Warty Lofayne's THREE DOLLARS
VOL.4 NO. 1
JAN., 1981
ocalypse ISSUE NO. 37
J. K. Hartman One OfA Mind
Follow this closely, it's good. Here it is in, basically, Jerry's own words: The following is an approach to a card clairvoyance concept of Robert-Houdin, variously embellished and refined by Ralph W. Hull, Hal Leroy (see "The Three Of Clubs," CARD MAGIC, Hilliard, page 327), and more recently, Ed Mario, in which a card placed on the table or into the performer's pocket turns out to be the very card later named by a spectator. This version sacrifices some of the directness but picks up an element of humor and was designed to provide a reasonable excuse for looking through the deck to obtain control of the named card. In the course of shuffling the deck or via advance preparation, reverse the second from top card and remember its name as a key. Give the deck to a spectator and have him place it behind his back. Make sure that no other spectators are in position to see the deck. Ask him to take off the top card, bring it forward without looking at it, and place it face down on the table. Then ask him to lift off a portion of the deck of any size and turn it over, face up, onto the rest of the cards. Point out that some card is now face uppermost, its identity not possibly known to either of you. Turn your back and ask a second spectator to turn his back, too. Tell Spectator One to bring the deck forward so that he can note his card (the one face up on top). Then instruct COPYRIGHT 1981 by H. Lorayne, Inc.
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at it with satisfaction, and replace the section in your right hand in front of it, square with the rest of the deck. Turn the deck to a facedown position without flashing the protruding card which is now out jogged from the front of the deck. (See Fig. 2,)
him to turn all the face-up cards face down "so that everything is the way it started." Both you and Spectator Two now face front. State that each of you will try to read Spectator One's mind. Ask Spectator Two to concentrate for a moment and then name a card which he believes Spectator One is NOT thinking of. Assume he names the AS. Caution Spectator One not to indicate whether Spectator Two is right or wrong "because you are going to try to divine the card he IS thinking of. Appear to concentrate for a moment and then announce that you have it. "To avoid any suspicion of prearrangement or connivery, however," you continue as you pick up the deck, "I will remove the card I have in mind before you tell us yours."
Remind Spectator One that he selected a card with the deck in his own hands while your back was turned. As you so patter, obtain a break with your left little fingertip beneath the top card. Ask him to name his card. Withdraw the out jogged card, revolving it face up on top of the deck to show your "perfect location." Pause a moment as if the trick is over. Turning to Spectator Two, congratulate him on his "mindreading": He DID name a card Spectator One was NOT thinking of. Then continue, "I know you think you didn't do anything special. You think you had a fifty to one chance of guessing correctly. But you're wrong. You did something very special. When I asked you to name a card Spectator One did NOT select, you did something much more than that."
The following actions are designed to leave the spectator's card outjogged while unobtrusively controlling the AS (or whichever card Spectator Two named) to the top. Begin to run through the cards, faces toward you. Separate the spread above or behind the AS which places it at the back of the section in your right hand. (See Fig. 1.)
With your right first and second finger below and thumb above, grasp the two back-toback cards above the break, as one, along the right side near the inner corner. In a rapid motion, use the double card to scoop up the face-down card still on the table, taking it so that it is out jogged a half an inch or so. To assist in the action, your left hand simultaneously turns palm down, your forefinger momentarily stabilizing the face-down card. (See Fig. 3-)
Take the next card behind the AS upjogged for half its length. Transfer the upjogged card to the back of the section in your left hand (that is, to the top of the deck), still upjogged. Finally, slide the cards in your right hand behind the upjogged card, square with the rest of the deck. An indifferent card is upjogged, the AS is at the rear or top of the deck. (HL: All that's happening is that you're cutting the deck at the AS as the upjogged card is placed to center.)
Deposit the deck onto the table and the package held by your right hand into your left hand. The rapid movement of your right hand and the fact that when the double card comes to rest it is covered by the outjogged facedown card assures that any flaring at the outer end or sides will not be seen. During this sequence, your patter continues without interruption: "This card is the one card in the deck which couldn't possibly have been selected. This is the card..." As the last remark begins, you execute an action which is comparable to the Bottom Double Lift (ODD LIFTS, page 1 ) .
Stare somewhat skeptically at the upjogged card for a moment, then state that the value seems right but the suit is wrong. Cleanly push the upjogged card squarely into the deck. If the spectators remember this episode, they will also remember that the "wrong" card clearly went back into the middle of the deck.
The upper face-down card is outjogged a half inch or so. Your left forefinger is at its outer end. Your left thumb is extended, contacting it along its left side. Your right hand approaches the outer left corner of the card, apparently to grasp it there to turn it over. In so doing, your right second fingertip pokes below the packet, contacting the face of
Run through the cards again. Separate the spread above or behind your original key. The next card, at the face of the back section, is the spectator's card. Upjog that card, stare -434-