Ron Bauer Cogitates!

Ron Bauer COGITATES! © Ron Bauer 2005 (Editors Note: This was originally a three part series that Ron submitted over a period of time.) In the spirit of finding something to cogitate about, I offer the following, which I have entitled... Is This a Good Trick? Dribble the cards facedown from your right hand onto your left palm. Whenever a spectator says, “stop,” allow her to take that card. Have her show the selection to others as you show the faces of the cards in the deck to be a wide variety of alternative choices. Square the deck, and put it into your pocket. Proudly claim that you can reach into that pocket, and remove the spectator’s selection. As you fumble around in your pocket vainly searching for the selection, some kind soul takes mercy on you, and points out that it’s still in the possession of the selector! Of course! It makes no sense to look for the card in the pocket if (BLUSH) the spectator still has it! So, offer the deck for the replacement, square the cards, and place them on the table. “Okay, to make up for my little oversight, I’ll do it the hard way...” Without stating the obvious, i.e., “...AND, I won’t put the DECK into my pocket,” you show your right hand to be unmistakably empty and unprepared, then dip it into your pocket, and bring forth a face-down card. [Good time for a BEAT.] Have the spectator name her selection. Then, illustrate that you’ve courageously snatched victory from defeat... and your pocket! (Show everyone the card...) I haven’t bothered to take the time to key in the method because I’m only interested in cogitating about effects on an audience. Of course, there may be some of you readers of “Cogitations” who would rather just find out how the trick works, and forget the cogitating. If you can’t or prefer not to cogitate up a method, let me know and I’ll tell you mine. One thing I can assure you of, however, the “non sequitur angle” of this trick gives an audience PLENTY to cogitate!

GOOD TRICK? Part 2... Decades ago, having solved to my satisfaction the ancient philosophical question regarding chickens and eggs, I took to cogitating on a really perplexing problem: What comes first, the method or the presentation? I presumed that the basis for the solution was to determine which was most important. Then I ran into a major problem. One, the methods matter to magicians. Two, the presentations matter to the public. And, SOMETIMES, but not often, those are reversed. There are even times when both sides CLAIM to have these views, but don’t mean it. (Hard to believe, isn’t it?) So, until I find a definitive answer, I’ll take the position that magic for magicians should be moves and variations of known tricks, referred to in recent years as routines. Additionally, I’ll take the position that the public in general couldn’t care less about almost all of this stuff, so magic for them should always be about the experience, the presentation, and the effect. (True, occasionally it’s fun to see the methods of trickery exposed, but even this wears thin in a short time. Remember the Masked Magician?) My question for this offering to Cogitations, therefore, will be modified to: Is This a Good Trick for the Public? Take, for example, the following idea: Find a selected card after putting the deck into your pocket. (I read that in a book published in 1910.) Now, what prompted that fellow to come up with that idea? That was the entire thing, by the way. Was he simply trying to do something different from the standard “pick a card then I’ll find it”? As far as I’m concerned, to the public, that’s still “pick a card then I’ll find it.” But, what more can be made from this basic idea... and how does one approach the problem? All right, let’s cogitate from the perspective OF making the trick as impossible as we can. We could show the audience that it’s not on top or bottom before putting the deck into the pocket... We could show that it’s not sticking out of the deck... We could show the pocket is empty... We could make it more emotional by having the card signed! So far it’s still “pick a card then I’ll find it.” If you focus on the method, you can’t help but adjust the presentation (worse, ignore it) to glaze over inevitable incongruities. Now let’s cogitate from the effect and presentation perspective. The first thing we could use is some CONFLICT. But, where is that possible? One way is to make a mistake... get into trouble. The more extreme the trouble, the better. What possible trouble could there be in whether or not you can find a card? Can’t find it? Start over! Skip the trick altogether! How about taking the audience for granted (annoying them), THEN making a mistake? Then trying to worm your way out? It can be a delicate balance, but if you pile on the cause and effect relationships in the right order, an audience will

want to get in on the fun. The more you can make them recognize your dilemma, and feel that you can’t escape, the more they’ll appreciate your victory. I repeat: It’s a delicate balance. So, let’s try out some ideas that might give substance to the IDEA of finding the card in your pocket... It’s assumed by most people that you can’t see into your pocket, so how would you find one object among many that all feel alike? Perhaps you can you see with your fingers? (Hey! Did I just independently invent a “classic” idea? Maybe I’ll save this for some other trick.) The process involved in the construction of even this simple trick takes too long to write out let alone read. Most of it would be tossed anyway. So, I’ll just jump to the final stages of working out my presentation of this idea as described in part one. Here are a few questions I asked myself... How do you show the kind of confidence that can lead to condescension and carelessness? Make sure the audience buys into a FREE CHOICE through ACTION and ATTITUDE... As soon as you stop dribbling cards, turn the packet in your right (dribbling) hand palm up to offer the option of taking that card or the last card dribbled. The spectator can even take a peek at the face-down card to help in making an educated decision. YOU don’t care! If they take the face card of the right half, “Since I know your card, I’ll find it without looking...” Hey! That helps! You’ve seen the “picked” card, so it only makes sense that you should ‘find” it without looking (hence, the pocket). This makes the presentation destroy the cause and effect relationships that might tell the method(s). How do you stage the “oversight” of the replacement without being obvious? Offer the selection to someone on your LEFT... show the alternatives to someone on your RIGHT... Put the deck into your RIGHT jacket pocket... How do you keep things moving when the “mercy announcement” isn’t forthcoming? As soon as you begin fumbling in your pocket, pan the audience from right to left, and spot the card... “What’s THAT?” What TAG would be thematic with this quickie? How about: “Now I feel much better about myself...”?

What difference would it make to the effect on the audience if you just found the card among those in the pocket (of course, it would have to be returned first), or made it “vanish” from the deck, and pulled out of your pocket? Yeah! What difference?! (And, why?) Is it clear that these questions relate to going for a strong EXPERIENCE... PRESENTATION... EFFECT? What about the methods? For me, the priority is structuring the trick so there are no “moves” or “overt handlings” apparent, only a well-connected series of cause and effect relationships. Cogitate that before choosing which methods you need to make it all fit together. And, which ones won’t! In the next installment, I’ll give you the method and presentation I use. It creates the exact illusion and effect I’ve described. Do I recommend you follow my lead? I don’t care. I might want to follow yours. Offer me a method more satisfying without changing the effect. Or, change the effect if you can derive a better reaction. If you do that, by the way, I’ll gladly adopt your idea. I won’t tell the audience it’s yours. They don’t give a damn. If I’m discussing it with magicians, if it’s not TOO GOOD, I’ll defer with due praise.

GOOD TRICK Part 3... Who Cares if This is a Good Trick for the Public? Jonathon Townsend, one of a handful of the membership of this group who took the time to give me some feedback to the first part of this fanciful three part experiment, provided a unique and dead-on response... “Great way to size up the crowd here. See who asks for method(s).” He knew, based on my published work, that methods are merely the means to an end as far as I’m concerned, and my only technical interest in them is that there are no tells. Most importantly, he took me literally when I said, “I’m only interested in cogitating about effects on an audience.” Of course, by that I mean how to get GOOD effects! The others who replied talked about methods! I received NO responses to Part Two, perhaps because the membership, on the whole, doesn’t consciously differentiate between the plot of the methods (as perceived by the magician) and the plot of the trick (as perceived by the audience). The fact is, I’m big on methods. My number one rule is: If you’re a magician, you must FOOL ‘EM in order to ENTERTAIN ‘EM. (‘em is the audience.)

The methods, though, must be the right ones, i.e., only those that can be easily integrated into the plot of a carefully constructed narrative; one that can take an audience through a series of emotional changes. The truth is, there are dozens of possible methods for accomplishing the basic effect for the trick I described, but few that can be hidden between the plot points of a good presentation. Part Two was a preliminary analysis (a short version for the sake of example) to discover what methods might be used to construct a plot with some conflict and suspense... as well as a touch of situation comedy. To that effort, I received NO responses! I’ll admit that I chose to submit the GOOD TRICK in parts because I was curious what a group of magicians, motivated to pay for access to above average thinking about card magic, would do when given the bare bones of a promising premise. Would they be encouraged to think of ways to flesh it out so an audience would be intrigued, or merely speculate as to the secret method while waiting for someone to supply it? Well, I told you the ostensible results. The latter, dwelling on possible methods, can’t be a good policy. Card tricks made up of assemblages of methods, even those that cannot be detected, are invariably of little or no interest to the public. Why? They don’t have enough information to understand the significance of your efforts. While you work to hide the methods, all that’s left for the audience to experience is a series of contrived puzzles or demonstrations of dexterity. Either of these strains the attention spans of most people. How are they to appreciate the variations of taking cards, thinking of cards, saying stop as several cards riffle by... or if you find a selection by calling out its name, pulling it out of the pack or your pocket or your wallet... even if it’s SIGNED... So what? They don’t know how you do it. And they don’t know how their microwaves and VCRs work, either. These aren’t the mysteries and fantastic phenomena in which the public is interested. They put their money on emotion, human behavior, and spectacle! These things are universally fascinating. Even if the methods are exposed, as they were by the “Masked Magician,” the result will be diminishing interest, because methods are no fun. The petering out of that series was not due to pressure by up in arms magicians. Limiting this dissertation to card tricks, I’ll admit that a week doesn’t pass without my reflecting on the short story called “Mr. Know All” by W. Somerset Maugham. While you may not recognize the title, I’m sure you’ve read or heard some version of the following excerpt... Then he seized the pack. "Do you like card tricks?" "No, I hate card tricks," I answered. "Well, I’ll just show you this one."

He showed me three. Then I said I would go down to the dining-room and get my seat at the table. "Oh, that’s all right," he said. "I’ve already taken a seat for you. I thought that as we were in the same state-room we might just as well sit at the same table." I did not like Mr. Kelada. People always laugh when they hear or read this. But, why? What’s so funny? Hey! It doesn’t say Mr. Kelada was a magician. He just knew a few card tricks, but couldn’t put them over. Maybe he didn’t get the cards signed... Maybe he didn’t have the right material... No. That doesn’t work. The author hated card tricks before he did one! COGITATION ALERT: Could this mean that as far back as over ninety years ago, the public already looked upon card tricks as generic trifles? If so, how did that happen? Keep in mind that the author didn’t say “bad” card tricks. The implication is that card tricks in general, are less than appealing to the public. It’s at moments like this that I like to cogitate on the words of a favorite authority on the methodology of magic. He was “...not concerned with the audience; they’re the laymen.” Ah, well. Rather than continue beating you over the head with my arguments that methods should just be the means to the end, let’s get on with those for the “Good Trick.” I’ll just warn you, though, I will include my usual excruciatingly detailed references to staging and presentation. That’s the price you must pay for reading my take on this stuff. INTRODUCTION Nate Leipzig put it simply... “After all, in a trick everything is secondary to the presentation.” The presentation of GOOD TRICK will throw off those who would jump to the conclusion that the methods used are sleight-of-hand techniques of a force and substituting a duplicate. These methods were chosen by the majority of respondents to the sight-unseen description of the effect. Let’s begin this study by getting the methods NOT used out of the way. There’s no sleight of hand. And, it’s NOT a force and a duplicate. What is it, then? It’s a FREE CHOICE of one of TWENTY-SIX DUPLICATES! Yes, that makes it a trick deck trick. What? You don’t like to carry around a bunch of gimmicked decks? How about just one? And, why do you carry around ANY deck of cards if you’re so pure? And how about that Sharpie? Oops! I got all defensive. Sorry... COGITATION ALERT: Are you good enough with cards to use gaffs? Learning to use them properly takes some special familiarity and skills.

Several accomplished gentlemen were delighted with them. Vernon fooled Houdini with a trick card, and always carried a Brain Wave deck in his brief case. Marlo wreaked “revenge” on the misrepresentations by magic dealers of the capabilities of trick cards by filling an entire issue of Ibidem with some very commercial applications with them. And, Leipzig wouldn’t think of doing the Princess Trick or Herbert Milton’s Sympathetic Clubs without trick cards. Are you afraid of being caught with gaffs? Or, are you afraid of being caught without them? The Fin de Siecle Magic Pack of Cards Can you pronounce fin de siecle? Try FAN duh-see-ECK-luh (like two words). It’s French for “end of the century.” At the beginning of the twentieth century, it was vogue to use it as an adjective for something considered outstanding from the previous century. In modern times, we don’t wait that long. Now anything or anyone can be proclaimed outstanding from “of the year” to “of the hour.” Ellis Stanyon liked the fin de siecle appellation enough to use it more than once. In his Fire and Chemical Magic, he entitled a visible and instantaneous transposition of water and ink the “Fin de Siecle Water versus Ink.” In his fourth series of New Card Tricks, published in 1910, he devoted a large section to various tricks using “The Fin de Siecle Magic Pack of Cards.” Actually, he described several different “magic packs of cards,” all being based on the changing book principle The changing book, also called the Blow Book because you blow on it, and, if you are “versed in the secret method,” the contents of the pages change. It was published in Reginald Scot’s Discovery of Witchcraft in 1584, and about the same time in J. Prevost’s Clever and Pleasant Inventions. In recent times, it has been called the Flip Book because the pages are shown by flipping through them. And, it has evolved into the Stamp Album and the Coloring Book tricks. Whatever you call it, though, the general method is alternating long and short pages In the “Third Arrangement and Tricks with Same” of the Fin de Siecle Magic Pack of Cards, “...the short or cornered cards are all of the same suit and value, for instance, say, every short card is a six of clubs, these are arranged as usual, alternately, throughout the pack.” That sounds like a Svengali Deck to me. How about to you? In 1911, the year following the publication of this idea, Burling Hull published his Sealed Mysteries in which he claimed to have invented and copyrighted the Svengali Deck in 1909! History and tradition (or possibly ignorance) have given this one to Burling. But, that’s not the application we’re using. Our choice is the “First Arrangement and Tricks with Same.” This time the “...pack is composed entirely of pairs of cards, each pair different ... with the exception that it (a duplicate) is a short or a cornered card.”

If there were no short cards, by the way, just twenty six pairs, the deck would be called a Mene Tekel, given that name many years ago by the late W.D. Leroy, a Boston magic dealer. The other applications of the Fin de Siecle principle, i.e., alternating long and short cards, given by Stanyon don’t matter for the explanation to follow. I just thought I’d give you some background. Oh, one more thing that might be useful. Here is Stanyon’s description of one of the tricks possible with this pack. This is where I started, with trick number five... “A card is selected, and the cut made all as described, after which the performer places the pack in his left hand coat pocket. He then removes the pack (having left the duplicate card in the pocket) under the pretense of having forgotten to have the drawn card replaced. This is now done, and the pack placed in the opposite right hand pocket. The chosen card is now caused to pass from the pack in the right hand pocket into the left hand pocket from which it may then be removed by any person.” The truth is, I misread this effect, which was also the only explanation for performing it. I overlooked the changing pockets part! No doubt some serendipitous leaking tear duct blurred my vision momentarily. That much clumsy contrivance would have moved me right along. Even the idea of using the same pocket for the deck might have qualified it for Rick Benstock’s question, “Does the effect scream out its own solution?” (Rick, by the way, was another of the meager number of respondents to Part One.) When the effect is completely based on trying to hide the method, as is this one, it should be a primary consideration for leaving this trick for the magician conclaves, and spare the public. COGITATION ALERT: Maybe it would be an interesting discussion to speculate on what prompted Stanyon to come up with such a lame idea. Could it be that he was simply trying to suggest something different from the standard “pick a card then I’ll find it”? It’s apparent that, to the public, it got no further than “pick a card then I’ll find it IN MY POCKET.” Can you see how in seeking various applications of a method you risk having “the effect scream out its own solution”? This trick would be all method if it weren’t for the addition of the CONFLICT. Things go wrong. Then, the “fix” is more perplexing than would have been the original effect. The integrated cause and effects of the methods and the presentation lead the audience in the wrong direction as far as discerning the secret because of the strong misdirection of preoccupying them with the human CONFLICT. PREMISE What if you could see with your fingertips? Could you save yourself? REQUIRED MATERIALS AND SETUP You should be wearing a blazer, sport coat, or suit with flapless side pockets.

A Fin de Siecle Magic Pack of Cards (Refer to the ADDENDUM) (Editor’s Note—All illustrations are on the final page of this PDF) STEP-BY-STEP PROCEDURE “Tired of the old you-pick-a-card-and-the-magician-finds-it trick?” 1.

Remove the deck from its box. “What I’m about to show you is completely DIFFERENT because I can find your card WITHOUT LOOKING... that is, I won’t look WITH MY EYES!”

2.

Gripping the face-down deck from above by its ends with your right hand, dribble the cards onto your palm up left hand. (Refer to How to Dribble in the ADDENDUM) Square the deck, then repeat the dribbling two or three times.

RB COMMENTS: Don’t in any way call attention to the dribbling, and it will serve two purposes. First, it will wordlessly imply that the cards are being handled freely so they must be okay. And, second, anything unfamiliar about it, and therefore should cause suspicion, will go away with the casual repetitions. COGITATION ALERT: How many dribbles are too many? How many are enough? “Just say STOP wherever you want...” 3.

Turning toward a spectator on your LEFT, dribble the cards (actually pairs) facedown onto your left palm until she stops you. COGITATION ALERT: If you’re doing this for only one or two people, there might be a problem. Keep this in mind as you proceed. “Do you want this one...”

4.

As soon as you stop dribbling cards, offer the top card of the lower half by pushing it diagonally forward and to the right about an inch. NOTE: This card will be a short card and the one beneath it will be its duplicate. “...or THIS one?”

5.

Before she can take that card, turn your right hand palm up to show the face of the card on bottom of the upper half. (Fig 1)

RB COMMENTS: Actually seeing two different cards helps to cancel an audience’s suspicion that you’re influencing the choice. “Either one. It doesn’t matter... I’m showing you both so you can make an uninhibited decision.” 6.

Turn your left hand palm downward to show the index of the jogged card. (Fig 2) Allow her to indicate her choice.

“Okay. Take it...” 7a.

If she wants the top card of those in your left hand, turn the packet face downward as you place the packet in your right hand facedown onto the table. Take the protruding card from your left hand, and give it to the spectator. Take the remaining cards from your left hand, and dribble them onto the packet on the table.

7b.

If she wants the face card from the packet in your right hand, turn it face downward as you pull the top card on the packet in your left hand flush with your left thumb. Extend your left fingers and place their tips against the face card of the packet in your right hand. Slide the face card from beneath the packet (Fig 3) until you can take it with your left thumb and fingertips. Give the card to the spectator as you drop the packet in your right hand onto the table. Take the remaining cards from your left hand, and dribble them onto the packet on the table. COGITATION ALERT: What if people are behind you and the selection is from the packet in your right hand? “Show it to everyone so they can all appreciate what is about to be done...”

8a.

Have her show the selection to anyone who hasn’t seen it as you gather and pick up the cards from the table with both hands, and square them faces toward you.

8b.

Have her show the selection to anyone who hasn’t seen it as you pick up the cards from the table with both hands, but SECRETLY SLIPPING THE DUPLICATE TO THE TOP. Do this by first bumping the deck toward your right with you left fingers so as to expose the back of the duplicate on the bottom. Dig your left fingers between the bottom card and the rest of the deck as you push the cards against your right fingers. As you gather the cards into your right hand, pick up the one you “missed,” and drop it on top. Complete the gathering with both hands, picking up the cards, and squaring them with faces toward you. COGITATION ALERT: Why not just put the bottom card on top after you square the deck? “Remember, she had a wide variety of choices...”

9.

Place the deck face-up into dealing position as you TURN TO YOUR RIGHT. Pick up the deck, and dribble the cards onto your palm up left hand. (Fig D5) This time move the deck in little circles so the faces of several cards will be exposed at the same time. “But, since I saw the card, I’ll find it without looking... WITH MY EYES, that is... Ladies and gentlemen, I’m deluded enough to believe I can SEE WITH MY FINGERTIPS... ”

10.

Square the deck against the table top with both hands, faces toward you, (Fig 4) and put it into your right jacket pocket.

RB COMMENTS: As a general rule, keep the action moving just slightly behind your words. This isn’t hard and fast, but it can increase the audience’s ability to absorb the cause and effect relationships built into the PLOT. “Now I’m using my fingers to look through the cards...” 11.

As soon as your hand enters the pocket, push off the duplicate of the selection. “Hmm... Dark in there... That’s odd... I can’t SEE it... What’s THAT?”

12.

Pretend to fumble around in your pocket vainly searching for the selection. As you do this, pan the audience from RIGHT TO LEFT, and “spot the card” and frown.

RB COMMENTS: Don’t wait for some kind soul to take mercy on you, and point out that the selection is still in the possession of the selector! The timing here is very important. Properly played, this will get a big laugh. If you keep the action moving from the moment you put the deck into your pocket to the moment that you “discover” that the spectator still has the card, you’ll avoid someone pointing out your little oversight. “You know, it’s a lot easier to do this trick if the card’s in the deck!” 13.

Remove the deck from your pocket secretly leaving the duplicate of the selection behind.

RB COMMENTS: Socially speaking, now is not the time to be indignant and condescending, but do it anyway. The purpose in appearing to worm out of your blatant blunder is to build some tension to strengthen the CONFLICT. “It makes no sense to look for the card in the pocket if you still have it! 14.

Dribble about half of the cards face down onto your palm up left hand. Extend your left hand for the replacement of the selection, then dribble the remaining cards onto it. Square the cards, and place them onto the table.

RB COMMENTS: As I pointed out in the preliminary analysis in Part Two, the audience will recognize the contrast between your overconfidence at the outset, and your pathetic attempt to blame this blunder on the spectator. At this point, you have a moment of suspense because the audience will wonder what you are going to do to save face. The more you can make them recognize your dilemma, and feel that you can’t escape, the more they’ll appreciate your victory. This, however, is a delicate balance. “Of course, we all know her card... and that I was going to find it in my pocket WITHOUT LOOKING...” 15.

Square the cards by squeezing the inner corners with your thumbs and first fingers as if finishing a table riffle shuffle.

RB COMMENTS: The squaring is important. The fact that you “handle” the cards, no matter how cleanly, leaves open the possibility that you dexterously removed the selection. You’re just REALLY GOOD! “So, to make up for my little oversight the first time, I’ll do it THE HARD WAY...” 16.

Raise your right hand, and, with fingers wide apart, rapidly turn it front and back two or three times, then reach into your pocket, grab the card, and bring it out with its back to the audience.

RB COMMENTS: Without stating the obvious, i.e., “...AND, I won’t put the DECK into my pocket,” you show your right hand to be unmistakably empty and unprepared, then dip it into your pocket, and bring forth a face-down card. [Good time for a BEAT.] “Your card IS the xx of xx... Right?” 17.

Pause to let this sink in, then reveal its face.

RB COMMENTS: FAST. >From the moment you “discover” that the selection was not returned, things must happen DELIBERATELY with no hesitation. (TAG): “Now I feel much better about myself...” COGITATION ALERT: Can you play the final part of this trick as though, in your frustration, you forgot yourself for a moment, and turned on your REAL MAGIC POWERS? Bringing that off takes some acting. “The conjurer must be an actor. By the expression of his face, by his gestures, by the tone of his voice, in short, by his acting, he must produce his effects.” David Devant The End Finally, I want to assure you that the payoff for this trick can be a stunning surprise! If you’ve played the cause and effect relationships in the right order, the idea of a duplicate has been eliminated, and the card that they place into the deck on the table SUDDENLY is in your pocket is totally astonishing. Might they later forget your careful tearing down of the possibilities without foreshadowing the ending? Some people will think about it, even discuss it, until the impossibility causes them to rationalize any number of answers. Maybe the right ones. Unfortunately, for them, it’s TOO LATE. Show’s over. They got what they wanted from you. They saw a conjurer. You didn’t tell them to believe in real magic. Just to pretend for a little while. I hope you’ll give this a serious trial. It may become a secret weapon. You know, like when you only do ONE TRICK. Best... RB ADDENDUM How to Make a Fin de Siecle Magic Pack of Cards

You can make two Fin de Siecle decks from two regulation decks. Begin by trimming about a sixteenth of an inch from the narrow end of one deck. Either cut them singly, with a paper cutter, or have a professional printer shear the proper amount from an entire deck. Avoid trimming too much white, which can be a danger if the deck you’re shortening is printed off center. Trimming a sixteenth of an inch from the end of a card ruins the two corners. So, for a neater job, round the corners of each of the trimmed cards with a corner rounder, or have them done. The correct angle for a corner rounder is 1/8” (3.5 mm), so the commonly available and cheap one for making short cards, which is 1/4” (6 mm), won’t do the job. Mix the shortened deck until the cards are in an acceptable random order. (What this means is up to you!) Divide the deck into two halves, and place them aside. Spread the unprepared deck face up on a table so you can see the order. Place a short card from one of the shortened halves face-up on a table. Find its duplicate in the unprepared deck, and place it face-up onto the short card. Place another short card face-up onto this pair, then its duplicate onto it. Repeat this pairing until you’ve got a deck of twenty-six pairs. That’s one deck. Put it into a box, and repeat the pairing and boxing with the remaining cards. How to Dribble I’m fighting the impulse to start this off with the feeble baby and basketball references that come to mind... [TWO BEATS] Okay! It’s out of my system. Dribbling cards is a supposedly open and fair way to handle the cards for selections, returns, forces, etc., during a card trick. If you don’t already dribble cards, here’s a brief explanation. COGITATION ALERT: Although you are directed to dribble the cards several times during the introductory remarks in this trick to establish the action, the action can cause suspicion. How do you avoid that possibility? Do you use the dribble for everything? Does it matter? The first priority for getting satisfying results from using a gaffed deck is to make yourself completely comfortable with it to the point that you handle it exactly as if it were a standard deck. So, any handling you expect to do with the trick cards, first do with unprepared ones. Observe closely from various angles (mirrors and video cameras are useful) the differences, and find out how to get rid of any noticeable discrepancies. Please don’t yield to the temptation to match the handling of the trick cards to the ordinary ones. Do it the other way around! D1... With your right hand, grip the deck from above by its ends, thumb nearest you. Hold it about four or five inches above your palm up left hand. Curl your right fingertip against the back of the deck, and apply pressure to the central area of the top card. Now, if you slowly relax your grip on the ends, you can easily

release one or more cards at a time from the bottom of the deck so they’ll fall onto your palm up left hand. D2... You can get better control of the releasing of cards by gripping the pack at two diagonal points, i.e., pressing your thumb against the inner left corner, and your right third finger tip against the outer right corner. If necessary, use your second finger to stabilize the deck. Your first finger, of course, is occupied as the pressure source on top of the deck. For an understated but dignified appearance, daintily extend you fourth finger, curling it slightly. D3... Okay, now that you’re happily dribbling all over yourself, here’s why it’s not a good idea to do this trick with the “Svengali Run” handling. Thanks to TV Magic cards, and other Svengali pitches, it’s associated with a “trick deck.” It’s just too much of a tip-off that the deck isn’t Kosher. D4... The cards fall down by twos, so it’s a good idea to keep your hands fairly close to each other when dribbling a gaffed deck. Closer also speeds up the action without the necessity for going faster. This is the principle of Exchanging Space for Time that I read somewhere... D5... When dribbling faces up, you can get a better display of a variety of cards by moving your right hand in small circles above your palm up left as you release the pairs. As soon as the last pair has fallen, press the faces of all the cards firmly against your left palm with both of your thumbs. Then you can safely turn the faces toward you before squaring the deck. (This last action is shown in Figure 4.)

-- Ron Bauer Illustrations On Next Page!