Ever since Charles Jordan first brought out the endless chain principle of a dovetail shuffle around 1919 (and I believe the discovery of the principle belonged to Arthur Finley), I have deplored the one shortcoming in the location of a selected card by this means. I mean the necessity of going through the deck five or six times to follow the loops of the chain, and it never could be hidden that the performer was bobbing his head around and checking up on something. On August 7th of 1937, I was playing with the trick while waiting on a show,…
To the audience this routine appears at the outset to be the standard effect of shaking the selected card through a handkerchief. But when the shake is made the entire deck drops through! The magician looks amazed and embarrassed (he had announced his intention of causing only the chosen card to penetrate the cloth) and then his face brightens suddenly when he discovers that a single card remains in the handkerchief. It proves to be the chosen card. Follow the illustrations carefully. The pack is held in the right hand, face up, and covered with the handkerchief. Or you may…
For a quick, clean, and cute spelling manoeuvre, this will fill the bill and appear different from the usual type. Have a card selected and replaced. Shuffle the deck and ask spectator the color of his card. Red or black, you spell off the color dealing a card at a time face down on table or his hand. Then ask him the suit. This is spelled off also. Lastly ask if the card were odd or even. Again you spell off whatever he says. He names his card and you have it. The card is selected freely but as you…
A stooge in the audience does all of the work, but you can fool magicians with it, and sometimes that's a lot of fun and satisfaction. Someone shuffles the deck and cuts it into two nearly equal piles. A spectator is asked to take a card from the center of one pile, remember it, and place it on top of the same pile. Another spectator (who is your stooge) is asked to do the same with the other pile. Spectator number one may now place either pile above the other, and cut the pack several times. You now ask for…
Apparently there are innumerable versions extant of the spelling trick in which the performer spells through a packet of thirteen cards, permitting a spectator to try his hand occasionally only to invariably turn up the wrong card, usually a Joker. I devised this routine three years ago, adding to the effect several features of real magic and a good deal of comic by-play that greatly lessens the usual monotony of the trick. The set-up is as follows, from top to bottom: 3-Joker-8-Ace-7-Jack-6-2-5-Queen-10-9-4. I shall give the routine card by card. In each case remember that after the spelling has terminated…
The effect of this trick is as follows. The magician shuffles a deck of cards thoroughly and asks someone to cut it into two piles, choosing one of them for himself. From this pile a card is selected and removed. It is then inserted into the other pile which may be shuffled by the spectator. The magician takes this pile and fans it, faces down, in his hand, and asks another spectator to assist in an experiment in telepathy. The person who chose the card is asked to concentrate upon it while the fan is raised so that the second…
As a demonstration to a lay audience of the magician's ability to control the cards in a game of poker, I think this effect is extremely convincing. Begin the demonstration with four aces on top of the pack, unknown of course to the audience. Shuffle the cards in any manner you wish, holding the top stock, and then place the deck on the table. Let someone perform the first operation of a cut. As you pick up the halves, hold a slight break between them with the tip of the little finger (Erdnase has an excellent method of doing this).…
This is a trick of the do-as-I-do variety. The effect is presented as an easy lesson in the art of card magic, but actually the audience is left completely bewildered. Two ordinary decks are used. The spectator shuffles one while you shuffle the other. Try to glimpse the bottom card of the deck he holds after he has completed his shuffle. If you fail to do so, remember the bottom card of YOUR deck, and trade decks with him. At this point you ask the spectator to follow your moves closely and precisely, repeating them after you. The deck is…
As seems to be so often the case these days, before the trick begins you must know the bottom card. Spot it in your favorite manner, and have the deck cut into three piles. Spread each pile into a small fan and ask someone to touch any card he desires. He need not withdraw the card, merely raise a corner and glimpse the index. When this is done the three fans are closed, the piles are squared and gathered, and the pack is cut several times. You can locate the card easily, and this is the method. If he selects…
Devised about six years ago, this is an improvement on the Erdnase diagonal shift palm. Others may have discovered similar moves but have never described anything quite the same. The steal can be accomplished with everyone watching your hands -- if they are that kind of people, YET IT IS POSITIVELY INDETECTABLE! If a card has been chosen, riffle the deck for the person to return it, but squeeze at the inner end so he cannot force his card in all the way. It should protrude about half an inch, or as much more as you like, from the outer…