Confidences
(Drawing by Gustavo Otero, created from a single line)
Contents PrĂŠface ix The Deck of Missed Opportunities 1 Tally-Ho 25 Thoughts on Controls 43 Overture for Cups and Balls 119 The Rossini Insight 135 Guaranteed! 141 The Fine Print 155 Seven 177 On Erdnase 191 The Card in the Mirror of the Mind 239 The Trick That Andy Warhol Could Have Explained 251
The Deck of Missed Opportunities
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he basic idea for this wonderful effect goes back to Fred Lowe and Paul Marcus, and their trick “Christened Reverse”, marketed in early 1970. In a private meeting in Buenos Aires, Ali Bongo told me he had spun the effect further and called it “Fred” in honor of Lowe, and showed it to him shortly after the release of “Christened Reverse”. Around the same time, Dave Campbell came up with a method that eliminated the rough-and-smooth principle relied on in previous methods. He published his version in late 1976. Since then, the trick has gained worldwide fame and triggered countless variations. Over the years I have done several versions of the effect. Roughly twenty years ago, I had a session with Carlhorst Meier, a wonderfully inspired amateur who lived in Nuremberg, Germany. During this meeting, he mentioned to me a title he had devised, but for which he had no specific effect: “Das Spiel der verpassten Gelegenheiten” or “The Deck of Missed Opportunities”. That title stayed with me for at least ten years, until I connected it to the “Fred” trick. The result 1
Con fiden ces of that connection has since pleased many an audience and mystified practically every magician to whom I’ve shown it. When Jeff McBride came to Switzerland in the 1990s, I performed it for him and later explained it. He pleased me greatly by saying it was one of the most beautiful card tricks he had ever seen. This is its début in print.
Effect The performer brings out an envelope addressed to him and tells a curious story about it. He also shows the group a deck of cards, “the deck of missed opportunities”, and asks anyone to name any card. On the back of each card, the performer explains, is the name of a famous personality, each one connected to magic in some way. The back of the thought-of card has the name Einstein on it. It is seen that the letter in the envelope is written by no one other than—Einstein himself !
Material and Preparation You require an envelope that should look old and worn. Handwritten on the front is your name and address. Oddly, though, the envelope has no stamp. The flap of the envelope bears the sender’s address: “Albert Einstein, ETH Zürich”. Inside the envelope is a matching note card, which is folded in half (photo 1). Inside is written the famous quote from Einstein (photo 2): The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. 2
The Deck o f Missed Oppo rt unit ies
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Thoughts on Controls
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have discussed controls in several of my publications, most prominently in my Card College series. Here, however, I wish to propose a new approach. We will tackle the subject from beginning to end, going through every moment of the selection and control process, and breaking it down into seven steps or phases. We will identify the problems encountered in each step and discuss some practical solutions, along with a number of variations. You will be able to implement most of my findings into your controls and make them more efficient and deceptive. Since the whole reigns over the singular, and context is king, some of the examples below will apply to several phases, but will be discussed in the phase felt to be of greatest relevance. To round off this extensive essay, I will discuss a number of specific controls for one and several cards.
Seven Steps to a Control Every procedure I am aware of that involves the control of one or several cards can be broken into seven phases: 1. Preliminary Phase: The deck is shuffled and cut by the spectator or the performer, and some secret preparatory work for the control is undertaken. 43
Con fiden ces Selection Phase: A card is selected. Replacement Phase: The selection is replaced in the deck. Location Phase: The location of the selection is secured. Delay Phase: The location is retained and the control is delayed. 6. Control Phase: The card is brought to the actual position needed—most often on top of the deck or on the bottom. 7. Dissuasion Phase: This phase encompasses all strategies that will dissociate the control from the effect for which it has been used. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Although I have just separately named and defined the various phases making up the whole of a selection-and-control process, in actual practice they often merge, depending on the particular control, and the boundaries cannot always be clearly delineated. The inspiration for undertaking such a classification comes from Arturo de Ascanio’s work on the palm, first published as The Psychology of Palming (1981, 1982) and later included in Jesús Etcheverry’s The Magic of Ascanio: The Structural Conception of Magic (2005, p. 77). Creating such a taxonomy serves a greater purpose than academic exercise. A clear understanding of each moment and its problems generates solutions that lead to a more personal and creative interpretation, as well as a sounder deception. This in turn results in a more artistic performance and a more magical experience. 44
Overture for Cups and Balls
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his is an opening sequence that will fit almost any Cups and Balls routine that utilizes three cups and three (visible) balls. I use it as an overture to my interpretation of Dai Vernon’s famous routine (see Lewis Ganson’s The Dai Vernon Book of Magic, p. 125).
Effect Three solid empty cups are shown and are seen to penetrate each other—the third cup is even seemingly pierced by the magic wand. Next, three balls appear beneath the center cup. One after the other, the balls disappear and reappear, one beneath each cup. From this point follows a most wonderful Cups and Balls routine.
Instruments and Properties ■■ Three cups of the size that can accommodate three balls in one cup and still fully nest. ■■ Four balls that match the style and design of the cups and fulfill the above criteria. ■■ A bag in which the nested cups with the hidden balls can be transported. 119
Con fiden ces ■■ A magic wand that matches the style and design of the cups used.
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Preparation Nest the cups, with the bottom cup containing three balls, the center One ball in cup containing one ball center cup and the top cup empty Three balls in (photo 1). Place the bottom cup prepared stack of cups into the bag. If you have a wand that telescopes or unscrews like a billiard cue, place it into the bag, too. (The bag could be constructed with a separate side-compartment to receive it.) You are now prepared to perform the following overture.
Phase 1—Placing the Cups on the Table Take the stacked cups from the bag and set them as a unit on the table. In doing this, let the top cup be seen clearly empty. This implicitly suggests that all the cups are empty. You will subtly strengthen this impression in the next two steps, in two ways. To emphasize the idea of emptiness, without obviously saying anything in this regard, you can briefly use the bag to wipe the outside of the stack and the inside of the top cup. Put the bag aside. Its use has been fulfilled. 120
The Rossini Insight It’s Better to Take Than to Put
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ai Vernon used to say, “It’s better to take a coin from a hand, than to put it into the hand.” For years I have been wondering why this should be so, and have discussed the matter with many experts, but never received an answer that completely satisfied me. Recently I have come up with what I find to be the best answer to date.
Cat Wisdom The solution was provided by our cat, Rossini. I did the Retention of Vision Vanish for him (photo 1), which I’m
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Con fiden ces
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told I do very well; but when I withdrew my right hand, after (apparently) visibly placing the coin into my left hand (photo 2), Rossini followed my right hand instead of appreciating the wonderful vanish that was about to take place in my left hand—which he missed!
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The Ro ssini Insi ght Then I did a simple French Drop (Tourniquet), holding the coin at the tips of my right fingers (photo 3), apparently taking it with my left hand (photo 4), and then moving that hand away to the left (photo 5). Rossini
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Con fiden ces followed my left hand and, when I opened it, revealing that the coin was gone, he looked at me (not at the other hand). I suspect he thought, “Holy Mouse!”
Professor’s Wisdom From this the answer to the Professor’s question is easy to infer: It is better to take than to put, because when you take, the hand from which the coin will disappear is the moving hand and will thus attract the eye and the attention. Whereas with the put action, the hand that puts moves away and thus at least partially attracts attention to itself. Although the human mind, being more complex than the cat’s, will let itself be fooled by the visual retention element as well as the natural-looking actions, I’m convinced that the Professor was right, and that a take feels better than a put.
Student’s Doubt What was most irritating in my quest for “the truth” was the fact that a Retention of Vision Vanish, which is a typical put action, not a take, not only looks good, but also deceives quite well, at least for a moment. So why should it be bad? To further confuse the issue, Dai Vernon himself used the Retention of Vision Vanish to make several coins disappear, one after the other, in the second phase of his famous champagne glass and coins routine (see “Five Coins and a Glass” in The Vernon Chronicles, Volume 1, by Stephen Minch, p. 191). This question bothered me for a long time. I finally found the reasoning behind Vernon’s pronouncement while 138
Con fiden ces attitude of belittling the spectator, it will raise a hearty laugh. Remember that a laugh is the shortest distance between two people. So it becomes a tool for good communication and to improve rapport. Second, I keep a break between the two portions before they coalesce, and then go into a Classic or Riffle Force with the card originally on top of the deck. That’s a pretty good synergy for a simple little flourish, isn’t it?
The Charlier Pass Force Something few seem to know is that the Charlier Pass can be used to force a card. Here is how to do it. Do two Charlier Cuts in succession as you draw attention to the cards, explaining that the spectator should stop you anytime he likes during the cut. When you start the second Charlier Cut, as the lower portion drops into the hand, and the upper portion is lifted by the left thumb, you can comfortably glimpse the bottom card of the latter (photo 29). When you complete the cut, the sighted card becomes the bottom card of the deck. Follow this with another Charlier Cut, but as you turn your head to the left, making it clear that you are looking away, catch a glimpse of the next bottom card, which is now visible on the face of the portion raised by your thumb. Let the two packets transpose, but stop the cut for a second or two before the two portions coalesce, so that the spectator can call stop at this point if he wishes (photo 30, your view; photo 31, the spectator’s). Should he do so, you know the card. It is the first one you glimpsed. 226
On E rdnase At this point, keep your head turned away and begin another Charlier Cut. The spectator almost always calls stop on this cut. When he does, he is looking at the second card you’ve sighted. Should this not be the case, complete the cut and lift the deck to the fingertips, in position to start another Charlier Cut, but then turn back toward the spectator to say something. This is when you glimpse the new bottom card (photo 32), which will immediately
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The Card in the Mirror of the Mind
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lthough this piece requires some extra props, the effect can be done at any time during your performance, using an unprepared or even a borrowed deck. The title is a tip of the hat to Jack McMillen, whose “Mind Mirror” is fooling magicians very badly to this very day. However, the title is as far as the similarity goes, as the effect and method have nothing to do with Mr. McMillen’s trick. (If you don’t know his excellent test-conditions card location, you owe yourself the pleasure of learning it from Expert Card Technique, p. 223; or Royal Road to Card Magic, “Mirror of the Mind”, p. 48, both by Hugard and Braue; also see my treatment, “Muscle Reading”, in Card College Light, p. 49.)
Effect The identity of a freely thought-of card is reflected in a mirror—a most strange and eerie revelation of a spectator’s thought!
Instruments and Materials ■■ An ordinary deck of cards. 239