"HOW
RIGHT YOU ARE!” “ TH E
L A ST ST
W ORD ”
ON THE
SVENGALI
DECK
BY
LEW IS Illustrations by
F r an k
W e b s te r
GA NS O N
Published by GEN
PUBLICATIONS LONDON
1948
The State Library of Victo ria ALMA CONJURING COLLECTION”
"HOW RIGHT YOU ARE!” LEWIS GANSON Illustrations by F r a n k
W e b ste r.
Here is one of those card routines in which the happenings are inexplicable to the uninitiated. Th e handling of the cards is so natural and each move is performed so deliberately, that trickery appears out of the question, yet a series of effects take place which really are uncanny. ' To begin with, I will confess that a Svengali pack is used throughout and as this pack has been exposed so often, a natural bias against it may be felt by the read er bu t I stress that with the modern methods of hand ling and the routine I am about to describe, its secret is never suspected. To those who arc a trifle worried about routines which look com plicated when set down on paper, you have my assurance that every move is very easy to perform and that all difficult sleights have been avoided. The short time neccssary to learn the sequence will be more than well spent as you will have something which, to a lay audience, will appear little short of a miracle and above all is of real entertainment value. It consists of a series of happenings in which a spectator is correct continually in finding a previously selected card. I have embodied the topical phrase “ How right you are ” as a “ punch ” line in the patter. Before describing the order of performance, I would like to make sure that the latest methods of handling the Svengali pack arc perfectly understood as the greatest effect is obtained only if it is used in a natural manner.
THE SVENGALI PACK This consists of 26 different cards and 26 cards all of the same value and suit. These latter 26 “ force ” cards, as I will call them , are shortened by 1/1 6th of an inch. Th e pack is set up with one of the different cards on its face and next to it a “ force ” card, then a different card an d again a “ force ” card. This is contin ued throu gh the pack so that every alternate card is a “ fo rc e” card. When completely stacked, we have a different card on the face of the pack and a “ force ” card on top.
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TO SHOW THE CARDS ALL DIFFERENT
The pack is held in the right hand with the thumb at the top edge and the second, third and little fingers at ihe bottom edge. The first finger is curled so that its tip rests on the backs of the cards. The face of the pack is tow ards the audience and the left hand is held palm upwards with the fingers underneath the fingers of the right hand in such a position that when cards fall forward, they will fall into the palm (Fig. i.) Pressure is applied by the curled right forefinger and the thumb allows the cards to fall forward, in pairs, into the left palm. Du e to the shortening of the “ force ” cards, they will always fall with and behind a different card so that it is only different cards which are seen. By this method the whole faces of the cards are seen which is much more effective than showing the cards different by the “ riffle.”
THE RIFFLE SHUFFLE The pack may be riffle shuffled without altering the setup, in so far as every alternate card will still be a “ force ” card, although the position of the different cards will be altered. This is due to the fact th at the cards always fall in pairs. To commence the shuffle, the pack is held in the left hand by the thumb at one long edge and the fingers at the opposite long edge. Th e right hand thumb is placed at the centre of the short edge nearest to the fork of the left hand thumb, the second, third and little fingers are placed at the opposite short edge and the forefinger is curled so th at the top join t rests on the backs of the cards. The right thumb lifts about half of the pack upwards and this is carried away
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in the righ t hand (Fig. 2). By this method the cut will always be made at one of the different cards and the top half of the pack is in the correct position in the rig ht han d for the shuffle to be made. The position of the fingers of the left hand is now altered so that the bottom half of the pack is held in the left ha nd in exactly the same manner as those in the right. By bringing the two thumbs together and by applying pressure with the two forefingers on the backs of the cards, the cards are released by the thumbs and fall forward interweaving as they reach the horizontal position. Due to the shortening of the “ force ” cards, they will fall in pairs (Fig. 3) and the “ force ” cards will not be disturbed. The pack should never be cut at a short card when a riffle shuffle is to be made, as it will fall on its own and put the setup one card out.
THE FORCE I consider the best force with this pack is to run the cards from the left to the right hand just as you would a normal pack when offering it for the selection of a card (Fig. 4). With the pack set up normally run the cards singly between the hands without disturbing their order and think to yourself “ yes ” for every “ force ” card and “ no ” for the next card and so on as the cards are passed from the left to the right hand . It is an easy m atter to mak : a spectator take a “ yes ” card as if there is the slightest hesitation on hi par t in taking the “ yes ” card nearest his fingers as the pack is offered to h im, simply run on the cards to the next
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“ yes ” card. I find it much easier to think “ yes ” an d “ no ” th an to count the cards silently and force one at an odd number. As the card is withdraw from the pack, separate the hands slightly and push the top card of the pack in the left han d over to the right. Lift the two hands and three different cards will be seen. Do not draw undue attention to this but do it in a casual manner. The more different cards you show during the routine the more convinced the audience will be that nothing but an ordinary pack is used. Fig. 5 shows a “ force ” card (ace of diamonds) with three other different cards.
THE DOUBLE LIFT This is extremely simple with this pack as the short cards make it almost impossible to pick up one card only if the following method is adopted. With the “ force ” card on top of the pack as usual, the cards are held face downwards on the left hand or placed on a table. Th e right thumb is placed at one of the short edges of the second card of the pack, the second finger at the opposite edge, whilst the tip of the forefinger rests on top of the pack. Th e right hand is lifted and it will be found that the two top cards will be lifted as one, due to the top one being short. The slight pressure of the forefinger causes the two cards to be curved, thus holding them in perfect alignm ent. Fig. 6 shows this simple but very effective move. The foregoing moves are all that are required for the routine as I perform it personally, so I will now continue with the description of it. For those who wish to lengthen its running time, I will add some further effects which can be obtained with the pack.
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THE ROUTINE Here I will emphasise once again that to get the maximum effect, the cards must be handled as you would a normal pack with every move made slowly and deliberately. I will assume that the “ force ” card of the Svengali pack is the Ace of Diamonds.
Requirements (a) (b)
(c) (d) (e)
A Svengali pack of cards in a case. An additional “ fo rc e” card to which is attached one of those very small “ bulldog ” clips with a sharp pointed hook. These are often known as “ Excelsior ” clips. This is placed in the right hand trouser pocket. A piece of new spaper six inches square. A thinbladed knife. A small table.
PHASE 1 Effect. From a shuffled pack a spectator selects a card which, after showing to the audience, he places back into the pack which is again shuffled. The performer deals the cards slowly face downwards on to the table and at any time he wishes, the spectator calls “ Stop.” Th e card stopped at proves to be the card selected previously. M eth od. I will assume for convenience of description that the performance is taking place in a drawingroom but there is no reason why this trick should not be performed on a stage before a large audience, always providing th at the spectators are near enough to see the cards. A gentleman volunteer is coaxed to help the performer and, providing he will not interupt the view of the audience, he is seated facing the table with his back to them. Fo r stage work he can be seated to the left of the table. The performer takes up his position behind the table. The patter and procedure is as follows :— The cards are taken from the case and riffle shuffled and then held in the right hand in position for showing them all different. “ I wonder if you have ever stopped to consider, sir, the amount of work necessary to make a pack of cards? Fiftytwo designs have to be drawn plus the Joker, blocks have to be made so th at they can be printed. The cards must be cut to the correct size,
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made into packs and then along comes a magician who spoils everything.” During this preliminary patter, the cards are allowed to fall from the right hand into the left so tha t all the faces are shown different. The cards are now held ready for the force. “ Will you please take any one of these fiftytwo cards.” Force the card and casually allow the three different cards to be seen (Fig. 5). “ Rem ember the card you have chosen and show it to the rest of the audience, please.” When this has been done, have the card replaced in its original position. “ Place your card back in the pack and I will give it a shuffle.” Riffle shuffle the cards. “ Now, Sir, you will agree with me that both you and I cannot know the exact position of your card. How right you are ! I will take cards singly from the top of the pack, place them on the table and at any time you wish, I want you to say ‘ Sto p.’ Yell it out loud, Sir, so th at everyone can hea r.” Slowly and deliberately deal the cards from the top of the pack on to the table saying “ Yes ” and “ No ” to yourself according to whether the cards are “force ” or different. Should the spectator call “ Stop ” on a “ Yes ” card, go right ahead and say—“ What was your card? The Ace of Diamonds? And this is the card at which you told me to stop? H ow right you are ! ” Turn the card over and show it. If the spectator stops you on a different card place it down with the others on the table and say “ It would be a wonderful coincidence if the next card happened to be your card—what was it? Th e Act of Diamonds? How right you a r e ! ” Place the card on top of those on the table, pick up these cards and place them back on top of the pack and you are all ready for :—
PHASE 2 Effect. The pack is shuffled and cut into six heaps. The specta tor is requested to place a coin on any heap he wishes. The top cards of the remaining five heaps are shown to be all different cards whilst the top card of the one on which the coin was placed, is again the selected card. M eth od . The pack is riffle shuffled and cut into six piles by the method described for making the cut at a different card in the description of the riffle shuffle. “ I will now cut the pack into six piles an d I wa nt you to place a coin on top of any pile you wish.” When this has been done, give the spectator a chance to change his mind if he wishes. “ I want you to be certain th at your choice was made without any influence on my part — you may change your mind if you wish and place the coin on any other pile or you may leave it just where it is. You are satisfied? ” Pick up the remaining piles one at a time and casually let the bottom different cards be seen. Make the double lift and show the second card as an other different card. “ On top of this pile is the Nine of Spades ; on this one,
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the Ten of Hearts; here we have the Jack of Diamonds, the Ten of Clubs and the Four of He arts.” Th e bottom cards are not mentioned but as each pile is picked up by the right hand, the bottom card is shown, the pile dropped on those in the left han d an d the double lift made from the top of the pack and the card shown and nam ed. “ All tha t remains, is the pile on which you placed your coin—what was your ca rd ? The Ace of Diamonds? How right you are ! ” The coin is taken off, the real top card of the last pile lifted and shown to be the Ace of Diamonds. Place this card back on top of the pile, pick up the pile so that the bottom card is seen to be different and drop the pile on top of those in the left hand. This leaves you all ready for :—
PHASE 3 Effect. After being shuffled, the pack is wrapped in newspaper. Th e spectator is asked to thrust the blade of a knife into the edge of the wrap ped pack. On being unw rapped, the blade is found to have been inserted next to the selected card. M eth od. At the conclusion of Phase 2, riffle shuffle the cards and wrap them in the piece of newspaper. “ This time I wish to make absolutely certain th at no one can possibly know the position of your card. I have shuffled them, and will wrap them in this piece of newspaper. Please take this knife and th rust the blade into the edge of the pack.” As the pack is covered, you can actually ha nd it to him for this to be done. Take it back with the handle of the knife protruding and say “ It was impossible for me to know just where you were going to place the knife, even you yourself could not possibly have been able to find your card, if you had wished, with the pack wrapped in newspaper. Yet strange as it may seem, you have placed the blade of the knife right next to your card. How right you are, ! ” Un wrap the paper or tear it off and show that the blade is next to the Ace of Diamonds. As an Ace of Diamonds is every alternative card, if it is not above the blade then it will be below it.
CLIMAX Effect. The selected card is found on the spectator’s back. M eth od. At the conclusion of Phase 3, the selected card is placed back in the pack. “ The whole secret of this trick is th at you just thoug ht you took the Ace of Diamonds. Actually th at is one card I never use.” Show the
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cards all different and no Ace of Diamonds will be seen. “ Really, sir, it is you that have made this trick possible so it is only fair that you should take the applause. Please turn round and bow to the audience.” After the pack has been shown to contain no Ace of Diamonds, the cards are placed on the table and the rig ht han d is placed in the trouser pocket where it palms the card with the clip on. As you are directing the att en tion of the audience on to the volunteer, your hand leaves the pocket and as he turns round, you help him by placing your right hand on his back and your left hand on his arm. Th e card is left hanging on his back and as the small hook catches into the cloth of his coat so very easily, the hand is only on his back for a fraction of a second. Move away from him and afte r he has bowed, say : “ If you had not been sitting in front of me the whole time, you would have thought I was doing things behind your back. How right you are ! ” Motion to him to turn round and the Ace of Diamonds will be seen on his back. Take it off and thank him for his assistance. That concludes the routine as I use it and it will be appreciated that the whole effect has been that a card has been selected freely and that without any unnatural, hurried or difficult moves, it has reappeared unde: seemingly impossible conditions. The patter which I have given has just been a straightforward explanation of what is happening and what you require to have done, as I realise that everyone will have their own particular style of presentation, and will wish to fit their own type of patter to that presentation. Even the “ punch ” phrase “ H ow right you are ” can be altered if you have something that suits you better but do have a “ punch ” line. To those who wish to lengthen or alter the routine, I make the following suggestions :— i.
It will be apparent th at all the foregoing effects can be worked with a “ rough and smooth ” pack as well as with a Svengali. If this is your preference, I make the following observations on each phase. Phase i . Th e spectator can be allowed to make an overhand shuffle pro viding he is not given too much time. (b) The cards can be fanned to show them all different. (a)
(c)
Th e card is forced by letting him touch one card as they are run from hand to hand.
(d)
The “ stop ” effect is worked by dealing the cards in pairs and showing the next card singly after “ stop ” has been called.
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Phase 2.
Each of the six piles is cut from the pack by sliding about a sixth of the cards off each time. (b) Th e cards of each pile can be shown different by fanning them. (c) The top card of the five piles is shown different by sliding off two cards as one whilst the top card of the sixth pile is lifted singly. (a)
Phase 3. When the knife is inserted into the edge of the pack through the newspaper, it will either be above or below a force card as it is with the Svengali pack. 2.
When using a Svengali pack it can be cut into six piles in Phase 2, by the spectator himself if he cuts from the short edges. He can make the cut from the long edges if the “ force ” cards are reduced in width as well as length.
3.
After Phase 3, the following effect can be inserted. The whole pack is trea ted with Zinci Stearas (fanning powder). A doublefaced card, blank on one side and with the Ace of Diamonds on the other, is inserted in the breast pocket, Ace side away from the body. Show the cards all different and say :— “ Actually this is just a question of autosuggestion. You see, I never use an Ace of Diam onds in tricks. I remove it from the pack and keep it in this pocket.” Remove the card from the pocket and place it on the face of the pack. Drop the left hand holding the pack to the side and turn the doublefaced card over by pushing it ha lf way over the side of the pack by the left thumb and pressing it against the left trouser leg. Place the pack in the rig ht hand , back tow ards the audience, and say :—“ You have seen such peculiar things happen with this pack th at you will begin to think th at by rubbing my hand across the face of the pack like this, all the spots will come off —How right you are ! ” Turn the pack over showing the blank card and immediately make the reversed single handed fan. This fan is made by holding the pack pointing upwards in the right hand with the thumb across the bottom of the back of the pack and the face of the cards held by the fingers which are curled into the palm (Fig. 7).
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The fingers press on the faces of cards and uncurl taking the cards round with them, whilst at the same time the thumb presses on the back of the pack and moves into an uprigh t position. Fig. 8 shows the completed fan which will be completely blank.
4.
I hesitated before pu tting this in as in my opinion it gives the game away to a certain extent but nevertheless it certainly has entertainment value and if placed after Phase 3 is bewildering in that it comes after effects in which many different cards have been seen. Read on and I will leave you to jud ge its effect. Pa tter on the following lines :— “ Th e Ace of D iamonds has turned up so many times that you will no doubt say that I use more tha n one — “ How right you are ! ” Pass the hand across the pack and make a colour change which will bring the rear force card to the front and continue with the following move :— Hold the pack in the right hand with the thumb at the top short edge and the second, third and little fingers at the bottom edge. Th e top joint of the forefinger is curled on the face of the cards. By applying pressure by the forefinger, the back pair of cards is released by the thumb and taken by the left hand between the thumb at one long edge and the first, second and third fingers at the oth er (Fig. 9). Th e left ha nd moves away and exhibits the Ace. Fig. 10 shows this and it will be noticed th at the
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little finger goes to the bottom of the cards and keeps them in perfcct alignment. Th e pair of cards is allowed to drop into the palm and the hand goes to the back of the pack again and takes another pair
(Fig. 11). These are allowed to fall on to the previous pair and the move is continued rapidly through the pack. 5.
Here is a daring move which is most effective. At the end of Phase 2, palm the card with the clip on from the pocket and ask the spectator to comc round to your side of the table. Place him in position and in doing so, attac h the card to his back. Work through Phase 3 and you arc all set for the climax without going near him.
CONCLUSION All this looks pretty formidable now that I have put it on paper so just take Phase 1 to start with and see if you do not agree with me th at it is the easiest method ever of perform ing the “ Stop ” effect. Carry on with 2 and 3 and see how very easy and clear cut it is. If you are like me and want very nearly a miracle without having to put in much work, the Svengali pack and this routine are wha t you are looking for. Th e hard work is in the presentation as it is with any effect that has ever been thought out. There are plenty more effects with this pack and I could go on for hours. You think I have written enough? H OW R I G H T Y O U A R E !
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