Pages from the card expert

'• r, t

/

THE

CARD

EXPERT

by Lynn Searles

Illustrations by Sid Lorraine.

Printed and Published by ABBOTT'S MAGIC NOVELTY CO. COLON, MICHIGAN

Copyright 1938 ABBOTT'S MAGIC NOVELTY CO. COLON, MICHIGAN

CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE The Psychology of the Card Expert

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CHAPTER TWO Basic Sleights 1. The Lace-Through False Shuffle 2. The False Cut a. The Compound False Cut b. The Simple False Cut 3. The Second Deal 4. The Bottom Deal CHAPTER THREE 1.

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3.

4.

5.

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2.

3.

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6.

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10.

11.

12.

13.

Miscellaneous Sleights and Moves

Back Palming a Complete Pack TheRiffleCut The One-Hand Shuffle The Weave-In Shuffle The Multiple Lift

CHAPTER FOUR

6 12 13 15 17 21

24 26 28 29 31

Tricks and Deceptions

A Subtle Card Location Ace Control Jacks and Aces Second Deal Four Aces (No. 1) Second Deal Four Aces (No. 2) A Renovated Trick A Renovated Trick (A Variation) Another Card Location _..

A Novel Color Change Surprise Multiple Card Force Double Deal Master Dealing Bottom Deal Poker Demonstration

34 35 37 38 40 42 45 46 47 49 50 52 52

INTRODUCTION Many magicians hold that the important factor in magic is misdirection. But misdirection without skill— in some amount—is useless. Naturally, the greater the amount of both employed, the greater is the deception.

It has been said that "if a reader gets but one good trick out of the average magic book he is lucky". If the reader gets but one IDEA out of his book I will be satisfied... the idea that skill is worth while. Misdirection and skill are both important in themselves, but the combination of both makes magic and magicians.

The effects described in this volume take both skill and misdirection. Most of them are favorites of mine; all of them have been tested here where the greater part of this book has been written; and if there is a more critical audience than a group of fraternity men I have yet to see it!

The tyro in magic who buys this book will find nothing herein for him. There are no "self-working mysteries" or "bafflers without a single sleight". The magician who boasts of not being able to do sleight-of-hand will likewise draw a blank in the pages overleaf. The book was not meant for such.

But ... to those who delight in the skill of the hands and revel in the quickness of the fingers this book is dedicated.

Sincerely, Lynn Searles Delta Upsilon Fraternity House Syracuse University, Syracuse, N. Y.

CHAPTER ONE The Psychology of the Card Expert There can be no real understanding of the methods of the card expert without first having a knowledge of psychology. He plays with the minds of his audience more than he plays with the cards; every sleight is juggled about, emphasized, magnified, accentuated in every possible way until the apparent amount of skill required for its accomplishment assumes mountain-like proportions in the mind of the onlooker.

The professional card expert, unlike his lesser known brother magician, does not seek to conceal his skill; he drags it into the open, flaunts it, displays it openly ... yet he feels a slight twinge of conscience because he knows that over half of his apparent skill is bluff and brag. Still, if the demonstration of his cleverness satisfies his ego or ... better yet ... earns his daily bread and butter he feels that his deceit is justified.

Please do not misunderstand me: I do not imply by the above paragraphs that the card expert is all a cheat and a bluff and that he has no more skill with the pasteboards than his brother magician. To the contrary, his skill IS greater in both intensity and variety .. the latter perhaps more so than the former. Yet he gets proportionally much more from his skill than does the average magician. Why? Because he appeals more to the layman's idea of what a professional card manipulator SHOULD be like than does the average magician. He does not try to deceive himself into thinking that his audience believes him incapable of doing sleight-ofhand with cards ... after all he must be a poor magician who cannot handle a pack of cards.

I have never been able to understand why the prevalent notion that a magician should never admit to skill exists. The general public's conception of a magician is that of a nimble-fingered, glib-tongued person who can 3

accomplish the most impossible things ... the finding of a chosen card or the production of a billiard ball .. by a quick riffle of the pack by his sensitive fingertips or a snap of the wrist in midair. This is the sort of thing the public PAYS to see ... a stream of cards flying from hand to hand,a rabbit appearing from a hat, coins appearing and disappearing between the fingertips. No wonder they turn away disappointed and bewildered from the prosaic and colorless lecturer who proudly admits that he has never done a sleight in his life!

The reason the card expert is so popular is that he brings back to magic the color that is magic's. HE is the public's conception of a real magician, not the thread-pulling, box-opening puppet usually seen in the magician's role today.

So much for a general discussion of the psychology of the card expert. Let us turn now to the more practical side. As I have stated before, the purpose of the card expert in order to gain a reputation of cleverness is to magnify and accentuate the skill that he possesses. The audience must have an idea of how the trick is done, but still they must be mystified!

Take, for instance, the trick "Ace Control" explained in Chapter V. The audience has reason to believe that this trick is accomplished by means of second and bottom dealing, and they accordingly give the performer credit for the high amount of skill involved. Yet they are mystified at the conclusion of the trick.

The illusion of requiring great skill in the performance of tricks is easily accomplished. Little pieces of showmanship such as wiping off the hands with a silk handkerchief before starting a trick, or rubbing the tips of the fingers on the coat sleeve help to create this illusion. Nothing must be SAID directly about sensitive fingertips or perspiration on the hands; the audience must be left to create its own ideas as to why the expert rubs his fingertips on pumice stone before starting a certain trick or carefully wipes off his hands before attempting another.

The card expert must know his tools. He must be able 4

to tell why two of the jacks are one-eyed and the other two two-eyed, he must be able to tell something about the making of cards and why certain kinds are better for manipulation than others. These little bits of knowledge lead the audience into thinking that the performer knows his business, and they leave a lasting impression.

The card expert must be familiar with a number of sleights which most magicians neglect ... the second and bottom deals, the riffle false shuffle, Erdnase's stocks and culls, and others. These are not too hard for the average magician to learn, and with their aid many effects that would not even be thought of by others are possible.

The remarks made in this chapter will be later amplified and enlarged upon in their application to the various tricks and sleights described overleaf.