Close-Up Seductions By Paul Harris 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.
BUSHWACKER ................ 1 SEDUCTIVE SWITCH ........... 10 SENSUOUS SHUFFLE .......... 20 CAB FARE .................... 37 LIMOUSINE SERVICE .......... .43 FAN DANCE .................. 50 AIR OF MYSTERY ............. .59 DEJA VU By Mike Giles, Pat Snowden, Dana Betz, and P.H. ............... 69 MICHAEL'S PROPOSITION By Michael Ammar and P.H. .......... 75 "10" By Jay Sankey and P.H. ........ 79 LOOKER By Terry Lagerould ........ 85 BLUE TATOO. ................ .87 UNHINGED .................. 101 SLEIGHT-OF-EAR ............. 111 BLEACHED BLONDE .......... 117 TOO SLICK .................. 133 SWEET STUFF ............... 140 WONDERWOMAN ............. 147
The Seduction: An invisible organic "gimmick" is erected in full view of your audience who are bushwhacked into believing you're making a clever card puzzle. This natural "ungimmicked gimmick" (known in inner circles as a "smit-chik") now enables you to do a completely automatic penetration of one card through another over and over again directly under your spectator's watchful nose — even while the spectator is fondling one of the cards herself. The nature of the smitchik creates a self-contained climax that is as spectacular as it is easy. You'll find yourself bushwhacking in front of a mirror for the sheer pleasure of watching the magic happen. Don't be selfish — share the experience with an audience. It's more meaningful when someone else is watching. STEP I — Up jog the ace of hearts, two of hearts, and three of hearts then turn the deck face down into left hand dealing position so that the three up-jogged cards are face down sticking out of the front end of the deck. STEP II — Obtain a left little finger break beneath the top card of the deck as your right fingers strip out the out-jogged cards. Place the stripped out cards face up onto the deck. 1
STEP III — Remove the four cards which are above the break from above by their ends with your right fingers — while your left hand tables the rest of the deck face down to your left. STEP IV — Place the four card packet (three face-up on top of one face-down) into left hand dealing position. Push off the top card and grasp it between your right thumb from below, fingers on top. Turn the card face down and place it under the packet. Repeat with the other two hearts — leaving all four cards face down in your left hand with the indifferent card on top. STEP V — Turn the packet face up onto your left hand then grasp the packet from above by its ends with your right fingers. Construct a perfect square out of the "three" cards as follows: Slide the top face up card to the left with your left thumb so that the card pivots off your right first finger tip onto your palm-up left fingers — leaving the card in a horizontal position with a long side toward you. Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Position the upper left side of the right hand packet square with the left end of the left hand card — forming a right angle ... or if you prefer, the letter "P." Fig. 2.
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Fig. 2.
Press your left thumb onto the packet to keep the top card in place as your right fingers slide the two cards beneath it to the right as one card. Place this right hand double face up beneath the "P" so that its upper right side is square with the right end of the card directly above it. Release your left hand grip and display the successfully assembled square puzzle. Fig. 3 & 4.
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STEP VI — Tilt the face of the square toward the audience by turning your right palm toward yourself. Curl in your left second, third and little finger and grasp the left side of the square between your left first finger in front and your left thumb from behind. Your left thumb goes directly onto the sandwiched card's exposed upper white margin. The position of your left thumb conceals this portion of white margin — and also holds the double in position. From your view point, you should see what appears to be two face down over-lapped cards. The audience still sees three cards at the face of the square. Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
STEP VII — Release your right hand grip and pinch the upper right corner of the square (the double) between your right thumb from the back and your first finger on the face. STEP VIII — Turn the square face down by turning both hands palm up. Just before the back of the square comes into audience view, use your right fingers to slide the upper right corner of its double under your left thumb tip — leaving the upper end of the double in-jogged, its outer end angled down to the right. In a continuing action, as the square is turned down, slide the top card of the double to the right — away from the left hand cards. Fig. 6. The audience will see two cards in your left hand and one card in your right hand. The square puzzle was an excuse to openly cross one of the cards. By hiding the exposed white border with your left thumb, and sliding the top card away as you turned the square face down, you altered your audience's perspective of the cards . . putting you in exactly the right position to bushwhack your audience in the worst possible way. 4
Fig. 6.
NOTE — The upper left corner of the top left hand card is visible. Your left thumb holds this card in position a little below this exposed corner. The left end of the disguised sandwiched card is kept square with the left side of the bottom card by resting against the back of your curled left second finger. Take care that the tilted angle of the top card does not expose the right end of the crossed card. This "Bushwhacker" grip is your secret weapon. Practice getting into it from the square formation so that the cards are "just right" upon being turned face down. STEP IX — Openly slide the upper left corner of the face-down right hand card (an indifferent card) between the "two" left hand cards from their front end. The right hand card will actually be going under the invisible crossed card — but keep this to yourself. Fig. 7.
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STEP X — Direct your audience's attention to the sandwiched right hand card. Ram home the fact that the card in your right hand is between the other two cards. Slowly slide the right hand card through the sandwich toward yourself. Just at the front end of the right hand card disappears from view under the top card, the right hand card's inner end appears under the bottom card revealing a slow-motion penetration. Slowly remove the right hand card from the inner end of the sandwich, re-insert it at the front end, and repeat the penetration. Continue doing this until it no longer amuses you. Fig. 8.
NOTE — I sometimes let a spectator hold the right side of the sandwiched card so that she can "feel" it penetrate. The spectator should keep her hand still as you move the other cards to cause the penetration. You may want to hold the spectator's wrist to make sure her card stays face down. STEP XI — Place the right hand card face down onto the deck. Direct a spectator to press one finger onto the top of the deck. STEP XII — Position your left hand so that its cards "cross" the deck — then stroke the cards across the spectator's finger a few times. As you slide away from her finger on the last stroke, use your left thumb to pull the top left hand card against your curled left fingers. A third card will instantly pop into view, sticking out of the right side of the other two cards. Direct the spectator to look under her finger. Her heart is gone. Hand her your three heart sandwich to let her know that everything is okay. Fig. 9.
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NOTE — The effectiveness of the Bushwhacker fake depends on an over-all back design. Since some designs are more over all than others, you run the risk with certain brands of being nailed on a discrepancy with the design — like having a little angel upside down. It's up to you whether you avoid these brands, use them and hope no one notices, or use them and present the discrepancy as a bonus effect.
Official Notice of Appreciation: For Bob Ostin, Bruce Cervon, and Larry Jennings — My initial contact with an effect of this nature was through Bob Ostin's Submarine card — which used a card with a slit. The world famous Bushwhacking team of Bruce Cervon and Larry Jennings later published other handlings of the penetration principle with a slit card. Presentation: STEP I — "Hey — do you like puzzles? Oh. I'll show you one anyways." Remove the three hearts and add the extra card. STEP II — "The puzzle is to form a perfect square using just three cards — the ace, two, and three of hearts. Yes . . . they're my favorite cards, too."
Turn the three hearts face down. 7
NOTE — You can hand the spectator three single cards, let them try to make the puzzle, then add the extra card afterwards. STEP III — "I couldn't figure it out myself until I read the solution on the back of a cereal box. The secret's alphabetical. You have to make an "L" (from the audiences perspective), then a "U." And you get a perfect square, similar to the person holding it. The initials "LU" stand for Largely Useless." Make the square puzzle so that the sides are squared. STEP IV — "Look it even comes with a bonus pocket size square in the corner.'" Tilt the f ace of the puzzle toward the audience and display the little square-within-a-square at the upper right corner. Get "set" f or the turndown action. STEP V — "But what they don't tell you is that you can make a third puzzle by re-arranging the three cards." Turn the square f ace down as you slide off the top card. Make minor adjustments if necessary. STEP VI — "The puzzle is to get one card down from the middle to the bottom like this." Perf orm the penetration phase. STEP VII — "When I first tried this I figured that there had to be a hole in the bottom card. The only way to test out this theory is to place the card on the deck . . . and your finger on the card . . . and my cards on your fingers." "Do you know what this does?" It makes my two cards very happy ... it also pushes the card from under your finger right up through the hole." Do final penetration.
STEP VIII - "The only part of the puzzle that still puzzles me is -exactly where is it that the hole hides?"
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Turn the three cards face up and hand them out f or examination. STEP IX — "I guess I'll have to eat a whole lot more cereal to find out.
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The Seduction: The audience's perception of a card held by a spectator is so completely altered that you can transform it into another card — by simply being yourself. STEP I — Set up three cards on the deck from the top down, six, ace, jack. STEP II — Double lift to show the ace — then turn the double down onto the deck. STEP III — Slide the top single card (the six) off the deck by pinching it at its inner left corner between your right first finger on top, and right thumb from below. Your right hand tables the deck face down in front of you. STEP IV — Hold the card so that its face is toward the table. The corner pinched between your right thumb and first finger is now at the inner right. Fig. 1.
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Fig. 1.
STEP V — Grasp the card from below by its sides between your left thumb and fingers. Fold the face down card in half by squeezing your left thumb and fingers together. The pinched inner right corner remains stuck out towards you, separate from the folded card. This stuck out corner is naturally hidden from the audience by your right fingers and the folded card. Fig. 2 & 3.
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STEP VI — Keep your right thumb pressed against the face of the stuck out corner while your right fingers move over onto the audience side of the card. Fig. 4. Squeeze your right thumb and fingers together to openly flatten the center crease while your right thumb secretly bends the stuck out corner up against the folded card. Use your left fingers to openly flatten the rest of the center crease while your right thumb secretly flattens the crease of the face up index corner. Fig. 5.
4.
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STEP VII — Openly fold the folded card in half once more by folding the left end out front onto the right end. The hidden bent index corner stays in position at the back of the folded card. Fig. 6.
STEP VIII — Grasp the folded card between your left fingers and thumb so that your thumb is at the lower left "point" of the concealed index corner. Fig. 7.
FIG.
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7.
STEP IX — Your right finger tips slide the tabled deck's top two cards over the left side of the deck. When the two cards are extending to the left, remove the two cards as one unit from the deck by pinching them at their inner ends between your right thumb from below, fingers on top. Fig. 8 & 9.
Fig. 9.
STEP X — The two face-down cards pinched together at their inner ends between your right thumb and first finger should now be in a spread
condition, with the top card extending to the left about half an inch, Tilt the faces of the pair (ace/jack) toward yourself so that your right thumb and the first finger are at the top end of the cards.
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STEP XI — Keep the right hand steady as your left fingers openly place the folded card against the back of the pair. Undercover of this action allow the upper index corner of the ace to slip into the "pocket" directly in front of the secret bent corner. The upper index corner of the jack goes onto the right side of the bent index corner. A few minor adjustments by your right thumb and fingers will make things appear exactly as though the pair held next to the folded card consists of a jack and a six. Look at this for a few moments and think nice thoughts about me. Fig. 10, 11, & 12.
Fig. 11.
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STEP XII — Turn your left hand palm up to share this situation with your audience so that they can think nice things about you. STEP XIII — Ever so slowly turn the cards face down and direct a spectator to hold the jack/six pair at her finger tips. Retain your grip on the folded card — where the secret bent corner is now hidden at the bottom. Fig. 13.
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STEP XIV — Transfer the folded card to your right fingers by placing your right fingers on top of the folded card, while your left thumb slides between the folded card and the bent corner. As your right fingers take the folded card, move your right thumb and fingers down slightly to secretly unbend the bent corner. Fig. 14 & 15.
Fig. 15.
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STEP XV — Grasp the folded card from below between your left thumb at the inner left corner and your left second finger tip at the diagonally opposite upper right corner. Fig. 16. Openly press the tip of your right first finger down onto the center of the folded card, so that your left thumb and second finger can easily bend the card up in half. This bending action is openly performed as a magical gesture. Its purpose is to camouflage the secret bend's crease. Fig. 17.
Fig. 16.
Fig. 17.
STEP XVI — Casually toss the folded card onto the table and direct your spectator's attention to the pair in her hand that she religiously believes to be a bad hand of sixteen. After a moment's hesitation the lucky lady will discover a perfect hand of twenty one. A moment later she'll discover the folded six for the kinky finale of the Seductive Switch. NOTE — If you're severely lazy you can delete the double: Openly display three face-up cards. Turn them face down and mix them up. Miscall the six as the ace and get into the folded set-up. You can now display the "bad hand."
Official Note of Appreciation: For Looy! My original Black Jack fake required a torn card. I told Looy I was unhappy with this and would be able to live a more carefree life if there were a way to create the fake by bending it or something. Looy said "oh," took my card, and bent it. 18
Presentation: STEP I — "Boy, are you in for a treat. Today's the day you're going to learn how to make big bucks at Blackjack. The secret is to get hold of one of these when no one's looking." Double lift ace and take single into left hand. STEP II — "You have to make it real small so no one will see it." Fold the card and get it "set."
STEP III — "Now I'll take a sample Blackjack hand . . . Sixteen . . . Bummer. That's a bad hand. Boy, it's a good thing I had the foresight to obtain a spare ace." Position the top two cards f rom the deck into the f old and display the bad hand of sixteen. STEP IV — "I need my fingers free to make the secret move. Would you be kind enough to hold my hand . . . no, I mean the bad hand of sixteen — but thank you anyway. Hold the hand between your fingers just like this so that I know you're not doing anything to the cards that you wouldn't do to me." Turn the j ack-six pair f ace down extra slow as the spectator moves her hand to take the cards. STEP V — "Now that I have you to help me it's a simple matter to quickly unfold the ace (squeeze the packet) iron out the wrinkles — using a miniature iron I keep up my sleeve, sneak the ace into your hand, sneak out the six, and fold up the six so that it's easy to hide. And in my spare time I run out and grab a pizza. You seem skeptical. We really did it. Take a look." "And as final proof — inside of my pocket is a signed receipt for the pizza. I'll show it to you later if you're nice to me."
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The Seduction: An impromptu Triumph effect that surpasses what can be done with a trick deck. There are no false shuffles. There are no proving moves to show cards face up and face down — because the cards really are mixed face up and face down. The magical action is continuous. There is no other shuffle routine that lets you do what follows: A genuinely shuffled face-up/face-down deck instantly turns face up. There are no moves between the time the cards are shuffled and the deck is spread. The magic is instantaneous. The entire face-down deck then instantly, (and yes) visibly turns face up. The face-up deck then unshuffles itself: twenty six cards rise out of the pack in one group. Once again — the magic action is continuous and uncompromising. To bring the sequence full circle the unshuffled deck is given a slight shake — where its extended interweaved half, in full view, instantly turns face down. The pack is spread. Everything is as it was when the face-down cards and the face-up cards were first shuffled together. This is how I used to fantasize that the ideal Triumph effect would read. I used to dream that I knew the secret stuff that would let me do it for real. Then one morning I woke up ... and I knew.
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Special note of encouragement: The Sensuous Shuffle is seriously wonderful stuff in the highest tradition of neato-keeno Close-up. By its very neato-keeno nature much of the handling and theory will be new, and feel somewhat alien to you on your first run through. This is my money back guarantee that all the requirements for non-stop finger tip orgies and psychologically satisfying "HooHahs" are contained within and between the lines of the Sensuous Shuffle. STEP I — Hold the face-up deck in left hand dealing position. Cut off the top half of the deck with your right hand and table it face up with a long side toward you. The card on the face of the left hand half is the official "selected card." Just for fun, let's call this card the ace of hearts. STEP II — Grasp the left hand ace-half from above by its ends with your right fingers and obtain a right thumb break below the ace of hearts. Secretly reverse the ace into the center of the cards using the Braue Reversal as follows: Cut off the bottom half of the cards with your left hand and place them face down onto the top ace. Cut off the remaining bottom face up half at the break with your left hand, and turn them face down back at the bottom. Square the cards. The half deck will now be face down with the ace of hearts face up in the center. Table this face down half next to the left end of the face-up half in position for a riffle shuffle. STEP III — Shuffle so that the face-up card on the right falls first, followed by a face-down card, followed by another face-up card. At the end of the shuffle a single face-down card is to be on top of a single face up card. In other words the face-up card is sandwiched between two face-down cards. Try to make the rest of the shuffle as even as possible, although it's not necessary to make a career out of it. STEP IV — Push the two halves half way together. Keep the sides and ends of the cards as square as possible. The idea is to make the half shuffled deck into a smooth seamless unit. STEP V — Position your left hand over the face-down side of the deck so that your thumb is on the inner side, and your other fingers rest against the audience side of the face-down cards. Your left hand now forms a bridge through which the deck will be pushed. Fig. 1. STEP VI — Place your right first finger tip onto the table so that the finger is up against the right end of the deck. Use this finger to push the deck through the left hand tunnel. Light pressure on the sides of the deck with your left fingers cause the top face-down card to slide over onto the face-up side of the deck as the deck is pushed through the tunnel. .
Fig. 1.
The top face-down card will stop against your right first finger, squaring the face-down card with the face-up half. Continue to push the deck through the tunnel with your right first finger until the deck is on the left side of the left hand. The illusion seen by you and your audience should be that the face-up half of the deck instantly turned face down as it was pushed through the left hand tunnel. Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
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STEP VII — Press your right fingers flat onto the half-shuffled deck and ribbon spread the cards end-to-end to the right. The face-up cards will have magically turned face down, with the exception of the face-up ace in the center. Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
NOTE — Research on your part will reveal that the face-up cards did not magically turn face down, but are merely hiding behind the face down cards. If other face-up cards are visible, then you either spread to far, pressed too hard during the spread, or used cards that have lost their slick finish. Contrary to popular belief, this spread does not require pampering or a delicate touch. It was designed to take abuse — like a whiffle ball or a stuffed cat.
A few tips: A face-up card is concealed beneath the face down card on the spread's far left. Too much pressure here during the spread will expose it. A face-up card is concealed directly beneath the face-down card on the spread's far right. These two cards form a face-to-face double and are never separated during the spread. These two cards are on top of the right half of the shuffled deck before the spread. Pretend that the 23
double is glued to the face-down card on top of the left side of the deck. When the deck is spread, pressure is on this left hand card. The double on the right simply slides along with it. If the face-up ace does not show in the spread, tap around the spread's center until the card is exposed. If the cards are not already spread "to the max" you'll have plenty of leeway to find the ace without worrying about other face-up exposures. If you do expose another face-up card during a performance (which won't happen with a little practice) simply say "Not only did I find the selected card, but I found its traveling companion as well." Remove the odd card from the spread and replace it face down somewhere in the center — or simply toss it aside and comment that the card no longer amuses you. Back to the routine. STEP VIII — You've got a face-up ace in the center of the face-down spread. Remove the ace from the spread by grasping it by its sides with your left fingers, and sliding it out to the left. Transfer the ace to your right fingers and place the ace face up square with the face-down card on the spread's far right. STEP IX — Position your right hand at the right end of the spread and your left hand at the spread's left end. Note how your fingers "cage" both ends of the spread — with your little fingers against the ends of the spread. Begin to square the spread by slowly sliding your hands towards each other. Your little fingers pushing the ends of the spread together. As the spread closes, it starts to take on the shape of its original half shuffled deck. Stop when you feel some resistance against your little fingers. The cards will stop feeling like a spread as it forms the two halves of the shuffled deck. Do not push these two halves together. STEP X — Maintain the position of your hands on the semi-shuffled deck. Move your right little finger away from the right end as your right fingers form the "bridge" through which the deck will be pushed. Apply some pressure to the sides of the deck with your right fingers as your left first finger presses against the left end of the deck and pushes it through your right hand bridge. As the deck slides through the bridge the pressure from the right fingers will cause the face ace and two cards below it to slide over the face down side of the deck on the left — while exposing a face up card on the right. The ace will square up against the left first finger. Push the deck through the bridge until about half of the cards are exposed on the right side of your right hand. The illusion to you and your audience should be that the face-down deck, with one face-up card on top, instantly turns face up while it slides through your right hand bridge. 24
STEP XI — Your right hand bridge remains over the center of the half-shuffled face-up deck. This position is held because you don't want to expose the squared spread as a half-shuffled deck. Place your left fingers under the bridge and flat onto the deck. As soon as your left hand is in position, move your right hand away. Ribbon spread the deck by sliding your left hand to the left. All the cards will be face up. Fig. 4 & 5.
Fig. 4.
NOTES — The "squaring" of the face-down spread, sliding the cards through the bridge, and the spreading of the face-up cards is a more or less continuous action. Don't risk exposing a reversed card by making the spread too long. A shorter spread is just as convincing and a lot safer.
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STEP XII — As soon as the face-up spread has registered with your audience, scoop it up in the same fashion as before: caging your fingers around the ends of the spread, your little fingers on the ends of the cards — pushing the spread together. Fig. 6. Stop when you feel the half shuffled deck lock into position. Fig. 7.
STEP XIII — Continue the "pushing the spread together" action of Step XI by apparently squaring the cards using Vernon's triumph move as follows: Your hands are still in position at the ends of the spread. Place your left first finger on top of the face-up ace. Keep your right thumb in position against the inner right corner of the right half while 26
your other right fingers move around to the right end of the deck. Your right fingers push the entire deck to the right under the ace on top which stops against the right forefinger. The left end of the deck secretly slides under the left hand where it remains concealed. Fig. 8, 9, & 10.
Fig. 10.
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NOTE — When I first learned this triumph move from the original Stars of Magic I had real problems — my left hand felt to small to conceal the "pushed through" cards. The proper left hand position is an acquired knack — but the following tip may cut down on your pre-knack blues: Place your left hand in bridge position over the left end of the deck — only your finger tips and thumb tip touch the table. Tilt your arched left hand to the left so that the left side of your hand touches the table. The tilted "bridge" of your left hand should now have enough space to conceal the pushed-through half. If you have to scrunch your left hand around to conceal the deck, you were not in proper position. Practice by positioning your left hand so it comfortably conceals the pushed through left end — then work on getting into the same position before the cards are pushed through. All right — let's move on before we lose touch with the reality of the illusion. STEP XIV — Grasp the visible portion of the deck from above by its right sides with your right fingers and lift the deck up so that the concealed portion is pressed against the base of your left fingers. Curl your left fingers around the deck and release your right hand grip. The deck should be held by the left hand as far to the left of the deck as possible, without exposing the concealed half of the deck. Fig. 11.
Fig. 11. 28
STEP XV — Hold the deck up with your left hand so that the ace of hearts is facing the audience. You should be able to see a face-down card over a partially exposed face-up card at the back of the deck. The audience believes you are holding a squared, face-up deck. STEP XVI — Grasp the visible portion of deck with your right fingers by its sides from the back. Your right third finger and thumb rest against the top side of your left hand (along your left forefinger). Place your right little finger up against the concealed bottom end of the deck. Fig. 12.
Fig. 12. STEP XVII — You are now going to make the cards visibly unshuffle themselves by causing half of the cards to rise out of the deck by mass exploitation of the plunger principle. This is the magical highlight of the routine and is twenty six times more spectacular than a single rising card. This is also one of those alien theories I mentioned at the beginning — so for the moment, you'll have to accept what follows on faith. NOTE — The only fingers touching the face or back of the pack is your left thumb at the back and your left first finger at the face. The rest of the extended deck slides up between these two cards at the front and back. The deck is securely held in your hands. Slowly push up on the bottom end of the deck with your right little finger Half of the cards will appear to rise out of the center of the deck, while actually the entire half shuffled deck is moving up. The front and back cards will stay in position. Fig. 13, 14, & 15.
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STEP XVIII — When the cards will rise no further, display the front and back of the deck (The action of the rise will have covered the face-up card at the back.). Use your right fingers to slide up any partially risen cards from the front and back of the deck. It's important that the upjogged cards be in an even block formation for what follows. Fig. 16. STEP XIX — Turn your left hand palm-down so that the deck is face up with its upjogged cards pointing to the right. Place the face-up deck onto the palm-up right fingers so that the side jogged cards nestle in the right thumb crotch. The left fingers still hold the deck from above by its sides. As the deck touches the right fingers, your right finger tips secretly slide the back card to the right. The right end of this card will stop against your right thumb crotch, which leaves the card square with the other side-jogged cards. Fig. 17 & 18.
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STEP XX — Grasp the deck from below by its center sides with your left fingers. Fig. 19. Remove your right hand from the deck. The tips of your left finger tips should "bite" into the front edge of the ace. This will prevent the card beneath it from sliding during the action that follows. Fig. 20.
STEP XXI — You'll now cause half of the deck to visibly turn face down with just a flick of your wrist: Your left thumb should be resting across the face of the ace. Turn your left hand palm-down. Fig. 21. As the deck starts to turn over, secretly slide the ace from under your left thumb to the left — so that the ace extends just a bit beyond the left end of the deck. Without a pause, turn your left hand palm-up to reveal the instant reversal. Fig. 22.
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Fig. 21.
NOTE — When the left hand turns palm-down, a face-up card is visible from the right side of the deck. This creates a very strong although illogical retention effect. The audience sees all face-up cards at the start. The deck's turned over. The audience still sees only face-up cards. The deck is turned again — and in a flash half the deck is reversed. Mirror practice will teach you just the right timing to achieve this "shock" reversal. STEP XXII — Grasp the deck from above by its right side with your right fingers. Grasp the left side of the deck with your left fingers in the same way. Tilt the bottom of the deck up to the audience so they can
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see that both sides of the deck are reversed. Pivot the two ends of the pack down toward each other to make an upside down "V." Fig. 23. Tilt the "V" deck down and place it on the table. Use both hands to spread the deck toward yourself to display the face down cards interlaced amongst the face up cards. Fig. 24. Scoop up the spread, then unriffle the cards by curving the ends down so the two halves spring apart to complete the Sensuous Shuffle. Fig. 25.
NOTE — You'll be left with at least one reversed card (second from the top), and more likely two or three — depending upon the condition of the deck and the accuracy of the spreads and shuffles. Do not spend any extra time or worry on this situation. Manhandle the spreads and shuffles to your hearts content. As long as the basics are taken care of, the Sensuous Shuffle will do the work for you. If you feel the need to conceal the reversed cards during the final spread, keep the spread tight, and keep the top and bottom of the spread bunched together. After the whole thing's over, run through the deck and straighten out the cards. Your key line here is "oops, I missed a few ." Simplified Sensuous: If you've got tiny hands you may want to delete the rising/reversal sequence: After the face-up spread, square the cards into a SQUARED deck. Hold the "face-up deck" in left hand dealing position and cut off the top half with your right fingers so that a face-up card is on top of the lower half (peek before cutting — then riffle off a card with your right thumb if necessary.). Turn the left hand half face down and place it square under the right hand face-up half. Spread the deck to reveal the twenty-six card interlaced penetration . . . then manually separate the face-downs from the face-ups as you grumble about broken shuffling machines.
Official Notice of Appreciation: For Looy! When developing the Sensuous Shuffle I wanted to clean-up by having the cards unshuffle themselves — but could think only of sleazy low-impact approaches. Looy came up with the incredible plunger idea for the visible unshuffle. It only took five bottles of rootbeer and nineteen live performances for him to convince me that the unreasonable gasps of amazement from the audience weren't just a matter of luck.
Presentation: "Have you ever heard of a shuffle machine? The Japanese have come out with a new miniaturized version built right into the deck. I will demonstrate — but only if you insist... oh alright..." "The shuffle machine has many uses — please don't ask me to name them all, impressionable children might be near. However, for the purpose of light entertainment, I'll use it to locate a card cut to by chance . . . and since chance isn't here, Mona will have to cut the cards instead (Only use "Mona" if that is the spectator's name.)." Mona cuts the f ace-up deck.
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STEP II — "Mona's card is the queen of hearts. The card is face-up because we are dealing with a mere machine — not a handsome, skillful, magical person . . . who, of course, would have nothing in common with me." Position both halves to be shuf f led. Spread them a bit if you wish. STEP III — "Watch as the miraculous shuffle machine shuffles the cards together . . . with the aid of its ten assistants." Shuf f le the cards. STEP IV — "Don't go away ~ now the good part starts. All I have to do is put the machine in reverse and it reverses the other cards." Push the deck through the "bridge" and spread the face-down deck. Put the single face-up selection on top. STEP V — "If I put the machine in forward I can show you the smiling faces of the rest of the deck." "Square" the spread and push it through the bridge. Spread the f ace-up deck, "square" it. The hold it in position f or the rise. STEP VI - "After the shuffle machine is finished it unshuffles itself." Perf orm the rise.
STEP VII — "And if I forget to turn the shuffle machine off ... it resets . . . and starts all over." Perf orm the instant reverse and spread the deck. STEP VIII — "Now if only they could invent a machine that would make people applaud and throw kisses . . . that's all right sir, you can just applaud . . . (then to a woman) and you can just throw kisses — wow — that was a good one, thanks."
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The Seduction: A sparkling clean handling that lets you sneak four cards into a card case undercover of a can't-miss proposition bet—guaranteed to win you cab fare home, or the chance to palm someone's fist with your face. Before starting: Position the empty card case to your right so that its half-moon end is down and toward the audience. The open flap is tucked under (not inside) the box. STEP I — Spread the face-up deck between your hands and down jog the third card from the face. Continue to spread through the deck and up jog the four jacks. STEP II — Close the spread and strip out the four jacks as one group with your right fingers. Place the unsquared jack packet face up onto the face-up deck, and grasp the packet from above by its ends with your right fingers. Press the in-jogged card in with your right thumb as the packet is removed — adding three cards to the back of the jacks. Table the deck face down to your left, and place the right hand packet face down into left hand dealing position. 37
NOTE — If the jacks are already out from a previous routine — hold the deck in face-up dealing position and obtain a left little finger break below the third card from the face. Scoop up the face-up jacks with your right hand and add the three cards above the break to the back of the packet as your left fingers square the sides of the packet. STEP III — Grasp the face-down seven card packet from above by its ends with your right fingers and use your left thumb to slide the top three cards, one at a time, onto your left palm. Place the remaining right hand group of four (held as one) onto the left hand cards — and retain a left little finger break between the two groups. To the audience, you've reverse counted the four jacks from the right hand to the left. STEP IV — Grasp the top single card from above by its ends with your right fingers and place it square onto the back of the case. As the card is placed on the case your right fingers grasp the case from above by its ends and move it off the table toward the left hand. STEP V — Hold the case above the left hand packet so that the tucked under flap is in front of the outer end of the left hand cards. Tilt your left hand up toward yourself so that the outer end of its packet touches the underside of the case. Slide the packet forward until it stops against the inside of the flap. Fig. 1 & 2.
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Fig. 2.
As the packet slides forward place your left thumb onto the card on top of the case. Your right thumb should now be at the inner end of the case — pressing the inner ends of the cards above the break to press the cards against the flap . . . which presses against your right fingers. Retain the cards above the break against the underside of the case with your right fingers as your left thumb slides the card from the top of the case onto the right side of the remaining three left hand cards. In a continuing action, openly place the slid-off card onto the underside of the case under the flap — so that the left side of the card extends past the left side of the case. Fig. 3 & 4.
Fig. 3.
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NOTE — The slid-off card is moved from the top of the case directly to the bottom of the case in a continuous action. The left hand packet just "happens to be there" and is not used as a rest stop for the card. As soon as the card is positioned under the flap (and beneath the concealed cards) casually fan the three cards in your left hand and drop them face down to the table. The audience has seen you pick up the case and card together, where your left thumb then slid the card onto the bottom of the case. Your left hand put its cards aside to help put the card in the case as follows: STEP VI — Grasp the case from below by its sides at the halfway point with your left fingers — automatically squaring the side-jogged card with the case as the case is grasped. Your left thumb rests along the left side of the packet beneath the case. Maintain right finger pressure against the outer end of the packet (the flap still separates the right fingers from the cards) as your right hand hinges the inner end of the case up. Fig. 5.
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As the inner end of the case moves up toward the audience, the outer end of the left hand packet, now seen by the audience as a single card, starts to slide into the mouth of the case. As the case moves in line with the "card" (closed end of the case toward the audience) release your right hand grip so that the case and the partially inserted card are held in the left hand. Note how this position completely conceals the extra thickness of the quadruple card. Fig. 6.
Fig. 6.
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Use your right fingers to slide the fat card the rest of the way into the case. Tuck in the flap and table the case. The audience believes one jack to be in the case, the other three jacks face down on the table. STEP VII — Bury the three face down "jacks" into the deck and ask for a spectator to think of one of the jacks. "I'll bet you that the jack you're thinking of will be inside the box. If I lose, you win the entire left side of my body. If I win — I get both your socks — and if you're not wearing socks we'll have to work something out." Direct the spectator to open the case to verify you have won the bet. Don't forget to be a good guy and say "that's all right, you can mail me your socks when you get home." NOTE — If you work this routine a lot you'll find an occassional sock in your mail box from women who can't think of any other way to meet you.
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Limousine Service
The Seduction: When a cab just isn't good enough and you want to travel in style— complete with tinted windows, spiffy chauffeur, and gasps of tortured envy from those less fortunate than yourself. Four jacks are "squig-gled" at your fingertips and change into four other cards. This "squiggle misdirection" enables you to secretly escort the four jacks into the box—or so the pedestrian audience is driven to believe. Before starting: Position the open card case in front of you so that the open flap is at the front end of the case and the half-moon side is up. STEP I — As you spread the face-up deck between your hands, openly out-jog the four jacks and secretly in-jog the third card from the pack's face. STEP II — Adjust the order of the out-jogged jacks so that they're in red, red, black, black order (it doesn't matter whether the reds or blacks come first). STEP III — Square the in-jogged card with your right thumb so that your left little finger can obtain a break beneath the three cards at the face. Make this squaring action with your thumb undercover of putting 43
your right fingers on the left side of the jacks — to strip the jacks out of the deck. STEP IV — Place the stripped-out jack packet face up onto the face-up deck then square the jacks by grasping them from above by their ends with your right fingers. Hang onto the jacks, along with the three cards above the break, as your left hand turns the deck face down and tables it to your left. STEP V — The face-up seven card jack packet is held from above by its ends with your right fingers. Use your left thumb to slide the top three jacks one at a time onto your left palm. Place the three jacks to the back of the right hand "jack" and retain a right thumb break above the bottom three jacks. STEP VI — Pick up the case with your right fingers by placing the face-up jack packet square onto the top surface of the case. Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Grasp the case, along with the entire jack packet, from below by its sides with your left fingers. Slide your right fingers along the face of the jacks toward your right thumb so that the inner end of the packet that's above the break is pinched between your right thumb and second finger. Fig. 2 & 3. 44
Start to turn the case over from left to right by turning your left hand palmdown. As the case moves, turn your right hand palm up so that its four cards fan out face down. Three jacks are now concealed beneath the case in your left hand — the cards held in place with your left fingers. Four face-down cards are fanned out in your left hand — consisting of three indifferent cards on top of one jack. The ends of the fan should be toward you, your right first finger should point at the flap end of the case. Fig. 4. 45
Fig. 4.
Tuck the flap into the case with your right first finger then table the case with your left hand so that the flap end is to the right — and the three jacks are concealed on the bottom. The audience has seen you display four jacks, then seen you transfer the tabled case with your right hand to your left hand so that your right first finger could tuck in the flap. The four right hand cards naturally fanned face down as part of the action of extending your right first finger. The transfer of the case, the turning of the case, the fanning of the cards, the tucking in of the flap with your right first finger, and the tabling of the case, should all be done in one relaxed continuous action. STEP VII — Comment that you're going to misdirect the audience's attention so that you can sneak the four jacks into the box. Square the fan and hold it by its sides between your hands — thumbs on top. Tilt the face of the packet up to the audience to flash the jack, then tilt the packet back down. Secretly position the face jack second from the top undercover of the "Squiggle Flourish" as follows: Spread the four cards to the right — just enough so that the four left margins are exposed. Press your right finger tips up against the card second from the face of the packet and press your left thumb onto the back of the second card from the top.
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Your right thumb should be on the top card, your left fingers on the face of the bottom card. In this position your right fingers and thumb have control of the top card and the card second from the face. Your left fingers and thumb have control over the bottom card and the card second from the top. Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
Slide the thumb cards forward and the finger cards back as the hands move apart with their individual pairs — producing a "Squiggle." Fig. 6. Place the right hand cards below the left hand cards so that a squared packet is once again held by its sides between your hands — thumbs on top.
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STEP VIII — Change your left hand grip so that your left thumb is beneath the packet. Release your right hand grip and turn your left hand palm-up so that the packet is face-up. Elmsley count the face-up packet to show the four jacks have been replaced by four indifferent cards. The last card of the count goes on the face of the packet. "That was the misdirection. While you were wondering where these cards came from I snuck the jacks into the box." Casually drop the indifferent packet face down onto the deck with your left hand then use your left hand to grasp the case, along with the cards concealed beneath it, from above by its sides with your left fingers. STEP IX — Open the flap with your right fingers and pretend to remove the packet from inside the case by putting your right thumb into the case onto the half moon and your fingers up against the face of the concealed packet. Slide the facedown packet to the right "out of the case" with your right fingers while your left finger drops the case to the table. Fig. 7.
Fig. 7.
STEP X — Grasp the inner long side of the face-down packet between your left thumb from below, fingers on top. Turn left hand palm up to turn the packet face up and Elmsley count the three jacks as four as follows:
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You should have one odd jack on the face of the packet followed by two jacks of the same color. Press your right palm against the back of the packet and clip its upper right corner under your right thumb. Your right hand slides top card off by turning palm-down, snapping the top card off the outer right corner of the packet. As your right hand turns palm-up to snap off the next card (moving back to the exact palm-up position it was at from the start) the right hand card is naturally positioned at the back of the left hand packet — where the card slides into place above the left finger tips. As soon as this card is at the back of the packet, snap off the next card with your right hand. Using the same action and without breaking rhythm, snap off the remaining two cards for a total display of four jacks, then casually toss the packet face down onto the deck. You are now squeaky clean — with all four jacks on top of the deck. NOTE — I do the first Elmsley count in exactly the same fashion as the three as four count: Keep your left hand still as the right hand does the action. The first card is snapped off, followed by the two card pushoff as the first card is loaded onto the back of the packet. The rest of the count is the same. Cab Fare Note: It's close to impossible to resist doing these two routines together. Here's the transition from cab to limo: You're holding the face-up deck in your hand after having buried the other three "jacks." Obtain a three card break on the face of the deck with your left little finger. After the spectator removes the four jacks from the case, pick up one of the jacks with your right hand and use it to scoop up the other three jacks (making sure the two reds and two blacks are paired). Drop the face-up jack packet onto the face of the deck to free your right hand to adjust the case into "Limo" position so that its flap end is at the front. Grasp the seven cards from above the break with your right fingers and smoothly slid into the driver's seat for Limousine Service.
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Fan Dance The Seduction: A small piece of white paper contains a spectator's initials as a "receipt" for her selected card. The white paper sticks to the edge of the fanned deck like a fat woman to vinyl on a hot summer day. The initialed piece of paper, under its own power, slowly slithers along the edge of the fan. When the spectator grabs for the lively piece it magically melts away — leaving behind the spectator's initials on her personally selected card. The handling is "locked" so that the actions of plot and the mechanics of handling weave into a single entity. Your job is to lock your presentation into the effect so that your personality and the magic become one — making you a complete persogician . . . well . . . sort of. Preparation: Tear out a half inch square of white space from a card. Put the white space into the card case. The rest of the torn card is not required for the effect. However, since a new square of white space is used for each performance you'll be able to save untold dollars by keeping the torn card to make spares. If you want to use the same white space for each performance, use a pencil instead of a pen for the initialing phase of the routine described below. The pencil marks are easily rubbed off the white space with your fingers.
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STEP I — While playfully toying with the deck, reverse the second card from the face of the pack as follows: The face-down deck is held from above by its ends with your right fingers. Your left thumb and fingers slide the top and bottom card of the deck at the same time onto the left hand. Use the left side of the deck to lever these two cards over face-up, and as a continuation of the action place the face down deck onto the two face up cards — retaining a right thumb break above the two cards. Slide away the bottom card with your left fingers and use the pack to lever it over face down onto the bottom of the pack. This leaves the face-down pack held from above by its ends with your right fingers. Your right thumb holds a break above the reversed card second from the bottom. Obtain a second break with your right thumb tip between the bottom two cards — for a double thumb break. STEP II — Use your right first finger to swivel the top half of the deck into your left hand. STEP III — Slide cards off of the right hand half onto the left hand half one at a time with your left thumb until someone says "stop." STEP IV — Use the right hand half to lever the stopped at card face up onto the left hand half. Let's say it's the three of hearts. STEP V — Move the right hand half directly over the three and unload the single card from below the lower break onto the three as the right side of both halves are turned down toward the table. This leaves the reversed indifferent card on the left hand half facing toward you. Fig. 1 &2.
In a continuing action move the right hand half to the right so that the remaining broken card extends half way over the right end of its left hand half. Turn your left hand palm down so that the face of the extended card is toward the table. Fig. 3. Relax your left fingers to drop the face down card to the table. Turn your left hand palm up so that its cards are face down. Place the right hand half face-down squarely under the left hand half. You've switched the selected three for an indifferent card. The three is face up under the top card of the deck.
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NOTE — The unloading of the two cards is done undercover of the natural action of bringing the hands together so that your right hand can slide the selection to the right — to make it "easier" for the left hand to drop the selection onto the table (The face up selection is naturally turned down away from the audience so that it can contact the right thumb — where the unloading takes place under cover of sliding the card.). Credit to Looy for the double break refinement on the switch. STEP VI — Strongly bevel the ends of the deck forward with your right fingers, then pick up the case with your right hand and dump the piece of white space onto the table. Openly place the white space so that the cards are in a row with their ends toward you. A coin is placed behind the inner end of each card. Ask your spectator for her initials. As you move the pen down to write on the white space, naturally tilt the back of the deck up to meet the pen point. As the back of the deck leaves the audience's view, secretly slide the top card (along with the white space) down half an inch — to expose the top end of the second card (exposed to you, not the audience). The beveled deck will hide the inner end of the pulled back card from the audience. Write the spectator's initials on the upper right corner of the white space — and on the upper right corner of the exposed three of hearts. Exude an aura of honesty to mislead your audience into believing that you only wrote the initials once. This is not hard to do. Take care to write the two sets of initials so that their styles are a close match. Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Use your left thumb to slide the top card square with the deck as your right hand tables the pen — then tilt the deck down so that the initialed white space is visible to the audience. NOTE — My initial instinct (ha) was to write the first set of initials — shake the pen as though the ink wasn't flowing — then write the second set of initials. This struck me as quite clever, and is also, as I later discovered — completely unnecessary. Do with it as you will. STEP VII — Place the initialed white space down onto the table and obtain a left little finger break beneath the top two cards by pressing down on the deck's upper left corner with your left thumb. STEP VIII — Pick up the face-down card from the table with your right hand and place it face down onto the deck. Bury this "selected" card into the deck by double undercutting to the break (You should actually do a multiple under cut by cutting three or four packets from the bottom to the top before cutting to the break. This makes the card look more lost.). The real selection will now be faceup at the bottom of the face-down deck. STEP IX — Use your right hand to fan the deck in your left hand so that the reversed card on the bottom slides beneath the fan in position for the standard "dancing card" move — (the flourish where you say pick a card, and one card moves back and forth across the front of the fan), ie: Grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers. Your left fingers slide the bottom card to the right while your right hand "cocks" the deck to the left into the crotch of your left thumb in position to fan. Fan the cards by spreading them to the right with the right fingers. The bottom card should now be "loose" under the center of the fan — held in place with your left fingers. Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
Adjust this card with your left fingers so that you can see its upper right corner barely peek out of the right side of the fan. Fig. 6. STEP X — Pick up the initialed white space (initialed side up) with your right fingers so that it's in finger-palm position. STEP XI — Pretend to stick the white space to the bottom of the fan so that the initials stick out from the front edge. Actually, press the white space up against the front end of the loose bottom card so that the white space lines up with the barely exposed outer right corner of the card. From this position press your right thumb down onto the exposed corner and slide it out just enough to expose the concealed card's initials. Fig. 7.
Fig. 7. 55
STEP XII — The white space stays concealed in your right fingers under the initialed corner of the card. Move your right hand away from the fan (along with its concealed finger palmed white space) and pick up the pen. Since the spectator's initials are on both the white space and the corner of the card, the illusion of sticking the white space onto the fan is perfect. Lower the front edge of the fan so that the initialed corner touches the table. This presses the rest of the card up against the face of the fan — keeping the card hidden from view. STEP XIII — Press your left first finger up against the face of the fan on its left side to help anchor the fan in position. Wave the pen toward the initialed corner, and secretly press forward on the card with your third finger while the second finger pulls back on the card. These small controlled movements of your fingers under the fan make the initialed "white space" slowly glide along the edge of the fan from right to left. As soon as the dancing has started, put the pen and the finger palmed white space into your pocket. This method to make the corner dance are the same used to make a whole card dance along a fan — but are kept tighter so that only the initialed corner of the card is exposed — preserving the illusion that only the small piece of white space is dancing along the fan's edge. NOTE — The animated white space does not have to zip around at incredible speeds nor do a choreographed tap dance to be impressive. A few slow ghostly movements is all that's required to leave a lasting impression. Wait for the white space to run out of gas then direct the spectator to remove it from the deck. The white space, along with the spectator's initials, have melted into the selected card — like a lady ghost into the arms of her guy, or a slice of soft cheese on a hot cherry pie . . . Isn't life wonderful? Presentation: STEP I — "Yesterday I had someone pick a card from the deck — and in the excitement of the moment she forgot to put it back — so I had to go out and buy another complete brand new card to replace it." Do reverse move — using the actions to highlight your words.
STEP II — "You seem much too mellow for that to ever happen. But just in case — I've brought along a receipt. We'll fill it out in a moment." Bring out the white space.
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STEP III — "Right now I want you . . . (stretch out the pause for the joke only if you can handle it) to say "stop!" — at any card that would make you feel good about yourself (If she hesitates say "If you can't decide on a card you'll have to take me." If she likes her second option better, act appropriately embarrassed — then get her phone number later.). I'll put the card over here so I can keep an eye on it. Perform the switch and table the facedown card.
STEP IV — "And now I need two pieces of information from you for the receipt." Position white space on deck and hold pen ready for action.
STEP V — "It's personal — so you'll have to trust me. I need your first and last initial," Write the double set of initials.
STEP VI — "I would have asked for something even more personal — but I'd have trouble stapling it to this little piece of paper . . . your respect and admiration." Square the deck, table the initialed white space and pen, arid pick up the card while your left little finger obtains the break.
STEP VII — "Since you were careful not to lose the card I'll have to lose it for you — just so you can see what happens when a card is missing." Place the card on top and double undercut to the break. Fan the cards and get into fan dance position.
STEP VIII — "The lost & found system works automatically. First, a powerful electro-magnet sucks the initialed receipt up against the edge of the fan — Metal filings in the ink enable the paper to react to the magnet."
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Pretend to stick the receipt to the fan. Pick up the pen and use it to gesture toward the initials as you mention the metal filings. STEP IX — "Then a small but effective solar motor moves the card along the edge of the fan until the sun goes away." Cause the corner to move, and then stop. Put the pen and palmed white space away. STEP X — "A cleverly concealed wire coil then heats the receipt and melts it onto one card . . . wait for it to cool . . . now take it out." Direct your spectator to remove the receipt. STEP XI — "Now the card is impossible to lose because the receipt's permanently attached." NOTE — Sometimes to cap off "Fan Dance" I'll "lose" the card into the deck — then palm it out and produce it from my pocket ... to show how impossible it is to lose the card.
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The Seduction: You comment that, Just like the heads of Las Vegas women, a pack of cards consists of ninety percent air. The entire deck is still seen in your hands as you squash your hands around it. The deck, still visible as the hands squash together, instantly disappear . . . leaving behind only an air of mystery. The one time preparation consists of putting a crease into the side of one card (which can be borrowed). There is no palming, lapping, or pitting. The raw nerve impact of the vanish transcends sleight-of-hand and borders on the seriously weird. Note to Las Vegas women — Cynthia, Janet, Marisa, Rhonda, and Sandie: Of course, you're the exceptions. Preparation: Remove the two jokers from the pack. If you don't have the jokers use a pair of two's or three's. Hold the joker face-down and fold half an inch of its left side face up onto the back. The half inch flap should consist of the word "joker" (or a joker symbol) and uninterrupted white space. If the joker's design intrudes onto the rest of the white space then you have to use another brand of joker or use one of the two's or three's. Crease the flap so that it's at right angles to the card. Preparation is over. Fig. 1.
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Fig. 1.
Set-up: Place the deck into its case (make sure the tabs fold in). Close the cardcase flap. Tuck the creased joker face up into the case through the space between the flap and the half-moon wall so that the bent part of the joker slides down the left corner of the case — along the left side of the cased deck. It should be a perfect fit. Place the unbent joker face down into the cardcase so that it covers the bent joker. Your set up then, from the half moon side of the card case down is: a face down joker, face-up bent joker with its bent flap square with the left side of the case, the tucked in cardcase flap, the cased deck. Note for Non-Believers: You are about to convince your audience that the folded flap on the joker is actually an entire deck of cards. Right now I can hear muffled whispers . . . but a bent joker doesn't look anything like a deck, and there's no little lines where the cards would be, and besides — the sides of a real deck aren't that white." To concerned whisperers everywhere — be concerned no more. After years of abusing cards, I truly know what it takes to make a bent joker look like a deck. Regarding the inherent discrepancies of line and color . . . this would be a problem if you held the fake next to a real deck and asked people to compare the difference. But because the audience have no chance for a comparison, and no reason to suspect that the extremely deck-like object coming out of the card case is anything other than a deck — they will be solidly convinced of the deck's internal integrity. The illusion is perfect. The theory is sound. The seduction is unavoidable.
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STEP I — Hold the case, half-moon side up and toward you, on your palm up left hand. The case is positioned high in your left hand so that the left second finger is at the inner right corner. STEP II — Your right thumb and first finger grasp the two jokers from between the flap and the case and pull them out towards you as one unit until extended to the left little finger. Fig. 2.
STEP III — Straighten out your left third and little finger so that your right thumb and first finger can grasp the end of the case — concealing the exposed end of the fake. This leaves your left hand free to change its grip — grasping the case from above by its sides at the half moon end (the end near your right fingers). STEP IV — Slide your right thumb and first finger back so that they can grasp the "deck," thumb on top, first and second finger pressing up against the back of the bent joker from below. The bent edge of the joker rests against the first joint of the right first finger. From the audience's view, this is the natural grip to remove a deck from the case. From your perspective, you'll feel like you're walking down the street without your pants. Hopefully, you've got nice knees. Fig. 3 & 4.
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Fig. 3
Fig. 4. STEP V — Turn the right side of the "deck" toward the audience and slide out the deck until about half an inch is left inside the case. Note that your right fingers conceal the joker's index corner. STEP VI — Simultaneously table the case, and finish sliding out the deck. As the deck leaves the case, slide your left fingers to the right so they can grasp the left end of the deck from above before it's exposed. Fig. 5 & 6. The left fingers appear to be supporting the left end of the deck, while in fact the right fingers are holding everything together.
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STEP VII — To place the deck onto the palm of your left hand: Extend your right second, third and little finger. Turn your left hand palm up by sliding it around the left end of the deck — always keeping the end of the deck covered, and slide your left hand to the right, up against your curled right first finger. Your left finger tips should now be able to press against the right end of the deck, pressing the left end of the deck against the base of your left thumb. Slide out your trapped right forefinger by pressing it down against the left fingers as it moves out. Fig. 7 & 8.
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Fig. 8.
STEP VIII — Your right hand covers the deck from above. The left side of the deck can still be seen through the spread right first and second fingers. You are now in position to "squash the air out of the deck." Fig. 9. STEP IX — Close the window between your right first and second fingers and squash the deck flat between your hands by pressing your palms together, twisting the right hand to the right, and arching out the fingers of both hands. It's the same action you would use to turn a mosquito into paste. Fig. 10.
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Fig. 10.
STEP X — The squash action should leave the bent joker unfolded face up beneath the face down joker. The face down card conceals the face up jokers crease. STEP XI — Slide the top card forward with your right thumb just enough so that your left thumb and second finger can grasp the inner end of the face up card by its sides. Press your left forefinger down onto the two cards, causing them to bow. This bow will help conceal the crease when it's exposed. Grasp the other end of the bowed cards with your right fingers in the same fashion as your left fingers.
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STEP XII — Turn both hands palm up. The right hand taking the top card, the left hand taking the bottom creased card. Briefly display the two separated jokers (creased card face down) then place the two jokers face to face so that the creased joker is beneath the normal one. STEP XIII — Put the jokers away in a pocket and reveal that the air space left extra room to cram a spare deck inside the case. NOTE — If you want to be re-set for your next performance, hang onto the jokers with one hand while the real deck is removed from the case. Openly place the two jokers back into the case so that the creased joker is underneath — with its creased side against the left side of the half moon side up case. Press the creased joker against the left side of the case, causing the joker to fold into position. When the pack is put back into the case, make sure it goes beneath the joker set-up. Tuck in the case flap between the deck and the jokers and you're all set to go. EASY AIR: This simplified version minimizes the handling of the fake. Set-up. The deck is inside the open case. The bent joker is face-up on top of the outside of the case (the half moon side of the case is up). The bent side of the joker fits over the left side of the case. The normal joker is placed face-down onto the face-up bent joker. The case flap is covered over the two jokers. Place the setup deck into a left hand pocket, or a close-up case, or simply get set when no one is looking and hold the pack in your hand. STEP I — Hold the pack in your palm down left hand from above by its sides. The two jokers are concealed from view on the bottom of the case. The flap end of the case points to your right. The folded part of the bent joker should be visible to you on your side of the case. Your left thumb is on the bottom of the case holding the jokers in position. STEP II — Turn your left hand up so that your left palm faces toward the right — and the case flap is on top. STEP III — Slide your right fingers under the case flap so that the open case is held from above by its ends (your fingers are on the front end of the real deck — your thumb is at the back end of the case). Place your left thumb along the inner left side of the case — over the folded part of the joker (keep your left thumb off of the printed part of the folded flap).
STEP IV — Tilt the right side of your right hand down so that it covers the right side of the case. STEP V — Curl your right fingers to the left so that they cover the index corner on the folded part of the joker. Fig. 11.
STEP VI — Lift up with your right thumb at the back end of the case to separate the two jokers from the top of the case. STEP VII — Slide your right hand with the two joker fake forward along the top of the box about half an inch (as though sliding the deck out from the box) and then tilt your right hand so that its palm is toward you. The audience will see a deck, you'll see two jokers. You'll worry that people will think you just pulled a deck through the back of a box. Don't worry. Modern Close-up audiences do not concern themselves with discrepant deck removal techniques. Fig. 12.
Fig.12.
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STEP VIII — Push the case's flap down with your right finger tips and hold the flap in place with your left thumb. Table the case, flap side down. STEP IX — Set the fake deck onto your palm up left hand, keeping your right hand on top. Your right thumb and fingers keep the weight off the folded part of the joker. STEP X — Turn the left side of the deck toward your audience and squeeze out the air (from the deck). Display the jokers as described in Air of Mystery.
Official Notice of Appreciation: To Patrick Snowden! . . . . . . who helped fine-tune some of the handling to insure that air-of-mystery remained a mystery to the right people.
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Deja Vu
The Seduction: An instant vanish of a fist full of four half dollars. Your left fingers will clink with happiness every time they close over the coins — secure in the knowledge that they can walk away empty handed at a moment's notice. by Mike Giles, Patrick Snowden, Dana Betz, and P.H. STEP I — Lay out four half dollars and four face-up cards on the table Note that the coins are on your side of the cards. STEP II — Grasp the card on the far left by its right side between your right thumb on top and fingers from behind. Use the card's left side to scoop up its coin — so that the coin ends up under your right thumb. STEP III — Use your right thumb to slide its coin to the left so that it extends half way over the left side of the card. In a continuing action turn the card face down (by turning your right palm down) and deposit the coin in left finger palm position — just above the base of your palm-up fingers. Fig. 1. Replace the card face down to its original far left position.
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STEP IV — Pick up the card second from the left with your right fingers by its right side and use it to scoop up its coin in the same manner as the first coin. Your right thumb pushes its coin half way over the left side of the card, and the card is turned face-down (right thumb holding the coin against the card). Place the exposed half of the coin (still holding it against the card with your right thumb) onto the center of your palm-up left hand. Close your left fingers so that the loose coin in finger-palm position rolls over and clinks against the exposed half of the card's coin. Fig. 2. The instant the two coins clink, use your right thumb to pull its coin completely out of view under the card as you move the card toward yourself away from your closed left fingers. Place the card, along with its concealed coin, face down on the table to its original position second from the left.
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Fig. 2.
NOTE — When done properly the "Snowden Clink" from the card creates a perfect retention illusion. Practice it in front of a mirror a few times until you can actually see the right hand coin going into your left hand. The clink of the coins and the coin's secret pullback must happen at the same moment to maximize the illusion. Once you've coordinated these two actions, work on moving the card away from the hand at the same moment that your thumb is pulling back the coin. With just a little more practice you should be able to make your actions appear exactly as though you were scooping a coin off the table and casually tossing it into your left hand. Practice this action for real, then work to make your clink pass look exactly the same. STEP V — As you reach forward with your right fingers to grasp the right side of the third card from the left, casually turn your left fist palm down to allow its coin to fall back into finger palm position. Turn your left fist palm up as you scoop up the tabled coin with the card. STEP VI — Open your left hand just enough to perform another clink pass with the card's coin: pushing the coin half way over the left side of the card, placing the exposed portion of coin on the center of your left palm, letting the finger-palmed coin drop onto the card's coin, then pulling the coin and the card away as the left fingers close. Place the card, along with its concealed coin, face down on the table third from the left. NOTE — The only difference in this clink pass is that the left hand is cupped instead of open. The hand should be open enough to execute the pass, yet closed enough to conceal its bankrupt condition. STEP VII — Repeat the exact same clink pass procedure with the coin and card on the far right — then replace the card, along with its concealed coin, face down on the table to the far right. NOTE — It's a bit scary going through this the first few times — with one little clink pass shouldering the responsibility of stealing three coins. But the sight of the perfect retention combined with the sound of the familiar "clink" are strong sellers. When you add a casual handling with a relaxed rhythm your audiences will be convinced that your left fist contains four coins. STEP VIII — You should now have one coin in your closed left fist and one coin concealed under each of the tabled cards — except for the card on me far left. Your audience will now see you perform a stunning flash vanish of the fist full of half dollars — using Marlo's "spider" pass idea as follows:
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Comment that you're going to squeeze the four coins together to make them vanish. Suit actions to words by sliding your palm-up right fingers into your palm-down left fist to "squeeze the coins." What you're really doing here is using your right fingers to press the single coin up into a fool-proof classic palm in your left hand. The "squeeze" line covers this indiscretion (I know that you can classic palm without the aid of your other hand, but I need all the help I can get). As soon as the left hand coin is in classic palm position, pretend to "secretly" steal the four coins with your right hand by closing your right hand into a fist. Both hands are now closed. Make a tossing gesture toward the cards with your palm-down left hand as you open your left fingers to show the four coins have vanished — of course the single coin remains concealed in the classic palm. Everyone will now assume that your left hand is completely empty because they know that the four coins are concealed in your right fist. Pause a beat, then show your right hand empty as you casually gesture. Pause another beat, then pick-up the right hand card from above by its ends with your right fingers to produce the first half dollar. NOTE — If you do a better classic palm than I, which is highly probable, then you may want to bypass the Spider misdirection and perform the vanish directly from your left hand — Simply make a tossing /vanish gesture as you open your palm-down left hand — then pick up the right hand card with your right fingers. STEP IX — Transfer the face-down card to your left hand so that it's held by its left side between your left thumb and first finger. Allow the concealed coin to drop to finger palm position undercover of the card. Pick up the next card to the right from above by its ends with your right fingers to reveal a second coin on the table. Place the card from your right hand under your left thumb — on top of the first card. Pick-up the next card on the right from above by its ends with your right fingers to reveal the third half, and slide the card face down under your left thumb — on top of the other two cards. The concealed coin should now be held against the face of the three card packet with your left finger tips. Slide the right side of the packet under the remaining tabled card. Use your left thumb to pull the tabled card onto the other cards, while your left hand moves back with all four cards to reveal the final coin on the table. Fig 3. The audience has seen you make a hand full of halves instantly vanish — then instantly reappear under four cards. You can't ask for much more out of two dollars worth of change than that.
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Fig. 3.
Official Notice of Appreciation: For Mike Giles, Patrick Snowden, and Dana Betz! Mike Giles original concept was to actually pick up all four coins, pretend to place them in a pocket, then load them back under the cards undercover of turning the cards over. Patrick Snowden and I then changed the handling to eliminate some of the difficult palms. It was during this session that Patrick came up with the "Snowden Clink" which was then used for only one coin. Dana Betz later pointed out angle and handling problems which would make the routine impractical for certain working conditions. I restructured the handling to eliminate the angle problems, the loading moves, and the pocket action. I performed it for my sister Janet — completely fried her, then knew it was ready for the real world. Yep ... It sure is nice not to need any help on this stuff.
Presentation: I usually produce the four aces using "Fantasy aces" from the book "Close-up Fantasies I." After field testing dozens of ace productions I've discovered that "Fantasy" creates the most immediate audience respect. If you want to produce the coins and cards at the same time then it's hard to beat "Silver Slide" from "Las Vegas Close-up." And of course, Deja Vu is an ideal follow up to Al Schnider's "Matrix." STEP I — "After handling coins for a while you can get a feel for how old they are without even looking at their dates."
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Openly place first coin in hand. STEP II — "When they're clinked, the older coins have a lower pitch than the newer ones. If we can have a moment of silence — I shall attempt a demonstration . . . and please, try to hold down unrestrained gasps of amazement." Perform the "Snowden Clink" with each of the remaining three coins. STEP III — Strike a pose of intense concentration — and as each coin clinks, call off a date. No one will buy the clink demonstration (I hope) — but the transparent bluff is a fun "bit-o-business" — and sets a trap for the audience from which there is no escape. STEP IV — "But if I carefully squeeze the four coins together to keep them from clinking — they completely disappear . . . and the only way to tell how old they are is to look at the dates."
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Michael's Proposition The Seduction: A perfect, super easy, surprise finish to any routine using coins and cards. This is a continuation of the "Free-Flight" ending — where four coins end up under a spectator's hand. In this finale to the finale the card that was used to cover the coins joins the party by falling off the deck and materializing under the spectator's hand. The card and coins are creatively arranged under the spectator's hand so that she doesn't feel a thing — until you tell her it's okay.
by Michael Ammar and P.H. . . . First, the Free-Flight ending which you can tack onto the end of your favorite cards and coin effect. I always use it after Deja Vu. STEP I — Your four coins have just assembled under one card. Pick up one of the coins with your right hand and pretend to place it into your left — retaining the coin in a right finger palm (or dropping it to a finger palm from a classic palm). STEP II — Pick up the card by sliding it with your right thumb onto the finger palmed coin. 75
STEP III — Slide the left side of the card (and the concealed coin) under the remaining three coins, using the card to slide the coins over to a spectator. Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
STEP IV — Direct the spectator to place her hand flat onto the coins — so that all the coins are covered. STEP V — As she presses her hand down onto the coins slide the card out, leaving the fourth coin under her hand. STEP VI — She will not feel this fourth coin under her hand because of the other coins on top of it. STEP VII — Balance the card on top of your closed left fist. Slowly open your left fingers so that the card lands flat onto your palm — covering what should be the coin. STEP VIII — Curl your left fingers in to clip the outer side of the card between your first and second finger. Lift the card up with these two fingers to reveal the vanish. STEP IX — Drop the card face up onto the deck — to lead into Michael's Proposition. STEP X — Pick up the deck in your left hand and obtain a left little finger break below the second card from the top. 76
STEP XI — Riffle the deck toward the spectator's hand. As she lifts up her hand to discover the four coins, turn the face-up card face down onto the deck and grasp the double from above the break by its ends with your right fingers. STEP XII — Put the deck aside with your left hand while the right hand places the face-down double onto the table in front of you. STEP XIII — Place each one of the coins on a corner of the double as you say, "leaving us with all four coins neatly arranged in a perfect square — symbolic of the square deal you always get with . . . (fill in the blank with the name of your spectator, host, or organization). Any other line which gives you an excuse to place the four coins onto the corners of the double will work just as well. Note that the coins are "square" with the corners. Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
STEP XIV — Direct the spectator to cross one hand over the other (do it yourself as an example). Comment that this time the coins will be covered with both of the spectator's hands, making it impossible to get to the coins without the aid of a crow bar or a blow torch. STEP XV — After the spectator places her crossed hands onto the four coins (make sure her hands completely cover the double) say, "oops — I forgot the card." Direct your spectator to lift up one side of her hand just enough for you to get the card. Do so by pinching one edge of the double between your right thumb and first finger — and slide out the bottom card of the double. The weight of the spectator's
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hand will keep the coins and card in place. The four coins at the card's corners will prevent the spectator from feeling the card. Try it yourself just so you know I'm not kidding. Fig. 3.
STEP XVI — Place the card into the deck and riffle the deck toward the spectator's hand. Ask her if she can still feel the coins. She will say "yes." Ask her if she can still feel the card. She will say "huh." Tell her to take a look. She will be amazed and delighted — and grateful for the chance to have met you. Official Notice of Appreciation: For Michael Ammar! One day Michael said "Hey Paul — why don't you just use a double during Free-Flight and load one of the cards under a spectator's hand as she covers the coins. I said, "Gee whiz Michael — why didn't I think of that?" Michael said, "Because your initials aren't M.A. Upon getting over this injustice of life I worked out the four corner handling and lifted a Dingle coins across theory for the open removal of the card. I now refuse to do any coins and card routine unless I can close with the Proposition. Yes Michael — it's that powerful. But now the big question for Michael is — can he top it?
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The Seduction: Finally, a big time dancing girls and roller skating elephants finale for your Close-up card magic that you can carry in the back of your pants. Close-up philosopher Jay Sankey has gone against his better judgement and created an audience preferred effect — that lets artless thrill-mongers enjoy the existential experience of watching you squeeze an ace, two, three, and four together into a perfect jumbo "10." by Jay Sankey and P.H. Preparation: Fold a jumbo ten of hearts (the same color back as the normal size deck you're using) face down in half, then in half again the other way so that the card is folded in quarters. Place the jumbo into your back left pants pocket (or into your left jacket pocket) so that the edges of the long side are up, and the end with the rounded edges point to the left. STEP I — Get the normal size ten of hearts to the top of the deck and force it on a spectator (for an easy force see "Sleight of Ear") STEP II — Direct the spectator to shuffle her selected card back into the deck.
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STEP III -Take back the deck and spread it between your hands so that the backs of the cards are toward the audience. Up jog the ace, two, three, and four of hearts as you attempt to locate the selection through the process of elimination — which is something as old as man himself. Place a card onto the face of the deck that's a close match for the one already there (king of hearts/jack of hearts). STEP IV — During the up-jogging process, break the spread at the ten of hearts whenever it appears so that the ten is at the back of the right hand half. Use your left fingers, which still hold its half. to pull out as one unit what ever number of hearts you've managed to upjog before you found the ten. Place this group of up-jogged cards, still up jogged, onto the face of the left hand half—then place the right hand half square onto the left hand half (onto the up-jogged cards). This should leave you with the ten of hearts positioned directly to the right of the first up-jogged card. Continue to up jog the rest of the required hearts (if you haven't already up jogged them). STEP V — Place the deck, along with its four up-jogged hearts, face down onto your left palm. Spread the deck into your right hand until all the up-jogged cards are in the right hand group. Do not spread beyond the last up-jogged card. Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
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STEP VI — While a spectator pulls out the four out-jogged cards, obtain a left little finger break below the face down ten that's on top of the left hand half. STEP VII — Place the right hand cards face up onto the left hand cards. Grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers and transfer the break to your right thumb. STEP VIII — Cut off the cards from below the break with your left hand and place them face up onto the right hand cards. Obtain a right thumb break above the reversed ten at the bottom of the deck. STEP IX — Turn your head away to the left while the spectator looks through the four cards to secretly remove her selection. As you turn your head, slip your left hand into your pocket and grab the jumbo (you don't have to palm it). Bring the deck to meet your left hand as it comes out of your pocket and place the deck face down onto your left hand — on top of the jumbo. The long "unfolded" edge of the concealed jumbo should be to the left. The rounded corner end at the front. Fig. 2. By now the spectator will have said something very close to "hey — my card isn't here."
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Fig. 2.
STEP X — Casually slide the face card of the deck to the bottom (below the jumbo) with your left thumb, then leave the deck in your left hand — transferring the break to your left little finger. Retrieve the four cards from the spectator with your right hand. As your right hand leaves the deck, tilt the right side of the deck down to conceal the right side of the jumbo card. STEP XI — Place the four heart cards face up onto the face-up deck with your right hand, then grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers and transfer the break to your right thumb. Comment that her selection is among the four cards — if you look at things mathematically. STEP XII — Use your left thumb to slide the top heart off the deck onto your left palm. Slide the remaining three hearts onto your left palm one at a time. As each heart is pulled off, add up the four values for the audience to arrive at the grand total of ten hearts — a decidedly cheesy way to reveal the spectator's selection. STEP XIII — As soon as the last heart is slid onto your left palm, use the left side of the deck to lever the four cards over face down onto your left hand. Follow the four card packet as it turns down with the jumbo at the bottom of the deck — the jumbo staying in constant contact with the back of the turning packet. Fig. 3.
As the packet turns completely over. grasp all the cards from below the break with your left fingers (from the top down this includes the face-down then, the jumbo, a face-up card, and the four face-down hearts). In a continuing action, your right hand places the deck beneath the face-down packet and onto the left palm so that the face-down packet and all the stuff on top of it are square on the face of the deck. As soon as this packet touches the face of the deck. grasp the jumbo (and the card on top of it) from above by its ends with your right fingers and remove it off the deck to the right. You have switched the four card heart packet (now hidden face-down under the face card of the deck) for the jumbo (in your right hand under the face down ten). To the audience, you've simply turned the four hearts face down and transferred them to your right hand. Table the face-up deck. Comment that the cards will look a lot more like her selection if the sides are stuck together. STEP XIV — Squeeze the "four cards" between your palms to weld them together. Then use your right fingers to unfold the first fold of the jumbo, along with the face-down ten. toward yourself so that the loose normal size ten is concealed face up on your left palm beneath the unfolded flap of the jumbo. STEP XV — Unfold the rest of the jumbo to reveal the jumbo face-up ten — keeping the normal ten hidden behind it. STEP XVI — Grasp the right side of the jumbo and the card beneath it with your right fingers. Remark that the jumbo ten comes supplied with its own portable wallet size version. Slide the small ten into view out to the right and strike a perfect "10" pose. Straighten out the four reversed cards at your leisure or, if you want to make Jay Sankey toss his philosophical cookies, simply give the deck a complete cut then ribbon spread the cards face down to reveal the four face-up hearts.
Official Notice of Appreciation: For Jay Sankey! . . . . . . who gave me one of his innovative creations and allowed me to twist it around just so I could share credit with him. Here's a quick outline of Jay's original handling: Jay starts with the folded jumbo already concealed on the bottom of the deck, and has the 10, A, 2. 3. and 4 of hearts set up on top. He
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forces the ten without disturbing the set-up then has the ten returned to the center of the deck. As he attempts to find the selection, Jay flourishes a series of slip cuts to produce the four heart cards. The four heart cards go on the face of the deck which is held in the left hand. His left hand slides the top heart onto the jumbo which now rests on the left hand. The remaining hearts are counted onto the left hand card — adding up to ten. Jay pretends the trick is over. waits for the spectator to look up, then casually brings his hands together to steal the face-up hearts onto the back of the deck. The left fingers are cradled around the jumbo, which is passed off as the four cards, while the right hand tables the deck. Both hands now squeeze the "four cards" together. blending them into the jumbo ten — which is then unfolded. Jay Sankey gives his own Official Notice of Appreciation: For Rudy Hunter! — his fellow Torontonian and clever Canadian who helped Jay clean up his original handling.
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Looker The Seduction: At Caesars Palace in Lake Tahoe, Close-up pro Terry LaGerould seduces himself and his audiences nightly with a one hundred percent self-working effect that gets grins from ladies and groans from almost everyone else. "Looker" can even be performed over the phone by making an anonymous call — for those of you who feel guilty about presenting an effect that doesn't really require your presence. STEP I — Read the Presentation. STEP II - Do the trick.
Presentation: Place the king of spades face down onto the table. Display the Queens. then place them face down on the table away from the king.
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"Certain cards have an almost human relationship to each other — like the kings and queens. I know ... I found it hard to understand myself, but when you stop learning you stop growing." "Consider this a learning experience. You're going to learn how to give one of these queens a chance at romance. I can hardly wait . . . how about you?" "Slide out one of the lucky ladies, but don't look at it — I want you to be surprised. Turn the end of your card around so that it's at the front (turned endfor-end), then slide it back into the other queens. By turning the card around you've made it different from the other queens. I'll tell you how in a moment . . . but first I want you to mix up the four ladies to make this romance more realistic." "When you turned around your queen, her head naturally turned with her. Look at the four queens to see which one is looking the wrong way . . . you found her? Great . . . but the big question is, what's that tiny head looking at?" "You took a chance on romance and turned the tiny head of the queen of spades. The queen of spades is looking at her perfect mate — the king of spades!" "Congratulations. You've just given the king a little head ... or a small face . . . depending upon how you look at it." Turn king face up.
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Blue Tattoo The Seduction: Blue Tattoo injects a lethal color changing deck effect into your act at any time, with any unprepared borrowed deck. There is no deck switch. There are no fudgeo moves. You start and finish clean. Blue Tattoo comes complete with a carefully measured dose of F.G.F. — otherwise known as the Feel Good Factor — a secret formula that combines form and function so that the deck and your fingers become fast friends. Before starting: Position a single blue back card someplace within walking distance of your performing area. I'll assume that your blue back card is a queen of hearts although any one of a large variety of cards could be used with virtually no change in handling. Since your stranger card is blue, you should use a red back deck for your performance. If you have a preference for blue back decks then you have to throw away your blue back stranger, get hold of a single red back card, and change the word "red" for "blue" in your presentation. I know . . . you thought this routine was going to be easy. STEP I — Set up the face-down deck from the top down. any face-down card, any face-up card, a face-down queen of hearts (or whatever card matches your stranger). Hold the face-down deck in left hand
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dealing position and obtain a left little finger break under the third card from the top. You can get this set-up while no one's looking — or you can get the set-up while everyone's looking by following the handling under "Notes." NOTE — Spread the face-up deck between your hands and down-jog the queen of hearts. Separate the spread at the queen so that the queen is at the back of the right hand portion. Use the right hand cards to lever the left hand cards face down onto the left hand. Obtain a left little finger break under the top card of the left hand group. As you place the face-up right hand cards directly onto the face-down cards, allow the card above the break to slide above the right finger tips — onto the back of the right hand group. In a continuing action, use your left thumb to slide off the top face up card of the right hand group down onto the back of the right hand group. Turn the right hand cards face down onto the left hand cards. Obtain a left little finger break below the in-jogged card as your right thumb squares with the rest of the deck. To the audience you've spread the cards face up "to make sure everything's okay," then turned the deck face down. STEP II — Bring out the blue queen with your right hand, display both sides, then place it face down onto the red deck. Grasp the four card block above the break from its right side by its right corners between your right first finger and thumb. Turn the four cards face up onto the deck as one (don't panic, this will be fun) by sliding the fat card across the top of the deck to the right then tilting up the right side of the fat card so that its left side contacts your left finger tips. From this position turn the four card porker face up (right to left) onto the deck — still holding on with your right first finger and thumb. As the big boy is turned down retain a left little finger break under it. Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
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Without changing the position of your right fingers, slide the top single face up queen back and forth over the top of the deck "to rub some of the blue off onto the deck." Fig. 2. Remove the single face-up queen and drop it face up in front of you onto the table. NOTE — The "reason" for putting the queen onto the deck is to rub off some of the blue. There is absolutely no heat on the quadruple turn over because you're changing a queen for a queen. STEP III — You should still have a three card left little finger break. Use your right fingers to slide out the bottom card of the deck from the front end of the deck and place it face up square on top of the deck. Fig. 3 & 4.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
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Fig. 4.
STEP IV — Grasp the four card block from above the break with your right fingers from above by its ends. Put the tip of your first finger onto the face of the card. Fig. 5. Lift the quadruple off the deck as a single card by turning your right hand palm-up . . . showing the freshly printed blue back of the card. As the face-up quadruple turns face down away from the deck. bow its back toward the audience to conceal the extra thickness. Fig. 6. Replace the quadruple face up onto the deck — retaining a left little finger break beneath it, and use your left thumb to push the top single face-up card off onto the table . . . behind the tabled queen.
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Fig. 6.
NOTE — I know . . . you're not thrilled about another quadruple lift. But it's really worth it. You've got an impossible instant change of the red card to blue under test conditions. The bowed quadruple is displayed just long enough for the color change to register — and then placed back onto the deck. The bow of the cards, the shock of the change, and the cards' constant movement, makes the quadruple an invisible "no worry" sleight. Do the change in front of a mirror a few times to feel a raw surge of magical power. STEP V —Repeat the above change two more times. Each time removing a single card from the bottom & placing it face up on the deck — and each time dealing off the single face-up card onto the previously "changed" tabled card. The audience has seen you change three red backed cards into three blue backed cards. You still have a three card left little finger break. The top three cards consist of a face down red card. followed by a face up card, followed by the face up blue-backed queen. STEP VI — Turn your left hand palm down so that the deck is face up, with one end to the right. Use your right fingers to openly turn the back card face down so that its right end extends half an inch past the right end of the deck. Fig 7.
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Fig. 7.
STEP VII — Turn the back of your left hand to the audience so that you are looking at the face of the reversed card — which is now in upjog position. The back of the card is toward the audience. Fig. 8.
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STEP VIII — Extend your left thumb so that it rests against the upper left side of the up-jogged card. Grasp the deck and the up-jogged card from behind with your right hand so that your right thumb tip rests up against the lower edge of the two cards above the break (there are three cards above the break — but your right thumb tip only comes in contact with the two cards that are together). Rest your right fingers on the top edge of the up-jogged card, and position your right first finger on its face at its upper left corner. You are now in position for a visible flash change of the up-jogged red back card into a blue back card. Get in front of a mirror so that you can see what your audience sees. Fig. 9. Your right thumb presses straight up on its two cards, using the extended left thumb as a guide, until they square with the up-jogged card against your right fingers. As the three cards square, sharply move the rest of the deck about six inches forward — so that the entire blue back of the triple is visible to the audience.
Fig. 9.
NOTE — The change should actually happen a moment after the right fingers touch the up-jogged card. As the right thumb starts pushing its two cards up, the left hand should already be moving the deck forward. A few more notes: The tip of your right first finger is on the face of the card nearest you (the outer card of the pair that slides up) to help keep the changed triple "tight."
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To create the illusion that the red back card "explodes" into a blue back card. you must coordinate your actions so that the left hand moves the deck forward at the same speed that your right thumb squares its cards — which is pretty fast. This means that your left hand shoots out about six inches — and then stops cold as though hitting a wall. This sudden forward start and stop of the deck visually locks in the change. STEP IX — Turn your right hand palm down, leaving the triple held face up from above by its ends. Use the left side of the triple to lever the deck face up onto your left palm. Fig. 10. As the deck turns face up, follow it down with the triple so that it moves square onto the face-up deck. allowing your right thumb to obtain a break below the triple. Move your right fingers down over the outer end of the pack so that the pack is held from above by its ends with your right fingers. Your left thumb should have naturally ended up resting across the face of the pack.
Fig. 10.
STEP X — Use your left thumb to slide the top single card off the face of the deck and onto your left fingers. Drop this card face-up onto the other three "blue" cards on the table. Fig. 11.
Fig. 11.
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STEP XI — Place your palm-up left hand back under the deck to cut a third off the back of the pack. Place these cut off cards square onto the face of the deck — then immediately cut off the cards above the break with your right fingers. Casually tilt your right hand palm up to flash the blue back, then replace the right hand cards face up onto the face-up left hand cards — retaining a left little finger break. STEP XII — Cut off another third of the pack from the back with your left fingers, place it on the face of the deck, and again cut to the break with your right fingers to flash "another" blue back. STEP XIII — After flashing the back of the right hand packet for the second time, turn it face up and place it beneath the left hand cards — squaring the deck. This leaves the blue back card at the back of the face-up deck. Adjust the face-up deck so that it's held by its sides at the tips of your left fingers. STEP XIV — Grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers and cut off a small face-up packet of five to ten cards. Turn your left hand palm down to flash the blue back of the deck as the right hand cuts off its packet. Drop the right hand packet face up onto the other stack of four face-up cards on the table. Turn your left hand palm up as the right hand moves back to the deck to cut off another small face-up packet. Follow the same action of turning the left hand palm down to flash the blue back as the right hand cuts off its packet and drops it onto the tabled stack. Fig. 12 & 13.
Fig. 12.
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Table the entire deck this way; your right hand cutting off small packets off the deck's face as the left hand turns down to flash the blue back. Your right hand should be moving its packets straight down to the table while your left hand stays next to your right hand. The compact movements consist of the down twist of the left wrist as it flashes the blue back while the right hand tables its packet — followed by the up twist of the left wrist as the right fingers cut off another packet. This procedure for tabling the deck in small packets creates an excellent illusion of having an entire deck of blue back cards. This is the same theory used for showing a deck with the hindu shuffle — but done in a more natural, smooth flowing action. NOTE — For this "Tabled Hindu" to be effective you must keep the two hands as close to each other as possible. The right hand should be able to turn up after tabling a packet and have the face of the pack delivered directly into its fingers without having to move away from its position over the tabled cards. With a little practice you'll acquire a machine like rhythm where the left wrist turns up and down as if it were on a spring — in perfect sync with the tabling of the right hand cards.
Another Note: Make sure to use the reverse misdirection of saying, "I snap my fingers and all the blue disappears," as you do the Tabled Hindu. The blue will have "accidentally" multiplied — making the Tabled Hindu psychologically safe.
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Back to the routine: STEP XV — Your right hand has tabled the deck by cutting off small packets until one small packet remains in the left hand. Take this last face-up packet from above by its ends with your right fingers and use it to scoop up the tabled stack. Your left fingers help with this action so that the entire face-up deck is held from above by its ends with your right fingers. Turn your right hand palm-up as your right first finger points to the tabled face up queen — flashing the blue back deck one more time. Fig. 14.
Fig. 14.
STEP XVI — Turn your right hand palm down (turning the deck face-up) and pick up the face up queen onto the back of the face up deck by placing the back of the deck onto the right side of the queen — then lifting up the deck with the queen side-jogged to the left. Place the face up deck with its face up queen onto your palm-up left fingers so that your left finger tips touch the back of the deck on the right side of the queen. Fig. 15. Your right fingers slide the deck to the left so that the visible side-jogged queen squares with the deck against the crotch of your left
thumb, while the blue back queen against the left finger tips slides into view — side-jogged to the right of the deck. You've exchanged one face
up queen for another queen undercover of sliding a queen from the left side of the deck to the right. Fig. 16.
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Fig. 16.
STEP XVII — Remove the side-jogged queen with your right fingers, snap it against the side of the deck. then drop the blue back queen face down to the table. Ribbon spread the deck face down with your left hand to reveal that everything is as it was before — with fifty two red back cards and one blue back queen.
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Presentation: STEP I — "Did you know that if you rub a bill some of its ink will come off? Oh . . . who told you? I thought it was a secret." Set up the deck as you talk. STEP II — "Well, did you know that you can rub the ink off a playing card the same way? . . . No . . . then it must be a pretty good secret. I'll show you, but you have to promise not to show anyone else." Bring out the blue card and turn it f ace up onto the deck. Rub the top single card against the card beneath it to "rub off the ink." Then deal the card onto the table. STEP III — "I think I left a little blue smudge on top of the deck . . . (squint your eyes to look for the smudge) It's real hard to see — but if you smear the smudge onto another card there's better contrast — and sometimes you can see a faint trace of blue if the light hits it just right." Do the f irst change. STEP IV — "Don't be frightened. It's only a small amount of ink spread over a large area — something called an "inkling." Maybe we can stamp out a few more while it's still wet." Do the second and third change. And then the "exploding" change. STEP V — "Sometimes there's a problem with permanent stains." Do the double undercut to show two more blues. STEP VI — "But if you tilt the blue cards away from the light the blue smudges are almost invisible." Do the tabled cut sequence to "accidentally" reveal a deck f ull of blue. Pick up deck. STEP VI — "I have an inkling that "almost invisible" isn't good enough. I'll have to smear the smudge back onto the original blue."
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Do the open glide switch, table the blue card f ace down, then spread the f ace-down deck. Wait f or someone to pick up the blue card. STEP VII — "And don't worry about a thing — the blue stuff will wash off your hands in a couple of weeks . . . (wait for her to check her hands) . . . you can't see it unless you hold it up to the light."
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Unhinged The Seduction: A self-contained novelty for those who would like to screw or unscrew their deck but do not have the pocket space or the guts for a deck switch. A hinge has been substituted for the screw. The switch has been switched for a rebuilt card case. And the required guts have been replaced with a few hours practice. Materials required: one and a half decks three matching card cases scissors glue tape One Time Preparation: STEP I — Cut twenty six cards in half (from side to side) to make a fifty two card "half deck." Fig. 1. STEP II — Wrap some tape around the sides of the half deck to hold the cards together. If you want to make this a lasting work of art you can glue or nail the half deck together.
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Fig. 1.
STEP III — Put the half deck aside for the moment and get out one of the cases. Cut out the case so it looks like fig. 2 & 3.
Fig. 3.
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STEP IV — Cut out one of the side sections from this mangled case and put the half deck inside. Fig. 4. Trim the exposed side of the half case (including the "tongue") so that it's flush with the side of the half deck — making a slightly narrower case.
Fig. 4.
STEP V — Remove the half deck and smear some glue all over the inside of the half case. Replace the deck inside so that its rough cut end is out of sight against the inner end of the case. You have officially glued the half deck into the half case. Get used to the fact that you will never be able to use the half deck for anything else. Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
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STEP VI — Glue the cut-out side piece directly onto the exposed side of the deck so that it looks like the side piece is a permanent part of the case. STEP VII — Take one of the other cases and cut out its bottom end — making a bottomless case. STEP VIII — Take the remaining card case and cut out half its back wall as in fig. 6 and glue the cut-out half back onto the half moon side of the bottomless case so that the design is exposed and the cut end is square with the case's inner end.
Fig. 6.
STEP IX — Insert the half case into the bottomless case tongue end first as in fig. 7. The half case should easily slide in and out of the bottomless case — but should be tight enough so that the case doesn't wobble. When the half case is flush with the bottomless case, the tongue should be contained within the bottomless case. If anything sticks out too far, is uneven, or doesn't look right — cut it off with the scissors. Fig. 8. Slide out the half case and crease its tongue as in fig. 9.
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Fig. 8.
Fig. 9.
Set-up: Insert the half case into the bottomless case from its bottomless end. Insert a real deck into the bottomless case from its other end. The deck will slide over the tongue and push the half case out of the bottomless case. The weight of the deck pressing on the tongue will keep the half case in position. Tuck in the flap (the real one on the bottomless case) and fold the half case at the creased tongue onto the back of the bottomless case. Fig. 10. Place the deck and a half into a right hand pocket or close-up case so that the bottomless case is on top of the half case and the exposed ends of the decks point forward.
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Fig. 10.
STEP I — Grasp the case and a half from above by its sides with your right fingers so that your right hand conceals the right end of the bottomless case. Fig. 11.
Fig. 11.
STEP II — Comment that a friend gave you a "joke deck" for your birthday, then bring out the "hinged deck" so that the exposed ends of the decks point toward the audience. STEP III — Move your left hand toward the deck as your right hand tilts the left side of the deck up — so that the under side of the folded deck presses up against your left hand This leaves the two "halves" held between your two hands in a semi-prayer position. The right fingers are still firmly curled around the bottomless case. Fig. 12.
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Fig. 12.
STEP IV — Grasp the non-deck end of the half case with your left fingers in the same fashion that the right fingers hold it end. STEP V — Tilt the back of your hands to the audience and open and close the hinged deck a few times as you comment that it's a portable pack for travelers — or for poker players that can never fold a hand. Fig. 13. Finish your hinge demonstration with the deck in open (unfolded) condition.
Fig, 13,
STEP VI — The right end of the half case should be in position on the inner edge of the bottomless case ready to be pushed inside. Slide your left hand to the right so that it holds both halves (don't slide too far or you'll expose the left end of the case). Fig. 14.
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Fig. 14.
STEP VII — Tilt the back of your hands to the audience and rest the left side of your left hand on the table. As your left hand moves to the table your right hand slides around the top end of the bottomless case so that your thumb is at the back half moon side of the case. The end of the half case rests on the table concealed by your left hand. Fig. 15.
Fig. 15. STEP VIII — Unfold the flap with your right fingers as your left hand presses the bottomless case down onto the table — causing the half case to slide into the bottomless case and push the deck out the top. You can display the rising deck effect here or you can grasp the end of the deck with your right fingers and make the audience think that you pulled it out of the case. The case is now "clean." Fig. 16.
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Fig. 16,
STEP IX — Put the case away in your pocket with your left hand (keeping the gaffed surface down) while your right hand spreads out the deck to show that the "hinge" has vanished. STEP X — Perform a breathtaking sequence of Close-up Seductions. Make me proud. STEP XI — When you're ready to put the deck away bring out the case with your left hand holding it from above by its sides so that the flap end is on top pointing toward the audience. Fig. 17.
Fig. 17.
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STEP XII — Insert the deck into the case with your right hand. Your left hand conceals the half deck as it's pushed out at the inner end. Close the flap with your right fingers then grasp the flap end of the case from above by its sides with your right fingers in the "ready to hinge" grip. STEP XIII — Slide your left hand back so that it grips the half pack from above by its ends. This action is covered by turning the backs of your hands toward the audience. STEP XIV — Move your palms toward each other to fold the deck in half — so that the exposed ends of the cards are toward the audience. Fig. 18.
Fig. 18.
STEP XV — Release your left hand grip as your right hand moves straight back with the two halves — continuing to keep the exposed ends toward the audience. Place the deck in your right hand pocket or case — leaving you in perfect position to unhinge your next audience. Official Notice of Appreciation: To Patrick Snowden! . . . ... for simplifying the construction of the fake — without which you'd still be gluing real hinges onto your deck.
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Sleight of Ear
The Seduction: The spectator's floppy ears are the targets for your seduction. By adding the element of sound to a two card transposition you buy a "delay" which moves the effect an extra step away from the method. It also provides a mnemonic hook which makes the cards easy to remember. But what's really important is that the element of sound, because of its "warmed-up" humanized premise, creates an emotional hook . . . which has the power to seduce unwary spectators into grinning from one floppy ear to the other. Preparation: Staple an extra seven of spades face up through its center onto the back (non half-moon side) of the card case. STEP I — Take care to conceal the staple from the audience during any preceding card presentations. STEP II — Secretly position the seven of spades on top as you openly remove the four kings from the deck. STEP III — Force the seven upon a spectator by sheer power of your personality, or riffle down the deck with your left thumb until someone 111
says stop. Flip the packet above your left thumb face up to the right so that it revolves over your left finger tips and lands face down onto your right palm. Hold your right hand under your left hand as your right thumb deals the top card of the right hand packet to a spectator as "the selected card." The revolving action of the packet leaves people with the general impression that the top card of the right hand packet came from the center of the deck. Table the deck face down to your left. STEP IV — Comment that because of the amount of ink and thickness of paper, the kings crackle and the sevens are silent. Hold the face-up four king packet by its sides between both hands with your thumbs on top. Make the kings crackle by flexing the packet's sides up and down. STEP V — Table the face-up crackling king packet and pick up the "silent seven." Hold the face-up seven by its sides between both hands the same way you held the king packet. When you flex the silent seven relax the pressure of your fingers from beneath the card. These fingers stay in position, but the card is actually held only between the thumbs and first fingers. When held in this fashion the silent seven should remain silent as it's flexed. Drop the silent seven face up onto the face-up crackling kings. STEP VI — Pick up the tabled packet and hold it face down from above by its ends with your left fingers. Shuffle the packet by sliding the cards from top to bottom one at a time with your left thumb six times. This will leave the silent seven at the fourth position from the top. Transfer the face-down packet to left hand dealing position. STEP VII — Test your audience's ears to find if they're sensitive enough to detect where the silent seven is: Push off the top face-down card to the right so that it's held by its sides between both hands. Crackle the card. The shrewd audience will guess that this card is not the silent seven. Place the face-down card to the bottom of the packet. STEP VIII — Repeat this crackling king maneuver with the next card on top of the packet. Replace it face down at the bottom. STEP IX — As the next card on top of the packet is pushed off, spread the card below it to the right also. When the top card is grasped by its sides between your hands, obtain a left little finger break under the card below it as your left fingers square it with the packet. STEP X — Flex the top card between your hands so that it sounds like the silent seven. As you wait for your spectator's guess, place the top card square onto the packet. The spectator will guess that the top card is
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the silent seven. Turn the two cards from above the break face up as one to reveal that your spectator's guess was correct. STEP XI — Turn the double seven down onto the packet and deal the top single card face down onto the table in front of your spectator. Ask her to place her soft hand onto the silent seven in order to keep it sound proof. STEP XII — Grasp the inner end of the packet with your right fingers so that your thumb is below. Change your left hand grip so that it holds its end of the packet in the same fashion as your right fingers. The back of the packet should now be toward the audience. STEP XIII — Use your right fingers to spread the right end of the packet up into a reverse fan so that only the white border of the seven at the back is exposed. Tilt your hands down so that the audience can see what appears to be four spread kings. Fig. 1.
STEP XIV — Keep the fan face up while your left fingers turn the seven at the back down toward you. Fig. 2.
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STEP XV — Drop the face-up three king fan to the table so that your right fingers can grasp the right side of the face-down seven (which the audience has every reason to believe is one of the kings). STEP XVI — Change your left hand grip so that it's holding the left side of the card in the same manner as the right hand grip — putting you in flex position. STEP XVII — Hold the face-down card near the spectator's hand. She believes her soft hand is still keeping the silent seven safe and sound. Crackle the card in your hand once. Pause a beat. Crackle the card again. Pause a beat. Then flex the card so that it's silent . . . STEP XVIII — The crackle has vanished, along with the king. Show that the card in your hand has turned into the silent seven. Flex the face-up silent seven once more to prove your point. STEP XIX — Direct the spectator to lift her hand. Turn her card face up and crackle the king. The silent seven and the crackling king, along with their individual noises, have changed places. STEP XX — Drop the spectator's king face up onto the other three face-up kings, and pick up the packet from above by its sides with your left fingers. STEP XXI — Pick up the face-up seven onto the back of the left hand packet so that the seven is out-jogged over the packet's front end. STEP XXII — Turn your left hand palm down so that the packet's face down. then grasp the card case from above by its ends with your right fingers. The stapled card should be concealed on the bottom of the case. STEP XXIII — Remark that this time you're going to sound proof the silent seven with the card case to create a cardboard "dome of silence." Hold the case so that it covers the front end of the up-jogged seven — but doesn't quite touch the card. Note that the case over-laps the front end of the seven. STEP XXIV — Under cover of the case. place the tip of your left first finger against the front edge of the seven.
STEP XXV — As you move the case back toward yourself so that it goes square onto the out-jogged seven, secretly square the seven with the rest of the packet by pressing in with your left first finger. The case goes down onto the packet, out-jogged over the packet's front end in
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the position previously held by the out-jogged seven. Fig. 3 & 4. The placement of the case and the squaring of the seven should happen simultaniously. STEP XXVI — Turn your left hand palm-down to display the seven on the bottom of the box. The center staple should be concealed by the front end of the packet. STEP XXVII — Grasp the case, and its stapled seven, by its right end with your right fingers from below and your right thumb on top. Your right thumb is positioned to conceal the staple when the packet is removed. Fig. 5.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.
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STEP XXVIII — Remove the packet with your left hand and place the case, card side down, onto a spectator's palm. STEP XXIX — Comment that the sound of the crackling kings is sometimes confused with the sound of a stapler. This makes for an interesting experiment in "Sleight of Ear." STEP XXX — Spread the four face up kings in your left hand so that the seven at the back remains concealed behind the last king. STEP XXXI — Remove an imaginary staple from your pocket with your right thumb and first finger. STEP XXXII — Place the "staple" among the four kings and square the packet. Hold the packet by its sides between both hands. Crackle the kings while projecting the image of a stapler into the minds of your audience. STEP XXXIII — Drop the king packet face down onto the deck and direct the spectator to lift up the box where she'll discover the stapled seven. You can take this opportunity to sneak the unstapled seven off the deck and into a pocket, or if you're a pro, you can slip the card to the center of the deck and continue with your performance. Official Notice of Appreciation: To Daryl! . . . . . . whose Auditory Illusion using a rattle and a squeaker inspired me to make my own noise.
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Bleached Blonde
The Seduction: Yes . . . Bleached Blonde is a genuine fluff ball from heaven. It uses a spanking new principle which encourages you to create a blank-face card using an ordinary deck. When mastered, the handling provides push-button "instant magic." To achieve this shake-and-bake simplicity you'll have to whip lots of tiny pieces into shape, understand their incestuous relationship to one another — then practice until the sparks from your mind and the heat from your hands melt the elements together into a single, compact, lovely-to-hold, delightful-to-scold, "Bleached Blonde." STEP I — Set up the deck by placing any two aces. except the ace of spades, on the deck's face. Place a jack. king, and queen (any suits— any order) onto the aces on the face of the deck. For explanation's sake let's assume a jack on the face of the pack followed by a king, and then a queen. STEP II — Hold the deck in face-up dealing position in your left hand. Tilt the back of the deck toward the audience and use your left thumb to push the jack and the king to the right — so that your right fingers can grasp the two cards together at their right sides. Slide these two cards up 117
about half an inch (just above the queen's upper index corner pip) then use your left thumb to push the queen into your right fingers, down jogged behind the other two cards. Slide this three card group down so that the top end of the jack is even with the top end of the ace on the deck's face. Use your left thumb to slide this ace behind the three cards. Your right fingers now hold four cards, the queen is downjogged. Place the right hand's packet onto the face of the deck (which shows an ace) so that the down-jogged queen is square with the deck — leaving the jack, king, and ace up-jogged on the face of the deck. Note that the up-jogged ace at the back of the three up-jogged cards is separated from the jack and the king by the queen. The entire action of the above set-up is simply an up-jog, a down-jog. and an up-jog. The "Note" that follows contains a direct handling to achieve this position from a shuffled deck. But if you're in a mellow mood you may want to skip this for the moment and move right on to step III. NOTE — To get into Bleached Blonde condition from a shuffled deck: Cut any ace except the ace of spades to the face of the pack. spread the deck between your hands and up-jog any two of the jack. king, queen trio as soon as they appear, then up jog the third royalty as soon as it shows so that it's half an inch lower than the other two up-jogged cards. Continue spreading until you locate the third card of the trio (remember — the three cards can be off-suit and in any order). Up-jog this third card so that it's half an inch lower than the other two up-jogged cards. Continue spreading until you locate a second ace (not the spade) and up jog it so that the ace is even with the first two "high" royalties. Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
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Square the spread deck into your left hand and grasp the four upjogged cards by their top end between your right fingers. Remove the four cards as one unit by pulling the packet straight up out of the pack (take care not to "lose" the lower card) Fig. 2. and place it on the decks face so that the down-jogged card is square with the deck — leaving the other three cards up-jogged. On the face of the pack you should now have two up-jogged royalties, a royalty square with the deck, an upjogged ace, and an ace square with the deck. You're all set to go Fig. 3.
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If by chance you pass by all the aces before locating three royalties (a rare occurrence) you'll have to down jog the last ace before continuing your search. Up jog the three royalties as previously described then grasp the down-jogged ace by its right side with your fingers. Remove the ace from the deck and hold it behind the three up-jogged cards (hold it in position by pressing it against the back of the deck with your right fingers) so that its top end is at the same level as the top ends of the front two up-jogged cards. Slide all four cards up out of the deck with your right fingers and place the packet onto the deck's face as previously described. Back to the trick: STEP III —Turn your left hand palm up so that the deck is face-up. Your left thumb rests on the face of the up-jogged cards. Grasp the upper left corner of the three up-jogged cards between your right thumb and second finger. Rest the tip of your right first finger on the "point" of the corner. Swivel the three card packet to the right so that it forms a right angle with the rest of the deck in a gun formation. The top long side of the packet should be square with the top end of the deck. The left end of the packet should be square with the upper left side of the deck. Fig. 4.
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Use your right thumb to slide up the face card of the angled packet so that your left thumb rests on the face of the angled card exposed below it. The angled ace remains hidden by the two card spread. Fig. 5.
Push out to the right with your left thumb on its card just a hair so that your right fingers can feel the top two angled cards move away from the hidden angled ace. Your left thumb remains in position extended across the inner long side of its angle card. Fig. 6. Press down firmly with your left thumb (onto the center of the pair's inner long sides) as your right fingers swivel the two visible angled cards as one spread unit down to the right — so that they are "unangled" and line up with the rest of the deck. The angled ace will remain concealed by the two card spread. Fig. 7 & 8.
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Fig. 7.
NOTE — If the two cards end up below the angled ace, it means that your left thumb didn't press on its two cards far enough to the right. This left thumb pressure is the pivot point for the swiveled cards. Your left thumb position is the key factor in causing the revolving cards to line up with the deck — and to keep the angled ace concealed. After a little practice you'll be able to swivel the upjogged cards down to the right side of the deck in a single smooth flowing action. Learn each movement separately, give your fingers time to memorize their jobs, then put it all together.
STEP IV — Grasp the two spread cards from above by their ends with your right fingers. The tip of your right first finger rests on the face of the king (second from the top), your left finger tips gently press up on the hidden angled ace from below — keeping it squared with the deck's upper end and upper left side. Rest your extended left thumb against the left side of the deck. Slide the single jack to the right until its left edge is on the center of the king's head. Slide the two spread cards as one unit across the face of the pack to the left until the left side of the spread king is square with the left side of the deck. Fig. 9.
STEP V — You are going to steal the queen off the deck onto the back of the king — creating a double king. Firmly press the tip of your right first finger onto the king down and to the left to perfectly square the left sides of the king and queen together against the side of your left thumb. STEP VI — Move your left thumb onto the center of the pack's face.
Your thumb should be angled so that it's directly over the position where the inner left pip of the angled ace is hiding (Take a peek under the spread cards to make sure your left thumb's in proper position.).
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STEP VII — Your left thumb tip should naturally be positioned on the inner end of the deck near the inner right corner. This left thumb position is your pivot point for the action that follows: Slowly pivot the two card spread (really three) to the right. Light upward pressure on the back of the hidden angled ace with your left fingers will keep the double separate from the other cards. Gently squeeze the ends of the double with your right fingers to keep the double together as it slides across the deck. The upper left index corner of the card on the deck beneath the spread should be blank. Continue pivoting the two card spread across the deck to the right revealing more blank card. Your left thumb conceals the ace's index at the card's "center." Fig. 10.
Fig. 10.
The inner left corner of the double king conceals the ace's main center pip. You should be able to pivot the spread to the right, revealing a blank card beneath it, until the upper left corner of the double king extends diagonally across the upper right blank "corner" of the angled ace. This corner is actually the top long edge of the ace. You'll have to take care not to go beyond where this corner should be — otherwise you'll have a stretching card effect. You should be able to make this pivot to the right of the two card spread in one smooth action. If part of the ace shows that shouldn't, it means that the top two cards were not spread far enough apart from each other, or that the pivot point of your right thumb tip was off. Experiment a little to find the exact right pivot point for your right thumb, so that you can safely reveal the maximum amount of white space. You've just changed a normal queen into a bleached blonde. This is a time to be happy.
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STEP VIII — As the pivot action of the two cards stop, remove the top single jack with your right fingers. This card is already held from above by its ends in your right fingers — simply move your right hand aside with its single card — leaving the double king angled on the face. Fig. 11. Curl in your right fingers to clip the right end of the card between your right first and second finger so that you can release your right thumb grip. From this position press the left end of the face-up jack up against the overlapped outer end of the king on the right. The jack will actually be up against the right end of the angled ace which is hidden beneath the king. Fig. 12.
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Without changing your right hand grip, slide the card into the deck so that the visible blank card is sandwiched between the king on top and the jack below. The jack should be at the same angle as the king — but not square with it. Note that the "three" card sandwich is now clipped between your right first and second finger. Fig. 13.
STEP IX — Without releasing your right hand grip, tilt your hands up so that the back of the deck (and the sandwich) is toward the audience. Freeze your right hand as the left hand tables the deck face down to the left. The three card sandwich (it's back to the audience) will remain clipped between your right fingers, the face card of the sandwich will be the double king, the sandwiched card will be one of the aces, the other ace will be concealed at the face of the face-down deck. Hang in there, we're almost done. Fig. 14 & 15.
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Fig. 14.
Fig. 15.
STEP X — Tilt the sandwich up just enough so that you can see its face. Pinch the lower left corner of the sandwich between your left thumb and fingers so that your left thumb covers the ace's exposed index corner. Turn the sandwich face up by turning both hands palm up. The audience will still see a blank card between the king and the jack. Fig. 16.
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STEP XI — Leave the tip of your right first finger in position on the face of the double king as your right hand turns palm down so that its other fingers can grasp the packet from above by its sides. Your right thumb should be positioned against the inner long side of the cards so that it's just to the left of the ace's concealed inner right corner. Freeze your left hand while your right fingers square the sides of the other cards with the blank. The position of your right thumb should make this squaring action easy. The left blank end remains in view, extending from the left end of the squared cards. Fig. 17, 18, & 19.
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STEP XII — Without changing the position of any of your fingers, slide the entire packet to the left toward the crotch of your left thumb. Keep the ace's inner left index corner pressed up against your left thumb to keep the index concealed. Continue sliding the packet to the left so that the left end of the ace hits the crotch of your left thumb and squares with the left end of the packet. This leaves the left end of the squared packet held between your extended left thumb on top, and fingers below. Fig. 20. 129
As soon as the cards are square your right fingers slide the packet to the right — to the tips of the left fingers. Immediately perfoirn the Ascanio Spread by fanning the top and bottom cards with your left fingers (your left thumb slides the king on top forward — your left fingers slide the jack on the bottom toward yourself), your right fingers move to the right with the face-up double queen held by its sides. Fig. 21. The bleached blonde has instantly undyed herself back into the colorful queen. This is a good thing.
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STEP XIII — Place the double queen face up onto the face of the two left hand cards and turn your left hand palm down to turn over the packet. Grasp the packet from above by its sides with your right fingers as your left fingers slide the bottom card away from the packet to the left. Your right hand drops its face-down packet onto the deck as your right hand tosses the unbleached queen out to the hair dressers in the audience. And yes . . . you are clean. Official Note of Appreciation: For Richie Kaufman! — editor and subscriber to Richard's Almanac. During a brain storm session with Richie in New York, Richie was fooling with some aces and I noticed that he'd covered an index corner with another ace. I said, "Hey Richie, your cat's getting fur balls all over my sweater, — and by the way — it sort of looks like you've made one of the pips disappear on the ace." Richie said, "Hey Paul, you're getting sweater balls all over my cat — and what you're suggesting with the aces does not amuse me." I said, "Hey Richie, exactly what is it that amuses you?" I spent the rest of the evening picking sweater balls out of the cat.
Presentation: Get the cards set up on the f ace of the pack. STEP I — "One thing people hardly ever notice about the jack, queen, and king is their hair styles." Swivel the cards to "set" the ace. STEP II — "Two out of three of these cards have your basic two dollar clip and rip hair cut. But one of them is a bleached blonde. The only way to get to the root of the matter (ha) is to use a version of the old suicide blonde technique . . . dyed by her own hand." Get ready for the change.
STEP III — "Watch what happens when I use my hand and her hair to reveal the total bleached blonde look." Do the change.
STEP IV — "It's hard to see her face with all that hair, so to uncover the bleached blonde's personality I'll put her in the special bleacher seat."
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Sandwich the blonde — then remove the hair sandwich f rom the deck. STEP V — "... and push back her hair." Square the blonde with the sandwich and Ascanio back her f ace. STEP VI — ". . .to hide the secret that only her hair dresser knows for sure."
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(Wherein a single card becomes frictionless.) The Seduction: How many of you out there have spent a large part of your formative years learning a second deal, and then didn't know what to do with it once you learned it? Let's have a show of hands . . . aha — I thought so. I can see the callouses on the lower left quadrants of your right thumbs from here. Now let me see your clothes . . . yes, that's what I was afraid of. An entire segment of the magic population — all dressed up with no place to go. What's that? You say you used it for a stop trick once, and you know someone in Barstow who does it in place of a double lift. Or maybe you're working on a high-tech gambling demo about marked cards and loaded dice. Well, maybe . . . but I'll bet you end up using a double lift and sponge bunnies. So what is the point of this tirade? I want to reassure you that not all is lost. That somewhere out there is a commercial, entertaining routine that lets you show off your seconds without showing off, a routine that lets you successfully get away with less than wonderful seconds because they're presented as a flourish instead of a secret move. And finally, a routine that lets you perform for a mixed audience consisting of those that don't like card tricks and those that don't like gambling demonstrations — and still convince them that you're a good guy to have around. Wow. Maybe all that work I put into my own second deal was worth it after all. Hey. Who the heck knows.
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STEP I — Before starting, position the ace of spades sixth from the top of the face-down deck — although you can use any card that happens to be there. STEP II — Hold the face-down deck in left hand dealing position and spread six cards off into the right hand. Obtain a left little finger break beneath the seventh card — the new top card of the deck. STEP III — Turn your right hand cards face up onto the deck to reveal the faceup ace of spades. Comment how gamblers used to rub butter on the aces to make them easier to cut to. These people were known as "kitchen magicians." Pretend to remove a spot of Parkay Margarine which is "concealed" behind one of your buttons. Pretend to smear the slick substance onto the face of the ace with your right finger tips. STEP IV — Grasp all of the cards from above the break from above by their ends with your right fingers (six face-up cards — one face-down card). Hold onto this packet while your left thumb gets under the deck and turns it face up onto your left fingers. STEP V — Drop the face-up ace packet square onto the face-up deck, then grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers. STEP VI — Pull down on the back card of the deck with your left little finger to obtain a break above the back card with your right thumb. STEP VII — Swivel the top half of the deck with your right first finger to the left, onto your palm-up left hand. STEP VIII — Place the left hand ace packet onto the back of the right hand packet and double undercut to the break. This will leave the ace second from the top. STEP IX — Grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers so your left thumb can drag the face card to the deck's center — slip cutting the ace to the top. Easy because of the "buttered cards." "What's really interesting about this is that the buttered card was invented just a few seconds before gamblers learned to deal the second card from the top of the deck." STEP X — Hold the face-up deck in left hand dealing position and un successfully attempt to deal the slick ace onto the table by dealing out five face-up seconds. Act as though you're really trying to deal the ace — but the "butter" has made it too slick.
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STEP XI — Pry up the top three cards from the deck's inner end with your right thumb to obtain a three card break with your left little finger. This action is done as you explain how difficult it is to grab the ace. STEP XII — Turn the triple ace face down onto the pack with your right fingers. Retain a left little finger break beneath the triple as it turned down onto the deck. Comment that the other side of the ace should be easier to grab. STEP XIII — Push the face-down card into your right fingers then drop it face up onto the tabled cards. The buttered-up ace has slipped away again. STEP XIV — Grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers and cut to the break. Turn the deck over to reveal the face-up ace. STEP XV — Deal four or five more seconds in rapid succession as you attempt to grab the ace. NOTE — The seconds will come off the deck face down, and should be dropped face up onto the other face-up cards on the table. After the card is slid off the deck, cause it to drop face up by letting its right side roll off of your right fingertips. STEP XVI — Turn the deck over onto your left hand (so that the ace is face down at the back of the deck against your fingers) as you comment that it might be easier to leave the ace where it is and deal the rest of the deck away from it. STEP XVII — Grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers while your left fingers openly side jog the ace to the left about half an inch. Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
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STEP XVIII — Press your left fingertips flat against the exposed surface of the card above the ace on the right side of the deck. STEP XIX — Handle the ace and the card above it as one unit by sliding the ace to the right, squaring it with the deck, while the card above the ace slides to the right. This side-jogged card on the right will be concealed by your right fingers. Fig. 2 & 3.
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STEP XX — Obtain a left little finger break above the side-jogged card by pressing down on it with your left little finger as you square the side-jogged card to the left. STEP XXI — Start dealing out the deck by spreading the top four face-up cards into your right fingers. Drop the four card spread face up onto the other tabled cards. STEP XXII — Grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers as your left fingers slide the top card and the double from the bottom off the deck to the left at the same time. In a continuous action, your left fingers slide two more single cards off the face of the pack onto the "two" left hand cards. Slide this four card spread face up under the tabled cards — to move the pile closer to you. STEP XXIII — Deal some more single cards off the top of the deck with your right hand, onto the tabled pile. STEP XXIV — Take half the deck in each hand and deal cards face up onto the tabled pile with both hands. STEP XXV — When you're down to the last few cards in both hands. turn your hands palm down as your fingers fan out the face-down cards —the reversed card is gone. The slick ace has slipped out again. Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
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STEP XXVI — Square the cards. Hold the face-up deck in left hand dealing position and grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers. STEP XXVII — Pull down on the bottom card with your left little finger and retain the break with your right thumb. STEP XXVIII — Swivel the top half of the deck with your right first finger into your left hand. STEP XXIX — Comment about the Parkay law of Opposites. "You say face up. I say face down." As you say "down" hold the right hand half directly over the left hand half and unload the card above the break onto the back of the right hand half undercover of a "paint brush" action. The face-up card on the left hand half appears to have suddenly turned face down. STEP XXX — Out-jog the face-down card as the right hand half is placed onto the left hand half — leaving the face-down card out-jogged in the center of the pack. Fig. 5.
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STEP XXXI — Continue your lines "You say butter — I say 'Parkay.'" On "Parkay" spread the deck face down to reveal the face-up Parkay ace. Remove the ace and use it to flip the spread face-up as you say, "that's right — the high price spread . . ." proving that there's more than one way to butter up an audience. Fig. 6.
Official Notice of Appreciation: For Dana Betz! . . . ... for eliminating a move that would have caused critics to say unkind things about me.
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The Seduction: You're sick and tired of people saying, "Is that a deck in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" So this time you left your fifty two little entertainers at home. But now you're romantic future depends upon you wowing the waitress with your wonderfulness. What do you do? You have two choices. Accidentally drop a wad of hundred dollar bills on her shoe to convince her of your self-worth — Or cause a borrowed coin and the sweet stuff in a sugar packet to spectacularly change places. Of course, the wad of bills maneuver would be your first choice. Preparation: Sneak a sugar packet off the table and use a fork to tear a slit along one of the packet's long sides near the top. Fig. 1. Fold the portion of packet that's above the slit over onto the slit. Put the prepared packet into a left hand pocket. STEP I — Finger palm the prepared packet in your left hand so that the folded slit side is against the fingers — the slit pointing toward the "little finger side" of your hand. The fold keeps the sugar from spilling out — give or take a few granules.
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Fig. 1. STEP II — Borrow a bill from the audience and place it directly onto the fingerpalmed sugar packet so that the left end of the bill goes into the crotch of your left thumb. STEP III — Grip the packet and the bill with your right thumb from below against the packet, and your right first finger on top of the bill. Lift the bill along with the packet concealed beneath it so that the bill faces the audience. The packet should now be near the upper left corner of the bill with the folded part of the packet on top facing toward you. STEP IV — Grasp the left end of the bill, along with the sugar packet, with your left fingers. Fold the bill in half by placing the back of your right thumb against the outer right side of the bill, then using your thumb to push that end of the bill over onto the left side of the bill so that the folded right side of the bill ends up held between your right thumb and finger. Fig. 2 & 3.
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The sugar packet and your left thumb are now sandwiched inside the folded bill. Hold the sugar packet in position with pressure from your right thumb and fingers while your left thumb moves out of the bill by sliding up. On the way up your thumb slides up under the sugar packet's fold — automatically unfolding it. Transfer the bill covered sugar to your left hand by grasping the bill's left ends together between your left thumb and fingers. Left finger pressure holds the sugar packet in place. STEP V — Use your right fingers to fold the bottom half inch of the bill up on the audience side of the bill — to seal off the bill's bottom edge. Fig. 4. STEP VI — Borrow a nickel or a quarter from a spectator and have her remember the coin's date before handing it to you. While this action is taking place, tilt the bill to the left, to cause some of the sugar to slide to the left of the packet — leaving a space at the right of the packet for the coin.
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STEP VII — Take the coin with your right fingers and place it into the bill, directly into the sugar packet through its slit — in the space left by the shifted sugar. STEP VIII — Transfer the bill to your right hand by clipping the right side of the bill's bottom flap between your first and second finger. The right thumb goes to the back of the bill so that the packet is held secure through the bill between the right thumb and first finger. STEP IX — Your left hand takes seven or eight sugar packets out from their container and drops them on the table to your left. Direct a spectator to pick up one of the packets and place it on the palm of your left hand. STEP X — Adjust the left hand sugar packet with your left fingers so that one of the packet's ends can be thumb clipped. STEP XI — Make the following speech if you're so inclined: "To make sleightof-hand improbable I've insulated the coin in a dollar bill. The sugar is already protected by the package around it. At this point it would be difficult to get to the coin and impossible to get to the sugar. But if it were possible to secretly palm thousands of individual grains of sugar ..." Then close your left hand over its packet. STEP XII — Tilt the bill and pour out the sugar — while pressure from your right thumb and first finger keeps the coin inside. A slight rubbing motion of the right thumb and first finger will help the sugar pour. Do not attempt to get all of the sugar to pour out of the packet. The audience only has to see one good shot of the sugar pouring out of the bill to get the effect. Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
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STEP XIII — Open your left hand to show a flash of its packet, then perform a Han Ping Chen maneuver by thumb clipping the left end of the packet as you turn your left hand down to apparently place its packet onto the table. As your left hand turns palm down, relax the pressure from your right thumb and first finger so that the bill is held only by the fold clipped between your right first and second finger. Fig. 6. As the left palm comes down, tilt the left open end of the bill down and move the bill to the right, so that the bill's sugar packet slides out of the left side of the bill and ends up under your left palm — in classic Han Ping Chen style. Fig. 7, 8, & 9.
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NOTE — Make sure that all pressure on the bill's packet has been released just before the Han Ping Chen move. STEP XIV — As you lean forward to return the bill to your spectator, your left hand is in perfect position to unload its clipped packet onto the visible bunch of sugar packets on the left. Fig. 10.
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STEP XV — Let your hands be seen to be empty, pick up the transposed sugar packet (its slit will be against the table), so that the secret slit is toward your self. Rip off the top of the packet along the secret tear ala Le Paul. Hand the ripped-open sugar packet to your spectator where she'll discover her coin among the rest of the sweet stuff. Fig. 11.
Official Notice of Appreciation: For Patrick Snowden! . . . ... for helping work out the fine points of handling and for not getting too upset when I spilled sugar all over his carpet.
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The Seduction: He stumbles into the last club on the strip — and drops his last business card onto the bar. It lands on a wet spot. The barmaid's glistening chapsticked lips slowly move as she reads the card to herself, "Close-up Matt — I fool people while they eat." She looks up at Matt's lintfree face "Sorry honey — we only serve drinks here." Matt's undernourished yet still active mind riffles into action. With the daring of one who has nothing to lose, Mart leans past his soggy business card, reaches over the bar, and boldly snatches a firmly wedged pen from out of the barmaid's partially unbuttoned, ink-stained blouse. Matt uses the still-warm pen to cross out "eat" on his business card and replaces it with "drink." The unpenned wench behind the bar looks at Matt — her ruby red eyes filled with equal amounts of admiration and Murine. "The kid has spunk" — she thinks to herself. "He also has my only pen." As Matt uses a cocktail napkin to blot the dampness up from his limp business card; the determined beer mistress clasps her hands behind her back, athletically bends forward at the waist, then skillfully maneuvers the front of her blouse across the top of the bar. . . re-wedging her pen. Matt stops his blotting and looks up at her with new respect. "Wow — what a woman." He whispers under his breath. "Now if only I had a card trick that could show her how I really feel ..."
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(Wherein anatomically accurate character portraits of you and a spectator are fashioned from a common deck of cards.) Set-up: From the top down (any combination of suites): jack, five, pair of fours, pair of threes, pair of aces, pair of kings, six, queen, pair of eights, pair of twos. NOTE — Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to have the super powers of Wonder Woman to quickly arrange this set-up. If you break the stack down to four bite size chunks as follows — Wonder Woman will be ready for your audience in a flash — leaving you plenty of time to decide the really important issue: Is your audience ready for Wonder Woman? Arrange the stack with two run-throughs of the deck. The first time up jog the queen, the six, and the pair of kings. On the same run-through down jog the pair of eights and the pair of twos. This is easy to remember by the old mnemonic jingle "a sexy queen needs her kings to woo if she wants to live to be eighty two." Arrange the up-jogged cards so that the kings are at the back on top of the six, which is on top of the queen. Arrange the down-jogged cards so that the eights are at the back of the twos. Strip out the down-jogged cards and place them square on top of the deck — then strip out the up-jogged cards and place them on top. On the second run-through up jog the jack, the five, and the pair of fours. Down jog the pair of threes and the pair of aces. You can easily remember this by that other old mnemonic jingle "If the JacksonFiue were f our or three they'd still be better than aces with me. Place the threes and aces on top of the deck so that the threes go on top. Follow this with the up-jogged cards so that the jack/five is on top of the fours. Note that the down-jogged cards are stripped out first in both run-throughs. If anyone is watching you during this procedure say that you lost a card and are trying to figure out which one is missing. Also — I think it would be best to keep the special mnemonic system a secret from your friends and family. There's no reason they should be anymore worried about you than they already are. STEP I — Hold the face-down deck in left hand dealing position and over-hand shuffle to keep the stack intact: Grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers and use your right first finger to swivel the top half into your left hand. Freely shuffle the remaining right hand cards onto the face of the left hand cards — then do the whole thing one more time.
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STEP II — Comment that a deck will reveal the character of whoever is handling it. Deal the top two cards face up onto the table in a "T" formation to display the "JacksonFive" symbol of your musical nature. Note that the jack is on your side of the "T" to represent the "head" of what will become a stick figure of a man. The card man is built from the audience's perspective. From your view he'll be upside down. Fig. 1.
STEP III — Deal the two fours off the top of the deck and position them at the sides of the five — to represent your massive fore arms. Fig. 2.
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NOTE — "Read" the symbolic meaning of each card as though you had no advance idea of what their message would be. You are deciphering what the "random" cards mean to you and delivering the various lines as unrehearsed adlibs. STEP IV — Slide the two threes off the top of the deck into your right hand. and spread four more cards at the same time so that you can obtain a four card break with your left little finger as the cards are squared. Position the two threes at the outer end of the five to create the card man's legs which are as strong as "trees." Fig. 3.
STEP V — Grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers and slide the packet from above the break to the right so that your left finger tips slide the face card of the packet (a king) to the left. Your right hand should now appear to be holding two face-down cards. STEP VI — Tilt your right hand up to display the two kings and comment that since you have some Scottish blood in you the "K's" on the kings stand for Kilt. Turn the kings face down square onto the deck and deal the top two single cards (aces) face down into your right fingers. As the second ace is pushed off — spread three more cards so that your left little finger can obtain a break below the third card from the top. Position the two face-down cards between the cardman's legs in classic "Kilt" position. Mention that if the kilt cards look somewhat odd it's only because they were left a wee bit too long in the dryer. Fig. 3.
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STEP VII — Dissect the cardman and place his individual body parts face down on top of the deck. Double under cut to the break so that the six is on the bottom of the deck. STEP VIII — Table the face-down deck and direct a spectator to cut the cards into two sections. Pick up the original lower half and place it cross-wise on top of the other cut-off half to "mark the cut" — for the old yet still wonderful CrossCut f orce. Talk for a moment about how the spectator's personality has permeated the pack — then lift up the upper half and table it face up in "torso" position above the Kilt. The spectator has cut to a six — signifying a person with "six" appeal. You have thus started to construct "Wonder Woman" for the revealing character portrait of your spectator. STEP IX — Deal the top card off the deck to reveal a queen and place it in "face" position — adding the face of a princess to the sixy body. STEP X — Deal off the two eights and place them at the sides of the six in "arms" position — A sixy princess has arms so luscious that you could eat them. In fact they're already "ate" (People will look upon this remark as a form of entertainment.). STEP XI — Deal off the two twos — and place them in "legs" position to create the legs of a ballarina (as in "tu tu"). STEP XII — Ask your spectator if she sees anything wrong with her character portrait. Before she can answer say "I know" then turn the face-up six around end for end. "Her belly button was upside down . . . There's also something else that doesn't quite fit this model of cardboard femininity . . . the out-of-kilter Kilt. Gingerly pick up the two face-down Kilt cards, ask a spectator to blow on them (any ad-libs here will be at your own risk), then display their transformation into two aces. Here's your big finish, "and you can't ask for a nicer pair than that." On the word "that," drop the two aces face down onto both sides of the six to properly display the nice pair. Fig. 4.
Take apart the Wonder Woman and re-assemble the deck. It's okay to shuffle the cards . . . but don't get fresh.
Presentation: The action and the presentation of Wonder Woman are a direct function of each other ... so you'll already know the basic presentation from having learned the routine. To get into "Wonder Woman," I wait for someone to ask if I can tell fortunes. If I'm in hurry I'll bring up the subject myself. The opening remarks go something like this: "No, I don't tell fortunes, but there is a way of using the cards to accurately reveal a person's character. I'll shuffle the cards so that they can do a personality profile on me first — just so you know it's not dangerous, then I'll let you shuffle the deck so that I can learn all about you ..." And so begins the final Close-up Seduction. I can't think of a better use of cards than to let someone know that you think they're nice. ... for me, that's what close-up is all about.
Official Notice Of Appreciation For Close-Uppers Everywhere! For stretching your imaginations and opening your minds to explore the inner and outer limits of Close-up. remember to be real P.H.
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