EDWARD MARLOFOREWORD The title of this book is, I think, appropriate and will be ap~ pPreciated by anyone who has done card magic. [ myself know from ex— perience, when doing a seemingly impossible trick for the layman, he will invariably say: “Let's see the deck." Evenamong magicians there is a desire to insepect the deck ofa brother magician. If such,inspec- tion is not granted, the spectators smile, and as the smile widens, the performer loses prestige. Let's assume the performer has nerve and does, hand over the stripper deck. Let's also assume the performer's deck is so finely cut that even should the layman reverse the card, he would not feel the projection. Even with all this luck, the performer is still not safe from the spectator suggesting that hedoa few tricks withthe spectator's deck. You say you are ready to accept such a challenge. All right, but re~ member this. The tricks you do with his deck must be better than the ones you did with your own deck. If you fail to achieve this result, you will hear remarks to the effect that youdon't seem todoas well with the borrowed deck as with your own, Such remarks help neither your confidence nor reputation. ence the spectators find out you are using tricked cards you no longer get credit ~ the cards do. This is true even though there may be a bit of brain work or sleight of hand involved. The following in- cident will give you an example of what I mean. Atarecent magic gathering, inalittle room, were gathered a few magicians, discussing effects they had seen the professionals do. As usual, the most prominent subject was card tricks. Cne magician ex— plained aneffect hehadseen, The effect sounded very good, because it seemed impossible. Someone suggestedatrick deck wasused. The other fellow said he doubted this, and then someone else asked whom he had seen dothetrick. He mentionedaman who isnoted for his use of trick cards, Everyone laughed and said: "Now we know it was a trick deck," Now get this. he may not have usedatrick deck in this case but because he isnoted for doing so, noone will believe otherwise. There~ fore, all. his miracles are passed off withashrug of the shoulders and the summing up: "Oh, trick decks Which brings meto this, All you fellows who are still young enough to change your ways -- how about climbing aboard the new band wagon. Let's do tricks with borrowed decks, even though it will eliminate more than half the card tricks inexistence. Let's do the best card tricks only, disregarding complicated mathematical locations, even though this will eliminate more than half of the impromptu card tricks. Finally, let's do only the card tricks that appeal to the layman and we will have the finest bunch of card tricks you ever dreamed existed. The effects in this book are card tricks thatIuse. Everyone of them has been performed many times for laymen and found to appeal to them, I demonstrated these effects for Ireland, and Frances Ireland said: “I don't like card tricks but I must admit I enjoyed watching those." Well, if a woman likes ‘em, what more do you want? EDDIE MARLO4s Se 6. 40. 44. 42. Ade 44. LET'S SEE THE DECK by Edw. Marlo CONTENTS Marlo's Count Down Flourish Age Old Card Control Imitation of Scarne One Hand Reverse Handling Improved Third Rosini Aces in Reverse Hotel Mystery Annemann's Aces Disregarded Nu Presentation Flying Reverse Psychological Cut Blindfold Poker Deal Gardner-Marlo Poker Routine Illustrated by Dan O'Brien, Chicago. Published by L. L. IRELAND Chicago, Iil. 1942MARLO'S COUNT DOWN FLOURISH Many times an effect is en— hanced because the performer has put insome little bit of business that is out of the ordinary. This out of the ordinary way of handling the cards, in counting them off, will get you immediate atten— tion. It is used when asking a spectator to remember a card andtonote its position from the top. It is also used in a spelling trick, the flourish in this case being done on the selected card only, as the last letter is reached. I make good use of it inGardner's Triple Spell, from his Twelve Tricks With a Borrowed Deck. — FIG.2 Sa 4 “1 Wye To do the flourish, you hold the deck in the left hand as for dealing. Deal the top card off, andtake it by the ends between the second finger and thumb of the right hand, as shown in Figure 4. Don't move the right hand too far away fromtheleft hand. The right hand is held a little above the left, which is holding the cards. Release the card, letting it strike the left fingers which hit thecard on its left side, thus making it turn over face up on the table as shown in Figure 2.The cards must be held about eight inches above the table to allow for this pretty turnover. By holding the cards about a foot and a half above the table, the card will make a complete turn, thus starting face down and ending up face down. The flourish is not difficult and does give the impression that you know how to handle cards. AGE OLD CARD CONTROL The principle behind this control is old Lut some— how it has been overlooked. The things you can do with it are impossible otherwise. It can be applied to a borrowed deck immediately upon receiving same. By this time you may have guessed that it isasort of key card. Yes, itis, but what a key card. It can belocated fast— er than any short or bent corner card. It can be held as a key card in the course of ariffle shuffle or over— hand shuffle, yet it is not a permanent key card because at any time the spectator wishes to examine the deck all you have to do istoriffle shuffle again and it’s gone. Can you get rid of ashort card or a bent corner card as fast? For further possibilities, you can have the spec— tator select a card. Then once you have made his card into a key, hehimself can shuffle the cards. Upon get-— ting them back a simple cut puts his card back on top faster than is possible with any other typeof key card. By now, I hope I've sold you on the idea. Here it is. Upon receiving the deck, hold it in the right hand from above, while the left hand is held below the deck. With the left fingers bend the bottom card along its length so that theorposite sides of the card meet, but do not crack the card. See Figure 3. This will give you a card that will seemtostick out like asore thumb. However, by cutting the card to the center of the deck and giving it a couple of end riffle shuffles [this is important) the card will be just right.To locate the card you hold the deck in the left hand and riffle the cards downward with the left thumb. This will make it stand out. See Figure 4. CRIMPED CARD FIG4 Once the card has been spotted, youcancut it either to top or bottom of the pack. Cutting the deck at the sides brings it to the top while cutting at the ends sends it to the bottom. Keepafirm pressure with thumb on top of key when it is on top. To keep the key card intact in the course of riffleshuffles, youmust riffle by the ends. To lose it, you simple riffle shuffle by the sides and it's gone. When you read the next trick, you will find another amazing possibility with this key card. IMITATION OF SCARNE Every time Scarne did anything marvelous with the pasteboards it was bound to be mentioned in Max Holden's column in "Genii". Cne of these was the apparently im— possible feat of having three cards selected, returned to the pack, then shuffled. The cards were riffled and then John Scarne would dig his thumb into the deck and flip out a selected card, followed quickly by two more. Never Paving seen the trick worke2, ormet Mr. Scarne, I evolved the following way of arriving at the same effect. To begin with you make a key card as explained. Bring the key tothe top. This you do while the specta-— tors are looking at their three cards, which were freely selected previous to the making of the key card.Take the first selected card on top of the key card and cut both of themtothe center. Indulge in a series of fast overhand cuts to make it appear that you are shuffling. Finally end up with key and selected card in the center of pack. Riffle the deck at sides to cause it to open or split apart at the key. (See Figure 4). Insert second card above key. At this stage you must again indulge in overhand cuts, but if that isnot sufficiently convincing spring the cards from hand to hand. You can spring the cards from hand to hand, prov— ing you are not controlling anything, and yet the key will remain a key. For the last card, riffle the sides again to find the key. Cut the deck and have the third card replaced on top of it. Keep a firm pressure, with thumb, on top of key card at this point so they do not notice its bent oondition. With all three cards in the center of the deck, spring the cards from handto hand. Riffle the sides to key. Ask forthe name of the last (third) card selected. Dig in with the thumb and flip the card out of the cen- ter of the deck to the top, faceup. Figure 5 shows the action as it looks just before completion. Study it. Cnce the card is ali the way out, it will almost auto- maticaliy fall face up on top of the deck. tion of super control. If you wish you may even substitute Aces and show how you can get one whenever you wish. oe 5 Suitable for agambling line of patter. L tn Your audience will like this demonstra-— ey rH ONE HAND REVERSE In the Encyclopedia of Card Tricks there is an ef— fect wherein a card was selected, returned to the deck and shuffled. The deck was placed behind the back. Using one hand only the performer caused the selected card to reverse itself in the deck. The deck, of course, was shown to face all one way before the card was replaced. 6. It was replaced facing the same way as the others, yet the miracle was accomplished. The secret of the above was to previously reverse a card at the bottom of the deck. The selected card was Placedontop. The deck was cut sothat the reversed card came above the top one. Behind the back aone hand pass was made. The “gag" was that the pack would automatically break at the reversed pasteboard, sendingit back to the bottom, The bottom card was righted and the top one was Teversed. A one handed pass was again made to bring the selected card to the center. Finish. And finish for you, too, when it didn't work that way. You had no way of telling positively that the re- versed card didn't land on the bottom, so you sometimes had to take a chance, with disastrous results. My im proved method requires no reversing of cards at the bot— tom. Itissure fire. Youare positive when you reverse the selected card. Begin by bending the bottom cardasin "Age Old Card Control". Have selected card replaced on top. Run through pack to show cards face all one way. Cut the deck, burying the selected card. Hold the deck to show no finger breaks of any kind. Spring the cards once or twice to again call attentiontothe fact that they face the same way. Place the pack behind the back and riffle the sides of the deck, as already explained. The one hand cut is used nowand the key will landontop. To further make sure it is ontop the thumb presses down lightly on the top card. You will immediately recognize by touch alone, the bent card. It is this point that makes it a handred percent foolproof. If you feel no such card at the top you cut again until you do. d With the key on top it is only necessary to reverse the second card from the top which is the selected one. To do this the easiest way shove over the tor key card and reverse it. Next shove over the two top cards and reverse them. This will cause the key card toland face down again while bringing the chosen cardtothe top re— versed. Finish by bringing cardtocenter. With one hand you have apparently givena demonstration of super-skill.HANDLING IMPROVED The performer removes the four aces from the deck. He places the deck face up and cuts it into four equal packets. Each ace is placed face up on the face up packets. The packets are assembled thus losing and sep— arating the aces. A few cuts are made. The top and bottom cards are shown to be other than aces. A fancy one hand throw cut from the middle is now made. The cut portion's top card is shown to be an ace. This is re- peated successfullyy twice more. However, the fourt time an indifferent cardis thrown up. Taking the value of this card, performer counts down that many cards in the packet and turnsupan ace. An apparent failure has been turned into @ surprising climax. To whom the credit for this effect belongs, Idonot know. However, Ido know that the handling was such that even amongexperts it was obvious that there was aclumsi- ness and hesitation which detracted fromtheeffect. It was evident the aces were being controlled. The follow- ing method eliminates finger and thumb breaks. Begin by making sure the bottom three cards are not aces. Then bend the three bottom cards as already ex— plained. Turn thee deck faceupand remove the four aces, but without showing them. Place them face down on the table. You must now cut off a quarter of the deck and place it onthe first face down ace. In cutting off the packet, you slip one of the bottom bent cards to the bottom of this packet. This move, hard to explain, is shown in Figure 6. The fingers of the right hand are moved out of the way to show what happens. This is not done in actual practice. Serre 2 = CARDS FIG6 lps \ awd aN FIG.7After cutting off the small packet it is placed and spread over the face down ace at the same time saying: "I am spreading the cards over the ace so that no one will be able to see it." The real purpose is to hide the key card because it has a tendency to spring away from the table and anyone sitting could see this. This is repeated with two more aces. The last packet is spread face up before yourself. Locate a four ot other small card and cut it to second fromthetop. Count over four cards, startingat the four. Pick up the uncovered ace, showit, andsay: *Showing you this ace proves that the other three cards are aces also." Place thisace in the fifth position, counting fromthe four. [See Figure 7). Close up the packet. Pick up one of the packets on the table. Square up the packet and show ace on the bottom. Place this packet ontop of the one inyour hand. Square the cards all around, thenspring them. Cut the key card to the topas you already know how to do. After the cut show the bottom card, saying: "When I cut the cards there should be no ace on the bottom and no ace on top." As you show the top card exert a pressure with the left thumb, as you turn the card face up, to take out the bend which is no longer needed. Repeat the exact pro- cedure with the two remaining ace packets. If you have done everything correctly so far, you should have ontop of the pack first anindifferent card, then an ace, indifferent card, ace, indifferent card, ace, indifferent card, the four or other value, three indifferent cards, last, ace. You are now ready to disclose the aces inanamazing way by apparently throwing out a bunch of cards fromthe center. To do this, the pack must be held as shown in Figure 6. Note where the pressure is applied. Study it care— fully. The throw is made but the top card is held back by the fingers as shown in Figure 8. Study it carefully. You will note that the whole packet containing all the aces is thrown out. The indifferent card between eachace is taken cate of after each throw out. It also helps to show noace on topor bottom just before the throw cut. The packet whichremains inyour hand hasnoaces. There- fore after showing an ace on topof the packet thrown on the table, you replace that packet on top of the one in your hand, thus keeping the aces on top for the next disclosure. ACE PACKE T. ev ele FIG.8 R_ PRESSURE APPLIED AT ENDS OF PACKET BY THUMB AND FINGER You will find this effect goes ever wonderfully with any audience, as the one hand cutting of aces is really something to watch. THIRD ROSINI An effect, supposedly performed by Rosini and wit- nessed by a friend of mine, was as follows: Five cards were laid downina row whilea spectator was asked to think of one while the performer's back was turned. This done, the five cards were assembled and placed under the spectator's hand. Now white the cards were so tightly held the thought of card was commanded to vanish. Upon counting the cards only four were left, the thought of card being gone. Mr. Rosini then fanned through the deck to show the selected card reversed in the deck. After only hearing of the above effect I devised many methods of arrivinaat the same effect. At first I 40depended upon psychology. When it did work, all that was necessary was to palm off the second card from the end, giving the spectator only four. After being embarrassed too many times, I tried a double-barreled solution. It was to bend the five cards. Then after the spectator peeked at one, that one was straightened. It was again only necessary to palm it. However, sometimes the spectator picked the cards up by the ends, which did'nt take the bend out of them. The following method, which I am about to disclose is one hundred percent sure. The effect works every time. There isaswitch of cards, yes, but it is one of the subtilest switches in existence. Begin by having the deck shuffled. Takingit back, you fan the faces of the cards toward yourself. You ap- parently pick out five cards at random, which you lay face down. However, you really pick the cards in suit rotation, i.e. clubs, hearts, spades, diamonds, clubs. You now pick up the five cards in that order and bend them at the sides just as if you were doing the Three Card Monte. Place the five cards face down in a row and ask a spectator to look at one by taking it up by the ends, explaining the reason you bent the cards isso that they will be easy topick up. Demonstrate by picking one up, the first one on your left, rememberingit yourself. The reason for this is. that there are two club cards among the five. Therefore, you must remember one of them. — 2 CARDS FACE TO Seti Ee FACE <— 4 cARDS % rio 9 FACE UP FIG. ONS | Have aspectator lookat one card. This is important for the finish. While your back is turned, youmust have the spectator concentrate onthe card forawhile to give a4you time to do the following preparation. Bring, on top of the deck, two cards face to face and reverse four cards, under them at the same time bending these four cards on their sides, so as to resemble those on the table. When you are through you should have on top of the deck two cards facé to face and four bent cards face up under these, as shown in Figure 9. Keep the deck in hand as for dealing. Turn around, pick up the five cards, off the table, in order, clubs, hearts, spades, diamonds, clubs. The club card you remembered is the top one. Place these five cards face uponthe deck. You now apparently turn the five cards face down, but in reality you turn over the whole packet that includes also the arranged cards as in Figure 10. This brings the four previously reversed cardstothe top. The switch has already been made. All that remains is to pick up the four cards by their ends, the bend making this easy as shown in Figure 44.« Place these four cards under the spectator's palm. While heis thus engaged, ask him what card heis thinking of. During this time you must right the one reversed card. You do this by cutting the cards in a sort of overhand shuffle. You spot the reversed card and run to it, then after righting it, place it and all the cards above it, to the bottom. This brings the five possible cards to the top. Ask the person for the name of the selected card. Should he name the club card you know you have it on top. Should he name any other, youknowing the order, shuffle off the cards sothat the cardof the suit he names lands on top. During this time you are telling him you will cause his cardtovanish. After card is on top, drop the hand holding the deck to the side. Ask him to lift his hand and count the cards. He finds only four. In the meantime you have reversed his card face up on top of the deck. Bring the deck with the faces upsothey do not see the top card face up. Cut the deck casually as you ask 42him to turn the four cards on the table face up to make sure the cardis gone. All that remains isto finish the effect. Try it once and you will be amazed at the effect it has on the audience. They can't figure out how you could possibly make their card vanish when you didn't even know till they had their hand over the cards. But we know, don't we? A OK OK OK O* ACES IN REVERSE Most four ace effects usually start out with four packets, each one containing an ace. The aces are then magically assembled inachosen heap. For those who are tired of this version we give our routine. The four aces are placed under a spectator's hand. They are made to vanish and appear one on each packet of a pack of cards which had previously been cut by the audience into four piles. Begin by taking out the four aces and placing them face down on the table so as to arouse suspicion that they might not be aces. Ask the audience tolook at them. While they aresodoing reverse the four top cards. This is very easily done by retaining a little finger break above the four bottom cards after theaces have been re— moved. Hold the deck face up between both hands. The right hand holds the deck from above. With the little finger in between the four cards and the deck you will find it an easy matter to separate the cards sothat they fall face down on the left fingers. Dropthedeck flush on these cards, but again retainalittle finger break so that you may bend the cards as already shown in Figure 9. Turn the deck face up towards yourself, sothat the top reversed cards now face you. Pick up the ace of spades and bending it, like the four cards secretly re— versed, layit face up on top of these cards. Bring the deck down now to show the ace of spades face up on top(really five cards). In picking up the other aces bend them in the opposite direction and place them also face up onthe 43deck. You now apparently turn the four aces face down. In reality you turn all eight cards face down as already shown in Figure 410. Pick up the cards by the ends and because of the bend the four indifferent cards, plus the ace of spades at the face, will come with it. {See Figure 44). Place this packet off to one side after casually flashing the ace at the face. The following isan improvement ofanold trick. It first appeared inaa publication edited by Vernon Lux, called the Dragon. It later appeared in Hugard's Expert Card Technique without credit tothe original source. We use it here to make a fitting climax to the trick. You remember you have an ace and four indifferent cards to one side of the table. This leaves three aces on top. False shuffle the cards leaving them on top. Have a spectator cut the pack into four equal packets. The packet with the three aces should be the last one in the row of four. Pick up the first packet, starting at the point where there are no aces, and place three cards from the top to the bottom. Follow by placing the next three cards one on top of each of the other three packets. In.other words, you deal a card on the second packet, a card onthe third packet andacard on the fourth packet, which has the aces. Pick up the second packet and re— peat the procedure. Place three cards fromtop to bottom, then deal thenext three cards one ontop of the remaining three packets. Do this with the remaining two, the ace packet being treated last. You should now have anace on top of packets one, twoand three. The fourth packet has no ace on top of it because it is still among the five cards onthe table. As thedeals were all made face down the audience does not suspect the aces are ontop of the three piles. To get the ace of spades, fourth ace, ontop of the last packet, you pick up the five cards face down by the ends, with the right hand. Turn over the packet, show the ace at the face and say: “who will hold these aces for mez" Soon as someone answers turn the packet face down again. With the left fingers you push the ace, 44which is at the bottom, into the palm of the right hand while the left hand then takes the four indifferent cards and places them face down under aspectator's hand. With ace in the palm reach for the fourth packet, deposit the ace on top of it, pick it up to square it. Place it down and repeat the squaring up with the remaining three pack— ets. This is just in case they saw you add something to the fourth packet, they see youadd nothingtothe others. The final effect will then throw them completely off the track. Finish by picking up the four cards from under the spectator's hand. Top the top card of each packet with these four. Turn them over to show they are no longer the aces. Very slowly turn up the top card of each packet to reveal the four aces. Climay ek kkk THE HOTEL MYSTERY This effect is the kind that lends itself beauti- fully to a story and your version of the story may be more or less spicy depending on the kind of audience you have. The trick involves the four queens, who for your story may or may not be ladies. Also the four kings, who may or may not be gentlemen. The deck of cards is the hotel, with fifty-two rooms. The four ladies rent a room, as do the four gentlemen. Then as sometimes happens even in good hotels, the folks don't seem to stay where they belong. However, this is a misapprehen- sion, because at the enc of the trick the ladies are found.-in their room, and the gentlemen in theirs. Let your conscience be your guide in filling in the details between the lines of this story. This effect was shown to me by Martin Gardner. A similar effect also appeared inan issue of the Jinx #74, Page 496. However, it depended on a bottom change. It used aces and kings and was submitted by Henry Christ. You will find that the handling to followis much better for close work, there being no chance of detection. 45For this effect remove the four queens, (torepresent women) plus the four kings, (to represent men). If you intend todo Annemann's Aces, included in this book, you must arrange them inacertain order. This is done open— ly. The queens are arranged, from face to back, club. heart, spade, diamond. The kings are arranged, from face to back, club, diamond, spade, heart. Place the queens on top of the deck. Pick up the kings and place them on topof the queens but keep a fin— ger break, withthe little or fourth finger, under the top three kings. Ask audience what's ontop. They say: "Men". You agree, at the same time shoving over the three top cards, as one, into the right hand, ccunting one. The next three are counted off one on top of ancther. In other words youcount off thecards reversing their order as you do so. You can show a king at the face of the packet. To show the queens still on top of the deck, which is held in the left hand, you push over the top card with the left thumb and with the packet of cards, held in the right hand, youlever the top card of the deck soa queen falls face up on top. Next push forward this face up card, and the one beneath it, levering them both so that the queen face up becomes face down, thus bringing into view the second queen. Now turn this single queen face down. You have demonstrated that the queens are still on top of the pack. These moves are also important in set— ting you for “Annemann's Aces". Replace the cards in the right hand on top of the deck. For the following, in order tomake things clearer, mark your table into places, one, two and three. Into place one deal four cards face down one at a time, thus reversing their order again. Show the last card dealt-a king. You have apparently dealt the four kings. In reality you have two kings and two queens. In space number twodeal the next four cards, facedown, one at atime, again reversing their order. Show the last one dealt. It isaqueen. You have apparently dealt down the four queens but actually two queens and two kings. Pick up two queens together fromspace two. Here you 16might mention that these two women rentedaroom for them selves. Show themand place them in space three. Pick up two kings together from space one and place themunder the two cards at space two, at which point you could say that these twomen joined the two women just referredto. Pla— cing the two kings from space one under the two cards at space twois important toAnnemann's Aces. The remaining two cards at space onedonot show, but place them on top of the two cards at space three. Here youcould explain that these two men joined these two women. Finish theeffect by turning over the four cards to- gether and do the same with the other four. The queens will be together andsowill the kings. (For your story: of course everything is C.K. because there are four men in one room and four women inthe other). Both the Queen and king packets will be ina club—heart—spadediamond or— der reading from face toback. This is the way you want them in case you want to go into “Annemann's Aces". x oe OK OK OK ANNEMANN'S ACES DISREGARDED This effect appeared inSreater Magic (J.N.Hilliard) on page 365, under the title Annemann's Aces. The reader will no doubt wonder why I have re-titled it as I have. Well, I had sent acard to Ted Annemann explaining to him that I had amethod whereby his classic could be done im- promptu and eliminatealot of the double lifts. I never received an answer. Therefore the title. In that effect, kings and queens were required to be stacked. Inthis routine there isno preparation provided the Hotel Mystery isdone first. The effect in brief is that aces change places with four indifferent cards. The four indifferent cards become kings. The aces are changed, one at a time, to queens. The aces are then made to come back, the cards being shownall in suit order at the finish. After the Hotel Mystery you have the kings and queens on the table inclub, heart, spade, diamond order. Place 47the face up kings ontop of the face up queens. Put the eight cards onthe bottom of thedeck. The king of clubs should be the bottom card. Givea false shuffle retaining the bottomeight cards. You are nowall set forthe effect. Begin by removing the four aces. > Give them toaspectator and ask him fae ») to place face up on the table, the SF] ace of clubs. You now apparently NSS deal three cards, face down, in front as FIGI2 of thisace of clubs but actually you deal four, the bottom card of the four being the king to match the ace. To do this study figure 412 where twocards, the top one and the bottom one are pulled off as one card. Follow this by two single ones off the top, oneon the other. This move is one you must learn to do as it is used throughout the routine whenever you apparently deal off three cards. Next have the spectator place the ace of hearts face up. As you deal four cards as three, youtake the king of hearts fromthe bottom. Do this with the spade ace, then finally the diamond ace. At this stage you have four aces face up, with a packet of four cards under each. The bottom card of each packet is a king and matches in suit the ace above it. Take the aces and place themonthe bottomof each packet. To prove, without saying so, that youuseonly three cards and anace, pickup the ace of clubs pile. Hold the pack- et face down in the left hand. Deal off the first card, take it at the ends between second finger and thumb of right hand. Show its face and name it. Drop it face down to one side. Show the next two in the same manner. The last two cards you take as one, showing the ace of clubs. Drop it onthe other three cards, then you appar ently deal off theace, face down, in its former position. What youreally have dealt isaking. To prove con- clusively that you have actually dealt the ace you pick up the remaining cards of the packet. Turn it face up. Show the first card and place it down, to one side, face up. Show the second card and place faceupon tor of the first. The last two cards hold as one, placing it face up on the other two. Leave this packet for a moment. f 48Study the above moves again so that they will be clear. Repeat the same procedure on the remaining three ace packets. Place all the face up cards into one pile. You now havea packet of cards face up on the table. Pick them up and place them face down on the pack. Deal four hands in regular poker style, putting each hand di- rectly below the four supposed aces. Theaces will land in the third hand. Forcethis hand by asking for a num ber between one and four. They can only choose two or three. If two is chosen, count from the right hand end. If three is chosen, count from the left hand end. Pick up all thecards except the ace packet and place on top of deck. Deal the ace packet below the supposed aces (really kings). Deal aces from right toleft so that the suit order will be the same as the kings. Crder the cards tochange. Turn over the aces only, then have aspectator turn over the top four. The kings will beasurprise to them as they never were seen among the cards called and shown. Again deal three cardsin front of each ace, start- ing with the ace of clubs. However, you slip the queen fromthe bottom each time on the first count just as you did before {figure 42). The handling of the packets is slightly different at this stage. Pick up the first packet, which has the queen of clubs at bottom, and transfer one card from topto bottom. This brings queen of clubs second from bottom. Pick up the ace of clubs and placeit second from topin the pack-— et. The packet of course isheld face down all this time and in the following moves. Tomake the ace disappear and queen appear, show the top card, calling it. Place it face down on top of the deck, Pull out and show the bottom card. Place it face down on deck. Take the two top cards as one. Show it Flacing face down on the deck. Snapthe last card, turn it over. It is a queen. You will find it an easy matter to doadouble lift 49with only three cards in your hand, by simply peeling off the bottomone. The above moves are repeated with the re— maining aces. All cards that are shown are placed face down on top of the deck. With the kings and queens on the table you are ready to bring back the aces. Deal out the cards as before, only this time, before you do so, add two cards from bottom of deck to the top. The aces will again land in the third hand. Force them as you did before. Deal the ace packet fromleft toright this time. Asyou turn over each ace call attentiontothe fact that thecards are in suit order i.e. clubs under clubs, hearts under hearts, etc. I am sure you will find this a worthwhile table routine. Please don’t use it inanight club and expect it togo over. It is too long. However for parlor work you can ask fornothing better. Your audience will never know youareusing the king's and queens fromthe previous trick - I know! xk OK Ok NU PRESENTATION Avery popular item among the magicians at the present time is the jumping card. In effect a selected card jumps a foot into ~-! FIG 13 the air. Norubber bands. It is usedasa gag itemby BobHummer. Cther magis present it as if areel were being used. Still oth—- ers just present it. The effect is im promptu. The following presentation I con- sider the best. pee Hl Z 1 5 First let us explain howtomake the card jump. Hold the deck of cards inthe left hand, inanupright position, faceof cards toward audience. The top card is then swung out at the bottom, but is held buckled and in place by the second finger of the left hand at the bottom and thumb at top 20as shown in figure 43. Now by applying pressure with this second finger, at the same time sliding back the left thumb, the card is made to shoot up into the air. There is only one thing wrong withthat presentation and that is that the jumping card has no background so that it never seems to jump as high as it really does. Now try it this way. You are sitting at abar. There are persons on your left andon your right. Have the oneonyour right select acard. Controlitto the tope Holdthe deck in the left hand as shownin figurei3. With the right hand cover the whole side of the deck so that fingers are on one side, thumb on the other. Inthis position you can maneuver the top card into position for jumping, withthe right fingers and thumb. Now quickly turnleft hand down sothat buckled card is underneath and cards are face up. Immediately start handing the deck to the person on your left, saying: “Will you please hold the deck?" As he reaches for it, you release the card. (The deck is held so that the second left finger, whichis buckling the card, rests on the bar also. This brings the cards close to the bar). Releasing the card, youwill findit has asurface or back-— ground on whichit will keep travelling up and away from the pack. Instead of dwindling down, it will come to rest at a point that seems impossible to have been accomplished without throwing the card, yet there has been no visible movement of the left hand. Cnacloth covered table you wili have toraise your hand higher than ona polished bar or table top, so that the card does not engage theclothtoosoon. Practice it on clothsothat youwill not encounter difficulty should you do it on such a surface. eee HK FLYING REVERSE This isaquickie, soI'll explain it in a hurry. A card is made to travel from one half of the pack to the 24other half. It is found tohave done so at the same time reversing itself. Have acard selected and controlitto the top. Cut the deck into two halves, one in each hand. Have the spectator choose one. Make sure he gets the half that does not contain his card. The half that contains his card isin the left hand. After forcing him to your way of thinking place the cards inthe right hand face up on top of the left hand packet. The cards are now back to back. Runthrough the faceup half slowly, asking him to ascertain whether his card is in that half. When you finish he will say that he hasn't seen his card. Just then you close up the cards, at the same time stealing the top card, selected card, with those face up cards you have just fanned through. Place this packet face up on the table. The selected card is underneath already re— versed. You now say: "Well, then the card must be in this half. I am going to make it travel from this half into the other half". Snap your fingers. “It is accomplished, but the hardest part is to put it back where it was". Snap your fingers. Pick upthe half on the tabletoshow the card isn't there. However, before you evendoso the audience will laugh. At this point casually cut the cards tobring re- versed cardtocenter. Offer to repeat the effect, only this time not only will you make the card fly from one half to the other, but you will cause it to sommersault through the air and land face upinthe other half. This you prove to have happened. For patter on the serious side, you can tell them about the refugee who travelled from one continent tothe other, so that he may show his face again without fear. kok kk Ok PSYCHOLOGICAL OUT The darn thing would have been a miracle if he had stopped but hedidn't. It was apsychological trick that works nine times out of ten. This must have been the tenth time. What didyou do about it? Here's what we do. 22After selected card is returned control it so that it is tenth from the top. Give deck to spectator. The idea of course is that he should psychologically stop at the tenth card. If he isa slow dealer, ask him to deal the cards. Then when he reaches the seventh one, tell him: “Stopanywhere". If he stopsat the ninth or tenth, you have a miracle. If he is a fast dealer, ask him to deal the cards and when he reaches the fifth card, tell himtostop any- where. Who knows. You may have a miracle. If you are not sure of your ability to judge speeds just inform the spectator from the very start to deal slowly, thentell him to stop anywhere as he reaches the seventh card. But what happens if he passes that card up. Well, we use a bit of mathematics that will work up to twenty cards. If he deals, say sixteen cards, you add the two digits of this number, in this case one and six, which is seven. You then deal back, one at @ time, that many cards ontothe pack. This will causethetenth, selected card, to land back on top of the pack. This will work up to number nineteen. Yousimply addthetwo digits of the number of cards dealt. Cneand four are five, deal five cards back, it will work. In case hedeals less, say eight cards, tell him to deal as many more cards ashehas already dealt, in this case eight. This will bring the number of cards uf to sixteen, where you can utilize -the above principle. I know that the above is not perfect but it does stay along the lines it started-—— that is, as a dealing effect. I saw one card expert end an obvious dealing effect as a reversed card trick. This may be an out, but it rattles your audience, and you, too. BLINDFOLD POKER DEAL In Colon, Michigan, September, 1944, I saw Dr. Jacob Daley do the following effect: 23A deck of cards was borrowed (my own, by the way) and shuffled by another spectator. The cards were never handl— ed by Daley. Next five poker hands were dealt out face down. Four spectators were asked tostep up and each se— lect a hand. Previous to all this Dr. Daley was blind- folded witha handkerchief. Eachassisting spectator was then asked to spread the five cards out while they were still face down. Cne at a time they were requested to peek at one of the five cards and then close up their hand. After the above action was completed, Dr. Daley, for the first time picked up the deck. Each hand was returned separately to the pack which was subjected to a series of cuts after each hand was replaced. Dr. Daley then dealt out five hands of poker. He asked each of the four spectators topick up their hands. He then asked themif any one of thehands contained their card. The answer was no. He then pulled out one card from among his five and asked the first spectator what his card was. Theman named it and Dr. Daley showed him that that was the card he had just pulled fromhishand. This remarkable result was repeated with the remaining three spectators. The first time lever heard of a similar effect was one described as having been done by Nate Leipzig. How— ever, that depended uponasecond deal and was not suit— able for the average magician. Mr. Daley obviously did not use that method. I was intrigued with it enough so that I tried out various ideas and finally arrived at what I thought was the solution of the Daley method. I spoke to him about it at the time, and fully explained my method. He volubly denied that he used any such meth- od. ThereforeI need not feel that I am giving away an- other man's secrets whenI explain here the systemI have been using. First let us get rid of the blindfold secret. If you have ever played "Blind Man's Bluff“ youknowitis an easy matter to see from under it. That takes care of that. I omit the blindfold because I perform for company that wants their tricks in a fast manner. Whenever you 24suggest blindfolding yourself, they say: "Never mind the blindfold. Just turn your back or leave the room". Have five hands dealt out. Four persons each select a hand while you keep the fifth one. Have the persons spread their five cards out asshown in figure 144. Have the first personon your left peek atone card. Casually note the position of the card he looked at and also how many cards are above it in that samehand. For example, he looked at the third card (always count fromthe bottom to the top to get correct position. This applies in every case, no matter whether the cards are spread fromright to left or left toright). If he looked at the third card youmust re- member that twocards are above it. Remember number two. When the second spectator peeks, we will assumeit is at the second card. You must now add two, the number a— bove the first card, sothat you remember the total of the cards between the two peeked-at cards. In this case you remember three. See figure 14. : 5 TH. FIG. (4 When the third spectator looks ata card you remember also the number of cards between the second and third cards. In this case, according to figure 44, you remem— ber six. So far you have three and six. Whenthe fourth spectator looks at his card, remember the number of cards between the third and fourth cards. In this case it is four. (Figure 14). So far you have numbers three, six and four. Cn the last hand you must also remember how many cards are above the last peeked at card. [In this case it isone. (Figure 44). You now have the numbers three, six, four and one. Remember them likea telephone number. 25You must make use of akey number. In this case when dealing five hands, it is always four. Ask for the first spectator to place his hand on top of the deck. When he has placedit recall your first number- three. Your key number is four. This means you must add one card on top of thehand before asking for the second. You do this by cutting thecards so that one cardisadded to the top on the final cut. All previous cuts of course are false. The second spectator placeshiscards on top of the pack. Recall your second number, inthis case six. Your key is four. Therefore in order for that card to fall to your hand you must lose two cards in cutting (four from six are two). The thirdman replaces cards. Third number recalled is four. Your key is four, so you do not have to add or subtract anythingatall, but just indulge ina few false cuts ending with the stack on top. The fourth person replaces cards. Fourth number re- called is one. Key number is four. You add three cards to top of packetin cutting. The fifth hand you just place on top. Give a few false cuts, followed by a few false shuffles. Deal out five hands of cards, one atatime. The top card of your packet, as it lies face down, will, be the first person's card, starting from the left, followed in order by the second, third, and fourth spectator's cards. All that remains is to disclose them. The above effect isncet difficult as farassleights are concerned, but it does takealittle concentrating and study so that you will not get mixed up. However the oftener you do it the easier it will become. Cnce mas—- tered, you have an effect to be proud of. ek Ok * * GARDNER-MARLO POKER ROUTIVYE A couple of years agoMartinSardner andI were ina restaurant in Chicago discussing magic effects. Among them were various piker deals and stacks. It was quite by accident that we stumbled on to the idea of stacking certain cards while apparently explainingtothe audience how gamblers operate. We decided todo something with it, but never did. Finally this last year I went to work on it and developed the following routine and presentation. 26“Away with these hanky panky tricks of mine. I'm going to show you something with meat on it. Everyone is interested in how to win at cards, especially poker. I shall begin by removing four cards-— these kings will do -— and explaining to you how a gambler cheats". The four kings we place on the bottom of the deck. Cf course the gambler, to get them there, picks them up fromthediscard in the course of the game. He now deals out five hands of poker and strange as it may seem, he always deals the first round of cards fairly. However, on the second time around he starts to cheat by dealing himself aking from the bottom." There is no exhibition cf skill here. The card is merely drawn from under the pack and dealt face down. "He continues doing this until all hands are dealt. cf course he now has the four kings andisable to bet the limit. That is the way people would have you believe a gambler cheats. However this isnot thecase. You see, to learn to do a good bottom deal requires about ten years practice and gamblers, being naturally lazy, aren't going tosit around practicing just sothey can start making some money in ten years. They cheat the easiest way possible and this by stacking. Any person of average intelligence can learn to stack adeck of cards inside of an hour. I am now going to show you howa gambler would stack tthe four kings. There — all finished shufflingand dealing. Here inmy hand are the four kings". Turns hand over but finds aces instead. "Well, well, Icertainly did better than I expected. As the four kings are still in the deck I will deal out five hands of poker, dealing the kings into any hand you desire. The fourth hand, you say? C.K. Watch! "(Deal out five hands turning every fourth card face up). "There you are, my friends. The kings in the fourth hand. Did I hear someone invite me for a game of stud?" Todothe above take out the four kings. In taking out the four kings you also secretly locate the aces and bring them to the top of the pack. Throw the kings on the table face up. Place the four kings on the bettom. You will now deal out five cards of poker fairly from the top. Cn the second round you deal the first four from the top and the king from the bottom to yourself. (See patter) There is no skill used in this bottom deal be- cause you are showing them how to cheat. Complete the 27deal. Pick up the other four hands, one on top of the other and place on top of the deck. Turn over your hand of five, displaying the kings. Because of the above demonstration you have set your— self for the second phase. Pick up the kings and the ex-— tra card. Place all five cards on top of the deck. The four kings must be uppermost. Cffer to stack the kings but really do a false shuffle, so as not to mix the top twenty-five cards. Deal out five hands again. Pick up the other four first, placingontop of the deck, before disclosing the ace surprise. The above surprise has also set you for the final phase. The kings are now distributed every fifth card. All that remains to be done is to ask spectator into which handof five he would like tohave the kings dealt. If he says fifth hand, deal out asis. If he says fourth, lose one card from top. Two cards for third hand, three cards for fourth hand, four cards for first hand. Take your bow and the audience will applaud. If they don't-—— give up card magic. And In Conclusion: I always like to say something at the end of every book. Most books end with a trick and it makes me feel as if the author suddenly became tired and just stopped. I want you to knowIam not tired and expect tohave more books for you in the future. One final point of interest is that many performers claimthat one difficulty indoing tricks with a borrowed deck is that such decks are usually soiled, worn-out and sticky. I must agree with them. However, you can often get a fresh deck by doing a trick or two with the deck handed you, then remarking that youcould show them some even more interesting tricks if you had a crisper or stiffer deck. Don't be ashamed to admit that it is easier to handle anew deck thananold one. Really, the host or hostess ought tobe alittle ashamee of handing youa deck that their childordog has played with or gnawed. Anyone who plays cards knows the advantage of a fresh deck, so you are merely pointing out a fact by your remark. Another way around it is to carry a new deck with youe After having it opened, and going through some a~ mazing card effects, I would suggest giving the deck away with the remark: “Here a magic deck for you. In case you find out howIdid those tricks tonight I wish you'd tell me. Then will you and I have fun.* Eddie Marlo 28