:: EFFECT ::
This is one of those extremely effective stunts which the subject remembers for many a year and thinks about whenever he has you in his mind. It makes a nice number also for the press.
A card is selected, replaced and the deck shuffled. The performer shows a card and asks if it is the chosen one. The answer is “no.” This card is placed on the table and the spectator told to cover it with his hand. The performer now tells him to look intently at his (performer’s) forehead and imagine he sees an image of his selected card. When the spectator finally admits he has visualized the card on the performer’s forehead he is told to look under his hand. He turns the card over and the climax is reached. The card now bears a picture of the performer’s face, and on the forehead is represented the correct card! The card may be left with the spectator as a souvenir — and also ad.
:: EXPLANATION ::
It is necessary to have made up a number of photo cards as per the one illustrated. Blank playing cards are easy to secure and after a cut is made of proper size a printer will do the rest. However, if one only wants it as an impromptu stunt and doesn’t care about the advertising possibilities, he may make but one card, trimming down an actual photo and pasting it to the card. The card represented on the forehead should be an ace because of it having but a single spot, and there isn’t much room.
No doubt everyone will have a different way of presenting this. It is only necessary to force the ace of clubs which can be done by the regulation fan force or a slip force to cut, the photo card being replaced in deck it is lost as it is not needed again. The deck is shuffled and the photo card brought to top. A double lift shows the second card but it is not the one.
The top card (photo) is then dealt off on table as the one just shown. Or, the photo card may be second from bottom. The ace is forced and returned to center. A dovetail shuffle or so doesn’t affect the bottom two cards. The deck is now held in left hand face down and the bottom card shown. It is not the one so the deck is turned face down again, and the bottom card apparently dropped face down on the table. However, the glide is used, the bottom card drawn back, and the photo card dropped instead.
No matter which methods one uses however, the general effect of the spectator holding on to a card and looking at performer’s forehead to make a mental picture of the chosen card, and the subsequent denouement, all go to make a very different kind of “card trick” which will stay in the minds of those who see it.
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