Pages from precursor no 73 39175

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PRECURSOR

LXXIII

This is PRECURSOR LXXIII and is published in March 2000. PRECURSOR is edited by William P. Miesel and is published by unikorn magik. The editorial offices are at 2215 Myrtle Street, Erie, Pennsylvania, 16502-2643 (phone 814-454-8802). PRECURSOR is being published more than three times a year and is sold for $21.00 (U.S.) for three issues. Outside the United States, Canada, and Mexico, three issues are sent Air Mail for $25.00 (U.S.).

"We Seven, All Alone" by Jon Racherbaumer is an intriguing transposition of the four Aces with three Spot cards. One of the features of this handling is that the deck is set aside before the principle cards are shown.

Marty Kane's "The Magic Words of Anna Graham" appears to be just a mathematical trick, but it has a very surprising climax, which is due to a very interesting anagram.

"Cumulative Thought" from Hideo Kato is an interesting discovery of three selections under what seems like totally impossible conditions.

Dan Block gives us his handling of Henry Christ's "Dead Man's Hand" from Jinx #33. This trick should be introduced by telling the story of Wild Bill Hickok playing poker in the Number Ten Saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota, on August 2, 1876. Wild Bill was sitting at a table playing poker and his back was to the door. He was just dealt two pair, Aces and Eights and the Queen of Hearts. Jack McCall walked into the saloon and shot Wild Bill in the back killing him.

Nick Trost gives us "Die Elimination," which is a variation of his "Predictable Elimination" that appeared in Precursor LXXII. Instead of the coins that were used the last time, dice are used here.

"Ace Interlude" by Michael DeMarco is a sort of "Multiple Ambitious Aces" routine after which, the Aces discover the selected card.

Last spring, I received a letter from J. K. Hartman, and in that letter he passed on a variation of Michael DeMarco's "Spectator Cuts To The Poker Aces" from Precursor LXVIII. I titled Jerry's trick "Draw And Quarter Those Poker Aces."

The inspiration for my "They Went Up The Elevator" was Aldo Colombini's "One, Two, Three, Four Aces," which can be found in his book, Impact. It is an interesting vanish and reproduction of three aces.

I am often asked for more gambling effects so I am offering another "trick from the past," Neal Elias's "Stud Poker Discovery" from December 1948. Even though most of the techniques used in this routine are quite well known today, the final climax is interesting.

On the Monday after Christmas, Ed shipped Precursor LXXII to me, and it arrived on Wednesday. I was extremely busy and did not get a chance to look at it. Ed and I talk on the phone every Friday evening and he was going to call at 7 P.M., New Year's Eve. Now, Ed has a free hand on his fillers and I have no idea what will appear until I receive all of the Precursors.

At half-past six I figured I better take a look at the fillers that he put in so I could comment on them when we talked.

As usual, when looking for Ed's inserts, I started at the rear of the magazine, where most of them appear, and proceeded forward, and I came upon his "1/4-lies." I said to myself, "Boy, you're 'biting off more than you can chew' - you only have forty-five more states and quarters to go."

Several pages further forward, I came upon his request for help to come up with something for Pennsylvania and a germ of an idea struck me immediately (Pennsylvania spells with twelve letters). By the time Ed called at 7 P.M., I had a full routine worked out in my mind using these "state quarters" and a deck of cards. Here is that idea, which I entitled "Pennsylvania on New Years Eve." William P. Miesel February 29, 2000

I was amazed when William explained the above trick to me over the phone. In thinking back to my offerings for the first five quarters, I realized the superficiality of my mind and the comprehensive, in-depth knowledge of William's. Nice to have him as a "bail-me-out" friend.

When I thought of the first two gags with the Delaware and New Jersey quarters, I had hoped to come up with bits which barkeeps could use after showing the new quarters. Then I had to sink into dumb stuff for Cardicians ... but they need some of this nonsense, too.

Another 1/4-ly Okay ... the latest quarter I have is the one commemorating Massatushits.

And there is a gag for this one. The reverse of the coin shows the outline of the state with a Minuteman holding his gun. "At the time of the American Revolution, this was probably one of the most disappointing of all the male colonists, especially with the women. Those men were noted for their abilities to 'come in a minute'!" [Do colonists and Massatushits have anything in common?]

The new U.S. "golden" dollar coin is now somewhat available. I haven't come up with a gag for this, but, in fussing with one, I did notice that if one spins the coin on a table surface, and if the reverse comes to the top, for a split second the eagle seems to be flyng, with wings flapping. I wonder if someone will come up with a clever name for the coin, such as "loonie", which was given to the Canadian dollar coin, and the "toonie", for their two-dollar coin. Perhaps the "Sackie", as a diminutive for Sacagawea, the Indian lady on the obverse of the coin.

In Bob Longe's The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Magic (available from Jeff Busby), there're a couple little "stunts" using a penny and six or seven dollar bills. Essentially, these are games you play with the spectator, with him making a set of moves between the penny and the bills and with him winning the item left. (It's always the penny!) The set-up looks very nice using the "golden" dollar coins and the penny. Only instead of putting up all the money yourself, borrow the penny "to make it a 'real' gamble(sic)". He'll break even. Needless to say, if you're playing with a pretty lady, no pun intended, you should make a simple adjustment so she wins. So, you lose 990; she's happy!

Ed Eckl

WE SEVEN, ALL ALONE This is a hasty, quick-fix solution to Tom Stone's problem, except that the principal cards are shown together at the outset and the three Spot Cards are not shown after the Aces are apparently tabled. However, the deck is placed aside and out of play before the other cards are shown.

Unfortunately, a couple of aspects of Elmsley's Ace Trick are jettisoned. Regardless of the number of workable solutions that can be and will be devised, a nagging question remains in the end. Has the solution and problem advanced anything?

Requirements: Cull and remove the four Aces along with the 6*, 6A, 7*, 8*, and 8A. Set-Up: Place the Six of Spades, the Eight of Clubs, and the Seven of Clubs at the face of the deck with the Six of Spades being the face card. Intersperse the four Aces evenly throughout the deck. Suppose they are placed in CHaSeD order from the face upwards. Also, place the Eight of Spades directly under the Ace of Spades and the Six of Clubs directly under the Ace of Diamonds.

Now, on to the routine: Introduce the deck and hold it face up in your left hand and say, "This uses four Aces and three Spot Cards. " Thumb over the three face-cards, the Six of Spades, the Eight of Clubs, and the Seven of Clubs, without altering their order, and drop them face up and squared onto the table. Run through the deck and locate the four Aces. Up-jog each Ace, and perform Mario's "Unit Up-Jog Addition" on the last two Aces, the Aces of Spades and Diamonds.

Strip out the up-jogged cards, supposedly the four Aces, and momentarily hold them face up in your left hand. Place the deck aside with your right hand and out of play.

Take the assumed Ace packet in your right hand from above between the fingers at the outer end and the thumb at the inner end. Flip the cards face down in your left hand and say, "The Aces are unusual cards-" while thumbing over the top two cards. Take them face down into your right hand. Your left thumb pushes over its top card, holding the other three as one. The audience sees four face-down cards. Place or slide the right-hand pair under the top "card" of the left-hand pair and square up. This should be just a casual display.

Situation Check: The order of the Ace packet from the top should be: 8* - 6+ - A4 - A^ - AV -A*.

Flip the Ace packet face up and drop it face up onto the tabled Spot Cards. Continue, "-This is all we need. Three Spot Cards and the Aces." Pick up the packet and re-spread the cards, holding the last three cards as one. Close the spread and retain a left little finger break under the Six of Clubs, which is the fifth card from the face.

Retain the packet in your left hand, but also hold it from above by the right hand in preparation for Mario's "Fifth Peel." Apparently peel the first Ace, the Ace of Clubs, into your left hand, simultaneously taking all four of the cards under the left little finger break. Retain a break between these four Spot Cards and the Ace. Without any hesitation, peel the next three Aces, the Heart, the Spade, and the Diamond, onto the previous Ace to ostensibly show the four Aces.

Afterwards, your right hand is left holding a single Spot Card.