Hoard's M A G I C DEVO TED SO LELY TO T HE VOL. XIX , Nos. 1 & 2
I N T ER ESTS O F M AG IC A N D M A G ICIANS
SEPTEMBER and OCTOBER, 1961
TWO-CARD REVERSE By HARRY LORAYNE Illustrations by FRANK PENNOCK, JR.
This effect, I believe, was originally done with a set-up deck. I have changed it so that it can be done at any time with anyone's deck, so long as you are seated at a table opposite the spectator. This is an off-beat type of effect, and if done smoothly will fool anyone not "in the know." Have a spectator shuffle any deck and cut it into two piles, face down on the table. Tell him to hand you one half and keep the other. Shuffle your packet and ask the spectator to do the same, saying, "Whenever you're satisfied the cards are thoroughly shuffled, place two cards face down in front of you, like this." Demonstrate what you want done —hold your half in your left hand as for dealing. Deal one card face down near the edge of the table with your right hand. Deal another to the right of the first, but don't release it. So far as the spectator is concerned, you've demonstrated what he should do. Replace the card your right hand is holding on top of your half of the pack. As you do this, lower your left hand almost to the edge of the table. Now —and this is important— the left hand moves slightly under the edge of the table, and your left thumb flips the entire packet face up. At the same instant, your right hand scoops the face-down card on the taHarry Lorayne has for many years contributed splendid card effects to HMM. The tnc\ above is a sample of the good things Mr. Lorayne is including in his boo\ "Close-Up Card Magic," which will be published by Lou Tannen toward the end of the year. EDITOR'S NOTE:
Fig. 1. The two chosen cards are placed below the natural bridge at the center of the dec\, among the facedown cards. The cards above the bridge are face up. ble onto the left-hand pile. The left hand comes up as if it went under merely to help pick up this card. Now the cards in the half you're holding are face up, except the top card, which is face down. Done smoothly, and with practice, this is a perfect move. I've had people standing behind me and they didn't see it. You're protected by the misdirection provided by the spectator as he places his two cards on the table; all your attention should be on him as is that of the spectators. Do the entire move nonchalantly, without making it look like a move, and don't look at your hands. You should be through and holding your half face-down (sic!) in your hand by the time he's put down his two cards. Have him place the rest of his half face down on the table. Off-handedly, place your half on top of his, at the same time turning over his two chosen cards as you say:
$1.00
"Now, you've had an absolutely free choice of these two cards—the two of clubs and the four of hearts." (Name the cards he's selected.) Ask him to remember the cards, and tell him you will now lose them in the deck. Pick up the deck and turn it face up. Take one of the chosen cards and place it face up near the top (that is, nearest the palm of the hand holding the face-up deck). Let this card protrude for half its length, slanted toward the left. The second card, also face up, is placed nearer the center. Make certain it also goes into the face-down portion of the deck. You will find a natural "bridge" where the face-up and face-down cards meet. The card is placed as near that bridge as you can put it quickly. This card protrudes, too, slanting toward the right. You have apparently placed two cards in the deck, facing the same way as the other cards (Fig. 1). Actually, they are face up in the facedown half of the deck. Pause here for a moment, repeating the names of the cards, tapping them for emphasis. "Here, the two of clubs... and here, the four of hearts." Turn your hand over, so the spectator can see the back of the deck. Everything looks exactly as it should. "I'll push the two of clubs and four of hearts flush into the deck," you say, "so they are completely lost." Turn the deck face up again and slowly push the two cards squarely into the pack, letting the audience see there is no "monkey business." Be careful not to spread the deck and expose the face-down cards. Turn the deck face down. "I will turn half the deck face up," you explain, "and place it face-to-face with the other half." Cut the lower half at the natural bridge and turn it face up. Allow these cards to spread a bit and place them back under the top half, but not flush. Pause for a second, letting the audi{Continued on page 11)
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September and October, 1961
Hugard's MAGIC Monthly
BACKSTAGE with FRANK JOGLAR
What a 60 minutes: Six European Merlins in a television spectacular — Kalanag, Tornado, Samson, Jacques Olten, Paul Arland, Christenco— all taped by Don Ameche, the renowned voice of Alex Graham Bell, on International Showtime Sept. 2 9 . . . George Johnstone & Betty must be glowing. The recent Variety hoorah for their appearance at Eddy's (K. C.) should bring more dates, more lootHere and There
Bob Stull recovering nicely from illness. He's one of magic's great mechanical minds, now lives in FuU lerton, Calif. . . . Don Alan's "Magic Ranch," videod to 10 million oneeyed monsters, seems quick-clickish . . . If Richiardi's applause-grabbing, eye-popping Vanishing Girl puzzled you (on Ed Sullivan's show) see p. 218, Herrmann the Magician, published in 1897. Now let's see— you were asking "What's new?" Fred Kaps took the Grand Prix at the Leige Congress for the third year running. Habit-forming, perhaps? Wayfaring wizards Dr. Zina Bennett and Dr. Vic Trask caught this
THAT GIMMICKED ISSUE
Last month's specially-gimmic\ed issue —the sixth word of each article is 'the' and the 15th word is 'of— was a quic\ sell-out at many dealers. We anticipated this and ran extra copies. Until they run out, they're selling at the regular price — 50 cents. If you thin\ you may need replacements in the months and years to come, now's the time to act. If you need wording instructions for the mindreading effect made possible with this gimmic\ed issue, send along another 50 cents for the July, 1961 issue. Address all orders to Hugard's MAGIC Monthly, 2634 East 19th Street, Brooklyn 35, New Yor\.
convention . . . Drs. Grossman, Trask, Jerry Andrus and Mystic Craig wayfared at the Harrogate Convention in England, too . . . Christopher
The English reviews of "Christopher's Wonders" are rave reviews— as the Newcastle Journal puts it: "Mr. Milbourne Christopher set the minds of his audience goggling with what appeared to be the impossible." It's the same story at Cardiff, Bristol, Newcastle. They love him . . . Al DeLage did two weeks of Venezuela television, jumped to Chi Coutini in Canada, goes to Spain, Italy, North Africa and Iran . . . News and Notes
Paul Morris reminds us that Silent Mora is 77 on Oct. 25. If you want to shower him with congratulatory cards, send them to Long Island Hospital, Boston Bay, Mass. . . . Channing Pollock is making movies in Italy . . . Question: How do they make an expanded shell?... Don Mannix' "Step Right Up" (1950) tells why mentalists have an edge on magicians . . . Doc Marcus received fine press notices at Billy Reed's Little Club, NY . . . Dai Vernon, in top form, enchanted the 1st Open House meet. Francis Carlyle lent an assist... Slydini does a lecture, sponsored by The Wizard's Shop, Oct. 19th at Hotel New Yorker... Mac Ronay, an audience-pleaser, repeated on the Sullivan video thing. Some feel he doesn't really need the exposure bits . . . Books to Come
Two new gambling books hit the stands shortly: Scarne's "Complete Book of Gambling" (Simon & Schuster), wnicn Clayton Kawson ran through nis typewriter; and Frank Garcia's "Marked Cards and Loaded Dice" (Prentice-Hall) . . . North, who contributes to these pages, is one of the fastest magical minds . . . Thank goodness, murmurs Blanca Lopez, the Miss Makeup Magic of Long Island, Esther turned out not to be long-winded... The Bro. Hamman cardbook is in a new edition (Don Lawton), and it couldn't happen to a better book
. . . Jay Bedsworth, who premieres in this issue, finds Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Phil Harris et al the best kind of audience for cardwork . . . Fascinatin'; The Gresham book on Houdini. What a character!... You can still see Paul Le Paul on television—in Eternally Yours. Look under the wig of that butler with the pack of cards . .. Scarne reaped yards of newspaper copy appearing for the Congressional committee investigating gambling. The wire services were good to him . . . Bits and Pieces
Art Lyle is annoyed. He saw an adv't in Satevepost: "Write for Money." He did. They didn't send him a dime . . . Maximilian Londonio is being kudoed for his Gypsy Thread presentation . . . Is Cleveland the site of '62 combined IBM-SAM hoopla? . . . The client who asked Optometrist Dave Lederman to duplicate his red-tinted contact lenses turned red himself when Dave asked if he were a gambler. "How'd you know?" he gaped. "Just guessed," replied Dave amiably, doing a neat sauter la coupe ... Fred Fell is publishing Harry Lorayne's (see p. 1) "Secrets of Mind Power," about memory and mental dynamics... Stanley Van Saxe claims (via NY drama critic Richard Watts Jr.) that Long Tack Sam originated the phrase: "Damn clever, these Chinese!"
OLD-TIMERS' DELIGHT This is a funny piece of business. Cut out a diamond pip and wax it to the face of a two of diamonds where the odd pip of a three of diamonds would be. Force the regular two of diamonds, have it noted, have it buried in the pack. Place the pack behind your back. Bring forward the gimmicked card. "Your card." This is denied. "It was the two of diamonds?" you echo. "Well, what's a pip between friends?" Buckle the card a little and flip off the waxed pip. The late Larry Gray, the Dizzy Wizard, convulsed audiences with this bit. You'd forgotten the thing? —F.B.
September and October, 1961
Hugard's MAGIC
THE FLYING CARD By JAY EEDSWORTH
Three things I have learned in many years of close-up card work: The control must be simple, direct and good. The method must be simple, direct and good. The effect must be simple, direct and good. Involved controls, involved methods, involved effects bore spectators. Let me illustrate by giving a card discovery which is a pet of mine: The flying Card The effect is this: A chosen card is lost in the pack. You spring the cards face down into your left hand, asking that someone stop the spring whenever he likes. You stop the spring on command; and at that instant the chosen card flies from among the cascading cards and falls on the table a foot distant—face up! From the spectator's viewpoint, you couldn't ask for a more dramatic, surprising and puzzling feat. First, you bring the chosen card to the top. Use any control at which you are adept, so long as it is fast and sure. Bridge, crimp, simple pass, overhand shuffle —even a short card— anything, so long as it gets the card to the top fast and deceptively. Holding the pack face down in your left hand, place your right thumb and fingers at the ends and riffle upward. At the same time push the top (chosen) card a little to the right with your left thumb and hold a break under it with your left little fingertip. With your right fingers remove any card from the pack. Place it face up on the pack. "Is this your card?" It isn't. Grasp the top, face-up card and the card face down below it (the chosen card) at the ends between right fingers and thumb and lift them away from the pack as one. With them flip the card now at the top of the pack face upwards. "This your card?" It isn't. Take the card flush under the two you hold in your right hand. Flip the cards over, so they fall flush onto the
pack. Seemingly, you turn two cards face down on the pack. Actually, the second card, which is the chosen card, is face up. You are ready for a really surprising denouement. Spring the cards face down from right into left hand, in the usual way. "Stop me whenever you like," you say. "Just say stop."
fay Bedsworth is one of the finest cardmen in America. He is comparatively unhjiown to magicians, for he has not been publicized in the magical press. An extremely successful restaurateur, he has entertained guests at his restaurants for 20 years. He now operates the fashionable, and elegant, "Red Mill" in Lafayette, California. The illustration is Artist Lee Susman's impression of fay and his "Flying Card."
Monthly
You're now about to be given proof that people are unobservant, and into the bargain jump to conclusions. When the command to stop comes, continue the spring until you hold only the two top cards. Those watch~ (Continued on page 21)
September and October, 1961
Hugard's MAGIC Monthly
POTPOURRI FOR CARD FANCIERS UNDER FOOT By AL THOMPSON
This is a startling card trick. A chosen card is shuffled into the pack. The performer commands it to vanish. It disappears from the pack. "Do you know where it is?" the performer asks. "I'm standing on it!" He steps back a foot or so and shows that the card is under his right foot! The trick is particularly baffling because those watching know that, if the card had been dropped, they would have seen it. The method is extremely simple but it calls for preparation which many will be unwilling to make. The stitching is removed from the bottom of your right trouser pocket. Or you can cut a slit higher up, crosswise. You palm off the chosen card after its return to the pack and idly thrust your right hand into the trouser pocket as your left hand hands the pack for shuffling. The card drops the length of the trouser leg and falls beside your right foot. Lift the trouser leg a little, letting the card fall flat, and place your foot on it. Be sure everyone is looking at your foot before you move backward. Under some conditions, the hand with the palmed card can be thrust under the trousers at the waist, the card dropped and the rest follows.
BLUE-EYED CARDS By ART LYLE
The title, I assure you, has nothing to do with the trick. It's what happens when you invite someone else to name your card effect. This card trick relies solely on your ability to do Dai Vernon's multiple shift. A very valuable sleight and the best description of it can be found in J. Stewart Smith's "One More Thought on Cards." Mr. Smith has a wonderful talent for writing clear, concise, understandable instructions. May his tribe increase. Follow me, please, to the operating room. This is done with three persons. 4
Place the deck on the table and give the following instructions to each: "Cut the cards, look at the top card, and place it on the table. Please remember your card."* Pick up the deck, turn it face up, and insert the selected cards, face down, into different parts of the deck. Perform the multiple shift, bringing the three cards to the bottom. Do a running cut, being careful not to expose the face-down cards on the bottom. Place the deck in your inside coat pocket. Reach into the pocket and, after a little fumbling around, bring out the cards, one at a time, and place them in your right hand. Ask the names of the selected cards, and as they are called out toss that card onto the table—which proves you are a very clever magician. That's what it says in the fine print. Don't throw money. All that I ask is love.
RUB-A-DUB-DUB JR. By GERALD KOSKY
This is an interesting variation of Rub-a-dub-dub, a standard card trick. 1. Double lift, showing the second card. Flip the double-lifted card face down on the pack. : 2. Push the top, indifferent card half-way off the right side of the pack with your left thumb. Place it against your right thigh. Cover with the flat palm of your right hand at •the same instant sharply drawing the top card flush onto the pack as your 1 left hand turns palm down. The illusion is that you rub the card into the trouser leg and it vanishes. 3. Now, showing both hands empty, slowly remove the top card and show that it isn't the card you vanished. By magicians' logic, this proves it has vanished. 4. Place the card you hold at the bottom of the pack, Palm off the card now at the top —the one presumably vanished— and produce from your right trouser pocket. *If a victim should fail to remember his card: "I can see this is my night. It's you who should've stayed home."
REVERSE & UNREVERSE By FRED BRAUE
This is an easy means of reversing a card at the bottom of the pack— or of righting a card reversed at the bottom. 1. A card is face up at the bottom of the face-down pack. You want to turn it face down. 2. Hold the pack face down in your left hand. Grasp it from above at the ends between right thumb and fingers. 3. Push the bottom reversed card to the right an inch or so with your left finger tips. 4. At the same time, with your right fingers and thumb, turn the pack into a vertical position, faces of the cards to the left. 5. Simultaneously —instantly— begin an overhand shuffle, drawing off cards from the face of the pack with your left thumb onto the reversed card which rests on your left fingertips. Finish the shuffle and the card formerly face up at the bottom is now face down at the top. The reversal is completely covered by the larger action of starting the shuffle. To place a reversed card at the bottom, hold the pack face up, shuffling with backs to the left.
FORCING SEVERAL CARDS An apparently free choice of top or bottom cards is given—yet you force the packet desired. The cards to be forced are on the top of the pack. You hold the pack face up as you ask, "Which will you have, top or bottom?" If the answer is "Top," turn the pack over and deal the required cards. If bottom is chosen, draw off the arranged cards from what is, as you hold it, the bottom of the pack. In either case you secure the same cards. — J E A N HUGARD'S NOTES
May 7, 1929
September and October, 1961
Hugard's MAGIC Monthly
THREE FOOLERS
ROSINI PEEKER
By SID FLEISCHMAN
This was a favorite with Paul Ro-
POCKETRICK Here is a one-minute trick, give or take a few seconds, in which a chosen card passes from one pocket to another. It is instant magic and a pet of mine. Begin with the classic first act of card magic—a card is freely selected. The magician then exposes the linings of both trouser pockets and tucks them back inside. From this point on he keeps his hands out of the Shamanistic stew. A pair of spectators take over the mechanics of the trick. While the first mark, who selected the card, waits at the magician's right, a second is told to shuffle the pack and drop it into the magician's left trouser pocket. The card is named. The first man, still waiting for something to do, is told to reach into the right pocket. He does. Selected card. This has power because it is simple, fast and theatrical. I hold my hands high, in a posture of casual innocence, while the pair of helpers baffle themselves. The method is a short daisy chain of cliched sleights. The chosen card is controlled, of course, and brought to the top. Palmed off in right hand. Deck given to spectator. Turn both trouser pockets inside out. If you have ever done the Cards to the Pocket you know that the palmed card can be concealed in the upper inside corner of the pocket during that moment when the hand reaches in for the pocket lining. Even though the pocket is pulled out, into view, the card remains hidden although somewhat bent in the "pocket" of the pocket. At this point you are standing with the pockets exposed. Poke them back in and pull the hidden card down into the well of the pocket. You have nothing left to do but talk. Tell the man to shuffle the deck and place it in your pocket, and so forth. I have often wished I could play the harmonica. In that case I would perform this as a trick with music, belting out some sarabande while the two marks went through my pockets. I'd make it a wo-minute trick.
sini.
As an author, Sid Fleischman has written many novels, short stories, movie scenarios. His Blood Alley became a highly successful movie with John Wayne. As a magic aficionado, Sid Fleischman has given the fraternity many top-flight effects, not the least of which is this very fine card illusion. He now lives in Santa Monica, California.
Illustration by LEE SUSMAN
Sidesteal a card peeked by a woman to the top. "Do you think you can remember your card?" you ask. "I will read your mind if you can, but I do not think you can remember it. You think you remember it? I do not want to take a chance. Here —take another tiny peek." Sidesteal the second peeked card to the top. Place the pack behind your back. "A 10-second trick," you say, and bring forward the top card —the 2nd peeked card. "Name the card you thought of—the second one." When it is named, turn the card you hold, showing the named card. The trick is over; attention is relaxed. Make the top change. You now hold the first peeked card face down. "I was afraid you wouldn't remember the first card," you say. "I meant no offense. You may have a better memory than I think. What was your first card?" It is named. Say: "Just blow on the card." Turn it and show it is the first card. —F.B. Now raise the deck, in the left hand, above your head. The right hand falls to your side. Establish the thought that the chosen card will drop from the pack and through the sleeves. And, of course, it seems to! At the final moments, catch the back-palmed card at the hanging fingertips. A nice illusion.
POOR MAN'S SECOND DEAL THE BACK-PALM REVISITED The classic back-palm is generally the first card sleight we learn and the last one we ever use. Why let all that skill go to waste? I have used it this way, in a card discovery, as a kind of parlor spectacular: After the selected card is shuffled back in the pack, bring it to the top. With the deck held vertically in the left hand, as something of a shield, back-palm off the top (selected) card.
Here is something you might call the Poor Man's Second Deal, for the guy who can't (and few magicians can). Double-lift and show the card. Replace. Tell friends you are doing the gamblers' famous second deal. No matter how closely they watch, or how slowly you dole out the card, it is indetectable—of course. Hell, you really are dealing the top card. I've pulled this on hardened cardplayers and they always fall for it.
Hugard's MAGIC Monthly
September and October, 1961
A CARD TRICK FOR EXPERTS By WILLIAM (Poogie-Poogie) ALSTRAND
John Scarne, Dai Vernon and John Mulholland, if they read this, will learn the secret of the card trick which baffled them so during the war years. Such a trick, I think you'll agree, is a good trick. I was with the USO during the war and, being in New York, visited John Mulholland at his Sphinx office. Scarne and Vernon were there; and, if I recall correctly, Dr. Jacob Daley was there, too. Mulholland asked me to do a trick. I offered to show one which had won great acclaim decades before at a convention of international magicians in Europe. I shuffled a borrowed pack of cards —Scarne's— and placed it on the table. "Now, I want you Mr. Scarne, to cut the pack into two piles," I said. When this was done I continued: "Remember, I do not touch the cards at any time. Will you select either pile? You have an absolutely free choice; there is no hocus pocus. The pile you take is the one you keep. "Next, take the other half of the ^ack and cut it into three packets. Deal one card from the pile you hold, the one you freely chose, on top of each of the three packets on the table. Now look at and remember the next card and show it to everyone. Place it at the top, or the bottom, or the center, of any one of the three packets on the table." I turned my back as this was done. "I don't want anyone to suspect I see the card," I explain. "Now, will someone else take the pile on the table containing the chosen card, and place it on top of either of the other two piles, and then place the remaining pile on top of all. Please follow instructions closely. Give the pile one riffle shuffle—just one. And cut and complete the cut. You've done that? Take the other half of the pack and riffle shuffle the two halves together just once, and again cut the cards." I could tell by the sound when this was done, and faced forward again. "I think you'll agree that it's fair enough if I touch the cards now," I said. "If- I deal the cards into four
Bill {Poogie-Poogie) Alstrand performs as a magician should, and loo\s as a magician should—distinguished in appearance, vital in manner. He projects his enjoyment of his wor\, and audiences have always loved him. He has promised other of his material, proven by years of use, to HMM.
packets, there'll be 13 cards in each packet." I counted the cards into four face-up packets as rapidly as I could, counting aloud from one to 13 each time. Then I neatly squared each packet and turned it face down. "Take any one of the four packets. Again, I'm playing fair with you. The packet you take is the one we will use." Scarne reached forward and picked up the packet farthest from him. "Now I want you to name a number in the fairest possible manner," I continued. "I won't ask for a number between one and 10, or anything like that. Name a number between, say one and five." Someone named the number five. "Deal five cards, look at the next one," I said, "and it will be your card." And it was. I don't think it takes anything away from the prestige of the card experts to say that they were astounded. All of us have been fooled, at one time or another, by the obvious. Simple, almost primitive, tricks are always hard to fathom, when the talk accompanying them guides the mind into blind alleys. Here's the trick: First, I spotted the card fourth from the top of the borrowed deck, an easy matter. When I shuffled, I kept the card fourth from the top. When the pack was cut, and one pile chosen, the trick could go either way. If the top half was chosen, the other half was divided into three packets. If the lower half had been taken, it would have been cut three ways. •In either case, .the- top- half becomes
the one from which the three cards are dealt, leaving the fourth card, which you know, at the top. This is the card that the specators look at and remember. But you want to keep their minds busy. So you immediately say that the card can be pushed into any one of the three piles on the table, at the top, bottom, or center. "It makes no difference," as my friend Paul Rosini used to say. You further confuse mental processes by stipulating that the packet containing the chosen card shall be placed between the other two packets, and that the assembled cards shall be riffle-shuffled just once, and cut just once. You compound confusion by then having both halves of the pack riffleshuffled together, and cut — just once! Your next problem is to find out where in the dickens the chosen card rests in the pack. You take the direct approach. You separate the pack into four parts, counting the cards face up rapidly from hand to hand (and thus reversing their order) as you count from one to 13. When you see the chosen card you know its number from the top of its packet. Remember, I said this trick is almost primitive. Perhaps that's why it's such a dazzler. Everyone looks for the subtle principle, the slick control, the stupendous subterfuge. To return to New York: When I squared each packet of 13 cards, and turned it face down, I placed the packet with the chosen card farthest away from those watching. Scarne, when he chose the packet farthest from him probably assumed this was the one I didn't want him to take. (This psychological force is successful in a surprising number of instances.) If another packet had been chosen? You proceed like this: "You've chosen a packet, of your free choice. Good. Place it in my right hand. Now place another packet, any packet, in my left hand." If the second packet is the one with the chosen card, you then have someone choose either of the packets {Continued on page 20)
September and October, 1961
THE DOUBLE LIFT By GUS SOUTHALL
Seemingly similar to the Vernon sleight, this double lift is slightly different and reduces excess movement to a minimum. Hold the pack in your left hand in dealing position. Square it with your right hand and with the right thumb riffle and bend upward slightly (at the inner end only) the top half-dozen cards. Lift the two top cards at the inner right corner with the tip of your right forefinger and slide the finger, together with the second fingertip, into the break to reach half-way up the right side. With your right thumb on top of the cards in a similar position, grip and slide the two cards to the right and flip them face up on the pack, held with the left fingers in a cagelike hold to receive them. As the cards turn over tap the inner edges with the nail of your right second finger to make sure they do not separate. Display the face-up card, then relax the left fingers slightly. Due to the upward crimp at the beginning, there will be a pronounced bridge at the right side of the pack to separate the top two cards from the rest. Insert the tip of your right forefinger and slide it, and the second finger, in between and grip the two cards between thumb and fingers to flip both cards over as before. There is no dainty handling and it is easy to do. Gus Southall is one of our most knowledgeable cardmen, but he has other interests: At the recent Leige Congress his dice and poker chip stacking won first prize in the micromagic competitions. He lives in Flixton, Manchester, England.
PATTER LINE After reading the headlines, the only thing I pray that 1961 brings us is 1962. —SELECTED BY CLIFF GREEN
Hugard's MAGIC Monthly
THE SUBTLE TOUCH By the Rev. RUPERT HANNAR
1. Have someone remove a card from the pack and show to all. 2. Cut off the top half of the squared pack by grasping it at the sides between right thumb and fingers. "Replace the card, please." Extend your left hand with the lower packet as your right hand secretly heavily buckles its packet down lengthwise. Then drop this packet on the chosen card atop the left-hand packet. 3. Spring the cards from hand to hand, tacitly proving you do not establish control. This does not destroy the bridge. Drop the cards carelessly on the table. "I don't want you to know the position of your card in the pack, because I want you to find your card . . . May I feel your pulse?" Do so, gravely. "A little excited, perhaps, but nothing alarming. I think you'll do very well in your role." 4. Pick up the pack with the inner end (at which the bridge is heaviest) against your right thumb, fingers at the other end. Riffle off cards onto your left palm in the usual way for a riffle shuffle in the hands, but dropping only those cards below the bridge. The top card of the left packet is the spectator's card. Riffle shuffle, dropping this card last of all on the top. 5. Turn the pack face up, remove a half-dozen face cards and drop them face down on the table. Turn the pack face down and at the same time backslip the top card (the chosen card) to the bottom. Remove some of the top cards and drop on the table. 6. Now remove cards in batches from the top, dropping them onto the table, dropping the bottom card (the chosen card) last of all. 7. "I'll mix the cards even more." Place both palms on the cards, dropping your thumb on the chosen card. Mix the cards by pushing them together and scattering them apart with both hands, keeping the chosen card under your right thumb, or transferring it to the other thumb or to one of the fingers. You will find you can move the chosen card about, covering it with other cards, and always keep control of the card with
The Reverend Rupert Hannar is chaplain for the Pacific Coast Association of Magicians and is well known for his inventive exploration in the field of cards. He lives in Los Angeles. A card effect the success of which seems to depend upon the spectator can be a powerful tricksThere is no subject so important to a person as himself. The Rev. Hannar has contrived a feat which capitalizes on the spectator's self-interest, for he himself discovers his card! a thumb or finger. At the end push cards over the chosen card so that all but a small portion of it is covered. 8. "When you touched your card a few moments ago you set up a physical rapport with it," you say. "That rapport still exists. May I hold your wrist?" Take his right wrist with your left hand and slowly guide his hand over the scattered cards. "When you feel an impulse, drop your forefinger on a card," you say— and almost immediately force his hand down so its forefinger falls on the uncovered portion of the chosen card. 9. Draw the hand —and the card under it— away from the other cards. "Now, for the first time, will you name your card?" He does so. Have him turn the card his finger rests on. It is the chosen card. "You see? Your subconscious physical memory found the card."
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PATTER LINES An adult western is one in which the hero kills as many men as in a kid's western, but he doesn't enjoy it. # * • The squarer the meal the rounder the middle. —SELECTED BY CLIFF GREEN
September and October, 1961
Hugard's MAGIC Monthly
AN ART LYLE TRIPLE BLIND MAN'S BLUFF If you're in a venturesome mood the next time you play draw poker, here's a subterfuge of mine that works to advantage against timid opponents. This works on any hand in which you intend to draw one card. Top card of your hand is your discard. Bottom card is, let's say, the seven of clubs. As the dealer is about to serve you, ask him if he'd be so kind as to give you a club, and if he could make it a seven you'd appreciate it to the utmost. I have no desire to put words into your mouth but this play does require a short spiel to make it appear authentic. Throw your top card into the discard. Drop your four cards onto the card dealt you. Pick up your hand. Buckle the bottom card and immediately bring out the seven of clubs. Hold this card so your opponents can see it and exclaim, "Well, by the Lord Harry, I do declare, I must tell mother about this one." You can see that all I've done is applied the "one ahead" system and adapted it to a poker hand. Any player with a penchant for bluffing should find at least one spot in an evening's play where he can put this to profitable use. EDITOR'S NOTE: Those who give gambling demonstration's won't need to be told that this is one of those invaluable items which can be used to brighten a routine.
DO YOU PASS ON PASSE PASSE BOTTLE?
// the answer is "yes'' you haven't seen our "Poogie" (see pp. 6 and 10) going to town with the tric\. Far be it from us to query a benevolent Providence but maybe one day we'll find out why Poogie has given it to us to give to you. It's a sure-fire bit of nonsense he's been using for 20 years and is still using! Coming soon, than\s to Mr. A.
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Art Lyle is the rugged individualist of magic, a man from whose pen flows an extraordinary melange of wit, wisdom and comic nonsense. He is compiling a boo\ on gambling which will, no doubt, be as informative as it is amusing. He lives in Lowell, Massachusetts.
A TINY CAPSULE OF MYSTERY I first became acquainted with this beguiling and clever stratagem from the study of Hugard & Braue's Expert Card Technique. It amazes me that so many of our "master minds of card magic," who own the book, are entirely ignorant of the potent power contained in this tiny capsule of concentrated mystery. The thumbnail gauge principle was originated by Luis Zingone. He discovered that by pressing the tip of the thumb firmly against the edge of a pack, and digging into the side with the thumbnail, packets could be removed containing the same number of cards. It stands to reason that the number of cards cut off depends entirely on the length of the thumbnail. If you'll play around with this until it becomes comfortable you'll find that you've got a nice addition to your gambling effects; and show me the group that doesn't gobble that stuff hook, line & sinker. (Between you and me, some of these so-called gamblers' expose secrets are as phony as your Aunt Minnie's false teeth. My advice is, don't try 'em in fast company unless you've got Blue Cross and Blue Shield. A friend of mine, considered one of the best dice switchers in the business, pushed his luck one night too far. They broke his right arm in two places and 18 months later he died from the effects of the brutal beating they gave him.) Before you start playing with this nail bit, you may have to wait a week or two before your nail grows long enough to give it a try. In the meantime buy a good fingernail file to keep the nail trimmed to the proper length.
Presentation
I present this in the following manner which gives your audience the impression you're giving them a big deal. "Here, shuffle the cards." Cut off your nail section; divide it into two piles. Give your subject his choice of either pile (Big Deal No. 2). "Select a card from either pile, look at it and place it back on top of the deck." This is done. "Pick up the two piles, shuffle them, and put them on top of the pack." (Big Deal No. 3.) Pick up the deck, false shuffle, false cut. Square the pack, place it on the table for the nail cut. Here is what I do that gives me a three-card leeway doing the trick, and that isn't a bad edge to have; in fact it makes the trick 95% foolproof. I nailcut the deck and without exposing the cut I openly look at the bottom card and peek the next-bottom card. I ask: "What was your card?" If the card named is the bottom card, turn the cut face up. If it is the second-bottom card, simply glide and bring out the card named. If it isn't either of these cards, reach over to the pack and turn the top card. Nineteen out of 20 times this will be the card selected. Due to the fact that your subject has such free rein handling the cards it leaves a deep and lasting impression of your vast skill in handling the pasteboards. In fact, I don't know of a simpler way to create amazement— and all you've got to do is let your thumb nail grow king-size.
CARD CASE CAPER Here is the simplest method for producing a selected card from an empty card case that I can think of. It won't cost you anything to try it. What to do: Glue the joker, design side outward, to the back of the card case. Remove cards from their case. Close the flap and lean the empty case against a matchbox with the glued card facing audience. The matchbox enables you to pick up the case without fear of fumbling. (Continued on page 15)
Hugard's MAGIC Monthly
September and October, 1961
OFFBEAT PREDICTION By GERALD KOSKY
gives you a two-card prediction that can be done anytime, anyplace, under any circumstances— even in a pair of jockey shorts, if you happen to be on the Jack Paar show. You secretly prepare by reversing the card second from the bottom and remembering it. You also remember the card second from the top. These are the cards you will predict. "I'm going to write a prediction," you tell those watching, and write the names of the two cards on a slip of paper, which you fold and place in someone's custody. Riffle-shuffle the pack, retaining a few cards in original position at top and bottom, a simple matter. Place the pack face down before someone and have him cut off twothirds, placing the cards face up to the right of the lower third. Next, have him cut away half of the face-up cards, placing them face down to the right of the other two packets. "Did you have a rather strange sensation when you cut the cards?" you ask. "A tingling of the scalp, perhaps?" Take the face-down packet on your left and remove top and bottom cards in a milking action, tossing them to one side. Do the same with the middle, face-up packet, and the face-down packet at your right. "Sometimes even I have an odd feeling when showing this remarkable demonstration of precognition," you muse. Place the face-down packet at the left on the face-up cards in the middle. Place both on the facedown packet at the right. Pick up the assembled pack and turn it over. "The vagaries of chance," you comment. "Who knows what lies beyond the next corner?" Remove the face-down group at the center of the pack, placing it face down on the table. "Chance rules our lives," you say. "Will you cut these cards, please?" Have the person cutting the facedown packet place the lower portion on the upper portion, but at right angles. (Continued on page 19) "OFFBEAT"
BIRTHDAY CARDS By ARTHUR F. BULL
Here is another of Arthur Bull's brain stimulators. We'll give you the effect in this issue and the solution in the next. You send us your solution postmarked no later than November 15th (U.S. and Canada^) and we'll send you a set of cards as illustrated, plastic-covered and mounted on 3*5 index cards.
There are times when it is to your advantage to show your skill at closeup conjuring but the opportunity doesn't seem to present itself. Prof. El Tab's Birthday Cards provide a means of segueing from the mundane to the magical. You show four cards, as illustrated, which you have mixed well and which you hold so you cannot see the faces. You have someone touch each card
on which his birth month is listed. You immediately name the month. *We didn't say this card issue would be all PLAYING cards! fMexico and Caribbean area: Nov. 30th; British Isles, Europe, and Central America (except Colombia and Venezuela): Dec. 10th; Africa and Asia: Dec. 28th; Australia: Jan. 10th.
September and October, 1961
Hugard's MAGIC Monthly
ALSTRAND'S CORNER By WILLIAM (Poogie-Poogie) ALSTRAND
FAN FLOURISH The steal for this surprise production of a fan of cards is beautifully covered. First you make a standard color change. As you draw your right hand away over the right end of the pack, slowly to reveal the transformed card at the face of the pack, your left forefinger pushes a stock of cards from bottom of pack into your right palm. The misdirection is perfect: The audience watches the changed card at the face of the pack as the right hand steals away the packet of cards. These you produce in a fan from your knee or elbow. Even with a sloppy performer the steal goes undetected.
CARD MARKING SYSTEM This method of marking Bee play-ing cards was shown me years ago by a friend who paid $25 for the secret. It purportedly is used by gamblers. If you bevel the end of a red Bee pack, you will find that there are 16 columns of red divided by strips of white running from the top to the
bottom card. These are formed by the half-diamonds at the end edges of each card, each of which is separated by the white of the design. To mark the cards, draw a sharp knife or razor blade along the edges at the ends scraping off a little of the back design. For an ace, scrape the first two half-diamonds at the extreme right side of the pack. For a king, scrape the first four half-diamonds. For a queen, scrape the first six half-diamonds. For a jack, scrape the first eight half-diamonds. Do this at both ends. When these cards are shuffled in the pack their position is revealed when the cards are beveled a little by the lenghth of the strips of white which can be seen. A refinement is to scrape away the first two half diamonds at the right for the ace; the third and fourth for the king; fifth and six for the queen; seventh and eighth for the jack. The advantage is that the marking is smaller; the disadvantage is that it calls for sharper eyes.
ROSINI'S ROYAL TRIO This trick, in which the jack, queen and king of hearts transpose mysteriously, was a favorite with Paul Rosini, who in turn was a favorite of night club audiences. 1. Run through the pack to find and remove the queen and king of hearts. As you do this, cut the jack of hearts to the face. 2. Turn the pack face down in your left hand. Show the king and queen with your right hand. Drop them on the pack. Push the king and queen off the pack with your left thumb, grasp the second card at the ends between right thumb and fingers, slide it out and place it at the top. Do this rather furtively. 3. Remove the queen and king and drop them face down to one side. Pick up the king, leaving the queen face down on the table. "I'll use the king..." you say, dropping it face
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up on the pack, " . . . and cut him to the middle." 4. Make a simple cut and complete it. Ask: "Now where is the king?" "In the middle of the pack," someone says. "And in what position?" you continue. "Face up," someone says. "Very good," you say, "you are following me most attentively. Let me show you." 5. Spread the cards from hand to hand, showing the face-up king at the center. In closing the spread, take a left little finger break over the card just above the king (the jack of hearts). 6. "Now for the test," you say. "Where is the queen of hearts?" Because of the action in Step No. 2, no one is quite sure you have the queen on the table. "It's over there, on the table, isn't it?" you ask. "Take a look." . . . . . . .
7. Someone will turn the queen face up. At this moment, with attention on the queen, you make the pass. This brings the face-up king second from the top. Above it is the facedown jack. The misdirection here is so strong that the pass is amply protected. 8. "The queen," you say, holding it up. "I'll place it on the pack." Drop it, face down, on the pack. 9. "We'll also use whatever card happens to be second from the top." Draw the top card an inch inward, exposing an inch of the second, facedown card. Push this outward an inch with your right second finger. Push the top card flush onto the deck. Remove the outjogged second card and drop it face up on the pack, showing the jack of hearts. (This is the Luis Zingone move.) 10. "As I live and breathe, the jack of hearts—Cupid! . . . Very well, he'll do nicely." Triple-lift the three top cards and turn them over on the pack, apparently turning the jack face down. 11. Double-lift the two top cards and, holding them as one, push them into the center of the pack. "We'll bury the jack," you say, "and the trick is done." 12. Hold the pack well away from you. "Now I have some questions," you continue. "First, where is the jack?" "In the middle," someone says. "No. At the top." Flip the top card over, showing the jack. 13. "Now," you say, "where is the king?" "Face up at the middle." 'You're wrong again. Weren't you watching?" Spread the pack, showing the queen face up at the center. 14. Remove all upper cards except the face-down card just above the queen (the king). "Where is the king?' you ask. "Why, he's headover-heels in love with the queen and follows her everywhere." Take the king at the inner right corner, lift it and show it, shaking it gently for emphasis. The fact that Rosini used the trick does not mean that he originated it. —F.B.