PAGES OF THE PAST PLUGGED INTO THE PRESENT

Some Card Moves and Card Routines," the material that began its chapter-
by-chapter serialization in M-U-M in September of 1973, and would even-
tually be published by Lou Tannen in 1976 as The Doc and His Deck.
Dr. Taub claimed no originality for the many moves, sleights, routines.
and effects he described from month to month, and there were no credits
whatsoever for this particular Do-as-I-Do offering, which was titled "The
Four Coincidences."
Most magicians know a version of You-Do-As-I-Do and have per-
formed it. In fact, most cardmen know several versions and will happily
admit that it's one of the first great card tricks they added to their repertoire.
But like many spectacularly popular tricks that quickly attain classic status.
its provenance quickly becomes fuzzy or non-existent. Its basic premise and
method has been explained in numerous references, most notably in
Greater Magic (1938), Expert Card Technique (1940), and the Tarbell
Course in Magic.
John Northern Hilliard wrote: "The trick is simple in structure, the plot
is clean-cut and convincing, and the various subtleties that have been intro-
duced make this card trick an almost incredible mystery." Some brilliant,
unsung magician took a simple location effect, using a key card, and dis-
guised it by creating a wonderful, interactive drama where the perceived
effect is "sympathetic magic" rather than just a pedestrian location. The plot
is apparently quite old. Hilliard said that "the earliest exemplar of this trick
that I have been able to find dates back before the time of Robert-Houdin."
The Do-As-I-Do plot has also been done with just about every object

T
all Texan Walter "Zaney" Blaney was "Magician of the Month" and
cover boy for the January 1975 issue. The "M-U-M's Magic" section
featured "A Simple Silk Fountain" by Father Bandy, "Everybody's
Card" by Charlie Holdefer, "All About Linking Rings" by Father Bandy,
"How Not to Select a Security on the New York Stock Exchange" by
Maurice Scharman, "Homemade Vanishing Bowl of Water" by Steven L.
Smith, and "You Do as I Do Card Routines," by Jacob Taub, M.D. The lat-
ter was actually the 17th and 18th installments of "An Illustrated Primer of
used by magicians, including versions performed over the telephone. But
when George Engel's quadruple-ending version appeared in Hugard's
Magic Monthly (May 1949), the trick got a new lease on life and spawned
numerous variations. Readers unfamiliar with this enhancement will have
two versions to compare and eventually use. The first. The Four
Coincidences, is illustrated with Dr. Taub's original drawings; the second.
Kitchen Synch, is a creation of Tom Frame and is described by Jon
Racherbaumer, with photographs by Jessica Hack.

The Four Coincidences

By Jacob Taub, M.D.
This is a Do-as-I-Do effect using a red-
backed and a blue-backed deck of similar
design and size. Your assistant chooses either
one; you take the other.
Overhand shuffle your deck and instruct
38 MUM August 2007
your assistant to do likewise with his deck. Se-
cretly glimpse the bottom card of your pack and
then bring it to the top with the shuffle before
exchanging decks. Let us assume that the card
is the AD, which becomes the locator card and
is now the top card of your deck.
Exchange decks with your assistant.
"Now," you state, "continue to follow my ex-
ample. Hold the deck in your left hand, face
clown with the short side toward you. Grip the

near end with the right hand and draw out a
packet of cards from the middle." (Illustration
1) "Look at and remember the bottom card of
this packet." (Illustration 2) "Then place the
packet on top of your deck. Now we will
exchange decks again."
The assistant's selected card, say the King of
Spades, is now on top of the locator card. You
have also drawn out a packet from the middle of
your deck, looked at the bottom without bother-
ing to remember the card as misdirection to
impress your assistant that you are both doing
identical things. However, secretly glimpse the
top card of your packet (Illustration 3).
Suppose that the glimpsed card is the Two
of Diamonds. Remember it. Remove the pack-
et and toss it on top of your deck. Next, get a
glimpse of the bottom card. Suppose it is the
Six of Spades. Remember it. You are now
remembering two cards — the Two of
Diamonds and Six of Spades.
"Now," you continue, "the decks have been
exchanged. Please fan open the deck with the
cards facing you, find your card and place it
face down on the table. Do not disturb the
order of the cards, just close the fan and place
the deck face down on the table to the right of
your card."
While the assistant is looking for his card in
your pack, fan open his deck and first find the
Two of Diamonds and the Six of Spades and
place them to the top and bottom, respectively.
Next, find the locator card (Ace of
Diamonds) and remove the assis-
tant's remembered card, the King of
Spades, from behind it, and place
this face down on the table as your
selected card.
Close the fan, square up the deck
and place it face down on the table
to the right of your King of Spades.
Now both decks and selected cards
are in similar positions and the top
and bottom cards of each deck and
the single cards next to them are
identical.
Tell your assistant, "Cut approximately half
off the top of your deck and place it on the
other side of your selected card. I will do the
same with my deck. Now pick up the bottom
half the one to the right of your card, and
count it down on the table to see how many
cards it contains. Count it to yourself as I am
doing with my packet."
The purpose of the countdown is to reverse
the order of the cards in the bottom half of the
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deck, bringing the
bottom card to the
top. You are reversing
the order of your
packet and timing
your countdown with
his without counting
your cards. Out of the
comer of your eye you
are secretly tallying
his count and just
before your assistant
reaches his last card
quickly finish your count-down, and openly
state the number that tallies with his count.
His reaction is usually one or surprise and
he will remark, "/ have the same number of
cards in my packet." And you will reply. "That
is the first coincidence."
Instruct your assistant to return the packet
to the right side of the deck. You do the same
with yours. Now tell him to turn up the top card
of the packet on the left. It will be the Two of
Diamonds. You turn up the top card of the
packet on the left side of your selected card and
reveal another Two of Diamonds. Say, "That is
the second coincidence!"
Instruct him to turn up the top card of the
right side packet, the Six of Spades. Turn up the
top card of your corresponding packet reveal-
ing your Six of Spades, adding. "That is the
third coincidence."
Finally instruct him to turn up the single
card between his packets, the King of Spades,
and as you turn up your single card also reveal-
ing a King of Spades, you say, "That is the
fourth coincidence!"
August 2007 MUM 39

Kitchen Synch
By Tom Frame
This is Frame's methodological tweak of
George Engel's Do As I Do from Hugard's
Magic Monthly (May 1949). His handling
eliminates the need to spread the deck face up
to spot the top and bottom cards. And you are
not forced to frantically search through your
participant's deck, find two force cards and
reposition them to the top and bottom, while
purportedly looking for your card.
Frame uses this effect in the middle of his
card act. It provides a slower-paced, quieter
interlude that gives the crowd a moment to
catch their breath, a welcomed respite from
his typical verbal onslaught. The quiet pro-
vides space in which the suspense builds, and
it fosters the eerie feeling that is evoked as the
effect unfolds.
You need a red and a blue deck. To set up.
position the (for example) Ace of Spades on
top of the red deck, and the Two of Spades on
the bottom. Case this deck and put it in your
pocket.
While tidying up the blue deck after a pre-
vious effect, contrive to get the Ace of Spades
to the top. and the Two of Spades to the bot-
tom. Give the deck several shuffles without
disturbing these cards, which will henceforth
be referred to as the "force cards."
Say, "Let's try a little experiment. I need
another deck." Remove the red deck from
your pocket, uncase it, and put the case off to
the side. Give the deck several shuffles, keep-
ing the force cards in position.
Tell your spectator: "/ now invite you to
freely choose either of these decks. The one you
choose is the one you 'II use. Do not let me influ-
ence your choice in any way. Either deck is fine.
Makes no difference to me." As you're deliver-
ing this patter, slowly push the red deck closer
and closer to her, in small, incremental steps.
Yes, this is an old gag, but it still plays.
She selects a deck and you slide it over to
her. Continue: "Carefully and slowly carry
out the following actions. Execute them as
professionally and elegantly as you can. This
is your chance to shine. Don't drop the cards
or whip them into a frenzy. Every eye in the
room will be burning your every move.
Remain calm and try to ignore the crippling
pressure."
This patter, or something like it, is very
important. It helps to ensure that your partici-
pant doesn't cut the deck or drop it. It also
subtly conditions the audience to watch your
participant more closely than they watch you.
40 MUM August 2007
.•*?
This helps to prevent them from noticing the
tiny discrepancies that occur.
Say, "You and I are going to work togeth-
er. Ready?" Perform the following actions as
you direct your participant. "Pick up the deck
and hold it so that the faces are toward you.
Using both hands, spread the deck into a fan
so that you can see all of the faces. Examine
the cards until you find one card that really
floats your boat."
Continue: "When you find this special
card, grip the fan with one hand and use your
free hand to pull the card up and half-way out
of the fan. Just leave it sticking out of the fan
so that the crowd can get a look at it. You're
doing fine. The crowd loves you.
"Now carefully close the fan, leaving your
card poking out. Pull your card out of the deck
and place it on the table in front of you.
Finally, table the deck off to your left, in front
of your card."
You execute essentially the same actions,
but you ignore your "selected" card. After
you've tabled your card in front of you. place
the deck off to your right, in front of your
card. The decks now lie directly across the
table from each other (Photo 1).
Say. "For security purposes, let's bury our
cards in our decks. Cut off the top half of your
deck and table it about six inches to the right
of the remaining portion."
Now for a nifty bit of skullduggery. The
instant that your participant touches her deck,
slide your deck to the left about six inches, cut
off the top half and return it to the position for-
merly occupied by your deck (Photos 2 and 3).
Do this quickly. Your participant will be
focused on her deck and will miss this action.
When she is done, she will look at you and
your cards. Everything looks copacetic. You
each have two half decks lying directly across
the table from each other.
Say, "Let's place our selected cards onto the
portion that we just cut off." Place your card on
top of the left half deck. Your participant places
her card onto her right half deck. These actions
are visually symmetrical. "And we plop the rest
of the deck onto our cards to bury them."
These actions appear to be identical. Both of
you have indeed buried your cards in the center
of your decks. But in the process, your partici-
pant cut her deck, and you didn't cut yours. Her
selected card is now sandwiched between the
force cards. Your force cards remain on the top
and bottom of your deck.
 Say, "Let's exchange decks." Slide your
deck to your participant and take her deck
and say: "Now, just like you did before,
spread the cards into a fan. Search for the
card that matches the card you chose from
the other deck. Pull it halfway out of the fan,
leaving it poking up. Then close the fan. I'll
do the same."
As she is searching for the card, you
spring into action. Quickly spread through
your deck, looking for your force cards. Her
selection will be sandwiched between them
(Photo 4).
Cut the deck, bringing her selection to the
face. Use your left thumb to upjog her card
(Photo 5).
Tilt the top of the deck slightly back
toward yourself. Your work will be done
before your participant completes her task.
Because she will be focused on her cards, she
will not see you cut your deck. When she fin-
ishes, she will look at you and your cards.
Due to the tilt of your deck, she will see a
card protruding from somewhere in your
deck, but it will not be apparent that it is the
rear card (Photo 6).
Say, "Let's place our cards face down
over here. Remove xour card and table it off
to your left."
Your participant removes her card and
tables it near your card. Both decks now have
identical force cards on top and bottom. Table
your deck in front of you and instruct your
participant to do the same. Continue: "Cut off
about a quarter of the cards from the top of
your deck." As she does so, add. "Hold your
packet so that I can see its edge."
Squint intently at the edge of her packet
for several seconds, as if you're attempting
to determine how many cards she cut off.
Say, "Thanks. Cut off about a quarter of the
cards from your deck. Silently count your
cards onto the table, one on top of the other,
forming a tidy little pile. I'll do the same."
Deal your cards to the table, as if you're
counting them. In reality, count your partici-
pant's cards. Deal your cards quickly, so that
you finish before she does, but don't deal
your cards in synch with your participant,
and don't stare at her cards. Use your periph-
eral vision and sound to count her cards.
Admittedly, this procedure will feel awkward
at first. But it will begin to feel more com-
fortable with practice. After you've finished
dealing your cards, look at your participant
as if you're patiently waiting for her to finish
counting her cards. When she is done, she
will look at you.
Tell her: "/ have — (say the number of
cards that she has) cards. How main do you
have?" Your surprised participant will
announce that she has the exact same number
of cards!
React to this disclosure as if it was a
novel coincidence. Don't treat it as some-
thing you had orchestrated. It is important to
underplay your reactions to this coincidence,
and to the coincidences that follow. A slight-
ly furrowed brow or maybe a quizzically
raised eyebrow? Just say, "Really? Hmm.
Interesting."
This reactive restraint causes tension to
build in the mind of your participant. As the
coincidences continue to mount, it will slow-
ly dawn on her that you somehow, impossi-
bly, engineered all of them.
Say: " Well, we don't need these any more,
so let's put them over here." Pick up the
packet you dealt to the table, turn it face up,
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and place it off to your right. She will place
her packet face-up near yours. The face cards
of your packets match (Photo 7).
Say, "And we don't need these either.
Let's get rid of them as well." Pick up the
balance of the deck, turn it face-up, and place
it to your right, next to your other packet.
When your participant does likewise, she
will notice that the face card of her packet
matches yours again (Photo 8).
Slowly look over at the two face-down
cards on your left. Look back at your partic-
ipant and say, "At the beginning of all this
merriment, you and I freely chose two
cards." Glance back at the two cards, then
back at her, and add, "Honestly, did I influ-
ence your choice of cards in any vvflv?" Your
participant, now nearly bursting with antici-
pation, admits that you did not influence her
choice.
Say. "And you didn 't influence my choice
of cards, because you don't know how to.
Right?" She fearfully agrees.
Say. "/ chose the ." Turn your
card face up as you name it. Add, "And what
card did you choose?" She begins to shake
and drool as she names her card and turns it
over, revealing yet another perfect match. •
August 2007 MUM 41