You Do As I Do effects have become almost as common as Four Ace tricks, but it seems as if one can’t stop trying to improve and vary the presentation in order to reach a limit, if there be one. I think this is the only one so far to repeat the general effect immediately with the same person and completely “top” the first time. It is perfectly suitable for any club or platform number.
The first part is what is now a generally accepted method. Two packs are shown, a red backed deck and the other a blue backed pack. The assistant shuffles one while the performer mixes the other. They now exchange packs, each takes a card from the center, remembers it, places it on top and then cuts it to center to lose. The decks are again exchanged while each other looks for the card he has remembered. When they are shown to the audience, they are both found to be alike.
Now the performer offers to repeat in order to show that coincidence can be depended upon. He takes the pack he is holding and places it behind his back. The volunteer now selects any card and puts it into his pocket. The performer places the rest of the pack on the table. Likewise, the assistant now holds his pack behind his back while the performer selects one. AND WHEN THE TWO CARDS ARE SHOWN, THEY ARE AGAIN ALIKE !
Thus a climax is built up to in a most natural fashion, and for the man who wants to introduce one card effect in his program without the usual sleights, etc., this is it. Needed are the two decks and a Card From The Pocket set of fakes as sold by all dealers as a standard item.
In the pocket indexes is placed a complete red backed deck. Of the two decks seen by the audience, the blue backed one is arranged in the Si Stebbins or other familiar arrangement.
The cards are removed from their cases and the red backed deck handed to the spectator. While he shuffles, the performer false shuffles the blue ones. He notes the bottom card and then exchanges decks. Each takes out a card, looks at it, puts it on top, and cuts the deck, after which they exchange decks once more. Now while the performer is looking through the pack for the card, he also finds the place where it originally stood in the arrangement.
He cuts the pack at this point and then takes out the card he wants and which he knows because it is under (in back of) the card he previously noted as the bottom card. After the cards have been shown alike, the performer puts his card on top of the pack, and thus the arrangement is preserved and he is ready for the second part.
While facing the audience he holds the cards behind his back and runs them from hand to hand mentally noting each card as it passes. Thus when the assistant takes one, the performer knows immediately what it is. The simple method for this is to use a subterfuge taken from the original Hugh Johnston manuscript on the use of a stacked deck. Mentally designate each of your right four fingers as a suit, in the order the suits are arranged in the deck. As you fan the cards from left to right, merely repeat to yourself the VALUES as they go by, letting the fingers take their turns in rotation as they pull over the cards from left to right, aided by the left thumb above.
Each finger thus comes into contact with a card. When the spectator removes one, the performer knows the value, and whichever finger is on the card at that point designates the suit automatically.
While facing the audience still, and while the assistant puts the card in pocket and lays the deck on the table, the performer stands with one hand in pocket and secures the duplicate of the chosen card. The assistant is now instructed to stand facing the audience with the red pack held behind his back. Thus the assistant provides perfect cover while the performer takes the card form his pocket and PRETENDS to remove it from the pack the assistant is holding.
The rest is showmanship. The performer holds his card back out and the assistant does the same with the card he now takes from his pocket. The two are shown and coincide. Nothing could be more direct and to the point. It will muddle up the magicians who know the first way and expect to see through the second.
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