Pages from Close-Up Card Magic by Conjuring Arts Research Center

$12.50

CLOSE-UP CARD MAGIC By Harry Lorayne

PUBLISHER'S NOTE It is with great pleasure and pride that I present this volume to the magic fraternity. I have seen Harry Lorayne perform for laymen many times. He creates an excitement which is hard to imagine can be created with a deck of cards. He not only fools and amazes the people — but, more important—entertains them. He has an astounding knowledge of card magic, and unerringly selects the best effects and routines for any par ticular group. Aside from these talents, Mr. Lorayne is a professional writer. He has the unique ability of making you feel as if he is sitting in your living-room and teaching you personally. No one knows better than I that too many magic books are sometimes im practical, so far as either the amateur, beginner or professional is concerned. It has become a cliche to say that if the reader gets only one trick or idea from a book — he has received his money's worth! Well then, I should be selling this book for ten times its present price — for I can assure you that whether you are just a beginner, knowledgeable amateur or professional — you will get many, many times more than one trick or idea from this volume. And — they will be things you will use for as long as you love magic. If you are interested in card magic at all — you must have "Close-Up Card Magic" by Harry Lorayne. I almost envy your coming pleasure and enjoyment of discovery.

(Continued on back flap.)

CLOSE-UP CARD MAGIC BY HARRY LORAYNE

Author of SECRETS OF MIND POWER INSTANT MEMORY ALBUM HOW TO DEVELOP A SUPER POWER MEMORY

CLOSE-UP CARD MAGIC BY

HARRY LORAYNE First Edition

THIRD PRINTING

Illustrated by

Edited by

EDWARD E. MISHELL

LOUIS TANNEN

Published by TANNEN MAGIC INC. 1540 Broadway, N.Y. 10036 N.Y.

TANNEN MAGIC INC. 1540 Broadway, N.Y. 10036 N.Y.

Dedicated to All Lovers of Card Magic

INTRODUCTION Upon many occasions, I have watched Harry Lorayne perform with playing cards. He is one of the best. Onlookers are not aware what decision, what quickness of apprehension, what judgment and even knowledge of character, he employs when demonstrating some of his card effects. He never fails to completely mystify and bewilder his audience, but more important—he entertains and pleases them. He has selected for this book some of his favorite and most effective items. Merely to be acquainted with the basic secret of a card trick, in no way qualifies you to perform it. Few people realize that even a simple trick in the hands of a capable performer can become a minor miracle. In these pages, Harry has really “tipped his mitt.” He not only explains the working of many really excellent card problems, but he also tells you exactly how to proceed when performing them. He gives every detail. You will need nothing more in the way of instruction—the rest is up to you. D ai V ernon

[ vii ]

FOREWORD All the ideas, effects and routines in this book are audience tested and/or “audience preferred.” I have used them all; some of them, for over fifteen years, and more. I have not, you’ll notice, used the standard format of most magic books, which is to give the effect first and then go into the method. I feel that this is unnecessary. Describing the effect to entice you, is great for advertising and selling tricks—but you’ve already purchased this book; so there’s no need to build up each effect first. In most cases, I’ve gone right into the effect, method and presentation. I hope you agree that this makes for easier reading. The biggest chore in writing a book on magic is giving credit where credit is due. Unfortunately, it would involve digging deep into magical history to find out who belongs to which move, and who originated what. I have no desire to write a history of magic, but I have given credit whenever and wherever I could. If I have overlooked any one, it is unintentional, and I offer my apologies in advance. So far as I know—most, not all of course, of the effects, routines and ideas herein contained are of my own conception. I had originally planned for this book to contain only my own effects and routines. However, many card men (personal friends mostly) sent me their favorite effects and ideas. I chose some (and went after, and fought for, others) which were effects that I myself had used through the years. They were the kind which I thought were prac tical and entertaining. (I probably could fill another book of this size with the effects I have left over which did not come up to my standards.) After getting permission to include them, I described most of them with my own handling and presentation, and with many little touches which I felt made them either better tricks, easier to do—or both. All the effects are done with regular cards. I’m not knocking [ viii ]

any gimmicked decks you may possess; these are fine, and I have my quota of them. It’s nice, however, to be able to borrow a deck, and stun your audience with that. Also, you’ll find that many of the effects do not use the take-a-card opening. Although there’s nothing wrong with that either; it’s wise to get away from it occasionally. With few exceptions, I’ve given some time and space to patter and presentation. It is my opinion that this can be, and most often is, more important than the method itself. So please, if you recog nize the sleight or move involved in a routine—don’t pass it by. This may (and should) sound silly to you; but I’ve noticed some of the newer and younger crop of magic enthusiasts. They’ll watch someone with much more experience and knowledge than they possess, perform, and as soon as they spot a double-lift, or palm, or jog shuffle, or what have you—their attitude is, “Oh yeah, I know that”—and they lose interest. Of course, they probably don’t know it; and they never will. I know that the way I learned magic was watching others perform, and picking up pointers on patter, routining and presentation. So, remember that sleights are merely means to an end. Unless they are surrounded by proper presentations and routines, they are worthless. I have used the word, “nonchalant,” and the phrase, “without hesitation,” to the point of redundancy in this book. This is on purpose. I think that I’m expressing the two most important and least understood principles of close-up magic; or should I say—close-up entertaining. I’ve seen too many excellent technicians ruin an effect simply because they appeared too intense or too studied at a crucial mo ment. Many a difficult spot can be easily overcome with an air of nonchalance. I have always insisted that if the audience knows something was done, it is as bad as if they know what was done. And nothing telegraphs a move so well as an intense expression or hesitation. A good magician must be a good actor. Most important (for close-up work, anyway), is to be able to act as if what went wrong is what you wanted or expected to occur. I think I’ve fooled more knowledgeable card men simply by appearing completely uncon cerned at what I knew was my mistake, or, by appearing very knowing and sure of myself at some miracle which happened by pure coincidence. Of course, over-acting is just as bad as not act [ix]

ing at all. So, as in everything else, try to reach a happy medium. It is a standard belief among magicians that there’s an art to picking the good stuff out of books. I don’t think you’ll have that problem here. Each effect, I believe, is written to give you as complete a picture as possible as to how it will appear to the audi ence. Sure, I could have written each one in, perhaps, half the space, but I would have defeated my purpose. Dick Cardini, after reading this manuscript, said that he thought there was only one bad trick in it. He wouldn’t tell me which one he meant, so I can’t tell you. But—if your problem is to find the one bad trick, instead of finding the good stuff—both of us, you the reader, and I the author, are fortunate indeed. I have always disliked reading a book that told me to use my ‘favorite’’ method to accomplish something. I couldn’t help won dering about the poor amateur who had no favorite method. He had no method at all. So—you will find, in these pages, some simple and practical methods of doing certain advanced sleights. You may find that these are worth looking into whether or not you have a favorite method. Of course, I had to take it for granted that there were certain sleights that you all know, or I would have had to write an encyclopedia. Anyway, just a suggestion—read each effect through to get the gist or idea of how it should look; get the routine in mind. Then, re-read it for the method, patter, presentation, etc. Also, don’t overlook the “afterthoughts ’—you may find some worthwhile ideas there. Bear in mind that most good things are not too easily acquired. But with a minimum of practice (not necessarily on sleights; but timing and presentation), the effects in this book will be worth any amount of time that you invest in them. To those of you who wish to have some minor miracles on hand at all times—and to those of you who love card magic almost as much as I do—I dedicate this book. H arry L orayne

[x]

CONTENTS

Page INTRODUCTION—DAI VERNON FOREWORD

vii viii

CHAPTER I—NECESSARY SLEIGHTS Hindu Shuffle

14 13

Faro Shuffle

Jog Shuffle

Double-Lift Palm

CHAPTER II—EFFECTIVE CARD MYSTERIES

L ocation S upreme

Two C ard R everse

S alt -L ess

A ces W ild

R evelation

S tab -T wo

T he S loppy C ard T rick

C oincidentally Y ours

T ake M e T o Y our L eader

L orayne ’ s A mbitious C ard R outine

L ittle F ella ’—B ig F ella ’

S top !

I mpossibility

Q uinella !

No L ooking

I n T he S ide P ocket

Out Of This Universe

T his I s M ind -R eading ?

T he A pex A ce O se ’ s A ddition O se ’ s C ut

88 91 93

Page CHAPTER III—NOVEL CARD MYSTERIES A utomatic M ind -R eading R evolving A ces

95 96 9S

F orce P rediction

100

Tell M y Fortune

104

T hree F or T he M oney T hree A gain T hree T imes A nd O ut F ourtitude S am -U ltaneous

Two-G ETHER F lash A ces S pread C ontrol P ersonally Y ours T hrough T he T able C alculated R isk M athematical A ffinity M agnetic R eversals

CHAPTER IV—UNIQUE CARD TRICKS T he I nseparable F our S ensitive T ouch L orayne ’ s P oker D eal T he M oving P encil V ernon ’ s A ces

#1 F an P rediction #2 F an P rediction

S ympathetic D ecks M ated ! R everse L ocation B lackout ! T he S pectator E stimates C ard S andwich L ost A nd F ound A ces L azy M an ’ s C ard T rick C hallenge A ces P ush -T hrough C hange P ush -T hrough P oker

106

108 109 112 114 116 119 121 125 128 130 134 142 147 148 151 153 158 162 165 168 172 175 179 183 188 190 195 199 201 203 207

Page CHAPTER V-THE TURNOVER CHANGE T he T urnover C hange T he L ittle C ard T hat W asn ’ t T here P lunge -T hru ’ M entalamazement C hanco -C ards P rediction E xtraordinaire

1-2-3-4 4-3-2-1 R andom T houghts A bsolutely F ree F orce Q uickie P rediction C ross -O ver C hance V ariation C hange A nd S tud P oker F our -I n -H and A utomatic M ind -R eading

O n S pectator ’ s H and T orn C orner T ransposition R ed A ce —B lack A ce F antasia J ust (B usiness ) C ards S pirit W rites F lash P rinting M ultiple C hange A mbitious A ces T he T raveling J ewels

213 215 221 224 225 228 229 231 236 240 240 241 241 242 245 249 250 252 253 255 261 261 262 263 254 265

LORAYNE’S CHALLENGE

269

LAST WORD

271

C hapter I

NECESSARY SLEIGHTS H indu S huffle F aro S huffle J og S huffle D ouble -L ift P alm

CHAPTER I NECESSARY SLEIGHTS As I’ve said, I do not care for magic books that leave out im portant sleights. Although I also said that I had to take it for granted that you all knew the standard ones—I am giving here, the fundamentals of a couple of sleights which are mentioned through out the book. Also, I am including a list of where in the book, and in the descriptions of which tricks—you will find certain other moves explained. I do this so that when you read that you are to use a particular sleight, you will know just where to find it. In this way, I can feel that this book is complete unto itself. H indu S huffle

This is simply another form of the overhand shuffle. The right hand holds the deck, from above, near the inner ends. The thumb is on one side, second finger on the other. The left hand approaches the deck, palm up. It reaches up from under the deck, so that the bottom card is facing the left palm. The thumb and fingers grasp small packets of cards from the top of the deck. (See Fig. 1.) As these packets are taken, they are allowed to fall into the left palm. The left forefinger should be at the center of the outer end of these cards as they fall. This acts as a stop, to keep the cards from falling out of the hand. (See Fig. 2.)

There are two ways of looking at this. Either the left hand keeps moving back and forth, taking the groups of cards, or, the left fingers merely grasp the cards and the right hand moves back [15]