~dit()r-s:(7ul"dun Ijean and Ijill (7uudwinti()use Vh()tufr-dPhen fial Ijeavel"~

:ome to the Penumbra. If you've arrived this early, it means you are among the invited g~d into your room, come on down to the bar and join us for some drinks and tricks.o routines from your faithful editors, a particularly fine offering from a perpetual guestI-thanks to the more-than-generous Allan Slaight-perhaps the most famous lost secret i

1ft James never made it to the Penumbra, but on three occasions-in 1948, 1956, and 1subject of the annual Penumbrella. At each of these get-togethers, an empty table was rfor Mr. James and the three companions of his imaginary realm: Khardova, Faxton, ancmes Stewart James in Print: The First Fifty Years, and The James File, Mr. James explains ho'catalysts to his thought processes, steering in directions which would otherwise remaiave used Mr. James in a like manner, trying to speculate what offbeat approach he ill

'haps the best indication of Mr. James's stature at the Penumbra is the fact that one cllg in room fifty-one. And, yes, it does face north.)Joldstein was once described by close associate Max Maven as "the one who sits in a reince being the subject of his own Penumbrella in 1989, that room is most often here:Joldstein's hermetic nature limits the personal exposure of his new effects to the few hle. Happily, Max often finds time to drop by when he's in the area, and always has licelific friend's latest creation.ever been clear if Bill Goodwin spends so much time here because of the great magiCiecause of the screening room stocked with original motion picture prints going back toill pass without a trace of Bill, and one never knows if he'll emerge with a new card trisome long-forgotten screwball comedy.low of new guests through the Penumbra is especially beneficial to Gordon Bean. Othel; of the same effect would grow even more tiresome. The night manager has learned to>ur in the morning to escape seeing yet another version of whatever Gordon's currentbIy possible that avoiding such a chore is what keeps Phil Goldstein in his room.

:!ition to our contributors, we would like to thank all those that helped in making this fler, Hal Beavers, David Ben, Marc Caplan, Kathy Carey, Charles Goodwin, David Jcl Kaufman, Ray Kosby, Max Maven, Stephen Minch, Dave Nelson, and Allan Slaight.

: is published every other month. This is issue one published in May/June 20C) for a six-issue (one-year) subscription in the United States and Canada. All 0

1 $20.00 (U.S.) for airmail delivery. PayPal payments accepted. Checks should blm Goodwin and sent to 2641 South J Street, Oxnard, California, 93033-4469.

e-mail: wgoodwin42@hotmail.com

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-=ditur§: (;()I'"d()n l1ean and l1i11(;()()dwintiuu§e Vhutuurapher: tial l1eavel'"~

Welcome to the Penumbra. If you've arrived this early, it means you are among the invited guests. So onceyou've checked into your room, come on down to the bar and join us for some drinks and tricks. This evening,there'll be two routines from your faithful editors, a particularly fine offering from a perpetual guest whom no oneever sees, and-thanks to the more-than-generous Allan Slaight-perhaps the most famous lost secret in card magic.

Stewart James never made it to the Penumbra, but on three occasions-in 1948, 1956, and 1979-his workhas been the subject of the annual Penumbrella. At each of these get-togethers, an empty table was reserved in thedining room for Mr. James and the three companions of his imaginary realm: Khardova, Faxton, and Rigonally. Inthe epic volumes Stewart James in Print: The First Fifty Years, and The James File, Mr. James explains how his compan-ions acted as catalysts to his thought processes, steering in directions which would otherwise remain unexplored.Many of us have used Mr. James in a like manner, trying to speculate what offbeat approach he might take to aproblem. (Perhaps the best indication of Mr. James's stature at the Penumbra is the fact that one of your editorsdoes his writing in room fifty-one. And, yes, it does face north.)

Phil Goldstein was once described by close associate Max Maven as "the one who sits in a room inventingcard tricks." Since being the subject of his own Penumbrella in 1989, that room is most often here at the Penum-bra, but Mr. Goldstein's hermetic nature limits the personal exposure of his new effects to the few he can performover the phone. Happily, Max often finds time to drop by when he's in the area, and always has license to demon-strate his prolific friend's latest creation.

It's never been clear if Bill Goodwin spends so much time here because of the great magicians who passthrough, or because of the screening room stocked with original motion picture prints going back to the silent era.Entire days will pass without a trace of Bill, and one never knows if he'll emerge with a new card trick or with anassessment of some long-forgotten screwball comedy.

The flow of new guests through the Penumbra is especially beneficial to Gordon Bean. Otherwise, his con-stant revisions of the same effect would grow even more tiresome. The night manager has learned to feign reserva-tion calls at four in the morning to escape seeing yet another version of whatever Gordon's currently working on,and it's entirely possible that avoiding such a chore is what keeps Phil Goldstein in his room.

In addition to our contributors, we would like to thank all those that helped in making this first issue pos-sible: Lee Asher, Hal Beavers, David Ben, Marc Caplan, Kathy Carey, Charles Goodwin, David Jockisch, StacyJones, Richard Kaufman, Ray Kosby, Max Maven, Stephen Minch, Dave Nelson, and Allan Slaight.

The Penumbra is published every other month. This is issue one published in May/June 2002. Rates are$50.00 (U.S.) for a six-issue (one-year) subscription in the United States and Canada. All other foreigncountries add $20.00 (U.S.) for airmail delivery. PayPal payments accepted. Checks should be made pay-able to William Goodwin and sent to 2641 South J Street, Oxnard, California, 93033-4469.

e-mail: wgoodwin42@hotmail.com

No room is as fascinating as the locked one. Consid-ering all the new principles and plots Stewart Jamesopened up, a disproportionate amount of attentionhas been paid to "51 Faces North," the item he mostrigorously avoided releasing. Though unplanned byJames, its elevation to the status of legend is a directresult of how intriguing he made it sound. He may nothave intended for his "dealer's ad" description of theeffect to go beyond the desk of one of his friends, buthe obviously had taken care in clearly stating its mad-dening conditions, and when that friend publiclyshared what James had written, the spare power ofthose words set off a reaction that has continued fornearly a half century.

It all begins with a plot for which Paul Curryhad half a method: After openly predicting a cardwhich had been secretly stolen from the deck, the ma-gician would have a spectator deal a shuffled deck intoa face-up pile, leaving an unknown card face down.The openly predicted card would naturally not appearamong the face-up cards, providing initial proof of themagician's success in knowing where the spectatorwould stop.

And that was as much as Curry had. Stumpinghim was how to cleanly switch in the secretly stolencard. In his introduction to the brilliant method hefinally worked out and published in 1977's Special Effeets, he wrote: "I thought it sort of ridiculous to have aworking effect ...without a method. In this vein, I men-tioned it to some fellow magicians and, in the yearsthat followed, was astonished by the way it got aroundand by the interest it generated."

One hub for this new plot to circulate wasColon, Michigan. At the annual Abbott's Get-Together there in 1949, Oscar Weigle evidently toldEd Marlo of the plot, and James remembers Marlo"posing the challenge at each ...Get-Together for two orthree years in the early 1950s." Marlo published theeffect (with no credit to Curry) along with one of hissolutions in The Cardician (1953), making James feelcomfortable in releasing "some of my methods, se-lected as representative from the eighty or so I had atthe time." Howard Lyons, a good friend of James, hadjust launched Ibidem, and its August, 1955 issue fea-tured twenty-five of these "representative" methods.

lil f'ace~~()rth'tewart Jame~

In a February 1963 letter to Francis Haxton,James states: "I favour the idea man who sets himself aproblem, exhausts the possible solutions to the best ofhis abilities, selects the method he considers the best,makes a sincere effort to ascertain if it has beenthought of by another and published previously, andthen releases it in print as succinctly as he can."Though this viewpoint is clearly at odds with his mas-sive Ibidem submission, there was a reason. James wasbreaking his usual procedures, not through a desire toclaim as many methods as possible, but by a wish toshow how his Assumptive Trinity system of methodicalcreativity could define the parameters of a problem'sexploration. In line with this, he prefaced his methodswith a table providing a categorical breakdown of con-dition, effect, and method. Though pointing out thestrengths of some, he kept the method descriptionsbrief, keeping the implied emphasis on the processthat had created them.

There was one exception to this general air ofequality among methods: "51 Faces North." In a letterthat Lyons quoted from in the issue's introduction,James stated: "As a teaser, I thought I would mentionsome of the points of interest about a method forwhich I have high regard." And once he had finisheddescribing his conditions for the Curry effect-withoutthe method-he concluded:

"This isn't some kind of a gag, an item I planon marketing or even anything I have any intention ofreleasing now or for a long time. But it is an exampleof what can be developed from a study of the require-ments as I have outlined them, and a version which Iam sure I would never have developed without its aid."

Clearly, James considers this the plum of thebatch, and having made his point about the value ofmethodical creativity with the other methods, he'sfiled it away with the special items he keeps for him-self.

Here, then, are those famous conditions:"Borrowed cards may be used. A brand new

deck is not required. The deck might even have cardsmissing from it, you do not have to know which onesor how many. You have only to be sure the card youpredict is there. You do not need privacy with thecards to set something. The deck is never out of sightfor a moment. No card or cards are stolen from thedeck. Borrowed writing material may be used. It is de-

scribed as a prediction at the time of writing. The pre-diction is nothing more than the name of a card. It isknown to all before the first card is dealt. No alterna-tive meanings. No alternative effect. Strictly im-promptu. Nothing but the borrowed articles used.When he starts dealing, you do not know where thepredicted card is. It would not help you to know, withthis method. Nor do you know the location of anyother card. You never know when he will leave a cardface down, until after he has done it.

"The spectator deals straight through from thetop to face. The only variation is when he leaves a cardface down. It is not a once-in-a-while trick. If the in-structions are followed, it cannot faiL No card is han-dled by you from first to last. The spectator himselfchecks that the face-down card is the predicted one. Ibelieve it is a new angle on a known principle."

Though there was little immediate responsefrom the Ibidem readership, Lyons-who had publishedeleven Open Prediction methods of his own in thesame issue, and five in a later one-was intriguedenough to send James a method for the stated condi-tions. James's response included the crucial piece ofinformation that "51 Faces North" was part of a rou-tine:

"The Open Prediction [is] more effective asthe climax to a routine, such as this one: A deck is bor-rowed, and a card selected and shuffled back by thevolunteer. I deal the cards and stop on the selectedone. The volunteer takes the deck. I never touch thecards again. He thinks of a card, and deals the cards. Istop him on his thought-of card. Another card thoughtof. Different principle. He deals cards while my back isturned. I stop him on thought-of card. I write the openprediction on a piece of paper, and I conclude accord-ing to the description of 51 Faces North. The longersequence is not essential, but I think it builds it upwhen time is not of the essence."

The only known occasion that James per-formed such a routine was in 1969, when, to provideat least one witness to the existence of a method, hehad his friend Al Richards get a deck and verify eachcondition as the effect was performed.

In 1978, Karl Fulves published Cards 2-51Faces North, a booklet devoted entirely to analysis andmethods for the problem. This, in turn, led JonRacherbaumer to write James to ask if he planned toever release his method for "51 Face North." In July of1979, James replied: "Have made no plans to publishmy method. Am not enjoying the fuss either silently orotherwise. It was not my intention in the first place to

let it be generally known such a method existed. It is asource of disappointment that a principle which I havenot released has aroused more interest than principlesI have released .... "

The connection Stewart James had with othermagicians was never simple. On the one hand, he hadthe charitable impulse to try to convert his friends andcorrespondents to his systems of creativity, so they toocould access the "horizons unlimited" he found so ex-hilarating. On the other hand, he derived satisfactionfrom withholding certain strong items from anyoneelse. With regards to "51 Faces North," this latter atti-tude provided a roadblock for Howard Lyons andAllan Slaight as they prepared the publication of whatwould become The James File. (After Lyons died in1987, Slaight continued the long march in the com-pany of Max Maven.) James would become uncommu-nicative whenever the topic was raised, and it seemedincreasingly unlikely that a solution would ever beforthcoming. In 1991, though, he made an outburstthat added two more conditions to the problem. First:'''Fifty-One Faces North' could be used by someonewho is a crookl" Second: "It's not a well-knownmethod for use with cards. It could be used for otherthan cards."

And then, silence.Let's let Allan Slaight pick up the story:

"In July 1987, my marriage broke up. I imme-diately turned our house and its furnishings over to mywife as we began separation and divorce proceedings. Imoved into a rented, furnished apartment on an in-terim basis, returning to my former home several timesto pack up business papers and files, magic material,books and CDs, clothing, ete.

"When I eventually moved into my ownhome, everything followed me there. I had no use atthat time for the old items in the business cartons andthey went into a storage area while I began to work myway through the magic boxes, culling out anything thatmight be of value as I continued to work on StewartJames In Print. (My co-editor on that project, HowardLyons, passed away in August 1987. It was not the bestof summers. That book, begun with Howard in 1982,was issued in 1989.) In 1990, with Max Maven, I be-gan to work on The James File and that marathon en-deavour concluded in August 2000.

"Earlier that year (2000), I had resigned asChairman and Chief Executive Officer of Standard

Broadcasting, the company I owned, turning that roleover to my son, Gary. I assumed the title of ExecutiveChairman. In November 2000, we were to hold ourannual meeting of our senior executives from acrossthe country. Because I would no longer be Standard'soperating head, Gary suggested that I should bow outby making a detailed presentation of my rather un-usual business career and the major moves I had madealong the way. I demurred, stating that I would preferto do it the following year, after I had the opportunityto search my business files for the appropriate back-ground documents, statistics and information.

"And so, sometime after November 2000, Ibegan to slowly work my way through hundreds ofitems: letters, annual reports, mailing pieces, sales fig-ures, newspaper articles, ete. With a year ahead of mebefore my presentation I felt no urgency and attackedthe project only when the mood struck. Sometime inMarch 2001 I came across an envelope from one of thecompanies I had previously owned, Radio IWC Lim-ited. It was postmarked May 10, 1984. The puzzlementwas that the addressee was Stewart James!

"Wondering how a letter I had sent Stewart inmy office envelope had somehow been returned, Iopened it to discover his method(s) for 51 FacesNorth! A typed legal-size page was dated July 15, 1955,and headed 'Mark 35.' It was described as 'A Solutionto Open Prediction.' Three-and-a-half additional legalpages carried more detailed handwritten instructionsdated July 25, 1983.

"Naturally, I was dumbfounded. I have longpondered how this envelope, addressed to Stewart,came into my possession. The only possibility thatmakes some sense is that, as Howard and I commutedback and forth to Stewart's home in Courtright, haul-ing away stacks of letters, notes, files, etc.-to be copiedin Toronto and returned-this envelope was somehowand unknowingly included in one of those caches.Then, in 1987, when I was sorting through my papersin my former home, rapidly dividing them into"Business" and "Magic" categories, I came across thismomentous envelope but noted only the "Radio IWCLimited" logo and return address in the upper left cor-ner and, in my haste, did not note the person to whomit had been sent. It went into a "Business" carton, tolie there for some fourteen years.

"Obviously, I had mailed something to Stew-art in that envelope in May 1984, and Mr. James, fru-gal as always, had subsequently used the envelope tohold the solution to probably the most challengingcard problem in magic.

"I then anguished about whether or not torelease it! The James File was barely off the press. Fifty-three pages had been devoted to 51 Faces North-tothe seemingly insurmountable challenge conditionsand the varying solutions of sixteen magicians.

"If the bombshell was dropped after the bookappeared, would the magic world logically assume thatI had been sitting on Stewart's method but had held itback for some later ulterior purpose? Around this timeI confided in Max Maven and David Ben. By coinci-dence, they had been urging me to go to work on TheEssential Stewart James-a volume to feature what wouldbe considered Stewart's fifty most significant origina-tions and aimed at those who either were not familiarwith his genius or were not prepared to tackle thethree mammoth volumes we had compiled.

"It was obvious: 51 Faces North would make asensational fifty-first trick. Wait! But then peoplewould accuse me of withholding the method until nowto hype the sale of The Essential Stewart James. I main-tained it should somehow be released before that pub-lication was made available. Stephen Minch suggestedit could first go to an appropriate magazine. In thatGordon Bean and Bill Goodwin had been instrumen-tal in the preparation of The James File and its index,Max Maven suggested The Penumbra. A perfect solu-tion."

As mentioned by Allan Slaight, Stewart Jamesdeveloped two handlings of the routine. This firstmethod was recorded in his notes oOuly 15, 1955.

First effect: Ask to borrow a deck of cardsmaking sure the cards are well mixed before you takethem. Secretly glimpse the bottom card of the deckand then spread the deck between your hands, askingthe spectator to touch the back of any card. While hebelieves he has a free selection, you actually force himto select the card you glimpsed by executing "TheTouch Force." A description of this sleight can befound in J.N. Hofzinser's Card Conjuring (1931) on pages136-7 and on page 167. It also appears on page 265 ofThe Tarbell Course in Magic Volume 1 (1940 under thetitle "Forcing Bottom Card." Basically, fan the cardsbetween your hands and as you do, place your rightfingers onto the bottom card of the deck and pull it tothe right under the fan. When the spectator touches acard, separate the spread so that the touched card is onthe bottom of the right-hand portion. The glimpsedcard is secretly held beneath this portion of cards.

,--..------

July 15th, 1955

FIFTY-oU FADESNORm.

Presentation: C~plete routine consists of thre~ ef~ects ofa ·stop" nature and each one lIlOreimpossible ,then the last.

,·fIl·JBorrow a shuffled deck. Glimpse face card end l'ouch Force it.Have speotator shuffle deck. again. ~ dea1lJ the oard! jace upone at a time on the table. You stop lWIIf w1:lier1 '-'dea.;'l thecard he noted. ~ rYou note and remember 12th oard from top. If spectator's oardsho'1ftlup before then, continue on and work the Oircus Tr£ok ••the next aard I turn Will be your card busiuess. (fo'r build-upof rO,utine ~ should deal f£rst t1me~-) . ,

Seoond phase: Spectator thinks of any number less than ten.~ Youturn your back. He takes that manyoards (say 7) frcln face of deck

~ and leaves face down on table. That 1IIIiDy.oardsfrcm tl'J) of deokface down on table. Picks up either pile, shuffles it end notes

,J . ~ .face oard. - Say 58. Places .oards f.aoe down on deck. You have

~

. ~ill1 deal off the oards one at a time, tell you U' .oard. is red or\ . black and place them face down in a pile.on table. You stop him~7when he has dealt 11 oards. Have them replace4 on, top of deck.

\ ~ ;' He shuifies remaining p11e, looks at them and tells you how many~. court cards there are. Then places these oards on top of deck.

~

You turn around. have him deal theoards .one at a time FACllDOWN .. ,~,~. on table. You stop him wen he deals, the ·12th oard. . He'names;;r , \ his oard and turns 12th card face uP. It is it. ,

~. , l'his routine is desoribed as IT JlU3T. BI!l MAGIO,page 382, Expert Card~f Technique.""""'~"\'_. .. .TW. rd, PhsI,aet SaY card YOu.DP,tedwas JD. .wri te it sO aJ.1 may see.

Cards dealt from deck are pushea·8.iI11e~ ·'Sp80ta1;orhoUs·-fiQ.on-··~"·~face dcwn in1et·t hand. Ask him if he ·115tll1Dk:\.Dgof :tlumberOne.:»i...'11henhe says he isn't, have him ,leal fi;rsi;'cll4"d.,1'aoe uP. Oontinueuntil he sdlIIits you have namedhis number. . In. this case it will'be 7. Have him deal '7i;)'). card face down. 1,!:e<l,ealsrest of cardsface up. No sign of J.D.

Have him deal the 12 oards to one Iti~e, fatl,e up on·rest. NoJD :B.lOClAUSE IT IS THEONLYFACEnow OARDIII DECICo , 'l'lJRllJIDF.ACE 1DOWN BY SP'IiCUTOR A'f A m:n.mJllR m: F:RI!l1!lLY BJllLliX}1'JID .Am> WHICH WAS ,UNENQWN TO YOU. '

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Your left hand tables the cards it holds, then comes upto the left edge of the right-hand cards and removesthe bottom card. The spectators will believe this to bethe freely chosen card, but it is actually your forcecard. Let the spectator take the card. After the cardhas been noted, reassemble the deck, have the selec-tion replaced and hand the deck to the spectator forshuffling.

When he is satisfied, retrieve the deck andbegin dealing the cards face up in an overlapping rowonto the table one at a time. As you deal, secretly noteand remember the twelfth card dealt. We'll assumethis card is the jack of diamonds. Continue to dealand when you reach the forced card, stop. Dramati-cally push this card forward. You have found the spec-tator's selection.

If, however, you deal the selection before youreach the twelfth card, keep dealing. When you reachthe twelfth card, secretly note and remember it andcontinue to deal a few more cards. Suddenly stop andannounce that "the next card you turn over will be theselected card." The audience will think you havefailed, but you reach over to the selected card and turnit face down. You are true to your statement and havefound the selected card. This well-known effect is"The Circus Trick" and can be found on page 267 ofThe Tarbell Course in Magic Volume 1 (1941).

Assemble the deck, making sure that the jackof diamonds remains twelfth down from the top. Ob-viously, if the selected card appears after you haveglimpsed the jack of diamonds, simply reassemble thedeck making sure the selection remains below thetwelfth card. If you must perform the "The CircusTrick," replace the selection face up into the spreadabove the glimpsed card and then reassemble thedeck. Either way, the jack of diamonds will remaintwelfth from the top.

Second effect: From this point on, you willnever touch the deck again. Hand the deck to thespectator and ask him to think of any number lessthan ten. Turn your back and instruct him to removethat many cards from the top of the deck. He is totable this small packet. You now have him remove thissame amount of cards from the face of the deck tomake a second small packet. This packet is placed facedown next to the first packet. The remainder of thedeck is placed aside face down.

Direct the spectator to pick up either packetand shuffle it. Have him look at the bottom card ofthe packet and remember it, then replace this packetonto the deck. We'll assume the card he looked at is

the five of spades. Keeping your back turned, instructthe spectator to remove cards one at a time off the topof the deck and place them into a face-down pile. Ashe takes each card, he is to look at its face and an-nounce to you whether the card is red or black. As hedeals, keep a mental count of each card he deals andafter he has dealt the eleventh card, stop him. Directhim to place the eleven-card packet back onto thedeck. During this, you want to convey the impressionthat the information he is giving you is vital to findingthe selected card. However, this is just a ruse to coverthe necessary deal of the cards that is vital to themathematical principle involved.

Next, he is to shuffle the remaining smallpacket and look at their faces. Instruct him to tell youhow many court cards are in the packet. After he does,have him place this packet on top of the deck.

Turn around, and have the spectator deal thecards onto the table one at a time. However, unlike thefirst effect, this time the cards are dealt face down.Mentally count each card and stop the spectator whenhe has dealt the twelfth card. Have him name his card,then ask him to turn the twelfth card face up to revealthe five of spades. You have found the second selec-tion.

The effect that James uses for this secondphase is "It Must Be Magic" and can be found on page382 of Hugard and Braue's Expert Card Technique(1940).

Third effect-51 Faces North: Have the specta-tor place the five of spades onto the other dealt cardsand push this packet aside. You will now urilize thecard you glimpsed in the first effect. Write the words"jack of diamonds" on a piece of paper and show it tothe audience, so-they are aware of which card you havewritten down. Have the spectator pick up the deck andhold it in his left hand. You ask him to remember thenumber he chose earlier. Ask him if he is thinking ofnumber one. If he is not, direct him to deal the topcard face up on the table. Ask him if he is thinking ofthe number two. Once again, if he says no, have himdeal the next card face up as well. Continue this proce<dure until you reach the number he is thinking of. Atthis point, direct him to deal the card at this numberface down. All the while, you are looking for the jackof diamonds.

Have the spectator continue dealing the cardsface up in an overlapping row while you continue tolook for the jack of diamonds. This card will not ap-pear. Realize that there are still a few cards that havenot been looked at. Direct attention to the twelve

cards pushed aside earlier. Have the spectator dealthese cards face up onto the row of cards. The jack ofdiamonds still does not make its appearance. Directthe spectator to turn over the face-down card himselfto reveal the jack of diamonds.

The spectator has left your predicted card facedown at a number freely chosen by himself and whichwas unknown to you.

You may, if you wish, have the spectator re-turn the twelve cards dealt in the second effect to thedeck before proceeding with "51 Faces North" ratherthan pushing them aside. Simply direct the spectatorto place the deck onto the twelve dealt cards and pro-ceed with the third effect.

It is interesting to note that once you force thefirst selection, you do not have to handle the deckagain throughout the routine. James was aware of this,but felt it was better for the magician to deal the cardshimself during the first effect so the routine couldbuild in impossibility.

James also worked out a few ideas that enableyou to never handle the spectator's deck at all. Thefirst of these involves forcing a known card from yourown deck on the spectator. This card is replaced andyour deck is placed aside. The spectator now shuffleshis deck and you proceed with the first effect as writ-ten, stopping him when he deals the duplicate of thecard you forced.

The second idea is to have your deck stacked.In this case, no force is necessary. Simply have thespectator freely select any card. Cut the deck at theplace where the card was removed. Have the selectionreplaced and insert the deck into the card case. As youdo, glimpse the face card of the deck. This will let youknow what card was selected.

You may also use a card case which has a por-tion cut out of it enabling you to glimpse the indexcorner of the face card of the deck after it is has beenreplaced into the case. You now have the spectatorshuffle his deck and proceed with the routine. Theidea of cutting out the index corner portion of thecard box to allow a glimpse can be found in Al Koran's"A Clear Case of Clairvoyance" (Gen, February 1955,p.274).

Stewart James continued to think about theroutine and on July 25, 1983 he recorded the follow-ing handling in his notes. This handling also allowsthe performer to never handle the spectator's deck.

This is how James describes the effect in his1983 notes. "A routine of three effects of a 'Stop' na-ture. Each one more impossible than the last. A bor-

rowed deck is used which is not, and never has been,handled by the performer. Several cards may be se-cretly discarded so the performer is never aware of thenumber of cards in use."

First effect: Instruct the spectator to shuffle hisdeck. He is then to name any number from ten tothirty. While the spectator can choose any number,this restriction is used so that the dealing process tofollow does not take too long. Let's assume the specta-tor chooses the number seventeen. Tell the spectatorto deal the cards to the table in a face-up overlappingrow until he has dealt the number of cards equal to hischosen number. In this case, he will stop after seven-teen cards have been dealt.

As he is dealing the cards, you must executesome mental calculations. If the chosen number is six-teen or less, subtract eight from it. If the number isover sixteen, you subtract sixteen from it. The resultyou arrive at is now doubled and you must rememberthis number.

For example, if he chose the number eleven,you would subtract eight to arrive at the number three.Doubling this number will result in the number six,which you remember. In our example, the spectatorchose seventeen. Since this is over sixteen, you subtractsixteen from this number, arriving at the number one.You now double this number to arrive at the numbertwo. Remember this number.

As the spectator deals, note the card that occu-pies the position of the number you have in mind. Inthis case, you would note the second card dealt. We'llassume this card is the two of spades.

Looking over the spread of cards you an-nounce that you are going to select one of the cards asyour prediction. Write the name of the card at the po-sition of the number you arrived at (the two of spades)on a piece of paper. This is your prediction.

Now, during all of this you must also memo-rize the first card dealt. We'll assume this card is thequeen of diamonds. This is the card that will act asyour prediction during the final effect of the routine.

Have the spectator square up the seventeen-card packet and turn it face down. You now direct himto place the first card onto the table, the next card un-derneath the packet, the next card on the table, thenext card under the packet, and so on, until he is leftwith one card. In other words, the spectator is in-structed to give the packet an Australian Deal. Whenthe spectator arrives at the last card, he turns it over. Itwill be the two of spades. Have your prediction read toverify that you knew in advance what card the specta-

tor would arrive at. Have the spectator push the two ofspades into the seventeen-card packet and return thecards to the top of the deck.

This effect is Dr. Wm. T. Palchinas' "CardDetermined," found in The1inx #139 (May, 1941).

Since your calculations instruct you to doublethe number you arrive at after you subtract your keynumber from the spectator's number, the top card ofthe packet will never be the card predicted for the firsteffect. This will make sure that you don't have thesame prediction card for two of the three effects. Also,the Australian Deal ensures that your memorized cardwill always end up on the bottom of the packet. In thiscase, the queen of diamonds will now rest seventeenthfrom the top of the deck.

Second effect: You will now perform "It MustBe Magic" as described in the first handling. However,there are a few changes. Turn around and instruct thespectator to think of a number from one to ten. He isto remove this amount of cards from both the top andthe face of the deck making two packets. He selectsone pile and shuffles it. Have him look at the bottomcard of the packet and remember it. We'll assume it isthe eight of spades. He is then to place this packetonto the deck.

At this point, you will have the spectator takecards off the top of the deck and deal them into a face-down pile on the table. As he does, he is to look at theface of each card and announce whether the card isred or black. He continues to do this with each card.When he reaches the sixteenth card, stop him. Havehim replace these cards back on top of the deck. Theposition you stop the spectator is determined by thenumber he announced in the first effect. Subtract onefrom the number he selected and stop the spectatorthere. In our example, the spectator chose seventeenfor the first effect. Therefore, you would stop him afterhe has dealt sixteen cards. If the spectator chose thenumber twenty-one for the first effect, you would stophim after he has dealt twenty cards.

You now continue the effect by having thespectator pick up the remaining packet, look at theirfaces, and announce how many court cards it contains.This packet is now placed on top of the deck.

You now turn back around and have the spec-tator deal the cards one at a time onto the table. Whenthe spectator has dealt the seventeenth card, you dra-matically stop him. Ask him to name his card, thenhave him turn over the card you stopped him at toreveal the eight of spades.

The place you stop the spectator is also deter-

mined by the number the spectator chose for the firsteffect. You instruct him to stop dealing on the cardthat occupies the same position as the number hechose. In our example, the spectator chose seventeen.So, you stop on the seventeenth card to reveal the se-lection. These seventeen cards are now pushed aside.

Third effect-51 Faces North: You are now setto perform the final effect exactly as described in thefirst handling. Announce that you will predict thequeen of diamonds for the final demonstration, nam-ing out loud the card you secretly memorized duringthe first effect.

Ask the spectator to remember the number hethought of for the second effect. At this point, youhave no idea what this number may be. Have the spec-tator hold the deck in his hand. Ask him if he is think-ing of the number one. If he says no, have him dealthe card face up to the table. Ask him if he is thinkingof the number two. Once again, if he says no, havehim deal this card face up as well. Continue this proce-dure until he arrives at the number he is thinking of.Have him deal this card face down. Instruct the specta-tor to continue dealing cards face up looking for thequeen of diamonds. When the deck is exhausted, thequeen will not make its appearance. Direct attentionto the packet placed aside earlier. Have the spectatordeal these cards face up. The queen of diamonds isnowhere to be found. Ask the spectator to turn overthe face-down card to reveal the queen of diamonds.

James describes the method for the final effect(51 Faces North) as follows: "The handling of the cardsplaces the first card dealt in Effect No. 1 at the posi-tion chosen by the spectator in Effect No. 2 with athought of number for the result obtained in EffectNo.3."

So "51 Faces North" is possible. But does itsmathematical base make it only academically interest-ing? Is it a viable performance piece? The answer lies inhow well that mathematical base is hidden.

Crucial to the concealing of procedure in thefull "51 Faces North" routine is its strategy of one ef-fect setting up another-a concept that provided Jameswith some of his most impressive breakthroughs. Hisastounding "Robot Deck" features intertwining stackswhere one trick sets up the next, and his famous 1955Toronto lecture explored the notion of using a se-quence of effects to gradually stack a shuffled deck.Here he goes one step further, imbedding the secret

variable of one effect into another.Apart from methodological considerations,

the sequence that James describes is also a splendidexample of theatrical routining. From a cold start,spectators might not have the focus to stay fully en-gaged as the entire deck is dealt through. With an esca-lation of conditions, however, they're more apt to leanforward in disbelief as that final effect unfolds.

The need for "51 Faces North" to be set up bya routine is nonetheless the biggest sticking point towhether James fulfilled his own conditions. But, in theend, James's careful truthfulness shines through. Thepreviously cited quote about "not needing the full rou-tine" is, I think, referring to the possibility of theshorter routine, not the lack of a routine altogether.And there were many things he chose not to mentionin his conditions-the effect's being part of a routinewas simply one of them. (His own notes refer to it as"Open Prediction in routine build-up.")

To finish up, here's a rundown of the condi-tions, and how the solution satisfies them.

Borrowed cards may be used. A brand new deck isnot required. The deck might even have cards missing from it.You do not have to know which ones or how many.

James is emphasizing that, unlike other relatedapproaches, the mathematical principle in play needsno prior knowledge of how many cards are in the deck.

Borrowed writing materials may be used. It is de-scribed as a prediction at the time of writing. The predictionis nothing more than the name of a card. It is known to allbefore the first card is dealt. No alternative meanings. Noalternative effect. Strictly impromptu. Nothing but the bor-rowed articles used.

Here he's shutting down a whole host of otherstrategies while emphasizing the cleanliness of his ownmethod.

The spectator deals straight through from the top to

face. The only variation is when he leaves a card face down.It is not a once-in-a-while trick. When he starts dealing, youdo not know where the predicted card is. You never knowwhen he will leave a card face down, until after he has doneit.

These last conditions are the great strengths ofthis method. In the original "It Must be Magic" proce-dure, you don't know the spectator's variable, but youdo know the eventual position of the selection. In "51Faces North," you genuinely don't know the positionof the card they will stop on, but, thanks to the open-ing phase, you do know its identity. (For other exten-sions of the procedure used in "It Must be Magic," seeTrevor Hall's The Card Magic of E.G. Brown (1973) for

"The Two Pile Trick.")If the instructions are followed, it cannot fail. No

card is handled by you from first to last.It would, in fact, make a great phone trick-

with the simple addition of having the spectator namethe cards dealt in the first phase.

The spectator himself checks that the face-downcard is the predicted one. I believe it is a new angle on aknown principle.

As indicated previously, the principle is theone used in "It Must Be Magic," where a secret vari-able's double use cancels itself. The new angle is thefact that a card at a noted position will always finishthe procedure at that secret variable.

[It] could be used by someone who is a crook.Here, James is undoubtedly referring to the

con-game background of the opening effect, "The Cir-cus Trick," as well as the fact that his subsequentphases are so clean that they could easily attract wagers.(Max Maven made the recent discovery that "TheTwenty-Sixth Location," an uncredited effect on page397 of Hugard and Braue's Expert Card Technique(1940), predates James in using the "The Circus Trick"as a means of noting a card for use in a subsequenteffect. Interestingly, the chapter containing this openswith "It Must Be Magic.")

It's not a well-known method for use with cards. Itcould be used for other than cards.

In 1943, while James was serving overseas dur-ing World War II, his friend Milt Kort sent him a de-scription of Hugard and Braue's "Silent Speller" fromMiracle Methods No.4-Tricks and Sleights (1943), whichled him to come up with "There is Something About aSoldier." Sending his effect to Kort, James remarked:"Basically both this and the problem you sent me goback to the Mystic Q with coins."

James is referring here to the procedure whereyou begin a count up the "tail" of coins forming theletter Q, then use the same variable to count back inthe opposite direction--this time ignoring the tail. (AsAllan Slaight noted in The James File, Professor Hoff.man's More Magic (1889) contains an early referencefor this principle.) This use of a variable canceled bybeing used twice, and so ending up in a predeterminedlocation, is certainly akin to the procedure used in "ItMust Be Magic."

A final, implicit condition is whether the solu-tion lives up to the "high regard" expressed by James inhis original letter to Howard Lyons. That it does is atestament to both his own creativity and the faith ofhis admiring friend.

Two batteries are displayed. Each battery is equippedwith a built-in battery tester that enables one to test theamount of charge left in the battery. A spectator isasked to check the amount of power in one of the bat-teries. He finds it fully charged. He tests the secondbattery and finds it drained of power. The spectatorchooses one of the batteries and holds it in his closedfist. Assuming he chooses the fully charged battery, themagician takes the dead battery and holds it betweenhis hands. Directing attention to the battery tester, themagician causes the power from the fully charged bat-tery to transfer over to the dead battery. However, he issuccessful in transferring only ninety percent of thepower. The spectator tests the battery he holds andfinds it now contains only ten percent of its power.

To perform this unique version of the Cop-per/Silver coin transposition, you will require threebatteries. Each battery is of the AA variety and mustcontain a built-in tester (Photo 1). By pressing yourthumbs on the two white dots, the tester will showhow much charge is in the battery.

One of the batteries must be fully charged sothat when you activate the tester it shows the battery tobe one hundred percent charged. The second batterymust only have a ten-percent charge, while the thirdbattery must register no charge at all. In order toachieve this condition, you must drain the power fromtwo of the batteries by using them. Simply place one ofthe batteries in an appliance such as a Walkman andkeep checking the power until it is only ten percent

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charged. At this point, remove it. The final batterymust be completely drained of power. It is difficult toremove all of the charge by using the battery. Instead,take a razor blade and cut through the tester at thepoint shown in Photo 2. This will render the testeruseless and consequently show the battery to containno charge.

You must also be able to distinguish each bat-tery from the other. The simplest way to do this is tomark each battery in such a way as to allow you toknow which one is which. Place the fully charged anddead battery in your left jacket pocket, while the ten-percent charged battery is in your right jacket pocket.Finally, you must be seated across from the audience.

To perform, reach into your pockets and graspthe batteries, palming the one in your right pocketwith your right hand. Remove your hands and dropthe palmed battery secretly into your lap as you displaythe other two batteries. Place each battery upright ontothe table about a foot apart with the fully charged bat-tery to your left.

Gesture toward the batteries, and ask the audi-ence to identify what they are. Whatever the answer,say, "They're actually containers. They contain electri-cal power. One is full, and one is empty. However,unlike bottles or glasses, you can't tell just by lookingwhich is which. In order to determine this, you mustuse the battery tester." Direct attention to the batterytester on one of the batteries and explain how it oper-ates. Ask a spectator to pick up the battery on your left

and activate the tester. It will register as fully chargedand you mention that this is the full container. As heis doing this, drop your right hand to your lap andpalm the extra battery. At this point, you extend yourleft hand palm up toward him as you ask him to testthe other battery. You do not ask him to hand you thebattery, but your implied gesture combined with yourrequest to test the other battery will cause him to placethe fully charged battery into your left hand.

As he picks up the second battery, you appar-ently place the battery he just handed you into yourright hand. In reality, you execute a simple shuttlepass, palming the battery in your left hand as you dis-play the battery in your right hand (Photo 3). Place thisbattery upright onto the table in the position previ-ously occupied by the fully charged battery. This switchoccurs on the off beat-as the spectator is engaged inanother action-and will go undetected.

The spectator will test the other battery. It willnot register as having any charge, and you explain thatit is empty. As he tests the second battery, secretlyplace the fully charged battery into your lap.

After the second battery is tested, direct thespectator to replace it on the table as you gesture to-ward the position it previously occupied. Since you donot ask the spectator to hand you the first battery, andsince he tests and replaces the second battery himself,he should forget that you even touched the first batteryand remember only that he tested and replaced eachbattery himself.

You now ask the spectator, "Do you preferempty or full?" This question is phrased in this man-ner to force him to choose the supposedly fully

charged battery. Most spectators will answer "full." Asyou ask him to choose a battery, drop your left handinto your lap and palm the battery that is there. Directthe spectator to pick up what he believes to be the fullycharged battery and hold it in his fist. As he does, pickup the empty battery on your right and apparentlyplace it into your left hand. Actually, palm it and dis-play the battery in your left hand repeating the sameswitch you used earlier. Drop the palmed battery intoyour lap as you emphasize what you are going to do.

Direct attention to the battery you hold. It willbe fully charged, but the spectators believe it to beempty. Explain that you will cause the power from thefull battery to transfer to the empty battery.

Place your thumbs onto the white dots of thebattery tester and press down. Allow the charge to reg-ister slightly, then release the pressure of one of yourthumbs to cause the indicator to drop a little. Pressagain causing the indicator to register a higher charge,then once again release pressure to allow it to dropslightly. You want to convey the impression that youare causing the power to gradually transfer over andthat it is also a struggle to do so. Continue this proce-dure and stop when the tester indicates a ninety-percent charge. This is hard to describe, but if you tryit once with a battery in hand you will understand thepressure needed to show only a ninety-percent chargerather than the full charge the battery actually con-tains.

Apologize for not causing all the power totransfer and ask the spectator to check the battery heholds. Upon activating the tester, he will find the bat-tery contains only a ten-percent charge.

If the spectator is one of the few who answers"empty" to your query, you still direct him to pick upthe supposedly fully charged battery and proceed asabove. You now explain that you will magically givehim his preference by draining his battery of power.Finish the effect as above.

The effect of draining an object of its powerhas been previously explored by Phil Goldstein. His"Power Drain," in which a magnet is drained of itspower, can be found on page 18 of The Red Book ofMentalism (1977).

Those interested in other effects utilizing bat-teries with built-in testers should see Phil Goldstein's"Electrovoyance" in the March 2001 issue of Genii andEric Mead's "Discharge" in the April 2001 issue ofMagic. Interestingly, the Mead effect is a method forperforming Goldstein's "Power Drain" with a batteryinstead of a magnet.

In this quick effect, a coin is sucked out of the magi-cian's closed fist by the bottom of his necktie and trav-els up to emerge from the knot of the tie.

Using a coin in connection with a necktie hasmany precedents. See "Producing a Coin from a Spec-tator's Clothing" on page 19 of Modern Coin Magic(1952). As the title suggests, a coin is produced from aspectator's tie. Using a tie to vanish a coin is most no-tably associated with the great English magician, FredRobinson. His effect, "Coin in Tie," appears in his1982 lecture notes, but he had performed the effectsince at least the late 1960's. Doug Conn's handling ofthis effect, "Neck-Tied Dollar," appears in the May1994 issue of Magic. Jay Sankey has published an effectin which a borrowed ring appears in the knot of yournecktie. This can be found on page 59 of 100% Sankey(1990) under the title "Ring Around the Collar."

To perform, you must be wearing a necktie.Prepare by placing a quarter into the knot of the neck-tie (Photo 1). Make sure it is completely hidden.

Borrow a quarter and place it onto your leftpalm. Close your fingers over it and turn your handpalm down. You now draw attention to your tie andas you do, secretly work the coin out of your fist untilit is held by your fingertips against the heel of yourhand (Photo 2). Grasp your tie and place it over yourleft wrist. This is a planned accident. You want to givethe impression that you intended to place the tie overyour fist, but it "accidentally" landed over your wrist.You will now readjust the tie over your fist as you say

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the following. "Not only did this tie cost a lot, it's al-ways hungry-money hungry." During this line, youwill readjust the tie and simultaneously steal the coininto your right palm using what Gordon has dubbedthe Direct Steal.

Bring your right hand over to the tie and graspit between your thumb and the base of your right firstfinger as in Photo 3. This not only shows the grip ofthe right hand but also the position of the tie prior tothe steal. Turn your left fist palm up. This positionsthe coin directly beneath your right palm. Push up

slightly with your left fingers transferring the coin to aclassic palm position in your right hand (Photo 4-viewfrom beneath). As you do this, your right hand is mov-ing the tie over until its tip covers your left fingers.

While many handlings of this type of stealhave appeared in print, Gordon's has the distinctionof transferring the coin directly into a classic palm.This enables the right fingers to be open and slightlyspread during the steal, thereby making the hand ap-pear empty. Earlier handlings of this sleight include J.B. Bobo's "The Ghost Coin and Key" which appearson page 156 of My Best (1945). Bobo does not claimany originality for the sleight and mentions that eventhen it was very old. Roger Klause included his decep-

tive handling in his "New Theory Coins Across" foundin Volume 1, Number 4 of Kabbala (1971). LarryJennings' handling, "The Wave Vanish," appears onpage 174 of The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings (1986).

At this point, breathe in rapidly making a"sucking" noise with your mouth. As you do, dropyour right hand to your side. Open your left fingersslowly to reveal that the coin has vanished. Explainthat the coin is traveling up through your tie. Graspthe tie with your left fingers a few inches above thebottom saying that the coin is now at this point. Withyour right fingers, grasp the tie a few inches above yourleft hand showing the new position of the coin. Fi-nally, grasp the knot of the tie with your left fingers. Asyou do, transfer the coin in your right hand to a fingerpalm. Squeeze the knot of the tie with your left fingerscausing the coin to emerge. Stop when half of the coinis showing.

Bring your righinand up to the coin. Withyour right thumb, push the exposed coin back downinto the tie (Photo 5) and bring your right hand for-ward with the palmed coin displaying it. Return thecoin to the spectator. You are now re-set to repeat theeffect with a different audienc-e.

Note OneIf you wish, you may have the borrowed coin

marked or have its date noted. Simply place the extracoin into the knot of the tie so that the head side istoward you. If you have the borrowed coin marked,make sure the spectator signs the head side. Since youmention that the tie is money hungry, you can remark

Note TwoInstead of immediately handing back the coin,

you may repeat the effect. For this variation, do nothave the coin marked. Proceed as above until after youhave apparently removed the coin from the knot of thetie. At this point, you will be displaying one coin inyour right hand and the other coin will be hidden inthe knot of the tie. Apparently place the coin into yourleft hand, but retain it at your right fingertips. Withyour right hand, grasp the tie at its center with yourforefinger and thumb. As you do, extend your rightfingers causing the coin to enter into your shirt (Photo6). Immediately lift the tie and place it over your leftfist. Repeat the actions of causing the coin to suck intothe tie. Follow its path up to the knot and cleanly re-move the coin.

The idea of ditching a coin into one's shirtgoes back many years, but we are not sure whom to

credit with the initial idea. Richard Ross used it tovanish a thimble and Les Shore used it to vanish a bul-let. Sol Stone has also explored this idea and hismethod can be found on page 249 of Richard Kauf-man's Coinmagic (1981) under the title "Shirting theIssue."

Note ThreeThe trick can obviously work well as a se-

quence in a one-coin flurry routine.

Note FourGordon often uses the Direct Steal simply as a

vanish, with or without a tie. For the latter, execute theactions until after the coin is secretly held outside yourfist. At this point, wave your right hand over your leftfist as you turn your left hand palm up. Steal the coininto a right-hand classic palm as you do this. Again,the fact that your fingers are spread makes a steal seemimpossible.

In Robert Walker's book, Tricks from the Tree (1980,p. 31), there appears a transposition effect entitled"Brand X." The following is based on Walker's secondhandling of the same effect which is found in the Oc-tober 1983 (Volume 63, Number 10) issue of The Link-ing Ring under the title "Brand New Brand X."

In effect, the red kings are placed face downbetween the face-up black fours. The kings and foursvisually change places so that now the kings are face upon the outside of the packet and the fours are facedown between them. You now place the kings face upbetween the face-down fours. The cards are clearlyshown, yet once again they change places. Finally, thespectator is asked to place his hand on the two fours.Under these conditions, the cards transpose one finaltime.

Spread through the face-up deck and upjogthe two red kings and the two black fours as you cometo them. While you do this, look for the jack of dia-monds and when you see it, cull it beneath the spread.Continue to upjog the needed cards and when all fourhave been located, square the deck sending the jack ofdiamonds to the bottom of the face-up deck. Withyour right hand, remove the upjogged cards, and thenflip the deck face down into your left hand.

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Your left hand moves toward the right handcards in order for your left thumb to pull one of theblack fours onto the deck. Under cover of this motion,your left thumb slightly pushes over the top card of thedeck and enables your left little finger to establish abreak beneath the jack. Your left thumb pulls one ofthe black fours onto the deck, followed by the secondblack four and then the king of diamonds. As yourright hand places the king of hearts on top of the deck,your right fingertips go into the break and grasp thetop five cards at their lower right corner. Remove thepacket and with your left hand place the face-downdeck onto the table to your left. Make sure that thefront short end of the deck is pointing at a forty-fivedegree angle to your right. Place the five-card packetinto your left hand.

You are now going to display the four cards tothe audience. With your left thumb, push the twokings to the right. Turn your right hand palm downand grasp the kings at their right long side. Your fin-gers will be on the face and your thumb on the back ofthe kings. Turn your right hand partially palm up anddisplay the kings to the audience. The king of dia-monds will be spread to your left. As the kings are dis-played, your left little finger pulls down the bottom

card of the packet. Your right hand turns palm up,turning the kings face down, and apparently placesthem beneath the two fours. Actually the king of dia-monds is placed above the pulled down card while theking of hearts goes beneath it (Photo 1). In otherwords, the pulled-down card is fed between the twokings. This is the reason the king of diamonds wasspread to the left. Square the packet.

Your left thumb now pushes the two fours tothe right. Your right hand grasps them in a spread con-dition, thumb on top, fingers below. Push over the topcard of the left hand packet keeping the bottom twosquared as one. Turn your left hand palm down todisplay the two kings. As you turn your left hand palmup, square the cards and obtain a break beneath thetop card of the face-down packet.

With your left thumb pull a four squarelyonto the left-hand packet. Your right hand now placesits four onto the other four so it is spread to the right.As you do this, place your right fingers into the breakand press the double card above the break against theright-hand card. Remove these cards with your righthand. They will be in a spread condition and the bot-tom card is actually a double card. As soon as you re-move these cards your left hand spreads its two face-down cards and places them between the face-up foursin an out jogged position.

Place the fan into your left hand, the bottomdouble card going securely into dealing position.Grasp the upper right corner of the top four with yourright hand and move it forward until it is in line withthe two face-down cards, but keep it spread to theright. In a continuing action, grasp the top three cards

of the packet with your right hand at their outer rightcorner, your right fingers contacting the faces of thetwo center cards at their index corners and your rightthumb contacting the face of the four. Turn your righthand palm down exposing the faces of the center cardsto the audience. Your right fingertips cover the indexcorner of the jack of diamonds and it will appear as ifthe two center cards are the two kings (Photo 2). Turnyour right hand palm up and replace the three cardsonto the left-hand's double card. Square the packet.Emphasize that the kings are in the middle of thepacket.

You will now cause the kings and fours totranspose using Vic Trabucco's "Visual Change." Thisis found in Jerry Mentzer's New and Novel Knowledge(1975) on page 32. Grasp the packet from above withyour right second finger and thumb at the upper leftand lower right corners, respectively. The right forefin-ger is curled on top (Photo 3).

Explain that many people think magicians usetheir sleeves to achieve their magic. Say that you willtry using your sleeve to create some magic and as yousay this, extend you left arm. You will now bring thepacket up to your left sleeve and during this motionyou will secretly turn the packet over to achieve a vis-ual change. As you move your right hand to your leftarm, your right forefinger extends and contacts the leftlong side of the packet. By pulling this finger up and intoward the palm, the packet revolves on the secondfinger and thumb and is turned over (Photos 4 and 5).The motion of your right arm bringing the cards toyour sleeve conceals the reversal of the packet. Rub thepacket back and forth on your sleeve, then slow down

and stop to show the change. The packet should becompletely turned over by the time your right handreaches your left sleeve. The four will seem to visuallychange into a king.

Place the packet into your left hand. Yourright fingertips now grasp the right long side of thepacket in preparation for an Elmsley Count. Executethe count showing that the fours and kings havetraded places. During the Elmsley Count, after theswitch has occurred and your left thumb is comingover to take the third card, push the top face-downcard of the left-hand packet to the right exposing theking of hearts beneath it. Without pausing, take thethird card so it is spread to the right of the first twocards. The king of diamonds is then taken, spread tothe right of all three. You will now be holding a spreadof cards in your left hand with the bottom card actu-ally a double card. Handling the count this way createsthe illusion that all four cards were counted into a left-hand spread. Many have used this handling of theElmsley Count, but we do not know who to creditwith this idea.

Explain that the kings are now on the outsideof the packet and the fours are in the center. Upjogthe two face-down cards, then turn your left handpalm down to display the fours in the middle of thepacket. Keeping your left hand palm down, grasp theface up fours with your right hand and remove themfrom the packet. Turn your left hand palm up turningthe kings face up. The king of diamonds will be spreadto the right.

Place the two fours underneath the king ofdiamonds so they go between the two kings and in a

continuing motion, flip the packet face down intoyour left hand. You don't want the spectators to knowthat the fours were placed between the kings. Youwant it to appear as if they were placed beneath thepacket and the packet turned face down. The cardsshould now be in the following position from the topdown: jack of diamonds, king of hearts, the two fours,and the king of diamonds.

Second phase: With your right fingertips graspthe face-down packet at its right long side, your thumbon top and your fingers beneath. Your left thumb nowpeels the cards into your left hand one at a time revers-ing their order. When you take the second card, keep abreak beneath it with your left little finger. Take the

third card cleanly. You will now have a break beneaththe top two cards. The last card (a double) is notcounted but remains at the right fingertips. Your righthand (continuing to hold the double) inserts its finger-tips into the left little finger break and flips the toptwo cards of the left-hand packet face up as one (Photo6) displaying the king of hearts. The right hand nowflips its double card face up onto the packet exposingthe king of diamonds.

Explain that the two kings will be placed faceup between the two face-down fours. As this is said,remove the bottom card of the packet with your rightfingers and place it on top, apparently sandwiching thetwo kings in the center.

You will now show the kings between the

fours by performing the following count. The packet isheld in your left hand with your left second finger onthe upper right corner of the bottom card. Your righthand comes over to grasp the packet at its right longside, and as it does, your left second finger slightlybuckles the bottom card of the packet. This enablesthe right hand to grasp all the cards above the bottomcard. Your left hand will now take the top and bottomcards as one. Press down with your left thumb on thetop card of the packet. Move your left hand to the lefttaking the top and bottom cards with it. These cardsmust remain in alignment (Photo 7). The bottom cardis held due to pressure of your left second finger. Thelower left corner of the packet (against the base of thethumb) will act as a pivot point. When the upper left

corner of the top and bottom cards have passed theupper left corner of the packet, press your left thumbdown clamping the top and bottom cards together.Your left forefinger covers the front edge of the doublecard. With the cards held firmly, move your hand tothe left until the cards have cleared the packet. Assoon as they are free of the packet, your left fingers cancontact the right long side of the double keeping itsquare. No hesitation should show during the aboveaction. It should appear as if your left thumb haspeeled off the top card into your left hand.

Once the top and bottom cards are taken,your right thumb pushes over the top two cards to theleft as one. Your left hand comes over to take the sec-ond card. As it does, it leaves its double card beneaththe king of hearts in the right hand as your left thumbtakes the double card just pushed off. This is the sameswitch used in the Elmsley Count. Your left thumbnow cleanly takes the third card (the king of hearts).Take this king so it is spread to the right of the king ofdiamonds. This leaves a double card in your righthand. Your left hand takes this double onto the left-hand cards so it is also spread to the right (Photo 8).Slowly square the packet. This count will show the twokings between two face-down cards.

The hardest part of the count is taking thethird card while keeping the right-hand cards squaredas one. To help with this, make sure you push downwith your left thumb as you take the third card bowingthe packet downward slightly. This small amount ofpressure will help in taking the third card cleanly andin keeping the last two cards squared. If you feel thatthe double is going to split, place it immediately ontothe left hand's cards keeping a break beneath it as yousquare the packet. Now, push over the top two cards ofthe packet as one. Take the double by your right fin-gers at the lower right corner. Your left thumb nowpushes over the top card of its packet once again expos-ing the two kings in the center. Replace the doublecard and square the packet.

Grasp the packet at its right long side in prepa-ration for an Elmsley Count. With your left thumb,flick the outer left corner of the packet explaining thatthis will make the cards change places. Execute anElmsley Count showing that the fours are now face upin the center of the packet. The kings and fours havetransposed a second time.

Third Phase: Offer to repeat the effect onemore time, and openly transfer the top face-down cardto the bottom. With your left thumb push over the top

face-up four. Take it with your right hand. With yourleft little finger, pull down the bottom card of thepacket. Bring your right hand over to take the secondfour underneath the first four. As you do, place yourfingertips into the break and grasp the top four cards.Flip over all the cards above the break (apparently thetwo fours) face down onto the left-hand card. Thumboff the top two cards of the packet and place themonto the table. Direct a spectator to place his handonto the tabled cards. He is apparently holding thetwo fours while you still have the two kings.

Place your left forefinger onto the outer indexof the bottom card of the packet. Turn your left handpalm down keeping your left forefinger over the indexof the jack, however, allow the diamond to be seen(Photo 9). The audience will see a red court card andbelieve this to be one of the kings.

Wave the left hand cards over the tabledcards. Turn your hand palm up and transfer the topcard of the packet to the bottom with your right hand.Grasp the cards at their right long side with your rightfingertips and once again wave the packet over thespectator's hand.

Execute a D'Amico Spread by pushing thebottom two cards of the packet to the left as one. Withyour right fingertips, flip this double card face up intoyour left hand, exposing a four. Close your left fingersaround it keeping it square. Turn your right handpalm down to display the second four and place it faceup on top of the left hand's double. Have the spectatorturn over the tabled cards to reveal that the transposi-tion has occurred a third time while he was holdingonto the cards.

As the spectator turns over his cards, bucklethe bottom card of the left hand packet, copping thejack. This happens as you grasp the two fours at theirlower right corner with your right fingers. As you takethe fours and place them with the two kings, turn yourleft hand palm down and grasp the face-down deckadding the jack of diamonds to the top of the deck.The deck will be in perfect position to accept the card.The forward movement of the right hand covers theaddition of the palmed card to the deck. In a continu-ing action, pick up the deck and turn it face up. Youcan now take the kings and fours and place them intothe deck. This is a gambler's move associated with DaiVernon. It can be found in Card College Volume 3(1998), p. 710 under the title "The Transfer Palm."

Those interested in this plot may want tostudy Phil Goldstein's "Overture," "Overcoat," and"Oversight" found in the March 1981 issue of Genii.