Centros de Gastos Periféricos

In one of the tape recordings Larry Jennings sent us he "The ideas behind top class particularly card are beautiful ideas. When you examine tricks its like taking a walk around inside their mind to see how they overcome difficulties. Its like an insight into their personali- ties. That's why I like Dai Vernon's magic - it has a quality about it. One cannot put a finger on it - its simply that every trick that the Professor touches comes out of a better grade than other things one sees around. Most of the tricks I do are coloured by the Professor's work. This is natural because I like to consider myself a student of the and consequently it is very difficult to separate what is mine from what is his, as I use suggestions of his

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For some time Larry Jennings been closely associated Dai Vernon, which has resulted in a very firm friendship. Both magicians perform regu- larly at Hollywood's Magic Castle and the several effects recorded on tape and described here are those which are being performed at this centre of magic.

The first trick is based on an effect by but moves by Dai Vernon, Roy Walton and Larry Jennings himself been employed to bring it about. TELL-TALE ACES.

Effect:

The four Aces are removed from the pack and placed in a face down packet on the table. A card is selected from the rest of the pack, noted by the returned to the pack, which is then shuffled. Taking the Joker from the pack, the performer hands the Joker to the spectator and tells him to wave it over the Aces as he thinks of the suit of the card he selected. When the Aces are shown one of the Aces has turned face down, and when turned face up is found to be the Ace of the same suit as the selected card. After the Ace packet is turned face down again, the Joker is placed face up in the pack and the latter is waved over the Aces - the Joker changes to the Ace which was shown to have reversed itself in the packet, whilst the reversed card in the packet is now found to be the selected card.

ward and very strong. Dai Vernon has personally selected tricks from Larry Jennings' repertoire for inclusion in this and his choice has been influ- enced by the fact that he has been able to assess the reaction of the audiences at the Magic Castle. He considers the effects to be first class magical enter- and sufficiently different from the usual run of card tricks to be quite new to audiences.

Method:

1. Have the spectator shuffle the take it from him and turn it face up. Run through the cards with the faces towards yourself, and when the Joker is seen cut the pack to bring the Joker second from the face of the pack. Continue running through the cards and as each Ace is reached, up-jog it for about half its length out of the pack. When all four Aces been upjogged, strip them from the pack and place them in a face-down packet on the table in the order Diamonds, Hearts, from the face of the packet. This is the order Larry Jennings uses, but any remembered order will do and the reader may prefer the more familiar CHaSeD formula.

2. Turn the pack face down and have a card freely selected by spreading the cards between the hands in the usual way. Tell the spectator to remem- ber his card, and place it back in the pack somewhere near the centre as you shuffle the cards. Begin shuffling the cards and when the spectator replaces his card, drop all the cards from the right hand on top of it so that the Joker is now two cards above the selected card. Again begin to shuffle, this time the old "Red and Black" overhand shuffle is employed. That is, small blocks of cards are pulled off as but when near the centre of the pack, single cards are run off in reverse order until it is certain that the Joker and the selected card have been passed, then blocks of cards are pulled off again to complete the shuffle.

Turn the pack with the faces towards you and tell the spectator that for this effect you have to use the Joker. Without letting the spectator see the faces of the run through them till you reach two cards past the Joker, in other words the Joker, an indifferent card and the selected card. Note the suit of the selected card and pick up a break under it with the left little fin- ger. Square up the left hand packet with the Joker on the face and still hold a break under the three face cards of that packet. Show the Joker and push it up with the left thumb then place the cards from the right hand on the face of the left hand packet, leaving the Joker upjogged for about its length. As the right hand cards are placed on the left hand packet, pick up the break with the right second or third finger, by inserting the finger into the break.

This makes it simple to cut at the break and place all the cards below the break on the face of the pack. This gives the impression that the Joker goes to the back (top) of the pack. Square up the pushing the Joker down with the left forefinger then turn the pack face down.

3. Pick up a break (left little finger) under the top card of the pack. We know this card (say Ten of Spades) because we looked at it and remembered the suit.

We now need to have the Ace of the same suit (Spades) in the third posi- tion from the face of the Ace packet (or second from the top). In our ex- ample the Ace of Spades is already in the correct due to the CDSH set but if the selected card was some other suit, we simply bring it to third position from the face as we pick up the Ace packet. For example if the selected card was a Diamond, we would use the top Ace of the packet to scoop up the other three which would bring the Ace of Diamonds third from the face. If the card was a Heart then the top three Aces of the packet are picked up, and the other Ace scooped up with them. The object is to get the required Ace to the third position from the face of the packet.

The Ace packet is placed face up on the face down pack and squared. The right hand comes over the the thumb at the rear, to pick up the break under the selected card and lifts the face up Aces with the face down selected card behind them (Photograph 1 shows an exposed view from un- derneath) then moves them up and to the right about an inch, across the top of the pack. As this is done, get a break under the top card of the pack with the tip of the left second finger - Photograph 2 shows an exposed view from underneath, and also shows the holding position of the packet on the pack. 4. Take off the face Ace (Clubs in this example) and place it under the Ace packet; it does not have to be perfectly squared. Remove the next Ace (Diamonds) and do likewise. Remove the next Ace (Spades) and place it

but into the break; that is the left inner corner goes under the top card of the pack. The method of placing this card is seen in the view from underneath in Pho- tograph 3. (Actually the face of the Ten of Spades would not be seen as it would be covered by an Ace). Now take hold of the Aces with the right between the thumb at the right outer corner and sec- ond finger and slide them to the left over the top of the moving the Ace of Spades also under the top card, but holding the top card so that it does not move, until the position is reached as in Photograph 4. Note that the left forefinger is curled around the outer end of the Aces, with the thumb along the side. The right hand now comes over for the right

second finger to press down slightly on the outer end of the Aces. This lifts the inner end so that the right thumb can butt against it. The position is shown in Photograph 5, but the lifting has been exaggerated for clarity.

With the right thumb and second finger move the top Aces forward, leav- ing the Ace of Spades underneath the top card of the pack. When the Ace packet has been moved forward sufficiently so that the left forefinger can reach the end of the Ace of Spades (Photograph 6 shows an exposed but no face card would be seen in the gap) forefinger pushes this Ace flush with the pack under cover of the other Aces. Simultaneously the right hand moves the Aces (three Aces and the selected card) to the position shown in Photograph 7.

5. Place the Ace packet face up on the and as this is done get a break under the top three cards of the pack. This is achieved by riffling cards singly with the left little finger.

The position from the top of the pack is: - a face-down indifferent card, face-up Ace of face-down Joker, then the break.

The Vernon Push Off Lift is now executed as follows: -

Move the left second finger under the pack to the outer right side of the three the break allowing the tip of the finger to contact the under edge of the third card down. With the left thumb on top of the top card, the three cards as one are pinched between the thumb and second finger. The second finger and thumb are now which pushes back three cards as one over the right side of the pack. Bring the right hand to the three cards and turn them over together, letting them fall square onto the top of the pack. As this happens pick up a break under the three cards with the left little finger.

6. Remove the Joker (which is face up) and hand it to the spectator, ask- ing him to wave it over the Aces on the table and think of the suit of his selected card.

When he has done this, pick up the Ace packet and place it again in position on the pack as shown in Photograph 7. Take hold of the Ace packet at the inner right end between the right thumb and second finger. Bring the Aces over square on the for the left thumb to go on top of the Ace of Hearts to hold it, as the rest of the packet is moved to the right and out from underneath. In other words the thumb drags off the Ace of Hearts as the rest of the packet is pulled out from underneath. Drag off the next card (face down card) in the same way, leaving it fanned a little, then the Ace of Clubs and finally the Ace of Diamonds. In this way you have thumbed the Aces onto the pack, leaving them fanned a little, reversed their order and have shown the spectator that one Ace has reversed itself in the packet of four

Aces (actually the reversed card is the selected card).

Move the right hand to the pack prior to turning the fanned Ace packet face down, and insert the right second finger into the break which has still been retained under the six cards. Move the cards down about half an inch as you turn the block of six cards so that a break can be picked up under the block.

Thumb over the top revealing the face up Ace of Spades, then push it over to reveal a face down card. You cannot go further or the face up selected card would be revealed, so you only thumb over the first two cards. This proves to the spectator that the face down card he saw in the face up Aces was the Ace of Spades, so ask, "Is it correct that you thought of a

and he will answer "Yes."

With the two cards still fanned on top of the pack, tip over the whole block of six cards once more, the fan being maintained until they begin to then they are let fall square onto the pack but again a break is held under the block as it is tipped over.

Fan off the Aces; the Ace of Diamonds, the Ace of Clubs, the face down card and the Ace of Hearts and place them on the table.

7. Pick up the Joker and place it face up and square on top of the pack. Remember, a two card break was and this now becomes a three card break. Move the right hand over, thumb at inner end and second finger at outer end and pick up the break with the right thumb. Lift the whole pack with the right hand retaining the break, and place it on the but imme- diately off half the pack and place it in the hand, picking up the break under the three cards with the left little finger. The other half is now taken from the table with the right hand and placed on top of the cards in the left hand - in other words the face up Joker has been buried in the centre of the pack.

We now come to the Jennings Reversal and this is prepared for and ex- ecuted as follows:

Spread the cards between the hands until the face up Joker is reached and say, "Remember, the Joker is face up in the pack." As you begin to square up the pack again, the right hand brings the cards back over the left hand portion, but still in a fanned condition. The left little finger goes under the block of three cards and the left third finger goes above the block of cards. The right hand pushes the cards over in a loose packet on top of the

three cards, then changes its position. It grips the pack, all four fingers at the outer end and the thumb at the inner that is as if the Pass is to be made - and in some respects this is what is to be done. What actually happens is that a Pass type movement is started with the three cards trapped between the left little and third fingers. Only three cards rotate out of the pack and come down to form a V underneath the pack, partly reversing but are still clipped by the left little and third fingers. While this happens the top and bottom halves of the pack are still held by the right hand. Now the left second finger curls underneath the pack, forcing the three cards up against the face of the pack. The pack never changes position while this is happen- ing. The reason for curling the left second finger under the pack is to bring the packet of three cards up against the bottom of the pack, instead of the pack dropping down. Finally the pack is squared by running the left hand back and forth along the the pack being held in the right hand with the left second finger still curled under the pack.

The common fault in a half pass is that the pack jumps as the move is made. This has been eliminated in Larry Jennings' method, because the pack is held by the right hand into the crotch of the left thumb. When the cards have been pulled out of the pack and begin to rotate face downwards, the left second finger curls under the pack forcing the cards up against the bottom of the pack. This ensures that the pack does not drop or jump, a fault that shows that something is happening.

8. Place the pack on the table and ask the spectator to cut the pack and complete the cut. Pick up the pack and wave it over the face-up Aces on the table. Spread the pack and show the Ace of Spades face up in the middle, the effect being that the Joker has changed to the Ace of Spades. Turn over the four cards on the table and reveal the selected card - the Ten of Spades. Photograph 8 shows the completion.

The patter is left to each individual as that which Larry Jennings employs would not be suitable for universal use.

As stated at the start, Larry Jennings has employed some moves devised by other magicians. The method for stealing a card from a group of cards is Dai Vernon's, who has been using it for about forty years. It is one of the cleverest methods of all for stealing a card, as it looks so natural and works beautifully.

The method for showing that an Ace is in the packet when actually it is not there at is a lovely idea of Roy

the method for reversing cards (the Half Pass) is Larry

own. Dai Vernon set an exercise for Larry and suggested that he should find a way of reversing cards without any tell-tale movement of the pack. Dai Vernon's verdict is that it is a beautiful item of card magic.

CHAPTER TEN VERSE

We have given this trick the above title because it uses an entirely new move devised by Larry Jennings, for reversing a card or cards. Actually the move itself has been dubbed by others and is known by that name by the few magicians who have been shown the secret. This is the first time it has appeared in print and we predict that it is going to be applauded and treasured by all card enthusiasts.

Here we are given a remarkable method for reversing a the only one we know whereby a card can be reversed directly under a

nose without any fear of it being detected. Everyone who has been shown the reverse acclaims it as the best they have seen. In a tape recording sent to Dai Vernon says, reverse of Larry's is very beautiful. I hope you