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I N V E N T E D BY BILLY O 'CONNORTI4E"NW ERA" CARD EXPERT

fsovm deep in the archives of magic, but not*/ down deep in the minds of practical per-formers is the "Instanto" deck. First marketedby Billy O'Connor, who, a decade and a halfago came to America from England with his actof superior mysteries, it was a principle ofcard magic which embodied countless possibil-ities.

In itself the effect simply was to instantlycut at any card called for, a feat supposedlyrequiring no mean ability, but, nevertheless,in this day and age, one which gets immediate

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response from the skeptics and readers of themodern magazines which make magic and magiciansseem rather simple and childish, all due toour exposer "brothers". "Instanto" still is aperfectly practical principle. Modern timesneed modern adaptations. It is with that viewin mind these words are written. Here is "In-stanto" just as it always has been from its in-ception, together with a few uses in modernmagical warfare. Where before, the performermade a direct point of finding instantly anycard called for, it is now suggested that thevery same principle be used "undercover" in con-nection with other tricks and effects.

First we'll take up the construction of thepack', the location moves, and then carry onwith variations of procedure which we hope thereader will himself enlarge upon in turn.

Visualising the bare effect we see the per-former rapidly and constantly cutting the packthat he holds. Someone names a card, only oneadditional cut is made, and the bottom card isshown to be the very one desired! This actionwith results is repeated indefinitely.

The deck is both arranged and prepared. Promtop to bottom, or, back to face, the pre-arrange-ment is the simplest possible - Ace,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,J,Q,K, of the same suit, over andover, the suits possibly running in the orderClubs, Hearts, Spades, Diamonds, to use theeasily remembered key word CHaSeD.

k number of these cards are prepared by abit of trimming. Each Ace and deuce is unpre-pared. The threes, fours, and fives are cutslightly at the inner left end and bottom sothey taper a bit to and around the corner.

All six and seven spots are unprepared, butthe eights, nines, and tens throughout aretrimmed to taper at the outer left end and top

BO they taper a bit to and around the corner.

The Jacks and Queens are unprepared, but thefour Kings are slightly concave trimmed at thecenter of their ends to make them "short" cards.

The Joker, at the bottom (face) of the pack,has a small paper clip or 1/16th of an inchtab attached to its near corner on the leftside. Tne deck can be cut repeatedly betweenrequests and showings, but just as a card isasKea for, the "tabbed" Joker is cut to thebottom leaving the deck "set" for the next cutwhich reveals the card wanted. The tab elimin-ates any "looking" or "searching" at this mostcrucial moment.

The deck is held vertically, resting in thebend of the left fingers. Along the side he cansee four grooves at the outer end, and four atthe inner end. With his right forefinger, theperformer can easily open the deck (from theouter left corner) to reveal any seven spot.With his left thumb he can, as easily, pressdownward at the outer left corner and, with theright hand, pick off the cards above this breakto show any ten spot.

The outline of this card isdot marked to illustrate howthe various "Instanto" cardsare l/16th of an inch trimmed.Some are trimmed at one end,some at the other. No card istrimmed at both. The semi-cir-cle dots indicate cutting forKings. All trimmed edges stayalways at the same side of thedeck.

At the inner end he likewise is able to openthe deck at a deuce with his right thumb, andat a five with his left thumb. Then, by rif-fling the end of the pack he can show any Acebecause of the "short" Kings "snapping" by. Hedoesn't have to pass more than one of these (heshouldn't need that) for the performer knowsapproximately just where the required Ace is.

When a King is named the same riffle at theend suffices. The "short" card which indicatesthe cut is thumbed onto the face of the upperportion of cards before raising the packet toshow. For a three spot, find the deuce, butin dividing the pack slide the three from theback of the lower portion on to the face of theupper portion and exhibit. For a four spot cuta five as explained, but in dividing the packslip the five from the face of the upper por-tion on to the back of the lower portion whichleaves the four spot at the face of the upperpacket to be shown.

A six is found by cutting at the seven andsliding one card on to the lower portion. Theeight is likewise found by cutting to the sev-en, but this time the one card is slid on tothe upper portion from the lower. To locate thenine, cut at the ten and slide one from upperto lower portions. Then, for a Jack, cut at theten and slide one card from the top of the low-er section to the bottom of the upper.

For the Queen, the performer need only rif-fle to the King of the required suit and slideone card from the bottom of the upper heap tothe top of the lower.

The time taken to describe these moves and

"mechanics" is somewhat discouraging when thereader hasn't a pack of the cards in hand, inactual practice the continual cutting with therepeated showing of called for cards bewildersthe watchers and overbalances the weakness ofthe pack, namely that it cannot be shuffled orgiven for examination.

With that point in mind, and it is one thatlater day audiences have been educated to de-tect, we consider "Instanto" in the light ofsubterfuge rather than as an objective feat up-on which all eyes and attention are centered.

CARDS [

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It has been a dream of magicians, periodi-cally fulfilled by devious and extremely com-plicated methods, to be able to cause ANY cardcalled for rise from the pack. Probably one ofthe standard catalogue items most long lived(next to the thumb tip) is the rising card wind-lass, a vest pocket spring tension on a threadwith a waxed button at its end. Despite var-ious "new" hiding places for the reel, alwaysadvertised as the "ultimate", we think the or-iginal (and cheapest) the best for all aroundgeneral and practical usuage. Suppose we com-bine it with "Instanto". An apparently unbrokencase is opened and the deck extracted. As theperformer talks about people not liking to"take" cards, he is casually false shufflingand cutting the pack in his hands. Then he askssomeone, for instance, to merely name a cardaloud that he "might" have taken. The momentthis is said he turns and asks someone elseto call a card he "might" also have picked. Itis during this short interval that the perform-er cuts his pack to bring the first named cardto the BACK and thereupon attaches the waxedbutton in the approved manner.

Turning back to the first person his cardis caused to rise. Detached it is placed backon the deck which is again given several cutswhile the performer addresses the audience andasks them if that procedure isn't far betterthan inflicting them with his presence downamongst them and causing them to check theirwatches and wallets. This "stall" has enabledthe deck to be cut to "normal" and once againto secure the second desired pasteboard. Itrises. A casual, assured performer can get moreout of this effect than a nervous amateur withhis $75 to $200 piece of "stagey" apparatus.

IORVILLE MEYBR'S LOCATION OF CONSEQUENCE |

This is an "Instanto" twist of Annemann'soriginal "Magic Thrust", now well known, withthe newly available (Newly? Just not thoughtof before. 3d.) improvement which allows of thecard being named rather than picked. The per-former offers to "give a lesson" in magic. Hegets an assistant and asks him to seriouslycontemplate for a minute and then' name anycard of which he thinks. The magician standsbeside the spectator, both facing the audience.Showing an odd card picked at random from thedeck, the performer lays it on top of the facedown cards, gives them all to the person be-hind his back, and instructs him to put thatface up card anywhere into the deck.

The cards are brought to the front and theperformer fans them slowly and openly. The faceup card is seen and removed together with thecard against (or facing) it. The spectatornames again the card he thought of. The twocards in the performer's hand are turned over

(continued on page 680)

"INSTANTO"(continued from page 678)

and the spectator's card shows up!

There has been no selecting (and puttingback) so that this method gets away from theoverdone procedure, speeding up the effect andmaking it doubly miraculous. Through "Instanto"moves the named card is almost instantly cutto the bottom of the deck. An odd card is takenfrom the center, shown, and dropped face up ontop.

The performer is standing alongside the per-son. He puts the deck behind that person's backwith one hand, making the simple one-handed(Charlier) pass, cutting the deck at random.The spectator, behind his back, removes the topcard (thinking it the shown face up card) andpushes it into the center. When the cards arefanned for all to see, the previously shownface up card is seen buried, and, naturally,the face down card against it is the one whichwas mentally chosen and named, not picked.

\ H.L.DENHARD'S THOUGHT ACROSS SPACE |

Using the principle of tearing a twice fold-ed billet in pieces to leave finger-palmed thecenter section bearing the written name of acard (Jinx Mo.6 and many times described since)plus an "Instanto" deck and a comely assistantas the "medium", one can play a passive (?)part in the transfer of a thought from a spec-tator to the lady.

With great display and aplomb the "medium"is blindfolded and seated facing the audience.A spectator is given a slip of paper and pen-cil. He writes the name of his thought of card,folds the paper and the performer tears it in-to bits onto an ash tray. The spectator burnsthe paper while the tAMf performer says thatthe possibility exists that it all isn't realtelepathy and that the medium gets a clue fromthe spiral of smoke Which comes from the ashes.During this talk he has reached into his pocket,opened the stolen center against an encased"Instanto" deck, brought them out together, andin toying with the pack as the few sentencesare concluded, glimpsed the name of the cardthought of, removed the deck from the case, andre-pocketed both case and paper.

As he cuts the deck (false shuffle if youcan) a number of times he steps to the mediumand reminds that she is securely blindfoldedand no one, including the performer, knows ofwhat the spectator is thinking. Now comes theshowmanship angle, for the performer has sim-ply cut the correct card to the top or bottomof the deck without, apparently, having paidthe least bit of attention to the cards. Themedium raises her hands above her head (whichwill throw off the wise ones who know about"looking down the nose". She fumbles aroundwith the cards, dropping a few, and finallyholds one up with its back to all. The specta-tor names his thought she has it.

Simple? Silly? In some ways, maybe, but re-member that all of the "build-up" has been to-wards the medium. The performer is practicallya non-entity (That will go hard with a few cer-tain boys. Ed.) And he has not done anythingwith the cards other than to cut them a fewtimes with no evident desire to look at thepack. Put all of those details together and youcan fool some awfully smart magically-wiseacres.

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We start the "wind up" to all of this withthe hope that we have not necessarily givenyou any definite tricks you can do with the"Instanto" deck but have "planted" the thoughtand realization of its possibilities to-day.

It can be used, as it was when Billy O'Con-nor first started presenting it, for the cut-ting of any number of cards called for, i.e.,12,18, 26, 34, etc. Knowing that the suits aretogether and that x,ne values are likewise inorder, it doesn't take a gigantic intellect toquickly compute tne card at which you must cut.We'll grant that the possibility of doing thisfeat for ever and again undoubtedly enhancedthe advertisements, but a repetitious check-up(even the second time) would prove disastrousto most of us. Our own climax, when using thedeck for some underhanded purpose which doesn'tdisarrange it, may be the result of jaded sim-plicity but it works without too quick moves.Ask a nearby spectator to name a number from 1to 52, while you're cutting. Getting it, turnto someone else and ask him, "31. How many ofthe cards in the deck would be left, sir. Ejythe way, there's a Joker somewhere among them."The moment he names the figure requested, handhim a bunch and then walk back and hatid therest to the first person. "Count your cards."They do, and you are right.

In short, you use the second person's men-tal calculation as the stall for your own fig-uring and cutting. He gets the lower half in-stantly, and the poor fellow who was first comeslast. The audience remembers how fast you handout the LAST section AS the spectator namesthe number, and when both parties count andfind you correct the audience remembers laterthat you instantly cut the number of cardsmentioned by TWO people, instead of one.

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There probably isn't a reader who does cardtricks, even occasionally, who isn't, rightnow, applying this deck to one or more of theeffects he uses in his program. Some won't workout to advantage, but a great many will. It isawfully nice, in too many cases, to be able tosecure the card you want, OR EVEST ITS DUPLICATEFROM ANOTHER DECK, when you need it. Can youimagine a "Do As I Do" when the other fellowholds a fair deck and you hold "Instanto"? Hecuts when you cut, several times to get every-one used to it, then he takes out a card fromthe middle of his deck and places it at theface of the pack while you apparently do thesame but don't. He names his card and thenyou ask him to show it. Just that interval en-ables you to locate what he has named and makea pass so that you follow his showing by let-ting everybody that you picked out the samecard! It should be worth something to get awayfrom that hackneyed and utterly ridiculousexchanging of decks back and forth.

There are certainly a few of the old timerswho will remember when "Instanto" came intobeing and very possibly fix up a deck and doit exactly as per the directions. There may beamateur magi to-day who have secured such apack and present it via the instruction sheet.While not deprecating such performances, forsolid success in this business lies entirelyin personality and showmanship, the purpose ofthis article will have been defeated if thosewho make up a pack of cards merely use it toshow "Name any card. Look. Here it is." We'vetried hard to show that the deck is not a trickin itself. Use it as a PART of other tricksyou now perform. And then see how those trickeare improved and brought nearer perfection.