Alex Elmsley - Collected Works Vol 2

Collected

Worlds of

UT^ 'EhnsCey

Volume II Written By Stephen 3/iinch

The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley Volume II This second volume continues the )ageant of scintillating Elmsley magic >egun in Volume I. It begins with a series >f five original flourishes, most drawn rom a youthful Alex Elmsley's compeition, stage, manipulation act. Following his decorative opening set, the book proceeds immediately to a remarkable collection of more than 103 exquisitely conceived, entertaining and unfathomable tricks, ranging from baffling predictions and feats of mind reading to glittering coin magic and bewildering card mysteries. Established Elmsley classics are here, such as "Between Your Palms", "Point of Departure", "Brainweave" and "Diamond Cut Diamond", along with a generous assortment of previously unpublished material, including such sought-after gems as "The Elmsley Rising Card", the "Dazzle" packet routine and "En Voyage", one of Dai Vernon's favorite Elmsley effects. One chapter is devoted entirely to Elmsley tricks using the faro shuffle. Here can be found Mr. Elmsley's seminal essay on that shuffle, along with his exciting Penelope's Principle. Volume II ends with a detailed description of one of Alex Elmsley's crowning achievements: his "Cardworks", a brilliant act that baffled and inspired master magicians throughout England, Monte Carlo and the U.S. This volume and its predecessor chronicle the creations of one of the most jexceptional minds magic has ever jenjoyed. Within these pages, indeed, lie Inarvels of rare and cunning device!

The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley Volume II

I

I Elmsley

ACKNOWLEDGMENT This volume, like the first, was made possible through the help and generosity of a great many friends and acquaintances. Gordon Bruce of Glasgow, Scotland, and Milt Kort of Birmingham, Michigan, did immense amounts of research, unearthing scores of articles in old journals and scarce booklets. Jack Avis, through his notebooks and correspondence, is responsible for the preservation of a significant portion of the previously unpublished magic that appears here. Those who volunteered to contribute unpublished and rare Elmsley items and information include Gordon Bruce, Dr. Edward Brown, Roy Walton, Richard Kaufman, Herb Zarrow, Bruce Cervon, Anthony Brahams, David Michael Evans, Roger Klause, Simon Aronson, David Solomon, Harry Riser, John Thompson and Allan Ackerman. Of those who patiently answered and researched countless historical points, foremost are Milt Kort and David Michael Evans, ably followed by Peter Warlock, Jack Avis, Roy Walton, Reinhard Muller, Francis Haxton and Edward Mario. Supreme Magic of Devon, England kindly granted permission for the inclusion of "Animal, Vegetable and Mineral", a trick for which they hold manufacturing rights. Concerning the material in Chapter Eight, special bouquets are ardently tossed to Milt Kort, Dr. Gene Matsuura, and Ron and Patty Bauer. It was Milt Kort who had the foresight to tape record Mr. Elmsley's 1975 "Cardwork" lecture. This recording, supplemented with copious notes provided by Ron Bauer and Dr. Matsuura, made possible the complete and precise documentation of this lecture. For the task of proofreading the manuscript for this volume, I have once more imposed on three trusted and exceptionally knowledgeable friends, David Michael Evans, Max Maven and Darwin Ortiz, whose efforts and suggestions have made this a better book. Finally, of course, my renewed thanks go to Alexander Elmsley, who first invented all the wonderful magic, then took valuable time to ferret through private notes containing unpublished items from decades past, corrected my text and provided important historical insights. To all these men I owe an incalculable debt of gratitude. Stephen Minch FIRST EDITION © Copyright 1994 by Louis Falanga. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without the permission of the publishers. Printed and bound in the United States of America 65432 1

CONTENTS THE MICROCOSM OF MAGIC

1

CHAPTER ONE: Flourishes The Tower Bridge Cut Little-finger Spinner The Multiplying Aces The Rosette Two-ball Roll

3 7 11 13 19 22

CHAPTER TWO: Hidden Thoughts and Future Deeds The Fan Prediction Hidebound Forecast The Mexican Prediction Face Your Brothers A Delicate Balance It's a Small World Halfway to Heaven Verbum Sapienti Open Intruder Brownwaves II Brown waves III Multiple Mind Reading Double-cross Like a Rolling Bone Failure Auto-prediction Divina-sign: A Card from Cagliostro Aussi-mental Animal, Vegetable and Mineral

27 29 33 37 39 45 48 51 53 56 60 64 67 69 73 76 80 83 85 87 89

The Octal Pencil Verbum Veritas Pack of Lies

93 97 100

CHAPTER THREE: Exotica Still Taking Three Point of Departure Economy Class Departure The Fiddle with the Biddle in the Middle The Red and the Blue The Shy Chameleon Turn-about Card A Small Revelation Fool's Mate Jubilee Separating the Men from the Boys A Problem with Duplicate Identities The Imp of the Inverse Sum Talk of Alexander Switchy-coo Half Packed Second Link Diamond Cut Diamond Signing Off Signature Piece Shakedown

107 109 118 122 129 133 136 140 144 149 153 161 166 168 171 175 178 183 186 189 192 197

CHAPTER FOUR: Marsupial Favorites Pocketpick Pockets Full of Miracles Reluctant Cards to Pocket Duplicitous Cards to Pocket Flight Plan En Voyage Processional Daley Double Between Your Palms Only Child Incommunicado

205 207 211 217 222 228 233 241 243 246 250 254

CHAPTER FIVE: Coinages Devaluation Revaluation Boston Two-step The Astral Coin Rides Again Milling a Coin Sucker Silver The Spider's Treasury

259 261 264 268 273 280 282 287

CHAPTER SIX: Faro Tapestries 293 Indulgences 295 Deck Preparation for Faro Shuffles 295 Weave Corrections for Miscuts 297 Placing a Key at Twenty-sixth Position 300 The Mathematics of the Weave Shuffle 302 Out- and In-weaves 303 The Odd Pack and Weave 304 Equivalent Odd Pack 304 Returning a Pack to the Same Order 305 Solving the Shuffle Equation 306 Stack Transformations 307 Royal Flush Deal 308 The Constant Stack 309 The Restacking Pack 309 Binary Translocations 311 Double Control 312 Penelope's Principle 313 Penny Wise 315 Prediction by Proxy 317 Tuppence 319 Meet Me on the Road 223 A Woven and Cut Case 325 Autopilot 326 Direct Link (Featuring Bill Reid's "Automatic Discovery") 329 The Custodial Card 333 The Fan and Weave Controls 335 The Fan and Weave Control 335 The Fan and Weave Double Control 337 Brainweave 338

The Obedient Faro Spell by the Numbers Paraspell Collinspell Arab Roto-pack What a Party! Late Night Location Auto-discovery The Elmsley Rising Card

346 349 353 357 365 369 372 374 376

CHAPTER SEVEN: Stray Stacks Computer Dating Empty and Full Wedded Ambitions Topsy-turvy Stay-stack Parity Failure Tell Me Three Times Future Stock Through Darkest Peirce Blind Stud Mental Boxer Kingfisher Pursuit of Thought

383 385 387 389 391 392 396 398 401 406 410 414 419

CHAPTER EIGHT: The Dazzle Act The Dazzle Act The Properties Fate's Datebook Cold Steel The Tale of the Old Timer Dazzle Tour de Force Notes on Structure

423 425 427 433 440 449 463 471 481

Bibliography of Works by Alex Elmsley

485

THE MICROCOSM OF MAGIC by

Alexander Elmsley [This short article was written by a young Alexander Elmsley (age twenty-three) for the Gamagic Catalogue, New Series No. 5, issued around 1953 by the famous Gamages toy store in London. It is reproduced here not only for its interest as a rarity of Elmsleyana, but because the observations it makes on the world of magicians are as amusingly true today as they were when first composed.] Perhaps the most fascinating thing about Magic is that it is a complete little world on its own. It has its own history and literature. It has its own language, in which magicians talk to each other of shifts and steals, fekes and foulards. It includes within itself nearly every other profession and hobby, for every magician who has other interests applies those other interests to his magic. There are magical antique dealers, magical journalists, even magical politicians. There are magical Tories, who insist that what was good enough for Maskelyne and Cooke is good enough for them. There is the magical avant-garde, who sit by the hour in cafes remaking the magical world. I have never yet met magical existentialists, but I am sure that they exist. Everywhere there are magical societies, where the most different types of magicians meet, because they cannot bear to be without someone with whom to talk about their hobby; magical socialites, whose dream it is to be seen talking to some famous magician, and to rub shoulders with magical cynics who contend that no magician who is famous can be any good. In the clubs, a man is judged solely as a magician, or as an audience. It matters nothing who you may be outside magic. If a dictator, or the Devil himself, came to a magical

2

THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY

society meeting, they would be welcomed with the same words: "Take a card." The magical world has its own idea of fame. A man who is a nobody outside magic may be famous to magicians the world over. Amateur magicians who are famous in other spheres of life, like Orson Welles and Douglas Fairbanks today, and Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling in the past, are regarded indulgently. There is a feeling that if they had time to become famous by other means, they cannot have given as much attention as they ought to their magic. But the magical enthusiast, despite his twisted outlook, and his capacity to talk magic unceasingly for days, is not really crazy. He is simply devoted to the most manysided, most catholic hobby in the world. Can anyone direct me to a good magical psychiatrist?

Note on Dating Following the pattern of the first volume, many of the articles contained here are closed by dates. Dates without brackets indicate the first appearance of that item in print. Further information on published articles can be found in the bibliography at the end of this volume. Dates that appear in brackets signify dates of notebook entries or letters from which unpublished material was taken. Mr. Elmsley was never concerned about dates in his own notes, so not every unpublished item could be dated in this manner, and for such items no dates are given. Listing the publication dates of many items may in one way be misleading, as these dates often vary greatly with the true time of invention. Those items published in the late 1940s and the 1950s generally followed the time of their invention fairly closely. However, many items that appeared after this period were actually conceived years, sometimes decades, earlier. S.M.

Chapter One:

Flourishes

There hasfor years been a sporadic but intense discussion among magicians about the use of flourishes. Some contend thatflourishes, being an open display of skill, diminish the sense of magic and cast the performer more in the role ofjuggler than magician. Others defend the intelligent use offlourishes as visual seasoning to the magic; and as credentials of the performer's expertise, which otherwise might go unrecognized by much of the public, who, seeing no evidence of skill, relegate the magician's ability to the use of gimmicked properties and secret arrangements. Those who work professionally cannot afford to have their craftsmanship go unappreciated. Jamy Ian Swiss has wisely observed that hiding one's skill is much more difficult than displaying it, and that only a consummate actor can successfully do so. Therefore, some magicians have chosen a middle road, one from which they eschew blatant flourishes but exhibit a professional facility in handling their tools. In the same sense that one can't be "a little pregnant", it is debatable whether the evidence of such skill is any less harrnful to the magical quality of the effect than the more flamboyant maneuvers offlourishes; and in the end one can cite expert, respected and successful exponents of our craft who subscribe to one or another of these views on flourishes. In 1949 Mr. Elmsley summarized his opinion on the subject with these words: "About the advisability of using flourishes in a presentation of card magic there are at least two points of view. Manipulators, in any case, may use them without a qualm. It is my view that audiences like to see a little obvious skill, and if this can be demonstrated with grace, then so much the better." Forty-four years have passed since these comments were published. Today he adds this further thought: "Flourishes are a matter of style and personality. For me to make rules to govern another's style would be impudence."

6


Mr. Elmsley has intelligently made use qfjlourishes over the years in his performances. Several of his own invention are presented in this chapter. The first is a pretty flourish cut. Mr. Elmsley observes, "It's not much, but I remember it sentimentally as the very first thing I ever got published. I sent it to Abrafrom Austria, where I had been posted during my military service."

THE TOWER BRIDGE CUT This is an ornamental cut of the cards. The action is similar to that of the Charlier one-handed pass, but with both hands simultaneously working to create a symmetrical formation with the cards that is pleasant to the eye. Before attempting the cut, first inspect your pack and remove any bridges in it. Such bends can cause the edges of the packets to catch on one another as they pass. To avoid a stumbling cut, the pack should be flat. Begin with the pack lying vertically on one edge, supported on the interlaced fingertips of both palm-up hands. The tips of the second, third and fourth fingers are alternated, right with left; and the forefingers are curled in, their nails lightly touching the top and bottom of the pack. The tips of the thumbs lie on the upper edge of the pack, near its center point, steadying it. Figure 1 depicts the starting posture. The thumbs now divide the pack near center, as if opening a book, until the upper edges of the halves are approximately one and a half inches apart and the pack has assumed a V-formation (Figure 2).

8


The forefingers straighten to clear a path for packets to drop, and the thumbs release roughly half their respective cards. These quarter-deck packets are allowed to fall flat onto their respective fingers (Figure 3). The thumbs close the two quarters of the pack they still hold, bringing them together once more in a vertical position; and the forefingers curl under the fallen packets, where they straighten, forcing the central sides of these packets to rise toward the thumbs while the outer sides remain steadied on the palms (Figure 4). When the raised edges of the packets meet the upper edge of the vertical half deck, the thumbs bend down slightly, engaging them, and the forefingers straighten outward. The thumbs break the vertical half deck at center once more and allow each of these quarters to drop onto their respective fingers (Figure 5). The thumbs then rise, letting the two quarters of the pack they control drop flat onto the previously released packets (Figure 6).

FLOURISHES

9

10


The forefingers curl under the two horizontal halves and straighten, pushing the outer sides of the packets upward (Figure 7). The halves hinge on their adjacent edges until they come flush together in a vertical position, and the book first opened is now closed. The thumbs come down on the top edge of the pack, steadying it. This completes the cut, returning the deck to the same position in which it began (Figure 1 again). What this cut accomplishes is the exchange of the top and bottom quarters of the deck for the two central quarters. When smoothly and neatly executed, it is a pretty maneuver, fascinating to watch. April 16, 1949

LITTLE-FINGER SPINNER The act of shooting or spinning single cards suddenly from the deck is a favorite flourish of stage manipulators and some close-up performers. The methods most often used (three by Audley Walsh and one by Richard Himber) appear in the Tarbell Course in Magic, Volume 4 (pp. 124-128). Mr. Elmsley uses Walsh's long distance spinner, but has also derived a method of his own for certain circumstances. This original method was discovered while practicing the one-handed top palm from Hugard's Card Manipulations, No. 1 (p. 2). It is efficient and will be found easier to learn than the earlier techniques cited. The little-finger spinner can be performed with the deck held horizontally, to shoot the card straight forward; or with the deck held vertically, causing the card to fly upward. For this description, the former position will be assumed, though the action is the same in either case. Hold the deck face-down at the fingertips of the palm-down right hand. Station the forefinger at the outer left corner of the pack, with the second and third fingers lying in file beside it on the outer end. Place the thumb at the inner left corner; and curl the fourth finger in until its fleshy tip contacts the back of the top card approximately one inch behind the outer right corner (Figure 8). _ _ One detail that is most important to the success of this sleight is that the nail of the fourth finger be pared very short. It is the flesh of the fingertip that grips the card as it is spun from the deck, and if the nail contacts the card rather than the fingertip, the sleight will be found impossible. The card is spun from the deck by a sharp forward thrust of the fourth finger. Press the fingertip firmly onto the card, then flick it

12


straight outward (Figure 9). Simultaneously relax or bend in the thumb slightly—just enough to aid the release of the top card as it is spun smartly from the pack. As you shoot the card forward, it must pass around the tip of the third finger. This imparts a spin to it as the card flies from the deck. Within the context of close-up performance, this flourish can be used to cause a chosen card, presumed lost in the pack, to shoot out and toward its owner. If this is done as the deck is brought sharply down on the table, an odd effect is created. It also might be used to parody a card force. As you hold out the deck and say to someone, "Take a card, any card," a card comes suddenly whirling out at him. This is a welcome variation of the old gag in which a card is made to jut from a fanned deck and wiggle around, begging to be chosen. September 17, 1949

THE MULTIPLYING ACES Mr. Elmsley presents this as a multiplication of cards at the fingertips. He positions a single ace between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand. The hand is shown otherwise empty. Suddenly a second ace appears between the first two fingers. Then a third ace materializes between the second and third fingers. Now the right hand, which has been seen clearly empty throughout these productions, becomes active and plucks the fourth ace from the air. This card is placed in the last vacant space in the left hand, between the third and fourth fingers. In the end an ace rests between each pair of fingers, as shown in Figure 10. This card flourish resembles the classic multiplication of billiard balls between the fingers, or a roll-down with coins. Its immediate inspiration was a card production of Hans Trixer's (ref. Abracadabra, Vol. 6, No. 139, Sept. 1948, pp. 131-134) in which aces were produced in one hand and placed between the fingers of the other. The idea of displaying or producing cards in this fashion goes back many years. Injin de siecle Britain and Europe there appeared publicity photos of magicians posed with cards between their fingers. The earliest such photo of which I am aware was brought to my attention by Reinhard Muller. It is of Servais Le Roy, and is reproduced on page 298 of Christopher's Illustrated History of Magic. However, it is not known if Mr. Le Roy rolled the cards into position between the fingers, or simply set them into place, using the opposite hand, as he produced them. Manfred Thumm tells me he remembers a mechanical set of hinged cards

14


being manufactured by a nineteenth century German dealer, but I've so far been unable to corroborate this. Therefore, it is unclear if others performed a multiplication or rolldown flourish with cards previous to 1957; but it seems Mr. Elmsley was the first to describe and teach such a flourish. He featured this manipulation in his 1957 lecture. Since then, other fingering actions have been devised; most notably by Christian Stelzel of Austria (ref. The Magic of Christian, Part 2 lecture notes, 1971; and Genii, Vol. 36, No. 12, Dec. 1972, p. 547) and MahkaTendo of Japan (ref. M.A.J., Vol. 1, No. 2, Sept. 1986, pp. 6-7; and Vol. 1, No. 3, Oct. 1986, pp. 8-9). Despite these later developments, the Elmsley technique still merits serious study by students of manipulation. Mr. Elmsley initially created this technique to multiply a single card into a pair, all done in the fingers of one hand. After conquering this effect, it occurred to him to expand the procedure to produce three cards in all; andfinallyhe devised a method for multiplying one card into four. It is suggested that, when learning this manipulative sequence, you adopt the same progression, working first with only two cards, then adding a third after you have mastered the splitting of two, and proceeding to four only after you are completely comfortable with three. However, for concision, only the four-card sequence (which contains all the others) will be taught. The flourish can be done with either hand, but in this explanation it is assumed that the left is used. To begin, take four cards—Mr. Elmsley uses aces—squared as one between the left thumb and forefinger. The suit order is irrelevant in performance, but for learning purposes stack the aces in clubs-hearts-spades-diamonds sequence from top to face. Grip the face-up four-card block by its opposite long edges, somewhere near midpoint, with the cards lying roughly parallel with the thumb and forefinger. Gently bend the cards lengthwise, bowing the faces outward, as you turn partially to your left and extend your left arm, turning the back of the hand forward, fingers uppermost. The face of the block (the ace of diamonds) should be turned toward the audience. Figure 11 shows this starting position. Lower the second and third fingers, until you can lightly clip the near upper corner of the block between them; then lightly increase the forefinger's pressure, forcing the upper edge of the rear card, the ace of clubs, to slip awayfromthe packet and spring up between the second and third fingertips (Figure 12). With these two fingers, lift the card (Figure 13) until you can engage its lower edge on the side of the forefinger. Catch the card by its opposite edges between the first and second fingers; then move the third finger upward and away from the card (Figure 14).

FLOURISHES

15

The production of the next card is quite similar to that just taught, but the third and fourth fingers do the work. Lower these two fingers until you can clip the near upper corner of the three-card block between their tips. Then, with pressure from the forefinger, squeeze the next card, the ace of hearts, awayfromthe packet. Catch it between the third and fourth fingertips (Figure 15) and lift the ace away from the packet.

16


When Mr. Elmsley catches the third ace to raise it, the card is almost shot between the fingertips, but the third finger also aids slightly in separating the card from the packet. It is normal that, as the third and fourth fingers move to grasp the ace of hearts, the ace of clubs, between the first and second fingers, will be momentarily bowed quite severely. The trick is to do this without creasing the card or letting it escape from the fingers. Be certain you have a secure grip on the ace of clubs before you begin the production of the third ace. Raise the ace of hearts until you can catch it between the sides of the second and third fingers; then relax the fourth finger and separate itfromthe third. You now have three aces displayed between the fingers (Figure 16). The card between the forefinger and thumb is a double. This concludes the one-handed multiplication. The space between the third and fourth fingers in still unoccupied and awaits the fourth card, the ace of spades. This card, currently concealed behind the ace of diamonds, must now be stolen by the right hand. To accomplish this, first turn your left hand palm outward, displaying it empty but for the three apparent cards between the fingers. Then bend the left arm inward, to bring the left hand, palm toward you, to a relaxed position before your chest. Now display both sides of the empty right hand. You will next apparently adjust the position of the card between the left thumb and forefinger, but in doing so the ace of spades is stolen into the right hand. Bring the right hand to the outer end of the double card and grasp it lightly, with the right fingers extended over roughly half of the back of the ace of spades. Lower the hands slightly at this point, directing the upper end of the double card outward, toward the audience. This position assures that the steal of the ace cannot be seen by the spectators. With your right fingers, contact the back of the double card and swivel the ace of spades rightward and into the right hand (Figure 17). As the right fingers curl loosely in, they press the ace into rear palm (see Volume I, pp. 124-126). Simultaneously move the left hand away from the right and extend the left arm once more to your left, turning the back of the hand toward the audience. The right hand remains stationary in front of your body, fingers now open and relaxed. You next reach out swiftly but gracefully with the right hand and pluck the fourth ace from the air. To do this, first bend the fingers in toward the palm, curling the secondfingeronto the back of the palmed ace, while the first and third fingers curl over the upper edge of the card to contact its face (Figure 18). Immediately straighten all four fingers, carrying the ace away from the palm and into view (Figure 19). If this is done smartly, the card seems to materialize at the tips of the fingers.

FLOURISHES

17

Place the fourth ace between the left third and fourth fingers, completing the display (Figure 10 again). The magical appearances of the first two cards between the fingers can be greatly enhanced if you first turn the left hand to expose the palm, showing it empty. You then maneuver the back card of the block into position between the appropriate pair of fingers as you turn the back of the hand outward again. That is, the multiplication maneuver is done under cover of the hand's turn. This, of course, demands that you do the sleight quickly and surely. In his manipulation act Mr. Elmsley employed this multiplication move in a different fashion. He would first produce a double card in his right hand, handling it as a single ace. This double card was placed between the left thumb and first finger, in position for the multiplication sleight. He then produced another ace from the right hand. This he positioned between the first and second fingers. Now he moved his right hand, as if about to produce a third ace; but just as he began, he dropped the ace just placed between the left fingers. He looked at the left hand, then at the fallen card, showing mild dismay at this seeming accident. Then, after a brief pause, to allow the audience to wonder how he would recover from this mishap, he performed the multiplication move, producing an ace matching the one dropped. The final two aces were produced, one after the other, at the right fingertips and were

18


placed between the left fingers, completing the display shown in Figure 10 (page 13). As is true of most flourishes, this is not an easy maneuver to perform. It will take practice to achieve speed and smoothness. However, to its credit, the Elmsley technique is more easily mastered than some of the more recent fingerings currently used by manipulators. 1957

THE ROSETTE This is a pretty and impressive extension of the roll-down display, a standard coin manipulation similar in visual effect to the preceding card flourish. When the roll-down is normally done, a stack of four coins, held on edge between the thumb and forefinger, are rolled by the fingers until one is held between each pair of digits. Mr. Elmsley has added a fifth coin to the display, which he catches between the thumb and fourth finger, completing a circle of coins (Figure 20). This manipulation is not an easy one, even for those who have mastered the standard roll-down. But it is so fascinating to watch, many will invest the effort necessary to attain it. The positioning of the first four coins is done without variation from the original flourish. However, since there are several systems for rolling the coins down the fingers, let me describe the one Mr. Elmsley uses, which is the simplest of the lot. Begin with the stack of five coins—half-dollar or silver-dollar size is best for most hands—positioned between the thumb and forefinger. The coins are gripped by their opposite edges and are held broadside to the audience, as shown in Figure 21. (The illustrations are posed with the right hand, but either hand may be used.) The second finger bends upward until it touches the side of the thumb (Figure 22). The back of the second finger contacts the rim of

20


the innermost coin of the stack—the coin nearest the palm—and rolls the coin on edge until it is caught between the sides of the first and second fingertips (Figure 23). The third finger bends up to the forefinger (Figure 24), catches the rim of the single coin and rolls it down until it sits between the second and third fingers (Figure 25). The fourth finger bends up to the second finger (Figure 26) and rolls the coin down between itself and the third finger (Figure 27). The action is much like that used to roll billiard balls between the fingers, but is somewhat complicated by the disk-shape of the coins. The second finger now bends up to the thumb and rolls the second coin of the stack down between the first and second fingers. The third finger, without releasing its pressure on the rim of the first coin, moves beside the first finger (Figure 28) and rolls the second coin down to a position between the second and third fingers (Figure 29). The second finger once more bends up to the thumb, without losing contact with the rim of the second coin, and rolls out the third coin from the near side of the stack, wheeling it between the first and second fingers (Figure 30). The standard roll-down flourish ends at this point. But Mr. Elmsley now rolls the fifth coin of the stack between his fourth finger and thumb as follows: The fourth finger moves up beside the first finger and under the pair of coins still between the first finger and thumb. To do this the three coins between the other fingers must partially eclipse each other. This will happen automatically as the fourth finger moves upward (Figure 31). The fourth finger contacts the lower edge of the innermost coin of the pair and rolls it outward, in a direction opposite to that the other coins have been rolled, until the coin is caught between the thumb and fourth finger. This completes the rosette, as was shown in Figure 20 (page 19). Here are two tips that will aid in learning the flourish: First, when initially positioning the stack of five coins between the forefinger and thumb, set it in far enough from the fingertips to assure that the coin destined to be held between the first and second fingers (the central coin of the stack) does not roll on the nail of the first finger, where it can slip. Second, take care to position this coin particularly straight between the first and second fingers, so that it does not snap flat and drop during the rolling out of the last coin. Mr. Elmsley's rosette can likely be adapted to other styles of the rolldown. A somewhat advanced fingering system can be found on pages 139-140 of The Tarbell Course in Magic, Volume 3; and Arthur Buckley's excellent flash roll-out method is described in both his own book, Principles and Deceptions (pp. 66-67) and in Bobo's JVeiu Modern Coin Magic

(pp. 204-205). Mr. Elmsley notes that he originally used the Buckley method when performing the four-coin roll-out, but when he began

FLOURISHES

21

experimenting with the rosette, he found the positioning of the coins between the fingers, created by Buckley's handling, caused him to drop coins as he maneuvered the last one between the thumb and fourth finger. However, he suggests that experimentation with different sized coins, and with different fingers than his own, might make the Buckley technique practical for some when performing the rosette. March 1952

TWO-BALL ROLL This pleasant piece of jugglery with billiard balls not only entertains the eye, but also helps to conceal palmed balls as the flourish is performed. To these assets is added the further enticement that the maneuver is far easier than it appears. Manipulators unfamiliar with it will quickly make a place for it in their billiard ball exhibitions. A billiard ball is displayed in each hand, held between the extended first and fourth fingers (Figure 32). The flourish consists of moving the hands in such a fashion that the two balls are simultaneously rotated around the fingers of both hands in a fascinating manner. At the beginning of the flourish, the balls are held off-center between the first and fourth fingers. That in the left hand is positioned slightly forward, with a greater part of it projecting beyond the back of the hand; and that in the right hand is held with more of its circumference given to the palm-side. For ease of description, let us assume that the left hand's ball is white and the right hand's is red. Position the right hand just above the left, with the right fourth finger lightly contacting both the back of the left first finger and the top of the white ball. Consequently the top edge of the left first finger must touch the bottom of the red ball (Figure 33). Notice how the initial off-center positioning of the balls allows thefirstfingersbalanced points of contact at the axis of the red ball. The fourth fingers are similarly stationed on the white ball. Spread the first and fourth fingers of each hand very slightly apart, easing their opposite pressures on the balls, and shifting pressures so that the red ball is held between both first fingers, while the white ball is held between both fourth fingers. Now, by revolving the hands around one another, moving the left hand inward and upward, and the right hand outward and downward, you can make the two balls roll around thefingers,the white ball always remaining below the red (Figures 34 and 35). If you continue to circle the hands around each other in this fashion, the left hand now traveling outward and down while the right hand

FLOURISHES

23

24


moves inward and up, the balls roll back to their original positions (Figures 36 and 33). The flourish consists of a repeated circling of the hands and simultaneous rotation of the two balls, for as long as it remains entertaining. You can conclude the flourish at any time by catching the balls between the opposite first and fourth fingers of each hand, then moving the hands apart (Figure 32 again). If this is done while the right hand is over the left, each ball will be returned to the hand from which it originally came; and if the hands are separated while the left is over the right, the positions of the balls will be transposed. Throughout the flourish, the backs of the hands are constantly toward the audience. Also, the second and third fingers must always be curled into the palms. Therefore, you can easily conceal a ball in either hand, or one in each, as you manipulate the two visible

FLOURISHES

25

balls. The hidden ball can be held in finger palm or pressed securely to the palm of the hand. The flourish gives the false impression that the hands could contain nothing but the two balls; and the seemingly intricate manipulation appears to make any other operation impossible. Lewis Ganson, when he described this item in the pages of The Gen, suggested that one could begin with only the two balls in the hands, then steal a third ball just as the flourish began. The third ball is concealed in a metal clip or cloth holder, pinned near the edge of the left jacket lapel, at chest height. As the two balls in the hands are positioned between the fingers, it is made clear to the audience that the hands are otherwise empty. Then, as the hands come together in front of the chest to begin the flourish, the left second and third fingers can curl around the edge of the jacket and steal the third ball from its hiding place. November 1953

Chapter Two:

Hidden Thoughts and Future Deeds

THE FAN PREDICTION Effect: Someone is asked to think of any card in a deck, remove it and record its name privately on a slip of paper. This slip, the performer explains, will serve as a prediction. The card is returned to an unknown position in the pack and the cards are spread for a selection to be made. A second person is asked to touch any card in the spread he wishes. There is no question that the choice is a fair one. The card touched is honestly outjogged in the fan and all the cards above and below it are turned face-up, leaving the selection face-down. The first person is asked to read her prediction aloud. The performer then turns over the fanned deck to display the face of the reversed selection. It is indeed the card predicted on the spectator's slip. Method: Hand someone a slip of paper and a pen or pencil. Inform her that she is about to make a prediction. Fan the deck and hold the face of the fan toward her. Ask her to think of any card she sees and then draw it from the fan. Have her lay the card face-down on the table and write its name on the slip of paper. While she does this she is told to protect the identity of the card from everyone else. When she has written the name, have her fold the slip and leave it on the table in plain view. Meanwhile you have closed the fan and are holding the deck facedown in your left hand. Reach out with the right hand and pick up her face-down card. Do not look at it or expose its face. Instead, place your hands behind your back, explaining that you will return the card to a random spot in the deck, unknown to anyone. Actually, you turn the card face-up and slip it above the bottom card of the pack. Bring the deck forward again, holding it squared in the left hand. Point out that the spectator has made a prediction in an unquestionably fair manner and that she is the only person who knows the forecast card. Have her indicate another member of the group. Turn to this spectator, spread the deck from left hand to right and ask

30


that he touch any card he likes. Do this in a manner that allays any thoughts of a force. You may wish to invite him to change his mind if he wishes. Then outjog the card indicated for roughly half its length in the spread. Of course, you do not expose the reversed card second from the bottom as you make the spread. Time the spreading of the pack to encourage the selection of a centrally located card. This is not difficult. If you should find you have a willful spectator who insists on a card near the top or bottom of the pack, the problem is easily resolved by neatly removing his choice and inserting it again, outjogged, near center. Now, with your left hand, neatly reverse all the cards that lie below the jogged selection, taking care not to expose the inverted card; then, with the right hand, reverse all the cards above the selection. Perform these actions slowly and deliberately, avoiding any suspicion of trickery. The selection still lies face-down and outjogged in the center of the deck, but the deck has been turned face-up around it. Unknown to the audience, the first spectator's selection (the predicted card) rests face-down two cards below the outjogged card. Square the deck in the left hand, without disturbing the projecting selection. Then slowly and openly push this card into the pack; but angle it leftward, causing the outer left corner to jut from the left side of the deck. The diagonal positioning of the card is not hidden. Rather, it is done in a way that obviously permits the audience to keep track of the card. The outer left corner of the card should project about half an inch from the side (Figure 37). With the palm-down right hand, grasp the deck from above, thumb at the inner right corner and fingers at the outer end. Then execute an even pressure fan. The configuration of cards that results from this is fascinating. Because of its special positioning the anglejogged card will be more widely exposed in the fan—and it will conceal the more narrowly exposed first selection, two cards below it (Figure 38). You now adjust the fan slightly, ostensibly to expose the second spectator's card more fully. Actually, the adjustment is made to bare

HIDDEN THOUGHTS AND FUTURE DEEDS

31

the index of the first spectator's card more widely on the underside of the 38 fan. The adjustment is simple: with the right thumb and fingertips, pinch the left corners of the visible face-down \ -22. card and the two cards that lie directly beneath it; then pull the three cards a bit to the right as a unit. If any small portion of the second face-down card has been exposed as the fan was / formed, this can be repaired during the adjustment. / Have the first spectator open her written prediction and read it aloud. When she announces the name of the card, slowly and dramatically turn the fan over, revealing the face-up card at center. The reversed card visible from the face of the fan is completely hidden from the back, and vice versa; and since the two cards are close neighbors, it is impossible to tell that the face seen belongs to one and the back to the other. With the fan held face-down, pinch the exposed face-up card by its index corner between the right thumb (above) and first fingertip (below) to draw it from the fan. Also, with the tip of the right second finger, contact the left corners of the two cards directly below this card and push them slightly rightward or inward. While this adjustment is not strictly necessary, it ensures that the second reversed card remains hidden in the fan. Pull the predicted card from the fan and toss it to the table. Then close the face-down fan. You are left with a card reversed near the center of the deck, but this can be righted later or used to advantage in another trick. The principle of concealing one or more cards in a spread by sidejogging them was first exploited by Dai Vernon, who used it to hide four reversed aces in various parts of the pack as it was ribbon spread. When the pack was gathered, squared and respread the aces appeared. (Ref. Jacob Daley's Notebooks where, in item 26, a cryptic description of the idea was recorded.) Edward Mario, in collaboration with Carmen D'Amico, used the hidden sidejog principle to effect the change of a face-up card in a face-down ribbon spread (see "Fifth Method" on p. 4 of their 1956 booklet, Classical Foursome). Mr. Elmsley developed the fan concealment handling explained above without knowledge of Vernon's work or the Marlo-D'Amico trick. During the same period, he applied the principle to the Ultra-mental

fir

B

W

-J

32


and devised a brilliant method using an unprepared deck (see pp. 338-345). In the May 1962 issue of Ibidem (No. 25, pp. 25-28) Mr. Mario described several tricks using the Elmsley fan exchange. Then, in 1968, he contribued a variant handling of the Elmsley sleight to Alton Sharpe's Expert Card Conjuring (p. 100), and in December of the same year he cleverly applied the sidejog concealment principle to Curry's "Open Prediction" plot (ref. Hierophant, No. 1, pp. 10-12). Other Mario applications and variants, in years following, further expanded the utility of the principle. It is obviously a valuable idea, and the pressure fan approach used above is particularly appealing. September 21, 1957

HIDEBOUND FORECAST Effect: A shuffled pack is spread face-up to allow a spectator the fairest possible choice of a card. When one is indicated, the pack is gathered and put aside. The performer now brings out his wallet and opens it. From the wallet he draws a single playing card—one with a back design different from the deck on the table. When the face of this card is shown, it is seen to be a duplicate of the card just freely selected. That the wallet is ungimmicked and there is only the one card in it are elements that will not go unappreciated. Method: In essence, this is actually a method for loading a chosen card secretly into a wallet, and it could be presented as a card-towallet effect. However, Mr. Elmsley has added several subtleties to change the outward appearance to one of precognition, and in doing so he has created a mystery all the harder to fathom. The wallet, as stated, is ungimmicked. It must, though, be of a certain design. It is a breast-pocket model with two main compartments, one on each side, with their openings lying along the fold of the wallet. These pockets must be deep enough to take a card lengthwise. In them place a few bills and papers, the things that one normally carries in a wallet. Beneath the items in the left compartment—which will receive the card—you should place an envelope, to act as a guide, so that when the card is loaded, it does not hang up on other articles in the compartment. Close the wallet and place it in your right, inner, breast pocket. Also required is a full deck topped with a card from a pack with a contrasting back. Carry this deck in a case that matches the odd card. To begin the performance, bring out the pack and remove it from the case. (An even more elusive procedure would be to perform several tricks with a normal deck, the back of which matches the top card of the prepared pack. Then switch decks just before introducing this effect.) Give the cards a brief face-up shuffle, retaining the odd card on top, and ribbon spread the face-up pack, inviting someone to touch any card he wishes. Point out that no freer

34


choice could be imagined, and ask if he wants to alter his choice. When a card has been decided on, push it forward an inch or so, making its identity clear to everyone. Then smoothly gather the cards without disturbing the outjogged condition of the selection. You now perform Mr. Elmsley's center-card rear palm [Volume I, pp. 130-133) as you push the selection flush and fan the face-up pack in your left hand. 'You could have thought of any card, but you thought of the..." Here you name the selection and point with your right forefinger to a card at the center of the fan. His selection is no longer in the deck, but the audience isn't given a chance to ascertain this. Miscalling the card in this fashion, after the steal has been accomplished, is a highly deceptive stratagem, which can take in the most knowledgeable. Close the fan, either with just the left hand or with the aid of the right forefinger—without, of course, exposing the palmed card or the back of the fan. Then lay the pack face-down on the table. "In my wallet I have a prediction card from another pack." Having said this, use your right hand to hold open the right side of your jacket as your left hand extracts the wallet from the inside pocket. Bring the wallet into view, holding it just above waist height in front of you. Flip the right side open, clipping the left edge of the wallet in the fork of your left thumb while letting the right side hang free over the left fingertips, broadside to the audience. Elevate the fingertips slightly, so that the left compartment of the wallet lies angled backward roughly thirty-degrees from the horizontal; that is, tipped just beyond the audience's line of sight. Bring the right hand palm-down over the wallet and insert the tip of the second finger into the opening of the right compartment, roughly a third of the way from the left end of the wallet. Let the other fingers rest outside the compartment. This posture naturally positions the inner left corner of the rear-palmed card at the opening of the left compartment, where it can be slipped easily inside, beneath the guiding envelope (Figure 39). With just your right second finger, prize open the right compartment and gaze into it. Seeing that the card is not there, look up and quietly say, "Sorry, wrong side." As the audience's eyes rise to meet yours, several small actions are neatly executed: the heel of


35

the right thumb eases its pressure on the palmed card, releasing it; and the left hand moves forward several inches with the wallet, loading the card into the left compartment. The card is butted against the base of the right fingers as it is pushed into the wallet, while the right hand exerts a light downward pressure on the card. N.B. The right hand does not push the card into the wallet, but the wallet moves forward, around the card. Handled in this manner, there is no hint of a loading action. As you move the wallet under the right hand, also rotate it clockwise about ninety degrees, until the left end is directed forward, toward the audience. Keep the right hand stationary and bring the end of the wallet to it. Since some portion of the loaded card is likely to protrude from the compartment, the right hand's position helps to prevent any exposure of the card. With the right hand, grasp the end of the wallet, thumb above and fingers below (Figure 40). The instant the right hand has a secure grip, continue turning the wallet clockwise, bringing the end in the right hand to your right. With your left hand, grasp the left end of the wallet, thumb above (near the spine) and fingers below (Figure 41). From this position the thumb can contact the card and finish _ _ pushing it into the compartment. Outwardly, all you have done is turn the wallet one hundred eighty degrees clockwise, in a horizontal plane, bringing the second compartment forward; but during this turn you have shielded the loaded card from view and completed the load. Now grasp the near side of the wallet in the fork of the left thumb, precisely as was done when the wallet was previously opened (see Figure 39), and insert the tip of the right second finger into the forward compartment. With that fingertip, pull the left inner (nonindex) corner of the selection into view. Leave the corner of the card

36


protruding from the compartment as you now draw the forward portion of the wallet inward and under, folding the wallet inside out (Figure 42). This maneuver turns the card face-down, allowing for a more dramatic revelation. Have the spectator draw the card from the wallet and hold it facedown for a moment. Ask him to remind everyone of the card he freely selected from the deck. This naturally draws attention to the tabled pack, and subtly stresses the difference in the backs of the deck and the prediction card. Then have him display the face of the card from the wallet, revealing its identity. Once the full effect has been realized, replace the card in the wallet, case the deck and put everything away. The top card of the deck still disguises its true back pattern, and this may suggest that a color-changing deck effect might be considered. This tempting course, however, is not advised, as it might jeopardize the method for the prediction. But Mr. Elmsley has successfully followed this effect with his "The Red and the Blue" (pp. 133-135), which, thanks to the introduction of a second deck with a contrasting back, obscures the situation sufficiently. Whether performed in this combination, or alone, the prediction effect is as direct and baffling as you could wish; and the wallet loading technique is obviously of wider utility (see, for example, "Signature Piece", pp. 192-196, and "En Voyage", pp. 233-240). One last thought: In his notebook from the 1950s, where Mr. Elmsley first recorded "Hidebound Forecast", he considered using a blankbacked deck for the effect. On each blank back was printed: "I predict that you will think of this card." In the minds of the spectators, the blank back would likely dissociate the prediction card from the deck even more effectively than would a different back design.

THE MEXICAN PREDICTION Effect: The performer runs quickly through the deck and sets two cards face-down on the table. He explains that these cards, in combination, serve as a duplicate to one card in the deck. One of the pair predicts the value of the card, the other predicts the suit. To test the validity of the prediction, someone is asked to push any card at random out of the spread pack. When the two prediction cards are turned up, they form a precise composite of the selected card. Method: This prediction is made possible through an unusual application of the Mexican turnover, a standard sleight that should be familiar to the reader. If it is not, it may be learned from any of a number of basic treatises on card magic (e.g., Erdnase's Expert at the Card Table, Hugard and Braue's Expert Card Technique, Hay's Amateur Magician's Handbook). Begin by spreading through the deck, faces toward yourself. Locate any two cards of the same value, say the six of clubs and the six of hearts, and lay them face-down on the table about six inches apart, remembering the positions of the suits. Do not expose the faces of these cards to the audience. As you do this, explain that the two cards constitute a precise prediction. Since each card in the deck is unique, it is impossible for you to set an exact duplicate of any card aside as a prediction; but you can define a card by using two others, one to designate value, the other suit. And that is just what you have done. Widely ribbon spread the balance of the deck face-down across the table, and invite someone to push any card they like from the spread. Pick this card up from the table by lifting it at its inner end, and in doing so glimpse its suit. The card must match the suit of one of your prediction cards (club or heart in our example). Chances of this occurring are excellent: just a shaving under fifty percent. If the card is not one of the two suits required, invite someone else to push another card from the spread. Glimpse the suit of this

38


second selection as you add it to the first. Given two opportunities, it is highly unlikely that the second card will not be useful to you. However, if luck should prove unusually contrary, continue to have different spectators choose cards from the spread until you receive one that you can use. Then have yet another spectator eliminate all the selections but one; that is, use equivoque (magician's choice) to force the required card from the group. This course, should it prove necessary, can be represented as a precautionary procedure, involving several members of the audience to assure that the final choice of a card is genuinely random. Now, holding the chosen card face-down in one hand, use it to tap the card of your prediction pair that matches it in suit, explaining that this first card predicts the suit of the free selection. As you talk, use the selection to flip the suit card face-up on the table, executing the Mexican turnover to switch the two cards. That is, the card now face-up on the table is the actual selection, while the card you hold is one of your original prediction cards. The second card, you explain, represents the value of the chosen card. Employing actions that closely simulate those of the Mexican turnover, flip over the second prediction card without switching it. "A six here and a club there. Together they can represent only one possible card: the six of clubs." Now dramatically display the face of the card you hold, showing it to be both the six of clubs and the conclusion to a successful prediction.

FACE YOUR BROTHERS Effect: Three cards are removed from the pack by as many spectators. Each person is asked to relax and let his dormant clairvoyant faculty operate as he replaces his card face-up at a position of his own choosing in the deck. Each then removes from the pack his card and the card that faces it. When these adjacent cards are turned up, each is seen to be the exact mate to the selection beneath it—all which lends support to the theory of subconscious clairvoyance. Method: A simple six-card setup is required. Stack any three cards and their mates in a mirror or palindromic order. For example, if the eight of clubs, king of hearts and three of spades are used with their mates, the eight of spades, king of diamonds and three of clubs, they would be set in this order from top to face: eight of clubs, king of hearts, three of spades, three of clubs, king of diamonds and eight of spades. These six cards rest on top of the deck. The top three cards must now be forced. Mr. Elmsley finds the venerable cross-the-cut force well suited here. Give the deck a false shuffle that reserves the top six cards, and place it face-down on the table. Ask someone across from you to cut the pack in half. When he has done this, pick up the bottom half and set it at a cross angle on the top half. This, you explain, marks the cut. Now ask a person on your left and another on your right if they too would help with the experiment. This request provides the element of time misdirection necessary to the success of the force. For purposes of explanation, we shall refer to the right-hand helper as Spectator A, the left-hand helper Spectator C and your central assistant (who just cut the cards) Spectator B. Return now to the deck and lift the upper half from the lower. Ask Spectator A to take the top card of the tabled half—a card he should believe has been randomly cut to by Spectator B. Have Spectator B take the second card from the packet, and have Spectator C take

40


the third. From right to left, the selections read eight of clubs, king of hearts and three of spades. Pick up the balance of the tabled half and place it onto the half you are holding. This brings the three mates of the selections to the top of the pack. Set the pack back on the table and ask that Spectator A cut off about a third of the cards for himself. The same request is made of Spectator B. The remaining third is claimed by Spectator C. Explain that when you turn your back, each of them is to turn his chosen card face-up, thrust it anywhere he wishes into his packet, square the packet and place it face-down on the table before him. When they have done this, face them again and gather the packets from right to left. Your three-card stock is once more on top of the deck. You will now execute an extension (devised by Mr. Elmsley) of a Hofzinser spread control technique. Take the deck face-down into left-hand dealing grip and push the top card to the right. Draw this card onto the right palm, with the front end lying just behind the length of the forefinger. Draw the next card from the deck square onto the first. Take the third card square onto these two. The right hand's grip on these cards is important: the thumb rests along the right edge of the packet, barely overlapping the side of the cards; and the second, third and fourth fingertips lie lightly against left edge of the packet (Figure 43).

As you deal these three cards quickly into the right hand, you explain, "Once when I performed this experiment, someone forgot to turn his card face-up before pushing it into the deck; since that time I always check to make sure all three cards have been reversed." Immediately spread the next cards off the deck—without reversing their order—onto the three right-hand cards. Receive this spread


41

slightly forward and leftward of the three-card packet, outjogged about three eighths of an inch, and leftjogged for roughly the same distance. The right thumb conceals the sidewise overlap. To you the inner end of the packet may be visible under the spread (Figure 44), but it is not obvious from the audience's view. In any event, don't worry about the packet being perceived by the spectators. Their attention is focused on spotting the face-up cards in the deck. You now run quickly through the pack, confirming the presence of the three reversed cards; and in doing so you secretly load the mate of each selection just above it. This is accomplished as follows: As you spread the cards, the right thumb catches the right edge of the spread, helping to control it, but it does not actually grip the spread. This permits the thumb freedom to move a bit, which it does. With a small leftward motion it lightly pushes the top card of the three-card packet about a quarter of an inch to the left. The right fingertips assure that just one card moves off the packet. Spread the cards into the right hand until you reach the first faceup selection. Widen the spread at that point to expose the selection atop the left-hand portion. Do not break the spread here; rather, move the left hand's cards to the left just far enough to permit the right edge of the selection to clear the left edge of its mate: the jogged card beneath the spread. Thus, the right edge of the selection is slipped under the leftjogged card (Figure 45, right forefinger moved to expose the action). Pause at the first faceup selection as you ask whose card it is. Spectator A on your right will respond.

42


Utilizing the misdirection this brief exchange provides, with your right thumb push over the next card of the mate packet, jogging it about a quarter of an inch leftward under the spread. Resume spreading the cards from left hand to right, feeding them above the right hand's two-card packet, until you arrive at the second selection. Pause again and ask to whom it belongs. As you do this, move the hands slightly apart to let the right edge of the face-up selection clear the left edge of the jogged mate. When Spectator B answers that the card is his, resume spreading and feed the second selection between the right-hand's remaining two cards. Continue to spread the cards from left hand to right, until you reach the third face-up selection. Pause once more and say, "This must be yours then," addressing Spectator C on your left. And as before, move the hands slightly apart until the right edge of the selection clears the left edge of the last right-hand mate and passes below it. When the spectator confirms your words, close the spread into the right hand. This places the third selection below its mate. The work is done. Notice that the right forefinger, stretched along the front edge of the spread, conceals the position of the cards reserved beneath. While spreading through the deck, it is also wise to tilt the front edge slightly downward. This further hides the arrangement of the cards and at the same time provides the audience with a better view of the faces and backs as they go by. The loading of the mates above the face-up selections is over quickly. Throughout the effect, strive to minimize your contact with the deck, giving the impression that everything happens in the hands of the spectators. Hand the deck to Spectator A and ask that he remove his card and the face-down card that lies directly above it. He is then to pass the deck to Spectator B so that he may do likewise. Spectator C follows suit. When all three hold their selections and the cards that rested above them, have each in turn turn up his face-down card to discover that it is the mate to his selection. Obviously their subconscious clairvoyance is perfectly tuned. Mr. Elmsley suggests that the mate to the second selection be made a card of the same value, but of the opposite color; e.g., the king of hearts and the king of spades. Then, when at the finish Spectator B turns up his card and finds an imperfect match, explain to him that the true mate to his selection was most probably not present in the portion of the deck he held. Therefore, he clairvoyantly located the closest match available.


43

The introduction of the near miss is extremely shrewd. It adds an extra bit of verisimilitude to the effect, while providing an unexpected touch that increases interest and eliminates any element of anticlimax. Instead of attention dwindling after the revelation of the second match, it is heightened as the audience waits to see if the third person matched his selection perfectly or at all. The under-the-spread loading procedure of the three cards might seem demanding to those unfamiliar with the techniques. However, a few trials will prove it is not overly difficult and can be executed with speed and total deceptiveness. The technique can also be modified to load more or fewer cards. Here is one small touch that occurred to me (and which has received Mr. Elmsley's approval): When you initially deal the top three cards into the right hand, jog the third card roughly a quarter of an inch to the left as you take it onto the previous two. The right

thumb, stretched along the right side of the packet, conceals the jog (which is purposely exposed in Figure 46). This eliminates the need to push over the first card while spreading through the pack, and makes the handling all the easier. As mentioned above, the basis of the loading procedure employed here is Hofzinser's spread control (ref. J.N. Hofzinser's Card Conjuring, p. 26). The application of Hofzinser's technique to loading a card can be traced to Gibson's 1927 book, Two Dozen Effective Practical Card Tricks where, in Gus Bohn's "Face Up Location" (p. 34), a selection that has been controlled to the top of the pack is secretly introduced above a card inserted at random and face-up into the deck. Mr. Bohn's trick was later included (without credit but with a small, interesting variation in the displacement handling) in Paul Clive's 1946 compilation, Card Tricks Without Skill (p. 53 in the first edition, pp. 77-78 in the third) under the title "Face Your Neighbour", and this was the inspiration for

44


Mr. Elmsley's elaboration. The loading maneuver used by Gus Bohn was almost certainly in circulation long before it appeared in Mr. Gibson's collection. Indeed, Jon Racherbaumer has unearthed a description of a closely related forcing procedure (occasionally attributed to Hofzinser) in the April 15th, 1918 issue of The Magic World (Vol. 2, No. 1, p. 7). In recent decades, the mechanics of the Hofzinser spread control have been further exploited, most notably by Edward Mario in 1947 (ref. Mario in Spades, pp. 8-9) and Tony Kardyro in 1966 (ref. T.K's Simple Simon Move). January 1950

A DELICATE BALANCE Effect: A deck is shuffled and spread face-down on the table. Then, while the performer turns his back on the proceedings, someone is invited to remove any card, hide it, then carefully square the pack so that no clue can be gained from it. The performer then takes up the deck, carefully weighs it on his hand, then announces that the card removed was red. The spectator brings out the card and checks it. It is red. The card is returned to the pack and the procedure is repeated; and again the performer divines the color of the hidden card. The spectator may even take the deck behind his back, remove a card at random, then hand the pack to the performer. Still he succeeds in naming the color. He can even don a blindfold, and yet somehow he can perceive the colors of the hidden cards. It is obvious that marked cards or a stacked deck could not help in these circumstances; yet time after time the performer identifies the color of the removed card, to the bewilderment of all. Method: The feat of divining the colors of cards is a challenge that magicians have returned to many times over the years, and a number of ingenious solutions have been devised. It is an effect that is signally unimpressive the first time it is done. It must be repeated at least four or five times before an audience will begin to consider that something other than luck is operative. Prearranged decks and marked backs are too obvious to be considered, as they will be the first things suspected by an audience. But more subtle marking methods, usually tactile, have been successfully employed, as have crimps and well-concealed glimpses. The drawback to these methods is that the card being divined is handled by the performer. The strength of the method about to be explained is that the performer doesn't touch the target card. He doesn't even see it or where it came from the pack. He just weighs the deck on his hand and immediately knows the color of the missing

46


card. Because of these attributes, this may be the best and most impressive version of the effect yet devised. The method, when first explained, may strike one as impractical; but I assure you it is far from it. The secret is a color-segregated deck and one edge-marked card. Please try this. Divide your deck into black cards and reds. Edge mark the bottom card of the red group and place this packet onto the black cards. The edge-marked card now visibly divides the red and black sections. In performance you must make the edge mark fairly subtle, as you do not want it perceived by your audience. Mark only one long edge, and use a short nail scrape or small nick: something that stands out clearly to your eye, but will go unnoticed by anyone not looking for it. If you now remove a card from either half of the pack, that half will be one card thinner than its counterpart, and this can be perceived by visually comparing the portions above and below the marked card. Without having tried it, it sounds fanciful that one can distinguish a difference in thickness of one card. That is why you must get a deck and confirm this for yourself. First remove a card from the red half of the pack. If you now look at the edge of the deck you will see that the half above the edgemarked card looks slightly thinner than the half beneath it. Replace the red card on top and remove a black card from the bottom half. Check the edge of the pack again. Because the edge-marked card is part of the red section, the eye excludes it from the banks on either side. Therefore, when a black card is missing, the two banks look equal in thickness, as the marked card is dead center. If you have had some experience with estimation or faro shuffles, you will see the differences in thickness immediately. If you have never tried this kind of thing, you may have to experiment a bit to acquire the visual judgment necessary to discriminate between the relative thicknesses of the sections. The only way to learn this is to practice with a friend, who will patiently hide cards from you while you scrutinize the edge of the pack. The knack of successfully judging the thickness of the halves is not difficult to acquire, assuming one possesses good eyesight. To present this feat, overhand shuffle the deck casually, while preserving the red and black separation. A red-black shuffle such as Laurie Ireland's will serve well here: shuffle off roughly twenty cards and, as you approach the edge-marked card near center, begin to run cards singly until you have passed the marked card; then shuffle off the balance of the pack. Repeat this shuffle to bring the red bank back to the top (unless you can keep the position of the banks straight in your mind). Then ribbon spread the pack face-


47

down on the table, and explain your assistant's role to him: That, when you have turned your back, he is to remove any card from the spread and place it in a pocket or somewhere out of sight. He is then to square the deck neatly on the table, leaving no clue to where the card was extracted. When he has done this, turn around, pick up the pack and, as you square it, sight the edge mark and determine which bank has grown thinner. Do this quickly, without obviously staring at the side of the pack. Then let the cards settle face-down on your open palm and seem to weigh the deck. With some modest showmanship announce the color of the missing card and have it brought forth for verification. Return the card to the top of the deck if it is red, or to the bottom if it is black, spread the deck and repeat the trick. You may let the spectator take the deck behind his back and remove a card, if you can trust him to do so without accidentally or maliciously disarranging the pack. As mentioned above, you can also perform this feat blindfolded, peering down your nose to glimpse the side of the deck. The best has yet to be revealed. If by chance the deck is returned to you with the edge-marked card missing—and you have taken the wise precaution of memorizing said card—you can name its color, suit and value. Upon accomplishing this, abstain from looking as amazed as your audience and retire gracefully. Having broached the subject of color divination, it is only natural that we continue with two diminutive versions of Out of This World. Both bear the distinctive Elmsley stamp.

IT'S A SMALL WORLD Effect: The performer openly removes ten cards from the pack and shuffles them. He then holds the packet behind him and brings out the top card face-down. This is offered to someone in the audience and she is told she can either accept or reject it. If she decides to take it, it is laid face-down before her. Otherwise, it is placed on the bottom of the packet and the next card from the top is offered. This procedure is continued until the spectator has accepted five of the ten cards. The balance of the packet is brought forward and spread face-up. It contains five black cards. Then the spectator turns up her five. These cards are all red. Seemingly through some sort of intuitive sense, she has unerringly separated the ten cards into their colors. Method: The plot is related to Dr. Daley's "Rouge et Noir" (ref. Phoenix, No. 287, Aug. 14, 1953, pp. 1146, 1148 and 1149) and Hans Trixer's "Noir et Rouge" (Abracadabra, Vol. 17, No. 419, Feb. 6, 1954, pp. 36-37): two of the earliest packet versions of Paul Curry's classic, "Out of This World". While the original Curry trick is still a fine one, there is much to be said for a packet version when performing commercially, as the power of the effect is achieved in a much shorter time. Mr. Elmsley's method is simple and delightfully bold. Begin by removing ten cards from the pack, five red and five black. The identities of the cards do not matter, but the order of their removal does. Throw the cards from the pack into a face-up pile as follows: one red card, one black, one red, two black, two red, two black, and one last red. Set the balance of the pack aside and gather up the pile. Take it face-down into left-hand dealing position and explain to a spectator of your choice, "I'm going to offer you these cards one at a time." Here you take the top card from the packet and hold it out toward her, but in a manner that communicates that the time to make a choice is not yet.


49

"If you don't want the card, I'll just put it back and offer you the next one." Suit actions to words, slipping the card in your right hand under the packet and taking the next from the top. "But if you choose to keep the card, I'll leave it here on the table." Drop the right hand's card face-down on the table. "Understood?" Take the packet into your right hand and drop it onto the tabled card. Then pick up all ten cards and place them back into left-hand dealing grip. The order of the cards from top to face is now red-black-blackred-red-black-black-red-red-black. "When you decide to accept or reject a card, don't do so for any conscious reason. Try not to let anything influence you but your own instinct and the impulse of the moment." While you say this, give the packet a quick overhand shuffle to this pattern: run three cards and throw the balance on top; run two cards and throw the balance; run four and throw; run three and throw. This takes only seconds and will be over before you finish your instructions. The shuffle has secretly sorted the reds and blacks: the five reds are now above the blacks. "So that you're not influenced by the cards themselves, I'll hold them out of sight." Place your left hand with the packet behind you. Then reach behind with your right hand and bring forth the top card of the packet. Hold it out, face-down, toward the spectator and ask, "Do you want this card?" If she does, drop it onto the table and bring out the new top card of the packet. If, however, she refuses it, take it behind you again and make the motions of slipping it to the bottom of the packet and taking the next card from the top. These motions, though, are sheer pretense. Study in a mirror how your hands, arms and shoulders move when doing the genuine actions. Then learn to mimic them when you really only bring out the same card just offered. Mr. Elmsley observes that this effect stands or falls mainly on the "acting ability" of your elbows! Also consider the sounds the cards make during the honest actions and strive to imitate them as closely as possible. This is the only skillful act required in the trick, so practice it. It is not that difficult to master. Continue to offer the cards until the spectator has accepted five. These must be thefivered cards, as you have given her no other choice. It remains only to bring out the five black cards and show them; then have the spectator turn over the five red cards on the table. The deception may seem overly bold to some, but remember that you have created an image in the spectators' minds of your placing the rejected cards under the packet and taking fresh ones from the top. The psychology being applied is sound, and since the audience does not yet know in what direction the trick is progressing, there should be no suspicion of your actions—unless you have performed

50


them in a suspect fashion. The actions, themselves, are well covered, even from the extreme side angles. Only someone behind you could detect the swindle. It is almost shameful how much astonishment can be reaped from such a simple artifice; and that very fact contributes a secret and special satisfaction in your heart each time you perform it. June 1974

HALFWAY TO HEAVEN Effect: Here is another abbreviated Out-of-This-World effect, but in this presentation the whole deck is in play. The deck is shuffled, then a red card is turned face-up. Someone is asked to touch a random card in the face-down pack. Three others are asked to do the same. These four chosen cards are removed from the deck and set aside with the face-up red card. A black card is now turned up, and the four spectators are each asked to touch another card. These four cards are also taken from the pack and set on the table with the face-up black card. Now the two groups of chosen cards are turned face-up to reveal that all those selected under the influence of the red card are red as well; and all those picked under the influence of the black card prove to be black. Method: An extremely deceptive packet switch makes this impressive feat possible. Mr. Elmsley's strip-out addition is the basis of the switch. This sleight was taught in Volume I on pages 238-240, and the reader should be familiar with it before proceeding with this description. A simple eight-card setup is required: secretly gather any four red cards at the face of the pack, and position any four black cards directly above them. Begin the presentation by giving the deck a casual false shuffle, reserving the eight-card stock at the bottom. While you shuffle, set the atmosphere for a psychic test and explain that the cards will be used in the experiment, but only their colors are important: red and black. As you mention colors, deal several cards from the top of the pack, turning them face-up on the table. Stop when you have an example of each color. Leave one red card and one black face-up on the table, and return any extra dealt cards face-down to the pack. Now pick up the red card and insert it, still face-up, several cards from the top, leaving it outjogged for about half its length. Then ask someone to touch any card as you spread through the deck. Spread

52


slowly through the first eight to ten cards, until the spectator touches one. Outjog that card and smoothly move to a second person, asking him to touch another card, a little farther down in the pack. Outjog this card and proceed to a third person, then a fourth, until four face-down cards have been freely chosen and outjogged. Each card should be jogged approximately a quarter of an inch farther than the preceding one. Spread slowly through the pack, so that all four choices are made before you reach your eight-card stock at the bottom. After outjogging the fourth selection, continue to spread through the cards, and injog the last four (the red cards) about a quarter of an inch. As you do this, say to the four helpers, "Now you could have touched any of these." Neatly square the pack into your left hand, without disturbing the five outjogged cards or the injogged bottom block. With your palmdown right hand, grasp the deck by its sides near the inner end, and use the step to form a right thumb break above the bottom four cards. Now, with your palm-up left hand, strip out the outjogged cards one by one, starting from the bottom and working up as you say, "But something lead you to take this card, and this one, and this one, and this one." As your left hand returns to the pack to draw the face-up red card onto the four selections, secretly add the block below the thumb's break onto the left hand's packet. In other words, perform the Elmsley strip-out addition. Neatly slip the left hand's cards on top of the deck, set it into left-hand dealing position, and immediately fan over the top five cards (the face-up red card and four face-down ones). Lay these fanned cards on the table. All actions should be slow and deliberate, so that no suspicion of sleight-of-hand taints the effect. The Elmsley strip-out addition, done properly, will bear this sort of scrutiny. Now pick up the face-up black card that has been set aside. Insert it face-up near the top of the deck and repeat the procedure, having the four spectators touch four more cards. Use the strip-out addition to switch these indifferent cards for the four black cards on the bottom of the pack. Then lay the face-up black card with the four face-down cards below it in a second fan on the table, a short distance from the first. All that remains is to turn up the face-down cards, dramatically revealing that the spectators, acting under the strange influence of the face-up cards, have managed unerringly to divine the colors of all eight chosen cards.

VERBUM SAPIENTI Effect: The performer brings out a pocket dictionary and has three or four persons choose random words from it. The dictionary is put away and, without a question asked or a thing written, the performer accurately divines each person's word. Method: The choice of words is genuinely random, but the dictionary is prepared to deliver the chosen words to you instantly. It is a peek book. The peek book idea goes back to Paul Curry, though it has been reinvented several times over the years by others, including Mr. Elmsley. In 1944, Mr. Curry suggested preparing a telephone directory in much the same manner as Dr. Franklin V. Taylor's peek deck (ref. Phoenix, No. 53, pp. 216-217). That is, the number destined to be chosen on one page was written by the performer in an easily concealed spot on the opposite page. This was done with every pair of facing pages in the directory. Mr. Curry's excellent idea has been perfected in recent years with the publication of special books that have the cue words lodged within their typeset text. Larry Becker was the first to do this, in a trick titled "Flashback". The most elaborate peek book to date was created by Masao Atsukawa, an established author and amateur magician. Mr. Atsukawa, under the pen name of Tsumao Awasaka, produced a mystery novel titled The Lucky Book, which was widely sold to the Japanese public. It read normally, yet cue words were imbedded in the printed text, thus permitting magicians to pick up the book wherever it was found and perform a book test. Mr. Elmsley's dictionary is not typographically sophisticated, but it does the job intended. It is a simple pocket dictionary, each page of which bears the first and last words of that page in bold type at the top (making them easier for the spectator to read). The dictionary is prepared by writing in pencil the word at the top right corner of each right-hand page on the top left corner of the facing left-hand page. Pencil is used, rather than pen, to avoid bleeding or showthrough. The preparation is admittedly tedious, but once the dictionary has been prepared, it need never be done again.

54


To have a word selected and at the same time secretly learn it, do this: Grasp the dictionary by its spine in the right hand. Hold the book with its front cover facing the spectator, about eye level. Contact the upper left corner of the book with your extended left forefinger and riffle the corners off its tip until the spectator tells you to stop. With the forefinger, pull the book open enough to allow the spectator a clear view of the word in bold type on the right corner of the right-hand page. This same word is penciled on the corner exposed to you on the left-hand page (Figure 47). Notice how the extended left fingers screen the prepared corner from anyone on your extreme left. Glimpse the word and immediately turn your eyes away from the book. When the spectator says he has noted a word, let the book snap shut. Repeat this selection process with three persons; then drop the dictionary into your coat pocket and proceed to divine the words one by one, in as effective a manner as possible. After divining the first two words, Mr. Elmsley inserts an entertaining bit of business that adds humor and surprise to the procedure, while avoiding repetition. Let's say that the third spectator's word is gag, and the fourth spectator is thinking of down. You turn to your third subject and begin to work with her: "You are thinking of a word—a short word—only one syllable. It starts with a G or a J. I think it's a G—a letter G..." At this point you pause as an expression of puzzlement passes over your features. Turn and stare at the fourth person. Then suddenly say to him, "Was you word down?" If he is not too startled by this abrupt revelation, he will say, "Yes." "Then don't interrupt!" Turn back to the third spectator, with a twinkle in your eye, and resume where you left off: "Your word was G—G, A—G, A, G—Gag\" Some may find the prospect of remembering three or four words forbidding. Mr. Elmsley uses a mnemonic system to assure recall. This system can be extremely simple, since only three or four words


55

are being memorized. For example, one could use the old rhyming code: 1 = Gun 2 = Shoe 3 = Tree 4 = Door You can now memorize the first word by linking it to an image of a gun. Form a vivid mental picture of word and object in combination. The more outrageous the image, the more surely you will retain it. All you need do is recall the image with a gun and the word will be supplied. (For more information on associational mnemonics, check any of the many works on the subject of memory systems, such as those by Harry Lorayne.) While the test could be performed with only one or two chosen words, the cumulative effect of apparently pulling words from the minds of three or four persons, without recourse to the dictionary, is far stronger. This psychological touch by Mr. Elmsley is significant. Also note how he has simplified the method of choosing words, making the procedure as direct as possible. Any counting of lines and words by the spectator—a process that needlessly slows the action and increases chance of error—has been eliminated. And by using the words that appear in bold type at the top corners of the pages, rather than the fine type, the spectator's task is made easier and surer as he reads the necessary word. Some may feel it desirable to have the dictionary handled by the spectators, to prove its innocence. This can be done as follows: Carry a duplicate but unprepared dictionary in the same coat pocket you will deposit the gimmicked dictionary after the words have been selected. Have the selections made from the gimmicked dictionary and drop it into the pocket with the duplicate. Proceed to divine the first word or two, but then pretend to have trouble in receiving the next word. Bring the unprepared dictionary from your pocket and hand it to the spectator whose word you can't get. "Here, it might help if you look up your word and read its meaning to yourself." Have him do so, then divine the word or its definition. In this fashion you have subtly brought the unprepared dictionary into play and had its commonness confirmed without asking that it be examined. Through a shrewd choice of means and intelligent routining, Mr. Elmsley has created here a book test of unsurpassable directness and impact. 1959

OPEN INTRUDER Effect: The performer openly adds a blue-backed card to a redbacked deck. The identity of the odd-backed card is not revealed, nor its location in the deck. The performer turns the deck face-up and deals the cards into a facedown pile on the table. As he does this, someone is asked to specify any card he wishes as it appears on the deck. This card is dealt faceup onto the face-down pile. Then the rest of the deck is quickly dealt face-down. During the dealing a curious fact is observed: the odd-backed card is not seen, though every back has been displayed as it was dealt. Every back but one—the back of the card the spectator singled out. The performer spreads through the deck until he locates this card. He then turns it over and, as anticipated, it proves the spectator has in some curious manner hit on the only blue-backed card in the pack. Method: The antecedents for this plot are more than a little twisty to map, but bear with me. Mr. Elmsley's immediate inspiration for this effect was a trick of Jack Avis', 'The New Intruder", which appeared in the November 1955 issue of Pentagram (Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 9, 10 and 14). Mr. Avis' trick, in turn, recognized Nelson Hahne's "Blue Intruder" as its forebear (ref. Smart Magic, p. 26). "Blue Intruder" was Mr. Hahne's solution to "Brainwave", a Judson Brown trick that Dai Vernon, with aid from Paul Fox, refined and popularized. At the time Mr. Hahne published this (1935), Dai Vernon was fooling everyone with "Brainwave", but his method was not to appear in print until October of 1938 (ref. The Jinx, No. 49, p. 341 and 343). Mr. Elmsley also recognizes as an influence on his effect Paul Curry's "Open Prediction" plot (as it was first presented in Edward Mario's The Carciician [pp. 152-160]). However, the Elmsley plot formulated from these sources replicates Theodore Annemann's "Remote Control", and his method owes much to the Annemann trick. Annemann originally marketed "Remote Control" in 1931, after which it appeared in a 1933 manuscript, Nine Great Card Tricks (p. 6), and a few years later in


57

Encyclopedia of Card Tricks (Hugard edition, p. 121). This, I must add, is a superficial treatment of this plot's complex and fascinating history. For those who wish to explore it in depth, I recommend Karl Fulves' excellent book, A History of the Brainwave Principle. In the final analysis, what Mr. Elmsley devised was a method for Annemann's "Remote Control" effect, in which he applied Jack Avis' spread switch from "The New Intruder". With that said, let's proceed to the trick. A double-backed card is required. This is red on one side and blue on the other. You also will need a full red-backed pack and, preferably, a blue-backed pack as well. Both packs should match the pattern of the double-backed card. While the double-backed card can be brought forth on its own and added as a blue-backed card to the red-backed deck, it is preferable, from a psychological standpoint, that the double-backer first be openly removed from a blue-backed deck. Doing so makes the card seem less special and therefore less suspect. Also, as will be seen, the use of the second pack permits one to dispose of the gimmicked card at the finish, without alerting the audience to its absence. Place the double-backed card, blue side up, on top of the bluebacked deck before you start. Carry the blue deck in your jacket pocket and use the red deck for other tricks. When you wish to perform "Open Intruder", set the red deck face-down on the table and take the blue deck from your pocket. Remove the top card, the double-backer, and drop the deck back into your pocket. Keep the red-backed side of the card toward the floor as you state that no one must know the identity of this card, not even yourself, until the end of the experiment. With your free hand, pick up the red deck and place both hands behind your back. Explain that you are inserting the blue card at an unknown spot in the red deck. Actually turn the double-backed card red-side up behind you and lay it on top of the pack. Bring the deck forward again and turn it face-up. Begin to deal the cards slowly into a pile on the table, turning each face-down as you deal it. Ask someone in the group to stop you at any card he wishes, when it appears on the face of the pack. Meanwhile, everyone is to watch for the blue-backed card. When the spectator stops you, deal that card face-up onto the tabled pile, without exposing its back. Tell the spectator to remember this card, and at the same time nonchalantly turn the talon facedown. No comment is made about this. It is obvious that, once the selection has been made, turning the deck down facilitates the search for the odd-backed card. Quickly deal through the balance, laying the cards face-down on the pile. The blue back is not found.

58


Point out as much and ask the spectator to name the card he designated should remain face-up. Pick up the deck, square it in the left hand, then spread it from left hand to right until you reach the face-up selection. The card directly above it is the double-backer, red surface uppermost. You will now execute the Avis spread switch, which is a cunning hybrid of the Mexican turnover and a flip-over switch invented separately by Henry Christ (ref. Inner Secrets of Card Magic, p. 23) and Tony Kardyro (Conjuror's Magazine, Vol. 5, No. 7, Sept. 1949, p. 11 also Kardyro's Kard Konjuring, pp. 8-9): Break the spread at the face-up selection, retaining it atop the left-hand portion while you move the right-hand portion to the right. Your right fingertips should hold the double-backed card by its right edge only, under the spread. This card should project about half an inch to the left of the card above it. With the left thumb, push the face-up selection approximately an inch to the right on its packet. Engage the left edge of the right hand's spread under the right edge of the selection and flip it face-down. However, the action is not as innocent as it appears. The right edge of the selection actually moves between the double-backed card and the card above it (Figure 48, exposed for clarity); and the right fingers


59

release the double-backer while flipping it over, with the selection, onto the left-hand packet (Figure 49). As the cards are turned, the right hand's spread sweeps leftward over the deck and then back to the right. The blue side of the double-backer is now exposed. When done smoothly and casually, the switch is indetectable. With this action you have shown that the selection, seemingly, is the bluebacked card. Square the right hand's spread under the left-hand packet and lift the double-backed card from the deck. Slip the gimmick into the pocket that holds the blue-backed deck and immediately bring the deck out, leaving the gimmick behind. It appears as if you have merely retrieved the deck from your pocket, and added the blue card to it. Both decks are now clean and can be examined if desired. One might execute a double lift, to show the face of the selection once more, before putting the blue card away. Mr. Elmsley doesn't bother since the deal through the pack implicitly suggests that the face-up selection must be the odd-backed card, and when it is turned over to show the back, no further proof is really required. September 1956

BROWNWAVES II Effect: Two spectators make mental selections in the following manner: each cuts off a small packet, counts the cards in it and remembers the card that falls at that number in the balance of the pack. The spectators also pocket their packets after counting them, to leave the performer no clue to their numbers. The remainder of the pack is handed to one of them and she is asked to deal the cards into a face-down pile on the table. Suddenly the performer tells her to stop. She turns up the card last dealt and finds it to be her mental selection. The cards are then handed to the second spectator. She also deals the cards face-down until told to stop. When the last card dealt is turned up it is indeed the second selection. The performer has no knowledge of the selected numbers or the cards, nor does he see the face of a single card until the climax. Method: This double location revolves on the use of a type of key. However, this key is not a card or cards, but rather a number. The principle is fascinating. The deck is unprepared, and may be borrowed, but must contain its complement of fifty-two. You also must form a break under the twenty-sixth card from the top. There are several ways one can obtain this break. After the deck has been shuffled, you can question whether it is complete. To check this, count the cards into a facedown pile, jogging the twenty-sixth card as it is dealt. Then pick up the pack and square it, forming a break above the jog. If you wish, you can do one or two casual overhand shuffles as you talk, maintaining a break at center. To do this, shuffle off to the existent break, injog the next card and shuffle off the balance. Then form a fresh break beneath the jog. If you don't wish to count the cards openly, you can run through the deck to make sure there is no joker. As you do this, secretly count to the twenty-sixth card from the face and downjog it. Then form a break over the jog as you turn the deck face-down and square it. To allay suspicion that you have noted cards while looking through


61

the pack, you can perform one or two overhand shuffles afterward, maintaining the separation as previously explained. Perhaps the most subtle approach though, and the one Mr. Elmsley prefers, is the faro check: When you receive the shuffled deck back from the spectator, give it a casual faro shuffle as you talk. Then split the deck at center for a second shuffle, interlace the packets in a perfect weave to check the accuracy of the cut, then apparently change your mind and abandon the shuffle, stripping the halves apart. Put one half onto the other and catch a break between them. (It is interesting to note that Mr. Elmsley devised the faro check in 1956, and suggested it within the context of this trick in November of that year [ref. Pentagram, Vol. 11, No. 2, p. 12]. In the United States, Edward Mario independently arrived at the same idea, which he published in his booklet, The Faro Shuffle [see pp. 11-12] in 1958. Mr. Elmsley was hardly surprised that this procedure had occurred to others: "It was a fairly obvious idea that anyone who worked with faro weaves would likely think of.") With the break established, hold out the face-down deck and ask someone to cut off a packet of any size she wishes, up to a third of the pack. When she has done so, turn to a second spectator and ask her to do the same, but to try to take a different number of cards (to "make things more interesting"). However, as you turn, casually cut the deck at the break and complete the cut, forming a new break between the transposed packets. Let the second spectator cut off a packet. Again, this shouldn't exceed seventeen cards. Ask both spectators to count the cards in their packets silently, then to put the packets out of sight in their pockets. You turn aside while they do this, and take the opportu-nity to glance at the remaining packet in you hand. Note the location of the break in the packet. Chances are it will be closer to the bottom than the top. If you find it nearer the top, cut the packet at the break and take a fresh break between the portions as you complete the cut. Turn back to the spectators and explain that you wish them to note the card that falls randomly at their number in your packet. Display the faces of the cards to them as you count them one by one, and take each new card under the last to preserve the order. Make it clear that you cannot see the faces of the cards yourself. When you reach the break, remember the number of cards you have counted. This number is the key to locate both selections. (Some performers may find it more comfortable to use a step instead of a break when counting. Just convert the break into a fine rightward step of the upper portion, and keep track of it visually while you count the cards.)

62


Continue to display the cards one by one until you have counted twenty-six. At that point stop and ask if each spectator has a card in mind. Casually place any uncounted cards on top of the packet and square it. If you should find you have fewer than twenty-six cards, casually spread them, form a break under the requisite number of cards to make up the difference, and cut these cards from the top to the bottom of the packet. At this point you may give the packet a false shuffle, retaining its entire order, if you wish. Earlier you will remember having checked the break in the packet to see whether it lay nearer the bottom or the top. If it was nearer the bottom, hand the packet face-down to the first spectator. If it was nearer the top and you cut the packet to adjust for this, now hand the packet face-down to the second spectator. Ask the spectator to deal the cards into a face-down pile on the table. While she does this, secretly count to your key number. When you reach it, stop her. Ask her the name of her mental selection. Then have her turn up the last card dealt; that is, the card that fell at your key number. It will be hers. Pause to let the full effect register. Then have her put her card aside and drop the undealt cards onto the pile. The packet is passed to the other spectator and she is told to deal them face-down until you call stop. Again stop her on the key number. The card resting at that position is the second selection. Have her turn it up and conclude. One fault with the above procedure is that one must count twentysix cards while showing them to the spectators for their selection. Since both spectators were instructed to take no more than a third of the pack (seventeen cards), counting to twenty-six seems zealous on your part, if not illogical. Mr. Elmsley suggests that, when the mental selections are being made, the procedure can be shortened as follows: Instead of counting to twenty-six, stop instead at nineteen or twenty and drop the uncounted cards on top of the packet. Then, as you comment on the impossibility of your knowing which of the cards the spectators have thought of, casually spread the packet and form a break under six or seven cards—enough to bring your count to twenty-six. Close the spread and cut the cards above the break to the bottom of the packet. You may now continue. This accelerated handling can be used to equal benefit in "Brownwaves I" (Volume I, pp. 333-336). Those unhampered by a phobia for crimps will find that, by installing one in the twenty-sixth card from the top and another in the bottom card, the crimps will do the work of breaks while allowing for a freer, more casual handling of the cards throughout the trick. The crimps can be efficiently put in as follows: Corner crimp the bottom card of


63

the deck and do a faro check. Complete the faro check by placing the bottom half on top, centering the crimped card. Corner crimp the card now on the bottom of the pack and you are ready to perform. The effect created is remarkable. The only thing you need do to locate two mental selections under impressive circumstances is to remember one number. In the next trick Mr. Elmsley goes a step further. Rather than locate the cards physically, they are both divined without a question asked. November 1956

BROWNWAVES III Effect: The shuffled pack is divided between two persons, who each further shuffle the cards. They then cut off packets from their portions and hand the performer the unwanted remainders. Each spectator now silently counts the cards he holds and lets no one else know the total. The performer proceeds to display a number of the cards in the balance of the pack, and the two spectators remember the cards that fall at their numbers. Though the performer has no idea of the numbers, and has seen none of the cards displayed, he correctly names both thought-of cards. Method: No preparation is required, but the pack must contain fifty-two cards. Have the cards shuffled and take them back. Then divide the pack in half and present each half to a spectator. The halves must be exact: twenty-six cards each. You can openly count off twenty-six cards, but if you choose to do this it is better to push the cards off in twos and threes when counting, expediting the process while disguising your precise halving of the deck. However, subtler methods for splitting the pack, like a faro check, are to be preferred. Several practical methods are offered in the previous trick, "Brownwaves II". Have the spectators shuffle their halves. Then say to one, "Please cut a packet from your portion. Make it something more than half the cards." Let him keep this packet while you take the smaller balance from him. Turn to the second spectator and tell him, "I want you to cut off a packet too. But I want you to have an amount different from his, to make things more interesting. So cut off something less than half your cards." Take the larger portion from him and slip it under the first spectator's returned cards. Hold a break between the two packets when you square them together. (Having the spectators cut distinctly different amounts is not strictly necessary, but it makes things a bit easier for you, as will be seen, and the request seems a reasonable one.)


65

"Now I want you both to count your cards quietly and remember how many you have. Please don't let me know the numbers. In fact, I'll turn away while you count." Turn to your right and, as they count their cards, tip the packet you hold onto its left edge in preparation for an overhand shuffle, transferring the break to the right thumb. Glance down at the packet and sight the bottom card. Remember it. It will soon be the second spectator's mental selection. Look up again and give the packet a brief shuffle, running single cards and counting them until you reach the break; then throw the balance, the second spectator's portion, on top as a block. The run will be short, as it is confined to the small portion from the first spectator's packet. Remember this number. Execute the shuffle casually, as if you are merely passing the time while the spectators count. You need not look at your hands as you shuffle. It can easily be done by touch alone. Notice that you have turned to the right for a purpose: in this position the faces of the cards are not exposed to the spectators as you shuffle. You now know one card that will be chosen and a number that will lead you to the other selection. When the spectators have finished counting their cards, turn back to the first person. "I will show you some cards and I want you to remember the card that lies at your number. For instance, if you are thinking of one, you would remember this card." Expose the face of the top card of your packet to him. Then lay it facedown on the table. Show him the next card as you count "two". Place this face-down on the first. Continue to show cards, reversing their order, until you have counted twenty-five. At that point say, 'You should have seen your card by now. Do you remember it?...Good." Pick up the twenty-five cards and drop them onto any that may remain in your hand. If you find you hold fewer than twenty-five, you must cut enough cards from the bottom of the packet to the top to compensate for the difference. To do this, pick up the packet and casually spread it as you ask the above question. Catch a break above the desired number of cards and close the spread. Then nonchalantly cut the cards below the break to the top. Turn to the second spectator and ask him to remember the card that falls at his number. Display the cards in your packet to him as you count aloud and place them face-down on the table. Don't lay the cards perfectly square; leave them slightly misaligned. When you reach the number you have remembered, jog that card to the right on the pile. This is the first spectator's selection. Continue to display cards until you have counted about fifteen. Stop at this point and say, "You chose the smaller number, so you should have seen your card by now. Do you remember it?"

66


Pick up the pile and set it onto the undealt balance, without disturbing the jogged card. Then, as you square the cards, push up on the jog with the left fourth-finger and form a break beneath it. "You are both thinking of cards, and the only evidence outside your minds that might provide a clue to your cards lies in the packets you still hold. I want no hints, no matter how tiny, so let's bury those packets in the deck right now." With your right hand, cut off the cards above the break and hold out the lower portion for the return of the spectators' packets. When you have received them, use the backs of your right fingers to tap the inner end of the left hand's cards square. At the same time, glimpse the card at the face of the right hand's packet (Figure 50). This is a natural and unsuspicious action and the glimpse is perfectly disguised by it. Drop the right hand's cards onto the left's and table the deck. From now on, you treat it as if it didn't exist. The card you just sighted is the first spectator's mental selection, and you already know the second selection. The audience believes that you have seen none of the cards from the beginning, and there seems no possible way you could have determined the numbers or the selected cards. All that remains, then, is to name each person's card with as much drama as you can muster. While the procedure might seem a bit complex or mentally demanding on a preliminary reading, there is little to remember: two cards and, for a short time, a small number. This is little enough to ask when one considers the effect this trick must have on an audience. Harry Lorayne is particularly fond of it and asked Mr. Elmsley for permission to include it in Close-Up Card Magic. There Mr. Lorayne described some handling ideas of his own that are worth your consideration (pp. 72-78). May 1957

MULTIPLE MIND READING Effect: Four or more spectators are each given packets of cards from a shuffled deck. They shuffle their packets and remember the top card. They then gather the packets together, in any order, and give the combined cards a cut or two before returning them to the performer. Despite the difficult conditions imposed, on looking quickly through the cards, the performer is able to identify every selection made. Method: The secret of this multiple card divination is cunningly simple. All you need know is the identity of the top six cards of the deck when you start. These can be any six cards in a memorized sequence (such as the Eight Kings or Si Stebbins systems) or any other cards you wish, like the ace through six of diamonds. Since only one card of the six will be seen by a spectator, an obvious grouping will not be discovered. Give the deck a false shuffle, retaining the top six cards; or palm off the stock, have a spectator shuffle the pack, and replace the palmed cards when he has finished. Now hand out four, five or six packets, giving each spectator six cards. The size of the packets is not mentioned. Just casually push off the cards in groups and hand them out. The first person, of course, receives your six memorized cards. Set the unused portion of the pack aside. Have each spectator mix his packet and peek at the card he has shuffled to the top. Then have one of them gather the packets in any order and give the lot one or two straight cuts before he hands the cards to you. If you like, you can give the packet a quick false shuffle at this point. The Charlier false haymow shuffle is well suited to a small packet, and is particularly convincing. Spread the packet, faces toward you. Working from the top to the face, look for one of your memorized cards. This first card is the top card of the first spectator's packet, -and therefore his selection. Counting six cards farther in the spread gives you another selection. Indeed, every sixth card from the first selection is another chosen

68


card. When you reach the face of the spread, continue the count from the face to the top, picturing the packet as an unbroken circle of cards, until you have located all the selections. You can now name the first person's card without a question to him. Unless you were able to remember the order in which the packets were gathered, you will not be able to identify the owners of the other selections. However, a little pumping can quickly resolve the situation. Or you can simply remove all the selections from the packet, ask each person to name his card, and toss it face-up onto the table as it is called. It is wise to reveal the selections in a sequence different from that in which they are ordered in the packet. This disguises their uniform distribution in the packet, and your counting to locate them. A final note: In "Verbum Sapienti" there is described an entertaining bit of by-play (p. 54) that Mr. Elmsley uses to avoid any tendency toward anticlimax as the final selections are dealt with in a series of mental divinations. This same business can be readily adapted to "Multiple Mind Reading", and is worth your attention. September 21, 1957

DOUBLE-CROSS Effect: Someone is asked to think of any card in the deck, along with its natural mate; e.g., the seven of spades and the seven of clubs: the black sevens; or the king of hearts and the king of diamonds: the red kings. The performer shows the spectator groups of cards from a shuffled deck, asking only if he sees one or both of his mental selections in the group. When a selection is spotted, the performer places that group in his jacket pocket. He does the same with the second group containing a selection, placing it in the opposite jacket pocket. He now dives his hands into the pockets and quickly comes out with one card in each hand. The spectator is asked to name his choices for the first time. When the performer displays the faces of cards in his hands they are the very cards thought of. Method: This astonishing location of two mental selections is made possible by the same cross-referencing or "matrixing" concept explained in "Cross-25" [Volume I, pp. 363-365). In that trick the deck was subtly stacked or sorted in front of the audience as part of the presentation. In "Double-cross" the performance procedure is made swifter and more direct by using a preset secret stack. This stack may seem a bit complicated at first, but it is quickly learned and assembled. First remove the red queens from the pack and place them in your wallet. The principle on which this method is based requires a fiftycard deck. However, the queens are not without use, as will be seen. Now sort the remaining fifty cards into two groups: in one, place all the spades and hearts (the major suits); and in the other, place the clubs and diamonds (the minor suits). Take either half and, if it is not already in a reasonably random order, shuffle it. Then arrange the mates in the other half in precisely the same order. That is, if the top card of the first half is a three of spades, set the three of clubs atop the second half; if the second card in the first group is a king

70


of hearts, set the king of diamonds second from the top in the second group; and so on. Next take up the half containing the minor suits, hold it face-down and form five piles of five cards each, dealing from left to right in rotation. Take up the other half pack (containing the major suits) and remove the top five cards without changing their order. Drop these onto the first tabled pile (that on your left). Set the next five cards from the second half onto the second pile, the next five onto the third pile, and so on. You now have five ten-card piles in front of you. Starting at your left, place the first pile onto the second, these onto the third, and continue in this manner until the deck is reassembled. The stack is ready for performance. Ask someone, preferably a card player, to think of any card in the deck, barring the joker. When he has done so, explain that every card has a mate, a card that shares the same value and color. The four of diamonds is the mate to the four of hearts, as they are both red fours. The king of spades is the mate of the king of clubs—black kings. Make sure that your helper clearly understands the idea. Then tell him that you want him to think of two cards: the card he has just pictured in his mind, and its mate. As you explain this to him, casually false shuffle the pack, retaining full-deck order. "I'm going to put the cards in my pockets, then try to find your cards by touch alone. But it takes too long if I use all the pack. Tell me, is either of your cards here?" As you ask this, spread the top ten cards off the pack without making your counting apparent. Hold up the fan of cards, faces toward the spectator and away from you, so that he may see if either of his cards is present. If he says that he sees one, ask him if both of his cards are in the group. For now, assume that he sees only one of the thought-of mates. Next ask him if that card is of a major suit or a minor one. If he is a card player he will likely know the major and minor suits. If he doesn't, quickly define them for him. If he tells you the card is a major suit, close the fan and place these cards into your right-side jacket pocket, faces toward your body. If he says the card is a minor suit, place the packet in your left-side jacket pocket, faces away from your body. (Another way to remember the orientations of the packets is to note that the face of the packet, no matter which pocket it is in, is always turned to your left.) If, however, neither selection is sighted in the first ten-card group, set that group aside and count off another ten cards from the deck. Show ten-card groups to the spectator until both cards have been spotted, and you have a packet in both your right pocket and your left.


71

You must remember only one more simple thing: the number of the group in each pocket. Since there are only five groups, this is not difficult. You now know the positions of both selections. The easiest way to explain this is through example. Let's say the packet in your right pocket was the second group shown; and the packet in your left pocket was the fifth group. This tells you that one of the mates lies atjifth position in the right-hand packet, counting from the outside (the top); and the other mate lies at second position in the left-hand packet, counting from the outside (the face). In other words, the number of the packet defines the position of the selection in the opposite packet. If the right-hand packet is group x, the selection in the left-hand packet rests x cards from the outside; and if the lefthand packet is group y, the selection in the right-hand packet rests y cards from the outside. (Mr. Elmsley finds that counting cards in the pocket is easier if done from the outside—the side farthest from the body—so he has arranged the packets to accommodate this.) After locating the proper cards in each pocket, bring them forth, backs toward the audience, and ask the spectator to tell everyone which two cards he is thinking of. Then turn the cards you hold faces outward, providing overwhelming evidence that your supersensitive fingers have served you in an extraordinary manner. The above scenario is the one you will most often encounter. There are, though, six exceptions that can occur. Having come this far, don't grow faint-hearted now. Each of these exceptions is even easier to handle than the procedure just taught. There are five sets of mates in the deck that will appear in the same ten-card group; each of the five groups contains one set of mates. If you are told that both selections are seen in the same group, split the fan in half, placing the top five (major suit) cards in your right pocket, faces inward, and the bottom five (minor suit) cards in your left pocket, faces outward. The number of the group once more tells you the locations of both cards. If the group is the third shown, one selection lies at third position from the outside of each packet. Note that the rules for positioning the cards in the pockets and the rule for locating the selections are identical to the previous procedure. There is nothing new to remember. That coversfiveof the exceptions. But what of the sixth? The sixth exception arises when the spectator fails to see either of his cards in the deck. If this occurs, you immediately know that he has thought of the red queens—which you have in your wallet. This circumstance, by the way, will occur far more than one time in twenty-six; for the red queens are among the most popular cards

72


picked when a layman is asked to think of a card. That is why those cards are placed in the wallet. It is surely unnecessary to explain your course of action should you find yourself in this enviable position.

LIKE A ROLLING BONE Effect: The performer hands someone a die and asks that it be thrown several times to assure that it is normal. He then turns his back while he issues the following instructions: "This time the throw counts. Please shake the die and toss it. I realize that there are still skeptics who might suspect the die is loaded in some way to come up with a special number only when I want it to. You and I both know this is impossible, but to avoid arguments, I want you to follow some randomizing procedures that would defeat any type of loaded die conceivable. Don't tell me the number you've just shaken. However, do do this: "If that number is odd, tip the die forward, one turn away from you; but if the number on top is even, tip the die back, one turn toward you. "Now turn the die forward once—then once to the right. "If the number now on top is odd, tip the die one turn forward; but if the number on top is even, tip the die backward one turn. "Turn the die forward once—then once to the right. "Now look at the numbers on top and on the side nearest you. If those numbers are both odd or both even, tip the die one turn forward. "Note the number now on top of the die. Whatever that number is, turn the die that many times, alternating the direction of the turns, first forward, then to the right, then forward, and so on. "I think everyone will agree that I could have no idea what number is now up on that die. You shook it, you turned it randomly. I have had my back to you the entire time and I can have no idea what numbers were being turned from start to finish. I've asked nothing, you've told me nothing. Do you see my business card sitting on the corner of the table? What number is now up on the die? Four? Please turn over my card." The spectator does so and finds written on the back of the card the number four.

74


Method: The die is unprepared, you truthfully have no idea what number is up on the die until the very last, and there are no "outs". This test can actually be done over the telephone with a borrowed die. The number is forced. If you get out a normal die of Western configuration—that is, one spotted as shown in Figure 51—and work through the instructions given above, you must end with the four up. Here is an outline of the necessary moves: 1) Throw the die. 2) If the top number is odd, turn the die forward once; but if the top number is even, turn the die backward once. 3) Turn the die once forward, then once rightward. 4) Repeat 2. 5) Repeat 3. 6) If the numbers on the top and near side of the die are both odd or both even, tip the die one turn forward. 7) Using the number now on top, tip the die alternately forward and rightward that many turns. The number now on top is four. Further, the number on the left side is five and the number on the near side is six. Thus, the numbers on all six sides are known to you at the end of the procedure. This knowledge may lead to further applications. Here is an analysis of what takes place: At the end of Step 2 the far side of the die must bear an odd number. Step 3 moves that odd number to the left side of the die. With Step 4 the original odd number is maintained at the left side, and a second odd number is positioned on the far side of the die. Step 5 moves the first odd number to the top of the die, and the second odd number to the left side. Step 6 assures that the three odd numbers are positioned at the top, far and left sides of the die. And from this position the turns prescribed in Step 7 will always deliver the four to the top. You can vary the outcome by reversing the directions of the turns in Steps 2 and 4. That is, if the top number is odd, turn the die


75

backward once; but if it is even, turn the die forward once. When Step 7 is completed, a six will be on top, a four on the left and a five nearest the spectator. Mr. Elmsley suggests that if one went to the trouble of obtaining misspotted dice, on which the positions of the two and three were transposed, those dice could be handed to other spectators, who would work through the procedure along with the spectator holding the correctly spotted die. The misspotted dice will yield different end numbers, further convincing everyone that the outcome is truly random. Those who enjoy such ingenious maneuvers as that just explained will be interested in a related idea by Karl Fulves: "Logic Dice" (ref. Pallbearers Review, Vol. 10, No. 12, Oct. 1975, p. 1058). And one last note: David Michael Evans suggests that an effective combination can be routined by first performing Bob Hummer's "Moon Die Mystery" (ref. Hummer's Three Pets or Fulves' Collected Tricks of Bob Hummer, pp. 15-17), then "Like a Rolling Bone". Or, if working over the phone, begin with Henry Christ's "Tele-dice" (ref. Fulves' Closeup Folio No. 11, pp. 11-12), following with the Elmsley trick.

FAILURE Effect: Someone is handed the pack to shuffle while she thinks of a number between one and ten. Then, while the performer turns away, the spectator notes the card that lies at her mentally chosen number. When she is finished, the performer takes the deck from her and shuffles it to destroy any possible clue. He then asks the spectator to concentrate on her number, and while she does this he quickly removes a card from the deck. This he places face-down on the table. She now concentrates on her chosen card. Again the performer removes a card from the pack. The spectator is asked to announce the number she mentally selected. The performer turns up his first card. Its value—often—matches the spectator's chosen number. She then names her thought-of card. The performer turns up his second card. It—always—is the selection. If your self-esteem can endure the possibility of a minor failure to achieve a major success, proceed. Method: Once the spectator has shuffled the deck, thought of a number between one and ten, and noted the card at that number, take the deck from her. Give it a brief false shuffle, retaining the tencard stock intact on top. As you finish the shuffle, glimpse the bottom card and cut about fifteen cards from the bottom to the top of the pack. This places the stock just above center in the deck and bestows a convincing appearance of fairness. Ask the spectator to concentrate on her number. Counterfeit a seizure of telepathy and search quickly through the pack for the first seven you can find, while keeping the faces to yourself. Remove it and lay it face-down before you on the table. The only caveat here is to shun any seven lying among the ten cards of the selection bank. Express some uncertainty about the accuracy of your choice, but press onward to the more taxing task of divining the card itself. Square the pack and request that the spectator shift her thoughts to the card she noted. Run through the pack again, spreading from


77

the face. This time locate your key card, which you know lies approximatelyfifteencards from the top. You also know that the selection bank rests directly in front of it. Having found the key, silently count three cards backward, toward the face of the pack; that is, count three cards into the selection stock. Downjog that third card. Continue to count in the same direction to the seventh card of the stock and remove it from the deck. Lay this card face-down beside the first tabled card. Close the spread into the left hand and turn the deck face-down there. Square it, pressing down with the right thumb on the injogged card as you push it flush, and form a left fourth-finger break above it. You have just committed yourself to a calculated guess—a very sound one. You are gambling that the spectator thought of the number seven, a common choice when one is restricted to numbers between one and ten. However, should your subject prove stubbornly independent, you have also prepared a means for salvation. Cleanly place the second tabled card square onto the deck. Lay the first card over that. Remind the audience that the card now on top represents your guess at the mentally chosen number. Ask the spectator to reveal to everyone the number she selected. If she says "Seven," turn up the top card, then the next, and join in the general amazement at your extraordinary fortune. This is the most pleasant of possible outcomes, and it will occur far more often than one time in eight. Yet, what course do you take when a less welcome choice of number has been announced. First, you gracefully admit your failure to receive the number telepathically. "That's a pity. I got only a vague impression of a number and I wasn't at all certain it was coming from you." As you deftly wriggle from your predicament, use the time gained to adjust your fourth-finger break, if necessary, moving it below the selection in the deck. The break has been created just below the second card of the selection bank. Through the old ruse of asking for a number between one and ten, you have prevented the spectator from thinking of the first and tenth cards. If the number chosen was two, the break is retained without adjustment. If it is something other than two, you must pull down with the tip of the left fourth finger and riffle off the necessary number of cards to arrive at the selection. The absolute worst circumstance is that the number nine is selected, in which case you must riffle off only six cards. Remember, you have removed the seventh card of the stock, and therefore must skip seven if you riffle to the eighth card or the ninth.

78


Having moved the break below the selection, you now perform Bill Simon's cover for the side steal (ref. Effective Card Magic, pp. 112-114): While steadying the deck from above with the right hand, dig the tip of the left fourth finger into the break and push the card above it about an inch to the right. This is the standard preliminary for the side steal. With the left fingertips, push the card a bit farther to the right (Figure 52, exposed from beneath), until you can grip it firmly between the tip of the right fourth finger and the heel of the palm. With your left thumb, push the top card of the pack about an inch to the right and grasp it between the right second finger, which is at the outer end, and the right thumb, which stretches across the inner end. The top card _ should lie half under the right palm and half exposed (Figure 53). Move the right hand a few inches to the right, carrying the top card away and stripping the selection from the center of the pack (Figure 54, left hand moved to expose the condition of the cards). This is performed as an indicatory gesture as you say, "The top card was my guess at your number." Set the card back onto the deck, while secretly squaring the stolen card below it. Turn up the top card and display the seven.


79

"I got the feeling you were thinking of seven. I was obviously on the wrong track." Toss the seven aside. "However, my impressions of the card you were thinking of were very clear. I had one chance in ten of hitting your number. The odds of picking your card are one in fifty-two. But people often find it easier to project an image than they do an abstract concept like a number. What card did you think of?" This barrage of rationalization is aimed toward the balloon of your failure, with the intention of bursting it with the more impressive success of having found the card. Very fairly take the top card of the deck into the right hand and wait for it to be named. Then dramatically turn it up. With a little prompting you can be almost invariably assured of having someone in the group admit they had thought of the number seven. Suddenly it becomes clear. Their thoughts overwhelmed those of the spectator and led you on a false path. However, it may be best to let the matter be, allowing it to sink into the sea of forgetfulness. Note that Mr. Elmsley cuts the selection bank to a deeper position in the pack, as explained above, to aid in the execution of the covered side steal. The sleight is more difficult if the card to be stolen is too near the top. June 12, 1953

AUTO-PREDICTION Effect: Each of three persons is asked to choose a playing card. To speed the selection process, which is designed to assure random choices, roughly half the deck is discarded and the remaining half is used. Each person in turn deals the packet into two piles, peeks at the top card of either group and drops the other pile on top to bury the selection. When all three spectators have chosen a card, the performer brings another playing card from his pocket. This, he explains, is a prediction. He turns the card around, exposing its face. Clearly written there are the names of three cards—the very three cards just chosen by chance. Method: Mr. Elmsley came to devise this trick while contemplating the possibilities of Hofzinser's classic plot, "Remember and Forget", as a presentational avenue for improving the appearance of a simple one-out-of-two choice. Nothing of the Austrian genius' presentation remains in "Auto-prediction", but it was the spark that fired its creation. Elect twenty-one cards to serve as your selection bank. They can be any cards, though they should represent a random selection of suits and values. The only other restriction is that eight of these cards must sport a fair amount of blank space at their centers: twos, fours, sixes and sevens. Arrange the twenty-one cards into a random-looking order, but place the eight blank-centered cards at positions six through thirteen from the top of the packet. Make a list of the order you have settled on. This serves as a reference when you need to restack the setup. The white space in the centers of cards six through thirteen serves as space to write eight different predictions. The names of three cards from the packet are written in each of these (Figure 55). The predictions are restricted to the centers of the cards, permitting the

HIDDEN THOUGHTS AND FUTURE DEEDS f>

55

6 o Tl

11 A A9 -i Card No. 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13

81

packet to be fanned and displayed without exposing the writing. Each of the eight prediction cards bears the names of cards at particular positions, and these are listed in a particular order. The chart at the right shows how the cards are prepared. The cards in the first column are the eight prediction-bearing cards. The three cards in the second column are written on the face of the card in the first column. These are listed in the order the names must appear. Cards in both columns are identified by the positions they hold in the packet, counting from top to face.

Names Written 21 - 3 - 18 20 - 4 - 19 21 - 1 -20 20 - 2 -21 21 - 3 - 14 20 - 4 - 15 21 - 1 - 16 20 - 2 - 17

Once the eight predictions have been prepared, stack the twentyone cards in the order you have chosen. One last bit of preparation: make the bottom card of the packet a corner short. Place this packet on top of the deck and you are ready to perform. Bring out the deck and give it a casual false shuffle, preserving the top stock. Then thumb riffle down the corner of the deck to the corner short and cut off the twenty-one-card setup. Set the rest of the pack aside. Fan the packet and display it briefly, fronts and backs, as you explain that you will use only half the deck to speed things up. Close the fan and hand the packet, face-down, to your first helper. Have him deal cards alternately into two face-down piles, until the packet has been divided in half. Then ask him to peek at the top card of either pile he likes and remember the card. When he has done this, have him bury his selection by dropping the other packet onto it. Finally have him hand the reassembled packet to a second person.

82


This spectator performs the same actions, dividing the packet into two piles, noting the top card of one and burying it. The packet is passed to a third person, who chooses a card in an identical fashion. If you believe the three spectators can carry out your instructions correctly, you can turn your back as the selections are made. However, wisdom suggests that you monitor their actions to avoid errors and misunderstandings. Only after all three spectators have made their choices do you touch the packet. Retrieve it and casually cut the top two cards to the bottom. Do not flash the bottom of the packet before or after the cut, as one of the prediction cards rests there. The cut has brought to the bottom of the packet the precise card that bears the names of the three cards just peeked at, listed in the order they were chosen. Palm this card from the packet and pretend to remove it from your pocket, back outward. Explain that the card carries a prediction you made hours before. Ask each spectator to name his card, starting with the first and working to the last. Then turn over the card you hold, and reveal the written names. The card now on the bottom of the packet is unprepared and its face can be casually flashed as you place the packet onto the discarded portion of the pack. When alone, you can reset the packet without referring to your written list by following this procedure: Return the prediction card to either the top or the bottom of the packet. Then deal the cards alternately into two face-down piles. Set either pile onto the other and repeat this procedure twice. When you have reassembled the packet for the third time, cut the corner-shorted card to the bottom and the packet will be restored to its original order. In 1982 Phil Goldstein and Stewart James published some interesting ideas based on the principle used in "Auto-Prediction". These can be found in Mr. Goldstein's booklet, Thunday (see "Cumulative", pp. 5-6, and "Cuemulat4e", pp. 7-8). In the next trick this principle is applied to a small packet of design cards. March 1958

DIVINA-SIGN Effect: A packet of eight symbol cards is displayed and mixed. In turn, each of three spectators deals the packet into two face-down piles, peeks at the top card of either and buries it by dropping the other pile on top. The performer turns his back throughout the period of selection. When all three helpers have a symbol in mind, the performer puts the packet away and, without a question, successfully tells each of the three which symbol is being mentally pictured. Method: Eight design cards must be made. They can be drawn on index cards, business cards or blank-faced playing-card stock. The eight designs that Mr. Elmsley uses are these:

In Figure 56, beneath each of the designs is a number. These numbers do not appear with the designs on the cards. Though the designs and numbers need not be memorized, should one wish to do so, designs have been chosen that subtly suggest their corresponding number. 1 = a single zigzag line. 2 = two wavy lines. 3 = a triangle; three lines. 4 = a square; four lines. 5 = a square with a diagonal line through it; five lines. 6 = a figure 2 with lines through it; this suggests the curves of a six. 7 = an arrow; a straight line with a cap, like a 7. 8 = the circle; one half of the figure 8.

84


These numeric equivalents of the designs can be memorized in one or two readings. The backs of the cards are secretly marked to indicate their values. The method of marking will depend on the back design and must be left to individual preference. You also will need an envelope in which to carry the cards. On the back of this envelope, write the cue chart shown at the right. For those who wish to work without a cue chart, the eight sequences can be memorized with relative ease by converting the designs to their corresponding numbers, and making a mnemonic phrase for each, using one of the number-consonant alphabets, such as that taught by Nikola in his card system (see Encyclopedia of Card Tricks, Hugard revision, p. 387). Stack the eight cards from top to face in the order given in Figure 56. Slip the packet into the envelope and your preparation is complete. When ready to perform, remove the cards from the envelope, without exposing the cue chart on the back, and set it aside. Display the designs on the cards; then turn the packet face-down and give it a false shuffle that retains the order. The Charlier false haymow shuffle serves the purpose well. When the shuffling is completed, cut the packet to bring the card marked 2 back to the top. Or, rather than use the Charlier shuffle, you can give the packet three reverse out-faro shuffles to bring it back to its original order. That is, spread through the packet, outjogging every other card, starting with the second; then strip the outjogged cards as a block from the rest and place them underneath. Hand the packet to the first spectator and explain what is expected of him and the others. When you turn your back he is to deal the cards alternately into two face-down piles. He is then to peek at the top card of either pile, remember it and bury it by dropping the other pile on top. The second person is to do the same; then the third. When they have finished, turn back to them, pick up the facedown packet and slip it into its envelope. As you do this, read the back of the top card and check that number in the cue chart on the envelope. The three symbols following the number are the chosen designs, presented in the order of their selection. Put the envelope away and divine each person's thoughts, making as dramatic a show as possible in the process. You can do this either verbally or with pad and pen. Here are a few shortcuts for resetting the packet: If Symbol Number 1 is found on top, all you need do is reverse the order of


85

the cards to bring the packet back to its original arrangement. If Symbol Number 2 is on top, no adjustment is necessary. If Symbol Number 8 is uppermost, cut the top four cards to the bottom of the packet to bring it back to its original order. If you have committed the numeric equivalents of the eight symbols to memory, you can disguise the cue chart by writing the numbers instead of the symbols on the envelope, creating eight fourdigit figures. Should anyone get a glimpse of this, the chart would be meaningless to them. It looks as if you have merely jotted down some figures on the envelope, or done some calculations. The marked backs on the cards can be eliminated, if you wish. Instead of using the back of the top card to cue the chosen designs, you can glimpse the face of the bottom card. Mr. Elmsley suggests that an effective method of learning the bottom card would be the old idea of glimpsing the face through a handkerchief (ref. Roterberg's New Era Card Tricks, p. 191): When the three selections have been made, turn around and open a white pocket handkerchief over your palm-up hand. Have the last spectator place the face-down packet of design cards onto the center of the handkerchief. Then gather the corners of the handkerchief around the packet and twist them together, drawing the center of the handkerchief tightly around the cards. In doing this, you can easily catch a glimpse of the face of the packet—the bold black design can be perceived through the taut cloth. Hand the wrapped packet to a spectator and proceed to divine the chosen designs. Since you are using the bottom card for information, rather than the top card, your cue list must be suitably altered, as shown at the right. Over time Mr. Elmsley devised many presentations built upon the "Auto-prediction" principle. Here is another of them, called...

A CARD FROM CAGLIOSTRO Eight postcards are needed: ones that picture famous locations. You should be able to identify the pictures easily from a moderate distance. Construct a cue list equivalent to the first one given in "DMna-sign", but substitute the eight pictures on your set of cards for the designs. You will need another eight postcards as well. Their pictures can be of anything. These will constitute a prediction-card index, each bearing a handwritten message such as:

86


£oatfadto hear that (too/0 h-iends are mob/no, a toar off Parope, (heau/w U r a the leaning Jocoer dfisa, the Arc de Triomphe and

oad

Udoon

louieri

These eight cards cover the eight outcomes made possible by the selection procedure. Arrange them in a known order, in one or several pockets, so that you can quickly produce any one of them as required. The rest is straightforward. Hand the stack of eight selection cards, pictures uppermost, to someone and explain the procedure for choosing one. Then turn your back while three selections are made. When you again face the audience, catch a glimpse of the top card on the stack. This picture tells you which of the eight prediction cards you must produce to conclude the effect in an impressive manner. Given the above information, it will be understood that your cue list, whether written or memorized, can be greatly simplified for this presentation, as each postcard in the selection set cues the appropriate prediction postcard in your pocket (or pockets), eliminating the need to list the three chosen locations.

AUSSI-MENTAL Effect: A packet of cards is cut from the deck and handed to someone, This person is asked to deal through the packet face-down, eliminating cards until he holds only two. He peeks at either of these he likes and adds the two cards to the rest of the packet. He then hands the packet to someone else. The second person executes the same elimination and selection process, and passes the packet to a third party, who repeats the procedure. When all three persons have a selection in mind, the performer, who has not touched the cards from beginning to end, neatly divines all three cards being thought of. Method: Here is another variant of "Auto-prediction". "Aussimental" was developed to exploit the special properties of the Australian deal. The packet employed contains eleven cards. Four of these must be known to you: the sixth, seventh, eighth and eleventh from the top. The easiest way to manage this is to prearrange four easily remembered cards, such as the first four cards of a Si Stebbins stack: ace of clubs, four of hearts, seven of spades, ten of diamonds. Install a convex bridge at the inner end of the face-down eleven-card packet and place it on top of the deck. When ready to perform, give the deck a false shuffle, retaining the eleven-card stock on top. Then casually cut off the bridged packet and set the deck aside. Hand the packet to someone and have them perform an under-down deal (duck the top card, deal the second to the table, etc.) until he holds only two cards. Invite him to peek at either card and remember it. Once this has been done, have him lay the chosen card on top of the tabled pile and slip the rejected card to the bottom. Ask the spectator to pass the packet to someone else. Have the second spectator repeat this procedure to select a second card. When finished, she passes the packet to a third person, who follows the same course.

88


The three selections made in this fashion will be three of the four cards you have memorized. With the smallest bit of fishing you can quickly discover which card each spectator is thinking of and reveal it in an assured manner. If each of the four memorized cards is of a different suit, as in the Si Stebbins arrangement mentioned above, you can start by stating that someone is thinking of a club. When one of the spectators admits to this, you can immediately name the value. If no one thought of a club, recognize your error. "It is clearer now. It isn't a club, but a spade." If none is thinking of a club, one of the three has to have chosen the spade, and the other two the heart and diamond. Using this system, you need never falter more than once in your divination of the three cards. Mr. Elmsley has also performed this trick with a packet of eleven design cards, choosing for the four memorized designs ones that had easy mnemonic links to the numbers one through four. (See p. 81 for suitable examples.) Efficient pumping sequences are easily devised, using the inherent lines, curves and angles in the four memorized designs.

ANIMAL, VEGETABLE AND MINERAL Effect: A pack of children's picture cards is displayed. On them are simple representations of birds and beasts, plants and famous structures. These objects, it is pointed out, can be classified as either animal, vegetable or mineral. "We are going to play a game of Twenty Questions," announces the performer, "with variations. In Twenty Questions, one usually tries to guess one object at a time. I shall attempt to guess three, all at the same time. That is the first variation. The second variation makes things even more difficult for me: I shall not ask twenty questions; instead I shall ask only one question for each of the three objects. Let's try a game." Three other players are recruited. We shall assume these players to be Aleister, Leila and Raoul. The picture cards are mixed and handed to Aleister. The performer then turns his back and keeps it turned for the balance of the demonstration. "Aleister, will you please turn the deck over so that everyone can see the faces of the cards, and will you give the deck a cut. Now deal the cards into three hands before Leila. "Leila, please choose one of the three hands and sweep the others aside. Now cut the cards you have kept and deal them into three more hands before Raoul. "Raoul, now it's your turn. Please pick up one of the hands before you and discard the others. Do you have one? How many cards does it contain? Three. All right. Please let Aleister choose one of your cards, then Leila, and keep the last for yourself. Tell me when you each have a card. "We're now ready for our game of Twenty Questions. Aleister, is your object animal, vegetable or mineral? Mineral? Fine. Leila, the same question: animal, vegetable or mineral? Another mineral? Good. And Raoul? Animal. Those are the three questions I'm allowed.

90


Now I must try to guess the object each of you is thinking of. Please form a vivid picture of your object in your mind. "I'm getting an image of a noble face, but something is wrong with the nose. Also, the face is human but the body is that of a beast— a lion. It is not a living creature. It is a massive stone sculpture. Is one of you thinking of the sphinx at Memphis? That's you, Aleister, is it? Good. Leila and Raoul, please continue concentrating on your objects. I'll try Leila first, so Raoul, control your animal thoughts for a moment. "Leila, I see many buildings, tall ones, straight-sided and full of windows. There is much traffic and noise below them and water nearby; all around, in fact. It's an island with an astonishing number of skyscrapers. Is it New York City you're thinking of? Very good! "Raoul, your animal now. It walks on land, four footed, or perhaps I should say hoofed. Raoul, you're thinking of a pig, aren't you? Thank you, all!" Method: Underpinning this strong effect is an ingenious application of the Mutus-Nomen-Dedit-Cocis principle. The picture deck contains twenty-seven cards, nine animals, nine vegetables and nine minerals. Mr. Elmsley assembled his deck from three separate packs sold for children's card games: one of animals, one of flowers and, for minerals, famous landmarks of the world. (A specially printed set of picture cards has been marketed for this trick, with subjects selected to introduce added humor to the presentation. As I write, these sets of cards, complete with instructions, are available from the Supreme Magic Company in England.) To teach the trick, I will list the objects in Mr. Elmsley's deck. However, the twenty-seven objects given are not binding. Any objects may be used that fall recognizably into the three categories. If different game decks must be plundered to piece together the required Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Deck, differing back patterns need not be a concern, as the cards are handled face-up and, at any rate, you have your back turned throughout the proceedings. Then, you could forgo picture cards altogether, and simply write the names of the objects on blank card stock. The secret of this triple divination lies in an ingenious organization of the cards. The objects in the pack consist of nine triplets. Columns 2, 3 and 4 in each row of the chart on the facing page contain one of the triplets. To set up the deck for performance, assemble the cards into nine triplets as shown in the chart. The sequence of the cards in each triplet is inconsequential. Gather the triplets in any order and deal the twenty-seven cards into three piles, as if dealing three nine-card


91

2

3

4

LAMB

GOOSE

CHICKEN

COWSLIP

ORCHID

EIFFEL TOWER

STATUE OF LIBERTY

TOWER OF LONDON

AAV

DONKEY

GOAT

DAISY

AAM

Cow

DOG

TUT'S TOMB

WA

ROSE

CARNATION

DUCK

DAFFODIL

SUNFLOWER

PARTHENON

MMA

NEW YORK CITY

SPHINX

PIG

1 MMV

TAJ MAHAL

TOWER OF PISA

[ 1 AAA VW MMM

WM

VIOLET

WATER LILY

1

J

J 4r

hands. Then assemble the three piles in any order. This quick dealing process sets the cards in each triplet nine apart. To begin the performance, bring out the picture deck and explain its makeup. The nature of the setup is not jeopardized by straight cuts. Therefore, after displaying the deck, you can give it a casual series of cuts, overhand-shuffle style, or a Charlier false shuffle, which looks haphazard but merely cuts the pack. Straddle faro shuffles of either the in or out variety also maintain the setup, but Mr. Elmsley recommends the shuffles first mentioned, as they are more casual in appearance than faro weaves. Follow the false shuffle with one or two straight cuts and hand the pack to the first spectator. Turn your back and give the instructions detailed under effect; i.e., have him turn the pack face-up, give it a cut and deal it into three nine-card hands. (The setup, incidentally, operates successfully whether the cards are dealt face-up or face-down, from left to right or right to left. This ensures that minor errors in dealing procedure will not abort the effect.) Have the second spectator choose one of these piles, give it a cut and deal it into three three-card hands. Then have the third spectator pick up one of the fresh piles and distribute it among the three of them. Thanks to the setup, the three cards being held will constitute one of your original triplets. All you require to identify it are the categories of the three objects. Each of the triplets is unique in its construction. One contains three animals, one three vegetables, one two minerals and one animal, etc. The key to identifying each of the triplets lies in Column 1 of the above chart. A = Animal, V = Vegetable and M = Mineral. Therefore, if your spectators tell you they are thinking of two animals and a vegetable, they must be holding the donkey, the goat and the daisy, for this is the only triplet that

92


contains two animals and a vegetable. Naturally, the order in which the objects are given to you will vary. For instance, VAA, AAV and AVA all refer to the same triplet. It is the distribution of categories, not the order, that is important. To identify the proper group, you must either memorize the list of nine triplets (not that hard a task), or you can refer to a crib sheet bearing the chart. Since your back is turned to everyone, this is easily done. A little pumping will quickly determine who has which object. The classifications of animal, vegetable and mineral are particularly good choices, as they are familiar to everyone. However, Mr. Elmsley's trick is easily adaptable to other subjects. For example, one might construct an entertaining presentation with cards from popular adult games such as Trivial Pursuit or Pictionary. Such variations are rich in possibility. Phil Goldstein recently published a variant method for "Animal, Vegetable and Mineral" as clever in its own right as the original. This appears as "Q&AVM" in Mr. Goldstein's booklet, Thequal (pp. 9-11). The interested reader will want to study it. July 1973

THE OCTAL PENCIL Effect: A spectator is handed a special pencil that has a series of six numbers printed on each of its eight sides (Figure 57, next page). These numbers are all different and some are printed in red, others in black. The spectator is told to choose any one of the sides of the pencil he wishes and to call out only the colors of the numbers there. However, as he does so, he is to lie about the color of one of the six numbers. This number is his choice as well. The performer turns away from him, making visual cues impossible, and listens to the spectator's recitation of colors. Then, though no numbers have been mentioned, the performer correctly names the number at the miscalled color. The feat can be repeated with unvarying success. Method: This astonishing effect is based on an ingenious mathematical arrangement that Mr. Elmsley calls a "liar's matrix". Consider the following eight sequences:

O-O- I - I - I-O I - O - I - I - I-O O- I - O - O - I - O I - I -O - I - O - I O-O-I-O-O-I I _ o - I -O - O -I O- I - O - I - O - I I . i - o - O - I-O Examination will show that each of these sequences is unique. More interesting still, if you transform any single element in any one of the sequences from an I to an O or vice versa, that sequence remains unique. Other such matrices can be constructed, but we will work with the one above. Next, octal notation must be explained. It is a simple idea. You will probably have noticed that the sequences shown are built in the

94


6

16

46

12

52

14

54

I 20

Jl 25

45

61

§7

64

w

n

10

41

ii

50

21

22

42

00

binary digits of Is and Os. With the age of personal computers fully arrived, binary mathematics is recognized by a much larger population than it was a few years ago. Hence, the following binary notation for the numbers 0 through 7 may already be familiar.

000 001

= 0 =1

OIO = 2 Oil = 3

IOO = 4 IOI = 5

IIO = 6 III = 7

If binary notation is new to you, the logical progression of these eight binary numbers can be quickly understood, and they are easily


95

memorized. Now, let's analyze the first of the sequences in our liar's matrix: O-O-I-I-I-O. These six digits, or "bits", can be split into two binary numbers: the first three bits, O-O-I; and the last three bits, I-I-O. O-O-I = 1 and I-I-O = 6. 1-6 = 16. 16 is the octal notation for this sequence. Octal is nothing more than a simple shorthand for bit patterns. Here are several more examples: I-O-I-I-I-O = 56 in octal O-I-O-O-I-O = 22 in octal I-I-O-I-O-I = 65 in octal It is important that you understand the octal system, as this trick and the two subsequent ones rely on it. Now to the trick itself. The eight series of numbers the spectator finds on the pencil handed him are shown in Figure 57. The outline numbers in italic are printed in red and the solid numbers in black. An eight-sided pencil or pen is required to hold all these numbers. In the States, at least, six-sided pencils are more common, and the trick can be done with six sequences of numbers, rather than eight. The reason for placing the numbers on a pencil, aside from novelty, is that there is an observable pattern in the formation of the numbers in these sequences. Within each row, the second digit of the first three numbers is the same; as is the first digit of the last three numbers. It is unlikely that these regularities would be perceived unless the spectator were given enough time to examine the sequences closely. However, by wrapping the sequences around a pencil, this element of the matrix is made more difficult to discover. If the preparation of such a pencil is not appealing to you, the eight number sequences can instead be written one on each side of four blank cards. Hand the pencil or cards to someone and ask him to decide on one of the eight series of numbers, letting no one else know which it is. He is then to choose one of the six numbers in that series. Turn your back as he does this and have him recite just the colors of his chosen numbers, reading from left to right. But as he does this, he is to lie about the color of his chosen number. "If it is red, say it is black; if black, say it is red. Don't, however, get carried away and tell me the number is green or purple. Since everyone knows the numbers are all either red or black, it would take no special powers to recognize your lie. Try to make your lie as difficult to detect as possible." This precaution against a predictable jest is necessary, as such a fledgling attempt at humor by the spectator can only diminish the desired effect.

96


Astonishingly, it is the spectator's lie that identifies the chosen number for you. As an example, assume he calls out, "Black, red, red, black, black, red." Your reply: "Ah, the subtle overtones in your voice tell my trained ear that you were lying about the number forty-six." How do you know? Think of black as I and red as O in binary. The sequence BLACK-RED-RED-BLACK-BLACK-RED just called out translates into I-O-O-I-I-O. If this is converted to octal, it becomes 46, the very number he lied about. I-O-O = 4 and I-I-O = 6. Here are several more examples: BLACK-RED-BLACK-RED-RED-BLACK = 51 RED-RED-RED-BLACK-RED-BLACK = 5 BLACK-BLACK-BLACK-RED-BLACK-RED = 72 By recording the sequence on your fingers as it is called out, your mental work will be made easier. Simply use the first three fingers of the left hand for the first three colors, and the corresponding fingers of the right hand for the second three colors. Bend the finger into the palm to signify red, and leave it extended for black. Since your back is turned, this ticking off of the colors won't be observed. Concerning the liar's matrix employed in this trick, Mr. Elmsley comments: "I consider myself to be a very good programer of the second class. I keep inventing wonderful techniques, and then discover that someone else has already invented them (but I'm catching up with him). "Not long after inventing the liar's matrix I discovered that a man named Hamming had been there first, a long time before. Hamming codes are widely used in the main stores of computer mainframes as a sophisticated security mechanism. If a store failure causes a single-bit error, it cannot only be detected, but corrected in flight— because the erroneous bit can be identified. "I worked out the liar's matrix by trial and error. Later I read an article on Hamming codes that gave the mathematical analysis and a general method for their construction. "All the same, I invented the liar's matrix all by myself!" With the method of the "Octal Pencil" understood, a step can be taken to divorce the presentation from numbers, completely obscuring the mathematical basis of the method. This is done in the next trick. 1980

VERBUM VERITAS Effect: The performer hands someone a card bearing forty-eight words. The words are arranged in eight rows of six words each, with some words in black ink, others in red. It is explained that these are words selected by a team of psychologists. The sound, arrangement and colors of the words are designed to produce a reaction in the subject that makes it impossible for him or her to lie convincingly. However, only a specially trained ear can detect the dishonesty in the subject's voice. The spectator is invited to pit her ability as a good liar against the performer's expertise. She chooses any word on the card she likes, letting no one else know her choice. She then recites aloud only the colors of the words in the row occupied by her word. When she does this, she is told to lie as convincingly as possible about the color of her word. The performer listens to her reading of the six colors. He then smiles, shakes his head and, without a question, correctly names the chosen word. Method: As promised, this is an extension of the trick "Octal Pencil". The card the spectator is given looks like this:

Fop Mop Soup Lion Lyre Lad Lobby Tap Rope Fan Fair Fate Pan Sun Moon Nap Nose Gnome Knife Roof Taffy Pail Pet Pear File Mill Sail Loaf Lamb Lass Lily Tale Rail Fife Fame Face Puff Safe Muff Nail Net Norway Nun Rain Tin Pop Peas Poem Those words in italic are printed in red, the others in black. Though it may not be recognizable, this matrix of words corresponds precisely with the number matrix used in the previous trick. The

98


numbers have simply been converted into words. This has been accomplished through a common mnemonic system. Since the Nikola card system is widely known to magicians, it has been adapted to our purposes. Those familiar with the Nikola system will recognize that many of the words on the card represent numbers in the Nikola list. Each digit is transformed to a consonant that has been chosen for easy association with the number it represents: 1=1 (one vertical line) 2 = n (two vertical lines) 3 = m (three vertical lines) 4 = r (last letter in four) 5 = f or v (both contained in five) 6 = p or b (related in shape) 7 = t or d (with a stretch of imagination, also related in shape) 8 = sh or ch (link eight with aitch, for sound association) 9 = k or g (again, a strained but helpful similarity in shape) 0 = s or z (think of the initial sound of zero) Once this associational numeric alphabet is memorized, vowels are added to the proper consonants to form words. These words then stand for the numbers represented by their consonants. For example, 12 = an 1 and an n. Adding vowels to these consonants, we form the word lion to signify the number 12. Conversely, moon stands for the number 32: m = 3 and n = 2. The full list of associated words can be found in Nikola's booklet and in Hugard's Encyclopedia of Card Tricks (pp. 387-388). The Nikola list, however, covers only the numbers 1 through 52. The list must be expanded to include seventeen numbers in our liar's matrix that lie above 52. These words are:

53 54 55 56 57 60

FaMe FaiR FiFe FoP FaTe PeaS

61 62 63 64 65 66

PaiL PaN PoeM PeaR PuFf PoP

67 71 72 75 76

PeT TaLe TiN

TaFfy TaP

Four modifications must also be made to the words established by Nikola for the numbers 1, 2, 5 and 6. Our octal notation needs two-digit numbers. To satisfy this requisite, a 0 must be added before these four single-digit numbers, and the associated words must be changed to reflect this. Therefore...


99

01 = SaiL 05 = SaFe 02 = SuN 06 = SouP With this information, you can now go back to the word list and translate these words into two-digit numbers. If all the words are translated into their proper numbers, the array is identical to the liar's matrix used in "Octal Pencil" (see Figure 57, p. 94). When a spectator chooses a word from the card and reads the color sequence (from left to right) in that row, lying about the color of her word, all you need do is convert the sequence into its octal number. That number in turn gives you the thought-of word. If you make up six or more cards, all containing the word matrix, but with the eight rows scrambled, the cards will appear different on casual examination. You can then distribute the cards throughout the room and have spectators take turns in calling out colors. Once you are familiar enough with the mnemonic system, you can work at a pace that will make this test truly impressive. Since its publication, "Verbum Veritas" has inspired at least one clever variation. In "Octaliar" (ref. Magigram, Vol. 14, No. 12, pp. 758-759), Phil Goldstein has constructed a liar's matrix of men's and women's first names. 1980

PACK OF LIES Effect: A board of miniature playing cards is displayed. The cards are arranged in eight rows, six to a row. Someone is handed the board and asked to think of any card he sees. His choice can be made from almost an entire deck, as only the aces are missing. These have been eliminated, as they are obvious choices that people too often favor. When the person has mentally selected a card, he calls out only the colors of the six cards in the row where his card resides—and he lies about the color of his card to throw the performer even further off the track. Nonetheless, the performer somehow detects him in his lie and names the card thought of. The test can be repeated with analogous results. Method: Here the liar's matrix, as explained in "Octal Pencil", is adapted to playing cards. First a mnemonic procedure will be explained; one related to that discussed in "Verbum Veritas". Then two nonmemory approaches will be taught. The display board of cards is made of black posterboard, on which are mounted forty-eight cards. To keep the size of the board manageable, miniature cards are used, or normal cards cut in half along their width. The cards are arranged in eight rows as in the chart below:

(KD 4H JC 10H 8H 2S 8S JS JD 2D QS QH 10D 5S

I 98

KS

6S 9C 5H 8D KC 4C 9D 7H

7C 3C 6D 2C 3H 7D 8C 6H

5C 3C 6C 5D 4D 3D 9H IOC

KH ) JH 2H 10S QC 7S 4S

go)

HIDDEN THOUGHTS AND FUTURE DEEDS 101 For durability, cover the cards with either a sheet of clear plastic or a clear film laminate. If you plan to perform this on platform or stage, use a mat-finish plastic to avoid glare.

Mnemonic Method Again we rely heavily on the Nikola card system. The reader is free to exchange the positions of any red cards on the board for any other red cards. The same holds for the black cards. Only the redblack sequences must be maintained. The arrangement shown above is one Mr. Elmsley derived for his own use, in which he placed the cards to provide the best mnemonic links. However, each reader may discover other pairings better suited for him; you are therefore encouraged to experiment. The Nikola word system for cards uses the same numberconsonant alphabet for the values two through ten. (It will be recalled that the aces have been eliminated from the board.) The suits are designated by the first letter of the link word (C, H, S or D). For example, 2 = n and spade = S. Therefore, the two of spades is represented by the word SuN. Conversely, the first letter in the word CaP indicates a club and the P translates to 6—the six of clubs. In three cases the same link word is used for an octal number and a card: 02 and 2S both = Sun; 05 and 5S = Safe; and 06 and 6S = Soup. Mr. Elmsley has avoided any confusion with these three duplications by pairing the matching numbers and cards together, as will be seen shortly. As for the jacks, queens and kings, they are given occupations linked to their sex and suits: clubs connotes a private club; hearts, romance; spades, garden work; and diamonds, jewelry. Here is the complete list of octal numbers, cards and the mnemonic link words that pair the two.

No. 01 02 05 06 10 11 12 13 14

No. Link:Card Link Sail: Clubman Sun:Sun SaferSafe Soup:Soup Lass: Wai tress Lily:Gardengirl Lion:Cat Lamb: Dear Lyre:Cough

Card KC 2S 5S 6S QC 9S 7C 4D 5C

102 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY No. 15 16 17

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 31 32 35 36 41 42 45 46 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 60 61 62 63 64 65 66

No. Link:Card Link Loaf: Ham Lobby:Porter Lad:Bridegroom Nose: Cap Nail: Cash Nun:Sack Gnome:Hun Norway: Sire Knife:Sash Nap:Dope Net:Hog Mill:Din Moon:Half Muff: Dog Mop: Hair Rail: Car Rain: Gardener Roof: Garden Boy Rope:Cog Fuzz: Suit File:Burglar Fan: Comb Fame: Dome Fair: Sum Fife:Dot Fop: Jeweler Fate:Cupid Peas: Kiss Pail:Can Pan: Hash Poem:Fashion Model Pear:Sissy Puff: Dose Pop: Hop

Card 3H JC KH 6C 8C 9S 2H 4S 8S 6D 9H 2D 5H 9D 4H 4C KS JS 9C 7S JD 3C 3D 3S 7D KD JH IOC 2C 8H QD 10S 10D 6H

HIDDEN THOUGHTS AND FUTURE DEEDS 1 0 3

No. 67 71 72 75 76

No. Link:Card Link Pet: Dove Tale:Bride Tin:Hat Taffy:Dish Tap:Hiss

Card 5D

9H

7H 8D 10H

Here are a few aids for linking some of the less obvious word pairs. 01—SaihClubman: picture the king at a yacht club. 14—Lyre:Cough: picture the entire audience having a coughing fit at a lyre recital. 21—NaihCash: recalls the old phrase, "Cash on the nail." 22—Nun:Sack: remember the sackcloth of religious penitence; but perhaps the picture of a nun in a sack is more appealing. 45—Roof:Garden Boy: picture the boy climbing the roof of a shed to pick apples. 53—Fame:Dome: think of the Hall of Fame. 55—Fife:Dot: the dots are notes in the fife music. 65—Puff:Dose: think of asthma medicine. We now have all the pieces in the chain of reasoning. When the spectator reads you the list of six colors, and lies about the color of his chosen card, you are given a binary sequence which you immediately convert to an octal number. This number recalls a mental picture founded on the link words for that number and the associated card. Viola! It sounds laborious, but if you master the mnemonic lists and associations, which are designed for quick memorization, the method is quite practicable. However, for those souls intimidated by mnemonic systems, here are two nonmemorious approaches.

Marked Deck Method In this method, a special deck of cards is used in addition to the display board. Each of the cards in the deck— excepting the aces—are marked with the corresponding binary code in red and black ink. The deck, therefore, becomes a cueing device that eliminates the need for mnemonics or conversions to octal notation. With red and black permanent marking pens, mark the face of each card with six short strokes at one long edge, as in Figure 58. The six

104 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY lines represent the color sequence that will be called out for that card. Thus, once you hear the spectator's sequence, all you need do is locate the card that bears it and remove it from the deck. This will be the mentally chosen card. To expedite this location, stack the deck in the same order given in the mnemonic list above. Since the marks are small and lie only along one side, they can be easily hidden by the fingertips when the card is held face outward for display. If you arrange all marks at the same edge of the deck, then set the unprepared aces on the face of the pack, it can be fanned from the unmarked edge and the face of the fan shown to the audience. All marks are hidden. Yet, when the deck is fanned from the opposite edge, the marks are exposed to you. Gaze at the spectator after he has recited the six colors. Then say, "Yes, I think I've got it." Spread the cards, faces toward you, and remove the one bearing the same color sequence called. Display the face of the card and conclude. Some readers may wish to explore the possibility of marking the backs, rather than the faces of the cards, using a less obvious marking system. Doing so would allow you to remove the card from the pack without looking at the faces, providing a small touch of added mystery to the effect; and you could then use the same deck for subsequent tricks. If this thought appeals to you, consult Edward Mario's binary marked deck, explained under the title "For the Color Blind" (ref. Kabbala, Vol. 1, No. 6, Feb. 1972, p. 49).

Unmarked Deck Method In this nonmnemonic method, we dispense with the display board of cards and instead use a real deck. Stack the deck from top to face in the order given in the chart on page 100. Then distribute the aces throughout it. When ready to perform, bring out the deck and remove the aces, explaining that they are too distracting, or that they tend to be too predictable as choices. Discard them. Give the deck a false shuffle, if you like, retaining its full order. Then casually push off groups of six cards each, and form eight face-down piles on the table. Turn away. Then have someone pick up any one of the piles she wishes and fan it faces toward her, as she would in a game of cards. Ask that she mentally choose any card in that pile, then call off the colors of the cards, from left to right, while lying about the color of her selection. When you hear the color sequence, you locate the corresponding card on a cue list. Where have you obtained a cue list? It is pasted to the backs of the four aces, which you have nonchalantly picked up as you turned your back. Each ace bears twelve red-black bar codes and the initials of each card coded.

HIDDEN THOUGHTS AND FUTURE DEEDS 105 It is obvious perhaps, but worth noting, that if the spectator does not alter the sequence of the cards in her selection pile, the eight piles can be gathered in any order, and the deck is thus reset for another performance.

Lewry's Platform Presentation Colin Lewry, a friend of Mr. Elmsley's, developed an excellent platform presentation for "Pack of Lies", using a large blackboard and an eight page "scrapbook" to present the cards for selection. Six cards are mounted in a numbered row on each page. The pages are also numbered (Figure 59). Each of these six-card rows corresponds, of course, to a row on the chart given above. It is probably wise to mount cards only on the front side of each page. This allows only one row of six cards to be viewed at a time, minimizing the QSIIC ' possibility for misunderstanding or error on the participating spectator's part during the course of the trick.

T

Mr. Lewry's presentation is exceptionally powerful. He asks someone to select any card in the scrapbook. The spectator is then asked the following questions: 1) On what page is his card located? He is told to lie about this. 2) What position does his card occupy in its row? He is to lie about this as well. 3) What are the colors of the cards in this row, reading from left to right? He lies about the color of his card. 4) What is the name of his card? He lies yet again. Each of his prevaricating answers is written boldly on the blackboard. Mr. Lewry now moves swiftly to a multiple climax: 'You claimed you were thinking of a card on page four; but you were tying. Your card is on page six. Am I right?" As this is confirmed, he dramatically crosses out the 4 on the blackboard and writes 6 beside it. This physical revision is done with each correction as it is made. "You said your card was fifth in its row; but you lied. It was third. Right? You said the colors of the row were black, red, red, red, red, black. You lied. They were black, red, black, red, red, black. Is that right? Finally you said you were thinking of the jack of diamonds;

106 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY but you lied once more. You are thinking of the four of clubs. Is that indeed the card in your mind? Yes! Thank you!" A cue sheet lies hidden in the chalk tray or on the back of the blackboard. It lists each of the forty-eight possible color sequences, along with the pertinent page number, position in the row and identity of the chosen card. Mr. Lewry has organized his cue sheet in the manner of a chessboard. There are eight rows and eight columns. He converts the spectator's color sequence into octal—which, by the way, is effortless with the sequence written on the blackboard—and uses the two digits to locate the proper cell in the cue chart. The first digit designates the column, the second digit the row (Figure 60). This takes nearly all the mental work out of the trick, and provides a cumulative effect that is genuinely stunning.

Terri Rogers has recently devised a presentation for "Pack of Lies" in which a book of criminal's faces is used. This marketed trick, titled "Mug Shots", further illustrates how the underlying principle of the liar's matrix can be entertainingly adapted to items other than playing cards. 1980

Chapter Three.

Exotica

STILL TAKING THREE Effect: Three spectators each freely choose a card. Of these three cards, one is designated, again by a spectator. The other two cards are turned face-up and the selection is sandwiched face-down between them. The spectator whose card this is hands half the deck to the performer and covers the other half with his hand. The performer buries the three-card sandwich in the center of his half. He then makes a magical gesture over the packet and spreads it. The selection has vanished from between the surrounding faceup cards. When the spectator spreads his half deck, the card is found to have flown there: it rests face-up in the center. This translocation of a chosen card is based on a Charles T. Jordan plot, "Satan's Prophecy" (ref. Ten New Impromptu Card Tricks, 1920, pp. 2-4; also see "Improved Satan's Prophecy" in Jordan's Four Full Hands of Card Tricks, 1947, pp. 8-10, and "The Vanishing Pair", ibid. p. 10). Peter Warlock unwittingly duplicated this Jordan plot when he created "Three's My Lucky Number" (ref. Plans for Deception, pp. 63-66, 1942). The trick was republished thirteen years later in a fuller form under the title "Take Three" in Pentagram (Vol. 9, No. 10, July 1955, pp. 74 and 79). It was there that Mr. Elmsley discovered it, along with subsequent methods by Francis Haxton and Stanley Jaks (Vol. 10, No. 2, Nov. 1955, pp. 12-14). The following year he contributed to that journal two fresh treatments, each with points to commend it.

First Method Secretly manage any pair of mates to the top of the pack. In this explanation, the pair will be the black sixes, club over spade. However, in performance, the suit order is inconsequential. Execute a slip cut, taking the six of clubs to the center of the deck, and catch a left fourth-finger break beneath it. You are now ready to begin the presentation. Approach someone and ask him to touch a card in the top portion of the pack. Spread the cards face-down, from hand to hand,

110 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY so that he may do so. Outjog the touched card for half its length and ask a second person to touch a card in the middle of the pack. Continue spreading the cards for his choice, and force the six of clubs on him. Outjog it and ask a third person to touch a card as you spread through the bottom portion. Outjog this third card and close the spread into the left hand. With your right hand, strip the three selections together from the pack and lay them, face-down, on top. As you square them onto the deck, form a left fourth-finger break under the top two cards of the triplet. "Three cards have been chosen from the pack." In accordance with your words, count off the cards, reversing their order. However, do a block push-off as the first card is dealt, actually taking a double. (That is, place the left thumb on the outer left edge of the pack and, with light pressure, push over the two cards above the break as one card.) Take the next card onto this, and the next (the six of spades) on top of all. As you make a small gesture with the right hand's packet, push the top card of the deck over slightly and form a fourth-finger break beneath it. Then flip the right-hand cards face-up onto the deck. Bring the right hand, palm-down, over the pack and quickly square the cards. Immediately lift off the five cards that lie above the break, taking them by their opposite ends, and simultaneously draw the uppermost card, the six of clubs, back onto the pack. Name the six and draw the next card of the packet onto it. Name this card and lay the remaining three cards as one onto that, catching a fourth-finger break below them. Name the third card—that on the face of the block—and turn to the first spectator. Ask him if he will remember the card now showing on the pack. Do a block push-off of the triple card and take it into the palm-up right hand, framing it with the fingers to assure its alignment. Also tip the front end downward, bringing the face of the card fully into view while hiding the thickness. As you do this, turn to the second spectator and ask that he remember the card now on top of the pack. Push this card over and take it onto the right hand's triplet. Then turn to the third spectator and have him remember the six of clubs. Observe here how attention is constantly drawn to the card on the deck and away from the cards in the right hand, further protecting the triple card from notice. Slip the right hand's cards back onto the deck, over the six of clubs, and square them. Then lift the upper three cards away, using the natural bridge of the face-down card fourth from the top as an aid. This series of actions has efficiently stolen the six of clubs from

EXOTICA

11 1

the packet of displayed cards (it now lies hidden, face-up, under the top card of the deck), and has substituted for the six of clubs the six of spades (which is now the lowermost card of the packet). Lay the face-up packet onto the table and let it spread slightly, lengthwise. You wish the value of the six of spades, or a portion of it, to show, but the spade pips must be concealed. The audience assumes this card to be the six of clubs. Execute a pass to bring the upper quarter of the deck to the bottom; or openly cut or overhand shuffle it to that position. Then set the pack face-down on the table. Gather the three cards, turn them face-down and give them a brief mix. However, keep track of the six of spades as you do this. Then lay the cards face-down onto the table, arranging them in a row with the six of spades in the center. You will now have a spectator elect one card among the three, which will be caused to travel; but through a system of equivoque the six will be forced: Ask someone to point to one of the three cards. Chances are better than three to one that she will indicate the center card, the six. If this occurs, turn the other two cards face-up and sandwich the center card face-down between them. As you do this, say, "The chosen card goes reversed in the middle." However, if she points to one of the end cards instead, pick it up, turning it face-up, and ask her to point to another. If she indicates the other end card, turn it up and sandwich the center card face-down between the two, saying, "The last card goes reversed in the middle." If she should select the center card as her second choice, pick it up and lay it face-down onto the face-up card in your hand. Point to the card that remains on the table and say, "And this is the last card, so it goes on top." Turn it face-up and lay it onto the others. "I .^^^^^^^^..^^^^^^^^^^ have assembled the cards in the order you prescribed. I want you to watch the card you chose to rest in the middle." Narrowly spread the three cards lengthwise, so that only the numeral but not the pips of the six will be exposed. Then briefly display the underside of the spread, letting the partial face of the six be seen (Figure 61). You can quickly learn to

11 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY judge how far the cards can be safely spread by using the index of the lower, face-up card as a gauge. Turn to the third spectator, as you flash the face of the center card, and say, "The six of clubs was your card, wasn't it?" When he confirms this, ask him to cut off about half the cards from the tabled deck and hand them to you. Take these and have him cover the remaining half with his hand. This half contains the face-up six of clubs near its center. Drop the three-card spread onto your half deck, with the sandwiching cards once more face-up. Square the cards and give the packet a fair cut, taking the sandwich to the middle. Spread the cards to display the sandwich once more, and as you close the spread, catch a left fourth-finger break under the six of spades. Then, with a squaring action, side steal the six and replace it on either the top or the bottom of the packet. (Alternatively, one could execute a one-card middle pass to dispose of the card. See Farelli's Card Magic, Part Two, p. 33, or The Card Classics of Ken Krenzel, pp. 212-213, for descriptions of this sleight.) Command the six to jump from your packet to the spectator's. Respread your half, showing that the face-down six has vanished from between the two face-up cards. Then conclude the effect by having the spectator spread his half pack to discover the six of clubs reversed in the middle. Mr. Elmsley notes that one could replace the mates used for the substitution with pseudo-duplicates like the seven and eight of clubs. This is an old dodge, with which the reader is undoubtedly familiar. If such cards are used, rather than forming narrow spreads to display the center card of the packet, you can withdraw the card for nearly half its length and display its face while holding it by the outer right corner, thus covering the exposed index with the right forefinger (Figure 62).

EXOTICA 1 1 3

Second Method The first method displays in its approach an interesting facet: a card (in our example above, the six of clubs) is forced even though it is not present in the three-card packet at the time of the force, hi the method to follow, this element is broadened. Here, the force is eliminated and a freer choice from the packet is allowed. Yet the card chosen, despite appearances, again is absent from the packet. The effect remains the same, with one minor change: the three cards are not selected; instead the jack, queen and king of any suit are used. Let's assume you have chosen the royal spades. Prepare for the trick by culling the queen and king of clubs (color mates to the suit you will openly use) to the bottom of the pack, with the queen on the face. Now openly run through the deck, faces toward you, and remove the jack, queen and king of spades, shuttling them to the face as you find them. Once all three have been located, arrange them on the face of the pack in king-queen-jack order, so that, from the face, the cards read king of spades, queen of spades, jack of spades, queen of clubs, king of clubs, and the balance of the deck. While setting the cards in this order, form a left fourth-finger break under the king of clubs. Lower the pack, letting the audience see its face, and with the right hand lift off the five cards above the break. Hold the packet by its ends, the right fingers concealing the thickness from the audience. You will now execute a variation of the switching sequence used in the first handling, exchanging the king and queen of spades for their club counterparts: While the right hand holds thefive-cardpacket, use the left thumb to flip the deck face-down in the left hand. As the deck settles once more into dealing grip, form a fourth-finger break under the top card. Bring the face-up packet over the deck, ostensibly to square it further. In doing so, secretly pick up the top card of the deck facedown under the packet. Then, with the left thumb, cleanly draw the king of spades face-up onto the deck. "We will use three cards: the king of spades..." Pull off the queen of spades onto the king. ".. .the queen of spades..." Lay the right hand's four-card block as one card square onto the deck. ",.. and the jack of spades." Pick off the top three cards, using the natural bridge of the face-down fourth card as an aid, and table the packet, casually spreading it to reveal just the K and Q of the king and queen (Figure 63).

114 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY The real king and queen of spades now lie face-up under the top card of the deck. Form a break under them and double cut the top three cards to the bottom of the pack. In a continuous action, begin a third cut, but let the top half, held by its ends in the palm-down right hand, rest momentarily on the bottom half, jogged to the right. With the left fingertips, secretly push the bottom card of the pack, the king, rightward until it is aligned with the top half (Figure 64). Then separate the halves, carrying away the king under the upper section. (This is the slip cutting method Mr. Elmsley suggested when he originally published this trick. Since that time, more refined methods for executing a bottom slip cut have been devised; e.g., Lorayne's HaLo cut [ref. Rim Shots, pp. 132-132]. Obviously, any of these may be substituted for the above method.) Set the two sections side by side on the table and ask someone to name one of the three cards. Since the jack of spades is openly resting on the face of the packet, people's natural inclination is to avoid it and choose either the king or the queen. On the unlikely chance the jack is named, you must resort to equivoque: "And will you name another? The cards you name are going to act as guardians for the third card, which I shall reverse between them." When either the king or queen has been singled out, through straight choice or subtle coercion, reach forward to the half deck that bears that card face-up on its bottom and cut the pile in the

EXOTICA 1 1 5 spectator's direction. Complete the cut, centering the reversed card, and have him place his hand over that half. Pick up the three-card packet and turn it face-down. Remove the king or the queen, whichever has been called for, and turn the other two cards face-up again. Spread the back card slightly, keeping its suit concealed, and slip the third card face-down between the two. Form a narrow lengthwise spread with the sandwich, continuing to hide the club pips, and expose the underside of the spread, letting the K or Q of the center card be seen. Return the spread to its former position (face-up jack uppermost), square it and drop it onto the remaining half deck. Cut the half, burying the sandwich; then review the freedom of the selection of card and its location in the packet. Make some gesture to indicate the magical passage of the chosen card from your packet to the spectator's. Pick up your half and spread through it until you arrive at the first face-up card. Push this over and show the face-up jack of spades beneath. The face-down card between them has vanished. (There is a discrepancy here, in that the jack should be the uppermost card of the face-up pair. However, time misdirection obscures this trifle from notice.) Spread over the jack and clearly show the absence of the chosen card. Take care, though, to keep the face-down card below the jack square with the packet, or the face-up club card will be revealed. Have the spectator spread his guarded half to find the selection face-up in its center. As attention is drawn to him, you can easily right the reversed club card in your packet unobserved. While any three cards of a suit can be used for this handling, Mr. Elmsley has chosen the king, queen and jack because he believes court cards obscure the discrepant transposition of the surrounding sandwich cards more successfully than spot cards.

Third Method The two methods just given are those that Mr. Elmsley chose to publish in 1956. However, he recorded a variation of the second method in his notes of that period, a variation that avoids the open cutting of the chosen packet just before the spectator covers it with his hand. To my mind, the elimination of this cut is desirable, as there is no outward motivation for the cut, making it somewhat suspicious. Mr. Elmsley's solution to the problem is typically clever. First, the face-down deck must carry a convex bridge along its width. This bridge, in fact, is useful in the previous methods as well as this one, but here it is even more helpful.

116 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Following the procedure of the second method, the handling remains unchanged to the point where the deck is about to be divided in half. The face-up king and queen of spades rest at the bottom of the pack, and the king is sidejogged in preparation for a bottom slip cut. Make the cut, but instead of setting down the halves, complete the cut by placing the top half under the bottom half. This positions the face-up queen near center while the face-up king is retained on the bottom. Immediately follow this cut with another, shuttling the bottom quarter of the pack to the top. This brings the reversed king to the center of the upper half, and the queen to a similar position in the lower half. Table the deck and cut it in half, placing the halves side by side. You must remember which contains the king and which the queen. Ask the spectator to choose either half and cover it with his hand. Since the reversed card in each half is already centered, no further cut is necessary. Pick up the jack, queen and king from the table and form the sandwich exactly as explained in the second method. Then casually lift the top portion of the uncovered half deck, grasping the cards by their ends and cutting directly below the reversed court card. The crimp in this card makes the cut an easy task, delivering the court card to the bottom of the upper packet. Drop the sandwich cards onto the lower portion of the packet and bury them with the upper portion. The effect can now be concluded as taught. Those familiar with Edward Mario's ATFUS handling will readily understand how its refinements can be applied to the Elmsley switches in the above methods. Having mentioned ATFUS, some clarification would seem necessary concerning the history of that switch and those of Mr. Elmsley's invention. Students of sleight-of-hand will have noticed that the face-up switches used in these handlings are obvious forebears of ATFUS; and therein lies a story of interest only to that group of us who take pleasure in combing (and often splitting) the hairs on the woolly beast of magical history. In The OlramFile (Vol. 1, No. 4, April 1991) there appears a sequence for "The Magic Seven" trick, in which the underlying principle used in the Elmsley and Mario switches is employed to steal a face-up card from one packet and to load that card at a desired position in another packet. Jon Racherbaumer writes that Mr. Mario worked out this sequence in 1953, but discarded it for reasons of routining when in 1954 he released The Magic Seven. The sequence went unpublished. On October 15th, 1956, Mr. Mario recorded in his private notes a procedure quite similar to the Elmsley switches, offering several

EXOTICA 1 1 7 small but trenchant refinements. This was roughly a month after "Still Taking Three" appeared in print. He eventually published this handling, more than eight years later, in the February 1964 issue of The New Tops (Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 17-18). The following April he published ATFUS from notes of the same vintage [The New Tops, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 33-34). ATFUS was a more flexible variant of the faceup switch sequence. Three months after that Mr. Mario extended the concept still further by publishing the FUFU switch in the July number of The New Tops (Vol. 4, No. 7, pp. 4-5). Throughout this excellent series, no acknowledgment appeared of Mr. Elmsley's previous published work, and this has led recently to some unfortunate controversy over credits in a few sunless corners of Cardopia. Mr. Elmsley, it should be noted, was unaware of this obscure dispute and would never dream of participating in it. This summary of the matter is mine alone, and is given in the hope of putting the subject peacefully to rest. September 1956

POINT OF DEPARTURE Effect: A card is chosen and sandwiched between the two black aces, all with the utmost fairness. The three cards are then given to the person who made the selection. Despite his certain possession of the cards, his selection vanishes from between the aces—and is produced from the performer's pocket. This is one of Mr. Elmsley's most appreciated effects. Since its publication in 1953 it has been widely performed and numerous variations have been evolved. Method: Though the effect just described was devised several years before Mr. Elmsley discovered Warlock's "Take Three" and began experimenting with it, there is, by sheer coincidence, a close relationship between the two plots. The cunning use of a doublefaced card contributes importantly to this mystery. It permits an appearance of extreme fairness in the way the cards are handled. For this explanation, assume that an ace of clubs and a nine of diamonds are represented on the two sides of the double-faced card. Before the trick is begun, secretly manage the genuine ace of clubs to the top of the deck, and the genuine nine of diamonds to the bottom. In doing this, also make sure that the card second from the top (under the ace of clubs) is not the ace of spades. The doublefaced card can be anywhere in the middle, nine-side at the back, but should be either side of center, so that it is not accidentally exposed when the deck is cut in half early in the trick. If you deem it expedient, you may begin by false shuffling the deck, retaining the top and bottom cards, and concealing the doublefaced card. After the shuffle, take the deck face-down into the left hand and give it a cut near center. Complete the cut, but hold a left fourth-finger break between the halves. Now perform a riffle force. That is, ask someone on your left to call stop anytime, as you riffle through the deck. With the left thumb, riffle down the outer left corner of the pack, directing its outer end

EXOTICA 1 1 9 toward the spectator's eyes to prevent an accidental flash of the double-faced card. Stop as he instructs you, lower the deck to a horizontal position and bring your right hand palm-down over it. Apparently lift the block of cards released by the thumb from the deck, but in reality let the thumb's break silently close and simultaneously cut away all the cards above the fourth finger's break. Transfer the upper section to the bottom, apparently bringing to the top the card randomly stopped at by the spectator. This card is of course the ace of clubs. Explain that you will make use of this random card. However, due to the nature of the experiment, the identity of the card should be known to everyone, including yourself. As this is said, use the time and misdirection gained to prepare for a double turnover. That is, obtain a left fourth-finger break under the top two cards. Flip the double card face-up on the pack and display it to everyone, asking that they remember it. Then turn it face-down again and deal the top card (the ace of clubs) face-down onto the table. Turn the deck face-up and run quickly through it, as you explain that you will also require the two black aces. If you come to the ace of spades first, move it to the face of the pack and continue spreading the cards until you reach the ace of clubs (double-facer). Shift it also to the face, and onto the ace of spades. On the other hand, if the ace of clubs appears first in the spread, outjog it. Do the same with the ace of spades when you come to it. Then strip the two aces from the pack, taking the spade under the club. In either case, let the two black aces be seen by everyone; then flip them face-down onto the face of the pack and carefully square them. With the right hand, lift off just the ace of spades, but do so with the care one would use if taking two perfectly squared cards. The presence of the seemingly unchanged nine of diamonds on the face of the pack quietly testifies to the removal of both aces. Lay the pack face-down to one side on the table and transfer the right hand's card to the palm-up left hand, where it is again held as if it were two. With the right hand, reach to the table and pick up the face-down card lying there, which is believed to be the selection. With appropriate care, seemingly slip this card between the two aces held in the left hand. Since this must be pure pretense, it is most important that it is done convincingly. It must be neither overnor underacted. Seem to have a slight bit of difficulty—no more than one might normally expect—introducing the inner right corner of the right hand's card between the front edges of the left hand's pair. In reality, the right inner corner of the right hand's card is slipped below

1 20 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY the single card in the left hand, and the tip of the left forefinger secretly contacts this corner from beneath and supports the card by pressing it up against the face of the upper card (Figure 65). Release the right hand's grip on its card momentarily, leaving it widely canted under the top card. This brief display further suggests that the card lies caught between two others. Then bring the right hand back to the outer end of the card and push it flush with the top card. Note a small but important point here: always push the protruding card inward when sliding it under the top card; do not move the top card forward during this squaring process, or the illusion striven for will be spoiled. Turn the squared pair face-up and table it before the spectator who chose the card. Note that the ace of clubs is seen on the face, as it should be if all actions were honest. Have the spectator place his hand flat on top of the aces, convinced he is trapping the entire sandwich of cards. As you place the cards before him and ask him to cover them, make it plain without saying as much that your hands are empty and there is no chance for cards to have been palmed. Pick up the face-down pack and riffle it in the direction of the palm-pressed pair (taking care not to expose the double-faced card at the bottom). Then ask the spectator to raise his hand and give you the selection that rests between the aces. If all has gone well, he will be extremely surprised to find it gone. During the strong misdirection his discovery creates, palm the top card of the deck (the selection) and set the pack down. Then, when attention returns to you, dramatically produce the selection from your pocket. Mr. Elmsley believes the production of the card from the pocket is improved if it is delayed briefly. He prefers to take the selection into rear palm (see Volume I, pp. 124-126), which allows full use of the right fingers. He then sets down the pack, retrieves the aces from the spectator and displays them fanned in the raised left hand, showing the audience that there are only the two aces and nothing more. To emphasize the fact, he snaps each of them with his right fingers. After this he tosses them face-up to the table, then reaches into his right pocket and produces the card (Volume I, p. 135).

EXOTICA

121

If you like, the selection can be signed before it is vanished, assuring the audience that it is the selfsame card that later comes from your pocket. The production of the card might be further enhanced by first loading it into a sealed envelope (d la LePaul), a wallet (d la Ed Balducci or Dick Washington) or into some other receptacle. However, do experiment before adopting one of these embellishments, as it may be found that they do not add importantly to a lay audience's appreciation of the effect. 1953

ECONOMY CLASS DEPARTURE Effect: Here Mr. Elmsley duplicates as closely as is possible the effect of his "Point of Departure", without the benefit of a doublefaced card. The search for a no-feke version of this trick has been taken up by a number of cardmen over the years, and solutions of varying merit have been published. Below is one of several that Mr. Elmsley devised in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He comments that the basic structure is flexible to minor variation. Therefore, it is not surprising that several cardmen in recent years have explored similar paths. Method: In the best of all possible worlds, two identical jokers should be used in this trick. But if you are residing in less congenial climes, two royal color-mates can be substituted for the jokers; e.g., the red kings or the black jacks. For this explanation, we will presume the ideal has been achieved. Run through the deck and remove the two jokers as you come to them, tossing them face-down onto the table. Square the deck and turn it face-down into left-hand dealing position. As you do this, obtain a left fourth-finger break under the top two cards. With your right hand, pick up the jokers, turn them face-up and run the left fingers and thumb along their sides, squaring them briefly over the deck. In this squaring action, secretly pick up the two face-down cards above the break. Then, while holding the packet above the deck, use the tip of the left third finger to pull down the inner right corner of the bottom card of the packet (Figure 66), creating a flesh break at the inner end, which the right thumb then maintains. You are now prepared to display the two jokers to the audience and, in the process, steal one of them from the packet. With your left thumb, draw the top joker onto the deck, outjogged for roughly an inch. With the two jokers fully displayed, explain to the audience that these cards will play important roles during the trick.

EXOTICA 1 2 3

Place the right hand's joker (really three cards) square onto the outjogged joker and apparently pick it up. What really occurs is that the right hand moves inward in a squaring motion, bringing all four cards momentarily flush with the pack while keeping their inner ends slightly elevated. In this action the right thumb releases the face-down card below the break. Then the right hand immediately moves forward again, carrying only the top two cards of the packet: a face-up joker with a face-down indifferent card beneath it. The second joker lies face-up and hidden below the top card of the deck. The reader will recognize this switch as a variant of Edward Mario's ATFUS. Set the right hand's two cards onto the table, letting them spread ever so slightly, so that a bit of the white border on the bottom card can be seen. (This is a Roy Walton subtlety.) Bring the right hand back to the deck and procure a left fourthfinger break under the top two cards (the reversed joker aids in this). You will now execute a sleight Mr. Elmsley calls the rollover switch. Begin by dealing cards from the pack into the right hand, commencing with a two-card push-off: with the left thumb at the extreme left side of the pack, push over the two cards above the break as one, and take the double card into the palm-up right hand. Deal two or three single cards onto the double card, holding them all in a loose dealing grip with the forefinger stretched across the front edges. Now, without pause, begin to spread cards smoothly off the pack and into the right hand, forming a spread over the packet of dealt cards (Figure 67, forefinger moved aside to expose the configuration of the cards). This position is identical to that used in the spread displacement (p. 40). As you spread through the deck, ask someone to touch a card. Stop spreading when one is indicated. Try to time this so that the selection is made somewhere near center.

124 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY

Break the spread above the selection and, with the right hand's portion of the spread, flip the selection face-up on the left hand's cards (Figure 68). Then take the face-up card under the right hand's spread, with a portion of it still in view at the left (Figure 69). Let the spread settle onto the extended right fingers.

EXOTICA 1 2 5 The face-up selection appears to rest on the bottom of the spread, but it actually lies sandwiched between the spread and the small packet of cards that was initially dealt into the right hand; and on the bottom of that packet is a face-up joker. Move the left hand and its portion of the spread away from the right hand while contracting the right fingers to pull the right hand's spread of cards partially closed. The spread must be closed far enough to allow the right thumb to reach across the back of the cards to the left side (Figure 70). Now use the thumb to close the spread completely and pull the packet up against the palm. Simultaneously turn the right hand palm-up. This action turns the packet over, exposing a face-down card, the joker, at the face. The instant the thumb has pushed the spread closed, use it to push the joker to the left for about half its width (Figure 71). The audience believes this card to be the selection seen just an instant earlier. If these actions are timed properly, the selection never seems to leave the spectators' sight. It is an exceedingly deceptive switch of a card. Let the face-down card drop from the right hand to the table. Then flip the right hand's packet face-down onto the left hand's cards and quickly square the deck. This buries the selection faceup near center. With your palm-down right hand, pick up the pair of cards (the face-up joker and the face-down indifferent card) from the table, grasping them by their ends. Bring the pair casually over the deck to square the sides of the cards with the tips of the left fingers. As you move the pair square over the pack for an instant, secretly release the lower card onto the deck, then move the joker forward again, handling it as if it were both jokers. All this should take only a few seconds. As you execute this unloading of the indifferent card, do not draw attention to your actions. Instead, fix your gaze on the

126 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY tabled card thought to be the selection, and make some remark about it. Set the deck face-down to one side and place the right hand's joker into left-hand dealing position. Then, with your right hand, pick up the face-down card (the second joker) from the table, holding it by its outer end. Slip the inner right corner of this card under the outer end of the left hand's joker. In doing so, pretend to insert the card between the two jokers. As mentioned in "Point of Departure", make this look realistic, but don't overact. Leave the face-down card caught for a moment by its corner beneath the face-up joker, as if it were trapped between two cards, while you actually support it with the tip of the left forefinger (see Figure 65, p. 120). Then, with the right fingers, push the face-down card flush with the face-up joker. Do not move the face-up joker as you do this, or the illusion will suffer. The two back-to-back cards are now counted as three, using the actions of a Stanyon count: Having pushed the face-down joker square with the face-up joker, grasp the pair by its right side in righthand pinch grip. Then, with the palm-up left hand, draw the top joker from the packet, taking it either at the left fingertips or into dealing grip. Bring the left hand back to the right, ostensibly to take the face-down card onto the joker; but instead, the left hand's joker is slid under the right hand's face-down card and reclaimed between the right thumb and fingertips, while the left hand simultaneously carries away the face-down card. In other words, the contents of the hands are smoothly exchanged. Bring the left hand back to the right and take the face-up joker onto the face-down card. Three cards have been counted, and a face-down card (thought to be the selection) is seen apparently between two face-up jokers. The disappearance of the selection from between the jokers is effected now through the agency of Mr. Elmsley's prayer vanish: With the left hand's packet held in dealing position, place your right hand over the cards, as if about to palm them. Actually grip the cards in right-hand classic palm and, while pressing the palms lightly together, rotate the hands in opposite directions, until they are aligned in "prayer" position (Figure 72). At this point draw full attention to the hands. Without pausing, relax the right hand's grip on the two cards and twist the hands another ninety degrees, each hand continuing to turn in the same direction as before, until they lie crosswise to each other (Figure 73). Friction will cause the card resting against each palm to follow that hand. Both cards are now in classic palm position in their respective hands. Rotate the palmup right hand palm-down, pivoting it from beneath the left hand,

EXOTICA

127

and contract the fingers of both hands to retain a card in each (Figure 74). Hold the hands side by side about a foot above the table and suddenly spread the fingers, letting the two jokers fall face-up (Figure 75). Show the hands completely empty and rub the jokers briskly back and forth a few times on the table to prove them single. Then dramatically ribbon spread the deck, exposing the face-up selection in the middle.

128 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY In circumstances where one is lacking duplicate jokers, and similar court cards, like red kings or blackjacks, have been substituted, you may wish to eliminate the Stanyon false count. It has been my experience, however, that even magicians don't notice that the same card is seen twice during the count. Their attention seems focused on the face-down card, causing them to overlook the discrepancy. As mentioned in the beginning, this structure is conducive to variations in handling. Mr. Elmsley has experimented with quite a few over the years, before settling on the one just taught. If you check "Snap Swap" in Volume I (pp. 291-292) you will find another card switch that can be substituted for the rollover switch above. In fact, the switch in "Snap Swap" was originally invented for a "Point of Departure" handling.

THE FIDDLE \MTH THE BIDDLE IN THE MIDDLE Effect: A card is freely selected from the pack. Two jokers are then placed together face-up in the center of the deck. The deck is dropped onto the chosen card and the card vanishes. When the deck is spread, the selection is found sandwiched between the reversed jokers. The three-card sandwich is removed from the deck and the deck is given to a spectator to hold. The two jokers and selection are displayed—yet, when these cards are pressed between the performer's palms, the selection disappears, leaving just the jokers. When the spectator spreads the deck, which he has held the entire time, he finds his selection reversed in the center of the pack. Method: This trick was recorded in the notes of Jack Avis on April 9th, 1966. Cy Endfield's fine effect, "Two to Divine", served as the model for the opening sequence (ref. Cy Endfield's Entertaining Card Magic, Part One, pp. 10-14). Mr. Endfield also suggested the idea of getting the deck into the spectator's hands. The economy of action exercised creates a delightful and straightforward effect, while providing several magical and surprising moments before the trick is over. You will need two duplicate jokers that match the deck in use. Display the jokers and hold them by their inner ends face-up in your right hand. Spread the upper joker a bit to the left, so that both cards are clearly in evidence. Hold the face-down deck in left-hand dealing grip and riffle your left thumb down the outer left corner, asking that someone call out stop at any time. Halt the riffle honestly at the point they designate and swing the free ends of the jokers into the thumb's break. Because of the manner in which the jokers are spread, the corner of the upper joker enters the gap first. The instant it does, release two cards quietly off the left thumb. Slide the inner ends of the jokers

130 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY farther into the deck, letting the released pair of cards pass between them. When the jokers are parallel with the pack, but still outjogged for roughly half their lengths, press down firmly with the right thumb on the jokers, bowing them somewhat. Then use the jokers like a pair of forceps to extract the double card from the deck. The double will remain perfectly aligned between the jokers—a most disarming double lift. (A fuller description of the forceps double lift can be found in Volume I, pp. 293-294.) Briefly turn the right hand palm-down to display the face of the double card. Turn the hand palm-up again and set the right-hand cards onto the deck, with the face-up jokers lying square with the pack. The face-down double card still rests between them, outjogged for about half its length. You can display the face of the double card a second time if you like, by turning the left hand palm-down with the deck, then palm-up again. You will now switch the selection, using a push-in change. Bring the palmdown right hand to the outer end of the double, preparing to strip it from between the jokers. Grasp the outer end of the double and, with the right fingertips, push the under card slightly inward. Simultaneously extend the left forefinger and contact the outer end of the under card (Figure 76); then secretly push this card (the selection) inward until it is flush with the jokers and the pack. Pull the face-down upper card from the deck and, without exposing its face, lay it before you on the table. Openly cut the deck, burying the face-up jokers somewhere near center. Then drop the deck squarely onto the tabled card. Tap the pack, or make some other magical gesture over it. With the right hand, lift the deck and revolve it face-up, showing that the selection has vanished from the bottom. Take the face-up deck into left-hand dealing position and neatly spread it from hand to hand, until you reach the face-down jokers near center. Between them is seen the face-up selection. Ask the spectator to extend one hand, palm-up. With your right hand, set all the cards above the sandwich face-up onto his hand. Spread the three-card sandwich to the right and, with the right fingertips, flip all three cards over on the left-hand packet, displaying

EXOTICA 131 the faces of the jokers. You will now execute a familiar Kardyro-Biddle steal sequence: With the palm-down right hand, grasp the left hand's packet by the ends. Then draw the packet to the right while maintaining pressure with the left thumb on the uppermost joker. Peel the joker from the face of the packet onto the left palm (Figure 77). Bring the packet back to the left and repeat this maneuver, drawing the face-down selection from the packet and onto the left hand's joker. This card is now stolen back, under the face-up packet, as the second joker is drawn off. Bring the packet over the left hand's two cards to draw the second face-up joker into the left hand; however, in this action, bring the first joker and selection squarely into contact with the underside of the packet, and with the left thumb and fingers "milk" just the top and bottom cards from the packet (Figure 78). These cards are the two face-up jokers. There should be no interruption of rhythm as the steal is made. Casually drop the packet from the right hand onto the portion in the spectator's hand. This sandwiches the face-down selection in the middle of the face-up deck. Have the spectator place his other hand onto the deck, trapping it between his palms. (This milking variant of the Kardyro-Biddle steal was first clearly described in Cy Endfield's Entertaining Card Magic, Part One. The idea of working from a half pack to load the stolen card reversed into the center of the deck was explained in Elmer Biddle's "Biddle-thru" [The Gen, Vol. 16, No. 3, July 1960, p. 69]. To the best of my knowledge, this is the earliest description of this half-pack handling.) Bring your empty right hand over the left hand's packet and execute a half pass, secretly reversing the lower card of the pair. This brings the jokers back to back. At the finish of the half pass the cards are replaced in left-hand dealing position.

132 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Move the right hand back over the left hand's cards, almost as if you were about to palm them, and squeeze the palms together. Pause a moment, look up at the audience and smile. "No, it hasn't happened yet." Raise the right hand and expose the packet still in the left. Transfer the cards from the left palm to right-fingertip pinch grip. You now perform a two-as-three Stanyon-style false count to display a face-down card between two face-up jokers. Then proceed to vanish the selection from between the jokers by performing Mr. Elmsley's prayer vanish. Both the Stanyon count and the prayer vanish are described on pages 126-127. After you have dropped the two jokers face-up onto the table and rubbed them back and forth to prove the selection is truly gone, ask the spectator to spread through the deck he has been holding the entire time. In the middle of the face-up deck he will find a face-down card. When he turns this card over, it proves to be the selection— concluding a very strong effect. If duplicate jokers aren't available, you can use court cards of matching values and colors (e.g., red jacks, black kings) in their place. This does create a discrepancy when the Stanyon count is performed. See the comments on page 128 concerning this problem. March 1992

THE RED AND THE BLUE Effect: Two decks with contrasting backs are introduced and a spectator is offered a free choice of either. He removes any card from his face-up deck and hands the card to the performer. The performer does the same, handing a card to the spectator. Both performer and spectator place the foreign card each has been given into his own deck. The performer now makes a magical gesture over the decks, causing them to change color. When the spectator examines his deck, its backs are now the color of the performer's pack—and the deck the performer holds is the color originally held by the spectator. Only one card in each still stands out. The spectator's chosen card has a different colored back from the rest of the performer's pack, and the performer's selection is found to be at variance with the spectator's pack. Both decks are unprepared and can be examined. Method: The color-changing deck effect first appeared in 1916 with Charles Jordan's marketed trick, "Speaking of Pink Elephants!" (ref. Jordan's Ten New Prepared Card Tricks, pp. 16-19, or Fulves' Charles T. Jordan: Collected Tricks, pp. 198-199). Mr. Jordan credited the plot to William McGrew. Arthur Finley and Henry Christ were other early experimenters with the premise; and in 1944 Paul Curry and Oscar Weigle developed one of its finest versions, which they published in a two-trick manuscript titled Sealed Miracles 1. This trick of Mr. Elmsley's can be presented either as twofold color-changing packs or as a two-deck transposition. There is no sleight-of-hand, and only two normal decks are used to achieve an exceptional piece of magic. A minor bit of preparation is necessary: place one card from the first pack on top of the second pack, and the duplicate of that card, taken from the second pack, on top of the first. For this explanation, assume one deck blue-backed, the other red, and the two cards exchanged to be queens of hearts.

134 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Introduce the two decks, removing them from the appropriate colored cases if you like, and set them face-down on the table. Because the top cards have been secretly traded, the decks are perceived as contrary to their true colors. Ask a spectator to name the color of the deck he wishes to use: red or blue. Let's say he asks for red. "Red? Are you sure you want the red deck? You can change you mind and take the blue if you like. Have you any particular reason for choosing red? All right, red it is." This line of commentary is used not so much to emphasize his freedom of choice (though that is a secondary benefit of the stratagem) as it is to stress the apparent color of the deck he will in a moment be handling. As I had reason to mention in Volume I of this work, in color-changing deck tricks, one inherent problem is that of impressing on the audience the color of the pack without prematurely disclosing the impending effect. This is Mr. Elmsley's solution. Place the indicated deck in front of the spectator, turning it faceup. Take the second deck into left-hand dealing position, holding it face-up also. "That leaves the blue cards for me." With your right hand, undercut roughly half the pack, Hindu shuffle fashion, and briefly turn the hand palm-up, exposing the blue back one last time. Then drop the right hand's packet face-up onto the left's. This buries the blue-backed card in the middle. Lay the face-up pack before you on the table. "I want you to do exactly as I do. First, spread your cards out so that you can see them all." In accordance with this request, pat your own cards, pushing them into a spread, or row. Do not ribbon spread the cards in the skillful manner we magicians are accustomed to using. Remember that the spectator must imitate your example, and if he attempts a ribbon spread, it can cause unwanted delay and diversion. "Now choose any card you like and push it from your spread like this." In illustration, you spot the odd-backed card in your pack, the queen of hearts, and push it forward toward the spectator. Do not yet lift it from the table. Let it lie flat. When the spectator has pushed out one of his cards—let's assume it the ace of spades—explain, "I'll take your red ace of spades and put it on the face of my pack." While saying this, pick up his card and, as you mention its back color, take a casual glance at it, letting no one else see the blue back. Having miscalled the color, drop the card face-up onto the face of your spread. "Now you put my queen of hearts on your pack; and, remember, my card is blue, right?" This prompts him to check as he picks up the card. When he has set it onto his spread, continue, "Square up

EXOTICA 135 your cards on the table..." Push your spread together, in example, and leave the deck on the table. Wait until he has done likewise. "... and now cut my card into the middle." Give your pack a straight cut and let him do the same. "You chose the red cards. But now watch!" Snap your fingers over the two decks, or make some other magical gesture. Then turn your pack face-down on the table, exposing its red back. "Now I have the red cards and you have the blue." The spectator should need no more urging than this to turn his pack over, and most often, when he sees the blue backs, he will begin to spread the cards. You do the same with your deck, as you say, "But of course there is still an odd card in each pack: the cards we exchanged. Your red ace of spades now has a blue back..." Take the single blue-backed card from your spread and flip it face-up to show its face. "... and my blue queen of hearts now has a red back!" This cues the spectator to check the red-backed card in his pack. Climax. Because one of the decks is in the possession of the spectator throughout the trick, and because there is obviously no chance for manipulation, this effect has exceptional impact. Notice, though, how the packs are kept on the table. This method of handling serves to stop the spectator from inadvertently exposing the backs of his cards. Such accidental exposures will happen all too frequently if the cards are taken into the hands. However, if you are working for only one person, you can allow him to hold his pack throughout the trick. If the effect is properly presented, there is no reason he should wish to turn the cards over before the proper time. For other ingenious approaches to the color-changing deck effect, see "A Strange Story" and "Ambitious Stranger" in Volume I (pp. 401404 and pp. 299-305 respectively). February 1985

THE SHY CHAMELEON Effect: Having just discussed color-changing deck effects, this next item seems apropos. The plot, on the surface, is familiar: Half the deck is turned face-up and shuffled thoroughly into the other half, which is face-down. The face-up and face-down cards are convincingly shuffled into each other a second and a third time. But when the deck is spread, all the cards magically right themselves. The factor that makes this topsy-turvy deck handling stand out from others is that it serves as a prelude for a color-changing deck effect. Although backs are constantly seen during the shuffles, the deck contains only two cards of that back pattern. The balance of the pack bears a contrasting back design. Nevertheless, you are able to perform this very convincing series of topsy-turvy shuffles and conclude with a magically straightened deck, yet have the cards set for a color-changing deck effect. Method: In this explanation we will say that the deck is redbacked and the two cover-cards are blue backed. The blue cards are positioned on top of the pack when you begin. You may eliminate two red-backed cards from the deck, to compensate for the extra blue-backed cards; or you can work with a fifty-four card pack. It makes no difference to the operation of the trick. The requirements of the tricks you will subsequently perform dictate whether or not you need to remove the two cards. Install a concave bridge down the length of the face-down deck and you are ready to start. Before you draw attention to the pack, casually make these adjustments to it. While holding the deck facedown in left-hand dealing position, perform a slip cut, moving the top card to somewhere near center. That is, bring the right hand palm-down over the pack and grasp the top half by the ends. Move this half to the right while you retain the bottom half in the left hand and your left thumb holds back the top card of the pack. As the top card slips from the right hand's half onto the left's, catch a left fourthfinger break beneath it. Then return the right hand's packet onto

EXOTICA 1 3 7 the left's, completing the cut. If this cut is done neatly and swiftly, only blue backs are seen. You must now execute a half pass, reversing all the cards below the break (see Volume I, p. 70, for a description of this sleight). As the bottom packet is brought face-up below the top packet, retain a right thumb break between them at the inner end of the pack. Then, with the tip of the left fourth finger, pull the blue-backed card above the break down and onto the lower packet. The transfer is made easier if the left fourth finger first jogs the blue-backed card slightly to the right, as if beginning a side steal, then pulls the card down to the bottom packet. (This refinement is an idea of Edward Mario's.) Retain a break above the transferred blue card. With the right hand, move the packet above the break forward and leave it stepped for about half its length on the bottom packet. Blue backs are seen atop both portions. Again with the right hand, grasp the top packet by its outer end and turn the packet end over end. Replace this packet, now face-up, onto the bottom packet, still stepped forward for half its length. Adjust your grip on the cards for a faro shuffle. (None of the three shuffles in this trick need be perfect, either in the cut or in the weave; but if you don't do a faro shuffle of any sort, tabled riffle shuffles can be substituted.) Weave the packets together so that the top card of the bottom portion becomes the top card of the deck, and the bottom card of the top (openly face-up) portion becomes the bottom card of the deck. Since it is unlikely that you have divided the pack precisely in half, simply offset the packets when starting the weave, to give the desired results. Do not spring the cards to square them. This would expose face-up cards in the portion that is supposedly face-down. Instead, push them into each other. At this point you have a red-backed, face-up deck sandwiched between two blue-backed cards. The blue card on top is face-down; the one on the bottom is face-up. Turn the pack end over end, showing a blue back on both sides. Comment, "Backs at both ends." Turn the pack over again, restoring it to its original position. "We'll find a face." Remove the face-down top card of the pack, exposing a face-up card, and insert the facedown blue card near center. Push it flush, then turn the deck end over end again, bringing the second blue-backed card into view. Thanks to the bridge in the cards, the reversed blue card in the middle will create a natural break just above it. Divide the deck at that point, with the face-up blue card on top of the bottom packet. Weave the two packets together, making sure that the face-down blue card of the top portion goes directly under the face-up blue card

138 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY of bottom portion. The opposing bridges between the face-up card and the face-down cards below it aid in placing the face-down blue card in the necessary spot. Push the packets square. The red-backed deck is now face-down. One blue-backed card lies face-up on top, and just beneath it rests the second blue card, face-down. Turn the deck end over end, bringing the face of the bottom card into view. "Faces at both ends." Turn the deck end over end again, bringing the face of the blue-backed card uppermost. "We'll find a back." Remove the face-up top card and insert it slightly below center. In doing so, you can flash the blue back of the card, but don't make this display a cause. Push the card flush. The second bluebacked card lies face-down on top of the pack. Turn the deck once more end over end, bringing a face-up card into view. If you cut at the ends, the natural bridge in the buried blue card allows you to divide the deck just above it. Momentarily set the face-up top portion onto the bottom portion, stepped outward for roughly half its length. A face-down blue card shows atop the bottom packet. Regrip the packets for a last faro shuffle. Straddle weave the face-up top portion into the apparently face-down bottom portion. By inserting the one blue card slightly below center, you have ensured that the face-up packet will be smaller than its counterpart. Thus the blue-backed cards are delivered to the top and bottom of the deck. The red-backed deck is now face-up, with a blue-backed card face-down on top, the second face-up on the bottom. Pick off the top card and wave it over the pack, snapping it faceup as part of the magical action. Slip this card under the pack, then ribbon spread the cards widely to show that they are all now faceup, having magically righted themselves. When you gather the deck and turn it face-down, the two bluebacked cards are together on top, putting you in position for any color-changing deck trick that employs two cover-cards. In particular, see "Ambitious Stranger" in Volume I (pp. 299-305). These two tricks in combination are particularly potent, as the color change of the deck is revealed only after several magical effects have been performed with the pack. Anyone trying to backtrack to the moment when a deck switch might have occurred will never believe you were prepared so far in advance. In recent years several topsy-turvy deck effects have been published that end with a surprise color-change of the pack. Mr. Elmsley's approach, developed in the 1950s, is a far subtler use of

EXOTICA 1 3 9 the principle, as the true color of the deck is concealed for a considerable time before the color-change is effected. By the way, if you begin a card routine with tricks done with a legitimate bluebacked pack, switch decks on the offbeat, then proceed with "The Shy Chameleon" and "Ambitious Stranger", even the most astute will fail to determine when the switch was made. Delaying a color-changing back effect by performing other tricks first, while concealing the true composition of the deck, is an exceptionally persuasive strategy. In the late 1950s Ravelli (Ronald Wohl) did a lengthy and intelligent study of this idea, which was eventually published in the April 1963 issue of Ibidem (see pp. 29-38). In his examination he praises Mr. Elmsley's unpublished topsy-turvy deck trick (ibid., p. 30) and describes many other examples. The article is well worth the reader's study.

TURN-ABOUT CARD Effect: A known card, held face-down in one hand, turns instantly face-up when snapped. There is absolutely no hint of the card being turned or flipped over—since it is not. The visual effect is akin to a color change and must be seen to be fully appreciated. Method: The secret to this surprising reversal resides in an unusual application of the "Hofzinser" top change. Though this topchange handling was inspired by one of J.N. Hofzinser's (Hqfzinser's Card Conjuring, pp. 47-48), it is more accurately the invention of Cy Endfield (ref. The Gen, Vol. 8, No. 3, July 1952, pp. 88-89; also Cy Endfield's Entertaining Card Magic, Part Two, pp. 41-43). In the early 1950s Fred Kaps showed Mr. Elmsley his variant of the Endfield top change, in which the card to be changed was held between the tips of the right first and second fingers. While experimenting with the sleight, Mr. Elmsley devised the surprising reversal just described. The Elmsley sequence is extremely visual and, from start to finish, consumes roughly ten seconds. Therefore, you will more than likely wish to integrate it into a longer trick or routine. The card that will be turned must, in the beginning, be positioned second from the top of the deck. This can be a chosen card, an "ambitious" card, a specific card that has been in play previously, or any card at all. With the deck held face-down in left-hand dealing grip, execute a double lift and display the face of the double card. Then deposit it, still face-up, on top of the face-down deck, sidejogged for half its width. Extend the left thumb fully across the deck to hold the double card in place; and lightly contact the back of the double with the tips of the left second and third fingers (Figure 79). Revolve the left hand palm-down, at the same time retracting the thumb and pulling the displayed card square

EXOTICA

141

with the pack (Figure 80). The second card of the double is kept stationary by the fingertips. The action is very close to that of a Downs change. Grasp the inner right corner of the projecting card, pinching it between the right t h u m b (above) and forefinger (below), as shown in Figure 81. In the eyes of the audience, this is the card they just saw face-up a moment before. Move the face-down card to the right and away from the deck. As the card leaves the pack, catch a left fourth-finger break between the reversed card and the deck. Immediately turn the left hand partially palm-up, but keep the outer end of the deck tilted slightly upward, so that the face-up card on top cannot be seen by the spectators (Figure 82). Now, as you stroke the right hand's card once, flicking it off the left thumb, execute the "Hofzinser" top change, exchanging the face-up card from the deck with the face-down card in the right hand. Mr. Elmsley uses the Endfield handling of this sleight, with only a minor alteration: he works the change from the fourth finger's break, instead of pushing the top card to the right, which would expose its reversed condition. First, it is most important that the right hand not move during the top change. Mr. Endfleld recommends anchoring the right elbow against your side to ensure this. Hold the right hand and its card at roughly waist height. The deck rests in left-hand mechanic's grip, with the thumb angled diagonally across the outer left corner.

142 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Mention the name of the card that was just shown, and make a small gesture with the right hand's card, to affirm its alias. Move the left hand to the right and swing the deck up under the right hand's card, allowing the card to glide beneath the left thumb (Figure 83). As the deck moves square with the right hand's card, slip the tip of the right first finger into the fourth finger's break; that is, permit the right inner corner of the face-up card to slide between the right hand's card and the tip of the right forefinger. Immediately pull back with the right forefinger, drawing the face-up card diagonally inward while both thumbs retain the upper face-down card square on the deck (Figure 84). When the face-up card has been pulled back half an inch or so, it can be gripped by its inner right corner between the right thumb and forefinger; and the left thumb can bear down on the outer left corner of the facedown card, clipping it to the deck. Now turn the left hand smartly outward and palmdown with a deft flick of the wrist (Figure 85). This causes the face-up card to snap from the deck, as if it had been snapped off the left thumb— and the change is done. Some performers snap the card off the left thumb once or twice, using actions that appear

EXOTICA

143

outwardly identical to those of the top change, before actually executing the change. Others follow the change with one more snap off the thumb. (Both ideas were originally suggested by Mr. Endfield.) This, of course, is a matter of style best left to the discretion of the individual. The action of stroking or stropping the card, by the way, in the context of such maneuvers, is believed to be an idea of Carmen D'Amico's (ref. Sharpe's Expert Card Conjuring, p. 44). The secrets to perfecting this style of top change are smoothness and sureness of action, combined with a lightness of finger pressures as the cards are exchanged. Done properly, the change of the facedown card to a face-up one is startling and instantaneous. One last note: If the left fourth finger catches a break under the face-down card as the change is made, the sleight can be immediately repeated, causing the card in the right hand to turn face-down again. November 1953

A SMALL REVELATION Effect: The performer displays a spread of four miniature cards, all of the same value. The four cards have been glued permanently into a row, as shown in Figure 86. The four-card spread is displayed front and back, then placed into an ordinary envelope, which is given someone to hold. Four matching normal-sized cards are now brought out. These are mixed by a spectator and dealt into a face-down row. He then picks one of the cards and turns it face-up. Next the person holding the envelope opens it and removes the row of miniatures. Though these small cards are still solidly glued together, one of them is now reversed in the center of the spread— and this reversed card is the duplicate of the spectator's selection, which lies face-up in its face-down row on the table. Method: In the 1950s Joe Stuthard marketed an item called "Klip Trix". The novel effect just described is partially related in method to the Stuthard trick, which in turn uses a principle first explored in print by Tom Sellers (ref. "New Principle Card Trick" in his Twentyone New Card Tricks, p. 8). "A Small Revelation" depends on the clever construction of a row of miniature cards. You will need five small cards; those half-size miniatures available in some department stores and magic shops. These must all share the same value. For this description, assume these cards to be the four fours and an extra four of spades. Take each four of spades and carefully cut a narrow slot in it that travels from the precise center of one end straight to the center of

EXOTICA 1 4 5

the card (Figure 87). Set aside one of these fours and glue the remaining four cards together in an overlapping row, with a half inch of each card exposed to the right of the one above it. In gluing the cards together, arrange them with the diamond, heart and club faceup, and the spade face-down second from the left (Figure 88). It is important that, when you fix the spade into place, the slotted end lies at the top of the spread, and that you apply glue only to the left side of the slot on the back and the right side of the slot on the face. When the row is assembled, the slot is completely concealed by the cards above and below it, but it can still be separated (Figure 89).

Next fashion a small barbless hook from a straight pin. Attach this with glue and tape to the face of the second four of spades at its uncut end, near the middle (Figure 87). If you hold this card faceup by the end with the hook and slip the cut end into the slot of the

146 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY face-down four (Figure 90), you will find that the two slots mesh and the loose four slides completely down and over its face-down duplicate, perfectly concealing it on both sides. With this card in place, the spread appears to consist of four face-up fours. You also need the matching fours from a normal-sized pack, and an envelope large enough to contain the glued spread of miniatures. Pencil dot or otherwise subtly mark the back of the four of spades, so that you can identify it easily. In performance, bring out the spread of miniature fours and, hiding the hook between the tips of the fingers, display the cards front and back. Explain that you have glued the little cards together to avoid losing them. Hand someone the envelope and have him make sure it is empty. While he does this and attention is drawn to him, maneuver the row of face-up cards into a position roughly parallel to the left fingers, with the hook lying under the thumb (Figure 91). The position of the row of miniatures in the hand is similar to that of a normal card when it is about to be classic palmed. Turn a bit to your left and drop your left hand casually to your side. Hook the gimmick onto your trousers leg or the tail of your jacket and move your hand back. This action causes the gimmicked card to slip from the spread and hang from your clothes (Figure 92). At the same time, extend your right hand and retrieve the envelope.

EXOTICA 147 Holding the miniature spread in a manner to conceal the reversed card behind the fingers, slip the spread into the envelope and close the flap. Hand the envelope to the person who examined it and ask him to guard it. Now bring out the four normal cards. Display them, pointing out that they are duplicates of the glued miniatures. Hand the cards to a second spectator for mixing. Then have him deal them into a facedown row on the table. You must now force the marked four of spades on him. As there are only four choices, there is a one-in-four chance he will pick it straight-away. If however he doesn't, it is a simple matter to adjust his selection through an equivoque (magician's choice) procedure. At the finish of the selection process, manage to end with the four of spades reversed in the row, either face-up among face-down cards, or face-down among face-up cards. Then have the person holding the envelope open it and remove the glued miniatures to reveal the mysterious sympathetic change that has occurred. During the aftermath of the effect, or earlier, during the forcing of the card—whenever attention is not on you—steal the hanging miniature from your trousers or jacket and drop it into a pocket. If the idea of hanging the gimmick on your clothes does not appeal to you, or working conditions make it impractical, another avenue of action is easily devised. I would suggest that you replace the hook with a small tab of transparent tape. When ready to steal the loose four from the row, lay the miniature cards momentarily on the back of the envelope, catching the tape tab under the right thumb as you open the flap with the left fingers. Raise the front end of the envelope slightly, tipping the spread out of the audience's view. Then, with your left hand, grasp the row and pull it to the left, leaving behind the gimmick (Figure 93). Slip the spread into the envelope and immediately give it to someone to hold, secretly retaining the gimmick in the right hand. A miniature card should present no problem of concealment. Drop the. gimmick into your pocket as you bring out the four normal cards, and proceed with the presentation.

148 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY This trick was marketed in 1962 by Louis Tannen, using the hooked card. However, Mr. Elmsley never attached a hook to the slotted card; nor does he remember suggesting the idea. It is likely that Louis Tannen added the hook either because the original Elmsley handling had been forgotten, or he thought the hook made a more interesting prop for sale. Mr. Elmsley's original and preferred handling uses your pocket handkerchief instead of an envelope. Proceed in this manner: Grip the spread of miniatures face-up in your palm-up right hand, your thumb contacting the face of the slotted card. Tilt the spread to an almost vertical position, with its far edge upward, and ask a spectator to grasp it by the outer index corner of the uppermost card (Figure 94). While you continue to hold the cards as described, with your free left hand snap open your handkerchief and drape it over the spread, the spectator's hand and your own. Under cover of this action, use your right thumb to slide the slotted card downward for about half its length, but leave it engaged in the spread. (Of course, the handkerchief you use must be opaque, so that the cards cannot be seen through it.) Then bring your right hand from beneath the handkerchief, casually letting it be seen empty. This adjustment can be done smoothly and quickly, causing no hesitation. Now have a second person pick a card from the full-sized set, forcing on him the duplicate of the reversed card in the spread. To reveal the reversal of the miniature card, grip the downjogged end of the slotted card through the handkerchief and pull the card free as you dramatically uncover the spread—still in the first spectator's hand. While attention is focused on the reversed card in the glued spread, you have ample opportunity to place your handkerchief back in your pocket, with the gimmick in its folds. Done in this fashion, the effect is greatly enhanced, for the spectator actually holds in his hand the glued spread of cards as the magical reversal is effected. 1962

FOOL'S MATE Effect: The performer deals four unknown cards face-down into a row on the table. He then shuffles the deck, removes one card and hands it to a spectator, with the request that he place it face-down in front of any one of the four tabled cards. This pair is set in front of him. The performer removes another card from the pack and hands it to a second person. She is to place this card before any one of the remaining three cards. This pair is set near her. The procedure is repeated with two more cards and another pair of spectators, until eight cards have been freely coupled. The performer now removes a joker from the pack, explaining that Cupid is often called a joker. The joker is passed between each of the pairs of cards on the table and proves to be amazingly effective; for when each pair is shown, it consists of a king and a queen of matching suits. Method: For this unusual approach to the Royal Marriages plot, a ten-card stack is required. Arrange the four kings on top of the deck, in any suit order that you can easily remember; e.g., CHaSeD. Beneath the kings set the queens. The order of the queens is unimportant. Finally, beneath the queens set two identical jokers. The one-ahead principle is used to assure the mating of the cards, but the method of rectifying the sequence is ingenious, as the paired sets are kept separate at all times. Begin by dealing the kings into a face-down row before you. Do not reveal the identities of the cards. Simply say, "We will use these four cards for an experiment." Give the pack a brief overhand shuffle, undercutting about half the cards and shuffling them off onto the stock. This positions the queens and jokers near the center of the deck. Say to someone nearby, "I'm going to find a card that I think will suit you." Fan the pack, face toward you, and remove either of the

150 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY jokers. Thankfully, the spectator will never learn of this assessment of him. Do not show the face of the card. Slide it toward him across the table. "Don't look at it. I want you to put it in front of any one of the cards on the table. You have a choice of one out of four." Wait for him to lay the joker in front of one of the kings. When he has done so, pick up the selected king and drop it onto the joker, forming a face-down pair. Slide the pair in front of the spectator. Since you are familiar with the order of the kings, you immediately know the suit he has chosen. From the deck, which you still hold fanned before you, remove the queen that matches the suit of the chosen king. Place this queen before a second person, saying, "Here is a card I think fits you. Please lay it in front of any one of the remaining cards you wish. You have a choice of one out of three." Drop the designated king onto the second spectator's card and slide the pair toward her. Now remove from the deck the queen that matches this second king. Give this queen to a third person. "Please do as the other two have done. You have a choice of one out of two." Pick up the king this person indicates and drop it onto his queen. Position that pair in front him. One king is left unchosen. You have two queens still in the pack, one of which matches the remaining king. Remove it and hand it to a fourth person. "Your decision is the easiest. You have no choice really, but I'd like you to go through the motions." When she lays her card down, place the remaining king on top of it. Now separate the fanned deck at the remaining queen and cut it to the top. Turn the deck face-down and perform a double turnover, showing the joker. "Many people have said Cupid is a joker. Well, I've got a joker here; and I can prove the joker is a Cupid, and a marriage broker and the parson, all rolled into one. Watch." Turn the double card face-down on the deck. Take the top card into the right hand and set the deck aside. With your freed left hand, pick up the fourth spectator's pair of cards and hold it squared. This is the one pair that genuinely matches. Grasping the right hand's card (the fourth queen) by its outer right corner, insert it between the left hand's pair at the far end (Figure 95). Then push the card inward for about half its length. "Let's see if the joker can bring this pair together." Release the corner of the outjogged card from the right hand and, with the left thumb, spread the three cards, showing the outjogged card really lies between the other two. Pause for only a moment; then square the spread and push the protruding card flush. Spread the cards a second time, and with the right forefinger and thumb,

EXOTICA 151

grip the center card by its inner end and draw it from between the other two (Figure 96). "You, of course, had only a one in one choice." Flip the pair faceup in the left fingers and display the matching king aiid queen. Lay the mated pair in front of the fourth spectator and pick up the third spectator's pair. "When you put these cards together, you had a choice of one in two." You now apparently slip the matchmaking joker between these two cards, as you did with the first pair. However, the mockjoker (really the matching queen to the king of the pair) is actually passed under the two cards. Pretend to insert it between them, feigning a little difficulty. Push the card flush with the pair, then spread the three cards and withdraw the center one. Flip up the remaining two cards, disclosing another matched set. Lay these before the third spectator. Turning to the second spectator, say, "Your choice was harder still: one in three." Pick up her pair of cards and perform the same false insertion and withdrawal of the Cupid card. Show that this pair also matches. To the first spectator, say, "You had a choice of one in four, the longest odds of all." Repeat the false insertion and withdrawal; however, this time the third card can be shown when you finish, as it is at last a real joker. "Now you see what I mean about the powers of the joker." One of the great problems in presenting a matching effect of this sort is that suspense and dramatic tension must dwindle as the revelation of the final pair is approached. The conclusion is inevitable to everyone at that point. Recognizing this, Mr. Elmsley has worked to sustain interest by using several presentational ploys.

152 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY First, he maintains curiosity by hiding until the last possible moment the fact that the cards used are kings and queens. And second, throughout the denouement he stresses that each spectator had a greater chance of failing to match cards than the previous person. When you modify the presentation to suit your style, don't lose sight of these important considerations. In the next trick, the royal couples dismiss the matchmaking services of the joker. Instead they find each other on their own, in a quite magical fashion. Indeed, it seems impossible to keep them apart. February 1973

JUBILEE Effect: The performer removes the four kings from the deck and divides them between two spectators, who mix them. He then takes back any one of the kings, say the king of clubs, and cuts it faceup into the face-down deck. When he next spreads the cards, the queen of clubs has magically appeared face-up beside her mate. The two cards are set aside and another of the kings, perhaps the king of hearts, is cut face-up into the face-down pack. On spreading the deck, the queen of hearts is found face-up beside her king. Two kings have not yet located their mates. The performer proposes a change in procedure. He has a spectator insert the king of spades and the king of diamonds anywhere in the deck, reversed and separated. The deck is immediately spread and the matching queen to each of the two kings now lies face-up beside her mate, consummating four magical reunions. Method: This offbeat variant of the Royal Marriages plot is accomplished with only a four-card setup. The four queens, in a known suit order, must be managed secretly to the top of the deck. For this explanation standard CHaSeD order (clubs-hearts-spadesdiamonds) is assumed. Begin the presentation by casually shuffling the pack while retaining the queens on top. Following this, run through the deck and toss the four kings face-up onto the table as you come to them. After locating the last king, quickly spread to the queens and, while squaring the face-up pack, secure a left fourth-finger break above the lower two queens. As you square the deck into left-hand dealing position, move it inward a bit, until the two queens below the break lie "deep" in the hand, almost in gambler's cop. "This trick is based on the sex appeal of the kings," you say, directing everyone's gaze to those four cards. While attention is focused on the tabled kings, raise the outer end of the pack slightly and, with the palm-down right hand, turn the deck sidewise and face-down in the left hand, while leaving the two queens behind, as


shown in Figures 97 and 98. (This method for reversing cards secretly under the pack was first published by Neal Elias and Bert Fenn in Elias' At the Table, p. 3. An earlier handling of this reverse appears in Hatton and Plate's Magicians' Tricks: How They are Done, pp. 70-71.) The queen of spades is now on top of the face-down deck, followed by the queen of diamonds. The queen of clubs lies face-up under the pack, with the face-up queen of hearts resting directly above it. With your right hand, casually gather the kings, picking them up in the same suit order applied to the queens (the club at the back, then the heart, the spade and the diamond). Display the kings briefly, before you turn them face-down onto the deck. Do this slowly, so that the fairness of the action is evident, though not overstated. As you square the kings on the pack, catch a left fourth-finger break under the top two cards; i.e., below the king of hearts. "For this trick, neither you nor I must know the order of the kings. I'll mix them face-down." Begin the mixing by slipping the tips of the right first and second fingers into the break at the inner right corner of the pack, and bringing the right thumb down on top. Having securely gripped the double card by its corner in this fashion,

EXOTICA 1 5 5 immediately draw it to the right and away from the pack. With your left thumb, push over the next card of the deck and take it onto the right hand's double card. Thumb over the next card and take it under the right hand's cards. Finally, deal another card onto the previous ones. In appearance you have dealt the four kings into your right hand, mixing them in the process. In reality you have dealt off five cards, which from top to face read: queen of spades, king of spades, king of clubs, king of hearts, king of diamonds. If this sequence of actions is done casually and without hesitation, it looks entirely unpremeditated. Set the right hand's cards back on the deck as you say, "Better still, you mix them. Will you mix these?" Address this request to someone on your right and hand him the top two cards, the queen and king of spades. "And you mix these." Turn to someone on your left and hand him the next two cards from the deck, the kings of clubs and hearts. "Don't let me or anyone else see the faces." While the spectators mix their cards, you casually give the deck a cut, setting it for the next phase. This cut, however, is not without guile: Bring the right hand palm-down over the pack and grasp it by its ends. Under cover of the hand quickly pull down the bottom card of the pack (the face-up queen of clubs) at the inner right corner, using just the tip of the left fourth finger (Figure 99). Then, with the right hand, cut off the top half of the deck and, while you pull down with the left fourth finger to widen the break, smoothly slip the top half into it and above the separated queen (Figure 100). The maneuvering of the bottom card during the cut should not be apparent to the audience. (This combination of the pull-down with the cutting of the pack is an Edward Mario idea.)

156 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY As you square the halves, form a flesh break between them on the heel of the left thumb (Figure 101). This break lies below the face-up queen of hearts and above the face-down king and queen of diamonds. The face-up queen of clubs still rests under the pack. Ask the spectator on your left, "Are you satisfied that neither of us knows which of your cards is which? Then give me either one you like." With your right hand, take the card he offers you and turn it face-up as you set it on top of the face-down deck, outjogged for roughly half its length. You now cut the king into the pack, but the precise method of doing so hinges on the king you are given. If you are handed the king of clubs, bring your right hand, palm-down, to the rear of the deck, grasp all the cards beneath the break by the inner corners, pull this packet toward you, drawing it from under the deck (Figure 102), and place it on top, sandwiching the outjogged king between the halves. This positions the face-up queen of clubs directly above the corresponding king. With your left forefinger, slowly push the king flush.

EXOTICA 157 If you are handed the king of hearts, perform an open slip cut, drawing the half pack above the break inward while your left thumb holds the king of hearts stationary (Figure 103). Let the king settle onto the lower half; then place the right hand's packet onto the left's, cutting the face-up king of hearts to center. The face-up queen of hearts is now just above it. With your left forefinger, slowly push the king flush. Whichever method of cutting is necessary, it should be done swiftly and casually. Seem to pay no attention to the cards as you cut them. Don't look directly at the deck. Instead, catch only a glimpse of the king as you place it on the pack, and immediately make the proper cut. Snap your right fingers over the pack, then spread it between your hands, revealing the appearance of the king's mate, the matching face-up queen, lying with him in the middle of the deck. Separate the spread at the queen and king and drop them together onto the table. You will now repeat this procedure with the king remaining to the spectator on your left. The necessary actions are again governed by the suit of that king. If the second king is the heart, reunite the spread and square the cards into your left hand. The king and queen of diamonds are now on top of the deck, and the face-up queen of hearts is on the bottom. With your right hand, take the second king from the spectator. Turn it face-up and place it outjogged on the deck. Then undercut half the pack, in the same fashion employed above, and place the undercut portion on top, positioning the king of hearts next to the face-up queen of hearts. With your left forefinger, push the king flush. Then snap your right fingers over the pack and spread it between the hands to expose the face-up queen of hearts beside her mate. Drop the mated pair onto the table, beside the pair of club cards, and reassemble the spread, forming a break under the top two cards of the lower half—the king and queen of diamonds—as you square the deck into the left hand. Then casually cut at the break, bringing the diamond mates to the bottom of the pack. If the second king is the club, reunite the spread—but as you do so, form a break under the top two cards of the lower half; that is, below the queen and king of diamonds (the two cards that rested directly below the reversed king and queen of hearts before you tabled them). Square the deck and transfer the break to the heel of the left thumb. With your right hand, take the king of clubs from the spectator. Place the king face-up and outjogged on the deck and, with the palm-down right hand, undercut the pack at the break.

158 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Complete the cut, uniting the face-up queen and king of clubs in the middle, while sending the king and queen of diamonds to the bottom. Push the projecting king flush, snap your right fingers over the deck and spread the cards to reveal the face-up mates. Drop them onto the table and square the deck into your left hand. While these handling contingences may seem a bit confusing at first, they are easily summarized and learned: 1) If the king of hearts is the first card handed you, you must execute a slip cut when burying it. All other cuts required are straight undercuts. 2) No matter whether the king of hearts is used first or second, when you spread the pack to produce the mated heart pair, you must form a break two cards below these face-up cards and eventually cut at that break to send the king and queen of diamonds to the bottom. At this point the mated club and heart pairs lie face-up on the table, the diamond mates rest at the face of the pack and the spectator on your right holds the king and queen of spades. Casually spread the deck between your hands, showing that all cards are facedown. Then square the deck, forming a left fourth-finger break above the bottom two cards. Turn to the spectator on your right and say to him, "Will you mix your cards a bit more. Don't let anybody see them." As attention is drawn to his actions, perform a half pass, secretly reversing the bottom two cards of the pack (see Volume I, p. 70, for a description of this sleight). As you complete the half pass, let the left side of the pack drop, bringing the deck into position for an overhand shuffle. This adjustment of the pack provides excellent cover as you conclude the sleight. Also note that, by turning to the right while addressing the spectator there, you have compensated for the weak angle on that side. Immediately give the cards a brief shuffle to this pattern: shuffle off to the last few cards and throw them beneath the rest, retaining the reversed pair at the bottom of the deck; then, without hesitation, run one or two cards from the top and throw the balance of the pack onto them. This short run should be treated as an extension of the first shuffle, rather than as a second, separate shuffle. The shuffle places one or two indifferent cards on the face of the pack, beneath the reversed king and queen of diamonds. Turn the deck face-up and form a fan in your left hand, keeping the first few cards at the face of the fan bunched together to hide the two reversed cards there.

EXOTICA 1 5 9 "Keep your kings face-down and put them wherever you like, but separated in the face-up pack." Let the spectator do this, guiding him to leave the two cards projecting from the fan for about half their length. Then neatly close the fan, retaining the two cards in their outjogged positions. "Do you know which king is which?" As you ask this question, look up at the spectator, misdirecting away from the pack for a moment as you make a small adjustment of the cards: With your right hand, grip the projecting cards at their outer ends, thumb above and fingers below. Then, as you pinch the two cards together, push them about half an inch farther into the pack. If you ease the left hand's pressure on the sides of the deck, the block of cards that lies between the outjogged pair will be forced a short distance from the rear of the pack (Figure 104). This is the plunger principle at work. Now move your right hand, palm-down, to the near end of the deck, grasp the protruding block by its inner corners and draw it toward you, stripping it from the pack. Then place it square onto the face-up deck. (Note that all cutting actions in this trick, though they may differ in function, have been given a consistent appearance.) Do not let the upper portion of the deck drop as you make this cut. Instead, maintain a separation between the outjogged cards. Immediately following this cut use the left forefinger to push the outjogged pair of cards flush and subtly let the upper packet settle onto the lower portion. This completes a simplified multiple shift in the Vernon fashion, uniting the two inserted cards (the king and queen of spades) near the center of the pack. Slowly turn the deck face-down in the left hand and snap your fingers twice over it. Conclude by spreading the cards to display the face-up mates magically paired in the pack. It is entirely possible to perform "Jubilee" impromptu, without first arranging the queens on top of the deck. To do this, you would cull the queens to the top as you run through the deck in search of the kings. It is, however, difficult to cull the queens in a particular suit order. Instead, memorize the random order of suits after the queens

160 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY have been culled, and arrange the kings in that same order. Once that is done you can forget the suit order, but you must remember the suit of the king second from the top. You then treat this king just as the king of hearts was treated above, applying the rules of handling summarized for that card. That is, if the first king handed you is the one you have memorized, you must bury it with a slip cut. Otherwise, an undercut is performed. And when the king and queen of the memorized suit are produced in the center of the pack, a break must be formed two cards below them, and the cards above this break must be cut to the bottom of the deck. Several trials will clarify for you the simple system used to guide the handling. The reader is urged to make those trials, to appreciate fully the cleverness and baffling effect afforded by the design of this trick. We now proceed to another tale of royal romance, but this time, love is tinged with infidelity. [November 1972]

SEPARATING THE MEN FROM THE BOYS Effect: All twelve court cards are openly removed from the deck and shown. The four queens are set aside and the face-down jacks are neatly alternated with the face-up kings. The four queens are waved over the combined kings and jacks in a magical manner and with no hint of subterfuge, then are set down again. The held packet is now fanned, showing four face-down cards still interlaced with the face-up kings—but when the fan is turned over, the face-down cards are seen to be the queens, not the jacks; and the jacks are found on the table, where the queens were thought to have been. All this is performed to a tale of innocence, paternal love and an expose of the evil ways of big-city women. It is also done without recourse to gaffed or extra cards. Just the twelve court cards are used. Here Mr. Elmsley once more demonstrates how a potentially confusing effect can be clarified and enhanced by an entertaining presentation. Method: It was the title of this trick that first came to Mr. Elmsley, after which he invented an effect to fit it. He finds that this inverted practice of using a phrase or cliche as a springboard for invention can be a fruitful avenue to creativity. This is certainly borne out here. To prepare for this excellent trick, openly remove the jacks, queens and kings from the pack and put the remaining cards away. Arrange the twelve court cards with the jacks at the face, the queens on top and the kings in the middle. Suit order does not matter. Hold the packet face-up in left-hand dealing position and spread over the first four cards, briefly displaying the jacks. Square the jacks back onto the packet, then immediately thumb off the foremost jack onto the palm-up right hand. Continue to deal the jacks, one by one, from the packet into the right hand as you say: "These jacks stand for four boys; country boys, but they were nearly grown up. Likely lads."


With the right fingers, flip the jacks face-down in the right hand, square them and slip them honestly under the left hand's packet, jogging them forward about an inch (Figure 105). Briefly fan the kings on the packet, then square them again and deal them, one by one, into the right hand, just as you did the jacks. "The kings are four men. They were the fathers of the boys, and one holiday they all took their boys to the Big City to see the sights." Flip the kings face-down and slip them beneath the jacks, similarly outjogged under the packet. Now fan over the four queens and, with the aid of the right hanr1 .square them and flip them face-down and square on top of the packet. As you do so, catch a heel break between the queens and the packet, as exposed in Figure 106. (This maneuver is known as an Altman trap.) It is now an easy matter to transfer this heel break to the tip of the left fourth finger. Simply press down with the left thumb on the outer left corner of the packet, levering up the inner right corners of the queens. Then tighten the fourth fingertip against the edges of the cards, taking the break, as you relax pressure with the heel of the thumb, permitting the break to collapse there. "These queens of course are four ladies." Immediately, execute a block push-off, dealing the four queens as one card into the right hand. Without hesitation, deal the next three cards (jacks), one by one, onto the block of queens, outjogging them slightly. "But these ladies were not the wives of the men, and these ladies were not the mothers of the boys." Slip the right hand's cards neatly back onto the left hand's packet. Then turn the right hand palm-down and apparently remove the queens again from the packet, grasping them by the ends. In reality, only the top three cards, those jogged forward, are removed,

EXOTICA 1 6 3 leaving the queens atop the packet. The act of replacing the queens on the packet should seem to be done only to allow the right hand to change its grip. Drop the right hand's cards face-down onto the table. These are three jacks. 'These were four Wicked Ladies, sitting in a cafe in the Big City, watching the passers-by." Flip the left hand's packet face-up and fan over the four kings. "Now the men were worried about the safety of their boys." Take the fanned kings into the right hand, letting a jack be seen on the face of the left hand's packet. Then smoothly flip the left hand's cards face-down in dealing grip, and set the fanned kings, outjogged for about half their length, onto the outer right corner of the packet. Clip the kings in place with the left thumb, as shown in Figure 107. The face-down cards should be held securely squared in mechanic's grip.

Bring the right hand, palm-up, to the inner right corner of the face-down packet and, with the right thumb, draw the top card inward, leaving the rest of the face-down cards perfectly squared (Figure 108). Grip this card by the corner, thumb above and fingers beneath, and pull it neatly from the group. Then slip it, still facedown, between the uppermost pair of kings, leaving it outjogged for roughly an inch. "So they decided that they would walk arm in arm..." In the same fashion, remove the next card from the top of the face-down packet, and slip it between the center pair of kings. " . . . linked together..." Remove the next face-down card from the packet and insert it between the lowermost pair of kings. "... in a chain." With the palm-up right hand, grip the remaining two face-down cards by their inner right corner and draw them from

164 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY under the fan while pivoting them around the left fourth finger (Figure 109), turning the double card end for end. These two cards should already be in perfect register, but if there is any minor misalignment, it can be corrected as the pair is drawn by the fourth finger. This action has the added benefit of making the double card appear disarmingly single. Place it at the bottom of the fan, outjogged like the others but slightly more so. To all appearances, you have just alternated the face-down jacks with the face-up kings. (Alternatively, rather than pivoting the double card from under the fan, you can leave it in left-hand mechanic's grip while the right hand grasps the fan and shifts it inward, bringing the double card into the desired position under the fan.) With the palm-up right hand, grip the entire fan and push it closed against the heel of the left thumb; immediately raise the packet in the right hand, briefly exposing its underside to the audience, displaying the face of a jack at the bottom (Figure 110). Because this card, actually a double, projects slightly farther than the other outjogged cards, there is no danger of the faces of the queens being accidentally exposed. Resuming our story: "That way they thought everybody would be safe." Lower the packet back onto the left hand; then bring the right hand over the packet and push the face-down cards flush. In this action, side slip the bottom card (the jack) into the right palm. "But though the men could keep the boys safe, who was going to keep the men safe?" Delivered with the proper inflection, this observation should bring a chuckle from the audience. The misdirective quip is timed to occur as the right hand leaves the

EXOTICA 1 6 5 packet and casually picks up the face-down pile from the table, adding the palmed card to it. "The ladies walked up the street past the party from the country. And then they walked down the street and passed them again." As you say this, pass the right hand's packet over the left hand's cards, then under it. Keep the packets far enough apart to assure that no suspicion of manipulation is aroused. Then set the right hand's packet down again. "And I don't really know how it occurred, but a short time later, there were the four men..." Fan the packet in the left hand, showing the face-down cards interspersed with the face-up kings. ".. .walking arm in arm with the four ladies..." Raise the left hand, exposing the underside of the fan and revealing the queens alternated with the kings. "...while back in the cafe there were the four boys, wondering what had happened." With your right hand, flip over the tabled pile and spread it to display the four jacks. "But you and I know what had happened, because that's what separates the men from the boys."

A PROBLEM WITH DUPLICATE IDENTITIES Effect: Two cards are freely selected and their identities noted by the group. The selections are then placed face-down on the table. Two more cards are chosen and, when they are turned up, they are seen to be identical to the ones just put aside. The two new cards are buried in the deck and the tabled pair is once more shown. The two cards are found to be unchanged, verifying their strange bilocation. The faces of the cards can be marked by spectators in the beginning if wished, for no duplicates or gimmicks are used. Method: The curious plot just described is a problem conceived by Mr. Elmsley in the late 1950s. One restriction made was that the trick be done with a regulation pack. The problem was aired at a Saturday afternoon gathering in London, and the following Sunday Jack Avis recorded it in his notes, along with a provisional method that Mr. Elmsley demonstrated. This solution is far from satisfactory in Mr. Elmsley's judgment, but I'm describing it, nonetheless, as the problem is an interesting one, and though the solution falls short of the ideal, it is certainly performable and may trigger other ideas. An impromptu double-backed card is used; that is, the card second from the top of the pack is turned face-up. One simple way of attaining this position is to reverse the bottom card of the deck secretly, then to double cut two cards from the bottom of the pack to the top. It is also helpful for the trick if a mild convex bridge is installed down the length of the face-down pack before you reverse the card. Spread the deck, without exposing the reversed card, and have two selections made. As you display them to everyone, casually rest the selections on the pack, face-up with the upper card spread to the right. Bring the right hand palm-up to the right of the cards and

EXOTICA

167

extend the fingers beneath the two selections. At the same time, press the left thumb down on the outer left corner of the pack. Thanks to the bridge in the cards, a narrow break will open along the right edge of the deck, under the reversed card. With the tip of the right second finger, nip the impromptu double-backer against the face-up cards; then perform the Zarrow block addition; that is, draw all four cards as a unit to the right, simultaneously flipping them over, square onto the pack. It appears as if you have just turned the two selections face-down on the deck. Immediately pick off the top two cards and lay them near you on the table. This is your impromptu double-backer. As you set the two cards down, let them spread slightly at the outer right corner—less than the width of a border, since the bottom card is face-up—leaving two cards in evidence. The two selections are face-down on top of the deck. You must now force them in some convincing manner. Display their faces to the group, making certain it is noticed that these two cards are identical to the pair on the table. Then return the two new cards to the deck and seemingly lose them, but actually control them back to the top. This control should be as economical in action as possible, as the loss of the cards is not important to the audience at the moment; they are eager to see the first two cards again. A false cut pass or some other straightforward false cut would suit the requirements here. After bringing the chosen cards to the top, procure a left fourthfinger break beneath them. With the right hand, pick up the pair from the table, taking care not to expose the face-up condition of the lower card. Drop these two cards onto the deck and perform a four-card turnover. Immediately spread the top two cards off the pack and toss them face-up onto the table for the audience's examination. The plot of this effect is unusual, and therefore intriguing. As stated earlier, Mr. Elmsley considers the problem very much a work in progress. It is offered here as a challenge for which it is hoped the reader will discover a more elegant solution.

THE IMP OF THE INVERSE Effect: Here is another intriguing Elmsley experiment, demonstrated by him at a Saturday gathering with Jack Avis and other friends in the 1960s. The performer riffles through the deck until a spectator calls stop. The card stopped at is pulled partially from the pack and shown: the nine of diamonds. The performer slowly and fairly pushes the selection back into the pack, then gives the cards to the spectator. In the process he lets his hands be seen empty. The performer snaps his fingers over the deck and tells the spectator to find his card and place it on the table. The spectator fails to do so, for the nine of diamonds is no longer in the pack. It is then produced from the performer's wallet, the closed card case or some other impossible location. Method: In the November 1964 Magicana column of Genii magazine (Vol. 29, No. 3, p. 150), William Woodfield published a fascinating method for vanishing a card from the pack under extraordinary circumstances. Though not mentioned by Mr. Woodfield, this trick was L'homme Masque's "The Flying Card", from The Art of Magic (pp. 77-79). In that fine work the authors, Hilliard and Downs, suggested a more appropriate title might be "The Kinetoscope Card"; and Mr. Woodfield's later title, "Kaleidoscopic Card", an obvious corruption of kinetoscope, provides a clear clue to his source. Shortly after reading the Woodfield column, Mr. Elmsley devised an alternative method for the effect. L'homme Masque's trick exploited a novel image blurring principle that I've never seen used elsewhere. The Elmsley solution is as offbeat and clever in its own right as the original. It is founded on the idea of passing off the six of diamonds for the nine. This bold but effective swindle was invented by Edward Mario, and exploited by him in a trick titled "A Variation to a Sixy Effect" (ref. Ibidem, No. 15, Dec. 1958, pp. 9-10). Prepare by taking the nine of diamonds from the pack and stowing it wherever you desire to produce it later. There will be a temptation to place it in some utterly impossible spot, but prudence

EXOTICA 1 6 9 suggests the choice of a believable location, such as the card case, under the close-up pad, in your pocket or your wallet. If the nine is produced from some clearly impossible place, spectators will cannily presume that it could not be the card previously seen in the deck. Dai Vernon's Too Perfect Theory is very much in force here. When ready to perform, secretly locate the six of diamonds, position it a bit above center in the pack and form a left fourthfinger break under it as you settle the face-down deck into left-hand dealing grip. Turn toward a spectator on your left and ask him to call stop as you riffle through the cards. Then perform a timed riffle force, stopping at the six of diamonds in the following manner: With the tip of your right forefinger, riffle up the outer right corner of the pack and watch the spectator's lips. When you see them begin to move, adjust the pace of the riffle to reach the break just as he utters stop. (Success with the riffle force is more a matter of timing than skill, and can be quickly learned with a little experience.) Dig your right fingers into the break, at the same time turning a bit more to your left and raising the deck to a vertical position, outer end up and back broadside to the audience. Then pull the six of diamonds upward, upjogging it for roughly half its length. Say to the spectator, "I want you to remember the card you stopped me at. I'll look at it too." Pinching the outer end of the card between the right thumb and forefinger, bow it backward over the end of the deck, until the index can be seen by you and the spectator on your left (Figure 111). You will both be looking at an upside-down index, and the 6 appears as a 9. "The nine of diamonds," you say to him, verbally reinforcing the optical illusion. (Note that a diamond card is recommended for this deception as diamonds is the only suit that has no rightside-up or upside-down orientation.) Give him a clear look at the index, but don't prolong it; a second is a sufficient interval. Let the card spring straight again, bow it inward briefly to remove any crimp the outward bowing may have caused, then neatly push it flush with the pack. All actions must be open and painstakingly honest at this point. Give the deck to the spectator and let your hands be seen empty.

1 7 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Now make some magical gesture over the deck and tell the spectator to remove his card and set it on the table. Of course he will not find the nine of diamonds in the deck. It seems to have melted away. Once he has convinced himself that it is gone, produce it from its hiding place, manifesting as much drama as is palatable. On a bare reading, the passing of the six for a nine must seem perilously audacious. It is unquestionably bold, but it is also surprisingly deceptive. I have seen Michael Skinner and several other performers completely fool audiences of magicians and laymen with a trick of Edward Mario's ("On the Card to Case" in Mario's Magazine, Volume Four, pp. 14-15) that relies on this very principle. It is not a pipe dream. [1965]

SUM TALK OF ALEXANDER Effect: Someone is asked to write down any number between one and ten. The performer writes a second digit beside this, forming a two-digit number. This done, the spectator cuts roughly half the cards from a shuffled deck. Both spectator and performer shuffle their halves; then the spectator pulls any card he likes from his half and lays it face-up on the table. The performer reunites the halves of the pack and, without altering the order of the cards, deals onto the table a number of cards equal to the value of the selection. The last card of the count is turned up and placed with the spectator's card. Then the value of this new card is counted off and the last card of the count turned up. This card is placed with the first two cards, and its value is used to count down in the pack. The procedure is continued until the entire pack has been exhausted. Now the spectator is instructed to add up the values of the random cards turned up during the deal. That value, strange as it seems, exactly matches the two-digit number chosen in the beginning. Method: Mr. Elmsley's title offers a clue to the parentage of this trick. The Alexander referenced is not he of Macedonia, nor of Elmsley, but of Kraus. In Ibidem, Nos. 12 and 13, Alexander F. Kraus contributed a card puzzle with a fascinating mathematical solution. Further ideas by Tom Ransom and Max Katz were appended to Mr. Kraus' article. The trick described above is the fruit of Mr. Elmsley's dalliance with this mathematical oddity and the groundwork in its application contributed by the puzzling minds of these three men. A simple setup is responsible for this curious coincidence effect. You must have a full deck of fifty-two cards—no jokers. Remove a set often cards, the values of which run from ace through ten. The suits should be mixed. Arrange these cards in descending order, with the ace at the face of the packet. Place any nine spot beneath the ace and place these eleven cards on the bottom of the deck.

172 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY In performance, give the pack a quick overhand shuffle, retaining the bottom stock. Then set down the cards and hand a pencil and slip of paper to someone. Ask that she write down any number between one and ten. If she by chance selects five, have her write down a second digit after it, creating a random two-digit number. If, however, her first choice is something other than five, take the pencil from her and write five before her digit, assuring that a number from fifty-two to fifty-nine is formed. Mentally subtract the spectator's chosen digit (i.e., the units digit of the two-digit number) from ten and remember the result. For example, if the spectator chose three, and the number fifty-three has been formed, subtract three from ten, leaving seven. Seven then becomes your key number. Have the spectator cut off roughly half the pack. Pick up the bottom half for yourself and ask her to shuffle her cards, indicating through your own actions an overhand shuffle. Your explanatory shuffle consists of nothing more than a quick run of a few cards. Run a number of cards equal to your key number from the top of the packet to the bottom. Do not disturb the eleven-card setup as you do this. You can, if you like, follow this shuffle adjustment with a brief false shuffle, as the spectator shuffles her portion. When the mixing has been completed, have her remove any card she wishes from her group and lay it face-up on the table. Retrieve the balance of her packet from her and set it onto your own. Point out the value of the random card she has chosen (all court cards are given a value of ten) and deal that number of cards, counting them aloud, into a face-down pile. Turn up the last card of the count and lay it onto hers. Draw attention to the value of this chance card and count an equal number from the pack, dealing the cards onto the existing pile on the table. Turn up the last card and place it with the previous two. Continue counting and turning up cards in this fashion until you can go no further; that is, until there are not enough cards left in the talon to count the value of the final card. That last face-up card, by the way, will always be the nine at the bottom of your setup. If you now add the values of all the cards set aside during the deal, their total will equal the two-digit number constructed at the beginning of the trick. You can allow the spectator to do the dealing, thus eliminating any suspicion of sleight-of-hand on your part. However, if you choose this course, you must make your instructions extremely clear or confusion and possible failure will result. The selection procedure can be handled in another way. Rather than have the spectator cut off half the pack and shuffle it, simply give the cards a casual shuffle yourself, transferring the necessary

EXOTICA 1 7 3 number of cards from top to bottom. Then fan out the top half of the pack for a selection to be made. The card, of course, cannot be drawn from the setup or from those cards below it. Do not, however, sell short the impression of fairness lent by the spectator's shuffling in the original handling. Though she is permitted to shuffle only half the deck, this counts for more in the audience's perception than your shuffling of the entire pack. Since the final card turned up will always be the bottom card of the setup, some will be tempted to tack on a supplementary effect in which they predict that card. This is certainly possible, but predicting the card may seem too pat to an audience, and can undermine the effect as a whole. In this case, as in so many others, less may well be more. It will be understood that the spectator's selection is limited to a number between one and ten as this ensures a single digit other than one. One is avoided because it requires a shift of nine cards to the bottom of the pack, which would deny you the option of stopping at the nine on the face of the setup, thus adding one more card to the total and upsetting the desired sum. Mr. Elmsley has worked out two solutions that allow one to be included in the selection range: 1) If one is chosen by the spectator, palm away one or two cards from the bottom of the pack before you begin to deal through it. The palmed cards will have to be secretly disposed of in a pocket or the lap. 2) Make the bottom card of your setup a ten instead of a nine, and secretly remove two cards from the pack before you begin, leaving fifty. If you then subtract the chosen digit from nine instead often, you will arrive at the number of cards you need to transfer from top to bottom with your shuffling. Although these alternatives are reasonably efficient, I think most performers will prefer the original ploy of simply eliminating one from the selection bank through subtle phrasing. The setup exploited here automatically forces a total of sixty when no shuffle displacement is performed. By transferring cards under the setup, you reduce the total by that number of cards. If you replace the nine at the bottom of the setup with a card of another value, the base total is changed. An ace yields a total of fifty-two; a two gives fifty-three; a three gives fifty-four; a four gives fifty-five; a five gives fifty-six;

1 7 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY a six gives fifty-seven; a seven gives fifty-eight; an eight gives fifty-nine; and a ten or a court card (counting as ten) yields sixty-one. One other interesting fact about the construction of this stack should be mentioned. The descending ten-through-ace sequence that sits above the final card of the stock need not be strictly adhered to. Any value in that sequence may be replaced with a lower value and the stack will still function. For example, a stack reading eightfour-six-seven-two-three-four-two-two-ace from top to bottom will still deliver the desired eleventh card of the stock. Given this information, you can arrange the stack quite rapidly. It will be obvious that this setup can be useful for forcing any number from fifty to sixty-one. Study of this system can, I'm certain, lead to other interesting uses as well.

SWITCHY-COO Effect: A card is freely chosen and shuffled back into the deck. The spectator is asked to name a small number, something between one and eight. The card at that number is counted to and turned face-up in place. It is not the selection. The eight-card packet is ribbon spread face-up on the table. None of these cards is the selection either. The card that was first turned up, the card that rested, and still rests, at the chosen number, lies face-down in the spread. The performer snaps his fingers over this card and turns it up, showing that it has magically changed to the chosen card. Method: Begin by having a card chosen, noted and returned to the pack. You must now reverse this card and secretly position it second from the top of the pack. There are several methods of accomplishing this, but perhaps the simplest is a reversal Dr. Jacob Daley devised many years ago: Give the deck a shuffle and control the card to the top. Take the deck into left-hand dealing position and execute a double turnover, showing the selection is not on top. Then, tilt the outer end of the deck upward, angling the top of the pack out of the audience's view. With the deck in this position, take the top card into the right hand and turn it face-down, leaving the face-up selection on the deck. Replace the top card square onto the pack and casually lower the left hand, bringing the top once more into view. If you are working in surrounded conditions, where tilting the pack does not provide sufficient cover, turn the left hand palm-down and lower the deck away from the left palm to exhibit the bottom card. This is not the selection either. While the deck is held in this position, with the right fingers draw the lowermost card from beneath the pack, turn it faceup and slip it under the pack once more. Then turn the left hand palm-up, bringing the top of the pack into view. Form a left fourth-finger break under the top two cards as you ask the spectator to name a number between one and eight. You will

176 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY now count that many cards from the top of the deck into the right hand, but with one small artifice: begin by pushing off the top two cards as one, concealing the reversed selection. If the left thumb is placed at the far left edge of the deck as it begins to push, it is not difficult to move the pair above the break to the right as one card. On the count of two, push over the next card from the pack and take it onto the right hand's double. Continue to count cards into the right hand, reversing their order, until you reach the chosen number. Turn up the card that falls at this number and take it, outjogged for about half its length, onto the right-hand packet. Then continue to count cards face-down onto the packet until you have reached eight. Mentally note how many cards you have counted onto the faceup indifferent card and, as you push off the final card, spread over that many more cards as well. For example, if five is the number named, you would count off four cards, turn up the fifth and count three more cards onto it. As the last card is dealt, spread three additional cards to the right in the action. Then drop the left hand and deck casually to your side and form a fourth-finger break under the spread cards. (If pinkie counting is among your skills, you may prefer to use this technique to obtain the break.) Meanwhile, draw attention to the right hand and its packet by naming the face-up card and asking if it is the selection. When the spectator tells you the outjogged card is not his, raise the left hand again and place the right hand's packet on top of the deck. Bring the right hand palm-down over the deck and, with the fingertips, contact the far end of the outjogged card. Also contact the near end of the block above the break with the right thumbtip (Figure 112). Simultaneously push the packet forward about half an inch on the deck and push the outjogged card inward until it projects from the packet for only an eighth of an inch (Figure 113).

EXOTICA 1 7 7 Immediately grasp the packet by it outer end and turn it faceup, end over end, square onto the deck. This brings the jogged card, now face-down, to the inner end of the pack. Hold no break under the packet after this turn. Without hesitation, regrasp the packet by its ends from above, right fingers at the front and thumb at the back. Press down and in with the thumb on the injogged card, forming a break over it as it is pushed flush, and lift the packet above cleanly away. Ribbon spread the packet from right to left, displaying seven faceup cards and an eighth card, face-down, among them. Unknown to the audience, this face-down card is not the indifferent card just displayed, but the selection. It occupies a position in the spread that seems correct, though it is not. It lies at the proper number, but at the wrong end of the row. However, this discrepancy goes unnoticed for several reasons. First, the packet was turned over before it was spread, which confuses the issue; and second, because the spread has been made from right to left, and because people normally count from left to right without thinking, from the audience's perspective, the card seems properly positioned from their left. Ask if the selection is one of the other seven cards. The answer, of course, is no. Remind the spectator that he named any number he wished. Then snap your fingers over the face-down card and dramatically turn it up, showing that it has changed to the selection. A few face-up cards remain hidden under the top card of the pack. Secretly straighten them when attention is relaxed. You can cut them to the bottom and right them there with a half pass. Or you might use the Braue reversal as follows: Form a left fourth-finger break under the top card. With the right hand, gather the eight tabled cards and lay them face-down onto the deck. Then grasp the upper portion of the pack by its ends, taking over the break with the right thumb. Using the natural bridge between the reversed cards and the pack, gently lift these cards away from the rest, while maintaining the thumb's separation between the face-up cards and the face-down cards above them. With the left hand, flip the deck face-up. Lay the right hand's packet momentarily onto the face of the deck, releasing the cards below the break; then turn the remaining face-down packet face-up over the deck and lay it back onto the face. The neat switch of a card at a specific position, featured in this trick, should be studied, as it can undoubtedly be adapted to other effects as well. September 1958

HALF PACKED Effect: As the performer riffles his thumb down the side of the deck, someone is asked to call stop. The pack is cut at that point and one half is presented to the spectator. He is asked to choose any card he wishes from his packet, note it, then thrust it into the center of the performer's half. Both performer and spectator cut their cards, mixing them, before the halves are shuffled into each other. The performer explains that, while it was previously known that the chosen card was in his half of the pack, after the shuffle it is impossible to know whether the card lies in the upper portion or in the lower. He cuts the pack once more and places the lower half in his pocket. "Your card may or may not be in this half. What was your card?" On hearing the name of the card, the performer sandwiches the half deck between his two hands and suddenly it vanishes entirely. A moment later, a single card reappears between the hands: the selection. The rest of the pack is later found in the performer's pocket. Method: This trick depends on the cunning use of Paul LePaul's bluff pass. There is no preparation. The trick can be performed with a shuffled pack or a borrowed one. Begin by holding the deck facedown in left-hand dealing grip, and ask the person farthest to your left to call stop as you riffle your thumb down the outer left corner of the cards. Note that, since the bluff pass will be employed shortly, your audience must be managed so that no one is positioned at your extreme left, from which this maneuver is vulnerable to exposure. If this cannot be arranged, you must face the leftmost individual and work to him, thus turning the bad side inward, protecting it from the audience's view. Tilt the left side of the pack upward, displaying the thumb's action as you riffle through the cards, and time the riffling so that you are stopped somewhere near center. With the left thumb, pull open the pack at the point indicated, forming a generous gap there. Then bring

EXOTICA 1 7 9 the hands together to separate the two portions: move the left hand somewhat toward the approaching right hand, simultaneously tilting the outer end of the deck downward to bring the top of the pack fully into sight while tipping the far edge just beyond the audience's view. At the same time, bring the right hand palm-down over the deck. With the right fingers together at the front end, and the right thumb at the left inner corner, grip the packet above the left thumb's break, the fingers concealing the front edge entirely. Then lower the left hand, carrying the bottom portion of the pack away from the upper. The act of cutting the cards at the point the spectator stipulates is honest; but the actions are carefully contrived to duplicate those necessary for the LePaul bluff pass (ref. Tarbell Course in Magic, Vol. 3, pp. 181-183). Indeed, by establishing the actions of this cutting procedure as described, Mr. Elmsley has often fooled magicians with this trick, though they were familiar with the bluff pass. Present the right hand's packet to the spectator who called stop, and ask that he shuffle it, while you do the same with the cards remaining to you. When the shuffling has been completed, the spectator is instructed to remove any card he wishes from his portion, note it and insert it into your packet. Do not let him push the selection entirely flush. This task you reserve for yourself, so that you can secretly secure a fourth-finger break above the card. Ask the spectator to give his packet several cuts, further mixing the cards. You do likewise with your packet, actually double cutting the selection to the top. Then retrieve the spectator's packet. "I shall shuffle our two packets together... and cut the pack in two again, so that we don't know which half contains your card." Do exactly that, riffle shuffling the two portions together, while retaining the selection on top. Then, as you seemingly divide the pack in half, actually perform the LePaul bluff pass. That is, as you hold the deck in left-hand dealing grip, run your left thumb down the outer left corner as you did previously, stop near center and apparently separate the pack at this point. However, as the right hand comes over the deck to lift away the top portion, the left hand tilts the front of the pack downward a bit, and the left thumb gently relaxes its pressure, allowing the gap it holds to close secretly. The right hand aids in concealing this subtle motion, and without hesitation it grasps just the top card of the pack (the selection) by its ends. While it isn't strictly necessary, Mr. Elmsley recommends that you secure a left fourth-finger break under the top card before beginning the bluff pass, to assure that the right hand can grasp just the top card without hesitation or fumbling. All four right fingers, aligned across the front edge of the card, hide its singleness. The left forefinger performs a similar service of

180 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY concealment by stretching across the front of the pack, as does the thumb, reposed along the left edge (Figure 114, situation exposed from the left). You also should lower the right side of the pack somewhat, to aid the left fingers in covering the thickness there. The right hand screens the right side of its card from view, leaving only the left edge to worry about; and if there is no one on your left, or if you have turned to face the spectator there, this angle cannot be observed. Resist a guilty impulse to drop the right hand, with its one card masquerading as half a pack, to your side; nor should you raise the left hand over the right to obscure it. Such actions only draw attention to the very thing you are trying to hide. Keep the right hand stationary and positioned naturally in front of you, angled as taught, and all will go well. "This half pack goes into my pocket." Move your left hand, with the deck, directly to your left coat or trousers pocket and neatly deposit it there. Bring the hand empty from the pocket and run the left fingers back and forth along the left edge of the right hand's card in a squaring action. This further suggests that you hold half the pack—but don't draw attention to this action. Rather, look up at the spectator as you apparently square the packet, and say, "Your card may or may not be in this half. What was your card?" Hearing the name of the card spoken triggers a quick succession of visual surprises. Moving smoothly from the left hand's squaring action, turn this hand palm-up under the right hand's card, as if about to take it (as a packet) into dealing grip. Simultaneously curl the tips of the right second, third and fourth fingers inward, contacting the face of the card, and catch it in master palm (Figure 115).

EXOTICA 181 Without hesitation, revolve the left hand palm-down and to the left of the right hand, the left fingers curled in as if holding a packet of cards. In the same action, raise the left hand a bit, focusing all attention on it, while the right third fingertip pushes the hidden card inward and into rear palm (see Volume I, pp. 124-126, for a full discussion of this palm). "If I take this half pack and squeeze it, it vanishes." Work the left fingers in the venerable magical gesture of crumpling an object into nothingness; then dramatically reveal the vanish of the half pack. While displaying the left hand palm-up, casually brush the tip of the right second finger over the left palm several times, casually emphasizing the apparent emptiness of the hands. After the final brushing action, the right hand moves inward, over the left hand again, while the right thumb moves forward to touch the tip of the right forefinger. This causes the near end of the palmed card to move away from the right palm and wrist. As this occurs, simultaneously turn the left hand palm-down under the right hand while loosely closing the fingers. You will find that this combination of actions allows you to introduce the near end of the card smoothly and secretly into the fork of the left thumb (Figure 116). Continue to turn the left hand palm-down, folding the fingers around the card as the right hand releases it from palm grip. However, keep the right hand poised above the left, covering the projecting end of the card at the near side of the left fist. As this is done, say, "One card r e t u r n s . . . and rises from behind my hand." Now touch the tips of the right fingers softly to the back of the left hand and rub it in small circles. At the same time, under the cover provided by this action, place the tip of the left thumb against the projecting end of the card and push it slowly through

182 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY the fist, forcing the card into view (Figure 117). Done smoothly and with grace, this production looks extremely magical. "And that is your card." Grip the card by its outer end between your right thumb and forefinger, draw it from the left fist and display it. "The rest of the pack is all together in my pocket." With your obviously empty left hand, reach into your pocket and bring out the full pack. The effect created by this sequence is quite amazing, and quite a bit stronger than it might appear on the page. Over the years it has remained a favorite in Mr. Elmsley's estimation, which should be recommendation enough to give it a trial.

SECOND LINK Effect: Two persons freely choose as many cards. Once they have been noted, they are lost in the pack. After shuffling the cards, the performer has one of the spectators name a small number and give the pack a cut. This spectator then is asked to watch for his selection as the performer deals through the deck. Starting the dealing at the random point where the spectator cut, the performer deals cards face-up until the spectator sees his card. At this time he hands the deck to the second spectator and asks if he remembers the number his companion chose a few moments ago. He is instructed to count down to that number, dealing the cards face-up. Astonishment results when he turns up the last card of the count and finds it to be his own selection. Method: To perform this bewildering coincidence effect you must secretly gain knowledge of the second card from the face of the pack. There are many ways this can be accomplished. Here is one satisfactory method: Glimpse the bottom card of the pack. Now, while paying no outward attention to the hands, perform a casual overhand shuffle as follows: run one card from the top, "milk" off the new top card and the bottom card together, and shuffle the balance onto these. Spread the cards face-down between your hands as you ask someone to take one. As you make the spread, push over groups of three or four, secretly counting, and injog the fifteenth card from the top. Have the selection removed and noted. Meanwhile, you square the pack and form a break over the injogged card while pushing it flush. Then cut off the fourteen cards above the break and have the selection returned at that point. Drop the cut-off packet onto the selection and square the pack, making it clear that you are holding no breaks or jogs. Then casually cut the top third of the pack (i.e., a few more cards than fifteen) to the bottom, catching a break between the two packets.

184 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Spread the cards in a similar fashion for a second spectator to take one. This time, though, no counting is necessary. Simply make sure that the second card is removed from the portion of the pack above the break. After the spectator has noted his card, cut the pack at the break and have the card placed on the bottom third. Drop the cut-off packet onto it, and again make it clear that the card is honestly buried in the deck. Now give the cards a quick overhand shuffle that preserves the order of the bottom half of the pack. The simplest way to accomplish this is to shuffle off about half the deck, then throw the bottom portion beneath the shuffled cards. Set the deck face-down before the second spectator and ask him to name any number under fifteen. You must then make one small mental calculation. Subtract his number from fifteen and remember the remainder; e.g., if he names eight, you subtract eight from fifteen and remember seven. Ask the same spectator to cut the deck and complete the cut. Watch where the cut is made. If he cuts low, into the bottom half of the pack, you will need to transfer a few cards from the bottom to the top, to keep your stock intact, with your key card somewhere near the top. This adjustment can be made by openly cutting the cards or with a pass. However, chances are good that this will be unnecessary. Explain that you will begin dealing the cards face-up at the random point he has determined by his cut (assuming, of course, that no open adjustment has been made by you). As you deal, he is to watch for his card and stop you when he sees it. Begin dealing, watching for your key card. That key lies two cards above the second selection. When the key appears, it gives you a grace period of one card before you must start second dealing. (A fine basic description of this sleight can be had from Erdnase's Expert at the Card Table, pp. 58-60. Other particularly good treatments appear in Bill Simon's Effective Card Magic, pp. 71-79, Dai Vernon's Further Inner Secrets of Card Magic, pp. 48-52, and Edward Mario's Seconds, Centers, Bottoms.) When you reach the key, deal it onto the rest, then another card from the top. Now, without hesitation, start dealing seconds, holding back the chosen card, as you count silently to the number you have remembered (in the above example, this was seven). After having second dealt seven cards, deal the next card honestly from the top. This is the second spectator's selection, and he will tell you to stop.

EXOTICA 1 8 5 Hand the balance of the pack to the first spectator and ask him if he remembers the number chosen by his collaborator. Then have him count down to that number, dealing the cards face-up. The last card dealt will be his. In Chapter Six we will return to this plot to explain an approach using a faro shuffle (see "Direct Link", pp. 329-332); but for now we proceed to a packet variant, one that over the years many cardmen have come to recognize as an Elmsley classic.

DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND Effect: The performer removes the ace through ten of diamonds from the pack, arranges the ten cards in numerical order, and sets the packet aside. He then has someone peek at any card in the deck. The card is not removed, merely glimpsed and remembered by the spectator. The diamond packet is dropped onto the deck and the spectator is asked to name any number from one to ten. The performer deals the diamond cards into a face-up row, but leaves the card at the spectator's number face-down. When this card is turned over, it is found to have changed to the spectator's thought-of card. If desired, the vanished diamond card can be produced from the performer's pocket. Method: Mr. Elmsley points out that this effect is only a variation on an old standard: the production of a selected card at any number called for. The method relies on the second deal. However, the embellishment of using ten arranged diamond cards makes the trick more interesting to watch and, oddly, easier to perform. Because "Diamond Cut Diamond", like the previous item, relies heavily on the second deal, a sleight recognized (and rightly so) as difficult to master, the trick has not shared the wide popularity of other Elmsley creations. Yet, it has found its way into the repertoires of many magicians who do possess facility with the requisite sleights, and it has been bandied from page to page by such players as Edward Mario, Martin Nash and Frank Garcia, who all recognized the mystery and entertainment inherent in the effect. If you are one of the many who is intimidated by the second deal, but who dream of mastering it, please pay close attention to this trick. "Diamond Cut Diamond" is an excellent item with which to gain confidence while perfecting your second dealing skills. Even a mediocre second deal can pass muster here, as attention is naturally focused on the cards as they are turned up, rather than on your hands and the deck.

EXOTICA 1 8 7 Now to the trick itself. Begin by removing the ace through ten of diamonds from the deck. Openly arrange them in ascending order from top to face. Square the packet and set it face-down to your right, at the near edge of the table. Give the balance of the pack a shuffle and have a card peeked at by a spectator. Catch a left fourth-finger break below the card as the spectator sights it, and side steal the selection from the deck, palming it in the right hand. All this is common procedure. With the right hand, pick up the diamond packet, adding the palmed card to the top. (The packet was placed near the edge of the table to facilitate this.) "Here, you remember, we have the diamonds." Turn the right hand palm-up and, with the right thumb, partially fan the packet. Position the right forefinger at the right edge of the packet to keep the lower cards blocked together as the fan is made (Figure 118, an underview). This assures that the selection is not exposed. Tip the fanned cards face-down onto the pack, which still lies in the left hand. Square the cards and ask, "Will you please give me a number between one and ten?" Let's assume the spectator specifies five. "Then we shall use the five of diamonds." Begin to second deal cards, turning them face-up as you lay them on the table in an overlapping row. Work from your right to your left when forming the row, and leave at least half of each card exposed as the next is laid on it.

119

• • > • • * • >• • • • '• -:: •8 •I

188 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY "As you have already seen, these cards are in order from ace to ten. The card you named was the five." When you reach the fifth card, deal from the top and lay the card (the selection) face-down in the row. "But you could have chosen any one of these cards." Deal seconds again, until the ten of diamonds appears. All the diamonds are in order, from ace to ten, and everything appears as it should (Figure 119). "Now, what card are you thinking of?" When she names it, snap your fingers over the face-down card in the row and turn it up. It is, of course, the selection. The five of diamonds is gone. You can conclude here, or you can palm the five of diamonds from the top of the deck and produce it from your pocket. The card also could be found in a wallet, a sealed envelope, or some other place; however, the simple pocket production is best. You do not wish to lose the main effect of the change by overwhelming it at the last moment with some thoroughly impossible production of the diamond card. Save that for another time and let each of these effects survive on its own substantial merits. November 1954

SIGNING OFF Effect: A card is chosen and noted. The person who selected it is invited to take the deck in her own hands, insert her card anywhere she likes and shuffle the cards to assure its loss. The performer removes a pad of paper from his pocket and jots down some mental impressions he is receiving. These he hands to someone else. The first spectator now tells everyone the card she chose: the four of clubs. The person holding the performer's note is asked to read it. "Your card is the four of clubs and it is seventeenth from the top of the pack." The first spectator deals seventeen cards from the deck and turns up the last. Just as the performer has perceived it, the card is hers. The performer offers the card to her as a souvenir and signs its face. But before giving the signed card to her, he first waves it over deck, then turns the deck face-up and spreads it. Every card is now seen to bear his signature! Indeed an extraordinary occurrence. Method: Mr. Elmsley summarily comments that the secret to this mystery is quickly explained: a force and a deck switch. Of course, it is how these tasks are accomplished that makes the thing interesting, both in method and in the eyes of the audience. In your left jacket-pocket place a deck of cards, fifty-one of which you have signed on their faces. The fifty-second card, which can be any one you wish (let us say the four of clubs), is left unsigned and is positioned seventeenth from the top of the pack. This pack is a match for the one you will use for your previous card effects. In your right jacket-pocket place a note pad; and in the right breast pocket of your shirt a pen. You must first perform several card tricks with the normal deck to establish its ordinary nature. At the end of these tricks the duplicate to the unsigned card in your pocket must be managed into position for forcing. It can be controlled throughout the previous

190 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY routine, in preparation for the force; or you may mark or corner short it, so that it can be quickly located without obvious searching. The latter course is Mr. Elmsley's preference. Force this card on someone, using any procedure you wish, so long as it is direct and convincing. Then hand the pack to the spectator, have her return her card and shuffle it in herself. When she is done, retrieve the pack from her, taking it face-down into left-hand dealing position. Ask that she get a vivid picture of the card in her mind, as you wish to try an experiment in both telepathy and clairvoyance. For this test, pen and paper are needed. Dip both hands into their respective jacket pockets in search of the pad. With the right hand, grasp the pad and bring it forth. At the same time, release the deck held by the left hand and take the signed deck in its place. Bring this deck from the left pocket just as the right hand is bringing the pad into view. Set the new deck face-down on the table and go to the right breast pocket for the pen. If these actions are done with a sense of unimportance, and if your attention is constantly focused on the pad and then the pen, a deck switch will never be suspected. You must now act the part of a telepathist struggling to pull thoughts from your subject's mind. On the pad write, "Your card is the four of clubs and it is seventeenth from the top of the pack." Of course, the card and the position are variables that can be changed from performance to performance. Tear off the sheet bearing your impressions and hand it to someone nearby. Ask the first spectator to announce the name of her card. Then have the person holding your impressions read them to the group. Next, instruct the first spectator to pick up the deck from the table and count down to the seventeenth card, dealing the cards facedown into a pile. When she reaches the specified card, have her turn it up. It is of course her selection. Let the reaction settle before going on. This effect by itself is very powerful to a lay audience. When they have relaxed, have your spectator set the balance of the deck onto the pile of dealt cards. Offer to sign her selection as a souvenir of a successful experiment. Do so. But before handing it to her, wave it over the deck, then turn the deck face-up and spread it, revealing that every card now magically carries your signature. Mr. Elmsley has experimented with the presentation of this effect. In one variant, he does not sign the selection, but instead turns the deck up to show that the spectator's card is the only one that does

EXOTICA

191

not bear his signature. This, too, is an odd effect, and it conforms more closely to a presentation of mental powers. In a more playful vein, he sometimes attributes the success of all his tricks to Joey the Joker. When the deck is turned face-up, Joey's signature is found on all the cards as a sign of farewell. No matter which of these presentations is used, the trick is strong, unusual and a fine closing effect to a card routine. Twenty-five years later, Mr. Elmsley would return to the underlying premise of this trick to create his remarkable "Tour de Force" (pp. 471-480), with which he closed his Dazzle Act. January 7, 1950

SIGNATURE PIECE Effect: The performer offers to demonstrate a new method of check forgery used by swindlers. To protect the members of his audience, he demonstrates this with playing cards rather than bank checks. Someone chooses a card from a red-backed pack and signs the face of the selection. The signed card is replaced face-up in the face-down deck, after which the deck is fanned and placed on the table, with the face-up selection clearly visible. A second deck is now brought into play, one with blue backs. This deck represents the swindler's fraudulent checkbook. The performer quickly finds the unsigned blue-backed duplicate to the spectator's signed selection and reverses it in the middle of its deck. The blue deck is fanned and placed beside the first pack. The performer makes a mysterious gesture over the two packs, then asks the spectator to slip her card from the first deck. When she does, everyone sees that her signature is no longer on the face of the card. She is then asked to slide the duplicate card from the second deck, and she finds her signature on its face. This swindler has gone the forger one better: he hasn't duplicated the victim's signature; he has stolen it right off her check and placed it onto his own. Both decks can be examined, as they contain nothing that explains this magical transfer. Method: Mr. Elmsley devised this entertaining and novel effect in the late 1950s, making it the earliest example I've encountered of a magical migration of a signature on playing cards. The earliest example of the translocation of a spectator's mark or initials may well be the ancient potsherd or sugar cube trick, in which the initials appear mysteriously on the spectator's hand. The adaptation of this premise to playing cards, however, is more recent. The plot of making two initialed cards transpose has been around awhile. It is the effect of Edward Victor's 1937 trick, "Sign, Please!" (ref. The Magic of the Hands, pp. 27-29). In "Sign, Please!", a spectator initials one card, which is then caused to transpose with

EXOTICA 1 9 3 another. In Theodore Annemann's "Insto-transpo" (ref. The Incorporated Strange Secrets, pp. 3-4) both transposing cards are marked, one with a spectator's initials, the other with the performer's. But in these early signed transpositions, the effect was clearly that of the cards changing places, while the initials remained with the card or cards on which they were originally written. The brilliant Paul Curry took signed transpositions in an unexpected direction with his trick "Period of Darkness" (ref. The Phoenix, No. 86, June 15, 1945, pp. 348-349). Here the performer signs one side of a slate, and a spectator signs the opposite side. The slate is placed flat on a table and held there by two spectators while the lights are briefly extinguished. When the lights are restored, the two names on the slate have changed places. In Mr. Curry's presentation, the audience is led to believe that the slate has been turned over in some impossible manner. However, in this trick the transposition of two signatures was an alternative presentation that lay waiting to be recognized. In the February 1947 issue of Pentagram (Vol. 1, No. 5, pp. 3132) Peter Warlock adapted Annemann's card transposition to slates, and in doing so, gave the effect an unusual twist. In "Insto Transpo Slates" the performer and a spectator each take a slate and draw a geometrical symbol of their choice. Each then initials the opposite side of his slate. After this precaution is completed, the performer causes the designs to transpose on the slates while the signatures remain stationary: the spectator's initialed slate now carries the performer's design, and the performer's slate bears the spectator's design. It was a short step from the Curry and Warlock effects to the idea of making two signatures transpose. Edward Mario seems to have been the first to take that step, and in doing so returned the plot to playing cards (ref. The Hierophant, No. 3, 1970, pp. 113-116). Shortly after this others, such as Peter Kane, Wesley James and Peter Samelson, began experimenting with the manipulation of a spectator's signature on cards, developing new effects and variations; and the experimentation continues to the present day. Mr. Elmsley's "Signature Piece" stands alone during this early development, as the only effect in which a spectator's signature is caused to move without the added complication of the performer's signature. The Elmsley presentational premise, involving swindlers and forgery, commands attention from an audience and assures that the effect is clear. You will require two decks with contrasting backs. For descriptive purposes we will call one redbacked, the other blue-backed. A simple setup is necessary. Remove one spot card from the blue pack, say the ten of spades, and place it at the face of the red pack.

194 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Locate the red-backed duplicate to this card and reverse it third or fourth from the face of the red pack. Carry this prepared pack in your pocket and perform several tricks with the fifty-one card bluebacked deck. When ready to present "Signature Piece", set the blue-backed pack face-up before you on the table and remove the red-backed pack from your pocket as you introduce the demonstration of a cunning swindle used by modern bunco artists to forge checks. Explain that you will use playing cards in place of bank checks to protect the person who is to help in the demonstration. The blue-backed cards that you have been using will be substituted for the swindler's checkbook; the red-backed deck will replace the victim's checkbook. Choose a good-natured victim to assist you. "I'm going to shuffle the pack like this." Perform a Hindu shuffle, beginning it by stripping out the center section of the face-down red pack, then shuffling it off in the usual fashion onto the united top and bottom packets in your left hand. In this manner the bottom stock is reserved. "Anytime while I'm shuffling, please say stop." Time this request to coincide with the finish of the shuffle. Immediately begin a second Hindu shuffle, this time pulling the first group of cards from the top alone, in the conventional fashion. Stop when the spectator commands, and turn the right hand over, exposing the face of the unshuffled packet. This is, of course, the standard Hindu shuffle force, and the ten of spades (the original bottom card of the pack) is thus displayed. With your left thumb and forefinger, draw the ten off the face of the right hand's packet and lay the card face-up on the table. Take care that you do not expose the blue back of this card. "This, then, will be the check you sign—a ten dollar check." The amount of the check is derived from the value of the force card. "Will you please sign your name across the face of your check." As you say this, turn your right hand palm-down and slip its face-down packet under the left hand's cards. Then, with your freed right hand, give the spectator a pen suitable for writing on playing cards. When the signature is complete, put away the pen, then pick up the signed selection and lay it face-up on the face-down deck, outjogged for roughly an inch. Next, with the palm-down right hand, grip the lower half of the pack at its rear corners and draw this portion inward, stripping it from beneath the top half. Place the bottom portion square onto the top half, sandwiching the outjogged selection between them. You now apparently push the face-up selection flush and immediately fan the pack; but actually you execute the center-card rear

EXOTICA 1 9 5 palm (see Volume I, pp. 130-133), stealing the signed selection from the deck as you fan it. Yet everything looks as it should. The faceup selection is seen in the center of the fan, though this card is actually the unsigned red-backed duplicate, substituting for the stolen card. Turn your left hand palm-down to expose the underside of the fan, with the red back of the reversed card showing among the faces of the cards. As attention is momentarily focused on the fan, adjust the right hand's stolen card from master palm to rear palm. Then turn the left hand palm-up again and set the fanned deck neatly on the table, with the selection still visible. "We'll keep your signed check safe in your checkbook, so that everyone can keep an eye on it." With your right hand, pick up the face-up blue pack from the table and set it, still face-up, into left-hand dealing position. "This second deck is the swindler's checkbook." Bring the right hand over the pack and, using the right fingertips, riffle the outer ends of the cards. In this action, tilt the outer end of the deck upward slightly, angling the face of the pack just beyond the audience's line of sight, and at the same time add the rear palmed selection to the face of the pack. Follow through by executing the tap replacement taught in Volume I (pp. 129-130). The angle of the deck and the position of the right hand successfully hide the face of the selection during these actions. "It is easy to keep straight from yours, because he has bluebacked checks." After tapping the deck square on the table, replace it, face-down, into left-hand dealing position and perform a casual Hindu shuffle, shuffling off about half the pack and tossing the balance on top. This centralizes the signed card. "The swindler must first make out a check in his checkbook that looks like your ten dollar check." While holding the blue-backed deck face toward you, run through it until you reach the signed ten of spades near center. "He then reverses his bogus check in his checkbook, just as you have." Openly reverse all the cards behind the selection, turning them face outward; then take the signed card onto the reversed group and openly turn all the cards in front of it face outward, leaving the selection reversed in the middle of the spread, its index clearly exposed, but the signature concealed. At this point, lower the hands, allowing the audience to see the face of the reversed ten of spades in the spread. Then quickly square the pack and fan it, once more displaying the face-up card. Set the fanned pack several feet to the left of the fanned red-backed deck. "He then resorts to an illegal procedure that is as mysterious as it is underhanded." Make a magical gesture above the two fanned

196 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY packs. Then have the spectator remove her ten of spades from the red-backed deck to check her signature. The signature has vanished from the face of the card. Ask her to check the swindler's ten dollar check. On its face she finds her own signature. "That is your signature on the swindler's check, isn't it? That's the beauty of this new system: your signature isn't forged, it's actually stolen!" Both decks are complete, no clues to the mystery remain, and you can proceed with another effect. Mr. Elmsley has considered variant handlings, including alternative methods for forcing the odd-backed card. One such procedure, devised before that just taught, was to set the face-down red deck before the spectator and have her cut it near center. The bottom portion was then picked up and the odd-backed bottom card was secretly displaced to a position second from the top, using Bill Simon's cover for the side-slip (ref. Simon's Effective Card Magic, pp. 112-114). The displacement was made as the top card of the packet was momentarily removed, while emphasizing that this card was randomly arrived at by the spectator's cut. The card (actually two cards) was then replaced on the pack, after which the odd-backed force card was dealt face-up onto the table, using a "necktie" second deal. After much reflection Mr. Elmsley chose the Hindu shuffle force as the more simple and economical procedure. If the blue-backed deck is originally set face-down in front of you, then the palmed card is added face-up to this pack using the tap replacement, the card can be shown reversed in the center of the pack, yielding an extra magical effect: that of a prediction, or perhaps a sympathetic reversal. But it is felt that doing so may be too pat, and could suggest to sharp spectators the idea of a force. This suspicion might in turn lend a clue to the main mystery of the migrating signature. In the end, Mr. Elmsley chose the more subtle route while avoiding the clutter of extraneous subplots. If you desire to perform a prediction effect using the techniques above, you would be better served by learning "Hidebound Forecast" (pp. 33-36). That, at least, is Mr. Elmsley's analysis of the situation.

SHAKEDOWN Effect: This is a wonderfully thought-out handling of that old standard, The Card Through Handkerchief. Mr. Elmsley's treatment is extremely direct and contains elements that will perplex those who know other methods. In effect, a card is peeked at in the pack. The deck is immediately wrapped in the center of a pocket handkerchief in an entirely convincing fashion. The bundle is shaken, upon which the thought-of card slowly penetrates the handkerchief, clearly emerging from the center of the pack. Yet, when the deck is unwrapped, no slits or holes are found in the handkerchief. All can be examined. Method: The handkerchief fold used here is not new in principle, but it is quite different from the original fold for Card Through Handkerchief (first published in 1895 by August Roterberg in New Era Card Tricks, pp. 57-59). While the original fold has remained popular with magicians over the years, there is another method—a superior one—that is relatively little known. The earliest record of it seems to be "L.W. Card Through Silk" by William Larsen, Sr. and T. Page Wright (ref. Genii, Vol. 5, No. 1, Sept. 1940, p. 9). However, Larsen and Wright state, "It is only in the detail of handling that this version differs from others, but there is sufficient variation to justify us in offering this description." This appears to suggest that the fundamental method of folding the handkerchief is not original with them, though it is conceivable that they might be referring to the method from Roterberg, or Nate Leipzig's effect. Ten years after the publication of the "L.W. Card Through Silk", another method for attaining the same configuration of handkerchief and cards was explained in Rufus Steele's booklet, Paul Rosini's Magical Gems (p. 27). The Elmsley handling about to be revealed differs considerably from its predecessors. In your right pocket have a man's linen handkerchief handy. If you also install a concave, lengthwise bridge in your face-down deck, you are ready to begin.

198 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Ask someone to call stop as you riffle through the pack. With the deck held in standard left-hand peek grip, riffle the upper right corners off your right second finger until told to stop. Let the spectator sight the card there. As you lower the pack, silently release the selection off the tip of the right second finger and take a left fourth-finger break above it. Momentarily move the right hand away from the pack to gesture, as you caution the spectator not to forget his card. Then bring the right hand over the deck to square it, and in doing so execute a half pass (see Volume I, p. 70), reversing the packet below the break. This faces the pack and delivers the peeked card face-up to the bottom. Settle the deck into left-hand dealing position, but with the front end resting just behind the length of the forefinger, in preparation for a gambler's cop. With your right hand, bring the handkerchief from your pocket and snap it open. Hold it between the hands by two adjacent corners to display it, while keeping the hands near waist level, so that the reversed bottom portion of the deck is not accidentally exposed. Now bend the right third and fourth fingers inward, trapping the right corner of the handkerchief against the palm. Then clip the top edge of the handkerchief, near center, between the right first and second fingers (Figure 120).

Release the left hand's corner and draw the handkerchief back and over that hand while you take the deck into the right. But in this action you also secretly steal the bottom card from the deck and carry it below the handkerchief. Simply use the left fingers to buckle the card away from the pack and retain it in the left hand. At the same time, with your right hand, openly grasp the deck by its ends,

EXOTICA 1 9 9

forefinger at the front, thumb at the back, and carry the deck inward along the line of the left forearm (Figure 121). Fully extend your left forefinger and let the card drop onto the palm, while using the tips of the left fingers to support the cloth above it. If this is neglected, the palmed card may show through the fabric. As you drape the handkerchief over the left palm, the hand should rest just behind center; that is, the center of the handkerchief lies nearer the left fingertips. The inner corner of the handkerchief should rest on your left forearm, and the ends of the palmed card should be pointed toward the hanging left and right corners of the handkerchief (Figure 122, with handkerchief made transparent). As soon as the handkerchief is in place, set the deck onto the covered left hand, directly over the palmed card. Lower the left hand at the wrist, so that the palm angles downward at roughly a fortyfive degree slope, and the deck on the handkerchief is clearly displayed to the audience. Curl the left fingers a bit as you do this, to keep the cards from spilling or separating at the face-to-face juncture. Also extend the left thumb away from the palm, assuring a bit of slack in the cloth when, in a moment, the left fingers bend inward (Figure 123).

2 0 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY You must now turn slightly to your left, as you bring the palmdown right hand to the deck, apparently to square it. In fact, a half pass of sorts is executed with the bottom portion of the pack: The right hand grasps the facedown half of the deck by its ends, forefinger at the outer left corner, thumb at the inner left corner. If you press the tips of the right third and fourth fingers down on the right side of the pack, the bridged halves will rock against each other, opening a break between them at the left side. This aids in making a quick and clean separation at the face-to-face juncture. Now, as the right hand tips the top half of the pack up to an almost vertical position, packet facing to your left (Figure 124), the left fingers close, turning the bottom half—and the selection beneath the handkerchief—up onto their left edge (Figure 125). All cards now face left. Immediately settle the right hand's half onto the left hand's, trapping the selection between them in a fold of handkerchief. Figure 126 shows the configuration of cards and cloth in schematic form. The entire action takes less than a second, and is completely hidden from the audience by the back of the right hand.

EXOTICA 2 0 1 Finish this action by running the right fingers and thumb along the ends of the deck to square them; then grasp the deck by the ends while the left hand squares the sides through the cloth. Release the right hand's hold while regripping the pack in the left hand, thumb extended along the upper edge and the fingers curled completely around the lower edge. Now turn the left hand palm-down, letting the handkerchief fall over the deck (Figure 127). Move the left thumb onto the face of the covered pack. The back of the deck should be toward the audience. With your right hand, straighten the folds of cloth by tugging the right, then the left corner of the handkerchief—those corners hanging off the ends of the deck. Then draw these same corners forward and gather them on top of the pack (Figure 128). This conceals the folds around the trapped card at both ends.

With the right hand, grasp the gathered corners, holding them in a fist below the deck (Figure 129). Then, with the left hand, give the deck two turns, twisting the cloth tightly around it while trapping the pack inside. As you do this, do not pull the cloth so taut that the selection is forced from the top edge of the bundle. Turn to your right as you extend the right hand and revolve it so that the wrapped pack now hangs below it, back still toward the

2 0 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY

audience. At this point the spectators should be. convinced that the deck is securely trapped in the center of the handkerchief. The illusion is perfect. Shake the bundle gently to cause the selection to appear slowly from the bottom edge of the pack (Figure 130). You can turn the right hand a bit as you shake, allowing the audience to see that the card is emerging from the center of the wrapped deck. Continue to shake the bundle until roughly half the card is in view. (Occasionally when shaking the card out of the wrapped deck, it will start appearing very slowly; then, as the handkerchief loosens, the card will fall completely out and onto the floor. This, regrettably, diminishes the effect. If, as you shake the deck, your right fingers gather in the increasing slack in the handkerchief, this dropout problem can be greatly reduced if not eliminated entirely.) You have so far kept the back of the card toward the audience. Ask the spectator to name the card he sighted in the center of the deck. When he does so, turn the right hand to expose the face of the penetrating card. Then, with the left hand, pull the card completely from the pack and display it. Transfer the selection to the right fingers as you take the wrapped pack into the left hand, fingers on the face, thumb on the back. The side of the deck with the fold of cloth trapped in it should rest on the base of the fingers. Shake the left hand, causing the handkerchief to fall open around the pack. Then let the pack settle face-down onto the handkerchief-covered palm, holding it loosely in the cupped left fingers. Tilt the hand down at the wrist, until the deck lies at a forty-five degree angle, outer side downward and back toward the audience. Then, with the right fingers, grasp the inner corner of the

EXOTICA 2 0 3 handkerchief and pull it smartly back over the left forearm, tugging the bight of cloth out of the deck. The pack is left resting on the middle of the handkerchief, and everything can be examined. You cannot fully appreciate the economy of motion and the extraordinary illusion of this trick without trying it with deck and handkerchief. It is a wonderful effect that never fails to astonish. As an added benefit, it will baffle those familiar with the original method for Card Through Handkerchief, making it suitable for audiences of varying sophistication.

Chapter Four:

Marsupial Favorites

POCKETPICK Effect: The performer draws a cardfroma shuffled deck and perches it, back outward and in full view, at the top of his breast pocket. Someone now chooses any card in the pack, notes it and returns it to the center of the deck. The deck is set down and the performer directs everyone's attention to the card sitting prominently in his breast pocket. He then shows its face—it is the very card just chosen and buried in the pack! Method: Explained in the barest terms, the card in the pocket is switched for the chosen card, which has been stolen from the pack. Arthur Leroy may have been the first to have suggested setting the card in the mouth of the performer's breast pocket to effect a switch. This ploy appeared in his "Self Control", marketed in 1933 (see Encyclopedia of Card Tricks, Hugard revision, pp. 27-28). In "Pocketpick" Mr. Elmsley uses an exquisitely refined handling of the breast-pocket card switch to bring about an extremely direct version of "the card that wasn't there" plot. Begin by drawing a card at random from the face-down pack. Do not expose the face of this card to the audience. However, as you slip it partially into your outer left breast pocket, glimpse its face and remember it. Cant the top end of the card to your right as you position it in the mouth of the pocket, leaving as much of the card in view as is possible. Now gather the deck and fan it face-up as you ask someone to remove any card he likes. If he takes the mate to the card you have placed in your pocket, the effect immediately becomes one of precognition and nothing more in the way of instruction need be written. Assuming, however, that the card chosen lies on the other side of happenstance, you must do something to make the card in your pocket more presentable. Have him show his card to everyone in the group. Meanwhile, you square the deck and turn it face-down. Then have the spectator insert his selection face-down into the center of the pack. Apply a

2 0 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY subtle pressure with your left thumb on top of the deck to prevent the card from going completely flush. You then finish squaring it into the pack, catching a left fourth-finger break above it in the process. Now casually turn the deck face-up, executing a turnover pass to bring the selection to the back of the deck (see Volume I, pp. 112113, for a handling of this sleight). On completing the pass, your right hand should still grasp the deck by its ends from above, as you perform a casual squaring action. The right fingers are aligned along the front of the pack, while the right thumb lies on the inner end, near center. "It is most peculiar," you now assert, "that, given any card in the pack, you should pick the six of diamonds." Here you name the chosen card as you gesture with your left hand toward the person who made the selection. This leaves the deck for a moment in the right hand alone. When the left hand returns to reclaim the pack, its fingertips contact the back of the deck and pivot the outer end of the rear card rightward and under the right hand, until the end of the card lodges against the hypothenar of the right palm. The index corner of this angled card should rest just below the base of the fourth finger (Figure 131, an underview). This secret action is similar to that of the standard side slip.

The left hand now grasps the deck in the fork of the thumb and carries it away from the right hand. In this action the right thumb swings in a tight arc around the inner end of the deck to a position parallel with the forefinger. In doing so, it stretches across the inner left corner of the angled card and bends the card convexly, inward, against the palm. The left fingertips can aid in the palming action by pressing upward on the back of the card as the deck is drawn aside. The card now rests securely caught by its ends between the thumb and the edge of the palm, in a hybrid of the lateral Tenkai palm and the rear palm (Figure 132). The angles that need guarding here are very like those of the rear palm. Because the right hand is conveniently near your body, the palmed card is well protected from view.

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 0 9

With your left hand, table the face-up deck, or ribbon spread it. When doing this, direct your gaze to the left hand's activity, misdirecting from the right hand. Figure 133 shows the audience's view of the situation. As the left hand sets down the deck, move your right hand toward your breast pocket. In this action, curl in the fingers and clip the palmed card by its upper non-index corner (Figure 134). This frees the thumb. As the right hand reaches the pocket, it is an easy matter to insert the free index corner of the curled card into the top of the pocket, just in front of the indifferent card that rests there. At the same time, behind the right hand, the thumb contacts the top of the indifferent card and pushes the card down, completely into the pocket (Figure 135). In this action the thumb can also contact the face of the palmed card and push it deeper as well. Now bend the first two fingers in and clip the upper index corner of the palmed card. In almost the same motion, turn the hand palm outward, exposing the back

2 1 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY of the card to the audience. The switched card is seen to rest in the same canted position as the card before it (Figure 136). This substitution is extremely deceptive. The card is blocked from the spectators' sight for only an instant, and the action of the switch perfectly replicates the natural action of grasping the card in the pocket. Of course, the sleight must be practiced until it can be done smoothly and without hesitation. At this point you should have just finished saying, ".. .you should pick the six of diamonds..." You now conclude the switch and the trick by drawing the card from the pocket and dramatically revealing its face as you say, "... for that is the one card I removed from the deck at the very beginning!" Of course, should they look through the pack on the table, the selection is no longer there. If you need a full pack of fifty-two cards for tricks scheduled to follow "Pocketpick", the card that is initially placed in the pocket and left there can be a joker, pencil-dotted at opposite diagonal corners so that you can identify and remove it from the shuffled pack. Doing this relinquishes the possibility of a lucky hit, but does allow you to proceed without the card left in the breast pocket. Of course, Mr. Elmsley's breast-pocket switch has far wider utility, and if the reader experiments with it, his delight in the illusion it creates should stimulate the creation of further ideas.

POCKETS FULL OF MIRACLES Effect: Someone selects a card from the pack and notes it. The performer also peeks at this card and shows it to someone nearby. The card is then placed face-down on the table. The person who selected the card is now asked to name it. The performer and second spectator show surprise on hearing his response, for each of them saw entirely different cards. When the card on the table is turned up to verify which of the three is correct, it is found to be none of their cards. The performer then produces the three cards previously seen, each from a different pocket. If desired, the deck may be checked, as none of the three cards is there. Method: This astonishing and highly entertaining trick is a variant of The General Card, a classic plot with several centuries of history behind it. Mr. Elmsley has given this plot a solid and satisfying resolution by combining it with another classic, Cards to Pocket. While the trick can be done with any cards, Mr. Elmsley performs it with the four aces. The aces are more easily remembered by people, and when they are produced at the finish, they provide a fuller sense of design and closure. The preparation is minimal. Before performing the trick you must secretly load the ace of clubs into the outer left breast-pocket of your jacket. Then cull the ace of diamonds to the top of the pack, the ace of spades to the face, and the ace of hearts just above it. As you introduce the trick, you can if you wish casually shuffle the deck, retaining the aces at the top and bottom. Finish by giving the cards an in-the-hands slip cut that sends the ace of diamonds to the center. As you complete the cut, catch a left fourth-finger break above this ace. Now ask someone in front of you to call stop as you riffle your left thumb down the side of the pack. Stop when he commands and execute the riffle force. Here Mr. Elmsley employs an original handling of this force that, over the years, has drawn praise from select

2 1 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY magicians who have been shown it. The idea is simple. Instead of lifting away the packet above the left fourth finger's break, hold your right hand palm-up about six inches to the right of the pack. Then, with the left hand, toss the packet above the fourth finger's break off the deck and into the right hand. In this action, you simultaneously release the left thumb's break, letting it close. The throwing of the packet looks quite nonchalant and innocent. Mr. Elmsley observes that, ironically, an honest toss of the top packet, using only the thumb's break, is far more difficult to do, but since only a magician would ever try such a thing, no one thinks of questioning the fraudulent action. (Though it was devised by Mr. Elmsley in the 1950s, this riffle force handling has remained surprisingly little known, despite its having been alluded to once or twice in print [e.g., Kabbala, Vol. II, No. 6, Feb. 1973, p. 47]. This relative obscurity accounts in part for the independent invention of the tossing idea by J.K. Hartman in 1973 [ref. Means and Ends, pp. 4-5], and possibly by others as well.) Set the top portion of the pack onto the table; then thumb the top card of the left hand's packet (the ace of diamonds) to the right for half its width and stare at it, drawing everyone's attention to it. Addressing the spectator who called stop, explain, "This is the card you have chosen—but I'm not going to let you see it yet. Instead, will you remember his card for him?" Here you make eye contact with someone on your left. Do not remove the card from the packet. Rather, raise your left hand, turning the face of the sidejogged card toward this person, so that he can remember it. Several persons near him also can be allowed to see the card, but it is not displayed to the audience as a whole. "Have you got it?" When the spectator says he has, lower the packet to a face-down position, resting the left thumb naturally on the sidejogged ace of diamonds, poised to pull it square with the pack. "You won't forget it?" While you ask this and look directly at the spectator, misdirecting from your hands, you execute a variety of bottom deal, but you alter the dealing action to one of placing the card into your right hand: The left hand moves a short distance to the waiting right hand, delivering the card to it. In this action, the right hand extracts the bottom card of the packet as the left thumb simultaneously retracts the top card. Throughout this switch of cards the right hand remains stationary; the left hand moves to it, then away, making a short gesture toward the spectator you are addressing. Since you are holding only half the pack, the switch action is made easier.

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 1 3 Several further details concerning the switch need to be mentioned: Mr. Elmsley, when doing a bottom deal, holds the cards with the left forefinger at the outer right corner of the packet. The tip of the left second finger lightly buckles the bottom card, breaking it loose, then pushes it slightly to the right. At the same time, the packet is brought to the right hand, the right fingers passing under the left's, and the right thumb over the left thumb. The right forefinger contacts the face of the bottom card near the outer right corner, moving into the gap between the left first and second fingers; and the right fourth finger contacts the face of this card along the inner end (Figure 137, deck made transparent). While the extraction of the bottom card is done mainly by the right forefinger, the fourth finger aids in the action. (The mechanics here somewhat resemble those of Edward Mario's new bottom stud deal, from his Seconds, Centers, Bottoms, pp. 21-22. Readers unfamiliar with bottom dealing techniques are urged to consult that work for details.) Mr. Elmsley finds the card is easier to extract in this manner, and the difference in sound between top and bottom deals is reduced. More importantly, this right-hand taking grip leads perfectly to the next action: As a seeming afterthought, say, "Do you mind if I look at the card myself?" Openly take a peek at the face of the right hand's card by tipping its inner end upward. The fourth finger, already at this end, aids this action nicely and makes the mechanics of the switch all the more deceptive. Perform your peek in an overtly private fashion, holding the card in close to your chest. After glancing at the card, place it on top of the left hand's packet, sidejogged exactly as it was moments before. "That's two witnesses. I think one more.. .will you help?" Look at a spectator on your right, then back at the card on the packet. Place the sidejogged card again into the right hand, simulating the actions used for the bottom-deal switch; this time, though, the right hand legitimately takes the top card. In other words, you initially misdirect attention from the cards and hands when you make the switch, then later focus attention on them when the action is honest.

2 1 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Let the spectator on your right see the face of the card (the ace of spades), but do not expose it to the rest of the audience. Place the card face-down on the left hand's packet, again jogged an inch to the right, and let the left hand assume a relaxed position near waist height. "That's three witnesses." Gesture with your empty right hand toward the spectator who just saw the card, as you say, "You won't forget the card?" Then turn your gaze to the person on your left. "And you won't forget the card?" Allow a brief moment to pass while your gaze and words draw everyone's attention to this spectator. Then, only at the instant when all attention settles on him, do you gesture toward him with your left hand, using this action to cover another bottom-deal switch. This time the right hand moves to the packet and seems to grasp the top card as the left hand moves away with the rest of the cards. In reality the left thumb draws the top card, the ace of spades, square and the right fingers exact the bottom card, the ace of hearts. The top card appears to remain stationary in space as the right hand takes it and the left hand moves away with the packet. Again the sleight has been done while attention is away from the hands and cards. Returning your attention to the first spectator, who stands in front of you and has yet to see his selection, you say, "Now all three of us know the card you have chosen. So there can be no mistake about it, I'll set it here on the table." As you say this, set the card in your right hand face-down on the table. Turning to the spectator on your left, say, "Now, so that this gentleman, who hasn't seen his card, isn't left in the dark, will you tell him what it is." "The ace of diamonds," answers the spectator. Register a look of strong surprise, and exchange glances with the spectator on your right. "Are you sure? The card / saw was the ace of clubs." Here you name the card that is in your breast pocket. At this announcement, the person on your right should look doubly perplexed. "What card did you see?" you ask her. "The ace of spades," she replies. "It's a lucky thing that I didn't put the card back into the deck yet. I won't touch it. Will you please settle this by turning your card over." Address this to the spectator in front. When he does this he finds the ace of hearts. During this strong misdirection, palm the ace of spades from the top of the left hand's packet. "That explains matters, for you see, I have the ace of spades in my right pocket here." Reach with your right hand into your right-

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 1 5 side jacket pocket and bring the palmed ace of spades forth, clipped between your first and second fingertips. Just as the right hand is coming from its pocket, slip your left hand into the left-side jacket pocket, while still holding the packet, and perform the Vernon flourish count inside the pocket. That is, thumb the top card of the packet to the right and nip it between the first fingertip, beneath, and second fingertip, above. Then straighten these two fingers, carrying the ace of diamonds away from the packet while turning it face-up. (The action is exposed outside the pocket in Figures 138 and 139.)

"And I have the ace of diamonds in my left pocket here." Just as the right hand deposits the ace of spades face-up on the table, beside the ace of hearts, bring the left hand from its pocket, displaying the ace of diamonds at your fingertips. This card-to-pocket idea is the invention of Jack McMillen (see Hugard and Braue's Expert Card Technique, pp. 313-315). Used on its own, it might seem an audacious ruse, though practice has proven it entirely deceptive. Woven, as it is here, among a series of productions, its secret is even more secure. "And the ace of clubs is here in my breast pocket." As the left hand lays the ace of diamonds face-up beside the ace of hearts, move your obviously empty right hand to your left breast pocket, cleanly remove the ace of clubs and conclude. A curious artifact of this powerful effect is that the audience is often left with the impression that you have produced all four aces from your pockets, though the fourth ace never leaves the table. When this occurs, fight any urge you might suffer to correct the misconception. In the nineteenth century, the most common method for performing The General Card employed the top or bottom changes. These sleights can be substituted for the bottom deals in the above

1 2 1 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY handling. Mr. Elmsley uses bottom deals, as they better suit his style of movement when working under close-up conditions. Other switches than those mentioned above also can be employed. The details of handling are flexible; it is the entertaining structure that is most to be admired in this fine effect.

RELUCTANT CARDS TO POCKET Effect: Cards to Pocket is a classic plot and assuredly a persistent favorite with audiences: cards pass invisibly from a small packet in the performer's hands to his empty pocket. Over the years Mr. Elmsley has developed several wonderfully novel approaches to this plot, the best of which have been gathered in this chapter. Because of the heavy dependence on palming in Cards to Pocket handlings, it becomes challenging to perform this trick in close and surrounded situations. The last card or two can prove to be particularly troublesome to transport without detection. Here is an early Elmsley treatment of Cards to Pocket, which he developed while serving in the British army during World War II. Its structure was dictated by conditions of close-up performance that were among the most challenging one could imagine. Method: To begin, first empty your right trousers pocket and pull the pocket itself inside out so that it can be seen empty. You may have someone confirm this, but understand that—despite the long magical tradition behind such requests—asking someone to reach into your front trousers pocket is both physically and socially awkward, and will be perceived as such in polite company. Once the pocket has been proven empty, tuck it back into the trousers, making it clear, as you do so, that your hand is empty as well. Present the pack to someone and ask that he count off ten cards onto your extended palm. When he has done this, have him pocket the balance of the deck. Fan the ten cards face-down and have him and two other persons each take a card and remember it. Then have them return their cards to the packet in this manner: Approach the first person as you cut all the cards above the bottom one from the packet. If the fingers cover the front edges of the cards as they are cut, and the front ends are tilted down slightly, it is impossible to tell just where the packet has been divided.

2 1 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY When the spectator returns his selection onto the bottom card, drop the other six cards over it, burying it. Then approach the second person for the return of his card. As you do this, obtain a break under the top three cards and lift them from the packet. Have the second selection replaced on the packet and lower the three cards onto it. However, hold a fourth-finger break under the three cards and, as you approach the third person, cut the packet at the break and have the last selection placed onto the second. Drop the three cards onto it and square the packet. The first selection now lies second from the face of the packet, the second selection rests fifth from the top, and the third selection is immediately above it. Turn back to the first spectator and announce that you will attend to his card first. Turn the packet face-up into left-hand dealing position and procure a fourth-finger break under the upper two cards. This can be done either with a pinkie count or by secretly lifting the two cards at their inner ends as the right hand squares the packet. With the right hand, make a magical pass over the packet. Then count the cards in the packet from left hand to right, showing that there are now nine instead often, and that the first spectator's card has vanished. A block push-off of the double card above the break makes this possible. The right hand takes the double and immediately receives the next eight cards one by one on top of it. The order of the cards is reversed as they are counted into the right hand and, beginning on the count of five, the cards are stepped slightly to the right (Figure 140) in preparation for the next sleight. Ask the first person if he saw his card among the nine. He must admit he has not, as it was hidden behind the first card counted. Request that he name his card. Using the strong misdirection of these two questions, turn the right hand palm-down with the packet and place the face-down cards into the left hand. As you square the packet into left-hand dealing position, pull down with the left fourth finger on the stepped cards, forming a break above them. Now ask the spectator where he thinks his card has gone. If he is not completely insensitive to dramatic foreshadowing, he should anticipate the pocket that was pointedly shown empty minutes

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 1 9 before. At the moment of his reply, when all attention is on him, classic palm the five cards above the break. If your actions and acting have been adequate, you are now in an advantageous position. The spectators believe the card is gone from the packet and is already in your pocket. Therefore, it only remains for you to show that it is. Reach into the right pocket and leave behind four of the palmed cards while drawing the fifth card, that nearest the palm, from the pocket. Display it. It is the first spectator's selection. Hand it to him. Wave your right hand over the packet again and make a casting motion toward the right pocket. Explain that another card has passed. Reach into your pocket with an obviously empty right hand and bring forth one of the cards there. Display it and hand it to the first spectator. Repeat this sequence of actions twice, causing two more cards to pass to the pocket. At this point you false count the five cards you hold as six, to prove that four have passed. The method of false counting Mr. Elmsley employs is an age-old one; but he provides an embellishment that improves the appearance of the action: The packet is held face-down in the left hand, but is slid a bit farther forward than usual, so that the front end projects past the forefinger. This finger lies beside the other left fingers at the right side of the packet. The left thumb pushes the top card straight to the right for the right hand to claim. The right hand does so, grasping the card at its right side, with thumb above and fingers beneath (Figure 141). The card ^ f? lies on the outer and 141 middle phalanges of Xvx£P!7I the right fingers, which are curled somewhat in under the face of the h \ card. The fingertips \ should rest in single file near the center of 1/ the card—that is, they // \ are retracted about one inch from the left edge. The right hand swings roughly six inches to the right, carrying the card from the packet as it is counted. The left thumb pushes the second card to the right and the right hand returns to claim it, taking it square under the first.

ft im

1' ($&&

The right hand swings again to the right with its two cards, while the left thumb pushes the third card straight to the right. The right

2 2 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY hand comes back, apparently to take this card as it did the first two. However, instead of allowing the right edge of the third card to slide between the face of the packet and the fingers, the right fingertips butt against the edge of the card and push it smartly back onto the lefthand packet (Figure 142, shown from below) as the right hand continues its leftward motion. The right hand then recoils to the right, as it has done twice previously. The use of the right fingertips to push the card square with the packet is Mr. Elmsley's addition to the standard action. It relieves the left thumb of this duty, allowing it to remain extended a moment longer, after the right hand moves away with its cards. This improves the deceptiveness of the maneuver, as the motion of the left thumb is no longer synchronized precisely with the moment the card must be retracted. The left thumb pushes the top card again to the right and the right hand returns to claim it. This time the card is legitimately taken. The remaining two cards are then honestly received by the right hand to the count of five and six. The action of this false count is easily mastered; but like all such counts, practice must be spent on acquiring a steady rhythm and a consistent sound. There must be no faltering when the "empty" count is made. Wave your right hand again over the packet and toss an invisible card toward the pocket. Reach into the pocket and produce the remaining card there. Hand it to the spectator. Count the packet fairly to show that five cards remain. However, as you count the cards, this time reverse their order, taking each new card onto the last, and catch a fourth-finger break above the first two cards. These are the selections of the second and third spectators. Bring the right hand over the packet to square it and palm the three cards above the break. "There are some people of a naturally suspicious nature who suppose I might have a stack of cards already in my pocket. Then I could merely take them out, one at a time, as I pretended to make

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 2 1 them fly there. It is a mean-spirited theory that I assure you is completely false. My pocket is completely empty before the passage of each and every card." To prove this, place the right hand into the pocket, quickly tuck the palmed cards into the upper corner and pull the pocket inside out. In this fashion the pocket is shown empty (through a dodge of Henry Hardin's that was first described in 1907 [ref. The Jinx, No. 97, p. 596]), while at the same time it is loaded. Let the right hand be seen empty and push the pocket back into the trousers. You now make three more cards pass from the packet to the pocket. With the empty right hand, remove each of the three cards as it is made to pass and hand it to the spectator. Show that only two cards remain in your hands. Wave the right hand over the remainder of the packet to make another card pass. Reach into your pocket and come out empty handed. Nothing has happened. Show some surprise at this failure. "That's odd. It should have gone. Let me try the other card." Wave your hand again over the packet and check the pocket. Again nothing. Look puzzled. Then turn to the second and third spectators. "What card did you take?... And what was yours?" Look at the faces of the two cards in your hands. "Ah, just as I thought. These are them. No wonder they wouldn't go." Turn the selections face-up, display them and conclude. Don't forget to collect the deck from the spectator before moving on. By shifting the effect from one of magically transporting cards to the pocket to one of locating the two selections, Mr. Elmsley has neatly solved the problem of passing the final two cards. By this point the passage of these cards would have become at best a situation of challenge between performer and spectators. The climax would be anticlimactic, as it is clearly foreseen by the audience. On the other hand, the disclosure of the two selections comes as a surprise and is therefore the stronger finish. As was noted in the beginning, passing the last two cards is a difficult if not an impossible task under close-up and surrounded conditions. This solution extracts the performer from a tight spot without disappointment or theatrical compromise. January 21, 1950

DUPLICITOUS CARDS TO POCKET Effect: Here is another method Mr. Elmsley worked out for the Cards to Pocket; this one dating from sometime in the early 1950s. It is designed for less challenging performance conditions than those that inspired the previous method. Here it is assumed that your audience is more traditionally settled, with no one behind you. The effect follows the standard: six cards, an ace through six, travel invisibly, one by one, from the hand to an empty pocket. Additionally, they do so in order (an embellishment first exercised by Dr. Jacob Daley; ref. Stars of Magic, p. 101). The action is clean, rapid and straightforward. As was discussed in the preceding method, the final two cards are always the most troublesome to vanish. Pay particular attention here to Mr. Elmsley's solution to this problem. Even if you have another handling for this effect with which you are satisfied, you may quite possibly wish to adopt the concluding sequence offered below. Method: One thing that is particularly pleasing about this method is that you need to palm cards only once during the entire piece; and the palm Mr. Elmsley uses is very nearly automatic. An easier method is hard to imagine. Eight cards are required: an ace through six of any suit, and a duplicate of the five and the six. For best visibility, one of the black suits is recommended. Set the packet in this order from top to face: five-six-ace-two-three-four-five-six. Hold the packet face-down in left-hand dealing grip, and procure a fourth-finger break under the top three cards. Display the packet as six cards, in ace to six sequence, as follows: Insert the right fingers deeply into the break and grip the top three cards near the inner end, right fingers extended across the face of the triplet. Lift the three cards as one from the packet and turn the face of the triple card directly toward the audience, showing it as

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 2 3 an ace. Thumb over the next card of the packet, the two, and take it onto the face of the triple card, fanned to your left. Then take each of the remaining four cards similarly onto the face of the fan. The ace through six are clearly displayed and their order is retained (Figure 143). Call the name of each card as it is shown.

Now open the left hand palm-up, fingertips directed outward, and close the fan by bringing its left side against the left fingertips. Keep the faces of the cards toward the audience as the fan is closed (Figure 144). Grasp the closed fan by its opposite long edges and hold the packet upright, left fingers on the lower edge, left thumb on the upper. Move the right hand in front of the packet and square the ends. At the same time secretly riffle the back two cards (the duplicate five and six) off the right thumb and take a break between them

2 2 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY and the packet with the left fourth finger (Figure 145). (Alternatively, you could form the break with a fourth-finger pull-down action.) While retaining the packet in your left hand, draw attention to your right trousers pocket, which should be empty. With an obviously empty right hand, turn the pocket inside-out to demonstrate its depleted state. Make a leftward body turn as you exhibit the empty pocket, and leave the lining turned out for the moment. You will stand throughout the rest of the trick with your right side presented to the audience. You now execute L'Homme Masque's one-handed spring palm; as noted earlier, the only palm required in the trick. (For the history and evolution of this palm, see Gaultier's Magic Without Apparatus, pp. 91-92; then Hugard's Card Manipulations, No. 5, pp. 130-131; and finally Fred Braue's application to a packet in his "Cards to Pocket Palm", Hugard and Braue's Miracle Methods No. 4: Tricks and Sleights, pp. 31-32.) The movements are not difficult, but must be precisely timed. Words and actions are married for deception: "We have an ace at the back of the packet..." Insert the tip of the right second finger into the break and pull the ace to the right for about half its length (Figure 146). The illusion of the ace being drawn from the back of the packet is perfect. Push the ace flush with the packet again.

"... and a six at the front." Tap the face of the six with your right fingers. Then, with the right hand, grasp the packet by its ends, transferring the break to the right thumb, which should rest at the upper right corner of the packet. The packet faces the right palm. "Remember, an ace at the back..." Swing the right hand outward, simultaneously turning it palm-up. This presents the back of the packet to the audience. " . . . and a six at the front." Reverse the right hand's action, replacing the packet in the left hand. However, as the swing is made, press the fingers and thumb inward against the ends of the packet,


forcing it to bow toward the right palm (Figure 147). Then let the six cards forward of the break snap off the right thumb and into the palm (Figure 148). Take the remaining two cards by their opposite sides, holding them at the left fingertips, in the same position the packet occupied moments before. Drop the right hand, with the six cards hidden in classic palm, to a relaxed posture at waist level. Through the agency of the duplicate six, now visible in the left hand, nothing seems to have changed, and the action of the display has concealed that of the palm. Now say, "Just the six cards and my pocket." Here, glance down at your pocket and notice that its lining is still out. With the right hand, tuck it back in, without comment, leaving the palmed cards behind. The secret actions of the trick are now ninety percent completed; yet, to the audience, everything is still to happen. With the right hand, turn the two cards in the left hand face-down there, using the same firmness of action you would use for a packet of six. Lay the cards parallel with the left fingers, and bring the left thumb down on them, trapping their inner ends in the fork of the thumb (Figure 149). Then raise the left hand to your left, turning it back outward, so that the cards are

2 2 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY completely concealed from the audience. The left fingers are stiffly extended and the thumb is bent awkwardly onto the palm. Bring the right hand about six inches below the left and snap your fingers (Figure 150). Then reach with this clearly empty hand into your trousers pocket and bring forth the ace, which lies nearest the body. Display the card and toss it aside. Turn the left hand palm outward to expose the cards it holds; then turn the back of the hand again to the audience. Snap the right fingers again under the left hand, reach into the pocket and remove the two. Repeat this sequence twice more to produce the three and the four from the pocket, each time turning the left hand briefly to show the cards there. Of course, you can introduce any by-play you like as the cards pass, and the pocket can be shown empty between each flight, using Hardin's top-of-the-pocket ruse (explained in the preceding routine, p. 221). After the four has been taken from your pocket, turn the left hand palm-out and separate the two cards it holds. Display the five and the six, one in each hand. Then lower the hands, so that the backs of the cards are seen, and slip the five above the six. Lay both cards, face-down and squared, on the left fingers, just as they were before, and turn the left hand back outward. Snap the right fingers below the left hand and turn the left palm outward. Take the two cards from the left hand, holding them squared as one, face toward the audience. While grasping them firmly, give them a sharp fillip with the left forefinger, promoting the idea of singularity. Only the six seems to remain. Replace the double card face-down on the left hand, as before, and turn the hand back outward again. Then let the right hand be seen empty and draw the five from the pocket. Bring it out very slowly. This is not only for drama; the action serves an important purpose: As everyone is fascinated with the slow disclosure of the five, lower the left hand momentarily to the left side, which is still turned away from the audience, and drop the two duplicate cards into the leftside jacket pocket. Then casually return this hand to its previous

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 2 7 position. Because the cards have been concealed behind the hand throughout the trick, their new absence will not be suspected. Display the five and toss it aside. Snap the right fingers a last time below the left hand. Then begin to make slow crumpling motions with the left fingers, as if the last card were gradually vanishing behind them. Turn the left palm outward, showing the last card gone and conclude by producing the six, with a flourish, from your trousers pocket. This is exactly how Mr. Elmsley performs the trick. He has always found the drawing of the five from the pocket to be sufficient misdirection for disposing of the left hand's cards. However, for those who feel insecure with this, the misdirection can be augmented in the following way: Place your right hand into the pocket to bring forth the five. Pretend, though, that you do not find it. Fumble around a bit in the pocket, palming the five as you do so. Withdraw the hand and stare at the pocket with an expression of disgust. Move your gaze slowly down to your right knee; then reach down with the right hand and produce the five from behind the knee. At this moment, pocket the left hand's cards. The misdirection is irresistible. The trick is then completed as explained above. The construction of this handling is appealingly concise. The few moves used are shrewdly masked by natural action and strong misdirection; and the effect is as clear and direct as ever one could wish. January 8, 1955

FLIGHT PLAN Effect: The four aces are removed from the pack and the balance of the cards are put away. The performer squeezes the packet of aces and one immediately flies to his right-side coat pocket. With a clearly empty hand, he draws the ace of clubs from the pocket and returns it to the packet. The four aces are counted, then given another squeeze. Instantly, the ace of hearts flies to the right-side coat pocket. Again, with an empty hand, the ace is brought forth, displayed and returned to the packet. The performer now offers to explain how the aces are made to travel. "When you're not looking, I make a magic pass between the packet and my pocket." He squeezes the packet and brings his hand away in a suspiciously cramped fashion, moving it to the right coat pocket. "That causes the ace of spades to fly to my left coat pocket." His explanation proves to be only a teasing feint, as he reaches with the empty left hand into his left-side coat pocket and brings out the third ace. The four cards are counted once more, then squeezed. This causes the last ace, the diamond, to pass to the right pocket. Method: The handling for this packet cards-to-pocket presentation is prettily contrived. Every time an ace is made to pass, the hand fetching it is seen empty before entering the pocket; and no duplicate cards are used. In fact, if one wishes, the aces can all be signed before they travel. Begin by running through the deck and locating the aces. As you come to each, openly shift it to the face of the pack. When you have gathered all four, arrange them in a sequence familiar to you, set in four-three-two-one order from the face. For example, if you choose to use CHaSeD order (as we will for this description), the aces would read diamond-spade-heart-club from face to back. Then shift the foremost card to the back of the setup, rearranging the suits into three-two-one-four order: from the face, spade-heart-club-diamond. This arrangement can, of course, be done in one step. Here it has

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 2 9 been broken into two purely for clarity. The ordering of the suits is not strictly necessary, but it allows you to name each ace confidently as it travels to the pocket. As you arrange the aces, push over the first indifferent card beneath them and catch a left fourth-finger break below it. When the aces are in order, bring the right hand palm-down over the deck and roughly square them. Immediately lift the five cards above the break from the pack, apparently taking just the aces. With the left thumb and fingers, revolve the balance of the pack face-down, adjusting it into dealing grip. In doing this, it is an easy task to push over the top card slightly and procure a fourthfinger break beneath it. Since you have left the right hand's packet slightly unsquared, you now have a reason to bring the packet over the deck, for you must finish squaring the aces. Move the face-up packet directly over the deck and run the left thumb and fingertips along the opposite edges of the packet. In this squaring action, secretly pick up the top card of the pack, taking it beneath the packet, but maintaining a right thumb break between it and the cards above. You will now plainly display the aces and, in the process, steal one ace from the packet, employing an ATFUS handling. With the left thumb, draw the uppermost ace, the spade, face-up and square onto the face-down deck. Name it as you do this. Then, again with the left thumb, draw the second ace, the heart, over the first—but at the same time load the face-down indifferent card over the first ace as you draw the second onto the pack. Do this by extending the left fourth finger to the right, under the right hand's packet, and with its tip engage the inner right corner of the face-down card (Figure 151). Then, as the thumb pulls the second ace square onto the pack, release the right thumb's pressure on the separated face-down card and, with the left fourth finger, push it flush with the deck. As you move the left hand smoothly to the left with the pack, and the remaining right-hand cards slide from beneath the second ace, press the left fourth fingertip to the side of the pack, catching a break under the ace of hearts. Continue the display without a pause, by drawing the third ace onto the deck, and laying the last ace—actually a

2 3 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY double card—onto the third, but stepped inward for about a quarter of an inch. After completing this display of the aces, bring the right hand palm-up to the deck and remove the packet above the break by pinching it at its right edge, right thumb above and fingertips (entering the break) below (Figure 152). All looks as it should; however, the ace of spades is hidden face-up beneath the face-down top card of the deck. "The aces are the only cards we need for this next trick." With the left hand, casually deposit the deck in the left-side coat pocket. Then bring the left hand, empty and palm-down, to the right hand's packet. Grasp the packet by its opposite edges, left thumb on the right side, fingertips on the left (Figure 153), and rotate the left hand palm-up, turning the packet face-down. Bring the right hand palmdown over the packet, ostensibly to adjust the cards to dealing position. But in this action, you palm the top two aces. The step that you have maintained makes the palm almost automatic. As you bring the right hand over the packet, contact the front end of the forward aces with the fingertips, and the inner left corner of the lower pair with the thumbtip. If you now press down lightly with right thumb and fingers, bowing the lower cards downward, the top two aces will be levered neatly up into the right palm (Figure 154). In a continuing action, lower the remaining bottom pair of cards into lefthand dealing grip and move the right hand away, aces palmed. (This

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 3 1 palming method is a two-handed variant of the one-handed spring palm described on page 224-225.) The palming action is rapid and invisible; yet it should be done in a casual fashion while you look away from the hands and address the audience. Almost immediately move the right hand to the rightside coat pocket and drop off the palmed aces as you remove some object from the pocket that you have thoughtfully left there to provide the right hand a reason for its action. The spectators should think you are merely emptying the pocket in preparation for the trick. Set the removed object aside. Let's pause a moment to consider the current situation. Though to the audience you have so far done nothing but remove the aces from the pack and display them, in an admirably brief time you have maneuvered three of the aces secretly to your coat pockets, and are holding one ace and an indifferent card in your left hand. You are already three steps ahead of your audience. Bring the right hand palm-down over the left hand's packet and squeeze the cards between your palms. "That makes the first ace, the ace of clubs, leave the others and fly to my pocket." Lift the right hand from the packet and perform a Stanyon-type false count, counting the two cards you hold as three. That is, adjust the packet to left-hand pinch grip and draw the top card into right-hand dealing grip. (The idea of using a right-hand dealing grip for the Stanyon count was first suggested in print by Edward Mario, ref. M-U-M, Vol. 49, No. 7, Dec. 1959, p. 290, though Mr. Elmsley learned this handling in 1954 from his friend, Eric de la Mare, who had independently conceived the idea in England.) As the right hand returns to the packet to take the second card, secretly slip the first card underneath the packet and reclaim it with the left fingertips while the right thumb draws the second card onto the right palm. In other words, the two hands exchange their cards in the guise of a counting action. Finish the count by taking the left hand's card onto that in the right hand, counting it as three. Transfer the packet to the left hand. Then, with an obviously empty right hand, reach into your right-side coat pocket and bring out the card nearest your body. This will the first ace of your memorized suit order. Display the ace of clubs and drop it face-down onto the packet. Squeeze the packet between the palms again. "That causes the next ace, the ace of hearts, to fly to my pocket." Legitimately count the cards in the packet, reversing their order as you simulate the actions of the Stanyon count just used. Only three cards remain. Retake the packet into the left hand and, with the empty right hand,

2 3 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY bring forth from the right-side coat pocket the ace of hearts. Display it and slip it to the bottom of the packet. The cards from top to face now read: ace of diamonds, indifferent card, ace of clubs, ace of hearts. Casually spread the cards between the hands, showing four; then, as you square them back into the left hand, form a left fourth-finger break under the top two cards. "I'll tell you how it's done. When you're not looking, I make a magic pass between the cards and my pocket..." As this is said, you perform a bold maneuver, cunningly disguised as a feint: Bring the right hand over the packet and perform a squeezing action, similar to those you have previously used. This time, though, you palm the top two cards. In doing so, purposely hold the hand in a cramped manner, with the thumb sticking out to the side. You wish to create an almost comical impression of palming a card, without actually letting the palmed cards be seen. Move the palsied hand to your right-side coat pocket and deposit the palmed cards there without hesitation. As you remove the hand from the pocket, continue your explanation: "... and that makes the ace of spades fly to my left pocket." Pass the packet from the left hand to the right, let your left hand be seen empty, then reach into your left pocket and produce the ace of spades. Since it lies second from the top of the deck, there should be no fumbling or hesitation in bringing it out. At this point, if your acting has been convincing, your crude and open palming from the packet a moment before will be dismissed by the audience as a humorous feint and nothing more. As I said, it is a bold maneuver, but an effective one. Place the ace of spades face-down on the packet and perform a Stanyon count, counting the three cards as four. Then squeeze the packet between your palms and, with the empty right hand, go to the right pocket and produce the ace of diamonds. It is the farthest card of the pair from your body. You are left holding just the four aces, as you should be, and each has in turn flown to a pocket. The indifferent card that aided their flights rests in the right coat pocket and can be left there or secretly added to the deck when the audience's attention has relaxed.

EN VOYAGE Effect: The ace, two and three of any suit are openly removed from the pack and laid on the table. The ace is placed into the center of the pack, shown and pushed flush. Without a false move the performer reaches into his right-front trousers pocket and withdraws the ace. He lays it face-up onto the face-down pack and casually cuts the cards, losing the card. Next the two is taken from the table and inserted into the pack. The hand goes to the right-front trousers pocket again, unmistakably empty, and comes forth with the two. This card is also cut face-up into the deck. Finally, the three is picked up and pushed into the pack. It, like its fellows, instantly flies to the trousers pocket; and it too is then buried face-up in the pack. The performer points out that when the three cards disappeared from the deck, they traveled to the same trousers pocket. "This time," he says, "they will each fly to a different pocket Now!" He slaps the pack, then ribbon spreads it across the table. The three reversed cards are no longer in the deck. The ace is brought from the trousers pocket, the two from a coat pocket, and the three from the inner breast pocket. In assessing this effect, you should understand that the action is straightforward and that no duplicate cards are in play. The three traveling cards can, in fact, be signed by spectators at the start. Method: Mr. Elmsley developed this masterly piece in the late 1950s and, when Dai Vernon visited England during that period to work with Lewis Ganson on what was to become a series of classic books, this was one of the tricks Mr. Elmsley showed him. Mr. Vernon was so impressed by it, when he gave lessons in 1962 at the Lou Tannen School of Magic in New York, this was one of the tricks he taught. (Another was "Brainweave"; see pp. 338-345.) "En Voyage" soon became an underground favorite in the States, but has never been explained in print. It is not a trick easily mastered, but it is

2 3 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY one worth every bit of effort necessary, for the result is an entirely magical sequence that audiences readily appreciate. Begin by running through the pack in search of the ace, two and three of any suit. For this description, clubs are used. (You can, by the way, ask someone to designate the suit.) As you locate these three cards, also cut or cull to the face of the pack a deuce of the same color. In our example, this would be the two of spades. Arrange the ace, two and three of clubs in ascending order on the face of the pack. From face to back the four cards read: ace of clubs, two of clubs, three of clubs and two of spades. As you square the face-up deck into left-hand dealing position, catch a break under the two of spades. This ordering of the cards is done casually, with the faces tipped toward you. Once you have the four cards arranged, lower your hands and, with the palm-down right hand, lift the four-card packet from the face of the deck. Then clearly exhibit the ace, two and three of clubs in this manner: With the left thumb, draw the ace from the packet onto the face of the deck, jogging it a bit to the right. With the same thumb, draw off the two of clubs onto the ace, jogged somewhat farther to the right. This leaves the three of clubs—actually a double card, the two of spades hidden beneath— in the right hand. Lay the double onto the deck, forming a spread of the three club cards (Figure 155). Pin the spread to the deck with your left thumb. You will now steal away the ace as you remove the spread from the deck. An easy and wholly deceptive switch of Mr. Elmsley's is used to accomplish this. Bring the right hand, palmup, to the right side of the pack and seemingly grasp the three-card spread as shown in Figure 156. Actually only grasp the two of clubs and the double three, leaving the ace under the control of the left thumb. Now separate the hands, at


the same time turning them palms down. During this action, with the left thumb pull the ace of clubs square with the face of the pack; and with the right fingers simultaneously spread the double card, allowing the backs of all three right-hand cards to be seen. (Figure 157 shows an exposed performer's view of the switch in progress). This switch is imperceptible, even when performed in slow motion. It should be done in a relaxed, unhurried manner. Lay the spread of three cards face-down on the table to your near right. Then adjust the face-down deck into left-hand dealing position and secretly transport the ace from the bottom to the top. This can be done with a side slip and replacement, a reverse double undercut or a brisk overhand shuffle. With your right hand, reach out to the three-card spread and pick up the top card. Those of the audience who have paid attention should believe this to be the ace. Indeed, the ace will in a moment be shown, confirming this assumption, and clarifying the situation for the less attentive. As everyone's eyes are captured by the right hand's action, with the left thumb push the top card of the deck slightly to the right and get a fourth-finger break beneath it. Lay the right hand's card (the two of clubs), face-down and square on the pack. Then, using the initial action of Cliff Green's double lift, push the top two cards as one forward on the deck for about half their length. That is, bring the right hand palmdown over the pack and place the tip of the extended forefinger on the back of the top card. At the same time, bring the tip of the right thumb onto the inner edge of the double card above the break (Figure 158). The natural position of the thumb

2 3 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY accommodates this. Without hesitation, push the top two cards forward as one, apparently using the tip of the forefinger, but actually pushing the double card with the thumb (Figure 159). Now, with the right hand still palm-down, grip the lower half of the pack at its inner corners, between the thumb and second finger, pull this half backward from beneath the upper portion, and slap it on top, square with the other half (Figure 160). This action is similar to that of a Hindu shuffle. The double card now lies outjogged near the center of the pack. Turn the left hand momentarily palm-down, exposing the face of the ace protruding from the deck. Then, with the right hand, turn over the two cards on the table and leave them lying there face-up, the three resting diagonally across the two of spades, so that only the "2" of one index is visible and the suit pips are concealed (Figure 161). Everything appears as it should. (The use of the extra two as a stand-in was suggested to Mr. Elmsley by Cy Endfield. The crisscross display ruse was originated by Mr. Elmsley for this trick, but was also independently conceived in the States by Brother John Hamman.) Return the left hand to a palm-up position; then, with the right hand, push the double card into the pack and palm the two cards away. There are a variety of side steal and right-hand diagonal palm shift techniques that may be employed for this purpose. Ones by Edward Mario, Jerry Andrus and Larry Jennings come immediately

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 3 7 to mind. Mr. Elmsley uses a pinkie clip side steal, which is described in Volume I of this work (see pp. 130-133). With the two cards palmed in the right hand, grasp the pack from above while your left hand undercuts the deck and completes the cut. (While this cut does nothing, it is necessary to maintain consistency with actions used later in the routine.) Reach the right hand into your right-front trousers pocket and bring out the ace of clubs (which lies farthest from the palm), leaving behind the second card (the two of clubs). Display the card, then lay it face-up on the deck, catching a break beneath it. Cut the ace to the center of the pack and retain the break. With the right hand, turn the two (of spades) and three (of clubs) face-down on the table. Pick up the two. (This is the safest procedure when working surrounded. However, if there is no one behind you or on the extreme side angles, you can instead do this: Dig the right fingertips under the front end of the two and draw it forward from beneath the three, simultaneously lifting it to a vertical position, back outward [Figure 162]. Then revolve it face-down. The right fingers naturally conceal the face of the card until it is tipped from the audience's view.) Place the two face-down on the deck. Then, with the right forefinger, push it forward for half its length, simulating the earlier double-card handling used with the ace. With the right hand, grasp the inner end of the deck, strip the top third from beneath the outjogged two and slap it back on top. This maneuver leaves the break beneath the ace undisturbed, yet closely resembles the earlier cut, lending an appearance of conformity to your actions. With the right hand, slowly and fairly push the protruding two of spades into the pack, then cut the cards at the break, bringing the ace to the bottom. Square the pack and execute a pull-down or a double buckle to obtain a left fourth-finger break above the bottom two cards. Then, with an obviously empty right hand, reach into the trousers pocket and bring out the two of clubs. Display it, lay it face-up on the deck and apparently cut it, in a deliberate fashion, into the pack, performing a reverse double undercut to bring the two bottom cards to the top. This places the face-up ace over the two, and both are covered by a single face-down

2 3 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY indifferent card. In squaring the pack, form a left fourth-finger break under these three cards (the bridge in the reversed cards should aid you here). With the right hand, pick up the three of clubs from the table and lay it face-up and square onto the deck. Perform a quadruple turnover, apparently turning just the three of clubs face-down. In this action, carry the four-card block very slightly inward, creating a step about half the width of a border. In a continuing action smoothly push the top card forward for half its length. This card is thought to be the three—it is actually the two of clubs. Grasp the top portion of the pack at its inner end and draw the upper half backward, stripping it from beneath the outjogged card. Slap this half on top, taking care to preserve the step. In a squaring action of the top half, convert the step into a fourth-finger break. Once again, the handling of the cards appears consistent with the previous actions. You must now perform two secret tasks at once. You will push the projecting card flush, forming a break above it, while you simultaneously palm the top three cards. This is accomplished as follows: Move the palm-down right hand forward over the deck, in preparation to push the protruding card flush. Begin to do so, but stop momentarily when approximately an inch of the card still protrudes from the front of the pack. Move the right hand back several inches to expose the outjogged card in the center of the pack. Then resume the action of pushing the card flush and, in doing so, execute Edward Mario's misdirection palm (ref. The Cardician [first printing], pp. 5253, and the last paragraph of "Repeater Selected Card to Pocket", p. 55; in subsequent printings, pp. 55-57 and p. 58). That is: Move the palm-down right hand forward over the deck, in preparation to push the protruding card flush. The instant the right hand eclipses the pack, move the left fourth-fingertip slightly to the right, carrying the three cards above the break with it (Figure 163, right

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 3 9 hand withdrawn to expose the action). This mildly cants the packet, ariglejogging its outer right corner over the front of the deck. The jog need be no more than an eighth of an inch. With the tip of the right fourth finger, immediately contact this corner of the packet and press downward, levering the three cards up into the right palm (Figure 164). The instant the palm is completed, use the right fingertips to push the two into the pack, but angle it slightly to the left, causing its right inner corner to project from the right edge of the pack. Contact this corner with the tip of the left fourth finger and pull down on it, forming a break above the two as you push its corner flush. With the right hand, square the ends of the pack; then, with the left hand, undercut the cards below the break and complete the cut. This brings the two of clubs to the top of the pack. Move the right hand to the right-front trousers pocket and load the palmed cards as you reach into the pocket. Once the hand is inside the pocket, turn the three cards around. Then bring out the three of clubs (the card now nearest the palm), leaving behind the ace and indifferent card. When you do this, make a leftward body turn and focus all attention on the card coming from the pocket. While everyone's eyes are watching the right hand, thumb the top card of the pack, the two of clubs, into the left-side coat pocket. The misdirection at this moment is compelling. Exhibit the three, then place it face-up on the deck and cut about three-quarters of the pack from the bottom to the top. Turn the deck face-up in the left hand as you say, "The three cards now lie reversed and scattered throughout the deck." In support of this statement, spread the first few cards until you reach the facedown three of clubs. "These three cards traveled one by one to my trousers pocket— the same pocket each time." Illustrate your words by removing the face-down card from the pack; then, without showing its face, slip it briefly into the trousers pocket. During the moment your hand is in the pocket, desert the three, slipping it behind the two cards already there (placing it nearest the body), and grasp the indifferent (outermost) card in its place. This pocket switching dodge is borrowed from Francis Carlyle's "Homing Card" in Stars of Magic (p. 63). Bring the indifferent card from the pocket, back outward, as you say, "Watch closely now, for this time all three cards will travel from the deck, each to a different pocket." Indicate your left-side coat pocket, breast pocket and right-front trousers pocket by quickly tapping each with the indifferent card. Then insert it face-down into the face-up pack and push it flush, executing the pinkie clip side

2 4 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY steal. However, instead of fanning the pack to complete the extraction of the card, instead revolve the deck leftward and face-down in the left hand. Then, with the card palmed in the right hand, slap the pack, or riffle it, to imply that you are doing something magical, and load the palmed card on top. Then ribbon spread the cards, showing that the three face-up clubs have vanished. Let both hands be seen empty. Then, with your right hand, reach into the right-front trousers pocket and bring out the ace of clubs (the outside card) at the fingertips. Toss it face-up onto the table. Return the right hand to the trousers pocket and palm the three as you say, "No more from here." (Mr. Elmsley takes the three into a rear palm position.) Working to a brisk rhythm, place your left hand into the left-side coat pocket and bring out the two of clubs, as the right hand, apparently empty, leaves the trousers pocket. Toss the two face-up with the ace. Finally, reach with the right hand into your inside left breast pocket and pretend to draw the three of clubs from there. Toss this card with the rest and take a bow. As mentioned earlier, the three cards can be signed by spectators. Mr. Elmsley also mentions that the three of clubs can be loaded into a sealed envelope, d la LePaul, or a card wallet, before it is brought from the breast pocket; his rear palm wallet-loading method can be used here (see pp. 34-36). This extra embellishment is only advisable if the cards are signed. Otherwise, duplicates will certainly be suspected. While the method for this trick is demanding, the composition is delightfully economical, placing you always a step or two or three ahead of the audience. It will be obvious that there is room for variation in the sleights employed. Indeed, Dai Vernon, Larry Jennings, Bruce Cervon, Edward Mario and others have developed individual handlings over the years to suit their tastes. These variants, while conserving the basic Elmsley structure, offer some interesting points. The original, nevertheless, is an exceptional piece of card magic, which can stand confidently in comparison beside any of its offspring. [c. 1957]

PROCESSIONAL Effect: The aces are inserted at different locations in the pack and left projecting from it. The performer pushes the first ace flush, then produces it from his right-front trousers pocket. The second ace is pushed into the pack and immediately flies to the pocket. With increasing mystery, the same occurs with the third ace and the fourth. Method: Because this is an earlier incarnation of "En Voyage", I hesitated to include. But each time I examined it, I found its merit irresistible. Where one must admire the elegance of "En Voyage", in this less ambitious construction using the four aces, one is impressed by the economy of its cunning structure coupled with the persuasiveness of the illusion created. Begin by openly removing the four aces from the pack and place them face-up on top. While holding the deck in left-hand dealing grip, casually fan the aces, also fanning over the three face-down cards directly beneath them. Then square the cards back onto the deck, getting a left fourth-finger break under all seven. You now perform the Braue addition, switching three of the aces for the three indifferent cards. That is, the palm-down right hand grips the seven cards above the break by the ends and the left hand carries the deck to the left. At the same time, the left thumb draws the uppermost ace onto the deck and the right hand uses its packet to flip this ace face-down on top. The left thumb then draws the next ace off the packet and it too is flipped over onto the deck; as in its turn is the third. The right hand then sets the remaining four cards—which are thought by the audience to be the final ace alone—square on the pack. Immediately push the face-up ace to the right, take it into the right hand and turn it face-down. Insert this ace very near the bottom of the pack, and leave it outjogged for about two-thirds of its length. Take the next card from the top of the pack and, without exposing its face, insert it about ten cards above the protruding ace, leaving

2 4 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY it similarly outjogged. Insert the next two cards in turn into the front of the pack, separated by roughly ten cards. The fourth card should lie about thirteen cards from the top. Now spread the pack from left hand to right, displaying the separation of the four outjogged cards. These are presumed to be the aces, but only the lowermost of the four has a face to support this assumption. The other three aces rest atop the deck. As you square the pack back into the left hand, you must form a left fourth-finger break under them. Bring your right hand palm-down over the pack and push the uppermost projecting card flush. As you do this, execute Mr. Elmsley's misdirection rear palm {Volume I, pp. 128-129), stealing the top three aces into the right hand. Move the right hand to your right-front trousers pocket and bring out one of the palmed aces (see Volume I, pp. 135-136), leaving the other two behind. After displaying it, toss the ace face-up onto the table. Bring the right hand over the pack and push in the next outjogged card. As you move the right hand away from the pack and toward your pocket, this time let it be seen empty. Bring the second ace from the pocket and toss it onto the table with the first. Repeat this sequence again, pushing in the third card and producing the third ace from your pocket. You now have one card sticking from the pack. As you prepare the audience for the last migration, casually turn the left hand and let the face of the outjogged ace be seen. Then turn the left hand palm-up again and push the ace home. However, in doing so, perform the Elmsley center-card rear palm (Volume I, pp. 130-133), stealing the ace from the deck and into the right hand. After completing the palm and closing the fanned deck, regrasp the pack in left-hand dealing grip and move the right hand toward your right pocket. Load the rearpalmed ace into the pocket, then bring it out at your fingertips. Toss this last ace down with the others, thus completing a brisk and magical series of transportations.

DALEY DOUBLE Effect: One black ace, say the ace of clubs, is shown and placed in the performer's pocket. The second black ace, the ace of spades, is positioned face-up in the center of the face-down deck. The faceup ace of spades is pushed flush with the pack and the cards are immediately fanned to reveal that the face-up ace has changed to the ace of clubs, which was a moment ago in the performer's pocket. The ace of spades is immediately brought from the pocket. The performer offers to repeat the transposition in an even more astonishing fashion: both aces will remain in sight at all times. He perches the ace of spades, back out, in the top of his outer breast pocket; and lays the ace of clubs face-down onto the table. With a magical snap of his fingers he turns over the aces—but instead of transposing, the two cards have transformed into red aces; and the black aces are neatly produced, each from a different pocket. Method: The first phase of this routine is founded on Dr. Jacob Daley's "Reverse Transfer" (ref. Hugard's More Card Manipulations, Series 3, pp. 35-37). Mr. Elmsley has modified the handling slightly for economy of action, then appended the surprising second phase in which the red aces unexpectedly take the places of the black, while the black aces fly to the pockets. All this is succinctly accomplished without the use of gimmicks or duplicates. Begin with one red ace on top of the pack, the other at the bottom; and the two black aces directly under the top red ace, second and third from the top. You do not wish the audience to know the locations of the red aces, but these can be secretly positioned as you openly search for the black aces and apparently move them to the top of the pack. While holding the deck face-down in left-hand dealing position, perform a double turnover and display the first black ace. Perform a second double turnover, revolving the ace face-down, and immediately remove the top card (a red ace). Ask the spectators to remember the identity of the black ace and that it is in your right

2 4 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY pocket. Without exposing the face of the card in your right hand, slip it into the right-front trousers pocket. Perform another double turnover, displaying the second black ace face-up on the pack. As you make the turnover, let the double card settle into an outjogged position on the deck, projecting forward about half an inch. Now, with the palm-down right hand, grip the lower half of the pack at its inner corners, draw it inward, stripping it from beneath the top half, and slap it on top, flush with the other packet. This leaves the face-up double card protruding from the outer end of the pack, near center. At this point the locations of the aces are: one red ace in your right pocket; the second red ace lies in the center of the deck; and directly below it rests the outjogged double card, which consists of the face-up black aces, the ace first displayed lying hidden beneath the second. You now perform the push-in change as you adjust the position of the visible black ace: With your right hand, grip the double card by its outer right corner—thumb above, second fingertip below— and slide the upper ace forward, making it possible for the left forefinger to engage the outer end of the lower ace and secretly push it flush with the pack. In the same action, pull the upper ace out of the pack for approximately half its length. Name this ace and remind the audience that the other black ace is in your pocket. You now push the projecting ace into the pack, snap your fingers and immediately fan the deck. However, as you do this you execute Mr. Elmsley's center-card rear palm (Volume I, pp. 130-133). That is, you first perform Bill Simon's card control to push the ace apparently flush. Then, while the palm-down right hand continues to hold the pack by its ends, snap the fingers of the free left hand for effect, and immediately fan the deck in the left hand, completing the Elmsley fan steal. The perceived effect is that one black ace changes instantly into the other as the deck is fanned. With your right forefinger, point to the transformed ace in the fan, using this motion to conceal the smaller one of adjusting the stolen ace into rear palm with the tip of the right third finger. Now, with your right hand, reach into your right-front trousers pocket and come out with the palmed black ace at the fingertips (see Volume I, p. 135). This concludes the first phase, but you are already well prepared for the second. After displaying the right hand's ace, return it to your trousers pocket and execute the "Homing Card" pocket dodge, quickly exchanging the black ace for the red one already there as you offer to repeat the effect. Immediately bring the hand from the pocket

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 4 5 again, as you seem to have a fresh idea: "No, this time I'll leave both cards in view." Taking care not to expose the face of the red ace, set it in the top of your left outer breast pocket with most of the card in view. Close the fanned pack, which the left hand has held throughout the previous actions, and hold it face-down in dealing grip. Bring the right hand palm-down over the pack and cut at the face-up black ace, lifting away all the cards above it. If there is a bridge in the cards, this task is simplified. Otherwise, you can use the left thumb to riffle down to the face-up ace. Name the face-up black ace, focusing full attention on it, while the right hand forms a thumb break above the bottom card of its packet, in preparation for a tip-over change (see Volume I, pp. 7273, for a description of this maneuver, as well as an explanation of the tip-over change). Then flip the black ace face-down on the left hand's packet, secretly loading the red ace from the right hand's portion onto it. Immediately thumb the top card of the left hand's packet onto the table, and slip the right hand's cards under the left's. At this point the audience believes that the card on the table and that in your breast pocket are the black aces. In reality these are red aces. One black ace now lies on top of the deck, the other in your right pocket. "Now, do you remember which black ace is on the table, and which is in my pocket?" Pause a moment, to build some suspense. Then dramatically reveal the two cards to be the red aces. "As for the black aces, one has gone back to this pocket." Turn to your left, presenting your right side to the audience; and, with an obviously empty right hand, reach into the right trousers pocket and bring out the first black ace. As all attention is on this action, thumb the top card of the deck (the second black ace) into your leftside coat pocket. This load may seem bold, but the misdirection at this point is very strong. Turn to face the audience again, and set the right hand's black ace face-up on the face-down deck while transferring the deck to the right hand. "And the other is over here." With an empty left hand, go to your left pocket and produce the second black ace. Set it face-up onto the deck, displaying it there with its mate, and conclude. Note that Mr. Elmsley deliberately displays the black aces on the deck, rather than dropping them onto the table. In doing so he subtly distracts from the fact that the deck is also still in the hands. It is a valuable psychological point that should not be overlooked, a last bit of burnishing to a cleverly constructed mystery.

BETWEEN YOUR PALMS Effect: After the Elmsley count, I would judge this trick as Mr. Elmsley's best known contribution to card magic. He conceived the trick after reading John Dickson Carr's analysis of "locked room" mystery plots. From that he devised this "locked room" mystery with playing cards. While a number of clever magicians (including the originator himself) have attempted to improve on its method, many believe that the original is still the best to date. The performer removes a card from the deck and, without showing its face, places it between the palms of a spectator. Three cards are then selected by other members of the audience. One of the participants signs the face of his selection. All three cards are lost in the deck after they have been noted. The pack is riffled and one card flies invisibly from it to the side pocket of the performer's jacket. This card is shown and slipped between the first spectator's hands, joining the card already there. The second selection is produced from the performer's inside breast pocket. This too is placed between the spectator's palms. The third selection, the signed one, has yet to be produced. The performer asks the first spectator to separate his hands and return the two selections to their owners. This leaves him with one card— the card that was given to him before any selections were made. When he looks at its face he is shocked to find that this card is the signed selection. He has apparently been holding it the entire time. Method: The method about to be explained is that published in 1952. However, while checking the text for this book, Mr. Elmsley devised a new story-presentation for the trick, a whimsical tale concerning "The Hermit of Moon Mountain". Therefore, the following description offers vintage Elmsley with a bright new label on the bottle. One "stranger" card (that is, a card from another pack) must be added secretly to the deck. The handling is structured to avoid exposing the back of this card throughout the trick. Therefore, the

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 4 7 back pattern needn't match, which leaves you free to use a borrowed deck, should you wish. Since the deck is rid of the stranger card long before the finish of the effect, no clue is left and the use of the extra card is made completely practical. Load the stranger card onto the bottom of the deck at the outset of the trick. Turn the deck face toward you and spread through it (without exposing the back of the stranger card, if it varies with the pack in use). Look for the mate to the stranger, remove it from the deck without letting its face be seen and ask someone nearby to assist you. "Will you hold your hands palms together, like this?" Get the spectator to hold one hand palm-up and place the other hand palmdown over it. "Now, if you would, I wish you to hold this card between your palms." Slip the card face-down between his hands. Placing the card in this manner permits you to position it so that later it will be convenient to slide other cards above and below it. "That card represents the Hermit of Moon Mountain. Sometimes he was called the Hidden Hermit; for, though people visited him from time to time, they never saw his face. So will you take care that he stays hidden? Til tell you more about the hermit later. But first I must have three cards chosen." As you say this, take the deck face-down into left-hand dealing position and give it a casual cut, moving the stranger card to the center. Catch a left fourth-finger break below the card as the cut is completed, in preparation for a riffle force. Approach a second person and ask her to call stop as you riffle your left thumb down the corner of the pack. Stop as she instructs you and bring your right hand palm-down over the deck. Apparently lift the block of cards released by the thumb from the deck, but in reality let the thumb's break silently close and simultaneously cut away all the cards above the fourth finger's break. Tip the face of the right hand's packet toward the spectator and ask that she remember the card. This is of course the stranger card, a duplicate of which lies between the first spectator's palms. As you replace the upper portion on the lower, control the stranger card to the bottom of the deck with either a pass, a Kelly-Ovette bottom placement (see Volume I of this work, pp. 261-263; or Tarbell Course in Magic, Vol. 3, pp. 184-187) or a side steal to the bottom (Tarbell Course in Magic, Vol. 3, pp. 183-184). Ask another person to take part by also choosing a card. Again riffle your left thumb down the corner of the deck until he stops you. This time the choice is fair, so make the most of it. Lift off the upper

2 4 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY portion and show the spectator the card he has stopped you at. As you reassemble the halves, control this selection to the bottom, under the stranger card. Fan the face-down deck (keeping hidden the back of the stranger card second from the face) and have a final selection drawn by a fourth spectator. Ask that she place her name or initials on the face of the card before returning it. While she is doing this, cut the deck to center the two selections. No break need be held if the back of the stranger card is discrepant. Then fan the deck while tipping it up so that only you can see the backs. Spot the stranger card and adjust it in the fan so that its white border alone is exposed. While making this adjustment, create some small irregularity in the fan just above or below the stranger card that will allow you to locate it quickly. By this time the spectator should have completed the signing of her card. Take it from her, holding it face-down, and insert it into the fan immediately above the stranger card. Leave the signed selection protruding for about half its length and close the fan into the left hand. Now push the card flush, but also angle it so that the right rear corner breaks through the right side of the pack. Contact this corner with the tip of the left fourth finger and pull down on it while pushing it square. This forms a break just above the three selections. Bring these to the top with either a pass or a shuffle. The signed selection is now on top; under it is the stranger card; and under that the second selection. As you square the deck, obtain a break under the top two cards. Then turn to the first spectator and say, "I hope your hands aren't too tired from holding the hermit all this time. Please keep him safe." As everyone's attention is directed to the spectator, palm the top two cards of the deck into the right hand. Turn now to the person who made the first selection—the one on whom you forced the stranger card—and say, "Now, your card, and yours [this to the person who chose the second card] are going on a journey. First, your card travels here." Place your right hand in your right-side jacket pocket. "Will you please name the card you selected." During her response, release the two palmed cards and immediately catch the one farthest from the palm (the stranger) at the fingertips. While it is still in the pocket, turn the face of this card outward. When the card is named, draw it half from the pocket, letting enough of its face be seen for it to be clearly identified. Then lower it back into the pocket and quickly exchange it for the other card there (the signed selection).

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 4 9 "Then it travels to visit the hermit." Immediately bring the signed card from your pocket, back outward, letting it be thought to be the selection just shown. Have the first spectator separate his hands just enough for you to slip this card face-down beneath the card already there. The second selection is waiting on top of the deck for its appearance. You may reveal it in any manner you wish. Mr. Elmsley often palms it in his right hand, then produces it from his inside breast pocket. "And your card travels here Then it too travels to visit the hermit." Having produced the second selection, display the card and again have the first spectator separate his hands for you to slip the card between them. Place the card on top of the two already there. The trick is now accomplished. However, the positions of the three cards between the spectator's palms are not what he believes them to be. A little time misdirection is necessary then, to help him forget the positions of the selections. Our story provides just the thing. "I must tell you more about the hermit. He lived in a cave on Moon Mountain, and though he never left his cave, many people came to him for advice. They were amazed, not just by his wisdom, but by his knowledge of all that happened in the world. "Of course, those who visited him could tell him about the world outside Moon Mountain, but his knowledge went further than that. Some thought that, though his body never left the cave, his spirit wandered the world, listening and watching and learning. "Now you and you have visited the hermit, in the form of your cards." Here you address the two spectators whose cards have been produced. Ask the first spectator to separate his hands, turn up the top card and give it to the spectator who chose the second card. Then have him turn up the next card. It is the first selection. Ask that he hand it to its owner. Turn to the spectator who signed her card. "But you, miss, have you ever visited the hermit? Or do you think his wandering spirit might have visited you?" The first spectator is still holding a card. That card is believed to be the one given to him at the very beginning. Turn to him and say, "For the first time, will you show us the face of the Hermit of Moon Mountain." When he turns it up it is seen to be the signed selection. As is always the case with magic that occurs in a spectator's hands, the reaction to this discovery is all one could desire. June 28, 1952

ONLY CHILD Effect: In the introductory comments to "Between Your Palms" it was mentioned that Mr. Elmsley had, as have others, tried his hand at constructing a method for this effect that did not require a stranger card. Sometime in the early 1960s he devised the following solution, and in 1965 he added the finishing touches to it. All things considered, it is unlikely that a method using only an ordinary pack can ever equal the original, which so brilliantly exploits the addition a stranger card to the deck; but for those times when you are caught without an extra card—and, I suppose, for the incurable purists as well—this alternative Elmsley method runs its forebear a close second. The effect remains the same. Method: No preparation is required. Remove any card from the pack, without showing its face. Ask someone to hold one hand palmup and place the other hand palm-down over it. Slip the unknown card face-down between her palms. Now have someone else freely choose a card from the pack and sign its face. While she is busy doing that, have two other spectators take cards as well. When the first card has been signed, have all three selections returned to the pack and secretly bring them together at an advantageous position for revelation. The revelations used for the two unsigned cards can be any that you favor. However, they must be plotted to facilitate a switch of one unsigned selection, once it is produced, for the signed card. Here is a simple, practical example of such a structure: Fan the face-down pack and have the three selections inserted at different spots, managing the return of the signed card between the two unsigned ones. Close the fan, with the three selections still outjogged, and execute the D'Amico multiple shift, bringing them to the bottom. Briefly: Hold the deck in left-hand dealing grip, selections outjogged for roughly an inch, and station the left forefinger at their outer end. Tilt the front of the pack down with a bit of a snap, causing the block

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 5 1 of cards above the upper selection to slide forward and even with the outjogged cards. The forefinger acts as a stop for the sliding block. With your palm-down right hand, grip the balance of the deck by its inner corners and pull it toward you, Hindu-shuffle style, stripping out the selections and leaving them beneath the outjogged top block. Then complete the cut (and the shift) by slapping the right hand's packet square onto the left's. The three selections are now together at the bottom of the deck. (For fuller details, see Mario's Multiple Shift, p. 31.) Follow this shift with a quick overhand shuffle, running the last few cards singly to bring the selections to the top. This reverses their order, but maintains the signed card between the other two selections. It is now second from the top. Snap your fingers in a magical fashion over the deck and turn up the top card, showing that you have made one of the unsigned selections appear there. Turn the card face-down again on the pack. (For consistency, the actions used to turn the top card up and then down on the deck should simulate those used for a double turnover, for this sleight will be used in a moment to display the second selection.) Remove the displayed selection from the pack as you ask, "Which of you chose this card?" As you look at the three persons who made selections, casually display the face of the card to them again. This second display silently establishes the honesty of your actions— though they should not be under suspicion—lulling the spectators into acceptance of them; an acceptance that will be abused during succeeding actions. Once the owner of the card has identified himself, slip it face-down between the first spectator's hands, below the unknown card already there. Snap your fingers a second time over the pack and execute a double turnover, revealing the other unsigned selection on top. Turning to the spectator who took this card, say, "This then must have been your card." As you address him and await his confirmation, use these few moments of misdirection to turn the double card face-down on the pack and remove the top card (the signed selection). Slip this card below the pair held by the spectator. At this point the spectator is holding three cards. The top card is unknown, the card placed there at the beginning of the trick. The middle card is the first selection produced. And the bottom card is the signed selection. The second unsigned selection rests on top of the pack. Look at the person who signed her card. "That leaves yours. It is actually the easiest to find, as it has your name on it. Before I find

2 5 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY it, let's recap." Turn to the spectator holding the three cards and ask that she separate her hands slightly, so that you can remove one of the cards. With your empty right hand, grasp the top card of the packet by its right side and draw it slowly and neatly from the spectator's hands. "I did find your card." Look at the person who took the second of the unsigned cards produced, and as your gaze diminishes attention on your hands, place the right hand's card on top of the pack. However, in doing so you execute an "interrupted top change": Your right hand travels with its card, from the spectator's hands to the deck, which is held in left-hand dealing grip. As the right hand approaches the left, the left hand moves upward and to the right to meet it, lifting the front end of the pack and turning the face outward. Simultaneously, with your left thumb, push the top card of the pack widely to the right, as the right hand places its card squarely on top of the deck (see Figures 165 and 166).

Done smoothly and without hesitation, a perfect illusion is created of placing the right hand's card onto the deck in a rightjogged position. The illusion is further strengthened by the exposure of the face of the jogged card, showing the second unsigned selection (Figure 167, audience's view).

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 5 3 The actions of this switch are simple, direct and deceptive, as a few trials before a mirror will verify. Nevertheless, no attention is drawn to them; they are done nonchalantly as you address the spectators. The outward motivation for transferring the card to the deck is to free the right hand for its next task. If this casual attitude is convincing, the audience will take for granted the honesty of your actions. There must be no sense that you are displaying the card on the deck. It is merely in view. Without a pause in your actions, move your right hand back toward the cards held by the spectator as you say to the person who chose the first unsigned selection, "And before that I found your card." Grip the top card of the remaining two and slip it from between the spectator's palms. Carry this card to the deck and, once there, clip the jogged card under the right hand's card and separate both from the pack. This completes the interrupted top change. Toss the right hand's two cards face-up onto the table. These are the two unsigned selections. Through this subtle series of actions you have disposed of the unknown card that was originally held by the spectator, and have cunningly substituted the signed selection for it. All that remains is to emphasize the idea that the first spectator is still holding the card that was given her before any selections were made or signed. Then have her turn up the card between her hands, showing it to be the signed selection. Of course, more impressive or showy means can be used to produce the two unsigned cards but, as Mr. Elmsley observes, these productions are incidental to the main effect: the appearance of the signed card between the spectator's hands. Consequently, the preceding productions should be kept swift and uncomplicated. The construction of this strangerless method is to be admired for its elegant simplicity and directness. The worth of the interrupted top change also will be appreciated. Mr. Elmsley recalls inventing this sleight while practicing the fadeaway card change from Expert Card Technique (pp. 80-83). Indeed, the arcing, upward sweeping actions of the hands used in the interrupted top change are exactly those described by Hugard and Braue for the fadeaway card change. This deceptive sleight should find ready applicability in many tricks, extant and forthcoming.

INCOMMUNICADO Effect: Four spectators each note a random card in the pack. Then, in rapid succession, the performer names the first selection and produces it from his pocket, names the second selection and shows it face-up in the center of the deck, then names the third selection and brings it from a card case that has sat untouched throughout the trick. One card remains to be found. The person who chose that card indicates any of the three previous selections, which now lie on the table. She then names her chosen card. The performer rubs the indicated card on the table and it changes into the last selection. Method: In structure this trick is closely related to "Between Your Palms", and was developed during the same period in the early 1950s. It is another of Mr. Elmsley's methods that does not require a duplicate card. Instead, a centuries-old swindle is brilliantly exploited: a card that no one has chosen is passed off as one of the four selections, and each of the spectators assumes this card belongs to one of his companions. The construction of this trick is so cunning, it may even deceive you the first time you read through its explanation. Only one small bit of preparation is necessary. When you remove the deck from its case, secretly leave behind one card. This can be any card, but you must know what it is. Close the case and set it to one side on the table. You can now proceed with a trick or two that is not affected by the absence of the card left in the case. When you are ready to perform "Incommunicado", make sure that the facedown deck carries a convex bridge along its length. Hold the deck face-down in left-hand dealing grip and ask someone in front of you to call stop as you riffle through the cards. Explain that four cards will be selected in this way, from four different parts of the pack. Suggest that he stop you somewhere in the upper portion of the deck. Riffle your left thumb down the outer left corner of the pack until you are told to stop. With your palm-down right hand,

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 5 5 neatly lift away the packet above the break and display the card on its face to the spectator, asking him to remember it. As you replace the packet on the deck, execute the Kelly-Ovette bottom placement (see Volume I, pp. 261-263), slipping the selection to the bottom. Turn to another person in front and ask that she stop you a bit deeper in the deck. Stop riffling where she commands, show her the card at that position, and use the bottom placement to control it to the face of the pack. Turn now to someone on your far right and ask that he stop you somewhere in the lower half of the pack. Show him the card he stops you on—but this time do not execute the bottom placement. Instead, simply hold a left fourth-finger break between the two packets. (Note that the bottom placement is most vulnerable to exposure at the left, and turning to your right presents that weak side to the audience. Therefore, you use a spectator on your right at the one point in this selection procedure when the bottom placement is not used.) Explain that you need one more card chosen and turn to someone on your left. Ask that he stop you somewhere toward the bottom of the deck. Riffle the cards off your thumb until told to stop. But this time, instead of cutting honestly at the specified spot, you execute a riffle force (p. 247), lifting away all the cards above the fourth finger's break. Show the card at the face of the raised packet to the fourth spectator and, as you replace the upper packet on the lower, bring the chosen card to the face with the bottom placement. (Two things here are worthy of note: first, the riffle force is extremely deceptive in this context, as the audience has just seen you cut honestly at random spots during the previous three selections; and second, the bottom placement is done this last time only when the angle is best suited to it.) Four cards have now been chosen; but what your audience doesn't know is that the third and fourth spectators have noted the same card, so there are really only three selections for you to deal with, and all three lie together, in order, at the bottom of the pack. As you recap, mentioning that four cards have been chosen in four parts of the deck, spread the pack casually between the hands and, as you square it again into the left hand, form a left fourth-finger break above the bottom three cards and reverse them with a half pass (see Volume I, p. 70). Immediately bottom palm or gambler's cop the lowermost of the reversed cards and follow through by performing a swing cut with the deck in the left hand. Complete the cut, burying two of the reversed cards somewhere near center. This cut is easily done with a card held out in the left hand. While this may seem like quite a bit of work all at once, the half pass and bottom

2 5 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY palm marry most efficiently, and the whole sequence can be comfortably executed in about five seconds. As you complete the cut, glance down for an instant at the hands and glimpse the face of the palmed card. Look up again and say, "If I'm not mistaken, one of you chose the seven of diamonds. I know that, because the minute you thought of it, that card flew to my pocket." While you name the card you have just glimpsed, grasp the deck by its ends in the palm-down right hand. Then move your left hand to your left trousers pocket and produce the palmed card from there. Display its face to everyone and toss the card face-down onto the table. As the audience is recovering from this surprise, you will learn the identity of the third selection by executing a peek devised by Mr. Elmsley in the late 1950s (the general concept of which is shared by Edward Mario's square-up glimpse in his Fingertip Control, pp. 18-19): Bring the left hand palm-up under the deck and grip it by its opposite sides, thumb on the left; second, third and fourth fingertips on the right. The forefinger is curled onto the face of the pack, where it applies light pressure to ensure that any gap caused by the reversed cards near center is eliminated. Immediately turn the deck to a vertical position, with its left edge upward, back to your right. Also raise the outer end of the pack just enough to tip the upper edge of the cards beyond the audience's line of sight. While making this adjustment, do not relinquish the right hand's contact with the ends of the pack, but let the tips of the right fingers and thumb slide down to the lower corners in a casual squaring motion. Then reverse this motion, sliding the right fingers and thumb upward over the ends. At the instant the right fingers cover the entire front end of the pack, relax the left thumb on the upper edge of the cards, and the left forefinger on the face, allowing a break to open above the reversed cards at center. The opposing bridges in the pack and reversed cards make this break formation automatic. If you now glance down at the upper edge of the pack, you can look directly into

MARSUPIAL FAVORITES 2 5 7 the narrow break and, at the outer end, sight the index of the upper reversed card (Figure 168). If the gap isn't broad enough to allow a clear glimpse of the index, the right fingers and thumb can widen the break sufficiently for your purpose. Having glimpsed the card, immediately apply pressure to close the gap again, and slide the right fingers and thumb down the ends of the deck to conclude their squaring actions. The right fingers conceal the outer end of the pack—and thus the break—just long enough to sight the card, and there is no perceptible pause in the right hand's squaring action as the glimpse is made. Conclude this series of actions by lowering the deck face-down into left-hand dealing position. "The queen of clubs was also chosen." Thus naming the card you have just sighted, snap your fingers dramatically over the pack. "If I do this, she turns over in the deck." Spread the cards neatly from left hand to right, stopping at the face-up selection when it comes into view. Take care not to expose the second faceup card below the first. With your right hand, carry away all the face-down cards above the exposed selection and slip them square beneath the left hand's packet. Then execute a double turnover, turning down the top two cards as one, and immediately thumb off the top card, dropping it with the previously produced selection on the table. This new card is the second spectator's selection. "The next card is the four of hearts, and it goes like this." The card named here is the one you have left behind in the card case. Riffle the deck toward the closed case. Then set it down and, with obviously empty hands, pick up the case. Open it and produce the card inside. Set the case aside as you display the card. "So far I have found your card, your card and your card. Right?" You indicate the first, third and fourth spectators. They must agree, as they have all seen their cards. What no one understands is that the persons on your left and right have both chosen the same card; and that the card just produced from the case belongs to no one, though each thinks it is another's selection. You do not, of course, give them time to discuss the matter, or to say anything at all, other than "Yes." Through this ruse you have achieved a remarkably clean card-to-case effect. Toss the bogus selection face-down with the two cards on the table, and spread out these three cards, positioning the second card (the one that has been switched) in the center. Turn to the second spectator and say, "Yours is the only one left to go. Point

2 5 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY to one of these cards." The optimum psychological choice is the center card of the three, and this will be her choice most of the time. If she should point to one of the end cards instead, use a quick equivoque sequence to arrive at the desired card. Rub the face-down card briskly on the table. Then ask the spectator to name her card. Snap your fingers over it and turn it up to show the card changed to the final selection. The entire presentation, from the opening selections to the final transformation, should be done at a spritely pace. This not only makes the sequence of productions more impressive, but it is necessary for the success of the central swindle. You want silent acquiescence from the spectators as the first three cards are produced. The last thing you want is a helpful "That's mine" from the third or fourth spectators, who have chosen the same card. If you keep things moving briskly (though not rushed), you give no one time to offer undesired support. For the same underlying reason, you do not want the spectators discussing this effect among themselves once the trick is over. Proceed immediately to another piece and keep things moving. Those with experience in audience management will quickly see what is required. This series of productions can be breathtaking if done with assurance and a touch of panache.

Chapter Five.

Coinages

DEVALUATION Effect: The performer drapes a handkerchief over one hand. In the other he displays a half dollar and a Chinese coin. The half dollar is laid in the center of the handkerchief and the hand is closed around it. The Chinese coin is placed in the performer's pocket. Yet, when the hand is opened, the Chinese coin is found in the handkerchief and the half dollar is brought from the pocket. The half dollar is then returned to the pocket and left there. The performer displays the Chinese coin, as it lies on the handkerchief. He raises one corner of the handkerchief briefly in front of the coin and immediately lowers it. In this instant, the Chinese coin changes to a pile of half dollars! The hands are otherwise empty. The Chinese coin is shown to have returned to the warm security of the pocket. Method: This is Mr. Elmsley's routining for Ken Allen's Chinatown Half. The Chinatown Half coin bears two contradictory faces: on one side is an American half dollar, on the other a Chinese coin (or replica). It is much like a copper-silver coin gimmick, but the hole in the center of the Chinese coin makes the old double-face ruse seem impossible. A small square of white cloth or paper, mounted in the hole on the Chinese side of the gimmick (Figure 169), creates a "white art" illusion when the coin is laid on a white handkerchief. It appears as if the handkerchief can be seen through the hole in the coin. These gimmicked coins are available from magic dealers in several sizes: quarter, half or silver dollar. The half dollar version is assumed in this description, but any of the coins can be used.

2 6 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY You also will need a matching ungimmicked Chinese coin (this is commonly supplied with the gimmick) and a few normal half dollars: as many as you can conveniently finger palm. Place the normal halves in your right-side coat pocket (or the trousers pocket, if the cut of your trousers permits the hand to enter and withdraw easily). Carry the Chinese coin and gimmick in some other righthand pocket. Also have a white handkerchief handy. Begin by opening the handkerchief and draping it over the palmup left hand. In doing so, make it clear that the hands are otherwise empty. With the right hand, reach into the pocket that contains the gimmick and the Chinese coin. Bring them out, with the half-dollar side of the gimmick visible. Lay both coins on the center of the handkerchief, at the base of your left fingers. Display the coins, then remove the Chinese coin from the left hand. Let the half dollar be seen clearly on the handkerchief, then close the left fingers over it. Display the Chinese coin in your right hand and place it in your pocket. This is the same pocket that holds the normal half dollars. Let the Chinese coin settle to the bottom of the pocket and silently finger palm the halves, gripping them with the third and fourth fingers. To provide a few extra moments for you to accomplish this, draw attention again to the draped left hand and open it, exhibiting the half dollar once more. Tilt the hand downward slightly to display the coin, letting it slide forward onto the inner phalanges of the fingers. (As you open thefingers,there is a tendency for the cloth to be pulled forward by the fingertips. This happens without effort on your part, and positions the coin automatically for you.) Let the half dollar be seen briefly, then close the fingers once more over it. As you do this, the coin will be reversed, bringing the Chinese surface uppermost inside the folds of the handkerchief. As you close the left fingers over the coin, remove your right hand from the pocket, apparently empty. Snap the right fingers in a magical fashion over the closed left hand. (Having finger palmed the coins in the third and fourth fingers, the first two fingers are free to do this.) Open the left hand and reveal the gimmick, Chinese side up, in the center of the handkerchief. Pause a moment to let the transformation register. Then return your right hand to your pocket. Inside the pocket, quietly slide the outermost palmed half dollar to your fingertips; then bring the hand from the pocket, exhibiting the half. The other coins remain hidden in finger palm. After displaying the half, return it to your pocket. You may actually drop the coin visibly into the pocket, or you can secretly slip it back onto the finger-palmed stack. Bring the right hand, apparently empty, from the pocket.

COINAGES 2 6 3

Focus attention once more on the Chinese coin, which lies on the inner phalanges of the draped left fingers. With your right first and second fingers, clip the forward corner of the handkerchief and slowly raise it, bringing it up and toward you to obscure the Chinese coin momentarily from the audience's view (Figure 170). Then lower the corner, letting the coin be seen once more. Again raise the corner of the handkerchief, but this time do so quickly. Simultaneously, bend in the left fingers just enough to flip the gimmick over on the handkerchief, turning the silver side up. At the same time, release the palmed stack of halves from the right fingers, letting these coins fall loudly onto the reversed gimmick (Figure 171). Instantly lower the right hand and its corner, permitting the audience to see the pile of half dollars in the center of the handkerchief. If these actions are properly synchronized, and the right hand's rise and drop are kept to a minimum, a visual illusion is created of the Chinese coin instantly changing to a pile of silver halves. Let the right hand be seen empty. Then reach into your pocket and bring out the ungimmicked Chinese coin. Drop it onto the halves and conclude. Don't let the simplicity of method put you off. This is a striking piece of visual coin magic and it deserves your keenest attention. September 21, 1957

REVALUATION (A Reminiscence) Effect: At the time he published "Devaluation", Mr. Elmsley was also performing an innovative Okito-box routine, in which he incorporated many of the ideas employed in his Chinatown-half effect. Sadly, with this routine we encounter a piece of magic that has been largely lost—but by those who saw it, not forgotten. It was structured in three phases: The Okito box is opened and shown to contain five coins: four large British pennies and a Chinese coin of matching size. The four pennies are replaced in the box, which is then capped. The Chinese coin is wrapped in a handkerchief, from which it quickly vanishes. It is found on top of the pennies in the closed box. This comprises the first phase. For the second phase all five coins are wrapped in the handkerchief, leaving the box empty. Its lid is put on it—then, one by one the four pennies are caused to pass magically from the handkerchief to the box. The final phase starts with the four pennies freshly arrived in the box and the Chinese coin left in the handkerchief. Suddenly these coins transpose: the Chinese coin visibly transforms into the four pennies, and when the box is opened the Chinese coin is found inside. Method: Mr. Elmsley recorded this Okito-box routine once only, in a letter to Edward Mario. In return for previous favors, he gave Mr. Mario permission to use the routine in any way he saw fit. No other copy of the description was made. Mr. Mario in turn presented the letter to Jay Marshall, who planned to market a line of Elmsley creations through Magic, Inc. More than thirty years have passed, and the Elmsley Okito-box routine has never been released. The only record of it—other than scant memories of those who saw Mr. Elmsley perform it—is probably lost somewhere in the overwhelming

COINAGES 2 6 5 Marshall archives. Mr. Elmsley no longer recollects the details, but at my urging he has recalled the general structure of the routine. A magnetic lid for the Okito box and a steel-shimmed shell coin augmented the mystery. Mr. Elmsley was among the first to construct and use a magnetic Okito box, preceding Frank Thompson and Sam Schwartz in the U.S. He recalls, though, that the idea was not original with him. In the 1950s a few magicians in England and Europe were discussing the idea and experimenting with it. Thin, powerful magnets were not readily obtained in the 1950s, so Mr. Elmsley took a flat alnico magnet from a set of novelty Kissing Scottie Dogs and ground it down by hand on an oilstone to a suitable size. "I think," he recollects, "I took more off my fingertips than off the magnet, but eventually it was small enough." This he concealed inside a small silver grasshopper, which he cemented to the lid of his Okito box. The silver insect made the box a charming prop, and suggested a novel presentation. The work, though, was far from finished. To make a steel-shimmed shell coin he glued half a razor blade inside an English penny shell. But he found that the magnet, mounted to the box lid, was not strong enough to pick up the shell; so he then ground down the lid, making it thinner at the place where the magnet rested, until he had a magnetic lid and shell that worked. He found he also had to make his own "Chinese" coins. These he fashioned out of brass tokens from an amusement arcade, filing them smooth, then beating them with a hammer "to produce mysterious looking markings". One of these brass coins was made into a Chinatown gimmick, it being joined to a filed-down English penny. He also filed the edges of the other brass coin and one of the normal pennies until they fit the shell closely but didn't jam. Fortunately, today these or similar coins can be bought readymade in magic shops, and an Okito box with a magnetic lid can also be had, or a standard one modified with much less work than was necessary for the construction of Mr. Elmsley's original. In addition to the magnetic box (which should be capable of holding five coins), the shimmed shell (not an expanded shell, for this must fit properly into the Okito box), Chinatown penny, matching Chinese coin and the reduced penny, you will need two normal British pennies and a pocket handkerchief. One can now only conjecture about the Elmsley handling for this routine. I will suggest a possible route for the first phase, though it is unlikely to bare much resemblance to the original. It is offered only to spark the reader's own creativity.

2 6 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Place the coins into the box in this order: first the Chinatown coin, penny-side up; then the two normal pennies; onto these lay the Chinese coin nested in the penny shell, shell-side down; and on top of all place the reduced penny. Put the lid on the filled box and you are ready.

First Phase Set the filled box on the table and bring out the handkerchief. Open it and spread it across the open left palm, letting the hands be seen otherwise empty. Then, with the right hand, remove the lid from the box and set it aside. Let the spectators see that the box is filled with coins. Then pick it up and invert it over the left hand, dumping the coins onto the center of the handkerchief. Let them spread; you particularly want to get the Chinatown coin off the top of the stack and onto the handkerchief, so that its masked center hole is properly camouflaged. This done, you can cleanly the display the coins as four pennies and a Chinese coin. The penny second from the bottom of the stack is actually the shell, which hides the normal Chinese coin. Set the box bottom on the table, then pick up the top penny and drop it into the box. Do the same with the second penny. Pick up the third and fourth pennies together but spread, so that two coins are clearly seen, and drop them into the box. Thus the shelled coin is on top, with the reduced penny below it. Set the lid onto the box. Now, with your right hand, pick up the Chinatown gimmick from the handkerchief as you comment on the Chinese coin. Display it briefly, covering the hole with a fingertip; then seemingly replace it in the handkerchief, closing your left fingers over it. Actually, however, you do a pass, stealing away the coin in the right hand. The Chinese coin is now made to fly from the handkerchief to the closed box. All that you need do is reveal the vanish of the coin from the handkerchief, then lift the lid from the box. The magnet in the lid will have picked up the shell, leaving the normal Chinese coin exposed on top of the stack. Set the lid on the table, taking care neither to expose the shell nor to dislodge it. Let the handkerchief drop onto the table. Then, with your left hand, pick up the box of coins and empty it onto the right hand, letting the palmed Chinatown coin, penny-side up, blend in with the rest.

Second Phase Place the right hand's coins onto the table, keeping track of the positions of the Chinatown gimmick and the reduced penny. While

COINAGES 2 6 7 the left hand retains the empty box bottom, use your right hand to pick up the lid and place in on the box. Then set the box onto the table, secretly dislodging the shell so that it falls to the bottom of the box. Using the shell in this way places you in a one-ahead situation. Mr. Elmsley can't, at this point, remember the sequence he used for transporting the four pennies one by one from the handkerchief to the box. Given the items in play—a magnetic shell, a penny to fit it, and the Okito box—a number of avenues are open, the shell making possible some very impressive appearances and vanishes. For now that is all that can be said. The reader is left to work out a pleasing sequence for himself.

Third Phase About the final transposition of the Chinese coin and the pennies, between the box and the handkerchief, all Mr. Elmsley recalls is that the sequence employed the same principles explained in "Devaluation". Using the box, rather than the pocket, to contain the pennies required, in his words, "some rather complicated Okito-box handling". The pennies were secretly extracted from the box through a turnover maneuver, and the ungimmicked Chinese coin was loaded in, perhaps disguised by the shell. The pennies were palmed in the right hand while the left hand displayed the Chinatown gimmick, Chinese side showing, on the handkerchief. Then, using the moves described in "Devaluation", the Chinatown coin was secretly turned penny-side up and the palmed pennies were dropped onto it, creating as striking instant change. It would then be only a matter of revealing the Chinese coin in the box. Sensing the potential impact of this routine, and knowing Mr. Elmsley's talent for elegant directness, the loss of handling details and presentation is most disappointing. It is hoped that one day the this routine in full, as written for Edward Mario roughly thirty-five years ago, may eventually surface; or that Mr. Elmsley may be coerced into reconstructing it. But for now, this patchy description, drawn from Mr. Elmsley's memory, provides a basic framework on which the interested reader can hang his own construction. It is a puzzle worth your efforts. Fortunately, another Elmsley coin-box routine has been preserved in full

BOSTON TWO-STEP Effect: A small brass box, just large enough to contain a stack of half dollars, is brought out and the lid removed. Five half dollars and a penny fill the box. The performer removes the penny and caps the box. The penny is dropped into a handkerchief, from which it vanishes. When the box is opened, the penny is found again resting on top of the halves. The lid is replaced on the box. The performer then invisibly draws the five half dollars from the box and causes them to appear in the handkerchief. Immediately afterward the penny too is produced from the handkerchief. When the box is opened, as should be expected, it is found completely empty. Method: Needed is a Boston coin box— that is, the Okito box variant (possibly invented by Walter B. Gibson) that has a bottom recessed to take a single coin— and enough half dollars to fill the box. Some boxes take four halves, some five or six. Also required are two American pennies, an extra half dollar and a handkerchief. With a bit of wax, fix the extra half dollar into the recess of the box, and stick one of the pennies onto the half dollar. The penny should be affixed somewhat off center, to give the impression that it rests loose on top (Figure 172). Place the other half dollars into the box, filling it, and lay the second penny on top. Then set the lid on the box. Carry the handkerchief in your left jacket or trousers pocket.

Phase One Begin by bringing out the box. Hold it in your left hand and, with your right hand, place the lid onto the table. Next remove the penny

COINAGES 2 6 9 from the box, display it and lay it beside the lid. Dump the half dollars from the box into the right hand, taking care to conceal the bottom of the box. Then count the halves back into the box and pick up the lid. As you replace the lid on the box, secretly turn the box over. There are several turnover techniques that can be used here, and the reader likely has a favorite. If not, a study of Bobo's New Modern Coin Magic or Mohammed Bey's Okito Coin Box Routines will provide a selection. The method that Mr. Elmsley favors is this: The box rests at the base of the left fingers. Display the lid mouthup on the fingers of the palm-up right hand, with the thumb inside the lid. Bring the right hand back, toward the box on the left hand, and simultaneously turn your right palm toward you, so that the lid lies behind the fingers and cannot be seen by the audience. In this motion, grip the opposite edges of the lid between the right first and fourth fingers, as if you were front palming a coin. This permits your right thumb to move away from the lid, which it does to contact the near edge of the box (Figure 173). As the right hand continues to move inward, the right thumb tips the box forward and over, inverting it onto the inner phalanges of the left fingers (Figure 174). The right fingers conceal the turnover of the box from the audience. Complete the turnover action by

lowering the lid onto the bottom of the inverted box, then move the right hand away. Whatever the turnover method employed, finish with the capped box resting on the inner phalanges of the left second and third fingers. "For the first part of the trick, I shall use the penny and a handkerchief." With these words, lift the box from the left fingers, leaving

2 7 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY the stack of coins behind. Simultaneously turn the left hand palmdown to hide the coins, finger palming them, and reach into the left pocket for the handkerchief. Draw the handkerchief from the pocket and snap it open, while with your right hand you place the box onto the table. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Open the handkerchief with both hands and display it. Then drape it over the left hand, turning the hand palm-up only when it is under the handkerchief. Thus, the palmed coins remain concealed. Spread the left thumb, first and fourth fingers, while keeping the coins under control in the curled second and third fingers. If the first and fourth fingers are raised slightly, the left hand appears to be opened flat under the handkerchief (Figure 175). With the right hand, pick up the penny from the table and pretend to place it into the center of the handkerchief. Actually retain it in the right hand. Any false transfer can be used. Mr. Elmsley finds the pinch vanish well suited for this situation (ref. Bobo's New Modern Coin Magic, p. 32). Close the left fingers, bunching the center of the handkerchief as if clutching the coin there. Blow on the handkerchief and open the left fingers, first and fourth again raised slightly, letting the center of the handkerchief fall open (Figure 175 once more). The coin is seen to have vanished. While attention is focused on the handkerchief, secretly shift the penny to right-hand finger palm. Then, with the right hand, lift the lid from the box on the table, revealing the penny there, resting on what appears to be the stack of halves.

Phase Two "The second part of the trick is more difficult. I shall extract the half dollars from the box and pass them into the handkerchief." Lay the lid momentarily on the table, freeing the right hand to grasp the handkerchief at one corner. Give the handkerchief a brisk shake, while turning the left hand to standard finger-palm position to conceal the palmed half dollars. Then drape the handkerchief once more

COINAGES 2 7 1

over the left hand, resuming the previous position (Figure 175). While this shaking of the handkerchief is not strictly necessary, it does emphasize the emptiness of the handkerchief and is recommended. With the right hand, place the lid onto the inverted base of the box and leave it on the table. Make a motion with the right fingers of plucking the coins invisibly from the box and tossing them toward the handkerchief. Then bring the right hand over the covered left hand and grip the half dollars through the cloth (Figure 176). Turn the right hand smartly palm-up, flipping the handkerchief over and letting it fall open over the right hand. At the same time, fan the stack of halves between the right thumb and fingers as the coins come into view in the center of the handkerchief (Figure 177). This is Jack Chanin's TV surprise production. Drop the half dollars dramatically into the left hand and deposit them on the table. "While I'm at it, I'll extract the penny as well." With the left hand, pretend to draw the penny from the box on the table and throw it toward the draped right hand. Then produce the penny from the center of the handkerchief, using the Chanin production; that is, with the left fingers and thumb, grip the penny through the cloth and flip the handkerchief over, letting it fall away from the penny and over the left hand. With the right hand, take the penny from the center of the handkerchief and place it on the table. Then pick up the box and let the bottom fall from the lid, for a distance of three to four inches, onto the handkerchief and left hand. The weight of the box bottom and the coins affixed to it will turn the bottom right-side up as it falls. Gravity may be aided by the tip of the right second finger: with this

2 7 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY fingertip, engage the outer lip of the inverted base and let the base trip over the finger as you release it (Figure 178). Let the box be seen empty. Then place the half dollars into it, lay the penny on top and set the lid over all. The trick is finished and you are reset for the next performance. The magic here is clear and surprising, the action concise. There is a sense of economy to the whole, which makes it as pleasing to perform as it is to watch. July 1961

THE ASTRAL COIN RIDES AGAIN Effect: This is a most puzzling sequence with a coin and two cards, characterized by an extremely fair looking handling of the props, in which everything is done at the fingertips. While seated at a table, the performer exhibits two cards on all sides, then lays them down together. He takes a quarter or other small coin from his pocket, displays it, then vanishes it from his hands. When he raises the two cards, the coin is found under them. He covers the coin with one of the cards, while placing the other card some distance away. He then makes the covered coin travel from the one card to the other. He next covers the coin with both cards, but it does not remain there. Instead it passes through the table, to conclude the routine. Method: Mr. Elmsley's inspiration for this effect was Tan Hock Chuan's "Astral Coin" (ref. Pentagram, Vol. 7, No. 1, Oct. 1952, pp. 1 and 5). The Elmsley method (which owes something to the old Eggs from Handkerchief trick) is exceedingly clever; so much so that, after its publication, at least one dealer marketed a bastardized version of the trick, without a word regarding its parentage. Aside from a simple coin vanish, no sleight-of-hand is required. A gimmick must be constructed. It consists of a quarter or other small coin attached by a hair to a playing card. The trick was devised before the ultra-thin threads of today were available. Obviously, these can be substituted for the hair. The hair measures approximately two inches in length, and, for purposes of invisibility, it should be blond. Glue one end of the hair to one edge of a playing card in the following manner: With an X-acto knife or razor blade, carefully separate the layers of pasteboard near the center of one side. This separation is not large: less than a quarter of an inch long and more shallow than a

2 7 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY border-width (Figure 179). Squeeze a tiny drop of glue between the separated layers, and with a pin point tease one end of the hair into the slit. Then press the card flat until the glue is dry. A knot in the end of the hair will aid firmer adhesion in the glue. This procedure requires a steady hand, but is not difficult. Glue the free end of the hair, preferably also knotted, to one side of the coin. When you are finished, the hair, when stretched taut between card and coin, should measure approximately half the width of the card (Figure 180). For practice, you can merely tape the ends of the hair to a card and coin. With the gimmick understood, the actions of the trick can now be explained. Besides the card-and-coin gimmick, you require another playing card and a duplicate coin. Carry the latter in your left trousers or coat pocket.

Phase One Take the regular card in the left hand and the gimmick in the right. Hold both hands palms-up, fingers pointed upward, with the cards displayed vertically, backs toward the audience. The gimmicked card is gripped at the edge with the thread, near its middle, and the coin is permitted to dangle behind the screen of the right fingers (Figure 181). Hold the left hand's card in a similar grip.

COINAGES 2 7 5 Now, using the tips of the thumb and first two fingers of each hand, rotate the cards, displaying faces and backs of both. Keep the right second, third and fourth fingers together to conceal the coin behind them as you turn the card. Slip the left hand's card in front of the gimmick in the right hand (i.e., the gimmicked card is situated nearest your body) and lower both cards onto the right hand and over the coin (Figure 182). Simultaneously open the right hand flat to receive the cards. The gimmicked card should be on top. With your left hand, reach into your pocket and bring out the duplicate coin. Display it and set it on the table. Then take the cards, with the coin hidden below them, into the left hand—thumb on top, fingers beneath—and lay them in front of you on the table. You should, by the way, perform this on a tablecloth or a close-up mat, to prevent the coin from "talking". The side of the gimmicked card to which the hair is attached must be on the right. With your right hand, pick up the duplicate coin and execute a pass, apparently placing it into your left hand. Any convincing pass will do. Since the coin is small, Mr. Elmsley suggests the pinch vanish as a good choice (see Bobo's New Modern Coin Magic, p. 32). Make a crumpling action with the left fingers over the cards and, while all attention is directed there, retract the right hand to the edge of the table and lap the hidden coin. Using just the fingertips of the hands, neatly flip the two cards over to the right, exposing the coin beneath (Figure 183). This vanish and reproduction of the coin constitute the first phase of the routine. In the second phase the coin will be caused to travel invisibly from one card to the other.


Phase Two Flip the two cards leftward and over the coin again. Then, with the left hand, grasp them by their extreme left corners—second fingertip at the outer corner, thumb at the inner—and raise them about a quarter of an inch from the table. With the right hand, grip the inner right corner of the upper (gimmicked) card (Figure 184) and carry it eight inches to the right as you say, "Suppose we only cover the coin with one card." The hair of course drags the coin along, hidden below the gimmicked card. (Here the cloth surface is important. Without one, the coin would be heard as it moves across the table.) Drop the right hand's card onto the table without paying it any attention. Your focus remains on the left-hand card. Your attitude is one of nonchalance, as you set aside the second card. Slowly lower the left hand's card onto the table and apparently onto the coin. Make a magical gesture over this card. Then rub the card in small circles on the table, as if rubbing away the coin. Flip the card over, showing the coin is gone. Use this card to flip the gimmicked card over, to the right, exposing the coin beneath it.

Phase Three We now come to the final phase of the routine, the penetration of the coin through the table. To prepare for this, we indulge in a bit of by-play. You still hold the normal card by its left side in your left hand, thumb above, fingers below. Lower this card over the coin, but do not release it. With the right fingertips, flip the gimmicked card sidewise and leftward, onto the left hand's card (Figure 185). Immediately slide

COINAGES 2 7 7

the left hand, with its card, eight inches to the left, acting as if you were rather clumsily stealing the coin beneath it. "Once more we separate the cards. Now, where do you think the coin is?" If you have played your part convincingly, the spectators will strongly suspect the left-hand card. Before they can openly commit themselves to this error, raise that card and show the coin is not there. "Oh no! I did that to see if you were watching. But you are quite right in thinking the coin isn't here." As you say this you show that the coin has vanished from beneath both cards: Transfer the left hand's card to the right hand, taking it between the thumb and forefinger by its right inner corner. Immediately place the tip of the left forefinger at the left edge of the tabled gimmick, bracing it, as you slip the right hand's card under the right edge of the gimmick and scoop up both card and coin (Figure 186). The hair makes the scooping of the coin onto the card almost automatic. Without hesitation, with the right hand pinch the inner right corners of both cards and raise their right sides until the cards are vertical and their undersides are exposed to the audience (Figure 187). The edge of the gimmick to which the hair is attached should

2 7 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY now be uppermost. Thanks to the hair, the coin is hidden, suspended between the cards. Pause for a moment to let the vanish register. Then transfer the cards to the left hand, gripping them by their lower left corners. As you do this, let the hands be seen otherwise empty. With the freed right hand, reach under the table, procuring the lapped duplicate coin on the way. Snap it loudly to the underside of the table, suggesting with the noise that you have just now pulled the coin through. Then bring the coin from beneath the table and toss it down. At the same time casually carry the cards to your left pocket and leave them there as you bring out a few more coins of various denominations. This action distracts attention from the pocketing of the cards. With the right hand, pick up the coin from the table, add it to the others in the left hand and pocket the lot. No suspicion should be directed at the cards if they are casually handled. Don't be in too great a hurry to dispose of them; and should someone ask to see them, merely break the thread and palm away the coin. It takes only a few minutes to construct another gimmick. Since only one side of the coin on the gimmick is seen during the routine, if you have someone mark the opposite side of the duplicate coin, you can have the mark confirmed again at the finish. You might wish to consider adding this ploy to the presentation. You may, at first, be overly concerned about the hair being seen. I can only assure you that it will not be noticed. Mr. Elmsley has performed this on a white tablecloth—the most unaccommodating of backgrounds—and, to make matters worse, for a group of magicians. He succeeded in fooling them all. Afterward several admitted they had seen the hair, but they failed to recognize it as instrumental to the method. Today, though, with ultra-fine threads readily available, nothing need be seen at all. Other moves are possible with this gimmick. For example, have the normal card face-down on the table, and hold the gimmicked card face-down by its hair-free side in the right hand, with the coin hidden under it. Now apparently flip the tabled card face-up with the card in your hand, but actually do a Mexican turnover (see The Expert at the Card Table, pp. 123-124, or any text on Three-card Monte). The gimmicked card ends up on the table, lying to the left

COINAGES 2 7 9 of the exposed coin, and the normal card is now in your right hand. Through this maneuver the coin is apparently produced from beneath the tabled card. If you experiment with this gimmick, other disarming moves can be discovered. For additional ideas, see Al Spackman's "Merely a Beer Matter" in The Gen (Vol. 22, No. 6, October 1966, pp. 160-161) or Ganson's Art of Close-up Magic, Volume One (pp. 290-292). May 1953

MILLING A COIN Effect: The performer shows two large copper coins (perhaps old English pennies) and places a dime between them. He then rubs the two large coins together, and within a few seconds silver dust begins to trickle from between them. When the stream of silver stops, the two coins are separated to show the dime gone— apparently ground to dust. Method: Mr. Elmsley created this charming novelty to take advantage of a coin gimmick devised by a friend, Jack Delvin. Large English pennies and a sixpence were originally used. American magicians may wish to translate this into U.S. coinage, like half dollars and dimes. However, it is suggested that large copper coins be retained, as their contrast with the silver dust enhances the visual effect. ^ _ _ — _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ The secret is a special shell coin. A recess large enough to hold a dime is made in one of the copper coins. This recess is machined off center, near one edge of the coin, as shown in Figure 188. To prepare for the milling effect, fill the recess in the gimmick with silver glitter (available from craft and hobby shops). Set an unprepared second copper coin over the gimmick, trapping the glitter in the cavity. Carry these two coins in a clip to keep them together in your pocket until needed. Slip them out of the clip as you bring them from the pocket. Hold the copper coins with the unprepared one uppermost, grasping them between the thumb and fingertips near the hollowed edge of the gimmick. You can spread the coins a fair distance without exposing the recess. This allows you to display them in a reasonably casual fashion (Figure 189). Do so. Then introduce a dime and slip it cleanly between the two copper coins at their outer edges; that is, opposite the area of the recess.

COINAGES 2 8 1 Transfer the coins from hand to hand, turning them over in the process, and gripping the coins by the edge opposite the recess. Hold them between the thumb and fingertips and slowly begin to rub them together. Turning the coins over has spilled the glitter from the recess, and the rubbing causes a silver trickle to issue from between the coins. That same rubbing motion works the dime gradually forward and into the empty recess of the gimmick. When most of the glitter has been produced, and the dime is safely in the hollow, you can show that the two copper coins lie perfectly flat against one another. Separate the coins by sliding the gimmick off the honest coin, retaining the dime in the recess with a thumb or fingertip. Now casually display both sides of the copper coins, concealing the dime and recess with the fingers. Then put them away. July 8, 1972

SUCKER SILVER. Effect: The performer explains a magical secret. But first he places a half dollar into his hand and works it through the tunnel of the closed fingers. When it emerges from the curled fourth finger it has become a large British penny (Figure 190). The hand is opened to show it contains only the copper coin. "Of course, to do this you need a half dollar." Such a coin is removed from a pocket and placed into the hand. The hand is closed and the copper coin is slipped back into the fist. Then the silver coin is worked through the fist and into view. The performer cautions his students of several errors that can give away the trick. First, "You must not open your hand, or people will see the half dollar." He opens his hand to illustrate the blunder, but only the copper coin is there. The half dollar has vanished. "Also, you mustn't let the half dollar appear from the bottom of the hand before the penny has been pushed in." He closes his hand again, with the penny visible in the curl of the forefinger. With a squeeze of the closed fingers, the half dollar appears from the opposite side of the fist (Figure 191). He opens his hand and shows the two coins. The hand is closed once more and the penny is pushed into the fist and out of

COINAGES 2 8 3 sight. "Another thing to watch is that the coins don't clink together." He shakes his hand, causing the coins to rattle. "Once you have pushed the penny into your fist and made the half dollar appear from the other side, you take it and put it away." He removes the half dollar from the hand and pockets it. "But there is the problem of what to do with the penny. I think the best answer is to change it into a half dollar." He opens his hand to show that he has done just that. A second half dollar is revealed and the penny has vanished. The coins used are ordinary and all sides are seen throughout the trick. Method: Needed are two half dollars and a copper coin of like size. The old British pennies are fine for the purpose. Place all three coins in the right-front trousers pocket, positioning them so that you can locate the penny without looking.

Phase One When ready to begin, reach into the pocket and thumb palm the copper coin. Grasp one of the silver coins at the fingertips and bring the hand from the pocket. Briefly show the half dollar and drop it onto the palm-up left hand, positioning it at the base of the forefinger. Move the left hand from left to right, displaying the coin. "If you take a half dollar and place it into the left hand..." At this point the left hand should be held directly in front of you, with the right hand nearby. Bring the right hand over the left and, with the right thumb and forefinger, pick up the half dollar. As you do this, let the thumb-palmed penny drop onto the inner phalanges of the left third and fourth fingers (Figure 192). The hands are perfectly positioned to permit this, and the action of picking up the half dollar naturally facilitates the release of the penny. While the right hand is still over the left, begin to close the left fingers loosely, finger palming the penny, and turn the hand palm-down. Then let the penny fall from finger palm onto

2 8 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY the tips of the third and fourth fingers. Deposit the half dollar in the curl of the left forefinger, resting it on the middle phalanx of the thumb. You will now seem to push the silver coin into the fist, but it is actually stolen away by the right hand. Place the tip of the right forefinger onto the center of the coin and push it into the left fist. However, just as the coin moves out of sight, bend the right forefinger downward, rotating the coin around the left thumb (Figure 193, exposed from below). When the coin reaches a position flat under the left thumb, bring the right thumb up against it and grip the coin in Frikell-style thumb palm (a sort offingerpalm done with the thumb). Then straighten the right forefinger and withdraw it from the fist (Figure 194). As the right hand moves to the right, straighten the thumb against the side of the hand, transforming the Frikell palm into a thumb palm. Moving from the one to the other is easy to do. (This steal is based on a thimble vanish by Edward Proudlock.) With your extended right forefinger, tap the back of the left hand as you complete the explanation: "...and if you then squeeze it, curiously enough it emerges from the other side looking like a penny." Wiggle the left fingers, working the penny to the left until it protrudes from the curled left fourth finger (Figure 190 again). Keep a grip on the coin with the fourth finger; you do not want to drop it. Turn the left hand over and, while attention is momentarily drawn there, relax the right thumb and let the half dollar fall from thumb palm into finger palm. Then grasp the penny, taking it between the right thumb and fingertips, and remove it from the still closed left hand. Lay it on the table.

COINAGES 2 8 5 "To do that, besides the penny you need a half dollar." As you say this, open the left hand, showing it empty. This should surprise the spectators, who expect to see the half dollar there. Reach into your right pocket and remove the second half dollar, holding it at the fingertips. Retain the original half dollar in finger palm as you do this.

Phase Two Show the half dollar and apparently place it into the left hand. Actually, retain it in the right hand by slipping it into thumb palm. This is a standard coin vanish: As the right hand brings the coin into contact with the left palm, the left fingers bend upward, forming a screen. Behind this cover, the right forefinger rides the coin smoothly up the length of the right thumb, until it can be clipped in thumb palm. Then the forefinger straightens again and withdraws from the left hand as the left fingers continue to close. Turn the left fist back upward and, with the right hand, pick up the penny from the table. Insert the penny into the curl of the left forefinger and leave it protruding there. "Of course, you must not open the hand, or people will see the half dollar." Turn the left hand over and open it, showing that it holds only the penny. The half dollar has vanished. With the right hand, pick up the penny from the left palm, loading the thumb-palmed half dollar onto the left fingers at the same time. This loading maneuver is identical to that explained in the first phase of the trick (refer to Figure 192). Turn the left hand palm-down, forming a fist. Replace the penny in the curl of the left forefinger, leaving it partly exposed. "Also, you mustn't let the half dollar appear from the bottom of the hand before the penny has been pushed in." Wiggle the left fingers, maneuvering the half dollar leftward until it can be seen in the curl of the fourth finger (Figure 191 again). Turn the left hand over and open it.to display the two coins. As you do this, with the left thumb push the penny onto the left palm. Also, support the half dollar with the right thumb and forefinger, so that it does not fall when the left fingers open. Shift the silver coin onto the inner phalanges of the left second and third fingers. Pause a moment, to let the situation register in the minds of the spectators. Then do a utility pass; that is, simultaneously turn the left hand palm-down and the right hand palm-up under it, letting

2 8 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY the penny fall into the right hand, joining the finger-palmed half dollar, while you retain the second half dollar in left finger palm. The illusion created is that both coins from the left hand are tossed into the right.

Phase Three "Once the audience realizes that you have two coins, you might as well quit." Close the palm-down left hand into a fist and insert the right hand's half dollar into the curl of the left fourth finger. Then set the penny into the curl of the left forefinger. Thus you have returned to the pose in Figure 191. "Before pushing out the half dollar, you must push in the penny." Using the right forefinger, apparently push the penny into the left fist. However, actually rotate the coin around the left thumb and steal it away with the right thumb, as was done in the first phase (Figures 193 and 194). "Another thing to watch is that the coins don't clink together." Shake the left fist, letting the finger-palmed half dollar strike the partly visible one. "Once you have pushed the penny into your fist and made the half dollar appear from the other side, you take it and put it away." Turn the left fist over and remove the protruding half dollar. Briefly show this coin at the right fingertips, then put it away in the trousers pocket, leaving the palmed penny behind as well. "That still leaves the problem of what to do with the penny. I think the best answer is to change it into a half dollar." Slowly open the left hand and reveal the half dollar there. End of another expose. The title of this trick, by the way, contains a reference that may be obscure to many readers. It is a play on "Sucker Silk", a title popular in the 1950s for the color-changing silk effect with sucker explanation. February 1959

THE SPIDER'S TREASURY Effect: Manipulators have always been fond of multiplying various objects in the hands (see "The Multiplying Aces", pp. 13-18). Billiard balls, coins, thimbles, cards, cigarettes and pipes are among the items one sees between their fingers. Here is a coin sequence, constructed by Mr. Elmsley for stage performance. In it four coins are produced from the air in a quite bewildering manner, particularly since the hands are seen empty at various times throughout the productions. Method: In the many sequences that have been devised to produce four coins in the empty hands, the idea of holding several coins in a stack, as if they were one, has frequently been exploited. Coins from the stack are then stolen for later production in the opposite hand. In most of these sequences, the stack has to be momentarily hidden from view as each coin is palmed away. Mr. Elmsley chose to avoid this sort of maneuver in structuring his sequence. What he devised was a most progressive handling in its time (1952). It remains as artistically satisfying today as it was then. Begin with three coins finger palmed in the left hand and a fourth back clipped in the right (i.e., its edge nipped between the tips of the first and second fingers). Turn toward your right and display the empty front of the right hand. Then turn the hand to display its back, concealing the back-clipped coin when you do. Rather than revolving the coin to the front of the fingers while the hand is turned, as is usually done, instead adjust the coin to back-palm grip, using the side of the fourth fingertip to catch the coin by its lower

2 8 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY edge and pull it flat against the backs of the second and third fingers. Then curl the right fingers loosely in toward the palm, while maintaining the coin in back palm (Figure 195, exposed view). The spectators see the back of the hand, but the fingers are curled in just enough to hide the coin from view. This is easier and less angle prone than the conventional back-palm-to-front-palm maneuver; and, if done with a nonchalant air, is perfectly convincing. (Here Mr. Elmsley has taken a Paul Fox card sleight, the simplified back and front hand palm [ref. The Tarbell Course in Magic, Vol. 2, pp. 161161], and adapted it for use with coins.) Turn the front of the hand back toward the audience, simultaneously straightening the fingers so that the coin remains hidden. Reach out with the right hand and produce the coin, as if plucking it from the air, by bending in the fingers enough to allow the thumb to contact the coin and pull it quickly to the fronts of the fingers. Pinch it at its lower edge between the tip of the thumb and the side of the curled forefinger (Figure 196). Turn to the left and, in that turn, momentarily bring the hands together, the palm-up left hand below the curled right fingers. This puts the fingerpalmed stack into perfect position to be taken by the right fingers into back palm (Figure 197). The transfer is not difficult and the three coins need only be held in back palm for a moment as they are transported to left-hand edge grip. In a continuous action, turn the right hand palm-up. Because the right fingers are loosely closed, the back-palmed coins are brought to a horizontal position at the backs of the fingers: visible to you, but hidden from the audience by the coin held vertically between the thumb and forefinger (Figure 198). Catch the visible coin between the tips of the left forefinger and thumb, holding it by its opposite edges, broadside to the audience.

COINAGES 2 8 9 Simultaneously take the stack from back palm, gripping it by its edges between the left thumb and middle phalanx of the forefinger (Figure 199). While the stack is held horizontally, it is perfectly concealed by the left fingers and by the openly held coin. Gesture with the right hand, letting it be seen empty. Then return it, palmup, to the left hand and adjust the position of the visible coin there. Under this pretext, a coin is loaded into the right hand. Relax the left thumb and forefinger a bit, letting the bottom coin of the stack fall into right-hand finger palm (Figure 200). Move the right hand away from the left, gaze out into space, as if trying to spot the next coin; then, after a few moments' delay, reach out with the right hand and produce the coin by pushing it to the fingertips. Grasping the new coin between the right thumb and forefinger, in the same manner the last coin was held (Figure 196 again), carry it to the left hand and place it between the left first and second fingers, positioned broadside to the audience. At the same time, bring the curled right fingers under the stack and drop the next coin into them (Figure 201).

2 9 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Again reach out with the right hand and produce its coin at the fingertips. Display the coin, then set it between the left second and third fingers, in a similar position to those above it. Let the right hand be seen empty and point with the right forefinger to each of the visible coins in turn. When the last coin (that between the second and third fingers) is indicated, let the last hidden coin drop from the left thumb and forefinger into the curled and waiting right fingers (Figure 202). From stage, even if this coin openly falls several inches, because it is falling horizontally, its moving edge is not visible to the audience at such a distance. Produce the fourth coin from the air and place it between the left third and fourth fingers, completing the display (Figure 203). For those who enjoy a challenge, and have among their accomplishments the mastery of the four-coin rolldown (see "The Rosette", pp. 19-21), Mr. Elmsley has extended this production sequence to accommodate eight coins. Thin palming coins must be used to make the size of this stack manageable. Begin with a stack of seven coins in left-hand

COINAGES 2 9 1 finger palm and the eighth coin back palmed in the right hand. Proceed with the four-coin production, manipulating the seven coins in the same fashion as that described for the smaller stack. At the end of the production you will have a stack of four coins still hidden in left-hand edge grip. Let the right hand be seen empty. Then bring it back to the left, overtly to adjust the visible coins there. During this action the edgegripped stack is stolen into the right hand. Mr. Elmsley's rule of not covering the coins must be broken this one time. As the right hand, back toward the audience, adjusts the coin between the left thumb and forefinger, the right fingers momentarily obscure the coin from sight. Reach with the right thumb under and behind the vertical coin, until the thumbtip can contact the inner edge of the stack. Push up on that edge, pivoting the stack to a vertical or near vertical position between the left thumb and forefinger. Then stretch the right thumb around the stack and grip it by its opposite edges in Frikell-style thumb palm; that is, in the crook of the first phalanx and thenar (Figure 204). With the stack secured in this new position, turn to your right. During this turn, move the right hand away from the left, curl its fingers into the palm, and back palm the stack of four coins. The Frikell thumb palm positions the coins nicely for transfer to back palm, as a trial will prove. Exhibit the front of the right hand. Then reach out and produce the whole stack, holding it squared and broadside to the audience, so that it appears to be a single coin. Maneuver the stack, without exposing its nature, to a vertical position between the right thumb and forefinger. Then perform the roll-down flourish, multiplying the one coin to four. This leaves you with both hands filled, coins between all ten digits: an extremely striking and skillful pose. To appreciate the effectiveness of this production, you must try it several times before a mirror. There seems to be nowhere the coins can be hidden—yet they keep appearing, seemingly from thin air. July 12, 1952

Chapter Six:

Faro Tapestries

INDULGENCES Deck Preparation for Faro Shuffles While talking one day with Harry Riser, the topic of this book arose, and he related to me a fascinating Elmsley anecdote. One evening in 1959, when Mr. Elmsley was in the States for his first lecture tour, he and Mr. Riser met for dinner and, of course, to discuss magic. Mr. Riser asked if he had any tips on improving the accuracy of the faro weave. At this Mr. Elmsley just smiled and offered him his deck. Immediately comprehending the meaning behind the gesture, Mr. Riser gave the deck a faro shuffle. He was astonished when he felt the cards "practically weave themselves." What was the secret? Mr. Elmsley explained that he prepared the cards to weave more easily by sanding their corners to a rounded or wedge shape. At the first opportunity I asked Mr. Elmsley about this, and he confirmed that he did sand the corners of his decks to prepare them for faroing. He did so because the edges and quality of British cards demanded this for dependable faro work. The edges are roughly cut at the factory and impede an even weave. To make matters worse, the center layer of pasteboard in British cards is softer and tends to compress and split when the cards are woven. Consequently, tiny troughs form along the corners, and these hinder the weave, as Figure 205 makes clear. Mr. Elmsley sands the corners of each new deck to remove the roughness and to contour the edges slightly. The rounded edges of the cards slip neatly by one another, aiding in creating a perfect weave (Figure 206). The sanding is quickly and easily done:

205

206


Tap the end of your deck perfectly square on the table and bevel it evenly in either direction, swaying the cards along one diagonal. Then run a piece of fine sandpaper or emery board over the upper edge of the beveled corner (Figure 207) until the corner is smooth. Now reverse the direction of the bevel (Figure 208) and sand the opposite side of this corner. Treat all four corners in the same way. Light sanding will both smooth the edges and round them slightly. Playing cards in the United States have, in the past, been of better quality than British cards, and this preparation of the corners failed to improve the weaving of the cards as dramatically. However, with the quality of U.S. cards becoming increasingly undependable, this tip may be more valuable now than it was in the past. (Jerry Andrus, when he was a boy, also sanded the corners of his cards to facilitate the faro weave. In 1973 he passed on the idea in his book, Kurious Kards [pp. 9-10]. Mr. Andrus says that many years later he discovered that this tip was known to a very few other cardmen, who kept the secret very close.)

FARO TAPESTRIES 2 9 7 Mr. Elmsley mentioned one further preparation that he believes to be helpful to all faro shufflers, no matter what quality of cards they use. He finds that a light application of fanning powder to the corners of the cards makes weaving surer and easier. Those who regularly perform faro tricks will want to experiment with these two simple preparations.

Weave Corrections for Miscuts After gaining the knack for getting the cards to weave together, the two greatest obstacles to the mastery of the faro shuffle are learning to cut the pack precisely in half, and obtaining a perfect alternation of the cards. For most students, perfecting the estimate cut may elude them long after they have achieved confidence with the flawless interlace. It is not particularly difficult to estimate the cut within a card, one way or the other; but the problem of being one card off perpetually haunts the faro shuffler. The most common method for correcting miscuts, once they become evident in the weave, is to strip the interlaced corners apart, replace the top half over the bottom half, make the required adjustment and weave the cards again. This process makes the faro shuffle—already an inherently studied procedure—all the more labored; and the possibility of having the shuffle perceived as an uncalculated activity becomes hopeless. In the 1950s Mr. Elmsley contrived simple and unobtrusive procedures for correcting a miscut, when a perfect in- or out-weave is required. The first four adjustments apply to a pack with an even number of cards. Since a fifty-two card pack is the standard, this is assumed in the following descriptions. Out-weave Correction—lower portion contains twenty-Jive cards, upper portion contains twenty-seven: You have cut one card too deep. The situation should become obvious to you the instant you align the ends of the packets for the weave. Seeing that the upper portion is too large, perform a straddleweave, with just the bottom card of the upper portion woven below the bottom card of the lower portion.

2 9 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Consequently, two cards from the upper portion will lie above the top card of the lower portion (Figure 209). Push or spring the cards flush, concluding the shuffle. Immediately perform a brief overhand shuffle that consists of "milking" off the top and bottom cards together and throwing the balance of the pack beneath the pair. The cards are now ordered just as they would have been had the cut been accurate and an out-weave made. A rule easily remembered is that, with this adjustment and the next, the milked pair of cards always goes to the end of the deck where the two unwoven cards lay after the weave. Out-weave Correction—lower portion contains twentyseven cards, upper portion contains twenty-five: You have cut one card shallow. Seeing that the upper portion is too small, perform a straddleweave, with two cards from the lower portion going below the bottom card of the upper portion. One card from the lower portion will then lie above the top card of the upper portion (Figure 210). Push or spring the cards flush, then perform an overhand shuffle that consists of milking off the top and bottom cards and throwing the balance of the pack onto the pair. The cards are now arranged exactly as if a perfect out-weave had been made. This will probably seem a bit complicated atfirst. Mr. Elmsley has conceived of a simple way of thinking about these procedures that aids in remembering them. He imagines that each half of the deck has its own "center of gravity". When executing an out-weave, the center of gravity for the lower packet must always lie below the center of gravity for the upper packet. This holds true with both miscutsjust described. If the lower portion is a card short, it is straddle-woven into the upper portion with its center of gravity lower; that is, two cards from the upper portion lie above it. But if the lower portion is greater by one card, the upper portion is straddle-woven into it, again with the center of gravity of the lower portion resting below that of the upper portion; that is, two cards from the lower portion rest below the upper portion. In-weave Correction—lower portion contains twenty-five cards, upper portion contains twenty-seven: You have cut one

FARO TAPESTRIES 2 9 9 card too deep. Straddleweave the lower portion into the upper, so that two cards from the upper portion lie below the bottom card of the lower portion, and one card from the upper portion lies above the top card of the lower portion (Figure 211). Square the interlaced packets into each other, then run one card from the bottom of the deck to the top. A reverse double undercut also can be used to transfer this card. The arrangement of the deck is now identical to that created by a perfect in-weave. In-weave Correction—lower portion contains twenty-seven cards, upper portion contains twenty-five: You have cut one card ^^^^^_^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^_^ shallow. Straddle-weave the upper portion into the lower, placing one card from the lower portion below the bottom card of the upper portion, and two cards from the lower portion above the top card of the upper portion (Figure 212). Square the cards together and run the top card to the bottom; or transfer it there with a double undercut. Using Mr. Elmsley's concept ofcenter ofgravity, remembering these two corrections can also be simplified. When making an in-weave, the center of gravity of the lower packet must lie above that of the upper packet Thus, if the lower portion is short one card, it is straddlewoven into the upper portion with one card from the upper portion going above it, and two going below; and if the lower portion is one card greater, the upper portion is straddle-woven into it, placing two cards from the lower portion above the upper portion. It also should be noted that, if the purpose of the weave is simply to bring together cards that originally rest twenty-six apart in the deck, unless the cards of interest lie at the top or bottom of the

3 0 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY woven pack, the final overhand-shuffle corrections of the end cards are unnecessary. The same correction technique can be applied to a pack with an odd number of cards. Take, for example, a deck of fifty-three. Straddle-weave Cor- _ rection—lower portion contains twenty-Jive cards, upper portion contains twenty-eight: You have cut one card too deep. Straddle-weave the lower portion into the upper, placing two cards from the upper portion under the lower portion, and two cards above it (Figure 213). Square the packets, milk off the top card with the bottom card, and throw the balance of the deck beneath this pair. Straddle-weave Correction—lower portion contains twenty-eight cards, upper portion contains twenty-five: You have cut one card shallow. Straddle-weave the upper portion into the lower, placing two cards from the lower portion under the upper portion, and two cards above it (Figure 214). Square the packets, milk off the top card with the bottom card, and throw the balance of the deck onto this pair.

Placing a Key at Twenty-sixth Position

There are a number of excellent tricks (with faro shuffles and without) that make use of a known card twenty-sixth from the top of the pack. (See, for example, "Buried Treasure I" in Volume I [pp. 340-3421, and in this volume, "Tuppence" [pp. 219-221], "A Woven and Cut Case" [p. 325], "Autopilot" [pp. 326-328], and "The Custodial Card" [pp. 333-334].) A problem, however, arises in such tricks. How do you secretly learn the identity of the twenty-sixth card?

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 0 1 Hugard and Braue gave one practical answer to this problem. In Expert Card Technique (pp. 397-398) they suggested that the card be noted or placed into position as another trick was performed, one with a procedure that accommodated this ulterior motive. The most common solution to this problem, as practiced by faro shufflers, is the faro check, a procedure originally suggested by Mr. Elmsley in the November 1956 issue of Pentagram (Vol. 11, No. 2, p. 12). That is, the deck is split at center and the corners interlaced to assure that the cut is accurate. During the weave, the bottom card of the top half is clearly visible to the performer, who memorizes it. Seeing that the cut is correct, he then pretends that he has changed his mind and he abandons the shuffle. He strips the halves apart and replaces the top half on the bottom half. The card twenty-sixth from the top is now known. Sometimes a false overhand shuffle is done; one that retains the known card in position. This shuffle helps to allay any suspicions the faro check might have aroused. For those with uncommon confidence in the accuracy of their faro cut, the weave-check can be eliminated and the card at twenty-sixth position glimpsed as the deck is held on edge and split narrowly at center, as if beginning a cut for a faro shuffle. Most practitioners, however, will view this sort of bravado as foolhardy. In the mid-1950s Mr. Elmsley employed yet another method for positioning a known card at twenty-sixth position from the top, one that used the faro shuffle in a subtler manner. While this idea has, over the years, occurred to others, it is far less known and practiced than its merit warrants. The idea is simply to note a card in an easily identified position in the deck, then to shuffle it to the twenty-sixth place. Here are two practical approaches: 1) While the deck is fanned or spread face-up, secretly note the card seventh from the top. This can be done quickly. Then gather the pack and give it an out-faro, followed by an in-faro. The card noted is now twenty-sixth from the top. (If, instead, you do an in-faro, then an out-faro, the card is delivered to twenty-seventh from the top, which is useful for such tricks as "Shadowed" [Volume I, pp. 337-339].) 2) Glimpse the bottom card of the pack and casually overhand shuffle thirteen cards below it. To avoid an overly long run of single cards, first run six from the top and throw the balance onto them; then run seven more cards and throw the balance on top. Next do one out-faro. The glimpsed card is now twentysixth from the top. (To deliver the bottom card to twenty-seventh from the top, run twelve cards below it and do one in-faro.)

THE MATHEMATICS OF THE WEAVE SHUFFLE This article was originally presented in three consecutive issues of Pentagram, in mid-1957. (Errata for the article were published in the May 1958 issue of that journal.) It holds the distinction of being the first serious examination of the mathematics behind the Jaro shuffle to be published in magical literature. In his article, Mr. Elmsley took the seminal information presented in Hugard and Braue's Expert Card Technique (pp. 145-150, much of which was based on faro tables constructed by Fred Black), reinterpreted it mathematically, then expanded on it and contributed important new ideas to the subject. It was here, also, that he coined the terms "in-shuffle" and "out-shuffle", which have since become standard expressions in the trade. Mathematical studies on the faro shuffle are more common today, though most are admittedly of far greater interest to the mathematician than to the magician. Over the years these studies have proven useful in statistics and set theory, and Mr. Elmsley's work was important. It is reproduced here as Mr. Elmsley originally presented it, with only minor editing. To the Pentagram monograph I have appended two related articles, one of which appeared a month after the Pentagram series, the other a year later, in P. Howard Lyons' Ibidem magazine. While Mr. Elmsley's opening comments depreciate the usefulness of this information to magicians, it is suggested that the mathematically disinclined reader at least skim through it, particularly the sections titled "Out- and In-weaves", "The Odd Pack and Weave", "Equivalent Odd Pack", "Stack Transformations", "Royal Flush Deal", "The Restacking Pack", "Binary Translocations" and "Double Control". Practical magical applications are given in these sections, and one can see fascinating possibilities for further development. Indeed, much of this information has borne fruit for magicians since it was

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 0 3 first published. After this study we will turn to less theory-ridden discussions and some exceptional magic based on the faro shuffle and the principles detailed in this treatise. This article is for mathematicians only. The many excellent tricks using the weave shuffle depend, with few exceptions, on the simplest of its properties. I am going to deal with some of the more complicated and lesser known properties, most of which are useless to the magician, who is practical only, and I am writing primarily for those with an interest in mathematics quite apart from their interest in magic.

Out- and In~Weaves Provided that we have a pack containing an even number of cards, there are two chief forms of weave shuffle. In the form in which it is used by most magicians the pack is divided in half and the halves are interwoven, card for card, in such a way that the original top and bottom cards remain on the top and bottom. This is called the "out-weave", since the top and bottom cards remain outside the rest of the pack. It is also possible to weave in such a way that one card goes below the original bottom card, and one card goes above the original top card. This is called the "in-weave", since the top and bottom cards have gone inside the pack. The basic properties of these shuffles are as follows, assuming that we are using a pack of fifty-two cards: Out-weave—After one shuffle, cards in the top half of the pack move to double their original position less one (e.g., the tenth card becomes nineteenth). Cards in the lower half of the pack move to double their original position less fifty-two. After eight shuffles the pack returns to its original order. In-weave—After one shuffle, cards in the top half of the pack move to double their original position. Cards in the lower half of the pack move to double their original position less fifty-three. After fifty-two shuffles the pack returns to its original order. After twenty-six shuffles the pack has reversed its original order. Both in- and out-weaves—One shuffle brings together cards that were twenty-six apart (hence the usefulness of the weave in combination with twenty-six-key-card-type locations). This about summarizes what is generally known about the weave, and more than covers all that most magicians need to know. So, aux armes, mathematicians, and forward into the darkness.


The Odd Pack and Weave This is a basic concept in working out many of the properties of the weave. Suppose we have a pack containing an odd number of cards. We make an "odd-weave" by dividing the pack in half to the nearest card (i.e., one 'half has one more card than the other 'half), then weaving so that the top and bottom cards of the larger 'half are retained on top and bottom. Now, we can take any card as a reference card and reckon the position of other cards by counting from the reference card. If a card is at a position n 0 from the reference card before the shuffle, and at a position nl after the shuffle, n

i =

2n

o

or n l = 2n0 - P where P is the number of cards in the pack. What makes this result important is that it is true even if to get n 0 or n t we count round the ends of the pack; i.e., from the reference card to the bottom card and then straight on from the top. This can be seen simply by doing an odd-weave. You will see that one card goes outside either the original bottom or the original top card and thus comes between them if we are counting round the ends of the pack. The top and bottom cards can thus be considered neighboring cards and treated in exactly the same way as any other neighboring cards. The pack as a whole can be thought of as an endless belt, and it is of no importance what particular cards happen to be at top or bottom. It follows that if an odd pack will come to a definite order after a certain number of weaves, it will come to that order even if the pack is cut between successive weaves. For example, by discarding one card from a pack of fifty-two, we get a pack that will return to the same order after eight shuffles, despite repeated cutting between shuffles.

Equivalent Odd Pack This last example introduces another point. Suppose we do an out-weave with fifty-two cards. The top and bottom cards remain on the top and bottom. It would make no difference to the final order of the cards if we removed the bottom card before shuffling, cut so that the top 'half contained twenty-six cards and the bottom 'half twenty-five, wove while retaining the top card, then replaced the bottom card. But the shuffle would then be an odd-weave with a pack of fifty-one cards. In other words, the change in the order of a pack after an out-weave is the same as the change in the order of a pack containing one less card after an odd-weave. We can express this by saying that an even pack out-shuffled is equivalent to an odd pack of one less card.

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 0 5 In a similar way we can show that an even pack in-shuffled is equivalent to an odd pack of one more card. For example, we know that a pack of fifty-two cards out-shuffled returns to the same order after eight weaves. Hence, the equivalent odd pack of fifty-one returns to the same order after eight shuffles. A pack of fifty-one is also the equivalent odd pack to a pack of fifty, in-shuffled. Hence a pack of fifty cards will return to the same order after eight in-shuffles.

Returning a Pack to the Same Order Suppose we have an odd pack of P cards, and that it returns to its original order after S shuffles. First consider a card whose position from a reference card is originally n0, and which moves to nv n2, etc., in successive shuffles. After one shuffle nY = 2n0 or 2n 0 - P After two shuffles n2 = 2n t or 2n t - P = 4nQ minus the largest multiple of P less than 4n 0 = 4n o -X 2 P After three shuffles n 3 = 8n0 - X3P After S shuffles n s = 2 s n 0 - XSP (1) The pack returns to the same order after S shuffles, and therefore n 0 = n s (2) n 0 = 2 % - XSP . . . n o ( 2 s - l ) = XsP s p although unknown and varying with n0, must be an integer, and this last equation must be true for all values of nQ. Considering n 0 = 1,

xs

s P s This means that 2 - 1 must be divisible by P. We can see from equation (3) that this makes Xs integral for all values of n0, so it is a possible solution of the equation. Thus, an odd pack of P cards returns to the same order after S shuffles if 2 s - 1 is divisible by P. An even pack, in- or out-shuffled, will return to the same order in the same number of shuffles as the equivalent odd pack. In a similar way to the above, by substituting for equation (2) nR = P - n0, we can show that an odd pack of P cards will reverse its order after R shuffles if 2R + 1 is divisible by P. An even pack reverses in the same number of shuffles as the equivalent odd pack. If,

3 0 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY however, the even pack is out-shuffled, the top and bottom cards will still be in their original positions; i.e., these two cards do not reverse, though all the other cards in the pack will.

Solving the Shuffle Equation Pack of 2* cards—A pack containing a number of cards equal to a power of two is a special case. Thus, 2X cards out-shuffled are equivalent to an odd pack of 2X - 1 cards. These will return to the same order after S shuffles if 2 s - 1 is divisible by P = 2X - 1. The obvious solution is S = x, so 2X cards retain their order after x outshuffles. Similarly, we can show that 2X cards reverse their order after x in-shuffles. For example, a piquet pack contains thirty-two cards. An ordinary pack from which, in the course of a gambling demonstration, you have discarded the four royal flushes also contains thirty-two cards. Thirty-two is 25. Therefore, either of these two packs will return to their original order after five out-shuffles, and will reverse their order after five in-shuffles. P is prime—In addition to the case of a pack of 2X cards, there is one other case when an immediate solution of the equation is possible. This is when P is a prime number; then 2p~l - 1 is divisible by P. This is Fermat's theorem, a theorem in the theory of numbers. Applied to the weave shuffle equation it means that when P is prime, P cards will return to their original order in P - 1 shuffles. Incidentally, this is not necessarily the smallest number of shuffles required for the cards to return to their original order. For example, fifty-two cards in-shuffled are equivalent to an odd pack of fifty-three. Fifty-three is a prime, and therefore fifty-three cards return to the same order after fifty-two shuffles. Hence, fiftytwo cards return to the same order after fifty-two in-shuffles. General method—This is the quickest all-round method. It uses the binary system, which would take too long to explain here, so I shall assume it is known. Express P (which of course is odd) in the binary system and write it down. Write it down a second time underneath, so that the final '1' of the lower expression of P comes under the farthest right '0' in the upper expression. Add the two together. If you get nothing but T s , stop right there. Otherwise, write P down again under the sum with the final ' 1 ' in P under the farthest right '0' in the sum. Again add. Carry on until you get a sum containing nothing but T s . The number of T s in the final sum is the necessary number of shuffles to bring P cards back to the original order. For example, eleven in the binary system is 1011. Going through the procedure described, we have...

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 0 7 1011

ion 110111 1011 10001111

ion 100111111

ion liiiiiini There are ten T s in the final sum, so eleven cards return to the same order after ten shuffles. Note that we get the same result from the last section, since eleven is a prime. To find out how many shuffles are necessary for the cards to reverse their order, we write P down each time with its final T under the ' 1 ' excluding the final T farthest to the right in the sum, or expression of P above, until we get a sum in the form of 1000 - - 001. The necessary number of shuffles is one more than the number of '0's. It is advisable to solve for S before trying for R, for although there is always a solution for S, there is not always one for R. When there is, of course, S = 2R. For example, with eleven cards as before, 1011 1011 100001 There are four '0's, so eleven cards reverse their order in five shuffles.

Stack Transformations Suppose, in an odd pack of P cards, we have a set of cards stacked "a" apart, counting downward through the pack. As we shuffle, the separation of the cards in the stack becomes successively 2a, 4a, 8a and so on. Suppose, after x shuffles, the separation of the cards in the stack (which is 2xa) is less than P but greater than half P. If we now count in the opposite direction; i.e., upward through the pack, the separation of the cards in the stack is P - 2xa. This may give an interesting transformation of one stack to another. At each transformation the order of the cards in the stack reverses. With an even pack, the calculations are made as for the equivalent odd pack. For example, fifty-two cards out-shuffled are equivalent to an odd pack of fifty-one. Therefore, when a full pack is given successive outshuffles, a stack of cards seven apart within it will move farther apart in this pattern: 7, 14, 28 or 51 - 28 = 23, 46 or 51 - 46 = 5.

3 0 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Thus a stack seven apart becomes a stack five apart after three out-shuffles. There were two transformations, so the stack is in its original order. If, after shuffling, the distance between two cards of the stack has to be counted round the ends of the pack, there will be an error due to our using an even pack. Other transformations with a pack of fifty-two out-shuffled are: 10 to 11 in two shuffles, reversing their order. 11 to 7 in two shuffles, reversing their order. Any multiple of three to itself in four shuffles, reversing their order. With fifty-two cards in-shuffled we get: 10 to 13 in two shuffles, reversing their order. 11 to 9 in two shuffles, reversing their order. 7 to 3 in three shuffles, retaining their order. 3 to 5 in four shuffles, reversing their order. The 10 to 13 transformation means that cards ten apart can be brought together by four in-shuffles. Here, incidentally, is a poker deal that uses the 7 to 3 transformation.

Royal Flush Deal Take out the four royal flushes from the pack and arrange them as follows: The cards of one flush at positions 2 - 4 - 6 - 8 - 1 0 . The cards of one flush at positions 7-14-21-28-35. The cards of one flush at positions 9-18-27-36-45. The cards of one flush at positions 5-17-29-41-46. You can now have any number of hands suggested by a spectator, shuffle, and deal that number of hands, giving yourself a royal flush. When the number of hands is named, you make the number of in-shuffles shown below, then deal normally. For two hands, shuffle not at all. For three hands, shuffle three times. For four hands, shuffle once. For five hands, shuffle twice. For six hands, shuffle four times. For seven hands, shuffle not at all. For eight hands, shuffle twice. For nine hands, shuffle not at all. For ten hands, shuffle three times. The same flush that is set to come out on seven hands turns up after three shuffles set for three hands.

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 0 9

The Constant Stack Suppose, in an odd pack, P = ab. We can stack a set of 'b' cards 'a' apart through the pack, so that by dealing out 'a' hands of'b' cards each, all the stacked cards will fall in the same hand. Taking any card of the stack as a reference card, the position from it of any other card in the stack will be a multiple of'a'; i.e., n 0 = xa. After one shuffle, ni = 2xa or n l = 2xa - P = 2xa - ab = a(2x - b) In either case, nx is also a multiple of 'a'; i.e., the 'b' cards are still stacked 'a' apart through the pack after one shuffle, and hence after any number of shuffles. The cards will not, however, be in the same order in the stack. For example, suppose we discard all the diamonds from a full pack, leaving 39 = 3 x 13 cards. We set these up in the order clubs, hearts, spades, clubs, hearts, spades and so on throughout. We now have three separate stacks of thirteen cards, three apart. If after any number of shuffles (with cuts in between, if you like) we deal the cards into three hands, each hand will consist of a full suit.

The Restacking Pack We know that fifty-two cards return to their original order after eight out-shuffles. During these shuffles the top and bottom cards never move, and two more, the eighteenth and thirty-fifth cards, change places in each shuffle. The remaining forty-eight cards can be considered as lying in six chains, each chain comprising eight positions. A card at any of these positions will move through each of the other positions in its chain before returning to its original position after eight shuffles. If we place four cards of the same value at alternate positions in a chain, after two shuffles each of the four cards will have moved into a position previously occupied by one of the others. For example, one chain is 2-3-5-9-17-33-14-27. If we place the four jacks at 2, 5, 17 and 14, after two shuffles there will still be jacks at each of these positions. Hence, if we place four cards of the same value at alternate positions, in all six chains, we shall have arranged twelve sets of four cards in forty-eight positions in such a way that, after two shuffles, every one of the forty-eight positions will be occupied by a card identical in value to the card that was originally at that position. If the remaining four cards of a kind go on top, eighteenth, thirty-fifth, and

3 1 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY on the bottom, each of these cards will be in the same position after two shuffles. Thus we now have a stacked pack that, disregarding suits, returns to the same order after two out-shuffles. (As an aside, it is worth noting that, with such a stack, the ordering of values created on the odd out-shuffles, though different from the original order, also remains constant with each alternate shuffle. That is, the sequence of values found after one out-shuffle will be repeated after the third such shuffle, and the fifth, etc.) Here is an example of such a stack. The cards are arranged to be read from left to right, moving from the top of the deck to the bottom: 2C JC 9H 6S JD 10D 4S QH 9C 5S QD 8C 6H JH IOC 5D JS 2H 3C KH 10S 3D AD 8S 4H KC 9S 4D QC 10H 3H AC 9D 3S 2S 7C 5H AS 7D 6D QS 8H 5C KS 8D 4C AH 7H 6C KD 7S 2D *

The suits have been so arranged that, apart from the twos, after two shuffles the position previously occupied by any card will be occupied by a card of the same value, but one suit advanced in the rotation clubs-hearts-spades-diamonds. The twos will always be in the same positions. It will be seen that the cards fall into three groups of sixteen, separated by the twos. The suit order in each group of sixteen is the same. If each group of sixteen is divided into four sets of four, each set contains four cards of different suits. The suit orders in the second and third sets are respectively the reverse of the orders in the first and fourth sets. The card values fall into four classes, each comprising three values. The division of the values among the classes is, of course, arbitrary, but in the stack given above the classes are 3-7-J, 4-8-Q, 5-9-K and 6-10-A. The values in any one class are always found at the same positions in the groups of sixteen. It hardly needs saying that you can obtain other restacking stacks from this stack by interchanging cards of one value for cards of another. [Edward Mario published some ideas on Mr. Elmsley's restacking pack. These can be found in Mr. Mario's Faro Controlled Miracles, pp. 18-19; and again in Alton Sharpe's Expert Card Mysteries, pp. 175-178. S.M.]


Binary Translocations While investigating the effect of combined in- and out-shuffles, I fell into the practice of abbreviating them as T and 'O*. This led me to the discovery of a fortunate coincidence, for I noticed that my sequences of Ts and 'O's could be read as T s and 'O's; and these could be manipulated with binary arithmetic to yield useful instructions for shuffle sequences. Here are several applications I've derived from this principle. 1) To bring the top card of the pack to any position, subtract one from the desired position, express the result as a binary number and use it as instructions for a series of in- and out-shuffles. Example: If you wish to move the top card to a position fifteenth from the top, first subtract 1 from 15, getting 14. Write 14 in binary notation: 1110. Interpreting the T s for Ts and the 'O's for 'O's, perform three in-shuffles followed by one out-shuffle. The card originally on top is now fifteenth from the top. This is the shortest possible number of shuffles that will perform the desired translocation. This method of generating shuffle sequences holds for decks of any size, odd or even. 2) In a pack of 2X cards, to bring a card at a known position to the top, subtract one from its position, express the remainder as a binary number, add zeros in front of it if necessary to make it a number of x figures, and use the result as a pattern for shuffling. If the result ends in one or more zeros, these can be ignored, since an out-shuffle retains the top card. [In addition, as Ravelli pointed out in Ibidem, No. 14 (p. 7), the final in-shuffle need only be correct for the first cards of the packets. Indeed, a simple cut at center, rather than a shuffle, can be made and completed at this point. S.M.] Example: In a pack of 32 cards (32 = 25; therefore x = 5), to bring the fifteenth card to the top: 15 - 1 = 14 = 1110 in binary. x = 5, so we add one '0' to the front of the binary number to bring it to five figures: OHIO. Since we can ignore the final zero we get 0111. Therefore, one out-shuffle, followed by three in-shuffles brings the fifteenth card to the top. 3) If you have an edge-marked card in a pack of 2X cards, it can be brought to the top in x or fewer shuffles, by always in-shuffling when the marked card is in the bottom half and out-shuffling when it is in the top half. I have so far been unable to discover a comparatively simple way of bringing a card to the top of a deck that is not a power of 2; e.g., 52. The only method I have found is much too complicated for

3 1 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY practical use. However, if you perform reverse faro shuffles instead of faros, a card at any position in any size pack can be brought to the top by subtracting one from its position in the pack and translating the remainder into a binary number. The result provides a sequence for reverse faro shuffling that will bring the card economically to the top, when read in reverse; that is, from right to left. [Mr. Elmsley's statement of this problem encouraged others to attempt solutions. David Michael Evans provides this list of references, which offers information and solutions of varying merit: "Something from Ravelli of Switzerland", Ibidem, No. 13 (March 1958), p. 10; Mario's Faro Notes (1958), pp. 2-6; "Oil Always Floats" in Swinford's More Faro Fantasy (1971), pp. 54-57; Murray Bonfeld's "A Solution to Elmsley's Problem" in Genii, Vol. 37, No. 5 (May 1973), pp. 195-196; and "Any Card, Any Number" in Bonfeld's Faro Concepts (1977), pp. 41-47. S.M.] June, July, August, September 1957

Double Control Here is an interesting, though uninspired, magical application of the rule last explained. It uses a thirty-two card deck. You might reduce a fifty-two card deck to thirty-two by first performing a trick that ends with a four-hand poker deal. Push the four hands aside at the finish and continue with the balance of the pack. Have a card chosen and noted. When it is returned, use your nail to scratch or nick it secretly on one long edge. Hand the deck to the spectator for shuffling. When he has finished, have him note the position at which his card now lies from the top. Take the pack from him and ask a second spectator to remember the top card. Then hold the pack with the marked edge of the card nearest you and perform five faro shuffles. In-weave whenever the edge-marked card is in the lower half of the pack; and out-weave whenever it is in the upper half. When you have finished shuffling, ask for the name of the chosen card. Turn over the top card of the pack: it is the selection. Turn the card facedown again and ask for the number at which the card rested before you shuffled. Count down to that number and turn up the card there. It will be the card remembered by the second spectator, which was on top before the shuffles. [For a variant on this idea, see "Elmsley Revisited" in Swinford's More Faro Fantasy, p. 63. S.M.] September 1958

PENELOPE'S PRINCIPLE When, in 1957, Mr. Elmsley published his series of articles on faro shuffle principles and their mathematics, in his closing lines he mentioned having reserved one principle in particular for his private use. This was obviously a tool that he valued highly. Over the years it was passed quietly from hand to hand through the inner circles of cardmen, and as was inevitable, tricks based on this ingenious principle began to appear in print—sometimes with credit given to its inventor, but more often not. Mr. Elmsley did not formally release Penelope's principle, for that was its name, until 1988, over thirty years after its formulation. Penelope was the daughter of Icarius and the fabulously faithful wife of Odysseus, who, during Odysseus' twenty-year absence, wove and at night unwove a tapestry, at the completion of which she had vowed to make a choice from importuning suitors. Mr. Elmsley's unending tapestry is the woven deck. The principle is this: Assume you have a particular card—say the ace of spades—at a position twenty-sixth from the top of the pack. If a spectator then cuts a small packet from the bottom of the deck and you follow this with a perfect out-faro of the remaining cards, the ace of spades will now be at a position from the top equal to the number of cards cut away by the spectator. Some further explanation is in order. The faro weave must be started from the bottoms of the packets for the principle to work consistently. Those who weave from the top down will find that, when an odd number of cards is cut away, the target card will not be positioned by the shuffle as desired. But if the weave is started at the bottoms of the packets, the principle is entirely dependable. This holds whether the upper portion contains one less card than the lower, or one more. (In the latter case the weave will end with the top two cards of the upper portion left unwoven.) Those who weave downward may wish to turn the above process topsy-turvy. The target card in this case is located twenty-seventh

3 1 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY from the top. The spectator is asked to cut a small packet from the top of the deck. If you now perform an out-faro with the remainder, beginning the weave from the top, the target card will lie as many cards from the face of the pack as are contained in the removed packet. Mathematically, the principle can be expressed in this way: If a card rests within the mid-portion of the deck, and if "x" cards above it and "y" cards below it are removed, and if the remainder is given a faro shuffle, the card of concern will be transported to a position k + y - x from the top, in which "k" is some constant that depends on the original position of the card and on the type of weave. The following four tricks are illustrations of how Penelope's principle is put to use. August 1988

PENNY WISE Effect: The performer runs through a shuffled deck and indicates to an elected confidant a random card that he feels will be a good prospect for a prediction. The spectator is asked to write the name of this card down, without revealing it to the group. The performer gives the pack a further shuffle and has another person take a group of cards from the center of the pack. The removed packet is counted while the performer turns away. However many cards the packet contains, that number is used to arrive at a random card in the deck. Cards are fairly counted from the top of the deck and the card at the random number is noted by the spectator. When this person announces the card he thought of, the first spectator shows the others the card she wrote down at the beginning. It is the identical one. Method: A full pack of fifty-two is shuffled, by one of the audience if you like. You then ask a spectator to collaborate with you in making a prediction. Give her a slip of paper and a pen. Then run through the pack, with the faces visible only to you and her. As you spread the cards, secretly count until you arrive at the fourteenth from the face. Stop on this and indicate it to the spectator. "This card looks promising. Will you remember it for me? Perhaps you had better write it down, but don't let the rest see." While she does this, square the deck and give it one out-faro shuffle. This transports the card to a position twenty-sixth from the top. Place the pack face-down on your left hand and approach a second person. "I want you to choose a number at random by cutting a packet of cards from the middle of the deck." With your right hand, cut off slightly more than half the cards from the top of the pack. This portion must contain the predicted card. Hold out the lower portion and let the spectator take as many as he likes. When he has cut off his packet you, with an air of utter fairness, drop the right hand's cards back onto the left's.

3 1 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY "I now want you to count how many cards you have taken; I won't look." Turn away while he counts and, as you are waiting, give the balance of the deck another out-faro. Do this casually, as if merely filling time. "I shall show you the cards one by one. I want you to remember the card at your number." Show cards singly, taking them from the top of the deck as you count them aloud. Stop when you are sure the spectator has noted a card. "Have you got one? Good. I think everyone understands that if you had taken more cards, you would have thought of a later one; and if you had taken fewer, you would have thought of one earlier. The choice of card was determined completely by your actions." Having sufficiently emphasized the fairness of the procedure, ask the spectator to tell everyone the card he mentally selected. Then turn to the first person. "You wrote the name of a card before we started. What was your prediction?" Through the aegis of Penelope's principle you are assured that the card noted and that predicted will be one in the same. August 1988

PREDICTION BY PROXY Effect: The effect is similar to that of "Penny Wise". However, in this version an audience member makes her prediction without the prompting of the performer. Someone is asked merely to think of any card in a standard pack, barring the joker. A shuffled deck is then run through, faces toward the spectator, for her to remove the card she has mentally chosen. She lets no one see this card. This, the performer tells her, will be proof of her prediction. The deck is shuffled again, while the first spectator points to someone else in the group. That person is asked to choose a card at random from the deck. This selection is turned up so that all can see what it is. The first helper is then asked to show everyone her prediction. The two cards turn out to be perfect mates. Method: This spectator-assisted prediction is made possible by the combination of a cyclic stack with a faro shuffle. The deck must be arranged so that the cards of each mate-pair are exactly twentysix apart. That is, if one red five is on top of the deck, the other red five is twenty-seventh from the top; if a black king is second from the top, the second black king is twenty-eighth, and so on. Any of the standard cyclic stacks, like the Eight Kings arrangement or the Si Stebbins system, fit this requirement. Or you can divide the deck in half, with one card of each mate in each portion. Then shuffle one half, and arrange the other half to match the random order of the shuffled cards. This gives you a subtle sequence that only the most painstaking examination could detect. However, the more patterned sequences are just as serviceable here, as no chance will be given for the order to be studied. Begin by asking someone in the group to play the role of a psychic. She is to think of any card in a deck of fifty-two (no joker) that comes to her mind. As this is arranged, you may casually false shuffle the pack or simply give it a series of straight cuts, preserving the cyclic order of the cards.

3 1 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY When the spectator says she has a card in mind, hold the deck with its face toward her and ask her to pick out her mental selection as you spread through the cards. Caution her not to let anyone see what card she has taken. Run the cards from left hand to right, at moderate speed, while you turn your head aside. Stop the spreading when the spectator reaches to remove her card, and separate the spread at that point, aiding her in the removal. Then, as you drop both hands, place the right hand's cards under the left's. In doing so you cut the deck at the point where the card was extracted. This secretly brings the mate of the chosen card to a position twenty-sixth from the top of the pack. You can now apply Penelope's principle to arrive at the mate. Set the pack face-down before the second spectator and have him cut off a small packet—less than half. Ask him to count the number of cards he has removed, and while he is doing this, you give the balance of the pack an in-faro and set it face-up on the table. (If you find you have an odd number of cards, always weave so that the top card becomes the card second from the top.) When he has finished counting his cards, tell him to count down that number in the faceup portion to arrive at a completely random card. When he does so, he will stop at the necessary mate to the first spectator's prediction, providing you with everything you need to conclude the effect successfully. For an application of this method to a coincidence effect, see "Pother" in Volume I (pp. 331-332).

TUPPENCE Effect: The deck is shuffled by two spectators. Each then cuts off a packet and counts the cards removed to establish a random number. The deck is reassembled and the performer displays the faces of a number of cards, while counting them aloud. The two spectators watch the cards as they are shown, and remember the cards that fall on their selected numbers. The performer does not himself look at the cards as they are shown; nor does he at any other time during the procedure. Yet he divines the identities of each person's mental selection—without knowing the chosen numbers, without asking a question. Method: Here Penelope's principle is applied to the plot of "Brownwaves III" (pp. 64-66). The result is a clever positioning of two cards for a subtle force. The first requirement is that you be able to cut the deck precisely and unhesitatingly at center. Therefore, a break must be formed below the twenty-sixth card of the pack. There are several ways this may be done. You can use a faro check to ascertain the accuracy of your split (see p. 301), then hold a break as the packets are placed together again. Or you can perform another trick that, within its procedure, allows you to count twenty-six cards (for a good example, see Expert Card Technique, pp. 397-399). Ask two spectators to assist you. One should be at your left, the other at your right. "I want you both to help me; so will you each shuffle some of the cards?" Cut the cards at the break and hand each spectator half the pack. When they have finished mixing them, take back one half in each hand. During the trick you will secretly glimpse the faces of two cards; however, throughout the handling strive to give the impression that the faces are never visible to you. "Now I want you each to cut off some cards. But to assure that you have different numbers, you should cut something less than half your packet." This is addressed to the spectator on your left. "And you should cut off more than half of yours." This, to the helper on your right. It is as you deliver these instructions that you obtain your

3 2 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY first glimpse. As you tell the first spectator how many cards she is to cut, raise your left hand in an indicatory gesture, as if you were estimating something less than half the packet, as she must. Within this gesture, tip the inner end of the packet up just enough to allow yourself a glimpse of the bottom card (Figure 215). Remember it. Let the spectators cut off packets as you have instructed. Then slip the remaining right-hand cards under those in the left hand. This buries the glimpsed card in the middle of the packet. No break is held. Ask that each spectator silently count the number of cards she has cut, keeping that number a secret from you. As the two are busied with this task, casually give your packet an out-faro shuffle. (Here the weave must be started at the bottom for Penelope's principle to work with an odd number of cards missing; that is, the original bottom card must always remain on the bottom.) As you complete the shuffle, glimpse the bottom card and remember it as well. "Each of you now has a number in mind; but the cards in your hands are physical evidence of those mental numbers. I want all the evidence destroyed." While you say this, casually cut your packet and complete the cut, taking a break above the original bottom card (the card most recently glimpsed). A quick and easy method of doing this is to form a break above the bottom card, using a buckle or pulldown, as, with your palm-down right hand, you grasp the packet

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 2 1 by its ends from above. Use your right thumb to retain the break as you swing cut the top portion of the packet to the left, taking it into the left hand (Figure 216). Then transfer the thumb's break to the left fourth finger. Addressing the spectator on your left, say, "Will you drop your cards back in the middle of the deck?" Cut your packet at the break and hold out the bottom portion for the spectator to return her packet. Drop your top portion onto this, but let it fall rather askew. This nonchalant action creates a step at which you can form a break above the spectator's cards as you square the packet. (See Hugard and Braue's Royal Road to Card Magic, pp. 195-196, and Andrus' Andrus Deals You In, pp. 77-80, for subtler variations on this concept.) You must now shift that break downward one card. If you can, without hesitation, lift the necessary card while you square the packet, do so. Otherwise, when the spectator gives you her cards, push the top card of the spectator's packet slightly to the right as the left hand swings back to meet the right hand. Drop or dribble the right hand's cards onto the left-hand packet. Then, as you square the cards, push up with the left fingertips on the rightjogged card to form a break below it. Once the break has been shifted, cut the packet at that point and complete the cut. One other course of action that can be taken is to cut at the original break, complete the cut, then shuttle the top card of the packet to the bottom with a double undercut. In the end, with any of these methods, the first spectator's packet, less one card, is now on top of the deck, and directly under her packet is the second card glimpsed. Also, thanks to Penelope's principle, the first glimpsed card is positioned at the second spectator's number. Cut off at least two-thirds of your cards and have the second spectator, she on your right, replace her packet onto the lower portion. Drop the upper section on top of this, making it clear that all is above board. Without delay, say, "I want you each to remember the card at your number. If you are thinking of one, you would remember this card; if the number is two, you would remember the second one; three, four, five..." Show the cards one by one as you count, taking them from the top of the deck and making it plain that you see none of the faces. Stop when you have counted about twenty cards and ask if each assistant now has a card in mind. The spectator on your left will be thinking of the second card you glimpsed; the one on your right, the first glimpsed card. All you now need do is recap the procedure to emphasize the strictness of the conditions: the spectators shuffled the cards, it is

3 2 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY impossible for you to know which cards they have thought of, you haven't seen the face of one card yourself, and so on. Then reveal the two cards in your most impressive fashion. August 1988

MEET ME ON THE ROAD Effect: Someone shuffles the cards, cuts off a small packet and hides it. The performer turns his back as the packet is taken. He then has a card freely selected from the balance of the pack. The card is noted by the spectators and returned. The cards are shuffled and the spectator brings forth the packet he concealed at the start. Both spectator and performer now deal in unison, until the spectator's packet is exhausted. As the spectator deals his last card, the performer turns up the corresponding card from the deck—and it proves to be the spectator's chosen card. Method: Here is another clever use of Penelope's principle. The application is similar to that found in "Tuppence", but things are managed to give a quite different effect. Have the spectator shuffle the pack to his satisfaction. Then ask him to cut off a small packet while your back is turned, and to hide it in a pocket or elsewhere. He can cut off as much as half the pack, but in stipulating a small packet, you ensure that he cuts within the required limit. When he has hidden the packet, turn back to him and retrieve the balance of the deck. Spread the cards slowly and deliberately between your hands for a selection to be made. As you begin the spread, push off four groups of three cards and inconspicuously injog the next card, the thirteenth from the top. Let the spectator draw a card from anywhere below this point. While he notes the card and shows it to those around him, square the deck into your left hand and form a break above the injog. (If the spectator insists on taking one of the top thirteen cards, form the break below the injog.) Casually cut at the break, have the selection returned and drop the cut-off packet onto it. This places the selection thirteenth from the top. Handle the cards in a fashion that shows no breaks are being held. You now give the pack two faros. The first is used to position the selection twenty-sixth from the top. If the pack contains an even number of cards, perform an in-faro, followed by an out-faro. If it

3 2 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY contains an odd number, perform two straddle-faros, cutting one card above center each time and weaving the smaller upper packet into the lower packet. Ask the spectator to bring out the packet he has hidden and deal in unison with you. Deal cards from the top of the pack into a pile, matching him card for card, until his last card is reached. Dramatically turn up the card from the deck that falls with his final card; it is the selection.

A WOVEN AND CUT CASE Effect: Someone, through a very fair seeming procedure, makes a mental selection of a card in the pack. The cards are then shuffled. Yet the performer is able to locate the selection without a question being asked. Method: This trick relies on a principle related in a warped or woofed way to Penelope's. Again, a key card is positioned twentysixth from the top. Set the pack face-down in front of someone and ask that he cut off a large group of cards, something more than half the deck, and hand it to you. This leaves him a small pile on the table. Have him silently count the cards in this pile and remember the number. Turn away as he does this, but leave your portion of the deck sitting on the table, to avoid any suspicion of tampering. When he has counted his cards, turn back to him and pick up the large packet. Explain that you will show him some cards and that he is to remember the card that appears at his number. Remove cards one by one from the top of your packet, without reversing their order, and show them to him while you count aloud. Do not look at the faces yourself. When you have shown a number of cards safely past the number he has cut (less than twenty-six), drop the balance of the packet onto them. Then have the spectator add his packet to yours, placing it on top or underneath. It makes no difference to the working of the trick. Now give the deck a brief false shuffle, followed by a cut that leaves your key card somewhere in the top half of the pack. (It shouldn't be difficult to follow its general location.) Follow this with one out-faro. Thanks to Penelope's principle, the thought-of card now rests directly under your key. If that key happens to be a cornercrimped card, you can set the deck on the table and ask the spectator to name his mental selection. When he does so, cut the deck at the crimp and turn up the top card of the lower portion, revealing his card.

AUTOPILOT Effect: A shuffled deck is divided into three piles, a card is freely chosen from any of these, noted, then lost in the pack by the spectator, in a manner that precludes any possibility of key cards or other common methods of location. The performer shuffles the pack to lose the card further, and again cuts the deck into three piles. The spectator is asked to point to any of the three, and ends by finding his own card. Method: The deck must contain fifty-two cards, but may be freely shuffled beforehand. After the shuffling, you must secretly establish a break below the twenty-sixth card from the top. Here is one way that can be accomplished: As you introduce the trick, casually begin a faro shuffle, but change your mind and instead give the cards an overhand shuffle. This, at least, is what seems to happen. Actually, you perform a faro check, splitting the deck at center and weaving the corners of the two packets together. Once you have seen that your cut is accurate, strip the corners apart and replace the top half on the bottom half, holding a break between them. (If the cut proves to be off-center, you can adjust it at this point by dropping a card from the top half to the bottom, or by picking one up.) Now give the pack an overhand shuffle, shuffling off to the break, injogging the next card and shuffling off the balance. As you square the pack, form a break below the injogged card as you push it flush. With the break established, casually cut off about ten cards and set the packet onto the table. Next cut off all the remaining cards above the break (about sixteen) and set that packet to the right of the first. Place the balance of the deck (twenty-six cards) to the right of the second packet. You must keep track of the large pile, but this is easily done, as it is visibly thicker. Invite someone to pick up any one of the three piles, shuffle it to his satisfaction, then peek at the top card of the packet. You now guide his actions in losing the card in the deck, and in doing so you

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 2 7 secretly position the selection twenty-seventh from the top. Two logical procedures make this possible. 1) If the selection is made from either of the smaller piles, have the spectator drop that pile onto the other small pile. Then have him pick up the untouched large pile, shuffle it and drop it onto the others, burying the selection twenty-seven cards down. 2) If the selection is made from the large pile, have him place the two smaller piles together and shuffle them. Then have him drop these combined piles onto the large pile, burying the selection. (Again it is twenty-seventh from the top.) Once he has squared the cards, seemingly leaving you no clue, take the deck and give it a false overhand shuffle—one that need only preserve the position of the selection. A shuffle like the Jordan-Ireland red-black shuffle is well suited for the purpose: Shuffle off roughly twenty cards, until you see that you are nearing the center of the pack. Now run single cards until you are safely past the twenty-seventh. Then shuffle off the balance. Repeat this shuffle and the selection will again be twenty-seventh from the top. Or you can achieve your goal with one shuffle alone by simply shuffling off roughly twenty cards and throwing the balance of the pack beneath them. Next perform a perfect in-faro. This brings the selection to the top of the pack. Follow the shuffle with a cut, undercutting about a third of the pack to the top and holding a break beneath it. Explain to the spectator, "We can find your card in the same way it was chosen." Cut off all the cards above the break and place the packet on the table. Cut off half the remaining cards and set this packet to the right of the first. (The top card of this pile is the selection.) Lay the final third of the deck to the right of the second pile. "Please point to any pile." Chances are good that he will indicate the center one. If this occurs, ask the spectator to name his card, then to turn over the top card of the pile he has chosen. If, however, he points to one of the end piles, say, "Fine. I want you to shuffle that pile into the others like this." Take the two unchosen piles and riffle them together, dropping the selection last, so that it becomes the top card. When the spectator riffles his third of the pack into the other portion, which is twice as large, it is highly likely that the selection will remain on top. Watch to see if this is the case, though outwardly you should appear unconcerned with the shuffling. Ask him to name his card, then to turn over the top card of the deck he himself has just shuffled.

3 2 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY The only other possibility—and the least likely of the lot—is that he will shuffle one or several cards onto the selection. In such cases you should be able to see exactly how many indifferent cards he releases over his card. If you have any doubt about the number, stop him before he pushes the portions flush, and ribbon spread the interlaced deck as you say, "I think you will agree, since the shuffle is yours, that it is a thorough one." With the deck spread in this manner, the cards above the selection can be easily counted. (This clever ploy is a little-known idea of Arthur Finley's.) Gather the spread, returning the two packets to their semishuffled state, and have the spectator push them square. You now know the exact position of the selection, and can devise some effective means of reaching it. For example, assume the selection is second from the top (the most likely situation). Ask the spectator to name his card. As the name is leaving his lips, give the pack a smart slip cut on the table, bringing the selection to the top. Then have him turn over the top card to conclude. If more than one card has been shuffled over the selection, several slip cuts can be performed in quick succession, or a tabled double undercut can be executed. Other solutions will certainly occur to each reader. It is best, of course, if the spectator locates his card by pointing to the right pile, or by shuffling the cards; but any of the possible outcomes creates for the audience an unsolvable and impressive mystery.

DIRECT LINK (Featuring Bill Reid's "Automatic Discovery") Effect: This effect is closely related to "Second Link", described on pages 183-185. A spectator cuts a shuffled pack in half. The performer takes one of these halves and the spectator takes the other. Each then selects one card from the other's packet, notes it and loses it in his own packet. The performer now shuffles the two packets together. The deck is handed to the spectator, who is only then asked to name a number between ten and twenty. "Will you deal cards faceup onto the table," says the performer, "until you come to my card, the three of spades." The spectator does this. "There is my chosen card. What was the number you chose? Fourteen. Will you now please count down fourteen cards and deal the fourteenth face-down right here." The spectator obeys. He is then asked to name his selection—and when he turns up the fourteenth card, it is none other than his own. Method: In the mid-1950s Mr. Elmsley, with his friend Bill Reid, wrote a booklet of one dozen original faro tricks. This project proved an ill-fated one, and never succeeded in reaching press. Its story is recounted in the introduction to Volume I (pp. vii-viii). The Bill Reid material from this booklet was thought to be lost. However, recently Jack Avis made a happy discovery in his files. He uncovered a copy of the original typescripts by Reid for his six faro tricks. Eventually, Mr. Avis will arrange for the publication of this material, in memory of BUI Reid. One of those six Reid tricks was an item titled "Automatic Discovery". Its plot is this: The deck is divided between the performer and a spectator. Each chooses a card from the other's half, notes it and cuts it into his own packet. The performer then faro shuffles the two packets together and hands the deck to the spectator. The

3 3 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY performer tells the spectator, "My card is the ten of spades. Please deal cards face-up until you find it." The spectator does this, then takes the value of the performer's card to deal down ten cards farther. When the tenth card is turned up, it proves to be his selection. The secret is quickly explained. The ten of spades is secretly positioned fifth from the face of the pack before the trick begins. The deck is given a false shuffle, preserving the position of the ten. A spectator then cuts the pack in half. The performer takes the top half, leaving the bottom half for his helper. Each draws a card from the other's packet, notes it and places it atop his own packet. Then each gives his half deck one complete cut. This places the setup directly over the spectator's card. Now the performer faro shuffles the two packets together, making sure that the center sections mesh perfectly. This positions the ten of spades ten cards away from the spectator's selection—and the effect is concluded as described. Mr. Elmsley admired this trick and, shortly after learning it, came up with the idea of allowing the spectator to choose the position at which his selection would appear. It is this elaboration that will now be taught. {"Second Link" was developed around the same time, as a non-faro approach.) A slightly more elaborate setup is required. You must position five memorized cards at positions six through ten from the face of the pack. For the sake of simplicity we will use an ace through five with suits in CHaSeD order. From the face of the pack the setup reads: five indifferent cards, ace of clubs, two of hearts, three of spades, four of diamonds, five of clubs. Of course, any five cards that you can easily recall can be used. In performance, begin by giving the pack a false shuffle that preserves the ten-card bottom stock. Set the deck before a spectator and ask him to cut it into two fairly equal piles. When he does so, pick up the top half, leaving the bottom half for him. Have him spread his half for you to make a selection. Do so, taking any card above the setup. Look at the card and place it facedown on top of your packet. You needn't remember it, as its only role is one of alibi in the scheme of things. Fan your packet for the spectator to take a card. Have him note it and place it face-down on his packet. Now you both cut your packets near center and complete the cut to bury the selections. In doing so, the spectator unknowingly positions the setup directly over his card. Guide the spectator carefully as he makes this cut, leading him step by step through it. You do not want him to disrupt the setup by cutting too deeply.

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 3 1 Take his half from him and faro shuffle the two packets together. It doesn't matter if one packet is larger than the other, or if the weave is an in, an out or a straddle, so long as it is perfect throughout the middle section where the setup lies. Give the shuffled deck back to the spectator and ask him to choose a number between ten and twenty. The number he names defines the card you will, in a moment, claim is your selection. The system for determining the card is this: Each of the five memorized cards of your setup governs two numbers. Ace of clubs =11 and 12 Two of hearts = 13 and 14 Three of spades =15 and 16 Four of diamonds =17 and 18 Five of clubs =19 and 20 Therefore, if the spectator chooses eleven, you name the ace of clubs as your card. If he chooses eighteen, you name the four of diamonds. As you can see, the thinking necessary to designate the correct card is not terribly demanding. (You also will note that, although the selection range offered is a number between ten and twenty, twenty is covered by the system. However, offering a choice between ten and twenty-one, or from eleven to twenty, sounds too artificial. It is better to sacrifice the last number. Of course, if someone misunderstands your instructions and names twenty, you can oblige him.) When the number has been named, you say to the spectator, "Will you deal cards face-up on the table until you come to my card, the..." and you name the proper card from the setup. When he turns up that card and stops, you continue as follows: If the number the spectator names is odd, your instructions are these: "There is my card. What was the number you chose? Fifteen. And there was no way anyone could have known what number you would name, is there? Will you now please count down fifteen cards." When he has done this, ask him, "What was the card you chose? The seven of hearts. Turn up the top card of the deck." And he finds it to be his selection. If the number named is even, you say, "There is my card. What was the number you chose? Fourteen. And there was no way anyone could have known what number you would name, is there? Will you now please count down fourteen cards and deal the fourteenth face-down right here." Point to some place away from the pile of dealt cards. When he has done this, ask him, "What was the card you chose? The queen of clubs. Turn over that card." That card is the one dealt apart from the rest; it is also his selection.

3 3 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY hi summary, if an odd number is chosen, that many cards are dealt and the next card is turned up to produce the selection. If an even number is picked, the selection is the last card dealt. The weakest part of this construction is that you choose one of the cards and do not show it to anyone else. Therefore, your selection should not be made an important factor in the presentation. Instead, emphasize the freedom of the spectator's choice of both card and number, and stress that he himself lost his card in the pack, that he didn't name a number until after the shuffled deck was in his hands, and that he did all the dealing. Presented in this fashion, the trick can have a tremendous impact. Mr. Elmsley mentions that the faro shuffle can be eliminated from this method if, when you stack the deck, you alternate the five memorized cards with indifferent cards at the face of the pack, then put eleven indifferent cards below this arrangement. Have the spectator cut the pack in half. You take the top half and let him choose a card from it. You then take the top card of his packet, a card he randomly cut to. Pretend to note your card, place it face-down on top of your half and give the packet a straight cut to lose the card. Then instruct the spectator to lay his selection on top of your packet and bury it by placing his packet on top of yours. This places the stack over his card. Give the deck a false shuffle and hand it to him. Then conclude the effect as taught. While this second handling is performable, the faro procedure is the more convincing course. Indeed, Mr. Elmsley suggests that attention be drawn to the thoroughness of the weave as the cards are sprung square with the usual waterfall flourish. On the other hand, the execution of a false shuffle after the cards have been returned occurs when attention on the deck is understandably intense and, therefore, least advantageous. In addition, the stack required for the faro version is half the size of the non-faro stack, permitting greater freedom in the handling of the cards by the spectator.

THE CUSTODIAL CARD Effect: Someone cuts the deck into three piles and two of these piles are shuffled by members of the audience, while the performer shuffles the third. Each spectator then notes a card in his packet, as does the performer. The deck is reassembled and shuffled. The performer makes a magical gesture over the pack, then spreads the cards. His selection is found to have turned face-up in the middle. When those cards to each side of it are turned up, they are seen to be the two selections made by the spectators. Method: This is Mr. Elmsley's embellishment on an Edward Mario trick, "Fourth Fooler", from Mr. Mario's booklet Faro Notes (pp. 52 and 55). It is also related in method to "Buried Treasure I" in Volume I of this work (pp. 340-342). Shuffle the pack and manage to learn the twenty-sixth card from the top. Set the deck face-down before someone and ask him to cut it into three face-down piles of roughly equal size. As he does this, note where the top, middle and bottom sections are placed. Tell the spectator to take the bottom section (without identifying it as such) and hand it to anyone he wishes. He then takes the top section for himself. You pick up the remaining (center) section. Ask both spectators to shuffle their packets, as you give your cards a brief mix in demonstration. This shuffle, however, is false, for you must retain your key card (which rests roughly near the center of your packet) in place. Next tell the two spectators to spread through their cards and remove any one they like. They are to place this card face-down on the table, without letting anyone else see its face. Once more, in demonstration, you fan your packet, face toward you, and remove your remembered key card. As you draw the card from the fan, slightly upjog the card in front of it. Place the key card face-down in front of you and close the fan, retaining the jog. Then take the packet face-down into left-hand dealing position, with the jog turned toward you. As you square the packet, press down with your right

3 3 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY thumb on the injogged card, pushing it flush as you form a left fourth-finger break above it. Pick up your key card and say to another spectator, "I'll let you see the card I have chosen." Let her see its face. "But I won't let you see where it goes." Put your hands behind your back and slip the key card Jace-up into the face-down packet, at the break. You can now release the break and bring the packet once more into view. Tell the first spectator that he can shuffle his packet again, if he wishes. Then have him set it face-down on the table. Ask him to place the other spectator' selection onto the shuffled pile, along with his own card. Invite the second spectator to shuffle his packet once more, if he likes. He then lays the packet onto the first spectator's (original bottom section onto top), burying the selections. When this has been done, you drop your packet on top of all. Now emphasize that the spectators themselves have returned their selections to the pack, and have shuffled the cards to assure that all is fair. As you stress the difficult conditions under which you are working, pick up the deck and give it one in-faro shuffle. This automatically places your reversed card between the two selections. Ask the spectator to whom you showed your card to name it. Snap your fingers or make some other magical gesture, and ribbon spread the face-down pack to reveal that your card has turned face-up. Then turn over the cards on either side of it, showing them to be the spectators' selections. Note how, in this trick, Mr. Elmsley has cleverly covered the need for working with three packets. Other tricks that utilize a sunken key often suffer from the illogical procedure of having the deck divided into three piles, of which only one or two are used for making selections. Here, Mr. Elmsley creates a use for the third packet, as he makes his own selection from it, while he demonstrates what the spectators are to do with their cards. Thus, the third packet is given a reasonable purpose in the eyes of the audience.

THE FAN AND WEAVE CONTROLS Here is an exceedingly clever method for controlling one or two free selections, derived from elements drawn from two earlier Elmsley inventions: the fan shuffle control and "Calcolate x 2" (ref. Volume I, pp. 96-98 and 361-362). One element that makes these controls so impossible in appearance is that the selections are returned to random spots in the pack, all the time with the cards out of the performer's hands. Yet, with two quick shuffles, the selections can be delivered to the bottom or the top of the deck, where they may be produced or palmed off for later production, as the performer sees fit.

The Fan and Weave Control To begin, you must have a known card resting twenty-sixth from the top of the pack, and an edge-marked card on top. This can be accomplished with an unprepared pack in a few moments by glimpsing the twenty-sixth card during a faro check, then nail nicking or scraping one side of the top card. Set the deck face-down on the table and have a spectator cut off roughly a third of the pack. Turn away as he notes the card at the face of the cut-off packet. Then have him bury his packet in the center of the remaining cards. That is, tell him to lift about half the cards remaining on the table (this cut must be below your center key), drop his original packet onto the bottom portion, then replace the raised packet on top of all. This sandwiches the original top portion in the middle of the bottom portion. It also produces a very useful circumstance: the number of cards now resting between your two key cards, when added to the number of cards lying below the selection, equals twenty-six. Pick up the pack and, while squaring it, tip it up on edge so that you can sight the edge-marked card, which should lie about a third down from the top of the pack. Divide the pack at a point a few cards

3 3 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY below the marked key and step the top portion of the deck approximately half an inch to the right at the right end (Figure 217). Then adjust the grips of both hands to the ends of the packets, taking the bottom portion into the left hand and the top portion in the right, both in position for one-hand fans. Separate the packets and simultaneously fan them, fanning the faces of the packets in an upward direction to expose the indices of the cards in the right hand. Briskly brush the two fans lightly over one another. As you do this, quickly sight your memorized key (the card that originally rested at center in the pack)—it will be in the right-hand fan—then insert the left hand's fan between this key and the card in front of it (Figure 218). Rest the lower edges of the fans on the table and let them fall closed into each other. Those familiar with this "shuffle" know that when it is done at a brisk pace the cards appear to interweave as the fans close, when in fact the situation is much simpler: one packet is inserted as a block into the other. (For further information on the fan shuffle flourish, see Volume I, pp. 96-97). If you now give the deck one in-faro shuffle, the chosen card is delivered directly above the edge-marked locator, and can be cut to the top or bottom of the deck, as desired. Or, when dividing the pack for the fan shuffle, you can cut at the edge-marked locator, making it the bottom card of the right hand's packet. If you now fan the packets and insert the left-hand fan two cards before the remembered key card (that is, two cards closer to the face of the right hand's fan), when the fans are squared together the selection will rest twenty-seventh from the top of the pack, and can be transported to the top with one in-faro.


The Fan and Weave Double Control Managing two selections is no more trouble than controlling one. Begin, as before, with an edge-marked card on top of the pack and a known card at twenty-sixth position. Have one spectator cut off about a third of the pack (this must be less than twenty-six cards), and a second spectator cut off a second packet of roughly equal size. If there is a small tray, a book or magazine handy, Mr. Elmsley likes to set the deck on it, then hold it out to each of the spectators as they cut. Doing this emphasizes that the pack is out of your hands, and therefore out of your control. It also aids in obscuring the transposition of the two cut-off packets when they are returned to the deck, as follows: Each spectator peeks at the card on the face of his packet: the card he cut to. Then the first spectator places his packet onto the remaining portion of the deck; and the second spectator puts his packet onto the first's. This procedure reverses the top and center sections. Pick up the deck and cut it at a point several cards below the edgemarked locator. Take the top portion into the right hand and perform the fan shuffle, inserting the left hand's cards into the right-hand fan immediately before the remembered key card. Then square the deck, divide it at center and perform one perfect in-faro shuffle. At this point the first selection lies directly above the edge-marked key, and the second selection rests above the first. By sighting the marked card and cutting it to the top of the pack, both selections are delivered to the bottom, and can be dealt with in any fashion you like. If the fan shuffle and faro are performed in a brisk and casual manner, it appears impossible that you could be controlling even a single card, let alone two at once. The method is as efficient as it is diabolical.

BRAINWEAVE Effect: A spectator shuffles the deck, then thinks of a card. The performer also mixes the cards, then places the deck behind his back for a moment while he reverses a card. He brings the deck forward in a fanned condition and asks the spectator to name the mentally chosen card. One reversed card is discovered in the middle of the fan. When it is removed and turned over, it is seen to be the selected card. It should be noted that the deck is unprepared and may be borrowed. Method: The principle underlying this impromptu Ultra-mental effect springs from a method devised by Chung Ling Soo (ref. Goldston's Magazine of Magic, Vol. 2, No. 4, July 1915, pp. 111-112). hi Mr. Chung's trick, the red cards in a standard pack were alternated with the black cards, and left outjogged very slightly. If you riffled one end of the staggered pack, only red cards could be seen. Riffling the other end displayed only black cards. Mr. Elmsley became intrigued with the principle upon seeing Bob Bridson demonstrate an improved version of it. Mr. Bridson did not often mix with other magicians. He preferred to devise tricks in seclusion, without the influence of others. However, sometime in the early 1950s, the British I.B.M. held their annual convention in the seaside town of Southport, and Bob Bridson on several evenings dropped in after work to visit. During one of these social appearances he showed Mr. Elmsley how the red cards could be faro-woven into the blacks and offset widthwise as the halves were pushed into each other. In this configuration the deck could be ribbon spread in one direction to display all red cards, while all black cards appeared if the spread was made in the opposite direction. Mr. Elmsley recalls that the mechanics of the trick were transparent, but his imagination was sparked by the principle. From this interest emerged such creations as "The Fan Prediction" (pp. 29-32) and "Brainweave"; which brings us to the trick itself.

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 3 9 After a spectator shuffles the deck to his satisfaction, take it back and cut off roughly fifteen to twenty cards. Fan these, faces toward the spectator, and ask that he think of any one of the cards he sees. As you do this, keep chatting with him and focus all attention on the fan of cards. At the same time drop your other hand, which holds the balance of the deck, to your side. You cannot hide the fact that the mental selection is being made from only a portion of the deck, but by directing attention away from the unused portion, you can minimize the audience's awareness of the situation. When the spectator says that he has thought of a card, close the fan and insert it face-down into the center of the deck. As you do this, form a left fourth-finger break under the selection packet and a third-finger break above it. This is done by angling the packet into the deck until the right inner corner breaks through on the right side. Engage the right inner corner of the bottom packet with the left fourth fingertip, and the same corner of the selection packet with the third fingertip (Figure 219). Then pull downward with these fingers as the third finger pushes the center packet flush. With the palm-down right hand, grasp the pack from above by the ends, taking over the two breaks with the right thumb. Then double undercut all the cards below the lower break to the top of the pack. This brings the selection bank to the bottom, with a break still held above it. In an action continuous to the double cutting, reverse the selection bank under the deck, using a half pass. At the completion of the half pass, the left fingers will be at the left side of the pack, in perfect position to grasp it, the fingertips beneath, the thumb above (Figure 220). (In another approach to this selection procedure, Mr. Elmsley suggests that you fan only the bottom fifteen to twenty cards of the full pack, keeping the balance squared as a block and out of sight behind the fan. As you adjust the fan, pull the card on the face of the block roughly a quarter of an inch to the right, so that it projects a bit. Have the spectator make his mental selection from this display.


Then close the fan, delivering the jogged card to the inner end of the deck, and form a break above the injog as you square the cards. You can now execute a half pass to reverse the selection bank beneath the deck. Those who enjoy a mild gamble with odds very much in their favor might try handing the deck to the spectator for the selection to be made. Have him spread through the deck and note one card. You must estimate the general area where the spectator pauses to make his choice. Then, when you retrieve the deck, cut the cards to bring the selection somewhere near the bottom of the pack. Your estimate and cut can be off by quite a few cards, and yet the trick can still proceed successfully.) With the left hand, rotate the deck ninety degrees in either direction and, with the palm-down right hand, regrip the right end of the cards, fingers on the outer edge, thumb on the inner. Done as a continuous movement, the left hand's turning of the deck provides excellent cover for the half pass action. You are now in position to perform a faro shuffle. Bring the left hand palm-up under the deck and grasp its left end. Then separate the pack just above the face-up selection bank, taking one or two face-down cards with it for cover. Cut the pack at that point, taking the bottom portion in the left hand and the top portion in the right. Then faro shuffle the smaller portion into the larger. The weave need not be perfect, so long as at least one card from the larger packet lodges between each pair in the smaller one. With the palm-up left hand, regrip the meshed deck by its sides and turn it ninety degrees clockwise. With the right hand, push the smaller packet into the larger one for roughly two-thirds of its length. Then relax the left fingers' pressure on the sides of the deck and push the smaller packet flush into the larger. However, allow the cards from the larger packet, caught between those of the smaller one, to slide secretly from the inner end of the deck, plunger-fashion (Figures 221 and 222).


With the right hand, grasp the deck by its sides from above, near the inner end, concealing the injogged cards. Then take the deck behind your back as you explain, "I am going to reverse one card at random in the pack. No one will know what it is; not even myself." ^ ». With both hands now behind you, transfer the face-down deck to the left hand, grasping the outer end between the thumb, on the left side, and the forefinger, on the right corner. Also station the fourth finger at the inner right corner of the projecting cards. If you now press with the thumb on the left side, and maintain a firm pressure with the first and fourth fingers, you can cause the injogged portion to swivel to the left, as shown in Figure 223. Bring the right hand over the deck and push the angled portion flush with the front of the pack. At the same time, apply firm pressure with the left thumb and forefinger on the front corners. This forces the front end of the pack into reasonable alignment, but maintains the angled condition of the cards at the back left corner (Figure 224). Now turn the pack end for end in the left hand, keeping it facedown while bringing the angled portion to the right front corner. These adjustments of the cards take only a few moments, in which time you are assumed to be reversing a card.


Behind your back, form a pressure fan in the left hand. Then bring the fanned pack from behind you, directing the face of the fan toward the audience. The results of this fan are surprising. At the back of the fan you will be staring at the indices of the entire selection bank (Figure 225). However, from the front, none of the reversed cards are visible (Figure 226). As you are bringing the fan into view, ask the spectator to name the card he thought of. You can easily spot his selection among the reversed cards on your side of the fan. However, don't worry if it takes you a few moments to locate the card. As you do so, the audience is naturally busy trying to spot the selection from their side of the fan. With the right hand, grasp the right portion of the fan, up to and including the named card. Spread the fan at that point (Figure 227) and upjog the selection (Figure 228). If you do not let the other cards slip, only this reversed card will be visible in the fan from the audience's side.


With your right hand, strip the upjogged card from the fan, and drop the left hand, turning it palm-down while keeping the face of the fan in view. Then dramatically turn the selection around to reveal its face. Allow the effect to register. Then insert the card, facing correctly, back into the fan and square the deck. If you are using this trick as a closing item—and it certainly is strong enough to serve in this capacity—simply put the deck away. However, if you wish to continue with other effects, the deck must be somehow straightened, or its condition used to advantage; for you have roughly fifteen to twenty face-up cards in the central portion, alternating with facedown cards. If your faro weave has been a perfect interlace, one trick

3 4 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY that can benefit from this configuration of the cards is Edward Mario's "Hummer-Mario" from Ibidem, No. 12 (Dec. 1957, pp. 2-3). (Those desiring to take this path should check Mr. Mario's "3rd Note" on pages 53-54 of his faro Controlled Miracles.) Other suitable tricks can be found as well. John Thompson, in the early 1960s, came up with an exceptionally shrewd solution to the righting of the reversed cards, which he has kindly permitted me to reveal. Mr. Thompson routines "Brainweave" to precede a Triumph effect in his act. Having concluded the Elmsley trick, he divides the face-down deck near center, cutting at a face-down card. Thus, both halves look as they should, were the cards all face-down. He turns over the bottom half and riffle shuffles the packets together, face-up cards into face-down, doing so in a manner that conceals the already topsy-turvy condition of the pack. Turning to a spectator, he says, "I've just made quite a mess of the deck—face-up cards hopelessly mixed with face-down cards. If I gave you the deck, how long do you think it would take you to straighten it out?" After the spectator makes a guess he is handed the pack. "Well, let's see. I want you to deal the deck into a pile and turn all the face-up cards face-down when you come to them. Do it as quickly as you can. We'll time you." He does just that, and calls out the time the spectator takes to complete the task. "Forty-three seconds. Not bad. Now I've been practicing this, and I'm getting pretty fast at it myself. Let me show you." He then performs a Triumph effect, righting the cards in supernatural time. This is a brilliant strategy. It solves the clean-up problem of "Brainweave" in a wonderfully sly way: The spectator sorts the cards for you. At the same time, his actions serve to dramatize the impossibility of the next feat you will perform. Allan Ackerman also uses this strategy. He mentioned to me that he has routined both "Brainweave" and the Triumph effect to preserve a full-deck memorized stack. In doing so he can immediately move into an impressive closing sequence, exploiting the setup, without the need to switch decks. The ruse has taken in many wellposted magicians as well as the public. Those who are interested in utilizing this routining concept will have little trouble working out the details for themselves. Mr. Elmsley's brilliant method for performing Berg's Ultra-mental effect with an ungimmicked pack has garnered much praise and attention in high places. If the reader desires to study this trick and its principle further, Edward Mario has devoted almost twenty pages to the subject in his Faro Controlled Miracles (pp. 52-71); then there are Dean Moore's "Affinity Unrefuted" in Sharpe's Expert Hocus Pocus

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 4 5 (1961, pp. 86-92), Ted Biet's "Pres'sure* Location" inApocalypse (Vol. 2, No. 4, April 1979, pp. 181-183), John Bannon's "Cleaved Deck" in his Mirage (1986, pp. 22-26) and "Shake Well Before Using" in Smoke and Mirrors (1991, pp. 26-29). A handling by Dai Vernon can be found in Richard's Almanac (Vol. 3, Spring 1985, pp. 243-244), and another by the Professor is given on the Vintage Vernon, Volume 4 audio tape. Finally, see "Ackerman's Opener" in Allan Ackerman's Day of Magic Lecture Notes (1992, pp. 1-4) and on his video tape, The Las Vegas Card Expert: the Allan Ackerman Video, Volume 1.

1964

THE OBEDIENT FARO Effect: The deck is shuffled and the top five cards are shown. Someone is asked to name any one of the five he likes, then to choose a number from one to twenty. The performer places the five cards face-down on the deck and gives the cards two faro shuffles. He then hands the pack to the spectator and asks that he count down to his chosen number. When the card at that number is turned up, it is found to be the spectator's selection. The feat can be repeated. The result is always successful, and only two shuffles are executed—no more, no less. Method: In his booklet, Faro Notes, Edward Mario published a method for positioning the top card at any number in the pack, using faro shuffles (see "Exact Placement", pp. 61-62). While this work was theoretically interesting, in practice the system became unwieldy, as there were many contingencies in which three or more faros were necessary to place the card as desired. The number twenty, for example, required five shuffles. The effect described above represents a similar problem, developed by Mr. Elmsley. His solution allows the placement of a specific card at positions one through twenty in the pack, with only two faro shuffles. This is hardly a trick with which to entertain laymen. It is designed purely to puzzle and impress fellow magicians, and that is how Mr. Elmsley uses it. Indeed, he managed to perplex Dai Vernon with this feat some years ago, and later shared the secret with him. The chart on the opposite page shows the system of shuffles. The top row indicates the position of the selection before shuffling. The left-hand column defines the type of weave needed for the first shuffle, then the second. O = out-weave; I = in-weave. Each of the cells shows the desired final destination for the selection after the two shuffles have been made. For instance, if you wish to move the top card to a position third from the top, you would perform an in-weave, followed by an out-weave.

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 4 7 SHUFFLES

o—o O —I I —O I —I

1 st CARD 2 n d CARD 3 r d CARD 4 th CARD 5 t h CARD 1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20

Notice that the Os and Is, representing the weaves, also felicitously represent the numbers 0 through 3 in sequence, in binary notation. Even if you are not familiar with binary numbers, the memorization of these four should pose no problem. Have the deck shuffled and set face-down before you on the table. Pick off the top five cards and display them in a face-up fan. Ask someone to name one of the five. Explain that you will shuffle the deck only twice, and will cause the card to appear at any number from one to twenty. The choice is his. Once both card and number have been specified, you must subtly position the selection to allow you to shuffle it to the specified location. If the spectator asks that the selection be transported to positions one, two, three or four from the top of the pack, you must maneuver the selection to the top of the packet before executing the shuffles. If positions five, six, seven or eight are called for, the selection must begin second from the top of the packet, and so on. Your chances of having the selection lie in the necessary position without moving it are good. The end cards of a fan are seldom chosen. It is also unlikely that a position near the top of the pack will be specified, since the task of shuffling a card already near the top to a nearby location hardly seems a challenge. Therefore, the selection is most often one of the center cards, and these cards govern t h e m i d - r a n g e of post-shuffle p o s i t i o n s , t h o s e m o s t frequently requested. However, should you need to move the first card to fifth position, the second card to fourth position, or the fourth card to second position, this can be done by squaring the fan, turning it face-down and dealing the cards briskly onto the pack, reversing their order. False deals (which are greatly simplified with a small packet such as this) also can be used to reposition the card. Use whatever means best suited to conceal the repositioning of the selection. A nonchalant attitude is one's greatest ally in such situations. If you cannot shift the card without causing suspicion, it is better to do the repositioning openly and casually. If the number requested is one, two, three or four, you only need use the shuffle combination directly to the left of the number in the

3 4 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY chart. For higher numbers, a simple calculation determines the required starting position for the card and the combination of shuffles required to deliver it to the chosen location. First, think of the number of cards that must lie above the selection when it rests at the chosen number. Say, fourteen is named. Thirteen cards lie above the fourteenth. Divide this number by four: 13 -r 4 = 3 with a remainder of 1. This tells you that, to deliver the selection to position fourteen in the pack, it must begin third from the top. 1 (the remainder) in binary notation is OI. Thus, one out-weave, followed by an in-weave will place the selection fourteenth from the top of the pack. Here is another example: Nine is the position chosen. Eight cards rest above the ninth. 8 -r 4 = 2. Thus, the selection must begin second from the top of the deck; and since your division has left no remainder, the remainder is 0—00 in binary—which tells you to do two out-weaves. While the system may seem complex in its explanation, a bit of study will show that it is logical and requires little memorization and only one easy calculation. Once the shuffles are completed, hand the deck to the spectator and let him verify for himself that his card lies at the location requested. One or two repetitions of this feat should bolster your reputation with magical associates. [January 3, 1965]

SPELL BY THE NUMBERS Effect: Someone shuffles the pack. Then, while the performer turns his back, the spectator cuts off a small group of cards and quietly counts them. When he has finished, he remembers this number and puts the packet somewhere out of sight. The performer turns back to him, takes up the balance of the deck and, while looking away, begins showing him cards. The spectator is asked to remember the card that falls at his number. Now the hidden packet is returned to the deck and the cards are given one quick shuffle. The spectator is asked to name the card he mentally selected. The performer spells the name, dealing one card from the top of the deck for each letter—and the selection appears as the last card of the spell. Method: Spelling tricks seem for the most part to have fallen out of favor with magicians. There was a period, though, in the first half of this century, when such magical spelling-bees held a great attraction for magicians and, perhaps to a lesser extent, for their audiences. Nevertheless, some entertaining and astonishing spelling effects have been devised over the years. And, if it is true that among the general population the ability to spell is becoming less and less common, one would think that such tricks would gain an added fascination with the spectacle of seeing someone successfully spell such words as hearts and diamonds. This effect of Mr. Elmsley's is a variant approach to a spelling trick by Edward Mario that appeared in the August 1955 issue of The New Phoenix (No. 329, p. 126). The principle on which Mr. Mario based his trick—one he called "the automatic placement"—has roots that burrow down over two hundred years into magical history. The starting point is a mathematical card location that can be found in the literature of the late 1700s. Over the years this principle has reappeared in various guises. The most pertinent to our topic begin with Eddie Joseph's "Who Knows the Card?" (Eddie's Dumbfounders with Cards, 1950, pp. 4-5) and continue to advance with Rufus Steele's

3 5 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY 'They Tell You Nothing", "You Tell Them Everything" and (with Robert Parrish) "Tell and Spell" (Steele's Last Word on Cards, 1952, pp. 3236). Then we turn to Gerald Kosky's "No-clue Card Miracle" (an instruction sheet marketed in late 1953 by Joe Berg, reprinted in The Magic of Gerald Kosky, 1975, p. 28) and Edward G. Brown's "Two Pile Trick" (Hall's Card Magic of Edward G. Brown, pp. 74-80, published in 1973, though this trick was worked out in 1947). All this work preceded Edward Mario's writings on the subject in The New Phoenix, which three years later he recast in his Faro Notes (1958, pp. 47-49). Gerald Kosky's trick features virtually the same handling of the mathematical placement explained by Mr. Mario. However, this chronology cannot verify sources of inspiration for these developers, as none thought to mention previous sources and it is reasonable to assume parallel invention in some if not all of these cases. While there is more to say about the history of the automatic placement, I have digressed from our main subject, and it is time to return to Mr. Elmsley's trick. In the JVeiy Phoenix article cited above, Mr. Mario suggested six applications for the automatic placement procedure, one of which was a spelling effect. This sort of material holds particular fascination for Mr. Elmsley, so he began experimenting. In doing so he devised a method for simplifying the handling of this spelling trick. He merely positioned the selection twenty-first from the bottom of the pack, rather than twenty-seventh, before shuffling. Here are complete details: Have the cards shuffled. Then turn away while the spectator cuts off a small packet: no more than a third of the deck. Ask him to count the cards he has removed, to remember that number, then to place the packet out of sight. Turn back to him and pick up the balance of the deck. Explain that you will show him cards from the pack while you look away. He is to remember the card that lies at his number. It is obvious that you can know neither the number nor the card he notes. Lift cards from the deck, one by one, and display their faces to him, taking each under the last, thus maintaining their original order. Count the cards aloud as you take them, to eliminate confusion. When you have shown twenty cards, stop. Turn to him and ask if he has a card in mind. He will have. Drop the undealt portion of the pack onto the twenty dealt cards. Then have the spectator hand you the cards he has been hiding. Drop the deck onto these. Thanks to the automatic placement principle, the thought-of card now rests twenty-first from the bottom of the pack. (The formula here is: x + 1 = position of selection from the face of the pack, where x = the number of cards displayed.)

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 5 1 Give the deck one out-faro shuffle. This places the card twelfth from the top. Without further manipulation you can produce any card, save four, by spelling its name. This system of spelling is old and well-known to magicians. Here is a brief explanation for those unfamiliar with it. If the word of is included in the name of the card, all cards spell with ten to fifteen letters. By eliminating of or the final s of the suit, names can be shortened. This dodge makes it possible to spell fortyeight of the card names in a deck and end on either the eleventh or the twelfth card. (If you end on the eleventh card, the next card is turned up to reveal the selection.) Here are a few examples: queen of hearts—"Q-U-E-E-N and the suit, H-E-A-R-T-S"; four of spades—"F-O-U-R O-F S-P-A-D-E-S"; seven of diamonds—"It is a diamond, D-I-A-M-O-N-D, and a seven, S-E-V-E-N." The four exceptions that cannot be spelled with eleven or twelve cards are the ace, two, six and ten of clubs. These all spell with ten letters. Should one of these four be chosen, several courses may be taken to correct matters. Here are three possible solutions: 1) After you have performed the faro shuffle, set the deck down between the spectator and yourself. Ask him to name his card. If it is one of the forty-eight that can be spelled with eleven or twelve cards—and most often it will be—pick up the deck and spell the name. However, on those few occasions when one of the short spelling cards is named, give the deck a brisk, decisive tabled slip cut, burying the top card. Repeat the name of the card to yourself when you do this, and act as if this cut is of great importance. Then pick up the pack and spell the name. 2) As you spell the name, double deal two cards as one somewhere along the line. If the pace of the dealing is normal, the two cards needn't be perfectly aligned when dealt for the subterfuge to be deceptive. An unbroken rhythm is the real secret. 3) In place of the card name, use some other word or words, containing eleven or twelve letters, for the spelling. This could be your name, or the spectator's, or some magic word. The dealing and spelling can be done by the spectator (unless, of course, double dealing is required). However, Mr. Elmsley thinks it best that the performer do the spelling himself. This eliminates the need to explain the necessary procedure to the spectator, thus accelerating the action while diminishing any awkwardness that might be inherent in some of the special spelling conditions. This is a remarkable mystery. The cards are obviously not prearranged, there seems no way you can know the identity or the position of the mental selection, and the only manipulation of the

3 5 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY cards by you is one quick shuffle. Yet the card is somehow correctly positioned to turn up at the end of its name. One performance will convince you of the power this effect wields. hi the next trick Mr. Elmsley tackles the problem of devising a method for spelling to two mental selections.

PARASPELL Effect: A shuffled deck is handed to two spectators, each of whom is asked to fan the deck, look over all the cards and think of one. So that they won't think of the same card, one thinks of an oddvalued black card, the other of an even-valued red card. The performer then gathers the deck, shuffles it, and divides it between the two spectators. He asks the first person to name the card he thought of. The performer picks up the half deck before that spectator and spells the name of the mental selection with the cards. When the last card of the spell is turned up, it is found to be the thought-of card. The second spectator is asked to name her card and, when its name is spelled out with the remaining half of the deck, this mental selection too appears at the end of the deal. Method: One of the greatest advances in spelling-trick methodology was made in the late 1920s by Stewart James. Mr. James conceived the idea of combining counting and spelling to designate the name of a card. He would count the value, then spell the suit. Nothing is lost in effect by doing so, and a good deal is gained in the ability to spell to any card named. Mr. James' trick, "Evolution of a Dream", depended on a simple but productive stack, in which each suit was grouped together in sequential order (ref. Stewart James in Print: the First Fifty Years, pp. 69-72). By spelling either from the top or the face of the pack, one could arrive at any card on demand. During the following decades, many adopted or unwittingly reinvented this clever method; some attempted to improve on it, but few succeeded in bettering it. One drawback to this stack was its obvious arrangement, which prevented the performer from displaying the faces of any cards but those spelled. The faro shuffle provided an excellent method of disguising the stack, and it is likely that this idea occurred to more than a few magicians, one of whom was Derek Dingle (see Kaufman's The Complete Works of Derek Dingle, pp. 169-170).

3 5 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY In the 1950s, when Mr. Elmsley was most deeply immersed in the exploration of the faro shuffle, he too struck on the idea of using the faro to conceal the James spelling stack. He also developed a variant stacking arrangement that simplified the spelling procedure while it eliminated the somewhat awkward practice of spelling from the bottom of the pack for certain suits. A price was paid for these gains. You could no longer spell every card in the pack. In fact you could arrive at only twenty. But Mr. Elmsley devised a presentation that obscured this limitation and seemed, at least superficially, logical. And that is usually all that we magicians can expect. Here, then, is the Elmsley treatment of Stewart James' "Evolution of a Dream". Two ten-card sequences are constructed in the deck. One of these contains all the odd-valued black cards, in numerical order; the other contains all the even-valued red cards, similarly arranged. The remaining thirty-two cards are random in their sequence, but must be properly distributed around the two ordered strings. From the top of the pack down the cards read: 7 indifferent cards AC-AS-3C-3S-5C-5S-7C-7S-9C-9S 19 indifferent cards 2H-2D-4H-4D-6H-6D-8H-8D-10H-10D 6 indifferent cards Once the pack is arranged as shown, note and remember the card twenty-sixth from the top. This will serve as a position check when, during performance, you must cut the pack in half. Now perform two reverse out-faros—or three reverse out-faros, if you wish to give the pack an extra shuffle while you introduce the effect. For those unfamiliar with the reverse faro, it is simply the process of outjogging every other card in the pack, then stripping the outjogged cards free in a block and placing the two packets together. If, when you combine the packets, the original top and bottom cards of the deck are retained in those positions, it is considered a reverse out-faro. You can use reverse in-faros if you like, but you must remember the types of reverse faros you have made, so that you can undo them when faro shuffling the cards. Alternatively, you can give the stacked deck six out-faros before you start, if you plan to shuffle twice during the presentation; or five outfaros if you wish to do three shuffles in front of the audience. In performance, ask for the assistance of two spectators and, as you arrange this, give the deck one out-faro shuffle, if you have provided for this with three reverse faros. Hand the deck to one of the spectators and explain that each of your two helpers is to look through the deck and think of a card. Because your stack is still

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 5 5 two shuffles away from its original state, the cards have an entirely random appearance. (If you have any worries about the spectators not following instructions and possibly disrupting the stack, ribbon spread the deck face-up instead of handing it to them. However, if your instructions are clear, there should normally be no trouble; and making a mental selection with the deck in your own hands is extremely effective.) "However," you caution, "it sometimes happens that two people will think of the same card, and while that is rather interesting in itself, it is not our current goal. So, to avoid such a coincidence, while preserving the privacy of your thoughts, would you please think of any odd-valued black card; and would you think of any even-valued red card. Do you understand?" If analyzed, this stipulation goes beyond the stated aim, as the coincidence could be avoided by having one think of a black card, the other a red card; or one an odd card, the other an even card. But if you make your request with an air of authority, and keep things moving, no one will think to question the logic. Also note how the choice of court cards is subtly eliminated, through a seemingly ingenuous phrasing. Much of public (aside from players of certain games such as blackjack) does not think of jacks, queens and kings having numerical values. After giving the spectators a few moments, gather the pack and give it two out-faro shuffles, treating the shuffles as nonchalantly as the execution of a perfect weave permits. This brings the cards into arrangement. As you finish your shuffling ask your helpers if they have thought of a card. Scrutinize each of their faces, seeming to search for some clue to their thoughts. Then, with an air of deliberation, divide the pack in half, using your memorized check card to confirm the accuracy of the cut. Set the top half of the pack face-down before the spectator who is thinking of a black card, and the bottom half before his companion. Ask the first spectator to name the card he is thinking of. When he names his chosen black card, pick up the half deck in front of him and deal cards face-down from the top into a pile as you count the value and spell the suit, including the word "of". For example, say he names the five of spades. You would deal one card for each word and letter: "One-two-three-four-five—O-F—S-P-A-D-E-S." Turn up the card dealt on the final S to show the five of spades. Set down the balance of the packet, turn to the second spectator and ask her to name her card as you pick up the half pack in front of her. There is now one small hurdle left to clear. All the suits but one deliver the correct card on the final S of the name. The one exception is hearts. If she names a heart card, the mental selection

3 5 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY will fall on the card after the final S. If you perform the spelling with unhesitating authority, this discrepancy will pass without question. But if this inconsistency bothers you, you must adjust the stack by disposing of one card. If you can execute a truly indetectable onecard pass, do so. A better option for most of us would be a rapid slip cut that sends the top card somewhere among the bottom six of the packet. But probably the best alternative is to deal two cards as one sometime in the middle of the spell. This technique is not that difficult and can be entirely deceptive. One other way of overcoming this adjustment problem is to eliminate the division of the deck into halves. To do this, you must either edge mark the twenty-sixth card from the top of the stack, or pencil dot it at the corners, so that it can be sighted in a narrow spread or fan. Now, spell to the black card, using the entire pack. After producing the correct card, drop the talon onto the dealt pile and pick up all the cards. As you replace the cards into left-hand dealing position, spread the top portion a bit. The marked card won't be far from the top. Spot it and, as you square the pack, rightjog the card below the key slightly. With the palm-down right hand, grasp the deck by its ends, concealing the jog, as you move your left hand from the deck to gesture toward the second spectator, asking her to name her card. If she names a diamond, return the deck to the left hand and form a break above the jog. If she names a heart, form the break below the jog. Then either execute a pass or an open cut. In this fashion the adjustment for the second spelling is made. One last comment: Some may think it a bit odd to count one card for the value of an ace, when spelling A-C-E seems the more obvious route. The situation can be resolved to an extent with a statement such as "The value of an ace is one," (dealing a card on the word "one"). Or you can spell A-C-E, and omit the O-F, proceeding directly to the suit (though this does create a small discrepancy between the methods of spelling the two selections). The problem can be completely skirted if, in your introductory instructions you state: "However, it sometimes happens that two people will think of the same card. The ace of spades and the ace of clubs, for instance, are quite popular. While that is rather interesting in itself, it is not our current goal. So to avoid such a coincidence..." Through this casual mention of the problem aces, you psychologically eliminate them from the selection group. While the discussion of various aspects of this trick has been lengthy, the method is uncomplicated to learn and rewarding to do. To an audience, whether of laymen or magicians, the resulting effect is one of amazement.

COLLINSPELL Effect: The four aces are arranged face-up on the table, along with four small piles of indifferent cards. An ace is honestly inserted into each of the piles, from which it then vanishes. The piles are dropped onto the deck and the cards shuffled. From the shuffled pack, the performer spells the name of an ace, dealing a card for each letter. At the end of its name, the proper ace appears. This is repeated with each of the aces, until all four have been produced. Method: The plot is in essence Stanley Collins' "Alpha Four Ace Trick" (invented around 1904, but left unpublished until 1945, when it appeared in Thompson's My Best, pp. 131 -132). However, the trick that inspired the sequence under discussion was Cy Endfield's handling of the Collins effect. Titled "Aces for Connoisseurs", the Endfield routine was published first in The Gen, Vol. 8, No. 5, Sept. 1952, pp. 144-147; and later in Cy Endfield's Entertaining Card Magic, Part Two, pp. 46-54. In both the original Collins trick and the Endfield handling, at the finish the aces were reproduced in a hand of cards dealt from the pack. Mr. Elmsley, after studying Cy Endfield's treatment, worked out startling new vanishes for the aces, and a clever way of placing them, with a faro shuffle, for a spelling revelation. It was an impressive resolution to an equally impressive series of vanishes. This was in the mid-1950s. In America, sometime during 1972, Martin Lewis also became intrigued with the Collins ace trick, as have so many magicians. Independently Mr. Lewis arrived at the same idea of spelling the aces to reproduce them, though his approach was entirely different from Mr. Elmsley's (ref. Martin's Miracles, 1985, pp. 36-41). And Darwin Ortiz informs me that in 1973 or 1974 he saw Persi Diaconis perform an unpublished version of this plot, incorporating the spelling finish, which used a faro placement. In 1977, Jon Racherbaumer published a brief description of the Elmsley faro procedure for setting the aces (ref. Sticks and Stones,

3 5 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY No. 6, p. 1), but the full Elmsley routine, as developed in the mid1950s, has never been revealed in print. It is taught here for the first time. Aside from the clever method for setting the aces in position for spelling, the methods for vanishing the aces will be of more than passing interest. They are fine vanishes and, though devised almost forty years ago, seem remarkably contemporary. Stanley Collins evolved various methods for his four-ace effect over the years. In several of these the cards were handled face-up. Most handlings derived by others since have relinquished this point. Mr. Elmsley has retained the face-up feature, thus enhancing the overall fairness and impossibility of the effect. Set the aces into a face-up row on the table, arranging them from left to right in CHaSeD suit order (club-hearts-spades-diamonds). Below this row arrange another, this consisting of four face-up piles, each pile containing four indifferent cards. There are two courses possible in the formation of these piles. One can simply push off groups of cards, casually creating the piles while placing no importance on the number of cards in each. Nothing is lost in effect if the size of the piles is left unspecified at the time of their creation. Or one can false count each pile as three cards, while actually dealing four. Either of these practices is presentable, and the performer must decide which is best in his hands. Set the remainder of the pack face-down to one side. Then, working from left to right, add each of the face-up aces onto the pile behind it. Having done this, bring your right hand palm-down over the left-end pile, which has the ace of clubs at its face, and pick up all five cards by the ends, second finger at the outer right corner, thumb at the inner right. Carry the packet to the palm-up left hand and, with the left fingertips, draw the lower three cards leftward, backspreading them to form a four-card fan (Figure 229). The fourth indifferent card lies squared and hidden beneath the ace.

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 5 9 Lower the left thumb onto the fan, holding the cards in place while you turn the right hand palm-up and grip the double card by its right side, near the outer corner. Slip the double card under the three fanned cards and close the fan. This brings the ace to a position second from the rear of the packet. As you square the cards, adjust the packet to left-fingertip pinch grip, as if about to do an Elmsley count. Blow on the packet for magical effect, then count the five cards as four as follows: With the right thumb, draw the upper card of the face-up packet onto the right fingers. Then draw the next card from the face of the packet onto the first card. As the right hand approaches the packet to take the third card, do a two-card block push-off. If the tip of your left thumb rests very near the left edge of the packet, the upper pair of cards can be pushed to the right in perfect alignment. Draw the double card onto the right hand's pair. Then take the remaining card from the left hand onto the face of the right hand's packet. Four indifferent cards have been seen—and the ace of clubs is gone. Pause for only a moment after the count. Then flip the packet face-down and take it again into left-hand pinch grip. Bring your right hand palm-up to the packet and pinch off the top card, holding it by its right side at the fingertips. Turn the right hand palm-down and lower the left side of the card, now face-up, onto the table (Figure 230). Then withdraw your thumb from beneath the card while you press down lightly with the fingertips on its face, letting the card snap flat onto the table. Leave the card there and return the right hand to the packet. Pinch off the next card from the top of the packet and, with the same action, snap it face-up onto the preceding card. Next execute a two-card block push-off and take the double at the right fingertips, exactly as you have taken the single cards before it. Turn the double card face-up and snap it down onto the previous two cards in precisely the same fashion. Then deposit the final card from the left hand face-up onto the pile. This second display confirms the vanish of the ace, while showing four cards, faces and backs. With the palm-down right hand, pick up the second pile—which sports the ace of hearts on its face—grasping the packet by its opposite right corners. With the left fingers, backspread the lower

3 6 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY three cards (as in Figure 229), and separate these indifferent cards from the double card held by the right hand. Flip the left hand's three cards face-down into dealing position; then momentarily clip the face-up double card under the tip of the left thumb, holding it widely jogged to the right as the right hand turns palm-up and, with the fingertips, flips the double card face-down and square onto the packet. The instant the double card settles, use your left thumb to push the top card to the right and, with the palm-up right hand, grasp this card by its inner right corner. Remove it from the packet and use it to flip the packet face-up. Then riffle two cards off the left thumb and insert the card into the left thumb's break. Square the reversed card (believed by the audience to be the ace of hearts) into the packet. Adjust the packet to lefthand pinch grip and, with your right thumb, draw the first card from the face of the packet onto the right fingers. Draw the next card onto the first, injogged for roughly half an inch. Draw the third card, the facedown indifferent card, onto the previous card, injogged half an inch farther; and deposit the last two cards as one onto the face-down card, injogged farther still. This forms a four-card vertical spread (Figure 231) with the face-down card visible second from the face. With the left hand, pull the face-down card forward and out of the spread. The right fingers and the heel of the thumb press against the sides of the spread to assure that the double card remains squared as the card below is extracted. Blow on the left hand's card, then turn it over to show its face. The ace of hearts has vanished. Lay the left hand's card face-up onto the others and square the spread. Flip the packet face-down and deal the five cards as four, turning them face-up onto the pile of discards. Here you employ the same snap-down action used when dealing the first packet onto the table, and execute a two-card push-off as the third card is dealt. Again, all backs and faces are seen and the ace is gone. Take up the third pile, with the ace of spades on its face. With the left fingertips, form a four-card fan by backspreading the lower

FARO TAPESTRIES

361

three cards (again as in Figure 229). While your left thumb holds the fan in place, grasp the double card (the ace with an indifferent card beneath) by its outer right corner, right thumb above and fingers below. Then slip the double card between the lower two cards of the fan, leaving it outjogged for approximately an inch. Close the fan, taking care not to split the double card, and turn the packet over sidewise and face-down in the left hand. Immediately adjust the outjogged double by drawing just the upper card forward until it projects a bit over half its length from the packet. Simultaneously, place the tip of your left forefinger on the outer end of the lower card (the ace) and secretly push it flush with the packet. In other words, you execute a push-in change. After pushing the ace flush, do not straighten the left forefinger. Instead, let it rest at the outer end of the packet, its tip pressed lightly up against the outjogged card, near the center of its face. Also extend the left thumb until its tip contacts the back of the outjogged card, placing it directly over the tip of the forefinger. Once you have assumed this position, place the tip of the right forefinger on the outer left corner of the outjogged card and pull it to the right, making the card rotate end for end, pivoting on the left thumb and forefinger (Figures 232 and 233). This is performed as a magical flourish.

Now, with your right hand, draw the outjogged card from the packet and show that the ace of spades has changed to an indifferent card. Flip the card face-down onto the packet, and deal the five cards as four (using the snap-down deal) onto the face-up pile of previous discards. The ace of diamonds remains to be vanished. Pick up this pile and backspread three cards, forming a four-card fan, as you have with each of the previous packets. As before, the fourth indifferent card remains hidden beneath the ace. With your right hand, remove

3 6 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY the double card from the fan. Then, with the left fingers, flip the fanned cards face-down, letting them fall squared into dealing grip. Lay the face-up double card onto the left hand's packet, injogged about one inch. Then, with the right fingers, draw the bottom facedown card forward and remove it from the packet. Immediately lay this card onto the face-up ace, injogged about an inch farther to create a lengthwise spread. Now reposition your right hand palm-down over the packet, in preparation for the Vernon alignment move; that is, station the right thumb on the inner end of the top card, the tip of the right forefinger on the back of this card, and the tip of the right second finger on the exposed portion of the face-up ace of diamonds (Figure 234). Then move the right hand forward, sliding the face-down top card and the face-up ace over the packet as a unit. As you do this, the right thumb will hit the inner end of the face-up indifferent card that was hidden below the ace. Do not hesitate at this point: continue moving the right hand forward, now pushing the top three cards along—but also use the right thumb to lift the inner ends of these cards slightly, forming a break beneath them as the top and third cards slide flush with the bottom two cards of the packet. Halt the right hand's movement when the bottom two cards hit the right thumb, and take over the break above them with the left fourth finger. At this point the ace of diamonds should be outjogged about an inch, second from the top of the packet. Position the tip of the left forefinger at the outer end of the ace. Retract your right fingers to the inner end of the packet and grip the cards above the break, pinching them between the thumb, below, and fingers, above. Draw the top card and the face-up indifferent card beneath it inward, while keeping the outjogged ace stationary by applying pressure with the tips of the left fingers and thumb to the sides of the packet. This action strips the ace from between the right hand's two cards, but to the audience it should appear as if you are only drawing the top card back and away from the packet.

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 6 3 Rest the outer end of the right hand's double card on the inner end of the ace (Figure 235). You will next perform the Vernon paintbrush color change, with the ace outjogged on the packet: Slide the double card forward, gliding it over the face-up ace until it hits the tip of the left forefinger, which still lies at the outer end of the ace. Draw the double card back, returning to the position shown in Figure 235 and exposing the ace once more. Repeat this brushing action with the double card. Then do it a third time; but the instant the double card is square with the ace, pull back with your right fingertips on the top card of the double, pinching it more deeply between the thumb and fingers. Use the tip of the right thumb on the inner end of the lower card to keep it stationary as the top card is drawn inward, and immediately tighten the left hand's pressure on the sides of the cards to hold the face-up indifferent card square with the ace. Then, without hesitation, continue to draw the top card inward, lightly brushing it over the face of the indifferent card. In doing so, you create the illusion of an instant transformation of the ace. Snap the right hand's card face-up. Then, with the right fingertips, clip the outjogged double card under this card, injogged for roughly an inch, and remove it from the left hand's packet. In a continuing action, flip the left hand's two cards face-up and push the upper card of the two forward; then place the right hand's cards onto this pair, completing a lengthwise spread of four cards. Pause only briefly, to let the face of the four indifferent cards be seen; then close the spread, flip the packet face-down and deal the five cards as four, face-up onto the tabled pile. Again, the snap-down deal and two-card push-off are used to hide the ace. Casually square the face-up pile of twenty cards and drop it facedown onto the balance of the deck. The ace of clubs now lies third from the top, the ace of hearts eighth, the ace of spades thirteenth and the ace of diamonds eighteenth. Pick up the deck and give it a quick series of overhand shuffles: first run five cards and throw the balance on top; then run six and throw the balance; again run five and throw; and finally run seven and throw. If you like, you can follow these runs with a jog shuffle that preserves the order of the bottom half of the pack.

3 6 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Now give the deck one perfect in-faro shuffle. This sets the aces for spelling. They are produced in CHaSeD order, just as they were vanished. Spell A-C-E O-F C-L-U-B-S first and turn up the card following the S. Continue to spell each of the aces in turn; all four consistently appear after the final letter of the suit. That concludes "Collinspell". However, before leaving the topic, it might be mentioned that, if all four aces lie in CHaSeD order on top of the pack, they can be positioned for spelling by first giving the deck three in-faros, then by overhand shuffling to this pattern: run eight cards and throw the balance on top; run twelve and throw the balance on top; run eight and throw the balance on top; then run fourteen and throw the balance on top. The cards are now set to spell the aces in clubs-hearts-spades-diamonds order. This is merely a curiosity as it stands, for the shuffling is too laborious to be deceptive. Yet, the knowledge might eventually prove useful. In the next trick, Mr. Elmsley applies faro techniques to another classic ace effect, this one by Henry Christ.

ARAB ROTO-PACK Effect: The four aces are honestly buried at various depths in the pack and the cards are shuffled and cut. The name of the first ace, the ace of clubs, is spelled while one card is dealt for each letter. The ace of clubs turns up on cue at the end of its name. The pack is given another shuffle and the ace of hearts is cut directly from the middle of the deck. The deck is given a third shuffle and a cut. The top card is turned up. It is a four. Counting down four cards from the top, the ace of spades is found. One more shuffle is performed and the deck is ribbon spread. There, face-up in the center, is the final ace, the ace of diamonds. Method: The plot is essentially that of Henry Christ's Ace Trick (ref. Cliff Green's Professional Card Magic, pp. 48-54; Epilogue, No. 20, Mar. 1974, pp. 8-9; or The Vernon Chronicles, Volume 2, pp. 242245); but the method has been completely altered through the application of faro shuffle techniques. The only preparation required is to install a concave bridge down the length of the face-down deck. This bridge is needed to assure that you can cut quickly and unerringly to a card reversed in the pack. Such a bridge can be created by giving the cards a face-down, edgewise, dovetail shuffle; or by performing the spread flourish (ref. The Card Magic of LePaul, p. 36). Spread through the deck and remove the four aces. As you do this, also cut or cull a four of any suit to a position sixth from the face of the pack. Flip the deck face-down and quickly form four piles of cards. Push off four cards from the top of the pack to make the first pile. Push off seven more for the second pile; six for the third pile; and nine for the fourth. Spread the cards off in groups as you count them silently, making the procedure look casual and uncalculated. Do not mention the number of cards in each pile. By the way, the peculiar title of this trick is a mnemonic cue to the setup and layout. Those familiar with the mnemonic alphabet used in the Nikola


Card System (ref. Encyclopedia of Card Tricks, Hugard revision, p 387) will quickly see that "aRaB RoTo-PacK" translates into 4-6-4-7-6-9. The first two numbers (4 and 6) remind you that a four must be positioned sixth from the face of the deck. The remaining four numbers (4, 7, 6 and 9) indicate the sizes of the four piles. As you form the piles, lay them out in a row from left to right. Then position the aces in front of the piles, in a face-up row with suits running in CHaSeD order from left to right (Figure 236). This suit order is adhered to when, later, the aces are produced during the trick. Thus, there are built-in mnemonic aids for the entire procedure. The piles and aces are now gathered, burying the aces at various levels in the pack. Start at the right end of the rows and work leftward. First place the ace of diamonds face-down onto the talon. Drop the nine-card pile onto this ace, but catch a left fourth-finger break beneath the pile. Lay the ace of spades face-down onto the deck and bury it with the six-card pile. Onto this place the ace of hearts, the seven-card pile, the ace of clubs, and finally the fourcard pile. Square the deck. "The aces are now separated in the pack. There is no question of this. You can see so for yourselves." Here cut off all the cards above the break and fan them face-up in the right hand. This is done as a gesture of display. Only three of the aces are present in the fan, but it is not exhibited long enough for this to be ascertained. As you call attention to the fanned cards, push the top card of the left-hand packet slightly to the right and form a fourth-finger break under it. This card is the ace of diamonds. With the aid of the left hand, close the face-up fan over the face-down deck and steal the ace of diamonds

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 6 7 under the right hand's cards. This is easily done: While the fan is closed, the tips of the right fingers simply enter the left fourth-finger's break and clip the face-down ace to the underside of the face-up packet (Figure 237). Move the packets a few inches apart and smoothly flip the left hand's cards face-up. Then drop the right hand's packet onto them. It appears that you have merely turned the deck face-up in two portions, but the ace of diamonds is reversed near center. Turn the deck face-down and give it one perfect out-faro. Then cut the deck by its ends, bringing the reversed ace of diamonds to the bottom (it is eighth from the bottom after the shuffle). The bridge aids you in making this cut. "The first ace was the ace of clubs. To find it, all I need to do is spell its name: A-C-E O-F C-L-U-B-S." Deal one face-down card for each letter as you spell—then turn up the top card of the deck. It is the ace of clubs. Put the ace to one side and drop the deck onto the dealt cards. Perform another perfect faro. Since the deck contains only fiftyone cards, this must be a straddle faro. It does not matter if you cut the top portion at twenty-five or twenty-six. Just weave the smaller portion into the larger: the top and bottom cards of the large portion become the top and bottom cards of the deck. "Finding the ace of hearts is even easier. You just cut to it." Square the deck and set it face-down onto the table. Then, with the right hand, cut the pack by its ends, immediately below the reversed ace of diamonds (which lies somewhat below center). Once more, the bridge makes accurate cutting possible. With the left hand, turn up the top card of the portion on the table. It is the ace of hearts. Toss it aside to join the ace of clubs. Drop the right hand's packet back onto the tabled portion and pick up the deck. Give it an out-faro shuffle and cut the ace of diamonds to the bottom (it rests twelfth from the top after the shuffle). Then turn up the top card. It will be the four you set at the beginning of the trick. "The ace of spades is the hardest to find. You have to use detectives. This one is a four. So if I count down four cards..." Set the four spot on the table and count four cards onto it in an overlapping column. Turn up the fourth card. It is the ace of spades. Place this ace with the preceding two. Then turn the four face-down onto the dealt cards and drop the deck onto them. Cut roughly ten cards from the top of the deck to the bottom; then perform one more faro shuffle. This can be of any sort and need not be perfect, as it is done only for the sake of consistency.

3 6 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY 'The last ace is the ace of diamonds. It's a rich card and likes to stand out in a crowd." Set the deck face-down on the table, pause a moment, then ribbon spread it with a dramatic sweep of the hand. The ace of diamonds is seen face-up in the middle. Set it with the other aces and conclude. March 1958

WHAT A PARTY! Effect: As the performer discusses the trials of hosting a successful party, he removes twelve red and twelve black cards from the deck. These cards are used to represent the guests at the party. The red and black cards are alternated, but then, in illustration of the host's problems in keeping his guests amicably mixed, the cards magically form pairs of colors, then go back to single alternation, only to group in color triplets, and finally to segregate completely into red and black cliques. Method: Mr. Elmsley, commenting on this trick, observes: "I consider Bill Simon's effect 'Call to the Colors' among the most original tricks we have had in a very long time. One of the marks of a really good trick is that one immediately alters it completely in an effort to gild the lily. My gilded lily grew in an effort to find a presentation and climax for the effect." Bill Simon's "Call to the Colors" (ref. Effective Card Magic, pp. 7981) was founded on a packet effect by John Scarne, "The Scarne Puzzle", which Mr. Simon described in his booklet, Controlled Miracles (p. 21). Both tricks are built on the second deal. In the treatment about to be taught, Mr. Elmsley has added faro techniques and a whimsical presentation, elevating the effect from a merely interesting display of skill to an intriguing and entertaining premise with which many in the audience can identify. Run quickly through the deck and assemble on the table a pile of twenty-four face-up cards, the colors of which alternate. As you openly sort through and arrange the cards, explain: "Have you ever thrown a party for friends? I wonder then if you have the same anxieties that I do? You pick your guests so carefully. You introduce Bill to Sam, because they're both interested in music. You ask Henry to meet Jean because they both have a dachshund." Once the twenty-four cards are set in alternating color order, put aside the balance of the pack. "Imagine that these cards are my guests. As you see, the cards are alternated red and black, which

3 7 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY shows how well mixed the group is." Spread the pile of cards briefly, showing them to be as you claim. Then gather the spread and hold the packet face-down in left-hand dealing grip. Deal a few cards from the packet into an overlapping face-up row, as you recite, "Red, black, red, black, red, black..." Gather the dealt cards, without altering their order, and replace them face-down on the packet. "But after a little time, what happens? They won't stay mixed. They begin to form glum little cliques, standing static and gazing into their glasses." Give the packet a fillip or a riffle, as a magical gesture; then deal the cards again face-up into an overlapping row. However, this time deal out a dozen cards, and perform second deals at the second, sixth and tenth cards. This produces pairs of same-colored cards; e.g., red-red, black-black, red-red, etc. Set aside the packet of undealt cards and gather the dealt row. Turn these cards face-down. "Frantically you try to make the guests mix..." Make a great show of mixing the twelve cards, performing a perfect out-weave shuffle, "...and after much hard work and unwilling introductions, you succeed." Deal the cards again into a face-up row, performing second deals as the fifth and seventh cards are dealt. The twelve cards again fall into an alternated color sequence. (Those familiar with the Simon method will know that the cards can be brought back to alternating order purely with second deals. Mr. Elmsley introduces the faro here to set a precedent for its use later in the trick.) Gather the spread and drop it face-down onto the undealt portion of the packet. "Now you fondly imagine that your party is well under way. But drinks are running low, so you leave the room to fetch more alcohol. Then you return." Apparently take the top card from the packet, but perform a second deal, and use this card to represent yourself as host, running to get the drinks, then coming back to the party. In returning the card to the packet, place it on the bottom. "But what has happened in your absence? Even worse cliques have formed." Deal the entire packet into an overlapping face-up row, performing seconds on every third card; that is, on cards three, six, nine, twelve, fifteen, eighteen and twenty-one. "Your entire party has broken into depressed groups of three. Again you do your level best to persuade the guests to mix." Gather the cards and perform an out-faro. "You introduce people to other people they already know and hate the sight of." Do a second out-faro. "You circulate the drinks in every direction. You even go upstairs for some dance music, but to no avail; for when you return..." Signify

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 7 1 your flustered flight up the stairs and down again by removing the top card of the packet and gesturing comically with it. Then replace it on top. This is done to support the earlier transference of the top (though actually the second) card to the bottom of the packet. "... you find your party completely divided into two groups at opposite ends of the room." The two faro shuffles have completely segregated the colors for you. All you need do is rapidly deal the first twelve cards into a face-up column on one side of the table, and the second dozen into another column on the other side. Notice how Mr. Elmsley has neatly edited the original Simon trick, using only twenty-four cards instead of the full deck. This eliminates any chance of tedium, and lessens the number of second deals required. It is worth noting that (as he has done in previous tricks, like "Second Link", pp. 183-185, and "Diamond Cut Diamond", pp. 186-188) attention is naturally drawn to the faces of the dealt cards as you turn them up, and away from the actions of the second deals themselves. The faro shuffles are also simplified by the use of small packets. But the most important contribution here is the entertaining story line that enhances the magical rearrangement of the colors, making the trick as charming as it is astonishing. [c. 1958]

LATE NIGHT LOCATION Effect: The deck is placed face-down in front of a spectator and she is invited to cut off a group of cards. She peeks at the card on the face of the packet, then shuffles the packet, losing the card. This packet is then buried in the deck and the cards are shuffled. Despite the fairness of the procedure, and without looking at the face of a single card, the performer has immediate control of the selection and can produce it in any fashion he wishes. Method: A special deck of cards is needed for this challenge location. Therefore, this is more likely a trick that will be reserved for baffling one's colleagues; ergo the title. The pack is made up of twenty-six random cards and their duplicates. It is divided into two banks. The top bank consists of one set of twenty-six, in chance order. The bottom bank mirrors this order in reverse. When the two banks are placed together, the top and bottom cards are duplicates, as are the cards second from the top and bottom, etc. The two banks meet with two adjacent duplicates at center. Prepare the top card of the bottom half so that it can be easily located by you; e.g., with an edge mark or a crimp. Begin the trick by exhibiting the seemingly unarranged deck. If the cards are casually spread between the hands, or fanned and displayed briefly, the duplicates are not obvious. Square the cards and set the deck face-down before someone. Ask this person to cut off anything less than half the pack; as few or as many cards as she likes. Have her peek at the card on the face of the removed packet. She is then to give the packet a mix, losing the card. Stress this shuffling of the cards; otherwise some in your audience may overlook this point when attempting to reconstruct the trick, causing an oversight that would lessen the impossibility of the location. Just as she finishes shuffling her cards, reach out and cut off the top portion of the tabled packet, cutting at the locator card or not

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 7 3 far beneath it. If the locator is not at the face of the portion cut off, there should be no more cards below it than there are above. Have the spectator place her packet onto the tabled one. You then drop the other portion on top, burying her cards in the middle. Square the pack, pick it up and give it one perfect out-faro shuffle. This shuffle automatically places the duplicate to the spectator's card precisely beneath the locator card. You can now cut the card to the top or bottom of the pack and produce it in any manner you wish. In "Auto-discovery" (which follows immediately) and in "Computer Dating" (pp. 385-386), the reader will find the principles used above applied with excellent effect to a normal pack. September 1957

AUTO-DISCOVERY Effect: The deck is set before a spectator and he is asked to cut it at random, remove the card he cut to and pocket it. He shuffles the rest of the cards he has cut off, then loses them in the remainder of the deck. The performer gives the pack one shuffle, declaring that it will function as a calculator to discover the identity of the selection. The deck is spread and in the center is seen a face-up card. This card and the face-down card above it are extracted from the spread. The face-up card, the performer explains, reveals the suit of the chosen card—and the value of the facing card completes the identification. When the selection is brought from the spectator's pocket, it is seen to be the very card specified by the two indicator cards. Method: Here, as promised, the fascinating principle from "Late Night Location" is made to function with a standard pack. A setup is necessary. First remove the ace through king of diamonds and set the ace to one side. Then remove twelve cards running from two through king. The suits of this second set are mixed. Arrange the mixed set of cards with its values running in reverse order to those of the twelve diamond cards. The diamonds, by the way, are not set in any particular order; they can be left just as they come from the pack. Now assemble the deck in this manner: Form a face-down packet from thirteen of the unsorted cards. Onto these lay the twelve-card set of mixed suits, face-down. Place the ace of diamonds, face-up, onto this. (You must be able to cut quickly to this ace later in the trick. Therefore, if there isn't a dependable bridge in the pack, crimp the ace in a manner that allows you to cut immediately below it.) Lay an indifferent card face-down over the ace, and place the twelve diamond cards onto that, also face-down. Finally, top the setup with the remaining thirteen face-down cards. Begin the trick by setting the arranged pack face-down before someone. Casually ask him to cut off anything between a quarter

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 7 5 and half of the pack. In doing so, he unwittingly cuts into the diamond stock. Have him remove the card on the face of the cut-off portion and pocket it without showing it to you or to anyone else. Whether he himself looks at it is a presentational point left to your discretion. Then have the spectator shuffle the rest of the packet. When he has finished, reach out and divide the remainder of the pack, as it lies on the table, cutting it at the bridge or crimp. (The reversed ace of diamonds is at the bottom of the upper portion.) Ask that he place his mixed cards between the two portions, losing them. Drop the upper packet onto his packet, sandwiching the shuffled cards, square the pack and pick it up. Explain that the pack can act as a calculator to determine the identity of the missing card. Cut the pack near center (twenty-five cards in one portion, twenty-six in the other—it does not matter which half is the larger) and give the deck one straddle faro, weaving the smaller half into the greater. Then ribbon spread the cards to reveal the ace of diamonds face-up near center. Explain that this card identifies the suit of the selection in the spectator's pocket: a diamond. Slip the ace from the deck, accompanied by the face-down card just above it. Turn this card up. It will be the same value as the chosen card. Have the spectator remove the card from his pocket and reveal it, proving the uncanny accuracy of the calculating pack. If you are concerned that the spectator may accidentally cut to the ace of diamonds, prematurely revealing it, you can do this instead: Edge mark the ace and position it face-down in the stack. Then, after the faro shuffle, rather than ribbon spreading the cards, bring out a pen knife and stab its blade into the side of the pack, using the edge mark as a guide (an idea of Dr. Ben Braude, ref. Phoenix, No. 293, Nov. 13, 1953, p. 1173). Ideally, the blade should be inserted between the ace of diamonds and the card above. However, if you find you are one card off, both cards can be produced, either above the blade or below it, without appreciable loss of effect. You can use the blade of the knife as a shiner, to cue you to the accuracy of the stab, before you separate the pack. See page 447 or further details on this method of glimpsing. September 1958

THE ELMSLEY RISING CARD Effect: The plot follows that of the centuries-old classic, but in this version several exquisite refinements are offered. A card is freely selected, noted and returned to the deck. The deck is shuffled, then fanned. A magical pass it made over the fanned pack and the selection rises slowly from the center. Method: The refinements mentioned are two: First is the idea of having the card rise from a fanned pack. To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Elmsley was the first to perform the card rise in this fashion. The second refinement is the use of the faro shuffle to control the selection and place it neatly into the gimmick that makes this rise possible. Mr. Elmsley devised his card rise in the early 1960s and word of it quickly spread through the inner circles of card magic. Since that time, a few others have adopted the idea of a fanned-deck card rise (notably Ted Biet, whose card-rise gimmick is most ingenious). Around 1980 David Britland, unaware of work over fifteen years earlier, and inspired by the Biet card rise, came full circle by reinventing large portions of the Elmsley method, which he published as The Angel Card Rise. There are some interesting points, however, in Mr. Britland's handling that are worthy of study. The Elmsley method uses a simple gimmick that can be easily added and removed from a pack. In essence, it is the old Jumping Card gimmick, which has been commonly sold to the public by street and carnival pitchmen since the 1920s. This gimmick—consisting of two playing cards with a length of rubber band strung between them—was peddled as a means to make a card jump from a pack or packet of cards. A few perspicacious magicians of the period recognized that the gimmick also could make a card rise slowly from the pack. An exceptional example of the exploitation of this gimmick is found in "Cardini's Rising Cards" (ref. The Tarbell Course in Magic, Vol. 2, pp. 229-234). Indeed, it was the Cardini trick that inspired Mr. Elmsley's work with the gimmick. The Elmsley gimmick is essentially that used in the Jumping Card, but it features a

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 7 7 construction superior to the original rubber band and staples model used for decades. The gimmick is made from two playing cards, a length of thin elastic thread and some rubber cement. Mr. Elmsley obtained his elastic thread from flat elastic like that used in waistbands or garters. Each of the little cords that make up such flat elastic bands contains a length of round, thin rubber band. With a little work, these thin rubber cores can be pulled or stripped from their sheaths. In recent years other types of thin elastic thread have become available. In Britain, David Britland discovered an ideal thread for the purpose, called shearing elastic. It is found in sewing supply shops, hi the States one must locate a source of knitting machine supplies and ask for elastic thread. This thread is thin and very strong, but any of these types of thread are quite serviceable. Take one of the two cards and place it face-down on a hard, smooth surface. Using an X-acto knife, you must cut a sort of irregular oval in one end of the card, roughly a quarter of an inch from the edge. The oval is rounder at the bottom than it is at the top, and a small tab is left projecting inward from the top edge of the hole, near the right. This tab measures approximately a quarter of an inch wide and half an inch tall. Figure 238 will clarify this. Place the second card face-down on your cutting surface and make a similar hole in it, but with the tab positioned on the left side. (Figure 239.) You must now carefully split the two pasteboard tabs, so that you can glue the ends of the elastic thread between the layers of card. Neatly coat the ends of the thread—about the width of each tab— with rubber cement. Also apply rubber cement to the inner surfaces of the split tabs. When the cement is dry, carefully lay one end of

3 7 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY the thread between the layers of each tab, with the thread lying deep inside, traveling parallel with the top of the oval, and with the end of the thread pointing toward the longitudinal center of the card (Figure 240). Press the tab layers together, securely trapping the ends of the thread between them. Then cut off the bottoms of the tabs, leaving a length of roughly three-sixteenths of an inch. (The tabs are initially cut longer than needed to aid in the splitting.) Figure 241 shows the completed gimmick. Note that, when the cards are held face-down, the left-hand tab is uppermost. This detail is important. If the gimmick were constructed with the righthand tab at the back, loading a card into the gimmick would create tension in the stretched elastic that would cause the prepared cards to spread and expose themselves during the card rise. Also note that the mild arching of the tops of the holes accommodates the slight bulging of the opposing tabs, caused by the glued ends of the thread. When the two cards are placed together, the loop of elastic thread should hang within the area of the holes. You may have to twist the cards a few times to get the elastic to lie flat, in a neat loop within the holes. The Elmsley gimmick is designed to minimize gapping between the cards by containing the thread within the cut-out portions. You will need to experiment with the length of the thread you have found and the size of the holes necessary to contain it in its unstretched state. The thread must be elastic enough to stretch to the opposite end of the gimmick when a card is inserted into it, and strong enough to make that card rise when pressure is not applied. Finally, it is a good idea to apply a coat of fanning powder to the inner surfaces of the gimmicked cards. This aids in producing a slow, smooth card rise. After a bit of experience, it takes about ten minutes to construct one of these gimmicks, and one of them will last for many performances. Over the years, Mr. Elmsley has used several methods of faro placement for loading the selection into the gimmick. When working for laymen he prefers the following procedure:

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 7 9 From a normal pack, discard the duplicates of the two cards that make up your gimmick, and place the gimmick, threaded end inward, five cards from the face of the deck. In performance, spread the pack face-down between your hands and offer a free selection. As you make the spread, smoothly push off five groups of four cards each and form a break or jog under the twentieth card from the top. (Your counting, of course, must not be evident to the audience.) While the selection is being noted, square the cards and cut at your break or jog. Have the selection returned at this point and bury it. It now lies twenty-first from the top. You can ribbon spread the face-down deck for a moment, as you talk, implicitly showing that no control is being exercised. Then gather the spread and go into a brief overhand shuffle. This consists of shuffling off less than a quarter of the pack and throwing the balance on top. This approximately centers the gimmick in the bottom half of the pack. Grip the deck in preparation for a faro shuffle, with the threaded end of the gimmick positioned to take part in the weave. Divide the pack at twenty-six and perform an out-weave. When making the weave, apply firm pressure to the packet containing the gimmick, to eliminate any gapping between the two threaded cards. You want only a single card to enter the gimmick. This card will be the spectator's selection. As you push the halves about an inch or so into each other, let the cards lie loose in the hands, until the end of the selection has moved safely past the cut-out areas of the gimmick. Then square the deck by pushing the cards together. (Do not spring them, as shown in 242.) The card is fully and automatically loaded into the gimmick, and the pressure of the thumb and fingers at opposite ends of the pack stop the selection from shooting out. The loaded gimmick now lies close to the center of the deck. With your left hand, grip the pack at one end—the end at which the cutout portion of the gimmick rests—in preparation for a one-handed fan. Make the fan. The pressure normally exerted when performing this flourish should prevent the gimmick from ejecting the selection. However, if the card should slide out a bit, it will

3 8 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY travel down, behind the fingers, and cannot be seen by the audience. Perform the fan in a casual fashion as you talk. This fan is used merely as a delaying tactic, to expend a bit of time, before proceeding to the card rise. With the right hand, close the fan, bringing the open end of the gimmick uppermost, in position to force the selection from the top end of the pack. Then take the squared deck into the fork of the right thumb, in fanning position. With the left fingers on the face of the deck, and the left thumb on the back, fan the cards in the right hand. During this, maintain a firm steady pressure with your right thumb on the bottom end of the pack, to prevent the card from shooting upward. As you shape the fan, bend in your right third finger, so that it passes under the arc formed by the bottom edge of the fan and lies behind the cards (Figure 243). Extend the other right fingers across the face of the fan. Apply firm pressure with the right thumb and third finger to the back of the fan, restraining the action of the gimmick. Now, if you gradually ease the right fingers' pressure, the card will rise slowly and mysteriously from the center of the fan. If it begins to tilt to the left while rising, increase the thumb and forefinger's pressure on the cards. Should it begin to tilt to the right, increase pressure between the second, third and fourth fingers. Thanks to the right hand's grip, the rise of the card is under your full control. As the card rises, turn the right hand and fan slowly, letting the audience view both the edge of the fan and the back. This permits them to see that nothing is occurring behind the fan that could account for the rise of the card; and from the edge, the sight of the card rising from the center of the fan is quite eerie. When the selection has risen about three-quarters of its length from the fan, grip the card by its upper end, left thumb on the back, left fingers on the face, and draw it from the fan, simultaneously twisting the left side of the card outward and the right side inward. This twisting forces apart the two cards of the gimmick and avoids pulling the thread into view.

FARO TAPESTRIES 3 8 1 If you desire to add the gimmick secretly to a deck in use, without extracting two cards, the same faro method can be used with a fiftyfour card pack. Just shuffle six cards below the gimmick, rather than five. Proceed as above, having the selection returned twenty-first from the top. Then shuffle about eight to ten cards from top to bottom, and do a perfect out-faro to load the selection into the gimmick. This procedure allows you to add the gimmick to a normal pack, perform the card rise, then remove the gimmick, leaving you again with a full pack. Having mentioned disposing of the gimmick, here is a method of Mr. Elmsley's for accomplishing that task. Once the card has risen, lower the right hand, turning the fan face-down. With your left hand, remove the selection from the fan, turn it face-up and reinsert it into the fan, one card above the place it last occupied; that is, directly over the gimmick. Push the card into the fan for roughly a third of its length. Now separate the fan at the outjogged card and transfer the cards above the selection to the bottom, cutting the fan as you simultaneously close it in the left hand. This leaves the face-up selection outjogged on top of the pack, covering the threaded end of the gimmick. Raise the left hand, directing the face of the pack toward the audience and, with your right hand, remove the selection. Turn it face outward and replace it square on the pack as you lower the hands. Now, as you talk, casually spread the top three cards just enough to get a left fourth-finger break under the gimmick. Palm off the three cards above the break. Then produce the selection from your right-side pocket, treating this as an added fillip (while you leave the gimmick in the pocket). When working for magicians Mr. Elmsley will sometimes employ a variation of his "Late Night Location" (pp. 372-373) to place the selection in the gimmick. In this case, the upper half of the deck consists of twenty-five random cards, and the lower half contains twenty-five duplicates of those cards, arranged in reverse order to their doubles. Between the two banks is placed the rising card gimmick, which occupies positions twenty-six and twentyseven in the pack. Hold the deck face-down in left-hand dealing position, threaded end of the gimmick turned toward you, and ask a spectator to cut off a small group of cards. His cut must be confined to the upper half of the pack. Have him look at the card on the face of his packet, then shuffle the packet, losing the selection. With your right hand, lift a block of cards from the portion left you, cutting just a couple of cards below the gimmick, and ask that

3 8 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY the spectator replace his packet on the cards in your left hand. Drop the right hand's packet onto this, burying his cards. The gimmick now lies somewhere in the upper half of the pack, probably about ten cards from the top. Divide the deck at center and perform one in-faro shuffle. This shuffle loads a duplicate of the selection into the gimmick. You can now fan the deck and make the card rise, as previously explained. If you are working under close conditions, and fear that spectators may spot duplicate cards in the fan, you can perform the rise with the backs of the cards toward the audience; or you can eliminate the fanning, and do the rise in the traditional manner, from a squared pack. Before closing the subject of suitable faro controls for this trick, it should be mentioned that the fan and weave control (see pp. 335336) can be adapted to good effect. Position the gimmick on top of the pack, threaded end inward, with one card covering it. Then secretly learn the identity of the twenty-sixth card from the top (or the twenty-seventh if you have added the gimmick to a full pack), using a faro check or any other efficient method. Set the deck facedown before a spectator and ask him to cut off a small packet: roughly a third of the deck. He then notes the card at the face of the packet he has removed, lifts about half of the tabled cards, and sandwiches his initial packet between the two portions. You now retrieve the deck and give it a fan shuffle: Spot your key card in the fanned upper half of the pack and insert the fanned bottom half two cards below the key; that is, two cards nearer the face of the right hand's fan. Let the fans collapse into each other, square the deck and cut a few cards from top to bottom. This places the gimmick approximately thirteen from the face. Now do an in-faro shuffle to load the selection into the gimmick; and perform the rise. All of these methods are excellent, and the rise is astonishing. There are several subtle elements that will worry fellow magicians and intelligent spectators. First, the control of the selection is extremely difficult to fathom. Then there is the question of how it is set for the rise. Finally, the freedom with which the cards are handled, shuffled and fanned seems to negate all the usual rising card methods. These assets, combined with the inherent appeal of the rising card effect, make this as straightforward and baffling a feat of card magic as could be wished.

Chapter Seven:

Stray Stacks

COMPUTER DATING Effect: A shuffled deck is placed face-down before someone and he is asked to cut off a small packet, remove the card on its face and pocket it. He then cuts the remainder of the packet into the deck, losing it. The performer gives the deck a precautionary shuffle for the sake of fairness, then spreads it face-down across the table. After a moment's deliberation, he pushes one card from the spread. The spectator is asked to bring his card from his pocket and show it to everyone. The performer then turns over the card he pushed from the pack to show it a perfect match to the spectator's. Throughout the effect, the performer never looks at the faces of the cards; nor, it is clear to the audience, would marked backs be an explanation for what they have witnessed. Method: Some readers will have noticed that in the trick "Late Night Location" (pp. 372-373) the arrangement of the special deck is a variety of stay-stack. In 1958, a week after he invented the stay-stack concept, Mr. Elmsley received his first copy of The Cardiste and found that roughly a year earlier "Rusduck" had discovered the same idea (see No. 1, Feb. 1957, pp. 12-16). Mr. Elmsley immediately wrote to congratulate him, and to pass on a couple of notions concerning the stack. As the reader will by now have surmised, the deck used in "Computer Dating" is arranged in stay-stack order; that is, the bottom half of the pack mirrors the order of the top half. The mate to the top card lies on the bottom, the mate to the card second from the top rests second from the bottom, and so on. At center the twentysixth and twenty-seventh cards are mates. Expressed as a formula, the stack looks like this: A1-B1-C1-D1-E1... E^D^C.-B.-A, Excluding this specific distribution of the mates, the suits and values of the cards are otherwise random.

3 8 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY One of the attributes of the stay-stack is that perfect faro shuffles of either the in or out variety will conserve the reflected ordering of the top and bottom halves. For the trick under discussion, the card twenty-sixth from the top must be crimped or edge marked for easy location. If you wish to faro shuffle the deck before the selection is made, begin with the crimped or marked card on the bottom and retain it there with out-faros. When you have shuffled as much as you wish, cut the deck at center and complete the cut, thus placing the prepared card at twenty-six. Since a set of mates always lies at center in a stay-stack arrangement, these cards function helpfully as guides for the cut: splitting the deck between them guarantees an even division. Alternatively, you can eliminate the cut by positioning the key card seventh from the bottom. If you now give the deck first an in-faro, then an out-faro, the key will be transported to twenty-sixth from the top. (Similar shuffling and positioning procedures can be used with the "Late Night Location" deck.) Lay the deck face-down before someone and request that he cut off a small packet, something less than half the deck. Have him slip the card on the face of the packet into his pocket. Look away as he does this, pointing out that even if the cards were marked, which they are not, you have seen neither face nor back of the card he has chosen. When the card is out of sight, turn back to him and ask that he give the remainder of his packet a mix. When he has finished, cut the deck at the key card or very close beneath it, and ask that he place his packet onto the tabled portion. Drop the packet you have cut away square onto his and invite him to give the deck one or two straight cuts, to lose his packet further. Pick up the deck, split it at center and perform a perfect faro shuffle. Since there are now only fifty-one cards in the pack, one packet will contain twenty-five cards, and the other twenty-six. It does not matter which portion is the lesser one; simply weave the smaller packet into the larger, executing a straddle faro. Square the pack and note the approximate position of the key card. Then ribbon spread the deck face-down, sight the key and push out the card immediately below it. This, thanks to the mathematics of the staystack and the faro shuffle, is the mate to the card in the spectator's pocket. Have him bring out his selection and show it to everyone, after which you reveal the match. If you prefer, rather than spreading the deck, you can use the key card as a guide to cut or stab to the mate in the pack. [circa 1958]

EMPTY AND FULL Effect: The plot is similar to that of "Computer Dating". The deck is shuffled, then cut into two even piles. A spectator is offered a selection of either half. He cuts this packet once or several times, until he is satisfied that the cards at top and face are random ones. He is then given the choice of either card and told to place it in his pocket while the performer turns away. The spectator drops his packet onto the rest of the deck and buries it by cutting the cards. The performer takes the pack and gives it a shuffle. Then he runs quickly through the cards and throws one onto the table. When the spectator removes the card from his pocket, the performer's card is found a perfect match in both value and color. Method: The stay-stack is again responsible for the location of the mate to the spectator's selection; but the method of identification is entirely different from that used in "Computer Dating". Give the stay-stacked pack a faro shuffle or two and divide it at center (between the centered pair of mates). As you do this, glimpse the bottom cards of both halves and remember them. You needn't remember suits, just values and colors; for example, red ace, black seven. Don't separate the halves just yet. With your left fourth-finger, retain a break between them as you hold the deck face-down and talk for a few moments. Then casually cut at the break and set the halves face-down in front of a spectator. Because of the nature of the stay-stack, you now know the top and bottom cards of both halves. The mate to the top card of one half lies on the face of the other, and vice versa. Again, all you need remember are the values and colors of the two glimpsed cards. Invite the spectator to pick up either half and give it one or more straight cuts. When he is satisfied that you could know neither the top nor bottom card of his packet, tell him he has a choice of either one. If he wishes, he can cut again before he decides between the two. Turn your head away and tell him to place the card of his choice into his pocket. Once the card is out of sight, turn back to him and

3 8 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY ask that he drop the half he holds onto the tabled half. Then have him give the pack a straight cut to bury his portion. Pick up the deck and give it one perfect straddle faro. It does not matter if the top half is woven into the bottom, or the bottom into the top. Square the cards and turn them faces toward you. Then quickly run through them, watching for any of your four key cards (red aces, black sevens). The two keys from one half will lie together in the deck; ignore this "empty" pair. The other two keys will have one card sandwiched between them. This is the mate to the selection. Remove it from the pack and reveal the match. In the unlikely event that the spectator happens to choose one of your key cards, after the shuffle you will find the remaining three keys together in the pack. The center card of the three is the mate to the selection.

WEDDED AMBITIONS Effect: The deck is shuffled and cut into two even piles. A spectator freely chooses either, looks through the cards it contains and removes one. This she keeps, while the performer reassembles the deck and gives it a shuffle. The spectator now turns up her card, showing everyone what she has chosen. She is told to give the pack a tap with it as she thinks of the mate to the card. This simple action causes the mate to rise magically to the top of the deck. Method: The deck is set in stay-stack order. Give it one or two faro shuffles as you talk, and form a break at center (between the centered mates). Continue to chat for a moment; then cut the deck at the break and set the halves face-down on the table. Have a spectator point to either half she wishes to use. Pick this up and hold it with the faces of the cards turned toward her. It should be clear that you cannot see the faces as you now spread the cards from hand to hand and invite her to draw any card she wishes from the group. When she takes one, catch a break at the point of removal and square the cards. Lower the packet to a face-down position and cut it at the break. Complete the cut and obtain a fresh break between the two portions. Now pick up the unused half pack on the table and drop it onto the held half. Cut the deck at the break and complete the cut. The mate to the spectator's card now rests twenty-sixth from the top of the deck. To bring it to the top, split the pack between the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth cards, as if for a faro shuffle; and, if you are sure of your accuracy, cut at that point. Otherwise, perform a straddle faro as a check and, if the cut is good, complete the shuffle. Should the cut be inaccurate, strip the packets apart, make the necessary adjustment, and cut the pack to bring the required card to the top.

3 9 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Set the deck onto the table. Then invite the spectator to turn up her card and tap the deck with it while she thinks of its mate. Conclude by turning up the top card to reveal that the mate has apparently been drawn there by some strange attraction.

TOPSY-TURVY STAY-STACK (A Problem) Mr. Elmsley became Intrigued by a suggestion in The Cardiste that tricks might be generated using a double-decked stay-stack arrangement. That is, two decks with contrasting backs—one running in reverse order to the other—are woven together. He wrote to Rusduck with the following idea. If you wish to begin with two fresh packs of cards, still in factory order, and you do not want to reverse one before meshing the packs together, try this instead: Set one pack onto the other and cut them several times. Conclude the cutting with roughly half of one pack above the other and the other half below. Since the decks have contrasting backs, this is not difficult to ascertain. Now split the double pack at center: fifty-two and fifty-two. Turn one of these halves face-up and faro shuffle it into the face-down half. Give the double pack several more perfect shuffles and you will have a set of cards that looks thoroughly mixed in more ways than one. What is interesting is that the deck is in stay-stack order. That is, the top card and the bottom card are duplicates. However, they have contrasting backs and one will be face-up and the other facedown. The same conditions hold for the cards second from the top and bottom, and so on. Mr. Elmsley's last comment to Rusduck on the subject was "Don't ask me what tricks you can use this for." Perhaps this amounts to no more than an inside joke. Yet, the structure of this double pack is fascinating and seems to hold promise for tricks of some sort. Perhaps its mention here will stimulate fresh thinking on the subject. February 1958

PARITY FAILURE Effect: After shuffling the pack, the performer hands it to someone and has him cut it. The spectator completes the cut, then deals out five face-down rows of five cards each. It is explained that he can turn over any four cards of the layout that form the corners of a rectangle. The rectangle can be of any size and shape, so long as the cards at its corners lie at the intersections of two rows and two columns. In Figure 244, two such rectangles are indicated; one by Xs at its corners, the _ other by Os. The spectator can turn over as many quadruplets as he wishes, turning the same cards over again should they be shared by adjoining rectangles. The result is a haphazard arrangement of face-up and face-down cards, determined by the spectator's whims. The performer does not watch as the cards are turned this way and that. Instead he walks to another part of the room, taking the balance of the deck with him. When the spectator has finished turning cards, he is asked to decide on one. It can lie either face-up or

STRAY STACKS 3 9 3 face-down. He is told to mark the card by setting some small object on it: a coin, a matchbook, a pencil. This is to avoid confusion later in the trick. He is now asked to call out the condition of each card, telling the performer only if it is face-up or face-down. However, when he comes to the card he has chosen, he is to lie about its condition. If it is faceup, he should say it is face-down, and if face-down, he should say it is face-up. As he calls his way through the twenty-five cards, the performer, at another table, lays out his cards in an identical pattern. He gazes a moment at his layout; then, without a question, he names the chosen card. Method: Here is a variation on the "Pack of Lies" plot (pp. 100106), with a method founded on an entirely different principle. The deck must be secretly arranged in a simple stack. The only rule of this stack is that each pair of mates be twenty-six cards apart. That is, if the top card is the three of hearts, the twenty-seventh card must be the three of diamonds; if the card third from the top is the nine of spades, the card twenty-ninth from the top must be the nine of clubs. This stack may be given any number of straight cuts without upsetting its arrangement. Besides the stacked deck, you will require two tables with surfaces large enough to lay out five rows of five cards each. Begin by giving the deck a false shuffle or a quick series of straight cuts that simulates an overhand shuffle. When finished, hand the deck to a spectator and have him cut the cards and complete the cut. Then tell him to deal a row of five face-down cards from left to right. Below this have him deal a second row in the same fashion, and a third below that, and so on, until twenty-five cards have been dealt into five rows (Figure 244). Take the balance of the pack from him and clearly explain how he is to turn over four cards at a time. As already explained, each group of four must fall at the corners of a rectangle, though each rectangle can be of any length and width the spectator desires. Cards turned once are turned again if they happen to rest at the corners of more than one rectangle. To make the rules of procedure clear, point out several examples of rectangles in the layout, but turn none of the cards over during the explanation. Once the procedure is understood, walk across the room to the second table. While keeping your back to the spectator, repeat your instructions clearly and succinctly. "Now will you turn over any foursome. Have you done that? Good. Do the same thing again. Of course, if one of the four cards is one you have already

3 9 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY turned face-up, this time turn it face-down. Keep turning over foursomes until the cards are well mixed, face-up and face-down. "Are you satisfied? Fine. Now I want you to choose any one of your twenty-five cards. Don't move it—just decide which one you want. It can be one of the face-up ones or one of the face-down. It doesn't matter. So that you don't forget which one it is, lay something on it: a coin, a pencil, a matchbook, anything that's handy. "Now I want you to call out all your cards in the order you dealt them, from the first card to the last. Don't tell me what they are. Just say whether each is face-up or face-down. For example, you might call, 'Up, up, down, up, down,' and so on. But, when you come to the card you've chosen, lie about it. If it's face-down, say it's faceup; and if it's face-up, say it's face-down. Do you understand? Go ahead then." As the spectator runs through his layout, form a duplicate of it, dealing cards from the top of the face-down packet you hold. When the layout is completed, two cards will remain in your hand. Keep them. Because only twentyfive cards (one less than half the pack) were dealt by the spectator, the mates in the two layouts are staggered. The mate of each card in his layout lies one card further along in yours. With the cards turned randomly up and down, anyone comparing the two configurations would be hard pressed to detect this offset affinity. To discover the location of the chosen card, first examine each of your five rows for an odd number of face-up cards. Any row with all its cards face-down is discounted in this search. You will find that only one row contains an odd number

STRAY STACKS 3 9 5 of face-up cards. Now inspect the five columns. Again you will find there is but one with an odd number of face-up cards. Figure 245 shows one such configuration of the cards. The card that lies at the intersection of the odd row and odd column corresponds in position to the selection in the spectator's layout—and the card one position further in your layout is the mate of that card. Should the spectator's selection lie at the right end of the bottom row (that is, if it is the last card dealt), its mate is the top card of the pair in your hand. If the mate lies face-up in your layout, note it and name the spectator's card. However, if it is face-down, rather than openly turn it over, sweep your cards together and glimpse the mate as you do this. Then, as you square the cards, name the selection and conclude. See Karl Fulves' book, Curloser (sic), pages 59-61, for interesting variations on "Parity Failure" by Charles Hudson and Roy Walton. In the next trick, another divination of a card is made possible by a spectator's lie. However, with this method, only three cards are dealt, and the spectator retains the entire deck throughout. 1979

TELL ME THREE TIMES Effect: The performer hands out a shuffled deck and turns his back. The person holding the pack is instructed to cut it, complete the cut and deal the three cards cut to the top face-up onto the table. He then mentally selects one of the three. The performer asks that the spectator name the three cards for him, but that he lie about the identity of his selection. Without a question, the performer determines the fictitious card, then divines its real name. Method: A stack is again at the root of the mystery. The stack can be any of the common systems; e.g., Eight Kings, Si Stebbins, Hungry Jackass. Give the deck a false shuffle and hand it to someone. Turn your back and have him give the pack one or two cuts before dealing the top three cards from left to right in a faceup row. "I want you to think of one of those three cards. Have you got one? Good. Now name the cards aloud from left to right—but when you come to the card you're thinking of, lie. Name some completely different card in its place. Do you understand?" You know the three cards must be in your stacked sequence. To ascertain the counterfeit then is a matter of simple logic. Ask yourself these questions: 1) Do the first two cards named follow the stack arrangement? If they do, the third card must be the mental selection and its true identity is the next card in the sequence. 2) If the first two cards do not follow your arrangement, do the second card and the third? If they do, he must be lying about the first card, and its real identity is that of the card preceding the second in your sequence. 3) Do neither the first and second nor the second and third cards follow the arrangement? Then the second card must be the selection, and its identity is that of the card following the first in the sequence.

STRAY STACKS 3 9 7 Here are several examples to illustrate the method of deduction. In them it is assumed the arrangement being used is the Eight Kings stack, with the suits ordered in CHaSeD rotation. The spectator calls out the king of clubs, eight of diamonds and ten of spades. He must be lying about the second card, as neither the first nor the last pair follow the sequence; and since the three of hearts follows the king of clubs in the proper sequence, this must be the card chosen. He names the Jour of spades, ace of diamonds and nine of diamonds. The first two cards follow the arrangement, so the third card must be the false one. The card that should follow the ace of diamonds in the sequence is the six of clubs. This, then, is his card. Don't merely blurt out the name of the card when you have determined it. Play with the situation. Have a little fun with it and build the drama. Here is an example of how this can be accomplished: You have just identified the selection for yourself as the third card of the row. "I need a few more samples of your voice when you are lying. Will you pick up the card on your left, hold it in your left hand and say, 'I am holding this card in my right hand.' Humm. Now say, 'This is not my card.' Yes, that sounded like the truth. Put that card back in the pack. "Pick up the card now on the left of the row and say, 'This is the card.' No, that was certainly a lie. Put that card in the pack. "Now pick up the last card and name the suits: hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades. Yes, I think I got that. Now name the values: ace, two, three and so on, up to the king. Fine. Now say, 'My card is the queen of clubs.' No, that's not quite right. Try this: 'My card is the six of clubs.' Yes, that's finally the truth! That's it!" The trick is baffling, easy to do and most entertaining, as a few performances will prove. 1980

FUTURE STOCK Effect: Two spectators are each invited to cut off a packet of cards from the deck. While the performer has his back turned, they silently count their packets and hide them in their pockets. He then turns back to them and asks one spectator to concentrate on his number. Taking a pen from his pocket, he looks for something to write on and finally settles on a card from the deck. On the face of this he writes a prediction. He then asks the spectator to take up the balance of the pack and count off as many cards from it as he has cut and pocketed. These he deals face-up. The card arrived at is noted by everyone. The performer turns to the second spectator and writes a second message on the prediction card. He then has this person count off cards from the talon equal to her number. The card resting at that number is also noted. When the performer hands over his card, his predictions are found to be wholly accurate: on the face of the card are clearly written the names of both spectators' random selections. Method: In the preceding trick Mr. Elmsley cleverly exploited a classic deck arrangement. Here, such an arrangement, the Si Stebbins system, is used in a most unusual manner. The basis of the trick is the ancient one-ahead dodge, but a cunning deck stack lends fresh mystery to this ancient principle. The stack employed is not the Si Stebbins arrangement but, strangely, the Stebbins sequence plays an important part in it. From top to face, the deck reads as shown in the chart on the opposite page. The fifteen positions listed as "indifferent cards" can be filled with any of the cards not specified elsewhere in the stack (2C, 9C, JC, 3H, 7H, 10H, QH, AS, 9S, 10S, QS, KS, JD, QD, KD). If desired, you can give the cards a false shuffle before starting. Then set the deck face-down on the table and ask two persons to help by each cutting off a small packet: anything up to a dozen cards apiece. Turn your back while they do this. Then have them silently count the cards they hold and hide them in a pocket.

STRAY STACKS 3 9 9 Indifferent Card

Eight of Clubs

Jack of Hearts

Indifferent Card

Indifferent Card

Nine of Diamonds

Indifferent Card

Jack of Spades

Ace of Hearts

Three of Spades

Queen of Clubs

Indifferent Card

Aces of Clubs

Ten of Clubs

Indifferent Card

Seven of Clubs

Four of Spades

Five of Hearts

Six of Diamonds

Indifferent Card

Two of Diamonds

Six of Clubs

Indifferent Card

Eight of Diamonds

Four of Hearts

Ace of Diamonds

King of Hearts

Indifferent Card

Six of Spades

Eight of Hearts

Indifferent Card

Six of Hearts

Seven of Diamonds

Four of Diamonds

Eight of Spades

Indifferent Card

Three of Diamonds

Five of Spades

Indifferent Card

King of Clubs

Five of Clubs

Three of Clubs

Nine of Hearts

Indifferent Card

Two of Hearts

Ten of Diamonds

Indifferent Card

Five of Diamonds

Seven of Spades

Two of Spades

Four of Clubs

Indifferent Card

When they have finished, turn back to them and ask one of the spectators to concentrate on his number. Stare intently into his eyes and appear to divine his thought. Bring out a pen to write a prediction, but then notice that you have nothing to write it on. (Do make sure that this is indeed the case before you begin the trick.) Improvising, pick off the top card of the cards remaining of the table and use it. Treat this act as if it is of no importance. Just jot the prediction on the face of the card, writing in the lower half. This prediction consists of the name of the card next in sequence to that you are writing on. That sequence follows the classic Si Stebbins arrangement. The value of the card you hold is increased by three and the suit is advanced to the next in CHaSeD rotation. An example: if the card you hold is the nine of diamonds, you would write down "queen of clubs"—9 + 3 = 1 2 (queen), and clubs falls after diamonds in CHaSeD order. This is the card you write as a prediction. Have the spectator take up the talon and deal as many cards into a face-up pile as he removed and placed in his pocket. When he stops dealing, remark, "So the card at your number is the..." and name the last card dealt. Turn to the second spectator and have her think of her number. In response you write down the name of the card just turned up. This you do on the upper half of the card, above the first name. The positioning of the names is designed to imply that the cards were written in reverse order to that actually employed. Ask that the second spectator now deal cards face-up until she reaches her number. The card at the end of the count will be the one you first recorded. "The card at your number is the..." Name

4 0 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY the card on the face of the second pile. Now summarize briefly: "Two numbers merely thought of, and the two random cards that rested at those numbers. Will you now read my predictions aloud." Hand the card to someone for him to proclaim your success. April 1974

THROUGH DARKEST PEIRCE Effect: "A card sharp, to be successful, must possess an exceptional memory and a clear mind. Not only must he remember all the cards he sees, he must follow their positions as they are shuffled and dealt into hands, and as they are picked up again. To complicate matters, the number of hands may vary as people leave or join the game. A magician has an advantage over a card sharp in this. Let me show you." The performer removes about a quarter of the deck and sets the rest aside. He gives the packet a shuffle or two, as he explains: "To speed up the demonstration, I'll use only a few cards. If I were a sharper, I would have memorized their order. They are now randomly mixed; but the card sharp must follow them past this, as they are dealt out and gathered. Will someone suggest a number of hands?" A number is decided on and the packet is dealt face-down into that many hands. The hands are gathered and dealt out again into any number of hands called for by the audi-ence. This can be repeated as many times as desired, but two or three rounds usually satiate the average group's appetite for mixing. "You will agree that the cards are well mixed. However, being a magician, I shall add to the challenge by having a card chosen. We'll take one by chance. This card on the top of the packet is a seven, so we'll choose the seventh card." The seventh card from the top of the packet is counted to and shown. It is an ace. "Now we'll mix the cards with one more deal; say, five hands." The cards are dealt and gathered. "I told you earlier that a magician has his own way of following the order of the cards. He does so by making use of the sympathy that exists between certain cards. For example, what card did you choose?" The performer is told it was the ace of hearts. He reaches for the portion of the pack that was set aside in the beginning. This he ribbon spreads and the ace of diamonds is seen reversed in the middle. The partial deck is cut and the face-up ace brought to the top. Then the top card of the other packet is turned up: it is the ace of hearts.

4 0 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY "That's what I mean by sympathy—and here's how it helps me keep track of all these cards we mixed." Cards from the tops of the two piles are now turned face-up in unison, and each pair is seen to consist of mates: black sevens, black nines, red tens, and so on. Every card in the mixed packet is unaccountably matched by a corresponding card from the deck. Method: This effect depends on the second mathematical principle found in a 1860 card trick by Charles S. Peirce, published in The Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Vol. 4, page 473. (For further information on this trick, see "Peirce Arrow" in Volume I, pp. 397-398.) Mr. Peirce's formula has been melded here with Herbert Milton's "Sympathetic Clubs" plot, and embroidered with an unusual presentation. The trick, Mr. Elmsley points out, holds more fascination for magicians than for laymen, and is therefore better suited to performances before one's peers. Here is the working. An arrangement must be made. Remove thirteen cards from the deck: ace through king in mixed suits. Order these cards from top to face as follows: ace-seven-nine-ten-eight-jack-twofive-three-four-six-queen-king Then remove the thirteen mates to these cards and arrange them in the same order. Turn the ace face-up on one of the two groups and insert this packet into the center of the remaining half deck. All cards, aside from the ace, should be face-down. Drop the other thirteen-card packet face-down on top of the deck. You are now ready to perform. Introduce the effect as explained above and, as you do so, casually spread over the top thirteen cards, maintaining their order. Remove these cards from the deck and set the balance to one side. If you wish, you can give the packet one or more straddle faros; that is, cut the top six cards from the packet and weave them into the bottom seven cards—the top and bottom cards of the bottom portion become the top and bottom cards of the shuffled packet. These faro shuffles are optional. Explain that you wish to mix the cards in a way resembling that which would occur in a card game. Ask someone to specify the number of hands in the game. The number will normally fall within the range of two to seven. If a number higher than seven is named, point out that you have too few cards to make this practical and ask for something lower. Deal the thirteen cards face-down into the desired number of hands. Then gather the hands. Here, the Peirce gathering formula is applied. However, Mr. Elmsley has simplified it to the following three patterns:

STRAY STACKS 4 0 3 If two, three, Jour, or six hands are dealt, assemble the piles in the order they were created: drop the first hand onto the second, these onto the third, and so on. If seven hands are dealt, assemble the piles in reverse order, starting with the sixth pile. That is, place pile six onto five, these onto four, and so on, until all piles have been gathered but the seventh. This pile contains only one card. Drop all the gathered packets onto this card. If Jive hands are dealt, use both hands at once to gather the piles. With the left hand, pick up pile three and, with the right hand, simultaneously pick up pile four. Move these two packets over the first two piles, drop pile three onto pile one, and pile four onto pile two. With the left hand, pick up the combined third and first piles, and with the right hand pick up the combined fourth and second piles. Drop the right hand's packet onto the fifth pile and the left hand's packet onto the lot. With any of these gathering patterns, you will find that the king always becomes the top card. Double cut or slip the king to the bottom of the packet after each gather. You may deal the packet and gather it as many times as you like, letting the audience specify the number of hands to be dealt on each round. However, two or three rounds are sufficiently convincing for most groups. To complicate matters further, you can insert straddle faros (top portion into bottom) between each round if you like. Just be certain to return the king to the face of the packet after each gathering, and to retain it there during the shuffles. Throughout the dealing and shuffling, emphasize that the gambler must remember cards and their shifting positions. This feat will seem particularly difficult in your case, as you have not yet seen the faces of the cards. When the last gathering of hands is made, glimpse the bottom card of the packet before you return the king to the face. Remember the value of this card. Then suggest that the exercise be complicated by having one of the cards chosen. Turn up the top card of the packet and display it. Then replace the card face-down on the packet and use its value to arrive at a seemingly random card. (The jack is counted as eleven and the queen as twelve.) The card arrived at, however, is not quite random. It will always be the ace, thanks to an attribute of the stack. Do not reverse the order of the cards as you count. Take each card under the previous one until you arrive at the desired number; then hold the face of the counted cards toward the audience, giving everyone a chance to note the ace. Drop the counted cards back onto the packet.

4 0 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY You will now perform one last round of dealing and gathering, and with this round you will bring the packet back to its original order. Suggest, "We'll mix the cards with one more deal—say, five hands." This time you nonchalantly nominate the number of hands. This number corresponds to the value of the card you previously glimpsed on the face of the packet. By dealing the packet into that many hands, gathering it in the manner already explained, and cutting the king from the top to the bottom, the packet will be returned to its original order: ace-seven-nine-ten-eight-jack-two-flve-three-foursix-queen-king. All that remains is to ribbon spread the portion of the pack placed aside earlier, revealing the face-up ace in the middle. Separate the spread at the ace and gather the cards, bringing the ace and setup to the top. Set the squared deck beside the packet and turn up the ace on the packet. Lay both aces face-up in front of their piles. Then say, "That's what I mean by sympathy—and here's how it helps me keep track of all these cards we mixed." Turn up the top cards of each packet in unison and lay them onto the aces. They are matching sevens. Continue to turn up pairs of matching cards until the smaller packet is exhausted. There is one detail yet to be explained. What if the card you glimpse toward the finish of the mixing is an ace or has a value higher than seven? This card determines how many hands will be dealt on the last round. An ace would mean that you would simply deal the packet into a single pile, reversing its order. While this does restore the packet to the necessary sequence, it is not an acceptable procedure for this presentation. And dealing more than seven hands becomes cumbersome. Though these contingencies are covered by Peirce's original formula, nonetheless, it is best to avoid them. How? By giving the packet one or several straddle faros (top portion into bottom), until a two, three, four, five, six or seven moves into position above the king; that is, second from the face of the packet. For the mathematically inclined, Mr. Elmsley offers a formula to calculate the position of any card in a packet of any size, after the cards have been dealt into any number of hands and gathered, following the Peirce system: If P = the number of cards in the packet, h = the number of hands dealt, n0 = the original position of the card to be tracked, counting from any card as a reference card, nt = the position of the card after the deal, and if h is prime to P, then— hnl =n0(mod. P)

STRAY STACKS 4 0 5 If the cards are dealt out twice, first into h1 hands, then into h2 hands, the resulting order will equal h1 x hjmod. P). If the packet is given x faro shuffles, the order will be identical to that achieved if the cards had been dealt into h hands, where— 2xh = l(mod. P)

While Mr. Elmsley has not rigorously proven these results, they have held for all cases he has tested. Having here treated the topic of gambling games, we will stay with the subject for one further excursion. However, sympathetic cards are swapped for sympathetic thoughts, and an entirely different method is introduced. September 1957

BLIND STUD Effect: A shuffled pack is handed to someone who, when the performer turns his back, cuts the deck, completes the cut and deals stud poker hands for himself and three others. The four players are asked not to look at their hole cards yet, but to tell the performer what promising poker combinations appear in their face-up cards. Specific cards are not named—just playable combinations like pairs, three of kind, etc. This information is less than would be had by any player in the game, but the performer keeps his back turned, to allay suspicions of marked cards. After hearing the strength of the players' hands, the performer comments on the merits of each, its chances of winning, and the likelihood of it being improved by the unknown hole card. This, he explains, is the sort of reasoning a good gambler must depend on. However, he is a magician, not a gambler, and he depends on magic. He then proceeds to prove it by naming each player's unseen card, after which he specifies the winning hand on the table. Method: This trick and the three that follow it are all based on Gray codes. Gray codes are special series in which all portions of a specified length are unique in sequence. Such series have been used by mathematicians for centuries. Recently Persi Diaconis discovered a magic trick published in 1584 that contains a simple Gray code. This appears in Jean Prevost's Premiere Partie des Subtiles et Plaisantes Inventions, possibly the earliest extant Western book on conjuring. Until the twentieth century, however, the principle was rarely used. It wasn't until the 1960s that a strong interest in these arrangements, particularly as applied to playing cards, flourished. This movement was marshalled by Karl Fulves, who borrowed the term Gray code from the field of mathematics and introduced it into magic's vocabulary (ref. "Other Voices II", Pallbearers Review, Vol. 3, No. 10, August 1968, p. 201). Mr. Fulves, Roy Walton, Phil Goldstein and others built on previous work by Charles Jordan,

STRAY STACKS 4 0 7 Larsen and Wright, and Bob Hummer to come up with some fascinating methods; and most recently Leo Boudreau has done extensive work on the subject (see his books, Psimatrika, Spirited Pasteboards and Skullduggery). In the early 1970s, Mr. Elmsley too became intrigued with Gray codes, and what follows are the fruits of that interest. To accomplish the effect under discussion, the deck must be stacked from top to bottom. The stack is this:

Eight of Spades

King of Clubs

Jack of Spades

Five of Clubs

Two of Hearts

Two of Clubs

Eight of Hearts

Ten of Diamonds

Queen of Diamonds Ace of Clubs

Queen of Hearts

Ace of Spades

Jack of Clubs

Tne of Spades

Nine of Diamonds Jack of Diamonds

Nine of Spades

Seven of Hearts

Two of Spades

Three of Diamonds

Ten of Clubs

Three of Hearts

Three of Clubs

Nine of Hearts

Four of Hearts

Six of Clubs

Nine of Clubs

Seven of Spades

Six of Hearts

King of Diamonds

Seven of Clubs

Four of Diamonds

King of Spades

Six of Spades

Three of Spades

Two of Diamonds

Four of Clubs

Eight of Clubs

Five of Diamonds

Queen of Spades

Seven of Diamonds

Five of Hearts

Ace of Diamonds

Six of Diamonds

Queen of Clubs

Ace of Hearts

Jack of Hearts

Ten of Hearts

King of Hearts

Four of Spades

Eight of Diamonds

Five of Spades

Give the pack a false shuffle and hand it to a spectator. Turn your back and have him give the cards one or two straight cuts before he deals four hands of stud poker. Beginning with the first hand and working around the table in the order the hands were dealt, ask each spectator not to mention the identities of his face-up cards, but to tell you what playable combinations he has. The only combinations that the stack permits are one pair, three of a kind and two pairs. When each person tells you what he holds, think of it as a single digit: All Cards Different... 1 One Pair 2 Three of a Kind 3 Two Pair 4 By the time you have heard the contents of the fourth hand, you will have a four-digit number. This number identifies the face-down hole cards in each person's hand, as shown in the following table:

4 0 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY 1112: 1113: 1121: 1122: 1123: 1124: 1131: 1132: 1143: 1211: 1212: 1213: 1214: 1222: 1223: 1232: 1234: 1241: 1243: 1311: 1312: 1321: 1412: 1431: 2112: 2114:

JS—2C—QD—AS 4C—7D—QC—KH 2C—QD—AS—7H 2S— 3C — 9C — 7C 7H—3H— 6C—KD IOC—4H—6H—KS 7D—QC—KH—JS 6D— 10H—5S—KC 2H—10D—QH—9S QD—AS—7H—3H 3D—9H—7S—4D 5D—AD—JH—8D 8S—9D—JD—1 OS 3C—9C —7C—3S 7S — 4D—2D — QS 3H — 6C— KD—6S 5C—8H—AC—JC 4H—6H—KS—4C 8C—5H—AH—4S QC—KH—JS —2C JH—8D—8S—9D 10H—5S—KC—2H JD—JOS—3D—9H 10D—0H—9S—IOC AS—7H—3H — 6C KC—2H— 10D—QH

2121: 2122: 2124: 2131: 2141: 2212: 2221: 2231: 2311: 2321: 2341: 2411: 2431: 3111: 3112: 3113: 3121: 3123: 3211: 3212: 3411: 4111: 4112: 4121: 4311: 4312:

3S—5 D—AD—JH 9H—7S—4D—2D 6S—8C—5H—AH AD—JH—8D—8S 9D-JD—JOS—3D 7C— 3S—5D—AD 9C—7C—3S—5D 4D—2D—gS—6D 2D—QS—6D— 10H 6C— KD—6S—8C 8H—AC—JC—2S 6H—KS—4 C—7 D 5H—AH—4S—5 C KH—JS—2 C—QD 9S—IOC—4H—6H QS—6D—10H—5S 8D—8S—9D—JD 4S—5C—8H—AC 5S—KC—2 H—10D KD—6S—8C—5H AC—JC—2S—3 C KS—4C—7D—QC JC—2S—3C—9C 1OS—3D—9 H—7S 0H—9S—IOC—4H AH—4S—5C—8H

To determine the identities of the four hole cards, you must refer to this table. A cue sheet is therefore necessary. This can be written on both sides of a card about playing-card size. The card is carried in a convenient pocket, from which it is secretly obtained while your back is turned. Note that, for each quartet of hole cards listed in the table, one of the cards is italicized. On the actual cue sheet, these entries are written in red. That card indicates the winning hand of the group, giving you one further piece of impressive information to divulge. On Mr. Elmsley's original cue sheet he also listed the values of each hand. This does increase the size of the list considerably,

STRAY STACKS 4 0 9 making it difficult to compress onto a single cue card. You can hide such an expanded list inside a book on winning poker strategy, which you openly refer to during the presentation. Given this book, the list can be broken into convenient shorter sections and distributed throughout the volume for quick reference. One last thought: if you use a mnemonic system, such as Nikola's, the cue sheets could list the cards by their mnemonic names. This permits you to close the book, put it away and chatter briefly, without danger of forgetting the cards before you are ready to name them. In this case, you would not worry about giving the values of the hands. 1980

MENTAL BOXER Effect: The performer riffle shuffles the cards in an erratic fashion, mixing face-up cards with face-down. This topsy-turvy mixture is given to someone, who is asked, when the performer turns his back, to cut the deck and deal six random cards into a row. Meanwhile, the performer brings out six blank-faced cards and lays them face-up into a similar row. He explains that he will try to see through the spectator's eyes. Though he has turned away, he hopes to be able to visualize the same six cards the spectator is regarding. "Even if I manage to do this, it is impossible for me to discern cards the faces of which you yourself cannot see. Therefore, I only ask that you tell me the location of any face-down cards in your row." When the performer is told this, he turns the corresponding blank cards face-down in his row. Staring at one end of the row the performer asks the spectator to concentrate on that card. If it is face-down, the spectator turns it over, allowing him to see the face. Astonishingly, the performer does divine the identity of the card. Opening a second deck, he removes that card and lays it over the end card in his blank-faced row. He asks the spectator to concentrate on another of the cards, and he correctly divines that as well. The corresponding blank card is covered with the proper card from the second pack. He continues in this manner until he has successfully received and named all six cards. Never in the procedure does the performer turn around, and the only information he is given about the six cards is whether they are face-up or face-down. Therefore, it seems that nothing short of telepathy can account for this remarkable discernment. Method: You will need two complete packs and six blank-faced cards. Both packs are stacked from top to face in the sequence given in the table on the next page:

STRAY STACKS 4 1 1 Eight of Hearts

Queen of Hearts

Five of Spades

Four of Hearts

Three of Spades

Seven of Diamonds

Ten of Hearts

Seven of Spades

Six of Hearts

King of Spades

Eight of Spades

Four of Clubs

Nine of Diamonds

King of Clubs

Six of Clubs

Eight of Clubs

Six of Diamonds

Nine of Hearts

King of Hearts

Three of Clubs

King of Diamonds

Three of Hearts

Queen of Diamonds Three of Diamonds Jack of Diamonds

Five of Diamonds

Four of Spades

Two of Diamonds

Queen of Spades

Ten of Diamonds

Ten of Clubs

Four of Diamonds

Jack of Hearts

Ten of Spades

Seven of Clubs

Jack of Spades

Nine of Spades

Jack of Clubs

Ace of Clubs

Queen of Clubs

Five of Hearts

Nine of Clubs

Two of Clubs

Seven of Hearts

Eight of Diamonds

Two of Hearts

Ace of Hearts

Ace ofSpades

Six of Spades

Ace of Diamonds

Two of Spades

Five of Clubs

You will notice that twenty-six cards in this arrangement are underlined. These cards must be turned face-up in one of the decks. (All cards in the second deck are left face-down.) When the twentysix cards are reversed, if the pack has even the slightest bridge in it, you will possess something that more resembles a cardboard concertina than a deck of cards. Press it flat under a book overnight to remove the opposing bends. Cut this pack between the thirtieth and thirty-first cards—the six of clubs and facing king of hearts—and turn the lower portion over, so that it appears to be face-down. Install a concave bridge in this portion and drop the upper packet onto it. The bridge will allow you to cut neatly between the two packets during performance. Slip this setup pack into its case. Carry the second stacked deck in a pocket, and the six blank-faced cards in another pocket. To perform, remove the first deck from its case and hold it facedown. As you introduce the effect, you can casually spread the top four cards and the bottom five without exposing faces. Square the pack and cut it at the bridge. Openly reverse the bottom portion, turning it apparently face-up, and perform one or two false riffle shuffles that retain the entire order of the pack; e.g., Shank shuffles or push-throughs. Take care on the first shuffle that, as you interlace the packets, the true condition of the cards is not exposed. When you are done, the deck should be in the order first stacked, with the face-down eight of hearts on top and the face-up five of clubs on the bottom. Ribbon spread the cards to exhibit their apparently random face-up face-down muddle, then square them and hand the pack to a spectator capable of following instructions.

4 1 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Explain that, when you turn your back, you want him to cut the deck into two piles, at any place he likes, and complete the cut. He is then to deal the top six cards he has cut to, arranging them from left to right in a row. They are to be dealt as they lie, whether faceup or face-down. While he is completing this task, bring out your six blank-faced cards and arrange them in a face-up row before you on another table. "I am going to use these blank cards as a model of yours. I cannot see your cards, but by concentrating on these blank faces, I hope to be able to view your cards as if through your eyes. Even if I manage to do this, it is impossible for me to discern cards the faces of which you yourself cannot see. Therefore, I only ask that you tell me the location of any face-down cards in your row. Working from left to right, let me know if any of the cards are now face-down." As the spectator specifies the positions of his face-down cards, turn the corresponding blank cards down in your row. "Fine. Now I want you to visualize the faces of the cards you can see. Concentrate on them for me. That's excellent. I can sense them lying on the table. The wood contrasts nicely with the faces of the cards. The first card I get an impression of is the one on the right end." You proceed to identify that card, first by color, then suit and value. How? The face-up face-down arrangement of the six cards before you constitutes a Gray code that identifies the right-end card of the spectator's row. It is calculated as follows: If the six cards before you are thought of as A, B, C, D, E and F, reading from left to right, assign a value of... A= 8

B=4

E =2

F=l

The four cards take on these values only if they rest face-down. Totaling the numbers for the face-down cards furnishes the value of the card on the right end of the spectator's row. The rules are these: 1) If the total is 0, 5, 10 or 15—that is, a multiple of five—the card is a king; 2) If the total is 1, 2, 3 or 4, the card will be of the same value; 3) If the total falls between 5 and 10, subtract one to arrive at the value of the card; and 4) If the total is above 10, subtract two to arrive at the value (11 = jack, and 12 = queen). We have so far ignored the two center cards, C and D. These identify the suit of the spectator's right-end card.

STRAY STACKS 4 1 3 IfC is and D is the suit is UP UP CLUBS UP DOWN HEARTS DOWN UP SPADES DOWN DOWN DIAMONDS If you think of UP as 0 and DOWN as 1, C and D form the binary numbers 0 through 3, and the suits follow CHaSeD order. Here are several examples of how the value and suit of a card is calculated. Assume t h a t the row reads UP-DOWN-DOWN-UPDOWN-UP. B and E are therefore face-down. B + E = 4 + 2 = 6. Six falls between 5 and 10, so we subtract 1. 6 - 1 = 5 . C is down and D up. Down-up = spades. Therefore, the spectator's card is the five of spades. Another: DOWN-UP-DOWN-DOWN-DOWN-DOWN. A, E and F are all down. A + E + F = 8 + 2 + l = l l . 11 is over 10, so we subtract 2. 1 1 - 2 = 9. C and D are both down. Down-down = diamonds. The spectator's card is the nine of diamonds. Once you have calculated the card, name it, dramatically developing its image. If it lies face-down in his row, have the spectator first turn it up. Now bring the second pack out of your pocket and spread quickly through it, locating the card just named. Remove this card from the pack and lay it face-up onto the right-end blank card. As you do so, glimpse one of the five cards that lie beyond the removed card in the pack; that is, a card nearer the top. These five are the other cards in the spectator's row, arranged in the precise order in which his cards lie. Square the pack and divine the card just glimpsed. When the spectator confirms it, remove that card and sight another. Continue in this manner until you have identified all six cards. Whenever possible, divine the face-up cards first, then name the face-down ones. This is a more dramatic mode of revelation. The calculation procedure is simple and requires little memory work. The arrangement of the cards makes your task easy, and it is incredible that you can deduce the identities of six cards with no more information than their face-up and face-down positions. This trick is Mr. Elmsley's refinement of Karl Fulves* "ESP in Gray" {Notesfrom Underground, pp. 55-58). Mr. Fulves in turn was inspired by Roy Walton's "Abacus Card Trick" {Faro and Riffle Technique, pp. 69-71). The interested reader also will want to check a later revision by Mr. Fulves, "Auto Abacus" in Curioser (sic), pages 46-50. 1981

KINGFISHER Effect: Four persons each choose a card from the deck. The performer removes a second pack of cards and, after first divining the colors and suits of the four selections, he removes four cards from his pack. These prove to be duplicates of the four cards held by the spectators. Method: You will need two decks of cards and three cue cards made from blank-faced cards with backs that match the second deck. Both decks are stacked in the following order from top to face: Ace of Spades Six of Spades Two of Hearts Queen of Hearts Five of Diamonds Five of Clubs Seven of Diamonds Four of Hearts Nine of Diamonds Six of Clubs

King of Spades Six of Hearts Seven of Hearts Three of Spades Three of Diamonds Four of Diamonds Jack of Hearts Jack of Clubs

Three of Hearts Ten of Hearts Seven of Spades Five of Spades Seven of Clubs Ace of Diamonds

Bight of Hearts

Nine of Clubs King of Diamonds

Five of Hearts Jack of Diamonds

Ten of Diamonds Nine of Hearts Four of Clubs

Eight of Diamonds

Two of Diamonds

King of Clubs Two of Spades

King of Hearts Jack of Spades Eight of Spades Ace of Hearts Ten of Clubs Queen of Clubs Ten of Spades Six of Diamonds Nine of Spades

Eight of Clubs

Ace of Clubs Queen of Spades Queen of Diamonds

Three of Clubs

Two of Clubs

Four of Spades

On the three blank-faced cards, write the following charts: Rl

C2—6S C3—9S C4—7C

S2—3C S3—9C S4—10S

Bl

H2—8D D2—10H H3—9D D3—9H H4—JH D4—5D

R4

Cl—2H SI—KH C2—QD S2—KD C3—AD S3—6D

R2

Cl—8S C3—AS C4—AC

SI—QC S3—8C S4—2S

B2

HI—4D Dl—7H H3—JD D3—3H H4—4H D4—10D

B4

HI—KS Dl—7S H2—6C D2—4C H3—JC D3—5C

R3

Cl— 9S SI—KC C2—4S S2—2C C4—IOC S4—JS

B3

HI—7D Dl—8H H2—2D D2—5H H4—6H D4—3D

PR

Cue Card No. 1

Cue Card No. 2

BBRR—QH RRBB—5S RBBR—AH BRRB—3S

Cue Card No. 3

STRAY STACKS 4 1 5 As an added visual aid, you might wish to print the red cards in red ink and the black cards in black. Place these three cue cards on the face or the top of the second stacked deck, where they can be easily consulted. In performance, bring out the first deck and false shuffle it, or give it a series of straight cuts that imitate an overhand shuffle. Request the assistance of four spectators and fan the deck, face toward them, casually showing its apparently mixed condition. Square the pack and have the first spectator cut it at any point. He then takes the card cut to. (Alternatively, you can spread the deck in your hands, have a card touched and break the spread at that point for the card to be removed.) Present the three cards resting below the first selection to the other three spectators in turn. Once the selections are made, dispose of the balance of the pack. (Mr. Elmsley recognizes the weakness of having all four cards removed sequentially from the same spot in the deck, and he has given much thought to procedures that would disguise this fact. However, it is difficult to devise a course of action that is sufficiently uncomplicated and straightforward. Consequently, he treats the selection of the cards nonchalantly, giving no great importance to it as the four are passed out. Two alternative procedures are mentioned later in this description.) To determine the identities of the four cards, you must first learn the ratio of colors. This requires a little fishing. However, the system of fishing that Mr. Elmsley has devised is designed to allow you to proceed in an assured and assertive manner, giving the audience the impression that you are always certain of the situation and are never hunting for clues. "I'm getting a jumble of images from the four of you. There is a mixture of red cards and black; of that I'm positive." The stack guarantees this to be the case. "I'm having difficulty, though, in determining which thoughts are coming from each of you. You are thinking of a red card. Am I right?" Indicate any one of the spectators. You have a fifty percent chance of being correct. If you miss, ask, "It isn't you? Then which of you is sending the red thought to me?" While this is a question, you deliver the line in a manner that seems to ask merely for confirmation of your statement rather than for information. Proceeding in this manner, you can quickly ascertain the colors of the four cards with a minimum of failure. If you find you have among the four cards two pairs of colors, bring out the second deck and fan it, faces toward you. Glance at the third cue card. At the bottom of this card is a chart labeled "PR". This stands for pairs. Thinking of the four selections in the order

4 1 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY they were made, find the corresponding red-black sequence among the four possibilities listed. For example, if the first and second spectators hold red cards, and the third and fourth blacks, locate RRBB on the cue card. Linked to this sequence is 5S, the five of spades. This is the card the fourth spectator is holding. Locate the five of spades in the deck. The three cards above it are the other three selections, in order. Now, with no further questioning, you can tell each person precisely what card he is holding. Or, if you wish, you can remove the four duplicates from your deck and display them in a dramatic fashion as each spectator shows his card. However, if this is done, cut the four selections to the face of the pack, then remove three cards from different parts of the deck. Secretly slip these cards behind the selections while pretending to place them on the face. This disguises the fact that all four cards lie together in the pack. If the four selections do not consist of two pairs of colors, they must have a three to one ratio. Determine which spectator is holding the odd-colored card. This is your first clue to the identity of the fourth card. If, for instance, the first spectator is holding the only red card of the group, glance at chart Rl on the first cue card. If the second spectator holds the odd red card, you would look at chart R2. R l , R2 and R3 are found on the first cue card, and R4 is on the third. If the odd card is black, you will consult charts Bl, B2 or B3 on the second cue card, or B4 on the third. You need one final bit of information to pinpoint the proper card: you must discover the odd suit of the three identical colors. The strategy used to determine the colors also can be used for the suits. "Among the three of you, I am receiving images of both clubs and spades." The stack assures that there will be a mixture of suits. "I believe the club image is coming from you." If the person you indicate is not thinking of a club, boldly demand, "Who then is thinking of the club?" The reply will lead you quickly to the holder of the odd suit. Again, the fishing is cunningly concealed behind assured statements, and the spectators don't feel they are giving you information; rather they are verifying your accuracy. If, say, the first, third and fourth spectators are holding black cards, and the third admits having the only club, you would consult chart R2 (as the second spectator holds a red card) and then C3 in that chart (clubs—third spectator). This leads you to AS. The fourth spectator, then, holds the ace of spades; and by finding this card in the deck you discover that the third person holds the two of clubs, the second the queen of diamonds, and the first the queen of spades.

STRAY STACKS 4 1 7 While this system is rather laborious to explain, in practice it is quick and easy. One might consider appending a further subtlety of Roy Walton's. Mr. Walton, in his "Abacus Card Trick" (ref. Fulves' Faro and Riffle Technique, pp. 69-71), used a one-way back pattern to convey red-black sequence information for a Gray code. By doing the same with the "Kingfisher" stack, one could avoid fishing for the initial color sequence of the selections. Just orient the backs of all the red cards in one direction, and the black cards in the other. One could go even further by marking the backs of the cards for suit; but then one might as well use a fully marked pack and forget entirely about Gray codes. The point of employing a Gray code arrangement is to avoid the use of gimmicked packs and to allow the freedom to perform this effect from across the room, where marked backs cannot be read. This is indeed possible with "Kingfisher", as the pack can be handed to one of the spectators and the selections made while you stand completely away from the group. Returning to the problem of disguising the sequential location of the selections as they are removed from the first pack, here are two possible approaches suggested by Mr. Elmsley: 1) Hand the deck to one spectator and have him cut it into four reasonably equal packets. Ask all four spectators to pick up a packet, while you secretly note which of the four takes the largest. Ask one of the other three to cut his packet, then deal a card from the packet onto each of the other packets. Have the other spectators, one by one, follow the same procedure, saving the person with the largest packet for last. Watch how he cuts. If he cuts too near the top, taking fewer than three cards, or too near the bottom, leaving fewer than four, the trick will fail. However, since he has the largest packet, it is most unlikely that he would cut so eccentrically. After the cut he deals a card onto each of the other three packets, just as his colleagues have done. Now each spectator peeks at the top card of his packet and remembers it. These four cards have all come sequentially from the last spectator's packet, but this is obscured by all the cutting and dealing. (This procedure has been adapted from an ace trick by Steve Belchou. See "A Four Ace Set Up" by Oscar Weigle in Dragon, Vol. 8, No. 6, June 1939, p. 7.) 2) Have one of the spectators give the deck a straight cut. Then tell him to deal out four hands of cards, dealing as many complete rounds as he likes. He can stop dealing whenever he wishes, as long as all the hands contain the same number of cards. Next ask each of the four spectators to pick up one of

4 1 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY the dealt hands, and have them simultaneously perform an Australian deal, until all but one card has been eliminated. Any elimination procedure can be used here, given that it can be done uniformly, and leads all four to cards sharing the same initial position in the packets. These four cards will be in Gray code sequence. While both procedures disguise the sequential origin of the selections, they also convolute the action and encumber the development of the plot, perhaps focusing more attention than is necessary or wise on the method of selection. Each performer will have to decide whether the overall mystery of the effect is enhanced sufficiently to warrant such complications. In the next trick, we will explain one more Gray code stack, and a system of identification quite different from those just taught. [March 1973]

PURSUIT OF THOUGHT The effect echoes that of "Kingfisher". Four free selections are divined by the performer. Again, two decks are used, and both are stacked in an identical Gray code sequence. From top to face the arrangement is: Jack of Clubs Seven of Clubs Queen of Diamonds Six of Diamonds King of Spades Ten of Spades King of Diamonds Four of Diamonds King of Clubs Nine of Clubs Queen of Hearts Five of Hearts gueen of Clubs

Seven of Spades Three of Clubs Ace of Spades Three of Diamonds Two of Hearts Two of Diamonds Four of Hearts Two of Clubs Seven of Hearts Five of Diamonds Four of Spades Ten of Clubs Ace of Hearts

Five of Clubs Seven of Diamonds Six of Hearts Two of Spades Eight of Spades King of Hearts Jack of Hearts Queen of Spades Eight of Clubs Ace of Diamonds Six of Spades Ten of Diamonds Three of Spades

Ten of Hearts Jack of Diamonds Four of Clubs Nine of Spades Three of Hearts Jack of Spades Eight of Diamonds Ace of Clubs Nine of Diamonds Six of Clubs Nine of Hearts Five of Spades Eight of Hearts

You also will require two cue cards made from blank-faced cards with backs that match the second deck. On these write the following two charts: BLACK RED HC —7 cc—Q CH— 5 CS — 3 CD—6 SC —A SH — J SS—K SD —A, 2, 3, 4

HH — 9 HS — 8 HD — 4 DC — 9 DH — 2 DS—10 DD —K

4 2 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY This Gray code arrangement yields the value of the third card in a sequence when the suits of the previous two cards are known. For instance, if the first card is a club and the second a heart, the value of the third card will be five: CH—5 (see the black cue card on the preceding page). Note that the secondary suits are arranged in CHaSeD order on the cue charts for fast reference. There is only one exception to the system. That is the SpadesDiamonds (SD) combination. As indicated on the black cue card, this suit pairing can signal one of four values for the third card of the sequence: an ace, a two, a three or a four. To determine which of these four values is correct, the suit of the third card of the sequence must be learned. If this card is a Club, the value is an Ace. If this card is a Heart, the value is a Two. If this card is a Spade, the value is a Three. And if this card is a Diamond, the value is a Four. Once again, CHaSeD order is used for easy recall: C= 1, H = 2, S = 3, D = 4. How do you learn the suits of the selections? Through a series of bluffs that might be called "working three behind". The opening actions and selection procedure are identical to that explained in "Kingfisher". The deck is false shuffled, then four neighboring cards are removed from the pack, in order, by four spectators. (See pp. 417-418 for a discussion of selection methods.) The balance of the deck is set aside. Standing some distance from the spectators, you bring out the second pack. This pack, besides the fifty-two arranged cards, has in it the two cue cards and a joker. The cue cards and joker lie in different areas of the pack. Gaze intently at the first spectator, then spread through the deck to the joker and cut it to the face. Do not show the face of the joker; simply place the card into your side coat pocket with an air of decision. To the first spectator say, "I'm almost certain the thought I'm picking up is yours; but just to check, tell me only the suit of your card." When he does, smile. "I'm doing fine then. The suits are often harder to get than the values." Remember the suit named. Turn to the second spectator and pretend to read his thoughts. Run through the pack and cut the unneeded cue card to the face. If the suit of the first selection just given you is black, the unneeded cue card is the one labeled "red". Remove this cue card from the deck, as if it were the second choice, and slip it into your pocket with the joker. Ask the second spectator, as a check, to name his suit. Thank him, remember the suit named and move on to the third spectator.

STRAY STACKS 4 2 1 Give him a piercing look, then run through the deck and cut the second cue card to the face. Find the proper suit combination on this card; e.g., if the first selection is a club, and the second a diamond, you would locate CD on the "black" cue card. The value linked to this combination—six in this example—is the value of the third selection. Remove the second cue card from the pack and pocket it with the previous two cards. Ask the third spectator to name the suit of his card. This final bit of information defines the identity of his selection. The Gray code provides the value and he provides the suit. (In the special case of the Spades-Diamonds combination, the third suit also defines the exact value of the third card: ace, two, three or four.) Turn to the fourth spectator, seem to read his thoughts and run through the deck until you find the third spectator's selection. Cut the deck to bring this card to a position second from the face. The two cards behind the third selection are the first two spectators' cards, in order, and the one on the face of the pack is the fourth selection. Lift the four cards as one from the deck and, with the same hand, reach into your coat pocket, apparently to retrieve the three cards previously placed there. (In passing, it should be remarked that your handling of the cards as each is pocketed during the routine should be consistent in appearance—and that you should not be standing near a table, for any such furniture would gravely weaken the logic of your using your pocket.) Fumble in the pocket for a second or two, giving the impression that you are gathering the other cards; but leave them behind and bring out only the four selections you hold, spreading them a bit. As you do this, again for consistency, ask the fourth spectator to name the suit of his card. Conclude by revealing that you have removed from the second deck the duplicate card to each of the four selections.

Chapter Eight:

The Dazzle Act

THE DAZZLE ACT In 1975 Mr. Elmsley briefly toured the U.S. with a lecture that was received with excitement and high regard by the magicians who witnessed it. The lecture was founded on an exquisitely routined series of card effects. It was a complete act, formulated on sound dramatic principles, and with some remarkably clever ideas that left its magician audiences often feeling like laymen. After performing the act, Mr. Elmsley explained it in detail. The principles he revealed—mechanical, psychological and dramatic— had a pronounced impact on his lecture audiences, and on those who later studied Mr. Elmsley's notes and the privately circulated record of his lecture, which was transcribed and edited by Pat and Ron Bauer from an audio tape made by Milt Kort. The act opens with a puzzling version of the card-diary effect, in which a card, arrived at in a seemingly random fashion from a spectator shuffled deck, is found prominently listed beside the spectator's birthday in the performer's datebook. This is followed by the location of two free selections by stabbing the blade of a pocket knife into the pack. The cards are again shuffled and, as an entertaining tale is told, the jacks, queens, kings and aces are quickly cut or dealt from the pack in a swift and impressive manner. As the routine progresses, jokers are repeatedly removed from the deck as a running gag. They seem to appear in the pack in a comically perverse manner. For the fourth effect, these jokers are used to perform Mr. Elmsley's "Dazzle" packet effect, in which the backs of the cards change color or design five times or more. The act is concluded with a series of rapid and astonishing revelations of five chosen cards from the pack, followed by the production of every prominent card used in the routine, from the first selection to the final varicolored backs of the jokers. This staccato production concludes the act in a fast-paced and impressive manner,

4 2 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY while drawing together each of its parts into a cohesive whole. The running time is eighteen minutes. Serious study of the "Dazzle Card Act" is valuable on several levels. The act is outstanding both as a whole and for the quality of its parts. The tricks and concepts from which it is made will stand firmly on their own or can be transplanted into other surroundings; and the general structure contains multiple lessons in routining that should be absorbed by every performer.

THE PROPERTIES Before going into the specifics of each trick, the props necessary to the entire act must be listed and their placement described. Three decks of cards are used during the act, along with a gimmicked packet of jokers for the "Dazzle" effect.

Deck One [ 246

1

*

J3>

A

Edg

3 * *

re 0

* s-a

re

*

J

V

This deck is prepared with one edge-marked card, the three of clubs. The card is subtly but plainly marked on its opposite long edges near their centers. The mark measures about one inch in length (Figure 246). If the deck is fresh, the edge can be slightly darkened with a pencil. If the deck is somewhat used, a nail scrape will lighten it enough to be detected. This deck also contains two jokers, but is in no particular arrangement. It is the deck initially brought into play and is carried, in its case, anywhere convenient.

Deck Two The second deck carries a twenty-two card stack on top. From the top down, the cards read: • jack, queen, king and ace of clubs; • jack, queen, king and ace of hearts; • jack, queen, king and ace of spades; • jack, queen, king and ace of diamonds; • nine of clubs, seven of diamonds, two of spades, ten of hearts, three of clubs; • a joker.

4 2 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY 247 J Q K A J Q K A J Q K A J Q K A 9 7 2 10 3 JOKER

w Figure 247 further clarifies the sequence of the cards. The nature of this stack is somewhat flexible. The suits of the court cards and aces, though segregated, need not run in the sequence shown. Another preferred suit order can be used, so long as the colors alternate, for the sake of contrast. CHaSeD suit order has been suggested above, as it is familiar to most magicians. The five cards that lie above the joker will be forced in the last phase of the act. They can be any cards—excluding those reserved for the other tricks. In the example above, the five cards, read in reverse, conform to the familiar Eight Kings ordering system (three of clubs, ten of hearts, two of spades, seven of diamonds, nine of clubs). This sequence has been adopted for teaching purposes. Notice that the penultimate card of the stack, the three of clubs, is the duplicate of the edge-marked card in Deck One. It too is edge marked. This second deck also contains a second joker, which can rest anywhere in the lower half of the pack. The stacked deck is stood on one long edge in the left-side coat pocket, with the back of the pack nearest the body.

Deck Three The third deck is stacked as well. From the top down it reads: • seven of diamonds and nine of clubs; • • • • • •

the four jacks—the fourth jack being a corner-shorted card; the four queens—the fourth being corner shorted; the four kings—the fourth being corner shorted; the four aces; one indifferent card; twenty-seven cards, each with a contrasting back, in accordance with the backs found in the "Dazzle" packet (still to be described); • two of spades;

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 2 9 • an indifferent card that is a good contrast to the two of spades and has an odd back design; • ten of hearts.

248 7 9 J J J J 0 0 Q 0 K K K KAA A A 3

28

y

A Aoi

corner-shorted

27 cards with varied backs

Figure 248 shows this stack. Notice that the bottom card, the ten of hearts, is a duplicate to the fourth card of the five-card forcing bank in Deck Two; the card third from the face is identical to the third card in that same bank; and that the top two cards duplicate the second and first force cards. This third deck is set on end in the right-side coat pocket, face of the pack nearest the body. All three decks have matching blue back designs, excluding the specified cards in Deck Three.

The Dazzle Packet

249

Actually two separate packets are used in this trick. The first packet consists of four cards, as shown in Figure 249. From the top: • a double-backed card, blue on one side, red on the other—blue side up;

blue I red doublebacked card

blue/blue doublebacked card

two doublefaced Jokers

• a double-backed card, blue on both sides; • two double-faced jokers. This packet is carried in the inner left breast pocket of the coat.

4 3 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY 250 OKER

•••4 •••# •••• ••••

RED

ORANGE

PURPLE

GREEN

BLACK

PINK

VARIEGATED

The second packet is constructed of six double-backed cards in various color combinations, one normal joker and two double-faced jokers (Figure 250). The order from the top down reads: • double-backed red /green card, red side up; • double-backed green/orange card, green side up; • double-backed orange/black card, orange side up; • double-backed black/purple card, black side up; • double-backed purple/pink card, purple side up; • double-backed pink/variegated card, pink side up; • a variegated joker, face-down; • two double-faced jokers, stuck together with several dots of wax. The faces of all jokers in these packets and in Decks One and Two should be identical. The various back designs and colors may be any that can be obtained, so long as they contrast well with each other, have white borders and can be split to manufacture double-backed and double-faced cards. Some searching for these decks will be necessary, but the effect they make possible is worth the effort. This packet is carried in the outer breast pocket of the coat, with the waxed jokers nearest the body.

The Datebook The special datebook is made from a birthday reminder or business appointment book, in which each day of the year is listed in sequence, and given a block of space in which one is intended to

THE DAZZLE ACT 431 write the daily schedule. Ideally, a book should be selected that has three or four days listed on each page. Mr. Elmsley's book measures approximately three inches by five when closed, and can be conveniently carried in the inner right breast pocket of the coat. Ten cards must be chosen and assigned to the numbers one through ten. These ten cards can be selected to conform to any mnemonic system with which you are comfortable, so long as this ten-card group is exclusive of the five cards set for forcing in Decks Two and Three (the three of clubs, ten of hearts, two of spades, seven of diamonds and nine of clubs, in the example above), and the court cards and aces (used in the gambling phase). _ Card One of the set is written in the space for 251 January first. Card Two is entered for January secitnmri January ond. Card Three is assigned 1 to January third, and so J —*» five OF T* e.iS twenty-first through the thirtieth. Figure 251 shows a pair of sample pages in the book. The same rotation of ten cards is used to fill each of the twelve months. One exception to the system occurs in those months that contain a thirty-first day (January, March, May, July, August, October and December). An eleventh card is assigned to all thirty-first days. This is done to prevent the cards for the thirty-first day of one month and the first of the following month from being identical. Such a duplication of a card might be noticed by a spectator when leafing through the book. However, with only seven or eight days and cards visible on any pair of facing pages, the repetition of the tencard sequence is safe from detection during the heat of performance. The prepared diary is kept in the inner right breast pocket of the coat, or anywhere else that is convenient during performance.

The Knife The last item needed is a pocket knife in a leather scabbard. This is placed in the right-side coat pocket with Deck Three.

4 3 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Dazzle Packet 1 (inner pocket) Dazzle Packet 2 (outer pocket)

Deck Three and Knife

Deck Two

Figure 252 maps the props carried on your person and the pockets they are assigned.

The Working Surface Mr. Elmsley uses a hard, thin, smoothly finished board, roughly eleven inches by fifteen, as a working surface. Over this he places a slightly smaller thin cloth mat. The mat provides the surface on which most of the act is performed. However, during the second phase of the act, when the knife is stabbed into the pack, this mat is slid back to bare a portion of the board. The reason for this will be made clear at the proper time. With the props and preparation explained, we can proceed to the action and presentation of the act. Mr. Elmsley's patter will be given in total; however, this is done to convey to the reader an understanding of the presentational structure and a sense of Mr. Elmsley's personality. It is not, of course, meant to be followed verbatim, but should be adapted to fit each performer.

FATE'S DATEBOOK Effect: The performer begins by giving out the deck for shuffling. While a spectator performs that service, the performer asks if someone else would mind having her fortune told. When she agrees, she is asked her birthday and given a datebook to hold. The performer takes back the shuffled deck as he explains the uncomplicated method by which he casts fortunes with the cards. He simply spells "F-A-T-E", dealing one card from the shuffled deck for each letter in the word. The card arrived at in this manner is laid face-down before the helper. This card will determine her fate. It is explained that the name of a card is written beside each date in the datebook she is holding. Each of these cards is the lucky card for that date. The helper is asked to open the book to her birthday. She notes that each day has a different card assigned to it, and she reads aloud the lucky card that governs her birthday. "It's our lucky day!" exclaims the performer. The card lying before her is turned up and seen to be the very card designated by the book. "Congratulations on your good fortune." Method: The plot of the diary test seems to have begun with a pseudo-memory feat, "The Weather Test", by Roy Walker, in the December 1932 issue of The Magic Wand (Vol. 21, No. 136, pp. 189-192). In Mr. Walker's trick the performer handed out a small "weather diary" made by him, and demonstrated that he had memorized the weather entries for each day of the year. Two and a half years passed. Then, in the same journal, Tom Sellers submitted his version of "The Weather Test" using a diary with card hands noted beside each day ("A Memory Feat", Vol. 24, No. 166, June 1935, pp. 67-68). Taking Mr. Sellers' idea of a card diary, Arthur F.G. Carter next changed the effect from a feat of prodigious memory to a prediction or eerie coincidence. Members of the audience called out the color, suit and value of a random card, and the name of that card was found written beside the birthday of one of the spectators. (Ref. The

4 3 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Magic Wand, Vol. 42, No. 238, June 1953, pp. 59-60.) Almost two decades later Mr. Elmsley's friend, Ted Danson, contributed "It's a Date" to New Pentagram (Vol. 2, No. 1, March 1970, pp. 1-2). This eventually became known as "Danson's Diary", which was marketed and enjoyed some deserved popularity with mental performers. In the Danson effect, the card written beside the spectator's birthday in the card diary was produced as a prediction from a sealed envelope, which had been in view the entire time. Taking Mr. Danson's trick as his starting point, Mr. Elmsley cunningly adapted Dai Vernon's "Trick That Cannot be Explained" (ref. Ganson's More Inner Secrets of Card Magic, pp. 76-81) to the CarterDanson plot, and added some original twists of his own to derive a version of the effect that used no nail writer and only one diary. History concluded; now on to the trick. You are seated at the table (as you will be throughout the act). Bring out Deck One, remove it from the case and ribbon spread the cards face-up across the mat. Set the case on the table, well out of the way. While doing this, you introduce the effect: "Cards can be fascinating: their history and design, and the many things that can be done with them. The most controversial uses of cards are gambling and fortunetelling. Do you believe in fortunetelling?" Pause to allow the spectators to answer. "An amazing coincidence has happened! I'm going to tell our fortunes." Further spread the cards and adjust them by patting them lightly with the fingertips. You wish to establish this patting action now as one natural to you, as it may be needed for a more important purpose in a few moments. During the display, notice one of the jokers and remove it from the spread. "I'm sorry, I should have taken the joker out of the pack." Slip it into the left breast pocket of your shirt, then gather the spread. Continue your explanation, giving emphasis to those words shown in italic: "Some people believe that all fate is decided by the shuffling of the cards; so will you shuffle the cards please and decide ourfate? It's a great responsibility." If you deliver this last line with a smile, it should draw a similar response from the person handed the deck. That person should be someone on your left. Allow him to shuffle the cards to his satisfaction. As he does so, bring out the datebook and display it. "Some people believe fate is ruled by the zodiac—by the sign of the zodiac under which abirthday falls." Turning to a woman on your right you ask, "Do you mind telling us your birthday: the day and the month? I don't insist on the year." Assume she answers, "December twelfth."

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 3 5 "December twelfth. That's Sagittarius, right?" Hand her the datebook. "Well, this is a book of birthdays. Just keep it for a moment, please." Note the psychology here. The moment the spectator states her birthday, you immediately translate it into a zodiacal sign. Within the context of fortunetelling, this is reasonable; indeed, it is expected. It also diverts attention from the fact that the specific birthday has been spoken by the spectator. When the effect is over, many people will have forgotten this detail—an omission of memory that further conceals the method. "I'm going to use both the cards and your birthday, but first, the cards." Reclaim the shuffled pack from the spectator on your left and, in taking it back secretly glimpse the top and bottom cards. An easy way to accomplish this is to take the deck face-down into left-hand dealing grip and, with the left thumb, push the top card a quarter of an inch to the right. At the same time, bring the right hand palmdown over the pack and grasp it by the ends. Then, with this hand, turn the deck end for end, clockwise, and place it back into the left hand, in a casual squaring action. In doing this, it is natural to raise the inner end of the pack as you turn it outward, which allows you to sight the bottom card and the index of the sidejogged top card simultaneously (Figure 253). The left thumb pushes the jogged card square with the pack as the left hand regrips the deck and completes the turn. (This glimpse is one used by Dai Vernon; ref. The Vernon Chronicles, Vol. Two: More Lost Inner Secrets, pp. 122-123.) Thanks to the simple system of card entry used in the datebook, the moment the second spectator gives the date of her birth, you will know which of the eleven memorized cards is written next to that day. With some luck, one of the two cards you've just glimpsed is the one needed. If this should be the case, set the deck face-down before the spectator and ask that she cut it at any point. Then perform the cross-the-cut force to arrive at the appropriate card. That is, lay the bottom portion of the pack crosswise on the top half (Figure 254) and leave it there as attention is drawn to the

4 3 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY datebook. Have the spectator look up her birthday and read the card beside it. Then either turn the upper portion of the deck over, revealing the card at its face, or remove the upper packet and turn up the top card of the lower portion, thus consummating a successful match. The time elapsed between the crossing of the cut and the revelation of the card obscures the fact that the card shown is the original bottom or top card of the deck, and not a card cut to at random. Most often, however, circumstances are not so obliging. If the required card is not spotted on the face or top of the pack, nonchalantly spread the deck face-up on the table. Make the spread a wide one, so that all the cards can be seen. Quickly run your eye over the spread, locate the required card and calculate its position. Here is an economical method for doing this: First, spread the deck rather more slowly than usual, and form the cards into a near semicircle. As you do this, inspect the first and last six or seven cards for the one you need. If it is found in either of these areas, note its position from the top or bottom. As you are completing the spread, keep your eyes on the cards as you say, "I hope you are satisfied with your shuffling." This line and its delivery are crucial. The tone is ambiguous: it is not clear to the spectators whether the query is rhetorical or demands an answer. It is phrased, though, so that a reply is unlikely to be given. (If the spectator does reply to the question, simply pretend you didn't hear it.) This uncertainty and the silence it creates are used to advantage, if the necessary card is not immediately found in the spread. During the contrived lull, casually pat the ends of the spread with the fingertips, adjusting the cards slightly as you work inward toward the center. As you do this, examine the spread for the card and its location from the top or bottom—whichever it is nearest. This adjustment and the pause it necessitates are excused initially by an apparent wish to display the mixed condition of the cards in a fair manner. If the card has fallen by chance in the center portion of the pack, requiring a longer period to locate its position, glance up once or twice during the process, looking at the person who did the shuffling; then, when you have ascertained the location of the card, look up more pointedly and ask, "Are you satisfied with the shuffle?" The

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 3 7 question this time demands a response. In this manner, the ambiguous delivery of the initial question is used to buy you time while you search for the requisite card. The delay while this is done is attributed to the spectator's slowness to reply. Of course, if you can locate the card quickly, these stalling ploys are immediately abandoned and the spread is gathered. If the needed card is spotted near center, it will be cumbersome to determine its location by counting from either end of the deck. In such a case, another stratagem is implemented. If the card is observed to lie to the left of center, visually count rightward from the card to one just left of center. Note this card and its distance from the target card. It should be necessary to count no more than six or seven cards to arrive at a central reference card, thus speeding the process. If the target card is found somewhat right of center, the same procedure is used, but here you count leftward to a reference card located slightly right of center. Notice that in either case the card elected for reference is just short of center. This lessens the number of cards counted, further accelerating the procedure. Now draw another person into the action, asking him to divide the spread somewhere near center. There is no need for subtlety here. The request is made forthrightly. This division of the pack can have one of two outcomes: 1) The spread may be broken exactly at the point where the target card lies. In such a case that card is pushed forward from the others and elected as a fair and free selection. This, of course, is the most desirable result, and it does happen more often than one might imagine. 2) Or, as is more often the case, the spread is divided near the target card or its more central reference card. In either case, the exact position of the target card can be immediately calculated from the point of the division. It is then merely a matter of gathering the two portions of the spread, openly cutting the deck by this action and transporting the target card near the top or bottom. Whether the card is found originally near the top or bottom of the pack, or whether it is conveyed there with a cut defined by a spectator, the card is now at a known location. "Some methods of fortunetelling are very complicated, but mine is quite simple. I shall square up the cards and lay down one card for each letter of the word zodiac and for each letter of the word/ate: zodiac—Z-O-D-I-A-C; and fate—F-A-T-E."

4 3 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Suit actions to words, and lay the last card of the spell face-down before the spectator with the datebook. However, the spelling may be done from the top or the face of the pack, and the precise words used in the formula may vary. Your course is dictated by the location of the target card. If the card is nearest the top, deal the cards from the top with the deck face-down. If it is nearest the bottom, deal the cards from the face with the deck face-up. Three words are used, either separately or in combination, to spell directly to the card. Those words are: FATE (four letters), ZODIAC (six letters) and BIRTHDAY (eight letters). Notice that the stage has been set for the use of any of these words in the preceding presentation. The word fate is purposely employed three times, zodiac twice, and birthday four times. These words and the ideas they represent are woven carefully into the script, making their use logical; and through these three words it is possible to arrive at any card at positions two through twenty-seven in the pack. Here is Mr. Elmsley's system: To reach cards 2 or 3, first spell ZODIAC, dealing six cards into a pile on the table. Pick up this pile and deal four cards to the table as you spell FATE. The card originally third from the top of the pack falls on the E in fate. If this is the target card, place it before the spectator with the datebook. If the target card began second from the top, deal the card following the E in fate to the spectator. To reach cards 4 or 5, spell FATE. Then place before the spectator either the card that falls on E, or that directly after it, as need dictates. To reach cards 6 or 7, spell ZODIAC. Again, either the last card of the spell or the card immediately following it can be used with equal plausibility. To reach cards 8 or 9, spell the word BIRTHDAY. To reach cards 10 or 11, first spell ZODIAC, then FATE. To reach cards 12 or 13, spell BIRTHDAY, then FATE. To reach cards 14 or 15, use the words BIRTHDAY and ZODIAC. If the card lies deeper than 15, eliminate the first twelve cards by dealing them into a circle. This, you explain, represents the twelve signs in the wheel of the zodiac. Then proceed to spell the appropriate word or words as detailed above to reach the target card. However, if the card is found near the center and the pack is divided as explained above, this last tactic should in all probability never be required.

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 3 9 This system of alternatives is delightfully flexible. The few simple courses of action guarantee that the needed card can be reached. Mr. Elmsley will often employ another set of procedures to arrive at the target card, when conditions permit it. He will spell to the card using the spectator's zodiacal sign. This requires that you know the span of dates that each sign governs and the number of letters in each of the twelve signs. This, though, is a small piece of homework. With a bit of study, the reader can discover other methods as well of arriving at the desired card through seemingly logical procedures. What is admirable about this system is that, with a very few procedures, one can always get to the card needed in a direct manner. The system must be rehearsed so that the thinking is not evident in performance. Rehearsal is not difficult. Simply decide on a target card, shuffle the deck, spread it and calculate the method required to arrive at the card desired. Repeat this until you can consistently reach the target card without hesitation or obvious effort. With the card before the spectator, you now continue: "This card is the one that will decide our fates. Have you looked in the book yet? Will you look for your birthday now, please. In that book, against each day of the year, is written the name of a card; the lucky card for people born on that day. And a magician should be able to bring good luck when he wants it. When you've found your birthday, will you call out the card that is written there, please." Let's assume the eight of diamonds is named. "The eight of diamonds? It's our lucky day!" On this line, the card before the spectator, if it is not already face-up, is turned over to reveal the match. "Congratulations on your good fortune." 1975

COLD STEEL Effect: Two cards are freely selected and lost in the pack while it is out of the performer's hands. He gives the cards several ornamental shuffles, then sets the deck face-down on the table. A pocket knife is brought out, opened and its blade is thrust into the side of the pack. When the pack is split at the spot penetrated by the blade, the chosen cards are found there. This segment of the act is structured to convey to the audience a sense of mystery and astonishing skill. Method: In this effect Mr. Elmsley has added an original faro shuffle control (a variation of his "Fan and Weave Double Control", p. 337) to a trick of Richard Himber's. In late 1961 Mr. Himber placed on the market a card location called "Stabbed in the Pack". He supplied a letter opener, which served to estimate a certain number of cards when the blade was slid into a deck. Mr. Himber had used the idea of mechanical estimation twice before. In the latter half of 1960 he advertised the "Solid Gold Magicharm". The purchaser was supplied with a bracelet charm in the shape of a graduation mortarboard that performed the same service as the letter opener. With this came a brass gimmick that looked like an oversized shirt stud. The gimmick had a shiner built into one surface, and was machined to cut a specific number of cards. About nine months later Mr. Himber marketed a nearly identical gimmick, without the mortarboard charm, calling it "Borrowed". However, the idea of mechanical estimation was not original with Richard Himber. In the early 1950s Laurie Ireland sold a popular novelty location called "Little Smeller". This consisted of a comical ball-shaped head with a sharp nose that would enter the side of a pack at a predetermined depth. And before this, one might cite the thumbnail gauge, an idea of Dai Vernon's, erroneously credited to Luis Zingone in Expert Card Technique (p. 114). Mr. Elmsley uses a handsome pocket knife as a gauge. This knife is depended on to enter the pack at a specific depth (given one card

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 4 1 more or less). This may sound impractical or exceptionally demanding, but the technique about to be explained makes this estimation quite dependable, once you are comfortable with the necessary actions. To discover the depth at which a particular knife will enter the pack, set a deck to the left and forward of the open blade. Both deck and knife must rest on a hard surface. Steady the deck with the left hand, holding it square—second finger at the front end, thumb at the inner end, fourth finger curled on the table and against the left side of the deck. Rest the tip of the left forefinger on the pack and apply light pressure to assure that any bowing of the cards is compressed (Figure 255). The pressure of the forefinger must be minimal; too heavy a touch will cause undesired binding as the blade is pushed into the deck. Lay the knife on its back (hinge side), to the right of the pack. The blade should be open and pointing leftward. With the right hand, grip the case of the knife between fingers and thumb near the blade end (Figure 255 again). It is important that the back of the blade contacts the table. This steadies the knife at two points, so that it does not rock. It also reliably sets the tip of the blade at a height that will be constant and predictable each time the grip is assumed. Sweep the knife along in a forward arc toward the deck, sliding it swiftly and smoothly over the surface of the table, until the tip of the blade hits the right side of the pack (Figure 256). As the blade contacts the cards its point should enter the deck. With the right

4 4 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY fingers, immediately rotate the knife, twisting the blade to a horizontal position without letting the point slip from its location in the pack. Then thrust the blade straight into the side of the deck. Lift the block of cards above the blade and count the cards in the lower block. Reassemble the deck and, in the same manner, insert the blade again. Count the number of cards below the blade. That number should be within one card of the last count. Five or six trial insertions will ascertain the number of cards that the knife blade consistently cleaves from the pack. This number is important. Mr. Elmsley's knife divides the deck fourteen cards from the bottom. That number will therefore be used in the following explanation. If your knife should divide the pack differently, one small adjustment to the procedure is necessary. This will be explained at the appropriate time. One last detail. As mentioned in the Properties section, the knife should be sheathed in a leather carrying pouch. The sheath provides important misdirection later in the act. With these requirements noted, we now resume the action. The random selection and datebook entry have just been discovered to match. Place the datebook in your right inner breast pocket and gather all the cards, save the "lucky" card. It is left on the table. While the audience is responding to the effect, glance at the edge of the deck and locate the position of the edge-marked three of clubs. If it is very near the top, cut the pack to place it lower. "I've got a lucky card too, somewhere." As you say this, turn the pack face-up and spread it from the left hand into the right. Quickly find the remaining joker in the pack and remove it. Do so with an air of surprise. "I'm sorry, I should have taken the joker out of the pack." slip the joker into the shirt pocket with the one already there. Respread the deck, this time beginning near the point where the three of clubs is known to lie. The moment you spot it, spread seven more cards to the right—the three being counted as one—and openly outjog the eighth card. Then square the pack back into the left hand. With the right hand, strip the outjogged card from the deck and place it on the face. At the same time, catch a left fourth-finger break at the point where the card is removed. "My lucky card is the four of clubs [here the card just moved to theface of the pack is named], but it never seems to do me any good. I suppose if a fortuneteller could tell his own fortune, he wouldn't need to do it for a business." Here cut the deck at the break and complete the cut, all in the hands. This brings the three of clubs to a position seventh from the top of the pack.

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 4 3 The positioning is important, so its meaning must be explained. It is necessary that the three be brought to a position equal to one half the number of cards marked off by the blade of the knife. Since Mr. Elmsley's knife separates fourteen cards, the three is positioned seventh from the top. If the blade entered twelve cards from the bottom, the three would be placed sixth from the top (12 -r 2 = 6). If your knife blade separates an odd number of cards, say fifteen, take the next highest even number and divide it in half to determine the necessary position of the edge-marked card (16 -j- 2 = 8). Once the card is in place, seem to notice for the first time that the spectator's card from the datebook trick is still lying on the table. Pick it up and add it to the deck. However, immediately steal it from the pack, palming it in the right hand. (Mr. Elmsley recommends the method prescribed by Dai Vernon in Select Secrets, pp. 4-7 of the first edition, pp. 7-10 of the second edition.) Bring this hand to your right coat-pocket and there add the palmed card to the top of Deck Three. Then bring the hand from the pocket, grasping the pocket knife in its sheath. Set this on the table to the right. "Anyway, enough about fortunetellers for now. Anyone who handles cards much—fortunetellers, magicians or card sharps— may learn fancy ways of handling cards; fancy ways of showing the cards..." Here break the deck at center (twenty-six from the top) and give the two portions a perfect straddle out-faro. As you are now working with a fifty-one card deck, weave the twenty-five card bottom portion into the twenty-six card top portion, causing the top and bottom cards of the larger portion to become the outer cards of the weave. Push the packets into one another for approximately a third of their lengths and, with the right fingers, form a double-tiered fan (Figure 257). The purpose of this display is to gain knowledge of the card twentysixth from the top. This card can be noted either as the pack is divided for the weave, or as the double fan is displayed (at which time the twenty-sixth card is resting at the face of the lower tier). The faro weave is used to check the accuracy of the cut, confirming that the card sighted is the twenty-sixth. If the cut should prove inaccurate during the weave, the problem is


quickly discovered and corrected by separating the woven portions and transferring one or two cards from packet to packet as required. Then the weave is made again and the flourish completed. Note that this faro check is concealed in the guise of a flourish. " . . . fancy cuts..." Sweep the top tier of cards from the lower, closing it from right to left with the right hand and stripping it away (Figure 258). Then, with the right forefinger, aid the left hand in closing its fan (Figure 259). Now perform simultaneous one-handed cuts with both hands. Any of many such cuts may be used here, such as the widely known Charlier or Robert-Houdin cuts. (Mr. Elmsley uses Billy O'Connor's flip flop cut from Wilfred Jonson's But Not to Play, p. 101.) The only restriction is that the order of the left-hand packet (the original top half that contains both the edge-marked card and the freshly sighted key card) be restored at the finish. It is a simple matter to catch a break between the sections of the packet as the cut is completed, and to perform a second cut at that break, returning the cards to their original order. After completing the one-handed cuts, reassemble the deck, left-hand half on right. "...and because a magician can do these things, some think he is a kind of card sharp. But the card sharp could do nothing unless the cards were actually in his hands; whereas the magician—well, I'm going to try to show you the difference. Will you help me?" Push aside your cloth mat, baring the work board beneath, and set the deck face-down on the board. Then pick up the board, handling it like a tray, and hold it out toward a spectator just to the left of center. "Will you cut off a packet of cards, please. No more than half; about a third of the pack will do... and just keep them for a moment." As soon as the first spectator has cut off his packet,

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 4 5 hold out the deck on the board toward another person, slightly to the right of center. "And will someone else cut somewhere in the lower half of the pack?" Have another spectator cut off a second packet. Relax and lean back, moving the board and remainder of the deck away from your second helper. "Will each of you look at the card you've cut to—the one at the bottom of your packets—and show it to your neighbors.. .Will you now drop yours back on the pack." Here hold out the board to the first spectator for him to replace his packet on the deck. "And will you drop yours back onthe deck." Move the board with deck back to the second spectator, so that he can comply. (Note how Mr. Elmsley uses the board to emphasize without comment that the cards are completely out of his hands while the selections are made and returned. The use of the board as a tray also makes the necessary reversal of the returned packets seem more natural and less obvious.) "Thanks. You who have cut the cards may have a rough idea of the whereabouts of your own. I don't know whether you have or not, so we'll mix them Fancy shuffles " Set the board before you on the table and pick up the cards. You will now give the deck two shuffles. The first is a fan shuffle. Hold the deck face-down in left-hand dealing position and tip up the left side enough to allow you to sight the edge-marked card. This should lie near or slightly below center in the pack. Bring the right hand over the deck and break it at a point one or two cards below the edge-mark. Then shift the upper portion inward, forming a substantial step. Turn the stepped pack face toward you in such a manner that the portion containing the edge-marked card is brought rightmost. With the right hand, grasp this portion in position for a one-handed fan. With the left hand, grasp the other portion of the pack similarly. Move the hands apart with their packets, simultaneously fanning them. Be certain to fan the rearmost cards of the right-hand portion particularly well, as you must now spot the key card noted during the faro check. Hold both fans vertically, backs toward the audience, then brush them briskly over one another several times. On the third or fourth brushing action, smoothly insert the left hand's entire fan between the key card and the card before it; i.e., that card next closest to the face of the fan (Figure 260). Then bring the lower edges of the fans to the board and ease the fingers' pressure, allowing the fans to fall closed, the left into the right. While the left-hand portion is simply inserted as a block immediately over the key card in the right-hand

4 4 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY portion, from the audience's view an illusion is created of a much more complex interlacing of the cards. Square the cards. (For further details on the fan shuffle, see Volume I, pp. 96-97 and, in this volume, pp. 335-336). Note the new location of the edge-marked card (it should be within a few cards of the face) and give the deck a cut to position that card approximately seventeenth from the top. "There are lots of fancy shuffles. I'm not going to go through all of them, but I'd like to show you one more. I like this one because you can see the cards are really mixing." Here execute a perfect faro shuffle. This shuffle is once more a straddle faro, but it doesn't matter which portion is the larger, so long as the smaller packet is woven into the bigger. The interlaced sections are displayed, permitting the spectators to observe the weave. "They are really mixing, yes?" Once this statement is confirmed, cascade the cards together in the usual fashion. (Notice how shrewdly the stage has been set for the faro shuffle— an unorthodox manipulation to laymen—by the performance of the fan shuffle and flourish cuts.) Immediately following the faro shuffle, cut the edge-marked card to the bottom of the pack. This series of cuts and shuffles has ingeniously brought the two selections together in the deck. The first spectator's card lies fourteenth from the face, and the second spectator's just above it, at fifteen; that is, precisely in positions to be located by the blade of the knife. "Now, because the pack was out of my hands when you chose your cards, a card sharp would find it difficult to locate the cards you chose. For that we need magic..." With the left hand, set the deck face-down on the board while with your right hand you pick up the knife. Remove it from its sheath, and lay the sheath to your right on the table as you display the knife in your left hand. "... the magic of cold steel. It's just a pen knife, really. But it's a real knife with a blade of steel—an edge that will cut and a point

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 4 7 that will stab. Whatever the cards you chose, wherever those cards may be, this blade will find them." Open the knife and focus full attention on it. Take it into the right hand and raise it high into the air. There, brandish it. Then lower it near the surface of the table and roll it back and forth between the fingers and thumb, catching the light in the blade. Now lay it on the board, blade pointed toward the deck. Suddenly slide the knife sharply to the left and into the end of the pack, as has been taught. It is important to observe the style in which the knife is handled. A knife is an intrinsically dramatic prop. Mr. Elmsley feels it should be wielded in a suitably dramatic fashion during a card stab. Prissy or faltering insertions diminish the inherent drama. Practice the insertion until you can do it accurately and without hesitation. Thrust the blade deep into the deck and slide it outward, halting near the outer right corner. There, twist the knife slightly, catching a reflection of the card index above in the polished metal of the blade (Figure 261). This is an old method of glimpsing a card (first described by Walter B. Gibson in Blackstone's Secrets of Magic, pp. 21-22). Here it is used to check the accuracy of the stab.

Ask the first spectator, "What was your card, please?" When he answers, ask the second person, "And yours?" The instant the cards are named, you will know how the knife blade has entered the pack and how the selections are arranged around it. If you have seen the second spectator's card reflected in the blade, you know this man's card is above and the first man's is below. If it is the first man's card you have seen, you know both selections lie above the blade. And, if the card glimpsed is neither selection, both will rest below the blade. It is then only a matter of dividing the pack cleanly at the point where the knife has entered, and revealing the cards appropriately. "Look! I have found both your cards with the magic of cold steel." If the knife used should be found to divide the pack an odd number of cards from the bottom—say thirteen rather than fourteen—

4 4 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY a small adjustment will place the blade between the two selections rather than just below them. Simply cut the edge-marked card to the top of the pack after the faro shuffle, rather than to the bottom. This positions the selections at thirteenth and fourteenth from the face. Should it be wished to perform "Cold Steel" with a fifty-two-card deck, outside the context of the "Dazzle Act", several simple modifications are necessary to the method of faro shuffling. To deliver the selections to the fourteenth and fifteenth positions from the face, cut the deck at center (twenty-six) and either— 1) perform an out-faro, followed by a cut to bring the edge-marked card to the face; or 2) perform an in-faro, followed by a cut to bring the edge-marked card to the top. With the latter procedure, the first selection will lie above the second, rather than below it. Alternatively, to deliver the lower of the two selections to an odd position from the face, cut the deck at center and— 1) perform an out-faro, followed by a cut to bring the edge-marked card to the top—this brings the first selection to a position thirteenth from the face, and the second selection to fourteenth—or 2) perform an in-faro, followed by a cut to bring the edge-marked card to the face—this delivers the first selection to a position sixteenth from the face, and the second selection to fifteenth. The enumeration of these alternative shuffle-routes may initially confuse or discourage the reader. Please understand that only one procedure need be known and used during performance. It is merely a matter of choosing one appropriate to the requirements of the knife being used. The various procedures are given only to illustrate how the selections can be placed at any positions desired. 1975

THE TALE OF THE OLD TIMER Effect: The performer relates a story about four card sharps who are sitting around one slow night trying to impress one another. The first man shuffles and cuts the deck, then cuts off four small packets, each with a jack at the face. The second man takes the pack, shuffles it and cuts off four packets, each with a queen at the face. The third man follows the same procedure and cuts the four kings from the pack. The fourth man, an old timer, then takes the deck and shows his juniors what a little old-fashioned ability can do. He shuffles the cards and deals four four-card hands. When he turns his hand up, it is seen he has dealt the aces to himself. The other hands are then shown to contain the four jacks, the four queens and the four kings. Thus are the high assumptions of youth toppled by seasoned cunning. Method: It is Deck Two that permits this impressive and entertaining display of skill. It must therefore be switched for Deck One before the story is begun. At the same time, the two selections generated from the card stab must be transported secretly to Deck Three. Both tasks are accomplished during the natural lull that occurs between tricks. The palm and the switch take place as everyone relaxes, these being done under the guise of a seemingly insignificant comment and action. I have heard from several highly respected cardmen who witnessed Mr. Elmsley's lecture that this is the best deck switch in the craft. Oddly enough, there is nothing revolutionary in its physical method. It is the pocket deck-switch, a technique that has been used by magicians for many years. Yet, through intelligent staging and choice of moment, Mr. Elmsley fooled audiences of the most knowledgeable with a technique they all knew. When later, as he explained the act, he said, "Then you do a deck switch," the surprised reaction from the room was "What deck switch."

4 5 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY The psychology he applied to the switch can be called, without fear of hyperbole, brilliant. It was this psychology that fooled everyone, not the actions, which are easily mastered. Therefore, some space will be devoted to analyzing the exact staging of the switch and the palm. After the card stab, assemble the deck, but leave the two selections face-up on the table. There is a natural moment of relaxation that follows the climax of any good effect. For that moment you are not perceived as performing. The trick is over, the next hasn't begun; you are smiling and acknowledging the applause. This is a time when astonishing things can be secretly accomplished: details can be cleaned up from the last trick, and preparations made for future ones. You can reinforce this feeling of rest and inattention by purposely assuming a relaxed posture and slipping from a more formal tone of presentation to a conversational manner. An air of nonchalance is contrived. During this adjustment in attitude, relax both hands and let them rest at the near edge of the table. Hold the deck face-down in the left hand when you do this. Then say, "You know, the thing about that trick is, people wonder if I'll stab myself. I usually don't, but there will come a day." It is during this offhand comment, that you switch Deck One for Deck Two. The words will be used to define the timing of the actions. 1) "You know, the thing..."—Address this to a spectator on your right. Look directly at him as you speak. Keep your hands motionless. 2) "...about that trick..."—Turn your gaze to someone directly before you, simultaneously moving your right hand to the rightside coat pocket. 3) "...is, people wonder..." —Let your eyes travel to someone on your left, as your left hand, holding Deck One, moves to the left-side coat pocket. Once the hand is in the pocket, Deck One is switched for Deck Two. The mechanics are simple. Hold Deck One deep in the fork of the thumb. Take Deck Two between the first and second fingers (Figure 262).

262

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 5 1 The position of the forefinger between the decks assures that they do not become mixed. While the switching action can be done rapidly, Mr. Elmsley recommends moving at a relaxed pace to make sure the second deck is securely gripped. 4) " . . . if I'll stab myself."—Glance down at the table and spot the knife sheath to your right. The implication is that you have forgotten it is there and are searching your pockets for it. Turn your gaze toward the sheath for only a moment, then immediately make eye contact again with the spectators. Make the glance at the sheath fleeting and do not pause in your conversation. This assures that the pretense of finding the sheath is not overacted. You should seem completely occupied with your comments, not with your search. 5) "I usually don't..."—Bring the right hand from the pocket and reach for the sheath. Simultaneously, release the thumb's pressure on Deck One and leave it behind as you bring the left hand from the pocket. In transit, shift the forefinger under the deck as you swiftly maneuver the cards into dealing position. The left hand should leave the pocket just a moment after the right hand. It comes into view as the right hand picks up the sheath and, on the word "don't", shakes it briefly to confirm that it is empty. Once more, these actions are underplayed to make them believable. 6) ".. .but there will come a day."—While still holding the deck, with the left hand pick up the knife from the table. Close the knife with the right fingers and slip it into the sheath. Then lay it aside on the table. The switch is accomplished. While it might be less awkward if the deck were set down before picking up the knife, doing so would be inconsistent with the previous actions. If the deck is to be set on the table to free the hand, this should logically have occurred before the hand went to search the pocket. Consistency demands that the deck be held throughout. Additionally, setting the deck down actually draws more attention to it than if it is kept in the hand. It is wise to practice picking up the knife and closing it while holding the deck, just as you would practice a sleight. It must be stressed that it is the attitude of relaxed triviality accompanying these words and actions that makes the switch invisible. When Mr. Elmsley executes it, he seems completely occupied with the conversation, and almost oblivious to his physical actions. The audience's attention is dispersed by his simultaneous talk, traveling eye contact, and the deck, the sheath, the knife, all on the table. In all this the seemingly unimportant actions of his

4 5 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY hands are lost. If the acting is right and the moment well chosen, these actions are seen but do not register. Remember that many astute magicians were completely fooled by this switch at Mr. Elmsley's lectures. Place the two selections from the stab face-down on top of the deck in your left hand. However, catch a left fourth-finger break beneath them. Lean forward as you do this, resting your forearms on the table. Bring your right hand over the deck in a casual squaring action, in preparation to palm the two cards. Then sit back, assuming a relaxed posture. It is as you lean back that you palm the two selections. (The action of leaning back provides excellent cover and better angles for palming.) Pause a moment, then reach forward with your right hand for the knife on the table. Put it away in the right-side coat pocket—and at the same time load the palmed cards onto Deck Three. Unloading palmed objects, palming objects from the pocket and executing pocket switches are actions often done in the act of openly putting something in the pocket or taking something from it. An important point of psychology that Mr. Elmsley makes here is that the act of putting something away is much less interesting to the audience than the act of bringing something previously unseen from the pocket. Therefore, the former action is the one better suited to circumstances where attention on the performer's actions is undesirable. There is an earlier moment in the routine during which the two selections could be palmed and pocketed. The two cards could be returned to Deck One at the finish of "Cold Steel", then palmed as the hands and deck are dropped to the edge of the table, just before the deck switch. The two selections could then be loaded onto Deck Three as the right hand goes to the pocket in search of the sheath. Palming the cards during this earlier opportunity may appeal to some. However, Mr. Elmsley feels that palming the cards after the deck switch is the superior method. Leaving the two selections on the table as the switch is made provides an added psychological touch. When one thinks of switching decks, it is the whole deck that is considered. Switching a deck while leaving a part of it behind is less likely to be suspected and is therefore the more subtle course. With the switch and steal achieved, an air of formal performance is resumed as you place your cloth mat once more over the board on the table: "There are many things a card sharp can do with cards that aren't necessarily magic. I'd like to tell you a story about some card sharps who met in Monaco."

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 5 3 As you say this, casually fan or spread the pack, faces toward yourself, and locate the joker in the lower half. "Oh, I'm sorry. I should have taken the joker out of the pack." Remove the joker, and slip it into your shirt breast pocket, flashing its face in the process. "One night four card sharps in Monte Carlo sat around a table after a hard day's play. There was an old timer and three brash young men, one of whom picked up the cards to show what he could do. He shuffled the cards this way..." Give the deck a false shuffle, placing three indifferent cards over the top stock. The shuffle Mr. Elmsley uses to accomplish this is based on one by Dai Vernon, which appears on pages 50-51 of More Inner Secrets of Card Magic by Lewis Ganson. (This shuffle is identified by Mr. Vernon as a variation on Herb Zarrow's fine shuffle, first published in The New Phoenix, No. 346, July 20, 1957, pp. 210. However, Edward Mario maintains that the Vernon shuffle is more properly classified as Frank Shank's shuffle with a block transfer applied. The intricacies of such hairsplitting taxonomy are beyond the scope of this treatise. Those readers interested in exploring the Zarrow-Shank controversy will find Mr. Mario's arguments in his book, The Shank Shuffle. We will be satisfied here with simply describing the sleight.) Set the deck lengthwise and face-down on the table. Bring the hands palm-down over their respective ends of the pack and, with the right hand, cut the top half to the right of the bottom half. (Note: The edge-marked three of clubs can be used to gauge this cut, as it is one card above the bottom of the stock. The cut must therefore be made at least one card below the edge mark.) Riffle the inner corners of the halves together in the usual fashion, the left thumb commencing the shuffle by dropping a bed of about eight cards. Then evenly release cards from both thumbs until you near the tops of the halves. With the right thumb, hold back a group of about eight cards, and with the left thumb hold back exactly three. Release the right thumb's cards and drop the three cards from the left thumb on top of all. As you release the right-hand block, with the right forefinger push these cards to the left in a short spread. Perform a similar maneuver with the left forefinger, pushing the final three cards forward in a narrow fan. Figure 263 depicts the configuration of the cards. Now apparently push the interlaced halves into each other. However, actually disengage the meshed corners of the packets secretly under cover of the spread top blocks. This is done by slightly twisting the left-hand packet clockwise and the right-hand packet counterclockwise, until the halves are parallel with each other (Figure 264).


THE DAZZLE ACT 4 5 5 With the right hand, lift the right half just enough to slip it to the left, over the left-hand portion but beneath the top three cards (Figure 265). Feign some exertion of pressure on the packets as you push them square, as would be present if the cards were genuinely interwoven. As the halves are squared, further cover can be given the front edge of the deck by tipping the packets up slightly at their inner sides (Figure 266, audience's view). At the finish of the shuffle, the order of the deck is: three indifferent cards, the jack through ace of clubs, the jack through ace of hearts, the jack through ace of spades, the jack through ace of diamonds, the five-card force bank (nine of clubs, seven of diamonds, two of spades, ten of hearts, three of clubs), a joker and the balance of the pack. The story has been halted briefly as you complete this shuffle. You now continue, ".. .and he cut the cards this way..." Here perform a modestly skillful looking multiple cut. This cut should be convincing, but is a blind. Use any false cut that preserves the top stock. Mr. Elmsley uses Frank Garcia's affas-gaffas false cut (a pleasing handling variant of Erdnase's first fancy blind cut [ref. The Expert at the Card Table, pp. 44-45]): With both hands, grasp the ends of the pack as it rests on the table after the shuffle. With the right hand, undercut roughly a third of the pack and slap it on top, stepped slightly to the right (Figure 267). Keep the tips of the right thumb and second finger in contact with the right corners of this packet (C in Figure 267), while tightening the right fingers' hold on the lower portion of the left-hand section (B). Simultaneously ease the grip of the left thumb and second finger on this third of the pack, retaining only the upper portion (A). With the right hand, slide the upper and lower thirds of the pack (C and B) a bit to the right and forward (Figure 268) while you hold ^^^^^^^^^^_^^__^^^^^_^^^^ the center third (A) stationary in the left hand. When the right-hand sections clear the lefthand portion, lower it onto the table. (N.B. Mr. Elmsley moves the righthand packets forward diagonally, rather than cutting in a straight ahead direction as Mr. Garcia describes it.)

4 5 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Release the right hand's bottom section (B), which has been kept separate from the section above by a right-thumb break, and continue to move forward and to the right with the third packet (C, Figure 269). This is laid slightly ahead of the packet just dropped off, placing the three piles in a diagonal line (Figure 270). Now bring the right hand back to the nearest packet (A), pick it up and place it onto the center packet (B). Again with the right hand, drop these combined packets onto the forward one (C). The cut is a convincing one, but leaves the order of the pack undisturbed. (The original description of this cut is found in Garcia's Marked Cards and Loaded Dice, pp. 145-146; and later the sleight was included in his Million Dollar Card Secrets, pp. 97-98.) If the reader desires to substitute another false cut for the one described, the cut chosen should be one that ends with the packets are gathered in a forward direction. Having the pack located well away from you aids the next procedure; and it is better to position the deck with the action of the cut than to move it

'

/

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 5 7 into place without obvious motivation. The story continues: " . . . and he cut a small packet... that happened to have a jack on the face." Here you cut the top four cards from the deck and snap the packet face-up to reveal the jack of clubs. This is done with a simple procedure Mr. Elmsley calls the riffle cut: With the right hand, grasp the pack, thumb on the near side, forefinger curled on top, the other fingers on the far side. Riffle the thumb gently up the side of the pack until only the top four cards remain. Since the top few cards separate automatically on the thumb as it nears the top of the deck (Figure 271), the precise cutting of a four-card packet is not difficult. If the top of the deck is beveled, or swayed, inward slightly, it aids in separating the cards neatly on the thumb. Given a bit of practice four cards can be accurately gauged, with little or no hesitation, by a combination of feel and sight. (This riffle separation of cards is identical to that used for controlled riffle shuffles.) Also observe that by positioning the deck forward on the table as we have, you are given a clear view of the edges of the cards. Lift the four-card packet from the deck, allow the outer edge escape from the tip of the second finger and let the packet snap over, pinched between the forefinger and thumb (Figures 272 and 273).

4 5 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY This exposes the jack of clubs on the face. Transfer the face-up packet to the palm-down left hand, grasping it from above by its ends, and place it on the table to the left of the deck. As the packet is set down, purposely spread it slightly, to establish that a small packet has been cut, and not a single card. This is done only with the first packet, as spreading the others would expose the stacked aces and court cards below the second, third and fourth jacks. "So he cut another small packet; and it also had a jack at the face." Perform the affas-gaffas cut a second time, followed by another riffle cut of four cards. Snap this packet face-up to reveal the jack of hearts. Take the packet into the left hand and set it down overlapping the left side of the first packet. "And he cut a third time to the jack of spades..." Perform another affas-gaffas cut, then a riffle cut. Lay the new four-card packet with the jack of spades at its face to the left of the jack of hearts, slightly overlapping it. "... and a fourth time, to the jack of diamonds." False cut the deck a fourth time and cut off a fourth packet of four. Snap it over to display the fourth jack, then lay the packet face-up to the left of the previous packet, overlapping it. The final arrangement of the packets is shown in Figure 274.

A point Mr. Elmsley emphasizes is that, as the packets are cut, they should not be tipped up at the inner side to glimpse the bottom card as a check. Such a procedure is obvious to the spectators. It also adds an unwanted moment of hesitation to the act of cutting, an act that should appear sure and unflinching. The only visual cue used for the riffle cut is that of quickly observing the edges of the

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 5 9 cards, nothing more. If a miss should occur, a card can be openly picked up or dropped off after the cut is made without serious harm to the effect. Better this than an unconfident air. However, with only moderate practice, accuracy can be dependably attained. As you cut the fourth jack and lay it down with the others, continue the story: "And the other youngsters said, 'Wow!' The old timer smiled, but he said nothing. "The second youngster picked up the cards..." Gather the four packets from left to right and deposit them face-down on the deck. Notice how the overlapping arrangement of the packets simplifies and accelerates this procedure, thus maintaining the pace. "...and shuffled them this way..." Here another Zarrow-style shuffle is executed. This shuffle loses the top card of the deck, moving it to the center, but otherwise retains the order of the pack. It is done as follows: With the left hand, cut the top half of the pack to the left, in preparation for a riffle shuffle. As before, make this cut at least one card below the edge-marked one. Begin the weave by dropping a bed of about eight cards from the left thumb. Then release cards at an even rate from both thumbs until the top few of each packet are reached. Hold back a block of cards on the right thumb, until the left thumb has dropped all its cards but one. Then release the right thumb's block and drop the left thumb's card onto it. Now execute the actions described for the previous shuffle (Figures 263-266), making two small changes: 1) You slip the right-hand half under only the top card of the lefthand half, and— 2) You hold a break between the halves at the back edge as they are squared together. "... and he cut the cards this way..." Undercut the cards below the break and place them on top. This returns the stock to the top, less one indifferent card. At this point, two more indifferent cards lie over the stack of jacks, queens, kings and aces. Immediately follow the single cut with an affas-gaffas cut. " . . . and he cut a small packet with a queen on the face." Make a riffle cut of four cards, exactly as you did when producing the jacks. However, this time a queen appears on the face of the packet. Set the packet face-up on the table to the left of the deck. "Then he cut again to a queen..." Do another affas-gaffas cut, then a riffle cut, to produce a second queen. Place the second packet to the left of the first, overlapping it slightly.

4 6 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY " . . . and he cut a third time to the queen of spades..." Here a more rapid cutting sequence is employed, increasing the pace so that the repetition of effect does not become tedious. With the right hand, undercut half the deck and slap it on top, maintaining a thumb break between the packets. Then, again with the right hand, slide the entire deck forward and to the right about six inches. There cut the section above the break forward and to the right of the lower half. Return the right hand to the lower half and slap it onto the other, completing the cut. Immediately, perform a riffle cut, and produce the third queen. Repeat this cutting sequence to arrive at the final queen. ".. .and he cut a fourth time to the queen of diamonds. And the other youngsters said, 'Wow!' The old timer, however, still smiled and said nothing." Gather the queen packets from left to right, exactly as you did the jacks, and return them to the top of the deck. "The third youngster took his turn. He shuffled this way.. .and he cut the cards this way... and he cut to a king. He cut again to another king. The third time he cut to the king of spades; and the fourth time he cut to the king of diamonds. The other youngsters said, 'Wow!' The old timer smiled—and still said nothing." The following actions are synchronized with the above narrative: Give the deck another Zarrow-style shuffle, sloughing off the top card. Then cut the four kings from the pack, just as the jacks and queens have been, using a combination of false cuts and riffle cuts. However, when cutting the kings Mr. Elmsley likes to alternate the affas-gaffas cut with the speedier cut described for the cutting of the third and fourth queens. He does this to keep the procedure visually interesting, while he gradually increases the speed. When the four kings have been cut, scoop up the four packets and replace them on the deck. "So the youngsters pushed the cards toward him. He took them and said, 'You boys are extremely good. But you know, I don't go for this clever riffling of the deck. I know it mixes the cards, but that slick handling frightens me; and it frightens others. When people are frightened they don't bet. When they don't bet, I don't make a living. That's why I shuffle the old-fashioned way." (Mr. Elmsley bestows a French accent on the old gambler as he speaks, lending color to the characterization. Originally he placed this story in Las Vegas, making the Old Timer an American. However, when he brought his lecture to the States he distrusted his Yankee accent and, at a friend's suggestion, moved the scene of the tale a safe distance from America—Monte Carlo.)

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 6 1 Perform an overhand shuffle that retains the top stock while ridding it of the remaining indifferent card above. Begin the shuffle by running a single card from the top of the pack. Then drop a block of at least twenty-two cards onto this (the stock—court cards and aces, force bank and joker—which must be kept intact). Injog the next card and shuffle off the balance of the cards. Perform this entire shuffle sequence while talking, paying little or no attention to the hands and cards. "Then people think I'm just a harmless old man. And I don't go for this quick slick cutting of the cards. That frightens people. I like to cut the cards the old-fashioned way." Here, cut the pack by lifting at the injogged card and carry this top half to the table. Drop the balance of the deck onto this. The top stock is intact and back in place. 'Then people think I'm just a harmless old man. And I don't go for this slick flipping of the cards to show them. That frightens people. I like to deal the cards the old-fashioned way. Then people think I'm just a harmless old man..." As you deliver the last line, deal three cards face-down as if dealing a round of poker. Deal the fourth card face-up to yourself.

275

0 4

A

A A 4*—

A

A •

V 0

« 7 3 + V 0

s

3

in

0

1 t

%

I

b

I1

7

a+V 0

B

27 9 S4 0

• •

4 6 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY " . . . with an ace of clubs..." Deal three more rounds, turning up the fourth card on each. Time words to actions as each ace is revealed. " . . . an ace of hearts... an ace of spades... and an ace of diamonds." Do not pause after dealing the fourth ace. Doing so would be a sure cue for applause; and applause is not desired just yet. Instead, the effect is compounded before applause is allowed. "Mind you, I have nothing against these jacks and queens and kings; and when I want them..." Deliver a meaningful pause, allowing the audience just enough time to anticipate the coming climax. " . . . I take care of them." Turn up the three face-down hands from left to right—in jacks, queens and kings order—and spread them in parallel columns above the aces. As a further signal of conclusion, ribbon spread the balance of the pack face-up below the layout of hands (Figure 275). This cumulative finish guarantees a strong hand. 1975

DAZZLE Effect: Though the performer has removed several jokers from the pack during the previous effects, to his surprise he finds another. As a sudden inspiration, he does a trick with the five jokers. The backs of the jokers are displayed and, as is expected, all are seen to be blue. A second group of jokers, one collected from various packs with different back designs, is introduced a card at a time as the trick proceeds. First, one of the blue-backed jokers is replaced with a red-backed joker, and the other blue-backed jokers magically change color to match the red stranger. When one of the red-backed jokers is removed and replaced with a green-backed joker, the other jokers in the packet turn green as well. This process is continued, as the packet of jokers is caused to go through a bewildering number of color changes, from green to orange to black, etc., finally culminating with a change to nothing but faces on all sides, leaving a packet of five double-faced jokers. Method: As the applause subsides and the audience's tension is released, quickly and neatly gather the cards and reassemble the deck. Then fan it, faces toward yourself, with an air of preparing for the next effect. Quickly locate the remaining joker and feign surprise: "Now.. .I'm sorry. I should have taken the joker out of the pack." Divide the fan at the joker and set it on the table. In reassembling the two sections of the pack, place the original upper portion below the lower, thus subtly cutting the deck. Since the joker resided immediately below the five-card force bank, this cut brings the bank to the face of the pack. Set the deck face-down to one side as, with the right hand, you pick up the joker. Slip it into your shirt breast pocket with the others. Then, as if struck by a fresh thought, say, "I'll tell you what I will do. I'll show you some magic using jokers. I can use jokers for what

4 6 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY I have In mind because the values don't matter in this. Just the backs are important." As you say this, move your right hand smoothly from the shirt pocket to the inner left breast pocket of the coat, and remove from there the prepared Dazzle packet. The audience should believe this packet to be made up of the jokers that have been tucked into the shirt pocket throughout the act. "All the backs are blue." To support this statement, you count the cards in single fashion from hand to hand. During the process five cards are seen: four blue-backed jokers with a fifth joker lying faceup at center; or so it appears. Mr. Elmsley's everchange count makes possible this illusion. When he devised the everchange count around 1954, he used it to transform a face-up center card in a face-down packet (see "The Great Pretender", Volume I, pp. 69-76). It wasn't until the mid-1960s that he developed the following application. Take the packet "face-down" into left-hand pinch grip. The order of the packet is, from top downward, blue/red double-backed card (blue surface up), blue/blue double-backed card and two doublefaced jokers. Use the everchange count to show five cards: two blue backs, one face-up joker and two more blue backs. Since this count is taught in Volume I (pp. 74-76), it will not be redescribed here. However, for the "Dazzle" effect, Mr. Elmsley suggests an added fine touch to the performance of the count: When you are about to take the third card into the right hand, spread the left hand's two cards slightly (Figure 276); then, after the third card has been transferred to the right hand, spread the left-hand pair again before you take the fourth card. This further displays the backs of the cards, emphasizing their color. Having completed the first count, say, "I've turned the middle joker face-up, but it has a blue back too..." Turn the packet over and perform a second everchange count. This shows four face-up jokers with one face-down blue-backed card in the center. This is as it should be. When you take the last two jokers into the right hand, injog them roughly half an inch. Then transfer the packet to left-hand dealing grip.

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 6 5 "... and it's that reversed card in the middle that's very important, because any card reversed in that position has an effect on the others. Suppose, for example, I remove the blue-backed center joker and replace it with a red-backed joker." ha accordance with these statements, remove the blue doublebacked card from the packet. To avoid exposing the red back below as you do this, execute the action of the push-in change. That is: With your right hand, grip the two bottom cards of the packet by their outer ends, thumb above, fingers below. Using the right fingertips, push the lower card of the pair inward slightly, and begin to draw the covering blue-backed card forward. At the same time contact the front end of the bottom card with the tip of your left forefinger and push this card back until it is square with the injogged upper cards. Without hesitation, continue to pull the joker from the packet. Lay this card on the table to your right. With the right hand, remove the red/green double-backed card from the top of the packet in the outer left breast pocket of the coat. Take care not to expose the green surface. "I might mention that I have accumulated quite a lot of jokers over the years from various packs, as you will shortly see." Insert this card into the joker packet, from the inner end and third from the top. The action is aided by buckling the bottom card or by pulling it down slightly with the left fourth finger. The red back of the bottom card must not be seen as you do this. "If I put it into the middle, the backs of the other cards change to match." Turn the packet face-down, and in this action reverse the lower two cards with a half pass in the following manner: When you insert the red-backed card into the packet, don't push it completely flush. Leave it slightly injogged. Then bring the right hand palm-down over the packet to grasp it by its ends. In doing this, press down with the tip of the thumb on the injogged card and push it flush, catching a break above it. Stretch the right fingers across the outer end of the cards, with the second, third and fourth fingers extending below the packet to provide cover for the forthcoming maneuver (Figure 277). Tilting the forward end of the packet down slightly further protects the sleight from view.

4 6 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY With the left hand, secretly lower the two cards below the break away from the upper cards at the inner end, creating a gap of approximately half an inch. Curl the left fingers inward on the right edge of the lowered cards and pull the edge downward, arching the hand until the cards pivot to a vertical position beneath the upper section (Figure 278). The outer end of the revolving cards should be swiveled slightly to the right at the instant they begin to turn. This assures that the cards do not catch or bind on each other at their left edges. Let the left edge of the turning cards slide across the face of the card above as they move to a vertical position, thus assuring that the least amount of space is used in accomplishing the maneuver. In a continuing action, carry the lower edge of the turning cards to the left and up, bringing them face to face against the upper cards (Figure 279). As the hidden rotation of the cards is completed the left hand finds itself at the left side of the packet, in perfect position to grip it between the thumb, above, and fingertips, below. This you immediately do. Turn the left hand palm-down with the packet, revolving it end over end and face-down. Then momentarily regrasp the turned packet in the palm-down right hand while the left hand turns palmup again and takes the cards into pinch grip, in preparation for the everchange count. As the packet is turned, the top card is seen now to have a red back. Do an everchange count, showing four red-backed cards with a face-up joker in the center. Injog the last two cards of the count over the face-up joker, as was done in the second everchange count above. "It's just the effect of this reversed red card in the middle—this one." Transfer the packet to left-hand dealing grip. Then, with the

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 6 7 freed right hand, remove the face-up joker from the center of the packet, using the action of the push-in change to keep the face of the joker beneath hidden. Turn the left hand palm-down with the packet and slip the right hand's doublefaced joker onto the face (Figure 280). Turn the left hand palm-up again and deal the top card of the packet (the red/blue doublebacked card) onto the table, to the left of the blue double-backed card and slightly overlapping it. (There is a minor discrepancy in this procedure as, logically, the card just transferred to the face of the packet should be removed, rather than the one on top. The displaced card is thought to be the odd one that caused the rest to change. However, the point, in practice, is moot; and if it is ever noticed it is too trivial to be questioned.) "Unfortunately, that trick goes on so long I don't have time to do it today. Instead I might show you the trick where I take a green card and put it in the middle... and the backs of the other cards then change color to match." Actions suit words. With the right hand, remove the green/orange double-backed card from the outer breast pocket, while with the left fingers you flip the packet face-up. Slip the right hand's card into the packet, third from the top, exactly as was done before. Reverse the lower two cards of the packet with a half pass as you turn the packet face-down. Then perform an everchange count to show four green backs with a face-up joker in the center. Again, injog the last two cards as you take them onto the packet. "That trick is over so quickly, it's hardly worth doing." Execute the push-in manuever to remove the face-up joker third from the top of the packet, and place it on the face, repeating the actions used in the preceding phase. Then deal the top card (the green/red doublebacked card) to the table, letting it overlap the red-backed card. This sequence of half pass, everchange count and push-in alignment is repeated with each card withdrawn from the breast pocket, as often as it is felt the audience will remain interested. Mr. Elmsley

4 6 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY finds that five changes are enough for most lay audiences. He extends this to seven changes for magician audiences, whose technical knowledge creates an extra fascination with each fresh change; an advantage that laymen, perhaps wisely, forgo. As the sequence of changes proceeds, keep up a running line of commentary. "I used to do a trick in which I took an orange card and put it reversed in the middle... and the backs of the other cards then changed color to match. But that trick is so easy I no longer get any satisfaction from doing it. "A much better trick is the one in which I take a black card and put it reversed in the middle.. .and the backs of the other cards then change color to match. That trick is so difficult, I can't do it. "I'm often asked for a trick in which I take a purple card and put it reversed in the middle... and the backs of the other cards then change color to match. But nowadays everyone knows how that trick is done. "Much more exclusive is the trick in which I take a pink card and put it reversed in the middle... and the backs of the other cards then change color to match. That trick is so exclusive, I don't know how it's done. "An excellent trick is the one in which I take a multicolored card and put it reversed in the middle... and the backs of the other cards then change color to match. Like many excellent things, that trick is old." Move the face-up joker to the face of the packet and deal the top card (variegated/pink double-backer) to the tabled row. "So I'm going to show you a completely new trick in which I take a card with—a joker on the back..." Here you bring out the final card in the breast pocket, the double-faced joker (really two doublefaced jokers waxed together). Clearly exhibit it double-faced nature. The sight of this card always causes laughter, as it is so strange in appearance to laymen. "... and put it reversed in the middle... and the backs and the faces of all the other cards change to match." The procedure is altered for this last sequence, in which the packet is shown to consist of five double-faced jokers. You do not turn the packet face-up here. You simply insert the waxed pair of double-faced jokers into the packet, third from the top. The order of the cards from top down is now: face-down joker with its variegated back up, double-faced joker, waxed pair, double-faced joker. No half pass is done this time around. Instead, openly cut the joker on the face of the packet to the top. Then execute a double turnover. This displays a card with a joker seemingly on both sides. The top card is dealt to the left on the table, separate from the row of cards already there. This card is the joker with a variegated back, though the back has been concealed.

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 6 9 Four genuine double-faced jokers are left in the hand. Flip over the packet to display the joker on the underside. Show both sides of the card, using actions that simulate those necessary for a double turnover, and deal it onto the preceding joker, beginning an overlapping row. This first card is one of the waxed double-faced jokers. Therefore, you must subtly break it free of its counterpart as you turn it over. Then deal it, waxed side up, onto the previous joker. Flip the packet over again in your left hand. Then turn over the top card, displaying a joker on both sides. Deal it onto the second joker. Flip over the remaining two double-faced jokers, display each of them and set them with the others. Place down the second waxed joker first, waxed side down. The singularity of all five cards should be emphasized as they are handled. With each change of the packet, Mr. Elmsley increases the speed of his delivery and actions so that the repetition does not become tedious. Toward the end, he achieves a furious pace that adds a further touch of comedy to the presentation of these protean transformations. The final change with its layout display of the packet is a powerful applause cue. Accept the applause and gather the row of face-up jokers. Drop these cards onto the row of odd-backed cards, sweep up the lot and place them into the outer breast pocket, taking care not to expose the blue-backed underside of the packet. After the act, the cards can be quickly reset for performance: Hold the combined packets with the double-backed blue/blue card uppermost. Move the double-faced joker on the bottom of the packet to the top, following it with the double-faced joker now second from the bottom. This brings the two waxed double-facers together on the bottom. Now deal the top four cards into a pile on the table, reversing their order. The cards remaining in the hand are those with multicolored backs, plus the waxed pair of double-faced jokers. These are in the required order and can be replaced in the outer breast pocket. The packet on the table is also in its proper order and ready to be placed in the inner breast pocket. Packet tricks by their nature have a narrow range of focus and usually lack active audience participation. "Dazzle" is no exception. Therefore, effort should be made to keep the entire audience involved in the action by working as widely and openly as possible, and by making eye contact with all sections of the audience during the trick. One final observation: The reader may question if anyone would notice that only four jokers are removed from the deck and pocketed during the act—yet when the Dazzle packet is brought out it is represented as having five jokers. The answer is an assured no. First,

4 7 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY the point of logic is not critical to anything being done. Perhaps the performer had another joker in his pocket before he began the act. hi the end it simply doesn't matter. Second, experience has shown that this discrepancy never arises in the minds of the spectators. With so much happening that is more compelling to the attention, no one keeps track of the exact number of jokers pocketed. It is simply not an issue with which one need be concerned. 1975

TOUR DE FORCE Effect: Five cards are quickly chosen by as many persons, then lost in the pack. These selections are rapidly produced from the shuffled deck in a variety of magical ways. Next, unexpectedly, the lucky selection from the datebook trick appears. This is followed by the two selections made during the deck stab; the jacks, queens, kings and aces from the poker deal; and a number of cards with various back-patterns from the joker packet. This flurry of productions constitutes a summation of the entire act. Everything is drawn together in a remarkable and astonishing manner that has tremendous impact. Method: Deck Two lies on the table after the Dazzle routine is finished. You will soon force the five cards at the face of this pack. First, however, during the interim following the previous effect, as everyone relaxes, reach into your right-side coat pocket and check the position of Deck Three to assure that it is still on end. "I would like to do a trick in which lots of cards are chosen." With your right hand, pick up Deck Two and hold it in position to execute a Hindu shuffle; that is, gripped by the sides near the inner end, with the thumb on the left corner and the second finger just forward of the right corner. The edge of the pack must contact the middle phalanx of the second finger, enabling the tip of the third finger to curl onto the face of the deck when necessary (Figure 281). "This time I want to use some of you who are a bit farther back. Will you help me?" Single out someone to your right in one of the farther rows. "No need to move. Will you just say stop while I'm cutting the pack?" Cutting the pack, as the reader will have surmised, consists of doing the Hindu shuffle force. Bring

4 7 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY the deck over the palm-up left hand and, with the left fingers and thumb, draw small packets of cards from the top of the deck. Let these packets fall, each onto the previous, on the left palm. When the spectator stops the procedure, hold up the balance of the right-hand cards so that he can see the card at the face—the three of clubs. "Will you remember that card? Will all of you over there remember it? Good. And would someone over there call out stop again? How about you?" Here indicate someone to the left of the first person, but still in the right-hand section of the audience. Resume the Hindu shuffle until this person calls stop. As the first packet is pulled from the talon, the force card just shown is deposed from the face of the deck. This is accomplished by buckling the card lengthwise, using the tip of the right third finger to press it inward. Force the card against the tip of the thumb and make it belly downward (Figure 282). This buckling is done as the top packet is gripped by the left hand. With the left fourth finger, contact the right edge of the buckled card and pull it down onto the packet on the left palm (Figure 283). Simultaneously move the right hand back, drawing its packet from between the top cards and those already in the left hand.

Pull further small packets from the top of the right-hand stock until a halt is called. Hold up the right hand's portion so that the second force card—the ten of hearts—can be noted.

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 7 3 Next indicate someone in the center and repeat the shuffle force. In doing so, strip the second force card from the face of the righthand packet and display the third force card when stopped. "Please remember the cards. This is my last trick, and if you forget your cards you'll ruin my climax." This caution, delivered in a mildly humorous fashion, is given to alert those spectators who have already noted cards and those who will in a moment. It is necessary at this point, as some people become so involved with the progress of the trick, they do forget their card. Force the fourth and fifth cards in an identical manner on persons in the left section of the audience. If you draw off thin packets throughout the shuffle, you should be able to service all flve spectators before you deplete the stock. However, if the spectators fail to respond quickly enough to have all flve cards chosen on one run through the deck, replace the remaining force stock onto the lefthand portion, holding a break beneath it, and cut it to the bottom with a Hindu shuffle action. Then begin a second shuffle to complete the forces. The Hindu shuffle force is shunned by some magicians as old hat. Such a judgment is most often myopic. The procedure allows cards to be selected quickly, without inconvenience to the spectators. Too, the selections are seen by a number of people, eliminating possible arguments about the identity of the cards, and thereby solving the problem of having cards forgotten. This method of swiftly forcing flve cards is completely convincing to laymen; and, the handling just explained, in which the face card of the right-hand stock changes each time it is shown, deceives magicians as well. "Five cards chosen,fivecards to be found—all by clever handling." As you say this, give the deck one further quick and casual mix. The style of shuffle is not of consequence, as no cards are being controlled. (Indeed, the deck may be shuffled by a spectator. However, Mr. Elmsley believes that such a course would slow the action without adding appreciably to the overall impact.) After shuffling, check the position of the edge-marked card. If you find it too near the top or bottom of the pack, cut it to a more central location. It will be recalled that this marked card is the three of clubs—the first selection. Take the deck squared and face-down into left-hand dealing position, and address the first spectator on your right: "The first card chosen was over there. What was your card, please? The three of clubs.. .the three of clubs." When the card is named, gaze at the deck and riffle with the left thumb down the outer left corner to the edge-marked card. Stop the


riffle just as the marked card escapes the thumb. Dig the thumb into the deck (Figure 284), below the three of clubs, then slide it to the left, from the center, and flip it face-up onto the pack (Figure 285). "The three of clubs. The second card was chosen by someone over there. What was the card you chose, please?" As the spectator replies, the three is dealt face-up onto the table, about one foot forward of the near edge. When the second selection is named, place the deck into your right-side coat pocket, investing much importance in this act. Lay the pack on its side so that it does not become confused with Deck Three, already there. Remove your hand from the pocket and blow on the fingertips, in the manner of a cinematic safe-cracker. "The ten of hearts?" Shoot the right hand back into the pocket and bring forth the bottom card of Deck Three (that card nearest the body). "The ten of hearts." Lay this face-up with the first selection, overlapping it slightly on the left. Return the hand to the pocket and remove Deck Three. The decks have thus been subtly switched in the action of producing the second selection. This location accomplished in the pocket is a strong effect to laymen, despite the simplicity of method. However, Mr. Elmsley moves briskly on, purposely suppressing its power and thus underplaying the momentary presence of the deck in the pocket. His aim here is to obscure the switch of decks as much as possible. "The third card was chosen by someone there. What was the card you have chosen? The two of spades?" Turn up the deck to display an indifferent card on its face. Then perform the Houdini colorchange, transforming this card to the two of spades: Casually show the right hand empty, then lay it, fingers outstretched, over the face of the pack. With the tip of the right fourth finger, contact the outer right corner of the card on the face, and rest the tip of the left forefinger lightly against the end of the deck.

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 7 5 Move the right hand slightly forward, sliding the card beneath it outward an inch, while the left forefinger follows along on the end of the card (Figure 286, right hand raised to expose the situation). Then draw the right hand back about two-and-a-half inches, apparently to provide one last look at the indifferent card. In doing so, bring the fleshy base of the right fingers lightly against the exposed inner end of the two of spades. Slide this card back with the right hand, letting the hand conceal it (Figure 287).

287

Two of spades pulled back beneath hand

Halt the right hand's inward motion the instant the end of the two of spades clears the card above it. With the minutest downward pressure of the right hand, you can now cause the two to lever up and over the indifferent card. Immediately move the right hand forward again, carrying the two square onto the face of the deck (Figure 288). Under the screen of the right fingers, use the left forefinger to push the outjogged indifferent card flush; and raise the right hand away from the pack to reveal the change. Gentle pressures and cards in good condition greatly aid the execution of this sleight. (See Volume I, pp. 137-140, for a variant handling of this transformation.) "The two of spades." Deal the two onto the ten of hearts, overlapping its left edge. As you do this, let the right hand be seen empty.

4 7 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY "That's one, two, three cards. The fourth one was over there somewhere. What was your card? The seven of diamonds?" As you ask this and await the answer, give the deck a brief overhand shuffle in which you run only the top three cards singly and toss the balance onto them. This action delivers the selections from the datebook effect and the card stab to the bottom of the deck in three-two-one order from the face. It also brings the fourth force card to the top of the pack, with the fifth just beneath it. When the seven is named, take the deck face-up into left-hand dealing grip and turn it upright, left edge uppermost and face toward the audience. The seven of diamonds at the back of the deck is produced on cue with Jules Dhotel's pop-up card flourish (ref. Hugard's More Card Manipulation, No. 2, p. 25; Hugard and Braue's Royal Road to Card Magic, p. 183; or Dai Vernon's Inner Secrets of Card Magic by Ganson, pp. 65-66): With the tip of the left forefinger, contact the very edge of the top card at its outer end and pull it slightly away from the pack (Figure 289). Then, with the forefinger, push the card inward behind the pack for as great a distance as you can manage. The near upper corner of the pack should rest lightly on the left thenar, and friction between the sliding card and the heel of the thumb will cause the card to pivot and pop up behind the pack at a right angle to it (Figure 290, performer's view; Figure 291, audience view).

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 7 7 'The seven of diamonds." With the right hand, remove the seven and lay it on the tabled row of selections. "The fifth card was chosen over here. What was your card?" The instant the nine of clubs is named it is snapped from the pack with a card spinning technique invented by Audley Walsh (ref. The Tarbell Course in Magic, Vol. 4, pp. 127-128): Adjust the deck to the following lefthand grip: With the face of the pack kept toward the audience, straddle the left end of the cards with the left first and third fingers. Curl the left second finger around the end of the deck and press its tip firmly against the card on the face (Figure 292). With the tip of the left thumb, contact the back of the deck at the lower left corner (Figure 293). The thumb must be kept straight and applies strong pressure to the pack.

You can now cause the top card to shoot from the deck by snapping the thumb upward (Figure 294). This imparts a counterclockwise spin to the card as it pivots around the forefinger and flies, in a rightward arc, through the air. Catch it neatly in the right hand and display it. Mr. Walsh mentions several fine points that aid in learning this pretty flourish. The thumbnail should be clipped short, so that it does not impede the thumbtip's contact with the card. A slight convex bridge down the length of the face-down deck (Figure 293 again) can make the spin easier. Finally, it should be stressed once more that the thumb must remain straight and firm on the card as it snaps it upward.

4 7 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Should the reader wish to experiment, another technique by Audley Walsh for spinning a card from the deck can be found in the same Tarbell volume; it immediately precedes the one just described. Harry Lorayne's method in Reputation-Makers (pp. 100-103) is also worthwhile, as is Martin Lewis' technique in Ricky Jay's Cards as Weapons, pp. 37-39; and there is Mr. Elmsley's "Little Finger Spinner" on pages 11-12 of this volume. This concludes the near breakneck production of the five chosen cards. Place the fifth card onto the row with the previous selections. The audience, at this point, will burst into applause if given the chance. Once again, this natural response must be curbed, with the goal of building the applause into a larger hand. Leave no break for applause to start, but instead immediately begin the final production of cards. "I started this evening by telling our fortunes..." As this is said, give the pack a brief casual overhand shuffle, transferring the three early selections from the face to the top of the deck: Hold the deck with its face to the left while the left thumb runs the first two cards and the balance is thrown onto them. Then run another card and toss the deck onto it. The datebook selection is now on top of the pack, and the two stabbed selections are just below it. Having completed the shuffle, let the deck settle face-up onto the left fingers. "... and your card of fate was the eight of diamonds [or whatever]." Toss the deck onto the palm-up right hand, then immediately back into the left. On this return toss, though, let the right fingers hold back the lowermost card of the pack, using nothing more than simple friction. Display it, then lay it on the table just ahead of the row of selections already there. "Then two cards were chosen and stabbed: the two of diamonds and the nine of spades." Here do an in-the-hands slip cut, dividing the deck into two packets, the right hand carrying away the upper third of the deck while the left thumb draws the top card onto the lower portion. (This cut must be made one or several cards above the bank of Dazzle backs to avoid exposing them prematurely.) Adjust the right hand's packet to dealing grip and cross the hands. Then with both hands perform simultaneous Vernon flourish deals (ref. Greater Magic, p. 220) to turn up the top card of each packet. That is, push over the top card with the thumb, as if about to deal it; clip it between the tips of the curled first finger, below, and second finger, above (Figure 295); then straighten the fingers, carrying the card off the packet and face-up (Figure 296). Keep your arms crossed and raise both hands to shoulder height, while using the thumbs to pivot the two selections so that their faces

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 7 9 are always toward the audience (Figure 297). Hold this pose briefly, then lay the selections in an overlapping row on the datebook card. Reassemble the deck, placing the right hand's packet onto the left's. "Then we talked about gambling and I cut the pack...to the four j a c k s . . . the four queens... and the four kings." In time to these words, quickly riffle off three groups of four cards and spread each group face-up and vertically as its value is mentioned. Do this just forward of the new row of three selections. It will be recalled that the fourth card in each of these court-card groups is corner shorted. This makes their production fast and sure. The left thumb merely riffles down to the first short corner and the right hand neatly cuts the group away. It will occur to some that the cornershorted cards might be eliminated. But to what purpose? The deck is inescapably prepared, so the inclusion of corner-shorted cards is no debility. Why make things harder than they need be?

480 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY 298

9A

A( i

/ /

0

•

\?

i '(3

2* *.* • • ****

•

z Ik •

"We shuffled the pack and I dealt the ace of clubs, the ace of hearts, the ace of spades and the ace of diamonds." Deal the aces face-up, two to the left of the layout and two to the right of it. "And finally there was magic, when the backs of all the cards changed color." Perform a Houdini color-change—or any other change—transforming the top card of the pack to an odd backdesign. "And, in behalf of the supporting cast, the stars and myself, I would like to thank you." Ribbon spread the packet of multipatterned backs on the words "the stars". Keep the top few cards squared as the spread is finished, to conceal the blue back of the card second from the top. Make this spread forward of all the other cards on the table (Figure 298), performing it with an expansive gesture that, in combination with the closing line, cues the end of the act. Anyone who doubts the intensity of an audience's response at this point should reread the text. Everything is designed to elicit a thunderous hand. 1975

NOTES ON STRUCTURE While many points of presentation and psychology have been discussed within the technical description of the Dazzle Act, there are some observations on the overall structure that will be useful in understanding not only the act itself, but the psychology of routining an act. First, when Mr. Elmsley performs this act, he does not begin with a showy, fast-paced trick, but with a pleasant, personal, mildly witty introduction of himself: "Good evening. My name is Alex Elmsley. I'm not a magician— all the time. By day I work with computers. Some people think that's magic. At night I invent card tricks." Only after this personal introduction does he begin his first trick presentation. When performing in an environment where there is competition for the audience's attention—noise, conversation, music, movement, discomfort—perhaps a fast and flashy entrance is best. But when the audience is "captive"—that is, when they have come to see magic by a particular performer—their immediate interest is in the performer himself. Who is he? Is he somber, mysterious, lighthearted, humorous, likable, eccentric? The initial contact between performer and audience is supremely important. Taking the first few moments to achieve a rapport with the audience can be pivotal to the success of the act. It is unwise to ignore the audience's interest in the performer as a personality. In the arena of close-up magic, this is often done. The performer begins the show by immediately bringing out some cards or coins and focusing all his attention on them, effectively dismissing the audience as if they were a passive camera, rejecting their interest. Observe in Mr. Elmsley's opening remarks how, within the first few seconds, he makes personal contact with the audience and then subtly steers their interest from himself to his magic, making the magic an extension of his personality. In this manner, he exploits

4 8 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY an intrinsic interest and builds on it, rather than starting from a less secure base. Given a reasonably uncompetitive surrounding and an audience willing to be interested, Mr. Elmsley suggests that the common rule of beginning with a quick trick can be broken with wisdom. The choice of a slower paced trick as an opener further allows the performer to communicate with the audience, to establish his personality within the context of the effect. "Fate's Datebook" was chosen as the opening effect of the act not only for this reason, but for its opportunities to make contact with members of the audience. Then there is its subject: fortunetelling can be relied on to capture the immediate interest of a wide section of the audience. Mr. Elmsley discovered the strong lure of fortunetelling many years ago, while discussing magic with the late Fred Robinson in a pub. The discussion began with card tricks and drew no interest from the non-magicians in the bar. It then turned to gambling and gambling tricks. Several people showed some curiosity at this change in topic, but the magicians' conversation remained mostly uninterrupted. But after a time, Mr. Elmsley performed an effect based on fortunetelling for Mr. Robinson—and suddenly their table was surrounded by intrigued observers. Strangely, even those who do not believe in fortunetelling will become involved, perhaps just to express their views; but the subject seems to interest almost everyone. Mr. Elmsley saw the intrinsic appeal of fortunetelling, and recognized the topic was a perfect one to command attention. Therefore, he chose an effect with a fortunetelling theme to open his act. Moving to the central pieces of the Dazzle Act, it is particularly interesting to see how ingeniously and how successfully prepared decks are exploited. Mr. Elmsley observes that it is a common practice in books of card magic to classify tricks that require extensively stacked or gimmicked decks as "openers". Many of these tricks, however, are not suitable openers at all. Such prepared packs produce exceptionally strong effects that are difficult, if not impossible, to top. Consequently, the tricks that come after such "openers" become wretchedly anticlimactic. The reason the authors have categorized these tricks as openers is that the necessary stacks and gimmicks are too difficult to hide, maintain or secretly arrange as an act proceeds. Thus it seems that the only practical spot to place a prepared deck effect is at the beginning.

THE DAZZLE ACT 4 8 3 Yet, there is an obvious solution to the problem. Deck switches make it possible to position these strong effects later in an act, where their power is far better exploited. In this way you are freed from routining for the sake of method, and can instead routine for force and drama. In the Dazzle Act this concept has been most skillfully applied to allow the performance of "The Tale of the Old Timer" and, later, "Tour de Force". Mr. Elmsley exercised the same careful consideration when he chose 'Tour de Force" as the closing routine. Contrary to widespread belief, the best audience response is not won by closing with one's strongest or most baffling trick. Professionals have found that a simple closing effect with basic appeals garners the most exuberant applause. High mystery and subtlety seem to drain enthusiasm from a final ovation; perhaps because they distract or stun the minds of the spectators, when instead one desires the audience to relax and express their enjoyment of the performer and his work. The enjoyment of a good magic act is not acknowledged just by the individual rounds of applause that follow each effect. There is also a reservoir of appreciation that builds as the act progresses—a reservoir that desires release at the finish of the act. Leaving one's spectators slackjawed with astonishment, or deep in thought, installs an emotional buffer, befuddling an audience and causing it to miss the applause cue. They may wish to applaud when they recover from their surprise, but it is then too late. The place for profound mysteries is before the final piece of an act, not at the finish. A good closing piece should have speed, movement, color, humor, grandeur, if possible; the elements that stir the emotions and make an audience want to react with applause. Mr. Elmsley compares a final effect to the last movement of a symphonic piece. During the final moments of great music, the composer does not parade his most beautiful melodies and subtlest harmonies. Instead he aims for elementary theatrical effects designed to cause a burst of emotion, exhilaration, applause and relaxation. He will use volume, rhythm and loud repeated chords. The same psychology holds true in the choice of a final trick for a magic act. One should strive for the theatrical elements that will trigger applause. Applause that may have been stifled earlier in an act need not be lost. It can be collected, sometimes with interest, at the end—but the end is the last chance. If the applause is not taken there, it is irretrievably squandered. In the Dazzle Act, the time-tested plot of multiple locations was chosen as the basis for the closing routine. It has the qualities of speed, visual interest, audience involvement and familiarity.

4 8 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY To this is added the fascinating ploy of summation—a concept that can be easily applied to other acts as well. Laymen often do not recall a trick by its effect, but by the card used in its performance. Rather than requesting, say, the trick where the card keeps returning to the top of the deck, they will ask for "The Nine of Hearts Trick". The summation of the Dazzle Act capitalizes on this natural memory of cards used in the tricks. As each card or set of cards is revealed, it recalls the feeling of wonder or surprise created by that effect, and compounds it with the next. To all this is added the strong visual appeal of a colorful deck layout. A burst of applause must be the result. Analysis of these factors, along with a study of the other theatrical structures built into the act, will reveal just how expertly constructed it is. (This study should include a careful rereading of the essay "Alex Elmsley on the Theory and Practice of Magic" in Volume I, pp. 3-17.) Through careful selection of material, combined with sound psychological and dramatic techniques, Mr. Elmsley has fabricated a model of routining, fittingly embodied in a fully realized magical entertainment.

BIBLIOGRAPHY of WORKS BY ALEX ELMSLEY Citations in brackets appearing after each article indicate the location of that item in The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley. These citations appear only under the first published appearance of each item. 1949 Tower Bridge Cut, The [Vol. II, pp. 7-10]: Abracadabra, Vol. 7, No. 168, April 16, 1949, pp. 182-183 (Goodliffe). With a New Pack (includes Spelling the Aces and Poker Deal): Abracadabra, Vol. 7, No. 174, May 28, 1949, pp. 284-285 (Goodliffe). Little Finger Spinner [Vol. II, pp. 11-12]: Abracadabra, Vol. 8, No. 190, Sept. 17, 1949, p. 124 (Goodliffe). untitled—card fan gag: The Gen, Vol. 5, No. 8, Dec. 1949, p. 229 (Harry Stanley). Magnetic Monte [Vol. I, pp. 192-194]: marketed trick, c. 1949, 1 page (Harry Stanley). 1950 Face Your Brothers [Vol. II, pp. 39-44]: The Gen, Vol. 5, No. 9, Jan. 1950, pp. 270-272 (Harry Stanley). Signing Off [Vol. II, pp. 189-191]: Abracadabra, Vol. 8, No. 206, Jan. 7, 1950, pp. 381-382 (Goodliffe). Phantom Cards [Vol. II, pp. 217-221]: Abracadabra, Vol. 8, No. 208, Jan. 21, 1950, pp. 406-408 (Goodliffe). Elmsley's Puncture [Vol. I, pp. 149-153]: Phoenix, No. 213, Oct. 6, 1950, p. 850 (Bruce Elliott). Nodding Skull, The [Vol. I, pp. 154-156]: privately marketed item; approximately six made, c. 1950 (Alex Elmsley).

4 8 6 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY 1951 Double Prediction, A [Vol. I, pp. 311-313]: The Gen, Vol. 7, No. 3, July 1951, pp. 82-83 (Harry Stanley). 1952 Rosette, The [Vol. II, pp. 19-21]: The Gen, Vol. 7, No. 11, March 1952, p. 335 (Harry Stanley). New Multiple Shift, A [Vol. I, pp. 99-102]: Abracadabra, Vol. 13, No. 327, May 3, 1952, pp. 232-233 (Goodliffe). Chosen Cards Across [Vol. I, pp. 271-273]: Abracadabra, Vol. 13, No. 329, May 17, 1952, pp. 261-262 (Goodliffe). Triple Reverse, A [Vol. I, pp. 267-268]: Abracadabra, Vol. 13, No. 331, May 31, 1952, pp. 296-297 (Goodliffe). untitled—Six-card Repeat presentation [Vol. 7, pp. 247-252]: Abracadabra, Vol. 13, No. 333, June 14, 1952, pp. 331-333 (Goodliffe). Between Your Palms [Vol. II, pp. 246-249]: Abracadabra, Vol. 13, No. 335, June 28, 1952, pp. 361-362 (Goodliffe). Coins from Nowhere [Vol. II, pp. 287-291]: Abracadabra, Vol. 13, No. 337, July 12, 1952, pp. 387-388 (Goodliffe). 1953 Point of Departure [Vol. //, pp. 118-121]: Warlock's Come a Little Closer, 1953, pp. 19-22 (Penshaw Press). Buried Treasure [Vol. I, pp. 340-342 and pp. 355-357]: Pentagram, Vol. 7, No. 5, Feb. 1953, p. 39 (Peter Warlock). Astral Coin Rides Again, The [Vol. II, pp. 273-279]: Pentagram, Vol. 7, No. 8, May 1953, pp. 65-66 (Peter Warlock). Elmsley's 4 Efforts (an untitled displacement for Vernon's five-card Follow the Leader [Vol. I, pp. 116-118], Failure [Vol. II, pp. 76-79], For the Ultra Close-Up Worker, and Melbourne [Vol. I, pp. 314316]): Phoenix, No. 283, June 12, 1953, pp. 1131-1132 (Bruce Elliott). Two Ball Roll [Vol. //, pp. 22-25]: The Gen, Vol. 9, No. 7, Nov. 1953, pp. 197-199 (Harry Stanley). Turn About Card [Vol. II, pp. 140-143]: Ibid., pp. 199-200. untitled—a sleeving method for loading a cup [Vol. I, pp. 203-204): ibid., pp. 206-207. Microcosm of Magic, The [Vol. II, pp. 1-2]: Gemagic Catalogue, New Series, No. 5, c. 1953, p. 2 (Gamages).

BIBLIOGRAPHY 487 1954 Alexander Elrnsley's All Backs Routine [Vol. I, pp. 259-266]: Ganson's Routined Manipulation Finale, 1954, pp. 193-199 (Harry Stanley). Jeans Chameleon Knife [Vol. I, pp. 175-180]: Baron's My Best Close-up Trick, 1954, pp. 24-28 (Lyndon Books). What Card?: (collaboration with Dr. Stanley Jaks) a marketed variation of Jaks' The Four Blacks, c. March 1954, 2 pages (Harry Stanley). Kentare (patter for this marketed trick of Jack LeDair's): The Gen, Vol. 19, No. 12, April 1954, p. 362 (Harry Stanley). His Favorite Card Trick: The Gen, Vol. 10, No. 6, Oct. 1954, p. 175 (Harry Stanley). Diamond Cut Diamond [Vol. II, pp. 186-188]: Genii, Vol. 19, No. 3, Nov. 1954, p. 85 (William Larsen, Jr.). untitled—a selection appears reversed when ribbon spread deck is flipped over: (collaboration with Cy Endfleld) The Gen, Vol. 10, No. 8, Dec. 1954, pp. 225-227 (Harry Stanley). Elmsley's Torn and Restored Cigarette [Vol. I, pp. 181-184]: privately marketed item, c. 1954 (Alex Elmsley). 1955 Ring and Paper Clip [Vol. I, pp. 166-168]: Abracadabra, Vol. 18, No. 467, Jan. 8, 1955, pp. 396-398 (Goodliffe). Twister: A Puzzle, The [Vol. I, pp. 169-171]: ibid., pp. 398-399. Six Cards to Pocket [Vol. II, pp.222-227]: ibid., pp. 399-401. Invisible Card in Cigarette [Vol. I, pp. 274-279]: The Gen, Vol. 10, No. 10, Feb. 1955, pp. 289-291 (Harry Stanley). 1956 Elmsley's Card Coincidence (a redescription of the first effect of Buried Treasure, from Pentagram, Vol. 7, No. 5, Feb. 1953, with a variant handling by Dai Vernon): Gardner's Mathematics, Magic and Mystery, 1956, pp. 25-26 (Dover). Twisted Band, The (a redescription of The Twister, from Abracadabra, Vol. 18, No. 467, Jan. 8, 1955): ibid., 1956, pp. 91-94. Minor Triumph, A [Vol. I, pp. 256-258]: The Gen, Vol. 11, No. 12, April. 1956, pp. 373-374 (Harry Stanley). Four Blanks, The [Vol. I, pp. 242-246]: ibid., pp. 374-375.

4 8 8 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Card Fan Production [Vol. I, pp. 121-123]: The Gen, Vol. 12, No. 1, May 1956, pp. 11-12 (Harry Stanley). Open Intruder [Vol. II, pp. 56-59]: Pentagram, Vol. 10, No. 12, Sept. 1956, pp. 90-91 (Peter Warlock). Still Taking Three [Vol. II, pp. 109-117]: ibid., pp. 91-93. Brownwaves [Vol. I, pp. 333-336, and Vol. II, pp. 60-63]: Pentagram, Vol. 11, No. 2, Nov. 1956, pp. 11-12 (Peter Warlock). 1957 Brownwaves—No Looking [Vol. II, pp. 64-66]: Pentagram, Vol. 11, No. 8, May 1957, p. 60 (Peter Warlock). Three from Three [Vol. I, pp. 293-295]: (collaboration with Cy Endfield and Roy Walton, of which the third item is entirely Elmsley's) New Phoenix, No. 345, c. June 1957, p. 205-206 (Jay Marshall). Mathematics of the Weave Shuffle (part 1) [Vol. II, pp. 302-306]: Pentagram, Vol. 11, No. 9, June 1957, pp. 70-71 (Peter Warlock). Mathematics of the Weave Shuffle (part 2) [Vol. II, pp. 306-309]: Pentagram, Vol. 11, No. 10, July 1957, pp. 78-79 (Peter Warlock). Mathematics of the Weave Shuffle (part 3) [Vol. II, pp. 309-310]: Pentagram, Vol. 11, No. 11, August 1957, p. 85 (Peter Warlock). Low Cunning (lecture notes): contains Thimble Colour Change [Vol. I, pp. 172-174], Silk and Ring [Vol. I, pp. 195-199], Sucker Silver [Vol. II, pp. 282-286], Devaluation [Vol. II, pp. 261-263], Cigarette Move [Vol. I, pp. 185-186], Self-contained Cups and Balls [Vol. I, pp. 205-210], Multiple Mindreading [Vol. II, pp. 6768], Penny Plain [Vol. I, pp. 374-375], 7.16 [Vol. I, pp. 309-310], Ambitious Bit [Vol. I, pp. 114-115], 1002 nd Aces [Vol. I, pp. 213216], and Fan Prediction [Vol. II, pp. 29-32]; Sept. 21, 1957, 5 pages (Alex Elmsley). Letter from Alex, A [Vol. I, pp. 399-400]: Ibidem, No. 11, Sept. 1957, p. 15 (Howard Lyons). Through Darkest Pierce [Vol. II, pp. 401-405]: ibid., pp. 16-18. Late Night Location [Vol. II, pp. 372-373]: ibid., p. 19. Choosey [Vol. I, pp. 368-369]: ibid., p. 20. Work in Progress [Vol. II, pp. 311-312]: ibid., p. 21. Atomic Aces [Vol. I, pp. 217-228]: marketed item, c. Oct. 1957, 4 pages (Harry Stanley). 1002 nd Aces (a fuller explanation of this trick, which was briefly described in the Low Cunning lecture notes, Sept. 1957): Ibidem, No. 12, Dec. 1957, pp. 13-14 (Howard Lyons).

BIBLIOGRAPHY 489 1958 Aces Up [Vol. I, pp. 395-396]: The Cardiste, No. 5, Feb. 1958, pp. 15-16 (Rusduck). Alex Alleges [Vol. II, p. 391]: ibid., p. 16. Arab Roto Pack [Vol. II, pp. 365-368]: The Cardiste, No. 6, March 1958, pp. 13-15 (Rusduck). Auto Prediction [Vol. II, pp. 80-82]: Ibidem, No. 13, March 1958, p. 3 (Howard Lyons). 7-16 (a fuller explanation of this trick, which was briefly described in the Low Cunning lecture notes, Sept. 1957): ibid., p. 4. Pierce Arrow [Vol. I, pp. 397-398]: ibid., p. 5. Anent "About Turn": (a suggestion for a use of this Hugh Scott sleight is made by A.E.) Pentagram, Vol. 12, No. 7, April 1958, p. 51 (Peter Warlock). Mathematics of the Weave Shuffle (errata) [Vol. II, pp. 303-310]: Pentagram, Vol. 12, No. 8, May 1958, pp. 62-63 (Peter Warlock). Faro Favorites (a recapitulation of The Restacking Pack from Pentagram, Vol. 11, No. 11, Aug. 1957, p. 85): The Cardiste, No. 10, July 1958, pp. 14-15 (Rusduck). Visual Torn and Restored Newspaper, The [Vol. I, pp. 157-165]: The Gen, Vol. 14, No. 4, Aug. 1958, pp. 105-109 (Harry Stanley). Sucker Silver (description in Dutch of this trick, which was first briefly explained in the Low Cunning lecture notes, Sept. 1957): Triks, No. 12, Sept. 1, 1958 (Vermeyden). Auto Discovery [Vol. II, pp. 374-375]: Ibidem, No. 14, Sept. 1958, p. 15 (Howard Lyons). Double Control [Vol. II, p. 312]: ibid., p. 15. Chance & Choice [Vol. I, pp. 319-321]: ibid., p. 16. Mathematics & Mentalism [Vol. I, pp. 378-380]: ibid., p. 17. Switchy-Coo [Vol. II, pp. 175-177]: ibid., p. 18. Tapping Card Location: (collaboration with Tony Corinda and Jon Tremaine) Corinda's 13 Steps to Mentalism, c.1958, p. 41 (Corinda). 1959 Emsley's Puncture (sic) (reprinted from Phoenix, No. 213, Oct. 6, 1950): Elliott's Professional Magic Made Easy, 1959, pp. 27-30 (Harper). Four Card Trick, The [Vol. I, pp.23-29]: marketed item 1959, 6 pages (Alex Elmsley [England] and Magic, Inc. [USA]).

4 9 0 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Low Cunning (lecture notes): these American notes contain an altered selection of tricks from the earlier British counterpart: Thimble Change, Ring on Silk, Dictionary Test [Vol. II, pp. 5355], Cigarette Move, Production Cigarettes in Holders [Vol. I, pp. 187-191], Multiplying Aces [Vol. II, pp. 13-18], Physical Medium [Vol. I, pp. 200-202], Penny Plain, Fan Prediction and Cups and Balls; 1959, 4 pages (Alex Elmsley). Sucker Silver (a fuller explanation of this trick, which was briefly described in the Low Cunning lecture notes, Sept. 1957): Pentagram, Vol. 13, No. 5, Feb. 1959, pp. 33-34 (Peter Warlock). Elmsley's Newspaper (reprinted from The Gen, Vol. 14, No. 4, Aug. 1958): marketed pamphlet, c. 1959 (Magic, Inc.). 1961 untitled—a cover action for rear palming a card [Vol. I, pp. 128-129]: Ganson's Further Inner Secrets of Card Magic, 1961, p. 45 (Harry Stanley). Boston Two Step [Vol. II, pp. 268-272]: The Gen, Vol. 17, No. 3, July 1961, pp. 77-78 (Harry Stanley). 1962 No Looking (a redescription of Brownwaves—No Looking from Pentagram, Vol. 11, No. 8, May 1957): Lorayne's Close-up Card Magic, 1962, pp. 72-78 (Louis Tannen). Fan Prediction #1 (a fuller explanation of Fan Prediction, which was briefly described in theLow Cunning lecture notes, Sept. 1957): ibid., pp. 165-168. Revelation [Vol. II, pp. 144-148]: marketed item, 1 page, 1962 (Louis Tannen). 1963 Ken Brooke's Ring Off (contains an Elmsley flourish designed for this routine): marketed item, 1963 (Harry Stanley). 1964 Elmsley's Ultra Mental [Vol. II, pp. 338-345]: Mario's Faro Controlled Miracles, 1964, pp. 52-53 (Edward Mario). The Elmsley Routine (a fuller description of Ring on Silk from the Low Cunning lecture notes, Sept. 1957): Marshall's Jay's Jinking Rings, 1964, pp. 25-27 (Ireland Magic Co.). 1966 untitled—faro shuffle material (Martin Gardner's discussion of Elmsley's faro formula from Work in Progress, Ibidem, No. 11,

BIBLIOGRAPHY 491 Sept. 1957): Scientific American, Vol. 215, No. 4, Oct. 1966, p. 114 (Scientific American). 1967 Double Prediction (reprinted from The Gen, Vol. 7, No. 3, July 1951): Ganson's Dai Vernon's Ultimate Secrets of Card Magic, 1967, pp. 182-183 (Harry Stanley). Face Your Brothers (reprinted from The Gen, Vol. 5, No. 9, Jan. 195O):ibid., pp. 183-186. Four Card Trick, The (reissue of this 1959 marketed item): 12 pages, 1967 (Inzani-Henley Magic Company Limited). 1968 Cups & Balls (a redescription of the routine from the Low Cunning lecture notes, Sept. 1957): Pallbearers Review, Vol. 3, No. 1, Sept. 1968, pp. 203 and 207 (Karl Fulves). 1969 untitled—a sleeving method for loading a cup (reprinted from The Gen, Vol. 9, No. 7, Nov. 1953): Ganson's The Art of Close-up Magic, Volume 2, 1969, pp. 193-194 (Harry Stanley). Point of Departure (reprinted from Come a Little Closer, 1953): Pallbearers Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, Dec. 1969, p. 309 (Karl Fulves). 1971 Spellit (Elmsley contributed an element to this Francis Haxton trick): Magigram, Vol. 3, No. 3, Jan.-Feb. 1971 (Supreme Magic Co.). 1972 Ambitious Stranger [Vol. I, pp. 299-305]: New Pentagram, Vol. 3, No. 11, Jan. 1972, pp. 80-81 (Supreme Magic Co.). Expansion Notes: (collaboration with Roy Walton) Epilogue, No. 14, March 1972, pp. 5-6 (Karl Fulves). Milling a Coin [Vol. II, pp. 280-281]: Abracadabra, Vol. 54, No. 1380, July 8, 1972, pp. 20-22 (Goodliffe). 1973 Fool's Mate [Vol. II, pp. 149-152]: Genii, Vol. 37, No. 2, Feb. 1973, pp. 65-66 (William Larsen, Jr.). Twister (reprinted from Abracadabra, Vol. 18, No. 467, Jan. 8, 1955): Pallbearers Review, Vol. 8, No. 5, March 1973, p. 606 (Karl Fulves). Between Your Palms (reprinted from Abracadabra, Vol. 13, No. 335, June 1952): ibid., pp. 606-607.

4 9 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY Melbourne (reprinted from Phoenix, No. 283, July 12, 1953): ibid., p. 607. Also see correction: Pallbearers Review, Vol. 8, No. 12, Oct. 1973, p. 676. Book of Fortunes, The [Vol. I, pp. 347-351]: a marketed item; March 1973, 4 pages (Ken Brooke's Magic Place). Animal, Vegetable and Mineral [Vol. II, pp. 89-92]: New Pentagram, Vol. 5, No. 5, July 1973, pp. 33-34 (Supreme Magic Co.). This was released by Supreme Magic Co. later in the year as a marketed item. 1974 Mumbo-jumbo (contains a presentation idea by Elmsley): marketed trick by Ken Brooke, 1974, 1 page (Ken Brooke's Magic Place). Simple Prediction [Vol. II, pp. 398-400]: New Pentagram, Vol. 6, No. 2, April 1974, p. 9 (Supreme Magic Co.). Also see "Erattum" in Vol. 6, No. 3, May 1974, p. 24. It's a Small World [Vol. II, pp. 48-50]: New Pentagram, Vol. 6, No. 4, June 1974, pp. 26-27 (Supreme Magic Co.). Jeans Chameleon Knife (redescription of this trick from My Favorite Close-up Trick, 1954): ibid., pp. 27-29. untitled—a short note about a British source for magician's wax, mentioned by Elmsley: Abracadabra, Vol. 57, No. 1480, June 8, 1974, p. 451 (Goodliffe). Point of Departure (edited reprint of this trick from Come a Little Closer, 1953): New Pentagram, Vol. 6, No. 7, Sept. 1974, p. 55 (Supreme Magic Co.). One at a Time Collectors [Vol. I, pp. 288-290]: Pabular, Vol. 1, No. 3, Nov. 1974, p. 28 (Nick Bolton). 1975 Card Shuffles (reprint of Martin Gardner's article from Scientific American, Vol. 215, No. 4, Oct. 1966, in which he discusses Elmsley's faro formula from Work in Progress, Ibidem, No. 11, Sept. 1957): Gardner's Mathematical Carnival, 1975, pp. 129-130 (Alfred A. Knopp). Cardwork (lecture notes): describes a complete card act, which contains Birthday Card [Vol. II, pp. 433-439], Steel Magic [Vol. II, pp. 440-448], Pack Switch [Vol. II, pp. 449-452], Old Timer [Vol. II, pp. 449-462], Dazzle [Vol. II, pp. 463-470], Tour-de-Force [Vol. II, pp. 471-480] and miscellaneous short articles [Vol. I, pp.3-17, and Vol. II, pp. 481-484]; 1975, 16 pages (Alex Elmsley). What Card? (reprinted instructions from 1954 marketed trick): (collaboration with Dr. Stanley Jaks) Magic Info, Vol. 2, No. 6, March-April 1975, pp. 167-169 (International Magic Studio).

BIBLIOGRAPHY 4 9 3 untitled—Australian deal location [Vol. J, pp. 317-318]: Genii, Vol. 39, No. 10, Oct. 1975, p. 515 (William Larsen, Jr.). Festive Fun (this puzzle is erroneously attributed to A.E.): Pabular, Vol. 2, No. 4, Dec. 1975, p. 192 (Nick Bolton). 1976 Cups and Balls, The (a fuller description of the routine from the Low Cunning lecture notes, Sept. 1957): iVeio Pentagram, Vol. 7, No. 12, Feb. 1976, pp. 89-91 (Supreme Magic Co.). Spelling the Gone Aces [Vol. II, pp. 357-364]: Sticks & Stones, No. 6, 1977, p. 1 (Lloyd E. Jones). Late-Nite Sandwich: (collaboration with Reinhart Miiller) Racherbaumer's Hierophant, No. 7, Resurrection Issue, 1976 (Louis Tannen). Elmsley's Cannibals [Vol. I, pp. 229-233]: Epilogue Special No. 4, 1976, pp. 15-16 (Karl Fulves). 1979 Parity Failure [Vol. II, pp. 392-395]: The Chronicles, No. 20, 1979, pp. 1255-1256 (Karl Fulves). 1980 Clock Runs Down, The [Vol. /, pp. 376-377]: The Magic Circle Record (phonograph record), 1980 (Technical Records & Tapes). Liar's Matrix {Vol. II, pp. 93-95]: Fulves' Curioser, 1980, pp. 29-30 (Karl Fulves). Octal Pencil, The [Vol. II, pp. 93-96]: ibid., pp. 30-31. Honesty Test [Vol. II, pp. 97-99]: ibid., pp. 31-33. Pack of Lies [Vol. II, pp. 100-101]: ibid., p. 33. Mnemonic Method [Vol. II, pp. 101-103]: ibid., pp. 33-34. No Memory [Vol. II, pp. 103-104]: ibid., p. 34. And Again [Vol. II, pp. 104-105]: ibid., p. 35. Lewry's Lie Detector [Vol. II, pp. 105-106]: (collaboration with Colin Lewry) ibid., pp. 35-36. Blind Stud [Vol. II, pp. 406-409]: ibid., pp. 36-37. Tell Me Three Times [Vol. II, pp. 396-397]: ibid., pp. 37-38. Parity Failure (reprinted from The Chronicles, No. 20, 1979): ibid., pp. 38-39. Ring Off (reprint of instructions for this 1963 marketed trick, containing an Elmsley idea): Ken Brooke's Magic: the Unique Years, 1980, p. 192 (Supreme Magic Co.).

4 9 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ALEX ELMSLEY 1981 Mental Boxer [Vol. II, pp. 410-413]: Fulves' Fourcast, 1981, pp. 2224 (Karl Fulves). Open Intruder (reprinted from Pentagram, Vol. 10, No. 12, Sept. 1956): New Pentagram, Vol. 12, No. 12, Feb. 1981, p p . 92-93 (Supreme Magic Co.). 1983 Buried Treasure (edited reprint from Pentagram, Vol. 7, No. 5, Feb. 1953): New Pentagram, Vol. 15, No. 10, Dec. 1983, p p . 76-77 (Supreme Magic Co.). 1984 Casual False Shuffle, The (this Jack Avis shuffle is sometimes erroneously attributed to A.E.): Riffle Shuffle Technique, Part III, 1984, pp. 158-159 (Karl Fulves). 1985 Red and the Blue, The [Vol. II, pp. 133-135]: New Pentagram, Vol. 16, No. 12, Feb. 1985, p. 99 (Supreme Magic Co.). Between Your Palms (reprinted fromAbracadabra, Vol. 13, No. 335, J u n e 28, 1952): Branch's Progressive Card Magic, 1985, pp. 4647 (Justin Branch). 1988 Penelope [Vol. II, pp. 313-314]: JVeiu Pentagram, Vol. 20, No. 6, Aug. 1988, pp. 53-54 (Supreme Magic Co.). 1990

Buried Treasure (reprinted from Pentagram, Vol. 7, No. 5, Feb. 1953, p. 39): Breese's The Best of Pentagram Card Magic, 1990, pp. 4 8 50 (Martin Breese International). Open Intruder (reprinted from Pentagram, Vol. 10, No. 12, Sept. 1956, pp. 90-91): ibid., pp. 96-98. Still Taking Three (reprinted from Pentagram, Vol. 10, No. 12, Sept. 1956, pp. 91-93): ibid., pp. 99-105. Brownwaves (reprinted from Pentagram, Vol. 11, No. 2, Nov. 1956, pp. 11-12): ibid., pp. 106-110. Brownwaves—No Looking (reprinted from Pentagram, Vol. 11, No. 8, May 1957, p. 60): ibid., pp. 111-113. Anent About Turn (reprinted from Pentagram, Vol. 12, No. 7, April 1958, p. 51): ibid., pp. 121-122. 1992 Fiddle with a Biddle in t h e Middle, The [Vol. II, pp. 129-132]: Magic, Vol. 1, No. 7, Mar. 1992, pp. 54-56 (Stan Allen).

BIBLIOGRAPHY 4 9 5

Silhouette by Francis Giles

Photo by Rick Anderson Stephen Minch is the author of more than twenty-five books on sleight-ofhand and mentalism which, besides his own creations, describe the magic of Dai Vernon, Daryl, Martin Nash, Ken Krenzel, Larry Jennings, Bruce Cervon, Bro. John Hamman and many others. Among his works are the Nash card trilogy. The Book of Thoth, Mind & Matter, Mind Novas, Eyeless in Gaza, three volumes in the New York Magic Symposium series, The Vernon Chronicles, Daryl's Ambitious Card Omnibus, Spectacle, Carneycopia, A Life Among Secrets and By Forces Unseen. Mr. Minch lives and writes in a dry place in Seattle. Amado "Sonny" Narvaez has devoted the past thirty years to performing both stand-up and close-up magic. He has illustrated magic books for five publishing houses, and is currently writing and illustrating a manuscript of his own material. Cover design: Shelley Fallon

Alex Elmsley - Collected Works Vol 2

Recommend Documents