Stephen Minch - The Vernon Chronicles vol.3(1).pdf

THE VERNON CHRONICLES VOLUME III

"He fooled Houdim*."Photo: Hal Phyfe, New York, N.Y, 1938

"Fiftyyears after." Photo: Young & Robin, Los Angeles, CA, 1988

Dai Vernon Further Lost Inner Secrets A Tribute To A Master

Written by STEPHEN MINCH Produced by BRUCE CERVON Co-Produced by LOUIS FALANGA Illustrations and Cover Design TOM GAGNON Design and Layout LOUIS FALANGA Pre-Illustrative Photography JAMES PATTON LINDA CERVON Back Cover Photo YOUNG & ROBIN

Published by L & L PUBLISHING Larry Jennings and Louis Falanga

Special thanks to: Stephen Falanga for all his help and support, William Bowers for supplying the cover photo, Betty Jane (B.J.)Jennings, Jim Patton, Luke McKissack, Milt Larsen, Pam Young, Robin Robin, Joan Lawton, Leo Behnke, Bill Larsen, Mike Perovich, Riff & Mary Markowitz, Randy Holt, Alfonso Aceituno, Jeff Semel, George & Helen Cemava, Monte Smith, Bob Jardine, Ron & Elizabeth Wilson, Deane Stern, Ray Grsimer, David Michael Evans, Mike Maxwell, Virginia Falanga.

Library of Congress Catalog Number €3782230 FIRST EDITION @Copyright 1989 L & L Publishing and Bruce Cervon, Lake Tahoe, CA All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without the permission of the publishers. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Typesetting-Tahoe Crafts Printing, Kings Beach, CA

CONTENTS Foreword -- Herb Zarrow ............................................i Introduction -- Bruce Cervon ..................................... m Author's Introduction -- Stephen Mnch ...........................v Trouping Around in Magic with Max Holden . William I? Miesel ............................................. ix

Chapter One: Dark Side of the Hand Subway Gambler's Palm ........................................1 The Contortion Palm ...........................................3 Dr. Daley's Face-Lift Addition ....................................5 The Lilliput Palm ............................................... 8 An Historical Note on the Dr. Elliott Top Palm ...................11 The Revolving Palm-Replacement ...............................13 The Finley Diagonal Palm Shift Revisited ........................15 Flat Top ...................................................... 16 Chapter Two: Sundry Sleights Flat Top Switch ...............................................25 The Spring-Loaded Tip-Over Change ...........................27 The Zarrow Block Addition ..................................... 30 A Note on Zarrow's Revolving Aces .............................35 Back Breaker ...................................................37 The Hair's-Breadth Stall ........................................39 Vernon on the "Endfield" Slip Cut ..............................41 On the Hay False Dovetail Shuffle .............................. 44 A Table Pass ..................................................50 Chapter Three: Motley Spellatron .................................................... 57 Cut and Spell ................................................. 59 Caught in the Stretch .......................................... 63 If the Suit Fits................................................-67 Bruce Cervon's Trans Mitt ......................................70 Given the Slip ................................................ 75 Will-o'-the-wisp ............................................... 81 The Vernon Deck Vanish and Recovery ..........................93 Chapter Four: Cheats Joker Monte ................................................. -99 Three in the Hand, One in the Bush ........................... 105 A Straight Deal .............................................. 108 The David and Goliath Deal ................................... 111 Black's Stack ................................................. 113 Stacked to Formula ........................................... 116 Chapter Five: Inflationary Effects On Your Metal ...............................................123 All Sound and Fabric ......................................... 128 Right Where? ................................................130 Two Techniques with the Purse Palm ...........................135 Pastiche on Ramsay, with Variations ............................ 139

On the Origins of the Steeplechase ............................147 Folding Money ...............................................149 Cashing a Check .............................................156 Chapter Six: Notes on Cherished Ghosts 'Vester" Adam's Flight of Fabric ................................161 Arthur Finley's Remote Control ................................166 S. Leo Horowitz's Look Homeward. Angel ..................... 168 Henry Christ's Obstinate Pasteboards ........................... 171 FauceffRoss' Twice Turned .................................... 175 Mac MacDonald's Lost Chord .................................177 Dr. Dale* Vis-6-vis ..........................................180 Dr. Daley's Select Transposition ................................ 185 Dr. Daley's Interlocking Setup .................................187 Tenkai's Phoenix Bill Vanish ...................................193 Lany Grey's Cut to Perfection .................................199 Jay Ose's Presentation for The Glass Through Table ..............................................203 John Scarne's Doppelganger Location .......................... 205 John Scarne's Western Union Trick .............................208 Chapter Seven: Solitary Amusements What's-the-Value Solitaire ..................................... 215 Think-of-a-Card Solitaire ...................................... 219

FOREWORD I'm pleased and grateful for this opportunity to express a few of the many thoughts I have concerning Dai Vernon. I have for many years been privileged to know 'The Professor" and to count him as a good friend. Those who know me know that I am not easily overwhelmed, nor do I scatter superlatives freely. However, when the subject is Vernon, there are not enough superlatives in my vocabulary to describe his magic. During the period surrounding 1946 and 1947, my very close friend, Dr. Lewis Leeson, and I attended Vernon's two lectures in New York. We were young and not long in magic. These were the beginnings of lectures as we now know them and they were the best lectures I've ever witnessed. At the time, Dai performed tricks with cards, coins, cups and balls, rings; he even included a few mental feats. Our eyes almost popped out as we watched miracle after miracle. The effects were unpublished then; subsequently many appeared in Stars of Magic, the Tarbell course, Dai's books and other publications. However, some of those items remained unpublished until these wonderful volumes, now being written. Dai's knowledge of magic, in all its forms, is vast and unbelievable. He has the uncanny ability to delete, add or change one small point that makes a tremendous difference in an effect or sleight. But it is not only his knowledge; it is his insight, his creativity, his realization of effect and entertainment value, and of course his natural handling and gentlemanly manner. It is all these things that produce the real magic. Many magicians from New York City and the surrounding areas used to meet on Saturday afternoons at the Forty-Second Street Cafeteria to discuss magic. Prior to Dai's move to California, these meetings were enhanced for many years by his presence-and he was often present. Dai always had interesting stories about magicians and effects, and he invariably gave challenges that inspired us to work out many solutions. This is all part of Dai's charisma. He is a catalyst to magic, and magic always happens when he is around. Then there were the many Saturday evenings spent at the Balducci's. We gathered there with Dai and many other magicians, enjoying Ann and Ed's hospitality while we discussed, argued and created. These were wonderful parties that allowed me and others to experience more fully Dai's abilities. There were other gatherings at the home of Connie and Leeona Bush, and at our home, where I'll modestly say that Phyllis was always a magmbcent hostess. She still enjoys magic to this day.

Of Dai's many lectures that I've attended, I'll always remember one he did in Elizabeth, New Jersey. When he thought some in the audience couldn't see him, he stood on a chair for hours and performed all his marvelous magic from that shaky perch. And how can I forget the 1974 Boston lecture, which was attended by many well-known magicians. They were all thoroughly entranced by Dai's stories and knowledge, and would have remained all night. Dai finally stopped sometime between 2:00 and 3:00 A.M. There are so many wonderful stories about my friendship with Dai that I could tell; but they would detain you from the excellent material that follows. I know you are in for another stimulating and satisfying treat as you read and practice the contents of this volume. I'm looking forward to the subsequent volumes, and especially to the future meetings with Dai-and to the big event: his One-Hundredth Birthday Party. Herb Zarrow New Jersey, 1988

INTRODUCTION by Bruce Cervon As you all know, I've been a close friend of Dai Vernon's since the early 1960s. I became involved in 1967 with the publication of his material, by helping Lewis Ganson finish Dai Vernon's Ultimate Secrets of Card Magic. While it was an outstanding collection of magic, I was disappointed with the production quality of that volume; the material deserved much better! I vowed that, someday, I would put out Dai's magic in the form it deserved. It took almost twenty years, and several false starts, before I found the right people and circumstancesto produce the sort of work I had envisioned; and here we are at Volume 3 of The Vernon Chronicles, with a mass of material behind us. However, we are by no means finished. All of us are now hard at work on Volume 4, and a little dazed by the amount of extraordinary material we still have to cover. Many have asked me how we go about creating each volume of this series. As producer and instigator of the project, I have furnished the majority of the material used to date. This is, for the most part, material I have collected over the years. First I go through my notebooks and cull Dai's work from the many items recorded there. Often my notes are condensed and details must be filled in from memory; and sometimes I find tricks that neither Dai nor I have done for many years, and that both of us had forgotten. In such cases, details of handling must be reconstructed. When all this has been accomplished, I sit in front of a video camera and put all the material and its history, as Dai told it to me, on tape. Steve Minch then takes on the enormous job of going over the taped material, translating it to the written page. He sends a first draft to me for checking, always riddled with questions for Dai and myself. Sometimes these questions lead to the expansion of an item to many pages. After we answer Steve's questions, he does another draft of the manuscript. Again I go over it, checking the revised t q t . Steve makes whatever adjustments are necessary and sends the third draft to our editorial board: Connie Bush, Larry Jennings, Milt Kort, Ken Krenzel, Max Maven, Harry Riser, Mike Skinner, Looy Sirnonoff, Herb Zarrow and, while he was still with us, Faucett Ross. Each reads through the manuscript, searching for problems, making corrections, adding comments and information. Steve installs the additions of the board into the textand sends me a final draft. I then go through the manuscript and pose for the hand photos. These photos are sent to Tom Gagnon, who then transforms them into expert illustrations.

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Illustrations and text are turned over to Louis Falanga, who has the type set and pastes up the book for printing. He, of course, has been busy with coordination and detail work throughout the long process. Once Louis has pasted up the "boards", I check the photo captions and write an introduction. Steve does a final proofing of the boards and they are sent to the printer. Louis supervises the printing and binding procedure, and when everything has been done to the best of everyone's abilities, he takes on the responsibility of distribution and sales, getting the books to you, our readers. Along the way, other friends have contributed in special ways to this great ongoing project. They are Jim Patton, Mike Perovich, Luke McKissick and Johnny Thompson. Thanks to each of you. We are more than gratified so far with the response to these volumes, and we hope you continue to feel, as all of us do, that the magic of Dai Vernon is timeless. Bruce Cervon Treasurer and Board Member of the Magic Castle September 25, 1988

AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION This third instalment to The Vernon Chronicles continues to explore the copious "Castle Notebooks" kept by Bruce Cervon. However, another s o m e has also been heavily drawn on for the contents of this volume. Michael Skinner maintained a notebook during the late 1960s and early 1970s, in which he recorded many items shown him by Dai Vernon. Mr. Skinner has generously opened his notes to us and contributed a dozen items to these pages. This volume, as have the past two, offers great variety. There are useful sleights, select tricks to suit all levels of skill, bits of history packed into the cracks, and a long chapter of magic invented by some valued friends from Mr. Vernon's past; magic rescued from oblivion by his extraordinary memory. As with the other volumes, this book would not exist were it not for the efforts of a large group of friends, who have all contributed something that enhanced its quality: Ron Bauer, Eddie Fields, Tom Gagnon, Andrew Galloway Ray Grismer, Richard Kaufman, the late Gerald Kosky Edward Marlo, Jim Patton, Mike Perovich and John Thompson. Then there is my editorial board, on whom I count so heavily: Conrad C. Bush, Larry Jennings, Milt Kort, Ken Krenzel, Max Maven, Harry Riser, Mike Skinner, Looy Simonoff and Herb Zarrow. My heartfelt thanks to all these men. Another large debt of gratitude is owed to William P. Miesel and to Max Maven, who are in great part responsible for the exceptional essay, 'Trouping Around in Magic with Max Holden". Thanks also to Phil Willmarth and The Linking Ring magazine for permission to republish large portions of the original article. Volume 4 of The Vernon Chronicles is already in progress. Its contents will be drawn mainly from notes recorded in the 1940s and 1950s by Conrad C. Bush, Frank Csuri, Faucett Ross and others. This material is no less remarkable than what has gone before. While it is readied, please enjoy this third chronicle of Mr. Vernon's exceptional magic. 1

/ stephen Minch November 6, 1988

Dai Vernon vi

TROUPING AROUND IN MAGIC WITH MAX HOLDEN

TROUPING AROUND IN MAGIC WITH MAX HOLDEN by William P.Miesel with aid from Dai Vernon & Max Maven

An original and particularly fascinating piece of scholarship by William l? Miesel appeared in the November 1986 issue of The Linking Ring (Vol.

66, No. 11, pp. 69-91). Mr. Miesel, a dedicated and knowledgeable student of magic, had for years collected and poured over Max Holden's columns in The Sphinx. In these columns Mr. Holden gave descriptions of tricks he had seen performed by various magic luminaries of the period. Only effects were reported, with no explanation of the methods.

Early Vernon 1920s ix

Mr. Miesel selected a handful of the most intriguing card problems, and with them constructed a 'Tarade" column for The Linking Ring. The tricks chosen from Max Holden's reports were performed by members of the New York inner circle during a period spanning the mid-1920s to 1932-a period in which Dai Vernon was just reaching his prime. In this Parade, Mr. Miesel used his considerable knowledge of magic to construct methods for the selected effects; methods that would be accessible to the average card magician. When Phil Wdmarth received Mr. Miesel's Parade, he had the excellent idea of sending it to Max Maven, with the request that Mr. Maven go over the material with Dai Vernon-the last s-ving member of the New York group-in the hope of adding some pertinent historical commentary. Mr. Maven did this, added some research of his own and supplied six singlespaced typescript pages of notes to supplement the Miesel article. Since this work is seen as being a si@cant study of a seminal period in the history of modern close-up magic, and because Mr. Vernon and his close friends figured so prominently in it, it was felt important to reproduce it in these Chronicles.In so doing, the article has been considerably revised to consolidate the researches of Mr. Miesel and Mr. Maven, and to include additional informationdiscovered by Bruce Cervon and myself. Our intent has been to reconstruct the actual historical solutions to the effects as accurately as it is possible, while caulking in the chinks with cautious intuition when necessary.

The true student of magic has to have a great love for The Sphinx magazine. My favorite section of The Sphinx is the writings of Max Holden. While he wrote under different headings over the years, his column was most often titled "Trouping Around in Magic". He would pass on the magic news of the area he was in at that time. Invariably he would describe an effect that someone had shown him-at least this is the implication givenbut he would not reveal how the trick was performed. Due to my insatiable appetite to solve magical problems, I have compiled several hundreds of these effects. Over a period of several years I have spent considerable time trylng to devise methods for them. This article consists of about a dozen of these problems with their methods, as best they can be reconstructed after such a passage of time. Besides offering some very good magic, a lesson in the history of close-up magic is given as we go along. All the ideas here generate from New York City during the period from 1926 to 1932. This was the beginning of close-up magic. Stage magic was the only magic that was recognized in the latter part of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth.

A very youthful Max Holden Close-up magic started in New York at this time under the influence of Dai Vernon, Arthur Finley, Henry Christ, S. Leo Horowitz, Dr. Elliott, John Scarne and A1 Baker. All these men hung out at Holden's New York shop. Close-up magic grew as Dr. Jacob Daley and Ted Annemann came to the fore in New York City; and it spread across the country through the efforts of such devious practitioners as Stewart Judah and Charlie Miller. Much of this was reflected in Max Holden's columns.

From The Sphinx Magazine Volume 24, Number 11, January 1926

'Dave Vernonis busy with clubs around New York City.One of his new ideas with cards is to have a card selected and placed face-down on the table without anyone looking at it. Next he takes a card from the top of the deck. It is the nine of hearts. This denotes that the card drawn was a heart. This card is now placed face-down next to the chosen card and another card is taken from the bottom of the deck. It is the three of spades. That means that the chosen card is a three. This card is also placed facedown on the table. Another card is taken from the center and placed facedown in the table, but when the four cards are turned over they are discovered to be the four kings. The finish is a complete surprise. No false moves are made, and as a new trick it is perfed. " Commentary: Note that this is from a period before the Professor was known affectionately as "Dai". This effect is apparently a forerunner of "Matchingthe Cards'; which appears in Dai Vernon'sInner Secrets of Card Magic. Though this book was first published in 1959, there were in it tricks that Dai Vernon had considered his favorites for many years. He taught a version of this trick to Nate Leipzig and it became a regular part of Leipzig's club act for many years. This version of the trick is described in Dai Vernon's Tribute to Nate Leipzig (1963). Another of his handlings, "AMatch Made in Cincinnati", is explained in Volume 1 of The Vernon Chronicles.

Looking at Nate Leipzig's book xii

The earliest record of this plot seems to be "Correcting a MistakeJ1in Hatton and Plate's 1910 book, Magician's Tricks: How They are Done. Another version of the trick became known as "The Magician Makes Good" when Joe Berg published his variation of the effect in Here's New Magic in 1937. Also in 1937, Fred Braue applied a gambling theme to the effect and published "The Magician vs. the Gambler" in Hugard's Annual of Magic for 1937. H. Adrian Smith, in his Parade in the September 1945 Linking Ring, describes a version of "The Magician Makes Good. He attributes the ideas behind his version of the effect to Luis Zingone. However, there is reason to conjecture that the ideas Smith noted in Zingone's performance may not have been original with him. Here is the solution to the original effect as it was described by Max Holden: Any one of the four kings is forced. Dai Vernon used the classic force, but with an edge that allowed him the certainty of succeeding even with magicians. The kings are secretly gathered together, their colors paired, and are cut to the center of the deck, where a left little-finger break is held above them. The deck is then spread for the classic force. Since any one of the four kings can be taken, the force is considerably simplified. As you explain that you will determine the identity of the unknown selection through the aid of several random cards, you casually shuffle the deck. While doing so you maneuver the remaining three kings into these positions: one on top, one second from the face and one at center. The center king must be of the same color as the chosen king and lies under a crimped card so that it can be found quickly. Here is how the cards are shuffled to achieve this position: You must note whether the king drawn by the spectator comes from the upper pair or the lower. If one of the lower pair is taken, catch a break over the three remaining kings in the center of the deck and overhand shuffle to this pattern: Shuffle off all the cards above the break and throw the balance on top. This brings the kings to the top of the deck. Start a second shuffle by "milking" the top and bottom cards from the pack. Secretly add this pair to the bottom of the deck as you begin the second stroke of the shuffle and, in the same action, milk off the top and bottom cards again. Throw roughly half the deck onto these two cards and run the next card, injogging it. Finish by shuffling off the balance onto the injogged card, running the last few cards singly. If the selected king is one of the upper pair, the shuffle is similar, but has an added sequence at the start. Instead of forming the break above the three remaining kings, take it below them. Then begin the first shuffle by undercutting the block below the break and shuffling it onto the upper portion. This delivers the kings to the bottom. Do another quick shuffle, running the last few cards to reverse the order of the kings as they are brought to the top. Follow this with the milk and injog shuffle sequence just described. xiii

You now have a king on top, a king second from the face and a king at center, resting below an injogged card. This last king is of matching color to the one drawn. As you square the deck in the left hand, bring the tip of the right thumb down on the inner left corner of the injogged card, press down on it forming a corner crimp, and push the card flush. Explain that the top card of the deck will denote the value of the selected card. Turn over the top two cards as one and reveal the second card from .the top. Let's assume it is a nine. Explain that the selection must be a nine. Turn the double card face-down again and deal the top card to the table, face-down to the right of the selection. Explain that the card on the face of the deck will denote the suit of the selected card. The right hand takes the deck from above and turns palmup, bringing the face of the deck into view. Let's assume that this card is a club.

Charlie Miller and Dai Vernon, early 1930s The explanation to the spectator continues: "These two cards indicate that the selected one was the nine of clubs." As this line is delivered, the right hand turns palm-down, returning the deck to a face-down condition. The right fingers glide back the bottom card as the left hand pulls out the king that rests second from the bottom. It is placed face-down onto the table, on the other side of the selection. "Just to be sure, I will reach into the center of the deck and pull out a card. That card will be the exact mate to the one you selected." Spot the crimped card in the deck and lift it and ad the cards above it away from the lower portion. Push the top card of the lower portion forward, drop the top portion back onto the lower and remove the projecting card from the center. Turn the face of this card to the audience. Pay no particular attention to it yourself at this point. Pause a few seconds to give the spectator a chance to realize there is a strong possibility something went wrong.

With the other hand, reach down and pick up the selected card; then turn it over. For the first time look at the two cards yourself. Remark, "That's strange. They are certainly mates, but what happened to the indicator cards?" Drop the two kings face-up onto the table and slowly turn over the two indicator cards to reveal the other two kings for the final surprise. While Dai Vernon used the classic force to keep fellow magicians wondering, the riffle force might be used for less knowledgeable audiences. Doing so simplifies the shuffling procedure. Here is how I would handle it: First, the beginning setup is modified. One black king is secretly placed on top of the face-down deck. The second black king is set second from the face of the deck. The two red kings are given a slight crimp and inserted together in the center of the deck. When ready to perform, hold the deck face-down in dealing position in the left hand and get a little-finger break between the two red kings. With the left thumb, commence to riffle.down the left side of the deck and ask the spectator to say "Stop." When he does so, cease the riffle. Bring the right hand over the left and, as soon as it covers the deck, release the break the left thumb has been holding. The right hand now cuts off all the cards above the left little-finger break. Half of the deck is held by the right hand from above and the other half is held in the left hand in dealing position. It is explained to the spectator that this is the spot where you were stopped and he can have either the card on the face of the right-hand packet or that on the back of the left-hand packet. (There is a red king in both places.) The extra freedom of this choice is disarming. Whichever he chooses, place that card face-down on the table, without showing its face. It will be one of the red kings. Restore the deck to its original order by placing the right-hand packet back onto the left-hand packet. Give the deck a couple of riffle shuffles but retain the top card and the two bottom cards in place. Also, take care not to remove the crimp from the second red king, as it later must be found rather quickly. Its position in the deck does not matter. The balance of the action is nearly identical to that already described and will be obvious to the reader. Dai Vernon recollects that Arthur Finley was the first on the New York magic scene to use the riffle force. He does not know Finley's source for the sleight. It first appeared in print in Jean Hugard's More Card Manipulations, No. 4 in 1941. The Vernon handling of this force appears in More Inner Secrets of Card Magic, pp. 72-73. There are other versions of the riffle force that were in print in Stanyon's Magic (Vol. 12, No.12, September 1912)and in Arthur Buckley's Thirty Card Mysteries (1930); but these did not force a specific card, utilizing a break.

Bart Whaley cites Richard Neve's 1716 book, The Merry Companion, as containing the earliest record of the double lift discovered to date. It next appeared in Ponsin's Nouvelle Magie blanche dkvoilke in 1853. M . Ponsin describes it in the context of an Ambitious Card sequence, presented as an invisible pass. In Magic without Apparatus Camille Gaultier confirms that the double lift was in use among French conjurers in the late 1800s. Roterberg, in New Era Card Ticks (1897), describes two cards held as one, preliminary to doing the "mysterious change" (now commonly called the push-in change); but few details of how the two cards are lifted and handled are provided. This is typical of the period. Detailed descriptions of the double lift were not published until 1933, when two appeared: one in Hugard's Card Manipulations, No. 2 and the other in Ralph Hull's More Eye Openers. When Dai Vernon first came to New York City in 1913, and later returned in 1915, he fooled everyone with the double lift, which was virtually unknown at the time, despite its mentions in print. Cliff Green, a boyhood friend of Vernon's (they met in 1912) also exploited the sleight during this time, baffling fellow magicians. The name "double lift" was coined by Theodore Annemann. The origin of the double turnover, a refinement to the double lift, is murkier than its parent. Victor Farelli wrote in Hugard's Magic Monthly (Vol. 11, No. 5, October 1953, p. 52) that the first performers he saw doing a double turnover were Nate Leipzig, Arthur Finley and Dai Vernon.

From The Sphinx Magazine Volume 25, Number 5, July 1926

"Dave Vernon has a clever effect.He lays the three kings face-down on the table, then has one card selected and placed face-down on the table without looking at the card. He explains that the card selected ought to be of the same denomination as the other cards. The selected card is now turned over. The spectator says, You are wrong this time, Dave. 'But when the three cards which we saw laid down a minute before, and which were then kings, are turned over, there are three tens to correspond to the selected ten. "

Commentary: This is a variation of the effect that was described by Max Holden in the January 1926 Sphinx, which you read just a few moments ago. I am sure Vernon was experimenting with a different presentation that followed along these same general lines. The following is a very simple handling that will accomplish this effect. A minor setup is required and that is to have the four tens on top of the deck. This can be arranged very easily during the course of the performance. Turn the deck face-up and obtain a left little-finger break above the three lowermost tens. There are several ways of managing this: pull-down, triple buckle, thumb riffle, or injog. Spread through the deck and outjog three kings as you come to them, letting the faces of these cards be seen. Then xvi

perform the Vernon strip-out addition (see Volume 1 of The Vernon Chronicles, pp. 79-85) and drop the deck onto the kings (tens hidden beneath). Flip the deck face-down and deal the top three cards-tens substituted for kings-face-down onto the table. It is now merely a matter of forcing the fourth ten on a spectator. While any number of forcing procedures can be used, the circumstances require a particularly convincing one, as the spectator is likely to anticipate a force at this point in the presentation. This makes a procedure like the classic fan force difficult for all but the most expert. You do not want to miss, or to arouse suspicion. The riffle force described in the previous trick might be used, but a stronger choice here would be the Vernon fan force (ref. More Inner Secrets of Card Magic, pp. 73-74). Perform a brisk overhand shuffle: run three cards, then a fourth while secretly picking up the first three again onto the face of the pack; then shuffle off the pack onto the single card in the left hand. This brings the fourth ten to the bottom and into position for the fan force. Force the ten on a spectator. Explain that the spectator has selected the fourth king. Display the selection on the face of the packet, revealing the ten. Feign surprise. Then flip over the three tabled cards and reveal the other three tens.

From The Sphinx Magazine Volume 25, Number 6, July 1926

'Xecentlyat Dr. Bridges' I witnessed Sam Homwitz performing a series of card tricks. I know how magicians are interested in the performance of other magicians. When I say that Mr. Horowitz is one of the cleverest cardmen, and last year he had the pleasure of fooling T. Nelson Downs, I am sure this program will afford Sphinx readers food for thought. 'Apack of cards was borrowed and shuffled; a card was selected, placed back in the pack and again the pack was shuffled. Then half the pack was taken, reversed and placed face to face with the other half. The cards are now run out and it is seen that all cards are again one way but the selected card is the only card reversed.

'Five cards are now taken from the top and one member asked to think of one. The cards are placed back in the pack, another five cards are taken, again one is selected and they are placed back in the pack; and likewise with three more sets of cards from which cards are selected. Five separate sets of cards are now taken and placed behind the back. Sam takes one card from each set and places it on the table. On the party naming their card, there it is on the table in order. "Severalcards were laid out on the table-about fifteen-and Mr. H e d CaniRgton was asked to select one card mentally The cards were nowplaced back in the pack and shuffled. The pack was handed to Mr. Carrington xvii

and he was asked to count out his card and turn up the last card of the count; and sure enough, on that card being counted out and turned over, there was the card that had been mentally selected. 'A golf stick was taken and a piece of cord was twisted around the stick several times. Still, on a word of command, the cord was pulled clear of the stick. 'A poker effect was done where hands were laid out, but Sam held the highest winning hand. 'The top card was now shown and placed in the center of the pack; but on lifking the top card, there was the original top card. It was now placed second from the top, but again was found on top. It was again placed in the center and the pack was turned aroun to show the protruding card was the correct one. It was then pushed into the pack and thepack handed to a member. He was asked to turn over the top card and, lo and behold, there was the card that had been pushed into the center of the pack. A wonderfulseries of card experiments, presented in a masterly manner, with no false moves throughout. "

Commentary: In discussing Horowitz's work, Dai Vernon points out that Horowitz began purely as a coinman. Although a fine routiner, as is evidenced here, with a good creative ability for plotting, much of his card work came from Vernon and Finley. The opening effect in this routine is a version of the old topsy-turvy deck trick. Have a card selected and returned to the deck. Control the selection to the bottom of the deck in any manner you like and buckle it there, using the left fingers to install a longitudinal crimp in the card (Figure I).

FIGURE I

Cut off the top half of the deck, turn it face-up and drop the face-down bottom half cleanly on top. At this point you can spread the deck to show the halves are genuinely face to face. Turn the deck over to display the underside, and form a break below the crimped card. Now do a half pass, reversing the packet below the break. The trick is done. xviii

The next phase of the routine appears to be a simplified version of Nate Leipzig's "Five Hands", which wasn't published until 1938, when John Northern Hilliard's Greater Magic appeared. The version that Horowitz performed was most likely based on a Vernon variation of the Leipzig trick, "Blindfold Poker Deal'; which can be found in Further Inner Secrets of Card Magic. Horowitz used five selections instead of four, and set them five cards apart, using Vernon's method, as each group of five was inserted into the deck. When the stack was shuffled to the top, the selections were known to be every fifth card, and were easily brought forth from behind the back as each set of five cards was handled. In Max Holden's description he says, "One member is asked to think of one." An impression of mental selection is given when five cards are dealt face-down in front of a spectator and he is told to peek at any one of the five he wishes. According to Holden's description of the routine, Horowitz continued with another card trick, in which a card is mentally selected. From my interpretation of the description, this effect would have to be performed with a setup, which would have been lost during the previous two tricks. Because of this, it is likely that Horowitz did a partial deck switch. Indeed, there is circumstantial evidence within Holden's description that supports this theory. Why did Horowitz alter the Vernon "Blindfold Poker Deal" handling, taking cards in groups of five behind his back, instead of dealing them to himself in a poker hand? Perhaps because he had routined the trick to prepare for the spelling effect he performed immediately afterward with Hereward Carrington. Here is a possible scenario. Though Holden states that the deck was borrowed, it is probable that Horowitz was aware of what brand of cards would most likely be used in this group, and he came prepared. If my analysis of the spelling trick is correct, a twelve-card setup is necessary. Horowitz could carry this setup in a hip pocket of his trousers, or perhaps wedged in the waistband. As he took each group of five cards behind his back to locate a selection, he could simply remove the selection from the face of the packet, slip the other four cards into the empty hip pocket, and replace these with four other cards-the bottom four cards of the spelling setup. The four-card sections of the setup could be staggered in the pocket or waistband to accelerate their removal. By the time he had handled all five sets of cards behind his back, he had introduced the entire twelve-card setup to the borrowed deck in a very subtle manner. He was now ready to perform the spelling trick. While Holden says that Dr. Carrington was asked to "count out his card," it is likely he meant the name of the card was spelled. According to Hilliard, 'The first application of the principle of having a card thought of and then spelled out was devised by Mr. Finley of New York. It was elaborated on by Mr. Vernon and Mr. Horowitz. The first printed version by Jean Hugard appeared in The Ossirian."

However, Vernon says the principle was originally explored by Dr. Elliott. The Professor first became aware of its potency when Clyde Powers marketed a routine using clusters of same-number spellers, marked for location. (This sold for $20.00-quite a price in the 1920s.) Vernon supposes the version used in the Holden account was probably one he himself had shown Horowitz. Annemann obviously liked this principle. One of his applications, 'A New Thought Card Spelling Effectf; was included in The Book Without a Name (1931). He had several versions in the Encyclopedia of Card Ticks, where you can also find similar tricks by James Kater and an anonymous source. Bob Hummer's "The Puzzling Speller" appeared in the 1935Jinx Winter Extra; and GreaterMagic contains several by Annemann, T. Nelson Downs, Commander Slayton and Hilliard. Here is a typical setup that will do the job. The stack contains twelve cards that read, from the top of the deck down: CLUB TWO HEART SIX SPADE FOUR ACE OF CLUBS TWO OF SPADES JACK OF HEARTS SEVEN OF SPADES NINE OF DIAMONDS THREE OF DIAMONDS THE EIGHT OF SPADES THE FOUR OF DIAMONDS THE QUEEN OF DIAMONDS Notice that each card, when spelled as indicated, requires one more letter than the previous card. Yet, when the group is laid face-up on the table for a mental selection to be made, it appears perfectly random. The twelve cards are dealt into a face-up spread in front of a spectator and he is asked merely to think of any one he sees. The spread is scooped up, without disturbing its order, and replaced on top of the deck. The deck is then overhand shuffled, maintaining the stack while six indifferent cards are added over it. The deck is handed to the spectator, at which time he names his card. He then spells it, dealing one card for each letter, as depicted in the list above. When he reaches the final letter, he will find he is holding his card. The deck was then temporarily put away and the rope through golf stick was performed. The penetration he used was probably the one explained in Stewart James' Encyclopedia of Rope Tricks, Volume 1, titled 'The Rope Through the Stick" (pp. 85-86). I imagine, though, that Horowitz would have substituted an ordinary straight pin for the knife.

After penetrating the golf stick with the rope, I think it would be safe to assume that Horowitz again brought out the deck of cards but, instead of the one that was in previous use, a "cold deck" was now introduced. Again, circumstantial evidence supports a deck switch. Why would Horowitz otherwise choose to interrupt a strong sequence of card tricks with an unrelated rope penetration, only to resume the card tricks afterward? The deck switch solved two problems at once: a) it got a complete deck back into play (the borrowed deck was mixed with the spelling setup and could not be returned as it was); and b) it allowed a new stack to be introduced, one which made the poker deal possible, as well as the Ambitious Card routine that followed it. Holden does not provide enough information to pinpoint the specific poker deal Horowitz used. Two poker deals that would be from the appropriate period would be the "Vernon Poker Demonstration" and his "Automatic Gambler". The first can be found in The Dai Vernon Book of Magic and also in Early Vernon. "The Automatic Gambler" appears in Select Secrets. The routine was brought to a close with an Ambitious Card sequence. Dai Vernon, during this period, was using a double-backed card for a version of the Ambitious Card, and was fooling all the magicians. This was, in fad, the trick with which he so badly fooled Harry Houdini in 1925, and from which Vernon reaped a great deal of publicity. In Greater Magic (p. 480), Hilliard writes, "These cards were known to, and used by Hofzinser.. .and it is quite possible that he invented them. [Until],comparativelyrecently the principle lay in abeyance, at least as far as America was concerned ... Some ten or twelve years ago a little group of New York magicians, Messrs. Vernon, Finley and Horowitz, became interested in the possibilities of the double back principle and worked out some very effective tricks with which they completely bewildered their confreres in magic.. .the use of the cards gradually spread until now it has become common property amongst card workers. " Vernon disagrees with the inclusion of Horowitz in this context, as he was a late-comer to the principle. Dai says he didn't divulge it to Horowitz until the late 1920s. The Professor concurs with the statement in the Hugard revision of Gravatt's Encyclopedia of Card Tricks (p. 117) that the first appearance of the double-backer in the United States was in Theodore DeLand's marketed trick, "Two Card Monte" (circa 1910). However, that trick used specially printed cards that could not be employed with a normal pack. Vernon says his involvement with double-backers began with his analysis of a description of an effect by Hofzinser, in which the brilliant Austrian magician was said to have cards drop carelessly from his pocket to the floor. The puzzling asped of this description that caught Vernon's attention was the statement that the cards always landed face-down. From this Vernon surmised that Hofzinser had probably used doublebacked cards in ways far more advanced than that invented by DeLand. xxi

Indeed, one of the tricks recorded by Ottokar Fischer in J. N. Hofzjnsefs Card Conjuring, "The Three Powers'; uses double-backed cards (p. 170). During one period in the 1920s, when the double-backed card was unknown to most magicians, Vernon would customarily carry on his person thirty-two assorted double-backers to match virtually all available back patterns-in various states of wear. He would secretly add the appropriate card to a borrowed deck and proceed to do miracles. At this time, he says Arthur Finley was the only other one in the New York crowd who knew the principle. It was during this period that Finley invented the gimmicked deck version of the Triumph effect, using a deck made of twenty-six doublebackers and twenty-six regular cards. This idea was later reinvented by U. F. Grant and marketed as "Cheek to Cheek". Vernon recalls the time when he finally explained the double-back principle to Horowitz. He had badly fooled him for some time with his application of the gaffed card to the Ambitious Card trick. Horowitz had asked Vernon on several occasions to reveal the secret to him. Finally Vernon gave in. He did the trick for Horowitz and fooled him again with it. When Horowitz expressed his frustration at still being batled by it, Vernon handed him the double-backed card. "Here's the secret, Sam."

Sam Horowitz and Dai Vernon, January 3, 1942 Horowitz held the card without knowing what it was. He looked without comprehension at Vernon and said, 'Yes, Dave, but how do you do it?" It never occurred to him to turn the card over. "Sam, I told you, you're holding it." Horowitz still didn't understand. Finally Vernon had to tell him to turn the card aver. When he did a whole new world of possibilities opened up to him.

Horowitz was quite taken with the double-back principle and worked out many ideas with it. He suggested that he and Vernon co-author a book on the subject; but when Annemann began publishing applications, Horowitz abandoned the idea. Vernon recalls that Horowitz was enamored of gaffs, and often elected to use them when a perfectly good ungaffed method existed. Therefore, he quickly adopted Vernon's use of the double-backer for the Ambitious Card. However, at the time Holden wrote his July 1926 column, Vernon believes Horowitz was using an Ambitious Card routine similar to one of Cliff Green's, which relied on double lifts and a duplicate card (another principle of which Horowitz was very fond). Such routines were not uncommon. The duplicate was later palmed away, before returning the deck. A likely sequence that would duplicate the Holden description is this:

Ching Ling Foo and Houdini The two duplicates are positioned second and third from the top of the deck. Do a double turnover and show one of the duplicates, apparently on top. Turn the double card face-down again and take the top card. Push this indifferent card into the center of the deck. Turn over the top card and show it has returned from the center. Turn this card face-down and place it second from the top. Turn the top card face-up and show the card has come back again, thanks to the duplicate. This phase can be repeated once, if desired. Now take the top card and insert it face-down into the center of the deck, leaving it outjogged for half its length. Turn the deck so that the face of the card can be seen, and slowly push the card flush. xxiii

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Lower the deck again, hand it to someone and ask that they turn up the top card. The duplicate is turned up and the trick concluded. This duplicate can then be palmed from the deck, before the cards are returned to their owner.

From The Sphinx Magazine Volume 25, Number 9, November 1926

'"Thelatest effectof Sam Horowitz: fiur cards are selected from the pack and placed face-down on the table. One card of the four is now selected and the cards are mixed and placed in the pack reversed; that is, the pack is held face-up and the cards are inserted face-down in differentparts of the pack. The pack is squared up and handed to you. When you look through it all the cards have righted themselves, with the exception of the selected card, which is still reversed. Clever-I71 say so. " Commentary: Fortunately, Horowitz's method has been preserved by Faucett Ross in private correspondence. Ross had read Holden's description of the effect and, when he next met Horowitz in New York, he asked him about it. It had been a while since Horowitz had done the trick, and at first he could not remember the details of the method he had used; but he managed to reconstruct a method for Ross.

Faucett Ross, over the years, passed on the secret of Horowitz's method to several friends, and Ross Bertram eventually published it on page 240 of Bertram on Sleight of Hand. Several further details of handling, not found in the Bertram description, have been discovered in a letter from Faucett Ross to Roger Klause, dated January 14th, 1961. Four double-backed cards are on top of the deck. Often Horowitz would palm these onto a matching borrowed deck, which left other magicians of the period completely at a loss to explain the method. Overhand shuffle the deck, adding four regular cards onto the double-backers. Deal the top four cards into a face-down row in front of a spectator. Deal the next four cards (double-backs) into a second row, in front of yourself. Ribbon spread the deck face-up between the two rows of cards. Have the spectator choose any one of the four cards near him, note it and drop it on any of your four cards. Have him drop the other three cards in your row onto his card, burying it. Then have him pick up the pile and give the cards a mix. Take the mixed packet from him and insert each of the five face-down cards into a different spot in the face-up spread, leaving them outjogged for half their lengths. Gather the remaining three cards of his row, display their faces and comment that he could have chosen any of these. Drop the three face-up onto the face of the spread. xxiv

Push the five outjogged cards flush with the spread and neatly gather it. Then turn the deck face-down on the table. Make some magical gesture and ribbon spread the deck again. One face-upcard is seen-the spectatofs. There is some question of whether this method was the one Horowitz actually used in 1926. Dai Vernon is reasonably certain that he did not reveal the secret of double-backed cards to Horowitz until the late 1920s, sometime after the performance Holden reports. Faucett Ross recalled discussing the trick with Horowitz in 1927. This must have been some time after the performance for Holden, as Horowitz told Ross that it had been a while since he had performed the trick. This is borne out by his need to reconstruct the method for Ross. It is possible that Horowitz mistakenly recalled a later method he had devised after learning of double-backers-a method undoubtedly influenced by Arthur Finley's work with double-backed cards. Since we must rely on memories of many years ago, concerning a sequence of events that span a relatively brief period, we may never be sure if Horowitz was using double-backed cards when he performed for Holden. Other methods were certainly available. The following is one feasible alternative:

Dai Vernon, Francis Carlyle, Faucett Ross The deck is unprepared, but bears a one-way back pattern. During the period under discussion, the Bicycle League deck was a popular one-way pattern. (It was Theodore Annemann's favorite.) The deck does not have to be set up with all cards arranged one way. Only four cards need be set. The simplest method for arriving at this goal is to spread quickly through the face-down shuffled deck and casually toss out four cards, the backs of which point the same direction. You could also locate a group of four properly aligned cards and cut them to the top; or you could cull four appropriate cards to the top using a couple of riffle shuffles. xxv

Deal the four cards into a face-down pile on the table, with their backs all pointing the same direction. Set the deck aside, pick up the four cards and fan them. Have one chosen and noted. As this is done, close the fan of three remaining cards, turning it end for end in the process. Ask that the card be shown to the others in the group. Then fan the three cards again and have the selection returned. Its back is now reversed to the rest. Have the spectator take the packet and mix it. Given only four cards, there is little else to do but cut the cards to mix them. Therefore, there is virtually no chance that the one-way arrangement will be spoiled. While he is mixing the packet, pick up the deck, hold it face-up and reverse a bit over half of it with a half pass. The upper portion is now face-up and the lower is face-down. Take back the packet from the spedator and casually spread the four facedown cards in a row on the table, while remarking that it would be impossible for either him or you to know which of the four cards is his. Look at the backs of the cards and spot the reversed one. This is the selection. Insert the three indifferent cards face-down into various parts of the lower (face-down) portion of the deck; and slip the selection into the upper (face-up) portion, but down near the juncture of the back-toback blocks. Square all four cards neatly into the deck and, under cover of the squaring ations, form a break at the natural bridge between the portions. Then right the face-down block with a half pass. This leaves the seletion reversed near center. Hand the deck to the spectator, make some magical gesture, and let him discover that his card is the only one now reversed.

From The Sphinx Magazine Volume 25, Number 11, January 1927 'Dave Vernon's latest: A spectator shuffles a red deck and then a blue deck, selects a card from one and removes its mate from the second deck. f i r instance, if the five of diamonds was chosen from the blue deck, he would remove the five of diamonds from the red deck. Very fairly the red and blue cards are shown and placed face-up on tables a few feet apart. Yet, on command the cards change places: the red one is now the blue and what was the blue is now the red."

Commentary: Dai krnon worked out a number of methods for this effect at the time, and no longer remembers which he might have been using when Holden saw him perform the trick. He believes the plot was a Horowitz idea. Numerous similar tricks have been published in the ensuing years. xxvi

Since we know that Vernon was exploring double-back card work at the time, it is probable he was doing a variation of his "Chameleon Backs". This trick eventually appeared in Encyclopedia of Card Tricks (p. 125) and again in Feke Card Tricks (pp. 14-15), a booklet published by Harry Stanley in 1959. A red-blue double-backer is used to accomplish a switch of the cards in a convincing manner. Here is a reconstruction of the method for the effect Holden reported. Have the two decks shuffled and duplicate cards freely chosen and removed from them. As the spectator picks up either deck to remove the first card, there is ample misdirection for you to palm a red-blue doublebacker from your pocket. When palming the card, the side matching the color of the deck being handled must be positioned against the palm. Take the first deck from the spectator-let's assume it is the blue-and ask that he remove from the red deck the duplicate of his selection. While he does this, add the palmed double-backer onto the blue deck and catch a little-finger break beneath the card as you hold the deck face-down in left-hand dealing position. Take the two duplicates from the spectator, holding them fanned and faceup in the right hand. Display both sides of the cards several times by turning the hand alternately palm-down and palm-up-but as you do this execute the two-card monte slide. That is, the right thumb pushes the upper card of the pair, which lies to the right of the lower card, to the left; and the right fingers simultaneously pull the lower card to the right (see Figures I1 and 111). This transposes the positions of the cards. The action is hidden within the larger motion of the right hand turning palm-down. Reverse the sliding actions as you turn the right hand palm-up again. Casually repeat the display several times. The sleight causes the audience to confuse the positions of the red and blue backs, thinking they are just the opposite of what they are in reality. (Vernon's twocard corner-snapping ruse can also be used here effectively; ref. Select Secrets, pp. 17-18.)

FIGURE I1

FIGURE I11

Finish this brief display with the cards face-up. Then drop the red-backed card face-up to your right on the table and have the spectator place the red-backed deck face-down behind it. The audience should believe the tabled duplicate to be blue-backed. Your next actions will confirm this impression. xxvii

Drop the face-up card in your right hand square onto the deck and execute a double turnover to display the apparent red back of the card once more. Do another double turnover and remove the face-up card. Table both it and the deck to your left, setting the card in front of the face-down pack.

Charlie Miller and Dai Vernon Each of the face-up cards has been shown to be alien to the deck beside it. Make the motions of magically transposing the two cards; then turn them face-down to show the deed has been accomplished.

From The Sphinx Magazine Volume 27, Number 3, May 1928

'"Thefive-card &ect of Annemann's I already described in the March issue; now his latest: A pack of cards is handed you. You cut the pack in two, take a card from one half and place it in the other hall; then shuffle. Still he finds the card. Again five cards are taken from the pack and you are asked to select one mentally The five are replaced in the pack at different places. Again the deck is shuffledand the mentally selected card is found. " Commentary: The first effect is quite likely Annemann's 'fi Card is Found Once Moref; which he published in 1934in Sh-h-h! It's a Secret (pp. 12-13). This is a better trick than Holden's terse description suggests, as it is not made clear that the card can be chosen from either half while the performefs back is turned, and after the card is replaced, both halves are shuffled together. xxviii

The deck has a one-way back pattern and is arranged with the backs all oriented in the same direction. The deck may be shuffled before hand, by yourself or by a spectator, so long as the one-way arrangement is not disturbed. The pack is then set face-down on the table and someone is asked to cut it into two fairly equal piles. Arrange the two piles side by side on the table, subtly turning them so that their back patterns lie in opposing directions. Now turn your back while the spectator removes a card from either half, notes it and buries it in the opposite half. While you don't know the location of the card, you can be assured its back lies reversed to the balance of the packet in which it rests. When you turn back to him, grasp the halves and riffle them together. In doing so you turn them so that the directions of the backs conform. Annemann's method for this is brilliant. Each half is grasped with the thumb at the inner end and the fingers at the outer. The hands then rotate in opposite directions to bring the thumbs' ends adjacent to one another. At this point the halves are riffled together in the standard fashion. The manner of shuffling is perfectly normal, yet it subtly turns the packets just as required. The deck can be shuffled again if desired. Then it is given to the spectator. He is asked to deal cards into a face-up pile, thinking "stopffwhen he sees his card. Of course, the selection is the only reversed back in the pack and can be easily identified just before it is dealt. Holden states that the spectator did the shuffling. Annemann may have performed the first shuffle and let the spedator give the deck another shuffle or two. Or he may have helpfully positioned the halves properly for the shuffle and let the spectator do the actual weave. Or, working for magicians, Annemann may have spotted someone who habitually shuffled the cards in the manner necessary (a common one). Now to the second location: By 1928, within the New York inner circle, Vernon had popularized the principle of using multiple "outs" in card tricks, and Annemann was understandably influenced by this powerful idea. The second trick Holden describes is quite likely a variation of Vernon's 'Think of an Acef; expanded to handle five cards. The original trick wasn't published until 1960 in More Inner Secrets of Card Magic (p. 13).Though there is not enough information given in Holden1s description to reach any conclusions about what outs Annemann may have settled on, one can make some informed guesses. The final position is almost certainly this: one card on top, one on the bottom and three together at center, with the middle card of the three injogged. Holden states that the cards were returned to different spots in the deck and that a shuffle followed. The cards could be returned one at a time and retained on top with double cuts. However, with five selections, this seems cumbersome. A multiple shift would be far more economical in action. Such maneuvers were circulating by 1928. Cardini originated an early multiple shift, which he used for controlling the aces. It appears in xxix

"Greater Magic" (pp. 545-546); and Dai Vernon had already devised his multiple shift method by this time. The five cards from which the mental selection is made are in a sequence known to you. These cards are inserted into the deck, in order, working from the top down. They are then controlled to the bottom with a multiple shift.

Theo Annemann, Max Holden, AI Baker 1930 The cards are set into the required positions with two overhand shuffles: Milk the top and bottom cards from the pack, shuffle off to the last four cards and run them singly on top, reversing their order. Start the second shuffle by running one card, injogging the second, running a third, throwing half the talon onto these, and throwing the balance underneath. The first card now lies on top; two, three (injogged) and four lie at center; and the fifth card is at the face. These positions allow you to arrive at any one of the five cards in a direct manner, the moment it is named. The top and bottom cards are simply revealed in place; while any of the three center cards can be cut to by cutting either above or below the jogged card.

From The Sphinx Magazine Volume 28, Number 1, March 1929

"SamHorowitz showed me his latest. I selected fourjacks from the pack; also a five of diamonds. I now shuffledone jack back into the pack, leaving three jacks and a five. These cards were placed into four glasses, with the backs of the cards showing. Now I was asked to point to the five-but that proved to be a jack; and, likewise, the other three glasses contained jacks. Looking through the pack, there was the five of diamonds." Commentary: As mentioned earlier, Horowitz was fond of using a duplicate card, and it is almost a certainty that he did so in this trick. That Horowitz also used the double lift here, a sleight then traveling through the New York magic underground, is also a reasonable supposition. Given this, a method for the effect can be constructed that is probably quite close to the one Horowitz used. A duplicate jack is required; say the jack of clubs. This is in the right pocket, where it can be conveniently palmed. Have a spectator go through the deck and remove the four jacks. As he does so, palm the duplicate jack in your right hand, back against the palm. Take the four jacks from the spectator and ask that he spread the deck faceup on the table. Then have him push out one other card of his choiceone that contrasts well with the jacks. Let's assume it to be Mr. Holdenfs choice, the five of diamonds. While he is involved with this, casually fan the four jacks face-up and cut the jack of clubs to the back of the fan. When the five has been pushed from the deck, drop the fan of jacks onto it and flip the packet face-down. With your right hand, pick the packet up from the table, adding the palmed jack of clubs on top. The cards now read from top to face: jack of clubs, five of diamonds, jack of clubs, jack, jack, jack. Flip the packet face-up into the left hand and fan it as five cards, keeping the last two squared as one. This displays the four jacks with the five behind them. Close the fan and flip it face-down. Do a double turnover to show the five, apparently on top of the packet. Turn it down again and transfer the top card to the bottom of the packet. Do a second double tumwer and display the jack of clubs. Lift this double card from the packet and insert it into the middle of the face-up deck, which is still spread on the table. Have the spectator gather the deck and give it a brief shuffle. You are left with four jacks in your hands, thought to be three jacks and the five. Set each of these four cards into a glass and have the spectator guess which is the five. Then reveal that the five is gone and that the jack of clubs has returned. Take the pack, spread quickly through it and toss out the five of diamonds to finish. To clean up, you can cull or cut the jack of clubs to the top of xxxi

the deck (the jack will probably lie very near the five of diamonds) and palm it away. Or you can simply forget about the jack of clubs in the deck. Take the jacks from the glasses, palm the jack of clubs from the packet and mix the remaining three into the deck, if you think anyone is going to check it. With a few minor changes in procedure, the five can be made to appear face-up in the deck, which makes the climax more immediate and dramatic. Have the spedator remove the four jacks from the deck. As he does this, palm the duplicate jack of clubs from your pocket, back toward the palm. Take the jacks from him, adding the palmed jack to the packet. Ask that he spread the deck face-up on the table and push a card of his choice from it-one that contrasts with the jacks. As he does this, casually fan the jacks, faces toward you, and move the second jack of clubs to the top of the packet, beside the first. Do this without exposing that you hold five cards, of course. This should present no problem. When he pushes a card from the spread-well assume it the five of diamonds again-pick it up and drop it face-up onto the face of the packet. Hold the packet face-up in left-hand dealing position and reverse count the six cards as five into the right hand, forming a fan. The last two cards (the duplicate jacks), held as one, are placed on the face of the fan. Square the cards and return the face-up packet to left-hand dealing position. With the right hand, lift the top jack of clubs from the face of the packet. At the same time do a left-hand wrist turn, turning the packet face-down to hide the second jack of clubs at the face. Then, as you turn the left hand palm-up again, adjust the packet to a face-down dealing,position without exposing its face. The right hand, which still holds the jack of clubs, places it face-up on top of the face-down packet and all six cards are squared. Explain that the jack of clubs is to be returned to the deck. Do a double lift, taking the face-up jack with the face-down five hidden beneath it. You can either insert the double card into the center of the spread deck, or set it on the face, square the deck and have the spectator cut the jack into the middle. Place the four jacks you hold into the glasses and have the spectator guess which card is the five. Show that the jack of clubs has returned; then ribbon spread the deck face-down to reveal the face-up five at center. The duplicate jack lies just under it and can be easily disposed of when attention is relaxed.

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Note: This trick could have been the inspirational source for the Homing Card, which surfaced just a couple of years later, in the early 1930s. Dai Vernon believes the Homing Card plot was first developed by Jimmy Grippo, though the best known version of it is Francis Carlyle's, published in Stars of Magic. xxxii

From The Sphinx Magazine Volume 30, Number 12, February 1932

"LuisZingone has been performing some miracles in card work. One in particular is one where he has two packs of cards, a red back and a blue back. The cards are shuffled.One pack is selected, say the blue-back pack. Luis takes a blue pad ofpaper, writes a predidion and places it on the table. The spectator is asked to select a card. Now a second spectator is asked to select a card from the red pack-but first of all Luis writes another prediction on a red slip. Now both slips are in front of the two spectators and, when the slips are opened and read, the prediction is correct in both cases. A real mystery in card magic. " Commentary: Dai Vernon remembers first meeting Luis Zingone through a mutual acquaintance: Jack Davis, the magic dealer who commissioned Vernon to write a booklet of self-working card tricks. Vernon did so and the book was published, with an anonymous by-line, under the title Secrets. The booklet was pirated by several dealers and eventually entered public domain. It has gone through various editions over the years, in some of which Vernon's name does appear as author or contributor. Vernon believes his first contact with Zingone was around the time of the initial publication of Secrets in 1924. When Vernon met him, Zingone knew no magic to speak of. He did one move, the Erdnase one-handed shift, which he executed with astonishing speed. When Vernon asked him why this sleight was the only thing in card magic he knew, Zingone explained that he had read Erdnase and had been impressed by the statement that there was "extreme difficulty in mastering it [the one-handed shift] perfectly." He then devoted three years to perfecting it, on the premise that, once he had mastered this shift, the rest of Erdnase would be relatively easy to learn. Eventually he did conquer the balance of the book. Vernon remembers seeing Zingone perform a very complicated twentyminute card memory act at a magicians' function in New York. Zingone had purchased the mnemonic system only two days before! Clearly, here was a man willing to put in significant effort. However, Vernon also states that Zingone was "move-happy". He would invariably sacrifice magical effect for an impression of skill. The reaction he sought was, "Boy, that was quick!" Apparently he chose to do certain moves audibly, even when silent techniques were available, because by the snap of the cards the spectators were made aware that something skillful was happening. The effect that Holden describes is an excellent one and was marketed shortly after Holden1s description of it. It was released by the Steen Manufacturing Corporation as 'Zuis Zingone's Dual Prophecy". The method was exceedingly clever. The two decks are ungimmicked but are stacked. The blue-backed deck bears the following twenty cards in order from the top down: xxxiii

TEN OF HEARTS EIGHT OF CLUBS THREE OF DIAMONDS SIX OF SPADES ACE OF HEARTS FIVE OF CLUBS KING OF DIAMONDS SIX OF HEARTS FrVE OF SPADES SEVEN OF DIAMONDS ACE OF CLUBS FOUR OF HEARTS SEVEN OF CLUBS FIVE OF DIAMONDS JACK OF HEARTS NINE OF SPADES FOUR OF CLUBS TWO OF HEARTS FOUR OF SPADES EIGHT OF DIAMONDS The same twenty-card stack is arranged on top of the red-backed deck, but one indifferent card is then placed over that. Also required are red and blue slips of paper. These should be less than two inches square and are kept in a pocket notebook. The notebook is gimmicked as a billet index. Twenty slits are cut into the covering material on the inside back cover. These slits-five rows of four across-function as pockets for folded blue billets. O n the last page of the notebook is written the sequence of the twenty-card stack, which also serves as a key to the billet index. The stack is written in four vertical columns, working down the columns, starting with the leftmost and traveling to the right. See Figure

rv.

FIGURE IV xxxiv

Each of the twenty blue billets in the index bears the name of one of the cards in the stack, in the same rotational order, but advanced one position. That is, the first billet at the top of the first column carries the name of the second card of the stack, the eight of clubs. The billet below it bears the name of the third card of the stack, the three of diamonds, etc. The bottom billet of the fourth column has the first card of the stack written on it (see Figure IV again). Have several red and blue slips tucked into the front pocket of the notebook. These then are the preparations. Now to the working: Bring out the two packs of cards and ask two persons to assist you. Have each of them take a pack. You may false shuffle the packs before handing them out, if you think it enhances the effect in any important way. Ask the two helpers to decide secretly between themselves on a number from one to twenty. This choice is a free one, but Zingone would urge that they pick a high number nearer twenty to make things more difficult. There is a covert element of psychology here that will be discussed in a moment. It is preferable that the number be known only to the two helpers, but if the rest of the audience is let in on their secret, it is imperative that it be kept from you. When their decision has been made, turn to the person with the blue deck and tell him to deal cards quietly from the top of his deck into a facedown pile on the table, laying each one on the last, until he reaches the secretly chosen number. He is to take the card that rests at that number and place it in his pocket. He may look at the card or not, as he wishes; but he is not to show it to anyone else. After this he is to replace the pile of dealt cards on top of the deck and set it on the table. But, before he begins to do all this, you make a prediction. Remove the notebook and a pen from your pocket. Open it to the front and remove the blue slip there. Close the notebook and use it as a writing surface while you jot your prediction on the slip. Write "The four of clubs" on the slip and fold it. This is the seventeenth card of the stack and, if the spectators have followed your suggestion of selecting a high number, seventeen is the most frequent choice. If they do choose seventeen, the slip need not be switched later and the effect becomes something very close to genuine precognition. Fold the slip to resemble those in the index and lay it on the table. Then, while still holding the notebook, turn your back and verbally guide the spectator through the actions he must make. When he has placed a card in his pocket and reassembled the deck, turn back to him again. Pick up the blue deck and secretly glimpse the top card. Any method can be used. Zingone recommended the gamblers' topcard buckle glimpse, described in many basic card texts: While holding the deck in left-hand mechanic's grip, raise the deck to a position a bit past the vertical and lay the left thumb across the outer left corner of the top card. Then press the thumb firmly to the right. Since the tips of the left fingers brace the

right edge of the card, blocking movement in that direction, the card is forced to buckle convexly along its length, and the upper index can be sighted within the arch of the card (Figure V).

FIGURE V

After glimpsing the top card, set the deck down. Zingone suggested that the spectator be asked to shuffle it, which destroyed the stack. This may be done, but it seems to me to slow the action for no really worthwhile purpose. The card you have just sighted is the duplicate to the card resting at the selected number in the red deck. Remove the red slip from the front of the notebook and write the name of this card on it. Fold the slip and place it on the table. Then turn your back as the second person counts down in the red deck to his card and pockets it. You still hold the notebook as you turn your back. While the spectator is following instructions, open the notebook to the back index, locate in the key list the card you glimpsed and remove the blue billet from the corresponding pocket of the index. This billet bears the name of the bluebacked card in the first spectator's pocket. Finger palm the billet in the left hand. (If the card glimpsed is the nine of spades, the number chosen is seventeen and you needn't steal a billet from the index.) At this point Zingone would secretly pocket the notebook and bring forth a duplicate but unprepared notebook in its place. This he would toss casually on the table when he turned back to the audience. Should anyone become curious about it later, it could be inspected. It is debatable if this extra precaution is genuinely necessary, but some may wish to exercise the added bit of denial. Otherwise, the gimmicked notebook may be simply put away and forgotten. When the second spedator has finished his tasks, turn to face the audience again. If you wish you may have him shuffle the red deck. With your left hand, casually pick up the blue billet. With your right hand push the red billet toward the second spectator or someone near him. As you do this switch the blue billet for the palmed one. Hand the switched billet to the first spectator or someone nearby. xxxvi

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Radio City newspaper ad (Dale h e r ) xxxvii

1

There are a number of good billet switches in the literature. Some fine ones can be found in Annemann's Practical Mental Effects and Corinda's Thirteen Steps to Mentalism. Here is the one Zingone used: The biuet from the index is clipped between the left second and third fingers, near the middle phalanges. The tabled billet is picked up between the thumb and first finger and then pushed between the middle phalanges of the first and second fingers (Figure VI). The thumb contacts the index billet and pushes it to the tips of the fingers and into view (Figure VII). As this is done, the second, third and fourth fingers curl inward and the original billet is allowed to drop into their curl, while the index billet is held between the tips of the thumb and first finger (Figure VIII).

FIGURE VIII

Now dramatize the conditions of the test, stressing that the predictions were written before the cards were selected and that the number chosen by the spectators has remained unknown to you. Have the blue slip opened and read. Ask the first spectator to remove the blue-backed card from his pocket and show it. Let the success of the prediction register fully. Then have the red slip read and the red-backed card shown. xxxviii

The total effect should have considerableimpact if it is presented properly. Notice how theuse of blue and red billets silently puts to rest any suspicions of a one-ahead'solution. The decks are ordinary and will bear inspection, should the crowd be a critical one. If the decks haven't been shuffled after the seledions.wre made, it is advisable to give the blue deck a casual cut as you set it. aside, burying the disrupted stack and destroying any reasonable chance of having the arrangement of the packs discovered.

Performing at the Kit Kat Hub, 1936

xxxix

Early 1930s

Chapter One: Dark Side of the Hand

SUBWAY GAMBLER'S PALM The gambler's flat palm has several powerful advantages over other methods of palming a card or cards. It gives the hand a more relaxed position and the fingers independent flexibility, while keeping the palmed card completely hidden from all sides. It also allows one to load the palmed card onto the deck or a packet in a manner more natural in appearance than that most often seen when the card is held in classic palm. Despite these attributes, the gambler's palm is not commonly used by magicians. The centuries-long familiarity of the classic palm may partly account for its preference over the gambler's palm. But I suspect that another major fador is that many magicians do not know how to get the card indetedably and efficiently into gambler's palm. One good method for placing the top card of the deck into gambler's palm will be given at the end of this chapter. The Vernon side steal described in Volume 1 of this series (pp. 76-78) shows how a card from the center of the pack can be neatly delivered into gambler's palm. From ideas of Edward Marlo (see Side Steal, pp. 32-36), Larry Jennings derived a diagonal palm shift that places the card into gambler's palm as well (ref. Larry Jenningson Card and Coin Handling, pp. 22-23). Dan MacMillan has also explored this palm and developed many interesting applications in The Gambler's Palm Revisited. To illustrate further the utility and practicality of the gambler's palm, a method devised by Mr. Vernon to deliver the bottom card of the pack into gambler's palm is offered. The initial action is identical to that of the classic side-slip color change. The deck is held face-down by its ends in the palm-down right hand, forefinger curled on top. The right hand carries the deck to the palm-up left hand. As the deck is swung over the left hand, the left fingers contact the face of the bottom card and arrest its motion as the right hand continues without pause to carry the deck into left-hand dealing position. This anglejogs the bottom card widely to the right, under the right hand. The

DARK SIDE O F THE HAND

right front corner of the card is guided into the fork at the base of the right third and fourth fingers (Figure 1, exposed from beneath).

FIGURE 1

The right hand immediately releases the deck and retreats, traveling in a direction rightward and back, off the right rear corner of the pack. As this occurs, the right thumb passes under the deck while moving across its inner end. The end of the pack is actually drawn through the fork of the thumb (Figure 2). This action automatically brings the right thumb up against the left edge of the jogged bottom card, near the front corner, and, as the thumb straightens alongside the right first finger, the card is clipped between the thumb and fourth finger; i.e., into gambler's palm (Figure 3).

FIGURE 2

FIGURE 3

After some practice, it will be found that the bottom card can be delivered quickly into gambler's palm without a hint of subterfuge.

THE CONTORTION PALM This is a remarkable method for palming the bottom card of the pack. It is remarkable in that the hands and deck can be assiduously watched during the procedure, and no motion will be observed. Added to this, the deck is at the fingertips throughout the palm. The deck is held at the left fingertips, suspended above the palm, thumb on the left side, first finger on the front right corner, second and third fingers on the right side. The palm-down right hand grasps the deck from above, first finger curled on top, thumb at the inner left corner, and the other fingers at the outer end (Figure 4).

FIGURE 4

The key to the palming action lies in the position of the left fourth finger, which has not been described. This finger is bent, with some pressure, under the pack, so that its side lies straight along the length of the deck. The tip of the fourth finger should rest just behind the tip of the right second finger. Figure 5 exposes the contorted position of the finger from the lower left side.

FIGURE 5

DARK SIDE OF THE HAND

The fourth finger is positioned as the deck is placed into the left hand. The finger first curls under the pack, then forces itself straight along the face of the deck until it reaches the required position. There is no question that the finger will feel awkward and, initially, uncomfortable, until the muscles and tendons of the finger are stretched through practice to accommodate the position. However, it is the very tension created by this position that makes the bottom palm possible. To execute the palm, the left fourth finger presses up against the face of the pack while straightening to the right. This action forces the bottom card to slide back and to the right, past the right inner corner of the pack. The card pivots into alignment with the right hand, as is shown from below in Figure 6. (Only a fresh pack should be used when executing this sleight. Tacky cards can cause problems.)

FIGURE 6

The action of the fourth finger and the movement of the card are unobservable from the top and front. The right hand and the deck completely conceal the maneuver. From its angled position the bottom card can be taken by the right hand into either a gambler's flat palm or classic palm. This bottom palm will demand practice and some discomfort to master. However, those who persevere will have an excellent sleight at their command.

Dr. Daley's FACE-LIFT ADDITION Dr. Jacob Daley devised an excellent method for secretly replacing one or more stolen cards onto the face of the pack. He developed this method for use with the gambler's cop (ref. Stars of Magic, p. 83, or Volume Two of this work, p. 174). The cards to be added are concealed in gambler's cop position in the left hand. That hand has settled nonchalantly at the near edge of the table and rests with only the tip of the forefinger on the table proper. The other fingers hang loosely behind the edge of the table, holding the face-down cards in their curl (Figure 7). In this position the cards are completely hidden from the audience, though attention should be focused on the deck or elsewhere, not on your left hand.

FIGURE 7

While assuming this pose, the hand shifts the position of the palmed cards: the third finger bends in under the cards (Figure 8), then straightens with the second and fourth fingers, turning the cards side for side and faceup, clipped between the tips of the second and fourth fingers, below, and the third finger, above (Figure 9).

FIGURE 8

DARK SIDE OF THE HAND

FIGURE 9

In the meantime, the right hand retrieves the deck, taking it face-down

by the ends from above. The deck is carried back to the edge of the table to meet the left hand. That hand remains stationary, but is open with fingers extended to accept the deck (Figure 10).

FIGURE 10

As the deck moves over the left fingers, close to the surface of the table, the left second, third and fourth fingers curl in, smoothly folding the cards face-down onto the face of the pack (Figure 11). Just as the cards join the deck, both hands rise with it. The deck is not lowered onto the left palm, but is held suspended above it at the fingertips.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 11

It is this feature that makes Dr. Daley's addition so appealing. The deck never contacts the left palm, making it appear as if there is no way cards could have been added. To achieve the best illusion, the addition of the cards and the raising of the hands must be precisely timed so that the deck is not thought to touch the left palm at the edge of the table. Only experimentation before a mirror will reveal the necessary timing. The right hand then leaves the deck, which may be kept at the left fingertips or lowered into dealing position, as desired.

I

I

Dai Vernon, Steve Freeman, Earl Nelson

THE LILLIPUT PALM This is a method for instantaneously palming any desired number of cards from a small packet. The maneuver is wholly illusive and not difficult to perform. To prepare for the palm, the packet should be held in left-hand dealing position. The left fourth finger maintains a break beneath the card or cards you wish to palm. The right hand comes palm-down over the packet to grasp it by the ends. The instant the right hand obscures the audience's view of the full packet, the left fingertips pull down on the right sides of the cards below the break, bowing the cards downward convexly (Figure 12, an exposed view).

FIGURE 12

The cards above the break remain straight, permitting the right front corners of these cards to be easily slipped between the right third and fourth fingers at their base (Figure 13, right thumb raised to reveal the situation).

FIGURE 13

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3 The right forefinger immediately curls in, slightly lifting the left front comer of the finger-clipped cards in the action, and moves under the corner. This action shifts the needed top cards into a modified gambler's palm (Figure 14). The cards are securely held at their opposite front comers between the sides of the first and fourth fingers. j

FIGURE 14

Simultaneously, the other right fingers contact the far end of the packet, and the thumb contacts the near end. They move from side to side over the ends of the cards, in a brief squaring action, then grasp the packet while the left hand drops away. The right hand carries the packet forward and sets it on the table. The right forefinger straightens to rest beside the other right fingers as the hand moves away from the packet, releasing the left edge of the palmed cards to the left thumb. The desired cards are caught in gamblex's flat palm and can be disposed of as required. The same technique can be used to place the cards into a classic palm. As the right hand moves over the packet, the left fingers bow the right side of the lower cards downward as explained. The side of the right fourth fingertip contacts the front corners of the cards to be palmed (Figure 15) and pivots these cards against the left thumb until they are aligned with the right palm.

FIGURE 15

DARK SIDE OF THE HAND

The tips of the right fingers then press gently down on these cards, levering them up and into the palm. In the same action, the right fingers and thumb tighten on the ends of the packet and take it from the left hand.

Mr. Vernon sometimes begins this palm from a slightly different grip. The packet is held more forward in the left hand than is usual for dealing, with its front end projecting nearly an inch over the length of the forefinger; and the break is held by the third fingertip instead of the fourth. This forward grip seems to provide greater leverage for the palm, and some may prefer it over the ordinary dealing grip. Roger Klause and Harry Riser are to be thanked for recalling the details of this sleight.

Dai Vernon's hands 10

A N HISTORICAL NOI'E O N THE DR. ELLIOI'T TOP PALM While the method of palming to be discussed has been published in several works aver the years (e.g., Hilliard's Greater Magic, p. 203; Hugard's Card Manipulations, No. 4, pp. 83-84 [Dover edition]; and Hugard and Braue's The Royal Road to Card Magic, pp. 98-99), Mr. Vernon wished the parentage of the sleight recorded. The method, briefly is this: The deck is held supported above the left palm, tip of the thumb pressed to the left side, forefinger curled beneath, and the middle phalanges of the other fingers pressed to the right side. The palm-down right hand grasps the deck from above, fingers at the outer end, thumb at the inner. It is the left thumb that maneuvers the top card or cards into right-hand classic palm. It does so by separating the required cards from the pack at the left edge and pushing them up into the right palm (Figure 16) where they can be grasped by slightly contracting the right fingers. The palming action is disguised by a forward and back squaring action of the left hand on the sides of the pack. The strength of this method is that there is no right-hand motion to betray the sleight.

FIGURE 16

If an exact number of cards must be palmed, a break is first procured by the left fourth finger beneath them. The left thumb and fourth finger then work in unison to lift the cards to the right palm. However, if a precise number of cards is not required, the thumb is easily capable of doing the task unaided. John Northern Hilliard, in writing of this sleight, said, "This method, of comparatively recent introduction to the magical fraternity, can be recommended as being about the best yet devised. It can be effected under

DARK SIDE OF THE HAND

the closest scrutiny and defies detection, yet the action is simple and easy. " His assessment is still accurate, five decades later. Mr. Hilliard and Mr. Hugard were unaware of the origin of the sleight. The method is Dr. James William Elliott's, the excepbonal turn-of-the-centuryBoston card expert, and he deserves recognition for its invention.

Dai Vernon and Charlie lMiller

THE REVOLVING PALM-REPLACEMENT In Further Inner Secrets of Card Magic (p. 38) and in Volume 1 of this series (pp. 61-62), several methods are explained for indetectably adding a palmed card or cards onto the pack. Here is another that Mr. Vernon will often use. The cards to be added are classic palmed in the right hand. The deck is held in left-hand dealing grip. The right hand grasps the pack by its ends from above and raises it to the left fingertips, where the hands square the pack (Figure 17). The right forefinger should bend in somewhat onto the top of the deck as the right fingers square the ends. This small touch gives the palming hand a more relaxed and open appearance.

FIGURE 17

The hands now revolve the deck end for end in a continuation of the squaring process. This end-for-end turn is a reasonably common gesture among magicians, and is used to allay suspicion of breaks and jogs. To make the turn, the right hand, after running fingers and thumb back and forth over the ends of the cards, grips the pack and turns it clockwise. The left hand simultaneously turns counterclockwise and palm rightward to retake the pack, thumb at the inner side, fingers at the outer (Figure 18).

DARK SIDE OF THE HAND

FIGURE 18

When the left hand once more has a grasp on the deck, the right fingers release it and the left hand turns palm-up, completing the rotation of the deck and returning it to a face-down position. Just as the turn of the deck is concluded, the right hand, which is never far away grasps the pack, again by the ends, and deposits the palmed cards on top (Figure 19). The right fingers and thumb immediately run over the ends of the deck, squaring them once more. Then the right hand either moves away or takes the deck from the left hand.

FIGURE 19

The close contact of the right hand with the pack is fleeting and is excused

by the actions necessary to turn the deck. The extension of the right thumb to the side of the hand, which aids the release of the cards from the palm, is also outwardly motivated as the deck is regrasped. About this palm replacement, Mr. Vernon comments, "The trouble is, it's so simple, people won't think it's good."

THE FINLEY DIAGONAL PALM SHIFT REVISITED Arthur Finley's excellent diagonal palm shift was first described in Volume 1 of this work (pp. 65-67). Regrettably, my explanation of the sleight was found insufficient by some readers. It is fortunate that, because of the multivolumed nature of f i e Vernon ChromNdes,I have the opportunity to correct this deficiency. The initial action of the sleight is that of the Erdnase diagonal palm shift (see Figures 7476, Volume 1).Where certain readers became confused was at the point where the diagonally jogged card was shifted to the left and into the right palm. I wrote, "The angled card is caught between the outer phalanx of the left fourth finger on its right edge and the right thumb on its left. The left fourth finger bends in to the left, forcing the card to ride straight over the heel of the left thumb and to come free of the pack. The right thumb acts as guide and support for the card during this maneuver, while the right hand shadows the card from above, hiding it." It was apparently the shadowy metaphor that left some in the dark. What I meant to convey was that, when the card is pushed by the left fourth finger to the left, the right hand follows it from above, traveling in a parallel fashion so that the card is hidden by the hand and remains in alignment with it. This places the card automatically in position for palming. Better than words, Tom Gagnon's two fresh iUustrations (Figures 20 and 21), posed from above and with the right hand made transparent, should make clear the movements of the card and hand. FIGURE 20

FIGURE 21

While discussing this sleight again, I have the opportunity to add that the card is delivered to the right hand in a perfect position to be taken into not only a classic palm but also gamblefs flat palm. Indeed, Mr. Vernon prefers the latter when he executes the steal.

FLAT TOP The method of palming about to be explained has already been briefly described on page 40 of Further Inner Secrets of Card Magic. The sleight secretly conveys the top card to gambler's flat palm in an instant. The card can be returned to the pack just as efficiently. It is thought that several refinements and modifications in the handling of the sleight would be of interest. Then, in the next chapter, an application of this palm will be given, in which the top card of the pack is cleverly switched for another. The deck is held face-down in the palm-up left hand and is squared with the right. As the hands finish squaring the deck, it is slid well forward in the left hand until approximately half its length projects beyond the left forefinger. The right hand then moves away to perform some action. During the interim, the left thumb, which lies across the back of the deck, pushes the top card forward a distance no farther than the width of a white border. The right hand returns to place the deck on the table. It is in this brief action that the top card is palmed. The palm-down right hand approaches the deck from the right and slides along its width, thumb at the inner end, fingers at the outer. It stops when all four fingers are lined together at the front of the pack. The right front corner of the top card should contact the inner edge of the fourth finger near the middle joint (Figure 22). Note that, for a brief moment, the front of the deck is entirely obscured from the audience by the right fingers. The subsequent palming action is thereby screened from view.

FIGURE 22

The right forefinger curls inward, its tip engaging the outer left comer of the top card and pulling it up from the deck (Figure 23). In a continuous action, the forefinger slips under the card and forces the left side, just at the comer, up against the inner edge of the forefinger's middle joint. The left thumb at the same time moves from the back of the deck to the left

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3 side, so that the top card can move up into the right hand. The forefinger's action pulls the card into the palm, with its outer end clipped between the inner edges of the first and fourth fingers (Figure 24, exposed). This is the same modified gambler's palm taught previously in the Lilliput palm.

FIGURE 23

FIGURE 24

The card must bow concavely to assume this position. Consequently, installing a light concave bridge in the pack (such as a tabled riffle shuffle will do) before the palm may be helpful. Notice that the action of the forefinger automatically pivots the card parallel to the right palm without the hand having to eclipse the top of the pack, thus improving the deceptiveness of the sleight.

DARK SIDE OF THE HAND

With the card in place, the right fingers slide along the ends of the deck to the right and leave it-but they do not move far. The left hand turns at the wrist, rotating the deck clockwise until its front end is swung to the right. The right fingers immediately grasp the deck by this end, second and third fingers at the far side, thumb at the near, and forefinger curled on top (Figure 25). The forward position of the deck in the left hand makes this change of grips simple and neat.

FIGURE 25

The right hand takes the deck from the left hand and sets it on the table. The right hand then moves to the near edge of the table and assumes a relaxed posture. In doing so, the forefinger straightens alongside the second finger and the left edge of the palmed card is allowed to spring gently against the side of the thumb; i.e., into standard gambler's flat palm (Figure 26, exposed from below).

FIGURE 26

To replace the palmed card on the deck, the actions are simply reversed. The right hand moves to pick up the deck by the sides. In this action, the palmed card is shifted from standard gambler's palm to the previous grip, caught between the fourth finger and curled forefinger (Figure 24 again). As the forefinger is bent inward it will be found an easy task to catch the left corner of the card against it and transfer the edge of the card from thumb to forefinger.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS,VOLUME 3 This position should be attained just as the hand reaches the pack. The pack is gripped at its sides, second and third fingers at the far corner, thumb at the near corner and forefinger curled on top. Held in this manner the deck is carried to the palm-up left hand and deposited there (Figure 27).

The left hand takes the deck into dealing grip with the thumb stretched straight across the top. The right hand releases the inner end and the left hand straightens at the wrist, turning the outer end of the deck forward, toward the audience. The right hand then moves over the deck to square it. As the right hand travels to the left, sliding the fingers over the front end and the thumb along the back, the left thumb rises slightly-just enough to allow the palmed card to glide square onto the pack (Figure 28, exposed). As has been noted in other works (particularly in reference to color changes), the presence of the thumb across the pack seems to preclude the addition of cards.

FIGURE 28

It should be observed that, with both the palm and the replacement, the right thumb maintains contact with the inner end of the pack, thus preventing it from sticking awkwardly out in the air ("fishhooking").

DARK SIDE OF THE HAND

Too, any spreading of the right fingers must be avoided when they lie along the front of the pack. If spreading should occur, the action of the palm will be exposed to those in front. The palming action can also be detected from the extreme left side (a common problem with most top palms). This can be remedied by a slight leftward turn as the palm is made. There is one more point that is of interest: at her than outjogging the top card just prior to the palm, the left thumb can instead anglejog it slightly to the left, the left front corner projecting over the left side of the pack and the right front corner over the outer end (Figure 29, jog exaggerated). The palm can be executed from this position as well.

FIGURE 29

Those readers who turn to page 41 of Further Inner Se& of Card Magic will discover a one-handed top palm that is related to the palm just described, but which delivers the card into a position closer to a full or classic palm. Both techniques are useful. Harry Riser recalls seeing Mr. Vernon, years ago, use this sleight in an extremely cunning manner. He had a card selected, noted and returned to the deck. Then, with a brief shuffle, he controlled it to a position fourth from the top. Holding the deck face-down in left-hand dealing position, he removed the top three cards and displayed their faces, commenting, "Your card shouldn't be near the top.. ." He casually tossed the three cards facedown onto the table. In the actions of dealing and displaying these cards, he pushed the next card of the deck (the selection) forward slightly, preparing it for the flat top palm. Bringing the right hand back to the deck, he swiftly palmed the card. Then, instead of setting the deck down, he grasped the outer end and turned the pack end over end, face-up into the left hand.

". ..or the bottom. " He dealt three cards from the face of the pack, laying them face-up just to the left of the three face-down cards. Holding the selection in gambler's palm permitted a natural right-hand dealing action.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3 "But let's make sure I can't do anything. Here, you shuffle the cards." And he handed the deck to the spectator. As this person shuffled, Mr. Vernon picked up the face-down cards on the table with his right hand, adding the selection to them, while simultaneously picking up the faceup cards with his left hand. He turned the face-up cards face-down and dropped the right hand's cards onto them. The selection was now on top. When the spectator finished mixing the deck, Mr. Vernon took it back and thrust the packet he was holding into the center. However, he caught a left fourth-finger break over the packet and brought it to the top with a pass. This, of course, transported the selection to the top, where it was then used for the trick at hand. This method of control was exceptionally subtle. It is interesting to note how certain practices drop in and out of fashion. The procedure of palming a card from the deck, having the deck shuffled and then replacing the palmed card was one so much in vogue in fin de side England and America, it was often simply presumed in the card literature of the period. As I write, this method of card control is very seldom seen in today's performances. The absence might be excused in commercial work by a concern for brisk pacing. But that is often not the case in casual performance. Palming the selection while the deck is shuffled is such an effective ploy one can only wonder why it has been so widely abandoned. Is it that today's average magician is insecure in his ability to palm a card deceptively? If so, it is hoped that the techniques in this chapter will help r e w the problem.

Bruce Cervon and Dai Vernon, 1960s

The Professor

Chapter Two: Sundry Sleights

FLAT TOP SWITCH The flat top palm makes possible an excellent switch of the top card of the pack. Used in this capacity, it is a good alternative to the double lift. The switch is begun with one card secreted in flat top palm in the right hand; i.e., the front corners of the card are caught between the fourth finger and curled first finger (refer back to Figure 24). The right hand also holds the deck, grasping it by the ends from above. The left hand neatly removes either the top or the bottom card of the pack and displays its face. This card is then returned to the top of the pack, but is set angled off the front left corner for about a third of its length (Figure 30).

FIGURE 30

25

SUNDRY S L E I G W

The right hand places the deck into the palm-up left hand, squares the angled card on top and apparently deals it to the table. However, within this series of actions, the palmed card is added to the top of the pack and dealt in the stead of the angled card. This is accomplished as follows: As the right hand lays the deck into left-hand dealing position, the left thumb stretches naturally over the top of the deck and above the palmed card (just as it does during the flat top replacement previously described). The right hand continues to move smoothly to the left, over the deck, and the palmed card is slid under the left thumb (Figure 31, exposed), where it is then released square onto the deck. Simultaneously, the right fingers contact the angled card and push it flush with the pack, beneath the added card. The right hand and closed fingers obscure the true position of the known card as it is squared. When, a few moments later, the top card is dealt from the pack, it is naturally assumed to be the card just displayed.

FIGURE 31

As with the flat top palm and replacement, the left side must be guarded or the loading of the palmed card may be detected from that angle. The sleight is otherwise imperceptible.

THE SPRING-LOADED TIP-OVER CHANGE Jack Merlin's tip-over change (ref. ...and a Pack of Cards, pp. 1415, revised edition) is considered a standard sleight these days, and is widely used. In 1945 Edward Marlo published two handling refinements that have been adopted by most practitioners of the sleight (ref. Off the Top, pp. 8-10). Mr. Vernon developed a different approach to the tip-over change, for which John Thompson has kindly supplied details. The face-down deck is grasped from above by the palm-down right hand-thumb near center at the inner end, second and third fingers on the outer right corner, first finger m l e d on top. The fourth finger lies beside the third, just beyond the right edge of the pack. The right hand raises the deck over the left palm and dribbles cards in a stream from its face. This is done until roughly half the deck has been caught in the left hand. If it is necessary that a particular card be switched in or out, a break can be held at that card by the right thumb and the cascade stopped there. The right hand now momentarily rests its portion of the deck close above the left-hand packet, but widely stepped to the right (Figure 32). This is done so that the tips of the left second and third fingers can contact the face of the right-hand packet and push its bottom card a quarter of an inch to the right. To cover the slight delay this action requires, some brief and appropriate comment is made. The right hand then moves its packet several inches to the right of the left hand, and stands ready for the tip-over change.

HGURE 32

SUNDRY SLEIGHTS

The left thumb pushes the top card of its packet to the right. The left edge of the right hand's packet is then introduced under this card and used to flip it face-up onto the left-hand packet (Figure 33).

FIGURE 33

The same action is repeated to turn the card face-down again. However, at the instant the card lands square on its packet, the right fourth fingertip presses down on the protruding front comer of the sidejoggedbottom card (Figure 34), forcing it to spring free of the right-hand packet and square onto the turned card.

FIGURE 34

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS. VOLUME 3

This springing of the card is the improvement Mr. Vernon has made to the sleight. In past methods, the card was merely released and its fall entrusted to gravity. By pushing the card with the fourth finger, it is forced to pop from the right fingers and jump to the top of the left-hand packet. This quicker journey makes the addition of the card more deceptive. The top card can now immediately be flipped face-up to reveal the change, or it can be dealt face-down to the table and its transformation concealed for a time. Two points must be stressed. The card should not be sprung until the right-hand packet is almost directly over the left. This insures that no flicker of the passing card is seen. The two packets almost touch at the moment of transfer. But the eclipse of the left-hand packet by the right is fleeting. The right-hand packet moves over the left and is immediately carried back to the right and away. Mr. Vernon emphasizes that this should always be done when performing the tip-over change, no matter which handling variant is used. The second point addresses the actual method in which the card travels. While the card does spring from the right fingers, it is not allowed simply to fly across to theleft-hand packet. If this were done, the card might bounce slightly as it hit the top of the packet, which could expose the maneuver. Instead, the right fourth finger follows the card down, guiding it surely to its destination (Figure 35); the finger seats the card.

HGURE 35

THE ZARROW BLOCK ADDITION Herb Zarrow has lived in New Jersey for most of his life, and from there has quietly and generously disseminated a modest but sterling collection of ideas to card magic. He is best known to magicians for his false shuffle method, which is today regarded as a standard artifice. Other Zarrow ideas have circulated within the inner circles of card magic. One of these ideas, which he devised in the early 1950s, is a method for loading one or more cards from the deck to a packet. Mr. Vernon and Michael Skinner are two who have used the Zarrow block addition to good effect over the years; and the move has occasionally been attributed to them through association. Both men desire that the correct parentage of the sleight be made known. Since Mr. Zarrow has for many years been one of Mr. Vernon's dear and valued friends, it is felt there is no better place than in these pages to set straight the record and provide a complete description of the sleight. The maneuver can be adapted to several uses. Its fundamental function is to add cards secretly to a packet. Therefore, to teach it, an elementary example of that nature will be used: the addition of two cards to a packet of four. To begin, the deck is held face-down in left-hand dealing grip. The left fourth finger holds a break beneath the top two cards of the pack. These are the cards to be added to the packet. In the right hand is held a fan or spread of four face-down cards. The sleight is set up as the number of cards in the right hand is emphasized. This is done by transferring the right-hand spread, card by card, to the top of the pack. Take the leftmost (bottom)card of the fan first, clipping it under the left thumb, in a rightjogged position (Figure 36). As the right hand separates its fan from this card, the edges of the cards may be flicked or snapped off each other, if such an action suits your style. Take the next card similarly from the face of the fan and into a rightjogged position over the first. Clip the third card over this, again jogged to the right; and set the fourth on top of all, thus refashioning the spread (Figure 37).

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 36

FIGURE 37

Now that the exact number of cards in the spread has been verified, the cards are flipped face-up over the deck. It is during this action that the two cards above the fourth finger's break are indetedably added to the face of the packet.

SUNDRY SLEIGHTS

To do this, with the palm-up right hand, grasp the four-card spread. At the same time move the left thumb to a position stretched along the left side of the deck (Figure 38). Swiftly push the two cards above the break to the right as a block with the left thumb, until they are aligned with the bottom card of the spread (Figure 39). Immediately lift the right side of the

FIGURE 38

FIGURE 39

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

spread, newly added cards included, with the right fingers and flip these cards sidewise and face-up. As the spread turns, it closes automatically into a packet which can be allowed to fall flat on top of the deck, or can be caught in a "tented" position above it by the left thumb (Figure 40).

FIGURE 40

The short thrust of the left thumb and the turning of the packet blend to make one continuous movement. Since the thumb lies stretched over the length of the left white border of the deck, the movement of the block as it is added to the packet is obscured. When properly executed, the sleight is invisible. Since the packet does not move flush with the deck before it is turned over, the addition of cards appears impossible. The flexibility of the sleight will be obvious. It can be done with deck and fan face-up as well as face-down. The original packet of cards can be spread on the table before it is taken by the right hand, and the block addition done immediately without counting the cards. The sleight can also function as a packet switch. The necessary adjustments for any of these procedures can be easily worked out by the interested reader.

Mr. Z m w has two effective variations of this addition, in which the block push-off is eliminated. For the first, rather than push over the additional block of cards under the fan, let it remain square with the pack. Rest the left thumb just at the left edge of the bottom card of the fan, and over the exposed left front corner of the block, concealing this narrow triangle of surface. Slip the fingers of the palm-up right hand under the fan and into the break below the block. Then smoothly draw all the cards above the

SUNDRY SLEIGHTS

break, as a unit, slightly to the right and flip them over on the deck. The left thumb does not move from it station on the left front corner of the pack; yet it hides the short movement of the block as it is drawn away with the fan above it. You will find that, if you flip the fan over at a pace somewhere between relaxed and brisk, the sleight is indetectable. The second variation is simpler still, and is particularly suited to times when the cards are held face-up before the addition is made. Lay the fan onto the deck, with its bottom card aligned with the pack; or start with the cards squared on the pack and thumb over all but the bottom one of the group. Press the left thumb to the left edge of the pack, with its flesh slightly engaging the lowermost card of the spread. Slip the fingers of the palm-up right hand under the spread and into the left fourth finger's break. Then draw the spread and block a bit to the right and flip them over on the pack, letting them fall square as they turn. When this method of addition is compared to the common one in which the squared packet is carried directly over the deck to effect the loading of cards, the superiority of Mr. Zarrow's procedure is unquestionable. This block addition is a refined technique that, with its wider exposure here, should become a standard tool of card magicians. It is already used by many of the best.

Performing at the Magic Castle, 1969 34

A NOTE ON ZARROW'S REVOLVING ACES While speaking of Herb Zamw and misplaced credit, Mr. Vernon wishes to set straight another matter. Through a lapse of communication that occurred in correspondence between Faucett Ross and Hubert Lambert, Herb Zarrow's trick ''Revolving Acesrrwas incorrectly ascribed to Mr. Vernon when Mr. Lambert recorded it for the May 1961 issue of Genii magazine (see "Emerald Isle Aces'; Vol. 25, No. 9, p. 374). This unfortunate error was compounded when Mr. Lambertrsarticle was reprinted verbatim by Lewis Ganson in Dai Vernon's Ultimate Secrets of Card Magic (pp. 228-229); and again when Glenn Gravatt published it (with an error in the setup) as "Vernon's Four-Ace Trick" in 50 More Modem Card Tricks (p. 5 ) . The trick is correctly credited to Mr. Zarrow in Harry Lorayne's Close-up Card Magic (pp. 98-100). It is hoped this information will resolve any confusion over the origin of the trick. Herb Zarrow recalls an adroit change to the handling of his trick that Mr.

erno on made years ago. The setup is unchanged: two aces are face-down

on top of the deck, with a face-down indifferent cards below them; beneath this is a face-up indifferent card, followed by the remaining two aces, also face-up. The balance of the deck is face-down. With the deck held face-down in left-hand dealing grip, riffle the left thumb slowly down the outer left corner of the pack until a spectator tells you to stop. Time this so that no more than a quarter of the deck is released. Stop where he tells you to and grasp the released top block, pinching it between the right forefinger (below) and thumb (above) at the outer left corner. Then rotate the packet backward, end over end and face-up, over the pack. Do not lay it square onto the pack. Instead, set it injogged on the deck for roughly a third of its length.

With the palm-down right hand, neatly regrasp the injogged packet from above, taking it by its ends, and move it forward, over the pack, to a widely outjogged position. However, as you pass the packet over the deck, secretly drop the six-card stock at the bottom of the packet square onto the pack. This loading procedure is facilitated by the natural bridge formed between the face-up packet and the adjacent face-down cards of the stock. (You may wish to give the deck several face-down tabled riffle shuffles before setting the cards for this trick, to ensure that a sufficient bridge is installed in the pack.)

SUNDRY SLEIGHTS

With the right hand, immediately fan the outjogged face-up packet as it rests on the deck; then set the fanned packet onto the table and deal the top card of the face-down deck onto the fan. This is the first ace. Repeat the procedure three times and conclude by turning up the four aces on their respective fans of cards.

Mr. Zarrow originally flipped each packet face-up squarely onto the deck. He would then spread over the face-up cards and table them to arrive at an ace. In the Vernon procedure, the packet never seems to come square with the deck, and therefore has a much cleaner and more deceptive appearance.

Bruce Cervon, Dai Vernon, James Patton 36

BACK BREAKER Perhaps the most used method for obtaining a break under the top card of the pack is the unadorned push off: the thumb pushes the top card about a quarter of an inch to the right, then the fourth finger pushes the card square again, procuring a break beneath it in the process. Since this maneuver can be observed from the front and sides, it is usually done while all eyes are misdirected elsewhere. Mr. Vernon suggests a small alteration in handling that makes the movement of the top card virtually imperceptible. The deck is held, as usual, in left-hand mechanic's grip, but the thumb is moved to a position near the inner end of the top card (Figure 41).

FIGURE 41

The front end of the deck should be tilted up a bit, just enough to take the top out of the audience's line of sight. The thumb pushes the inner end of the top card slightly to the right. In doing so, the card is caused 37

SUNDRY SLEIGHTS

to swivel diagonally off the right inner comer (Figure 42). The third fingertip relaxes, moving with the card, while the second fingertip ads as a pivot post. The fourth fingertip lies just below the top edge of the deck, so as not to obstruct the movement of the card.

FIGURE 42

The inner end of the card should shift no more than a sixteenth of an inch. Since the outer end of the card remains in near perfect alignment with the pack, the movement cannot be observed from the front or left side, and is virtually invisible even from the right. The jog can, with practice, be made so fine that it is undiscernible to the eye. The tip of the left fourth finger can now push the card square again, catching a fine flesh break beneath it as it does so. While the card could be pushed farther to the right and a bigger break formed, it is not advised. The shorter the distance the card is moved, the more indiscernible the movement is; and there is seldom a genuine need for a wider break. With a little practice, a fine break is perfectly dependable. It is not the intention here to suggest that misdirection should be abandoned when the break is formed. However, when a simple change in procedure conceals a sleight to such an improved extent, it would seem foolish for the practitioner to ignore it. Such is the case here. Harry Riser has, for years, used this Vernon technique for an extremely deceptive card control. He has a card chosen and noted. He then dribbles the deck face-down into his left hand until the spectator tells him to stop. This he does and moves the left hand forward so that the spectator can replace his card on top of the dribbled packet. Under cover of this forward motion, he uses the above technique to procure a fine break under the top card of the packet. The spectator lays his card over this and the balance of the pack is dribbled carelessly onto it. If the pack is now cut at the break, the selection is brought to a position second from the bottom and can be dealt with as required. The casual and natural actions of this control are wholly disarming.

THE HAIR'S-BREADTH STALL Dr. Jacob Daley spent hundreds of hours studying card sleights, and through that study he developed some exceFonally subtle ideas. One of them is a method for delaying the control of a peeked card until long after control is thought possible by fellow magicians.

He would have a card peeked at and catch a break below it in the usual way. But rather than immediately stealing the card from cenM or controlling it to the top or bottom, he would meticulously square the pack, then perhaps pass it from hand to hand or set it on the table. As he did this, those knowledgeable ones in the audience had to recognize that no side steal had occurred and no break was being held. Yet, when Dr. Daley wished to procure the card, he could do so immediately. A minute anglejog made this possible. Before the peek the deck must be neatly squared. After the peek has been taken and the break obtained, the right hand comes over the deck to square its ends in the standard manner. But, instead of thrusting the selection out into the right palm, the left fourth finger pushes the inner right corner of the card very slightly to the right-the distance is no more than one sixty-fourth of an inch. The break is then released. The right fingers square the ends of the pack, then grasp the deck so that the left fingers can square the sides. However, the hair's-breadth jog is left undisturbed.

SUNDRY SLEIGHTS

As the sides are squared, it is made clear to the spectators that no fourthfinger break is being held. The deck may be casually passed from hand to hand or laid on the table as you talk. The right edge of the pack is turned away from the audience when this is done (Figure43,though the jog is so small it is barely noticeable even when fully exposed to view.

FIGURE 43

Once the suspicious have been disarmed, the deck is returned to lefthand dealing position and the control completed. The left fourth finger can pull down on the jog to re-establish the break-this time above the selection-or the right thumb can riffle up the left inner corner of the pack, finding the narrow jog there and forming a break below the card. In either case, the left thumb should stretch across the back of the deck, "choking" it; i.e., applying firm pressure so that the cards don't shift as the fine jog is located and a break is obtained. This type of refined technique is typical of Dr. Daley's card handling, and demonstrates why he was so highly regarded by other magicians.

VERNON ON THE "ENDFIELDff SLIP CUT Cy Endfield developed a clever manner of executing a slip cut in the hands, which was initially published in The Gen (Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 16-17), and then later in Cy Endfield's Entertaining Card Magic, Part I (pp. 53-54). However, there is evidence that suggests it was independently developed by Tony Kardyro and possibly others prior to Mr. Endfield's publication of the sleight in 1952. The cut is performed with the deck held in left-hand dealing grip, but with the forefinger curled around the front end of the pack until its tip can contact the top card. The palm-down right hand grasps the upper portion of the pack at the inner end and pulls it straight back while the left forefinger holds the top card in place (Figure 44). This portion is stripped from between the top card and the bottom portion, care being taken not to bow the top card as the packet is removed. Any bending of this card would, of course, make the nature of the maneuver transparent. (This point is unfortunately missed in the original description.)

FIGURE 44

SUNDRY SLEIGHTS

The top card is permitted to drop openly onto the lower half, in imitation of the top half dropping onto the palm. The left hand itself accentuates this by sharply dropping a short distance the instant the right hand's packet is drawn clear. The right-hand portion is then slapped or dropped on top. Done in a brisk, casual manner, this cut is deceptive. Mr. Vernon, when he performs the sleight, makes one change in procedure that has several points to recommend it. He obtains a left heel break under the top card, before making the cut. This is done without the aid of the right hand, using the mechanics of the Walter Scott top-card glimpse: The deck is held in left-hand dealing grip with the thumb stretched across the width of the pack. The thumb pulls the top card a short distance to the left, forcing its inner left comer to ride up over the thenar (Figure 45). The heel of the thumb and the fingers then squeeze the sides of the pack, bringing the top card flush again, but now separated from the pack at the inner left comer by a flesh break.

FIGURE 45

This well concealed break eliminates the need for the left forefinger to curl around the front end of the pack and onto the top card, thus giving the left hand a somewhat less strained and clawlike appearance. The forefinger can rest either on the front end or on the right side of the deck, as it does when dealing. The palm-down right hand grasps the upper portion of the pack with the thumb at the inner left corner and the second finger at the inner right comer (Figure 46). It is now easy to strip this portion neatly from beneath the top card, then slap it onto the left hand's portion.

ON THE HAY FALSE DOVETAIL SHUFFLE Henry Hay, in his fine treatise, The Amateur Magician's Handbook, describes a most deceptive method for preserving the entire order of the deck during a common dovetail shuffle (see pp. 60-63). The shuffle is designed for standing use, away from a table. Max Katz published a similar but less finished false shuffle in the July 1947 issue of Hugard's Magic Monthly (Vol. 5, No. 2, p. 333). The Katz shuffle could conceivably have been the inspiration for Mr. Hay's. Mr. Vernon worked out a variant handling for the Hay shuffle, which eliminates one adjustment of the cards, thereby improving the general appearance of the procedure. Thanks go to John Thompson, who uses the Vernon handling of the shuffle, and who suggested its inclusion here. Hold the face-down deck by its ends in the palm-down right hand. The thumb should rest just to the right of center on the inner end, and the second finger opposite it on the outer end. The forefinger is curled on top. To split the deck for the shuffle, bring the palm-down left hand to meet the right over the deck. The left hand grasps the deck also by the ends, mirroring the right hand's grip. The left fingers tighten their hold on the top half of the pack, and the right fingers on the bottom half. The hands then separate the halves by swinging the outer ends in opposite directions, using the thumbs as pivot posts (Figure 47). The halves are swiveled apart, first forming a 'Y"-then, in a continuing motion, opening farther until they are end to end, parallel to each other (Figure 48).

FIGURE 47

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 46

The outer end of the pack should be tilted downward slightly when the cut is made, giving a full view of the top of the deck while concealing the front edge. It should be understood that the obtaining of the break and the cut itself are not performed as separate actions. The moment the left thumb raises the top card at the inner end, the right hand initiates the strip-out of the upper half. The actions blend into one unbroken whole.

Mr. Vernon's handling has several points to recommend it over its forebear:

1)It offers the more natural left-hand grip already noted. 2) There is the assurance that only one card will be slipped, even with a tacky deck.

3) There is the possibility of holding back more than one card as the cut is made, if a break is formed under the desired number of cards. This can be done with a fourth-finger count or with the assistance of the right thumb. 4) The top card remains flat and does not bend upward as the upper packet is stripped from beneath it; something that commonly happens with the older method, betraying the subterfuge. These advantages should convince the reader of the attractiveness of the Vernon approach, and encourage its mastery.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 48

The cards are now riffled off the thumbs, causing the ends to weave together. This can be done either in the air or on the thigh. The left-hand half must lie about three-quarters of an inch ahead of the right during the riffle. The right thumb leads the left, releasing a bed of roughly six cards. The cards are then shuffled without pattern, but with the left thumb releasing its cards more swiftly than the right. The last few cards to fall come from the right half. When these final cards have been dropped, the halves are pushed together for about half an inch. The fingers of both hands now bend around and under their respective ends of the interlaced deck, in preparation for the standard spring closure. The first and fourth fingers straddle the ends of the halves at their corners, and the thumbs rest atop the halves, near their juncture (Figure 49).

FIGURE 49

SUNDRY SLEIGHTS

The fingers of both hands exert an upward pressure, bowing the cards into an arch (Figure 50). Then pressure is relaxed, allowing the cards to spring into each other and apparently square. However, the right first finger and the left fourth finger a d as stops at the outer right and inner left comers of the pack, and prevent the ends of the halves from completely squaring (Figure 51). Also note that the cascading of the cards does not destroy the outward jog of the left packet. The right forefinger hides this separation, and the deck, viewed from the front edge, appears squared (Figure 52).

FIGURE 50

FIGURE 51

FIGURE 52

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

The right hand, from its position at the right end of the pack, grasps it, thumb above and fingers below; then turns it ninety degrees counterclockwise, swinging the left end inward. The left hand opens palmup and accepts the deck into a loose dealing grip, the thumb contacting the outer leftmost corner of the original left-hand half, and the fourth finger nestling into the nook formed at the juncture of the inner right corners (Figure 53). The left forefinger takes a position at the outer end of the pack.

FIGURE 53

The left thumb and second finger immediately squeeze the far end of the inward half flush into the outward portion, while the near end of the inward half is left projecting obliquely from the left inner corner of the other half (Figure 54). The left fourth finger presses securely against its corner of the inward half during this, aiding in maintaining the anglejogged separation of the halves. The left second finger lies near the outer right corner of the pack, to cover any small protrusion if the corner of the inward portion should break through at the right side.

FIGURE 54

SUNDRY SLEIGHTS

The right hand leaves the deck the moment the outer ends have been pushed flush. If the front of the deck is tilted upward somewhat, giving the audience a view of the end and face, the deck again appears squared and normal (Figure 55).

FIGURE 55

The pack is held casually in this position for a few moments as something is said or done. After this short delay the right hand returns, palm-down, to the deck and gives it a quick and simple cut. This cut, however, is not as innocent as it appears. The right hand grasps the projecting end of the inward angled half, thumb on the left comer and second finger on the right (Figure 56). It then twists this packet counterclockwise while pulling it backward (Figure 57). The action breaks the cards free so that the halves can separate neatly. At the same time the left thumb and second finger maintain a firm grasp on the far end of the outward half, keeping it square and in place.

FIGURE 56

FURTI-ER LOST INNER SECRER5. VOLUME 3

FIGURE 57

The right hand's half is drawn completely from the other and is slapped square on top of it. This returns the deck to its original order. Yet there has been not one unnatural or extraneous motion made throughout the shuffle. From the front it looks exactly like an honest dovetail shuffle. As Mr. Hay noted in the description of his original shuffle, the entire procedure must have a gentle touch. Undue pressure will create friction and cause the cards to bind as they are manipulated and stripped apart. This is a wholly natural looking shuffle, and one not difficult to master, as several trials will prove.

A TABLE PASS Mr. Vernon has explored many approaches to the pass during his lifetime. Some of these were described in Dai Vernon's Ultimate Secrets of Card Magic (pp. 111-125). He used to boast of doing thirty-five different passes, a list of which can be found in his notebook, which was reproduced and included with the deluxe edition of Volume 1 of this work. Here is a table shift of Mr. Vernon's which he taught Bruce Cervon in July of 1965, and which Mr. Cervon duly recorded in his notebooks the same evening. The pass is of that style that has in recent years come to be known as wrist turn or end-tap table passes. Edward Marlo has published more on this style of pass than anyone, beginning in 1970. The table pass about to be explained closely resembles one of Mr. Marlo's, which he recorded in private notes dated November 1963, and published in January 1970 (ref. me New Tops, Vol. 10, No. 1,pp. 7-8). The differences in handling between Mr. Vernon's method and Mr. Marlo's are worth noting by students of the sleight. This pass is based on that species of the sleight that bears the common distinction of carrying the bottom half of the deck around and over the top half. As its title is meant to suggest, the pass is designed to be done while seated at a table, though it could conceivably be executed while standing behind one. The pass is begun from a heel break, a technique often favored by Mr. Vernon. It is obtained as follows: The deck is set on the table and cut in half. The cut is completed by the right hand, which places the bottom half at a slight angle onto the top half, creating a diagonal step at the inner end; the inner left corner of the now upper half should project beyond the corresponding corner of the lower half by no more than a quarter of an inch (see Figure 58). The step is hidden by the presence of the right hand over the pack.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS,VOLUME 3

FIGURE 58

The right hand lifts the deck and places it into left-hand dealing position. As the deck is lowered into the left palm, the overhanging left edge of the upper packet contacts the left thenar and is supported there while the lower packet drops a short distance. The tips of the left fingers press lightly but firmly against the right edge of the pack, transforming the step into a flesh break at the heel of the thumb (Figure 59), while bracing the inner end of the pack so that it rests just above the palm.

I

Heel Break

FIGURE 59

The left hand drops at the wrist, tilting the outer end of the deck downward at a slope of approximately forty-five degrees. This position may feel a bit awkward at first, but it does not appear so to the spectators. The right hand now moves from the deck to perform some ad. This act should be prompted by the presentation. Failing that, it can be excused by a casual gesture, such as brushing some particles of dust, real or imagined, from the working surface.

SUNDRY SLEIGHTS

When the right hand returns to square the deck, it grips it from above, all four fingers contacting the outer end, lying obliquely across it, their tips projecting beyond the lower edge of the pack. The thumb stretches along the inner end, resting on the end of the upper half only (Figure 60).

FIGURE 60

While the right hand holds the top half of the pack steady the left fingers loosen their grasp slightly on the lower half, letting it fall or separate a very short distance from the upper. The tip of the left fourth finger hooks the inner right corner of the lower half and pulls down. The other left fingers follow the lead of the fourth, curling in while arching downward. The contraction of the fingers levers the lower packet to a vertical position, bringing it just to the right side of the upper half and forming a right angle with it (Figure 61). The right fingers and the slant at which the deck is held conceal this movement from the front (Figure 62).

FIGURE 61

FURlTlER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 62

In a continuous action, the hands move a few inches rightward while tipping the pack up at the outer end until it reaches a vertical position. The inner end of the deck is immediately rapped on the table several times, to square it (Figure 63). The right fingers remain on the upper end of the deck throughout this. These combined, almost broad, actions completely mask the completion of the pass as the left fingers fold their packet over and onto the other. The right hand moves away and the left hand turns palm-up, bringing the deck back to dealing position.

FIGURE 63

It is a practical pass which cannot be detected when properly executed. If the finger positions and angles described are adopted, its effectiveness can be quickly confirmed in a mirror; then, after practice, before an audience. 53

The Harlequin Act, Rainbow Room, Rockefeller Center, June 22, 1938

Chapter Three: Motley

SPELLATRON EFFECT: A spectator is handed a packet of cards from a shuffled deck. He is asked first to mix them, then to remember the random card on the face of the packet after the shuffle. He is told to lose this selection by transferring as many cards from the top to the bottom of the packet as there are letters in the name of his card. He is also given the o p o n of transferring the cards singly, as he silently spells the name letter by letter; or of transfening groups of cards from top to bottom, word by word. All this is done while the performer turns his back to the proceedings. Only when the spelling is completed does the performer turn toward the spectator and take the packet. Without asking a thing or shifting a single card, the performer deals quickly through the face-down packet, methodically eliminating cards until he is left with just one. The spectator is asked to name the card he is thinking of and the remaining card is turned face-up. It is the very card.

METHOD: This mystifying trick is among the best applications of the under-down deal I have come across. It is also virtually self-working. All that is required of the performer is that he explain the necessary actions to the spectator in a clear and simple manner. The composition of the packet is not so random as the spectator is given to believe. It is made up of a group of ten cards, each card of which spells with exactly twelve letters; e.g., queen of clubs, four of hearts, jack of spades. If the packet is assembled with a mixture of suits and values, a casual

MOTLEY

inspection of it will not betray its secret. These ten cards need be in no particular order. The packet rests on top of the deck as the trick commences. The pack is given any quick false shuffle that retains the top ten cards. This stock is then separated from the pack with no apparent premeditation or care and is handed to a spectator. To do this, the top ten cards can be simply spread off the pack in groups of three or four; or the packet can be bridged at the start, so that the ten cards can be casually cut off the pack. Place the balance of the deck aside and explain to the spectator what is required of him. He is first to shuffle the packet to assure himself that it is well mixed. When he is satisfied of that, he is to look at the card lying on the face of the packet and remember it. He is then to hold the packet face-down and lose the card among the rest by transferring cards from the top of the packet to the face as he silently spells the name of his card. Example: T-H-E T-H-R-E-E O-F C-L-U-B-S. Make it clear by your example that, when the name is spelled, it is prefixed with "thef'. This is important to the working of the trick. Also explain that the spectator has the option of transferring single cards from the top to the face as he spells, or of transferring whole groups of cards at once for each word; i.e., for "the" the top three cards are spread over and taken to the bottom as a group; the next five cards are spread off and placed beneath for the word "three", etc. All this is explained before the spectator begins. He is to proceed only when your back is turned to him. He is led through all actions verbally by you as he carries them out: shuffle, note bottom card and spell its name either letter by letter or word by word. Caution him to make no sound, as he moves the cards, that might allow you to follow his actions. Also remind him by example that "the" must be included in the name. Only when he is finished with this do you turn to face him again. Take the packet face-down from him. Unknown to him, his card, no matter what it may be, now lies fifth from the top of the packet. The spelling procedure, in either variant, places it there automatically. All that remains is for you to perform an under-down deal. That is, transfer the top card to the bottom, deal the next card face-down onto the table, bury the next under the packet, deal the next onto the previously dealt one, and continue until you have only one card in your hands. This will be the card that originally rested fifth from the top-the thought-of card. Have the selection named and dramatically turn it up. Despite its automatic nature, this effect is thoroughly baffling. The packet can be examined without its secret becoming apparent and the trick can be repeated once or twice, if interest is shown.

CUT AND SPELL EFFECT: A deck is thoroughly shuffled by anyone and then placed facedown before the performer. He gives the deck one simple cut, names a card and then proceeds to spell it, dealing one card for each letter of the name. Without error, the card spelled appears at the end of the deal.

METHOD: This is an impromptu method for spelling to a card. Mr. Vernon has performed it for over forty years. Herb Zarrow remembers learning it from him in the late 1940s, at the Saturday sessions held in the groundfloor cafeteria of the Wurlitzer Building. (At that time, Louis Tannenls shop was lodged in this building.) It is one of those tricks that becomes an entertaining challenge in both practice and performance. Mr. Zarrow and others in the New York group had a lot of fun with it; and in the early days of the Magic Castle, Mr. Vernon and Jay Ose spent many enjoyable hours rehearsing it when things were quiet. The secret is one of simple estimation. Have the deck shuffled and placed face-down before you. If one long edge is not already nearest you, adjust the pack to that position. Bring the left hand palm-down over the deck and raise the top half at its inner edge with the left thumb, just high enough to sight the index of the card at the face of that half. Immediately riffle approximately thirteen cards (a quarter of the deck) off the thumb and cut the balance from the top of the pack. Complete the cut and take the deck into left-hand dealing grip. Call out the card you have sighted and spell its name, dealing one card from the top for each letter into a face-up pile on the table. It is well known to magicians that every card in the pack spells or can be made to spell with twelve or thirteen letters. For those that have fewer letters, 'T-H-E is added

MOTLEY

to their names; and those with more letters are shortened by dropping "O-F". For example, ten of clubs spells with ten letters, but by adding "the" it is brought to thirteen; queen of diamonds spells with fifteen, but by dropping "of" it is abbreviated to thirteen.

Given this knowledge, it will be seen that any card sighted can be spelled from a position thirteenth from the top. Mr. Vernon has devised a simple set of alternative procedures which provides a three-card leeway for the spelling. The best outcome is obviously that in which the card appears on the last letter of its name. Should that not occur, pause and give the audience a meaningful look. As this is done, casually adjust the pack in the left hand, moving it well forward until the left inner corner rests in the crotch of the left thumb. The thumb itself should lie diagonally across the back of the deck (Figure 64).

FIGURE 64

Take the top card with the right hand and turn it face-up portentously. If this card is not the one spelled, simply lay it face-up on the tabled pile. Then return the right hand to the deck and immediately execute the Lowe palm, for which you have just prepared: The front end of the deck is tilted upward at an angle sufficient to take the top of the pack from the audience's view. The left thumb then pivots the top card clockwise and parallel with the line of the left fingers (Figure 65). The right hand removes the deck from the left hand by grasping the outer end. With the pack withdrawn, the top card will spring almost automatically into classic palm (Figure 66).

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 65

FIGURE 66

While the palm is executed, express surprise at the failure of the card to appear when spelled. Then realize your mistake. "I forgot, the two of clubs [or whatever]becomes frightened when it hears its name and runs to my pocket." Reach into your pocket with the left hand and bring the palmed card from it. Should this not be the desired card, more practice is required. Estimating onesquarterof the pack for the cut is really not difficult; and, given a three-card margin, this feat should be mastered after a reasonable period of practice. Obviously, when estimating for this system, it is better to overestimate by one or two cards. Underestimation will cause the card to appear too soon to exercise the planned "outs". However, if the card should turn up twelfth, on the penultimate letter of the suit, you can plausibly stop the spelling there, ignoring the final "s".

After gaining some expertise with spelling and estimation, you may wish to alter the estimate during the cut to adjust for cards that spell short or long. By so doing, the procedures of adding "the" and subtracting 'of" may be eliminated. One final observation: Should you be allowed a glimpse of the bottom card as the deck is being shuffled, that card should be used for the spell, rather than one that must be sighted near center. Simply cut the bottom quarter of the pack to the top and begin to spell the card noted.

Recently, Mr. Vernon has been performing a variation of this trick. He has the deck shuffled and then cut into quarters. "I'll show you something very strange with these cards." Picking up the packet that looks the closest to a true quarter-that is, thirteen or perhaps fourteen cards-he squares it, turning it end for end in the process and glimpsing the bottom card during the turn. He then spells the name of the card sighted. If the spelling falls a card or two short, he merely does a block push-off of all the cards above the last as the penultimate letter is dealt. This leaves him with only one card in his hands, which he snaps face-up to reveal the very card just spelled. Often, the false count is unnecessary; and when it is required, it is seldom that more than one extra card need be hidden.

Shimida and Dai Vernon 62

CAUGHT IN THE STRETCH EI;FECT: The deck is given out for shuffling. When it is returned to the performer, he binds it securely, both widthwise and lengthwise, with a rubber band. It is demonstrated beyond doubt that no cards can enter the banded pack or escape from it. A handkerchief is then thrown over the deck and someone is asked to hold the covered cards (Figure 67).

FIGURE 67

With a clearly empty hand, the performer reaches under the handkerchief and, a moment later, brings forth five cards from the shuffled pack. These cards are the ten through ace of spades, a royal flush. The pack can be thoroughly checked by anyone who wishes to do so; it is stiU securely bound with the rubber band and offers no clue to the extraction of the pat hand.

METHOD: This is Mr. Vernon's handling of an idea that Jack Avis published in the Pallbearers fifio, No. 2, Winter 1968 (ref. "Houdini C a r d p. 225). Bruce Cervon notes that he first saw this effect done by Don Costello, a mathematician by profession and a fine performer, when he worked at the Magic Castle in 1966. Dr. Costello (now deceased) devised the trick independently, and his method was somewhat less refined than Mr. Avis'. In the original premise, two rubber bands were used, one wrapped lengthwise, the other widthwise around the deck. Mr. Vernon has eliminated the need for a second rubber band and has changed the plot from a location and release of a signed selection to the mysterious production of a royal flush from a shuffled and bound deck.

MOTLEY

Required are a handkerchief, a deck of cards and five or six rubber bands of a size that fits snugly when wound once widthwise and once lengthwise around the deck. The rubber bands are placed in the right coat pocket. During a previous trick, or while toying with the cards, secretly cull the ace, king, queen, jack and ten of spades to the top of the pack, the ten resting at the face. Then top palm these five cards into the right hand. Present the balance of the pack to someone and ask that it be shuffled. With the right hand, go to the right coat pocket and deposit the royal flush there. At the same time, grab the rubber bands and bring them from the pocket. Lay them on the table and separate one of the bands from the rest. As the spectator finishes shuffling the cards, with your right hand gather all the rubber bands but the one and replace them in the pocket. While there, repalm the five cards. Retrieve the deck face-down with the left hand and secretly add the palmed cards to the top as you square the deck and turn it face-up in the left hand. With the right hand, pick up the rubber band and slip it around the width of the pack, but somewhat off center, nearer the far end. Give the band one and a quarter turns and slip it around the ends of the pack, so that the cards are now bound both lengthwise and widthwise (Figure 68). Tug the strands of the band with the right fingers, tightening their tension at the face of the pack and loosening it at the back. The bound deck is now flipped face-down into the right hand and shown on all sides. It can be seen that no cards have escaped the surrounding rubber band.

FIGURE 68

Turn the right hand palm-down to exhibit the face of the pack once more; and, to demonstrate further the impossibility of removing the cards from the band, tug on a few of the lowermost cards. It is this gesture of proof that, ironically, partially frees the royal flush. The deck is held by its sides, by the palm-down right hand, in a grip rather like that used for the glide. Contact the inner left index corner of the pack and pull down on the lower

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3 six or seven cards with the left thumb. Then allow cards to escape singly from the thumb until you see the ten of spades (Figure 69). Grip the corner of the five-card packet firmly between the left thumb and forefinger, and pull it to the left about an inch (Figure 70).

FIGURE 69

FIGURE 70

The packet is pulled just far enough to allow it to escape from the widthwise loop of the rubber band, which should be nearer the right end of the pack. Release the packet and let it snap back under the deck. This packet is now held in place solely by the lengthwise loop of band (see Figure 71, underview).

FIGURE 71

MOTLEY

Grip a small packet of cards at the face of the deck by the left inner corner and pull it about an inch to the left. Then let the band snap it back onto the deck. These simple actions reassure the audience that the deck is securely bound. Yet they have also set the poker hand for quick removal. The deck may be tossed casually from hand to hand or onto the table, if care is taken not to expose the underside. The handkerchief is now introduced and snapped open. As this is done, it should be made clear that nothing is hidden either in the handkerchief or the hands. Throw the handkerchief over the face-up banded deck and ask that someone grip the deck by its ends through the fabric (Figure 67 again). Once more display both hands empty. Then, with the right hand, reach under the handkerchief, grasp the separated packet by a long edge and pull it free of the band. Bring the packet from beneath the handkerchief and pause a few moments before spreading it to show the royal flush in spades. All can be examined without revealing the secret of the extraction. Of course, any other small group of cards can be substituted for the royal flush; e.g., the four aces or kings. Several points of presentation should be appreciated. First notice how Mr. Vernon has blocked the action of going to the pocket for the rubber bands and then returning them, thus allowing the hands to be seen clearly empty while the deck is shuffled. In this manner, any suspicions of palmed cards are subtly dispelled. Also notice how the ten of spades is placed at the face of the flush packet. This ten, when not seen in the company of the other high spade cards, is inconspicuous. Therefore, when the packet is briefly pulled from beneath the deck during the proving sequence, it is most unlikely the ten will be noticed. In all, the trick is clever, not difficult to do and extremely puzzling.

...

IF THE SUIT FITS

El??%=: This is another method of card location, concocted by Mr. Vernon to baffle magicians and laymen alike. Three cards are freely selected from the pack by three different persons. They note their cards and place them together. One of them is asked to cut the balance of the pack into four or five piles; the number is decided by him. He is then told to drop the three selections on any one of the piles he wishes and lose them by assembling the deck in any order he desires. To confuse matters further, he is invited to give the pack one or more cuts if he likes. (For fast company, the deck may be shuffled by the performer after it is cut.) Up to now, the performer has not seen the face of a single card and he has asked for no information. He takes the deck, spreads through it, faces toward him, and, after some deliberation, removes three cards. These are placed face-down, one before each spectator. They are asked to name their cards. When each card is turned up, it is seen that the performer has correctly divined the selections under impossible seeming circumstances.

METHOD: The principle on which this triple location revolves was derived from a William Larsen and T. Page Wright trick called "Suitability" (ref. The L. W Card Mysteries, pp. 28-30, 1975edition). Comparison of that trick with Mr. Vernon's, however, will reveal several important differences in approach. Mr. Vernon has two variant methods for accomplishing this astonishing triple location. The first,and more sophisticated of the two, requires a simple stack. The second is completely impromptu, but pays for that strength with a small loss elsewhere. The prepared method will first be explained.

The requisite stack, as stated, is a simple one. The deck must be segregated into its four suits, and the suits must be in a known order. Values are of

no consequence to the arrangement. It will be seen that, should a new deck be offered, one is automatically in position to perform this trick. The cards may be given a false shuffle at the start, if it is thought beneficial to the effect. Single out three persons and explain that each is to take a card from the pack and remember it. Starting with the person on your left, spread the top quarter of the deck and have him remove a card. As you move to the second person, push the top quarter as a block into the right hand and spread the cards of the second quarter for the second selection to be made. When a card has been drawn, move to the third spectator, he on your right, and spread the third quarter for his selection. When properly timed, the spreading of the pack appears smooth and uncalculated as you move from left to right. The selection of the three cards seems free; however, you now know the suit of each person's card. This one piece of information will be enough to enable you to locate these cards in the pack. After the cards have been noted by the spectators, ask that the third person place his card onto that of the second; and that the second person place the two cards he now holds onto that of the first. You must remember the order in which the suits have just been assembled; e.g., clubs, hearts, spades, from face to top. As the cards are noted and their gathering carried out, casually shuffle the pack, destroying its arrangement. Place the deck before the second spectator and ask that he cut it into four or five face-down piles. Instruct the first spectator to lay the three selections he holds onto any one of the piles he wishes. Then have the third spectator gather the piles in any order and give the reassembled deck one or two straight cuts, to assure the loss of the chosen cards. You now retrieve the deck and spread through it, looking for the specific sequence of three suits defined by the three selections. The likelihood of this particular sequence recurring by chance is small. The reader may convince himself of this by removing any three cards of differing suits he wishes, arranging them into any order, and then checking the balance of the shuffled pack for another occurrence of that order. Such a random sequencing is more uncommon than it might seem. And, should more than one triplet be found that conforms to the order sought, one well-chosen question will ascertain the correct group. Rather than removing the cards together from the deck, remove them one by one and lay each face-down before the person who chose it, spreading through the deck several times in the process. Such a procedure disguises the fad that the three cards rest together in the pack. Ask that each person name the card he chose, and turn it up before him as he reveals it.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

If circumstances do not permit the stacking of the deck, the location can be done with a borrowed shuffled pack. To do so, instead of learning the suits of the selections secretly this knowledge must be gained openly. Have the deck shuffled and ask the shuffler to name his favorite suit. Then have him remove any card of that suit and hand the pack to another person. That person is asked to name his favorite suit as well, remove a card of that suit and give the deck to a third party. This procedure is repeated with him. With the suits of the three cards known, the trick can be concluded as above. By the time the locations have been made, most people will have forgotten that the suits were named at the start. If working for a discerning group, and if you can execute a convincing full-deck false shuffle, it may be used to confuse the issue further, just before you spread through the pack to locate the selections. Mr. Vernon, when performing this location for other cardmen, would sometimes give the deck one or two perfect faro shuffles (either in- or out-faros) before looking through it. He could still locate the desired triplet after shuffling: If one faro shuffle was given the pack, he would simply examine every other card for the correct suit sequence; and if two far0 shuffles were used, every fifth card would be checked. While this does slow down the location procedure, it is not so difficult as it might sound. The sequencing need only be checked after a card of the first suit sought is found. These far0 shuffles not only cloud the method of location for other cardmen, but set them down empty and convoluted passages of theorization. No matter which of the procedures is followed, this cunning triple location will confound an audience.

For a fascinating packet application of the melded-suits principle, see "Dual to the Death" in Volume 2 of this work (pp. 14-17).

Bruce Cervon's TRANS MITT EFFECT: Mr. Vernon is fond of posing problems to his students and confidants. On the evening of December 28,1966, he became intrigued with the idea of performing a magical translocation of a selected card from one packet to another-not with the packets held by the performer, as is traditionally done, but with both packets held by a spectator. A solution to this problem would necessitate a clean handling, as it would have to be performed virtually under the nose of the assistant. Mr. Cervon and Mr. Vernon discussed some approaches to the problem. Then Mr. Cervon went home and worried it through the early hours of the morning. Finally he contrived a method with which he was satisfied. When shown the solution the next night, Mr. Vernon approved of it. It was duly recorded in the Castle Notebooks.

Since the trick was inspired by Mr. Vernon, is based on Vernon techniques, and is simply an impressive effect achieved by wellconceived means, it is happily included in this volume.

METHOD: Since no setup is necessary, the deck can be shuffled, if so desired. Someone is asked to hold out her hands, palm-up. Onto each you apparently deal ten cards. In reality, eleven cards are dealt as ten onto her left hand, while her right hand receives an honest ten. The addition of the extra card in the left-hand group can be done with the "new theory" double deal described in Volume I of this work (pp. 100-102), or with the following simple procedure: Before the deal, obtain a left fourth-finger break beneath, say the fifth card from the top of the deck. Deal the first three cards normally; but as the fourth card is taken, push over the pair remaining above the break in alignment and deal them as one card. There should be, of course, no hesitation before or after this maneuver. The rhythm of the deal is even and unhurried. With the two packets dealt, the balance of the deck is put aside. Pick up the packet on the spectator's right hand, spread it face-down from left to right and hold it up so that the faces of the cards can be seen. Ask the

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

spectator to touch any of the ten cards she wishes. This card is apparently cut to the face as the packet is squared and placed back onto her right hand. However, the selection is actually switched by Mr. Vernon's interlock procedure (discussed on pp. 145-149of Volume 2). Two methods of setting the cards into interlock configuration will be given.

First Interlock Setup With the right hand, lower all the cards above the touched card about three-quarters of an inch as you confirm, "This is the card you want?" Downjog the card directly above the one indicated, simultaneouslyaligning it lengthwise with that card, and lodge it under the tip of the left thumb. When the spectator has verified her choice, raise the right hand's cards, less the lowermost one, to a position once more even with the rest. This leaves the one card downjogged over the selection, as shown in Figure 72 (performer's vantage). This situation is hidden from the audience by the left fingers, as seen in Figure 73.

FIGURE 72

FIGURE 73

Now lower all the left hand's cards about threequarters of an inch below the selection--even with the downjogged card (Figure 74). Immediately push the spread closed into the left hand, without disturbing the jogs. The selection is plainly seen on the face of the upper portion as this is done (Figure 75). Display the card in this position and name it, making no secret that you have seen it. FIGURE 74

FIGURE 75

Lower the hands and packet to a horizontal position and cut off the outjogged top portion, laying it on the spectator's still outstretched right hand. It is during this action that the selection is secretly displaced. As the right hand moves forward with the upper portion of the packet, the left forefinger contacts the outer end of the selection and pushes it flush beneath the top card of the lower portion (Figure 76). Immediately relax the forefinger, moving it slightly from the end of the packet, before the upper portion clears. This small touch makes the sleight deceptive even to magicians familiar with the interlock principle.

FIGURE 76

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

Second Interlock Setup Here, instead of spreading the cards face-down and raising the face of the spread toward the spectator, you spread the packet face-up. Have a card touched or named, and separate the spread at that point.

Cany the upper portion forward in the right hand, with the selection at the back of the group. Do this in an indicatory fashion, while you ask if this is indeed the card desired. Keep the hands close together as the choice of card is confirmed. Extend the right third finger under the spread until its tip can contact the right edge of the uppermost card of the left-hand spread (Figure 77, an underview). Clip this card against the back of the right-hand spread.

FIGURE 77

Move the right hand's cards back and even with the left's. In this action, the clipped card is injogged for nearly an inch (Figure 78).

FIGURE 78

Tilt the front of the spread up slightly for a moment, as the card is injogged, to conceal this from the audience. Then close the spread into the left hand, and simultaneously injog all the cards above the selection, bringing them wen with the previously injogged card (Figure 79).

FIGURE 79

Indicate the position of the selection on the face of the outer portion, turn the packet sidewise and face-down in the left hand, and perform the interlock switch as you cut off the upper portion. Deposit this packet on the spectator's right palm and return the right hand to the left, for the remainder of the cards. Place them onto the others. As the cut is completed, it must be clear to the audience that your hands are empty. The spectators believe the selection to be at the face of the packet. In fad it is second from the top. Explain that you will cause the card to fly invisibly from the packet in the spectator's right hand to that in her left. Make a suitable magical gesture. Then turn the packet on the spectator's right hand face-up there. The selection is seen to have vanished. Pick up this packet and count it as nine cards onto the table. This is done with a face-up buckle count (ref. More Inner Secrets of Card Magic, pp. 86-87), dealing two cards as one on the count of eight. The selection is not seen. Pick up the packet, flip it face-down and briskly count it again as nine. Use the last card to scoop up the packet. This brings the selection to the top. Immediately shift all attention to the spectator by asking her to count the packet that rests on her left hand by dealing the cards face-down. She does so to find eleven where ten were before. During her counting there is ample opportunity to palm the top card from the packet still in your hands. Once the selection is palmed, the packet is set aside. The moment the spectator has finished counting her packet, reach out and take it, adding the palmed card on top. Immediately recount the facedown cards, false counting twelve as eleven with the buckle count. Then dramatically tip the packet face-up to reveal the selection resting on the face. The plot is simple, the action direct. Card or Cards Across is a popular classic for just these reasons. By performing it in the spectator's hands, it becomes only more astonishing.

GIVEN THE SLIP EFECT: Once, on returning from South America, Nate Leipzig told Dai Vernon of a card trick he had seen performed by a gambler there that had completely fooled him. The cards were shuffled and cut into four packets on the table. The packets were turned over to show indifferent cards on their faces, then were turned face-down again. A moment later, when turned face-up, an ace had appeared on the face of each. The description of the effect intrigued Mr. Vernon and he set himself the problem of solving it. His solution is an elegant one, based on an old gambling sleight. The sleight is a clever card steal and replacement that was used for dishonest purposes in a simple gambling game called Banker and Broker. A description of it can be found in Harry Lorayne's Deck-sterity (pp. 144-147).Mr. Vernon's is a more finished handling than that shown to Mr. Lorayne for his book, and a less angle-ridden one. First the steal will be taught, then its application to the South American ace production.

METHOD: While this sleight can be done with either hand, for this description we will assume the right hand is used. The sleight is begun with the deck sitting face-down on the table, canted diagonally with the front end pointed at roughly ten o'clock. The palm-down right hand moves over the pack and grasps it, with the thumb on the left side, forefinger on the front end and the remaining fingers along the right side. The thumb immediately digs under the left edge of the deck and slides across the face of the bottom card (Figure 80).

FIGURE 80

This side is raised until the deck rests vertically on edge (Figure 81). Note that the thumb remains extended across the face of the bottom card, and that the thenar is pressed gently against the upper side of the pack. Also note that the second finger has shifted, during the previous action, onto the outer end of the deck, where it lies beside the forefinger.

FIGURE 81

In a continuing motion the hand is raised less than an inch and the bottom card is drawn upward and forward by a very light pressure of the thumb (Figure 82). The outer non-index corner of this card rides into the fork of the first and second fingers and lodges there. The hand now tips the deck to the right and lets it fall face-up on the table.

FIGURE 82

As this happens, the thumb presses the outer end of the separated card against the curled second finger, and the tip of that finger contacts the outer lower corner of the card. This places the card into gambler's cop, but with the card held vertically (Figure 83). The hand is not raised as the deck falls flat on the table. Rather, the lower inner corner of the stolen card is kept against the face of the pack, with enough pressure exerted to bow the card concavely (Figure 84). Only when the deck has settled completely on the table does the hand move forward and rightward, staying in close proximity with the table top. The hand's movement away from the deck is a natural extension of the tip-over action.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 83

FIGURE 84

At this point the fingers can and should be spread in an open relaxed posture. Curiously, the card is perfectly shielded from the right side and front, despite this casual openness (Figure 85). However, the steal is completely visible from the left side, and must not be executed if persons are seated there. It is also important that the tip of the thumb remain in light contact with the tip of the second finger. If the thumb is moved aside, the card will be exposed at certain forward angles.

FIGURE 85

The steal of the card happens almost instantly as the deck is tipped up on edge and then over. The action of turning the deck should be smooth and unhesitating. There is no necessity to pause at any time if the sleight is done properly. While the mechanics of the steal are not difficult to execute, practice will be required to perform them without faltering.

Before the palmed card can be replaced or unloaded, the deck must first be turned face-down again. Then, the right hand approaches the deck from the right and slightly forward of it, with the heel of the hand kept close to the table (Figure 86). The lower inner corner of the palmed card is slid smoothly under the right edge of the pack. The closeness of the hand to the table, and the bowing of the card prevent its lower inner corner from being exposed to persons on your right as the next actions are performed.

FIGURE 86

The hand grasps the pack just as it did before. The thumb digs under the left edge (Figure 80 again) and raises that edge up (Figure 87) until the top of the pack contacts the face of the palmed card. The card is released onto the top and, as the hand moves away, the pack is allowed to flop faceup onto the table. Notice that the pack is raised to meet the palmed card; the card is not lowered onto the pack. This is an important point.

FIGURE 87

With the steal and replacement understood, we can proceed to the ace production. To begin, the aces are secretly managed to the top of the pack. One out-faro shuffle is performed, bringing the aces to positions first, third, fifth and seventh from the top. The shuffle is followed with a double undercut that transfers the two top cards to the bottom of the deck. Approximately one quarter of the deck is then dropped or riffled from the bottom into a face-down packet on the table. This packet should be properly canted for the slip steal, as are each of the packets to follow it.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

A second double undercut is performed, taking the next two cards from the top to the face of the talon. Another quarter of the pack is dropped from the face a few inches to the right of the first tabled packet. The next two cards on top of the talon are shuttled to the bottom with a third double undercut; this is immediately followed by a slip cut, wherein the top card (an ace) is drawn onto the lower half of the talon as the upper half is carried away by the right hand. (See pp. 41-43 for a method of doing this.) The left hand's packet is laid to the right of the two on the table and the right hand's to the right of that. If this procedure has been followed, an ace now resides second from the face of the three leftmost packets and the fourth ace rests atop the third of these. The right-hand packet is without aces. The right hand now turns the packets face-up to show that each bears an indifferent card on its face. This is done working from left to right and using the same outward actions required when executing the slip steal. However, all turnovers are honest on this first round. The four packets are turned face-down, again working from left to right. The first two packets are turned down legitimately. But on the turning of the third packet, the top ace is stolen and added to the face of the fourth packet as it is turned down. Some magical gesture is made over the four packets and they are turned face-up again to reveal an ace now resting on each. To bring this about, the slip steal and load are executed three consecutive times: The indifferent card on the face of the first packet is stolen as the packet is turned up, exposing the ace beneath. As the right hand moves to turn up the second packet, the palmed card is added to the top-and the indifferent face card of that packet is simultaneously stolen. This stolen card is added to the top of the third packet as it is turned, and the card at its face is stolen. And as the fourth (rightmost)packet is turned over to display the ace on it, the palmed indifferent card is added to the top. The effect is startling. In the mere actions of turning the packets over, an ace has been made to appear on each. Contact with the packets seems minimal and the hands are seen empty before and after each series of turns. A more direct procedure is hard to imagine. If wished, the aces may be made to vanish from the faces of the packets and to appear a second time. It is disputable if this extension adds significantly to the effect; but for those who find the prospect appealing, the procedure is given:

.

To vanish the aces, one must reverse the direction of the action, working from right to left. The packets are first turned face-down. The fourth and third packets (i.e., the rightmost pair) are turned over legitimately; but as the packet second from the left is turned down, the indifferent card atop it is stolen. This card is then added to the face of the leftmost packet as it is turned. Again traveling from right to left, the packets are turned face-up. The ace at the face of the rightmost packet is stolen and added to the top of the packet to the immediate left. The ace on the face of this packet is stolen and loaded atop the packet third from the right; and the ace at the face of this third packet is stolen and added atop the leftmost packet. In this manner the aces are caused to disappear. The situation at this time is as follows: One ace rests beneath each of the first three face-up packets, with the fourth ace lying second from the face of the leftmost one. No aces are present in the rightmost packet. To effect their reappearance, the turning of the packets is performed from left to right. The ace at the back of the first packet is stolen as the packet is turned face-down. This ace is added to the face of the second packet as it is turned, while the ace at its back is stolen. This is added to the face of the third packet as it goes down and the rear ace is stolen. This ace is then loaded onto the face of the rightmost packet as it is turned down. The aces are brought into view as the packets are turned once more faceup from left to right. As the first packet is turned up, the indifferent card at its face is stolen. This card is added atop the second packet as it is turned up. The final two aces are already at the faces of the third and fourth packets. Therefore, they are turned up without subterfuge.

EFFECT: Here is a little dance of the hands, in which a single card disappears and returns several times. The old school termed this sort of exercise an acquitment. In recent times it is more often called "hand washing". The latter title is used in a pejorative sense. Nevertheless, there is less lathering with some sequences than with others. There is something implicitly unconvincing in most acquitments, even when the method of hiding the object cannot be followed. They thereby lose some, if not all, their sense of magic. But there is still an aesthetic quality to acquitments that makes them both pleasing to practice and to watch-in moderation. The manipulative sequence described here is one Mr. Vernon devised many years ago. To its credit, it is well constructed. The coziness of the actions is kept to a minimum, and the sequence can be performed at close range as well as from the platform. Mr. Vernon has used it for many years to pass the last card in his Cards to Pocket routine. When this routine was taught in More Inner Secrets of Card Magic (pp. 63-69), because of length only the last phase of the acquitment was detailed. It will now be described in full.

METHOD: The card to be vanished is held vertically in the left hand, with the first two fingers curled lightly around its lower half, the upper half projecting above the length of the forefinger (Figure 88). The audience is given a view of both the back of the card and the left palm. To do this, you must turn slightly to the left.

FIGURE 88

MOTLEY

The acquitment is opened by dexterously passing the card several times through the left hand, in the way of a flourish. First the right hand moves over the card, back toward the audience and fingers slightly spread (Figure 89). The tips of these fingers contact the upper edge of the card and push it down, until the top of the card comes even with the left forefinger. While performing this action, the right fingers draw together (Figure 90).

FIGURE 89

FIGURE 90

In a continuing motion, the left hand rotates back outward, moving to a position immediately above the right hand, while the left thumb pushes the card smoothly through the fist, causing it to project for about half its length above the heel of the hand (Figure 91).

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 91

The right hand rises, grasps the top end of the card-fingers on the back, thumb on the face-and rotates it end for end over the back of the left hand (Figure 92). Simultaneously the left hand turns once more palm toward the audience, and receives the card in the same position it started (Figure 93).

FIGURE 92

FIGURE 93

MOTLEY

The actions are duplicated exactly, paddle-wheeling the card through and over the left hand a second time. On the third go round, the actions are seemingly repeated, but the card is stolen into the right hand. To manage this, the spread right fingers catch the top corners of the card between the edge of the first and fourth fingers (see Figure 89 again). They then push the card down into the left hand, closing as they do so. The card is thus caught in a front palm by the right hand. The left hand rolls back outward, closing as it has done previously, and stops just above the right fingertips (Figure 94, back view). However, the left thumb and fingers allow the card to slip by them as the hand turns. Notice that the left fingers remain straight at the inner knuckles, and the thumb hugs the side of the hand, in the same posture it would take if holding the card. It is also important to observe that the right fingers begin slightly spread and then close each time they push the card into the left hand; this keeps the true actions consistent with the false, so that no difference is observable from the front.

FIGURE 94

The right hand retreats about six inches to the right, bringing its fingertips to rest lightly on the left wrist. All attention is focused on the left hand. This hand turns slowly around and opens, displaying an empty palm (Figure 95). Then the fingers are spread apart. The card is gone.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE

In a gesture of graceful display, the tips of the right fingers are swept from wrist to fingertips, brushing over the left palm. They then reverse their brushing action, moving back to the left wrist. In this second stroke, the card is transferred from the front of the right hand to the back of the left. To accomplish this, the right fingers first straighten, swinging the inner end of the card away from the palm. Then, as the right hand begins to move back over the left palm, the tips of the left fingers are introduced between the card and right palm (Figure 96). The right first and fourth fingers bend at the inner joints only, moving toward the left fingers and between them: the right forefinger passing between the left first and second fingers, and the right fourth finger between the left third and fourth fingers (Figure 97).

FIGURE 96

FIGURE 97

MOTLEY

In this manner the card is slipped behind the left hand and directly into back-palm position. The left fingers close side by side, clipping the outer corners of the card between them. It will be found that, if these corners are caught back near the middle joints, rather than at the fingertips, the corners are better concealed and do not show between the fingers. This transfer is the most difficult move of the sequence, and must be executed smoothly and without faltering. The right fingers sweep back over the left palm to the wrist and then make one more sweep, this time transversely down the left palm, ending with the right palm exposed to the audience (Figure 98).

FIGURE 98

At times Mr. Vernon will insert a clever Roy Benson feint at this point, to show fronts and, apparently, backs of both hands. This maneuver appeared in the May 1946 issue of The New Phoenix (No. 321, pp. 90-91). It begins with the hands in the position just reached (Figure 98): both palms toward the audience, right below left. There is a brief pause. Then the right hand is folded up, palm to palm with the left, like the cover on a closing book (Figure 99). There is another, briefer pause; then the right hand revolves upward and again palm outward, this time using the adjacent thumbs as the hinge (Figure 100). As these movements are made, a convincing, if illogical, illusion is created. One believes one has seen all sides of the hands. Yet the back of the left hand has not been shown.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 99

FIGURE 100

The Benson display actions are reversed to bring the right hand once more below the left (Figure 98 again). The card is secretly transferred again from hand to hand, this time from back palm to an unorthodox style of right finger clip. The right hand swings in a tight circular path, counter clockwise and to the left of the left fingertips. To do this, the right forearm is raised while the hand bends in at the wrist, the tip of the right second finger using the nail of the left second finger as a point of pivot (Figure 101).

MOTLEY

FIGURE 101

When the right and left fingers lie parallel to each other, the right fingers move momentarily behind the left and the tip of the right second finger is slipped between the bowed end of the card and the back of the left second finger (Figure 102). At the same time the right first and third fingertips contact the face of the card, at either side of the second finger, and the card is caught, still bent, between them.

FIGURE 102

The left fingers now gently ease away from the edges of the card as the left hand revolves at the wrist to display the back of the hand, at a position directly above the right hand. Synchronized with this action, the right fingers bend in to hide the card behind the right palm (Figure 103, exposed from the back). The right hand remains otherwise stationary.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 103

The display of the left hand is continued by turning it again palm toward the audience. The right thumb contacts the upper edge of the card, steadying it, so that the forefinger can straighten to point at the left palm (Figure 104). Then the left hand revolves to present its back once more to the audience. This is done around the tip of the right forefinger, so that the forefinger now lies hidden partially behind the left hand (Figure 105).Just an instant after this, the right fingers straighten, carrying the card secretly behind the left hand (Figure 106). The left fingers close around the card and the right hand is lowered, drawing the card from the left hand and into view (Figure 107).

FIGURE 104

FIGURE 105

FIGURE 106

FIGURE 107

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

That is the conclusion of the first acquitment. Mr. Vernon often continues with a second, quicker vanish and reproduction of the card. At the finish of the first acquitment the card is held at the tips of the right fingers. The left hand turns palm toward the audience and the right hand lays the card, face-down, along the left palm; i.e., directly into classic palm position (Figure 108).

FIGURE 108

The left hand turns back outward with the card clasped in the palm. Here Mr. Vernon pretends that he has forgotten to show the face of the card. The left hand is turned palm out again and the right hand grasps the card at its near end, fingers on the back, thumb on the face. The right hand revolves palm upward, displaying the face of the card (Figure 109). "Don't forget what it is."

FIGURE 109

The card is once more laid onto the left palm-but the right fingers retain their grasp on it. The left hand turns back outward, apparently carrying the card in its palm, as before. But instead, the tip of the right second finger p d s the card into Tenkai palm, pivoting it between the tips of the forefinger and thumb (Figure 110). If this small palming maneuver is properly timed with the turn of the left hand, the steal of the card is indetedable.

FIGURE 110

Attention is focused on the left hand, which is held in an awkwardly cramped position, as if holding the card. There is a momentary pause. Then the left hand slowly turns to reveal the second disappearance of the card. The right hand proceeds to reach under the coat and produce the card from there. That is the conclusion of the sequence. However, before ending the discussion of this piece, Mr. Vernon wishes to pass on two tips on the Tenkai palm. The first involves proper angles. The Tenkai palm has always been haunted with the reputation of an angle-ridden specter. This reputation, as Rick Johnsson and others have ably shown, is greatly exaggerated. Mr. Vernon comments that, if the card is held parallel to the floor, it will not be seen peeking above or below the back of the hand. He also observes that many performers, when using the Tenkai palm, bend their thumb in too far. This gives an awkward and stiff appearance to a palming position designed to look relaxed and open. Only the slightest bend of the thumb is necessary to hold the card securely, if the card has been correctly placed. Experimentation and practice will reveal the proper positioning.

THE VERNON DECK VANISH AND RECOVERY l3FECT: Many years ago Mr. Vernon devised this quick bare-hand vanish and recovery of a full pack of cards for platform and stage work. It has found a home in many a manipulator's ad, but to my knowledge has never been recorded. Here, then, are the details of that vanish and recovery.

METHOD: The deck is held in left-hand dealing grip with all four fingers at the right side. The left arm is bent at the elbow so that the forearm lies at a horizontal position in front of the stomach-hand and deck held somewhat below the right pectoral. The performeis stance is full-face toward the audience, with your right side advanced slightly forward (Figure 111).

FIGURE 111

MOTLEY

The right hand is raised to adjust the tie, lapel, glasses, etc.; any gesture that is natural to the performer. What is required is that the right hand be brought up near the face for any purpose that has reasonable motivation. After finishing its task, the right hand descends until the right forearm reaches a horizontal position in front of the left hand. The right forearm immediately presses in on the front end of the deck, trapping it horizontally by its ends between the arm and the right breast (Figure 112, position exposed from above). Practice will be necessary to acquire a relaxed pose with the deck secured in this fashion.

FIGURE 112

When the deck has been caught by the right arm, the left hand moves smoothly to the left, along the line of the right forearm, until it meets the right hand. The hands, fingers together, mimic the motions of squaring the deck no longer present (Figure 113). Suddenly the hands collapse, palm flat to palm, as if the deck has popped from existence. They then separate to show the deck gone (Figure 114).

FIGURE 113

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 114

Held momentarily this pose is unsuspicious; but it must not be sustained for more than a few seconds. Once the vanish of the deck has been made apparent, the empty left hand sweeps straight to the right, catching the deck in the fork of the thumb as it passes on its way to the right elbow (Figure 115, from above). There must be no hesitation in motion as the deck is retrieved by the left hand. The left hand reaches the elbow and there produces the deck in a fan (Figure 116).

FIGURE 115

FIGURE 116

It is interesting to note that the concealment principle used for this vanish is closely related to Mr. Vernon's Svengali color change, described in The Dai Vernon Book of Magic (pp. 74-76).

The entire sequence happens quickly, but can be gratifyingly effective when performed well.

Chapter Four: Cheats

JOKER MONTE EFFECT: This trick has become near legendary in Vernon circles. Its existence has been mentioned several times in print, in the most enticing terms; and Mr. Vernon has used it for decades to tease fellow magicians, and occasionally to barter with a very few for a particular trick or sleight he desired in exchange. The method for ""JokerMonte" has been closely guarded. It is here explained in print for the first time. In effect, a game of threecard monte is played. But, to make manipulation an impossibility, the three cards-a queen and two jokers-are isolated in three clear drinking tumblers. These tumblers are arranged in a row, with the faces of the cards outermost (Figure 117). Then the tumblers are turned at the very fingertips, to bring the backs of the cards into view.

FIGURE 117

The positions of the tumblers are slowly changed while the audience is challenged to follow the queen. The fairness of the handling is beyond question. Yet the audience finds it impossible to keep track of the "money card':

As the game continues, the performer tries to make it progressively easier. He abandons the shifting of the tumblers and merely turns them around in place. Still the queen eludes the audience. Indeed, the queen is seen to jump inexplicably from tumbler to tumbler at the whim of the performer, until eventually she is shown to reside in each of the three tumblers in succession. The effect is astonishing, as it is obviously impossible for the performer to manipulate the cards in the tumblers; yet he has total control over the positions of the queen and jokers.

CHEATS

-OD: The secret is ingenious. It will be surprising to many to discover that the method is also self-working. The trick is designed for parlor performance, with a small audience seated several feet from the performer's table. There should be no one positioned on the sides during the trick, as an effective view is not possible from these angles. Each tumbler contains three cards, though only one is perceived at any given time. The cards are arranged in a triangular configuration in the tumbler. On one side a queen of hearts shows, on another a joker, and on the third the back of a card. Figure 118 shows the arrangement of the cards, looking down from above. Notice that they are bowed inward slightly.

FIGURE 118

The most difficult task of this trick is finding suitable tumblers. They must be clear, straight sided, wide fluted (about one inch), and of the proper circumference and depth to take the cards as required. The cards must fit as indicated in Figure 117,and must rest completely inside the tumbler with their top edges about an inch below the rim. By turning the tumbler approximately one-hundred-twenty degrees, one of the three cards not previously visible is brought into view. This is the principle on which "Joker Montef' is based. Assume that the joker faces the audience. The tumbler is given a thirty-three degree turn in one direction to bring the back of the indifferent card into view. This is done by gripping the rim of the glass from above, with just the tips of the fingers and thumb of one hand (Figure 119). The thumb should lie at the near point of the card triangle. The turn is made somewhat briskly, so that the degree of revolution is difficult to judge. The fluting of the tumbler also aids in this deception.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 119

The illusion created is that the tumbler has been turned one-hundredeighty degrees to bring the back of the joker into view. On the page the substitution of a one-hundred-twenty degree turn for one of one-hundredeighty degrees may seem a large discrepancy. Be assured, in practice the illusion is completely deceptive. Some may wish to enhance it by sliding the fingers around the rim of the tumbler during the final portion of the turn, pretending to turn the tumbler and thus compensating for the missing sixty degrees. To effect the change of the joker to a queen, the tumbler is turned another one-hundred-twentydegrees in the same direction, taking the back of the indifferent card from sight and bringing the face of the queen into view. It will be clear that, by simply turning the tumblers in the appropriate direction, a joker or a queen can be shown at will in any of the three. Devising presentational sequences around this principle is not difficult. Mr. Vernon used several over the years, and varied them to suit his audience. After the miraculous mobility of the queen has been exhibited, at least three possible climaxes are possible: 1)In rapid succession, the queen is made to leap from tumbler to tumbler in a bewildering manner. 2) The two jokers vanish at the finish and a queen is shown in all three tumblers, proving that the audience was given every chance imaginable to win.

3) The queen vanishes from the tumblers, leaving three jokers in play. A duplicate queen can be produced from your pocket, a spectator's, or from any other location desired.

CHEATS

It occurs to me that the triangular space at the center of the tumbler, created by the cards, might be used as a place of concealment from which a silk scarf, card silk or some other item could be produced. Whether such use of the space is defensible depends greatly on the application. Bruce Cervon suggests that a roll of bills could be produced from one or more of the tumblers, using this method, providing a logical climax to the effect. The one weakness in this trick is that the cards must start and finish in the glasses. There seemed no really effective way of inserting the cards or removing them before an audience. However, Tom Gagnon has come up with a very clever answer to the problem. He has devised a card triangle that, when folded flat, looks like a single card which can be shown front and back. Yet it can be instantly opened inside the glass, with little or no perceptible finger motion; and can be collapsed again just as easily. The gimmick is made of three cards, their sides hinged together to form a triangle (see Figure 120). The hinging may be transparent tape; or, for a more permanent hinge, strips of silk. One of the three cards must also be hinged lengthwise down its center, so that it will fold inward, between the other two cards (Figure 121). One can simply fold the card, but a clean razor cut is less visible than a crease. If you set the card triangle on end, with the two face-outward cards toward you, the card that must fold is the one on your right. The overall design of the queens and jokers used in "Joker Monte" helps conceal the hinged join.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

You will need three of these gimmicks: two with a folding queen-side and one with a folding joker-side. When the folding card is collapsed inward, the gimmick can be shown front and back as a single card. The gimmick is then opened as it is placed face outward in the glass. To do this, hold the gimmick at the top, the right thumb on the left corner and the right second fingertip on the right corner. Curl the forefinger onto the back of the gimmick. As you begin to lower the gimmick into the glass, press the forefinger forward, bowing the cards outward. Then let the left front corner of the gimmick snap quietly off your thumb (Figure 122). Insert the tip of the forefinger into the center of the opening card triangle and push the folding card straight (Figure 123). The triangles can be collapsed just as easily, when removed from the glasses.

FIGURE 122

FIGURE 123

CHEATS

Mr. Gagnon has another ingenious suggestion to add to this. If you hinge the folding card with a sheet of dental dam (available from dentists and many magic suppliers), stretching the rubber sheet taut as you glue it to the card, the rubber will cause the card triangle to open of its own accord, when you release it. For durability, the card should be split and the rubber sheet glued between the two layers. The rubber will pull free of the card if it is glued only to the back.

The three necessary gimmicks can be folded flat and placed in a deck, from which they can be casually removed when required. These ideas of Mr. Gagnon's are a genuine advance forward in the methodology of the trick. This then is Dai Vernon's "Joker Monte". There is much room for variation, making the development of a unique presentation possible. It is hoped the reader will do just that.

Old promotion shot used by Vernon 104

THREE IN THE HAND, ONE IN THE BUSH EI;FECT: Three like-valued cards are openly removed from the deck. For the purpose of descripon, they will be assumed to be sevens. Three indifferent cards are also withdrawn. The sevens and the indifferent cards are alternated and placed on top of the pack. Then the top three cards are rapidly dealt onto the table. When they are turned up they are seen to be the three sevens. The only explanation would seem to be that the audience has just witnessed an expert demonstration of second and third dealing.

MEZHOD: This fraudulent exhibition of false-dealing expertise is based on the old Three-JacksDeal, which was popular with magicians in the early part of this century. Carmen D'Amico, the Chicago card-expert, refined this self-working deal so that it could be performed without prearrangement of the cards. Mr. Vernon added several touches to the handling that caused Mr. D'Amico some puzzlement when it was demonstrated for him. A simplified version of the D'Amico-Vernon trick was published in Scarne on Card Tn'cks as 'Vernon's Three-Card Assembly" (pp. 155-157).It is explained now with all the Vernon subtleties restored. Pick up the deck and hold it with its face toward you. With the left fingers, casually back spread the three rearmost cards so that the third card from the top can be noted (Figure 124). This is done as you talk. Seemingly pay no attention to the cards. The glimpse is taken just as you turn your gaze to the deck and begin spreading through it from the face. Assume that the card sighted third from the top is the seven of spades. Announce that you will demonstrate several of the card sharp's techniques, and to do so you will require three sevens.

FIGURE 124

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Spread the cards from the left hand into the right and upjog the three cards of matching value to the glimpsed card-in the present example, sevens. As this is done it is important that the mate of matching color to the glimpsed card be positioned behind the other two. Here, this card would be the seven of clubs. If you are not fortunate enough to have the card fall naturally into the desired position, simply shift it into place by removing it from the spread and reinserting it as required. This minor adjustment can be made openly, as it means nothing to those watching. The three upjogged cards are now removed from the pack and tabled. However, before this occurs the three cards are arranged in a particular way that conceals the suit of the rearmost card. Much of this positioning can be accomplished as the cards are upjogged. The first card arrived at is upjogged a bit over half its length. The second card is then upjogged a distance approximately threequarters of an inch less than the first. When the third card is found it is upjogged about half an inch higher than the second. This third card is also pushed behind and very slightly to the right of the second card so that only the number on its upper index can be seen. The first card should lie about half an inch to the right of the second card, so that the full index of that card is in sight, as well as a portion of the large pips. The upper end of the first card should extend slightly beyond that of the third. This arrangement of the three cards assures that only the index number of the rear card can be seen. Figure 125 makes the configuration of the cards clear. The arrangement of the cards should be practiced until the required position can be achieved quickly and without fidgeting.

FIGURE 125

Once the three sevens have been upjogged, partially close the spread so that it can be held in the left hand. Make any final adjustments necessary to the sevens. Then, with the right hand, strip them from the pack and table them face-up. Three sevens are seen, but the suit of the lower seven cannot be discerned (see Figure 126).

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 126

Flip the deck face-down in the left hand. "I will also need three more cards." Deal the top card into the right hand and raise the hand so that the face of the card can be glimpsed by the spectators. Take the second card below the first in the right hand and flash its face as well. The face of the third card dealt from the deck, however, is not exposed as it is taken beneath the first two. This is the fourth seven. The three face-down cards are tabled to the left of the face-up sevens. Table the deck face-down as well, placing it behind the two groups of three and centered equidistant from them. Reach out and casually flip the sevens face-down in place. Then explain that you will alternate them with the indifferent cards as they are returned to the deck, thereby separating them. With the left hand, place the top card of the indifferent packet onto the deck. With the right hand, place the top seven onto the indifferent card. Continue to alternate the cards of the two groups as they are placed on the deck, finishing with the last seven from the right-hand pile. You are now set to deal three sevens directly from the top. Since the audience has been led to believe that the sevens lie at positions first, third and fifth from the top, you can pretend to be a master of expert false dealing technique. For this deception to succeed, all one must do is act the part convincingly. Pause a moment as if preparing mentally for a difficult feat. Then deal the top three cards face-down to the table in a rapid, deliberate and concentrated manner. As the third card is dealt, slip it beneath the first two and flip all three sidewise and face-up on the table. Immediately push the three sevens into a configuration similar to that just used (Figure 126 again). The upper cards conceal the suit of the substituted seven beneath and provide a consistency to the method of display.

A STRAIGHT DEAL EFFECT: The performer offers to demonstrate how helpful false dealing can prove to a card sharp. He explains that a card cheat often selects the cards he needs to win the next hand from the discards of the last play. These cards are picked up by the cheat and placed on top of the deck when no one is paying attention. Then they are retained there during the shuffle and dealt by the cheat, not to himself, but to an accomplice.

To demonstrate the ploy, a poker hand consisting of a straight is removed from the shuffled deck. This hand is shown and placed on top of the pack. Without further manipulation of the cards, two hands of poker are dealt. The performer then asserts that he has used second, third, fourth and fifth deals to give the straight to the spectator across from him. The cards are turned up and the performer's claim is confirmed. The straight is once more dropped on top of the pack and two hands are dealt. And again the spectator finds he has all five cards of the original straight in his hand. Yet, there is no hint of a false motion in the dealing procedure.

METHOD: As a young man on his first visit to New York City in 1913, Mr. Vernon witnessed the performance of the now venerable Three-Jacks Poker Deal. As mentioned in the previous trick, it was this same dealing demonstration that inspired Carmen D'Amico. Mr. Vernon returned to Ottawa and there worked out a much more subtle version of the trick he had seen, using a full straight rather than three of a kind. This trick waited over fifty years for publication. It was contributed to Genii magazine for the April 1964 issue (Vol. 28, No. 8, p. 280). It is redescribed here so that several previously unrecorded presentational notes can be added. The premise of the demonstration is established by explaining how card sharps stack the deck for the next hand and deal the winning cards to an accomplice. During this setting of the scene, you go quickly through the pack and remove a five-to-nine straight with mixed suits. Any five, six and nine may be used in the hand. However, the seven and eight must be black cards of opposite suits; e.g., the seven of spades and the eight of clubs. Table the cards in a face-down pile as you remove them from the deck. Then put down the pack, pick up the five cards and arrange them in fivethrough-nine order, with the nine at the face of the packet. Besides these five cards a simple four-card stack is required. The other black eight and seven are found and secretly placed at positions second and fourth respectively from the top of the pack. That is, the top card is an indifferent one, the second card is the black eight, the third card is indifferent and the fourth is the black seven.

RJRTHER LOST INNER SECFETS, VOLUME 3 This four-card stack can be assembled in many ways. It can simply be arranged at the same time the straight is removed from the pack. Or the black eight and seven can be culled to the top and then alternated with indifferent cards, using faro, riffle or overhand shuffle techniques. Each performer will adopt a preferred method for setting the cards. Briefly show the straight to the audience, pointing out that it consists of five through nine. The suits are not mentioned. Explain that these five cards represent the hand gathered by the card sharp for his partner, to be given him on the next deal. Hold the straight casually spread face-up between your hands as this is said. Move the hands upward in a gesture, bringing the backs of the cards into the audience's view. In the same motion separate the hands, with two cards in the left and three in the right. Within this action the positions of the six and seven are secretly reversed. This is done using a simple but effective displacement technique invented by P. Howard Lyons. Contact the face of the seven in the spread with the left thumb (Figure 127), and the back of the six with the right second or third fingertip. When you separate the hands, the left takes the five and seven and the right takes the six, eight and nine (Figure 128). The displacement is performed under the pretext of a casual display of the backs of the cards as you mention their number.

FIGURE 127

FIGURE 128

Replace the three right-hand cards on the face of the left-hand pair, square them and drop the packet face-down onto the deck. The order of the cards

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from the top is five, black seven, six, black eight, nine, indifferent card, black eight, indifferent card, black seven. Two face-down hands of five cards each are now dealt from the top. The first hand goes to a person across from you, the second to yourself. The cards are dealt honestly and at a moderate pace. As the last card is dealt to your hand, slip it under the other four cards and scoop them up into the right hand as the left hand tables the deck. The five cards are spread face-down between the hands as you explain that a card sharp never deals himself a strong hand. Suspicions are too easily aroused. Instead he deals the winning cards to his partner. As you talk you gesture nonchalantly. The hands move apart, displacing, or transposing, the second and third cards from the top of the spread. The displacement technique just described is used to accomplish this, but this time the left thumb contacts the second card from the top and draws it away with the two bottom cards, while the right third fingertip contacts the face of the center card and pulls it away with the top card.

The right-hand pair is placed on top of the left-hand cards and all are dropped onto the deck without showing their faces. Once again, the actions are relaxed and in keeping with the patter. Reach out with the right hand and pick up the cards lying before the spectator. Turn them face-up in the left hand and show that he has received the straight. To do this, deal the first card, the five, face-up to the table. Deal the six onto and overlapping it to the right. Then lay the remaining three cards as a block onto the six and spread them to the right. This returns the straight to its initial five-through-nineorder in an inconspicuous manner. The straight on the table is not the same one first shown. The black seven and eight have been exchanged for their mates. But, because the suits are mixed, no one will notice the subtle transformation. The ori@ black seven and eight from the straight are now resting second and fourth from the top of the deck. Everything is set to repeat the demonstration exactly. Mr. Vernon most often repeats the deal once and then quits. However, if the crowd is particularly receptive, he may perform the trick a third time, with a playful change in the presentation. He sets the cards for the deal, as described, then gives the pack a brief false shuffle that retains the top stock. "Of course, the card sharp can't always deal the cards. The deal rotates between players. Here, you deal them this time." Hand the spectator the pack and let him deal the two hands. Turn up your cards and show that you have the straight this time. Smile at the spectator and say, "You know, you're getting to be almost as good at this as me."

THE DAVID AND GOLIATH DEAL EFFECE The performer invites one of the group to join him in a game of poker. The spectator is understandably a bit reluctant to agree to such a match. However, the performer guarantees him a winning hand, if he follows the advice given. Fortified by this assurance, the spectator agrees to play. Two hands of poker are dealt. The spectator looks at his five cards and the performer immediately advises him to draw four. The spectator is dubious, but follows instructions and requests four cards. The moment he does, the four aces come flying face-up out of the center of the deck and land in front of him. The performer explains, "You see, he is really my partner. We were banned from a game in Las Vegas once. They said there was something funny about the way we handled the cards." This stunt always wins a strong round of laughter. It became a favorite of Jay Ose's and he performed it often in the early days around the Magic Castle. Frank Garcia, on seeing this trick in Mr. Osels hands, developed a variation of it which he published in Million Dollar Card Secrets (pp. 84-85). Here, then, is the original Vernon method. METHOD: The secret is a rubber band that encircles the length of the bottom third of the pack. The aces are forced face-up into the front end of the face-down packet until they are flush, the band stretched around them (Figure 129). The balance of the deck is placed face-down on top of the banded block of cards. Some experimentation will be required to find a rubber band of the proper size and elasticity to shoot the aces from the block when pressure is eased.

FIGURE 129 Band

CHEATS

The deck, set as described, is placed into the card case until needed. When the case is opened, it is held in the left hand and strong pressure is applied by the fingers to the front and back of the case as the right hand opens the flap. The pressure serves to stop the aces from immediately springing from the pack. The right fingers firmly grasp the accessible end of the pack and withdraw it from the case. The case is tossed aside and the deck is placed face-down into the left hand. The cards are held in left-hand mechanics grip, the tip of the left f o h g e r curled onto the front end of the pack to stop the aces from shooting forward, and to cover the presence of the rubber band. Invite a spectator to play a game of head-on poker with you and assure him that, if he follows your instructions, you will guarantee his success. Then deal two hands of five cards each, one to the spectator and the second to yourself. Have him look at his hand and advise him to draw four cards. Then, when he complies, move the left forefinger away from the deck and let the aces shoot from it, causing them to land face-up in front of him. When the laughter caused by this unexpected went begins to diminish, explain that the spectator is really your partner and that the two of you have been barred from Las Vegas. One could, if wished, give the deck a short overhand shuffle before dealing, by shuffling off about half the cards and throwing the bottom stock beneath them, keeping pressure on the ends of the banded block throughout. However, this stunt is designed for humor, not for mystery, and such gilding is really unnecessary. Try it as described and it will provide you and your audiences with great fun.

BLACK'S STACK E m C T : This poker stacking demonstration was shown Mr. Vernon by Fred Black, a cattle rancher from Thedford, Nebraska. Mr. Black was well known to magicians in his time and had a deserved reputation as an expert card-handler. His unique pass can be found in Dai Vernon's Ultimate Secrets of Card Magic (pp. 114116). He was also a pioneer of riffle shuffle and far0 work. The far0 tables that appear in Hugard and Braue's Expert Card Technique were derived by Black, though his name was not mentioned. Mr. Vernon recalls that Mr. Black could execute perfect riffle shuffles without resorting to faro meshes. He would release the cards off his thumbs to form a perfect weave. This was admittedly done more slowly than would be a normal riffle shuffle, but the weave was always accurate. He used to practice controlled shuffles on the horn of his saddle, while watching the herds. Fred Black performed the following poker stack on a barrelhead in front of the 'Trison Ship" at the 1933-34 Chicago World's Fair. He worked for a while as a barker for this exhibit and performed the stack to attract and entertain passersby. He began by openly removing the aces from the pack. These were displayed and then inserted, as a group, into the center of the deck. He would give the deck three quick riffle shuffles and then deal out six hands of poker. The sixth hand went to himself and was dealt face-up so that everyone could watch the four aces fall to him. "But four aces don't count for much if nobody wants to bet. So I give the rubes a little something too." With this he would turn up the second and fourth hands, revealing four queens in the one and the kings in the other.

METIIOD: This is a fine bit of riffle shuffle work that should intrigue those who like a challenge. The four queens must be managed secretly to the top of the pack with the four kings over them. This can be arranged before the demonstration, or the kings and queens can be culled to the top as the aces are removed from the deck. Table the pack face-down, with a long edge nearest you, and display the aces in your right hand. Square the aces and insert them as a block into the right end of the pack. As the right hand pushes the aces flush, the block is slightly anglejogged so that the left rear comer protrudes from the pack. The left thumb immediately presses down on that corner, while pushing the block square, thus obtaining a fine break above it. The right hand follows through by squeezing the cards square on the right end, as described in Erdnase; i.e., the right second finger runs along the right end of the pack as the right thumb glides simultaneously along the back edge, both digits meeting at the inner right corner.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS. VOLUME 3

The right hand then cuts all the cards above the left thumh's break to the right, in preparation for a shuffle. The kings rest over the queens on the right-hand half; the aces are on the left-hand portion. Begin the shuffle, the right thumb releasing its cards more quickly than the left thumb. The normal interweaving of the cards stops (figuratively not literally) when roughly half of the left-hand cards and all but about ten of the right-hand cards have been released. The right thumb holds back four cards (the kings) while riffling off the rest of its cards as a block; and the left thumb follows this by dropping all its cards but three. The right and left thumbs now release the balance of their cards alternately in single fashion, first one from the right, then one from the left, one from the right, one from the left, etc. This interlaces the kings with the aces. Figure 130 is a schematic of the shuffle pattern.

Four Aces

mFo =

4

-

&Four Kings

Queens

FIGURE 130

The right hand pushes its half diagonally into the left-hand portion, as if commencing a push-through shuffle. At the finish of this maneuver the left rear corner of the right-hand half should project from the left inner edge of the pack. The left second fingertip immediately locates the gap present beneath the large left-hand block. This block and all the cards above it are cut to the left. The cards atop this portion should read king, ace, king, ace, king, ace, king, ace. The queens lie on top of the right-hand half. Shuffle normally until the right thumb holds four cards and the left thumb eight. If you watch the left-hand cards as they come off the thumb, you will see the first, or lowermost, ace as it is reached. Use this ace as a visual cue to signal when eight cards remain on the left thumb. Do not stop when the ace is sighted. Rather, let two cards immediately off the left thumb, then one off the right. Another pair is released from the left thumb, followed by a single from the right. Repeat this twice more, the final card being dropped by the right thumb. Square the halves legitimately.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

Your top stack is now arranged queen, king, ace, queen, king, ace, etc. Deliver one last shuffle to the pack, this being a tabled in-faro. The deck is now set to deal the queens to the second hand, kings to the fourth and aces to the sixth, in a six-hand deal. While some deliberation can be excused in executing these shuffles, if the demonstration is presented in the context of an exposh, one should strive for the goals of smoothness, surety and speed.

Card tricks with Tenkai 115

STACKED TO FORMULA EFFECT: An expert demonstration of stacking the deck for poker is proposed. This is done as a challenge feat. The four aces are removed from the deck and laid in a row on the table. Four cards are then drawn at random by a spectator and placed face-up in a row above the aces (Figure 131). If it should happen that the cards are found too similar in value, they may be traded for others at the spectator's discretion.

FIGURE 131

It is explained that the values of the four drawn cards will determine how the aces are distributed in the deck. Each ace is turned face-down and the proper number of cards is dealt onto it to make the pile equal to the value of the card above it. In other words, if the card over the first ace is a six, five cards are dealt onto the ace, bringing it to a depth of six. When each ace has been buried in the prescribed manner, the four piles are gathered and dropped onto the pack. By this process the aces are randomly dispersed throughout the deck. Someone is now asked to spec* the number of players in the game. The cards are given several quick overhand shuffles and the number of hands called for is dealt. As the performer deals each card into his hand it is seen that the aces, despite their uneven distribution and the shuffling, all fall to him. The dealing is honest. If desired, it may be done by a spectator, as the aces have been genuinely stacked at the positions demanded by the circumstances.

METIIOD: The system for this remarkable stacking demonstration was formulated by Dan Mayer. (Mr. Mayer held the singular distinction of being the only applicant to a proposed course on Erdnase, offered by Mr. Vernon and Dr. Daley in 1945.) As might be imagined, working out a method for achieving this feat was an accomplishment of some magnitude. The formula that Mr. Mayer had devised was complex-too complex to be practical in performance. He had written it out on a large piece of foolscap when he showed it to Mr. Vernon, and admitted that the only practical way of doing the stack was to refer to the written formula as you were shuffling. This, obviously was not a desirable course of action.

CHEATS

Mr. Vernon admired Mr. Mayer's formula and set about sirnphfymg it. His simplification is so effective it puts this feat within the grasp of any performer who can execute an overhand shuffle. He shared the formula with only a few, like Dr. Daley, Conrad Bush, Bill Simon, Alex Elmsley, Roy Walton and Gerald Kosky. In 1963 Roy Walton described a trick of Mr. Vernon's, "The Lucky Pair", in Magic Circle Magic (pp. 257-261). A version of the stacking formula was given there. Gerald Kosky, months before his death, kindly provided us with a letter from Mr. Vernon, dated September, 1954, that helped clarify some details of the formula. The formula is described here in full, along with the effect explained in the letter to Mr. Kosky. While the system of shuffling is not difficult, the reader is advised to go through its description with cards in hand. First remove the four aces from the pack and arrange them in a face-up row before you. Remove four other cards from the deck and place one above each ace in a second face-up row. (In performance, the four cards are drawn at random by a spectator. It should be made clear to the audience that the values of these four cards will dictate the positions at which the aces are to be buried in the deck.) Court cards, should they appear, are given the usual values of eleven (jack), twelve (queen) and thirteen (king). For the purpose of explanation, assume that the four cards are a six, a three, a nine and a queen, reading from left to right (Figure 131 again). Turn the first ace down in place and deal six cards onto it, counting them as five. This false count is the only deceit exercised while conforming to the conditions of the challenge. As the ace is turned face-down it is counted as "one". Then cards are dealt from the pack to the counts of "two, three, four, five and six." This apparently places the first ace at a depth of six in its pile, this position corresponding with the value of the card in front of it. There are several false-dealing techniques that can be used to add the extra card to the first pile. Mr. Vernon prefers to obtain a break under the top two cards of the pack and deal the pair as the first card. Turn the second ace in the row face-down and deal two cards onto it, making the pile equal to three as the card before it dictates. Turn down the third ace and deal eight cards onto it-and eleven cards onto the fourth face-down ace (the queen's value is twelve). Note that only the first pile is miscounted. All other actions are as represented to the audience. Now gather the ace piles with the right hand, working from left to right: the first pile goes onto the second, these onto the third, etc. As this is done,

CHEATS

the left hand moves casually aside and, while all attention is on the gathering of the piles, it puts a lengthwise bridge into the remainder of the pack. This bridge is a convex one; that is, the sides of the pack are bent downward (Figure 132). If thought preferable, the bridge can be put into only the inner end of the pack.

FIGURE 132

Drop the four combined piles on top of the bridged pack and position the cards for an overhand shuffle. Your formula for shuffling lies before you on the table, contained in the row of cards that controlled the dispersion of the aces. The first card is a six-run six cards from the top of the pack and throw the balance onto them. The second card is a three-run three cards and throw the balance on top. If you check, at this point you will find the first ace on the face of the pack and the second ace on top. Stop the shuffling and ask how many players are to be in the game? Any number from five to nine can be specified. Assume that five hands are requested. Run five cards (the number of hands called for) and throw the balance on top. Go to the third card of the tabled row. It is a nine. Run nine cards and throw the balance on top. The length of the fifth run is determined by a simple mental calculation. The number of hands requested must be subtracted from the value of the third card (in the present example, five from nine equals four) and that difference subtracted from the value of the fourth card in the row (twelve [queen] less four equals eight). The resultant number is used for the fifth run. Run eight cards and throw the balance on top. The stacking is now nearly accomplished. Release all pressure on the pack as it rests on edge in the hand. The cards will break at the bridged block. This marks the top of your stock. Catch a break under the bridge and shuffle off to it. As this is done, you must

FURTJBR LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

add the values of the first two cards of the row together and subtract from this total the number of hands requested. The remainder is the number of cards that must be removed from the top of the stock. When the break is reached, run that many more cards and throw the balance on top. The aces are now set for the deal. Deal out five hands, the fifth going to yourself. Turn up the cards that fall to you-these will be the four aces. If you have followed this description with cards in hand you will be delighted and probably more than a little mystified to find that the procedure works. Now that the formula for shuffling is understood, several simple restrictions must be explained. The four random cards that form the conditional row also govern the range of hands that can be dealt. The values of the first and second cards carry no special importance. However, the third and fourth cards are a critical pair. The value of the third card defines both the upper and lower limits on the number of hands that can be successfully stacked. The upper limit is equal to the value of the third card. In the above example that upper limit was nine. The lower limit is found by dividing the value of the third card in half. If the result contains a fraction, round to the next highest whole number; e.g., if the third card is a seven, the lower limit would be four (half of seven is three and a half, which is rounded up to four). Above, the lower limit was five-half of nine is four and a half; this is rounded up to five. It follows from these restrictions that the higher the value of the third card, the larger the range of hands that can be offered the spectators. The rule governing the fourth card states that it must always be of higher value than the third card. The restrictions are minor. A lot of flexibility is allowed within the requirements of the layout. To illustrate, let us examine the four cards given in the previous example. These cards were a six, a three, a nine and a queen. Besides the order just given, these four cards could also be arranged in the following sequences and meet the necessities of the formula: queen, nine, three, six; nine, three, six, queen; three, six, nine, queen; queen, three, six, nine; and so on. Given any four randomly chosen cards, two of those cards can be found to suit the requirements for the third and fourth cards of the row. Should the cards be too close in value, say all low cards or all high, ask the spectator to replace several of the cards with ones of a more contrasting value, to make the demonstration more of a challenge.

CHEATS

There is but one excepon to the stacking formula that must be mentioned. It is an exception, in fad, that Mr. Vernon enjoys when it occurs. If the third card of the conditional row is of an even value and the number of hands requested is one half of that value (i.e., the lowest permissible limit), the rule for the fifth run is changed. Run the full value of the fourth card, rather than subtracting the difference between the value of the third card and the number of hands. Given these circumstances, when the cards are dealt, the fourth ace will turn up on the fifth round, instead of on the fourth. The fourth round will place an indifferent card in your hand. Pause a moment, to allow thoughts of your failure to be entertained by the audience. Then say,' "Yes, but you have five cards in poker." Deal the fifth round and turn up the last ace for yourself. Once familiar with the procedure it will be seen that the initial dealing of a double card onto the first ace can be eliminated if desired. Mr. Vernon performs the stack as described, with the idea of keeping the rules of the stacking procedure consistent and the small calculations as simple as possible. However, if one does not wish to deal the extra card onto the first ace, two small changes must be made in the formula: One must be subtracted from the left-hand value-card when performing the first run, and one subtracted again when the final run is calculated. If the reader finds this system a bit overwhelming at first blush, be assured that, if he follows it through several times with the cards, it will resolve itself into a clear and easily recalled procedure. All the information required is provided by the four cards left on the table. The complexity of this stacking problem makes the simplicity of Mr. Vernon's system all the more admirable.

Dai Vernon and Irene Larsen 120

Chapter Five: Inflationary Effects

ON YOUR METAL EFFECT: A finger ring is borrowed from someone and wrapped into the center of a handkerchief. A second person is given the ring and handkerchief to hold. A half dollar or other large coin is wrapped in another handkerchief and handed to the first person as a receipt for his ring. He is asked to grasp the coin through the center of the handkerchief with one hand, while holding the gathered corners in the other.

The performer approaches the person holding the ring and grabs a corner of his handkerchief. On command, this spectator is told to drop the handkerchief and ring, and the other spectator is told to release the coin with one hand, while retaining the corners of his handkerchief. The command is given. The ring instantaneously vanishes from the one handkerchief and is heard to join the coin in the second handkerchief. The owner of the ring opens the handkerchief himself to confirm that his ring has indeed flown across.

METHOD: This wonderfully effective trick is Mr. Vernon's combination of two classics: the vanishing ring from handkerchief (the principle of which can be found in Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 185, Dover edition) and "Expansion of Texture" (ref. The Dai Vernon Book of Magic, pp. 108-112 and Bobo's The New Modern Coin Magic, pp. 181-182).The earliest printed explanation of the latter trick appears in Robert-Houdin's The Secrets of Conjuring and Magic (pp. 117-121[Hoffrnanntranslation]), and is a brilliant improvement on Olliviefs 'The Flying Coins" (ref. Ponsin's Nouvelle Magie blanche d&voil&e,pp. 69-72 [S. H. Sharpe translation]). "Expansion of Texture" uses two coins. Originally these were borrowed and marked by the lender. This nicety seems to have fallen by the wayside in recent times. Mr. Vernon, by replacing one coin with a borrowed ring, has restored and strengthened the personal element, drawing the audience in and creating genuine interest in the trick.

INFLATIONARY EFFECE

Those familiar with these two tricks will already understand the basic means used to accomplish the present effect. An inexpensive ring is sewn into the corner of a man's heavy cotton or linen handkerchief. An unadorned band is best for the purpose. If the handkerchief has hems wide enough to accept the ring, this is the most satisfactory way to fix the ring into the corner. Otherwise, a small square of matching cloth must be sewn neatly to the corner of the handkerchief, to enclose the ring (Figure 133).

FIGURE 133

Ring

f

An unprepared second handkerchief, which need not match the first, is also required, as well as a large coin (half-dollar size or larger). The coin is carried in the right pocket. The handkerchiefs can be placed anywhere that is convenient. To begin the trick, ask for the loan of a finger ring. It is wise to borrow a wedding band or similar ring, so that there can be no mishaps with loose or missing stones. This also insures a close match to the ring you have sewn into the handkerchief. Bring out the prepared handkerchief and drape it over the palm of your left hand. In doing so, make it plain that the handkerchief and your hands are empty. As you arrange the handkerchief over the left palm, fold the corner that contains your ring onto the center of the handkerchief. Take the offered ring at the right fingertips and pretend to place it into the center of the handkerchief. Close the left fingers, bunching the cloth around the sewn ring, while the borrowed ring is carried away on the tips of the curled right fingers (Figure 134).

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS. VOLUME 3

FIGURE 134

Turn the left hand palm-down, clutching the handkerchief by its center, and ask a second person to grasp the ring at his fingertips through the cloth. Leave the handkerchief with him.

Reach into the right pocket and bring forth the coin, transferring the borrowed ring .into finger palm at the same time. Display the coin at the fingertips as the left hand obtains the unprepared handkerchief and snaps it open. Drape the center of the handkerchief over the coin at the right fingertips. Grasp the very edgeaf the coin through the cloth, between the left thumb and forefinger. At the same time, dig the tip of the left second finger into the borrowed ring as it rests in the right fingers, and clip the ring, through the cloth, with the left thumb and second finger, just below the coin (Figure 135, handkerchief shown transparent for clarity).

FIGURE 135

INFLATIONARY EFFECTS

The moment the left hand holds the coin and ring securely, withdraw the right hand from beneath the handkerchief and gather the cloth in the circle of the right fingers, about two inches below the coin and ring (Figure 136). Ask the person who loaned you the ring to grasp the coin by it edge in his right fingers. Assure that he has a firm grip on the coin. Then remove your left hand, releasing both coin and ring inside the handkerchief. Give the handkerchief a couple of light tugs with the right hand, explaining that you are testing the security of his grip. Actually, this is done to straighten the cloth tunnel through which the ring must pass in a few moments. Consequently, if it has not already done so, the ring should drop down, inside the handkerchief, to the top of the right fingers.

FIGURE 136

Raise your right hand, bringing the handkerchief to a horizontal position between your hand and the spectator's, and ask that he gather and hold the corners tightly in his left hand, so that nothing can enter or leave the confines of the handkerchief. Once he has done so, release the handkerchief with the right hand. This leaves it completely in the spectator's grasp, as shown in Figure 137.

FIGURE 137

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

Approach the person holding your ring and handkerchief and grasp one of its hanging corners at the tips of the fingers. Explain that, when you say, "Now," he is to release both ring and handkerchief immediately. Simultaneously, the other spectator is to release his grip on the coin, but hold tightly to the handkerchief with his left hand. Pause a few moments for dramatic effect; then cry, "Now!" and snap the prepared handkerchief from the spectator's fingers. The ring instantaneously vanishes. Just a second later it is heard to arrive with the coin in the second handkerchief. Toss the prepared handkerchief into the air and catch it neatly, to emphasize that the ring is gone. Then ask the spectator holding the other handkerchief to open it carefully and vedy that his ring has indeed flown to join the coin. This is magic that happens in the hands of the spectators. It is strong and immediate. Notice that another person than the owner is given the borrowed ring to hold. This accomplishes two important things. It eliminates any possibility of the substitution of your ring for the spectator's being detected; and it leaves the first spectator holding his own ring at the finish, and able to identify it instantly. You may wish to instrud the person with the handkerchief and substituted ring to hold it in the same two-handed manner that the other person will be asked to assume with his handkerchief and coin. In keeping the procedure consistent, the method of the borrowed ring's arrival is further protected. Once more, it must be stressed that, no matter how prosaic the means may seem to the reader, this is magic of a high order to the public.

ALL SOUND AND FABRIC EFmCT: Here is a fine variation of the Han Ping Chien coins-throughtable trick that Mr. Vernon developed for conditions when the performer is standing and working away from a table. It is a solid piece of thinking that incorporates an exquisite subtlety. In brief, a man's handkerchief is opened and held stretched by its four corners to form a working surface between two spectators. Six coins are poured onto the taut cloth. The performer clearly takes three coins in each hand and moves one hand under the handkerchief. The coins in the hand over the handkerchief are jingled several times, then brought down onto the cloth. In an instant they vanish from the hand. The lower hand is slowly brought from beneath the handkerchief and all six coins are poured from it onto the outstretched cloth. The coins have seemingly penetrated in some mysterious manner through the handkerchief.

M E W O D : While described with six coins, the trick can be done with four or eight just as well. Also, an odd coin or object, used with the coins, will lend extra interest and conviction to the illusion. However, for simplicity of explanation, six coins will be assumed in play. The stage is set by opening a pocket handkerchief and having it held outstretched by its corners by two spectators. This forms a working surface that should be held just above the level of your waist. Caution the helpers to grasp the corners tightly to insure that they do not pull free. Pour six coins onto the center of the taut handkerchief. Arrange the coins in two columns of three, making their number plain. As this is done, allow your hands to be seen empty. Pick up three coins in each hand and perform the classic Han Ping Chien maneuver over the handkerchief, apparently to reaffirm the number of coins held in each hand. This sleight is so widely known to magicians, it is felt superfluous to redescribe it here. It can be found in numerous texts, including The Dai Vernon Book of Magic ("AChinese Classic", pp. 41-47) and Bobo's The New Modern Coin Magic ("Coins Through the Table", pp. 190-193). At the finish of the Han Ping Chien maneuver all the coins are held in the right hand. The audience believes that each hand still holds three. Hold the closed left hand above the center of the handkerchief and move the closed right hand beneath it (Figure 138).

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

Now comes a diabolical touch. Shake the left fist up and down, as if jingling the coins. Simultaneously shake the right fist under the handkerchief. The jingling of the right-hand coins is perceived by the audience to emanate from the coins supposed to be in the left hand. The auditory illusion is perfect. (Slydini has, over the years, utilized this same principle of acoustic confusion, as have others; its application here is impeccable.) There should be no question in the spectators' minds that the three coins are present in the left hand. Therefore, when that hand is opened palmdown over the center of the handkerchief, rubbed lightly in circles against the cloth, and then lifted to show its coins gone, surprise is certain. Bring the right hand slowly from beneath the handkerchief and dramatically pour the six coins onto the cloth.

RIGHT WHERE? EFFECT: Nate Leipzig's "Right There" is one of the most elegant vanishes for a single coin in the realm of magic. It can be found in Dai Vernon's Tribute to Nate Leipzig on pages 111-115. It is a quick trick, and one Mr. Leipzig was very fond of performing. In effect, a half dollar is inserted into the closed right hand-from which it immediately disappears. The hands are shown on both sides, without a hint of "hand washing". The right hand is again closed and the coin is withdrawn from it, as if it had never been gone.

Mr. Vernon developed a clever variant of the Leipzig vanish, which makes use of the deep back-clip, a palm that he developed and pioneered. It is not offered as an improvement over the Leipzig sequence. It is simply a different approach with merits that make it of more than passing interest to those who value refined coin manipulation. It can, in fad, be put to excellent use if you are called on to repeat the Leipzig vanish. METHOD: Before describing Mr. Vernon's variation, the reader would do well to review the original Leipzig vanish. Several comments on this sleight may prove helpful in learning it. When the left hand first inserts the coin into the loosely closed right hand, the coin is slipped beneath the second finger, so that it actually passes outside of the fist. Here the text states that the right edge of the coin is butted against the side of the right third finger. This is indeed how the coin was positioned when Mr. Leipzig performed the vanish; and Mr. Vernon uses the same grip. However, for those with smaller hands, it may be found that the right fourth finger is more practical for the task. The left forefinger is then pushed deeply into the right fist. The reason for doing so is not simply to accommodate a whimsical presentation ("When you place a coin in your hand-and push it in like this.. ."). As the left hand immediately begins to open palm-up, the proximity of the left hand, forefinger still in fist, provides further cover as the coin is carried to the back of the right hand. An important detail to note is that the left third (or fourth) finger does not release its edge of the coin until the hand is almost completely open. This insures that the coin is not exposed as the hand is turning. When both hands have been displayed palms up, and are then turned palms down, the right third or fourth finger should momentarily catch the edge of the coin nearest it and pull the coin flat against the back of the hand. Again, this is done to minimize the possibility of the coin showing as the hand is turned. It will also be found easier to move the coin into thumb palm from this flattened grip, than from the finger clip position.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3 Now let's move on to the Vernon variation. The outward procedure appears to be identical to Mr. Leipzig's. However, the method of concealment is quite different. The opening actions are unchanged. The coin is picked up in the left hand and displayed there, held by its very edge between the thumb and forefinger to leave as much of the coin visible as is possible. The right hand closes into a loose fist to receive the coin. But now the procedure differs. The coin is genuinely inserted into the fist, not under it (Figure 139). The coin is passed through the circle made by the right forefinger and thumb, and is moved into the fist where it is deposited on the curled right first and second fingers.

FIGURE 139

The left hand pretends, however, to place the coin even deeper. The forefinger and thumb move farther into the fist, actually traveling over the coin (Figure 140, an exposed view from behind), until the middle knuckle of the left second finger hits the right thumb, and the forefinger's journey is halted.

1 FIGURE 140

Exposed View

I

INFJi,ATIONARY EFFECTS

In this position the near edge of the coin can be easily clipped between the inner phalanges of the left first and second fingers, at their backs (Figure 141, right forefinger opened to expose the action). While this might seem an awkward position to achieve from the bare reading of it, given a trial it will be found virtually automatic. Only the smallest of motions is necessary to secure the coin in this back-clipped position.

FIGURE 141

The left forefinger is now withdrawn from the right fist; but as this is done, the left hand rotates palm upward and its fingers uncurl to rest beside the forefinger. This combination of actions invisibly carries the coin to the back of the left hand, where it is held in a deep back-clip (Figure 142). The hand assumes a relaxed, open posture, with the coin securely hidden from the spectators' view. Of course, the edge of the coin must not be visible between the fingers.

FIGURE 142

I

Coin concealed in deep backilip

(

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

The moment the left hand opens, the right hand turns over, closed fingers upward, and the tip of the left second finger rubs the back of the right hand in small circles (Figure 143). This is done as a magical gesture. Then the right fingers slowly open to reveal the disappearance of the coin. All attention is focused on the right hand during the vanish.

FIGURE 143

Both hands are seen palm-up and empty. The pose is held for a moment. Then the right hand gracefully rises, turns palm-down and makes a gentle grasping motion, as if plucking the coin from the air. It closes over the invisible coin and descends to its previous position beside the left hand. The actions used to reproduce the coin are exactly the reverse of those that vanished it. The left second, third and fourth fingers close and the forefinger is inserted deep into the right fist. This brings the back-clipped coin into the mouth of the fist, where it is deposited on the tips of the right first and second fingers. The left hand now rotates palm inward while pulling away from the right fist. Just as the left forefinger is about to leave the fist, the coin is smoothly pinched between the finger and thumb and produced from the right hand. Mike Perovich prefers to eliminate the vanish phase of Mr. Vernon's handling, and uses the sequence for a bare-hand production of a coin. He begins with the coin classic palmed in the right hand. As the right hand turns palm-down, the coin is released onto the tips of the curled fingers. From this position it is transferred to the left hand and into a deep

INFLATIONARY EFFECT3

back-clip. This transfer is done as the right hand passes briefly over the back of the left fingers, in an easy motion of momentarily rubbing the hands together (Figure 144). At this time, no attention is drawn to the hands. Their meeting is a casual action. The right fingers simply press the edge of the coin between the left fingers. Then the hands part, the left hand turning palm-up in an open relaxed pose.

FIGURE 144

Now attention is focused on the empty right hand. Both sides of it are observed, without pointedly showing them; then a grasping action is made in the air-and the coin is drawn from the right fist by the left fingers, as detailed above. The sleight, used in this fashion, creates a most surprising coin production.

TWO TECHNIQUES WITH THE PURSE PALM Milton Kort speculates that the purse palm (often inaccurately called the Morritt grip) may have evolved from the front palm, in which the coin is clipped by its opposite edges, between the sides of the first and fourth fingers. An early coin pass, called la Coule, used this grip to retain a coin in much the same manner that the purse palm is used today. (See Hoffmann's Modern Magic, pp. 152-153.) The purse palm is an extremely useful method of concealment. When done properly this palm allows the hand to be held disarmingly flat while concealing a coin. (Those unfamiliar with the palm will find it described in Mr. Vernon's "Spellbound routine, Stars of Magic, p. 32; and in Bobds The New Modern Coin Magic, p. 335.) Considering its advantages, this palm is used far less than might be expected. Mr. Vernon has created several clever uses for the purse palm over the years. Two such applications are shared here. The Hand-to-Hand Vanish: The old vanish in which the coin is tossed from hand to hand, then held back in one hand while its final toss into the other is feigned, is undoubtedly familiar to the reader. Most commonly the coin is retained in either classic or finger palm. The purse palm is perfectly suited to this style of vanish, as the hand that secretly withholds the coin can be held flat, giving it an added look of openness as it pretends to toss the coin into the opposite hand. But most performers have discarded the use of the purse palm in this context because it would seem too difficult to catch the coin in the required position without hesitation or fumbling.

Mr. Vernon performs this vanish perfectly with the purse palm. To my knowledge, the technique he uses to place the coin instantly into purse palm has never been explained in print.

INFLATIONARY EFFECIS

When the coin is received in the hand that will palm it, it is caught on the inner phalanges of the first two fingers (Figure 145). As the hand begins to turn palm-down, in the action of tossing the coin back to the other hand, the third finger is raised slightly, creating a small ledge against which the edge of the coin can settle (Figure 146).

FIGURE 145

FIGURE 146

The instant this occurs, the forefinger separates from the second finger just enough to catch the opposite edge of the coin against the side of its inner phalanx (Figure 147). This finger then returns beside the second finger, clipping the coin into purse palm just as the hand turns palm-down over the opposite hand (Figure 148). Notice that the thumb is not needed to press the coin into palm position with this technique, thereby giving the hand a more natural appearance throughout the vanish.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS. VOLUME 3

FIGURE 147

FIGURE 148

Practice is necessary to learn the immediate positioning of the coin; but the ability is a valuable one. This method of instantly placing the coin into purse palm can also be used to great advantage when doing the Vernon Spellbound changes.

The Purse Palm Load: A coin can be imperceptibly loaded into an empty hand from the purse palm in the following manner: Assume that a coin is concealed in right-hand purse palm. The left hand is shown empty and then closed. It is held with the shut fingers uppermost. What is not known to the audience is that the fingers are not tightly shut. Actually, a small gap of less than a quarter of an inch is allowed between the tips of the fingers and the base of the hand (Figure 149).

INFLATIONARY EFFECTS

FIGURE 149

The right hand comes palm-down over the left and gives it a brisk slap just forward of the wrist (Figure 150). The coin is instantaneously loaded into the left fist during the slap. This is almost automatic. The right hand's slap jars the coin from purse palm and sends it shooting straight under the left fingers and into the hand.

FIGURE 150

Motivation for the slapping action can be one of several things. The slap can be done as an indicatory gesture, or to add emphasis to some comment. Or it can be performed as a magical action which implies something important is occurring (in this case, the implication is more honest than usual). A few trials will convince the reader of the ease with which the coin can be loaded with this technique. The right hand does not linger around the left hand after the slap is given. The load is immediate, and no hesitation is necessary. The same loading technique can be executed with the coin in thumb palm. This tip was noted by Mr. Vernon in 1979 on page 1244 of Karl Fulves' The Chronicles, No. 18.

PASTICHE ON RAMSAX WITH VARIATIONS EFFECT: Mr. Vernon once watched John Ramsay the renowned Scottish close-up magician, perform a clever acquitment after vanishing a coin. He never asked Mr. Ramsay to explain the maneuver; but he later attempted to reconstruct it. The actual Ramsay acquitment was finally described in 1982by Andrew Galloway on pages 59-62 of The Rarnsay Finale. The Vernon reconstruction, as it turns out, is indeed close to the Ramsay procedure, but substitutes the classic and thumb palms for the Ramsay palm. There are several other small differences that are believed to be of interest. After explaining the basic acquitment, some further embellishments, original with Mr. Vernon, will be appended. METHOD: The acquitment with which we are concerned is performed after the vanish of a coin the size of a half dollar. It is there, therefore, where we shall pick up the action. (Those interested in John Ramsay's coin vanishes will find them detailed in Andrew Galloway's three books on Ramsay.)

The coin is concealed in right-hand classic palm, and the left hand, from which the coin just vanished, is open and palm-up. During the acquitment, both hands will be seen empty as each casually massages the palm of the other. The right hand approaches the left, turning palm-up as it moves. The right fingers travel under the left hand, and the right thumb above it, until the left hand rests comfortably in the fork of the right thumb (Figure 151). The right thumb immediately begins to rub, or massage, the left palm. Even though the right hand is palm-up, the coin is well shielded from all angles but the rear, it being hidden behind the mound of the thenar (a subtlety first exploited by Max Malini).

FIGURE 151

INFLATIONARY EFFECTS

After a few moments of this, the right hand glides down the length of the left fingers, turning palm-down as it moves. In accord with this action, the left fingers bend up a bit. As the right hand passes, the palmed coin is brought for an instant over the curled left fourth finger. In that instant it is released from the palm and caught in a one-finger palm by that finger (Figure 152).

FIGURE 152

In an uninterrupted flow of action, the left hand turns palm inward and the right hand turns palm-up. The left thumb moves over the right palm and begins to massage it in the same fashion just used on the left palm (Figure 153). The left fingers rest beneath the right hand as this is done, keeping the coin hidden. The coin may be either retained in the bend of the fourth finger, or pressed flat against the back of the right hand, as the palm is rubbed.

FIGURE 153

FWRTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

From this position, the vanish can be concluded by dipping the left hand into the pocket for some item and leaving the coin behind; or the coin can be reproduced; or it can be secretly transported back to the right hand by reversing the actions of the right-to-left transfer: The palm-up right hand shifts from above the left fingers to below them.

This brings the right palm directly beside the left fourth finger and the coin. The fourth finger straightens, levering the coin up against the right palm and pressing it home (Figure 154). The instant the coin is safely in classic palm, the right hand slides down the left hand until the right thumb can contact the left palm and massage it briefly (Figure 151 again).

FIGURE 154

This, then, is the Ramsay acquitment, as Mr. Vernon reconstructed it. He developed further transfers, which he often combines with the original sequence. The first begins as the left thumb rubs the right palm, the coin held in the curled left fourth finger. From this position, both hands turn simultaneously palms down, the right hand moving over the left. The right fingers are loosely curled in a relaxed manner around the front edge (fourthfinger side) of the left hand. In this position the right fourth finger finds itself naturally under the finger-palmed coin. The coin is grasped in the curled right fourth finger and released from the left (Figure 155).

FIGURE 155

INFLATIONARY EFFECTS

Without hesitation, the right hand brushes over the back of the left hand, moving toward the left wrist. Once there, it pushes back the left sleeve to glance at the wrist watch (Figure 156). The same actions, reversed, can be used to transfer the coin from right fourth-finger palm to left.

FIGURE 156

Another disarming action that fits well with the Ramsay acquitment is one in which the fingers of both hands are interlaced and flexed (Figure 157). With the coin in fourth-finger palm-this can be in either hand, but for description we will assume it in the left-the hands approach each other, palms inward, and the fingers are meshed, right alternating with left. The left fourth finger should pass between the right fourth and third. As the fingers interlock to their fullest extent, the coin will find itself pressed by its opposite edges between the fleshy bases of the third and fourth fingers of both hands (Figure 158). It can be securely held there as the fingers flex, first squeezing inward, then straightening.

FIGURE 157

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 158

The hands are then separated and the coin is repalmed by the fourth finger. Note that the coin can be taken from the interlaced finger position by either the left or the right fourth finger, thus making another hand-tohand transfer possible. The coin can also be transferred easily from fourth-finger palm to thumb palm. Again picking up the action at the end of the Ramsay sequence, the left thumb is massaging the right palm (Figure 153); the coin is hidden beneath the hand in fourth-finger palm. Both hands rise slightly bringing their backs into the audience's view. The hands then smoothly shift positions, the right fingers moving to the back of the left hand, and the right thumb moving over the left fingers (Figure 159). This brings the left fourth finger and its coin into the fork of the right thumb. The coin is clipped into thumb palm as the right hand moves back, over the left hand toward the wrist. The right thumb briefly massages the heel of the left palm (Figure 160), and the hands separate. Again it will be seen that these actions can be reversed to shift the coin from right thumb palm to left fourth-fingerpalm.

FIGURE 159

INFLATIONARY EFFECTS

FIGURE 160

A variation of this last transfer is to balance the coin on the right thumb, rather than clipping it, as the right hand carries it away. To do this, the left fingers bend upward to a half closed position when the right thumb moves to rub the left palm. The coin is then gently toppled by the left fourth finger onto the right thumb (Figure 161), where it is balanced as the right hand moves away from the left (Figure 162). With the coin balanced on the thumb, rather than clipped by it, the hand is given a more relaxed appearance. From this balanced position the coin can be shifted easily onto the tips of the right fingers, finger palm or, of course, thumb palm.

FIGURE 161

FIGURE 162

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3 Finally, the coin can be shifted from thumb palm to a deep back-clip, to allow both palms to be simultaneously displayed. Assume that the right hand has just finished rubbing the left palm, and the coin lies in right thumb palm (Figure 160 again). The left fingers curl to a half closed position and the left hand moves briefly behind the right hand. This position allows the right hand to push the near edge of the thumb-palmed coin between the inner phalanges of the right second and third fingers (Figure 163). Little or no pause is necessary to execute this transfer; the hands simply brush casually past one another.

The left hand immediately revolves palm-up, the fingers straightening, so that the palm is fully exposed; and the right hand follows suit (Figure 164).

FIGURE 164

INFLATIONARY EFFECTS

To &eve the coin from deep back-clip, the palm-up right hand is brought below the left hand and both are raised until their backs are toward the audience. The left hand is turned slightly in advance of the right, but with the right fingers concealing the coin. In this manner, the coin is brought into the fork of the right thumb (much as is shown in Figure 163) and is clipped there. The left hand continues to turn, until it is palm-up under the palm-down right hand. The right hand brushes over the left and they separate. Or the coin can be immediately transferred from right thumb palm to left fourth-finger palm as the right hand passes over the left. It will be apparent by now that the various transfers and phases can be combined in numemus ways. These transfers can also be used singly simply to get a coin efficiently from one hand to the other, or from one palm grip to another-a necessity in many routines. A study of these sequences will provide the reader with useful techniques which may be applied to many tricks. Finally, it is worth noting that John Ramsay performed his acquitment with one or several coins with equal facility. Excluding the back-clip sequences, the Vernon variations can also be mastered with more than one coin.

Drawing made by Dai Vernon in the South Pacific during World War Il 146

ON THE ORIGINS OF THE STEEPLECHASE FLOURISH The history of magic has always held a fascination for Mr. Vernon. Many years ago he became curious about the parentage of a coin flourish, now standard, called the steeplechase or the coin roll. In this familiar manipulation, a coin is made to roll or topple over the backs of the fingers. (Any reader unfamiliar with this flourish can find it described in Bobo's The New Modern Coin Magic, pp. 201-202, and in other basic texts.) He asked many magicians for information about the origin of the steeplechase. After some years of questioning, he discovered two differing stories of the invention of the flourish. One was told to him by Nate Leipzig. "Vernon, I came up with it one winter in Detroit. I was on a streetcar one day and was wearing a heavy overcoat. I noticed one of the buttons coming loose and I pulled it off so that it wouldn't get lost. It was about the size of a half dollar, so I started toying with it. I caught it between the backs of my first and second fingers, and it suddenly occurred to me that I might be able to make it roll over my fingers like this. I worked on the idea and came up with the flourish." Some time later Mr. Vernon asked Allan Shaw, the famous turn-of-thecentury manipulator, what he knew about the coin roll? Mr. Shaw replied, "I invented it while doing my coin production." Mr. Shaw did a beautiful bare-hand production of a coin in which the coin was secretly positioned on the palm of the open hand. The hand was held palm-up, but at an incline that took the palm just out of the audience's line of sight when Mr. Shaw was on stage. Because the coin was not gripped in classic palm, and since the hand was held open in such a bold and relaxed manner, the presence of the coin was not suspected. Mr. Shaw would produce the coin, seemingly from thin air, by giving it a sharp toss from the palm toward the fingertips, where he would catch it by its extreme edge. It was a difficult sleight to do well, but Allan Shaw was a master of it and used it in every show. "Once in New York, at the Hippodrome, I fumbled the catch," he told Mr. Vernon. "I missed the coin and made a second grab in an attempt to recover. I caught it accidentally on the back of my forefinger, and it toppled over the fingers. "They gave me a big hand for that. After the show I started to think about it, and I developed the method of doing it deliberately which everybody is doing today."

INFLATIONARY EFFECTS

Mr. Vernon knew both Leipzig and Shaw to be honest. He has no reason to doubt either story. It would therefore appear that the steeplechaseflourish was invented by each man, without the knowledge of the other. Milton Kort has related to me another fascinating anecdote concerning the steeplechase flourish. Manuel (Manuel R. Thomas), the masterful vaudeville coin manipulator who billed himself "Master of the Mighty Dollaf', is said to have featured the steeplechase in his act. He would first hang a teacup by its handle from his fourth finger. Then, with the same hand, he would produce a gleaming coin and roll it over the backs of his fingers until it tumbled off the hand and into the cup. Several coins in succession were produced in this striking manner, providing Manuel with a sort of impromptu coin ladder that must have been pretty to watch.

Seated: Dai Vernon, Bill Chaudet, Bev Bergeron Standing: George Bardosis, Ev Reeting, John Sprocket, Unknown, Ali Bongo; Magic Castle, 1965

FOLDING MONEY Short change maneuvers are not plentiful in the literature of magic, or in any other literature for that matter. Yet the topic is always of interest both to magicians and to the public. Such maneuvers can provide a fascinating interlude in a magic ad, and can prove useful in certain tricks. I am aware of only a few short-change bill steals in print: two in Bruce Elliott's The Best of Magic (pp. 59-63), one by John Mueller in Apocalypse (Vol. 6, No. 8, Aug. 1983, pp. 807-808), and another by Paul Cummins in The New York Magic Symposium, Cofledion Five (pp. 131-134). If there are others I have missed, the number is still something less than legion. Therefore, this addition to the troupe by Mr. Vernon should be of interest; particularly because it is so thoroughly deceptive. The number of bills to be stolen is variable, depending on circumstances and the size of the stack of bills with which you are working. To describe the sleight, it will be assumed the stack contains nine dollar-bills, and that three will be stolen from it. The stack is represented to the audience as ten bills before it is counted. Hold the stack in your left hand and count the bills fairly into your right. You discover that there are only nine, instead of ten. Transfer the stack back to the left hand as you apologize to the spectator for having one less bill than you intended. During the apology, you casually double the bills over lengthwise. This is done in an absent-minded manner, without looking at the hands. The exact method of folding the bills is this: The right fingers lift the right side of the stack and, with the aid of the left thumb, fold this side onto and even with the left side (Figure 165). The folded stack is then pressed briefly between the left and right fingers to give it a mild lengthwise crease.

FIGURE 165

INFLATIONARY EFFECTS

The left thumb comes down onto the folded bills for a moment, after which it allows the stack to open out again. The bills are simply released off the left thumbtip; the natural spring of the paper does the rest. However, as the right side of the stack is released, the left thumb holds back three of the bills in their doubled state (Figure 166). On experimentation, it will be found that holding back the requisite number of bills is not difficult.

FIGURE 166

The outer end of the stack should be tipped up at a sufficient angle to hide the doubled bills from the audience. The left thumb pulls them slightly down and to the right behind the open bills, to conceal their folded edges (Figure 167).

FIGURE 167

The right hand now moves to take the stack from the left fingers. As this is done, the right fourth finger is secretly introduced between the stack and the doubled bills, while the other right fingers slip under the stack (Figure 168). In a continuing action, the left fingers fold the top of the stack inward, doubling the top end over the bottom (Figure 169).

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 168

FIGURE 169

The right thumb moves over the bills, holding the stack in its doubled condition. The left hand moves to your left trousers pocket in search of another dollar, while the right hand gestures with the folded bills and you finish your apology. The left hand comes empty from the pocket.

INFLATIONARY EFFECTS

The left hand now grasps the stack at its folded upper left comer and draws it from the right hand. As this is done, the curled right fourth finger retains the three folded inner bills behind the right fingers and out of the audience's sight (Figure 170). The right hand should strike a relaxed pose, similar to that used for the gambler's cop; i.e., the hand back toward the audience but tilted slightly palm-up, fingers open but somewhat curled (Figure 171, audience's view).

FIGURE 171

The right hand goes immediately but not hurriedly to the right pocket. The palmed bills are deposited in the pocket and another dollar, which has been placed there in readiness, is brought forth. (When silver dollars were common, Mr. Vernon would use one of these for the "tenth" dollar. Nowadays, one would use a paper dollar, or perhaps four quarters.) This dollar is slipped under the left thumb, onto the folded stack, and the left hand is moved forward, offering the bundle to the spectator. Unknown to him, the stack is now short two dollars. A few minutes practice before a mirror will disclose not only the effectiveness of the steal, but the ease with which it can be executed. Dr. Daley was impressed enough by the illusion this steal created to set it down

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

in his early notebooks (seeJacob Daley!~Notebooks, item #68, Gutenberg Press edition). One fine example of a trick for which this short change sleight is perfectly suited is Gene Gordon's "Dizzy Dollar". Mr. Gordon was probably the first to have the idea of substituting dollar bills for cards in Edward Victor's "'Eleven-Card Trick". His full presentation and handling were eventually published in Gene Gordon's Magical Legacy (pp. 272-280). Such performers as Fred Kaps, Mike Caveney Peter Pit, Bruce Cervon and Ray Grismer have adopted Mr. Gordon's idea and proven it an excellent one. Here is how Bruce Cervon uses the 'Tolding Money" steal in "Dizzy Dollar": Seventeen dollar bills are needed, two of which have been doctored to bear the same serial number. Mr. Cervon has adopted a subtle ruse of Ray Grismer's to create the duplicate serial numbers: The idea of buying a run of new bills from a bank and erasing or changing the last digit of the serial numbers to create duplicates is very old. It has been observed more than once that the strategy of erasing the last digit can occasionally be discovered by individuals aware of the number of digits in a serial number. Surprisingly there are more than a few such persons around. So altering a digit is the safer course; and the easiest digit to alter is a 3, which can be neatly changed into an 8. Mr. Grismer's contribution to this idea is to alter not the last digit in the number, but the second to the last. In doing so, he is certain to fool even magicians and persons who know the old dodge. If the serial number is closely examined, it is always the last digit that bears the brunt of scrutiny. Here, then, is how Mr. Cervon has structured the opening of the "Dizzy Dollar" routine. First he prepares the stack of bills by creasing it lengthwise and straightening it again. This gentle crease later facilitates the action of the steal. One of the duplicate bills is placed in the right trousers pocket. The other is folded in half twice across its width and fastened with a paper clip to one side of an index card. This card and bill are in turn clipped to the bottom of a standard letter envelope, on the seamed side (Figure 172). The folded bill is out of sight between the card and the envelope.

INFLATIONARY EFFECTS

The stack of fifteen remaining bills is placed inside the envelope, and the flap is tucked behind the index card. The envelope is carried in the inner breast pocket of the coat. When ready to perform the trick, Mr. Cervon asks for someone to stand at his right. He takes the envelope from his pocket and removes the stack of bills from it. The bills are handed to the spectator and the envelope is replaced in the pocket. Per Mr. Gordon's presentation, the audience is told about the mystery of the eleventh dollar. The spectator is asked to count ten bills into Mr. Cervon's hand. This stack of bills is squared into the left hand and recounted, to confirm the number. Here Mr. Cervon steals three of the bills, using a variant handling of the above steal, which he developed for this routine: The bills are counted from left hand to right and each is taken under the last (i.e., their order remains unchanged). As the fourth bill is taken into the right hand, the right fourth finger is inserted above it, forming a wedge break between the third and fourth bills. The count is completed and the edge of the stack is tapped square against the left palm. This squaring adion conceals the first action of the steal. As the bills are brought against the left palm, the right thumb reaches across the stack, engages the left edges of the three bills above the break and pulls them to the right, doubling the three lengthwise (Figure 173).

FIGURE 173

The left hand immediately folds the top of the entire stack in and down, doubling the bills widthwise. It then grasps the doubled stack at its upper left corner and draws it from the right hand. The three inner bills are held back by the right fingers.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS,VOLUME 3 The right hand travels to the trousers pocket, leaves the three stolen bills behind and comes out with the bill bearing the duplicate serial number. Mr. Cervon explains, 'This is the mysterious eleventh bill. I've actually found it." The stack of ten bills is allowed to spring open and the eleventh bill is laid openly on top of it. The stack is then handed to the spectator. The envelope and card are again removed from the pocket, along with a broadtipped marking pen. The spectator is asked to read off the serial number on the eleventh bill, and Mr. Cervon writes it on the index card. The spectator confirms that he has noted it properly. Mr. Cervon then removes the card, with the bill paper-clipped behind it, and inserts it into the envelope, keeping the bill hidden. As this is done, the spectator is told to slip the noted bill somewhere into the center of the counted stack. He then hands the stack back to Mr. Cervon and places the envelope in his pocket. The stack is believed to contain eleven bills. In fact there are only eight. These are false counted as ten and the spectator is asked to hand Mr. Cervon another bill to make eleven. From here on the routine follows the VictorGordon presentation exactly. All that remains to be explained is the climax. When the spectator confinns for the last time that, after all their combined efforts, the stack still contains only ten bills, Mr. Cervon says, "That is the mystery of the eleventh bill. No matter what you do, it just disappears. Look, it is gone." Here he runs through the ten bills, showing them to the spectator, but moving too quickly for the serial numbers to be checked. This is bold, but at this point in the routine, the statement will not be questioned. 'What was the number of the bill? You still have it, don't you?" The spectator takes the envelope from his pocket and removes the card with the serial number on it. As he does this he discovers the bill clipped to the back of the card. The number is checked against the bill and the routine concluded. "Dizzy Dollar" is an exceptional piece of entertainment. It is believed that the additions above provide minor but desirable improvements to Mr. Gordon's superb trick.

CASHING A CHECK EFFECT: This is Mr. Vernon's handling of an exceptional little trick invented by Stewart Judah, which was widely performed in the 1930s and 1940s, but has seemingly been forgotten by today's performers. It has been a favorite of Mr. Vernon's for many years. for $100.00. In need of cash, the performer writes out a check or an I.O.U. But the value of this piece of paper is doubted. So he tears it to pieces, then wraps the pieces in a square of tissue paper. The package is set in an ashtray and touched with a match. There is a flash-and left in place of the wrapped pieces of paper is found a crumpled, slightly singed, but perfectly spendable $100.00 bill.

METHOD: Martin Gardner described the original Steward Judah trick in the May 1949 issue of Hugard's Magic Monthly (Vol. 6, No. 12, p. 545). However, it had been passed around the inner circle for more than a decade before its appearance in "Hugard's': Eugene Laurant published his handling of the trick, with credit to Mr. Judah, nine years earlier in The Sphinx (Vol. 39, No. 2, April 1940, p. 33). Paul Fox also devised a personal handling, which finally reached print in 1978 with the publication of Magic and Methods of Ross Bertram (pp. 144-145). The secret, in its barest essentials, lies in the use of flash paper and a switch of parcels. The details of Mr. Vernon's handling are drawn from a September 1938 letter, written by Faucett Ross to Charlie Miller, and from later notes supplied by Michael Skinner and Bruce Cervon. To prepare, a $100.00 bill (or some smaller denomination, if desired) is crumpled into a tight ball, with the green side inward and the black side showing. The balled bill is placed in the center of a three-inch square of flash paper. The four corners of the flash paper are gathered around the bill and twisted together tightly, forming a bundle shaped rather like a candy kiss. Mr. Vernon refers to the parcel as "torpedo shaped To insure that the twisted corners do not unwind, they are tied just above the bill with a circle of white thread (see Figure 174).

FIGURE 174

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3 This parcel is carried in the right pocket of either trousers or coat, along with a book of matches. Convenient in another pocket is a piece of scratch paper and a three-inch square of white paper that approximates the appearance of the flash paper. Mr. Vernon opens the effect by observing, ''Most tricks are not useful. But here's a trick that comes in very handy. Now suppose I owe somebody some money. Who do I owe money to here?" He looks around the audience for a pleasant looking face. "Do I owe you money? Let's say I owe you something. Now I'm going to write you an I.O.U. I'll do it right here." The piece of scratch paper is brought from the pocket and "I.O.U. $100.00'' is written on it. "Well say I owe you, oh, let's say a hundred dollars just to make it simple. I've written here, 'I.O.U. one-hundred dollars.' And I'll sign it: Dai Vernon. "Now, you don't want this. You want the money. You'd probably tear this up and throw it away." Suiting actions to words, he tears the I.O.U. slip to pieces and wads them into a ball. 'You take this and you wrap it up in a little piece of paper. I assure you, there is no chicanery in this. You just wrap it up." While holding the I.O.U. openly in one hand, Mr. Vernon fetches the square of tissue paper from his pocket with the other hand and wraps the check in the paper, twisting together the corners of the tissue to form a bundle similar in appearance to the flash-paper bundle in his right pocket. He places the bundle on the table when he is done. (Michael Skinner calls the piece of tissue "eye-glass paper", thereby identifying it as something ordinary and familiar.) 'You make a little torpedo like the kids used to make on the Fourth of July. They made a torpedo like that." During the formation of the I.O.U. bundle it is clear to the audience that his hands are empty but for the I.O.U. and the tissue paper. 'You remember how they used to throw them down on the sidewalk and they would explode; they'd make a big bang. Now naturally this won't explode because it's only paper. But if I light it, it will burn." He places the bundle on the table with his left hand, about eight inches from an ashtray or saucer, while he reaches with his right hand into the right pocket and brings out the matchbook. The flash-paper bundle is palmed in the right fingers at the same time. The matchbook is transferred to his left hand, opened and a match is torn out with the right fingers. The cover is closed and the match is lit. He approaches the I.O.U. with the match in his right hand-but he then pulls the match back from the bundle. "I'd better not burn the furniture here. I11 get in trouble." The lit match is quickly transferred to the left fingers, while the right hand

INFLATIONARY EFFECTS

again reaches forward to the bundle. The bundle is moved from its position on the table to the ashtray or saucer. It is during the shifting of the bundle that the two are switched: As his right hand moves to the ashtray, the I.O.U. bundle is slipped into the fork of the thumb. The twisted tail of the bundle makes it easy to thumb palm. The finger-palmed flash-paper bundle is then placed neatly into the ashtray. This switch is both easy and indetectable.

Mr. Vernon draws his right hand back from the ashtray as the left hand moves forward with the match toward the bundle there. Note how the fascination of fire is used to distract attention from the right hand. The flash bundle is lit and immediately bursts into flames. During the flash and the surprise it creates, the matchbook is casually taken by the right hand and pocketed along with the palmed I.O.U. bundle. This action, entirely natural, is made doubly invisible by the irresistible misdirection of the flash. The transformation of the I.O.U. is often not immediately grasped by the spectators. The bill was deliberately crumpled with its black side out to delay the audience's perception of the change. "First it turnsinto ashes-and when you unfold the ashes you've got your hundred dollars and you don't have to worry about a thing." Mr. Vernon straightens out the bill, revealing the transformation slowly and letting his hands be seen otherwise empty. Faucett Ross, when he would perform this trick, used a check for the I.O.U. and told a story of a cab ride: "I've just had an interesting experience. I had to take a cab to get here tonight. When I arrived, I suddenly realized I had no cash on me. I know it seems unbelievable that a magician would be stuck without money, but sometimes it happens even to us. So I quickly wrote a check for $5.00 and offered it to the cabby. He gave me a piece of earthy advice, which I won't repeat, and ripped my check to shreds. Then, in the heat of the moment I thought of something. I took the pieces of the check and tied them into a bundle like this.. .And so, my friends, here I am. Is everybody happy?" This is an excellent piece of magic, unjustly forgotten. Despite its simplicity, or more likely because of it, it has tremendous impact on an audience. It is hoped that, with the publication of Mr. Vernon's handling, it will enter the repertoires of more magicians.

Chapter Six: Notes on Cherished Ghosts

"Vester" Adams' FLIGHT OF FABRIC EFFECT: A handkerchief is exhibited and rolled into a ball between the performer's hands. It is then caused to vanish. A gentleman in the audience is asked to empty the inner breast pocket of his coat of any articles it might contain. The pocket lining is turned inside-out to assure that nothing can possibly remain. The performer tucks the lining back into the pocket with an obviously empty hand. He then plucks the vanished handkerchief from the air, still in an invisible state, and sends it toward the gentleman's empty pocket. When the pocket is checked by its owner, the vanished handkerchief is found there. MElHOD: Tricks involving the appearance of an item on the person of an audience member always receive strong response, and were frequently included in the performances of nineteenth century magicians. But the practice grew less and less common as the twentieth century grew older. Today, body loading has fallen into sad disuse. The trick just described is a masterly example of the art. It was invented and performed by a man known as "Vester" Adams.

Mr. Vernon never met 'Vester" Adams and nwer learned his real first name. Nate Leipzig and other magicians spoke highly of Mr. Adamsf expertise in vesting, another practice rarely seen today. The trend in men's fashions away from vests is responsible for the loss of this valuable technique. Nate Leipzig told Mr. Vernon of how 'Vester" Adams could make a pass with a dozen coins and, while the audience was watching the empty hand, he would vest the coins. After showing the hands completely empty, he would then reproduce the coins from the air, using the vest as an impromptu dropper to release them singly into either hand. The vanish and reproduction of a handkerchief from a spectator's empty pocket was another of 'Vester" Adams signature pieces. This is how it was described to Mr. Vernon.

N U E S O N CHERISHED GHOSTS

The initial vanish of the handkerchief can take several forms and is not the real cogcern of this description. The handkerchief can be either a silk or a lady's handkerchief. The latter is ideal, if one can be borrowed. The handkerchief is openly rolled or wound into a compact ball. Tying a knot in one corner of the handkerchief to start the ball can aid this operation. The balled handkerchief is apparently placed into the left hand, but is actually retained in the right with any of a number of false transfers. Suitable methods can be discovered in any text on billiard ball manipulation. While attention is focused on the closed left hand, the right hand gets rid of the handkerchief. 'Vestei' Adams, as one might expect from his reputation, vested it. If you wear a vest, it is a recommended course, as later retrieval of the handkerchief becomes a simple matter. For those unfamiliar with vesting, it consists of secretly tucking the object you wish to vanish under the bottom edge of the vest, where it will remain until needed. If a vest is not worn, the handkerchief can be dropped into your side pocket or tucked under the front edge of the coat, against the chest, as the lapel is grasped. Show both hands empty. The handkerchief is gone. Have a gentleman stand on your right and ask him what he has in the inner left breast pocket of his coat. Have him remove whatever items he may be carrying there. As his actions claim the audience's interest, turn toward him, presenting your left side to the audience. With the upstage right hand, secretly retrieve the handkerchief and hide it in finger palm. Anchor your right forearm to your side as you do this, preventing any arm movement that might betray the action. As items are brought from the pocket, take them from the spectator with your left hand and place them into your right hand, over the palmed handkerchief. When he has completely emptied the pocket, ask if he is sure nothing remains. To be certain, have him pull up the lining, turning the pocket inside-out. Have him hold open that side of his coat, so that all can see that his pocket is unquestionably empty. Reach across with your left (downstage)hand and pull up on the pocket lining. Then transfer the spectator's belongings to your left hand, retaining the palmed handkerchief in your right. Grasp the edge of the spectator's coat with your left hand, to help hold it open. As you do this you must naturally turn three-quarters back toward the audience, partially blocking the spectator momentarily from view (Figure 175).

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 175

Reach out with your right hand to give the lining another upward tug, checking that it is completely out. In this action, load the handkerchief between the upturned pocket and the coat itself (Figure 176). Leave the handkerchief there, hidden by the lining.

FIGURE 176

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

Release the gentleman's coat with your right hand and turn stage right again, stepping to his left side. Give him his belongings to hold in his unoccupied left hand. Then display your empty right hand and reach over to the inverted pocket. Using just the first two fingers, tuck the lining back down into the pocket, pushing the handkerchief in with it (Figure 177) while keeping it concealed. Since most handkerchiefs and pocket linings are white, there is little chance the handkerchief would be noticed, even if it did peep into view.

FIGURE 177

Have the gentleman close his coat and step away from him. Now pantomime the plucking of the invisible handkerchief from the air and the tossing of it toward his pocket. When he discovers it there, his reaction will be suitably rewarding. In discussing this trick, Mr. Vernon mentioned a little known technique of expert vesters of the past: By pulling in the stomach at the moment the item was vested, the object could be literally thrown up under the vest with

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

an upward sweep of the hand (Figure 178), assuming the object had some weight. Then, by expanding the stomach, it was caught there. In this manner the vest was used like a topit; but unlike a topit, the vest allowed items to be covertly retrieved without reaching under the coat or into the coat pocket.

FIGURE 178

For further information on body loading technique, 7'he Art of Body Loading by Eddie Joseph is still the best available source.

Arthur Finlev's Arthur Finley was a successful commercial artist by profession. His hobby was card magic, and he proved himself a brilliant exponent of the craft. What today's generations of magicians know of his work is almost wholly due to Mr. Vernon's remembrance and praise of it. One thing he recalls Mr. Finley doing that completely baffled magicians was this: he would give out the cards for shuffling after a selection had been made and returned; yet somehow he maintained control of the card without removing it from the pack. The stratagem Arthur Finley used was diabolically cunning. During a previous trick he would have someone shuffle the pack who could perform a competent riffle shuffle. Mr. Finley would watch the shuffle to ascertain if his subject frequently retained the top stock. Many people do so unconsciously. When a shuffler of the desired sort had been found, Mr. Finley would employ the following dodge: He had his subject select a card and return it to the pack. He then controlled it to the top of the deck with one or several riffle shuffles. At this point he placed the deck before the person and asked him to shuffle it himself. Since riffle shuffles had been the rule previously the spectator followed suit. Mr. Finley watched as the shuffles were made, waiting until he observed that indifferent cards had been shuffled aver the selection. Before the person could square the pack, Mr. Finley interrupted him. "Stop right there for a moment. I want everyone to see how thoroughly you have been mixing the cards. Could anything be fairer?" As this was said, Mr. Finley reached out and ribbon spread the interlaced halves in a double column to display their weave (Figure 179). In doing so, he made particularly sure to spread the top few cards, so that he could count them exactly.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 179

After a brief pause to allow the fairness of the weave to be appreciated, he pushed the spread together and had the spectator finish squaring the halves. He then retrieved the pack and proceeded to locate the chosen card in whatever manner he wished. That card was buried by the spectator's shuffles, but its grave was shallow and its precise depth known. It was a simple matter to bring it to the top or to some other location from which it could be produced as desired. Of course, if the spectator's shuffles leave the selection on top, the spread was not needed.

Harry Riser suggests that this Finley ploy is perfectly suited to the Signed Card to Pocket plot. This trick has full impact only if the audience is convinced that the selection is lost in the deck. Delaying the inevitable steal until after the spectator has mixed the cards can greatly strengthen the effect. Do not overlook this ruse because of its simplicity. It is an exquisite subterfuge that leaves fellow magicians far behind, while laymen, understandably, never find the road.

S. Leo Horowitz's LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL EFFECT: Someone is asked to call out any number they wish from one to fifty-two, though a smaller number is preferable. Cards are counted off the face-up deck into a pile, and the card that falls at the number named is placed openly and honestly under the face-up talon. The pile of dealt cards is replaced on the face of the deck. The deck is slapped and the same number of cards is dealt off the face of the pack. When the chosen number is reached, a face-down card is discovered there-and when it is turned over it is found to be the card that was transferred to the bottom of the pack just a moment before.

METHOD: As the description suggests, this is a fast and direct effect. For just those reasons, it hits hard and seems completely impossible. The deck may be shuffled by a spectator beforehand, if desired. It is taken back and turned face-up in the left hand. The lowermost card of the faceup pack must now be secretly reversed. There are many 'ways to accomplish this. However, since the sleight that is responsible for this effect is the half pass, that seems the most likely method to use for this preparatory reversal. Mr. Vernon most often uses the Christ twist cover for this sleight (see Volume 1, pp. 106-108). Casually spread the deck between the hands, without exposing the facedown card, as you ask someone to choose a number from one to fifty-two. However, explain that a low number makes the trick move faster. Let's assume the number called is seven. By the time they have named their number you have resquared the pack into left-hand dealing position. Honestly deal cards into a face-up pile on the table, counting until you reach the requested number. The card that rests at that number is dealt forward of the pile. Ask that everyone note the identity of this card. Grasp the deck from above with the right hand so that the left hand is free to pick up the chosen card. It is held face-up on the outsixetched left palm and the deck is dropped squarely onto it. The right hand now gathers the dealt cards from the table and places them back on the face of the pack. As this is done a left fourth-fingerbreak is held between the packet and the deck proper. Immediately execute a half pass, using the Christ twist cover, to reverse all the cards below the break.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS. VOLUME 3 As you make the half pass, look at the person who chose the number and ask that he repeat it. Make some magical gesture over the deck; then slowly deal cards from the face of the pack until his number is reached. At that position a face-down card will suddenly come into view. Dramatically turn it up. It is the card just placed under the pack. Care must be taken to keep the card resting under the selection square with the pack, as the balance of the deck is face-down beneath it. Toss the selection forward onto the table and casually pick up the dealt pile of cards as people are reacting to the effect. As the packet is added to the face of the deck, obtain a break between the back-to-back sections-the natural bridge should sirnphfy this-and perform another half pass to right the pack. Everything is now as it should be.

Larry Jennings has an alternative handling that straightens the pack at an earlier moment in the trick and is artistically satisfymg. Return to the point where the pack has just been reversed under the returned packet of dealt cards. You are in position to reveal the selection back in its place and face-down. Instead of dealing the cards into a pile on the table, count them one by one into the right hand, taking each one below the last and slightly spread. When the reversed card is reached, neatly outjog it on the deck and rest the right-hand spread of cards on top of the pack. The right second finger stretches under the spread and engages the face-up top card of the deck at its right edge (Figure 180). This action is aided by the natural separation between this card and the face-down bank below it. There is only the shortest pause as this position is secured. The right second finger lifts up slightly on the top card of the talon, supporting it as the left hand performs a half pass with the face-down stock. Simultaneously, the right hand begins to square its cards onto the pack. The spread of cards, as it closes, and the outjogged face-down selection all provide cover for the reversal.

FIGURE 180

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

In a smooth continuation of the action, the right hand grasps the entire deck at its right side and the left hand moves forward to catch the outjogged card and withdraw it from the pack. It then turns up the card to conclude the effect. It is this action of the left hand that disguises any visible motion created by the half pass. The hand's action is totally natural in appearance. The cover for the half pass is well-considered and is perfectly motivated. Using this strategy, the deck is righted before the effect is resolved, and the cards can be immediately ribbon spread to prove that everything is as it should be. Whichever clean-up procedure is chosen, the effect remains an impressive and astonishing one, with each half pass nicely covered by presentation and natural handling.

Dai Vernon as Dai Yen 170

H e m Christ's EFFECT: This is a comical interlude that afforded Henry Christ a lot of fun. After having successfully finished an effect, Mr. Christ would begin another by spreading the deck to have a card chosen. However, as he did so, one card was discovered face-up. This card was righted and the deck spread again for a selection to be made. But again a face-up card appeared in the middle. The card was turned face-down and the deck spread once more. The first card found face-up was seen to be reversed again. At this point Mr. Christ lost patience with the situation. He removed the perverse card, slapped it smartly against the pack several times and said, "Behave yourself!" The card was placed face-down on the deck and the trick was continued without further trouble.

METHOD: An original reversal of Mr. Christ's is responsible for this cute bit; a reversal that has appeared in print several times in the past decade, but which is still relatively little known to cardmen. In time, its cleverness and utility should make it a far more widely practiced sleight. To begin, one card must be secretly reversed. This face-up card rests roughly one third down from the top of the pack. Any of a number of reversals can be used; e.g., half pass, Braue reversal, pants-leg reversal, etc. If necessary, the reversed card can be positioned with one or two simple cuts. This trick is also an excellent way to exploit a card left reversed by a previous trick. Hold the deck face-down in left-hand dealing position and spread it into the right hand as you ask that someone choose a card. Suddenly stop when the face-up card is exposed in the spread. Express mild surprise at finding a reversed card and quickly turn it face-down. This is done with the Christ reverse, a sleight that cleverly reverses a second card as the first is being righted: Break the spread cards at the reversed card, carrying the cards above it away with the right hand (Figure 181). This fully exposes the face-up card on top of the left-hand portion. The reversed card and the card directly below it should be spread somewhat to the right. It is also best if these two cards lie in near, though not necessarily perfect, alignment (Figure 181 again).

NCTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

FIGURE 181

The right hand turns palm-down and neatly inserts the inner left corner of its spread between the deck and the uppermost pair of cards (Figure 182). This pair (i.e., the reversed card and the face-down card below it) is slid flush onto the face of the right-hand spread. This is done in an unhesitant and deliberate manner through the combined actions of the right hand, as it moves its spread to the left, and of the left thumb, which pushes the pair of cards to the right (Figure 183). The two cards must be pushed square onto the face of the spread.

FIGURE 182

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 183

The right hand now rotates palm-up, turning its spread face-down (Figure 184). The spread is then squared back onto the deck in the left hand. Here it becomes clear why the pair at the face of the spread must be squared with the card above it: for otherwise, the newly reversed card, second from the face, would be visible.

FIGURE 184

The deck is squared and respread for a card to be taken-and again a face-up card is found. This card is also righted with the Christ reverse. The deck is squared and spread a third time. The first reversed card appears again face-up in the spread. This time, the card is removed from the deck, slapped against it several times and commanded to "Behave yourself!" It is laid face-down on top and the intended trick is performed without further interruption.

NCYI'ES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS It is an amusing interlude; and if you were not familiar with the Christ reverse before, the value of this trick is multiplied. Before leaving the topic of the Christ reverse, it should be mentioned that Mr. Christ used this sleight at times to reverse the second ace in the ace trick that bears his name. Study of that trick (ref. The Vernon Chronicles, Vol. 2, pp. 242-245) will reveal how the Christ reverse can be applied to it. Indeed, evidence suggests that Mr. Christ modified the handling of his ace routine over the years. The interested reader will want to check the description, based on the memories of Ken Krenzel and Harvey Rosenthal, that was published in Epilogue, No. 20 (March 1974, pp. 8-9), as it varies in several details from the handling recalled by Mr. Vernon.

Dai Vernon and Jose Frakson 174

Fa ucett Ross' TWICE TURNED EFFECT" One card is drawn from the pack, another is merely peeked at somewhere in the middle. The deck is briefly shuffled and ribbon spread face-down to show all is as it should be. The spread is neatly gathered and the pack is slapped. It is immediately spread to show one selection has turned face-up in the center. This card is turned down and the deck is slapped again. On spreading the cards once more the second seledion is now found reversed.

METHOD: This trick was recorded by Faucett Ross in a letter to Roger Klause, written in 1960. In that letter Mr. Ross prefaced the trick by explaining that he devised it thirty years earlier. While the plot may seem somewhat trite to magicians today, it is still an excellent effect for laymen. Because of this, and because Mr. Ross' construction is remarkably good, and lastly because that construction holds an original reversal, it is gladly passed on in these pages. Mr. Ross shuffled the deck and spread it for a card to be chosen. Once the card had been drawn, he gathered the spread and asked another person simply to peek at a card and remember it. A break was caught below the peeked card and a side steal executed, delivering the selection into the right palm. The right hand lifted the right side of the deck, tipping the pack into overhand-shuffle position in the left hand. The left fingers extended to the right, caught the lower long edge of the palmed card (Figure 185)and pulled the card flat against the face of the pack. This clever method of reversing a card is believed to be original with Mr. Ross.

FIGURE 185

NCYIES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

An overhand shuffle was immediately performed. First the top and bottom cards were "milked off the pack together; then the balance was shuffled onto them. This retained the reversed selection on the bottom without exposing it. After the shuffle, the deck was lowered to a face-down position, grasped by its ends with the palm-down right hand, and the top half was swing cut onto the left palm. The spectator who drew the first card was asked to replace it on the left-hand packet. Then the right-hand cards were dropped on top, burying this selection. However, a left fourth-finger break was caught between the two halves. The right hand came over the deck, apparently to square it, and the reversed selection, directly above the break, was sidejogged to the right by the left fingers for roughly half an inch. The right hand lifted the deck from the left hand and ribbon spread it. Because of its sidejogged position, the reversed card was hidden and only face-down cards were seen. (This subtle method of concealment is an idea of Mr. Vernon's. A cryptic reference to it can be found in item 26 of Jacob Daley's Notebooks. This early application, made in the context of a four ace production, will be explained in Volume 4 of The Vernon Chronicles.) "Your two cards are lost somewhere among these," Mr. Ross would say, giving the audience a few moments to observe the condition of the deck. It was then gathered and held face-down in left-hand dealing position. With a dramatic gesture Mr. Ross slapped the pack, then spread it between the hands to reveal the first reversed selection near center. The spread was separated just above the face-up card, so that it could be better seen. Then the card was turned face-down. When this was done, the Christ reverse was used to turn the second selection secretly face-up. (The Christ reverse is taught in the trick immediately preceding this.) The deck was squared and slapped a second time. It was then respread to reveal the second selection face-up in the middle of the pack. In this manner a clean, simple and direct effect was concluded.

Mac MacDonald's LOST CHORD EFFEC: The "Piano Card Trick" was first published in the August 1902 issue of Ellis Stanyon's Magic. Regrettably, its originator's name was never recorded. In the ensuing years the trick has become something of a standard. Because of its automatic nature it has also become fodder for introductory texts on magic. Therefore, current generations of magicians view the trick as an untouchable. Yet, it was not scorned by such past masters as Nate Leipzig, Francis Carlyle and John Mulholland, to name a few. In the late 1950s and early 1960s there seemed to be a fresh, if short lived, interest in the trick. This occurred in the pages of Ibidem and was perpetrated by Edward Marlo, Tom Ransom, Martin Gardner and Anthony Gugliotta. Then it once again fell into disuse. Jon W. "Mad' MacDonald, the one-armed magician and confidence man, was another performer who did not despise this venerable trick. Rather, he created an alternative method for it, designed to be used as an encore. It not only served this purpose admirably but also completely disguised the original method in the process. Mac MacDonald's method is given here, as Mr. Vernon remembers his performance of it. Since the 'Tiano Card Trick" is so widely known, no great space will be spent in describing it. Briefly, two piles of cards are formed. Both consist of an even number of cards. A single card is dropped onto either pile, as a spectator instructs, making the number in that pile odd. Yet, without manipulating the cards in any manner, the performer causes the odd card to fly across to the other pile. This is proven as the two piles are fairly counted.

Mr. MacDonald's encore to this trick seems to repeat its actions, but achieves the same effect in a different manner, one which further confirms the flight of the odd card.

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

MEZ'HOD: It will be recalled that the trick derives its name from the novel manner in which the cards used are arranged between a spectator's fingers. Have someone lay both hands palm-down on the table. Then position seven pairs of cards, one pair in each of the spaces between the fingers. The space between the left forefinger and thumb is left open and only a single card is put there, as is shown in Figure 186. A point is made of this.

FIGURE 186

You now systematically remove each pair of cards and split it, forming two face-down piles on the table. As each pair is taken and broken, you say 'A pair of cards: even." This line and its repetition are crucial to the success of the trick. It represents one of the earliest uses in magic of propaganda technique: If something is repeated often enough,'people stop thinking about it and simply accept it. When the seven pairs have been split between the two piles, each pile naturally contains seven cards. But the constant repetition of "even" as each pair is handled leads the audience to believe that the number of cards in each pile is even. Finally remove the remaining single card and ask the spectator where it is to be placed? Drop it on the pile indicated, saying, ''This pile is now odd." Place one of your hands over each pile, letting it be seen that the hands are empty before doing so. Claim you will make the odd card fly from the one pile to the other. Raise the hands, again showing them empty, and pick up the "odd pile on which the single card was dropped. Deal off the first two cards, flick them against each other to emphasize their number and then place them back between the spectator's fingers. Each time a pair is shown, you repeat the key formula: "A pair of cards: even." In this way the pile that was thought to contain an odd number of cards is proven to be even. Immediately pick up the second pile and perform the same actions. In the end you will be left holding a single card-"Odd." Place it in the remaining space between the spectator's left forefinger and thumb.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

You are again in starting position. Offer to show them the mystery once more. Repeat the formation of two piles exactly as before. However, when the single card is reached, pause, lean back and casually pick up the deck, which has been sitting to one side throughout the trick. Ask the spectator which pile he wishes the odd card to go to this time? Then invite him to place it there himself. As all attention is directed to his actions, you take the opportunity to top palm two cards from the deck in your right hand. Then grasp the deck by its ends with the palm-down right hand and rest it near the edge of the table. "Now, I want you to put your hand over the card so you know I can do nothing.'' Here you gesture toward the pile to which he has just added the card and wait for him to cover it with his hand. The instant his hand touches the pile, your right hand leaves the deck on the table and taps the other pile. "And put your other hand on this pile." In the brief instant that you indicate the uncovered pile your right hand pats it once or twice, secretly depositing the palmed cards. The trick is done. When both piles have been covered, you claim you will cause the odd card to fly from the one to the other. Have him lit? his hands. '1won't touch the cards. I want you to see that the card really travels across. Please count the number of cards in the odd pile:' He does so and finds eight. The instant he counts the eighth card you proclaim, "Even." Then have him count the second pile. It contains nine cards. "Odd!" And the audience is left to contemplate the mystery. Notice how cleverly Mr. MacDonald used the original principle of the "Piano Card Trick" and yet strengthened it logically so that the secret was even further obscured.

Dr. Dalev's EFFECT: The idea of reversing certain portions of a pack and then having the cards magically right themselves is a staple of card magic. What is offered here is one approach developed by Dr. Jacob Daley. In it the halves of the deck are unquestionably turned face to face. Yet, when the deck is slapped the cards are all found to have turned face-down in some mysterious way. METHOD: The deck is unprepared and may be shown to have all its cards facing the same direction. This is done by spreading the deck either between the hands or on the table. The pack is squared and placed face-up into lefthand dealing position. As this is done the card at the face of the pack is injogged. The jog is minute and can hardly be seen. The left thumb slowly riffles down the left outer corner of the deck and stops about center. There a gap is opened into which the forefinger of the palm-down right hand may enter. This it does, and the top half of the pack is grasped at its outer end, right fingers on the back, right thumb on the face (Figure 187).The right hand turns up at the wrist, rotating its half pack end over end and face-down (Figure 188). This half is deposited onto the face-up lower portion, outjogged there for almost half its length (Figure 189). Care is taken as the top half is turned to preserve the small jog of the card on its face; this is now stationed at the outer end of the pack.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

FIGURE 187

FIGURE 188

FIGURE 189

181

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

As you turn down the top half, emphasize what you are doing verball :

X

"I'llplace the cards face to face. Remember, they are face.. .[point with t e

right forefinger to the face-up lower half, still exposed at the inner end]. ..to face." Turn the left hand palm-down to expose the underside of the stepped deck. However, as the hand turns, a smaller movement is hidden. The left forefinger has stretched to the outer end of the outjogged half and there engaged the slightly projecting edge of the card on its face. The forefinger pulls down slightly and then in, thrusting the card square with the other half of the pack (Figure 190). This move is similar to the old push-in change and is completely concealed by the turn of the hand.

FIGURE 190

Point at the face of the outjogged half with the right forefinger as you say "...to face." The palm-down right hand comes beside the left hand and grasps the now face-up packet at its long edges, thumb on the near side and fingers at the far (Figure 191). Notice that the backs of the hands completely screen the deck from the audience's view. This position is quickly abandoned as the hands separate the two halves, the left hand taking the face-down portion and the right hand taking the face-up one. As the hands

FIGURE 191

FURTHER LOST INNER SECFETS, VOLUME 3 move apart they rotate outward in opposite directions, both turning palmup. The inner (thumbs') sides thereby become the uppermost edges of the vertically held packets. The undersides of the packets are displayed (Figure 192). In unison with this action you say, "Remember, they are not back to back. They are face to face." There is a discrepancy here, as backs should not appear on both packets. However, the combination of motion and words effectively disguises this fad.

FIGURE 192

Again both hands simultaneously turn in opposite directions: The left hand rotates clockwise and palm-down, while keeping the same surface of its half exposed. To do this, a standard turnover maneuver (commonly and erroneously attributed to Francis Carlyle) is used: As the hand turns, the left thumb moves under its side of the packet and flips the packet over, onto the fingertips. There the packet is caught between the thumb and fingers. The single reversed card remains uppermost on the packet. Unknown to the audience, all cards below it are face-up. Meanwhile the right hand simply drops at the wrist, turning counterclockwise to a palm-down position. This brings the face of its half into view. The right hand slips its cards under the right end of the left-hand packet (Figure 193), but it leaves this portion stepped about an inch and a half to the right. The contrast between face-up and face-down cards can here

FIGURE 193

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

be appreciated once more by the audience. While the right hand holds the deck, the left hand turns palm-up under it and grasps it in dealing position. Then the right thumb slowly pushes the two halves square. The spectators believe the two halves are opposed face to face. In actual fact, the deck is face-up but for one face-down card on top. Grip the pack at its right side with the palm-down right hand, fingers on top and thumb beneath. Turn the pack over, end for end, with the right hand. Then turn the left hand palm-down, regrasp the pack at its left side and turn it over a second time. In this manner the pack is turned either three or five times, casually showing backs on both sides. However, because it is given an odd number of turns, the deck is now face-down with the reversed card faceup at the bottom. Rest the deck again in left-hand dealing position. Suddenly slap it with the flat of the right palm. Then spread the cards from the left hand to the right, revealing that the deck has righted itself and is now face-down. It is, of course, necessary to hide the reversed card at the bottom. To accomplish this the following strategy is implemented: As the bottom third of the pack is reached, the tip of the left second finger contacts the back of the bottom card and pushes it to the right below the spread. The right fingertips take charge of this card, holding it in place as the rest of the cards above are spread through. Figure 194 is an exposed view from beneath. When the last face-down card is reached, the left hand slips it from beneath the spread and snaps its right edge off the left fingertips to show it single. It is then slid back under the deck, but this time below the sidejogged faceup card. The pack is completely squared and can be shown face and back.

FIGURE 194

This leaves one card reversed second from the face of the deck. The card can be used to advantage in some further effect; or it can be quietly righted at the first opportunity. While the effect is not a particularly navel one to magicians, it is intriguing to laymen; and Dr. Daley's method for accomplishing it contains some charmingly sly moments.

Dr. Dalev's EFFECT: This is a cunning approach to the classic two-card transposition, as it adroitly solves a methodological problem while adding a surprising climax to the standard effect. Someone is asked to think of any card in a shuffled deck. Next the top two cards are shown and placed apart on the table. Suddenly the two cards change places with each other. Then one of the cards magically changes into the mental selection. METHOD: If one discards the use of duplicate cards, the most common and practical method for effecting the exchange of two cards is to incorporate the use of a third card and double lifts. Dr. Jacob Daley's conceptual breakthrough was the use of a selection as the necessary third card. In doing so he simplified the mechanics of the transposition while reaping an added effect. Begin by having a card chosen. Then control it to the top of the pack. Dr. Daley would have a card peeked and obtain a fourth-finger break below it in the standard manner. He would then use the side steal to transport the card secretly to the top. This or any deceptive control can be used to reach the desired end.

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

Execute a double turnover and ask the person who made the selection if this card, say the jack of hearts, is his? Of course it is not. Turn the double face-down on the deck and deal the top card face-down and a bit to your left on the table. Perform a second double turnover, showing say a nine of clubs, and again ask if the card is his? A second denial is made. Turn the double face-down on the pack and deal the top card about one foot to the right of the first. Immediately pick up the first card, calling it the jack, and make a feint or magical gesture with it toward the other card. Ask, "Did you see what just happened? They changed places." Lay the card in your hand square onto the deck, snap your fingers over both cards and turn over the top two cards as one on the pack, showing the nine where the jack was supposed to be. (The Vernon approach would be to use the feint or magical gesture with the card to misdirect while the top card of the pack is pushed over and a fourth-finger break procured beneath it. Thus you are ready for a double turnover the instant the first card is laid on the deck; there is no hesitation or fumbling.) 'The nine is now here.. ." Turn the double card again face-down on the deck and deal the top card to the left of the tabled jack-". ..and the jack is here." Turn up the jack in place. "If I can transpose cards, I should be able to transform them as well. What card did you think of?" When the spectator tells you, snap your fingers over the face-down tabled card, rub it around in small circles a few times for effect, then turn it up dramatically to reveal the selection.

Anyone who performs this quick trick for laymen will discover its rewards far in excess of the effort expended.

Dr. Dalev's EFEECT: The deck of cards is fanned before a spectator's eyes and he is asked to think of any card he sees. The cards are then briefly mixed and handed to him. He is told to deal the cards face-up into a pile and to stop dealing at any point he likes. This he does. He then, for the first time, names the card he has mentally chosen. The value of the card he stopped at is noted and that many cards are dealt by the spectator from the top of the talon. The last card of the count is turned up-it is the mental selection.

MEWOD: This remarkable trick is brought about by an ingenious arrangement of ten cards. The arrangement can be found in item 583 of Jacob Daley's Notebooks (Gutenberg Press edition), but it is so tersely described there (five meager lines), few magicians are aware of it and fewer still understand it. It is a ground-breaking concept, capable of adaptation to numerous effects. The interlocking setup is a combination of two stacked arrangementsthat are interwoven. The cards of the two stacks, alternately 'locked together as they are, work in combination. While this may sound complex, once understood the system is cunning in its simplicity. The easiest way to explain it is with an example. The stack for the effect just given will serve for this. It is a ten-card stack, expanded from the six-card stack given by Dr. Daley in his notes. From the top of the deck down, arrange the following ten cards: jack of clubs, king of diamonds, nine of clubs, jack of spades, seven of hearts, nine of spades, five of hearts, seven of diamonds, three of clubs and five of diamonds.

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

If this sequence of cards were laid out before a knowledgeable magician, he would be hard pressed to discern any meaningful arrangement. This is because two arrangements are alternated. Look at the first card of the stack, the jack of clubs; then the third, the nine of clubs; the fifth, the seven of hearts; the seventh, the five of hearts; and the ninth, the three of clubs. It will be noted that the values of the cards decrease by two as the series progresses-and that all the cards are either clubs or hearts. Now examine the second, fourth, sixth, eighth and tenth cards of the stack: They too descend in value by twos, but are spades and diamonds. Figure 195 defines the nature of the stack, while clanfylng the two interlocked sequences. Set I

FIGURE 195

Set 2

This arrangement allows one, by counting, to reach any of six cards that lie directly below it. For the trick under discussion, the order of those six cards must be known to the performer. The easiest way to remember the positions of the six cards is to choose six from a well-known sequence. Mr. Vernon suggests the Eight Kings sequence as a good one: eight, king,three, ten, two, seven. These six cards will be the only choices given the spectator when he is asked to select a card mentally. Since no values are repeated in this short series, the suits can be random and need not be remembered by the performer. This, then, is the stock required to perform the effect. It consists of sixteen cards, beginning with the interlocked setup on top and followed by the six-card selection group. This arrangement must be made before the performance. As the trick is introduced, the deck is casually shuffled overhand. The shuffle is false and preserves the order of the sixteen-card stock while adding six indifferent cards over it. This is done by undercutting roughly half the pack to begin the shuffle, then running five cards and injogging the sixth. Shuffle off the balance on top. Form a break above the injog and shuffle off to it. Finish by throwing the balance on top. The first card of the stock is now seventh from the top of the pack.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3 Square the deck and lower it face-down into left-hand dealing position. Spread the cards between the hands so that a mental selection can be made. However, spread the cards in such a way that only the six cards of the prearranged selection-group can be seen. This is accomplished by first pushing over the top seventeen cards in a close cluster. Mr. Vernon quickly and casually pushes the cards off the pack in five triplets, then pushes over two more cards. Immediately below this bunch the next five cards are widely spread between the hands. The balance of the pack is kept together as a rough block. This spreading of the cards should be done in an off-handed manner; any hint of deliberation must be eliminated by practice. (Some may prefer to pencil-dot the corners of the top card of the selection group. This eliminates the need for counting.) As the cards are being spread face-down in the hands, a spectator is approached and asked to think of any card he sees in the pack. The moment this request is made the spread is raised before him so that he may see the faces of the cards. He is given only a second or two, then asked if he has one in mind. In this manner he is subtly hurried into making a decision. Thus he hasn't time to notice that his selection is limited to one of six cards visible. Actually, the wide spread of six cards near the center of the deck gives the illusion that many more cards are offered than is really the case (see Figure 196).

FIGURE 196

After he has made his selection, the cards are lowered and squared into the left hand. The pack may now be given a quick false cut or shuffle. This process is not prolonged, as it adds little to the effect. The deck is handed to the spectator and he is asked to begin dealing cards into a face-up pile on the table. As the sixth card is coming off the pack he is further informed that he may stop dealing at any time he wishes. Since the sixth card is the last of the indifferent cards above the stock, he may continue dealing for as many as ten cards before he stops. Having already dealt six, his decision to stop somewhere within the interlocking setup is almost a certainty.

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

When he stops dealing, he is asked for the first time to reveal the card he mentally selected. The value of the card named will immediately identdy its position in the selection group. This group of six cards must be considered as two groups of three each: The first, second and third cards constitute the first group; the fourth, fifth and sixth cards the second. The first group of three is governed by the clubs and hearts of the interlocking setup, and the second triplet by the spades and diamonds. This is easily remembered as it conforms to the standard C-H-a-S-e-D suit order. First, let us assume that the selection resides in the first set of three. Any club or heart card of the interlocking setup can be used to count to it. If the last card dealt is not a club or a heart, one will be resting on top of the undealt portion of the pack. As the plan of procedure is as yet unstated to the audience, you have the option of using either card as required. If a club or heart is face-up on the dealt pile, its value is used to count to the selection in the following manner: If the seledion is the first card of the triplet, the last card dealt is picked up and attention is called to its value. This card is then laid face-down on top of the pack in the spectator's hand and he is asked to count that many cards from the pack, turning up the last card of the count. It is his. Lf the selection is the second card of the w e t , the value of the last card dealt is noted and that many cards are counted from the top of the pack. The last card dealt is turned up. It is the selection.

If the selection is the third card of the @let, the value of the last card dealt is noted and that many cards are counted off the pack. Then the top card of the deck is turned up. It is the thought-of card. If the club or heart card rests on top of the pack, the procedures are the same, but the psychology is a bit different: If the selection is the first card of the triplet, the spectator is asked to peek at the top card of the deck, note its value and count down that many cards. The last card of the count will be his.

If the selection is the second card of the triplet, the spectator takes the top card of the deck, notes its value and places it to one side. He then counts down that many cards and turns up the last card of the count. And if the selection is the third card of the triplet, he notes the value of the top card of the pack, places it aside and counts off that many

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3 cards. He then turns up the top card of the deck. If the card thought of belongs to the second group of three, the same procedures pertain, but the spade and diamond cards of the interlocking setup are used as counters.

Notice how nicely the Eight Kings sequence aids in figuring out the position of the selection in each triplet. The eight and king are easily figured because of their early positions in the mnemonic rhyme. The three comes after and is the third card of the first triplet. Likewise, the two is the second card of the second triplet. The ten is the first card of the second triplet, and has a "1" in its value. That leaves only the seven with which to contend. Seven and three have always been singled out as lucky numbers by numerologists. Since the seven is the third card of its set, another simple mnemonic link is forged. Of course, any six cards can be used for the selection group, given they are easily remembered and appear to be a random set to the spectator. The above system of options may seem overwhelming initially. However, if one arranges the cards and works through the system once or twice, its rules and logic will become clear. Little real memorization is required. If the selection group were cut to three cards only, the effect can be achieved with a simpler setup. Here only half of the setup is required: the jack of clubs, nine of clubs, seven of hearts, five of hearts and three of clubs. Between these five cards are alternated indifferent cards, making the setup ten cards long. This arrangement rests on top of the deck. Any three cards from the balance of the pack can now be chosen by the spectator. These are turned face-up on the table and one is mentally selected. The performer then gathers the three cards in an order he can recall and has them returned immediately under the ten-card setup. Any one of the three cards can now be arrived at using the alternating set cards of the stock, as explained above. Although this gets away from the interlocking feature of Dr. Daley's setup, and makes the choice of a card obviously more limited in the eyes of the spectators, its simplified nature may appeal to some.

Using such a stripped down version of the stack, Mr. Vernon has suggested another handling which has some pleasing aspects. In this example, the suits of the pertinent cards of the stack are unimportant. Any jack, nine, seven, five and three are arranged in that order from top to face and are alternated with five indifferent cards. When assembled this ten-card stack should have one of the indifferent cards on the face. Any known card is brought to the face of the remainder of the deck and the pack is dropped onto the stack. In other words, the stack rests at the face of the deck, with a key card just above it. As with the above version, any three cards are selected from the

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

unarranged portion of the pack. One of these three cards is thought of and all three are placed, in a known order, on top of the deck. The cards are given two simple cuts, each time transporting roughly a third of the pack from the top to the bottom. This places the setup above the three-card selection group and brings the key card to a position roughly sixth or seventh from the top. The spectator is given the deck and instructed to deal cards into a face-up pile. When the key card appears, the performer knows his stack has been reached. It is at this moment that the spectator is told he may stop the deal any time he likes. The card he has thought of is then named and arrived at in the prescribed manner. While it has been recommended that six cards be placed above the setup in the previous examples, it is worth mentioning that this number is flexible. Performers who have experimented with psychological stop-tricks soon come to understand that what works for one man does not work for another. Personality is a distinct factor with which to be reckoned. If the performer is an easy-going sort, who invites little or no suspicion when he works, spectators are more likely to stop soon in the deal. However, a performer with a cockier personality may arouse a sense of challenge in his audience. In such instances, spectators are prone to deal farther into the pack in an attempt to undo him. Only experience will teach one the number of cards he can ex-pect a spectator to deal. As this is discovered, the number of "cover" cards placed above the setup can be altered to fit. However, with a tencard range to work within, there should be little problem with failure. Nonetheless, the professional never leaves any possibility unconsidered. For that one time in a hundred when a spectator proves intractable, one should have an alternative procedure for locating his selection should he deal past the stock. As the selection is one of three known cards, which all lie together in the pack, various methods for arriving at the correct one can be devised. Thought should be given to such procedures whenever an effect of this sort is planned. As mentioned in the beginning, the concept of the interlocking setup, once understood, can be used to create other effects of a strong and myshfymg variety. It is hoped that this discussion will stimulate further applications of the principle.

Tenkai's PHOENIX BILL VANISH E m C 7 " An unprepared sheet of paper is formed into a long narrow trough and a borrowed folded bill is inserted into the center of the paper. Both paper and bill are constantly handled at the very tips of the fingers, making any sort of manipulation impossible. Both ends of the paper are lit and it is allowed to burn until completely consumed, bill and all. Yet, the bill is produced from some impossible location shortly after its apparent cremation.

METHOD: This elegant method for vanishing a bill was invented by Tenkai Ishida. The natural fascination that fire holds makes the destruction of the bill all the more potent. I do not believe this vanish has been recorded in English magical literature. Tenkai shared its secret with Mr. Vernon, and it was felt it should be passed on to other magicians. As stated, the paper used is unprepared. Tenkai used one quarter of a full sheet of newspaper, approximately twelve-and-a-half inches by elevenand-a-half inches. Once the principle is understood, other types and sizes of paper can be adapted to the purpose. The piece of newsprint is folded in half down its width three times, creating a narrow strip, roughly an inch and a half wide. The strip forms a long trough or V-shaped channel, as seen in Figure 197.

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

A bill is borrowed. It can be of any denomination you like. It is folded into eighths by creasing it once in half widthwise, once in half lengthwise and a second time widthwise. A U.S. bill, when folded in this fashion, measures an inch and a half by an inch and three-eighths (see Figure 198).

FIGURE 199

FIGURE 198

The folded paper is held at its center by the left fingertips. The fingers should pinch the paper at the outermost fold, or the point of the 'Ir':The mouth of the trough is held upward. The right hand holds the bill at the edges opposite the outermost fold; i.e., the top portion of the "V". The bill is inserted fairly fold first, into the center channel of the paper trough (Figure 199) at the point where the left fingers grasp it. The bill should not slip completely into the fold of the paper, but should project about an eighth of an inch above the edge of the trough. The left fingers can pinch the bottom of the channel to keep the bill in position. The left hand now rotates palm-down, turning the open edge of the paper and the edge of the bill out toward the audience. At this point only the left forefinger and thumb should pinch the center of the paper. The other fingers are raised away so that the left hand can be seen open and innocent (Figure 200).

FIGURE 200

FlJRTKER LO% INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

Mirroring the left hand's posture, the right hand pinches the paper between thumb and forefinger just to the right of the left fingers. The right thumb and forefinger run along the right length of the paper, sharpening the fold (Figure 201). The right hand then returns to the center of the paper and pinches it again between the thumb and forefinger, so the left hand can slide to the left end of the paper, further sharpening the crease.

FIGURE 201

The right hand now drops at the wrist, rotating the outer crease of the paper toward the audience and the opening of the trough toward you (Figure 202). The palm-down left hand grasps the paper at its near edges, pinching the left protruding corner of the bill as well, between the tips of the forefinger and thumb. Again the other fingers are extended away from the paper, preserving the open attitude of the hand.

FIGURE 202

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

The right forefingerand thumb pinch the near edges of the paper together, just to the right of the bill, and slide to the right end of the paper, sharpening these folds (Figure 203).

FIGURE 203

The right hand comes back to the center of the paper and pinches it between the forefinger and thumb, just to the right of the bill. The right hand remains as open and empty as the left during all this. Immediately the left forefinger and thumb slide down to the left end of the paper, strengthening the creases, but also secretly slipping the bill down the length of the channel as well. The bill is left just short of the left end of the paper as the left hand moves past that end (Figure 204).

FIGURE 204

The left forefinger and thumb pinch the paper near its center once more, freeing the right hand so it can go to the pocket for a lighter. The right hand comes out holding the lighter in the curled first and second fingers, the bottom of the lighter braced against the edge of the third finger. This grip leaves the third and fourth fingers essentially free to palm the bill, which they will do in a few moments.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

The right hand lights the right end of the paper. As you pause a moment for the paper to catch fire, the right hand and lighter drop to a rest position about six inches below the left hand (Figure 205). At the same time the left thumb pushes forward slightly and the left forefinger pulls back on the paper, causing it to buckle and open at the ends (Figure 205 again). This widens the left end of the channel so the bill lies loose there.

FIGURE 205

The left hand now revolves palm-up, swinging the lit end of the paper counterclockwise, up and to the left. As the unlit end of the paper swings down and past the stationary right hand, the bill drops from the trough and into the curled right fingers (Figure 206). There should be no obvious movement of the fingers as they catch the falling bill. The unloading of the bill is invisible, but has the added advantage of the fire to misdirect the attention of the spectators. It is almost impossible not to follow the flame with one's gaze.

FIGURE 206

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

Without hesitation the unlit end of the paper is swung to the right and lit (Figure 207). The sight of the paper burning at both ends, the flames moving toward the center where the bill is believed to be, is a compelling spectacle. While this is happening the right hand has all the time that could be desired to travel to the pocket with the lighter, leave it there and load the folded bill into any device you like.

FIGURE 207

When the flames begin to approach the left fingers, lay the burning paper in a large ashtray and let the fire complete its task. The bill may be reproduced in innumerable ways, this governed purely by the whims of the performer. Before leaving this pretty bit of pyrotechnics, several pieces of advice are offered. First, it should be re-emphasized that the hands are kept palms toward the audience, the fingers widely spread, throughout the handling of the paper and bill. In this manner, stealing the bill is made to seem impossible. Second, folded newsprint does not bum like flash paper. It takes its timefrom forty seconds to a minute. Though the flames are fascinating, the performer should be ready with some entertaining chatter to fill what could otherwise become an extended and unprofessional period of silence. Finally burning even such a small piece of paper creates a surprising amount of smoke. Make sure the room in which you perform this vanish is well ventilated, or the unpleasant smell of burnt newspaper wiIl haunt the remainder of your performance.

Larry Grey's CUT TO PERFECTION EFFECT: A card is freely selected, noted and lost again in the deck. The spectator is asked to cut the cards into two piles and shuffle one of them. He then cuts this half pack into two piles. The value of the card cut to is noted and that many cards are dealt off the remainder of the packet. When the last card of the count is turned up it is found to be the selection. This fine trick was created by Larry Grey, inspired by a card-forcing procedure developed by Mr. Vernon. Larry Grey, who billed himself as 'The Dizzy Wizard", is a name not well known to new generations of magicians. During the first half of the twentieth century Mr. Grey was considered one of New York's finest card manipulators. He was also an accomplished mimic. Mr. Vernon remembers his expert work with great respect. Mr. Grey learned silhouette cutting from Mr. Vernon and they worked and lived together for a period in 1925, plying this craft at the Little Blue Book Shop in New York City. Two of Mr. Grey's tricks appear in Further Inner Secrets of Card Magic. He had a reputation for performing direct effects that had immediate impact. This is a good example of that sort of trick.

METHOD: The first goal to be attained is the positioning of the chosen card at a proper depth beneath the card that will used to locate it. That is, if the top card of the pack is a five, the selection must be positioned fifth from the top. There are many ways to achieve this. Three will be mentioned briefly. Others will occur to the reader. Overhand shufflemethod: Start with the card that will be used as the counter-call it the indicator card-at the bottom of the pack. While a wide range of cards can be used for the purpose, the most practical ones are those with values of three, four, five or six. It should be an easy enough task to manage one of these to the face of the deck.

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS Spread the cards and have one selected. When it has been noted, begin to overhand shuffle the pack and pause near center for the return of the card. Have it placed on the shuffled stock and resume shuffling to this pattern: Mentally subtract two from the value of the indicator card and run that number of cards onto the selection. Then "milk" the top and bottom cards simultaneously off the unshuffledportion, injogging the top card with the left thumb as it is pulled onto the stock. Shuffle off the balance. Form a break under the injog and shuffle off to the break. Throw the remaining block on top. Riffleshufflemethod: Get the card that will serve as the indicator to the bottom of the pack and put an upward corner-crimp in it. Have a card selected. Swing cut the top half of the pack into the left hand and have the selection placed on that portion. Cleanly drop the right-hand half on top, burying the card. Table the deck for a riffle shuffle, with the crimped corner toward you. Cut at the crimp and shuffle, dropping the top two cards of the bottom half last. These are the indicator card and the selection. Cut for a second shuffle and place a number of indifferent cards equal to the value of the indicator less two between the selection and the indicator; e.g., if the indicator card is a five, shuffle three cards between it and the selection (5 - 2 = 3). Bluffpass method: Have the indicator card on top of the pack. Spread the cards for a selection to be made and, as you spread, injog the card resting at a position from the top equal to the value of the indicator; e.g., if the indicator is a five, the fifth card would be injogged. When the selection has been removed, square the pack and press down on the injogged card, catching a left fourth-fingerbreak above it as it is pushed flush. Then perform the LePaul bluff pass (ref. Tarbell Course in Magic, Vol. 3, pp. 181-182) as the selection is returned. Follow this by giving the cards a shuffle that retains the top stock.

By these, or any other expedient method, the indicator card is brought to the top of the deck with the selection positioned the correct number of cards below it. Table the pack and ask that the spectator cut off about half the cards and hand them to you. This is the half that carries the stock. Take these cards in the left hand. Tell him to take the remaining half and shuffle it well. While all attention is directed to him, palm the entire stock with the right hand. As Erdnase observed, it is not important that you palm exactly the number of cards required; if you get the whole stock, an extra card or two is of no consequence. When the stock has been palmed, grasp the remaining block of cards by its opposite sides from above with the right hand, so that it is occupied with some task, and wait for the spectator to finish shuffling his cards. Then have him place his half deck face-down in your left hand. As he does this, table the right-hand packet and move the right hand to the crook of the left elbow. Pull back the sleeve a bit as you extend your left hand toward

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

the spectator. If your attitude and palming technique are correct, the right hand will appear relaxed and natural in its occupation (see Figure 208). No attention should be focused on it.

FIGURE 208

As you move your left hand forward, instruct the spectator to "Cut off any number of cards you wish.. ." Pause while he follows your direction and cuts off a portion of the packet. Then continue, "...and look at the card you cut to." Your words are designed to lead the spectator to assume that you are referring to the bottom card of the packet in his hand. He will begin to tip up that packet to glimpse its face. Suddenly say, "No, no, no, not that one, this one here.''

As you make this clarification, sweep your right hand down along the line of the left forearm (without actually touching it), over the left-hand packet (dropping the palmed cards squarely on top as the hand passes) and forward to take your helper's packet from him. The moment he relinquishes his cards, drop your right hand down with them and move the left hand toward the spectator. Push the top card of the left-hand packet to the right, offering it. The timing of actions to words is this: "No, no, no, not that one.. ." The right hand takes the top portion from him. "This one here." The left hand offers the top card of its packet. Have him turn it face-up and note its value. Then have it returned facedown onto the packet. "That card is a five [or whatever].That means you must count down to the fifth card from the top." Hand him the packet and let him follow this instruction. Then have him turn up the final card of the count. It is, of course, his. If the palming and subsequent loading of the palmed stock are done competently, this tick can be genuinely unnerving. It should be evident that the psychology of the loading maneuver is most important and it must be understood if it is to succeed. Your instructions must seem clear and

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

yet be just ambiguous enough to lead the spectator to the wrong assumption. The deception begins with the very first words: "Cut off any number of cards you want!' This phrase implies that it is his choice of how many cards he cuts that is of importance, not the card to which he cuts. Immediately he is thrown off balance when he hears, "Look at the card you cut to!' Suddenly it is realized that he has misunderstood your intention. There is a moment in which he is flustered. Then he tries to recover by following the new instruction. But you increase the confusion when you say, "No, no, no, not that one, this one here." The situation is subtly structured to distract the spectator from the loading of the stock onto the packet, and to provide you with perfect motivation for the necessary actions. It is valuable to note that this palm-and-load technique can be adapted to the forcing of one or more cards. Mr. Vernon has used it for just that purpose on many occasions. The card to be forced is on top of the pack. While attention is away from the deck the card is palmed with the right hand. The deck is held out toward a spectator with the invitation to cut off any number of cards he likes. The rest of the procedure will be obvious to the reader. Of course, the card you wish to force can begin on the bottom of the pack. In such a case, the card is side slipped into the right hand. Finally, it should be mentioned that the classic palm is not the only palm that can be used with this technique. The gambler's flat palm, Tenkai palm and other angle-style palms give the right hand an even greater look of innocence. Using the left forearm to shield an angle-palmed card or cards from the left side eliminates the problems to which such techniques often fall prey.

Jay Ose's PRESENTATION FOR THE GLASS THROUGH TABLE Jay Ose was a wonderful close-up performer, who was a prized asset to the Magic Castle in its first decade. He was also a close friend of Mr. Vernon. Mr. Ose developed an engaging presentation for the classic Glass through Table, which he used only on certain occasions. Luckily Bruce Cervon recorded it in his notebooks. The trick where a glass wrapped in a piece of paper is suddenly smashed through the table is still a tremendously effective feat, despite its appearance, almost without fail, in every beginning magic text produced in the last fifty years. To be performed deceptively, the vanish or penetration of the glass must come as a surprise. Therefore, the trick is represented as a different effect, to misdirect the audience from the real purpose until it is sprung on them. The standard ploy used is to attempt the vanish of a coin placed beneath the glass. This vanish initially fails, at which time the glass vanishes instead. Mr. Ose used a coin in his presentation as well. However, he built an absorbing story around the trick, which never failed to capture the interest of his company. "I once knew a guy who was a millionaire. He was a funny type. He loved the challenge of cheating someone. He was just fascinated with the hustle. He would spend a hundred dollars to cheat the phone company out of a dime.

'Anyway he had one little trick he loved to work in a bar. Before he left home he would take a half dollar and cut four notches on the heads side." As this is related, Mr. Ose would bring out a half dollar and a pen knife. He would proceed to cut four small notches, equidistantly placed, around the rim of the coin on the heads surface (Figure 209).

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

FIGURE 209

"Then, in the bar, he would ask someone to loan him fifty cents, and he would switch it for his." These actions are not actually done. "He would take a glass and cover it with a napkin so that you couldn't see inside. He would spin the coin and cover it with the glass. Then he would bet someone that he could tell whether the coin was heads up or tails up. He would always win because he could tell by the sound of the coin as it settled. If it spun for a long time, it was heads up; and if it stopped quickly it was tails up. I'll show you." This is true. It is an old betting stunt. The length of the spin and the sound as the coin settles are discernibly different, because of the notches. Mr. Ose would demonstrate this several times to his spectators. Then he would suggest that one of them try it. He would spin the coin, cover it with the wrapped glass and let them guess. As the glass was lifted to check the success of the guess, it was lapped from the paper cover. The misdirection is strong at this point. Then he would set the paper form back aver the coin and say, "Whenever someone else guessed right, this guy would get mad and do this." Mr. Ose then brought the flat of his hand down smartly on the paper form, smashing it flat. He would sweep the paper, with the coin under it, back to the edge of the table, lapping the coin as he lifted the paper. After the initial moment of surprise and astonishment, he would reproduce the glass from beneath the table. This Ose presentation added color and a strong element of interest to an already fine effect.

John Scarne's DOPPELGANGER LOCATION EFFECT'. This trick was a favorite mystery of John Scarne's. He fooled many people with it, including some magicians. It was a strong effect in his hands. Two decks with contrasting backs are used. For this description, assume that one is red backed, the other blue. They are set before a spectator and he is asked to shuffle each. Once he has done so he freely chooses one for his own use. The other pack is put aside. The spectator is instructed to spread his pack face-down on the table, pushing the cards around in a random pattern with the flat palms of both hands. In this manner the cards are haphazardly mixed on the table top. He is then told to take a peek at the face of any card he wishes. He does this by lifting one corner just enough to allow him to sight the index of the card. He may hide this action from the performer by screening it with one hand. In any event, the performer looks away as the card is noted. After the spectator has selected a card in this fashion he pushes the cards around on the table, mixing them so that his card is lost among the rest. After satisfying himself that this is so, he gathers the cards, squares them and gives them a cut or two. He now spreads the deck face-down once more on the table, pushing the cards around with circular motions of both hands. The performer for the first time touches the cards. He inspects the face-down jumble, deliberates, then finally picks a card from the heap and inserts it into the second deck. The spectator is asked to name his card for the first time. The performer spreads through his pack and finds the odd-backed card he just placed there. When its face is revealed to the audience, it is seen to be the chosen card.

MElHOD: The trick is seventy percent showmanship, twenty percent bluff and ten percent skill. Mr. Scarne had a forceful style of presentation that carried the trick along to its astonishing conclusion. The decks are unprepared. They may be borrowed. The s h a g and selection procedures are exactly as described. The spectator shuffles both

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

decks, freely chooses one, mixes it around on the table and peeks at any card he likes. He then mixes the cards again. Your task throughout all this is to guide the process and to stress the scrupulous honesty of the proceedings. They are so unquestionably fair, fellow magicians are often put a bit on edge by them. Have the cards spread around on the table once more. At this point you must act a convincing role. Scrutinize the jumble of cards carefully as if searching for something. Nudge a card or two and hesitate with your hand held over the spread, as if deliberating. Then seem to make your decision and remove a card. Don't look at its face or allow anyone else to see it. Instead pick up the second deck and insert the card you have picked into it. The card is placed around center and angled through the pack as it is pushed flush. A break is secured under the card and the pack is casually double cut to bring the odd-backed card to the bottom. As this is done, look straight at the spectator and ask that he name his card. When he does, flip the deck face-up into left-hand dealing position and note the card on the face. If luck is with you, this is the card named. In such a case, you have genuinely done what you have claimed. Show the back of the card and conclude with a silent hosanna to the gods of chance. However, things are quite often not what they could be. In such cases, the following procedure is adopted: Begin running through the cards one by one, reversing their order as they are taken into the right hand. This positions the odd-backed card at the back of the right-hand stock. When the named card appears on the face of the pack, stop a moment and say "Here is one. There should be another somewhere." This card is seemingly dealt under the right-hand packet. However, the right fingers buckle the odd-backed card slightly away from the packet and the named card is slipped into the gap and directly over the odd card. Continue to run through the pack by spreading the cards from the left hand onto those in the right. As Mr. Scarne did this he would mutter to himself that he was sure he had succeeded and that two of the selected card would be found in the pack. During this, the hands tip up the front ends of the cards just enough to hide the faces from the audience, but not enough to expose the odd-backed card beneath. Suddenly stop and exclaim, 'Ah, here it is. I knew it was here.'' Then place the balance of the left-hand cards under those in the right. This is done as if cutting the duplicate of the selection to the top of the pack. The action isn't strictly logical, but it will pass without question.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3 Flip the deck face-down in the left hand and say "Now one of them must have a different back1' Run through the deck quickly until the odd-backed card appears. Cut it to the top. "Here it is. What was your card again?" Take the odd-backed card in the right hand and wait for the spectator's reply. Now, as both hands are raised to show the face of the card to the audience, a top change is executed. (An excellent description of this classic sleight can be found in Further Inner Secrets of Card Magic, pp. 63-66.) What the audience sees is the right hand holding the selected card. What they don't realize is that the card they see is not the odd-backed one. Hold the pose with both hands raised and the card displayed. If your part has been properly acted and the top change well executed, a strong response can be expected. Only when the applause begins to peak are the hands lowered. As they drop, another top change is done, leaving the odd-backed card in the right hand. Throw it down with the cards on the table and conclude. It should be clear that this trick is performed while standing. The topchange actions required would look cramped and awkward if seated at the table. It will occur to many that a double lift might be substituted for the top change. Indeed it might; but it would not be as convincing a procedure, given the conditions of the trick, as is the top change. Mr. Scarne was well aware of this when he chose to use the latter sleight. Once again, acting and bluff are of paramount importance to the success of this effect. If you present it with an air of self-assurance and a touch of chutzpa, as Mr. Scarne did, it will be remembered long after more intricate effects are forgotten.

John Scarne's WESTERN UNION TRICK EFFECT: Here is an excellent example of why John Scarne was known as a man who did miracles with a deck of cards. He performed this trick at private shows given in hotel theaters. Mr. Vernon recalls that Mr. Scarne was once paid a thousand dollars to perform this one trick. That should convey the impact it had. Mr. Scarne would bring out a new sealed deck of playing cards and toss it into the audience. Whoever caught it was asked to venfy that it was indeed unopened. When this had been confirmed, the person was told to break the seal, remove the deck from its case and shuffle the cards. Then one card was freely chosen, signed on its face and returned to the pack.

The deck was passed to someone else, who was instructed to choose any card he wished, sign it and return it to the deck. This procedure was repeated once more with a third party. This last person shuffled the cards after returning his selection, then slipped the deck in its case and tossed it to Mr. Scarne, who had remained on stage the entire time. He quickly removed the deck from the case and discarded the advertising cards. The deck was riffled dramatically and fanned. One card was seen reversed in the center. This card proved to be one of the signed selections. The deck was riffled again and a second signed card was shown to have flown to Mr. Scarne's pocket. Just as he was about to produce the third selection, the performance was interrupted by the delivery of a Western Union telegram for John Scarne. The carrier was asked to approach the stage, but was halted when only half way up the aisle. He was instructed to read the telegram aloud. He read, "Dear Scarne: Hope this card finishes your a d with a bang. " A card was found inside the folded telegram. The carrier was asked to identlfy the card and to read the name written across its face. It was without question the third person's signed selection, which he himself confirmed. The audience's reaction to this feat can be easily imagined. METHOD: Most magicians, on trying to solve this baffling trick, will consider the use of a stooge. This is not the approach John Scarne chose. All three persons who chose cards were honest and were as astonished as anyone in the audience. Some small preparation to the deck was necessary. Mr. Scarne carefully opened the bottom of the cellophane wrapper on a fresh pack, removed the case and steamed open the seal. He then took one of the advertising

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

cards, of which there are usually two, and applied several tiny dots of magician's wax or diachylon to one side. This card was placed on the bottom of the pack, waxed side up, and the deck was returned to its case. The seal was re-affixed, the case was slipped back into the cellophane wrapper and the wrapper was glued shut. When he was done, no tampering was evident. During the performance the deck was tossed to someone in the audience, who was. asked to vedy that it was still factory sealed. The person was told to break the seal and remove the deck from its case. He was then instructed to give the cards a shuffle, select a card and sign its face. After this was done, the card was returned to the deck and shuffled in. The deck and case were passed to another person, who chose a card, signed it and shuffled it into the pack. The same actions were repeated by a third person, who then inserted the deck into its case and tossed it back to Mr. Scarne. Mr. Scarne removed the deck and threw the case aside. He then quickly ran through the deck, faces toward him, to find the advertising cards. As he located these cards he of course ran across the signed selections, which he culled as he came to them. This brand of bare-faced boldness was typical of the Scarne approach. He was brash and unquestionably in control. Because of his self-assurednesspeople would accept things they would not accept from a less forceful personality. He would find the advertising cards and discard them, as if that were his only purpose. In the process, he would prepare the selections for their eventual productions: He ran through the pack rapidly and cut the first selection he spotted to the face. He then spread through the cards again until he found the waxed advertising card. The advertising card was quickly separated from the card it was stuck to and was shuttled to the face of the pack, over the signed selection there. The spread was continued, as Mr. Scarne culled the other two selections to the top of the pack and upjogged the second advertising card. All this was done rapidly to a diverting line of chatter. He closed the spread and plucked the upjogged card from it. Explaining that the advertising cards were not needed, he briefly displayed both sides of the one card and tossed it to one side of the stage. He then took the second advertising card from the face of the pack, first giving the deck a squeeze to adhere this card to the selection below it. Only the advertising side of the double card was flashed to the audience. Then it was sailed to the wings and off stage. It must be stressed that all this was done with the utmost nonchalance and with only a scant explanation, as though the actions were totally unimportant.

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

He now had two of the selections on top of the deck and the third in the wings. He gave the pack a brief shuffle, reserving the top two cards, then secretly reversed one of them in the center of the pack. His exact method for this is not recalled, but it was certainly one of several well-known procedures. He pressure fanned the deck with its face toward the audience, and pulled the reversed card into view, leaving it upjogged in the fan. 'Who is Frank?" he would ask, reading the name on the card. When the spectator responded, Mr. Scarne asked, 'What card did you pick?" Upon receiving an answer, he would turn the card around so that its signed face could be seen. As response to this first revelation occurred, Mr. Scarne would quickly palm the second selection from the pack, then riffle the deck. After this he would produce the card from the inside breast pocket of his coat, back out. 'Who is Harry?" When the gentleman answered he was asked the name of his card. Then the face of the second selection was displayed. Now we come to the deepest mystery: the appearance of the third signed card in the telegram. While it is true that Mr. Scarne did not use stooges for this feat, he did have one accomplice. This was one of the hotel's staff, to whom he had paid a sufficient fee to assure his fidelity. This person was waiting in the wings when Mr. Scarne sailed the double card there. He quickly picked it up and separated the selection from the advertising card. The latter he left on the floor for verisimilitude. The former was rushed to the front desk, where Mr. Scarne had arranged that a carrier from the telegraph company would be waiting with a telegram. In the suburbs where Mr. Scarne often worked this trick, it was possible to have a carrier arrive at a specified time with the telegram. The carrier was instructed to deliver the telegram to the desk of the hotel at a time approximately five minutes before it would be needed in the show. The desk clerk told the carrier that Mr. Scarne was in a performance, but would be free in a few minutes, and that the carrier was to wait to deliver the telegram. About this time the other hotel employee arrived at the desk with the signed card. He spotted the carrier and asked if he had a telegram for John Scarne. On hearing that he did, he asked to see it, as Mr. Scarne was expecting an important communication and had asked to be informed of its arrival. Since Mr. Scarne was engaged in a performance, the clerk offered to deliver the telegram for the carrier. Behind the desk the selected card was slipped into the telegram as the carrier started to leave. Suddenly the clerk summoned him back, having apparently changed his mind. "I think perhaps you should deliver this to Mr. Scarne now. He did say he wanted it immediately." And the carrier

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS. VOLUME 3

was sent into the theater room. Mr. Scarne was watching for his arrival and interrupted his performance at the appropriate moment to address the carrier: "Can I help you with something?" "Yes, sir," replied the carrier. "I have a telegram for Mr. Scarne." "That's me. Please bring it up." But when the carrier got about half way up the aisle, Mr. Scarne would command him, "Stop right there. Open the telegram and read what it says." The carrier did so. " 'Dear Scarne: Hope this card finishes your act with a bang. ' " 'And what is the card in the telegram?" The carrier answers. 'And what name is written on it?" This answer climaxed a seeming miracle; and no one in the room but Mr. Scarne had a clue to its means of accomplishment. In talking about this trick with Eddie Fields, he observed that Mr. Scarne would adapt the method to take advantage of the circumstances. Often, the hotel he performed in was very near a Western Union office. Occasionally there would be a telegraph office in the hotel. When the office was conveniently near, Mr. Scarne's accomplice would run the card there and send the telegram directly, having the card enclosed with the message.

Mr. Fields also recalled that Mr. Scarne would sometimes feign failure in finding the third card and look up toward the ceiling, saying something like, "I could sure use a little help on this." Then the telegram would arrive-signed "Houdini'! Bruce Cervon suggests that the feat might be simplified somewhat by placing an accomplice in the audience. This person carries a duplicate deck of cards and sits about three seats from the aisle in the third row. The sealed deck is passed to the person sitting in the aisle seat of the same row. This is guided by the performer, who tosses the cased deck to the person in the first row aisle seat. He asks that the deck be passed back. When it reaches the third row he says, "That's fine. Now, sir, will you remove the deck from its case, shuffle it and remove any card you like?" The card is then signed and returned to the deck. The deck is passed down the row to someone farther along. As the deck goes by the accomplice on its journey, he switches it for the duplicate one. This can be easily done, if he holds the second deck hidden under a book or hat in his lap. As he passes the deck he casually transfers it from hand to hand under the object he holds, switching it in the process.

NOTES ON CHERISHED GHOSTS

A few moments later he unobtrusively leaves the room, apparently bound for the men's room. Outside, he quickly finds the signed card, meets the telegram carrier, represents himself as the performer's manager, and surreptitiously slips the card into the telegram before sending the carrier into the theater. It is a fascinating trick; one that few performers would go to the trouble to perform. But John Scarne was a brilliant self-publicist, and it was tricks such as this upon which he built a lifetime reputation with the public and magicians alike.

Chapter Seven: Solitary Amusements

This final chapter is composed of two items that are not, in the strictest sense, tricks. They were not created to entertain other persons, but rather to entertain oneself. They are games of solitaire, each with a magical theme. Mr. Vernoninvented them and has frequently used them to amuse himself over the years. For this reason it was thought they would be of interest to other mag'cians. They are entertainingmethods topass those quiet moments between shows and in lonely hotel rooms.

WHAT'S-THE-VALUE SOLITAIRE THE GOAL: A random card is removed from the pack and set aside, its identity unknown. A game of solitaire is then played. When all the cards have been laid out on the table the value of the unknown card is divined in a curious manner. The values of two or even three cards removed from the pack at one time can be discovered by playing this game.

THE RULES: This divination is based on a real game of solitaire that Mr. Vernon played as a child. He devised several methods of cheating, or stretching the rules of the game, so that the entire deck could be laid out every time. The completed layout of the cards contains a mathematical factor that allows one to compute the value of any cards missing from the pack. Here is how the game is played:

SOLITARY AMUSEMENTS

Shuffle the pack and set aside one card without looking at its face. Then deal out a foundation of nine face-up cards in a three by three square (Figure 210). Now examine the foundation for any pair of cards the values of which total eleven. Court cards are not counted. Each pair of eleven is covered by two fresh cards from the stock. It is by covering pairs of eleven that the stock is exhausted. When all the cards are laid out on the square the value of the missing card can be determined.

FIGURE 210

If you reach a point where there are no pairs of cards totaling eleven, it is permitted that any jack, queen and king may be covered with three fresh cards from the stock to increase the opportunities for continued play. However, one of each must be covered. No other combinations of court cards are allowed. That is how the normal game of solitaire is structured. However, even with the court-card option, one can and most often will reach a point where no cards can be played from the stock. In solitaire this is recognized as a loss. However, as a boy Mr. Vernon was not content with this judgment. So he created several expedients that permitted him to continue the game to its conclusion. First, if only two court cards of the required three are available in the layout, cover the two cards and remember that you owe the third. When that third card appears on the layout, it must be covered with another card from the stock. For example, if a jack and a queen are available in the layout, but a king is absent, the jack and queen can be covered, and the king owed. When a king turns up on the layout, it is covered with another card from the stock, thus canceling the debt.

FURTHER LOST INNER SECRETS, VOLUME 3

Second, if there are no eleven pairs in the layout, the next card of the stock can be looked at to see if it can be combined with any card in the layout to make eleven. If such is the case, it is laid over that card and immediately covered with another card from the stock. In this manner a pair of eleven has been covered, although in an admittedly unorthodox fashion. If one's luck is exceedingly bad, and the next card of the stock does not complete an eleven with any card in the layout, the card can be buried in the stock and the next one tried, until a playable combination is found. Through these tactics, the winning of the game is certain. When the stock has been exhausted, pick up all pairs of piles the top cards of which combine to make eleven. Also pick up all jack-queen-king combinations. When all such piles have been gathered, there should be one pile left that could not be combined to make eleven with another. If the value of the card on the face of this pile is subtracted from eleven, the remainder will equal the value of the card set aside at the start of the game.

If two piles with court cards on their faces remain after all permissible combinations have been picked up, the unknown card will be the missing court value; e.g., if a queen and king are left after the gather, the unknown card is a jack. If, at the end of the game, you are left owing court cards, those owed cards must be figured into the gather. For instance, if a king is owed, and a jack and queen are on the layout, these piles may be eliminated, as the owed king completes the set. Similarly, if, say, a king is owed, and a single king is left in the layout after the gather, that pile is eliminated. And if a court card is owed, and all piles can be gathered, the unknown card is the value of the owed card. There is but one more circumstance to be addressed. Sometimes, when the final play is reached, one is left with only one card in the stock. It is impossible to cover both cards of an eleven pair with this one card. Therefore, the card is laid on one of the two piles and that entire pile is used to cover the second pile of the eleven pair. If one card is left and there are no pairs of eleven to play on the layout, the last card can be placed on any card that adds with it to make eleven. Then this pile is covered with any other pile of the layout.

All these contingencies undoubtedly seem ponderous on reading. However, they all follow the logic of covering eleven pairs or jack-queenking combinations. If the reader will sit down and play a game or two of this solitaire, the procedure will quickly be learned. It will also be found that, after three or four games, the eleven combinations become familiar and one can play quite rapidly. Mr. Vernon runs through the entire deck in about a minute. As mentioned earlier, two or three cards can be set aside, instead of one.

SOLITARY AMUSEMENTS

The game is played in exactly the same manner. However, after the gather, two or more piles will remain. The values of the cards on the faces of each of these piles, subtracted from eleven, will give the value of one of the missing cards; e.g., if a seven and a nine are left after the gather, the two unknown cards must be a four and a two (11-7 = 4 and 11-9 = 2).

If the reader plays one game of this magical solitaire, he will find it difficult to resist a second. It is a fascinating process. Mr. Vernon has been playing it for over eighty years, for his own entertainment and for the puzzlement of others.

Renaldo and Dai Vernon 218

THINK-OF-A-CARD SOLITAIRE THE GOAL: Either the player or a friend thinks of any card in a deck of fifty-two. If it is the friend who does this, he may or may not tell the player which card he has mentally chosen, as he wishes. The deck is then thoroughly shuffled. The player deals through the pack, turning some cards face-up and leaving others face-down. The face-up cards are dealt into one pile, the face-down cards into another. If the thought-of card is turned up, the game is lost. If the chosen card does not fall to the face-up pile, round two is played. The face-down pile is dealt through and once more some cards are turned up, others left face-down. As long as the thought-of card is not seen, the player is allowed to continue, eliminating cards in this random fashion. Assuming some luck on the player's side, this process is repeated until only one card is left unseen. When turned up it is found to be the thought-of card.

THE RULES: The game is played exactly as described. The one rule unstated is that when the cards are dealt, three times as many are dealt face-down on each round as are dealt face-up. In other words, for every face-up card dealt, three are dealt face-down. There is no set system for turning up certain cards and leaving others down. The cards are dealt in a truly random manner. However, the player must keep a mental estimate of .theproportion of face-up to face-down cards as he deals. Of course, the card may turn up at any moment, from the first card dealt to the penultimate one. The odds of the card remaining face-down until the very last are one in fifty-two. Over the many years that Mr. Vernon has played this game he has enjoyed some uncanny runs of luck; luck enough to occasionally make him wonder if something more than chance were at play. There isn't, but it can be a strange sensation when such runs occur.