ANTICS &

INTERLUDES
Contextual Card Cozenage

Jon Racherbaumer

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© 2012 by Jon Racherbaumer

This E-BOOK was written, edited, and laid out in the United States of America for a select
cabal of serious students and practitioners of magic. Once this content is selectively
disseminated, its knowledge and substance will have been immediately democratized. This
largesse, often called “intellectual property,” has then become share-ware—memes to be
individually protected and prudently passed onto those obliged to treat it with the same trust and
regard motivating its provider.

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 CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

THEMES AND SCHEMES

CASCADE
(Roy Walton)

RIGHT-BRAIN – LEFT-BRAIN

BELIEVING IS SEEING?

GUARDIAN ANGELS

MIRASKILL TO THE MAX

TURNABOUT IS UNFAIR PLAY

(Edward Marlo)

HOMING, SWEET HOME

IN THE NICK OF TIME

FULL-BLOWN FOURSOME

WHADDAYASAY?

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 INTRODUCTION

Consider Eugene Burger’s phrase:

“…the antics of the pasteboards.”

Antic. Playful. Prankish.

Can we then agree that Card Antics consist of novel actions, cute bits, and
amusing maneuvers? This is what happens when cards jump, rise, change,
multiply, disappear, reappear, penetrate, spin, and so forth.

Aren’t Card Antics meant to provoke delight and bewilder?

Aren’t they catnip to Card Guys and Move Monkeys?

Yet hard-core cardmen tend to focus on antics and interludes rather than
full-bodied presentations. Being fascinated by methodologies, they are
infatuated with covert and overt mechanics. They swoon over the
choreography of action procedures, and they drool over discrete parts that
account for cunning deceptiveness.

Lay people, on the other hand, are less thrilled with these things. Puzzles
and tricks are marginally interesting to the average spectator. If engaged at
all, interest in solving puzzles is short-lived. Purposefulness and meaning lie
elsewhere.

Over time, however, if one routinely performs for the laity, he eventually
figures out what Ken Weber has pointed out: Audiences only care about
themselves. They want to laugh and have fun. They want meaningful
experiences.

Therefore, if you want to be a successful entertainer, shift your focus from

modalities to dramatic narratives. Cease doing tricks. Concentrate on
creating enchantment.

Along these lines, Jay Sankey wrote this:

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“Puzzles reek of a desire to control the experience, while mysteries only bloom in
moments where the performer relinquishes just the right amount of control, leaving
the audience to do what they will with the elements of the experience.” 1

Henning Nelms, writing in Magic and Showmanship (1969), wrote: “The

interest that an audience takes in any routine will depend largely on its
theme.”

Theme. Another key word.

What is a “theme”?

A simple answer is: Theme = Subject.

The challenge is to discover the exact nature of a given card trick’s subject.

Answers vary, especially when only the “pasteboard antics” are taken into
account. For example, what is the subject of “Out of This World”? Is a
person being tested to see if they have psychic powers? Does the person
(magician) administering the test have the power? Is he the one exerting
influence on the person being tested? Or is it the action procedure
responsible for the result? Or does it have something to do with the playing
cards?

Nelms also claimed that every conjuring theme has four elements: (1) The
personalities involved; (2) The phenomenon being shown; (3) The explicit
and implicit purpose of the phenomenon; (4) The proof.

John Bannon effectively makes his presentations thematic in Dear Mr.

Fantasy (2005). His “pasteboard antics” are meaningful. More on this later.

To explore ways to convert, tweak, and redeem “pasteboard antics” the

presentations in this book feature several brief, atmospheric tricks. Each is
meant to create a mood or begin a “set” or “link” to other lively episodes in
your performance.

What about interludes?

1
Beyond Secrets, p. 127.

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There is something momentary and fragile about Interludes. Their ragtag,
episodic character are enticing. If they feature a few cool moves or a sweet
subtlety or two, plus a “cute” or “killer” ending, they satisfy most magicians.
Because they are satisfied they then scarcely pay attention to patter and
presentation. Interludes do the heavy lifting.

Consider Roy Walton’s “Cascade.” This is a great packet trick that features
lots of antic playfulness. It’s a trick you can literally “count” on.

If you are unfamiliar with it, this is how the effect looks to non-magicians:

Four duplicate Kings are shown face up one at a time and one of the Kings is
openly turned face down. Then, without any maneuvering, another King
magically turns face down. Finally, all four Kings turn face down. Everyone
sees blue backs. This procedure is repeated twice, the four Kings turning face
up and face down again.

Next, one of the facedown blue Kings is taken away and placed in the
magician’s pocket. When the remaining face-down blue Kings are spread,
the pocketed King has returned to the packet face up.

The packet is merely tapped and one of the other three face-down Kings
turns face up. There are now two face-up Kings and two face-down Kings.

The two face-down blue Kings are removed from the fan one at a time and
their faces become blank. The other two face-up Kings are turned over one
at a time, revealing unusual back designs: one is red-backed with the words
“Hanky Panky” written on it; the other has a mirror-finish.

In less than 90 seconds, a lot happens. The audience sees three sequential
counts, three displacements, three transfers, and two open reversals. What
they do not see, which also accounted for its inexplicable parts, are the nine
magical reversals, the surprising transition from pocket-to-packet, and the
four climactic, out-of-the-blue transformations. In short, 14 mini-effects
take place. As packet tricks go, this provides an optimal result for a modest
investment. Furthermore, you begin and end with four examinable cards.

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Cardmen love “Cascade” because it features cool moves, has a sweet subtlety
or two, and features a “killer” ending; hence, they were satisfied. So was I. .
That being said, should we ask if this is enough? Should we add sensible,
interesting, and dramatic elements that are humanly relevant?

Here are the mechanics of Walton’s great trick. I recommend buying the
required cards from a dealer and support the cause of commerce. Homage to
Walton is essential, as well…

CASCADE
Roy Walton

Requirements: (1) Three King of Clubs –one with a blue back, one with a
red back (printed with the words “Hanky Panky”), and one with a “mirror”
back (Mylar); (2) Two blue-backed blank cards.

Set-up: Arrange these six cards in this order from the face: King of Clubs
(mirror-back) – King of Clubs (blue back) – (face-down) blue-back blank
card – (face-down) blue-back blank card – King of Clubs (Hanky-Panky
back).

Method: Begin with the packet face up in your left hand. Perform an
Elmsley Count to show four Kings, using a variant handling of Sam
Schwartz’s “Jogged Displacement Count.” That is, peel the top card into
your left hand.

Your right thumb then performs a three-card push-off on the count of “two.”
As the block is taken into your left hand, the initial card is stolen under the
remaining right-hand card (a face-up King of Clubs).

Peel the next face-up King of Clubs of the right-hand pair onto the left-
hand cards so that it is injogged for half its length on the count of “three.”
Finally, place the last face-up King of Clubs onto the left-hand cards so that
it is aligned and flush with the injogged King of Clubs.

The next action is the Christ-Annemann Alignment Move. As your right

second finger contacts the face of the outjogged King of Clubs, your right
forefinger contacts the face of the injogged King of Clubs. Your right thumb

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contacts the lower end of the jogged cards. Slide the contacted Kings
forward so that only the King of Clubs that is third from the face remains
outjogged. The other four cards should be aligned and squared.

Hold the packet in your left hand and your right hand is now free to remove
the outjogged King of Clubs. It has a blue back. Place the right-hand King
of Clubs face down onto the left-hand cards.

Grasp the packet in a right-hand Biddle Grip and, using your left fingertips,
slide out the bottom card and place it face down on top of the others.
Perform the same Jogged Displacement Count to show four facedown blue-
back cards.

Again, you end up with a jogged packet—only this time the cards are
ostensibly face down. Again, perform the Christ-Annemann Alignment
Move. As your right second finger contacts the face of the outjogged card,
your right forefinger contacts the face of the injogged card. Your right
thumb contacts the lower end of the jogged cards. Slide the contacted cards
forward so that only the blue-back King of Clubs third from the face
remains outjogged. With the packet still in your left hand, again your right
hand is free to remove the outjogged, face-down King of Clubs.

Slide out the bottom card and place it face up on top of the others.
Immediately perform the same Jogged Displacement Count to show four
face-up Kings of Clubs.

Repeat the sequence to show that the Kings have ostensibly turned face
down. This time remove the facedown King of Clubs third with your right
hand and place it face up into Tent-Vanish Position. Actually take the
“tilted” King of Clubs into an obvious, right-hand Classic Palm.

Place the clumsily palmed King of Clubs in your right pocket and leave it
there. However, remove your right hand and continue to hold it suspiciously
as though it still held the King in a clumsy palm. Turn your right hand
palm up to show it empty.

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Pretend to replace the “invisible card” into the packet and then perform an
Elmsley Count to show three facedown blue-backed cards and a face-up
King of Clubs.

Next, hold the packet by its inner right corner in your right hand and tap the
outer left corner against the table and immediately spread the packet to
reveal two face-up Kings of Clubs.

Transfer the fan to your left hand and then take the top facedown card into
your right hand and rub its face against the other three cards. Then turn it
face up to show its blank face. Toss this blank-faced card to the table.

Remove the other facedown card and repeat the rubbing action. Show its
face to be blank, as well, and toss it onto the table next to the other one.

Take the top King of Clubs in your right hand and turn it face down to
reveal its “Hanky-Panky” back. Then toss it onto the table.

Turn the remaining King of Clubs over to show its mirror-back to conclude
the routine.

The four tabled cards can be meticulously examined.

“Cascade” definitely plays. But, over and above its cumulative surprises, can
significance over and above its novel antics be added? Can it be humanized
in some way?

The answer is yes.

When I started performing “Cascade” for lay people, narrating in blow-by-

blow fashion what was taking place sounded sophomoric: patter meant for
radio. The audience could see what was happening. Why recite what they
could see? It is dull and redundant.

Jay Sankey calls such patter “descriptive presentation.” Examples: “I have

here an ordinary pack of cards…. I’ll put this deck into the glass…blah, blah,
blah…”) Sankey adds that “descriptive presentations invariably reduce an

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effect to a trite level and fails to establish any kind of relationship between
the effect and anything else in the world, including the performer and his
audience.”

Some descriptive patter is unavoidable. Sometimes explicit instructions and

descriptive remarks are necessary. Sankey breaks them down into three
types: functional, informational, and emotional.

Examples:

Functional: “Hold your hand palm down and cover this card.”
Informational: “Notice that the deck is randomly mixed.”
Emotional: “I won $3000 playing poker with this deck and it was given to
me by my renegade uncle who was killed in a duel in the desert in Las
Vegas.”

Here are two simple rules to keep in mind:

It is unnecessary to comment on what a spectator can clearly see.

It is unnecessary to comment on what a spectator easily understands, based
on what he sees.

What you say should be about the spectator and the unique connection you
are trying to make and about implicit, occult aspects of the phenomenon
that you are revealing.

With these thoughts in mind, my solution to humanize “Cascade” and

connect to spectators was to provide a pretext and a premise to justify the
“pasteboard antics.” The audience was invited to watch a reenactment of
something that happened to me. This transferred the role of “victim” to me,
deflecting the sting or frustration of being baffled. The goal was reveal
“another world,” which satisfies Ken Weber’s succinct definition of
entertainment: Anything that purposefully transports your mind to another
world.” 2

Presentation: I begin by telling the audience about attending my first magic

convention when I was about fifteen.
2
Maximum Entertainment (2003), p. 17.

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“You cannot imagine how weird and wonderful a magic convention can be. You
spend five days and nights in a hotel with two-thousand other magicians and it’s
trick-trick-trick, 24-7. After the third day, since you scarcely sleep, you are thrust
into a state of altered consciousness. After awhile everything seems magical. You
have indeed stepped through Alice’s Looking Glass.

“On the third day of the first convention I ever attended, at three-in-the-morning,
I saw this guy standing in the elevator holding a few cards in his hands. Since he
was not playing with a full deck, I knew he had to be a magician. So, I ran up
and asked, ‘What are you doing with those cards?’ He said that he was practicing
‘moves.’ When I noticed that the cards were duplicates, I definitely knew he was a
magician.

“I told him that I loved moves. He seemed unmoved, but nevertheless showed me
four face-up Kings. Then he removed one of the Kings of Clubs and turned it face
down. He said, ‘This is the way normal people turn over a card, which isn’t very
magical.’ He then told me to watch him like a hawk, which I did. Then he asked
me if I saw the bottom card magically turn over…which I didn’t. I was amazed.
Then the he said somewhat smugly, ‘Well, if you missed that…you missed the other
two Kings when they turned face down, as well!’ Well, I was doubly amazed.

“Seeing that I was dumbfounded, he removed one of the face-down Kings and
turned it face up on top. He then said, ‘I can do this all night long. Watch closely.
If I turn this King face up, the bottom King of Clubs will turn face up. In fact, all
four Kings of Clubs are now face up again!”

“I couldn’t believe my senses. But now I was emboldened to ask, ‘What do you do
with these fantastic moves? They aren’t magical by themselves.’ Well, he squinted
and leaned forward, eye-to-eye, and said in a whisper: ‘If you want to see
something truly magical, watch this!’ He then removed the top King into what he
called the Invisible Palm and placed it in his pocket. Then he said that the King
was now invisible and that he could remove it from his pocket and nobody could
see it. And when he did so, I saw nothing. Yet when he tapped the packet, the
invisible King became visible again. It returned to the packet and was face up.

He tapped the packet again and another King turned face up! Then he grinned
and told me that turning cards over is more manipulative than magical. It was

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due to sleight of hand. He began to giggle. Then he became solemn and asked me if
I’d like to see something truly impossible!

“He removed one of the face-down Kings and rubbed its face on his sleeve. He said,
‘By simply rubbing this card, all of its ink will disappear. And when he showed it
to me, the card was blank! Then he did it with the other face-down King.

“Finally, he looked me squarely in the eye and asked, “You know how this is done,
don’t you?’ I was mute because it didn’t have a clue. Well, he turned over one of the
remaining Kings and said, “Some say it is a matter of hanky-panky! Others say
that it’s done with mirrors!”

Here is another interlude:

RIGHT-BRAIN, LEFT-BRAIN

This was inspired by John Bannon’s excellent presentation in Dear Mr.

Fantasy (2004). It uses a spectator’s upturned hands and the crossing and
uncrossing of these hands at the wrist. John’s presentation “frames” the
effect, emphasizes the importance of precise timing, and converts a
straightforward puzzle into sensible, interesting, and humanly relevant
presentation.

As mentioned earlier, when two objects magically transpose it is crucial that

witnesses remember where the objects were originally located before they
changed places. Otherwise the effect is unclear or, worse, it results in
confusion.

In “Daley’s Aces,” pairs of cards—the red and black Aces—change places. 3

The cards are shown and tabled face down, one pair to the right, the other
to the left. Sometimes the spectator retains one of the pairs. However, once
the cards are dealt face down, there is nothing to identify or differentiate
them. Lay people, even though they have just seen the faces of the cards and
clearly saw where they were placed, often forget the relative placement of the

3
This effect was published in The Dai Vernon Book of Magic (1957) under the title “The Last Trick of Dr.
Jacob Daley,” pp. 210-214.

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pairs. They misremember which pair was initially tabled and which pair
remains in their hand.

The basic strategy here is to emphasize and re-emphasize the supposed

situation and not delay the magical outcome.

Although I have performed “Daley’s Aces” for over forty years, the visible
maneuvering required to set up is a bit peculiar. The magician shows the
four face-up Aces one at a time and apparently places the red Aces between
the black Aces. Then he turns the packet over and takes the top card,
supposedly a black Ace, and deals it face down to the table without showing
it. Next, he takes the bottom card, shows it to be the other black Ace,
momentarily places it face down on top of the other two cards, and then
deals it face down onto the tabled Ace.

What is the reason for “sandwiching” the Aces at the beginning? From the
standpoint of “maneuvering fun,” it gives one the opportunity to practice the
Biddle Move and a Bottom Double Lift.

Edward Marlo’s “No Glide Aces – Second Method” from The Cardician
(1953) is less “move-y” (Bannon uses it), but it has an open adjustment
(displacement?) of a card.

This method, which does not necessarily an improve Bannon’s version,

simply provides another example of how the “antics” of a straightforward
transposition can be made more interesting and perhaps meaningful.

Requirements: The four Aces and the Three of Clubs.

Set-up: Arrange these cards in this order from the face: AC – AS – AH –

AD – 3C.

Method: Have a female spectator agree to assist and say, “This experiment
requires the delicacy of a woman’s hands and the incisiveness of the feminine
mind.”

Ask the woman to hold her hands palm up and cross them at the wrists with
the right wrist crossing above the left wrist.

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Ask, “Are you right-handed?” Regardless of her answer, add: “The nature of
which hand you favor, what I’m about to show you has to do with your brain and
how it is connected to your right and left hands. The human brain is curiously
hard-wired and the two hemispheres do different things. Things are perceived and
analyzed as a whole by the right hemisphere, whereas the left hemisphere breaks
things down into their components. Aren’t you glad you asked?”

Continue: “Your right hand is connected to your left brain, which is good at
working out jigsaw puzzles and reading body language. Besides your mind and
hands we will use these four cards.”

Hold the packet face up in your left hand and spread the cards, holding the
last two as one to show the Aces. Close the spread and flip the packet face
down.

Reverse count the cards one at a time into your right hand, taking each
successive card onto the previous one. The last two cards are placed as one
onto the rest. Square up.

Push over the top card so that it is side-jogged to the right and buckle the
bottom card. Then perform a four-card turnover, letting the cards coalesce
and fall flush onto the single left-hand card. It should appear as though you
are flipping the top two cards face up.

Again push over the top AD to reveal the red Aces as you again buckle the
bottom card. (Photo 1)

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 1

Your right thumb and fingers then grasp all of the cards above the bottom
one and moves them to the right. The spectator clearly sees the red Aces.
(Photo 2)

Flip all of the cards face down and flush with the left-hand card. Say, “The
red Aces, symbolizes to some ‘wealth’ and ‘love’—diamonds and hearts. But note
the sharp points of the diamond. Diamonds can cut. Diamonds can cut diamonds,
and hearts can pulse, pound, and break. Love can fulfill and bleed.”

Push over the top two cards, apparently the red Aces, and take them into
your right hand. (Photo 3)

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 3

Say, “The red Aces go into your right hand. Remember: Red in your Right. The
words ‘red’ and ‘right’ both begin with the letter R.” Place the supposed red
Aces face down into the spectator’s upturned right hand. (Photo 4)

Push over the top card of those squared in your left hand, adding: “I’ll hold
the dark Aces—the spades and clubs.” (Photo 5)

Pull the top card flush again with your left thumb and then prepare to turn
the cards face up and flash the face of the 3C. This, in reality, applies the
Pip-Covering Subtlety. Your palm-down right hand grasps the outer end of
the cards, covering the outermost club-pip and the number “3.” Your left
hand covers the innermost club-pip as it turns palm down, rotating the cards
face up. (Photo 6)

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 5

Notice that your right fourth finger covers the “3” but leaves the small club-
index-pip exposed. Also, keep in mind that this is a very casual, quick
display. You literally “flash” the face of the bottom 3C. The spectator sees
the center pip and assumes that you are flashing the AC. After “flashing” the
card, rotate the cards back to their facedown position in your left hand.

Position the three cards lower in your left hand in preparation to Bottom
Cop the 3C.

Buckle and Cop the 3C as your right hand moves forward with the two red
Aces, holding them face down and slightly spread. (Photo 7)

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 7

Place the supposed black Aces face down onto the spectators upturned left
hand. Say, “The left hand is the sinister hand, which now holds the sinister
Aces—black as the Ace of Spades, dark, dreary, dreadful…” (Photo 8)

Say, “Now the red Aces in your right hand are to my right, but your left brain is
concentrating on the relative position of the red Aces. Red is on the right…Right?
In your right hand to my right…Right?”

Ask the spectator to uncross her hands. (Photo 9)

Then say: “Look what has happened? Are the red Aces on your left?” Permit the
spectator to answer and then add: “But they must still be in your right
hand…No?” Again, let the spectator reply.

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The answer is that the red Aces always will remain on right side, but they
are now in your left hand. They double-crossed your brain and criss-crossed
between your hands. Turn over the pairs in the spectator’s hands to show the
transposition.

Say, “Ah, yes, the mind is a wondrous thing. Emily Dickinson, the poet and
recluse, wrote: ‘The Brain—is wider than the Sky—For—put them side by side—
The one the other will contain—With ease—and You—beside.’

Edward Marlo created this transposition or interlude. 4

BELIEVING IS SEEING?

These pasteboard antics are based on a packet effect by Jean-Jacques

Sanvert. My presentation is different and eliminates a discrepancy found in
other versions. 5

The goal here is to create preliminary atmosphere of uncertainty. I want to

make spectators feel less secure about their ability to accurately perceive what
they see. Notice that I say “less secure.” I do not want them to feel inferior or

4
This appeared in Expert Card Chicanery (1971) by Alton Sharpe, under the title “Jump-Jump Aces,” pp.
31-32.

5
Jean-Jacques Sanvert published his packet effect in Best of Friends (1982) and called it
“Moving Up.” He was inspired by J.K. Hartman's “On the Up and Up” from Odd Lifts (1971),
but changed the technical handling of the lifts and added the transposition climax.

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somehow defective. I simply want to gently demonstrate the thin line is that
separates illusion and reality.

Set-up: Arrange the four Aces in this order from the face (bottom): AD -
AH - AC - AS.

Method: Ask someone, “Do you agree with the statement that ‘seeing is
believing?’ If so, please tell me how many cards do you see?” Hold the Aces face
up and fanned in your left hand. (Photo 1)

Let the spectator answer and then ask, “What are they?”

The spectator should say “four” and “Aces.” Say, “Yes, I have four Aces—two
red Aces and two black Aces…two reds and two blacks.” Close the fan and flip
the packet face down. Fan the cards again and add, “Yes, it’s said that ‘seeing is
believing,’ but some psychologists say that ‘believing is seeing’ and that you must
expect to see something before you can really see it.”

Thumb over the top two cards into your right hand and ask the spectator,
“Just guessing…what is the color of these Aces?” (Photo 2)

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 2

Most spectators will correctly answer “black,” but if they are misled by
Marlo's “Buffalo'd” swindle, they will reply “red.”

If they correctly say “black,” say: “That’s right. You saw black and believed these
to be black.” Show that the right hand pair to be the black Aces. (Photo 3)

If they incorrectly say “red,” say: “That’s what I would have said, but this shows
that what cannot trust our senses.” Show the black Aces. Replace them onto
the left-hand pair and square up.

Say, “So, we now believe that the black Aces are on top. If I slowly reverse the
order of the cards, where are the black Aces now?” Perform a deliberate Elmsley
Count to apparently reverse the order of the cards. Perform it slowly and

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after the initial exchange, steadily push off and drop the last two cards of the
count. Don’t make this reverse-count look manipulative or clever. (Photo 4)

At this stage, some spectators will suspect that the black Aces are not where
they should be. If so, it does not matter. If someone says, “I think the black
Aces are on the top,” say: “Why would you believe that?” If he says that the
black Aces are on the bottom, say: “That’s what I would say…and you and I
say this because we believe it’s true. Didn’t we clearly see them go to the bottom?”

Thumb over the top card (AS) and take it face down into your right hand
and slowly turn it face up, adding: “But the black Aces seem to be here on top…”
(Photo 5)

Then perform a Two-card Push-off with your left thumb and while holding
the face-up AS, use your right second fingertip to flip the “double” face up
to reveal the AC. Continue: “…but is it really true?” (Photo 6)

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 5

Let the “double” fall flush onto the left-hand card (AD). The spectators see
the AS and AC. (Photo 7)

Next, use the face-up AS to apparently flip the AC face down. To do this,
slightly buckle the bottom card and then actually flip the top two card(s) face
down. Place the AS face down on top.

Immediately take the top pair (AS-AH) face down into your right hand and
keep them spread as your left hand spreads its pair. The spectator clearly sees
four cards, two in each hand. Openly transfer the right-hand pair
underneath the left-hand pair. (Photo 8)

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 8

Slowly square the cards and say, “I would swear at this point that the Black Aces
are unmistakably on the bottom. Don’t you agree?”

If the spectator turns out to be a contrarian, insisting that the black Aces are
elsewhere, say: “No, no. Don’t tell me what you think or believe. Tell me what
you see.”

Repeat the previous step. That is, thumb over the top card (AS) and take it
face down into your right hand and slowly turn it face up. Then perform a
Two-card Push-off with your left thumb and while holding the face-up AS,
use your right second fingertip to flip the “double” face up to reveal the AC.

Let the “double” fall flush onto the left-hand card and again use the face-up
AS to apparently flip the AC face down. Slightly buckle the bottom card
and flip the top two card(s) face down as you retain and hold the AC face
up.

Push off the top card of the left-hand packet (AD) with your left thumb and
take it face down onto the face-up AC, keeping it jogged to the left. Move
both cards to your right and table the supposed AS face down. Say, “I’ll tell
you what…let’s simplify this a bit by getting rid of one of the Black Aces. This time
we will use only the Ace of Clubs."

Place the AC face down onto the left-hand cards. Again, using a slight
Buckle or a Push-Off, grasp the inner right corner of the top two cards
between your right thumb and first/second fingers. Keep them aligned and

24
openly transfer the card(s) under the left-hand (single) card. (Photo 9)

Say, “If I openly place the Ace of Clubs on the bottom, tell me, based on what you
saw, think, and believe, where the Ace of Clubs is. Take your choice.”

Regardless of his reply, perform a Double Turnover to reveal the AC on top

and add, “This is peculiar. One can’t be sure of what to think or believe.” Perform
another Double Turnover and slowly transfer the top single card (AH) to
the bottom again, saying, “I’m seeing it now…”

Perform a Single Turnover to show the AC is back on top as you finish the
patter line: “…but now I’m beginning to really believe that the Ace of Clubs never
moved at all. It only seems to move.”

Again, using a slight Buckle, grasp the inner right corner of the top two
cards and openly transfer them under the left-hand (single) card. Say, “Is this
card the Ace of Clubs? Is it definitely now on the bottom?”

Perform another Double Turnover to show the AC back on top and say,
“Sometimes I do this all day long…(pause) I have no life…”

Perform another Double Turnover to apparently flip the AC face down and
then slowly and cleanly deal the top card (AH) onto the card already face
down on the table, saying: “Let’s get rid of the other black Ace, as well.”

Situation Check: In reality, both red Aces are on the table and the black

25
Aces are in your left hand.

Direct attention to the two cards in your left hand. Lift the top card and
peek at its face without letting the spectator see it. Say, "If I place the Ace of
Hearts on the bottom…” Transfer the top card to the bottom and square up as
you finish the patter line, “…where is the Ace of Hearts now?”

As soon as the spectator answers, flip over the tabled pair to show the red
Aces and say, “No! It’s over here!” Finally, flip the left-hand pair face up to
reveal the Black Aces to cap the routine.

GUARDIAN ANGEL

Brother Hamman introduced “The Signed Card” to magicians in Richard's

Alamanc #14 (October - 1983), then in Seven Deadly Miracles (1984), and
finally in The Secrets of Brother John Hamman (1989). The trick intrigued
cardmen and variations and fixes soon started cropping up. 6

Cardmen loved the idea of having a previously tabled card change to a signed
selection that was made after the other card was tabled. If this condition is
clearly perceived, the outcome seems impossible. Hamman’s presentation
takes pains to emphasize the conditional, namely that an unknown card is
tabled before a selection is made, signed, and vanished. Other versions were
less painstaking. Marlo claimed that his pseudo-version gave the same
impression because the average spectator seldom remembered the exact
sequence of events. 7

The most troublesome aspects in any version are: (1) Adding the unknown
card to other cards before it is disclosed; (2) Adding the selection to
supposedly four Aces to effect the vanish. The ostensive and purported
reasons for performing these acts are weak or non-existent.

6
There are a couple in Card Finesse II - “The Future Ain't What It Used To Be” and “Time-
Warp Sandwich.”
7
Marlo's “Satirical Signed Card” appeared in That's It! (1990). The unknown card in this case is
tabled prior to the disappearance of the selection but after the selection is made.

26
Set-up: Start with the four Kings on top of the deck.

Method: Say, “We need a card to be a guardian angel.” Spread the cards face
down and ask some to touch a card. Remove and table this card face down
to your left. Ask, “Who has a terrific memory? I need a prodigy.” Address
the volunteer: “You have two jobs.” Point to the unknown tabled card placed
in full view before anything happens. Add: “Keep your vigilant, beady eyes
on it. It’s the guardian angel of everything about to transpire.”

Ask a second [female] spectator, “Do you know which cards are cannibals?”
Regardless of her response, say, “These are the cannibals!” Scoop up the
deck and hold it face down in your left hand. Deal the top Kings face down
to the table without showing them. Say, “Here they are, true believers of the
saying, 'You are who you eat!' May I introduce the Cannibal Kings.”

Pick up the Kings with your right hand and flip them face up onto the deck.
Suppose they are in the C-H-S-D order from the face. Spread and square
them against your left thumb and secretly pick up a facedown card below
them. Retain a thumb break at the back end above the extra card.

Peel the KC onto the deck with your left thumb. Peel it to a side-jogged
position, and then apparently slide it under the other face-up Kings as you
square the King-packet against your left thumb. In reality, perform Marlo's
Atfus and secretly unload the KC and extra card. Legitimately peel and duck
the KH and KS. Say something about each King as it is handled.

Once the Kings have been shown and named, retain them in a right-hand
Biddle Grip and table the deck. Turn your left hand palm down and table
the deck face up. Flip the King-packet face down and perform a Stanyon
Count to apparently show four facedown cards. Do not audible count them
or say anything about their number. Continue: “They become restive and
agitated if they haven t eaten in awhile.”

Table the King-packet face down in front of you and say, “We need a
victim...a regrettable term.” Pick up the deck and spread the cards face up
between your hands and add: “Ah, yes, the usual suspects. See anyone you I
like?”

27
Have someone select and remove a card. Suppose it is the Ten of Hearts
(10H). Square the cards and hold the deck face down in your left hand. Do
not inadvertently expose the face-up KC second from the top. Hand a
marking pen to the spectator and say: “This card, it turns out, is an an-
drogynous, co-dependent endomorph who dreams of chocolate pizza and
watermelon Twinkies. Quick! Tattoo this creature!”

Have the spectator mark the face of the 10H in some fashion. Do not have
them sign their name; idiosyncratic markings are potentially funny. Place the
10H face up on the top of the facedown deck to conspicuously display it.
Ask, “You will recognize this creature when you see it again?” Lift the deck
near your mouth to blow-dry the ink. Lower the deck and get a left pinky
break under the top three cards.

Perform the action of the Hit Lift Turnover and lift the top three cards at
their inner right corner with your right forefinger. The next action is like the
Elliott Change. Turn your left hand palm down and take the third (reversed)
card between your right thumb, first, and second fingers. Use your right
thumb to make certain that the top two cards are pushed onto the deck as
the third card is slid out. This is like a two-card push-off. The left-hand
Wrist Turn kills the face-up 10H left on the deck as your right hand moves
away with the supposed (face-down) tattooed card. Table it to the left of the
King-packet.

With your left hand still palm down, take the exposed end of the face-up
deck with your right hand and remove the deck from your left hand. Tap the
face-up deck against the King-packet and say: “Remember- the Cannibal
Kings are here.” Tap the face-down 10H and add, “And the tattooed
creature is here.” Look at the memory expert and ask, “...and where is the
guardian angel?”

Replace the deck face up in your left hand and then spread about half the
cards and take them into your right hand. Say, “You could have chosen any
victim.”

Tap the supposed 10H on the table with the right-hand spread of cards and
say, “...but you chose this one!” Place the right-hand cards under the left-

28
hand talon. This centralizes the reversed 10H. Say, “The guardian angel
watches everything from her special place.”

Pick up the unknown card with your right hand and insert it into the center
of the deck (slightly above the reversed 10H), but slowly and fairly maneuver
it to a side-jogged position. Address the memory expert: “You continue
watching the guardian angel as she watches everything else.” Table the deck
with the side-jogged card remaining in view. So far, everything is copacetic
and the two initial switches were deceptive. The rest is easy.

Pick up the supposed 10H and hand it face down to the selectee. Say,
“Please hold the creature for a moment.” Pick up the King-packet and
perform half of an Elmsley Count. When you take the second card and steal
the first one, extend your left hand and ask the selectee: “Place the creature
face down onto these two cards.” In reality, the selection is placed onto only
one card. Count the remaining two cards on top of all. It looks like you
placed the selection (10H) in the center of four cards. Another false count at
this stage would be gratuitous.

Say, “We have put the creature in harm’s way. The hungry cannibals
shamelessly and completely devour the creature...tattoo and all.” Spread the
four Kings face down to show only four cards. Square up and hold the Kings
in a facedown, dealing position. The next sequence fakes the Hamman
Convincing Laydown and Marlo's Swindle-Aces Count.

Flip the top three Kings face up. Repeat the Triple Turnover and deal the
top card face down to the table. Rub it against the table or close-up pad to
emphasize its singularity. Take the bottom, two cards and flip them onto the
remaining card to show another King.

Perform a Double Turnover and deal the top card face down next to the
previously tabled King. Rub it to show singularity. Flip the top King face up
and face down and deal it next to the others. Repeat the rub bit. Table the
last King face down and rub it to finish the sequence. Patter: “Look at these
smug gourmets! There s no trace of the creature. There are only four
cannibals.”

29
Say, “The guardian angel saw the entire crime (point to the deck with its
side-jogged card) and see gathered all the other creatures to make an
announcement.”

Quickly and cleanly ribbon-spread the deck face up, exposing a single
facedown card in the center. Nyquist’s Jog-Concealment Subtlety is a perfect
switch. The audience thinks that the reversed card is the unknown card
taken at the beginning. In reality, it is the tattooed 10H. At this stage,
nothing is suspected, including the climax.

Say, “The guardian angel told everyone -- 'Have no fear. The cannibals only
thought they ate the creature! When she said this, she got the cannibals to
sit up and take notice.”

Turn each King face up. Cleanly slide out the facedown 10H from the
spread and ask the spectator to turn the guardian angel face up. Say, “All’s
well that ends well. The tattooed creature lives! The crowd roars! Now the
fat lady can sing!” Scoop up the deck, toss the Kings on top, and sheepishly
look at the ceiling. If the audience applauds, perhaps you moving closer to
the Real Work?

MIRASKILL TO THE MAX

Stewart James’ “Miraskill” was first marketed in 1935 and then was
generously tipped in Annemann’s Jinx #24 (September-1936), which caused
a minor stir. This semi-automatic trick proved to have enduring resonance,
which is well encapsulated in the “Miraschool” chapter in The James File –
Volume Two (2000). I initially learned the trick in Scarne On Card Tricks
(1950).

I liked Peter Warlock’s notion of adding a predictive aspect to the effect.

Others followed suit. There are many clever and variant approaches to the
basic effect in The James File – Volume Two, but my goal was to eliminate
holding out and adding cards to change the outcomes. I also wanted to write
a four-part prediction before any shuffling or dealing takes place. Although
the magician can expedite the dealing of pairs by handling the cards, the
spectator can do everything and you only touch the cards once.

30
Requirements: A regular, borrowed, 52-card deck, a sheet of paper, and a
pen.

Set-up: Previously write on the paper the following:

1. The result of the first experiment is: ________will have ______more

cards than _______.
2. The result of the second experiment is: ________will have
______more cards than _______.
3. Using the discards of the initial two experiments, the result will be:
BLACK will have TWO more cards than RED.
4. The result of the last experiment will be a TIE.

The underlined parts should be blank. You will fill in all six “blanks” when
you make the prediction. Fold the paper in half.

Method: Explain that the spectator is going to play a curious, little-known

game called “Fractal Fandango” which demonstrates a random, distributive
pattern that encodes what can be known before it is known.

Ask the spectator to thoroughly shuffle the deck. Afterwards, have him hold
the deck face up and then deal twenty-six cards face up to the table into a
neat pile. Say, “This will give you exactly half the deck to work with…as you deal
the cards, note how randomly mixed they are…”

Although you apparently do not appear to pay much attention to this casual
process, you actually must count the number of red cards being dealt. This
will be your key number, permitting you to fill in the blanks of the four-part
prediction.

Suppose you count 10 RED cards. This indicates there are 16 BLACK
cards. In the other half, the inverse is true. There are 10 BLACK cards and
16 RED cards. You now have all the information you need. Because of the
Miraskill Principle, when you deal out the 13 pairs, there will be 6 more
BLACK cards than there are RED cards. Here is the simple reasoning:

31
Because there are more BLACK cards in the half-portion, BLACK will
win. The math consists of subtracting the smaller number of RED cards
(10) from the larger number of BLACK cards (16). 16 – 10 = 6

Ask the spectator to shuffle the portion he just dealt, henceforth now
designated as portion A. Have him place the other half-deck (portion) B
aside for the moment.

As the spectator shuffles portion A, fill in the blanks of your prediction as

follows:

1. The result of the first experiment is: BLACK will have 6 more cards
than RED.
2. The result of the second experiment is: RED will have 6 more cards
than BLACK.
3. Using the discards of the initial two experiments, the result will be:
BLACK will have TWO more cards than RED.
4. The result of the last experiment will be a TIE.

Fold the prediction paper and place it near the spectator.

Next, explain the Miraskill Procedure. That is, after shuffling, the cards are
to be dealt face up in pairs. If both cards are RED, they should be placed to
the spectator’s left. If the pair consists of a RED and a BLACK, this is
considered a DISCARD and is dealt to the right of the RED pairs. If both
cards are BLACK, the pair to placed to the right of the DISCARDS. In
other words, the spectator deals cards into three piles, the middle pile
consisting of DISCARDS.

At the end of the sorting process, have the spectator count the RED cards
and the BLACK cards. When he does, say: “It looks as though BLACK has
six more cards than the RED pile. Please remember that.

Pick up the RED pairs and drop them onto the BLACK pairs and place
them aside and face down, out of play. As you scoop up the DISCARD
piled, contrive to get two RED cards to the bottom of this face-up pile and
then place it face up near you.

32
Have the spectator pick up portion B. Have him shuffle it and momentarily
take the cards and pretend to weigh them. Say, “You know what…I think this
time the tables will be turned. Not only that, I think something coincidental is
about to happen!”

Hand portion B to the spectator and have him repeat the dealing procedure.
That is, the cards are again to be dealt face up in pairs. If both cards are
RED, they should be placed to the left. DISCARDS go in the middle and if
both cards are BLACK, they go to the right of the DISCARDS.

At the end of this second sorting process, there will be 6 more RED cards
than BLACK cards. Say: “Wow! This time the inverse is true and yet you
shuffled the cards. How can this be?”

Pick up the RED pairs and drop them onto the BLACK pairs and place
them aside and face down with the previous RED and BLACK pairs. Scoop
up the second DISCARD pile and drop it face up onto the first DISCARD
pile. Let the first two experiments fully register.

Casually pick up the combined DISCARDS and drop them face up onto
the facedown RED and BLACK pairs from the two experiments. At this
point, you want to unload the two red cards at the bottom of the face-up
DISCARDS.

Spread the cards to show all the face-up DISCARDS and say, “Let’s use these
discards for another experiment…” As you close the spread, obtain a left pinky
break above the lowermost red face-up cards of the DISCARD section.

Then lift off all the cards above the break in a right-hand Biddle Grip as
your left hand turns palm down (Wrist Turn) to place its cards out of play.
This “kills” the two RED cards you just unloaded.

Hand the DISCARDS to the spectator to thoroughly shuffle. Then have

him perform the Miraskill Dealing Procedure. Afterwards, there will be
TWO more BLACK cards. Have the spectator remember that outcome.

33
Place the RED and BLACK pairs aside. You will be left with a small packet
of DISCARDS. Hand them to the spectator to thoroughly shuffle and again
have him perform the Miraskill Dealing Procedure. Afterwards, the result
will be a TIE.

Have the prediction opened to prove you knew the outcome of the curious
Fractal Fandango.

TURNABOUT IS UNFAIR PLAY

Edward Marlo

Effect: Four red-backed Queens and four blue-backed Kings transpose one
at a time. Then the Kings become red-backed and the Queens turn blue.

Requirements: Two decks with different colors and back design, which may
be borrowed.

Set-up: Place the four Kings from the red deck face up on top, making sure
that the four Queens are equally dispersed through the deck. Then case the
deck face up into the red card case. Place the four Queens of the blue deck at
the face and equally disperse the Kings. Then place this deck into the blue
case.

Method: When you are ready to perform, pick up the red case and remove
the cards face up. Spread the cards face up between both hands, upjogging
each Queen when you come to them. Your left hand holds the deck as your
right hand strips out the upjogged Queens. Show the backs of these Queens,
saying: “These are the ladies in red!” (Photo 1)

Place them face down under the face-up deck and turn deck over. The four
Queens are now face up on the facedown deck with the four face-up Kings
directly below them are. Place deck aside for the moment, leaving the four
Queens face up on top. (Photo 2) '

Remove the blue deck from its case with the faces momentarily held toward
you as your right hand peels off the four bottom Queens into your right
hand. Then lower the deck and immediately begin spreading cards onto the
block of four Queens. (Photo 3)

34
Upjog the four Kings as you come to them, using your left hand to move
them upwards from the spread. Meanwhile the four Queens secretly ride
under the spread of cards. (Photo 4)

With the four Kings upjogged, your left fingers spread out the remainder of
deck. Then your right hand holds onto the spread deck as your left fingers
cleanly remove the Kings. Show the back and front of the Kings and then
apparently place them under the left end of the face-up spread. (Photo 5)

Cleanly close the spread. The four Queens, under the spread will
automatically move under the four Kings. Flip the deck face down. The
Queens are now on top. Thumb off the top four cards, supposedly the four
blue-backed Kings, to the table, saying, “The boys in blue go here.”

Casually Overhand Shuffle blue deck and place it aside. Next, pick up the
red deck and casually perform an eight-card Block Turnover, saying:
“Remember—these are the ladies in red.” (The Block Turnover is easy due to
the natural break of the eight face-up cards.)

Deal the supposed four red-backed Queens face down to the table. Casually
Overhand Shuffle the red deck and place it aside. You are now set to
perform the one-at-a-time transpositions, focusing only on the color of the
backs of the eight principal cards.

Place the four blue-back cards onto the red-back cards, saying: “The boys in
blue go on top of the ladies in red.” Do not grin; the patter line is really
designed to emphasize the colors and disposition of the Kings and Queens.

Pick up the eight-card packet in preparation for performing a Technical

Variation of the Veeser Concept, which will result in your right hand
ostensibly holding the four blue-backed cards, with your left hand seemingly
holding the four red-backed cards. Perform the Vesser Concept as you
apparently peel the top blue-backed cards into your left hand.

Afterwards, the top cards of each packet and the three cards beneath each
top card are a different color. Table the packets, placing the supposed blue-
backed cards to the left. The supposed red-backed cards are placed to the

35
right.

Note: Although Marlo did not include the following addition in his notes, it
can be added to “sell” the assumption that no switch has taken place. At this
stage you can pick up each packet and hold it face up, saying: “Remember—
the _______ are here…” Here, in turn, you casually spread the top two cards
of each face-up packet to show the correct value, either Kings or Queens.
Afterwards, return them face down to their respective positions on the table.

Make a magic pass, from packet to packet, and then lift off top red-back
card on right to show a blue-back card below it. Say, “One of the boys in blue is
now over here…” (Photo 6)

Replace red back card on top. Make second magical pass. This time, pick up
the supposed blue packet on your left and perform an Elms1ey Count to
show two red cards and blue red cards. Say, “Now two ladies in red are over
here…” Replace on packet (with a blue-back card on top) to your left.

Pick up the packet on your right, adding, “Naturally, if two ladies and red
have left this packet, there are now two boys in blue over here…” Perform an
Elmsley Count to ostensibly prove your claim. Replace the packet to your
right.

Make a third magical pass. Pick up the packet on your left and fairly reverse
count the cards, sliding the last card underneath. This shows three red-
backed cards and one blue-backed card. In the process you have set the cards
for a climactic Elmsley Count to ostensibly show four cards of the same
color.

Pick up the packet on your right and repeat the same action. That is, fairly
reverse count the cards, sliding the last card underneath. This again shows
three cards of the same color (blue) and only one red-backed card. This
packet is now also set for a climactic Elmsley Count to ostensibly show four
cards of the same color.

Make a final magical pass and then pick up each packet and perform an

36
Elmsley Count to show all red cards on the left and all blue cards on the
right.

Retain the supposed all-blue packet after the Elmsley Count. Place the cards
face down into your left hand and get a left pinky break on the bottom (odd)
card. Grasp the packet in a right-hand Biddle Grip, transferring the break to
your right thumb at the back end.

Lower the right-hand packet onto the tabled packet and pick it up
underneath. (Photo 7)

Retain the break and then cut the cards at the break as your right hand
apparently places its blue cards under the red cards. Immediately spread the
cards to show four red cards on top of four blue cards. (Photo 8)

You are now set for the surprise climax. Separate the red cards from the blue
ones, taking the red-backed cards into your right hand and the blue-backed
cards into your left hand.

Place each packet side-by-side on the table. Say, “Would it be a better trick if I
could make the boys in blue change places with he ladies in red all at once?”
Momentarily cover each packet and then lift your hands. Nothing has
apparently happened. Say, “That’s odd…”

Wait a few seconds and add, “I know what happened. I was only able to make
half of each card change places. I made only the faces transpose!” Turn the packets
over to show the result. The cards of course may be examined.8

HOMING SWEET HOME

This version of the “Homing Card” was directly inspired by Lance Pierce’s
“Little Carlyle” and John Guastaferro’s “Homage to Homing” from his
treatise, G-Notes (2007). All of the methods use a clever tactic first used by

8
This effect, taken from notes written on January 15, 1971, was originally published in
The Unexpected Book (1975) in a slightly different form. Its original title was “Color
Transposition.”

37
Francis Carlyle and Ed Marlo, namely that you get ahead of the game by
strategic use of an extra card, plus a “miscall.”

In this version, because you are using four Kings in conjunction with a
selection, how and why you show the supposed number of counting units
(cards) to suggest the “disappearance” of the selection is important. How the
facedown and face-up counts are positioned in the overall action-sequence is
equally important. When we structure a routine it should be based on an
understanding of what a lay person assumes is significant rather than on
what the devising magician thinks is important. This will become clear as
you read the explanation.

Requirements: A deck of cards and a half-dollar.

Set-up: Place the KD and coin in your right side coat pocket. Intersperse the
other three Kings is the deck in this order from the top: BK – RK – BK.

Method: Explain that you need the four Kings. Hold the deck face up and
spread the cards between your hands, up jogging each King as you come to
it. You can do this with the deck lowered so that the audience can see the
Kings. After you up jog the third King, tilt the deck back and up jog any
indifferent card.

When you upjog the indifferent card, make sure that it lies less outjogged by
about a quarter-inch. Square the deck and lower it again to show the
supposed four Kings. As they are momentarily display, secretly push the
indifferent card flush with the deck, using your left forefinger.

Then strip out the three Kings and place them face down on the table as a
squared unit. Explain that you need a selection. Have a card fairly selected
and ask the spectator to momentarily hold it face down, taking care that only
he or she knows its identity.

Have a card selected and signed on the face. Suppose it is the 10H. Caution
the spectator to keep its identity secret. Pick up the King-packet and hold it
face down in your left hand. Get a left pinky break under the top King.

38
Ask the spectator to place his selection on top of the Kings and then Slip
Cut it below the top King. Next false count the cards as 5 as you ostensibly
mix the 10H among the Kings. Say, “Believe it or not, I will cause your
selection to disappear from this packet and reappear in my pocket.”

Make a magical gesture and then perform an Elmsley Count to show four
cards. Say, “No, your card is really gone!” Flip the packet face up and
Elmsley Count to show four Kings.

One-hand fan the packet with the backs to the spectator, clearly showing
four cards. Glimpse the selection (10H). Square the cards and place them
face down into your left hand. Get a left pinky break under the top 10H.

Show your right hand unmistakably empty and then reach in your side coat
pocket and remove the KD with the back toward the spectator. Look at its
face and say, “Here is your Ten of Hearts!” (Miscall) This is convincing and
the trick is psychologically over.

Place the KD face down onto the packet and say, “You know…that
happened so fast, perhaps you’d like to see that again?” Perform a Double
Turnover to show the 10H. Flip the card(s) face down and deal the top KD
face down to the table.

Turn to your left and ask the spectator to place his hand into your right side
coat pocket. You are now set to use a subtlety by Bruce Cervon. Ask the
spectator to “feel around in there” as you clearly add, “Tell everyone that the
pocket is absolutely empty.”

Because you have placed a coin in that pocket, the examining spectator will
point out that the pocket is not “absolutely empty.” When this happens, say:
“Well, what I mean is—Are there any cards in there?” The spectator will say
“no.” While this is happening there is ample misdirection for you to palm off
the top two cards (BK-10H) into your right hand. Then casually reach into
your right pocket, unload the two palmed cards, and take out the coin. Say,
“Sorry—I mean aside from this coin, there is nothing there. Right?” The
spectator will concur. Hand the coin to the spectator to use as a talisman.
(Later in the presentation, you will say, reminding the spectator: “Your card,

39
sir, has disappeared again…My hand is empty and you testified that my
pocket was empty…”)

Have the spectator pick up his supposed 10H place it on top of the King-
packet (really two cards). False count the cards as 5 as you again ostensibly
mix the 10H among the Kings. Repeat: “Believe it or not, I will cause your
selection to disappear from this packet and reappear in my pocket.”

Make a magical gesture and then perform a three-card Elmsley-Stanyon

Count to apparently show four cards. Say, “No, No…I’m not kidding! Your
card is really gone!” Flip the packet face up and perform another Elmsley-
Stanyon Count to show four Kings.

Show your right hand unmistakably empty and then reach in your side coat
pocket and remove the signed 10H with the face toward the spectator. Say,
“Here is your Ten of Hearts again!” You have now done it twice and the
trick is over.

Absently replace the 10H into the pocket. (John Carey idea) Look at the
spectator and ask, “You don’t want me to do it a third time, do you?” If the
spectator concurs, reach in your pocket and remove the BK (without
showing it). Place it face down onto the left-hand cards.

False count the four Kings as 5 as you ostensibly mix the 10H among them.
Say, “Believe it or not, I will cause your selection to disappear from this
packet for the third time and reappear in my pocket.”

Make a magical gesture and then perform an Elmsley Count to show four
cards. Say, “No, your card is really gone!” Flip the packet face up and
Elmsley Count to show four Kings. This is a tease because you finally toss
the Kings onto the table one at a time to show that the 10H is really gone!

Show your right hand unmistakably empty for the third time and then reach
in your side coat pocket and remove the 10H, saying, “Here is your Ten of
Hearts!” Now the trick is definitely over.

40
 IN THE NICK OF TIME

This is a modest adaptation of John Gustaferro’s “Time Will Tell” from his
Second Storm (2008 – Lecture Notes). The splendid approach is his. 9 This
incorporates Ed Marlo’s packet handling from Expert Card Conjuring (1968)
to delay the surprise ending and produce a puzzling sequence using the
selection. The effect itself remains impromptu insofar as you can set up in
front of the spectator in only a few seconds.

Begin by glimpsing the time displayed on your watch or a spectator's watch.

Suppose it is 4:45. Quickly cull the three cards to the face (bottom) of the
deck that will match the time is will be exactly two minutes from the time
you noted on the watch. In this case, it would be 4:47. Therefore, maneuver
any two Fours and a Seven to the bottom of the deck.

Without disturbing the bottom three cards, shuffle the deck a few times.
Have a card selected. Suppose it is the Queen of Diamonds. Control it to
the bottom and shuffle again, retaining the four principal cards at the
bottom. Explain that you will try to remove the selection from the deck,
using only your sense of touch. Say, “In fact, I’ll do it without looking by
placing the deck under the table.” 10

Once you have the deck under the table, quickly reverse the card second
from the bottom and then remove the bottom four cards as a squared packet
with your right hand.

Move both hands about the table and say, “At this point I’m not quite sure
which card is yours. Therefore, I’ve remove these three cards…” Gesture with
your right-hand packet as your left hand puts the talon aside. Continue:
“However, I’m going to let you decide which one of these three cards to single
out…” Place the packet face down in your left hand.

Situation Check: The order of the cards from the top consists of the three
matching cards (4-4-7) with the selection (Queen of Diamonds) on the

9
As Gustafero pointed out, the underlying premise is not new. Richard Sanders and David Acer
published a Triumph-type effect called "Time Boards.”
10
If you are not working at a table, you can place the deck behind your back.

41
bottom. The second cards from the face is reversed.

With the packet face down in left hand, use a Single Buckle Spread to show
a fan of three facedown cards. Say, “Let’s number these three cards one, two, and
three from top to bottom. The top card is ‘one,’ the middle card is ‘two,’ and the
bottom card is ‘three.’ Which number would you like?”

After the spectator makes his selection, close the fan and grasp the packet in
a right-hand Biddle Grip. Regardless of the number chosen, turn your right
hand palm up to clearly show the Queen of Diamonds and say, “If you had
chosen ‘three’ or the bottom card you would have picked the Queen of Diamonds.”
Do not permit the spectator to say anything, but immediately replace cards
face down in your left hand, which then turns palm down to again show the
Queen of Diamonds. During this display your left fingers glide back the top
card about a quarter inch.

As soon as your left hand turns palm up your set to perform the Christ-
Annemann Alignment Move. Your right first and second fingertips are
placed on the two top cards with your right thumb positioned at the back
end of the packet. Then simultaneously slide the top two cards as a unit.
Properly executed, results in that only one card (supposedly the middle one)
projects at front end while at the back end, due to the position of your right
thumb, the top card is neatly aligned up with the two bottom cards.

Say, “If you would have picked number one, the top card…” Here your right
fingers grasp the inner end of the three squared bottom cards, removing and
turning them over as apparently one card, face up, and flush with the
projecting card as you show another (?) Queen of Diamonds, adding: “…you
would have picked the Queen of Diamonds.”

Pause for a couple of seconds, as though you have suddenly realized the
duplication, and then say, “Wait a minute! Haven’t we seen that card before?”
At this stage, you can thumb over the face-up Queen of Diamonds and take
it into your right hand, which then cleanly shows it as one card, flashing
both sides as you add, “That’s weird!”

Replace the Queen of Diamonds face up onto the packet and then
immediately perform a Triple Turnover, apparently flipping the Queen of

42
Diamonds face down. In reality, it is now third from the top of packet.

Grasp the packet in a right-hand Biddle Grip and then spread the two
lowermost cards to the left with your left fingers to show three facedown
cards. Using the two top cards (squared) in your right hand, lever the next or
center card face up to show another Queen of Diamonds, saying: “There’s
that card again! What’s going on here…?”

Leave the Queen of Diamonds flush and face up on top of the squared left-
hand cards as your right hand places its card(s) onto the face-up Queen of
Diamonds. Say, “I think this has been a tropical delusion.” Take the top card
into your right hand to reveal that the Queen of Diamonds has apparently
changed into an indifferent card. Turn the right-hand card face up to
disclose another indifferent card and place it alongside the other indifferent
card to display a spread of two indifferent cards.

Buckle the bottom card so that your right fingers can grasp the two fanned
indifferent cards at their inner right corners as your left hand moves away
with the bottom face-down card.

Finally, your left hand turns its card face up and places it onto the other two
indifferent cards held in your right hand. Grasp this fan with your right
hand and flash both sides of the cards. The Queen of Diamonds is hidden
underneath the bottom card of the fan. The indifferent cards are the
necessary value-cards that will comprise your digital “read-out” of the time,
which by this time should be 4:47.

Square the packet and Bottom Cop the Queen of Diamonds into your left
hand as your right hand tables the other three cards. Address the spectator
and ask, “Are you wearing a watch?" Although you know that he is wearing a
watch, you want to come across as if what you are about to do is unplanned.

Continue: “I think that your watch has a metaphysical connection with the three
cards on the table.” Glance at the watch to make sure that it is approaching
your target time (4:47) and stall or move on if necessary. Meanwhile arrange
the tabled cards in the 4-4-7 order in a row.

Say, "By the way, what is the exact time on your watch?” After he say 4:47,

43
immediately reply, "That's very weird. Look at these cards.” Point out that
the cards display the current time. From the spectator's perspective, the
cards will be in correct order: Four, Four, Seven.

As this surprising climax registers, ask, “What is the name of your card?” After
he names the Queen of Diamonds, ostensibly produce it from your pocket or
wallet to cap the effect.

FULL-BLOWN FOURSOME

One of the first card effects applying a cull in an interesting way that
grabbed me was a trick unglamorously named “Foursome.” This trick is
buried in Harry Lorayne’s Deck-sterity (1967) and, in Harry’s own words, is
one of those tricks “difficult to explain” because it involves culling certain
cards as the performer runs through a shuffled deck once. The effect is fairly
straightforward. A spectator shuffles and then freely selects a card. The
magician next explains that he will try to find the card—a pedestrian,
stereotypical effect, which today is a bit underwhelming. Nevertheless, the
magician carries on. Unfortunately he claims that locating a selection under
the known conditions turns out to be more difficult than it looks. So, he
resorts to finding it by elimination. That is, he will remove four
“possibilities,” hoping that one of them is the selection. He removes four
cards, shows them, places three face down on the table, and then deals the
fourth one face up. The face-up card proves to be the selection, but—wait!
—the other three cards are turned face up to reveal matching value-cards!

The allure of this effect is its surprise climax. Retrograde analysts may
also find that reverse engineering this trick to be problematic. To me, the
way the matching value-cards were culled was its intriguing aspect. Lorayne
used a key-card to learn the identity of the selection. Suppose that the
selection is the Ten of Hearts. He would then cull the other three Tens to
the top as he removed three indifferent cards. Finally, he removed the Ten
of Hearts. He explained that one of these four cards was the selection. Next,
he switched the three indifferent cards for the other three Tens, using the
Braue Addition. Lorayne’s method of culling, although workable, is a bit
clunky; it is not wholly uniform. However, if you perform it quickly,
smoothly, and casually, it plays.

44
 Begin with a known card on top—say, the Joker. This is your key
card. Fairly shuffle the deck, retaining the Joker on top. Hold the deck face
down in your left hand, holding it upright for a Spectator Peek. Riffle the
outer right corner with your right forefinger and ask the spectator to say
stop.

When you are stopped, have the spectator note a card. Suppose his
selection is the Five of Clubs. Riffle off the rest of the cards and retain a left
pinky break under the 5C. Lower your left hand and then also grasp the
deck from above and by the ends with your right hand.

Lift off about half of the cards above the break and drop this portion
face down onto the table. Next, cut at the break, again with your right hand,
and drop this portion face down onto the tabled portion. This action places
the 5C above the Joker. Drop the remaining portion face down on top of all.
Ed Marlo devised this running placement cut and it is the same one used by
Lorayne. 11 False shuffle if you like.

Say, “One of the oldest card tricks extant is where a card is selected and then
the trickster finds it. However, a lot depends on the conditions. In this case, it
appears as though the cards have been freely cut and shuffled. Therefore, finding it
might be quite challenging.”

Hold the deck with the faces toward you and quickly spread the cards
between your hands. Spot the location of the Joker and then note the card
adjacent at the right. This will be the selection, the 5C. Separate the spread
so that the 5C ends up near the top (back) and make sure that none of the
three other Fives are to its left or near the top.

Explain: “I’m going to find your card by mixing pure instinct with
randomness. First, I’m going to remove four possibilities.” Here is where your
secret culling takes place. Again, with the faces toward you, spread the cards
until you reach a Five.

11
This control was published in Marlo’s Control Systems, one of his early private
manuscripts.

45
 Stop at that point and take all of the cards to the right of this Five,
including the Five, into your right hand. Turn your right hand palm down
and drop this portion face down on the table to your right.

Remove the face card of the left-hand portion with your right hand
and say, “This ____of ______may be your card!” Place it face up on the table
in front of you.

Resume spreading the cards with the faces toward you until you reach
another Five. Stop at that point and take all of the cards to the right of this
Five, including this second Five, into your right hand. Show the face card of
the left-hand section and say, “This ____of ______may be your card!” This
time your left thumb deals the face card of the left-hand section onto the
first “possibility” on the table.

More or less square the right-hand cards, using only your right thumb
and fingers. Next, slightly buckle the bottom Five of the right-hand portion,
using your right fingers. Then continue spreading and pushing over the
remaining left-hand cards, feeding them above the buckled bottom Five
until you reach the third Five.

Stop at that point, feed the third Five underneath and then take all of
the right-hand cards to the right. Show the face card of the left-hand section
and repeat the same line, “This ____of ______may be your card!” Again, your
left thumb deals the face card of the left-hand section onto the other two
“possibilities” on the table.

Finally, resume spreading the remaining left-hand cards, but spread

them on top of the right-hand portion until you reach the selection, the 5C.
Stop at this point, show the 5C, and say, “This Five of Clubs may be your
card!” Thumb off the 5C onto other three “possibilities” on the table.

Situation Check: You have two Fives on the bottom of the face-up deck. A
third Five is on top of the face-down portion on the table to your right.
There are four face-up cards in front of you—the 5C and three indifferent
cards.

46
 Turn the talon face down into your left hand. Pick up the small face-
down portion in a right-hand Biddle Grip and place it face down onto the
talon, Retain a left pinky break between the portions and then perform a
Marlo Slip Cut.

Your right hand comes over and grasps the deck by the ends. Your
right thumb now lifts up the portion above the break at the rear end. This
break is slight—just enough to create a separation.

Tilt the deck back and move your right hand to the right with the
upper portion of cards. Your left thumb, pressing on the outer left corner,
holds back the top Five so that joins the left-hand portion. The right-hand
portion then moves under the left-hand portion to complete the cut. The
three Fives are now on top.

Use the 5C to scoop up the other three indifferent cards with your
right hand. Place them face up on top of the deck. Spread the top seven
cards to show the “possibilities” again. You are now set to perform Secret
Subtraction.

Square these cards and retain a left pinky break under the seventh card.
Then lift all of the cards above the break with your right hand, holding them
from above and by the ends.

Your left thumb peels the top face card halfway onto the right side (top) of
the deck so that it is side-jogged. Do not peel this card completely off of the
right-hand packet. Instead bring it to the position shown in Photo 1.

At this point, the peeled card is flipped face down by using the left side of
the right-hand packet, which moves upwards and to the left. This
indifferent card will consequently pivot against your left thumb (against the
thumb nail), which remains stationary.

Once this card is flipped perpendicular, your left thumb moves underneath
and pushes upwards. This completely pivots the card face down and under the
right-hand packet. (Photo 2)

Retain a thumb-break above this card at the back end. The entire pivoting
action should look like a smooth flourish. Practice it until the peeled card

47
flips quickly and completes its action in a squared position beneath the
packet.

Peel the next two indifferent cards in the same way. Each is peeled and
ducked underneath the packet, but after the third indifferent card is peeled
and ducked, your right hand moves forward to begin a side-squaring action.

As the packet moves forward, it also tilts downwards just enough to cover
the front end of the deck. This downwards-tilting action is only momentary;
however, at this exact moment, your right thumb releases the three face-
down cards below your thumb break. This secret action is a modified Drop
Sleight. Your angles are well covered and the whole business takes a couple
of seconds.

Finally, the selection (5C) is peeled and ducked underneath the packet. You
are left holding four face-down Fives in your right hand. Place the deck
aside.

Here is where we “tart up” the trick.

Mix the cards and deal them face down in a row in front of the spectator.
Say, “At this point, considering your subtle body language, I know that your card
is among these four. However, I want you to slide the one you think is your
card…and I’m certain that no matter which one you choose…it will be your card!”

Have the spectator push out a card from the row. The odds are 4-t0-1 that
he will push out his selection. This is why this approach is worth doing.
However, you can still end it on a winning note regardless of which card is
chosen.

Pick up the selection and coyly look at its face. If it is the selection (5C), say:
“Can you believe it?” Show the selection and pause a few seconds. Say, “But
we still need to have something magical to happen!” Tap the face-up 5C against
the other three tabled cards. Quickly turn them face up, adding: “Now can
you believe it?”

If the card chosen by the spectator is not the 5C, smile and say, “That’s
perfect! Good job!” Without showing the card, use it to scoop up the other
three face-down cards. At this point, the spectator assumes you are kidding.
Wait a couple of seconds and add, “You seem incredulous! What’s the matter,

48
you don’t believe me?” (Pause) “Not only did you pick the right Five, all of
these cards are Fives!” Quickly toss the four Fives face up to the table.

WHADDAYASAY?

“Don’t talk unless you can improve the silence.”

-Vermont Proverb

“Using words to describe magic is like using a screwdriver to cut roast beef.”
-Tom Robbins

At the tender age of eleven, I read: “I give you the patter I would use, but I
want you to change it or add to it to suit your own personality. Remember, too,
that patter must be varied to fit the occasion.” HarlanTarbell wrote it. I was not
particularly impressed at the time, but Tarbell lived a mile away and I had
actually seen and heard him onstage. To my amazement he really uttered
this kind of patter and it worked for him. He seemed as homespun and
Midwestern as Carl Sandburg, who also lived in my hometown—Elmhurst,
Illinois. Both were talented and a little strange. Bob Parrish wrote that
Tarbell “was an all-American nut,’ but also said that he “was a magician who
believed in magic.”

Tarbell was a man in search of occult truths and deeper meanings. My

mother was a Christian Scientist and I accompanied her to church from time
to time. I frequently saw Tarbell sitting in a back row— looking studious,
bespectacled, and lost in thought. He donated the entire Tarbell Course in
Magic—four volumes at the time—to our local library. I continually checked
out these volumes, poured over their contents, and practiced the tricks. And,
alas, I memorized much of Tarbell’s quaint patter, which no doubt sounded
odd and pitiful when I uttered it. But when Tarbell spoke the same words in
his folksy, conversational manner, they sounded authentic and down-to-
earth.

Why?

49
Perhaps it was because they emanated from the inner space of his unique
consciousness? The words were mundane, but audiences believed him when
he spoke them.

Tarbell also wrote: "You will find great enjoyment in making up patter for
yourself." Well, at the time making up anything was a daunting task. When I
joined the Mazda Mystic Ring (Junior Division) in 1954, my peers were
memorizing patter books, especially those churned out by Robert Orben.
Yet as awkwardly armed as they were, they were still resistant to talking to
large audiences. This is why many of us developed silent, manipulative acts
and worshipped Cardini and Channing Pollock. We knew that talking was
more difficult than learning a simple presentation or performing the
mechanics of a given trick.

Several years ago, a short-lived, public debate about spontaneous and

scripted patter was waged in Magic magazine. (Richard Kaufman and
Eugene Burger) The rabble half-listened, fidgeted a bit, and then looked at
ads trumpeting new tricks. The rabble is disinterested. They rarely, if ever,
script anything. Instead they aimless wander through the field of
magicdom’s odd oral tradition and let a few cockleburs adhere. They pick up
mediocre patter-phrases, timeworn gag lines, and other verbal “burrs.” They
eavesdrop, badly mimic, ostentatiously crib, and flagrantly steal all kinds of
patter by others. Then they invariably rationalize: “I say everything in my own
words!”

Uh-huh.

So…

…Why aren’t books on patter and showmanship popular? Why aren’t magic
enthusiasts interested in theory and theatrics? Why is the Medium the
Message they want to hear? Make no mistake about it. Tricks are the
medium and modi operandi is the heart of the game.

Henning Nelms, in Magic and Showmanship, titled his chapter on patter,

“Words.” Therein he strongly believed in characterization and scripting and
passionately wrote about the playwright's approach. He wrote about how to

50
create scripts and explained the difference between memorization and
extemporization. Dai Vernon, about the same time, was exhorting everyone
to pay attention to Nelms’ teachings. Vernon of course was a terrific talker
and knew that patter was supposed to sound spontaneous and genuine. He
understood the allure of his own curmudgeonly way of speaking, which
sounded human, passionate, experienced, and grounded in his life
experiences.

There is much conflicting advice. Nelms instructed us to script our patter.

S.H. Sharpe in Neo-Magic suggested the opposite: “To tell a beginner that he
should write his own patter is absurd.” Elsewhere: “The diversity of opinion
expressed upon this subject has been extreme.” David Devant, in Our Magic,
similarly wrote: “In writing patter, of course, a performer may obtain assistance.
But, so far as public delivery is concerned, he is bound to do the work himself.”

Nelms thought that the prime requisite of a good magician was an ability to
act and be an actor. Shades of Robert Houdin. A good actor, he said, can
play any part and convincingly deliver line readings, regardless of who
created the dialogue. Few will disagree with this claim; however, how many
would-be magicians are good actors? How many have the innate gifts to
become a good actor?

Not many.

Many years ago, a local magician wanted to perform Billy McCombs’ “Hole
Game.” (I think the routine was marketed?) This poor, misguided fellow
memorized everything, made a costume and all the props, and then
performed it at a banquet. Although this daring chap ordinarily performed
well and had a decent act of his own, his rendition of the “Hole Game”
bombed. It died the death. It stunk. Billy’s routine, methinks, requires more
than a good acting. It requires Billy McComb. Today it would still need
Billy McComb and a time machine. A magician is not an impostor playing
the part of an impersonator.

A good rule is to storyboard the action of a trick and search for a plot that
can be plausibly and entertaining recounted. Find out what the actions mean
to you and what they may mean to lay people. Talk to yourself about it. Real

51
talk—repeatable, usable, relevant patter—will then emerge from this
experience and from every subsequent performance you give.

There are also a few loose scripts that have been audience-tested. “Sam The
Bell-Hop” comes to mind. Also, the strategically scripted "Jack Of
Diamonds" is a sure-shot presentation. Many magicians (John Shirley,
Eugene Burger, Eric Mead and Bill Malone) have demonstrated the
vibrancy of such show-and-tell recitations. If you can execute a good false
shuffle, the presentation seems wildly extemporaneous.

By the way, Marlo never liked the “wired” aspect of “Sam The Bell-Hop.”
He knew that everything hinged on the story. Although he admired
Malone’s wild rendition, the trick left him cold. One afternoon at the Three
Bears restaurant in Chicago, Marlo sat quietly as the “usual suspects” argued
the pros and cons of various story routines. This was more than Marlo could
bear.

“This is bullshit,” he roared. “Somebody shuffle their deck!”

He then took the mixed deck, chugged on his cigar, and began speaking in
his low-pitched, whiskey-whisper: “One dark and stormy night, at the...” He
dealt the first two cards face up, revealing a Six and Two, immediately
adding, “...at Club Sixty-two....”

The next card was a Three. Continuing: “....at three-in-the-morning....” He

continued making up silly but inventive patter for every card that randomly
appeared face up during the deal. It was amazing because he had to make
sense and be relevant to the cards that happened to turn up. The last card he
dealt, believe it or not, was the Joker! Most of crew was still giggling and
shaking their heads. When the Joker appeared, Marlo stared at it, grinned,
and said: “And only a fool—a goddamn, goofy Joker—would believe or tell a
stupid story with a shuffled deck of cards!” How sweet it was!

So, is there a lesson here?

Hugard and Braue in Expert Card Technique wrote: “Don't try to use another
person's talk; it may be very good as he uses it and very bad as you do it; and, more
to the point, in creating your own patter you will have evolved a presentation

52
which you alone have.” Sounds like good advice, no? Yet Fischer-Sharpe did
not tamper with Hofzinser's patter and recommended that ‘it is probably best
to adhere to Hofzinser's original address and instructions. They are the result of
many years' development and the acme of technical perfection.”

Hmmmmm.

Some tricks are clearly patter-driven. “Color Monte” preens its patter and
the trick’s contagion was widespread. Everybody knew the tale told and
owned a well-worn set of the “cute” cards (despite what Jamy Swiss says).
Like trolls on a tear, hundreds of magician-hobbyists memorized the script
of “Color Monte” and practiced its repetitious moves. As unfortunate as it
sounds, the sophomoric pith of its patter plays in Davenport, Iowa as well as
in the Silicon Valley. Its anecdote is antidotal, its sickness is its cure. Has
anyone seen anybody perform an original presentation with original patter of
“Color Monte”?

Probably not.

Dariel Fitzkee in Showmanship For Magicians wrote (of patter): “Have it

written, or write it yourself.”

Duh.

Most magic enthusiasts know how to state the obvious and kick-start their
own running commentary on whatever actions are being performed. “Good
evening, ladies and germs...” “The idea is...” “Do you want to change your mind or
do you like the mind you have?” “Pick a card, any card...”

Learning how to talk while performing magic is like learning about

lovemaking. When we are young, we want to know hundreds of tricks,
hundreds of moves, hundreds of clever subtleties. We long for a Kuma Sutra
of Modus Operandi. In the slaphappy process, we partially listen to what
dealers and pitchmen say. We hear spiels and fast-talk. Yet the doohickeys
and doodads distract us. We are beholden to gimmicks and gewgaws.

Talk?
What’s talk?

53
Talk is cheap.
Talk is easy.

But...

Patter is another thing.

Patter is difficult.

Have we forgotten that “patter” is based on “paternoster” and refers to a

“rapidly garbled recitation of Latin prayers by priests saying Mass”?

It now refers to any rapid, glib, and deceptive speech. (The adjective
“deceptive” is no doubt due to magicians, salesmen, unholy priests, and
politicians?)

How many rapid, glib recitations have you heard during your lifetime? How
much Magick-Talk and Demo-Speak have you consciously and
subconsciously absorbed? Little by little, you have listening to pitchmen and
fellow enthusiasts palaver away. Bit by bit you have subconsciously absorbed
Magick-Talk—slick gibberish for Everyman.

Your brain is crammed with fragmentary spiels, hoary vaudevillian phrases,

dotty, dangling laugh-lines, Orbenesque bits, Lorrainean commentary,
instruction-sheet palaver, and stolen phrases. If words are "containers of
consciousness" (William Gass), Magick-Talk is the Tupperware of Patter
Pith, which accounts, in part, for the impoverished state of the palaver
today.

How does one learn to talk and magish?

Consider this:

1. Develop an appreciation of words and realize their power to affect human

beings. Learn poetry. Read aloud.

2. Understand silence and understatement.

3. Be an interesting, amusing version of yourself.

54
Albert Goshman eventually became an interesting, amusing version of
himself after he moved to California. I never saw early Goshman perform
during his baker-is-a-faker days in New York. Back then his hair was
cropped short, a 50’s crew cut. He wore bow ties. In early publicity photos
he grinned like a shyster, holding eight coins between his chubby fingers.
His mannerisms in those days were probably somewhat coarse and
uncultivated. (Imagine Bart Simpson performing a dove act!) Put it this way:
Albert was a bit untidy—not ring-around-the-collar grungy, but mildly
unkempt. He looked lumpen, rumpled, and leftover. After five minutes at a
dinner table, the front of Albert’s suit looked like a loaf of bread had
exploded in his lap. He also had the slightly groggy, preoccupied expression
of someone who just woke up after a long night sleeping in a boxcar. In
short, he seemed an unlikely candidate to become a close-up entertainer.

Early Goshman was himself. He did not mimic anybody, although some of
his patter was probably low-rent Carl Ballantine and Roy Benson, laced with
insults. He had great chops, but lacked elegance and finesse. When he
moved to the west coast and was obliged to earn a living by magishing, the
Real World was a point-blank reality-check. You do not crepitate in the
drawing room. So, this rough-cut miracle-worker was tamed by a New
World, and his long stint at the Magic Castle refined and smoothened his
plebeian self. Albert had good instincts and he apparently listened to the
wise and experienced counsel of his Castle compeers...at least the ones he
respected. In time, he became an interesting, amusing version of himself.
His dexterity was preeminent and would carry him along. His verbal skills
were deficient, but he learned to suppress all the wise-guy stuff and low-
brow b.s. Since he would never be eloquent or poetic, he developed a
laconic, almost sleepy-eyed, laid-back style. Less words. His patter became
tactically spare: “Say ‘go.’ Went!” “My name is Albert; I’m going to magish
for you!” “Too late!” “Show them!” His soft, gentle, teasing, monosyllabic
words precisely punctuated his magical actions like an easy-listening jazz
score. And this pruned and perfected patter befitted his better version of
himself.

4. Learn scripted patter and then never use it verbatim.

5. Study acting and learn everything about theater.

55
6. Learn how to spin a yarn.

Lawrence Durrell wrote: “We live lives of select fiction.” Dai Vernon’s
select fictions, for example, revealed truths that real life obscures.

7. Learn the yin and yang of patter theory and then pirouette on the golden
mean.

8. Study stand-up comedy and watch comedians perform on television

without the audio.

If you can perform stand-up comedy, you can do almost anything. Nothing
will separate the men from the boys, the talented from the non-talented, as
stand-up comedy. This is the harshest reality-check in show business.

9. Storyboard the action of a trick and search for a plot that can be plausibly
and entertainingly recounted.

This means finding out what the plot means to you and what it could mean to
others. Talk to yourself about this. Subsequent real talk—repeatable, usable,
relevant patter—will emerge from this auto-experience and from every live,
talking performance you give.

10. Practice scripts of tricks that have been time-tested and audience-tested.

11. Do not copy anybody. Seek instead to understand why good patter
works and the elements that underlie its cogency and effectiveness.

Finding an apt trope is as difficult as finding the right words to say.

So...

Where does that leave us? Are we left high and dry in a no man’s land,
dumbed-down and dumbstruck?

Maybe.

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But meditate on this: The words we choose to utter when we perform are
emergent properties. They emerge from consciousness as we deal with the
point-blank exigencies of performance. Our consciousness, including
everything we remember, contains what we know: memorized scripts, plans
of action, protocols of presentation, gag lines, wordplay, folk-tales, good and
bad jokes, and lines of poetry. The variables found in the close-up
environment do not exist onstage. You are unprotected by a Fourth Wall.
You find yourself in different place, in peculiar circumstances, vulnerable,
surrounded by persons (other minds) in a situation of inescapable interaction.
These elements require psychic preparedness, improvisational grace, and an
ability to talk to and with strangers.

Can we develop this ability?

Perhaps you should stand onstage without any tricks, gimmicks, apparatus,
and ready-made patter? In this stark, naked state, you will be forced to
shrink and cower or speak for yourself. You will have to speak up and out.
The test would be real. The reality-check would be telling?

Can you cast a magical spell using language? Can you bewitch an audience
with only words—your words, emerging from your mind, tempered by your
experiences, leavened by your dreams and nightmares, expressing what you
think is funny, wondrous, and mysterious? Can you express whom you are as
you become who you were meant to be?

If so, extend your hand.

The clean one.

I hope the foregoing rhetorical peregrinations serve to sensitize you to ways

to cast spells, tell stories, and create relationships while performing any trick.
There appears to be a conspicuous trend taking hold, thanks to the
leadership and works of magicians such as Eugene Burger, Tommy Wonder,
Robert Neale, Barrie Richardson, Punx, Peter Samelson, Rene Levand, Juan
Tameriz, Arturo Ascanio, Ariel Frailich, Terry LaGerould, and others…

Let me close with another observation and a tease.

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Years ago when I was enthralled with learning every Four-Ace Assembly
extant, I stumbled across these upsetting words by Henning Nelms:

“Consider the well-known Four Ace Trick for example. The Aces are dealt
onto a table. Three indifferent cards are placed on each Ace. A spectator
chooses a pile. When it is turned over, it is found to contain all four Aces
and the other piles are shown to consist of indifferent cards. The audience
may be amazed, but the trick makes little impression because it has no
significance. If you could perform real magic, even very minor magic, would you
waste it on an effect like this? [my italics]”

Helms went on to add: “Interest depends entirely on meaning. The degree

of interest that spectators take in any performance is in direct proportion to
its meaning for them.” [my italics]

His words did not dampen my enthusiasm for Four-Ace Assemblies, but
they made me restrict my performances to magicians and fast company.
Besides, because the layouts required cards to be tabled, there was always a
visibility problem. The trick was suited for a small audience, seated or
standing around a table.

Enter Ace-Cardman, John Guastaferro.

He has breathed new life in this classic effect by working out an elegant
version of the Four-Ace Assembly called “Vino Aces,” which neatly solves
many of the intrinsic drawbacks of this effect if you want to perform it in a
parlor setting. John does this by performing Mac MacDonald’s version,
using four wine glasses. With each vanish/change, the magician toasts the
spectator, who holds the “leader” glass.

John writes: While the idea of using wine glasses and cards is not new (see
Hofzinser and Ricky Jay), the presentation of MacDonald’s Aces has many
benefits, both for the performer and the audience. The presentation provides
a wonderful setting and approach because it adds ‘sound’ (clinking),
elegance/civility (wine glasses, toasting), visibility and audience interaction.
The use of wine glasses allows the audience to enjoy the effect from nearly
any position in the room, making it ideal for parlor conditions. Other Ace
Assemblies would not work in this setting since spectators must be

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positioned to look down at the table. Additionally, there is an all-important
‘hands-off’ quality to this effect.

“The wine glasses take on a very captivating role here. What is suggested is
that the ‘magic’ is occurring because of the glasses and the toasts. This is
interesting because it is the cards that magically travel and the glasses that
remain stationary. In the end, since the cards can be seen through the
glasses, the wine glasses and the cards work in visual unity.”

John’s routine is mentioned here to establish his approach and to illustrate

another example of how to personally interpret and humanize tricks, even if
they are classic plots that have been improved and varied to a fare-thee-well.
John plans to publish his routine soon. So, watch for it.

Sidebar: Although e-mail and the exchange of video-clips via the Internet
are now commonplace, magicians still “session” vis-à-vis and brain-storm.
This kind of cerebral synergism often results in entire books. I’ve already
mentioned John Bannon’s Dear Mr. Fantasy, which is an example of how
one creator is inspired to explore tangents growing out of sessions and
devising solutions on his own. I remember the high degree of stimulation I
felt when sitting around a table with Ed Marlo, Simon Aronson, Dave
Solomon, and John Bannon, five decks or more in play, and five mind-styles
attacking a card problem.

Although I may have teased readers enough by not providing Guastaferro’s

detailed method in these pages, I will share some of my personal comments I
made to John as I responded to his work-in-process. This, in part, shows
how a duo-logue can proceed:

“Getting the Aces into play and setting the stage in almost every Ace
Assembly is always a challenge. The actions, although necessary, are not
interesting. There is also the irresistible temptation to “prove” that the Aces
are normal. The canceling-out impulse is difficult to suppress. The
argument goes something like this: ‘If I subliminally or overtly show both
sides of the Aces a few times, this ‘impression’ will register and later on the
suspicion that the Aces might be gimmicked or faked in some way will not
be aroused.’

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“I like your lead-in, but it has a different kind of purity that doesn’t seem to
emotionally blend together as well as I’d like. The tone of each part seems
different and a manipulative aura. Everything occurs in the hands. Perhaps
it’s the fact that indeed the aesthetics are different? I’ll have to meditate on
this a bit longer.

“I’d prefer to show four wine glasses, four Aces, and twelve indifferent cards
at the outset rather than generating everything (except the glasses) from a
shuffled deck in play. The quicker one can get into the primary effect, the
better. Once the spectators see the wine glasses, which will be more
interesting than the playing cards, they are eager to see what you are going
to do with the glasses, not the cards. I find this interesting because it is the
cards that magically travel and the glasses remain stationary. What is
suggested is that the “magic” is occurring because of the glasses and the
toasts. On a more subtle level (layer?), wine glasses are transparent and
glisten. Cards are opaque.

“Aces, although they have a high or low value in gaming, are not very
interesting to look at. The solitary pip in the center of a field of whiteness
may be stark, but it is not as beautiful and intricate as a court card. One
looks like a bulls-eye; the other, a stained-glass window. Therefore, I would
use Queens or Kings. The indifferent cards, for contrast, would be low-value
spot cards of the same color, probably black.”

Let me end by reminding readers of Ricky Jay’s famous rendition of

McDonald’s Aces. He personalized the feat by making the presentation
retrospective and quaint, applying patter (almost verbatim) taken from
Expert at the Card Table (Erdnase)—namely the words from “The Exclusive
Coterie” with lines such as:

“…how futile are the efforts of plebeians to break into that select circle of
society known as the Beau-monde, and especially how such entrée is
prevented by the polite by frigid exclusiveness of its gentler members…as
you have seen, I have brutally taken advantage of these unprotected and
tenderly nurtured creatures by placing them in circumstances that must be
extremely galling to their aristocratic sensibilities…”

It may also be fitting to round off this ramble with a last line by Erdnase:

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“In all card entertainments the more palaver the more the interest is excited,
and the address and patter of the performer will count as much if not more
than his skill in manipulation.”

Onward…

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