MAGIC
U. S. A.
several books could be filled with effects from Dai Vernon's friends in but we have had to keep this chapter about the same size as the others. our good friend Faucett Ross has collected a few choice items for inclusion.
CARD TRANSPOSITION - FRANCIS
Competent critics have adjudged Francis Carlyle to be among the top six American intimate performers. The following description of his Card Trans- position is in Mr. Carlyle's own words.
I offer this card trick as a mark of esteem and affection I hold for my old Dai Vernon. I have performed the effect thousands of times during the past twenty years. The trick is strictly commercial, direct, simple and performed with a minimum of sleights. Frankly, I would not trade it for a hundred of the usual present day card miracles. Forgive the foregoing bal- lyhoo and let us get down to cases.
The inevitable card is selected, noted and returned to the pack and brought to the top by your favourite procedure. I use the familiar Hindu shuffle. Then about half the pack is undercut and slapped unevenly on top which permits me to get a break while squaring. Selected card is now near centre, a break being held above it with little finger. This is elementary technique. I now remark, "I'll try to find your card by intuition". Let us assume that selected pasteboard is the Ace of Spades. I am holding the pack in left hand and my right thumb openly riffles the inner end. I riffle to the break, sight and remember selected card - important.
Pack is cut at this point bringing selected card to top. At the same time I remark, "I will cut your card to the top of pack and when I show it simply tell me whether I am right or wrong".
I next do a double lift and display, let us say, the King of Hearts. Specta- tor immediately says that I am wrong. So I turn the double card face down remove the top card (actually the Ace of Spades) with the remark, I missed but will you place the King of Hearts in your pocket?" I hand him card and he secretes it in pocket. If done convincingly he will never bother to glance at its face.
1
I next say, "I will try once more and this time I will not miss". Again I cut pack, hold break above the King of Hearts and openly riffle to break as be- fore. My right forefinger is inserted into break and King of Hearts pulled out to- ward me so that it projects about half its length. I keep pack face down so King of Hearts cannot be seen.
I now bend up the projecting King (Figure 1) glance at its face, smile trium- phantly and say, "I have it now - it is the Ace of Spades. Right?" I thus simply miscall the card but in a natural and con- vincing manner.
Upon chooser agreeing, I immediately turn the pack end for end so that the pro- jecting card now faces the spectator but is still held face down. My right hand quickly removes a match my pocket, lights it and slowly and dramatically moves it back and forth above the pro- jecting card several times. Do not pro- long this. (See Figure 2).
I then remove the projecting card, snap it with the fingers and turn it face "Look, I now hold the King of Hearts! Kindly remove the card from your pocket and see what you have".
He does so and, of course, reveals the Ace of Spades. Climax,
In my estimation the strong points of the presentation are the freedom with which the spectator is allowed to pocket the card; the impressive busi- ness with the lighted match and, lastly, the miscalling of the card. When Dai Vernon first saw me perform the trick at the Stork Club nearly twenty years ago, he remarked, "I never realised until now how strong and convincing the miscalling of a card can be made".
If you lack the confidence to permit the spectator pocketing the card you can place it on the table and ask him to hold his hand firmly over it. This does not materially weaken the effect.
IT" - GERALD
Gerald standing in magic is reflected by the respect shown to him by his election to such offices as President of the Pacific Coast Associa- tion National Vice-President of the Society of American Magicians (1937) and from time to time either President or Secretary of the various Los Angeles and Hollywood Clubs.
This is a card trick with which I have had much and I have no hesitation in stating that it is very well received by audiences. In addition to having a startling climax, it has the virtue of seeming to be carried out al- most entirely by a spectator, the performer merely directing operations. Effect:
A spectator is asked to shuffle a pack of think of a number, then look at and remember the card at that number counting from the top of the pack. After the pack is shuffled again and a check made to see that the card is not now in its original position, the spectator is instructed to place the pack in his then remove any one card. The card he removes proves to be the one he looked at.
Method:
The performer hands a pack of cards to a spectator with the request that he shuffles the cards, then thinks of any number between five and fifteen. He is instructed to look at and remember the card at this number from the top of the pack. In other if the spectator thinks of the number nine then he must remember the ninth card from the top of the pack. As this is happening the performer has his back turned, or looks away, so that he can- not know the number of the card.
At this point the performer takes the pack and shuffles but although everything looks it is the method of shuffling which allows the trick to be brought to a successful conclusion. The shuffle is the performer merely undercutting about half of the pack and shuffling three cards, one at a time, onto the top card; in-jogging the next card then shuffling the remain- der of the pack on top of the in-jogged card. By undercutting at the injogged
card and throwing the bottom half of the pack on the position is that the card that the spectator looked at is now three deeper in the pack. If the number nine had been chosen then the card will now be the twelfth card from the top.
When this has been the performer hands the pack to the spectator "I haven't the faintest idea what number you thought and by shuffling the cards after you looked at the card, your card is in all probabil- ity no longer at the number you thought However, to be on the safe side; will you kindly deal off the top of the one card at a time, up to and including the card at the number you thought of. Kindly deal each card so that it is face-up and stop dealing at the number you thought of."
When the spectator has done this, there will be a pile of cards face up on the table but his card will not be amongst them, but you ask, "Does the card you looked at happen be the card you've stopped dealing at?" On a nega- tive reply ask, "Is it amongst the cards you have just Again there will be a negative reply, so say, "Kindly deal off two more cards and see if one of them might be your card". Neither of these cards will be the one looked at but unbeknown to the spectator, it is now the top card of the pack. You now say to the spectator: "Kindly remove everything that you have in the inner breast pocket of your coat and when you have done so, place the pack of cards in that pocket". See that the pack is placed in the pocket so that the backs of the cards are against the back of the pocket.
Now continue your presentation by saying: "Now Sir; somewhere in the pack is the card you looked at; where it is at the present time you and I do not know. I'm of the opinion however, that your card can be found by sound vibration and sensitive fingertips. What I want you to do is to call out, so that we all may hear three times the name of the card you looked at, and when I say to you get reach into your pocket fast and grab one card quickly. Do you get the idea? Fine."
When the spectator calls out the name of his card three times you yell excitedly "You get it!" The spectator, because of the hurried action, cannot help but grab from his pocket the top rear card of the pack, which will be his card.
"DO AS I DO" ONE - OSE.
Dai Vernon has pronounced Jay Ose of Los Angeles, to be one of the finest entertainers with a pack of cards that he has ever met.
The experienced performer will always be ready to take advantage of any circumstances which he can turn to his and this is the trick I perform when the opportunity presents itself for me to know the top or bottom card of a spectator's pack. For our example let us assume that with- out the spectator being aware of the he has permitted me to catch a glimpse of the bottom card - let us say that it is the Ace of Spades.
I say to "Place your pack face down on the table and square the cards". When this is done I continue "Now will you cut off half the pack and hand it to me". I now tell the spectator to pick up the remaining half and fan them with the faces towards himself; to push up one card from the fan and form a mental picture of that card. My next instructions are that he should remove the place it on top of the pack, then cut the complete the cut and square the cards.
To demonstrate what I want I do the same actions with the half of the pack that was handed to me then ask, "You know what card I looked you?" The spectator so I say, "Then in all fairness, I shouldn't know what card you looked I?" Again he agrees and I continue with, "I'm going to give you my half in exchange for yours". We now exchange packets of cards and I remark, "You could look all day in the cards you are now holding and not be able to find your card because it isn't it?" He must agree. "Then, of course, it would be quite impossible for me to find my card in the pack that right? However, I am going to find a similar card and I want you to do the same. For instance, if you looked at the Ace of Spades, take out a different Ace of a different suit. In other words take out a card of the same denomination but a different suit".
As I explain this I take out the card to the right of the Ace of Spades, which will be the card the spectator looked at (let us say it is the Jack of Hearts), and place it face down on the table. At the same time, I look and see if there are any more Jacks. If I find the Jack of Clubs and the Jack of Dia- monds then I know the card the spectator places down is the Jack of Spades. I then say, "It could be possible that by accident you have taken the card I looked at and put it face down on the it?"
By this time the spectator has a look, but I keep right on talking, and say, "My card was the Jack of Spades. You didn't put that card face down just you?" With a still more puzzled look the spectator admits that he did. "Turn it up and let me see", I say, and when he does so, I ask, "What card did you look at". He names the Jack of Hearts and I turn over his card saying, "You see, you found my card and I found
If the top card is the key card (the card I glimpsed) I take the bottom half of the pack for myself and tell the spectator that I am going to turn my and while my back is turned he is to remove a whole bunch of cards from the centre of the remaining look at the card that faces him and place the whole lot on top of his packet. When I tell him to do this I actually demonstrate what he is to but I tell him to do this after I have turned my back. Later on I elaborate on this feature when I review what has happened. It can happen that the performer finds he has the other three Jacks so in this case tell the spectator to take out one card higher which will be a Queen and then by the process of elimination you fail.
In a case of this let us say that his card was the Jack of Hearts and you have all the Jacks and unbeknown to you he puts down the Queen of Spades. You know it is a Queen but have to find the so you "I hope you didn't put down a red you?" If he says "No", then you con- tinue with, "Was it a Again he may say so you "I have a reason for asking this, you see it is possible that you could have put down the card I looked card was the Queen of didn't put that card down did you?" He will admit that he did and you continue as before. If the top card is used as the key, the first card to the left of the key card will be the one selected.
I have given extreme cases so that you will be able to cope with any eventuality. I hope you have some fun with this trick.
SLEIGHT OF MIND - BILL SIMON.
Bill Simon is one of America's top-flight card men and successful author of "Effective Card Magic" and Sensational".
The effect a magician secures, be it with cards, illusions or whatever, is almost always dependent upon the strength of his presentation. In this card trick, the effect can be greatly enhanced by emphasized presentation. Effect:
The magician removes four like cards, for the four Aces, from an ordinary pack, and cuts the remainder of the pack into two packets. The two Black Aces are placed in packet "A"; the two Red Aces are placed face-down in packet "Sleight of hand is one thing", the performer
sleight of mind is an entirely new approach. You have been watching me very closely and you with that I placed the two Black Aces face-up in this packet (magician indicates packet "A"). But actually I have used sleight of mind on you because the Black Aces are no longer in this packet A where I originally put but they have jumped over to packet B. (Packet B is spread out and the Black Aces are seen to be face-up therein). The Red not to be out done, have transferred themselves to packet A." The magician taps packet A and the two Red Aces literally jump out of the packet.
Method:
Remove the four Aces from a pack (white borders are necessary) and place the two Black Aces to the left and the two Red Aces to the right of your table. The remainder of the pack is cut into two fairly equal packets. The packet placed to the left will be called and the other packet will be called B.
Hand the two Black Aces to a spectator and, picking up packet A, have him insert them into the centre of packet A as you spread this packet be- tween your hands. A is face-down, while the Black Aces are face-up. As the Black Aces are inserted in A, secure a break with your left little finger over the first face-down card on top of the Black Aces. Square A, retaining the break, and casually cut A at the break, completing the cut. This will bring a face-down indifferent card on top of A with the two face-up Black Aces sec- ond and third from the top of A. Square A and hold it securely in your left hand.
As you patter, secure a break under the three top cards of A with your left little finger. The two Red Aces should be face-up on the table, packet B in front of them. Packet B should be face-down. Pick up the two Red Aces with your right hand and place them, face-up on top of A. Square them up and then apparently turn them face-down on top of A. Actually, when you square up the Red Aces and turn them you turn over all the cards above the break held by your left little finger (5 cards). In the act of turning the Red Aces face-down on top of A you have done two important things: (a) switched the Black Aces, and turned the Black Aces face-down.
As soon as you have turned the Red Aces face-down you must appar- ently deal them off A into your right hand. To do this, thumb the top card of A into your right hand, then bring your right hand (and the card it holds) back to the packet to remove the next card (apparently the second Red Ace),
but you perform a double-lift and remove two cards as one from the top of A. You now apparently hold the two Red Aces face-down in your right fingers; actually you hold the two Black Aces with a third indifferent face- up card under the lowermost Ace.
Place packet A on the table and with the aid of your left hand square up the cards held in your right taking these cards in your left hand in dealing position. Your at this should be something like this: "The two Black Aces are face-up here (pointing to packet A) and I will now place the Red Aces in packet
You are holding cards (three) in your left hand. Lean forward, dropping your left hand to your side, and with your right hand lift off about half of packet B. As you lift off half of B with your right hand, you will have ample misdirection to turn over the cards held in your left hand. Once these cards have been revolved, place them onto the half of B which is on the table, and then replace the half of B which has been held in your right hand so that