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SECRETSTHE ORIGINAL MAGIC OF TERRI ROGERS

Written by TERRI ROGERS

Edited by MARTIN BREESE

Illustrated by DAVID BRITLAND

Published by MARTIN BREESE PUBLISHING LTD. Jan 1986.

()Copyright by Martin Breese Publishing Ltd.All rights reserved. No part of this book may bereproduced or utilized in any form or by any meanselectronic or mechanical, including photocopying,recording or by any information storage and retrievalsystem without permission in writing from the publisher.

Martin Breese Publishing Ltd.,

164 Kensington Park Road,

Notting Hill Gate,

London W11 2ER.

meet lerri Roqe'i1Terri Rogers is a professional ventriloquist with an actthat has earned her international fame. Terri and herpartner, Shorty, after many years of success workingclubs, cabaret and variety were spotted by shrewd TVproducer, John Hamp who first brought Terri to the noticeof the viewing public via his great series 'TheWheeltappers and Shunter's Club'. Three times theirreverent Shorty was taken from his case for the benefitof the programme's fast growing audience.

Terri was soon much in demand as a guest artist on manyother TV shows including 'Meet and Greet', 'The DavidNixon Show', 'The Magic Circle Show' and Paul Daniels' 'Blackpool Bonanza'.

Then Terri's TV career took a different turn, beginningwith her appearance on a documentary, 'The Comediennes'.This programme showed Terri and Shorty at home and at workas well as bringing in a psychologist who tried to analyseShorty; only to find himself being analysed instead.

The show was repeated several times and gave Terri theopportunity to reach an audience numbering millions. Oneresult of the documentary was a Hollywood offer and Terriand Shorty were whisked across the Atlantic to appear in aHome-Box Office special devoted to ventriloquism. Theshow, produced at the Mayfair Music Hall, reached a vastAmerican audience. For the second time in her life Terrihad been discovered.

The first time was when the famous showman, Carol Levis,spotted her when his show played Terri's home town ofIpswich in Suffolk, England. Levis could hardly ignoresomeone with such obvious potential and from this

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ginning followed years of touring, playing clubs andeatres throughout the British Isles in addition togular tours for the US forces in Germany.

rri's interest in magic goes back to her childhood,ginning with the purchase of a small box of tricks fromolworths. Throughout her professional career she has enpre-occupied with magic during her every spare ment.The interest has led to life-long friendships thwonderful magicians Ken Brooke and Pat Page as wellmeetings with such greats as Dai Vernon, Ken Krenzel

d Iry Weiner.

iL ANDREWS

CONTENTS

RAZOR BLADES FROM MOUTH 4.....................

THE PIRISH COMPASS 15.........................

IT'S A STICK UP 26............................

BLANK AMAZEMENT 31............................

THE COMPUTER DECK 33..........................

BOTTOM'S UP 38................................

THE CHINESE TWIST 40..........................

SMALLER'N THAT 44.............................

THE HOLEY TUBE 50.............................

SHOOT OUT 56..................................

THE ITALIAN ROPE TRICK 60.....................

T.T.F.N. (OR THE GAMBLER'S CURE) 64...........

CURRY FLAVOUR 70..............................

TRY THIS 74...................................

FINAL WORDS 80................................

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RaorB1ades9rom ; m o u t hOne of the classic stage-tricks; 'The Razor-Blades FromMouth' has always fascinated me, combining, as it does, themagic of doing the impossible with an element of danger.Although the trick has probably been performed by thousandsof magicians all over the world, without any problems, Ipersonally have never liked the methods used. I have seenseveral ways of switching the blades or getting the secondset into the mouth but, although clever, I think that mostof the established methods have some weakness or looksuspicious. For example: might not the spectator wonderwhy the magician should put the blades into a receptacle,only to empty them into his mouth? The original methodseemed so fraught with danger that it is hardly surprisingthat magicians sought other ways. So I put my mind toworking out a way of performing the same effect, with aminimum of suspicious moves, yet keeping the basic effectuntouched. The routine that follows is so clean andtrouble-free that I have been asked by some of the leadingmagicians to release it for their exclusive use. However, Ihave decided, instead, to reveal it in these pages, in thecertain knowledge that it is worth many times the price ofthis book.

HERE ARE THE MAIN ADVANTAGES:

1. The genuine blades never enter the mouth.

2. The threaded blades are not introduced untilthe very second that they start to appear. Thismeans that you can patter just as long as youwish prior to producing a string of glisteningblades, from your mouth, via a completely emptyhand.3. There are no suspicious moves at all. The 4

hands are seen to be empty of all except thatwhich they are supposed to be holding.

THE EFFECT

The razor-blades are exhibited on a semi-circular stand. Ablade is taken and used to cut up a playing-card. One byone the other blades are removed from the stand and heldin a fan at the right fingertips. The hand squares theblades and pops them into the mouth without any suspiciousmoves. The right hand picks up a cotton-reel and unwindsabout two feet of the thread and breaks it from the reel.The cotton thread is rolled into a ball by hands whichappear to be otherwise empty. The ball of cotton is openlyplaced into the mouth.

Now with obviously empty hands, the performer reaches intothe mouth with finger and thumb and pulls out a razor-blade attached to a short length of thread. He continuesto draw the cotton line forth until another razor-blademakes its appearance firmly tied onto the thread. Drawingthe cotton further, it is seen that all the blades arethreaded at intervals along its length. There appear to beno tricky moves and the whole thing looks utterlyimpossible.

METHOD

You will, by this time, be tearing your hair trying tofigure it out. To save us all the horror of lots of baldmagicians, I have decided to blow the gaff. Let's dealwith the first obstacle: namely, putting the blades in themouth. In the old methods, this part was not onlyunhygenic but quite dangerous. In my method the bladesappear to go into the mouth, but do no such thing as it isjust an illusion. Incidently, all these blades can bereally sharp but I don't think this is necessary becauseyou don't have to slice cards with every blade. Still, Ileave this to you.

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i

One blade is gimmicked, which makes the illusion possibleand, when I perform the effect, it is the only sharpblade. All you need to make the gimmick is a paper-clipand four inches of very fine nylon-thread. I have foundthe clear invisible-mending thread sold by haberdashers tobe ideal. First tie the nylon thread into a loop, whichwhen looped over the first finger will make the knot reachabout three-quarters of an inch into the palm when pulledtaut. When the knot has been securely tied and trimmed,thread the knotted end through the paper-clip at the non-business end. When sufficient loop is through, thread theother end of the loop through the knotted end, and pulluntil tight. A spot of 'Superglue'

at this joint will prevent any tendency for the thread tounravel but use only a tiny amount. When you have done allthis you should have a paper-clip with a two inch nylonloop attached at one end (and if you are not very careful,your finger as well, so do watch that glue).

Now either glue or solder the clip to the razor-blade, insuch a way that the clip is not seen through the holes.The illustration should make everything clear. I havefound that by roughening the blade where the paper-clipgoes, superglue will make a permanent bond.

If you have done all this correctly, you should be able toloop the nylon over your first finger, and the bladeshould hang in a palming position. This gimmick willenable you to seemingly swallow a number of blades,without a single blade entering your mouth.

Here then is the first stage of the routine. The bladesare displayed on a stand and the gimmicked blade is thelast one. (In other words at the end of the stand.) Itsloop protrudes upwards, in such a position that it canlater be engaged by the fingers. If you wish, you can showthat all the blades are sharp, starting to slice cardswith them in turn, beginning with the blade which is atthe opposite end of the stand to the gimmick.

When you take the gimmicked blade, engage the forefinger

One of the genuine

blades is gimmicked.

The forefinger is

placed through the

loop of thread and

the gimmick can

then be easily

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through the loop. (The other blades have been replacedafter showing.) Pick it up with the forefinger at itsfront and thumb at the rear. Cut your playing card, thenimmediately start taking blades, two or three at a time andsecretly slide them into the clip at the back of thegimmicked blade as you arrange them into a small fan. Whenall the blades have been removed the left hand helps squarethem into a bundle and you display them to the audience,raising your hand about ten inches higher than it was andextending your arm. This indicates to the spectators thatyou are about to do something very important.

The bundle can now be brought, quite naturally, up to themouth where the right thumb releases the blades, whichimmediately fall and hang in the position previouslydescribed (ie palm position). The hand continues towardsthe mouth and the fingers open wide as they touch thelips. Obviously the mouth has been opened as if to receivethe blades. The fingers of the right hand remain open andthe hand drops naturally to the side as you make a pretenceof chewing and eventually swallowing the blades.

Remember just what you are supposed to be doing - poppingsomething into your mouth and then eating it. So portrayjust that. Practise in front of a mirror, holding abiscuit up instead of the blades. Note the timing onputting the biscuit in your mouth and then dropping yourhand. Ensure that you follow the blades with your eyes asyou bring them towards you. If you act it out correctly inperformance, you will see people wince when you apparentlyput them into your mouth. When you see that, you know you'

re creating the right illusion.

STAGE TWO: Cotton-reels these days are made of plastic andare hollow, except for dome thin fluting which holds thecentre in place. The size of the reel that you obtain isimportant. Mine is a 500 yard mercerised cotton-reel, theperfect size for the job. Hollow out the centre and

The gimmicked blade

holds the remaining

blades in position prior

to apparently being

swallowed.

The thumbtip holding the

artificial blades is

hidden inside the cotton

reel. The reel is placed

out of view, perhaps

behind the stand, so

that as it is picked up

the real blades can be

ditched.

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stick a piece of circular card at one end. The reel isplaced behind the stand so that it can easily be graspedby the right hand. In the hollow portion of the reel isplaced the 'tricky-bit' that makes the trick work and setsit miles ahead of the others. What can it be? The simple 'thumb-tip', inside of which are the strung-blades.

I can almost hear you saying: "Where am I going to getblades small enough ...or a big enough thumb-tip?" Don'tworry. You see, as I have already hinted, the blades arenot real. They are in fact made of metalised polyester,sold under the trade names of 'Melinex' (in Britain) and '

Mylon' (in the U.S.A). This material has many uses whichwill suggest themselves to you if you handle it. If youare in the habit of making props it is well worth having aroll of this untarnishable, unbreakable, pliable mirroredplastic around. But I'm moving too quickly, let's get backto the presentation.

You have just seemingly swallowed the blades. Your righthand has been placed, momentarily, behind the stand inorder to pick up the cotton-reel. The palmed stack ofblades is released and allowed to fall onto the tablewhere it will remain hidden by the stand or any otherprop you may have. The right thumb is inserted into thetip within the reel, the curved nature of the nestedimitation blades allows this, the pad of the thumb cominginto contact with the first blade of the threaded set.When this has been done the first and second fingersshould grip the cotton-reel at its other end and the reelbrought into view without removing the thumb or tip.

The left hand now unwinds about two feet of cotton andbreaks it off. The right hand then replaces the reel onthe table and the tip comes away with the right thumb. Youare now ready for the big finale. Your left hand has beentrying to roll the two feet of cotton into a ball. It isnot unnatural therefore to bring the right hand into playto assist. The thumb-tip is completely invisible if thethumb is kept pointing towards the

audience and the hand held naturally. In rolling thecotton-ball there is plenty of opportunity to demonstratethat your hands are otherwise empty.

The left hand holding the ball of cotton is raised to themouth and pops it in. (I ditch it whilst rolling it into aball and mime the rest.) You can still patter andtherefore build the finish. What you say is up to you andmust suit your personality. I like to patter right up tothe point when I want to produce the blades. At that pointI stop talking, my eyes open wide, and my left handclutches my midriff as if I have had a sudden shock. (I'llleave the nature of the dramatics to you.)

When ready for the climax, the right hand should be heldstraight out, palm down, fingers slightly open and thumbpointing at the audience. This is difficult to describe,but it is as if you are inviting the audience to payattention. It takes but a second and emphasises that theright hand is empty. What happens next should make themgasp. Bring your right hand up to your mouth, inserting thethumb and loaded tip therein. Do this quickly but draw thefirst blade into view more slowly to be followed by all theothers. Be careful as the last one emerges, rememberingthat the end of the cotton is still attached to the thumb-tip. This means that you need to insert your thumb backinto your mouth as if to hold the end of the cotton but infact to re-insert the thumb into the tip which is nowempty. Display the blades and smile as you enjoy your wellearned applause.

MANUFACTURING DETAILS

I believe that the best blades for this trick are theGerman 'Pajarito 155'. They are suitable as they have justthree holes rather than being three-holed and slotted asare most razor blades sold today. Slotted blades tend tocontribute to the fouling of threads and should be avoided.The German blades have semi-circular ends which are usefulwhen making copies in 'Melinex' for the dummy blades. Mostof the dealer-sets are made

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The 'stacker' helpsyou to set up thethreaded blades.

You will need a stand

on which to display

the genuine blades.

The blades can be

held in place by

sections of

magnetic strip as

shown in the

illustration.

from suitable blades, so if you find it difficult toobtain the correct blades you can always invest in anold-style set of apparatus.

You will need a good punch for making the holes in thedummy blades and a good sharp pair of scissors to cut the 'Melinex' into those vicious looking imitations. You willalso need a small piece of plywood or hardboard and twothree-quarter inch panel pins. This is to make the 'StrungBlade Loader'. To make this, take one of the real bladesand place it on the wood. Make two pencil dots in the deadcentre of the two outer holes. Discard the blade and knockthe two panel pins upright into the wood, where the dotsare. Next, with sharp pliers, nip off the heads of thepins and file smooth (this will facilitate the easysliding on and off of the strung blades). This piece ofequipment is perhaps as important as the propsthemselves. Its purpose is to stack the blades with thecotton neatly folded between each. We will refer to it asthe 'stacker'.

Back to the blades. There are no short-cuts...if you willforgive the horrible pun. You must cut out the dummyblades singly using a genuine blade as a pattern. Do it asaccurately as possible and punch the holes cleanly so thatthe threads will not get snagged. The making andthreading of these dummy blades is the most timeconsuming job of all but you only have to do it once so besure to do it well.

To thread the blades use about three feet of strongthread to match the cotton you will use. Start by tyingone end of the thread to one blade which should then beplaced on the two pins of the stacker. Pull the threaddown to the pin opposite to where the knot is and back upto the knot again. You should now have one loop of threadthat encircles the pin opposite and finishes at the knot.This loop is about three and a half inches long; about thedistance that the blades should be knotted from eachother. I have found that a long darning needle, threadedat the free end of the cotton, helps enormously in tying

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a

the blades in place. Tie the blades about three and acalf inches apart along the length of the thread. Youwill have to do them singly, otherwise you will get in aness. When you have reached the last blade leave anotherthree inches of thread before attaching it to the thumb-tip at the side where the blades are going to be tested.You can use adhesive tape to fix it.

Jow for the stacking of the threaded blades. First putthe blade which is at the opposite end of the thread to :he thumb-tip onto the stacker. (I.E. Over the two pins.) ?ull the thread down around the opposite pin and back tothe first pin. If you have done this correctly you should3e able to push the next blade onto the stacker. Continuethis operation with all the blades and if confused lookat the illustrations. The blades are then removed fromthe stack and inserted into the thumb-tip.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

i'ou will notice that I have not specified just how manyblades should be used in the effect. Well, I started outwith a dozen. That number fitted quite well into mythumb-tip but now I use only eight. This is mainlybecause a lesser number speeds up the effect but is just3s showy.

)ne more point: when loading the blades into the thumb-tip, do it so that the knots are nearest the opening.This ensures that the blades will slide out freely andeasily.

[ use a 'Vernet' thumb-tip as this is quite roomy and canoe placed in hot-water to be expanded if necessary.

kny stand can be used for the blades as long as you canIitch the gimmick behind it. The illustrations showletails of the one that I use and which you should findaasy to construct.

the PirLA Camp_Before I start explaining the workings and history of the '

Pirish Compass', it is only right that I should express mythanks to Martin Gardner, who opened my eyes to the magicof topology. If you haven't explored this amazing world ofshapes then it's time that you did. Anyone who has followedmy progress in magic will know that I have a great interestin the application of such things in conjuring. Thank YouMartin.

The sheer simplicity of the modus operandi of this effectis matched only by its possibilities. Rather than writereams on all the effects possible using this principle, Iwill explain one and let your mind and imagination do therest. When I explain this amazing effect, inspired by acardboard fly-killer container which attracted myattention whilst clearing up some trash, you willunderstand: A: what I mean by using your imagination. B:what a fascinating subject topology is. Never again willyou look at a shape without exploring its possibilitiesand the facets of its nature.

We all see arrows in some form or other literallythousands of times during a year without really taking toomuch notice of them. Well, now you are going to be let intothe secret of an alternate arrow one that changes itsdirection with a minimum of handling and with amazingresults.

To make up the arrow, as a pocket-effect, cut four piecesof card, six inches long and three-quarters of an inchwide. Make sure that all the pieces are cut accurately asone piece being even slightly different from the otherswill throw the whole project out of gear. When you havedone this, scotch-tape the pieces together by their long-edges thus forming an oblong, six inches by three

L4 15

inches. Keeping the oblong-shape Scotch-tape upwards,stick a piece of the tape, six inches long, onto one ofthe long edges leaving half of the tape overlapping. Flipup this section of the oblong so that the sticky side ofthe tape is now exposed. (see illustration.)

Now flip over the opposite section so that it attachesitself to the exposed sticky section of the tape. Makesure that the edges meet exactly and using your thumbpress down on the place where the two edges meet at oneend. Keeping the pressure on the join, run your thumb downto the opposite end making sure that the Scotch-tape isstuck on both sides.

So now the four pieces have been formed into a tube, sixinches high. With a pencil, number the sections one tofour. Do this lightly so that you can erase the numberslater. This will help you to follow the instructions moreeasily.

With the tube collapsed flat you will soon discover thatby squeezing the sides, so that the end of the tube opensmouth-like, you can alter the combination of sides one andtwo, two and three, three and four and four and one yetthe shape will stay the same, oblong. Now with the tubeflat, and with the sides one and two uppermost, cut thetop end to a point. This must be done with great accuracy,cuts being made at exactly the same angle on each section,and meeting at the top-junction of sides one and two asshown in the illustrations. When you have done this,squeeze the sides again, forming an arrow-tail. Now, usingthe same angle as before, cut a point at the other end,once more being very careful to get that angle exactlyright.

If you have done all this you now have a simplealternative arrow. It may be that you feel this simplisticform of the effect is all that is necessary. Later we willexplain the more involved and complicated applications.For now, if you are happy with it, you need only markstripes on the apparatus with a felt-tipped pen

to hide the joins and complete the prop.

To make the arrow change just squeeze the sides undercover of one hand and this will give you the effect in asimple form. If you wish you can make a paper tube justwide enough to slide the arrow through but not long enoughto cover the whole length of it. Show the tube empty andslide the arrow into it, point first, making sure that thespectators are aware of its direction. Cover the tail withone hand and when the arrow is halfway through, squeezeand change it (secretly of course). Continue to push thearrow through the tube until the tail starts to protudefrom the opposite end. Remove the arrow to show that ithas seemingly changed direction despite having beencontained.

Let's go further with this simple straight-arrow. Thereare a few letters of the alphabet which you cannot turnupside-down. For example: I, 0, S, N, H, X, Z. As luckwould have it, N and S are two of these and of coursestand for North and South. So let us add these two lettersto our arrow to form a compass.

Just to confuse things, it is crucial to the movesinvolved that these letters be placed in the correctposition. With the arrow's point facing away from you,either paint, draw or label, the letter 'N' at the point-end, but to the right of the centre-join. Likewise put theletter 'S' at the tail-end, but left of the join as seen inthe illustrations. With this arrangement you can now bringabout an effect so confusing that it will take a lot ofexplaining.

EFFECT

Performer removes an arrow from his or her pocket and itis shown to be blank on both sides.

"This may look like an ordinary arrow, but it is in factthe culmination of fifty years research by a team ofscientists. There were two of them, one Irish and one

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Polish. Hence the name of this instrument, The PirishCompass. Like its inventors, the compass doesn't quiteknow whether it is coming or going. When they firstbrought it to me, I immediately pointed out that if it wassupposed to be a compass it should, surely, have someindication as to the direction in which it was supposed tobe pointing ..North ...South ...East or West?

The Irish professor stopped turning the compass over andover in his hand. "Oh but it has.." he said "it's got an 'N'

to indicate North." With that he removed his fingers fromthe tail, and there, to my amazement, was an 'N'. Thisannoyed me because I was sure that I had seen both sidescompletely blank, plus the fact that the 'N' was in thewrong position. I pointed out to him: "The 'N' should be atthe point."

At this he turned it over to reveal an 'S' at the point,saying: "As you can see there is already an 'S' at thepoint, meaning South."

As I was about to tell him just where, in my opinion, thepoint would do the most good, he looked me in the eye andsaid: "You're not happy with it, are you?" I told him thatI would indeed have been happier without it. He asked me:"Is it the colour?" I said: "You have missed the point. Andso for that matter has the letter 'N'. Not only that butwhy have you got them on opposite sides?" "It's simple.."

he said. "It's in good company." I replied.

"I'll put that smile on the other side of your face." Hesaid. "It would be better if you were to put the 'S' onthe other side of the arrow instead of losing yourtemper." I said.

Fortunately, at that point, the Polish professor came tolife, saying: "I've told him he doesn't know his 'artic'

from his elbow ..he's done it wrong, hasn't he? It shouldhave a tail at both ends, shouldn't it?"

1. Hinge the sections together with tape.

2. Fold and join to form a flat tube.

3. The ends are trimmed to form a point.

4. Refold the tube so that the pointed end

becomes the tail of the arrow and then trim

the opposite end to form a second point.

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I waited until he had finished before telling him that HEhad got it WRONG too. I also mentioned that I was sick ofthe whole thing. The Pole pulled himself up to his fullfive-and-a-half yards and said: "Wait a minute, just tell uswhat you want?"

The Irishman stopped trying to put his 'Rubic-Cube' intoits box. (Well, its not easy with the lid on.) "Yes, tellus what you want?" He said.

I said that all I wanted to do was go home. The Irishman'seyes lit up "Would you be needing a compass.." he giggled, "

its got an 'N' at the point, to show where the North-poleis, and an 'S' at the tail to show where the South is. Ifthat's wrong, I'll emigrate to the East."

And so, as the golden sun sunk slowly in the west, I saidfarewell to the Irish and Polish professors, telling themexactly what they could do with their Pirish Compass.

THE METHOD

The effect depends upon a series of Paddle Turnovers. I'lldescribe the various moves below. By following the patterstory and the illustrations you should have no trouble infollowing the routine.

BLANK TURNOVER(l): This move is in the initial stages ofthe effect when both sides are shown completely blank.Have the arrow in the correct set-up: 'N' at the point and'S' at the tail. Lay it, letters down and point away fromyou on the left hand, at the fingertips, with the pointoverlapping the hand by two inches. The right handapproaches the left hand, palm upwards. Right hand passesunder the left. The right first and second fingers andthumb grasp the sides of the arrow near the point. Theright hand now lifts the arrow off the palm, turning itinwards towards the body, at the same time as turning thearrow over and inwards. You will find, by extending thethumb and closing the fingers, you can flex the arrow as

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it is being turned over. (All in the same action.) So whenthe arrow is pointing towards you and laying on the leftpalm, in reverse, the letters are still face down.

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BLANK TURNOVER (1)

The arrow is

secretly turned over

by pushing on its edge

with the thumb and

pulling on the

opposite edge with

the fingers. See

Diagram 2. This is

similar to the usual

3

BLANK TURNOVER (2): Start in the same position as thefirst turnover. Grip the same as before but, as the arrow isturned inwards, squeeze with the thumb and fingers of theright hand until it has changed its form. This time whenthe arrow is lying on the left hand at the end of the turn,the right first and second fingers should cover the letter '

N'. What has also happened is that the point has changedends. But if done after a couple of No.1 turns, it goesunnoticed.

Now continuing from the point where the right fingers arecovering the letter 'N', the left first and second fingersnow grip the point, the fingers underneath (covering the 'S') and thumb on top. Now turn the arrow inwards, asbefore, but with the left fingers and thumb doing theturning. When the arrow is pointing upwards the right handfingers and thumb release their grip on the tail. Keep thetwo fingers extended to let the arrow swivel around thembefore gripping the tail at the outer end again. This isrepeated for as long as the patter story calls for it. Theillustrations should clarify the moves.

Once you understand how the arrow works you'll have notrouble with the routine. The moves enable you to show thearrow blank, cause the letters to appear and change thepositions of the point and tail.

Left handed magicians should be careful because theflexing move gives different results when performed withthe left hand instead of the right. If you try it you'llsee that the move is not the same because the arrow isbeing flexed in a different direction. There are twosections of the arrow on each side and the flexingexchanges only one of them. If you flex the arrow with theopposite hand then you are exchanging a different section.So the left handed routine will be slightly different tothe right handed routine.

BLANK TURNOVER (

2) This time the

arrow is 'flexed' as

it is turned over.

The thumb and

fingers push together,

as in Diagram 2,

forcing the tube to

form into a

different shape. The

arrow turns end for

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THE IMPROVED ARROW

The diagrams opposite give details of a more advancedform of the 'Pirish Compass'. It is constructed from foursections A,B,C and D.

Sections B and D are identical. The sections are hingedtogether along the straight edges following thearrangement shown in the illustrations ie A to B to C toD. Finally join D to A to form a tube.

Diagram 2 shows one side of the finished arrow anddiagram 3 the other side. When the arrow is flexed thearrow head forms a new tail and the tail forms a newarrow head at the opposite end. The arrow should bedecorated so that the joins cannot be seen by thespectators. You can do this by creating a pattern on thesurface of the arrow or covering the arrow in felt (theself-adhesive kind available in a roll from art shops) orother material which will make the joins less obvious. Anycoverings of this kind should be put on the arrow beforeit is assembled.

A FINAL TIP

The larger the arrow the more difficult it will be toflex. However, you can construct an arrow which will flexitself by incorporating an elastic device similar to thatused on production pop-up dice. This will give you onechange but it will be instantaneous.

If you are doing a longer routine then merely glue asmall piece of sponge inside the arrow. This forces thetube to open slightly as soon as you release pressure andenables you to flex the tube easily. You need to apply alittle pressure to squeeze the arrow flat after thechange but this doesn't present any problems.

THE IMPROVED ARROW

ABCD ,/

~A 3j D

O

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at's Stick lApJOne of my magical friends, Jack Jansen, apart from being areally nice guy and a talented magician, has a habit ofusing sticky-labels on cards. When someone chooses a card,he has them stick a label on it and sign it. This he doesin order to save ruining cards as after the show he canpeel them off. I see his point but I have a collection ofsigned cards that I have built up through the years,simply by presenting such effects. I have cardsautographed by Ricky Jay, Gaeton Bloom and David Roth toname but a few. For the benefit of those who are notautograph hunters, here is a trick that uses those sticky-labels and I dedicate it to Jack Jansen.

EFFECT

A spectator chooses a card under the fairest ofconditions. The spectator sticks a label, bearing hissignature, onto the back of the card. The performer alsochooses a card and likewise signs a label and attaches itto the back of his card. The two cards are placed, facedownwards, side by side with their signed labels showing.The magician and spectator guard their cards yet, underseemingly impossible conditions, the cards change places.

PREPARATION

You will need a pack of cards and some sticky-labels. Thekind I suggest are circular and about half-an-inch across.You'll also need a double-backed card. This doesn't need tobe a specially printed fake. Just stick two Jokers face toface. That will serve well enough.

To set up for the trick, prior to performance, sign a labeland stick it to the centre of one of the backs on thespecial card. Sign another label and stick it on the

centre of the back of any other card. Try to make your twosignatures as alike as possible. Having done this, placeyour double-backer, label uppermost, on top of your facedown pack. Place the other labelled card face up, secondfrom the face of the pack. Pop the pack in its box and youare all set.

PERFORMANCE

"When I was a kid, my mom used to sew labels on all myclothes and write my name on them. I used to be sick ofseeing my name all the time. I only had to pull my socksup and there it was staring me in the face. If I took offmy hat there it was again. If I changed my clothes Iwould see my name at least a dozen times. So why did Ihave to wear Clarke's shoes? I finally got hooked on theidea and became a label nut. The time came when I wassticking labels, with my name on them, onto things thatdidn't even belong to me. My mother gave up but I carriedon. Here I'll show you what I mean.."

Take the cards from their case and thumb off the topdouble-backed card and point out its label. Place thecard on the table.

"You see the label with my signature? That means this is mycard. Other people have properly printed ones but with anact like mine the money never stretched that far. I havesome labels left over, would you care to sign one? Thankyou. Now I know that you are about to ask me where I wantyou to stick it... but I'll avoid the obvious in case youstick one on me."

While speaking, pick up the pack and hold it in bothhands with the right hand over the top, thumb at theinner short ends and fingers at the outer short ends. Theleft hand is underneath with the thumb on top. The leftfingers hold a break between the two bottom cards and thebalance of the pack. The right hand now takes the packfrom above and the break is maintained by the rightthumb. Once this has been done, remove the left hand from

26 27

the pack as it is now supported entirely by the right hand.

Peel a card from the top of the pack with the left thumbonto the left palm. Continue peeling cards from the rightto left hand and then say, "Will you say stop somewhereplease, and wherever you stop me, that will be your card."

Keep peeling cards and then comment, "Today ...ifpossible."

When he says 'stop' be sure you know which card he means, iethe one on top of the left hand pile or the one still ontop of the deck. Whichever one it is, ensure that it istransferred to the top of the left packet and then requestthat he place his label on the back of the card. Thespectator has not seen the face of the card. Tell him to "Stick your label on the back of your card. Remember yourcard - it shouldn't be hard - it's got your signature onit."

Point to the label with the right forefinger then slidethe labelled card about three-quarters of an inch over theedge of the pile, at the long edge, using the left thumbto push it there. Then with the inner long edge of theright hand pile, flip the chosen card face up but as theright hand flips the card over it continues its movefollowing the chosen card. It is now face up and coveredcompletely from view for a split second. In that fractionof time let the right thumb release the two bottom cardsof its pile on to the top of the chosen card. Theillustrations show the move.

When you flip the chosen card over and perform the move,the right hand pile should appear to be merely stabilisingthe flipped-over card. The face of the chosen card must notbe seen. Practise the move by flipping a card overnormally and then try to make the move match the naturalaction.

As the right hand pile is removed there should be a faceup card on top of the left hand pile. It is the one with

your signed label on its back. This card is now pushed offface up onto the table with the left thumb.

The spectator assumes that the tabled card is hisselection because this is the first time he has seen theface. You then ask him to - "Tell everyone the name of yourcard ...loud and clear. You'd be surprised how many peopleforget their card."

While the spectator is telling everyone the name of hiscard, the pile in the left hand is placed on top of the

THE TIP OVER

The right thumb holds a break

above the lower two cards of

its half. The left thumb pushes

over the selection.

As the right hand packet levers over the left

hand card it releases the cards below the

thumb-break.

28 2')

pile in the right hand and then the whole pack is turnedover and placed face up on the table.

You pick up the double-backed card with your signed labeland say, "Good.. now I'm going to place my signed card,reversed into the pack." The doubled-backed card should beplaced on top of the face up pack and the pack given acomplete cut.

"Does anyone remember what my card was?" As the spectatorswere never shown the card they will have to say no. "No...do I have to do everything myself?" During this mock-annoyance you turn the deck face down and spread it toreveal one face up card which you remove and place face upon the table.

"This is my card. Please remember the .... of ....because I'm going to test you." This card is in fact theone with the spectator's label on the back. Scoop up thespectator's card (the one he thinks is his) and slide itunder the other tabled card (apparently yours) and thenturn both cards over together. Place the card with thespectator's label on it face down in front of him.

Ask the spectator to place his hand over his card and notto let anyone near it. You do the same with your card. Askthe spectator to name his card and then say, "Would yourepeat that ..louder please?" and then when he does say "

After all the trouble my mother went to. Look at yourcard."

When the card is turned over it is seen to have changed toyour card and when your card is turned over it is seen tohave changed into his card. "Never mind ...go and see yourdoctor as soon as you can. Show him your card and he willtell you what to do with it."

The style of presentation is of course a matter of tasteand preference but, if done with tongue-in-cheek, I'm surethat the idea of a magician slowly losing his cool willget laughs.

Blank gAmapment

This trick also uses the Tip Over Change described in 'It'sA Stick-up', so if you have already got the hang of it therest will be easy.

You require a blank-faced pack of cards, with red or bluebacks, one face card with a contrasting back and a slip ofpaper with the name of the odd backed card written on it.

To set up the trick place the stranger card (odd backed,face card) face up, second from the bottom of the pack.The prediction (slip of paper) should be in your pocket.

Commence by saying, "One of the greatest magicians in theworld gave me a blank cheque for this one card trick. Irefused his offer but, if the cheque had something writtenon it, I might have taken him up on it. All good cardtricks start with a spectator taking a card. Well this isthe exception. It is, in my opinion, one of the mostincredibly bad card tricks in the world. I have, onoccasion, been paid thousands not to perform it, so unlessyou can afford a lot of money, you'll just have to put upwith it."

Whilst pattering away, you can be shuffling the cards,though taking care to keep the bottom two cards where theyare. Also do not let the audience see the blank faces.

"I have in my pocket a prediction that I wrote, on a pieceof paper whilst waiting for applause for the last trick.Would you hold it for me?"

At this point take the prediction from your pocket andhand it to a spectator.

30 31

"Take care of it because it's worth money. When you gethome, sleep with it under your pillow and it might turninto a tooth." While pattering you are getting on with thetrick and holding the deck face down in the right hand,from above, between thumb and fingers. The fingers are atthe outer short edge of the deck and the thumb at theinner short edge. This is just as described in 'It's AStick-Up'. The right thumb holds a break over the bottomtwo cards of the deck. The patter covers the setting up ofthe break and right hand grip.

"I'm going to move cards from the top of the deck likethis.. would you please call stop when you feel like it.Just say "stop" when you feel bored with watching thesecards."

Peel cards from the top of the deck onto the left handand, whenever the spectator says stop, you execute the TipOver Change and push off the face up card with the leftthumb saying.. "Out of fifty-two cards, you stopped me atthis one. Will you please read the prediction. As you willsee they are one and the same." After the prediction isread out you continue, "Do I get the impression that youthink all the cards are the same? Am I right? Well, youare right too... they are all the same... they all havered backs."

When the chosen card is pushed onto the table, you areleft with two packets of cards, one in the left hand, onein the right. Place the right hand packet under the lefthand packet and ribbon-spread the pack from left to right,face down without revealing the blank face up card secondfrom the top. Try and coincide the spread with the words: "

They all have red backs" and then flip over the selectedcard to show that it now has a blue back.

Say, "The next bit gets looks of blank-amazement" as youdo a ribbon-turnover to show that the faces of the cardsare all blank. Well that's it. I can assure you that Ihave performed it many times and it always gets gasps.

the Computer deck

The idea for this item came to me after watching andlistening to a lecture by TED LESLEY, the wonderful GermanMagician. Apart from being an extremely talented magician,Ted is one of magic's thinkers , and is very generous tohis fellow magi. During his lecture he showed his rising-card routine which I might tell you, shook an awful lot ofthe magicians. I'm not going to tell you what he didbecause you should see his lecture and find out.

The title of the trick may have misled you into believingthis to be a new trick when, in point of fact, it is a newway of doing an old one. The difference between this andthe more usual presentation is that you tell the audiencethat the cards are gimmicked, but not of course giving themthe real explanation. In fact you tell them that the packis computerised and that instead of having to resort tomanipulations or sleight-of-hand, the pack itself can findchosen cards ...through electronic circuitry. Before youpanic or go off in search of a soldering-iron, let meassure you that this will work with all rising-card decksand that it is only the dressing that is different.

EFFECT

After a card has been selected, it is cut into the packwhich is then placed into its stand, box or tumbler andthen covered with a silk. The spectator is told that if hewhistles or sings it will start the computer deck to work.When the whistling, or singing starts a card is seen torise under the silk. The silk is removed but instead ofthe chosen card there is one bearing a message: "KEEP THENOISE DOWN PLEASE.. I'M TRYING TO THINK" This card isremoved (in a manner apt for the type

32 33

of rising card you are using) and the business repeated.This time another caption card rises and this one says: "

IS IT A BLACK CARD?" (Chorus of spectators shouting "No".

)

The card is removed as before with an apology from theperformer who blames the weather and tells everyone thatit affects the electronics. But he promises that the nextcard will be the chosen one. Another card rises with yetanother caption: "IS IT A RED CARD?" The performer loseshis cool and shouts at the deck, "Of course it is..if it'

s not black it has to be red." As he removes this card he

reveals another, shorter caption, at the foot of the card:"AND DON

'T SHOUT." Finally the business is repeated and the

correct card rises.

MANUFACTURING NOTES

The caption cards are blank-faced and match the deck inuse. The lettering of the captions should not beattempted by hand. (For one thing it is difficult towrite or paint on the surfaces of most playing cards. Foranother, most people are not capable of making a neat job

of the lettering.) Rather you should use 'Letraset' or

some other form of rub-down lettering plus some of thefinishing substance which will protect the lettering onceit is in place. The lettering can be obtained in acomputer type style similar to that shown in theillustrations. The shop assistant will have no troublefinding the right type.

Only one more thing to remember and that is that when thecard rises from the pack a portion of it will remaintrapped and unseen. Draw a light pencil line across eachblank card at the place where the top of the pack will bewhen the card has risen. Any lettering must appear wellabove this line or it will not be seen. However, in thecase of the double-captioned card, "DON'T SHOUT" should be

The illustrations

show both sides of

the single gimmicked

card described

in the

quiet...

am tryingto hick..

4

34 35

HANDLING

If you are using an electronic or clockwork deck, thethree fake cards and the duplicate of the one to beforced are arranged in the proper order for theirappearance. Usually the chosen card will be forced from anormal deck or a forcing deck.

If you use a Devano type deck you could replace themajority of the normal cards with duplicates of the forcecard to make the selection procedure easier. The forcecard should be red. You would start with the deck in thefollowing order from the top of the face down deck:- facedown duplicates, several indifferent cards, the risingunit and finally the three fake cards.

The deck is fanned face down without exposing the fakes.The spectator selects a card, which must be one of theduplicates, and it is noted and replaced back from whereit came. The deck is cut so as to bring the normal cardsto the face and place one of the duplicates below thefake cards. You are now set up to perform the routine inthe manner outlined earlier.

It is possible to perform the whole of the routine withonly one fake card. You use both ends and sides of thefake. One extra piece of preparation is needed to ensurethat there is a duplicate of the face card of the deckalso on top of the deck. This top card is reversed whichmeans that the deck can be turned over secretly withoutthe spectators noticing the change.

When the first card has risen, and has been observed,instead of removing it from the deck, carefully push itback down into the pack without disengaging the adhesivecontact. When the card has been pushed down level with thedeck it should be placed in the glass or houlette andcovered with the silk. As it is covered the glass isturned halfway round so that the next message will showwhen the card rises again. To get the other two messagesthe deck will have to be removed from the glass and

36

turned end-for-end as in the usual Devano routines. Notethat the push-down move is only possible with theadhesive-type Devano-Deck.

One last point, before a summary of the routine is given,

use a red Two or Four spot as the force card. This isbecause the lower half of the card is not seen and canprovide room for one of the messages as shown in theillustration. At the start of the routine the cards are inthe glass in the non-working way. The card is forced fromanother deck and as the computer deck is being describedit is removed and secretly turned end for end before beingreplaced. A silk is used to cover the glass and a cardwill rise under cover of it. The silk is removed andmessage disclosed.

The message card is carefully pushed back into the deckand the glass turned as the silk is replaced. After thebusiness, the silk is removed to disclose the secondmessage. The cards are removed and the message card isdisengaged from the mechanism and then pushed down insidethe deck. The deck is turned over and replaced in theglass and covered with the silk. The third message isproduced and the card carefully pushed down into the deck.The glass is covered and rotated. Next time the silk ispulled clear the chosen card is revealed.

37

4

Bottomi un!This is more a move than a trick. Its uses are many butbasically it is designed to cause a playing card toappear, suddenly, face-up from the deck.

The inspiration for the flourish, came from two friends,Piet Forton and Ricky Jay. It was when watching Rickyperforming Piet's 'Pop-out' move that I started toexperiment on ways of producing a similar effect butwithout reversed cards.

To start, the card to be produced is at the bottom of theface-down deck. Hold the cards face down with the righthand, from above. The long edges of the deck are towardsyou, the right thumb at the inside long edge and thefingers at the outside edge (1). The left hand grips thedeck at the left end and cuts off half of the deck (thetop half).

The right hand half is moved over the left hand packet andthe face card is stroked along the left forefinger (2).The left hand duplicates this action; the left packetstroking the right forefinger. The action is done quicklyand is a cover for the move itself.

When you are ready to produce the card you do thefollowing: The right packet strokes the left forefingerbut this time applies more pressure. The left forefingermoves up against the face card of the right hand packet.The right packet moves backwards but the left forefingerdraws out the face card. Continue moving the right packettowards you and twist it anti-clockwise so that it isparallel with the left packet (3).

The right packet is now moved around the left forefingerand this turns the trapped card face up. The card

38

finishes up at right angles to the two packets (4). The

packets themselves are on top of each other but stilljogged so that they can be separated and another card

produced if required.

All this takes but a split-second to happen and it is soquick that it is impossible for the spectator to seewhere the card came from ...it just appears. If you readthe description, from beginning to end, with the pack inyour hand, you should have moderate success. Once youunderstand the principle you should be able to correct.any handling problems.

39

?he Chinese twistI have to pay tribute to Paul Harris who, to my mind, islike ice-cream on a hot day or that surprise present atChristmas. He has injected, into what was getting to be arather refurbished antique business, a completely newart-form using new methods to bring about new tricks. (Asopposed to using an old method for a new trick, or vice-versa.) We magic-nuts spend our lives looking for newsurprises and he has provided them for us. Thank you Paul.

The Chinese Twist was inspired by a move called TheBizarre Twist in that great book 'Paul Harris RevealsSome Of His Most Intimate Secrets'. In case you are notaquainted with the effect, one playing card is slid,face-down, between two other face-down cards. Suddenly,and visibly, the centre card is seen to be face-up. Themove is beautiful and, when performed correctly, a realeye-popper. Take my advice and buy the book - it has manyother goodies as well. If you can perform The BizarreTwist and then follow it with my Chinese Twist, you havean unbelievable finish to a great card routine. So readon...

The effect starts in the same way as the Bizarre Twist:two playing cards held lengthways between the thumb andfinger of the left hand. A chosen card is slid betweenthem. The chosen card is removed and placed into thepack. Holding the other two cards between his hands, theperformer shows that suddenly the chosen card hasreturned to his hands but it is the only card there, theother two having completely vanished. Finally the othertwo cards reappear face up in the pack. When these twocards are turned over it is revealed they have have nowchanged the colour of their backs.

40

To set up for the effect, have a blue-backed pack with twoJokers on top and two red-backed Jokers face-up on thebottom. The pack should be in its case.

To perform the effect, remove the pack from the case andgive it a few false shuffles and cuts. Deal the top twoJokers face-up onto the table as you say, "Whenever there'sany mixing going on, you can bet that these two Jokers areat the bottom of it.. even if they are at the top.Actually they are two shop stewards (Unionrepresentatives), or pickets, picketing the pack... andthere's nothing worse than a pack that's been picketed."

Fan the pack, offering it to a spectator for selection,taking care not to reveal the two reversed cards at thebottom. You continue:- "Picket a card.. I mean pick out acard. Good, now I'll show you just what these two Jokersare capable of." Divide the pack at the point where theselection was taken. (Try to get the card taken from nearthe centre of the pack.) Place the two piles of cards sideby side on the table with the lower pile (The one with thetwo reversed Jokers at the bottom) to the left.

Pick up the two blue-backed Jokers and hold them face-upin the left hand. (1) Take the selected card from thespectator and hold it face-up, by its short side, betweenthe right hand finger and thumb, for all to see. Say, "Ourhero wants to go into the factory to deliver some goods."

Use the chosen card to point to the two piles of cards asyou indicate that these will represent the factory.

"Before. he can get in he has to get through the picket-line." At this point apparently slide the chosen card,face-up, between the two Jokers but in fact slide it underthem and support it there with the first finger of theleft hand. (2) Say,"He receives a real going-over." Slidethe chosen card to and fro before leaving it seeminglyheld between the two Jokers."But as soon as their backs are turned he makes a break 41

and hides in the factory." This is the point where theChinese Twist is brought into play. Let's take it from thepoint where the cards are held in a face-up crossarrangement (2). The right hand returns to the three cardsto turn them over. The first and second finger and thumbgrip the three cards at a point where the two Jokers andthe chosen card cross. (3) Two fingers on top and thumbunderneath turn all three cards over using the sameprinciple employed in The Chinese Compass.

They turn at an angle of 45 degrees to the point where thefingers and thumb are gripping the cards. When the twisthas been performed the left thumb and second fnger take thesame position as before the twist: the left thumb andsecond finger at the right short end and the forefingerkeeping the cards in position. To explain what happens: Asthe cards are turned, swivelling at forty-five degrees,the two cards that were between the thumb and fingers ofthe left hand are now in the same position as the singlecard was when apparently slid in between the two Jokers,whilst the single card is now being held at the short endsby the thumb and second finger of the left hand. (4)

The two face-down Jokers are taken, as one, and placed onthe right hand pile of cards. (The spectators think you areremoving a single card, the selection.) The left hand pileis placed on top thus losing the cards in the middle of thepack and bringing the reversed Jokers to the centre.

"The two shop stewards got trapped by the two old-hands." Asyou say this, the right hand is placed palm down over whatthe spectators presume are the two Jokers in the lefthand. Both hands are turned over as you say, "But wait...look.. our hero was too quick for them." The left hand isslowly removed to reveal the face up chosen card. This isplaced to one side and the pack is spread to reveal thetwo face-up Jokers.

You remove the two Jokers, still face-up and say, "I'll

bet their faces are red.. well, anyway, their backscertainly are." At which point you take one card in eachhand and slowly turn them over to reveal their red backs.

Just one point: When you are sliding the card under thetwo Jokers, remember that you are supposed to be sliding itbetween them. So don't make it look too easy. Give thecards a little blow as if to separate them. This reallybrings us to the old point about a magician needingacting ability.

REQUIREMENTS

Smaller'n ghatThis effect began as an addition to the Diminishing Card-Case. However instead of diminishing, it grew into aformidable close-up diminishing card routine. If youthink that doesn't make sense just wait until you read theeffect.

Magicians in the know will remember Brother John Hamman'swonderful 'Micro Macro' and may, quite rightly, assume itas the basis of this effect. We do however go one stepbeyond seemingly making the impossible possible. Nothingis added or taken away.

EFFECT

A playing card is chosen by a spectator who returns it tothe pack. The magician shuffles the cards and places themaside. Producing another pack from his pocket themagician spreads it to show that one card only isreversed and therefore face-up. The audience would thinkthis wonderful if the face-up card were the same as thechosen one but unfortunately this is not so.

The face-up card is placed aside and the magician againspreads the pack. The cards are now seen to be half theirnormal size. Again there is a reversed card but once moreit is the wrong one... so it is removed and placedalongside the full-sized card. Once more the pack isspread and this time is seen to have diminished to aquarter of normal size. Inevitably there is one reversedcard but unfortunately it is still the wrong one and isplaced aside. In desperation the performer asks to betold the denomination of the chosen card. As soon as heknows which card it is he lifts and turns over the close-up mat to reveal a giant replica of the selection.

An ordinary pack of cards from which you will force acard by your pet method. A Jumbo card to match the forcecard. The Jumbo must be a low value card like a Two spot.One poker size, Bicycle court card and a close-up mat.

One half size double-face card (patience size). Use aNine or Ten spot and on its back glue half a court card tomatch the poker card.

Another patience size card. To its face glue four or fivequarter size cards face-down. These are arranged as ifspread, with a quarter size Five or Six spot face uptowards one end. This card is not actually stuck to thegimmick but can be removed. The illustrations show how thecard is clipped between the other glued cards

A Patience pack. This is gimmicked by glueing half pokercards to each small face. The cards become double-backed,patience back design on one side and poker design on theother.

All the cards are illustrated and you should have notrouble making them up. Time spent in making a good set.will be well rewarded.

SET-UP

Have the Jumbo card face-up on the table, under theclose-up mat. The normal cards set to force a duplicate ofthe Jumbo are in the left side pocket.

The gimmicked pack is set up as follows from the top:-Thepoker size Jack of Spades. The patience size card withquarter size cards stuck to its back. The smaller cardsare uppermost. Next you have about twenty-sixpatience cards with the poker back uppermost. Thehalf-faced Jack of Spades is next with that sideuppermost. This is followed by the remainder of thepatience cards with the poker backs uppermost.

44 45

Note that the number of patience size cards in the deckwill vary depending on whether you decide to peel cards inorder to make them thinner. The main point is that the Jackof Spades should appear to be in the middle of the deckwhen the cards are first spread.

Neatly square up the patience cards under the normal Jack.Their long edges are up against the short edge of the Jackas shown in the diagrams. It is essential that the normalshort edge of the half Jack (patience gimmick) is in linewith the top edge of the normal Jack, otherwise it willnot show properly when the spread is made. Place anelastic band around the cards and have them in the rightcoat pocket.

PERFORMANCE

Remove the ordinary cards from your left coat pocket andforce the card which matches the Jumbo (Let's assume it isthe Two of Clubs) saying, "I am about to show you one ofthe most incredible predictions you will ever see. Pleasetake a card, remember it and, whatever you do, don't tellanyone what your card is. Just shuffle it into the pack."

Whilst the spectator shuffles, remove the set-up deck fromthe right pocket. Hold it with the whole card at the topand the patience cards towards the audience as shown inthe illustration. Remove the elastic band and ribbonspread the cards on the table. Be careful not to show thequarter size fake which is under the top card. If you can,before spreading, overlap the top (whole) card half aninch forward and then ribbon spread. This provides bettercover. It will look as if you have spread a poker deck (although along the short edge) and that a face-up Jack ofSpades is in the middle.

If the face-up card is hidden then gently spread thecentre cards further until you have about three-quartersof an inch of the Jack exposed. Be careful to keep thecards aligned throughout this part of the trick.

46 47

Point at the face-up card and say with great enthusiasm... "There is one card, and one card only, face-up in thepack. Answer yes or no ...is it your card?" The spectatorwill answer "No". Be sure not to prompt them to name theircard accidentally at this point.

Gather up the spread by placing your left fingers at theouter end and your right hand at the near end. The lefthand 'claws' the spread cards up back towards the wholecard. The right hand anchors its end of the spread andhelps cover the cards as they are gathered beneath thenormal card. Do this quickly so as not to destroy theillusion that you have a normal deck.

Now, without drawing attention to what you are doing,lift the deck so that it is gripped once again by theright hand just as it was when first introduced. The lefthand reaches into the right hand and grips the deck,fingers on top and thumb underneath. The right handloosens its grip while the left hand rotates at the wristin an anti-clockwise direction. As if turning a key theleft hand turns the deck completely over. The right handgrips the deck again and then the left hand withdraws thenormal Jack of Spades (now face-up) and places it face-upto the left of the mat. This is all one continuousaction. The deck is hidden from view and the spectatorsassume that the Jack is the one that was in the middle ofthe spread.

This is your first incorrect discovery and the pack is nowset to re-spread. During this you have beguiled youraudience with patter, "Was your card smaller than that?Funny, I'm not usually wrong." The spectator will reply "

Yes".

Ribbon spread the patience cards from left to right infront of you. Once again there is a face-up card but allthe cards appear to have shrunk. You say "There is onecard, and one card only, which is face-up: Answer yes orno, is that your card?" He will reply "No".

The left hand

rotates the deck

anti-clockwise

within the right

hand before

The left hand slipsthe quarter-sizefake from thebottom to the topof the deck.

Holding the deck

in position

before ribbon-

spreading it

across the

48 49

Remove the patience size card (Nine or Ten spot) andplace it beside the full size Jack. Be careful not toturn it over or you will reveal the half-face on thereverse.

Ask again if the selected card was "Smaller than that?" Hewill reply "Yes" and you take advantage of the verbalmisdirection to accomplish a bit of chicanery. As yougather the patience cards up into the right hand and backinto the previous position, the left fingers slip thebottom, quarter-size fake, to the top of the deck. Thecards are small so the move is easily executed by curlingthe left fingers under and around the cards bringing thefake to the top of the deck. The fake turns over as it ispushed around the deck.

Again spread the cards but this time lengthways andvertically. They appear to have shrunk once more and arenow seemingly a quarter of their normal size. There is nowone tiny card face up in the middle (Five or Six spot).Remove it and repeat your patter formula. "Now tell mehonestly, Yes or no, is that your card?" When he replies "No" look crestfallen and say, "O.K. you win what was yourcard?"

When he tells you, try to look stunned, (which is alittle different from crestfallen.) and say, "The Two ofClubs? That's not a small card ..it's a very big card." Asyou say this, gather the cards up off the mat, beingcareful not to reveal any fakes and lift the mat toreveal the Jumbo card.

That's it folks. I'm not suggesting that you will not haveto work hard in both making and performing the effect.But it really can be done and merits the effort. Don'tforget to keep the "What smaller than that?" line going,to build up to the climax.

50

The 41o1et 'JaeHere is a prime example of how a topological puzzle canprovide the basis of a quite startling stage effect.

THE PUZZLE: Six coins are placed in the shape of atriangle (1) and the trick is to try and turn the triangleupside-down by moving only two coins. The solution is soeasy that most people miss it (2).

THE EFFECT

A green, triangular tube is shown and several silks orbunches of feather flowers are produced from it. The last:silk (red) is full of holes and therefore a source ofembarrassment to the immaculate conjurer. He stuffs thesilk back into the tube, makes a few mystic passes andpulls the silk out again. The silk is repaired butunfortunately it has also changed colour, from red togreen. Conversely the tube has changed from green to redand - wait for it - is full of holes:

5I

METHOD

Now what on earth have those coins got to do with aproduction tube that changes colour and becomesperforated? If you study the third illustration you mayunderstand the connection. The tube is composed not of sixcoins but of four triangular sections which haveinteresting possiblities. Believe it or not, it ispossible to hide four surfaces which are perforated withholes.

'One picture is equal to a thousand words' it is said.Well, certainly in this case it is true as you will findif you study the illustrations. Such study should make itpossible for you to construct the apparatus to whateverpractical size you wish. As to the materials: it can bemade of card or thin plywood. If you decide to make itfrom heavy card, cloth-hinges and model airplane elasticare best. The airplane elastic acts as a spring mechanismto make the tube reverse itself. You can use othermaterials and a lot depends on how large you wish to makethe apparatus. But if you favour ply, use spring-hinges. Isuggest that you make a rough cardboard model first tofamiliarize yourself with the whole construction.

PERFORMANCE

Load the compartments with silks but leave compartments Aand B for the holey silk and its contrasting replacement (the perfect green silk. These silks must be large enough tocover the tube.. These load chambers should be sealed atopposite ends to avoid any possible confusion regardingthe removal and insertion of the silks.

The red holey silk should be loaded into compartment Bwhen the tube is set up. The perfect green silk should beplaced into compartment A, at the bottom, with the U-clipholding the tube in place at the top.

With the tube set up, one side is red and full of holes.The audience should not see this side. They see only the

52

To perform the effect, pick up the loaded tube with theright hand, placing it on the left palm so that it standsthere in an upright position. If you study theillustration you will see a nylon loop hanging from thebottom of the tube. One end is attached to the perfectgreen silk and the other end is attached to the U-clip (acut down hair clip) which holds the tube in position.

In placing the tube on the left palm, allow the leftfingers to engage the nylon loop. Holding the tubecarefully (so that the red portion is not seen) producethe silks etc from compartments C and D. When thesecompartments are empty, remove the red (holey) silk from

5 " 3

s

its compartment and show it. Draw attention to its colourand condition. It is very important that you do thisotherwise the effect is lost.

Drape the silk over the tube and look suitably upset asyou push it back into the tube. When it is completelyinside, engage the right middle fingers into the fingerhole provided, and start to withdraw the green silk fromthe bottom of the tube (The nylon helping you to locateit). Pull it out with obvious delight and show that it isrepaired. Take care not to pull the nylon so far that itpulls the clip free and releases the mechanismprematurely.

When you have made the most of the green silk, drape itover your left hand and the tube. The left hand, afterdraping the silk, continues its downward movement toengage the nylon and pull the wire gimmick free of thetube thus allowing the elastic to do its worktransforming the tube to its red holey version. Becausethe right finger is in the hole provided, the sidetriangular section should flip around automatically.

Now place the left hand under the tube. As at thebeginning, remove the right hand from its position,taking the silk with it to reveal the holey tube. Allthree sections are now full of holes and the tube may beshown all around.

Note that the length of the nylon must be long enough toallow free movement of the silk without causing the clipto be pulled off the tube prematurely.

As mentioned before the measurements are flexible and thestrength of the elastic band required will vary. You maybe surprised to know that I came up with this idea for PatPage, not as a trick but as a transformation magic table.So you can see that there are no size limitations.

In conclusion I leave you with this problem: How do you

lead in to this effect? Remember, you cannot show the tubeempty for obvious reason. How can you get round this? Ihave the answer, have you? Maybe it's n 'square-circle'

principle, or maybe it's a switch. I'm not going to tellyou: neither do I offer any prizes .. the invention of anoriginal idea in magic brings its own reward.

Holey side of tube

faces you whilst the

audience see the

solid sides. The

thread is looped

around the left

hand.

54 55

shoot OutNot so much a trick, as a move or flourish, this is one ofthe few items in this book to have appeared in printbefore. I released it for publication in 'Babel', andwould like to thank David Britland for his permission toreprint it here.

David was editor of both 'Babel' and 'Talon' and haswritten and illustrated several books of his own. A veryclever young man, one of the new-thinkers in card magic.

EFFECT

Deftly riffle shuffling the deck.. (He does it deftlybecause he does not hear so good.) the performer places itface-down upon the table. He cuts to three of the Acesunerringly. Just before completion of the fourth cutthere is a complete surprise. Yes, it is another Ace..but.. it shoots right out of the deck, toward thespectators, as if propelled by an unknown force. It's achange of pace, it's a surprise, it's 'Shoot-out'.

THE MOVE

The fourth Ace shoots out of the deck face-up. First we'lldeal with the technicalities of propelling the card fromthe deck and then we'll deal with the matter of getting itreversed.

Reverse the face card of your deck. Hold the deck facedown (1) in the right hand by one of the short edges.Slide the reversed card about half-an-inch to the right tobring its outer right corner in contact with the thirdfinger of the right hand. It is this particular fingerthat does all the work. The deck is held horizontally andjust slightly above the table-top. If the deck is

actually tabled you may have difficulty in picking it upunless you're working on a close-up pad.

The left hand cuts the deck (from the left side) andplaces the upper half on the table just in front of theright hand portion (2). The right hand can move backwards alittle so that the left hand portion does not have to movetoo far forward in order to clear it. The right hand nowmoves forward to deposit its portion on top of lire tabledpacket. As the right hand packet is almost over the tabledpacket the shooting action is performed.

The move is simplicity itself. The right third fingerpulls back on the outer corner of the end-jogged card. Thecard remains held by the right thumb and second finger.As the third finger pulls back on the card it will beginto buckle and eventually the pressure will cause the cardto slip off the third finger and shoot towards thespectators (3 and 4). The right thumb does not move duringthe buckle action but, when you feel the card is undersufficient pressure, you relax the third finger and allowthe card to shoot forward under its own pressure.

As the card flies forward the cut is completed bydropping the right hand cards onto those on the table.

REVERSING THE CARD

This move is improved if the card is face-up rather thanface-down but obviously you have to reverse and end-jogthe card secretly. I have found a move which will do bothat the same time. I discovered it in Jean Hugard's 'MoreCard Manipulations' volume three. You will find it theredescribed under the title: 'Reversing the bottom-card: Twomethods'. It is the second method which interests us.

The Ace to be reversed should be on top of the deck,which is held face-up in the left hand dealing grip. Theright hand comes over the deck (5) and the right thumbriffles one card free from the back of the deck (the

56 57

Ace). The right hand then slides the deck towards you in asort of squaring action. The deck is moved back until itclears the left forefinger and is then moved forward againbut the Ace is left projecting towards you in what isgenerally referred to as a Gambler's Cop (6 and 7).

When the deck is moved forward it is left overhanging theleft forefinger where it can be taken by the right hand (gripping the outer short edge) and turned completely overand placed face-down on top of the copped Ace. The deck isplaced face-down in the left hand but not square with theface-up Ace. The Ace is left projecting from the deck. 6,7and 8 show the reverse being carried out. The right handnow takes the deck from the near end and turns it anti-clockwise until it is in position for the shoot-out. Withcareful attention to angles, the move is completelydeceptive.

David has found an alternative method. He says it is EdMarlo's 'KM Move' and I'm sure he is right. (He has theonly out-jogged bookshelf in London.) We will assume thatthe deck is face-down, with two Aces at the face. Falsecut the deck and then turn it face up in the left handdealing position to show that you have found a third Ace (two have already been produced). Double-lift the two facecards as one and start to take them off the face of thedeck (9). Just as the Ace(s) is taken from the deck theleft hand turns palm down (wrist turn action) and the leftfingers pull the rear card of the double back onto thebottom of the deck. The deck however is now face down butthe stolen Ace is face up. What's more it can be stoleninto a jogged position rather than square with the deck asis usual with this kind of move. The left hand covers thejogged Ace. The visible Ace is thrown to the table and thedeck transferred to the right hand for the shoot-out (orthe move made from the left hand if you prefer). 10 and 11show the move being carried out.

PATTER BY VAL ANDREWS

(When I asked Val if he could think of some good patter 58

59

for 'Shoot-out', he said, "What's in it for me." in hisusual charming, crusty manner. I had to bribe him bypromising him the loan of my 'Adonis' table-stand, for hisnext lecture.)

"This is the story of a Texas gambling-man. He used to winso often that he had to carry a 'forty-five' to protecthimself... and a 'thirty-two' to protect the 'forty-five'.He could take a shuffled deck and cut to the Aces everytime.. Ace of Clubs.. Ace of Hearts.. Ace of Diamonds.. (CUTS THE ACES.) One night he was playing with Wild BillHiccup.. I'll repeat that.. on second thoughts perhaps Iwon't.. when Wild Bill said: 'If that thar next card y'allcuts is the Ace of Spades it will mean a shoot-out'. Itwas, and it did. (SHOOTS OUT ACE) But the Texas gamblingman survived, and lived until years later when he brokethe code of the West ...uttered a discouragin' word."

?he Malian bane_Here is an example of a trick that is so simple yet candrive magicians to distraction just trying to figure outhow it is done. And as Paul Daniels said to me: "If youcan fool magicans, you are bound to fool the public."Whilst I am name dropping I might as well carry on thatway and mention someone else, who in my opinion, isanother 'one-off', Pat Page.

Pat is one of those rare birds, in this day and age, acompletely honest, and I do mean honest, man. When I saythis I do not mean to infer that everyone else isdishonest: rather that if you ask Pat's opinion onsomething he will tell you exactly what he thinks.Without frills and without hurting your feelings. So youknow where you stand with him.

Having said this, I would add that Pat and his family areprobably the best friends I have. Apart from Val Andrews,Pat and the late Ken Brooke have been the mostinfluential as far as my magical originality has beenconcerned. Both Pat and Ken showed interest in my ideasand encouraged me to continue to "think original". Butmore of that later.

Back to the trick: One day, Pat and Margaret spent the dayat my flat and as I prepared the dinner I tried to thinkof something to take their minds off my cooking. So I cameup with the trick that follows, intending it at first as agag but it fooled Pat so badly that I was encouraged tocontinue with it. I figured that if it would fool Pat, itwould fool anyone. So here I had a miracle that had beenborn in the kitchen. You won't realise how effective it isuntil you try it.

As in the Indian Rope Trick, a rope appears to stand

60 61

erect without any means of support. The piece of softwhite rope is about 30 inches long and seemingly quitenormal when the performer starts to handle it. The rope isheld upright between the hands and then, inevitably, thetop hand lets go and the rope remains standing stiffly,supported at the bottom only. But wait, here's the bestpart. The rope is thrown to a spectator, who may examinethe rope and actually keep it.

Thus I have, I believe, created the world's firstdisposable Indian Rope Trick. If you were reading this in acatalogue, I would at this point say: "No threads, wires,springs and completely self-contained. The rope can beexamined, and given to a spectator to keep after theeffect has been performed." No one would buy it, becausethey would assume I was breaking the trade-descriptioncode. Apart from the rope you need a gimmick found inalmost every kitchen, and this will cost you about 50pence to buy enough of them for a hundred performances.

What is the secret? It is elementary, my dear reader. Allthe clues were there: the reference to the kitchen and theword 'Italian' in the title, plus the inference that thewhole thing is cheap enough to throw away. You must haveguessed by now ...no? Well, it's SPAGHETTI. Now don't getmad ...it is practical, and as long as you keep the secretit will remain a miracle.

To prepare - and it is best to prepare a dozen or so at atime - buy a packet of spaghetti of the dry type, sold insticks which are about twenty inches long. Cut somepieces of soft white magician's-rope; each about a yardlong. You used to be able to buy two types of rope but nowit seems that only the thin type is available in Britain.Fortunately this is the one you require.

Take a length of rope, knot one end and thread a piece ofspaghetti into the centre of the free end. Very carefullypush the spaghetti stick further up into the rope. youwill find it easiest to let the knot hang down, so that

you are pushing the spaghetti down into the rope. Feed itin gradually, a little at a time, rather as you wouldthread a curtain wire into the hem of a net curtain. Youhave to push it all in, without hitting any obstruction,so do it slowly, teasing the rope gently.

Push the spaghetti along the rope so that it is not onlyall inside but so that you have enough rope loose at theend to tie another knot. When you have finished, youshould have a piece of rope perhaps thirty-two inches longwith a knot at each end. Twenty inches of the rope isrigid commencing at one of the knots. If you prepare anumber of these ropes, they can be stored in a postaltube.

PERFORMANCE

The rope should be on display, hanging over a hook orsuitable object with the stiff portion hanging on oneside, the limp portion on the other. When ready to start.the trick, just lift the rope by placing your hand betweenthe two hanging ends, lifting it at the point of support.Take care to do this gently and not break the gimmick.

Grasp the end of the short, hanging, portion and lift it:until the whole rope is upright. As you do this, releaseyour hold on the rope with the other hand but do thisbefore the top is vertical. The swinging rope looks normaland not rigid in any way. Grasp the free end with the handso that you are holding it vertically, a hand at each end.Turn the rope end for end (as if turning a propeller)still keeping it taut. The gimmicked end of the rope isnow uppermost.

Release the bottom end and, if you are fortunate enough tohave the services of an orchestra, cue the drummer for a 'roll' with your free hand. This same hand strokes the ropefrom top to bottom a few times. In this action you locatethe lower end of the spaghetti and then hold the rope atthat point. As if doing a balancing feat, release

62

the top end, thus showing the rope or at least twentyinches of it defying all natural laws.

czl.3.n.Older people who read the above initials would beforgiven for mistaking them for "TaTa For Now", as utteredby 'Mrs. Mop' (Dorothy Summers) in the popular wartimeradio programme, 'I.T.M.A.'. But in fact they reallystand for Tri-Tetra-Flexagon.

The T.T.F.N., as I call it, is the easiest and simplest ofall flexagons. "Big deal", you might say, "What's aHexagon?" Well, it's one of those folding insideout/outside in affairs, ala the Himber Wallet or thosetumbling blocks which keep the children quiet andeveryone else awake.

Hexa-flexagons seem to go on and on getting more and morecomplicated and have incredible results. However, we onlyneed the simple one, which does the job we want quitewell. Although you may think it is just another two-waywallet, it has something the others do not even though itis quite simple to make. Before I explain the making ofthe wallet, let me tell you the trick I have worked outfor it. Although I doubt if it will fool magicians, itgoes incredibly well with lay-audiences and of coursemagicians love the idea of it.

The rope is pulled

down through the

fingers of the left

hand and then to the

right. This breaks

the gimmick into

tiny pieces.

THE FINALSEQUENCE

Make a few passes with the free hand as if to show thatthere are no attachments then, with the same hand, takehold of the bottom of the rope. Pull it to the side of theupright at a forty-five degree angle and slowly pull itout to the side, so that the upright piece gets shorterand shorter (and the spaghetti breaks into pieces as it ispulled through the fingers) and the rope actually betweenthe hands gets longer and longer. Finally you hold therope horizontally and bring the hands together so that therope falls into a natural loop before you throw it downinto the audience.

EFFECT

You talk about a friend who could not quit gambling. "1bet him fifty quid that he couldn't stop ......he took thebet." Next, offer to show how you got the fifty poundsback.

Hand a spectator a pack of cards to shuffle. As heshuffles, explain to him that you are psychic and can tellexactly which card he will choose. You explain that youare so confident, that you are prepared to bet fifty

64 65

pounds, despite the impossiblity of what you are about todo. At this point you produce a wallet, which you place onthe table. You then take the cards from the spectator andrun through them thoughtfully. You remove one card, andwithout letting anyone see the face of it, you flip openthe wallet to reveal that it has two pockets. The one onthe left is labelled, "Impossible Prediction." The one ofthe right is labelled, "Spectator's Choice". The card youhave selected is slipped face-down into the predictionpocket.

YOU NOW OWEME FIFTY QUID

••..YOU IDIOT!

my friend, he just had to do it and so will you if youwant to see the end of this gambler's cure."

This last sentence is aimed at the spectator and you consuggest that he should bet a drink or some such trifle.When he has finished squirming, ask him to take yourprediction card out of the wallet himself. When he doesthis, he finds that it is his own, signed card. When hesnatches the card out of the spectator's-card pocket, hegets a real shock, because it has a caption written on it:"You Now Owe Me Fifty Quid ....You Idiot."

METHOD

You need a normal pack of cards with one card missing. (Incase the spectator really counts them as indicated in theabove presentation.) You also need a blank card with amatching back. On this you inscribe the caption (seeillustrations) either by hand or with some form of rub-down lettering. If you don't have a matching blank you canpaste white paper over a Joker. But do make a neat job ofit, especially regarding the edges.

You now explain why the prediction is impossible. Thespectator has not taken a card yet. If they examine thepack they will find it is quite normal and withoutduplicates. Further if they count the cards they willfind that there are but fifty-one. As you have alreadyremoved a card and the spectator has yet to choose one, itis impossible for your card and his to be the same. Thespectator chooses a card, signs it if he wishes, and it isthen placed in the appropriate pocket in the wallet.

You say, "My gambling friend bet that this couldn't bedone and, like you, he placed a card in the wallet. Infact he bet me fifty pounds that I hadn't predicted hiscard. I said, 'Let's see the colour of your money. If you'

re not prepared to put the money up then I'll put thewallet away and you'll never know'. That was too much for

You need a special wallet, which will take you all oIthirty minutes to make. My wallet is made of soft cord,covered with leatherette-type paper. I made the captionlabels for the pockets with rub-down lettering. You needfour labels, two of each reading "Spectator's Choice" and "Impossible Prediction".

If you follow the illustrations you should find theconstruction quite easy. Just cut the shape out andlightly in pencil, write the letters A,B,C, as in thediagram. Remember that, at the finish, the letters oneach side will be identical.

By the way if you are wondering what the special propertyof the wallet is, it is that the wallet changes, not thecards. They stay where they are, the wallet changingaround them.

66 67

Only one move is involved: the wallet has to be closed oneway and opened the other. This is done at the point in thepatter, where you say: "Otherwise I'll put the walletaway, and you won't know one way or the other." At thispoint, close the wallet and make as if to put it away.Seemingly change your mind laying it down again open onthe table. If you've done it correctly you've switched thecards around. Of course at the beginning of the trick thecard you take out of the pack is the caption card. Leavethe wallet open on the table throughout the routine exceptfor that point at which you threaten to put it away. Thatway the stunt looks very fair indeed.

A

Y

X

C D

The wallet is constructed from the shape shown in

diagram 1. The smaller rectangles indicate the

positions of the labels on BOTH sides of the

material. As indicated in diagram 1 you fold A over

to B.

Note that the portion marked X goes BEHIND the

portion marked Y (Diagram 2). The shaded area

indicates the other side of the material. Next C is

folded UNDERNEATH to D and glued in place. This

produces the final wallet as in diagram 3.

68 69

Cunnq 3lavour

Cardicians all over the world have evolved differentmethods of performing Paul Curry's 'Out Of This World'. Infact Paul stated, in one of his marvellous books, that somany people had come up with ideas for it, suggestingeither that he had missed lots of methods, or was indanger of having the world's first "Book-length cardtrick". Possibly he just meant to be amusing. 'Out Of ThisWorld' has been re-designed by such names as John Scarne,Harry Lorayne and many others. Television has had its fairshare of 'O.O.T.W.' with Paul Daniels featuring it in histelevision series and John Tremayne giving us a lovelyversion with photographs of film-stars.

Probably the thing the 'O.O.T.W.' afficianados would mostlike to do is allow the spectator to deal two piles,without having to stop him half-way through. Allowing himthen to turn the piles over, showing separation of thereds and blacks without any funny moves. Well, this is yetanother version of the effect, except that in this versionthe spectator really does just deal two piles and withoutbeing stopped, seemingly deals one pile of reds and onepile of blacks. That's not all, but I am racing ahead ofmyself.

The name, David Britland, has cropped up before, in thisbook, and as I have said, he is a very clever young man.The reason I mention David is that he performed hisversion of 'O.O.T.W.' for me, I dealt the cards into twopiles and he did not stop me at any point. This knocked mefor six. He didn't divide the cards either, but what hedid do was brilliant and new; a completely originalconcept. It was seeing this breakthrough which inspired meto think again and what I came up with does look quiteimpressive. Does it improve Paul Curry's original trick? Idon't know. Try it and you may get to like it.

EFFECT

The performer asks a spectator to deal what he thinks arered cards into one pile and those he believes to be blackinto another. When he has done this, the performer turnsthe piles over to show that the spectator has apparentlysucceeded.

The performer is not however impressed because he claimshe can do it quicker. He now mixes the cards so thatthere are reds and blacks in each pile. The two packetsare shuffled together. Instantly the red and black cardsseparate ...and it's quicker than using ESP.

PERFORMANCE

The deck is set with the red cards at the top and blackcards at the bottom. There is also one red card at Lheface of the deck.

You start to overhand shuffle the deck but when you get tothe middle section you run cards singly until you are pastthe point where the reds and blacks meet. Continue theshuffle and run single cards as you reach the end of thedeck so that the last card (single red) goes on Lop ofall.

Whilst shuffling, ask if there is anyone present who hashad experience of "Extra Perception" ...not to be confusedwith "Extra Sensory Perception". "It's almost the sameexcept that all the sense has been removed. Anyone.. No?Well, let me show you an experiment."

Hand the cards to the 'unsuspectator' and ask him to dealone card face-down onto the table. Point to a spot on thetable in front of him slightly to the left of centre.When the card has been dealt ask him to deal another cardabout five inches to the right of the first. Both cardsare face-down.

70 71

Ask him to deal what he thinks are the red cards onto theleft hand card and those he believes to be black onto theright hand card. Remind him that there are twenty-six ofeach so he should try to keep the numbers in each pileequal, although you caution him not to try and follow anyparticular sequence (eg red, black, red, black etc). Whenthis has been done, square the cards and turn them over toreveal the face cards of each pile. You say "I asked you todeal the red cards onto this pile, and the black cards ontothis one" and then you start to spread the alleged black-card pile. But you don't spread far enough to reveal anyof the red cards.

As if you are totally unsurprised that this could be done,you say, "Just imagine that you have, by some mysteriousmeans, divided the red cards from the black" and you placethe packet back on the table leaving it slightly spreadwith seven or eight black cards still showing. You pick upthe alleged red pile and spread this but showing only redcards. Exposing only the red cards in the packet table it,slightly spread, beside the black packet.

The spreads are done casually and confirm, to thespectator's surprise, that he has somehow done theimpossible. However, because you don't acknowledge it as aparticularly great feat you won't get called on theshowing of the cards. Note that when you spread the redpile you spread from the rear of that packet. Thespectator therefore sees that the front and back cards ofthe packet appear to be red. The packets are turned face-down as you talk.

You continue, "Even with the aid of mysterious forces, Ithink you will agree that it took at least 60 seconds foryou to sort the colours. But I can do it in a fraction ofthat time.. let me show you. If I take half of the blackcards and exchange them for half of the reds you can seethat we will have reds and blacks in each packet."

During this you cut just over a third from the top of 72

each pile and place it on the opposite pile. The redpacket can be flashed as you make the transfer and, whenplaced on the black half, that packet can be turned overand spread to show that it really does now consist ofreds and blacks. The packet is turned face-down againand, without explaining why, you remove the face cardsfrom the bottom of each pile (your original indicatorcards) and place them face-up, about six inches apart, onthe table.

The two piles are placed, short edges together andcarefully riffle shuffled into each other. The pack isthen squared. Snap your fingers or make some othermagical gesture and then cut the pack into halves. In factthe cut is made several cards short of the centre. Thismeans that packet that came from the top will consist ofall red cards. The packet is turned face-up and spreadbelow the red marker card. The remainder of the deck isspread below the black marker card however you do notspread the last few cards as these may conta in one or twored cards. You have apparently separated the coloursinstantly and magically.

The two packets are picked up and shuffled together toprevent the discovery of any odd red cards in the blackpacket. Note that the riffle shuffle of the packetsshould be as even as possible. That way you will get thebest separation of reds and blacks. Do it well and you'lleven surprise yourself.

7'i

7hLr

Here are some ideas that may or may not get you thinking.Pete Biro, another very forthright friend of mine, oncequoted: "There are only about twenty original thinkers inthe magic world." Well, I think that the man quoted by Peteis wrong. There have to be more original thinkers, butthere doesn't seem to be a lot of 'doers'. After all you canTHINK original magic from the day you are born to the dayyou die; but unless you DO IT, no one will know and allthose ideas will be wasted. Somebody once said: "There isone good book in everyone... the story of his life." By thesame token, there must be an original effect to be obtainedfrom every magician. Why then do we see thousands ofmagicians all performing the same old effects over and overagain? Those who do get thinking and doing are the ones weall know, and look up to, and are. generally successful.

There are of course some who, whilst never having had anoriginal idea for an effect, are original in theirconcepts for presentation and are successful as aconsequence. But very few are original in both theireffects and their presentations. So get to it.. THINK andDO.

The ideas presented here are not for new effects, ratherthey are thoughts which if you take them up may give yourperformances a new and original slant.

GUILLOTINES: Everyone presents this effect in the same oldway, locking someone's neck in the stocks and seeminglypassing the blade through their neck without decapitatingthem. Presented in this way the effect loses all its dramaand becomes a mere puzzle. As soon as the blade has fallenand the head is seen intact the illusion is finished. Butif the victim were to be placed in the

apparatus so that his head were not visible, and t h eaudience could only see his body, the whole aspect of t h eeffect is changed. All you have to do is put the victim onthe audience side of the guillotine.

1. When the blade has fallen the audience are n u timmediately aware concerning the survival or otherwise ofthe victim.

2. There are lots of possibilities here for macabre-humour. You could hold dialogue with your victim, and forhis part he could be reading his lines from a cue-sheetwhich is spread on the floor but unseen by the audience.Another possibility is to seemingly converse with him viaa hand-mike, but his replies are in fact those of an off-scene assistant with another microphone. So much carefullyrehearsed humour could seemingly be ad-lib. All the helperhas to do is keep his mouth shut.. which you whisper him todo.

3. Imagine that the blade has gone down and a 'clunk' isheard, rather like the sound we imagine would be made by afalling head. Especially when the performer lifts a basketor pail from behind the apparatus and empties i t over theaudience. The fact that the utensil is filled only withconfetti will be an eleventh-hour discovery.

4. Under cover of the merriment caused by this bit ofbusiness anything could happen to the victim. For example,your assistant could place a mask on him, to match that ona dummy head also involved?

Whilst on that theme, how about putting a mask on t h evictim before he is locked into the apparatus? After theoperation you could lift a dummy head, with a duplicatemask, from behind the guillotine.

SPONGE-BALLS: One of my favourite attention getters forlay company is the sponge balls. For many years magicianshave presented the routine in the same old way... bul why?Not too much thought appears to have gone

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into the presentation, with no intention of ringing thechanges. How about the introduction of a rubber egg? Youcould introduce this as part of the routine, then switchfor a real egg. This could be hard-boiled for safety: oryou may prefer to be able to crack the egg and tip thecontents into a glass.

Of course you could go a step further, and use rubbereggs instead of sponge balls, culminating in theproduction of a big egg or how about one of those hugefoam-rubber sandwiches? (Strangely, since I startedwriting this book, I have heard news of the production ofsponge eggs.)

Recently, Pat Page asked my permission to put in T.A.T.Papers an idea that I'd had for a novel use of a giantsponge ball. You know the one. It's about five and a halfinches across and scrunches up into a truly minisculespace. Well the idea somehow didn't work as smoothly as ithad in my mind. But one thing leads to another, and I cameup with another idea which opens up additionalpossibilities.

Originally the idea was that the performer tries toinflate a paper bag but fails to do so to the point ofred-faced breathlessness. His hand holding the still-flat-bag drops to his side. Suddenly it inflates,illustrating the fact that a watched bag never fills. Nowmy method of inflation was a squashed giant sponge ballheld firmly inside the bag, to be released when I wishedthe bag to swell. The theory was great but in practice theresult was too slow. But when I found out why I was ontosomething better. Let me explain...

The reason that it didn't work well was the chance use of avery thin white polythene-type bag: in which I hadpurchased goods from the Chemist (Drugstore). The troublewas that the bag was virtually airtight when its top wasrestrained, stopping the air entering the sponge ball andallowing it to expand. In fact the wretched thing took anage to inflate. But then I realised that I could get a

better effect if I rolled the ball, rather likeflattening a tube of toothpaste and sealing the mouth ofthe bag. I realised that the bag (and of course the hallinside) would lie as flat as a pancake, until the air wasagain allowed to enter. In the presentation I held theflat bag and tried to blow it up (but really doing nosuch thing). In disgust I put it down, being sure to openthe mouth enough to allow the slow entry of air. Theeffect of the bag inflating by delayed action is very,very funny. It still needs some other element to make areal trick out of it. Can you think of something?

FLASH PAPER: How about making an imitation rose orcarnation from flash paper? This is almost as easily doneas said, as anyone who has made paper-flowers from tissuewill agree. Make the flower on a wire stem and place it inan elegant glass. To finish a lit cigarette production,thumb palm a lit cigarette and bring the hand down in frontof the flower. The touch of the lit cigarette will resultnot only in a vanish but also a blinding flash. Excellentmisdirection for a steal with the other hand of a giantpipe or other item.

RING AND ROPE: The Borrowed Finger Ring Off Rope is awell known trick and Pete Biro, Roy Roth and the lateFred Kaps all lay claim to the climax where the ring endsup trapped on the stem of a wineglass which must bebroken to release it. Very clever, and costly. Fred'spresentation on his TV show included the idea, which Iloved, of trapping the ring in a small box which has aspring lid. When the box came away leaving a bare rope,everyone assumed that the ring was in the box. But whenthe box was opened it contained just a card with amessage written on it. The message suggested that Fredshould serve the drinks and this led to the discovery ofthe ring on the stem of the wineglass.

Very clever. I started to think about that message in thebox and a fresh idea occured to me. Imagine making thering disappear and then pointing to a box that has been inview the whole time. Imagine telling the owner to open

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the box and take out his ring only to find a messagewhich cannot even be read with the naked eye. In fact theprint is not only very small but the words do not makesense. Even the magician has to put on his glasses toread it. He makes great play of getting out and putting onhis glasses, only to find the borrowed ring trapped on thebridge of the spectacles. How, you may ask, am I going toget the ring on or off the glasses? The answer is, Ihaven't the vaguest idea. Have you? Magical opticiansplease note.

For impromptu performance you could just load the ringonto one of the ear-pieces (or side-bars) of yourglasses, via an open ended spectacle case which is inyour pocket. The more spectacular version will need aspecial pair of glasses which come apart in a mannersimilar to the brass key puzzle.

Speaking of rings, how about a running gag with someone'sring which is never where it is supposed to be eventuallyending up on the key of your Chinese Rings. You wouldhave to pretend to saw through the key ring to get itoff.

COMEDY PROP: Many years ago, when I was a student, justplaying with the idea of becoming a professionalventriloquist, I was asked if I could think of some ideaswith a cartoonist in mind. The artiste in question wasPeggy Cavell who is a very strong speciality cartoonist.Peggy wanted to get together a spot for children in whichshe would dress as a clown. So I put my thinking-cap onand came up with several ideas which I made up for her.Peggy mostly works cabaret now so I know she will notmind if I pass the odd idea on to you.

This item is useful to any magician who entertainschildren with such effects as 'Magic Painting' or featuresany kind of cartoons or Chalk-Talk. The effect is thatlarge tubes of paint shoot out a long column of theirsupposed contents when squeezed but when the pressure isrelaxed the paint withdraws into the tube,

which resumes its normal shape. It's an effective gag andeasy to make.

To make one of the tubes you need a plastic container ofthe kind that is used to contain washing-up liquid. Theseare the safest to use as they have only contained non-toxic substances are straight sided and pliable. Cut thebottom out of the container and flatten the open end that'

s left. Turn this edge and staple it together making surethat it is straight and airtight. Next get a largemodelling balloon about three quarters of an inch wide,nine or ten inches long and not too thin. Take the cap offthe end of the giant tube that you have made leaving justthe projecting neck of the bottle which now looks like alarge toothpaste tube or over-sized tube of paint. Holdingthe open end of the balloon, drop it into the opening inthe tube. When its whole length is inside, pull the lipsof the balloon over the neck of the tube. This means thatthe balloon is inside, with its mouthpiece expandedoutwards and over the neck of the tube (at least threequarters of an inch should be over the neck) and madefast by binding with nylon thread which is wrapped roundand round the balloon and knotted tightly. It only remainsfor you to cover the trade name with a dummy label.

Since I first dreamed up this comedy prop the joke-shopshave offered a tube which shoots out a cord. but myversion is bigger, brighter and the contents withdrawback into the tube. Have fun.

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3inal WottdsThere are many reasons why this book was written. Severalpeople asked me to write up the tricks I had invented.Also someone else suggested that the best way to keep one's inventions is to publish them. Well, at least a book isdated and it ensures one's prior claim to items. Iappreciate that great minds think alike but I not onlythought up these things but published them for you to use.Manufacturing rights are reserved but my arm can always betwisted.

record that Val has for books on tricks, gags, illusionsand of course those wonderful biographies of his. In fa the has written and published over 100 books on everymagical subject. (If he missed any let him know, I'm surehe will put that right as soon as he has Lime.) Throughoutthe many years that I have known Val, he has never ceasedto amaze me with his inventive mind and the sheer volume ofmaterial that he manages to create. I aim both flatteredand relieved that he has taken so much trouble to help me.

TERRI ROGERS, LONDON 1985.

You will have noticed that the book is dedicated to KenBrooke. Ken was the first person in London to give meencouragement and advice. Over the years, at Ken'sstudio, I met a real galaxy of magical stars. Dai Vernon,Fred Kaps, Jay Marshall, Nicky Lewin, Billy McComb, DavidCopperfield, Maurice Fogel, Ricky Jay, Max Maven, PeteBiro... the list is endless. Many of these people becamemy great friends, or as I prefer to say: "My friends, thegreats". On visits to America I have since experiencedwonderful hospitality especially from George Schindlerwho is not on the above list because he deserves a listof his own.

Apart from meeting and talking with these very specialpeople, I experienced Ken's unique humour, which isimpossible to define. I hardly need to mention hisoriginality, his magical innovations and hisselling-techniques: awe-inspiring or, to me, justinspiring. GOD BLESS YOU KEN... HEAVEN KNOWS, YOU BLESSEDUS.

Finally a word of thanks is perhaps inadequate for theincredible patience and skill with which Val Andrews hasmanaged to decipher my scrawls and make sense of mydescriptions. There are very few magical authors with the

Printed Tomes of Leamington

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