This book is dedicated to the members of The Society of American Magicians
Rochester, NY, Assembly #47.
Hornell, New York ..........................October 1958
PREFACE
The material in this small collection has been gathered together during the past eight years. It is all, as I call it, commercial. That is, it has been extensively audience tested and proven to be entertaining. These miracles all appeal to the layman because they are short, direct and surprising. Often the spectator has a part, but what he has to do is easy and uncomplicated. Too many tricks require the spectator to do innumerable choosings and countings until he is tired and loses interest, thus the effect is lost. Then, too often the effect is weakened because the trick is so involved that the spectator becomes confused and loses track of what is supposed to happen. These are not like that. They are usually fast and if not, have some means of keeping up interest.
None of these miracles are difficult. They require only a knowledge of a means of forcing a card, a means of controlling a card (i.e. The Pass) and the palm. A false shuffle is useful, but is seldom necessary.
I have dedicated this book to the members of Rochester Assembly #47 S.A.M. simply because I have learned most of the tricks from them. I became a member of the club when I was just a beginner in magic and thus most of the tricks I learned came from other members. Most of these effects are well know to all, but many of them I am sure have been forgotten or overlooked. This is my contribution of a written record of the tricks so they will not be forgotten again. In addition to those which I have gotten from the club are several I have gleaned from other sources and two which I claim originality ("Black Jack" and "Follow Me"). I have tried to credit the sources of the tricks or who taught them to me but in many instances I have forgotten.
There is also a terrific lack of illustrations in the book (only2). There are three
reasons for this: (1) I have no artistic ability. (2) I am not an artist. (3) I can not
draw.
I have tried to make the text as clear as I could ( I resorted to drawing only in one
instance because, I felt my description was inadequate.) If you read the directions and
then try to follow them out with the cards in your hand, I think you will have no trouble.
Again, I would like to thank the members of S.A.M. Assembly #47 for the help and inspiration they have given me through the years.
And now, get out your cards and start to work.
HAPPY MAGIC.
R.F.Z.
To begin this volume, I have chosen one of my favorite stunts. Try it and I'm sure it will become one of your standard effects. This stunt is snappy, direct, easy to perform and can be done anywhere.
EFFECT: Spectator chooses a card which is returned to the pack after it has been shown to the audience. Magician passes out a handkerchief for examination. He takes it back and wraps the deck up in it. When the spectator names his card, the magician proceeds to slowly and gently shake that card thru the handkerchief. When it has come all the was thru and fluttered to the floor, the performer passes out the still wrapped-up deck and card for examination.
METHOD: Have a card selected and controlled to the top. I use the Pass. When the card is replaced in the pack I get a little finger break and perform the pass after handing out the hanky. While they are examining it, checking to "Make sure there are no secret doors or sliding panels", there is sufficient misdirection to perform the pass. Just before taking the hanky back, palm the top card in the right hand and hold the deck in that hand also. Receive the hanky with the left, then take the deck in the left hand and grasp the other corner of the hanky in the right hand. You are now holding the hanky by two top corners with the rest of the hanky hanging down straight. You may now cross hands and show the other side of the hanky but be sure, of course, not to expose the palmed card. Now quickly let go of the corner with your right hand and place it under and in back of the hanky so that the hanky falls over the right palm which is about in the middle. You now have your right hand outstretched in front of you about waist high, palm up, with a card palmed in it and the hanky spread over it. Now place the deck in the center of the hanky over the palmed card. Pick up all the material that hangs down in front and fold it back and then fold the sides down and pull them back so you have the deck wrapped up fairly and the palmed card held by a fold of material at the sides. Gather all the material together at the top and hold the deck by it. Ask for the name of the card and when it is given you merely shake the wrapped deck up and down. The card will slowly slip into view.
The following perfectly exemplifies what I refer to as "Commercial Magic". The effect is sharp and surprising and there is a plot. The magician makes a mistake and is saved by his magic power.
EFFECT: Spectator chooses a card , looks at it and returns it to the deck. The magician patters about the sensitivity of his fingertips and about how he can find the selected card by feel. He riffles his fingers across the ends of the pack a few times and removes one from about the center. The magician boldly asserts that this is the card and shows it. The spectator gladly announces that it is not. The magician thereupon asks the name of t he card and when told, the card he holds visibly changes to the proper one.
METHOD: Have a card selected and controlled to the top. (I use the peek and then side palm the card to the top.) Now remove one card at random from the middle. While showing this card and asking if it's the correct one, get a finger break under the top card with your left little finger. This is easily done by holding the deck in the left hand in position for dealing and shoving the top card out with the thumb getting your little finger under it and then squaring the cards back up. When you have been gleefully informed that you are wrong, lay the card face up on top of the pack. Square up the cards and remove the top two cards as one. You now have what amounts to a double faced card. When removing the card(s) take it palm down between the middle finger and the thumb with the forefinger resting about the middle (figure A). When you wish to make the change merely move the forefinger next to the thumb and make the card bend away from you (concave). You can now almost grip the one corner between thumb and forefinger. Release the corner with the middle finger and let the card snap around! (figure B) Your hand will have to turn a bit also. You'll know how much by experience. The cards stay together remarkably well after a few minutes practice.
When you have effected the transposition all you do is drop the card(s) back on top of the deck and remove the top (chosen) card and lay it on the table. Almost surely someone will check to see if it is a double face card and while they do give the cards a cut and then they can be shown also.
I learned this stunt from Danny Johnson about five years ago and I have been doing it ever since. This little bit of pseudo mind reading is always good for a laugh. It also is fast and snappy, with the same plot about the erring magician who is saved by magic.
EFFECT: The performer shuffles the cards and bids the spectator to choose one. The spectator does this, looks at it and shows to all but the performer. The card is replaced and the performer struggles mentally and also asks the audience to concentrate on the card. Finally he holds the pack up to his forehead to aid his concentration. At length it comes to him. "It was the Four of Hearts" he cries. "Wrong" shouts the spectators. Baffled, the performer removes the pack from his forehead and begins to look thru the pack mumbling that he never before failed. Then the spectators see a card still stuck on his forehead. It is the right one.
METHOD: First the chosen card is controlled to the top by means of a pass (or any other control you like), after it has been replaced. Then during the performer's mental anguish he places a finger to his mouth (as a thinking posture) where he wets it and then places his wet finger to his forehead and assumes another thinking posture. Finally he places the deck on the damp spot and presses, causing the top card to stick to the forehead. Now, when ready, leave the top card there and take the rest of the deck away and that is all there is to this one.
This fine improvement of the old original reversed card effect by Walter Gibson is really neat and contains some sweet misdirection.
EFFECT: A spectator shuffles the pack and divides it into two heaps. He gives half to the magician and keeps the other. Taking his half, the magician fans the cards inform of himself and says: "I'll pick a card and lay it down on the table. You do the same with your half. Lay a card face down as I do."
Both turn away during the process so that all is very, very secret. Results: Two cards are lying face down on the table and the magician and spectator are each holding half a pack. Thereupon the magician picks up the spectator's card and pushed it into the half pack that he - the magician - holds. Spectator picks up the magician's card and shoves it into the other half.
Extending his right hand, the magician asks for the spectator's half. Receiving it, the magician lays his half on top of it. He riffles, shuffles or what not and says: "My card was the Nine of Hearts. What was yours?" To which the spectator replies, "Five of Clubs." The magician spreads the pack along the table and there they are, face up, Nine of Hearts and Five of Clubs, well apart in the pack.
METHOD: When the magician spreads the half given to him he notes the card on the face; that is the card that was originally the bottom card of the pack. He turns the card down so that it is face to face with the others. He then draws ANY card from his heap WITHOUT noting it and lays it face down on the table.
At that point, the magician is turning toward the table and he holds the half-pack in his left hand, the thumb and fingers upward. That is, the half-pack is simply lying comfortably across the magician's palm. But he is holding it so that the single card, the one he noted, is on "top". The half-pack looks normal but it is really composed of one card face downward with the rest face up, beneath it. This "dummy" card, we may as well admit, is the Nine of Hearts.
When the magician takes the spectator's card and buries it in the half-pack, it is naturally reversed because it goes in among face up cards. But when the spectator takes the unknown card that the magician laid on the table and buries it, he loses it. For the spectator happens to be pushing that card face down into a normal group of cards.
Here comes the misdirection. Reaching with his right hand for the spectator's half of the pack, the magician swings his left hand toward the right, simply turning over his hand, so the knuckles are up. The move is simplicity, totally unnoticed, because the attention is on the right hand. Coolly, the magician adds the left hand's heap to the right hand's.
The magician now has the pack just as he wants it. Somewhere in the upper half of the deck is the spectator's card (5C) face up. Amidships in the pack is the 9H, otherwise the "dummy" card, also face up. A couple of cuts, a riffle or a shuffle during which the magician obligingly names his own card.
But he doesn't name the card that he took from the pack; the one that the spectator pushes into his pile. The magician doesn't even know that one. All he knows is the 9H, so he says it was his card. The spectator admits that his card was the 5C and when the pack is spread, there are both the culprits, staring face up. The magician hasn't worried about the dummy card at all. He has used it to get a doubled effect of two reversals. As for the spectator, he can be very wise and still have a headache. No matter what he thinks about his own card, he can't get over the fact that he, personally, buried the magician's card in a pile yet it turned up afterward.
Thus attention is divided, leaving two problems instead of one. And in this very simple routine, the use of half-packs allows misdirection impossible with any of the older methods. Attention being divided between two persons, the trick offers no problem whatsoever, except to the witnesses.
This is another stunt I learned from Danny Johnson. This miracle is snappy and makes the performer look like he has superb skill yet it is easy with all the dirty work covered by wonderful misdirection.
The effect of this little cutie is that the spectator divides the pack into about four fairly equal piles and then pushed on of the piles which is proved to be face up into the face down pile he is holding. He then proceeds in a similar irrational manner until the deck is reassembled in an obviously helter-skelter manner. At this point however, magic comes to his aid and the deck is restored to perfect order again.
METHOD: The deck has one card reversed on the bottom at the start so all the cards are held in the left hand in dealing position and are facing down except the bottom card which is facing up. The performer now cuts off about 1/4 of the top of the deck and places it face down on the table. This is repeated with the 2nd and 3rd quarters, the last quarter remaining in the hand. Now the performer removes the top card from his packet ostensibly to aid in turning over two of the three packets of cards on the table. As he reached down with the card in the right hand the left hand goes down also to the pile and while doing so turns over so that the back of the hand is up and extends a finger or two to steady the pile as the card is inserted under it with the right hand to turn it over. This subtle maneuver reverses the packet of cards in your hand. The other pile is turned over in a likewise manner (The first and third piles are the ones turned over). The left hand is not turned back over but left palm down and the card in your right hand is turned to match it and place on the bottom of the stack. What you now have is a pack of cards in your hand that face all one way (up) with the exception of the top and bottom cards which face down.. Now there is nothing to do but show that pile one faces all one way (up) and place it into the pack of apparently face down cards you hold in your hand (The card weave is good for this). After you have pushed them in and squared them up turn the packet over so that it is apparently face up, show pile two to be face down and push that in. Turn the pack over so it is again apparently face down and push the last face up packet into it. You know have what appears to be a "mess", but all you have to do is hold the deck by the long edge, thumb on one side and fingers on the other in the left hand, pull off the top and bottom cards with one motion between the fingers and thumb of right hand. Tap the pack with the two cards and spread the deck with one smooth motion, tossing the two cards on top so they are facing the right way, of course.
I came across this effect by Otis Manning some time ago and was immediately struck by its novelty. Although it does not conform to my rigid specifications regarding card tricks and does require extra,special cards, the effect is so different, I have adapted it. The following is my version.
EFFECT: The performer has a spectator choose a card and lay it aside. Now the performer shows a blank face card and holds it above the table. He has the spectator write the name of his card in the air above the blank card. The performer turns the blank card over and the name of the card is written on it. The performer turns the card over again and the spectator rubs his thumb in the air over the card and then the card is blank again.
MATERIALS: A force method and a double lift are all that is needed for sleights. Two blank faced cards are needed and will be designated as A and B. (although the spectator only knows of one.) A will be the card on which you will write the name of the card you are going to force - say the 6 of Clubs. B will be the blank card that you show the spectator with A concealed behind it. Place A& B in the center of the deck so you can cut them to the top with A upper most.
METHOD: Force the Six of Clubs and have spectator place to one side. Look thru the deck and cut the blank cards to the top. Double Lift and show B, replace them on top of the deck and remove A. It looks like the same card. Have spectator write the name of the card in the air above the card. Turn over and show the writing. Now, slide the blank (B) under (A), do a double lift and show the writing. Slide the blank (B) off the top and have the spectator rub their thumb over the card and show this it is blank as before.
NOTE: An alternate method for the last part (vanish of the writing) would be to "Top Change" A for B, replace B on the top of the pack, double lift and have them look at the card A and slide it off for the to rub the writing. Or you could just "Top Change" A for B and have the writing rubbed off.
EFFECT: The spectator shuffles the cards and the performer has the spectator cut off about half the cards. The performer explains and shows the spectator how to choose a card and replace it. The spectator does so and the deck is re-assembled. Spectator now takes the deck behind his back, removes the top card and places it on the bottom. The next card is taken off, turned over (reversed) and placed into the center of the pack. The deck is now brought forward and ribbon spread on the table. The card next to the reversed card(i.e. the one that was inserted by the spectator) is the chosen card.
METHOD: The pack is freely shuffled by a spectator and taken back by the performer. The performer holds the pack flat on his palm and bids the spectator to cut off about half. The spectator can now be given his choice of portions. With the half that he doesn't want,show him how to remove any card he wishes and replace it on top. First show him how with your portion then let him do it with his own half. While he is doing the maneuver, unobtrusively reverse the card second from the top and also the bottom card of your portion.. This can be done under the cover of the edge of a table if you are seated.When he has finished, take his portion of the deck in your left hand and place your portion on top with your right. the tricks now practically done for the reversed location is already accomplished. Give the pack to the spectator and ha e him hold it behind his back. Make sure, of course, that no one who happens to be watching can see the cards. Have the spectator take the top card and put it on the bottom. Then have him take the next card, reverse it and place it in the deck. This card was reversed and by this action it it righted and lost in the deck. Have the cards now brought around to the front and spread them.
One reversed card shows. Remove and turn over the card below it. It is the chosen card.
A variation of this is that the performer merely reverses the bottom card and assembles the deck. He now places them behind his own back and only makes believe he is reversing the card. Then brings them out and shows them . This version is easier and safer,however the first version has a greater effect, because it takes place in the spectator's own hands.
This effect has been around the club for seeming eons. This is a copy of the exact routine adapted back about 1930 by Missouri Pete, a good friend of Do McKinley and Paul Estee.
EFFECT: Spectator is given deck to shuffle and is then told to put deck on the floor and cut it into four stacks. He is then asked to shove one stack slightly forward and to look at any card in that stack and replace it on the top of the stack. He is then asked which of the other three stacks he wished to have on the bottom. Stack with the selected card is placed by spec on top of the chosen bottom pack. He then places which ever one he wishes on top of this and the remaining one on top of the third and is told to square the pack. He can pick up the deck to do this. Deck is placed back on the floor. Performer at no time touches the deck or any part of it. Performer then explains that spec has heard of sleight of hand but here is a demonstration of sleight of foot. Performer taps side of deck with side of shoe sole and as the cards spread he draws one card out with the shoe. This proves to be the selected card.
METHOD: Performer has touched second (long) finger in salt and some grains will stick to the ball of the finger. In directing the spec the performer points here and there. After spec has place stack (with selected card on top) on the stack chosen for the bottom, perf directs that the next stack be placed on top of it. In pointing to the half deck, thumb brushes some grains of salt from second finger and this falls o top of the selected card. Third stack goes on top of the salt. When shoe taps side of deck, salt acts as a ball bearing and the split is greater at that point. Cards under the split is drawn out by placing tip of shoe on it and pulling it forward clear of the deck. It is, of course, the selected card.
ALTERNATIVE: When spectator cuts, have five stacks. Pushes one forward. Cuts this selected stack at any point and looks at the card and is directed to replace it on the bottom half of the selected stack. In other words, using the selected stack, he cuts, looks at the card and replaces, leaving five stacks as before. Salt is dropped on as he is looking at the card, perf pointing to the bottom half in directing him to drop the half back where he got it. Then he can stack up the deck as he wished , just so selected stack is not on bottom. Although it might work even that close to the top or bottom of the deck.
The following, which I learned from Paul Estee, is another example of truly commercial magic. The effect is again fast, surprising, humorous and off the beaten path.
EFFECT: Performer explains that a magician must have a fantastic memory. To prove this statement he has a spec choose a card, return it to the deck and shuffle the deck. The perf takes the deck back and fans it with the faces toward himself and scans it in half a second. He then closes it up and announces that he has memorized the position of every card in the deck. He places the deck in his inside coat pocket and then asks the spectator to name his card. When he does, the perf's hand flashes into the coat and instantly reappears with a giant card, the same as the one named.
METHOD: Place a giant card in your coat pocket and position the duplicate in the deck so that you can force it. Begin with a false shuffle and force the card. Allow the spec to replace the card, (after showing to all but perf. ) and shuffle the deck. Take the pack and fan face up. Talk about the cards. Have card named and reach into your pocket and produce memorization of the the giant card. This is really good. Try it and see.
About two years ago (1956) I ran across an interesting little principle in an old issue of Anneman's Jinx. The idea originally was worked with dollar bills but I switched it over to cards. Here is the effect I worked out.
The spectator chooses a card and replaces it. Performer counts out two piles of five cards each, giving one to the spectator and keeping one for himself. The performer has the spectator follow his moves exactly as he mixes up the packet by turning some cards face up and some face down. Finally when the performer fans out his cards they are all face down but when the spectator fans his, the middle card is face up and the rest face down. The face up card is the one he chose!
METHOD: Have a card chosen and returned to the deck. Control it to the top. Count out five cards from the top of the deck into a pile. This makes the bottom card of the pile the chosen card. Now count out another packet of five. The packet with the chosen card is given to the spectator to hold and you take the other one. Begin giving instructions. Tell the spectator to take the top card of the (face down) packet, turn it face up and place it on the bottom. Take the next card, turn it face up and place it also on the bottom. You suit the word to action and visa versa each time to also show the spectator exactly what is to be done. Now tell him to turn the packet over (you do likewise) and remove one card from the bottom (which will be face up), turn it face down and place it on top. Take another card from the bottom, turn it also down and place it on top. Finally instruct the spectator (and show him) to take the top two cards from the top and place them on the bottom (without turning them over). They are face down on the bottom. When the cards are now fanned the middle card will be face up and the two on either side of it will be face down.
This is all well and good, but you wonder, why does the performer's packet end up with all cards face down if he showed and executed the foregoing moves for the spectator to copy them? The answer is simple....Witchcraft! Seriously, the performer cheats, as usual. Way back in the beginning, the performer took 2 cards as one. When the sequence of moves started, the performer, the first time, did a double lift and sent two cards to the bottom as one. The rest of the moves he did as they appeared, but then the trick was already done.
To the spectator, the very fact that the performer can make this stunt work out correctly in spite of whether he answers correctly or not, makes this a very strong effect. This is a very commercial stunt and a good example of audience participation effect.
EFFECT: Spectator shuffles cards and chooses one, card is looked at, returned to the deck and the deck is shuffled by the performer. The performer begins to explain about spelling tricks and spells out the Eight of Diamonds to demonstrate how one card is dealt from the top of the deck for each letter in the name. The cards are placed back on the deck. The performer then asks a question which he stipulates may be answered true or false. He asks whether the card was red or black. The spectator answers and the performer deals one card from the deck for each letter in the answer. Another question is asked: Was the card above a Seven, below a Seven or was it the Seven itself? The spectator answers again true or false. More cards are dealt to coincide with the answer. A final question is asked. Was the card Clubs or Spades? (or Hearts or Diamonds, depending on the first answer). The final card in the name of the suit is turned over and it is the chosen card.
METHOD: The card is returned to the deck and controlled to the top. The spelling of the Eight of Diamonds places the chosen card 15th from the top. From here the trick works itself except, if the card is a Diamond, it is spelled Diamond not Diamonds. The answer to the questions amount to fifteen letters, the number of cards the chosen one is from the top.
The spelling demonstration is a weak part of the trick I feel so I have substituted the following to get the chosen card 15th from the top. After bringing the card to the top, I thumb count 14 cards up from the bottom and pass them to the top.
The title of this little number does not refer to two elevators but rather to the artifice used to bring about the change of a card. In essence the effect is this:
A spectator chooses a card, looks at it and replaces it in the pack which he then shuffles. The magician looks thru the pack,removes a card and shows it to the spectators. They proudly announce that is not the card they chose. The magician, in despair, tosses the card face down on the table and looks thru the deck again. Finding no other card that suits him, he becomes discouraged and asks the audience the name of the card they chose. Upon hearing the card named, the magician becomes angry and claims that that was the card he showed them and points to the card on the table. The spectator,happy to prove the magician wrong, eagerly turns over the card on the table, only to find that it is the card which he chose.
METHOD: A Force, of course! Merely force a card on the spectator and then allow him to replace it in the pack and shuffle. Take the pack back when he is satisfied that they are well mixed and fan thru the pack (faces toward you) while you patter about fingerprints and how good at reading them you are. When you find the force card, cut above it and reassemble the deck so that the force card (i.e. the"chosen card") is on top. Get a finger break under the top two cards while you patter that a person's fingerprints are so distinctive that you can tell which card was drawn by the spectator and that since fingerprints never lie, the trick never fails. After having told this outrageous whopper, you turn the top two cards over as one and declare that that was the card that was chosen. When your attention is called to your error, look embarrassed and replace the cards on the deck immediately removing the top one only, (the chosen card) and place it face down on the table. Begin to look thru the cards again quizzically. Finally after going thru the deck, shrug your shoulders and give up, asking the name of the card. When you are told, tell them that that was the card you just showed them. They always reach for the card on the table to prove you wrong and boy, are they surprised!
The following is my routine for this astounding little mental effect.
EFFECT: The performer shuffled the cards and tells the spectator to mentally select a number between 1 and 25. When spectator has done so, the performer demonstrates to the spectator how he is supposed to do the experiment before he gives him the cards. The performer tells and shows him that he should count down to the number of which he is mentally thinking, look at that card and replace the cards back on top so that the deck is in the same order it was previously. Now the spectator does it. The performer takes back the pack and announces that he will now read the spectator's mind. He fans the cards toward him, stares intently into the eyes of the spectator and finally removes a card which he places into his pocket but which he does not show yet. Now he tells the spectator to announce and count down in the deck to the number that he previously mentally thought of. If he chooses 5, for example, when he places the fifth card face down on the table, the performer tells him that if he was correct in reading his mind, the card in his pocket will naturally be the spectators and the card on the table will, of course, not be. But if he failed, then the card on the table will be the spectators. The spectator turns over the card. He says that it's not his. The performer reaches into his pocket and withdraws a card - and it is the correct one.
METHOD: This whole little stunt is based on the use of the palm. It is a good lesson in magic also because each move is covered well with misdirection. Here's how it goes:
After the spectator has chosen the number, show him how to countdown to it in the deck. The best way is to hold the deck in the left-hand dealing position. One by one push out the cards with the left thumb and receive them in the right hand under the card that was taken the time before. (The first card just take in the right hand,the second card is placed under the first, the third is placed under the first and second and so on until the number is reached.) If the chosen number was five, then shift 5 cards into the right hand, turn the hand over so the face is visible and that is the chosen card. The hand is turned over again and the whole packet of 5 cards is replaced on the deck so the chosen card is again 5th card down. This procedure is important to make sure the sucker - I mean spectator,understands. Now turn your back and allow him to do it. When he has finished, turn back around and take the cards from him. Fan the cards, faces toward you. While fanning, move the bottom card (the one full face toward you, usually the one on the right) over to the middle or left side of the fan. Study the spectator. Tell him to concentrate on his card. Frown. Remove a card. Look at it and finally place it in your pocket. Immediately palm the card, remove your hand from your pocket with the card palmed. Close up the fan and replace the palmed card on top. This is an easy move to get away with because psychologically the trick seems at an end. To the spectator it appears that you have located his card and you are finished. He has nothing to look for. Also you have work to do. You need both hands to close up the fan and square up the cards.
What has happened now, of course, is that the spectator's card is no longer at the number he chose, but one more, due to the arrival of the new-comer to the top of the deck. Now ask for the number the spectator mentally thought of. When he gives it, let's say it was 5,count out five cards onto the table or his outstretched hand. Do this in the usual way so that the top card of the five appears to be the one he looked at earlier. The chosen card is, of course, now on top of the deck which you hold. Tell him that if you have failed his card should be on top of the packet he holds. If it is not on top,then it must be in your pocket.. While making this pretty speech,palm off the top card of the deck (the chosen one). Tell the spectator to look at the card and see if it is his. While he does this, unhurriedly place your hand, with the card palmed, in your pocket. This move is well covered because his attention is on the card he is turning over. When he announces that it is not his card,remove your hand from your pocket with the card!
I got the idea for this stunt out of Buckley's Card Control. The effect was similar but far, far more difficult to attain. In an effort to simplify the working, I hit upon the following stunt.
EFFECT: The spectator peeks at a card. The performer show the BOTTOM card to be a black Jack and the top card to be one also, and shoves them together in the middle of the pack - face up. The deck is ribbon spread and there is now a card face down (as is the rest of the pack) between the face up Jacks which the performer placed in the pack. The card is removed and turned up. It is the spectator's card.
METHOD: Place a black Jack on the bottom and one on the top. Now allow a spectator to peek at a card in the middle of the deck. Get a little finger break, side steal palm the card out and place it on top. Turn the deck over, show the Jack and remove it. Place it face up on top. Now do a double lift and show the second Jack which is now face down on top of the pack. To do this push the Jack about half way over to the right and use the double lifted cards in the right hand as a sort of lever to flip the card face up. Displaying the two cards, get your little finger under the Jack on the deck, Now place the double lifted cards on top and square them up. You now have the two Jacks face-up with the chosen card face down between them. Now do a triple lift (which is easy because you have your left little finger under the three cards) and place them into the deck at about the middle being careful not to reveal that you have three cards. Now all you have to do is ribbon spread the cards (or fan them) and reveal the card between the two Jacks and show it.
You do not need to use the two Jacks if you don't wish to set up the pack before hand, however the effect seems stronger if they are used.
Thanks go here to Fred Retallick who first showed me this trick which I consider the "piece de resistance" or this booklet. This stunt had the maximum of audience participation yet the spectator is never overworked and what he has to do is easy and uncomplicated,enabling him to enjoy the climax completely.
The effect of this dazzler is simple and sharp. Two spectators each with 1/2 of the deck begin counting out a number which they chose mentally. They then divide up the number of cards they counted into two piles. The top card of each pile is an Ace!
METHOD: The performer places the four Aces on top to begin. Now he has to get two Aces on top of each half which the deck will be divided into. Here's how: Performer begins to count cards down on a table and then decides that the spectators should do it. So he cuts off about half the pack and gives it to one spectator, picks up the two cards he has already counted out and places them on top of the remainder of the deck. He gives this pile to another spectator. Then he instructs them to mentally select a number up to 25, not tell anyone what it is, and count out that many cards into a pile. When they have finished, collect the cards they have left in their hands and remark that they each chose different numbers. Now have them deal out their piles of cards into two piles, alternating one to the left and one to the right. (Demonstrate with the cards you have collected that are no longer of use, before you let them do it.) When they have finished, patter on about some thing which the two spectators have in common. (That they work for the same company, are sweethearts, married, etc.) Patter on about what they have in common and turn over the top card of one of the piles. It proves to be an Ace. State that since they have so much in common the other person had to stop at an Ace and turn over one of their top cards. Then turn over the other top cards to reveal the other Aces!
