ugh-off" p t h e d e(I' c k ve p r oalwa p e r ys a n d referred do a left over (I've to  close to it as a "straddle") fa ro. I.e. ., , cut t close half  half   of this remaining deck proper. You d o n 't w a n t t o c u t h a l f o r m o r e t h a n h a l f ; i t m u s t b e  e   less than half.  half.   F a r o t h i s   l e s s than-half portion perfectly into the lower (more-than-h (morethan-half) alf) portion, but interlace only about an inch or so . (Fig. (Fig. 2.) 2.) Pull out the original top half plus the cards it has (Fig. . 3. 3.) ) Plac e the elongat ed " c a u g h t . "  "  (Fig packet on top of the "left-over" cards and cascade/flush.

c"But e n t e rwhat o f eif a c hyour p a c kcards e t , l iwere k e t hlost i s ? Hinto o w w othe uld I find them? Well, watch. If I let the cards rub against each other, like this - an interesting thing happens." H e r e ,  y o u d o a n y p i e c e o f b u s i n e s s t h a t appears "mysterious" and makes it appear as i f t he he c a r d s o f t h e p a c k e t s r u b a g a i n s t , o r contact, each other. For example, yo u might start to faro one into the other - rub the pack ets back and forth (o (or r to and fro) then separate them. Richard does an open and deliberate tabled push-t hroug h riffle s h u f f l e .  .   Let everyone see that the packets simply move through each other, remaining intact. Separate the packets. Whichever "gesture"   y o u u s e , e n d b y t u r n i n g t h e p a c k e t s ture"  face up and table ribbon spreading them your hands work simultaneously - to show e a c h t h o u g h t -o -o f c a r d a t c e n t e r o f  all opposite-color  site-color   cards T h i r d a n d f i n a l ( n i ce ce ) effect

Hand to hand spread, faces of cards toward you, and it will be the same as b e f o r e . Y o u '1 1 s e e o n e c o l o r - s p r e a ad d to the first card of the other color (2 (2nd nd selec tion) and cut that face packet - up to and including the 2nd selection - face down o n t o t h e t a b l e n e x t t o t h e s p e c t a t o r 's c u t o f f p a c k e t . A s y o u d o  t h i s ,  s a y t h a t y o u 'l l try to cut the   same number  number   o f c a r d s a s h e did - just by looking at his packet, by

A f t e r t h o u g h t s; s; T h r e e e f f e c t s , o n e a f t e r the other, during one card trick - and each one is  strong.  strong.    (I (I'm 'm reminded of Two-Shuffles Harry, in the August 1978 issue of  Apocalypse  lypse y  strong effect.) When   - a n o t h e r   v e r y  you do the left-over , slough-off (o (or r i incomncomplete straddle) faro there should be only a fe w   (2 o r 3 , o r e v e n o n e , p e r h a p s ) c a r d s a t b o t t o m a n d t o p o f t h e i n t e r l a c e d c a r d s . It It

e a tW ih oa nt . yIo uw'r an uu rt et iynogu au n ss tt ai nm d. et d otion gb ei s sc gd re or up of cards from the face (bottom) (bottom) of of the deck onto the table. The group consists of a s p r e a d o f o n e c o l o r a n d   on e   card of the

i s n 't c r u c i a l , b u t i f y o u f a r o t o o s m a l l a portion into a much larger portion, yo u may " m i s s "  o n c u t t i n g t h e s a m e n u m b e r o f c a r d s as the spectator has in his packet - by two cards. (Just say, "Close enough," and con-

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tinue.) This won't happen if you cut for the faro as taught.

never seen be never before fore is handed to me . I cou count nt the cards to make sure it's a full deck, separating separati ng the col ors via my  GREAT DIVIDE. I shuffl shuffle, e, an and d go into Thric Thrice e Nice . It's a killer

This item went into my close-up repertoire immediately. Picture  this:  A deck I've I've

D a v id N e ig h b o r s

F o u r C o i n s T h r o u g h   Glass Top Table

Th is is a coin-thro coin-through-t ugh-table able routine. Aside from some of David's excellent handling, the main difference is that it's routined routi ned to be done on a  glass-top  table No lapping, obviously; it's a   stand-up   routine . You'11 need four regular coins and one matching expanded shell, and a small coin  purse.  Remove the coins from the purse, and table the purse to your left. The firs first t "piece"  of handling is to display four reg regular ular coins and th en switch out one of them, lea leavving the shell in its place. Since I intend to teach all (cer (certain tainly ly most) of David's handling and  finesse,  I'  I'll ll hav e to use quite a bit of space. Th The e routine, routine, however, is not

the purse purse with your lef left t hand, place it onto and covering the right-hand hidden coin, then the n pick up purse and coin and place them aside.  You  You've 've (casu (casually) ally) gotten rid of one regular coin.   (Don t  put the purse on the glass tabletop - you'd get an un-wanted clink clin k ) Int Into o the routine, now...

a particu particularly larly lon long g one.

"masks,"  the the tinny soundright of the shell coin. being placed onto tabled regular David calls this "the mask. " (Fi (Fig. g. 3.) 3.) As you patter about the fact(?) that you can't cheat because everyone can see through the tabletop, tabl etop, your right hand picks up one o of f the left (re (regul gular) ar) coins and tosses it ont onto o your left palm. palm. Pick up the remain remaining ing left coin and toss toss that onto your left palm. (Y (You ou can tap one, or both, on the table before tossing tossin g it.)

Paragraph  A Place one regular coin onto another regular coin, and the shell onto the remaining regular  coin,  overlapping forward in each  case.  Coin and shell are placed at the same time,  again so that the regular coin being placed (act (actuall ually y lightly tossed) onto the tabled left regular coin covers,

As you handle the four coins, get the shell into right-hand Classic Palm in the standard way. I.e I.e., ., bring the nested shell/ coin up to Classic Palm then let the coin fall out of the shell onto your fingers. Toss it onto the table with the other three coins.   The shell remains in Classic Palm. David does all this in his  left  hand. I u use se my right, so I'm teaching it that way. You can interchange lefts and rights however you like. Using both hands simultan simultaneous eously, ly, turn the coins over and back so that both surfaces surf aces of all are seen. Tha That t done, pick pick up and hold three coins at your left fingertips and one at right fingertips.

And palm-to-palm switch the right-hand coin for the shell. This is David's simplisimplification ficat ion of a David Roth  move.  The real coin is on your right fingertips   ( rest position)  . Bend thos those e fing fingers ers all the way back, clearing the palmed shell. (Fig. 1, exposed  . As your left hand drops one coin onto the table, your right hand places/

right t hand reaches to Paragraph Paragra ph B :  Your righ pick up one of the two right coins, Pret Pretend end to take the top one with your palm-down hand, really nesting the shell onto the coin.   David's little "finesse" here - the palm-down palm-d own fing fingers ers cover the coins, nesti nesting ng the shell. Slide the nested coin to the right, leave right,  leave  it and move the empty hand back to the left. Done correctly, it looks ex exactly as if you're taking the top coin. David Davi d calls it "th "the e nest and slide." Just a half-beat  pause, then pretend to drop this coin(? coi n(?) ) onto your lef left t hand with the other two.  Just touch the two, causing a clink, as your left hand closes as if holding three coins now.

drops only of Classic onto the tabthe le. shell (F (Fig ig. . out 2. 2.) ) The sou sound nd ofPalm the left coin masks the tinny sound the shell might create. Your left hand drops its remaining two coin coins s as your righ right t hand brings its hidden coin up to Classic Palm. Pick up

Pick Pic k up the nested coin with your rig right ht hand and as your left foref forefinger inger points to (taps) center table, and as you say, "The coins will melt t hroug h the glass about...here," Classic Palm the shell , let-

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ting the real coin drop to the fingers, as already explained. Place that coin (t (tap ap it on the tabletop first, if you like) between your left thumbtip and 1st and 2nd fingertips.   Tap the same tabletop area with that coin (w (wit ith h your left hand, now) then bring it into your left hand. Your spectators

the thumb-palmed coin's edge (yo (your ur left thumb may have to give way a bi t) , bringing the coin up to the position shown in Figure 4. David's fin esse: As you pretend place that non-existent coin onto your closed left hand, your right 2nd fingertip touches the left hand's 2nd knuckle (Fi (Fig. g. 6) , then do th the e

have seen(?) gothey intog othat (You (You can countfour themcoins out as intohand. your left hand, if you like.) At the same time, your right hand moves to under the tabletop.   You have to bend down in order to do that,   of course.

m ove. That way, even Let if the your coin timing is into way off,    it looks good. sink the hand. Your spectators think there are three coins in that hand and one on the t a b l e .   Actually, there are two in your left hand and the nested shell/coin is on the table.

What David does here is to back palm or clip the shell with the under-the-table right hand, so that that han d is seen to be empty through the glass table top. It makes sense, of course, because your spectators have seen the four coins go into your left hand. If you can't do a back palm, or clip, you can use the Kaps subtlety; the shell is in  C l a s sic Palm - sort of gesture by tapping the side of your right forefinger up against the tabletop. The hand appears to be empty. Either way (o (or r don't bothe r trying to prove the hand's   e m p t i n e s s ) ,   say, Watch, and gently slap your palm-down left hand (gently, because you don't want to scratch, or break, someone's glass tabletop) onto the   penetration area . As you do that, your right hand turns palm up (or retrieves the back-palmed shell) under the table, getting the shell onto its palm. Slowly move that hand to the side so that the penetrated coin (t (the he shell) is clearly seen. Bring it up to above the tabletop and, using both hands, table the coins in mask position , as explained in paragrap h A, up to Figure 3 3. . One coin has melted through the 'soft' spot.

Pick up the tabled nested coin with your right hand and balance it on your 2nd fingertip, moving it to under the tabletop.   Just one coin here - only one.   B u t . . . As your left hand opens and gently slaps down at the soft spot, your right thumbtip lifts the shell off its coin. (Fi (Fig. g. 7. 7.) ) Do that   a s   your right hand sort of slaps the coin and shell up against the tabletop. Move your left hand aside. Interesting illusion here. Because the tabletop is glass, your spectators may think they see 't 'thr hree ee coins  a b o v e  the table. Move your right hand, and its two coins, downward and that illusion is broken. It almost appears as if one coin melts through at   t h a t   m o m e n t .

uses

The interesting 3rd penetration: Your right hand comes up with its two coins (1 c o i n ,   1  s h e l l ) .   Toss the regular coin onto your left palm. Then toss the shell also,

the pop-up move (h (he e tells me that Ed Mario had it in print first, in 1951) Pick up one of the two regular coins and place it onto the thumb/forefinger opening of your loosely closed left hand. (Fig. 4. 4.) ) Let it sink slowly down into the hand so that that there's no doubt that it   d o e s   go into your left hand. Do the same with the 2nd coin, but as this one sinks into the hand, your thumb grasps it in thumb-palm position . (Fig (Fig. . 5, exposed the hand would be closed during performance.  Note that the forefingertip is against the coin's free edge.)

but catch it (stop it) with your thumb at the fingertips so that it doesn't hit the first coin and cause a tinny sound. Close your left hand without nesting the shell onto the coin. Your right hand picks up the two tabled coins. A Slydini subtlety here: Shake your closed right hand to make a sound with its coins. Two here. .. Shake Shake the left hand the same way, but the right hand shakes also, so that the clinking sound seems to come from the left-hand coins.   And two her e. Open both hands to display two coins on each palm. C onvincing.

Pretend to pick up the 3rd coin (top coin of the the 2nd overla pping   p a i r ) ,   really doing the nest and slid e, as explained in the first five sentences of paragraph B. Then apparently place this 3rd coin onto your closed left hand, exactly as you did the first two. It  d o e s  look exactly the same if the timing is right. As your right hand  places, your left forefinger pushes against

Your open right hand goes under the table with its two (regula (regular) r) coins . Your left thumb pulls the shell onto its regular coin as your left hand close s. As your right hand moves to under the table, leave one of its coins in Classic P alm; the other coin is at fingertip rest. Your left hand places (gently slaps) its nested coin down at the tabletop's tabletop' s soft spot. As it   d o e s ,   your

For the 2nd

penetration,

David  

274

 

right 2nd finger presses its non-palmed coin up against against the g lass, with a "sn "snap" ap" so sound. und. And as your left hand moves aside (t (tur urni ning ng palm up so it's seen empty) let that coin the one your right 2nd finger is holding holding up against again st the glass - fall down onto the  Classic-Palmed coin. The bit of illusion here is that your spect spectators ators   see  the coin melt and  fall  through the tabletop. "Short shake" your right hand up and down, jingling the two coins. That way, the onlookers can't tell if there are two or three coins there. They   think   there are three thre e because, after all, only one coin is above the table. Get ready for a Han Ping Chien from the shell. Pick up the nested coin with your left hand. Balance it on your 2nd fingertip and your thumbtip thumbtip lifts of off f the shell just a bit . (Fi (Fig. g. 8.) 8.) Your right hand is moving up to above the tableto tabletop p at the same time. As you say, "A "And nd the third coin has melted through," your right hand gently tosses its two coins a bit leftw leftward ard onto the table. Your left hand lets the regular regul ar coin fall out of the shell shell with, or onto,  those two coins  at the same time.  With proper timing, the Han Ping Chien is imper imperceptible. It's a casual action - "don't make a move out of it."

closed left hand, "On "Only ly one here." Go under the tabletop with your right hand. Let the three coins be seen under the the table. The point is that your audience audience sees three  coins up to the last second. Close the hand and let the coin stack turn over so that a regular coin is uppermost. That's so you can press the top coin up against the underside of the tabletop with your right 2nd fingertip. (F (For or that "bit of illusion" explained explai ned two paragraphs ago.) Place Plac e your palm-down left hand onto the "soft spot," and snap the coin that's un"soft derneath and up against the tabletop. Your left lef t hand moves aside immediately  after the snap sna p - no coin coin - and your right right 2nd fin finger ger lets lets its coin fall down onto your righ right t palm. Shake the coins a bit - again, your spectato spectators rs can't can't really real ly see how many are there. Let the sta stack ck turn over to bring the shell uppermost. And your thumb lifts lifts the shell off its coin and moves that shell back so that an overlapped spread spre ad of four coins is clea clearly rly seen. Your left hand is palm up and   clean. Your right hand comes up above the table, letting letti ng the four coins continue to be seen clearly. Then, let them stack, the shell nesting nest ing on a  coin, as coin,  as your other hand reaches for the small purse (w (wit ith h coin hidden under it). Drop this onto the in-hand coin stack. The hidden coin joins the stack, and only four coins are seen when the purse is removed. You can palm off the shell and leav leave e everything everyt hing else on the table

Set the coins at "mask" position one last time. (Paragraph A, up to Figure 3, again.) "O "One ne coin left to go. " Pretend Pretend take a coin from the shell-&-coi shell-&-coin n pair.  ( Nest &

Afterthoughts ; Remember, David uses his left hand wherever I use/teach the right hand, and vice versa. So, if you have to, interchange all my lefts and rights. I've

slide" 1st e"five sentences oft paragraph B.) And -"plac "place" it into your lef left hand. So, there'  s  nothing in your closed left hand (audience thinks there's one coin there) and three coins (o (one ne is the nested nested shell/ coin) on the table. Pick up those three coins with your right hand, nested coin on top;  careful not to let the shell come off its coin. Let them spread/overlap on your palm - "Three coins here." Indicate your

tried to include just about all David's handling touches/finesses. And of I've only indicated indic ated patter, when to tap coins on the tabletop, and so forth. You'll have to work those "touches" into  your  way of performing. Aside from the fine-tuned fine-tuned handling the "strength," of course, is that it's all done on a see-th see-through rough glass-top table. Ostensibly, tensib ly, there's n o  w ay  you can "cheat." It's an  excellent  routine.

Justin

igham

Super

lairvoyant

Th is is righ right t out of Roger Cros Crosthw thwaite aite' ' s book,  Roger s Thesa urus,  with permission of course.  I' v done it for a number of friends,

tator saw/experienc saw/experienced ed the last time I performed it: He shuffled the deck,- then I shuffled shuff led the deck. Since I was doing it for

all excellent excellent cardmen, and fooled them all It may not "re "read" ad" strong but it sure does "play" strong. You do have to "pick your spot"   for perfor performing ming it. That's up to you. Following the exact instructions from the above-mentioned book, this is what the spec-

a magician, I told him to make sure there were no crimps, nail nicks, and so forth. Then he cut the deck once or twice. I instructed instructed him to think of any card no spreading or cutting and looki looking ng or touch-

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thinking.   Then I told ing or taking - just  just   thinking.  him that  I d turn away or leave the room and that he'd deal twice the value of his card ("to really reinforce that value on your mind")  , a card at a time, into a tabled packet. Then drop the deck proper onto those, and complete cut the deck. I turned back, had him cut the deck another time or two, then I took the deck. I did a reverse faro through the deck, faces toward him, asking him to concentrate on his card when he sees it. I squared the deck, and said, "You're concentrating so w e l l ,  I don't even have to look through the cards.  I can read your mind. You're thinking of a black card.   'Yes.   It's a spade.  'No.  ' It's It' s the three of clubs " And I was right The deck can be a borrowed one; there are no crimps, no key cards, no forces, no peeks or glimpses, no control. Want to think about it for a while? • Okay. It is , of course, pretty simple. The secret secret is a one-way back design And it '  s b e s t i f y o u c a n d o a p e r f e c t f a r o shuffle. But that's not 10 0% necessary. R ead o n.   I've seen some Tally-Ho and Bicycle cards where the white margin on one end of every card is narrower than the margin on the other end of every card. Perfect. Anyway, you have to get every card pointing the same way. Do it during a preceding trick. (time misdir ecT h e n ,  ,   let some time pas s (time tion) before going into Super Clairvoyant. Make sure to use a spectator who  who   does not turn  turn   a half deck as he shuffles. Check that out during a preceding effect. If he does "straight" riffle or overhand shuffles no problem. Let him shuffle the deck. Take the shuffled de ck. Cut at 26; do a faro check to make s ure. Then, pretend that you're having a bit of trouble doing the faro - and turn one half deck so that its other end  end   is faro'd. This is a natural ac  I've done it 1000's of times, and so tion;  tion; h a v e y o u . T h e p o i n t i s t h a t n o w every w  every other card throughout the deck is pointi ng one way. Don't make a move out of it and it simply isn't noticed. And I always continue with two or three overhand shuffles. If you ru n  odd  numbers of cards singly and throw on  it doesn't doesn't change anything. Don't over do top, it top, it - 3, 5, 7 cards is fine. You can also do a couple of complete   c u t s .   (If (If you don't do perfect faros and/or if you can't find a t  perform one-way deck but still  still   m u s t  effect, see my   A f t e r t h o u g h t s .

this

During the shuffling you've asked the think   of a card. Stress that spectator to  to   think  he's not to write it or tell it to anyone

else, etc. As you talk, overhand shuffle, running six cards sin gly. Throw the rest of of the deck on top catching a momentary left little fingertip break above the six cards. Then double cut those six cards back to top. This is part of the overall shuffling and is done to enable you to demonstrate your instructions  . Tell him to double the value of his card - ace is one, jack 1 1, etc. - and when you walk out of hearing distance and turn away, he's to deal down that number of cards (a (as s per   " e f f e c t " ) .   "If you're thinking of a  3-spot  you'd deal six cards, like t h i s . "   Demonstrate with the top six cards, then drop the deck onto them. If you feel you don't have to demonstrate, omit the running/double cutting of the six cards . He can just double the value, or you can tell h i m t o d e a l t h e a c t u a l v a l u e t e  t w i c e .  .  He drops the deck onto these and complete cuts the deck. Come back to the table. If you like, have him cut once more, then once again. Take the deck and, holding it uprigh t, face faro;   i.e., as you to him, do a  a   reverse faro;  spread through upjog every oth er card (2 (2nd nd, , 4 t h ,  ,  6 t h , a n d s o o n ) . T e l l h i m t o c o n c e n trate on his card when he sees it, but to give you no clues. (Fig. 1.) Assume your one-way is narrow/wide margins. As yo u upjog, you'll start seeing all narrow or all wide o n t h e u p j o g g e d c a r d s . A s s u m e t h e y 'r 'r e w i d e . yourself,   " W i d e , w i d e , w i d e . . . " Say to  to   yourself, 

Afte r a while (probably (probably near center) you'll see/upjog a  a   n a r r o w .  .   Start counting narrows until you see/upjog a wide again. Remember how many narrows you counted that's the value of the thought-of card When the reverse faro is don e, square the cards and put away the deck. Or simply and casually casually shuffle it. Patter as in "effect" about not having to look at the faces of the cards. That' s it - you kno w the va lue of the thought-of card. You need to "fish" to learn the suit. I always do it by making three, a n d o n l y three, y  three,    stat emen ts (not (not  q u e s t i o n s ) . This is taught in RIM in  RIM SHOTS, page SHOTS,  page 1 5. Check Check that for the details . You can  always  always say  say the card's name as the third statement. If you get lucky, you can get two   " y e s ' s . "  Even if y o u g e t t w o   "no's,"   you blurt out the correct name the third time. In "effect" I "exampled" a no/ yes. The thought-of card is the 3C. You only know that it's a 3-spot. "It's a red card." He says   n o   which, of

2742

 

course,  tells you that it's black. "It "It's 's a spade."  No. If you said "I "It's t's a club, club," " he' he'd d say  yes.   Either way, you now know it's a club,  so you can state firmly and dramatically "It's "It's the three of clubs "

detailed   in  QUANT QUANTUM UM LEAPS.  Done correctly, not even another magician will suspect a perfect alternation.

Afterthoughts : Lovely. A few If you can't do a perfec perfect t faro, youthoughts: can turn around aroun d every other card before you start start. . Obviously, Obviou sly, this is not as good.  Yo u  could false fal se shuffle, or run odd numbers of car cards, ds, but the spectator couldn't shuffle. A much better idea (e (eve ven n if you   can   do perfect faros,  but the borrowed borrowed deck is not in sha shape pe for them) is to use my Non-Faro Faro  QUANTUM LEAPS  and  Apocalypse   - J June une 1983 and May 1986) 1986 ) as you show how well well mixed the cards are.

not have one-wone one-way ay backs? I was put in sted this position posit ion when magician friend frien d insisted insi I d o it for an another other magici magician. an. I managed. managed. For this,  yo u  do  look at the faces of the cards. Has it hit you yet? This isn't mentioned mentioned in the original, but it just seemed obvious to me .  Reds and  blacks

Final Fina l thought: What if you simply must do this trick, but the available decks do

Alternate the reds and blacks via the faro,  etc. (Y (You ou wouldn't wouldn't do a face-up NonFaro Faro for   this,   of course.) A quick face-up faceup table ribbon spread is okay; nobody will notice the set-up. Do the effect as taught,   but without the reverse faro. The deck can be complete cut as often as you like.  I usually allow three before I "read "read his mind, because that brings the vital group grou p back to near center.  

To keep this complete complete, , a  brief  description of the Non-Fa Non-Faro ro Faro: Hol Hold d a face face-dow -down n half deck in dealin dealing g position in each han hand. d. One half deck has been turne turned, d, of course course. . Both hands turn palm down simultaneously, dealing single cards face up and overlapping t o the sides . (Fig. (Fig. 2.) 2.) Hands turn palm up then palm down again to deal/table deal/table two more ca rds, overlapping the first two downward.   Single   cards are dealt the  same way each time - to alternate "perfectly. "perfectly." " Continue this display/dealing, turning your hands up/down each time, and movi moving/ov ng/overerlapping downward. (Fig. 3.) Then, as you continue tabling cards, start moving upward, or away from you. (Fig.   4.) That's really all there is to it. The sloppier (witho (wi thout ut breaking the alternati alternating ng sequence and rhythm) rhythm) the better. And keep talk talking, ing, pointing out how well the cards have been and are being mixed. When all cards are tabled, push them together, left hand pushing to right, righ right t hand to left. Gathe Gather r and square.  You've  You've done done a pe perfect rfect faro This is

J K Hartman

Hand to hand spre spread ad faces toward you as you ask the spectator spectator to concentrate. You You don't have have to repeat anything mentally, you just have to come to the first   pair   of colors;  i.e., two reds or two blacks together.  Kee  Keep p spreading, starting a count on the  2nd  card of that pair. Count up to and and including the  first  card of the next pair. (If the first pair is red, the next pair will be black, and vice versa.) Your count count will be the   double  value. That is, if the thought-of card is a 4, your count will be 8. Just cut your count in half and   you'  11 know the  value End as you like or as taught. If you really really want to drive your  magician frien friend d crazy, you can do There the same pointers and non-pointers. arewith 22 pointers in a deck. I throw in the four jacks and  consider  them  pointers.  That's 26 cards,  ha  half lf the deck. Do the same as with reds and  blacks.   (You  can  do a face-u face-up p NonFaro Far o Faro.) Yo You'll u'll have to pay a bit more attention, atten tion, but it may be worth it to you. Not necessary necessary for laymen, of course.

  inting  Spell

Jer ry describes describes his routi routines nes much better than I can. So, excuse my inevitable editing and add itions and follow along: Two primary vers ions of this routine, the quite

more conventional treatment is explained in the note following each primary version.

different point  of was Jerry Sadowitz's Sadowitz 's starting Time Operator Th The ewhich Crimp,  No.24), are included in the following description description, , both designed to produce an effect that approximates actual mindreading. The first

thek following 13-card stack top 8S, of dec deck down down: : JS, QC, QD, 6H, 9C,from 2S, 3D, 10H,  AD, 10S, JH, KC. Begin by false false shufshuffling flin g to preserve the top stock. Spread off the top 13 cards and set the rest of the

To prepare for all variations, arrange arrange

deck aside. Fan the packet widely, faces toward tow ard the spectator, spectator, asking him to think

appears chancy but works with virtual certainty and makes a dramatic impres impression. sion. A

2743

 

of one of the cards. He is not to touch it or name it - jus just t  think  of it. "Take "Tak e all the time you wish, and tell me when you have one." When he indic indicates ates that he has decided on a card, square the p packet acket and turn it face down, asking him to repeat the name of that card to himself so that it is firmly firmly etched in his mind. This opening sequence seque nce applies in all cases. 1. Hand the packet to the spect spectator ator as you say, "To make sure that your card is indelibly impressed in your thoughts, you are going to go through a special exer Pick up the deck proper, holding it cise." Pick cise." face down in your left hand, as you say, "In a moment I will turn my back and  you  will have certain tasks to perform - physical ones and mental  ones. The only catch is that you have to perform them at the same time. "The  physical  task will simply be this: Transferring cards one at a time from the top to the bottom of your packet of cards, just like I'm I'm doing." As you make this comment, suit your actions to your words with the deck proper, demonstrating at a comfortable pace with three or four cards. "The mental task has to do with several questions I'll ask you about your card. Each question will have a one-word answer. You are to  think  of the answer, and then to yoursel yourself f - spel spell l it. And as you spell, transfer one card from top to bottom for each letter." As you say this last, demonstrate two or three times with the deck. "Think "Th ink you can handle it  all?" Still holding the deck, turn your back, and continue, "Very   well.  The card you're thinking thinki ng of has a  value   - ace, two, three, all the way to king. Think of that value, and spell it to yourself, transferring a card from top to bottom for each letter, and tell' me when you're done." When he so  indi"And d the value of your card is cates,  say, "An either   odd   or   even.   Ace is one, jack is eleven, queen is twelve, king is thirteen. Spell to yourself either "odd" or "even," and transfer a card from top to botto bottom m for each letter, and tell me when you're done."

card, spell to yourself, "honor," as you transfer trans fer a card per letter from top to bottom. (HL: (HL: I If f you prefer, have him spel spell l   or "flush.") If it's  n  not ot   an honor "royal"  "royal" card, wait a few seconds, doing nothing, and tell me when you'  re done.   When he so indicate indicates, s, go on, "In "In  addition to a value, your card has a color black or red. Spell to yourself "bla "black" ck" o or r "red,   transferr transferring ing a card from top to bottom for each letter, and tell me when you're done." Then, conclude, "Finally, the card you're thinking of has a   suit.   If it's a black card, the suit is either spades or clubs. If it's red, the suit is hearts or diamonds. Think Think of the suit , and spell it, including  the 's' at the end." When he's done that, face front, and say, "The whole process yo u just went through creates what is called 'Opt 'Optimum imum Delineation.  ' That means that the mental image you have of your card now is as strong as it ever can be." Actually ever Actually, , the whole process the spectator went through has left his selection  fourth from bottom  of his packe packet. t. Turn the deck proper face up, saying, "This time when I turn my back, transfer cards from top to bottom just as you've been doing, but do it with your cards face up." As you end the remark, transfer two or three cards from the face to the rear of the deck.  I'll  tell you when to sto stop." p." Begin to turn away, saying, "Oka "Okay, y, tur turn n your cards face up and begin," your physical action and your remark concluding at the same time. Immediately, with your elbows tight against your sides, turn the deck over in your hands and begin to transfer cards from top to bottom at a steady pace. The instant you take the 4th card with your right right hand, say, "Stop The ca card rd you're thinking of is one that you're looking at " And it will be You have given y your oursel self f a litt little le bit of leeway - his card will be either at the face of his packet or in his right righ t hand. In transferring this small nu nummber of cards, it is almost impossible for his pace to deviate materially from your s.

When he so indicates, continue, "And your card can be a   picture   card - jack, queen, quee n, king - or a  spot  card - a ace ce through  Spell to yourself either "pict "picture" ure" or ten. Spell ten. "spot," transferring a card from top to

Note:  The startin starting g arrangement accommo accommodates a more standard ending with a "computer program" program" type effect. The spectat spectator's or's packet pack et rema remains ins face down. After he has spel spelled led

bottom each letter, tell me when you're for done." When he soand indicates, say, "N "Now ow in the game of Bridge, som some e cards are considered honor cards - the ten, jack, queen, king, ace. If you're a poker player,

the do, suit, face front what and say thatbecome he will now once again, he has an expert exper t at - trans transferring ferring cards from top to bottom - but with a difference. Give him "down-under" dealing instructio ns (top (top card

they're also the cards in a roya royal l flush. If the card you'  re  thinking of is an honor

to table, next next card to beneath the packet packet, , demonstrating ating with three or four cards etc.) , demonstr

2744

 

with the deck proper, Tell him to continue until a single card remains in his hands. Drop the deck onto the cards you've demonstrated with and tabled and let him b e g i n .  W h e n h e h o l d s o n e c a r d , h a v e h i m n a m e his mental selection. When he turns over the card in his hand, it will be the one he named 2 .  In this version, spread off the packet from the deck as described and fan it to allow the spectator to make his mental selection. Square the packet, turn it face d o w n ,  a n d a s y o u m a k e y o u r o p e n i n g r e m a r k , give the packet the following Haymow (or Charlier) Shuffle. Push off 4 or 5 cards into your right hand (without (without reversing t heir o r d e r ) .   Reverse spread the left-hand cards from beneath with your fingers, taking the b o t t o m   tw o   onto the right-hand ca rds. (Fi (Fig. g. 1. 1.) ) Tug the left-hand card s square and respread them beneath the right-hand cards, taking all but the bottom card. Slide that last card onto the top of the right-hand cards to complete the shuffle.

In fact, this has done no more than cut the packet so that the 10S is the top card, and the order is now as required for the ensuing spelling proc ess. If you prefer some other false shuffle, you must end in this o r d e r .  The reason the packet is not in this order to start is that the concentrati on of pictu re cards at top (o (or r rear) might arouse suspicion when the packet is fanned. (HL: You can simply double cut the bottom three cards to top.) Now give him the packet, pick up the deck proper, and proceed exactly as described, through the final spell - the suit. When he's done that, face front and deliver the patter as taught. In this case, his selection is now at bottom of his packet. Say that you'd like him to continue, e t c . ,   but this time, "Tilt the packet upr i g h t ,   like   this,   so that I can see the ft c a r d s '   f a c e s . " A s y o u s p e a k , t i l t t h e l e ft hand deck proper upright, back of hand outward, and transf er 2 or 3 cards from back to f a c e .  A s s o o n a s h e b e g i n s t o t u r n h i s packet upright, the instant you can glimpse and remember the card at the face of the

packet,  extend your right hand rapidly as if to prevent him from following your insimultaneously neously, , and with a pained structions,  simulta look of self-disapproval , averting your head sharply to one side, say - "Oh wait ; I f o r g ot ot t h e f i n a l s t e p Give your packet a

complete   c u t . . . " Let your body follow in the direction of your head, turning your back , and go on after a brief pause, "...Shuffle it thoroughly, and tell me when you're done," You want him to cut cut the packet befo re shuffling so that he doesn't accidentally spot his card at the face of the packet. When he says he's done, face front, and say, "Okay y; ;   no w hold the packet upright, faces toward me, and transfer cards from top to bottom." A g a i n ,  d e m o n s t r a t e w i t h t h e d e c k p r o p e r . Stare at the face of his packet as he t r a n s f e rs rs c a r d s . W h e n t h e g l i m p s e d c a r d a p pears at at face, say, "Stop The card I I'm 'm looking at is the card you're t hinking of " When he checks, he will discover and convey to the other spectators that you are right.

N o t e :  T h e f a c t t h a t t h e s p e c t a t o r s h u f f l es es t h e p a c k e t i n t h i s v e r s i o n i s t h e dimension that really creates the impression of mindreading. No netheless , this mist a k e - a n d - s h u f fl fl e s e q u e n c e c a n b e e l i m i n a t e d with the following automatic ending. Begin as described up to the Haymow Shuffle. In this case, shuffle by pushing off three cards into the right hand. Reverse spread the left-hand cards, taking two or three onto the right-hand ca rds. Spread the lefthand cards, taking three below the righthand cards. Slide the left-hand cards on top of all. The 3D is the top card, a nd that order is the required one. Now proceed as described through the final spell. Face front and go through with your instructions without "remembering" the final step. I.e., he is to tilt the packet upright,  faces toward  you,  and transfer cards from back to front. When he transfers the fourth  card, say, "Stop The card I'm I'm looking at is the card  you'  re thinking  of It will be.

A f t er t h o u g h t s HL): Jerry tells me that he's "tested the primary ending quite extensively and, although it seems chancy, it works every time with quite an eerie and d r a m at at i c e f f e c t . " T h e r e ' s n o w a y I c a n m a k e his description more complete than it alr e a d y i s . L e a r n i t a n d t r y i t -   i t'  s a strong effect.

Next month:

Special All Card Issue: The Magic Of   Marvoyan Lewis Jones Harry Lorayne  Edwards Alex Scarella plus... Meir  Yedid Doug Doug Edwards = = = = = = = = = = 

74 5

 

Phil

oldstein

Z've done some work with both reverse faros and with the binary principle. (See, for one, an effect called Voice Print in BEST OF FRIENDS, VOL. I.)   This routine of Phil's, utilizing those concepts (and (and which has been in my files for  years)  is good; it  years) is p l a y s   w e l l .   The basic effect is   t h i s :   T h e performer displays several pairs of "wordcards  . One card in each pair bears the name of a country; the other card of that pair bears the name of that country's capital city. The cards are mixed . Holding the card s in his/her own hands, the spectator freely chooses one of them. This is kept face down but in full view. Then, by pure chance (or (or so it would   a p p e a r ) ,   the spectator (cards still in his hands) locate s the mate card. I.e., I.e. , the two cards will be a country/capital pair - one may be "Paris," the other would be "France." You will have to prepare 16 cards, eight pairs. Phil uses blank-faced cards; he prints the names on the blank fa ces . Make up eigh t pairs of country/capit al - England/London, J a p a n / T o k y o , U n i t e d S t a t e s / W a s h i n g t o n, n, D C , Russia/Moscow, and so forth. The cards are arranged in pairs for perfo rmance . To Perform:  Perform:   D i s p l a y t h e c a r d s , p o i n t i n g o u t ,   mentioni ng, the pairings of country and capital. Square and turn the packet face down. Apparen tly overhand shuffle it. Actually overhand shuffle by running off (singly)  even  numbers of cards - this keeps  even numbers the pairs tog ether. (S (See ee the  Afterthoughts Afterthoughts.) .)

 

apital Idea

table, and say, "Now, cut off some cards. But make it difficult for me - cut off either a  a   small  small   or a   large b large  b a t c h . " T h e c u t off portion is tabled next to the balance of the packet. A t   this point, and without hesitation, instruct him to discard the   smaller  smaller   p a r tial-packet. Don't s Don't  say ay  "smalle r," just point to it and tell him to push it aside. Do it as if that's the portion you had planne d to discard all along. But it must it  must be  be the smaller of the two. That's why you instruct him to cut off a  small  o r  large  b a t c h - y o u n e e d t o  small o  large b be able to see which is the smaller, immediately. And, if the packet is cut exactly in half the effect   w o n t w o r k . Indicate the remaining (lar (larger) ger) packe t, pointing out that the cards have been mixed and cut, and that the number of cards in the h  cards are in the packet are p a c k e t a n d w d  w h i c h cards both out of your control and certainly unknown to you and unknown to him. "Please remove either remove  either the  the top or bottom card - your choice. This is your first selection; keep it face down and leave it  It is tabled near him; you don't have here." It here." to see it. Here's what you have to notice / remember: If he removes the   to p   card, the remaining action is done with the packet face   If he removes the  bottom   card, the redown.  down.  bottom  maining action is done with the packet packet face  face   u p . Hand the packet to him according ly, and instruct him to do the "sorting" (reverse f a r o ) .   Remember, the procedure starts with the second card being jogged forward outjogged. Help him do the sorting correctly. sorting  correctly. Instruct him to discard the   injogged  injogged   group.

Say, "In a mome nt, I'll I'll have you sort the cards in a special way - like  t h i s . "   D o a reverse faro. I.e., spread through the cards out- (or (or up-) jogging the second card, the fourth card, the si xth card, and so on, until every other card is outjogged, (Fig. (Fig. 1. Again, see A see  A f t e r t h o u g h t s . )  )   Openly strip out the outjogged c ards . Pl Place ace either group onto the other. (Since it doesn't matter which goes o n top - I like to give my spectator that choice.) Hand the combined packet to your spectator. "When the time comes, you'll do this spe-

Tell him to do the "sorting" again and, again, he discards the injogged group . He will have either two or three cards remaining . If three: He outjogs the center card - and the two injogged c ards are discarded, leaving him with one card. This is exactly as he's been doing. If two cards : He also does as he's be en doing . He out jogs the lower (2nd (2nd) ) card. The one injogged card is discarded, leaving him with one card.

card

Let him turn - if he was

over the one remaining working with the packet

face down. Then turn over the first (ta (tabled bled) ) selection - the two cards will be "country/ capital" mate s

cial sorting procedure exactly three times n o m o r e , n o  l e s s .  But firs t, give the packet as many comple te cuts as you like." Let him cut the packet (comp (complete lete cuts) a few times . Place the squared face-do wn packet onto the

A f t e r t h o u g h t s ; Remember to demonstrate with a reverse faro, to discard the smaller of the two portions when he cuts the packe t, and remember to have him do the reverse

2746

 

faros face down if his first selection is the top card and face up if that first selection is the bottom card - and it all works automatically. I

believe

that

Phil

prefers

to

outjog

th e   first   (to (top) p) card and injog the next card, etc., each time the reverse faro is done. If you do it that way, the spectator w o u l d d i s c a r d t h e  o u t j o g g e d  cards each time (s (s)he )he does the "sorting." I do it as taught in the text only becaus e  I m used to doing a reverse faro that way - it it flows for me . Either way is fine. A few thoughts: What I do is to always set up with one card (say, (say, Russia) being the top card of its pair. I pencil dot the two diagonal cor ners on its back. Now, I can let the spectator cut, and I can do a Charlier Sh u f f l e . T h i s r e a l l y m a k e s i t a p p e a r a s i f the cards are mixed , but you've really only complete cut the packet. No space to teach that here (s (see ee Feinting S pell , this   i s s u e ) ; or check it out on page 540 of   BEST OF F R I E N D S V O L . I I or in the June 1991 (page (page 1937) and January 1994 (page (page 2314) issues

  eir Yedid Quite often when a sleight is taught within a routine that slei ght loses some of its importance. And, quite often, the slei sleight ght can be more i mportant th an the routine. Meir came up with this effect/routine built around two new sleights - he feels that the routine itself isn't as original as the s l e i g h t s , b u t t h a t t h e s l e i g h t s a r e   good. So  -. I 11 teach one sleig sleight ht here and the other

of   A p o c a l y p s e among others. Then, as I spread the face-down cards in an indicatory gesture I spot the pencil dot. If it's at an even position from bottom, or at an odd position from top, no pair has been "broI'm okay to cont inue. If it isn't, k e n ,   and I'm I simply cu ut t it to a position as above. You may prefer to prepare the pairs w i t h c a r d s t h a t d o  n ot  h a v e a t y p i c a l p l a y ing card back design. That's to take it out o f t h e " c a rd rd t r i c k " a r e a . O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , this can be an impromptu card effect if you openly cull out eight pairs of mates from any deck Countries and capitals are good; there are many other "pairs" you can use. Pictures of animals - two by tw o, two of each. Famous lovers like Romeo/Juliet, Damon/ P y t h i a s . U n i t e d St a t e s a n d c a p i t a l c i t i e s . Or first and last names of famous people, like Charles and Chaplin, Bob and Hope, Bill and Clinto n (m (my y original write -up was "Ronald and Reagan" - I told you I've had t h i s o n f i l e f o r   y e a r s ) ,  M a x a n d M a v e n , Harry and  L o r a y n e ( ) .

M ate Switch O ut above the rear "broken" card. Your left hand moves forward, moving th e "broken" card along - aligned und er the thre es. (Fig. (Fig. 1.) 1.) T h a t ' s r e a l l y a l l t h e r e i s t o i t . St r i p o u t the two threes with the indifferent card aligned and hidden under them.

one in the next issue. That way, they wo won't n't be   within a routine. I  I   will,  "lost"  "lost" will,   of course, talk about that routine in an ensuing issue. What this first move accom plishes is to switch out one mate of a pair of mates. Done smoothly/correctly it is an imperceptible switch. The first part of it i is s to secretly add a card behind the two face-up mates. Meir uses Vernon's "rear r" " add-on. I prefer a more basic method. I'll touch on both. Ask your spectator to name a pair of m a t e s . A .  A s s u m e h e w a n t s t h e r e d t h r e e s . T u r n the deck face up and hand to hand spread looking for them. When you come to each, out jog i t. As you square, catch a left little fingertip break above the rear card of the deck. That rear card is "loaded" to behind the two threes as the outjogged threes are

My only objection to this is that, for m e ,   it is now just a bit awkward to get to p o s i t i o n - w h i c h i s t o f l i p t h e de de c k p r o p e r face down in left-hand dealing position as the right hand holds the squared fa ce-up 3card block from above. You have to be in p o s i t i o n t o p e e l t h e u p p e r m o s t   3-spot  w i t h y o u r l e f t t h u m b . T h e w a y I p r e f e r i s : St r i p out the two threes "legitimately." Drop them on the face-up deck, squaring them and addi n g t h e i n d i f f er er e n t f a c e c a r d b e h i n d t h e m . Easy enough now to flip the left-hand deck f a c e d o w n - a n d y o u ' r e b a s i c a l l y i n  n  p o s i -

tion. The only "negative" is that the face card of the deck   c h a n g e s   a s y o u a d d t h a t face card behind the threes . In my experie n c e ,  ,   it's never noticed. I'll leave it to you to get to position. Then:

stripped out of the deck. Grasp the face-up deck at its innerright corner with right thumbtip and 1st and 2nd fingertips - the fingertips move in

2747

 

Start Sta rt to peel the face red three onto the deck deck - and flip it face  down  with the right-hand double card as it moves. Take the peeled, face-down card to beneath the right-hand double card, stepped to the left left

three.  As you do , your right finge fingers rs push the lowermost card  onto the deck.   (Fig. 3, exposed and exaggerated.)

perhaps half anplace inch for or an so.instant, As you hold the about "pac "package kage" " in instant , change right-hand position to grasp the package thumb underneath, fingertips at right long side of the face red three. (Fig. 2 tells the story.)

Your right continues to the table, dropping dropp ing thehand two cards - face-up  on  3 spot face-down face-do wn card. One  3 spot has been switched switched out.  The tabled face-down card is an indifindifferent feren t one .

Now,   it'  s as you displ Now,  display ay the back-t back-tooback red threes, saying, "Here's one red three and here's the other," that the switch is completed. What you do is steal one of the threes onto the deck. You're at Figure2 position. "He "Here's re's one three." Turn your hand outward, turning over the entire package - end for end - to show the other re red d

There is, of course, no pause here.

Afterthoughts: It is an imperceptible switch when, as usual, done smoothly and correctly. I'll try to fit Meir's other move into next month's issue issue and the rouroutine tin e using both in the following issue. So, learn   this.   I'll refer back to it, but I won't teach it again. In the meantime, who knows? - you may come up with an effect utilizing just Mate Switch-Out.

Ellipses ...

Wh at you're holding in your hand hands s is the first first issue of the last year of  Apocalypse This is the beginning beginning of the 20th volume, 20 20th th year of the magaz magazine. ine. As I told you in this column last las t month, I'm recei receiving ving lots of "Say "Say it isn't so" letters and calls. Many are asking why I want to stop publi publication. cation.  Well,  there's really no specific or definite answer, except that I' I've ve sai said d just about all I have to say, and - twenty twenty just seems like a "go "good od number." I know, I know - a few have already told me - "Twen "Twentyty-fiv five e is a bet better ter number " I don't think I' I'd d have the "hea "heart" rt" to do another five years. No . But who knows knows? ? I may put out a  triple  issue every once in a while. There are many wh o started subscribing after 1978 and missed lots of  great  magic. Now is the time to fill in your collection w while hile all issues are still available; I won't re-print. As I told you las last t month.   special  and what a bargain:  Buy 3, 4 or 5 volumes at  one time  and pay only $40. $40.00 00 per volume; six or more more volumes - $35 $35.00 .00 per volume. (Ou Out t of USA orders: Add $1.50 per volume for surface mail or $4.50 $4.50 per volume for airmail.) This special does  not   inc includ lude e 1996 1996 and 1 997; these these two volumes are each regular price. And - notice to  new  subscribers: The only new subscriptions I' I'll ll accept are those that start with the  January issue ue - so that that it's a minimum minimum of a  full  year's subscrip subscription. tion. See the subscription box   .1997 iss • If you're you're in New York, you know abou about t it - if you're not in New York and intend to visit yo u  should  know about it. I was at opening night (Sep (Septem tember ber 19, 1996) of Joseph Gabriel's Hagic On Broadway   show. It's at the Lamb's Theatre, 130 Wes West t 44th St . (be (betwe tween en Broadwa Broadway y and 6th  Ave.   - Tel: 212, 997 997-178 -1780) 0)   You may know Joseph Gabriel Gabriel as Joey Wierzbicki who did the art work for  Apocalypse   for years (bac (back k in the 80's) befor before e my son, Robert, took over. Well,  he's just terrific, and so is the show. It's eclectic.   from card manipulations to the instant production of a full-size NYC taxicab. And Joey' s dove (a (and nd other bird) work is as good if not better than anyone anyone else's. A Add dd to  this,  Lucy, his wife/assistant, danc dancing ing girls,  and Romano Frediani, an unb unbelie elievable vable juggler - and it's a n absolute  don't  miss (The  don't miss "money" ey" review.) New York Times,  among othe rs, gave it a "mon

  POC LYPSE  is publis  published hed every month b y Harry Lorayne, a  a t: 62 Jane Street, New Y ork, N  N Y 10014. All checks are  to be made payable to Harry Lorayne, and mailed to him at that address.

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Published, written, and edited by: Harry Lorayne

I l lu lu s t rrat at i o n s b y : R o b er t E. Lo r ay n e

Ty p o g r ap h y & l ay o u t b y : M ei r Y ed i d

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  ofayne s VOL. 20, N O. 2  

  5.25

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I S S UE NO. 230

FEBRUA RY, 1997

lypse

© C OP YR I GH T 1997 by H. Lor a yne , I nc .

 R V O VN

If this was be being ing sold commercially the advertised advertised effect might read like  this:  A card is selected and signed. A specta spectator tor examines a bolt (sc (scre rew) w) and its loose nut .

shouldn't shou ldn't be too thin. You  will,  of course, experiment to find size, etc., that works best for  you.  Make two small cross cuts with an Exacto blade at center of one of the duplicate cards. Push a screw through so

You, pick up the screw and  the nut magician, and smack them onto or against agai nst the deck, causing the cards to fall all over the tabl e. One card is seen to be pierced by the screw, which has the nut threaded on it - the pierced card is th the e signed sign ed selection Your hands are empty and all can be examined.

that the is on the ofthe thestory.) card. Thread on head the nut. (F (Fig ig. . 1face tells You're seated at the table opposite your spectator(s).  The prepared card is face up on your lap, the duplicate is on top or bottom of the deck and the loose screw and nut and a marker pen are on the table, in full ful l view. You're all set.

The problem is that, comme commercia rcially, lly, there wouldn't be much to sell you. Aside from a couple of cheap screws and nuts it's  basically a bit of handling, misdirection and showmanship/pr esentation that does it. I' I'll ll teach the method exactly as Marvoyan contributed  it.  It w works orks just fine for him, but I had a slight pro problem blem or two with it. So, I'll discuss my own handling afterward.

After doing a trick or two with the deck, keeping the 2C in place - force the 2C.  Marvoyan uses two spectat ors; he forces the card on one to his left and has a spectator to his right examine the screw/nut. It can be done for only one spectator. Table the deck deck face face up near the table's edge. Ask the spectator spectator to show his card to everyone even eve n you. As he's doing doing that, pick up the

You'll be devising your own handling, anyway, because that is an indivi individual dual thing.

lapped, lappe d, prepared, card with your left hand and hold it face up on the palm. The screw is down between between your 2nd and 3rd fingers. fingers. As all attention attention is o n the selected card, your right hand slides the face-up deck onto your left hand. You've loaded the prepared card to the rear of the face-up deck. Stan-

You'll need one duplicate card (assume it's the 2C) and two identical screws and nuts.  The scre screw w heads sho should uldn't n't be too bulky I prefer a fairly flat he head ad - and the shaf shafts ts  7 9

 

dard action. Keep hand and deck tilted, of cou rs e,   s o that any projecting s crew point is n't s een. -^

8

Take the s elected card, tu rn it fac face e up and, s aying that you 'll place it to bottom of the (face-up) deck, slide it to 2nd from rear via the inner end. Eas y, becau s e the s crew head creates a natu ral break. (Thi (This s is where I changed the handling a bit, bu t let's continu e with Marvoy an's handling.) What you want is for the ins erted end of the s elected card to bu tt agains t that s crew head. When it   d o e s,   s top there - card protru ding from inner end - for a momen t. Say, "Oh wai t, I wanted you to s ign (or (or initial) you r card." As you hand him (or her) the pen with you r right hand, you r left hand moves the deck toward and agains t you r body, pu s hing in the s election which pu s hes (Fig. g. 2. 2.) ) All looks ou t   the pre pare d card. (Fi as it s hou ld to you r s pectators ; they s ee the s elected card. Pu s h u p with you r left forefinger on the projecting-ou tward card t o   "kill"   the s pace created by the s crew head, and angle the deck s o tha that t that s pace can't be s een. Have you r s pectator s ign or initial the face at the expos ed end.

Pretend to mix the s igned card into the deck with a cou ple (or 3) Hindu Shu ffles . (You 'd want to dis engage the regu lar 2C's ou ter end from the s crew head s o that you can flu s h the prepared [s i igne gned] d] card as you s hu ffle.) Again, angle the deck to s hade the s crew; you r hand als o s hades it. The prepared card   remains   at deck's rear. (You can s hu ffle the "s crewed" card to center bu t more cover wou ld be needed.) Bring attention to the tabled s crew/ (on you r right, if n u t .   Have a s pect ator (on you 're u s ing two s pectators ) place them onto

Marvoyan has the s pectator place his hand over the deck (that's (that's on the left palm) . Say that he mu s t remove his hand when you say "Now " Stare at the de ck for a few s econds as if "preparing for the miracle. " Say "Now "Now" " - he removes his hand and you hit the deck, apparently with the right-hand s crew and nu t. Let the cards s catter onto the table. Manage to let the prepared card fall among them as if it was cente red. It's s tartling Let the pierced   signed   card be examined. You're left, of course, with empty hands, but with a duplicate 2C i n the deck. "Handle" that any way that's convenient for you. A f t e r t h o u g h t s :  :   W e l l ,   that's the bas ic idea. It's  good;  it can probably be pu t into the clas s of "repu tation maker," if you 'll pardon the expres s ion I've I've tau ght it s o that part of the "magic" is the nu t mys teri-

ou s ly threading its elf onto the s crew b e s i d e s piercing the s elected card. You may prefer to have the du plicate nu t already threaded onto the du plicate s crew. That's u p to you . As I've I've told you , I had a problem o r two with the text handling. Firs t of al l, I fou nd that if I pu s hed the s elected card all the way flu s h, pu s hing ou t the prepared du plicate, the s crew head came into view (There  a re  ways to avoid that.) Secondly, I found that I couldn't always "catc "catch" h" the screw head to assure that the prepared card would move out as I pushed the selected card in. I decided I'd be better off if I  didn t catch the s crew head as I apparently s lid the s elected card to bottom of the deck. Als o, there's no law that s ays the s crew has to be at the card's exact cen ter. So, rather than bore you with all the details of my experimenting and with the different handlings I came u p with, I'll explai n the two handlings I  u s e . Insert the screw/nut closer to the card' s end, rather than at cent er. It's at rear of the face-u p deck, as explained, the s crew/ nu t clos er to you . When you s lide the card to 2nd from bottom (appare (apparently ntly to bottom) make s u re its ou ter end pas s es   over   th e s crew head by pres s ing that ou ter end u pward as you ins ert/flu s h the card; eas y to d o.  The ins tant it's flu s h, realize   ?) that

you r right hand; clos e that hand. Talk abou t the s igned card being los t, taking attention away from you r right hand - and  la p  t h e right-hand s crew/nu t. (Or s coop them u p to begin wit h, lapping them as you do - s tandard action - as , again, attention is on deck or s pectator.) There really is plenty of "mis direction room" for the lapping.

you wanted him to s ign the card, and s lide the prepared card forward with you r left hand. You may prefer to move the entire deck,   except   the prepared card,   b a c k   with your (from-above) right han d. Either way, the prepared card protru des from bottom; you r forefinger pres s es it gen-

2750

 

tly upward to assure that the screw head and the space it creates are hidden. (Fig. 3.) Rather than have the spectator sign, you can have him initial (it (it's 's faster) or if y o u ' r e n e r v o u s a b o u t i t , y ,  y o u   c a n w r i t e h i s initials on the card. And, my other handling: Push the screw through the same way, same area, but so that

ry Rubright Writes Gary: "This effect was created as a tribute to Houdini (t (the he other famous H a r r y ) .  I h a v e n o t b e e n p a r t i c u l a r l y f o n d of card boxes because I always thought the method was too obvious, thus depriving an effect of true magical quality. That said, let me introduce an effect with a card box which is, I believe, truly magical." So, dig out your old rarely-used, card box and I' I'll ll expla in the idea in, basically , Gary 's words (wi (with th my inevitable , uncontr ollable , editing): You'll need a duplicate card in the d e c k , a c a r d b o x a n d t w o r u b b e r b a n d s .  L e t '  s use an extra KC. Remove the deck with both kings on top, false shuffle and cut them to center. (O (Or r simply overhand shuffle about half the deck ont o them. Also, see my  A f t e r thoughts  . Patter about Houdini and his fame as an escape artist. Fan the deck to look for an appropriate card to represent Houdini. Pull out a KC and table it face   u p .   T h i s "force"   is not weak because it is easy to patter about Houdini being the "king" of the escape arti sts. Cut the other KC to the top as you close the fan. Turn the tabled king face down and have .  Y o u c a n a l s o s i g n a spectator sign its  b a c k . Y the back, if you like. Then, your spectator will not only hav e a souvenir at the end of the effect, but may actually remember your name The card box represents the trunk from which Houdini will escape. Open the box and remove the rubber bands (k (kept ept there to insur e that the leaf stays o n the proper side during   t r a v e l ) .   While (or as) you hand the rubber bands t o the spectator for inspection with one hand perform Paul Curry's  Curry's   Turnover Change  with the other

the head is on the card's  b a c k .  .   It's loaded to bottom of the face -down -down    deck. When the face-down selected card is slid to bottom(?) of the face-down deck, etc., turn your left hand palm down for the signing or initialing. The card remains f lush at bottom. (F (Fig. ig. 4. 4.) ) Continue as i n the text. You now know as much about this as I do - go t h o u a n d p re re s e n t a m i r a c l e

  Tribute Tribute To Houdini b e r b a n d s )  .  The deck can be spread in a semicircle semic ircle around the box to simulate spectators watching watching the escape. Magical gesture and show that that Houdini has esca ped - the box is "empty." Houdini (the (the signed KC) of course turns up among the spectator s - whic h, can be made dramatic or comical depending on your style. The strength of the effect lies in the fact that the dirty work is done under good misdirection and before anything really appears to be happening. The Turnover Change taught in Harry Lorayne's  CLOSE-UP CARD MAGIC (1962) is one of the most beautiful and subtle of all card moves. It is the only move in the whole tric k. The belief that the signed   king is actually going into the box is so strong strong in the spectato r's mind that a minor miracle results. A f t e r t h o u g h t s  s  ( H L ) : S i m p l e , b u t c a n b e strong for laymen. Obviously, the two KC's needn't be together on to p. The deck can be legitimately shuffled. Then, casually cut one KC to the top and table the other one. Instead of The Turnover Chang e you can show the KC, place it onto the deck (t (the he writing "platform") for the signing of its back, then a double double turnover and wrist t urn as the face-up duplicate is tabled or "boxed." That'd do it. And what fits perfectly is my Scoop Change  Change   REPUTATION-MAKERS)  ; you'll have to look it up. But, The Turnover Change is right . Do it with one hand as your other h a n d i s m ov ov i n g w i t h t h e r u b b e r b a n d s , y o u r a t t e n t i o n  n  on   t h e r u b b e r b a n d s a n d / o r t h e spectator. I teach the move in detail in   CLOSE-UP CARD MAGIC. MAGIC.    It's also taught in the October 1985 issue of  of   A p o c a l y p s e .  .  F o r c o m p l e t i o n ' s

hand, exchangi ng the signed KC for the other (unsigned) KC. This is particularly subtle as the spectator sees exactly what he expects to se e. You simp ly turned over the KC. Cut the deck as you table it . No s uspicion is aroused yet the "work" is already done

  I'll repeat that write-up here. In sake,  sake, Gary's effect you're turning a face-down card face up. The following teaches the move, turning a face-up card face down. That's because I'm I'm l azy; I alread y have the words (I (I'l 'll l update a bit) and pictures for face up to face down from the October '85 issue. Learn the mov e, then change it to fit this effect.

Place "Houdini" into his trunk, close the door and encircle with chains (t (the he rub-

2751

 

Hold the face-up deck in left-hand dealing position. (If you use your right hand hand for the move as I do, change my instru instructions ctions accordingly.) accordingly. ) In action, your hand would be

The card bends lengthwise until its outer long side contacts the underside of the thumb.  The card is now actually held only between thumb and forefinger. (Fig. (Fig. 5.) 5.) The

palm youyour prepare the bottom (or rear) rear ) down card card. .as With thumb, push the bottom card to the right only enough to move your 3rd finger under (re (reall ally y above) it. Your 1st, 2nd and 4th fingers stretch over and onto that card; 1st finger is curled over the deck's outer end. The moved card automatically fl ushes. You're in Turnov TurnovererChange readiness. (Fi (Fig. g. 1.) 1.) You should be able to open your thumb and forefinger forefinger and hold the deck comfortably against your palm with the other fingers. (Fi (Fig. g. 2 2.) .) This is important; thumb thumb and forefin forefinger ger must be fre free e in order to do the change.

 straightchange happens as your 3rd finger finger straightens  ens   moving out the set (bott (bottom) om) card. Your 2nd and 4th finger fingers s open, getting out of the way, as that card moves to the tabletop.   (Fig. 6.)

Okay; back to position. You're going to to, ,  apparently, turn a face-up tabled card face down. Place the outer side of your left thumbtip onto the tabled card abou about t an inch diagonally away from the outer-rig outer-right ht index corner. (F (Fig ig. . 3. 3.) ) At the same tim e, move your forefi forefingerti ngertip p under the outer long s side. ide.

(F (Fig ig. . 4.) 4.) No problem if working on a closeup mat. What follows is a fraction-of-asecond action. Start to curl your foref forefininger toward you to pick up the tabl tabled ed card.

Doug Edwards If you use a full-deck cyclic cyclical al set-up like Si Si Steb Stebbins bins or eig eight ht ki kings ngs th threaten reatened ed to save, etc., you'll l love ove  this.  Inciden-

Your 3rd finger pushes the set card all the way onto the table as your thumb pulls the originally tabled card onto and flush with the deck.to (Fig (F ig. . 7. 7.) ) Your forefinger straightens allow that card to flush all the way. At completion, your 3rd finger fing er is pressing the switche switched-in d-in card onto the table and the deck is held only by your thumb pressing it against your palm. (Fig 8.) That's the basic change. There's a sligh slight t  swin swing g to it; an up/down motion as it' it's s done.  It '  s at Figure 4 that your hand star starts ts its slight slight upward move ment, then down and a bit to the right, as the change (whi (which ch actually happens off the table) is completed. Fig.  9 shows the card moving out in mid-air; then your downward movement starts. Your 3rd finger uses the tabletop as leverage to complete the pushing out of the leverage card. After some practice, you'll be able to thr throw ow out the card without the leverage of the tabletop. The best misdirection is a simultaneous action with your other hand, as in this effect. And of course, for this effect, the signed signed KC is face down on the table, and you prepare the deck's top (actua (ac tually lly, , rear) card - the dupli cate, unsigned, signed , KC .

Houdini  

asts  

Spell

Doug   does,   and as I certainly would. For explanation purposes, assume you're using the eight eight kings set-up, set in CHSD order -

tall y, che check ck ou out t the th e Ell Ellips ipses es (...)

colum column n

so the 8C is the top card and the JD is t the he

  92  issue of    Apocalypse in for the someSeptember some other   (pe (perha rhaps ps better,ofbecause not  other  so well known) eight eight king s type set-ups. If you don't use full-deck set-ups, you may want to after reading this.

bottom card. (Thi (This sface-up or Si Stebbins allows you to do a quick spread, because neither arrangement is obvious; the cards appear to be well mixed.) If you can false shuffle, fine. (You might want to check out Expert Full-Deck Overhand Overhan d in the January '94 i issue ssue of of Apoca Apocalypse,  and my Riffle Diffle riffles in  RIM SHOTS. If you can't, you can complete complete cut

two separate effects here. One leads beautifully into the other. The They y do ,   however, stand alone. You'll have to decide if you want to use them toge together ther as  

11 explain

2752  

the deck as often as you like. Then, let your spectator have an absolutely free choice of a card as you hand to hand spread. Tell hi m   n o t   to look at the card; he's to place it into his pocket. As you talk, complete cut the deck at the point of re moval. You do not have to glimpse the bottom, or any, card. Now patter about the spirit of Harry Houdini. Say that "Harry can help us find out the name of your card." My name will also work The key number is 12, and "Harry Houdini" spells with exactly 12 letters, as does "Harry Lorayne."

two,   then hand the deck to your spectator. Say, "Give "Give it a quick shuf fle, will   y o u ? " And pantomime an overhand shuffle. Rush him a bit so that he does just one quick overhand shuffle. The concept here is that after one overhand sh uffle a  b l o c k  of the setup will end up on top (If you have the   let him do another overhand shuffle nerve,  nerve, and the odds are that a few cards still in "set-u "se t-up" p" condition will end up on top. All you need is  two  such cards. See my  Afterthoughts .)

Let the spectator hold the deck and say, "You don't know what the top card is, do  y o u ? "   He doesn't, of course. "Nor do I. Please put it into your left pocket - make sure that neither of us can see  it .   He  d o e s .

S o ,   spell "Harry Houdini" from top of the deck, one card per letter, forming a face-down packet on the table. Turn up the card on the final "i " (or the final "e, " if you're using my   n a m e ) .   I'm doi ng the effect as I write, and the card I just turned up is the 2D. Table it face up, as you say,

"Do you know what the next (top (top) ) c ard is?"   He doesn't. "I don't know it either; y o u   shuffled. Please put that card into your right pocket. Carefully; I don't want

"Harry is telling us that your card is a diamond. Place the face-down packet of spelled cards   b a c k o n t o   the deck proper.

either of us to see it ." He d o e s .  Y o u r e a l l y have no idea, at this moment, what the two cards are.

Do at least one false cut. Then, spell "Harry Houdini" again. Turn up the last card (I just turned up the 7 C ) . "Now Harry tells us that your card is a seven." Table the face-up 7C to the left of the first card, the 2D. (Fig. 1.) Point to the 7C, "the "th e seven," point t o the 2D, "of "of diamonds. Harry Houdini is telling us that the card in your pocket (or (or wherever) is the  seven of d i a m o n d s ." Let him take the card out of his pocket - it's the 7D It will   a l w a y s   work because of the cyclic set-up of the deck. After the spectator selects a card and you cut at that point, the 12th card from top will always be the same suit as the selection. After removing that card and replacing the (11) spelled cards, the 12th card then  m u s t  match the selected card's value. And, the second spell puts those eleven cards back to cor-

Point to his left pocket, and say, "Let's do some guessing. Take a shot - what do you think that card is? " Let hi m gu gues ess, s,- he name s a card. Then let him take out that card so that all can see it. (Obviously, if he's "hit"   it, make that part of your miracle .) He's wrong. Make a remark about his guess. "You're pretty close, you're way off, you got the color right," whatever. And the card you see coming out of his left pocket tells you which card is in his right pocket It '  s the next card of your set-up. I just tried i t, and the first (lef (lefttpocket) card is the QH. The other card, therefore, is the 4S. So, build i t. "Houdini's "Houdini's spirit taught me how to  r e a l l y  g u e s s . " O r " I don't know if I can guess as well as Houd i n i ,   but I'll take a shot.   . .the fou r of s p a d e s "  He removes the card from his right pocket. It is the 4S

A f t e r t h o u q h t s : I've I've su ggested some patt e r ;  you'll come up with your own, I'm I'm s ure. I'm I'm also sur e you agree that ea ch of the two effects is   s t r o n g .   Using the second as a follow-up to the first makes sense. Do keep your eye on the deck as the spectator does

the quick overhan d shuffle to make sure that an original bottom group ends up on t o p .  If not , go into another trick Or, have

rect position - it "re-reverses" their order And, it's a simple matter to re-set the deck . Replace the spelled-to valu e card (7C, (7C, this example) onto the deck proper; then the suit card (2D) (2D) onto that. Drop the spelled cards onto the 2D and, finally, drop the selected card (7 (7D) D) onto all. The deck is re-set. • It's a strong effect. You may find this follow-up even stronger. Do a false cut or

him cutwill the then deck.beThe set-up cards on odds top. are The some "guessing" idea reminded me of Terry Lagerould's exc e l l e nt nt e f f e c t , S p e c t a t o r G u e s s e s B e t t e r September  '  93 is sue of  Apocalypse . Look it up.

you

If your can use

name spells with 12 letters, tha t. And, finally, if you'd

 75

 

r a t h e r n o t u s e a n a m e a t a l l , y o u do do n ' t h a v e to .  I've present ed it by saying that I simply have to ask the car ds. Spell What's

th e   suit? to reach the suit card; then  Next,   the valu e to reach the value card. Each phrase spells with 12 letters.

Remember - If you photocopy this magazine you lessen its worth to  you

Lewis Jones Lewis explains his routine as well or bett er than I could, so I' I'll ll let him do it, wit h my compulsive edit ing, of course. I'l I'll l go into a bit more det ail for his Invisible C u l l ,  w h i c h i s t o o g o o d t o p a s s b y t o o quickly. Here's Lewis: The concept here is related to Bob F a r m e r ' s   Tsunami but devotees of that effect will see that in this handling, there is no fishing for color or suit, no memorizing of a  5-card  sequence, no risk that the 5-card hand will contain nothing higher than a 9, and no asking for the identity of the thought-of card. I'v I've e a lways found the commones t response to be : I thought   y o u   w e r e supposed to tell  m e   t h a t . As you hand out the deck for shuffling, your story is that Halloween has a special significan ce for magicia ns - it is the the date of Houdini's death, and the traditional date for trying to get in touch with him in the other world, What usually happens is  this. Take back the deck and turn it face toward y o u .   Spread over a few cards and pull one out - apparently at rando m. Then table the deck face down. The real purpose of this action is to let let you take a brief glance at the first six car ds at the face of the deck, and note the highest card in that group . It should be at least as high as a ten. If it isn't,  just cut and look again . (H (HL: L: And be sure that that highest card has no duplicate among those six cards.)   We would pu ll out any card at random and ask Houdini to ident ify it in some way. But all that   k n o c k - o n c e - f or or - y e s - a n d - t w ic ic e for-no  w a s f a i r l y t e d i o u s , a n d w e n e v e r g o t a n a n s w e r a n y w a y . Show the card and push it  

Hou dini's dini's Hand the same routine for a seance, and always six people. Let me show you. Get someone to cut off about half the deck and discard that half. Then someone else discards the top half of whatever rem a i n s .   (HL (HL: : Leaving the bottom   quarter   of the deck.) A spectator picks up that quarter deck and deals out   si x   face-down hands until the cards run out, then takes the top card from each hand. Choose the best (HL: (HL: highest) card of the six, and remember what it is. Don't even show it to anyone else. The spectator then pushes all 52 cards together and shuffles the deck thoroughly.   Now let's try to dupli cate Houdini's final seance. He always insisted on having the same hand of cards hims elf. We know that from his diaries. So let's do it his way. Suppose the thought-of card was the JS. As you run through the spread with faces toward yourself, perform what I have called the Invisible Cull (HL: (HL: In Lewis's book, The Spring of   52) to secretly gather the five royal-flush spades t o the top of the deck.

When you come to one of those high spades, break the sprea d one card to its left  (i.e., at rear of right-hand spread is an indifferent card followed b y the h igh s pade) . Deposit the rear card of the right-hand spread face up onto the table, slightly to

back into the middle of the deck. (H (HL: L: A couple of false shuffles and/or a false cut,   keeping the six bottom cards in place

your right. Call out the name of the indifferent card - to strengthe n the imp ression that you were searching for that specific

i s g o o d a t t h i s p o i n t . R e - t a b l e t h e d ec ec k , i f n e c e s s a r y .)

card. Continue spreading   onto the face   of the right-hand group. (Fig. (Fig. 1 1.) .) When you r e a c h t h e n e xt h i g h s p a d e , b r e a k t h e s p r e a d immediately to its   r i g h t . Your left hand then passes the two left-hand face cards across to the  rear   of the right-hand packet (Fig.   2, in progres s) but o nly one (the (the indifferent one) is dropped to the table. (HL:  Your right fi ngers hold the high spade at rear as the indifferent card is tabled.

 Then,   just a couple of days ago, I realized what was wrong. We were using the wrong date. Houdini took part in hundreds o f s e a n c e s h i m s e l f , a n d  d you k n o w w h e n t h e last one was? Today's date. Yes, today is the anniversary of that final seance. And we know from his diaries that he always used

2754

 

F i g .  3.  3.) ) Deal with the remaining three high spades in exactly in  exactly the  the same way, and call out the name of each indifferent card as you table it.

All you need to remember is whether the thought-of high spade (th (this is example) was the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th high spade you came to. You'll end up with five face-up indifferent cards on the table   ( Every m a gic ia n k n o w s t h is a s H o u d in i' s   h a n d " ) .   Th e five high spades are at the rear of the inhand deck. Fli p the deck face down, run the first five cards (t (the he high spades) singly, then complete the overhand shuffle normally. (HL:  Don't omit runni ng [o [or r double cutting] the high spades to bottom. If you do - as I did the first time I tried this - you'll end up with egg on your face instead of a miracle in y o u r h a n d s .) Openly arrange the cards of "Houdini's hand" into order, while commenting on the deliberately haphazard ch oice of values and s u i t s .   Lay this hand down, still face up, " in H ou ou d in i' s p l a c e ." H a v e y o u r s p e c ta ta t o r s repeat the earlier sequence of cutting away about three-quarters of the deck, then  dealing out the other hands (but (but only   five t five  t h is time) until the cards run out. Note where the last card is dealt. Counting around from there tells you which hand contains the thought-of card. (H (HL: L: Easier for you to try this - basically, it's counting backward on the dealt ha nds - then for me to explain it.) As your finger circles the five hands, say, "Which hand, Harry? This  one?"  Point to the hand with the thoughtof card on top, and get the spectator to put his finger on it. "Here "Here? ? Are you sure? You're doing what, Harry? Reading his mind? And y o u '  re changi ng the card to the one   h e '  s thinking of? How do we know that? What card are you changing it to, Harry? The jack of s p a d e s ? "  Get the spectator to confirm  t h i s ,

Richard Paddon Ri cha rd (f (fro rom m Australi a) is a working p r o f e s s io n a l , s o h is id e a s / p r e s e n t a t io n s

and then turn over finger. It's the JS

the

card

beneath

his

The effect appears to be over. But there is a kicker. " Hey - how do we know this i s really you, Harry? This could be anybody. Give us a sign - something that only a m a gic ia n w o u l d t h in k o f . W h a t ' s t h a t y o u say? His first set of cards made a lousy hand, so you did what? The top card of every hand? As a reward for finally finally getting through to you? Okay; let's just check that." Turn over the top card of each of the other four hands - to complete the royal flush in spades. " Well I I'l 'll l b e darned. Ha rry y o u f in a l l y d id it . T h a n k s a m il l io n . O h , and Harry - welcome back " Afterthoughts H L ) : I like to do a bit of silly acting when I ask "Which hand, Harry? This  one?"  I put my finger on a "wrong" hand, and immediately say, "Oh, sorry - sorry - I understand. unders tand. You mean this one, right?  Right,  " moving my finger to the correct hand. It's a strong routine - presented tongue-i n-cheek or seriously. Lewis's Invisible Cull should be done without hesita tion, casually, a nd in a certain rhythm. It reminded me of my own cul ls in Foursome  Foursome   DECK-STERITY)  DECK-STERITY)   and in Easy Ind ic a t o r  r  AFTERTHOUGHTS). It AFTERTHOUGHTS).  It   reminded  reminded   me of them; I'm not saying it's similar. It's n o t .  A n d   it '  s a w o r t h - k n o w in g u t i l it y it e m . I' I've ve used it as such. A deck I never saw before in my life was handed to me to " do a trick." I started to spread through the c a r d s ,  saying, "I have four detective cards in every deck deck of card s; I wonder if they're in t h is d e c k ...o h , h e r e ' s o n e .. ." E t c . A n d I used the Invisible Cull to get the four aces to the top. Now, what I did was a top change of the four indifferent card s to the four   a c e s .   Q u ic k m ir a c l e . Y o u c a n e n d h o wwever you like.

M ystery

ard To Pocket

deck. You then read this spectator's mind, correctly divining both the card and the

certainly have merit. He read No-Wallet Card To Pocket (Har (Harold old Cataq uet, August 1996 Apocalypse)  Apocalypse)   and thought I'd be interested in a similar idea out of his lectu lecture re notes - a

writin g on the card. You let the first spectator reach into your jacket pocket to remove the mystery card. It is the signed card

routine he's been performing "under fire" you. for years.  Yes -  I'  d be interested. So should

T  h The is is b a s ic aCard, l l y L ain r r ywhich J e n n in ' effect. Mystery hegsuses a gambler's cop. According to Richard, a gambler's cop is not suited for restaurant table hopping. So he developed this vers i o n .   I t ' s e n t ir e l y im p r o m p t u , b u t y o u d o h a v e t o b e w e a r in g a j a c k e t . R ic h a r d p e r forms standing at the end of the table in a

E f f e c t :   An unseen, but freely-selected card is placed into your jacket pocket. "This is a myste ry card. We'l l return to it later." A second spectator selects and signs another card. This one is lost into the

 7

 

restaurant. He uses this routine for small or large grou ps, or for walk-around conditions where he's surrounded by standing spectators. Perfor mance: Ask the spectator sitting (or standing) on your immediate left to "just touch a card,   a s y o u h a n d t o h a n d spread the card s. Mak e it apparent that it's a free free choice (because (because it is )  . H e c a n change his mind, and so forth. Carefully remove his card from the deck and, as you place it into your left outside jacket pocket, say, "This is the card of mystery - the mystery card. We shall return to it later. For the time being, we'll leave it here. " Hand the deck to a spectator sitting (o (or r standing) a few seats aw ay on your right. Ask her to select a "number" (spot) (spot) card. "A t w o ,  t h r e e , f o u r , e t c . S o m e t h i n g w i t h a b i t of space on it. Don't let me see it." Hand h e r a m a r k e r p e n . " W r it it e y o u r n a m e o r a n y thing that you'l l recogni ze as belonging t o you on the   number side   of the card."   I n d i cate the face of the deck with the pen (or with your finger, if you've already handed the pen to her) to ensure that she signs the card's face. "Because I'm a very honest magician, I'll turn away so that ther e's no chance of I'll me catching a glimpse of the card." Turn to your left so that your left jacket pocket is out of the group 's line of sig ht. All should be watching her write on a playing card. This affords plenty of misdirection for reaching into your jacket pocket with your left hand to remove the "mystery card."

into the pocket an d catch a quick glimp se of the signed selection. Don't make this  o b v i o u s ,  of course; don't stare at the deck . If you can, use peripheral vision - don't appear to look at the deck at al l. And, if you c a n ,  read what has been writ ten on the card. If you can't, it doesn't much matter. Ask her to concentrate on her card. The deck is face down in your left hand; car eful not to flash the bottom card. Read her mind "bit by bit." "It's a red card. It's a h e a r t .  I t's a middle value number card." Don't name the card yet. At this point everyone is (shoul (should d be) wonderin g how you could know all  t h i s .   Palm the selected card from the bottom of the deck into your left hand. Richard uses an Erdnase-type bottom palm. You use any palm with which you feel comfortable. Look at your audience, and say, "Who's the mystery card person?" As you ask, your left hand goes into your left outside jacket pocket loading the palmed card. Turn the card inside the pocket so that its back is outward. Immediately pull the card about halfway out of the pocket as you look at the person who selected the mystery card. "Oh y e s ;  you'  re the mystery card person . I  haven'  t forgotten about i t. We'll c ome back to it in a  moment.   Push the card back into the pocket. You've loaded the signed card into the pocket while apparently showing the original mystery card. All the dirty work is done - only the buildup remains. Turn

back

to

the

spectator

who

signed

Just put the deck into the pocket for an instant - add the myste ry card, and remove. Having the spe ctator sitting at a bit of a distance from you helps to direct attention away from you. And, don't feel "guilty" about removing the pocketed card - jus just t do it.

the card. Suddenly, as if it just came to y o u ,  name her card. "It's the (say) (say) seven of of hearts Right?" Have her confirm. If you read what she wrote on the card, use that. Richard tells me that this produces a great reaction.

Keep talking while this is going on. "Make your signature big and bold - to make it easier to find later," or, "Write anything that will ensure that it is   d e f i nitely your card, like your credit card n u m b e r ,  b a n k a c c o u n t n u m b e r , t e l e p h o n e n u m -

Continue:   "Before "Before you selected your seven of hearts, before you wrote on it, before you placed it back into the deck (hopefully (hopefully it will be forgot ten that  yo u  placed it into the deck - if in fact you d id ), before you even contemplated selecting a card, you (a (add-

b e r ,   anything. This should get a chuckle or two, and that's excellent misdirection.

dress the person who selected the mysterycard) selected a myst ery card, and it's been inside my jacket pocket all this time.

T h e n ,  turn back, take the pen and table "Now,   e v e r y o n e t r u s t s y o u .   W e l l ,   m o r e than they trust me, anyway. Please reach into my pocke t. Make sure that there is only that one card inside. No secret pockets, trap doors, extra cards? No? Please remove your mystery card, and - show it to everyo n e . "   It's the selected, signed, card of c o u r s e .  W h e n t h i s r e g i s t e r s , s a y t o t h e mystery-card person, "Don't tell anyone how you did that "

it in front of you. Take the card, insert it into the deck and control it to bottom as you apparentl y lose i t. Hold the deck from above and at the ends with your left hand. Rotate the hand toward you in order to slightly open you r jacket's left side . Pick up the pen with your right hand and place it into the jacket's left inside pocket. As you do that, it's a simple matter to glance down to apparently make sure the pen goes

2756

 

A f t e r t h o u g h t s : I'll I'll quo te Richard: "This routine takes advantage of the natural mis direction that can be utilized within the restaurant scen e. Customer senses are being continually bombarded by the activity around them.   T h i s ,   along with the inter action between friends at the table and the fact that everyone is intrigued by someone writing on a card, allows you to easily direct attention away from yourself whe n necessary. Thus

Doug Edwards/Harry Lorayne

the removal of the card from the pocket can be achieved without worry of being caught. "This is one of my favorite effects. Performing it ten to twenty times a night, every weekend for five or more years has enabled me to prepa re for any difficult patron, even the one who once kept tapping my jacket pocket throughout the routine to make sure that his mystery card was still there "

Dealer W ins

Every so often Doug challenges me . He'll show me an idea of his that just misses being complete, or perhaps there's an illogical point or it has no real ending. He wants to see if I can straighten it out, complete it - what have you .   W e l l ,   that's

the aces (t (the he AC rema ins injogged) and flip th e   5 card  block face down onto the deck. Easy, just "go" to the break. Immediately card ard  b l o c k . E a s y a g a i n lift off the top   4 c because your right thumbtip pushes down on the injogged card as your right hand lifts all

what e. Hefor showed meIt this pretty thinghappened - and I her waited more . didn't (I felt) have an ending. So, I came up with o n e ,   and I think that now the routine is a fooler. Doug originally ended it when the AS and JS are shown on the table .  Y o u '  11 see what I mean as you read - whic h you should do with cards in hand. This is the kind of thing where it's easier to teach effect, method and presentation at the same time.

cards above that card. (Fig. (Fig. 2, in progress.) progress.)

The starting set-up is : From top down J S ,  A D , A S , A H , A C ; a n d t h e J H i s a t b o t t o m of the deck. (Ac (Aces es are in reversed GHaSeD order.) There are simple ways to get to this starting position "impromptu-ly" "impromptu-ly" - I'l I'll l leave that to you. For teaching purposes, we'll assume you're   t h e r e . Thumb/spread off the top four cards, as you say, "I'd like to show you something with four cards." Actually spread off five cards so that, as you square, you can catch a momentary break beneath those five. Lift off the  5 card  block with your right hand, from above. (S (So, o, in other wor ds, make your spectator think you're lifting off four cards as you really lift off five.)

Table the face-down deck a   b i t   to the left and immediately spread the four inhand cards . This entire se quence is quite disarming. You show the four   a c e s ,   turn them face down and immediately take off and spread   t h e m ( ? ) .   You've switched in the JS. Okay. As you square the four cards, catch a break beneath the top two. Double turnover (t (to o the break) to display a red ace.   "Here's a red ace ." Turn down the double and deal the top single card face down onto the table toward the spectator.

Now, do a double turnover from   b o t t o m to top.   No problem. Your left thumb moves the top card to the  left clearing the right long side of the remaining double card so that your right thumbtip and fingertips can grasp that right long side. (Fig. 3.) Then simply flip that bottom double card face up o n t o   the face-down single card. "And, as

luck would have it,   h e r e '  s the other red a c e . "   Flip the double card face down onto the single card. (J (Jus ust t bottom- card buckle or block pushoff so that you can easily grasp the aligned double card.) "But "Bu t these are special cards - the four a c e s . "  M a t c h a c t i o n s a n d p a t t e r , o f c o u r s e . Swivel the small block face up, back onto the deck, and re-catching the left little fingertip break. Thumb/spread off the four face-up   a c e s ,   injogging the first (face) ace (AC) (AC) as you do. The last ace (AD (AD) ) has the JS hidde n behind it. (See (See Fig. 1.) 1.) Square

Deal the top single card face down onto and overlapping the first tabled card. What follows has a "rhythmic   f e e l "   to it, but I' I'll ll have to "break" that rhythm as I teach it .  Y o u r   right  hand holds the remaining two cards as the palm- d o w n   left hand reaches for the tabled deck. As your left hand is reaching for the deck, point to the two

2757

 

tabled cards with the two in-hand cards (Fig.  4 ,   and say, "I did that quickly for a reason - I want to tes test t your observatio observation. n.

two tabled tabled face-d face-down own cards (as (as in Fig. 7 ) . Your lef left t hand tables the face-down deck to your left, as you tal talk k abou about t the first two

Which ace would is on top(Th -at's the ace of red diamonds or theyou acesay of hearts?" (That 's exactly exact ly the way I wor word d it.)

tabl tabled ed ca rds.that Let me conti continuity nuity very here to emphasize allbreak the above takes little  little pretty y  time, hardly time,  hardly any at  all.  It's a prett imperceptible imperceptibl e switch if done in rhythm. It appears to the audience, or should, simply as if you've shown the two red aces and dropped drop ped them onto the table. That's all. Do it properly and e ven the fact that the deck was in yo your ur hand will be forgott forgotten. en.

By this time, your palm-down left hand has picked up the deck, and "broken" the bottom card   JH) . Let me detail that for you.  The left palm is against the top of the deck -  it'  s as if you were holding the face faceup deck in dealing position, and then turned the hand palm down. Your thumb pushes off off and brings back the face card, enabling enabling you to get your left littl little e fingert fingertip ip above it. (Fig. 5, exposed.) You're ready for the upcoming switch.

All righ right t then, you you'll 'll get an answe answer r to your quest ion - either "diamonds" or "hearts." "hear ts." Whatever the answer, you say, "No, no - the red aces are here " And - the actions to match are: Take the two facedown cards out of your right han hand d by bringing them to beneath the deck. Tha That t is, yo your ur left hand moves the deck onto the them m (it twis twists ts rightward; the left thumb grasps the two cards at their left long  sides),  and turns palm up. A red ace shows, as it shoul should, d, and you have your break under the three face cardsyou, at this instant instant. . There's no pause - I told there's a  rhythm  rhythm    involved. Your right hand grasps the  3 card block above the break, from from above. And your lef left t thumb peels the face red ace onto the deck. This exposes the second red ace (Fi (Fig. g. 6) and these actions should all match your last patter line . You're simply showing the two red   aces.   Replace the right-hand red ace (do (doub uble le card) onto the face of the deck, but get your left littl little e finge fingertip rtip under it.

  these  thesered "If  "If   are the aces (ind (indica te the supposed aces forred an instant  ) icate , then what are these?" The answer should be "black "bl acks." s." Whether or not you get an answe answer, r, say, "These are blacks, but they're the best black cards you can get in a Las Vegas casino (fl (flip ip them  over) -  black jack "  You'll show the AS and JS. Pause Pau se for a beat or two. Then - "But, too bad - dealer   wins "   As you end this  turn over the two supposed red aces to line, turn line, show another another "bl "black ack jack" - the AH and JH Afterthoughts: Afterthoughts : You've got the old idea of the red red and black aces changing places, and the added magic of one ace of each color changing chan ging to Do it allacorrectly correctly, , and you'll wan want t atojack. use it; it's fooler. There is a bit of a discrepancy in the patter  the dealer does not usually win with line, the line, his black jack when the player has black jack. Perhaps some casinos do consider that a "push" (n (no o one  wins),  but not in the major Las Vegas casinos. But, no matter; your spectator(s) should be stunned by the mys terious changes/appearances, changes/appearances, and not be paying too much attention to the end patter.

Immediately turn your left down and place/drop the double because of the break) onto the spread the two cards with your

One final thought - Doug occasionally uses my Scoop Change (out (out of  of   REPUTATIONMAKERS)  MAKERS)  to enable him to show the four ace aces s on the table. The JS is added onto them as he picks them up onto the deck (Sc (Scoop oop Change

hand palm card (easy table and left fin-

action).  You will have to loo look k it up.

gers,  as you bring attenti attention on to the first

  Lorayne Storm If I want wanted ed to do someth something ing at a dinner table, I'd I'd bor row four $1 bills and ask the person to crumple each into a tight  ball. Then I'd do a fairly standard chink-a-chink routine, lapping the extra ball as I com-

pleted the effect. You know that the effe effect ct is that of each ball magically trave traveling ling to one corner - as you "cov "cover" er" with your pal palmmdown hands. They travel to lower righ right t when I do it. You also know that I have my own

2758

 

(extra) bill crumpled and ready. Some years ago, when I wanted to do this,  no one at the table h ad a $1 this, no $1 b  b i l l . So .  So , I used four $5 bills. I already had my crumpled $1 bill ready. I did the routine. P a u s e .  .  T h e n I a s k e d t h e b i l l s ' o w n e r t o "uncrumple" them . He did - three $5 bills and one $1 bill. I said, "I make $4 every time I do this trick " It got a heck of a reaction; they thought I'd I'd magically changed a bill. Then, of cours e, I took out a "clean" "clean"

M e ir Y e d id This is the second sleight of the two used in Meir's routine . The first one, Mate Switch-Out, is taught in last month's issue. Assume you've just tabled two mates (apparently); one face down, the other face up on it - as explained in Mate Switch-Out. You want to have a card selected and apparently sandwich it between the two tabled c a r d s .  .  A s y o u m o v e o r t o s s t h e c a r d t o t h e table, you switch it for the deck's top card, like  like   t h i s : The face-down deck is in left-hand dealing position. Display the chosen card with y o u r r i g h t h a n d . T h e c a r d i s f a ce ce u p , t h u m b on face along its right long side, fingers curled under neath . (Fig (Fig. . 1.) 1.) This is how you'd display a card if you were doing the old standard wherein the card is really a double card. In the act of tossing the card to the table, the fingers open as the hand turns palm down (car (card[s] d[s] face down) to toss out and down the upper car d of the double as the thumb holds back the lower (display (displayed) ed) card. The instant action continues, placing (coalescin (coal escing) g) that held-ba ck card ont o the deck.

$5 bill and exchanged it for the single. I've I've been doin g it this way sinc e. If I use four $10 bill s, I "make $9, " etc. And no , no one has ever suspected the extra bill. When I d o t h e r o u t i n e i n c i d e n t a l l y ,   it '  s the outer-left ball that's lapped at the end. S o,  i f y o u b o r r o w t w o $ 5 a n d t w o $ 1 0 b i l l s , the one you plac e at that area (corr (correct ect one for you) is the one that's " switched." Y ou can use three $5 bills and one $10. The $10 " b e c o me me s " a $ 5 . Y o u " m a d e " $ 5

T o T h e T a b le S w itc h as you would if doing that old standard m o v e .  .  But - do not release the displayed card. Instead, as the right hand, an d card, pass the left-hand deck, your left thumb p u s h e s o f f t h e d e c k ' s t o p c a r d -  t h a t 's the card that fall s to the table - as the righthand card coales ces onto the deck. (Fi (Fig. g. 2 i s a s t o p - a c t i o n  n   freeze in progress. Fig. 3, stop-action freeze just at completion.)

There is a timing involved that can't really be explained in print. Both hands are moving toward the tabletop. The lefthand card is released as the hand moves downward   just  just   b e f o r e t h e r i g h t - h a n d c a r d "coalesces."   It's almost the same kind of timing I use in Lorayne's Invisible Pass R o u t i n e i n Q n  Q U A NT NT U M L E A P S . Look it up if you want a more detailed explanation of that kind of timing. A f t e r t h o u g h t s: s:

This

and

last

month's

Mate Switch-Out are used in one routine. I'11 try to fit that routine into a nearfuture issue. So, learn both mov es. I won't teach them again; I'll refer to them when I teach the routine. Meir also uses this to switch one of two displayed cards . He does this by holding back one of those cards as the o ther displayed card falls to the table onto the card his left thumb pushes off the deck. This is quite deceptive.

This looks pretty much like tha at t except that you really disp lay only one card - the selected card. Okay; display as in Figure 1. Your left thumb is (automatically) ready to push off the deck's top card. From Figure-1 position: Your right hand, in appearance, tosses the displayed card face down onto, or near, the two table d cards. "Toss, "Toss, "

Next month:

Special One Man Issue:

 h

Magic Of   John Graham  7 9

 

Ellipses ... I'm doing  two things  in this issue  I haven't done befor e.  1) I'm u s i n g  two items  items from  the same contributor  in the same issue.  If you haven't noticed   (I know that many read this column first)   there  are two Doug Edwards items here.  I'm doin  doing g i t,  and I may do it in f  future uture issues , because  I h a v e  so many good-to-excellent items fr from om different individual con tributors  and an d I'd like  to use as m a n y  of them  as I can this (las (last) t) year.   (Perhaps...  just   p e r h a p s . . .  (Perhaps...  just  .  those  fo for r w h i c h  I have  no  sp ace will eventually ap p ear  in BEST  O FRIENDS, VOLUME III ?)

2)  I'm teaching  the sleig  sleights hts used  in a routine sep arately  - a sleight last issue, another in this issue,  and the routine  to follow  in a  future future issue. That's because Mei r Yedid asked m e  to do so, and he's p e r s u a s i v e • A s  you k n o w ,   I  like  to  read meeting rep orts   -  often go od   for a  chuckle   or two, or a frustration  or t w o .  In the "frustration" dep artment  is the writer saying that so -and-so  di did d "his version  of (my) Out Of This Universe." Then goes  on o n to describe ex actly,  I mean exactly, w h a t  I teach  in  CLOSE-UP The same  guy tells a bout   a CLOSE-UP CARD MAGIC,   in 1 9 6 2 .   His v e r s i o n ? kill er card (color) (color) separa tion"   - and describes  my  GREAT DIVIDE,   e x a c t l y .   He, of of  course, DIVIDE,  never heard  of it. K n o w l e d g e a b l e Doug Edwards  is an insatiable collector  of m a g i c .  So, He's thrilled  to h a v e b e e n a b l e  to acquire  the p r o p s  Roy Benson used  in his act...billiard balls , Chinese stic ks, saltshaker, a n d  so forth. • There's   a new  magical enterp rise   in New  York City,   and it  sounds good.   It's  called . Great deal  -  $15.00 $15.00 includes op en bar, free buffet  and good magical entertainment, JAMAGI. JAMAGI p l u s .  I wish them mu ch success. (Cal (Call l them  at 718, 325-6458.) • A   few  issues   ago I m e n t i o n e d   the Halo   chocolate   bar in the U.K. I' I've ve  received calls  Halo  telling  me  that that th ere's  a  street-level store  on 6th A v e n u e , b e t w e e n 5 6 t h and 57th streets , NYC called  called   A f t e r t h o u g h t s .   I'm  betting that somewhere there's   a  moving/tru cking comp any called,  Th  The e U l t r a   M o v e ( r s )   Quite  a few have told  me that Richard Vollmer's Thrice Nice, last month' s issue ,  is w o r t h the p rice  of the year's subscrip tion,  or m o r e .  I agree.  And, from  a few: "Rip -Sto ration alone (August  1996) is w o r t h  th  the e p r i c e  of admission." • Should have called this  the  "Houdini" issue...I couldn't resist running them   all together. Each  is entirely different  in con  concep cep t than  t  the he o t h e r s . • Sa d  n e w s .   .  .Stewart .Stewart James p assed away  on November 5th,  1996 at the age of 88 . In the words of Martin Gardner ,   It will  be a long time until som eone  of comp arable genius tra vels such  a

magic road again." Watch  for John Graham 's one- man issue next month. Quite  a variety,  a diversity,  of magic  a n d  al  all l p retty good stuff. You'll like  it.

 NY   POC LYPSE  is  published every month  by   Harry Lorayne, at: 62  Jane Street, New York, NY   10014. All checks   are to be  made payable to   Harryy Lorayne, and mailed  to him at  Harr  that address.

Individual issues  —   5.25 Overseas subscription  —   62.50 sur surface face mail All back issues  —   5.25 each,  plus  postage (U.S.A. dollars only) —   69.50 air  mail  U.S.A. subscript subscriptions ions   —   53.00 per  year Australia, Japan, Israel, etc. —   72.50  air  m a iill  — Canada & M exic exicoo  —   59.50  1997 subscriptions subscriptions must start with the January issue

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Published, written, and edited edited by: Harry Lorayne Illustrati Illus trations ons by: Robert E. Lorayne

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MARCH, 1997

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ISSUE NO 231

© COPY RIGH T 1997 by H Lorayne Inc

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That Tha t s Fa Fast sti i You ll need two extra matching-yourdeck cards for this - an extra, regular, AS and a double-facer with the same card on each surface. This This can be any card  but,  for

face-u fac e-up p JD. Now, the AS and JD have to be forced and the three vital cards brought to specific specif ic position s. I ll teach you exactly how John does it - and and then, I 11 teach you you

teaching purposes, s  say it s a JD/JD double-faced card. let (See (See  Afterthoughts. These,  plus the deck s AS are set on top These, plus double e facer. Y You ou can keep the them m in AS ,  AS , doubl your pocket until ready for use. Then, pa palm lm them out onto the deck, or pocket the deck loading loadi ng them, etc .

how I prefer it.r Then, you can decide decide which method to method is do better bette for you. John s method: Double cut the top card (AS) to bottom. Hold the deck from above with your right hand as the fleshy pad of your right thumbtip obtain obtains s a break or sepaseparation at the inner end under the top two cards.  Your left hand undercuts the bottom (about (ab out) ) half deck and turns inwar d (turning (turning

 Shuffle, keeping the three Performance: Shuffle, Performance: vital cards on top ; careful not to flash the  76

 

its half deck almost face up) until your left forefinger is in position to swivel cut the right hand's two "broken" cards onto the left-hand card s. (Fi (Fig. g. 1, just starting; Fig. 2, near completion.)

Catch a break under those two cards as they fall onto the left-hand half deck and drop the right-hand half onto all. Maintain the break at center. Situation: From top half deck, AS , JD, break, half deck, AS . In appeara nce, you'v e mixed the cards  w e l l . Ask,  "Would you like to see just about the world's fastest trick?" course. "Okay, watch."

Rhetorical,

of

Take the deck from above with your right hand, picking up the break with your right thumbtip. Dribble force to the break showing the JD at face of right-hand half. As you replace that right-hand half deck bring the JD to bottom via the Ovette Master Move (Kelly (Kel ly Botto m  P l a c e m e n t ) .  But, maintain the center break under the AS . Dribble force the AS - and get it to bottom as you did t the heJD .   Square. The three vital cards are at bottom, bottom , the double facer between the two AS's. You're ready to go into the "fast "fastest" est" t trick. rick. This is okay. I just made it easier for me. I start with the three cards at bottom alrea dy in positi on; i.e., the JD between the two AS 's . Right hand takes deck from above catching a break with right thumbtip over bottom AS (jus (just t buckle the AS as your right hand takes the   d e c k ) .   "Kick" (swing (sw ing) ) cut the top half deck into your left hand, complete the cut, getting your left little fingertip into the break, above the

right hand and its half deck forward, depositing the three squared "broken" cards outjogged onto the left-hand ha lf. Move the hand back to flush its half onto the left half. (Fig. 4.)

A s y o u d o   t h i s ,   say something like, "Two cards, produced instantly and together "Two at center deck. Fast, but not fast enough." P ivot out the  3 card  block with your right hand letting it fall into right-hand   dealing position. Table aside the deck proper. Ask the spectator who "selected" the AS to name his card. "The ace of spades...look " Turn the  3 card block face up to reveal the A S .  Ask for the name of the other selection. Your left thumb peel s off the face AS as you say, "And the jack of diamonds." Move the AS under the JD (do (doubl uble e card - Fig. 5) S q u a r e .  

Turn the packet face down and hold it from above with your right hand, as you say, "P retty fast, but still not fast enough." P eel the top card with your left thumb levering it face up with the right-h right-hand and card(s) . Turn your right hand palm up to show the JD. (Fig.  6; displaying both selections.) Turn your hands up/down, down/up, to show both sides of the two selections.

(or Dribble) force both A S .   T h e n ,   Riffle   (or cards  at the same time.  Easy; force to break, then show top card of left half (A (AS) S) and face card of right half (JD) . ( (Fi Fig. g. 3 3, , your view.) As you replace the right-hand half, get a momentar y break under the just-forced A S .  Do uble cut to break, and you're at  p o s i tion. So, two ways to "get there;" your

Say,   This   is fast " as you plac e the face-down right-hand card(s) injogged onto the face-up left-hand  A S .   Indicate the proper c a r d s ,   as you name them - "AS...JD. Don't blink, here comes just about the world's fastest trick." And do a  paintbrush c hange: P ush the face-down double card forward and flush onto the face-up AS .  Immediately   p u l l

choice. You may way. Do a shuffle or come two, up if with you your like, own (center Hindu Shuffles are  g o o d ) ,  keeping the three cards at bottom. Now...

back the top single card. cha (Fig. has instantly and visibly nged7.) to The the AS JD and the face-down J D is now the AS. Show it.  That's   f a s t "

Take the deck from above. Your right thumbtip riffles off the three bottom cards and holds the separation above them with its fleshy pad. Cut the to p half deck into your left hand via either a swivel or a swing cut. Complete the cut moving your

You may want to facilitate the paintbrush change by catching a slight right thumbtip break between the two downjogged c a r d s ;  easier to release the lower one onto the face-up AS. I don't bother; it's easy enough to slide back the top face-down card.

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As your right hand turns the AS face up, move it to under the JD (dou (double ble Card)   keeping bot h cards slight ly fanned to display both si des. All looks as it should. Afterthoughts ; I know, I can' t say "That's fast" about my explanation The ef-

 fferves

 h o w e v e r ,  ,   is  p r e t t y f a s t . S i n c e t h e A S fect, h fect, h a s a " o n e -w -w a y " c e n t e r p i p , y o u m a y w a n t t o make sure that both face the same way. I really don't think it'd be noticed if they didn't. You could, of course use cards that don't create that problem. For example, use two AD's and a JC/JC double facer.

ent

S o far as I know, it al ll l began with Yank Hoe's Sympathetic Coins in John Northern Hilliard's The Hilliard's  The Art of Magic.  Years later, Nate Leipzig used sugar cubes instead of coins and eliminated the small squares of paper;  he used only his hands for cover. M a n y y e a r s   p a s s ,   and David Roth's Chink A Chink appeared in the very first issue of

All right. With your open palm-down right hand, secretly slide the shell off its coin at inner right, moving the shell forward to proper square position. This is why the i n n e r - ri ri g h t c o i n i s n ' t p l a c e d i n p r o p e r p o sition at first; it affords the rationale for the "shell steal." Pinching the shell between the sides of the 1st and 3rd (or

A p o c atechnique l y p s e  e   - J aof nuar y 1 9 7 8 - sliding i n w h i c h along he used the secretly a c o i n u n d e r t h e t h u m b b a s e . Y e a r s   p a s s ,   an d an expanded shell is added to the handling. And then - the idea of squatting to perform the effect on the floor, as spectators look down from above. The best of these I've I've ever seen is Chris Kenner's. John's routine owes much to all these, particularly Chris's.

4th) makes (Fig. (Fi h o w tfingers he shell i s pthis i n c h eeasy. d. Obv i o g. u s l1 y ,shows the hand is palm down in action. Fig. 2 is an exposed  exposed   view of another way to grasp the   using the thumb, and how it might shell,  shell, look in action. The real coin is hidden as t h e s h el el l m o v e s f o r w a r d . )

This handling has an exceptionally clean appearance to it. John' s idea for getting rid of the extra coin (shell) helps toward that end. It helps make the routine a n absol u te te f o o l e r . Y o u ' l l n e e d f o u r h a l f d o l l a r s , and an expanded half-dollar matching shell. Cut a circle of steel shim foil and tape it to the inside of the shell with doublesided transparent tape. You'll also need a small powerful magnet and a loop of elastic to hold that magnet on your forearm under your shirtsleeve. Attach the magnet about halfway up your right forearm. Some experimentation will tell you where it is best placed. And it is , o of f course, hidden by your shirtsleeve. Nest the shell onto one coin.

T h e   "real"  (was as neste d) coi n is now "real"   (w beneath your right thumb base. (See  A f t e r thoughts. The "move" doesn't really need it but for some added misdirection, the coin at outer left is turned over with your left hand at the   same time  time   that your right h a n d i s p e r f o r m i ng ng i t s a c t i o n . A g a i n , t h a t ' s that   coin is "floored" with the oppow h y   that  site surface showing.

Stack all four with the nested coin at bottom of the stack.

With a coin hidden beneath your right t h u m b b as as e m o v e y o u r h a n d s t o " r e s t " p o s i tion. That is, to the sides of the square formation. The hidden coin slides along; hold the hand "taut," fingers and thumb up off the working surface. From above, this looks like the hand is an inch, or more, above  above   that surface. Then begin moving the hands around, covering two coins here, two

To Perform: Kneel Perform:  Kneel d own on the floor (o (or r squat) and show that you have f our, and only four, coins. "Floor" them in the standard square formation, approximately a foot apart. Again,  experiment for distances that work .   The inner-right coin is the best for  for   y o u .  shelled ita fin perfect s q u a r e p ocoin. s i t i o n ;Don't p l a c e place it back ew i nches. The coin at outer left is "facing" the oppos i t e of of a l l t h e o t h e r c o i n s . I n o t h e r w o r d s , if your shell coin shows a head surface, then the nested coin and all the others s h o u ld ld a l s o s h o w h e a d s . A l l , t h a t i s , e xxcept the one at outer left, which shows a tail surface. You'll see why in a moment. Make it absolutely clear that your hands are empty.

there,   a n d s o f o r t h . A s y o u d o  t h i s ,   say that you'll be covering the coins, but that you won't touch them. Finally move the hands to cover the two inner coins. Your left hand "hooks" (steals) its coin under the thumb base and slides it away as your right hand le aves its coin and also moves away. In appearance, a coin has traveled from inner left to inner right.

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Your left hand slides its coin to the upper-right corner as your right hand hooks

coin to the three coins at outer right and move your right hand back in a downward

the coin The it just the (right inner-right corner. hands left move ataway hand sliding along its coin) to allow the second " travel" travel" to be see n. Move the hands forward to cover the outer coins. The left hand hook/steals its coin and the right hand leaves its hidden coin. Three coins have gathered at upper right. Your hands move away to show   t h i s .   Your left hand and its stolen coin slide to the left as usual, but your right hand slides leftward, into the square layout ending up at about center of the square. (Fig. 3. )

diagonal diagonal/right to is cover coin(? coin(?) ) at inner/right right.direction That coin not the seen to be gone because your moving arm apparently conceals it as it goes to cover it.

Note that your right forearm covers (f (for or an instant) the coin shell at inner right, which is picked up with the magnet. It's a matter of a second or so. Now, at the same t i m e ,   slide your left hand and its hidden

Immediately move both hands away to show that all four coins have gathered at outer right. Openly turn your hands palm up and palm down   at the wrists   a couple of times, to show them empty.  Y o u '  ve ended wit h empty hands and with four ordinary half dollars on the floor. The coin on your sleeve is easily " ditched" at an opportune moment. A f t e r t h o u g h t s : Of course, this looks as if the coins float through the terrific air,   w h e n t h e   timing   is r ight. When I published a couple of Dean Dill coin routines a few years a go, I explained that he preferred to " hook" /steal, and slide along, a coin not under the thumb base, but under the opposite side of the palm, at the fatty part near the wrist, in line with the little finger. This looks more natural - for some, anyway. Try it, then decide which looks better when  y o u   do it.

et h od   Your Favorite M eth Th is is a way to magically arrive at four of a kind. It's a good lead-in to another 4-of-a-kind 4-of-a-kind routine. When reading a book on magic, you may be instructed to

spectator to indicate, by touching, a total of five cards, in different areas of the deck. Any cards but the sixes, of course. Outjog the cards about halfway as they're

produce ,  f a v o r i t e the m e t(say) h o d . " four P e r h aapcse s t h iusing s i s "your that method Begin by having the deck shuffled. Take it back and   se t  any convenient four of a kind while apparently searching for your " prediction" prediction" card. Li ke  t h i s :  Set a pair of m a t e s ,   one on top of the deck and one on bottom; assume th e two red sixes. Set a

indicated. Square the spread , leave the indicated cards outjogged , and obtain a five left little fingertip break below the top two cards of the deck (un (under der the the 6 C) . With your right hand, swivel out the five outjogged cards, dropping them onto the deck   injogged   a b o u t h a l f w a y . M a i n t a i n

black six to 2nd from top. Remove the remaining black six and table it face down without flashing i t. For teaching purposes, assume that the 6D is the top card, 6C is 2nd from top, 6H is at bottom, and your tabled prediction card is the 6S.

your break under the two sixes. (Fig. 1, exposed. ) Square (neaten) (neaten) those five cards a bit and push them forward. Your right thumbtip applies   slight   upward pressure so that when the  5 card packet comes into contact with the two " broken" sixes, a small separation between the packet and the two sixes is maintained. Even after the packet aligns with the " broken" sixes, continue to push all forward, outjogging all a bit less than halfway. The end result is that the deck proper is in dealing position; seven cards (supposedly  5) are outjogged and separated from the deck. And, the fleshy pad of your right thumbtip is holding a separation above the bottom two. It's a matter of a couple of sec(Fig. . 2.) onds,  and looks perfectly natural. (Fig

Riffle shuffle the deck, keeping the vital cards in proper positions, as you say, "Now  yo u  shuffled the deck.   Your shuffle acts as a casual indicatory gesture and, of  makes the trick that much stronger. course, makes course, Hand to hand spread the card s, asking a

Pause for a beat or three, as you say, "From a full deck, less one ca rd (t (the he "prediction"   c a r d ) ,   you've narrowed it down to

2764

 

just five cards." Lift the seven separated cards with your right hand, right thumb

deck of possibilities, you've down to that one card."

maintaining the break above the sixes. And with your left thumb, peel/count the top card of the group onto the deck. (Fig. 3.) Peel/count the 2nd card the same way. As you repeat with the 3rd card, drop the two cards below the break onto the deck under deck  under that  that 3rd card. Then peel/count the 4th and 5th cards. This is done as you continue the patter "That's right; one-two-three-four-five, cards."  Spread the t op five cards into a small face-down spread/display spread/display in your right hand.

Have him turn that one card face up onto the table. "Th "The e six of clubs - a black six. Believe it or not, my prediction car d is the six of of spades , the other black six " This is said as you turn over your pre diction card. "But wouldn't it be more amazing if I did this.  . . Slap the deck prop er and the "down "downunder"  dealt cards , "... "...and and got got the  the other two of f cards matching sixes?  sixes?  " Turn over each group o to show that you've done just th at. (Fi (Fig. g. 4.) 4.)

Table the deck proper. Casually mix the five cards (th (this is adds to the   e f f e c t ) ,   like t h i s :   Move the top card to bottom; push/ deal the next card into your empty hand, the next card goes onto th at, and then they both go to bottom of the packet . Again, it's done casually. You can do more mixing, so lo long ng as the 6D ends up on top and the 6C 2nd from top.   (See  (See   Afterthoughts. Up to you. John does it as just explained. Say, "We have five cards; let's narrow it dow n even more ; in fact, we'll do it the down-under way." Hand the packet to the spectator and instruc t him (or (or  h e r ) :   "Take the top card and deal it  it   down  deal al the down   onto the tab le. Now de next card to  to   under  under   the packet. Next one down,   next under. Down, under, down. And you're left with one card So, fro from m a ful full l

Ifs

whittled

it

A f t e r t h o u g h t s; s ; Nice. The mixing of the five cards is important. If you've read all my "stuff," you're aware that I use reverse faros quite quite often. For this - a 5 card packet, 6C at bottom, 6D just above that, I do four qui ck  ck   in-hand reverse faros. I.e, spread through outjogging the 2nd and 4th cards. Strip the out jogged cards to top. Repeat the reverse faro - strip to top again. Two more reverse faro s, stripping the outjogged cards to bottom to  bottom each  each ti me. The cards appear to have been thoroughly been  thoroughly mixed,  mixed, and - you're at required position And if, to end, you prefer to show the matching red sixes on  on   to p   of the tabled 4card packet and the deck prope r, do  t h i s :  As you're tabling the deck proper, after removing the five cards, shuffle or double cut the bottom card to top. And later, when you say,   ...fr ...from om a full deck of possibi lities..."   first indicate the deck, then casually pick up and deal down, singly, the four cards, reversing their order, as a casual indicatory gesture. You're "there."

bout Time

Th is is quite similar in effect effect and presentation to Tom Daugherty's Three Proofs (Apocalypse, September   1 9 9 4 ) ,   which is a "killer" effect. If you have that issue, y o u   know  know   that. John's handling and ending are a bit different; the ending is similar to the ending of Your Favorite Method, in this issue , whic h is why I'm includ ing it h e r e .   What it is is another variation/handling of the old "clock" idea.

to top. If you'v e o ut jogged t he 5D, leave it as is. Start spreading through again. If you haven't already done so, get both black 5's 5's to the top of of the deck. Then finally "settle" on your prediction card - the 5D - which yo u remove and table face down. This setting up should be done casually, as if you're trying to decide on that prediction card. No suspicion should be aroused.

Begin with a shuffled deck. Note the face card as you begin spreading through the cards, looking for a "predicti "prediction" on" card. That prediction card will be the mate of the face card, but don't remove that mate quite y e t .  Assume the face card is the 5H. Spread/ count twelve cards from the face. If you happen to come to another 5-spot, outjog it but don't count i t. Cut this batch of cards to the top of the deck. If you've outjogged either or both black f ives, place it or them

Overhand shuff le, keeping the top quarter of the deck intact. Then double cut the top card to the bottom. Explain to your spectator that this is a trick about time, and that she is to think of any hour on the face of a clock. She is then to take that number of cards from the top of the deck, silently, and to place (hide) (hide) them in the cardcase. Demonstrate how she is to take cards by spreading, say, four cards into a

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fan display - "For example, if you're thinking of four o'clock, you'd tak e four cards, like this. Okay?" When she says that she understands, turn away and allow her to do as instructed. Then t u r n b a c k , a n d s a y , " A l l r i g h t . S i nc nc e a clock has twelve hours, we need twelve twelve cards. " Reverse count twelve cards onto the working surface. Table the deck prop er. Pick up the 12-card packet and lay out the cards in the face-up clock formation, dealing from top of the face-down packet . Begin with the one-o'clock position, moving to 12-o'clock position. Use the 3, 6, 9 and 12 positions as gauges for a neat layout. It's also a good idea to push forward the 12-o'clock card and to point out which is the one1 o clo ck card. (Fi ig g. 1; cards shown fa ac ce down.) Instruct the spectator to remember the card that falls on the hour she's thinking of, and you note at which hour the 5H falls. Remember that hour. Assume it's 7 o'cloc o'clock. k.

with the 5C at face of the small packet. "It's interesting that you thought of the five of hearts - because before you did, I removed a prediction card." Show it - "t th he five of diamonds, the matching five " Pause. Turn over the small packet and also the deck proper, as you say, "But you know, what else c o u l d i t h a v e  b e e n ? "  "  T h e t w o b l a c k 5 ' s a r e seen. End.

Afterthoughts: The bit of patter I've included is John 's. Use that or your own, of course. As in "Your Favorite Method," I prefer to end with the black 5's (th hi is exa m p l e ) o n   to p   o f t h e t w o g r o u p s o f c a r d s . (N No o particular reason, just my own personal idiosyncrasy.) So, after she's dropped the eleven cards of the clock layout) onto the deck proper, casually pick it up and shuffle, bringing the bottom card to top. Table the deck. Count the cased cards without reversi n g t h e i r o r d e r . T h a t ' s i t . S e e t h e  A f t e r Yo u thoughts   o f " Y o u r F a v o r i t e M e t h o d . " ( Yo might also want to check Randy W akeman' s Overclock - in the October 1987 issue of Apocalypse . )

Turn away again and ask her to turn her card face down to center of the clock layout T h e n   she'  s t o p l a c e t h e r e s t o f t h e cards (wh hi ich she may mix) bac k on top of the deck - fa ac ce down of course. (S Se e e  After-

Note: I just performed the entire routine just to see if there is a "particular reason" why I prefer to turn up the top card o f e a c h of of t h e t w o f a c e - d o w n g r o u p s (t o s h o w the black 5's) at the end, instead of showing those 5's at bottom, or face, of the groups. Well, I never thought about it, call it instinct, but there is a reason. It

Turn back to face her. She conthoughts. centrates on her card, and you read her mind, telling her that she is thinking of the 5H. It is turned face up to verify. Now she concentrates on the hour she's thinking ng h e r o f ,  a n d y o u r e a d h e r m i n d a g a i n , t e l l i ng

is ,   i n m y o p i n i o n , a n d f o r m e , m o r e e f f i cient, easier, neater and cleaner to turn over the two top cards than it is to grasp the two whole groups and t urn them face up particularly when working on a smooth surf a c e . I .  I d o n ' t w a n t t o h a v e t o f i d g e t a t   al l

 

t h a t s h e ' s t h i n k i n g o f 7 o ' c l o ck ck , a n d t h a t there are seven cards in the cardcase. Remove and count the cased cards to confirm. Ho wever, just to be safe, glimpse the face card. If your spectat or has done as i n s t r u c t e d , i t s h o u l d n o t b e t h e 5 C ; th th e 5 C is on top. If the 5C is at face , no problem; just as long as you know it 's there. And, if it is, spread count the cards to show that you're correct. If it isn't, reverse count

at the instant of that final "piece." Also, it simply looks better (aga ai in, in my opinion) to have the one face-up card on eac h face-down group. The two cards stand out more clearly than they do if other card faces are showing. And other card faces may show when turning the entire groups if the groups aren't perfectly squared. So, there's m y " p a r t i c u l a r r e a s o n  (s)"  - i it t's more efficient and looks better to turn over the two top cards. (Di id dn' 't t intend to use all this

them onto the table. Either way you end up

space over such a minor[?]

 h

point )

Magic ink

T h i s i s o n l y f o r t h o s e w h o h a v e a  Himber Ring  o r i n t e n d t o g e t o n e . T h i s r i n g , o b v i -

no real switching of rings involved. In effect, you borrow two rings, link them, unlink them, return them to their owners. It '  s a n e a s y p l a t f o r m t y p e o f r o u t i n e . I haven't done much research in the Himber Ring area, but John tells me that, although it would appea r as if this has been thought

ously, is used for a linking-finger ring effect. Usually, three rings are borrowed and one is switched for the gaffed ring. In t h i s h a n d l i n g n o t h i n g i s u s e d b u t   tw o  b o r rowed rings, and the Himber Ring. There is

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of before, he's not seen it or heard of it done this way. (If (If it has bee n, I' I'm m sure I'll be made aware of it )

borrowed r ings. Walk to the person who gave you that ring - yes; you do have to remember who gave you which ring

Start with the open Himber Ring in righthand finger-palm position, its opening upward. Starting patter: "Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to try something special for y you ou with finger rings - I don't want to use my own, so I'll need to borrow two rings from members of the audienc e. Do I have a couple couple of volunteers, lenders?" You can have two spectators come forward and stand one on each side of you - a bit of distance apart. What John   d o e s :  Select two people from different areas of the room, asking them to stand at their seats. The point, of course, is that you don't want one spectator to see a strange ring as you're showing the link to

As you move toward hi m (o (or r her) let the people you pass see the "linkag e." Ask the ring's owner to verify that his ring   is actually linked to the other ring. He does that, with an out-loud affirmative. As you display the two rings, move your left forefingertip into the Himber Ring so that his ring hangs from the gaffed ring down the outside of the 2nd finger. The other borrowed ring is effectively hidden . It's linked linked on the Himber Ri ng but  i n s i d e   your looselycurled fingers. (Fig. 4 is the audience view; Fig. 5, your view.) Yo u can rotate the Himber Ring around the forefingerti p "proving the all-around" clean link. This   is   a

the other, as you'll se e. Approach , and as you take each ring, hold it up, openly, at your fingertips - one in each hand. Return to front and center.

very "clean" action. It is, of course, optional. Up to you.

Display the borrowed rings on your forefingertips, other fingers loosely curled. You can display the rings from all angles; both "empty" hands are seen - t the he Himber Ring hidden as in the Kaps (Ram (Ramsay? say?) ) Subtlety. (Fig. 1. Illustrations for this routine are John's.) Turn your hands palm to you and maneuver the rings off the forefingertips so that each is held by forefingertip and thumbtip of that hand.

As you move away from the first spectator and and toward the second, grasp the visible dangling rings with your right hand, just as you did with your left hand.   This, almost automatically, puts you in Figure-3 position, but hiding the   f i r s t   spectator's ring. Repeat exactly as described in the preceding parag raph. The second owner identifies and verifies, and so forth. Step back to front and center. Place the two(?) rings into right-hand fingerpalm area again. Open the Himber Ring and

keep it finger palmed as your left hand removes the two borrowed rings   together They are, apparently, still linked. Once   your (almost) open right hand is again,  again, palm toward audience, forefinger extended, in a "watch" gesture. The loosely-curled fingers hide the gaffed ri ng. Hold the borrowed rings between thumbtips and fingertips of both ha nds . Do one sharp blow toward the rings - and your hands separate, as do the rings Show them, one in each hand, solid and unharmed. Take your bow.

Take the right-hand ring with your your left hand; both rings are openly held at your left fingertips. Turn your right hand palm to audience, gaffed ring still hidden by the curled 2nd, 3rd and 4th finger s. "Watch closely now." Place both rings into your right hand,   linking them onto   the Himber Ring. (Fig. 2.) Close the Himber Ring as you close your right hand into a fist. Let your left hand be seen to be empty, and do the magical gesture that you do when a miracle

A f t e r t h o u g h t s : As I told y ou, it's easy. Try to borrow wedding-band type of rings, of course; or at least one such. John writes, "Pretend you're not a magic ian and that you saw a magician borrow tw o ring s, link them together cleanly displaying and proving that fact, unlink them with a blow and a 'snap,' and return them to their owners, unharmed. You'd be suitably impressed. Since you   ar e a magici an, you aren't impre ssed - but yo you u can be impressive by performing this routine routine." ."

is about to occur. With left thumbtip and 1st and 2nd fingertips remove the rings from your right hand, like  t h i s :  The left hand is palm down. Your thumbtip and fingertips grasp the upper rim of the Himber Ring as they "shade" the upper borrowed ring. (Fig. 3.) Shake the two (really 3) 3) rings to empha size the fact that they'r e  linked You are, of course, displaying the gaffed ring and   on e   of the

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  ates Plus Many of the "mated" effects in print are derivatives of my original routine, Mated , in in    CLOSE-UP CARD MAGIC.   Many of them are quite similar to the original. This one is not. You might want to follow follow along with cards in hand. Have the deck thoroughly shuffled. Take it bac back k and note the face card as you spread through looking for its mate, which you openl openly y bring to the face - don't let it flash. Say th that at you're looking for a prediction card. Turn the deck face down, square, and remove the two bottom cards (ma (mates tes) ) as on e. This will be smoother if you slightly downjog the original bottom card as you star start t to spread spread. . It should look as if you've simply found your prediction card and removed it, keeping its identity iden tity hidden for the moment. Hold the double card in dealing  position. John   "bows"   the double slightly to make sure the cards remain aligned. His thumb rests lightly on top to keep the front ends from flaring. (F (Fig ig. . 1. 1.) ) With your right hand, table ribbon spread the faceface-down down deck for a free selection selection of a car card d by a person to your right. He pushes one (un (unsee seen) n) card toward towa rd you, which you place on the doubl double e card you're holding, injogged about half an inch, inch , in preparatio preparation n for the Annema Annemann/Ch nn/Christ rist Alignment  Move.  Do the Alignme Alignment nt Move   (i.e.  , push forward the top two cards - th the e bottom card car d of the doubl double e aligns with the spectator' spectator' s "injogged "injo gged" " selection.

ates

actual selection. (Fig. (Fig. 2.) 2.) Remember value and color of that card. (For (For example, a black three; suit is immaterial.) Square the cards and table them face up, close to the spectator on your right. Say that you'll try it again. And re repeat everything, exactly, with a spectator on your left. After repeati repeating, ng, the sit situauation is: Each spectator believes he has just a pair of mates in front of him. There's really real ly a faceface-down down card between each pair, and - you you know  know those  those cards; so... As you say, "I'll "I'll try it once more," do a quick spread-through, find the mate of either secretly and cut of it those to the face of sandwiched the deck. cards, Spread through again, even before you end your remark, and bring the mate of the  the   other secretly sandwiched card to the face also. Then, "No, I have a better idea. This ti time me you'll select a card   first. Do a quick shuffle, keeping the two bottom cards in place. Force the bottom card on whichever spectato spec tator r has its mate between his pair. A Hindu-Shuf Hindu -Shuffle fle forc force e is fine; John uses my  CLOSELorayne Force (ori (origina ginally lly taught in in CLOSEUP CARD MAGIC; also MAGIC;  also in  REPUTATION-M REPUTATION-MAKERS) AKERS). . After showing him the card, say, "I'll leave it right  here,   and table it face down near his faceface-up up mat es. Repeat exactly with the other spectator. "Now, I guarantee that these cards (the (the cards just forced) will match." Turn them over - the they y don' don't t match. "Well,  you do have to use a bit of ima imagin ginaa For example, imag imagine ine that it' it's s postion. For tion.

"If "If I showed you your card card first, you might think that I could switch mine to match it. So - I' I'll ll show you my predicti prediction on card first." With your right hand, grasp the pushed-forward (out (outjogg jogged ed - actually middle) card by its outer end, and flip it face up and flush onto the other card(s)  . "I predicted a (s (say ay) ) red queen, and you se  . . lected. Grasp the cards from above (Bi (Bidd ddle le grip) with your rig right ht hand. With your left fingertips, slide out the bottom card and flip it face up with the right-hand right-hand  card(s) , as you end the sentence,   ... the other red queen " Without changing position of your right hand, grasp "the other red queen" below the first one, fanned a bit to the side.  Tilt the cards upward  to,  apparently, give the spectators a better view of the matching. When you do, note the the card sand sandwiched between the "matched" mates - the

sible for me to snap my fingers and make them match. No , not each other, but rat them rather her  Snap the fingers of both hands, match..." Snap match..." then spread spread each pair of mates to reveal th the e surprise surp rise of the face-down card between each. Pause for a beat, then finish - "...these cards "  Turn the sandwich sandwiched ed cards face up, showing that they match the two free(?)  to end. (Fi (Fig. g. 3. 3.) ) selections, to selections,

Afterthoughts: Afterthoughts : Presented properly, this can be strong. be  strong. The  The odds are against it of course, but if the sandwiched-between-m sandwiched-between-mates ates cards happen to match, take advant advantage age of it end the effect by making thos those e mates appear between each pair - magically. magically. That'd r reeally be strong strong. .

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  n  S a l e X know that not everyone will use this routine, which leans more toward platform or stage than close-up. I do, however, feel that it should be recorded. There is a bit of prepar ation involved. Prepar e a stringed price tag - about the size of a business card, and available in most stationery stores   1) - by printing at the top, K-MART (Fig.  (Fig. BLUE-LIGHT SPECIAL. Under that print, BUY ONE - GET ONE FREE. Then, at the bottom of the tag, affix a self-sticking round bright orange (or (or any bright color) sticker. If performing close up, write a n illegible price on that sticker. If performing platform or   you can write an actual, legible, stage,  stage, price - perha ps the price called by your audience will be close enough to make this closer to a miracle.

happens when we turn that into a price by adding a decimal point and a dollar sign." Turn the pad toward you and do just that. And, at the same time, write the same price on the pad's sticker You can, of course, already have a dollar sign and/or a decimal point on the sticker to save some time here . With your right hand, remove the sticker into finger-palm position, sticky side out. This is not difficult, and you'll get away with it, if you don't make a "move" out of it .  Just do it. With your left hand, display t h e n u m b e r o n t h e p a d o n c e m o r e . "Y ou ou s e e , 7649 becomes seventy-six doll ars and fortynine cents." Pause. Then, grasp the price tag that's dangling from your sleeve with your right hand and, as you remove it, attach the sticker directly over the one already there. Hold the tag by its string; you might just loop it around your foreginger.

Hang this tag by its string, from a button on your left coat sleeve - or from anywhere, really. You'll need a mid-size notepad, a pen, and another sticker, one that's slightly larger than the one on the tag. Affi x it to the top sheet of the notepad,

Then carry it over to your helper in a very open way. Your work, of course, is already done. The reason for the writing on the tag before performance is twofold. First, for the comedy and, secondly, it adds to the buildup. People   ar e   waiting to hear the price. So - the timing: You're still displaying the price on the notepad. The spectator takes the price tag off you r forefing e r .  Say, "Now please read what it  s a y s . "  H e r e a d s ,   "K-Mart blue-light special." Stop him as if you'r e a bit embarrassed, and say,

in an area in which it's convenient for you to write (secre (secretly, tly, as you'll s ee ). But don't affix it completely; leave one edge un-

"Not   that   part " He reads, "Buy one - get one free." "No, no - the   p r i c e "   you say somewhat somewh at louder. Th en dramatically - "Please,

read the price."

affixed and folded upward so that it will he easy for you to peel off when necessary. Don't "affix" the body of the sticker too firmly again, for easy peeling later. (Fi (Fig. g. 2.) 2.) T o   P e r f o r m :   Get one spectator up front with you - not necessary if performing close u p,  of cours e. Say, "I need a ra random, ndom, fourdigit, number . I' I'll ll let you and some others decide." Hav e him (or (or her) give you a number from 1 to 9. This (and (and the next three digits) is written on the notepad. Ha ve the upfront spectator point to someone in the audience, and that person gives you a singledigit number. He points to another; she gives a number, and so forth. Assume you've been given, and have written o n the pad,  7649. the

Display the number, your thumb covering sticker.   " 7 6 4 9 ;   interesting. See what

Next  month

H e r e a d s , "$ 7 6 . 4 9 . " T h e n , l o o k a t t he he audience, and say, "Now I'd I'd like to know. .how di d   y o u   do that? You deserve a round of applause." End.  

A f t e r t h o u g h t s: S t a r t i n g t h i s r o u t i n e without saying what  y o u '  re going to do he lps to make it what it is. Having a price tag hanging from your clothing throughout your show, is funny. And when it ends up being part of an effec t, it can really "work." As I said, it's obviou s that this kind of routine is not for everyon e. But - I can see it being the highlight of some performances. The way it's presented, the showmanship, the ability to blend comedy with an effect that's also a fooler, the   a t t i t u d e   - w i l l help toward that end.

The high q uality uality magic you expect to fi find nd in Apocalypse.   7 6 9 

=

 

Let s Go   o Las Vegas Her e's a commer commercial cial routine that you'll enjoy performing. There is some one-time preparation involved. You can make it as elaborate or as simple as you like. For example: You'11 need six poker chips. Three Three of them each with the name of a different Las Vegas casino on one surface   (i.e., Caesar's, Sands,  Mirage) .  And the other three each with the name of the same Las Vegas casino (perh (perhaps aps MGM   Grand) .  You can buy plastic chi ps, and print the names on the them m with a thin perm permanent anent marker. You may pr preefer to use some type of dry trans transfer fer lett letterering. Or, use brass discs with the names engraved on one s ide, and perhaps a dollar amount amoun t on the other other   side.  side.  Up to  you,  of course.   you can write or prin print t - John Next,  Next, types - a prediction on a small sheet of  .tha hat t y ou will go to Las paper:  "I  predict.  . .t Vegas to gamble. You will play a hand of Blackjack. The dealer will bust with 24. You will win wit with h 21 And - your c casi asino no of choice is the MGM  Grand Fold the paper and place it into a small coin or pay envelope. But before you d o, type on the ba back ck of the envelope: "Yo "Your ur lucky number is ONE " That's the first of six  outs.  Here are the others: Type on another smal small l sheet of paper - "You "Your r lucky number is TW TWO O " Tape i it t to the bottom of the dice cup in whic which h all your props will be carried. On another sma small ll square of paper, about half the size of a playing card, type: "Your lucky number is cutout t THREE " Tape "  Tape this onto the half-moon cutou side of the cardcase. Type on a piece of paper like the last one: "Yo "Your ur lucky n number umber is FOUR " Tape it onto the back of the

correct. Let him roll out the die a few times to see that it doesn't favor any particular numbers. As he does   this,   lay out the poker chips in a left-to left-to-right -right row, the casino-name casin o-name surfaces surfaces downward. They alternate from left: MGM, Mirage, MGM, Caesar's, MGM, Sands. Then tell him to roll the die one last last time, and that "We "We'll 'll count count to that chip to see where you'll be gambling." If he rolls an even number he counts from his  if he rolls an odd number  y ou  count left; if left; from your left. The counting is natural because of the way the chips are tabled. Assume he rolls a 3. You count to the third third chip and push it out of the row. Show that that if he'd rolled a 2 he would have been at the Mirage, and Mirage,  and if he rolled a 4 he'd have been at Caesar's. Say, "Howe "However, ver, you rolled a 3, so you'll be gambling  at..."  Turn over the chip "...The MGM Grand. Good choice " Put away the rest of the chips and the die. Remove the deck from its case with the half-moon cutout downward so that the prediction on that side isn't seen. Show the cards (car (careful eful not to flash the face-up 6's) and casually ask the spectator if he knows which game you'll be playing. Ninetynine times out of 100 he'll say "Blackjack." When he  does,  say, "Blackjack? Fine. We'll play your choice, Blackjack." If he says any other casino game, say, "Actually "Actually, , today we'll we'll try your luck luck at Blackjack." Remove and set aside the joker, prediction side downward. Overhand shuffle the deck, keeping the vital cards intact. (Agai (Again, n,

joker. (Dis (Discard card the other joker, if there's one in your deck.) Type on the back of a crisp new $1  $1   bill:  bill:   "Your lucky number is FIVE "  "   This preparation doesn't take much time, time , and all can be used over and over a again gain. .

when removing the joker and shuffling, be careful not to flash the reversed 6's.) 6's.) N ow deal (all (all cards face  up);  first to him, then to you, back back to him, then you again. He has a total of 10. (See   Afterthoughts. Yo u have 1 4. Ask him what he'd like to do. He says,  "Hi "Hit t me." Deal another card to him, to bring him to  12 . Again ask what  he '  d like to do,   and again he says   "Hit."   So give him another card. He has 21 . Nobody will (or should) should ) decide to "stay" "stay" before this point. His total is too low at all times for staystaying to make sense. Until he reaches 21 , his total is always lower than your 1 4. If, fo for r some reason, he does decide to stay before before

And the deck. Set the following cards from top down - suits are immaterial: 5, picture pict ure car card, d, 5, 4, 2, 9, 10. Also, pl place ace the four 6's 6's face up and together at cent center. er. (See  Afterthoughts. The joker (wi (with th prediction) is anywhere in the bottom half o of f the deck. Finally, you'll need one die (w (whi hich ch is why you need six  outs).  The deck, the $1  the chips and the die are all carri carried ed bill, the bill,

21,   point out that you already have him will beat,  so it would be wise to hi t. This will rarely happen, particularly particularly if you choose choose a spectator spectat or who (think (thinks s he) knows Blackjack.

in the dice cup. Your preparation is complete.  You're ready to perform. plete. You're Place the dice cup to center of your working surface. Choose a specta spectator tor to hel help p you; (s (s)h )he e is seated opposite you at the table.   Show your prediction envelope, and place it in front of him. Stress tha that t this is being shown and placed in full view before he makes any decisions. Say that you are a "big-ti "big-time" me" gambler and show your wager of one dollar; tell him that he will win the dollar if your prediction is not 100%

Look at your cards, your  cards,  and say, "14. I have to take a card. card." " Deal yourself another card, and say, "24. Hmm; guess I' I'll ll stay. Actually I'm over. I hate that. Anyway this entire game has seemed familia familiar r to me . The The prediction...remember prediction. ..remember my prediction?" Pick up and show the predict prediction ion envelope. Cleanly Cleanly and fairly (wit (withou hout t exposing the back of

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the envelope) envelope) remove your prediction. Give

about flashing face-up cards during the rou-

it to your spectator to read aloud. He  d o e s . First climax. Call for attention, and as an apparent joke, say, "I even knew you were going to roll a three (th (this is  e x a m p l e ) ,  but I forgot to mention it in the prediction." Chuckles here . "So - I mentioned it here, at the last minute." Turn over the cardcase (again,   this   e x a m p l e ) .   End.

tine.   For example, tape a face-upward prediction on the  inside  bottom of the dice cup.

A f t e r t h o u g h t s; Plenty of room for pre sentation here. It really is good; all the outs are natural, logical. If he rolls a one,   you'd turn over the prediction envelope.   For a two, show the (out (outside side) ) botto m of the dice cup. Four - turn over the joker. Five,   show the prediction on the $1   b i l l . Six,  table ribbon spread the face-down deck to expose the face-up S 's. About those 6's 6's -

Take the short amount of time necessary to set it all up, "see" it from a layman's point of view - perform it. What can you lose? If you don' t get a wort hwhi le (t (to o you) r e s p o n s e ,  don't don't do it anymore The o only nly other change I'd make is in the card set- up. I wouldn't deal a 10 to the "opponent." A good Blackjack player would  double down  with a 10 , particularly wi th you showing a 14. So ,   change the 3rd card in the set-up to a 3-spot. 3-spo t. This gives him 8 on the first  d e a l . And change the 5th card in the set-up to a 4.  Because - if you deal a 2 or a 3 to his 8, a good player would still double down   (i.e., double his bet, take one face-down card,

6-spot  would serve the on e   face-up only same   purpose. Or,  think of a different out fo r   six,   so that you don't have to worry

and stop) This would the effect. a  4-spot  to  "kill" his 8   gives him 12. So ,  dealing Continue as taught.  

Remem ber - IIff you photocopy this magazine you less lessen en its worth ttoo  you

Master Of The Aces Th is is John's adaptation of Bob Irons' Gambler's Aces from   R o g e r ' s T h e s a u r u s . In John's words, "It's an impossible to follow,   'true-seeming,' ace-cutting routine, performed entirely in the hands. A demonstration of skill that is entirely practical."  Basically, the aces are cut to via the

then we'll get into the handling. Hold a card (not an ace, of course) face down. Grasp it at center with your left hand, thumbtip on top, 1st and 2nd fingertips directly beneath the thumbtip on the face of the card. Your right hand holds the card firmly at outer-right area. Pres s your left

use of a crimped card. There's nothing ne w in that. I do, however, think that the

thumbtip and fingertips together   firmly  a nd slide thumb and fingers to the diagonal

"shuffle,  cut , dribble" handling before cutting to each ace (a (as s you'l l see) makes this worthwhile.

(inner-left) (inner-l eft) corne r. (Fig (Fig. . 2, in progress.) This installs a concave, invisible, "groove" from center to that corner. Re-grasp so that you can do the same, moving to the outer-left corner. Swivel the card end for end and repeat for the two remain ing (n (now ow at left) corners. That's it; and it's pretty p e r m a n e n t .  Whe n the card is at or near center (o (or r anyw here , really) it will cut to bottom when you complete cu t (a (at t sides or ends) or Charlier Cut. All right. Starting positi on is - the crimped card at bottom, the four aces on top.  Into the performance , now. Do a couple of in-hand riffle shuffle s, keeping the vi-

John uses a Breather-Crimped card. A longitudin al crimp or bend (long (long sides of face-down card bent upward, as in Fig. 1) works as   w e l l .  A There are advantages disadvantages. Breather-Crimped card and is less noticeable than a longitudinally-crimped card, but the longitudinal "work" can be put into a card from a borrowed deck whereas the Breather Crimp has to be prepared in advance (you   ca n   take the borrowed deck to the bathroom with you ) So, it's up to you.

tal cardscut at atheir positions. Then, "kick" k" (swing) bit less than half the"kic deck from right into left hand. (Fig. 3 shows the cut starting.) Then dribble a few cards from bottom of the right-hand portion onto the cut (left-hand) car ds.  R e p e a t   with the remaining remainin g right-hand cards . I.e I.e., ., do ex exactly the same with small batches . Kick cut a small batch, dribble a few cards onto t h a t ,   and so forth, until all right-hand cards are exhausted.   ( Used that is, not tired ) .  You're always cutting/dribbling from right hand into left hand.

 

I explained the Breather Crimp in Heavy Breather (All (Allan an Slai ght; Apri l 1995 issue of  A p o c a l y p s e ) .   To keep this complete unto itself,   I'll repeat that explanation here,

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The aces are now somewhere near center. Actually, they're a bit below center if your first kick cut was a bit less than half the deck; the crimped card is directly above them. Square the deck complete completely ly and cleanly and Charlier Cut it . I must assume that all Apocalytes  Apocalytes   know and can do the one-hand Charlier Cut . This brings the aces back  back   t o top,  the crimped card to bottom. Flip the to p card face up to show that you've cut to an (If f you don't know the ace.  Table it face up . (I Charlier Cu t, try to find a copy of my book, THE MAGIC MAGIC BOOK .  It's fully described there.) Then repeat everything: In-hand riffle shuffle (maintaining the vital  c a r d s ) ,   kick cut and dribble, kick cut, dribble using u p all the right-hand cards. Charlier Cut, turn up the top card - an ace. Repeat exactly to "get"   the 3rd ace, then once more for the last ace. That's it.

The first kick cut, each time, is what determines the approximate location of the ace you'll cut to via the Charlier. You can cut,   say, more than half the first time, less than half the second ti me, and so forth. This to make it appear as if the aces are being cut from different areas of the deck. I have to leave that to you. John says that this (diffe (different rent areas of the deck) is the only "variant" in the routine that he'd employ. He does not like to cut to a spot card then count down to that value to find the last ace, nor does he like to spell to the last ace, or let a s pectato r cut to that ace. Cutting to each ace the same way, says John may seem monotonous in

cut the aces to top. Now, there's nothing wrong with (or (or monotonous about) cutting to each ace the same way. Not if it's done in an entertaining way. A case in point is my own Manipulative  A c e s ,  out of QUANTUM of  QUANTUM LEAPS, page 47 . At the beginning of that write-u p, I say, "It's so strong, in my experience , that no particular ending or 'kic 'kicker' ker' i is s needed." And it isn't needed, And, in my obviously biased and immodest opinion, it's th e   best,  best,   strongest, in-hand ace-cutting (o (or r ace location/revelation) routine around. Those who use it know that. If you don't use i t ,  check it out, learn it, then let me know if I'm right or wrong. But - for John's routine, I disagree only with not letting a spectator try to cut to the last ace . (Couldn' (Couldn't t do it for Manip ulative Aces because that routine doesn't depend on a crimped card.) I performed it that way, just to note the reaction. After cutting to the third ace -  " W e l l ,  thanks for the oohs and aahs but, you know, it's a talent you either have or don't have. " As I talk, I'm I'm really mixing the cards - as in the text, then undercutting less than half the deck and overhand jog shuffling. And/ or ,   a center Hindu Shuffle above the ace, flip the deck face up and another center Hindu Shuffle above the ace. "There's no way anyone can know where the last ace is. The secret is not to really try, not to care.  Just cut somewhere near center - without thinking about it." Table the face-down deck. "Go

ahead,

try

it."

He   d o e s ,   and

if

you've controlled that last ace to about center deck, and made him cut near center

print but, in performance, it appears to be a genuine skill that you've developed. developed. (See (See Afterthoughts . )

(just mention that   c a s u a l l y ) ,   he'll cut to the ace A n d   I ve found that to be quite strong. End by saying, "There, you see you ve got ve  got that talent, too " Try both ways how can you go wrong?   W e l l ,   what if (although the odds are against it) the spectator misses? That's "going wrong," isn't it? N o ,   not really. Just say,   "Well,   y ou   obviously don ously Shuffle, e,  don t have t  have that talent. Watch." Shuffl keeping the ace near center and you cut to it .  It's just as strong. O r, let him try once m o r e .  Then if he misses, you cut to it. • (Because (Becau se I want ed to inc lude t his rout i n e ,   there's no space for me to talk to you in this issue.)

He tells me that he introduces the effect by saying , "Let me show you somethin g that's not rea lly a trick - it's just something I happen to be able to do." He purposely doesn't use "slick" patter; it's a fairly casual demonstration of cutting to th e   a c e s ,   that's all. A f t e r t h o u g h t s: s : Each time you cut an ace to the top, you cut the same (crimp (crimped) ed) card to bottom. Don't flash it. You can, howe v e r ,  use it as a check to make sure you've

  PO C LYPS E  is published every month by Harry Lorayne, at: 62 Jane Street, New York, NY 10014 All checks are to be made payable to Harry Lorayne, and mailed to him at that address.

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Published, written, and edited by: Harry Lorayne

Illustrations by: Robert E. Lorayne

Typography & layout by: Meir Yedid

 

 

  or ynes VOL. 20, 20, NO. 4

  5.25

o

lypse

ISS ISSUE UE NO. 232

H

APRI L ,  ,  1997

©COPYRIGHT 1997 by H. Lorayne, Inc.

R F ^V

SP

l_ O

UU

X don' don't t know the origin of the basic mathematical principle, although I'v mathematical I've e been told that Jim Steinmeyer had something to do with it. Anyway, I start started ed to play with the idea and found quite a few ways to utilize it. First, basically: Control a selected card to 3rd to  3rd from  from top of the deck. Then, as you say, "I'll use only a few cards," eye count nine cards off off the top as you hand to hand spre spread, ad, and remove them without reversing their order. Hold the  9 card packet and place aside the deck dec k proper; it's not used anymore. Now, one hand handling: ling: Let the specspec-

R   Y

G

N

E

NT

(with right thumb) cards. Then spell/peel "o-f"  the same way, dropping the remaining cards onto the two spelled cards. Ask for the suit. Spell it the same way - include the final "s" or not, it doesn't matter. Drop the un-spelled un-spelled cards onto the spelled/ peeled cards. (You do have to include the final fina l "s" i if f the suit is  clubs. Now, ask if he he lied  lied or  or told the truth the  truth re :  his card's name. (And (And he can still lie or tell the truth.) If "lied "lied," ," spell that word, one card per letter, and drop the next card onto the tab le. If "truth" "trut h" spell that and drop the last card (the (the "h") onto the tab le. Ask

tator hold the packet and spell a card; (s (s)he )he can spell his selection,   really - or he can lie and spell any other card. He spells the value (o (one ne card per letter) onto the table then drops the remaining in-hand cards onto the spelled cards. He spells o-f the same way, then the suit the same way. I find this a bit cumbersome at least for my personal working pace.

for the name name of his card - really; no lying now. He names it. Let him turn up the tabled card. It's his And it alwa always ys will be Because Because -  no matter which card is spelled, as just taught, the "true" selected card ends up at  at   5t 5th h   from top of the

So ,  I do the spelling myself (o (or r most of it,  according to the presentation, as you'll see , and do it in hand, not onto the table. Okay, use whichever you prefer after you've learned learn ed the basic principle, which follows:

Remember, you're you're holdin holding g a  9 card packet; the selected selected card is 3rd from top. Explain to your spectator that he can lie or tell the truth. (I'll leave this "buildup" to you.) Ask for th the e value of the card. Ass Assume ume he says that  it'  s a  jack.  jack. Spell  Spell  j a c k from top,  peeling one card per letter onto your right rig ht palm. (I deal onto my left pal palm m fro from m my right hand, but I know that most "go" from left hand into right.) Drop the remaining cards onto the four spelled-peel spelled-peeled ed

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packet;   always. True/false, legit/false, lied/legit, wrong/right - would all do   as

same sam e as cutting the top five cards to bottom )  . The vital card is now at bottom of

the last spelled principle.

the packet. (Ther (Tbottom here e are other ways to bring the 5th card to during a quick shuffle shuffle. . But I don't think that's necessary. Up to you.  I do the straight, simple, cut.)

word.

That's

the

basic

Obviously, you don't have to use the "lied/truth" idea. Have the spectator tell you the actual card, spell it as taught, then - if his or her name spells with four or five letters, end that way - jus just t spell to the name. If  your  name spell spells s with four or five letters spell that (I spell "Harry" and reach the selec selected ted  card) .  Or, spell "magic." This is all fine, but I prefer a different ending. It's an ending I de devised vised years ago;  I'  I've ve descri bed it in  Apocalypse   a number of times - most recently in the cover item of the July 1995 issue. To keep this complete unto itself, I'll re-describe it here.  Get set for it like  this:  After spelling the card, and as you say, "I'l "I'll l even use fewer fewe r cards ," casually hand to hand spread the packet, eye count the lower four cards and drop them onto the table. The selecte selected d card is at bottom of the remaining in-hand   card packet. Square the packet. Now, from my above-me above-mentioned ntioned write-up:

Then, do  four   (rapid (rapid) ) reverse faros as just taught. It appears to be nothing more than a "fa "fancy" ncy" mix mixing ing of the car ds. The last last outjogged outjogg ed batch is reversed to beneath the injogged group, also as taught. The selected card is face down at center of the face-up faceup cards You can a accomplish ccomplish the the s same ame thing with only   three   reverse faros - by outjogging  two  cards at a tim e. I.e. I.e., , outjog the 3rd and 4th cards and the 7th and 8th cards.   The remaining single card is always moved down to under the injogged cards, as the last of the revers reverse e faro. The end result resul t isstep the same The end result is also the same if yo you u do the first first reverse faro outjogging single cards,  then the next two out jogging jogging doubles. Or ,   do a double-card reverse faro, then a single singl e card, then another double card. This idea can be used as an ending for other card-location card-loca tion effects. As I've I've said, it can be a stron strong g ending (wit (with h 5 or 9 cards) . There are ways of reaching the same goal with more than nine cards, but it becomes cumbersome cumber some and weakened. Some other interesting ways to use the

9 card reverse-faro

concept: These are no not t "full"   effects; they are ideas only. See how you can utilize them, how you can present them. The nine cards consist of the ace to 9 of one suit, or mixed suits and colors; up to you. Set them in order ace to 9, ace on top.   False cut, if desired. Then do the reverse faros, as explained above. The 9spot will be reversed at center, and the cards to its left and right will total 9; so will the next two left/ left/right right car ds, and the the next tw o, and the last two (similar (similar to Stay Stack).  Try i t, and you'll see what I mean.

Do a quick revers reverse e faro. Th That at is, outjog the 2nd and 4th c ards. (Fig (Fig. . 1 1. .) Strip out the two outjogged cards and turn them end for end face up to   top.   (Fig. 2.) Repeat exactly. exactly . You'll b e turning one faceface-up up and one face-down card onto the top. Repeat   but the two out jogged cards are again,  again, stripped strip ped out and turned end for end to  bottom.   (Fi (Fig. g. 3. 3.) ) L ook at this illustration again and you'll see that only the   center card is face down. Indifferent cards have been seen throughou throughout. t. Spread the five cards "Hmm, "Hm m, that's strange - only this one card is face  down.   Ask for the name of the selec selected ted card, then slowly and dramatically dramatically turn over that center card. It's the selected card This is a  strong  ending - fo for r me.

If you do the four single-card faros, the cards will be in order. It looks better if you do the single, double, double faros. Spread the cards. You can table the face-u face-up p spread sprea d (Fig (Fig. . 4) and point out the "9" toremaintals . Then dramatically turn up the remaining face-down card to display the 9-spot. Or ,  spread face  down exposing the nine at center. Then, using both hands simulta-

While playing with the idea, I found that I could end just about the same way while working with all nine cards. This has nothing whatever to do with the spelling  but: Again, sprea spread d and eye count the idea, but: idea, four lower cards but, for   this,   casually cut those four cards to top (which is the

2774

 

neously, remove left- and right-end cards and toss them aside face up and together,

you can spell, as taught,   (name) IS MAGIC. And the card is brought to 5th from top if

they total Do that with would all four pairs. (Perha (Pe rhaps ps a 9. kicker ending be to show the other three  9 s  in the cardcase - or would that be a bit much ?)

the (f (firs irst t orYou last consists of 3  3 name  to  9 letters. canname use only) your own name, but it's better to use the name of a spec spectatator  you don t know,  since just about any name will do. That That way, it appears as if there's no possible way you could control anything. control anything.

Set the cards   9-spot  at top and exchange the ace (at (at bottom) for a jack (11), and do as a above bove - the pairs total 11, and the jack is reversed at center. Okay; back now to the idea of getting the selected card (t (tha hat t lies 3rd from top) to 5th from top via apparently   haphazard spelling. spelli ng. I refer to the in-han in-hand d packet as a   comput computer. er. Then I say that spelling spelling my name  name   programs  programs   the computer. I spell, as taught, Harry and drop the unspelled cards onto the spelled cards. Then, I spell L-o and casually drop the in-hand cards onto those two car ds. And continue (wi (witho thout ut breaking rhythm) with r-a-y-n-e. Drop the remaining mainin g cards onto the spelled cards. The selected select ed card is 5th fro from m top. End in any o of f the variety of ways explained here. That  break  bre ak in spelling my last name never registers;  it isn't isn't noticed.  this will work with any name when Now, this Now, the first name has 3 to 9 letters and the last name has at least 7, and up to 9,   Spell as just taught - the first letters.  letters. name,  then the first two letters of the last

Afterthoughts: Afterthoughts :  Well,  there are many other ways to use the idea. For example, say you need to force the #19 . Set (s (say ay) ) a 6,8,2, 6,8,2,3, 3, 5,ace,9,4,joker. Do either the fo ur singlecard reverse reverse faros, or the single, double,   (not  (not   the double, single,   double). double  double Spread Spre ad cards face down; the joker is face up at center. Let your spectator select the four cards at left  left   or   right of the joker. Either group group totals 19 . Or - use your old alphabet deck . Set the follo wing lette rs from top down : P,E,O,R,R,P,E, P,E,O,R ,R,P,E,O, O, blank. Do as just explained. Spectator Specta tor selects the four cards on either side of the face-up (cent (centered) ered) blank. Instruct him to form a word using all four letters, if letters,  if possible.  possible.   (Yo (You're u're not supposed  can.) And to know that he  can.)  And - r read ead his mind. One fish fishing ing question tells you whether he's thinking of ROPE or PORE. If you'd rather rath er not fish at all, use words like FIND, LAND, WEND, BLOW, WELD, and so forth. No choices there. I'll I'll leave it to you. (T (The here re are man y one-fish words - FLOW/ WOLF, FIRE/RIFE, FREE/REEF, ABLE/BALE, etc.

And, one

name,   then the rest of the last name. You must move at least five cards this last time;  that's why the last name must have 7, 8 or 9 letters. The only out I can think think of, of ,  if your last name has 4, 5 or 6 lette letters, rs, is - spell/peel spell/peel the last last 2 , 3 or 4 letters letters of th the e name, do not do  not    drop the in-h in-hand and cards onto them, and say, And the program's password number numbe r 888 (or 88 or  8 to bring that las last t  8) ) group to five cards. Drop the in-hand cards onto them, and the sele selected cted card is 5th fr from om top.

question would also tell tell you

that tha t (s (s)h )he' e's s thinking of RA CE, ACRE or CARE.) I don't don't want to get into other han handlings, because I'd fill the entire issue with this idea. I think there's enough here for you to play with and think about. If you're interested in my preference it is, as mentioned, mentioned, getting the selected card to  tabling g the lower four c ards, and do5th, tablin 5th, ing the reverse faros, as in Figures 1, 2 and 3. But, interestin gly (a (and nd coincidentally) enough, as I was writing   this,   I received recei ved a contribution from Lewis Jones of England - a routine utilizing   just  just   this concept. It follows.

Of course, you can use a spectator's name instead of your own. As a matter of fact...with the vital card 3rd from top,

Lewis

fish

ones

Stranger surname, surna me, and her marital status. This forc forces es any target target card you like. There are no adjustments to be made, and there are no sleights, since (i (in n spite of spelling out information inform ation that was previously unknown and unpredictable) unpredic table) the result is automatic.

A s I just told you, Lewis sent this this t to o me while I was in the throes of putting together the preceding. He explains it as well as I can, so excludi excluding ng my inevita inevitable ble edediting, iti ng, adding, adding, and so for forth, th, here are his words: B a s i c e f f e c t :  :   A complete stranger shuffles the deck, then she herself spells out,  one card at a time, her first name, her

This handlin handling g may b e used as a forc force, e, as the revelation revelation of a previously chosen card, as

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the fulfillment fulfillment of a prediction - pl playing aying card or tarot - or whatever suits your purposes.

left over, she just drops them onto the dealt packet.

By way of exampl e, assume that you know some previously chosen card (eit some (eithe her r by way of a force or a control and glimpse)  . An d suppose suppo se that this target card is the QS. Now that you know the card's identity, you can safely let the spectator give the deck a thorough thoroug h shuffle.

Pick up the dealt/spelled packet. The next question is obvi ous, and you spell it out a card per letter just as before:  S U R N-A-M-E.   Drop the leftover cards onto the tabled/spelled cards, and push the packet over to the spectator. (Now (Now s stand tand well back, because you   aren'  t  going to do any more spelling or dealing yourself.) She spells out her surname with dealt ca rds, and once again drops any leftover cards onto the dealt/spelled card s. (No (Note: te: Leftover card cards s may be mixed. See Afterthoughts.)

The spectator puts in the obligatory spell of concentration, and you put in the spell obligatory spell of thought reception. Pic Pick k up the deck and turn it faces of cards toward you as you spread through the cards. Your attitude attitude here should not be that you are searching for some sort of clue, but that you already know your target, and are now simply looking for the card in order order to display it. When you spot the target card - QS, t this his example - spread another six cards beyond it (tha (that t is , to its lef t, if you spread from left to right   hand),  then break the spread at that point. Square the packet in each hand, and give your full attention to the face card card of the left-hand packe t. Drop the right-hand righthand group (sti (still ll face up) onto the table,  without paying any attention to it. Tap the face card of the left-hand batch, as if about about to refer to it, then appear to lose confidence, and shake your head. No, you

One final element is required: To address her properly, all forms need to know whether she is  Miss,  M s, or or  Mrs.  So the las last t question is: Marital status? Don't touch the cards yourself. Just stay well away as the spectator deals and spells either M-A M-AR-R-I-E-D or S-I-N-G-L-E. In spite of the unpredictable lengths of all her answers, this will bring her inevitably to your target card. If she spells marrie married, d,   it is the last card dealt. If she spells single, it is on top of the packet of undealt cards still stil l in her hands. Afterthoughts HL) ; Lewis goes on to HL); say: In spite of the many possible variations in the spectator's answer s, the hanhandling takes care of all possible nam es that

say,

it

doesn't

feel

right.

Drop

this

are at least three letters long

face-up tabled turn theblock deck onto face the dow n. (HL: (HL: batch, This isand a good/easy way to get the selected card to 7th from top.)

(suc (such h as

Ann) and, at most , nine letters longmajor(suc (such h as  Elizabeth).  This covers the great ity of names. If you are given a 2-letter first name such as Jo or Al, ask for the full  name,  and spell out Josephine or Albert. If you ever get a particularly long name (so that the spectator runs out of cards before completing  it) , it is virtually certain that this will be the surname (suc (such h as Willi Williamson) amson) . In this case, just pick up the deck, deal off the extra cards to the table, and drop the packet  packet   onto them. onto  them.

Point out that what you need is personal information. Tell the spectator that sonal this is going to be something like filling in a form. You will represent the form, and the spectator will fill it in with info informarmation that that you couldn't possibly have known beforehand. Say, We'll We'll spel spell l o out ut t the he answers with cards - one card for each letter letter. . I'11 I'11 show you how it work s. The first thin thing g most forms want want to know is your name,  beginning with your first name. So   that'  s  the first firs t thing to fill in: FIRST  NAME.   (Us (Use e the

Well,  our minds surely did almost col collide,   didn't they? Although, as I said in Spellegant, Spellegan t, I prefer to do the spel spelling ling in my hands, and so on, I can see wher where e allow allowing the spectator to do the spelling into a tabled packet works here. After the spectator spells her surn ame, the selected card is (always)  (always)   7th   from top of the packet. Lewis's marita marital l statu s question  fits.  fits.   But, of course, you can move (do (doubl uble e cut) two cards from top to bottom and use my  5 card reverse-faro ending, or - cut two cards from bottom to top and use my   9 card re verse-faro ending.

term GIVEN NAME if that's more familiar to your audience.) Deal cards into a face-down tabled packet,   spelling out one letter for each card dealt: F-I-R-S F-I-R-S-T -T N-A-M- E. (Or, (Or, spell out GIVEN NAME. ) Put the res rest t of the deck aside.   Push the dealt-off packet (HL: (HL: The vital  vital   nine  nine   cards - with target card card    3rd from top) across to the spectator, and ask her to spell out her first name in the same way - by dealin dealing g one card from the top of the packet for each letter. If any cards are

Lewis ends his contribution with these words:   It is difficult for anyone to re-

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construct any possible working for this effect,  because it is clear that every piece of information information is new to you, that you always deal fairly, and that it is always the spectator herself who deals out the answers.  If there is the least suspicion that you might have heard a name mentioned, have the spectator choose the name of some friend or relative who could not possibly be k nown to you. If the context seems right, you could coul d eve n have a spectator u se the name of someone someon e who has died, an d proceed to summon the appropriate appropriate help from the spiri spirit t world. Obviously, you don't have to   force   a card. You can allow a free choice, then control the card to 7th from top any way you like.   And, after this was written, I received another note from Lewi s. You can let the spectator mix the remaining cards after each of her spell/deal spell/deals. s. Nice touch to use

Robert   L

Brooks

Robert saw Scotty York do a ring-offrope effect. Scotty didn't tip the method. So,  Bob worked out a method that approximated what he'd seen. He checked with Scotty, asking if it was the correct w ay, and if he could contribute it to   Apocalypse.   Scotty wouldn't say whether or not it was his method,

here and for Spellegant - it will make your spectators think that all the cards were mixed  throughout.  And, says  Lewis,   If you're nervous about long names, there's a simple solution. Start by getting the vital card to   12th   from top (instead of 7th) Your first spell/deal then is: YOUR FIRST NAME. Your second is: YOUR SURNAME. Your third and final one i s: CHILDREN. Spell/deal that and drop the remaining (5) (5) cards on top, just as you did the first two times. The spectator spell/deals YES or NO.  

 Your  You r last spell/deal brings wi th it a small bonus . Your spect small spectator ator will often volunteer the   number   of children (or you can simply  ask).   The great majority majority of parents have one, two or three children. For ONE, let her spell/deal spell/deal that; for THREE, have it counted and for TWO, you can have her spe spell ll or  count.

Ring Strip

eluxe

As your open right hand shades the ring for an instant,  release  the ring letting it fall so that it automatically lands, still on the rope, against your right 3rd and 4th fingers.   (As (As in Fig. 3. Bob calls thi s the Tenkai Drop.) There is  absolutely no pause.

but he did give Bob full permission to sen send d it to me. S o, here's Ring Strip Deluxe. Work along with me - it may take a try or two before it starts to flow. Use a man's signe signet t ring, one that has a stone,  perhaps. That kind of ring has weig weight ht (hef (heft) t) to it, and may be easier for you to work with. Keep the pad of your left forefingertip on the stone as you perform the effect. Your thumbtip's fleshy pad is on the opposite edge. The opening of the ring is toward you.

Your right hand continues its downward movement.   The backs of your fingers shade the ring as it moves along. Your left fingers are also backs to audience; the rope is   ridin riding g over the thumb. (Fi (Fig. g. 4 shows the left-hand situation; Fig. 5 shows the two  same length rope ends down at the right hand and the way the ring is situated.)

Thread about three or four inches of cord down through the ring. (Fig. (Fig. 1.) 1.) And as you do, grasp tha that t sho short rt end, at or near its end, between your right 3rd and 4th fingers.   (Fig. (Fig. 2.) 2.) Open and raise your left palm toward audience to show and stress that the ring is really on the rope. Your left left hand turns down now as your right hand turns up toward you to grasp the short end of the cord and to pull it down in order t to o center the ring.

No pause. Your right right hand continu continues es to move off the rope and the ring moves off its strand. Your right thumbtip immediately moves (Fig ig. . 6, stop action.) And into the ring.   (F your right hand immediately moves up to your left hand. hand. As it  does,  your right right thumb is is

2777

 

held behind your other finge fingers, rs, of cours course, e, so that the ring remains hidden. Turn your left hand so that the center of the rope lies across the palmar palmar side of your left 2nd and 3rd fi finngers. (F (Fig ig. . 7 - a freeze of that instant.)

From

Figure-9

position:

Pick

up

the

single that dangles on the right from and thread end it through   the ring, moving right to left. (Fig. 10.) Continue until there's a small loop at the ring. (Fig (Fig. . 11. 11.) )  s   you do  do   this,  "Now w you and I both this,   say, "No know that the only way to get the ring o off ff the rope at this point is to thread an end through it, like this - unthreading it." Pause to show both long ends through the ring. This is an excellent illusion of the ring   off   the rope. (Fig. 12.)

From here, turn your left hand palm down (not (not al all l the way) and just take the ring's "non-stone" edge,  an d   the cord, between your left 2nd and 3rd fingers. (Fi (Fig. g. 8, near completion. And Fig. 9, at completion.)

  of course, is the standard (by This,  This, now) display, and it is an excellent illusion of the ring on the ro pe. The standard ending would be to tug the dangling strands with the right hand to "magic "magically" ally" pull the

Then, grasp the hanging strands with your right hand and, as you say, "What I can't understand understand is how it gets back on the rope so quickly " p ull the two strands, pulling the ring out of your left hand. Swing the ring around in a circle once or (you might catch the ring twice,  then stop (you with your lef left t hand) to show the ring back on the rope. End End. .

cord through (and (and off) the ring. But in Bob's Ring Strip  Strip   Plus,  Plus,   which has already appeared in Apocaly pse (Sept (September ember 1993  issue , I taug taught ht his new ending. To keep this this compl complete, ete, I'll I'll repeat that ending, exactly, here.

 fterthoughts ; This fooled the heck out of me the first time I saw it performed. (And the second and third times.) Do it right and you'll fool al l, too.

  aley Straightened

Wesley ames I've published a few routines - using only the aces - wherein the two red aces keep coming to the top . I'v I've e also published routines wherein the red aces are apparently tabled, but turn out to be the black  the red aces are in your hands. This aces,- the aces,routine is a combination of both those concepts. It's actually Wesley's way of doing a Jacob Daley routine. There were some areas in the original Daley handling that Wes felt could be "straig "straightened" htened" out. As one example, in the origi nal, and in many similar routines, the red suits do not fall correctly - you can't really point them  That is not a problem here. out. That out.

But, what you actually do - making sure that a black ace is on  bottom   - is a Jor Jordan dan Count. I've I've taught that many times through the  years,  but - briefly: Peel the top card,  years, but then peel the second card onto it. It appears now as if the third card is peeled onto the first two in the same manner. Actually, the first two flush to beneath the remaining two as your thumb block pushes off the top three car ds. (Loo (Look k at Fig. 1.) Peel (take (take) ) the last card onto these three. So ,  back to the r outine: Reverse count, doing a Jordan Count (bl (blac ack k ace on  bottom). Then magical gesture - a and nd show that the two red aces are, magically, together on top. Replace them onto top, onto  top, then  then apparently place them to bottom one at a t ime. Actually...

Display the four aces in alternatingcolor order. Then square and turn the packet face down. Do a couple of complete   cuts, then show that that does not change the alternating-color condition. Square and turn face down. Slowly reverse count the four "And d this doesn't change cards,  as you say, "An it either; they'l they'll l stil still l alterna alternate, te, of course."

Take the top card - really. You can flash it if you like since it is a red ace. Place it to bottom. Then block pushoff the top three cards, as one. Or, buckle the bottom card to facilitate taking the top

2778

 

three

cards

as

one.

(Fig.

2.)

Place

the

triple card to bottom. Magical gest ure, and show the two red aces back on top. Openly replace to top.

Repeat exactly. Or, this time, do the block pushoff or bottom-card  buckle,  taking  buckle, taking a triple card to bottom - first. Then move the top single card to the bottom. (No (No fl flashin ashing g a red ace when you do it this way. way.) ) Magi Magical cal gesture, gestu re, and show the red ace aces s back on top. And repeat as often as desired. I imagine that three times is just about enough. What'  s  interesting is that you can move the two red aces aces(?) (?) to bottom either way - sin single gle then triple, or triple then single. Whenever you do the single first, you ca can n f fla lash sh it.  But be careful with that - if you do it every ever y time, you ma y be exp expecte ected d to fla flash sh the other othe r red ace also, and you can' can't. t. Perhap Perhaps s one flash fla sh - the fir first st time - is enou enough. gh. Okay; when ready to go into the ending: You've just shown that the two red aces are

to bottom one at a time. Do a triple triple   turnover   - real easy when handling only four cards - to display a red ace.   Say, "This time I'll put it on the table." Turn down the triple and deal the top single card face down onto the table. "I'll "I' ll put the next one back to bottom." (Your spectators haven't seen it, but the assumption   is that it's on top.) Appear to move the top card to bottom, as stated, but really reall y move a double card to bottom. Again, easy when handling a   3 card  packet. Do a double   turnover,  to show that the second red ace (correct  suit) has jumped jumped back to  top.  Turn down the double double and deal the top single card face down onto the fir first st tabled red(?) red(?) ace. Magical Magic al gesture gesture - and show that the red aces are back in your  hands Pause. Turn up the two tabled cards to show the black  aces.  End

Afterthoughts; Good routine - and easy to do. The end sequence: Double to bottom, single to bottom; triple turnover, single to table; double to bottom,   double   turnover; single single to table. When moving a triple triple card from top to bottom, use what comes more naturally natura lly to you - the block block pushoff or the bottom-card bottom -card buckle. Either/or is fine.

back on top. When you replace them to top, catch a momentary left little fingertip break under them. Then, take the two top cards as one (re (reaso ason n for break - see  Afterthoughts)

Whenever it's necessary to do a double lift or double turnover from a  4 card packet, I suggest that a break is not necessary. I

and place to bottom. Followed by the top single  card. It looks like what you've been doing all along - placing the two red aces

use my own no-get-ready double lift from a 4 card packet that I teach in  QUANTUM LEAPS and also on my   Magic Video 2 .

Lose It  

Meir Yedid learned/practiced cticed So ,   now that you've learned/pra Mate Switch-Out (Ja (Janua nuary ry issue) and To-TheTable Switch (February   issue),   I can explain Meir's routine . In the Afterthoughts, I'll explain a (pretty obvious) way to do the same routine without the To-The-Table Switch. But first:

ind It

the selected card) you just dropped to the table to betwe en the two(?) red th thre rees es,,leave it a bit bit injogged. (Fig. (Fig. l.)

We '  11   assume your spectator named the

red (sinc nce e I  You've used them as examples for threes the two  (si spread through moves). the face-up deck, upjogged the two red th threes, rees, stripped them out secretly loading a card beneath them. Then you did Mate Switch-Out leaving (app (apparen arently) tly) the back-to-back red 3 spots on the table. Then a card is freely selected and, as you display it , do the ToThe-Table Switch.

Lift the three cards by their right long sides and place the "package" onto the deck. As you square, lift up on the injog injogged ged card, letting the lowermost card coalesce onto the deck. I.e., you're unloading the lowermost (indifferent) card. Take the remaining back-to-back double card (red  3 spot  face up) with your right hand. Say, "One "One red three...   Turn over the double card, bringing the other red three

Continue to hold the deck proper in left-hand dealing position as your right hand moves the face-down card (app (appare arently ntly

2779

 

into view - "Th "The e second red three..." Pull back this (top (top) ) three to expose the back of a card (re (reall ally y the bottom face-down three) "And "And your card between them." Square. This is good - it really does look as if the selected select ed card is between the two red threes. (F (Fig ig. . 2, just before squaring the two cards.)

magical gesture, and do a wide face-down table ribbon spread to show that a) the red threes have magically come together to trap one face-down card, and b) that face-down card is the original selection

Say, "Watch " Do any magical gesture, or say the "magic words" and separate the tw two o  threes,  snapping them against against each othe other. r. The selected card has disap disappeared peared (Fig (Fig. . 3.) 3.) Note that th e deck is still in your left hand; that's where it's been throughout. Now, drop the two face-up threes onto the table. Ask, Where do you think your card is?"  It's a rhetorica rhetorical l question, but what-

Afterthoughts;  Well,  there you have it. Use the two moves for this routine, or for a routine of your own . You can eliminate the To-The-Table To-The-Tab le Switch by replacing it with a double doubl e turnover, like  this:  You've just done the Mate Switch-Out; apparently the two red red threes are on the tabl e. Overhand shuffl shuffle, e, keeping the top card in plac e. (I use my own Status Quo Shuffle out of   RI M   SHOTS; an overhand jog shuffle will do.) Say that the top card, after the shuffle (you (you can hav have e

ever the answer - turn the deck's top card face up, and say, "It's "It's not on top..." Hol Hold d that indifferent indifferent faceface-up up card with your right hand as you flip the deck face up in your left hand. "And it's not on bottom." Drop the right-hand card onto the face of the deck. Flip the deck face down.

the spectator stop you) will be the selected card - or force the top of the dec deck k any way you li ke. Double turnover and name name the card that shows. (Y (You ou can have it signe signed.) d.) Turn down the double and deal the top sing single le card to between the tabled cards, as in Figure 1. Continue from there. O r,   Meir also does the To-The-Table Switch openly displaying the two mates (in(instead of just one   card).   Utilizing that and it can be very deceptive - you can

As your right hand reaches for a t tabled abled three, prepare prepare the deck's top card for Tilt. Talk about losing the face-up threes into "different" parts of the deck. Tilt the first face-up  3-spot to 2nd from top. (I do a quick shuffle here, keeping the top two cards in place, but it's not necessary.) Then say, "I'll l let et  yo u  tell me where to put the second three. Riffle down at the deck' s outer-left outer-lef t corner, asking him to stop you.  

He stops you . Cut the top half deck, at the stop point, to the table. Place the remaining face-up red three onto that (table (ta bled) d) half deck. "Righ "Right t here? Okay." Drop the in-hand half deck onto the tabled half. This is a good "force." Done casually, it really does seem as if the spectator decides where that  3-spot is placed. Buildup,

eliminate eliminat e the Mate Switch-Out. The move: The mates are held in your right hand as for the To-The-Table Switch. The upper mate is face up, the lower face down. (Fig (Fig. . 4 4. .) You  ( Here's display and mention the upper mate the three of diamonds...") and as the ha hand nd turns palm palm d own to show the other mate and to toss both(?) to the table, the 3D is switched. switche d. Your fingers straighten, pushing out the 3H. The top card of the (le (leftft-han hand) d) deck proper is pushed out to fall  under  the 3H as the 3D coalesces onto the deck. Go back to the issue containing To-The-Table Switch for details. You're in the exact position you'd be in if you'd just done Mate Switch-Out. On the table: A face-up mate on a face-down indifferent indiff erent card; the 2nd mate is on top of the deck. Now, y ou can use my double turnover suggestion to continue - or proceed as yo u  like.

  Remem ber - If you photocopy this maga zine you lessen its worth to to you  you

H a ro ld C a ta q u e t

)

P o in ts In T h e M id d le

Haro ld does quit quite e a bit of dice s stac tackk(See Dan ger  Dice;  May 199 1994 4  Apocalypse. ing.   (See ing.  He discovered the following by accident accident and uses it all the time now. The basic effect (used during a dice-stacking routine) is that four dice are stacked, but when you

lift (or a spectator lifts) the c up, only two  dice are stacked; t wo dice have disappeared. The two dice are thrown into the cup,  you stack, the cup is lifted - an and d all four dice a are re there Or - you stack the two dice,   but three are seen under the cup;

2780

 

thes these are tossed into cup, stacke stacked - a and nd four fou r edice are seen to the be stacked. No,d these maneuvers are   not no t   self-working; a bit of practice is usually required required. . Use the larger, standard-size, casino dice. You're seated at the table, of course. There are a few ways to  lap  a couple of dice during   the stacking. This is a variation of the pretty standard "vani "vanish" sh" of a  die,  wherein the cup hits the die and sends it flying into the other palm-down hand. Harold feels that tha t this move is not so easy when using the larger larg er casino dice. Try these: The four dice are lined up left to right -

horizontally  rather than the usual  vertical

line-up.   W h e n l i n e d   u p   v e r t i c a l l y ,   y o u line-up.  "scoop"  them  u p  w i t h  t h e  cup,  o n e a t a  time, using a  left-to left-to-right right motion. But ,  fo r  this, dice i n a  left-to-right row,  u s e a  f orw ard b a c k   moti on. (Look  at F ig . 1.) 1.)

I told  y o u -  you'  11 have  t o t r y  it, work  o n i t . After using  o n e o f t h e   above,   l e t a spectator lift  t h e c u p t o   expose only  t w o dice. A s h e  lifts   t h e  cup, your hand drops to your  l a p a n d  finger palms   t h e t w o  lapped dice.  After   t h e   fact that   t w o   dice have disappeared  h a s   registered, pick them   u p with that hand   a n d  drop/ toss them into  th e cup along with   t h e t w o  finger-palmed dice. And stack t h e  four.   O r , y o u  might prefer  t o finger palm only o n e d i e  from your lap, drop that i n  with  t h e t w o  visible dice. S tack.  A s the spectator lifts   t h e c u p t o  reveal three dice,  finger palm   t h e 4 t h .  R e p e a t ,   t o e n d with   a  4-dice   stack.

A f t e r t h o u g h t s ; Harold sends along   a f e w more "handlings":  Y o u c a n  pick   u p a l l  four dice a s y o u  ordinarily do. Then,  i f y o u  stop the side-to-side movement over your   l a p f o r a fraction   o f a   bea t, then slide   t h e c u p away from   y o u   along   t h e   tabletop , you 'll have lapped anywhere from   o n e t o a l l   four dice You'11 have   t o  try/ practice  i t . L i n e  u p , a n d  pick   u p , t h e  dice   a s y o u

O kay; pick u p t h e  first   ( an  end)   d i e a s you ordinarily would,  b u t t h e 2 n d a n d 3 r d dice a r e  n o t  picked up . Three methods here : 1)  A s y o u  move  t o  pick  u p t h e  nex t die , kick it back into your lap. Continue moving t h e cu p  i n trepeat keeping h e  air,with dn id e  i n it. Either   t h e  3trhde doinee a really pick  u p t h e 4 t h , o r  really pick   u p t h e 3 r d di e  a n d   kick/ lap   t h e   4  th th .   S tack   t h e t w o dice,  a n d s o  forth. 2) Slide  t h e o n e d i e  that's already  i n th e   c u p t o t h e  table's edge   a n d l e t i t  fall to your lap. Immediately scoop  u p t h e s e c on d   d i e -   then continue   a s i n # 1   above. (Kick/lap  t h e 3 r d  die, pick   u p t h e 4 t h , o r vice versa.) 3) This   o n e i s   more dif ficult; also difficult   t o  ex plain   -  you'll just have  t o try it. Re ally pick  u p t h e  first three d ice. Immediately after picking  u p t h e 3 r d o n e , if  y o u  change   t h e  moving   (o f  your hand,  a n d the cup) rhythm slightly with   t h e c u p  j ust past  t h e  table's edge   - t w o  dice will fall out,  into your lap.  Yo u  have  t o  keep  o n e d i e in  th  t h e  cup, then pick  u p t h e  4th,  a n d s o o n .

Next month:

usually do. T h e  first   o n e i s  really picked up .  Then,   i n  whichever order   y o u  like,  i n stead   o f  picking   u p t h e d i e  w i t h   t h e c u p , steal   i t   with your   3 r d a n d 4 t h   fingers. Continue   t o  move   t h e c u p ,  keeping   t h e d i e (or dice) i nsid e,  a n d  creating   t h e  rattling sound. You'll   s e e ,  when   y o u t r y  this,   that in order  t o d o t h e  steal (s) (s) pr operly ,  t h e c u p ha s t o b e  held fa irly  l o w -  lower than usual. Harold also sent   m e   this idea, wh ich does  n o t  necessarily   f i t   this e ffect,  b u t is worth recording.   (I  have   a  vague feeling of familiarity about  i t .  P erhaps   i t ' s b e cause   I d i d   something qu ite s imilar   m a n y years   a g o  when   I w a s   playing around w ith dice stacking.) stacking.) Stop stacki ng  a t  about  c e n te r  o f  your working surface, t hen slide  t h e cup back toward   y o u t o t h e  table's edge   the dice fall  t o  your lap.  N o  pause   -  immediately slide   t h e c u p t o t h e  final stacking position.  I t ' s a   very q uick   movement,  a n d the sound "works" perfectly. W e l l ,  I   told   y o u   that prac tice   i s r e quired.  T h e  title, incidentall incidentally, y,   i s  from   a

patter line that Harold uses about betting no t  o n t h e   points   o n t h e t o p d i e ( o of f a stack),   b u t o n t h e  points   o f t h e t w o  dice  i n the mid dle dle    -  which   c a n  range from   2 t o 1 2 .

Doug Edwards Edwards - Loopenetration  Loopenetration David  Regal  - Mystic Poker David Regal   Poker Richard Vollmer Richard  Vollmer  Pretty lose To A Miracle   ataquet - The  Hanging Misspell Harold  Harold Wylee Packer  Packer  - Old One-Two Reverse Gerald Deutsch Deutsch - Linking  Linking  K K ey Rings A nd  much more...  more... J.K. Hartman J.K.  Hartman  - Cheek Turner Cheek Turner

— 27 78 8

as s

 

  ichard Vollmer X didn't realize what I was starting when I published Larry Becker's routine, "Will The Cards Match" in the May, 1987 Apocalypse.  It simply   reverberated through the magic world. Richard Vollmer devised an excellent variation called, Will The Couples Match. I ran that in the June 1991 issue. Now, here's another variation of Richard's with an even more impossible impossible denouement denouement. . Set the follow following ing ca rds, in this order and mixed suits, on top of the deck: 8-78-7-445  6 7 10 9 7-2-5. The  8 spot is on top. This stack isn't as difficult to remember as it may seem. Actually, the first four cards could be  a ny  spot cards, and the next four must complement them so that the pairs at identical positions in each group of four total 1 4. Lo Look ok at the suggested suggested set-up. The first firs t card of the first group of four is an 8; the first card of the second group of four is a 6; 8 and 6 = 1 4. The seco second nd cards are two 7's, the third cards - a 4 an and d a 10, the fourth cards - a 5 and a 9. The last three cards don't fall into that pattern,

  um Tr iick ck that you will transfe transfer r the cards according to   his hi s   wishes. "For example, if the first card you cut to is a four, you could do this..."  To demonstrate, transfer four cards  i n from fro m top(s) to bottom(s bottom(s) ) of the packets  in any way you like. You can transfer four in the one packet, or one in one packet, 3 in the other, or vice versa, or two and two , or 1, 1, 1, 1.   It doesn't matter,   so long as exactly   four   cards are transferred. (Thi (This s "example/demonstration" "example/demon stration" wasn't mentioned in Will The Couples Match, but it fits ther there e as well if you use a name with   four   letters.) Of course, stress the infinite   ?) possibilities of choices. Proce Proceed ed when h e understands  . Remove the top hal half f of the criss-crossed deck, and let the spectator spectator turn up the card he cut to(?) - the top card of the lower half. It is, of course, the 7-spot. Let the spectator transfer seven cards any way he likes, likes , as explain explained, ed, or you do i t, fol followlowing his instructions. Then remove the top card of each packet and place them aside as

but they total 14, and play an important part in the effect, as you'll see.

a pair. Stress that these could have been any two cards, according to t he way he transferred ferre d car ds.

Shuffle, keeping the 11-card stack on  Say that you need only eight cards for top. Say top.

Turn up the next cut-to card, the 2-

your next miracle, anda deal the toptabled eight   singly, into face-down cards, packet. Table the remaining deck proper face down in front of your spectator, and go into the criss-cross force. I.e., have him cut the deck into two portions, then place place the original bottom half on top of the origin original al top half, at right angles (crisscrossed). The 7, 2 and 5 of your original setup are now on top of the lower half.

spot.  spot.   The either two spectator from top transfers to bottomtwo of cards either packet, or one and one, etc. Take the two top cards and drop them as a pair next to the first pair. Finally, do the same with the third cut-to card, the 5-spot. Drop the top two cards together to form the third pair. Push the two remaining cards together to form the fourth and las last t pair. Recapitulate what has happened up to here,   stressing the free choices throughhere,  out.  Then, instruct him to total the 3 cards he cut to - th the e 7, 2 and 5. They total 1 4, of course. For the climax, turn up the four  one at a time , to show that each pair pairs, one pairs,

Pick up the  8 card packet and complete cut it a couple of times. You can let the spectator specta tor cu t. Charlier shuffle it, if you know how. (You (You sho should uld know how, I've I've taught it often enough - see page 2314 of the January 1994 issue, or the above-mentioned Will The Couples Match, or my  Magic Video #2.)  Finally, deal the top four cards, singly, into a tabled face-down packet, reversing their ord er. Drop the remaining four cards next to the first packet - the order is  not   revers reversed. ed. Same procedure as in Will The Couples Match.

also totals 14

An amazin amazing g coincide coincidence. nce.

Afterthoughts ; Interesting, no? I've I've used this in conjunction with a selecte selected d card. I set up only the first first 8 cards. After false shuffling, shuffli ng, I deal the top 8 cards onto the table, saying that these cards help me if and when I c can't an't fi find nd a s selecte elected d card Then I either force a card or glimpse a freelyselected card. I look through the deck, faces of cards toward me , acting as if I'm having trouble finding his card. What I actually do is to get a 7, 2, 5 to top, and place his card to  17th  from top. I'm set.

Say that you'11 use the cards to which he's cut to radically change and mix the order of these tabled cards, by transferring as many cards from top to bottom of the packets as the value of the cut-to card. And

 

8

 

False shuffle, and say that you need the help of your eight assist ants. Go into the Sum Trick routine. After showing all the "14" totals at the end - a ask sk for the

name of the selected card. Let the spectator count down to the - what else? - 14th card. And so forth

  ribbloc tion

lex Scarella Jus t about every summer, since the mid1970  ' s,  Renee and I have visited Alex and his wife, YoYo, at thei their r love lovely ly home on the Grande Corniche in the South of France. (Alex (Al ex is the "patron" of The  African Queen Queen, , the most popular restaurant on the Por Port t de Pleasance, Beaulieu-sur-Mer.) As you know by now, I like to be fooled. And, the last

hand dribbling cards. Your left hand hand moves smartly (rightward) toward the dribbling   As it   does,   your left thumb pulls cards.  cards. back the pushed-off card as the left hand "hits"  the right-hand dribbling cards. What this does - or should - is to "kick" "kick" some of the dribbling cards to the right. Your right hand stops dribbling. Your left forefinger

time we visited, Alex fool fooled ed me admittedly, a simple thing.

points to ed" the to upper of Done the correctly, cards cards that were "kicked" "kick the card right. it looks exactly as if you've tossed the selected card among the dribbling cards. (Fig. (Fi g. 2.) 2.) It will proba bly look a bit sloppy; that's okay.

- with,

In appearance: He dribbled cards from the bottom of a shuffled deck, down onto the palm of his other hand, asking me to stop him. I did. He showed me the stopped-at card. Then he continued dribbling from th the e deck proper, onto the table now. As he did, he tossed my stopped-a stopped-at t card into - amo among ng -

those dribbled cards. He continued dribbling onto it, losing my card. He squared the deck and, eventually, located my card. Here's how: Let your spectator shuffle the deck, if you like. Take it back, square it, and hold it face down from dribbling above with your hand. Demonstrate down ontoright the palm of your left hand. Tell your spectator that tha t you'11 do that again and he's to stop stop you - quickly. (Y (You ou want him to stop you when you've dribb dribbled led about - no mor more e than a quarter of the deck.) He stops you.

No real real pause. Point to the top card of of the dribbled (table (tabled) d) cards, as if it's the selection, selection , then dribble the remaining righthand cards onto it. Repeat Repeat - it should  look pretty sloppy. End by taking the left-hand cards with the right hand and dropping or dribbling them onto the tabled cards. Square the   mess;   shuffle, keeping the top card on top - and and complete your miracle Afterthoughts; The entire thing is done pretty rapidly. Quite often, one of the dribbling cards flies to the right as your left hand hits it, creating an even-more-

perfect of the selected flying out illusion of your left hand. After card squaring th e   "mess,"   I do my own Status Quo Shuffle Shuffle keeping keepin g the vital card on top.  RIM SHOTS It's the ultimat ultimate e convincer. convincer.

Push off the top card of the left-hand group - the stopped-at card - and show it to the spectator, asking him to remember it. (Fig. l.) Then, leaving that card pushed  start dribbling cards from the rightoff, start off, hand deck proper down onto the table. As you do that, apparently push/toss that lefthand, pushed-off, remembered card to the right into, among, the dribbling ca rds. Really - do as follows:

Alex likes likes to palm off the top, selected card after he's shuffled; then lets the spectator shuffle. Plenty of time to pocket the palmed card. Producing that card from the pocket is quite impressive.  Most impressive if your spectators really believe that the remember remembered ed card was lost/toss lost/tossed ed among the dribbled-onto-the-table cards.

The actions are exactly that - pushing/ tossing the remembe tossing remembered red card among the right 78

 

Ellipses ... X recently mentioned  a  couple  of  of  "regular" commercial products that work  as well  as  as "real"  roughing fluid.  Don Smith writes that another "regular" "regular" product that also works well is Krylon Spray Matte Finish,  #1311.  Available  in a art rt supply stores? Australian Richard Paddon sends along some unique (int (interes eresting ting if not useful) information:   In the September  1994 issue  o  of f  pocalypse  you mentioned some collective terms  for for animals.  One of them  - a skulk  of vermin. Skulk  can can also refer  to foxes,  as can 'leash.   Here are some other strange collective terms: a dray  of squirrels a murder  of crows a bale  of turtles  of quail a bevy an exaltation  of larks a parliament  of  of owls a convocation  of eagles a sleuth  of bears

"There  are are also strange terms  for the young  of animals.  A young  eel is an elver;  an otter ha s  a whelp   (or a young   w o l f ) ;  a young oyster  is known  as  as a spat  an  and, d, of course,  a young kangaroo  i  is s a joey."

In  the the September  1996 issue  of  pocalypse  I ran The Really   (?) Wrappe  Wrapped d Deck,  an excellent effect.  It was contributed  by Tom Daugherty  w  who ho credite credited d Stewart Judah  as the originator. Well,  Alan Alan  (  (o of England) wants  to set th the e re  record cord straight.  He sent  me a clipping from  the the April  1922 issue  of Sphinx  Sphinx magazine  magazine  - the item,  The Straight Jacke t,  by John Crimmins,   Jr., is  th the e same wrapping co ncept.  Tom Tom Daugherty's ending  is  is different   - and better.   •

Something  to think  think abou t:  Why is the number four number  four unique  unique among  all all other numbers?  And why is  th the e number nine number  nine unique  unique right here? (Thi (This s last question is a clue  to the first.  first.) ) Answe rs  in a future issue. Read "rewa "reward" rd" from right  to left (backwar (backward) d)  and it's an entirely entirely different, common, word. Same  for  for "repaid.  "repaid." " These  are are   in tha  that t category  I could  6-letter words.  The only longer word  in find  is  is "desserts"   (stressed).  Can you think  of any others...six  or  or more letters letters? ?  I can't. Congratulations   to Meir Yedid  who was  unanimously voted  voted   Magician   of th Year   by th the e  Parent t Assembl y  #1 .  The well-deserved award will  be handed  to him on April 19th,  1997 S.A.M., Paren at their 88th Annual Salute  to Magic Show  in NYC.  (It's the award award with which  I was honored  way back  in 1983...Meir  is  is a better magician,  but but then again  he's much younger )

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