Principles may be old but new applications are constantly being made as in the present case.

With only five red back cards and two with blue backs, an entertaining little story is illustrated.

Patter: “These two blue backed cards that my friend just removed from the pack represent two G men. Now let me show you my pockets, as empty as usual. One G man goes into this pocket, the other in this one. Now, will someone please remove any five cards from the red deck. These five cards will represent five magicians. One day these five got together to exchange secrets with each other. And so that no outsiders could interfere with their mysteries, they went to a secret place known only to them, that is, they thought that.

But from the very beginning, these two G men that I have in my pockets had followed them, thinking that these five magicians were gangsters up to no good. They began picking them up, one by one. After that had captured the whole lot, they realized they had made a mistake, so they started taking them back to where they had found them. Then came the suspicion that perhaps the men really were gangsters after all, hiding under the guise of honest magicians, so the G men started out to pick them up once more for more thorough investigation. But the whole truth of the matter is that the five men really were magicians, and being clever escape artists, had made their escape, leaving the two G men all by themselves.”

WORKING ROUTINE

First introduce the two decks of cards, one red backed and the other blue. From the blue backed deck have a spectator remove any two cards. Take these, without letting the faces be seen, and lay them face down on the table. Start the patter and show both trouser pockets empty. With your right hand, pick up one blue card and place it in your right pants pocket. When the card is in the pocket, turn it face towards the audience. With the left hand, do the same thing with the second blue card.

Now take the red deck and have another spectator remove any five cards. Lay these down on the table, saying they represent five magicians. Now follow this part with cards in hand. Right hand picks up one of these red backed cards and puts it in the right pants pocket behind the blue backed one already there, turning its face to the audience. The left hand does the same by placing another red backed card behind the blue one in the left pocket. Repeat this again. First the right and then the left. This leaves one red backed card on the table. Pick this up with your right hand and place it in the right pocket.

The result of this maneuver leaves you with 4 cards in the right pocket and 3 in the left.

Now the left hand removes the first card from the left pocket, this being the blue backed card, but without showing it as you patter along, you place it face up on the table. The right hand does the same with the other blue backed card and places it face up alongside the one just put on the table.

Again the left hand removes a card and puts it next to the two blues, face up. The right hand does the same. Now the left hand removes the only card left in the left pocket.

The result of this second action leaves you with 2 red backed cards in the right pocket and none in the left, and 5 face up cards on the table, supposedly the 5 red cards. The first two, though, are the blue backed ones, the remaining 3 being red.

Now comes the last action, according to patter. The right hand picks up one of the red backed cards from the table and places it in the right pocket. The left hand does the same with one of the blue backed cards, putting it in the left pocket. Repeat this again, first the right and then the left. The right hand pockets the last card. And the result now is that 5 red backed cards are in the right pocket and the 2 blue are in the left.

When you come to the part in your story about the joke being on the G men – remove the 5 red backed cards from your right pocket with the right hand and throw them face down on the table. At the same time the left hand removes the 2 blue backs from the left pocket, throwing them face down also.

The story is what makes this routine cute and surprising, and it can be done impromptu without having someone “take a card”.