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Close-UpSeductions

By Paul Harris

1. BUSHWACKER ................ 12. SEDUCTIVE SWITCH ........... 103. SENSUOUS SHUFFLE .......... 204. CAB FARE .................... 375. LIMOUSINE SERVICE .......... .436. FAN DANCE .................. 507. AIR OF MYSTERY ............. .598. DEJA VU By Mike Giles, Pat Snowden,

Dana Betz, and P.H. ............... 699. MICHAEL'S PROPOSITION

By Michael Ammar and P.H. .......... 7510. "10" By Jay Sankey and P.H. ........ 7911. LOOKER By Terry Lagerould ........ 8512. BLUE TATOO. ................ .8713. UNHINGED .................. 10114. SLEIGHT-OF-EAR ............. 11115. BLEACHED BLONDE .......... 11716. TOO SLICK .................. 13317. SWEET STUFF ............... 14018. WONDERWOMAN ............. 147

The Seduction:

An invisible organic "gimmick" is erected in full view of your audience who arebushwhacked into believing you're making a clever card puzzle. This natural"ungimmicked gimmick" (known in inner circles as a "smit-chik") now enables youto do a completely automatic penetration of one card through another over and overagain directly under your spectator's watchful nose — even while the spectator isfondling one of the cards herself.

The nature of the smitchik creates a self-contained climax that is as spectacular asit is easy. You'll find yourself bushwhacking in front of a mirror for the sheerpleasure of watching the magic happen. Don't be selfish — share the experiencewith an audience. It's more meaningful when someone else is watching.

STEP I — Up jog the ace of hearts, two of hearts, and three of hearts then turn thedeck face down into left hand dealing position so that the three up-jogged cards areface down sticking out of the front end of the deck.

STEP II — Obtain a left little finger break beneath the top card of the deck as yourright fingers strip out the out-jogged cards. Place the stripped out cards face up ontothe deck.

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STEP III — Remove the four cards which are above the break from above bytheir ends with your right fingers — while your left hand tables the rest of thedeck face down to your left.

STEP IV — Place the four card packet (three face-up on top of one face-down)into left hand dealing position. Push off the top card and grasp it between yourright thumb from below, fingers on top. Turn the card face down and place itunder the packet. Repeat with the other two hearts — leaving all four cards facedown in your left hand with the indifferent card on top.

STEP V — Turn the packet face up onto your left hand then grasp the packetfrom above by its ends with your right fingers. Construct a perfect square out ofthe "three" cards as follows:

Slide the top face up card to the left with your left thumb so that the card pivotsoff your right first finger tip onto your palm-up left fingers — leaving the card ina horizontal position with a long side toward you. Fig. 1.

Fig. 1.

Position the upper left side of the right hand packet square with the left end ofthe left hand card — forming a right angle ... or if you prefer, the letter "P." Fig.2.

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Press your left thumb onto the packet to keep the top card in place as yourright fingers slide the two cards beneath it to the right as one card. Place this righthand double face up beneath the "P" so that its upper right side is square with theright end of the card directly above it. Release your left hand grip and display thesuccessfully assembled square puzzle. Fig. 3 & 4.

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Fig. 2.

STEP VI — Tilt the face of the square toward the audience by turning your rightpalm toward yourself. Curl in your left second, third and little finger and grasp theleft side of the square between your left first finger in front and your left thumbfrom behind. Your left thumb goes directly onto the sandwiched card's exposedupper white margin. The position of your left thumb conceals this portion of whitemargin — and also holds the double in position. From your view point, youshould see what appears to be two face down over-lapped cards. The audiencestill sees three cards at the face of the square. Fig. 5.

Fig. 5.

STEP VII — Release your right hand grip and pinch the upper right corner of thesquare (the double) between your right thumb from the back and your first fingeron the face.

STEP VIII — Turn the square face down by turning both hands palm up. Justbefore the back of the square comes into audience view, use your right fingers toslide the upper right corner of its double under your left thumb tip — leaving theupper end of the double in-jogged, its outer end angled down to the right.

In a continuing action, as the square is turned down, slide the top card of thedouble to the right — away from the left hand cards. Fig. 6.

The audience will see two cards in your left hand and one card in your righthand. The square puzzle was an excuse to openly cross one of the cards. Byhiding the exposed white border with your left thumb, and sliding the top cardaway as you turned the square face down, you altered your audience's perspectiveof the cards . . putting you in exactly the right position to bushwhack youraudience in the worst possible way.

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NOTE — The upper left corner of the top left hand card is visible. Your leftthumb holds this card in position a little below this exposed corner.

The left end of the disguised sandwiched card is kept square with the left sideof the bottom card by resting against the back of your curled left second finger.

Take care that the tilted angle of the top card does not expose the right end ofthe crossed card.

This "Bushwhacker" grip is your secret weapon. Practice getting into it fromthe square formation so that the cards are "just right" upon being turned facedown.

STEP IX — Openly slide the upper left corner of the face-down right hand card(an indifferent card) between the "two" left hand cards from their front end. Theright hand card will actually be going under the invisible crossed card — but keepthis to yourself. Fig. 7.

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Fig. 6.

STEP X — Direct your audience's attention to the sandwiched right hand card.Ram home the fact that the card in your right hand is between the other two cards.Slowly slide the right hand card through the sandwich toward yourself. Just at thefront end of the right hand card disappears from view under the top card, the righthand card's inner end appears under the bottom card revealing a slow-motionpenetration. Slowly remove the right hand card from the inner end of thesandwich, re-insert it at the front end, and repeat the penetration. Continue doingthis until it no longer amuses you. Fig. 8.

NOTE — I sometimes let a spectator hold the right side of the sandwiched cardso that she can "feel" it penetrate. The spectator should keep her hand still as youmove the other cards to cause the penetration. You may want to hold thespectator's wrist to make sure her card stays face down.

STEP XI — Place the right hand card face down onto the deck. Direct a spectatorto press one finger onto the top of the deck.

STEP XII — Position your left hand so that its cards "cross" the deck — thenstroke the cards across the spectator's finger a few times. As you slide away fromher finger on the last stroke, use your left thumb to pull the top left hand cardagainst your curled left fingers. A third card will instantly pop into view, stickingout of the right side of the other two cards. Direct the spectator to look under herfinger. Her heart is gone. Hand her your three heart sandwich to let her know thateverything is okay. Fig. 9.

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NOTE — The effectiveness of the Bushwhacker fake depends on an over-allback design. Since some designs are more over all than others, you run the riskwith certain brands of being nailed on a discrepancy with the design — likehaving a little angel upside down. It's up to you whether you avoid these brands,use them and hope no one notices, or use them and present the discrepancy as abonus effect.

Official Notice of Appreciation:

For Bob Ostin, Bruce Cervon, and Larry Jennings — My initial contact with aneffect of this nature was through Bob Ostin's Submarine card — which used acard with a slit. The world famous Bushwhacking team of Bruce Cervon andLarry Jennings later published other handlings of the penetration principle with aslit card.

Presentation:

STEP I — "Hey — do you like puzzles? Oh. I'll show you one anyways."

Remove the three hearts and add the extracard.

STEP II — "The puzzle is to form a perfect square using just three cards — theace, two, and three of hearts. Yes . . . they're my favorite cards, too."

Turn the three hearts face down. 7

NOTE — You can hand the spectator three single cards, let them try to make thepuzzle, then add the extra card afterwards.

STEP III — "I couldn't figure it out myself until I read the solution on the backof a cereal box. The secret's alphabetical. You have to make an "L" (from theaudiences perspective), then a "U." And you get a perfect square, similar to theperson holding it. The initials "LU" stand for Largely Useless."

Make the square puzzle so that the sides aresquared.

STEP IV — "Look it even comes with a bonus pocket size square in the corner.'"

Tilt the face of the puzzle toward the audienceand display the little square-within-a-square atthe upper right corner. Get "set" for the turn-down action.

STEP V — "But what they don't tell you is that you can make a third puzzle byre-arranging the three cards."

Turn the square face down as you slide of fthe top card. Make minor adjustments ifnecessary.

STEP VI — "The puzzle is to get one card down from the middle to the bottomlike this."

Perform the penetration phase.

STEP VII — "When I first tried this I figured that there had to be a hole in thebottom card. The only way to test out this theory is to place the card on the deck .. . and your finger on the card . . . and my cards on your fingers."

"Do you know what this does?" It makes my two cards very happy ... it alsopushes the card from under your finger right up through the hole."

Do final penetration.

STEP VIII - "The only part of the puzzle that still puzzles me is -exactly where isit that the hole hides?"

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Turn the three cards face up and hand themout for examination.

STEP IX — "I guess I'll have to eat a whole lot more cereal to find out.

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The Seduction:

The audience's perception of a card held by a spectator is so completely alteredthat you can transform it into another card — by simply being yourself.

STEP I — Set up three cards on the deck from the top down, six, ace, jack.

STEP II — Double lift to show the ace — then turn the double down onto the deck.

STEP III — Slide the top single card (the six) off the deck by pinching it at itsinner left corner between your right first finger on top, and right thumb frombelow. Your right hand tables the deck face down in front of you.

STEP IV — Hold the card so that its face is toward the table. The corner pinchedbetween your right thumb and first finger is now at the inner right. Fig. 1.

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Fig. 1.

STEP V — Grasp the card from below by its sides between your left thumb andfingers. Fold the face down card in half by squeezing your left thumb and fingerstogether. The pinched inner right corner remains stuck out towards you, separatefrom the folded card. This stuck out corner is naturally hidden from the audienceby your right fingers and the folded card. Fig. 2 & 3.

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STEP VI — Keep your right thumb pressed against the face of the stuck outcorner while your right fingers move over onto the audience side of the card. Fig.4. Squeeze your right thumb and fingers together to openly flatten the centercrease while your right thumb secretly bends the stuck out corner up against thefolded card. Use your left fingers to openly flatten the rest of the center creasewhile your right thumb secretly flattens the crease of the face up index corner.Fig. 5.

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4.

STEP VII — Openly fold the folded card in half once more by folding the leftend out front onto the right end. The hidden bent index corner stays in position atthe back of the folded card. Fig. 6.

STEP VIII — Grasp the folded card between your left fingers and thumb so thatyour thumb is at the lower left "point" of the concealed index corner. Fig. 7.

FIG. 7.

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STEP IX — Your right finger tips slide the tabled deck's top two cards over theleft side of the deck. When the two cards are extending to the left, remove the twocards as one unit from the deck by pinching them at their inner ends between yourright thumb from below, fingers on top. Fig. 8 & 9.

Fig. 9.

STEP X — The two face-down cards pinched together at their inner ends between yourright thumb and first finger should now be in a spread

condition, with the top card extending to the left about half an inch, Tiltthe faces of the pair (ace/jack) toward yourself so that your right thumb and the firstfinger are at the top end of the cards.

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STEP XI — Keep the right hand steady as your left fingers openly place thefolded card against the back of the pair. Undercover of this action allow the upperindex corner of the ace to slip into the "pocket" directly in front of the secret bentcorner. The upper index corner of the jack goes onto the right side of the bentindex corner. A few minor adjustments by your right thumb and fingers will makethings appear exactly as though the pair held next to the folded card consists of ajack and a six. Look at this for a few moments and think nice thoughts about me.Fig. 10, 11, & 12.

Fig. 11.

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STEP XII — Turn your left hand palm up to share this situation with youraudience so that they can think nice things about you.

STEP XIII — Ever so slowly turn the cards face down and direct a spectator tohold the jack/six pair at her finger tips. Retain your grip on the folded card —where the secret bent corner is now hidden at the bottom. Fig. 13.

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STEP XIV — Transfer the folded card to your right fingers by placing your rightfingers on top of the folded card, while your left thumb slides between the foldedcard and the bent corner. As your right fingers take the folded card, move yourright thumb and fingers down slightly to secretly unbend the bent corner. Fig. 14& 15.

Fig. 15.

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STEP XV — Grasp the folded card from below between your left thumb at theinner left corner and your left second finger tip at the diagonally opposite upperright corner. Fig. 16. Openly press the tip of your right first finger down onto thecenter of the folded card, so that your left thumb and second finger can easily bendthe card up in half. This bending action is openly performed as a magical gesture.Its purpose is to camouflage the secret bend's crease. Fig. 17.

STEP XVI — Casually toss the folded card onto the table and direct yourspectator's attention to the pair in her hand that she religiously believes to be a badhand of sixteen. After a moment's hesitation the lucky lady will discover a perfecthand of twenty one. A moment later she'll discover the folded six for the kinkyfinale of the Seductive Switch.

NOTE — If you're severely lazy you can delete the double: Openly display threeface-up cards. Turn them face down and mix them up. Miscall the six as the aceand get into the folded set-up. You can now display the "bad hand."

Official Note of Appreciation:

For Looy!My original Black Jack fake required a torn card. I told Looy I was unhappy

with this and would be able to live a more carefree life if there were a way tocreate the fake by bending it or something. Looy said "oh," took my card, and bentit.

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Fig. 16. Fig. 17.

Presentation:

STEP I — "Boy, are you in for a treat. Today's the day you're going to learn how to make bigbucks at Blackjack. The secret is to get hold of one of these when no one's looking."

Double lift ace and take single into left hand.STEP II — "You have to make it real small so no one will see it." Fold the card and get it "set."

STEP III — "Now I'll take a sample Blackjack hand . . . Sixteen . . . Bummer. That's a bad hand.Boy, it's a good thing I had the foresight to obtain a spare ace."

Position the top two cards f rom the deck into the fold anddisplay the bad hand of sixteen.

STEP IV — "I need my fingers free to make the secret move. Would you be kind enough to holdmy hand . . . no, I mean the bad hand of sixteen — but thank you anyway. Hold the hand betweenyour fingers just like this so that I know you're not doing anything to the cards that you wouldn'tdo to me."

Turn the jack-six pair face down extra slow as the spectatormoves her hand to take the cards.

STEP V — "Now that I have you to help me it's a simple matter to quickly unfold the ace(squeeze the packet) iron out the wrinkles — using a miniature iron I keep up my sleeve, sneak theace into your hand, sneak out the six, and fold up the six so that it's easy to hide. And in my sparetime I run out and grab a pizza. You seem skeptical. We really did it. Take a look."

"And as final proof — inside of my pocket is a signed receipt for the pizza. I'll show it to youlater if you're nice to me."

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The Seduction:

An impromptu Triumph effect that surpasses what can be done with a trick deck.There are no false shuffles. There are no proving moves to show cards face up andface down — because the cards really are mixed face up and face down. Themagical action is continuous. There is no other shuffle routine that lets you do whatfollows:

A genuinely shuffled face-up/face-down deck instantly turns face up. There are nomoves between the time the cards are shuffled and the deck is spread. The magic isinstantaneous. The entire face-down deck then instantly, (and yes) visibly turns faceup.

The face-up deck then unshuffles itself: twenty six cards rise out of the pack in onegroup. Once again — the magic action is continuous and uncompromising.

To bring the sequence full circle the unshuffled deck is given a slight shake —where its extended interweaved half, in full view, instantly turns face down. The packis spread. Everything is as it was when the face-down cards and the face-up cards werefirst shuffled together.

This is how I used to fantasize that the ideal Triumph effect would read. I used todream that I knew the secret stuff that would let me do it for real. Then one morningI woke up ... and I knew.

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Special note of encouragement: The Sensuous Shuffle is seriously wonderfulstuff in the highest tradition of neato-keeno Close-up. By its very neato-keenonature much of the handling and theory will be new, and feel somewhat alien toyou on your first run through. This is my money back guarantee that all therequirements for non-stop finger tip orgies and psychologically satisfying "Hoo-Hahs" are contained within and between the lines of the Sensuous Shuffle.

STEP I — Hold the face-up deck in left hand dealing position. Cut off the tophalf of the deck with your right hand and table it face up with a long side towardyou. The card on the face of the left hand half is the official "selected card." Justfor fun, let's call this card the ace of hearts.

STEP II — Grasp the left hand ace-half from above by its ends with your rightfingers and obtain a right thumb break below the ace of hearts. Secretly reversethe ace into the center of the cards using the Braue Reversal as follows: Cut offthe bottom half of the cards with your left hand and place them face down ontothe top ace. Cut off the remaining bottom face up half at the break with your lefthand, and turn them face down back at the bottom. Square the cards. The halfdeck will now be face down with the ace of hearts face up in the center. Table thisface down half next to the left end of the face-up half in position for a riffleshuffle.

STEP III — Shuffle so that the face-up card on the right falls first, followed by aface-down card, followed by another face-up card. At the end of the shuffle asingle face-down card is to be on top of a single face up card. In other words theface-up card is sandwiched between two face-down cards. Try to make the rest ofthe shuffle as even as possible, although it's not necessary to make a career out ofit.

STEP IV — Push the two halves half way together. Keep the sides and ends ofthe cards as square as possible. The idea is to make the half shuffled deck into asmooth seamless unit.

STEP V — Position your left hand over the face-down side of the deck so thatyour thumb is on the inner side, and your other fingers rest against the audienceside of the face-down cards. Your left hand now forms a bridge through which

the deck will be pushed. Fig. 1.

STEP VI — Place your right first finger tip onto the table so that thefinger is up against the right end of the deck. Use this finger to push the deckthrough the left hand tunnel. Light pressure on the sides of the deck with your leftfingers cause the top face-down card to slide over onto the face-up side of thedeck as the deck is pushed through the tunnel. .

Fig. 1.

The top face-down card will stop against your right first finger, squaring theface-down card with the face-up half. Continue to push the deck through thetunnel with your right first finger until the deck is on the left side of the left hand.The illusion seen by you and your audience should be that the face-up half of thedeck instantly turned face down as it was pushed through the left hand tunnel. Fig.2.

Fig. 2.

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STEP VII — Press your right fingers flat onto the half-shuffled deck and ribbonspread the cards end-to-end to the right. The face-up cards will have magicallyturned face down, with the exception of the face-up ace in the center. Fig. 3.

Fig. 3.

NOTE — Research on your part will reveal that the face-up cards did not magicallyturn face down, but are merely hiding behind the face down cards. If other face-upcards are visible, then you either spread to far, pressed too hard during the spread, orused cards that have lost their slick finish. Contrary to popular belief, this spreaddoes not require pampering or a delicate touch. It was designed to take abuse — likea whiffle ball or a stuffed cat.

A few tips: A face-up card is concealed beneath the face down card on thespread's far left. Too much pressure here during the spread will expose it.

A face-up card is concealed directly beneath the face-down card on the spread'sfar right. These two cards form a face-to-face double andare never separated during the spread. These two cards are on top ofthe right half of the shuffled deck before the spread. Pretend that the 23

double is glued to the face-down card on top of the left side of the deck. When thedeck is spread, pressure is on this left hand card. The double on the right simplyslides along with it.

If the face-up ace does not show in the spread, tap around the spread's centeruntil the card is exposed. If the cards are not already spread "to the max" you'llhave plenty of leeway to find the ace without worrying about other face-upexposures.

If you do expose another face-up card during a performance (which won'thappen with a little practice) simply say "Not only did I find the selected card,but I found its traveling companion as well." Remove the odd card from thespread and replace it face down somewhere in the center — or simply toss itaside and comment that the card no longer amuses you.

Back to the routine.

STEP VIII — You've got a face-up ace in the center of the face-down spread.Remove the ace from the spread by grasping it by its sides with your left fingers,and sliding it out to the left. Transfer the ace to your right fingers and place theace face up square with the face-down card on the spread's far right.

STEP IX — Position your right hand at the right end of the spread and your lefthand at the spread's left end. Note how your fingers "cage" both ends of thespread — with your little fingers against the ends of the spread. Begin to squarethe spread by slowly sliding your hands towards each other. Your little fingerspushing the ends of the spread together. As the spread closes, it starts to take onthe shape of its original half shuffled deck. Stop when you feel some resistanceagainst your little fingers. The cards will stop feeling like a spread as it forms thetwo halves of the shuffled deck. Do not push these two halves together.

STEP X — Maintain the position of your hands on the semi-shuffled deck. Moveyour right little finger away from the right end as your right fingers form the"bridge" through which the deck will be pushed. Apply some pressure to the sidesof the deck with your right fingers as your left first finger presses against the leftend of the deck and pushes it through your right hand bridge.

As the deck slides through the bridge the pressure from the right fingers willcause the face ace and two cards below it to slide over the face down side of thedeck on the left — while exposing a face up card on the right. The ace will squareup against the left first finger. Push the deck through the bridge until about half ofthe cards are exposed on the right side of your right hand. The illusion to you andyour audience should be that the face-down deck, with one face-up card on top,instantly turns face up while it slides through your right hand bridge. 24

STEP XI — Your right hand bridge remains over the center of the half-shuffledface-up deck. This position is held because you don't want to expose the squaredspread as a half-shuffled deck. Place your left fingers under the bridge and flat ontothe deck. As soon as your left hand is in position, move your right hand away.Ribbon spread the deck by sliding your left hand to the left. All the cards will be faceup. Fig. 4 & 5.

NOTES — The "squaring" of the face-down spread, sliding the cards through thebridge, and the spreading of the face-up cards is a more or less continuous action.Don't risk exposing a reversed card by making the spread too long. A shorterspread is just as convincing and a lot safer.

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Fig. 4.

STEP XII — As soon as the face-up spread has registered with your audience, scoopit up in the same fashion as before: caging your fingers around the ends of thespread, your little fingers on the ends of the cards — pushing the spread together.Fig. 6. Stop when you feel the half shuffled deck lock into position. Fig. 7.

STEP XIII — Continue the "pushing the spread together" action of Step XI byapparently squaring the cards using Vernon's triumph move

as follows: Your hands are still in position at the ends of the spread. Place your left firstfinger on top of the face-up ace. Keep your right thumb in position against the inner

right corner of the right half while 26

your other right fingers move around to the right end of the deck. Your right fingerspush the entire deck to the right under the ace on top which stops against the rightforefinger. The left end of the deck secretly slides under the left hand where itremains concealed. Fig. 8, 9, & 10.

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Fig. 10.

NOTE — When I first learned this triumph move from the original Stars ofMagic I had real problems — my left hand felt to small to conceal the "pushedthrough" cards. The proper left hand position is an acquired knack — but thefollowing tip may cut down on your pre-knack blues:

Place your left hand in bridge position over the left end of the deck — onlyyour finger tips and thumb tip touch the table. Tilt your arched left hand to theleft so that the left side of your hand touches the table. The tilted "bridge" of yourleft hand should now have enough space to conceal the pushed-through half.

If you have to scrunch your left hand around to conceal the deck, you were notin proper position. Practice by positioning your left hand so it comfortablyconceals the pushed through left end — then work on getting into the sameposition before the cards are pushed through.

All right — let's move on before we lose touch with the reality of the illusion.

STEP XIV — Grasp the visible portion of the deck from above by its right sideswith your right fingers and lift the deck up so that the concealed portion ispressed against the base of your left fingers. Curl your left fingers around thedeck and release your right hand grip. The deck should be held by the left hand asfar to the left of the deck as possible, without exposing the concealed half of thedeck. Fig. 11.

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Fig. 11.

STEP XV — Hold the deck up with your left hand so that the ace of hearts isfacing the audience. You should be able to see a face-down card over a partiallyexposed face-up card at the back of the deck. The audience believes you areholding a squared, face-up deck.

STEP XVI — Grasp the visible portion of deck with your right fingers by itssides from the back. Your right third finger and thumb rest against the top side ofyour left hand (along your left forefinger). Place your right little finger up againstthe concealed bottom end of the deck. Fig. 12.

Fig. 12.

STEP XVII — You are now going to make the cards visibly unshufflethemselves by causing half of the cards to rise out of the deck by massexploitation of the plunger principle. This is the magical highlight of the routineand is twenty six times more spectacular than a single rising card. This is also oneof those alien theories I mentioned at the beginning — so for the moment, you'llhave to accept what follows on faith.

NOTE — The only fingers touching the face or back of the pack is your leftthumb at the back and your left first finger at the face. The rest of theextended deck slides up between these two cards at the front and back.

The deck is securely held in your hands. Slowly push up on the bottomend of the deck with your right little finger Half of the cards will appearto rise out of the center of the deck, while actually the entire half shuffled deck ismoving up. The front and back cards will stay in position. Fig. 13, 14, & 15.

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STEP XVIII — When the cards will rise no further, display the front and back ofthe deck (The action of the rise will have covered the face-up card at the back.).Use your right fingers to slide up any partially risen cards from the front and backof the deck. It's important that the upjogged cards be in an even block formation forwhat follows. Fig. 16.

STEP XIX — Turn your left hand palm-down so that the deck is face up with itsupjogged cards pointing to the right. Place the face-up deck onto the palm-up rightfingers so that the side jogged cards nestle in the right thumb crotch. The left fingersstill hold the deck from above by its sides. As the deck touches the right fingers,your right finger tips secretly slide the back card to the right. The right end of thiscard will stop against your right thumb crotch, which leaves the card square with theother side-jogged cards. Fig. 17 & 18.

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STEP XX — Grasp the deck from below by its center sides with your left fingers.Fig. 19. Remove your right hand from the deck. The tips of your left finger tipsshould "bite" into the front edge of the ace. This will prevent the card beneath itfrom sliding during the action that follows. Fig. 20.

STEP XXI — You'll now cause half of the deck to visibly turn face down withjust a flick of your wrist: Your left thumb should be resting across the face of theace. Turn your left hand palm-down. Fig. 21. As the deck starts to turn over,secretly slide the ace from under your left

thumb to the left — so that the ace extends just a bit beyond the left endof the deck. Without a pause, turn your left hand palm-up to reveal the instantreversal. Fig. 22.

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NOTE — When the left hand turns palm-down, a face-up card is visible from theright side of the deck. This creates a very strong although illogical retentioneffect. The audience sees all face-up cards at the start. The deck's turned over.The audience still sees only face-up cards. The deck is turned again — and in aflash half the deck is reversed. Mirror practice will teach you just the right timingto achieve this "shock" reversal.

STEP XXII — Grasp the deck from above by its right side with yourright fingers. Grasp the left side of the deck with your left fingers in the sameway. Tilt the bottom of the deck up to the audience so they can

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Fig. 21.

see that both sides of the deck are reversed. Pivot the two ends of the pack downtoward each other to make an upside down "V." Fig. 23. Tilt the "V" deck downand place it on the table. Use both hands to spread the deck toward yourself todisplay the face down cards interlaced amongst the face up cards. Fig. 24. Scoopup the spread, then unriffle the cards by curving the ends down so the two halvesspring apart to complete the Sensuous Shuffle. Fig. 25.

NOTE — You'll be left with at least one reversed card (second from the top), andmore likely two or three — depending upon the condition of the deck and theaccuracy of the spreads and shuffles. Do not spend any extra time or worry on thissituation. Manhandle the spreads and shuffles to your hearts content. As long as thebasics are taken care of,the Sensuous Shuffle will do the work for you.

If you feel the need to conceal the reversed cards during the final spread, keepthe spread tight, and keep the top and bottom of the spread bunched together. Afterthe whole thing's over, run through the deck and straighten out the cards. Your keyline here is "oops, I missed

a few."

Simplified Sensuous: If you've got tiny hands you may want to delete therising/reversal sequence: After the face-up spread, square the cards into aSQUARED deck. Hold the "face-up deck" in left hand dealing position and cut offthe top half with your right fingers so that a face-up card is on top of the lower half(peek before cutting — then riffle off a card with your right thumb if necessary.).Turn the left hand half face down and place it square under the right hand face-uphalf. Spread the deck to reveal the twenty-six card interlaced penetration . . . thenmanually separate the face-downs from the face-ups as you grumble about brokenshuffling machines.

Official Notice of Appreciation:

For Looy!When developing the Sensuous Shuffle I wanted to clean-up by having the cards

unshuffle themselves — but could think only of sleazy low-impact approaches.Looy came up with the incredible plunger idea for the visible unshuffle. It onlytook five bottles of rootbeer and nineteen live performances for him to convinceme that the unreasonable gasps of amazement from the audience weren't just amatter of luck.

Presentation: "Have you ever heard of a shuffle machine? TheJapanese have come out with a new miniaturized version built rightinto the deck. I will demonstrate — but only if you insist... ohalright..."

"The shuffle machine has many uses — please don't ask me to name them all,

impressionable children might be near. However, for the purpose of lightentertainment, I'll use it to locate a card cut to by chance . . . and since chance isn'there, Mona will have to cut the cards instead (Only use "Mona" if that is thespectator's name.)."

Mona cuts the face-up deck.

35

STEP II — "Mona's card is the queen of hearts. The card is face-up because weare dealing with a mere machine — not a handsome, skillful, magical person . . .who, of course, would have nothing in common with me."

Position both halves to be shuf f led. Spreadthem a bit if you wish.

STEP III — "Watch as the miraculous shuffle machine shuffles the cards together. . . with the aid of its ten assistants."

Shuf f le the cards.

STEP IV — "Don't go away ~ now the good part starts. All I have to do is put themachine in reverse and it reverses the other cards."

Push the deck through the "bridge" andspread the face-down deck. Put the singleface-up selection on top.

STEP V — "If I put the machine in forward I can show you the smiling faces ofthe rest of the deck."

"Square" the spread and push it throughthe bridge. Spread the face-up deck,"square" it. The hold it in position for therise.

STEP VI - "After the shuffle machine is finished it unshuffles itself." Perform the

rise.

STEP VII — "And if I forget to turn the shuffle machine off ... it resets . . . andstarts all over."

Perform the instant reverse and spreadthe deck.

STEP VIII — "Now if only they could invent a machine that would make peopleapplaud and throw kisses . . . that's all right sir, you can just applaud . . . (then to awoman) and you can just throw kisses — wow — that was a good one, thanks."

36

The Seduction:A sparkling clean handling that lets you sneak four cards into a card

case undercover of a can't-miss proposition bet—guaranteed to win youcab fare home, or the chance to palm someone's fist with your face.

Before starting: Position the empty card case to your right so that its half-moonend is down and toward the audience. The open flap is tucked under (not inside)the box.

STEP I — Spread the face-up deck between your hands and down jog the thirdcard from the face. Continue to spread through the deck and up jog the four jacks.

STEP II — Close the spread and strip out the four jacks as one group with yourright fingers. Place the unsquared jack packet face up onto the face-up deck, andgrasp the packet from above by its ends with your right fingers. Press the in-joggedcard in with your right thumb as the packet is removed — adding three cards to theback of the jacks. Table the deck face down to your left, and place the right handpacket face down into left hand dealing position.

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NOTE — If the jacks are already out from a previous routine — hold the deck inface-up dealing position and obtain a left little finger break below the third cardfrom the face. Scoop up the face-up jacks with your right hand and add the threecards above the break to the back of the packet as your left fingers square thesides of the packet.

STEP III — Grasp the face-down seven card packet from above by its ends withyour right fingers and use your left thumb to slide the top three cards, one at atime, onto your left palm. Place the remaining right hand group of four (held asone) onto the left hand cards — and retain a left little finger break between thetwo groups.

To the audience, you've reverse counted the four jacks from the right hand tothe left.

STEP IV — Grasp the top single card from above by its ends with your rightfingers and place it square onto the back of the case. As the card is placed on thecase your right fingers grasp the case from above by its ends and move it off thetable toward the left hand.

STEP V — Hold the case above the left hand packet so that the tucked under flapis in front of the outer end of the left hand cards. Tilt your left hand up towardyourself so that the outer end of its packet touches the underside of the case. Slidethe packet forward until it stops against the inside of the flap. Fig. 1 & 2.

38

As the packet slides forward place your left thumb onto the card on top of thecase. Your right thumb should now be at the inner end of the case — pressing theinner ends of the cards above the break to press the cards against the flap . . .which presses against your right fingers.

Retain the cards above the break against the underside of the case with yourright fingers as your left thumb slides the card from the top of the case onto theright side of the remaining three left hand cards. In a continuing action, openlyplace the slid-off card onto the underside of the case under the flap — so that theleft side of the card extends past the left side of the case. Fig. 3 & 4.

39

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

NOTE — The slid-off card is moved from the top of the case directly to thebottom of the case in a continuous action. The left hand packet just "happens tobe there" and is not used as a rest stop for the card.

As soon as the card is positioned under the flap (and beneath the concealedcards) casually fan the three cards in your left hand and drop them face down tothe table.

The audience has seen you pick up the case and card together, where your leftthumb then slid the card onto the bottom of the case. Your left hand put its cardsaside to help put the card in the case as follows:

STEP VI — Grasp the case from below by its sides at the halfway point withyour left fingers — automatically squaring the side-jogged card with the case asthe case is grasped. Your left thumb rests along the left side of the packet beneaththe case.

Maintain right finger pressure against the outer end of the packet (the flap stillseparates the right fingers from the cards) as your right hand hinges the inner endof the case up. Fig. 5.

40

As the inner end of the case moves up toward the audience, the outer end of theleft hand packet, now seen by the audience as a single card, starts to slide into themouth of the case. As the case moves in line with the "card" (closed end of thecase toward the audience) release your right hand grip so that the case and thepartially inserted card are held in the left hand. Note how this position completelyconceals the extra thickness of the quadruple card. Fig. 6.

Fig. 6.

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Use your right fingers to slide the fat card the rest of the way into the case.Tuck in the flap and table the case.

The audience believes one jack to be in the case, the other three jacks facedown on the table.

STEP VII — Bury the three face down "jacks" into the deck and ask for aspectator to think of one of the jacks. "I'll bet you that the jack you're thinking ofwill be inside the box. If I lose, you win the entire left side of my body. If I win— I get both your socks — and if you're not wearing socks we'll have to worksomething out."

Direct the spectator to open the case to verify you have won the bet. Don'tforget to be a good guy and say "that's all right, you can mail me your sockswhen you get home."

NOTE — If you work this routine a lot you'll find an occassional sock in yourmail box from women who can't think of any other way to meet you.

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The Seduction:When a cab just isn't good enough and you want to travel in style— complete

with tinted windows, spiffy chauffeur, and gasps of tortured envy from those lessfortunate than yourself. Four jacks are "squig-gled" at your fingertips and changeinto four other cards. This "squiggle misdirection" enables you to secretly escort thefour jacks into the box—or so the pedestrian audience is driven to believe.

Before starting: Position the open card case in front of you so that the open flap isat the front end of the case and the half-moon side is up.

STEP I — As you spread the face-up deck between your hands, openly out-jog thefour jacks and secretly in-jog the third card from the pack's face.

STEP II — Adjust the order of the out-jogged jacks so that they're in red, red,black, black order (it doesn't matter whether the reds or blacks come first).

STEP III — Square the in-jogged card with your right thumb so that your left littlefinger can obtain a break beneath the three cards at the face. Make this squaring

action with your thumb undercover of putting 43

LimousineService

your right fingers on the left side of the jacks — to strip the jacks out of the deck.

STEP IV — Place the stripped-out jack packet face up onto the face-up deck thensquare the jacks by grasping them from above by their ends with your rightfingers.

Hang onto the jacks, along with the three cards above the break, as your lefthand turns the deck face down and tables it to your left.

STEP V — The face-up seven card jack packet is held from above by its endswith your right fingers. Use your left thumb to slide the top three jacks one at atime onto your left palm. Place the three jacks to the back of the right hand "jack"and retain a right thumb break above the bottom three jacks.

STEP VI — Pick up the case with your right fingers by placing the face-up jackpacket square onto the top surface of the case. Fig. 1.

Fig. 1.

Grasp the case, along with the entire jack packet, from below by its sides withyour left fingers. Slide your right fingers along the face of the jacks toward yourright thumb so that the inner end of the packet that's above the break is pinchedbetween your right thumb and second finger. Fig. 2 & 3.

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Start to turn the case over from left to right by turning your left hand palm-down. As the case moves, turn your right hand palm up so that its four cards fanout face down.

Three jacks are now concealed beneath the case in your left hand — the cardsheld in place with your left fingers. Four face-down cards are fanned out in yourleft hand — consisting of three indifferent cards on top of one jack. The ends ofthe fan should be toward you, your right first finger should point at the flap endof the case. Fig. 4. 45

Fig. 4.

Tuck the flap into the case with your right first finger then table the case withyour left hand so that the flap end is to the right — and the three jacks areconcealed on the bottom.

The audience has seen you display four jacks, then seen you transfer the tabledcase with your right hand to your left hand so that your right first finger couldtuck in the flap. The four right hand cards naturally fanned face down as part ofthe action of extending your right first finger.

The transfer of the case, the turning of the case, the fanning of the cards, thetucking in of the flap with your right first finger, and the tabling of the case,should all be done in one relaxed continuous action.

STEP VII — Comment that you're going to misdirect the audience's attention sothat you can sneak the four jacks into the box.

Square the fan and hold it by its sides between your hands — thumbs on top.Tilt the face of the packet up to the audience to flash the jack, then tilt the

packet back down. Secretly position the face jack second from the top undercoverof the "Squiggle Flourish" as follows: Spread the four cards to the right — justenough so that the four left margins are exposed. Press your right finger tips upagainst the card second from the face of the packet and press your left thumb ontothe back of the second card from the top.

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Your right thumb should be on the top card, your left fingers on the face of thebottom card. In this position your right fingers and thumb have control of the topcard and the card second from the face. Your left fingers and thumb have controlover the bottom card and the card second from the top. Fig. 5.

Fig. 5.

Slide the thumb cards forward and the finger cards back as the hands moveapart with their individual pairs — producing a "Squiggle." Fig. 6. Place the righthand cards below the left hand cards so that a squared packet is once again held byits sides between your hands — thumbs on top.

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STEP VIII — Change your left hand grip so that your left thumb is beneath thepacket. Release your right hand grip and turn your left hand palm-up so that thepacket is face-up.

Elmsley count the face-up packet to show the four jacks have been replaced byfour indifferent cards. The last card of the count goes on the face of the packet."That was the misdirection. While you were wondering where these cards camefrom I snuck the jacks into the box."

Casually drop the indifferent packet face down onto the deck with your lefthand then use your left hand to grasp the case, along with the cards concealedbeneath it, from above by its sides with your left fingers.

STEP IX — Open the flap with your right fingers and pretend to remove thepacket from inside the case by putting your right thumb into the case onto the halfmoon and your fingers up against the face of the concealed packet. Slide the face-down packet to the right "out of the case" with your right fingers while your leftfinger drops the case to the table. Fig. 7.

Fig. 7.

STEP X — Grasp the inner long side of the face-down packet between your leftthumb from below, fingers on top. Turn left hand palm up to turn the packet faceup and Elmsley count the three jacks as four as follows:

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You should have one odd jack on the face of the packet followed by two jacksof the same color. Press your right palm against the back of the packet and clip itsupper right corner under your right thumb.

Your right hand slides top card off by turning palm-down, snapping the topcard off the outer right corner of the packet.

As your right hand turns palm-up to snap off the next card (moving back to theexact palm-up position it was at from the start) the right hand card is naturallypositioned at the back of the left hand packet — where the card slides into placeabove the left finger tips. As soon as this card is at the back of the packet, snapoff the next card with your right hand.

Using the same action and without breaking rhythm, snap off the remainingtwo cards for a total display of four jacks, then casually toss the packet face downonto the deck. You are now squeaky clean — with all four jacks on top of thedeck.

NOTE — I do the first Elmsley count in exactly the same fashion as the three asfour count: Keep your left hand still as the right hand does the action. The firstcard is snapped off, followed by the two card pushoff as the first card is loadedonto the back of the packet. The rest of the count is the same.

Cab Fare Note: It's close to impossible to resist doing these two routinestogether. Here's the transition from cab to limo:

You're holding the face-up deck in your hand after having buried the otherthree "jacks." Obtain a three card break on the face of the deck with your left littlefinger.

After the spectator removes the four jacks from the case, pick up one of thejacks with your right hand and use it to scoop up the other three jacks (makingsure the two reds and two blacks are paired).

Drop the face-up jack packet onto the face of the deck to free your right hand toadjust the case into "Limo" position so that its flap end is at the front.

Grasp the seven cards from above the break with your right fingers andsmoothly slid into the driver's seat for Limousine Service.

49

Fan DanceThe Seduction:

A small piece of white paper contains a spectator's initials as a "receipt" for herselected card. The white paper sticks to the edge of the fanned deck like a fatwoman to vinyl on a hot summer day. The initialed piece of paper, under its ownpower, slowly slithers along the edge of the fan. When the spectator grabs for thelively piece it magically melts away — leaving behind the spectator's initials on herpersonally selected card.

The handling is "locked" so that the actions of plot and the mechanics ofhandling weave into a single entity. Your job is to lock your presentation into theeffect so that your personality and the magic become one — making you acomplete persogician . . . well . . . sort of.

Preparation: Tear out a half inch square of white space from a card. Put the whitespace into the card case.

The rest of the torn card is not required for the effect. However, since a new squareof white space is used for each performance you'll be able to save untold dollars bykeeping the torn card to make spares.

If you want to use the same white space for each performance, use a pencilinstead of a pen for the initialing phase of the routine described below. The pencilmarks are easily rubbed off the white space with your fingers.

50

STEP I — While playfully toying with the deck, reverse the second card fromthe face of the pack as follows: The face-down deck is held from above by itsends with your right fingers. Your left thumb and fingers slide the top and bottomcard of the deck at the same time onto the left hand.

Use the left side of the deck to lever these two cards over face-up, and as acontinuation of the action place the face down deck onto the two face up cards —retaining a right thumb break above the two cards.

Slide away the bottom card with your left fingers and use the pack to lever itover face down onto the bottom of the pack.

This leaves the face-down pack held from above by its ends with your rightfingers. Your right thumb holds a break above the reversed card second from thebottom. Obtain a second break with your right thumb tip between the bottom twocards — for a double thumb break.

STEP II — Use your right first finger to swivel the top half of the deck into yourleft hand.

STEP III — Slide cards off of the right hand half onto the left hand half one at atime with your left thumb until someone says "stop."

STEP IV — Use the right hand half to lever the stopped at card face up onto theleft hand half. Let's say it's the three of hearts.

STEP V — Move the right hand half directly over the three and unload the singlecard from below the lower break onto the three as the right side of both halves areturned down toward the table. This leaves the reversed indifferent card on the lefthand half facing toward you. Fig. 1 &2.

In a continuing action move the right hand half to the right so that theremaining broken card extends half way over the right end of its left hand half.

Turn your left hand palm down so that the face of the extended card is towardthe table. Fig. 3. Relax your left fingers to drop the face down card to the table.

Turn your left hand palm up so that its cards are face down. Place the righthand half face-down squarely under the left hand half.

You've switched the selected three for an indifferent card. The three is face upunder the top card of the deck.

52

NOTE — The unloading of the two cards is done undercover of the naturalaction of bringing the hands together so that your right hand can slide theselection to the right — to make it "easier" for the left hand to drop the selectiononto the table (The face up selection is naturally turned down away from theaudience so that it can contact the right thumb — where the unloading takes placeunder cover of sliding the card.). Credit to Looy for the double break refinementon the switch.

STEP VI — Strongly bevel the ends of the deck forward with your right fingers,then pick up the case with your right hand and dump the piece of white spaceonto the table. Openly place the white space so that the cards are in a row withtheir ends toward you. A coin is placed behind the inner end of each card.

Ask your spectator for her initials. As you move the pen down to write on thewhite space, naturally tilt the back of the deck up to meet the pen point. As theback of the deck leaves the audience's view, secretly slide the top card (alongwith the white space) down half an inch — to expose the top end of the secondcard (exposed to you, not the audience). The beveled deck will hide the inner endof the pulled back card from the audience.

Write the spectator's initials on the upper right corner of the white space — andon the upper right corner of the exposed three of hearts. Exude an aura of honestyto mislead your audience into believing that you only wrote the initials once. Thisis not hard to do.

Take care to write the two sets of initials so that their styles are a close match.Fig. 4.

Fig. 4.

Use your left thumb to slide the top card square with the deck as your righthand tables the pen — then tilt the deck down so that the initialed white space isvisible to the audience.

NOTE — My initial instinct (ha) was to write the first set of initials — shake thepen as though the ink wasn't flowing — then write the second set of initials. Thisstruck me as quite clever, and is also, as I later discovered — completelyunnecessary. Do with it as you will.

STEP VII — Place the initialed white space down onto the table and obtain aleft little finger break beneath the top two cards by pressing down on the deck'supper left corner with your left thumb.

STEP VIII — Pick up the face-down card from the table with your right handand place it face down onto the deck. Bury this "selected" card into the deck bydouble undercutting to the break (You should actually do a multiple under cut bycutting three or four packets from the bottom to the top before cutting to thebreak. This makes the card look more lost.). The real selection will now be face-up at the bottom of the face-down deck.

STEP IX — Use your right hand to fan the deck in your left hand so that thereversed card on the bottom slides beneath the fan in position for the standard"dancing card" move — (the flourish where you say pick a card, and one cardmoves back and forth across the front of the fan), ie: Grasp the deck from aboveby its ends with your right fingers. Your left fingers slide the bottom card to theright while your right hand "cocks" the deck to the left into the crotch of your leftthumb in position to fan. Fan the cards by spreading them to the right with theright fingers. The bottom card should now be "loose" under the center of the fan— held in place with your left fingers. Fig. 5.

Fig. 5.

Adjust this card with your left fingers so that you can see its upper right cornerbarely peek out of the right side of the fan. Fig. 6.

STEP X — Pick up the initialed white space (initialed side up) with your right fingersso that it's in finger-palm position.

STEP XI — Pretend to stick the white space to the bottom of the fan so that theinitials stick out from the front edge. Actually, press the white space up against thefront end of the loose bottom card so that the white space lines up with the barelyexposed outer right corner of the card. From this position press your right thumb downonto the exposed corner and slide it out just enough to expose the concealed card'sinitials. Fig. 7.

Fig. 7.

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STEP XII — The white space stays concealed in your right fingers under theinitialed corner of the card. Move your right hand away from the fan (along withits concealed finger palmed white space) and pick up the pen. Since the spectator'sinitials are on both the white space and the corner of the card, the illusion ofsticking the white space onto the fan is perfect. Lower the front edge of the fan sothat the initialed corner touches the table. This presses the rest of the card upagainst the face of the fan — keeping the card hidden from view.

STEP XIII — Press your left first finger up against the face of the fan on its leftside to help anchor the fan in position. Wave the pen toward the initialed corner,and secretly press forward on the card with your third finger while the secondfinger pulls back on the card. These small controlled movements of your fingersunder the fan make the initialed "white space" slowly glide along the edge of thefan from right to left. As soon as the dancing has started, put the pen and thefinger palmed white space into your pocket.

This method to make the corner dance are the same used to make a whole carddance along a fan — but are kept tighter so that only the initialed corner of thecard is exposed — preserving the illusion that only the small piece of white spaceis dancing along the fan's edge.

NOTE — The animated white space does not have to zip around at incrediblespeeds nor do a choreographed tap dance to be impressive. A few slow ghostlymovements is all that's required to leave a lasting impression. Wait for the whitespace to run out of gas then direct the spectator to remove it from the deck. Thewhite space, along with the spectator's initials, have melted into the selected card— like a lady ghost into the arms of her guy, or a slice of soft cheese on a hotcherry pie . . . Isn't life wonderful?

Presentation:

STEP I — "Yesterday I had someone pick a card from the deck — and in theexcitement of the moment she forgot to put it back — so I had to go out and buyanother complete brand new card to replace it."

Do reverse move — using the actions tohighlight your words.

STEP II — "You seem much too mellow for that to ever happen. But just in case— I've brought along a receipt. We'll fill it out in a moment."

Bring out the white space.

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STEP III — "Right now I want you . . . (stretch out the pause for the joke only ifyou can handle it) to say "stop!" — at any card that would make you feel good aboutyourself (If she hesitates say "If you can't decide on a card you'll have to take me." Ifshe likes her second option better, act appropriately embarrassed — then get herphone number later.). I'll put the card over here so I can keep an eye on it.

Perform the switch and table the face-

down card.

STEP IV — "And now I need two pieces of information from you for the receipt."

Position white space on deck and hold penready for action.

STEP V — "It's personal — so you'll have to trust me. I need your first and last

initial,"

Write the double set of initials.

STEP VI — "I would have asked for something even more personal — but I'd havetrouble stapling it to this little piece of paper . . . your

respect and admiration."

Square the deck, table the initialed whitespace and pen, arid pick up the card whileyour left little finger obtains the break.

STEP VII — "Since you were careful not to lose the card I'll have to lose it foryou — just so you can see what happens when a card is

missing."

Place the card on top and double undercutto the break. Fan the cards and get into fandance position.

STEP VIII — "The lost & found system works automatically. First, a powerfulelectro-magnet sucks the initialed receipt up against the edge of the fan — Metalfilings in the ink enable the paper to react to the

magnet."

57

Pretend to stick the receipt to the fan. Pickup the pen and use it to gesture toward theinitials as you mention the metal f ilings.

STEP IX — "Then a small but effective solar motor moves the card along theedge of the fan until the sun goes away."

Cause the corner to move, and then stop.Put the pen and palmed white space away.

STEP X — "A cleverly concealed wire coil then heats the receipt and melts itonto one card . . . wait for it to cool . . . now take it out."

Direct your spectator to remove the receipt.

STEP XI — "Now the card is impossible to lose because the receipt'spermanently attached."

NOTE — Sometimes to cap off "Fan Dance" I'll "lose" the card into the deck —then palm it out and produce it from my pocket ... to show how impossible it is tolose the card.

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The Seduction:

You comment that, Just like the heads of Las Vegas women, a pack of cardsconsists of ninety percent air. The entire deck is still seen in your hands as yousquash your hands around it. The deck, still visible as the hands squash together,instantly disappear . . . leaving behind only an air of mystery.

The one time preparation consists of putting a crease into the side of one card(which can be borrowed). There is no palming, lapping, or pitting. The raw nerveimpact of the vanish transcends sleight-of-hand and borders on the seriouslyweird.

Note to Las Vegas women — Cynthia, Janet, Marisa, Rhonda, and Sandie: Ofcourse, you're the exceptions.

Preparation: Remove the two jokers from the pack. If you don't have the jokersuse a pair of two's or three's.

Hold the joker face-down and fold half an inch of its left side face up onto theback. The half inch flap should consist of the word "joker" (or a joker symbol)and uninterrupted white space. If the joker's design intrudes onto the rest of thewhite space then you have to use another brand of joker or use one of the two's orthree's.

Crease the flap so that it's at right angles to the card. Preparation is over. Fig. 1.

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Fig. 1.

Set-up: Place the deck into its case (make sure the tabs fold in).Close the cardcase flap.Tuck the creased joker face up into the case through the space between the flap

and the half-moon wall so that the bent part of the joker slides down the leftcorner of the case — along the left side of the cased deck.

It should be a perfect fit.Place the unbent joker face down into the cardcase so that it covers the bent

joker.Your set up then, from the half moon side of the card case down is: a face

down joker, face-up bent joker with its bent flap square with the left side of thecase, the tucked in cardcase flap, the cased deck.

Note for Non-Believers:You are about to convince your audience that the folded flap on the joker is

actually an entire deck of cards.Right now I can hear muffled whispers . . . but a bent joker doesn't look

anything like a deck, and there's no little lines where the cards would be, andbesides — the sides of a real deck aren't that white."

To concerned whisperers everywhere — be concerned no more. After years ofabusing cards, I truly know what it takes to make a bent joker look like a deck.

Regarding the inherent discrepancies of line and color . . . this would be aproblem if you held the fake next to a real deck and asked people to compare thedifference. But because the audience have no chance for a comparison, and noreason to suspect that the extremely deck-like object coming out of the card caseis anything other than a deck — they will be solidly convinced of the deck'sinternal integrity.

The illusion is perfect. The theory is sound. The seduction is unavoidable.

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STEP I — Hold the case, half-moon side up and toward you, on your palm up lefthand. The case is positioned high in your left hand so that the left second finger isat the inner right corner.

STEP II — Your right thumb and first finger grasp the two jokers from between

the flap and the case and pull them out towards you as one unit until extended tothe left little finger. Fig. 2.

STEP III — Straighten out your left third and little finger so that your rightthumb and first finger can grasp the end of the case — concealing the exposedend of the fake. This leaves your left hand free to change its grip — grasping thecase from above by its sides at the half moon end (the end near your rightfingers).

STEP IV — Slide your right thumb and first finger back so that they can graspthe "deck," thumb on top, first and second finger pressing up against the back ofthe bent joker from below. The bent edge of the joker rests against the first jointof the right first finger. From the audience'sview, this is the natural grip to remove a deck from the case. From yourperspective, you'll feel like you're walking down the street without your pants.Hopefully, you've got nice knees. Fig. 3 & 4.

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Fig. 3

Fig. 4.

STEP V — Turn the right side of the "deck" toward the audience and slide outthe deck until about half an inch is left inside the case. Note that your rightfingers conceal the joker's index corner.

STEP VI — Simultaneously table the case, and finish sliding out the deck. As the

deck leaves the case, slide your left fingers to the right sothey can grasp the left end of the deck from above before it's exposed. Fig. 5 & 6.The left fingers appear to be supporting the left end of the deck, while in fact theright fingers are holding everything together.

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STEP VII — To place the deck onto the palm of your left hand: Extend your rightsecond, third and little finger. Turn your left hand palm up by sliding it around theleft end of the deck — always keeping the end of the deck covered, and slide yourleft hand to the right, up against your curled right first finger. Your left finger tipsshould now be able to press against the right end of the deck, pressing the left endof the deck againstthe base of your left thumb. Slide out your trapped right forefinger by pressing itdown against the left fingers as it moves out. Fig. 7 & 8.

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Fig. 8.

STEP VIII — Your right hand covers the deck from above. The left side of thedeck can still be seen through the spread right first and second fingers. You arenow in position to "squash the air out of the deck." Fig. 9.

STEP IX — Close the window between your right first and second fingers andsquash the deck flat between your hands by pressing your palms together,twisting the right hand to the right, and arching out the fingers of both hands. It'sthe same action you would use to turn a mosquito into paste. Fig. 10.

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Fig. 10.

STEP X — The squash action should leave the bent joker unfolded face upbeneath the face down joker. The face down card conceals the face up jokerscrease.

STEP XI — Slide the top card forward with your right thumb just enough so thatyour left thumb and second finger can grasp the inner end of the face up card byits sides. Press your left forefinger down onto the two cards, causing them to bow.This bow will help conceal the crease when it's exposed. Grasp the other end ofthe bowed cards with your right fingers in the same fashion as your left fingers.

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STEP XII — Turn both hands palm up. The right hand taking the top card, theleft hand taking the bottom creased card. Briefly display the two separated jokers(creased card face down) then place the two jokers face to face so that the creasedjoker is beneath the normal one.

STEP XIII — Put the jokers away in a pocket and reveal that the air space leftextra room to cram a spare deck inside the case.

NOTE — If you want to be re-set for your next performance, hang onto the jokerswith one hand while the real deck is removed from the case. Openly place the twojokers back into the case so that the creased joker is underneath — with its creasedside against the left side of the half moon side up case.

Press the creased joker against the left side of the case, causing the joker to foldinto position. When the pack is put back into the case, make sure it goes beneaththe joker set-up. Tuck in the case flap between the deck and the jokers and you'reall set to go.

EASY AIR: This simplified version minimizes the handling of the fake.

Set-up. The deck is inside the open case. The bent joker is face-up on top of theoutside of the case (the half moon side of the case is up). The bent side of thejoker fits over the left side of the case. The normal joker is placed face-down ontothe face-up bent joker. The case flap is covered over the two jokers. Place the set-up deck into a left hand pocket, or a close-up case, or simply get set when no oneis looking and hold the pack in your hand.

STEP I — Hold the pack in your palm down left hand from above by its sides.The two jokers are concealed from view on the bottom of the case. The flap end ofthe case points to your right. The folded part of the bent joker should be visible toyou on your side of the case. Your left thumb is on the bottom of the case holdingthe jokers in position.

STEP II — Turn your left hand up so that your left palm faces toward the right —and the case flap is on top.

STEP III — Slide your right fingers under the case flap so that the open case isheld from above by its ends (your fingers are on the front end of the real deck —your thumb is at the back end of the case). Place your left thumb along the innerleft side of the case — over the folded part of the joker (keep your left thumb offof the printed part of the folded flap).

STEP IV — Tilt the right side of your right hand down so that it covers the rightside of the case.

STEP V — Curl your right fingers to the left so that they cover the index corneron the folded part of the joker. Fig. 11.

STEP VI — Lift up with your right thumb at the back end of the case to separatethe two jokers from the top of the case.

STEP VII — Slide your right hand with the two joker fake forward along the topof the box about half an inch (as though sliding the deck out from the box) andthen tilt your right hand so that its palm is toward you. The audience will see adeck, you'll see two jokers. You'll worry that people will think you just pulled adeck through the back of a box. Don't worry. Modern Close-up audiences do notconcern themselves with discrepant deck removal techniques. Fig. 12.

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Fig.12.

STEP VIII — Push the case's flap down with your right finger tips and hold theflap in place with your left thumb. Table the case, flap side down.

STEP IX — Set the fake deck onto your palm up left hand, keeping your righthand on top. Your right thumb and fingers keep the weight off the folded part ofthe joker.

STEP X — Turn the left side of the deck toward your audience and squeeze outthe air (from the deck). Display the jokers as described in Air of Mystery.

Official Notice of Appreciation:

To Patrick Snowden! . . .. . . who helped fine-tune some of the handling to insure that air-of-mysteryremained a mystery to the right people.

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An instant vanish of a fist full of four half dollars.Your left fingers will clink with happiness every time they close over the coins

— secure in the knowledge that they can walk away empty handed at a moment'snotice.

by Mike Giles, Patrick Snowden, Dana Betz, and P.H.

STEP I — Lay out four half dollars and four face-up cards on the table Note thatthe coins are on your side of the cards.

STEP II — Grasp the card on the far left by its right side between your rightthumb on top and fingers from behind. Use the card's left side to scoop up its coin— so that the coin ends up under your right thumb.

STEP III — Use your right thumb to slide its coin to the left so that it extends halfway over the left side of the card. In a continuing action turn the card face down(by turning your right palm down) and deposit the coin in left finger palm position— just above the base of your palm-up fingers. Fig. 1. Replace the card face downto its original far left position.

69

Deja Vu

The Seduction:

STEP IV — Pick up the card second from the left with your right fingers by itsright side and use it to scoop up its coin in the same manner as the first coin.Your right thumb pushes its coin half way over the left side of the card, and thecard is turned face-down (right thumb holding the coin against the card). Placethe exposed half of the coin (still holding it against the card with your rightthumb) onto the center of your palm-up left hand.

Close your left fingers so that the loose coin in finger-palm position rolls overand clinks against the exposed half of the card's coin. Fig. 2. The instant the twocoins clink, use your right thumb to pull its coin completely out of view under thecard as you move the card toward yourself away from your closed left fingers.Place the card, along with its concealed coin, face down on the table to itsoriginal position second from the left.

70Fig. 2.

NOTE — When done properly the "Snowden Clink" from the card creates aperfect retention illusion. Practice it in front of a mirror a few times until you canactually see the right hand coin going into your left hand. The clink of the coinsand the coin's secret pullback must happen at the same moment to maximize theillusion. Once you've coordinated these two actions, work on moving the cardaway from the hand at the same moment that your thumb is pulling back the coin.With just a little more practice you should be able to make your actions appearexactly as though you were scooping a coin off the table and casually tossing itinto your left hand. Practice this action for real, then work to make your clink passlook exactly the same.

STEP V — As you reach forward with your right fingers to grasp the right side ofthe third card from the left, casually turn your left fist palm down to allow its cointo fall back into finger palm position. Turn your left fist palm up as you scoop upthe tabled coin with the card.

STEP VI — Open your left hand just enough to perform another clink pass withthe card's coin: pushing the coin half way over the left side of the card, placing theexposed portion of coin on the center of your left palm, letting the finger-palmedcoin drop onto the card's coin, then pulling the coin and the card away as the leftfingers close. Place the card, along with its concealed coin, face down on the tablethird from the left.

NOTE — The only difference in this clink pass is that the left hand is cuppedinstead of open. The hand should be open enough to execute the pass, yet closedenough to conceal its bankrupt condition.

STEP VII — Repeat the exact same clink pass procedure with the coin and cardon the far right — then replace the card, along with its concealed coin, face downon the table to the far right.

NOTE — It's a bit scary going through this the first few times — with one littleclink pass shouldering the responsibility of stealing three coins. But the sight ofthe perfect retention combined with the sound of the familiar "clink" are strongsellers. When you add a casual handling with a relaxed rhythm your audiences willbe convinced that your left fist contains four coins.

STEP VIII — You should now have one coin in your closed left fist and one coinconcealed under each of the tabled cards — except for the card on me far left.Your audience will now see you perform a stunning flash vanish of the fist full ofhalf dollars — using Marlo's "spider" pass idea as follows:

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Comment that you're going to squeeze the four coins together to make themvanish. Suit actions to words by sliding your palm-up right fingers into yourpalm-down left fist to "squeeze the coins." What you're really doing here is usingyour right fingers to press the single coin up into a fool-proof classic palm inyour left hand. The "squeeze" line covers this indiscretion (I know that you canclassic palm without the aid of your other hand, but I need all the help I can get).

As soon as the left hand coin is in classic palm position, pretend to "secretly"steal the four coins with your right hand by closing your right hand into a fist.Both hands are now closed. Make a tossing gesture toward the cards with yourpalm-down left hand as you open your left fingers to show the four coins havevanished — of course the single coin remains concealed in the classic palm.Everyone will now assume that your left hand is completely empty because theyknow that the four coins are concealed in your right fist.

Pause a beat, then show your right hand empty as you casually gesture. Pauseanother beat, then pick-up the right hand card from above by its ends with yourright fingers to produce the first half dollar.

NOTE — If you do a better classic palm than I, which is highly probable, thenyou may want to bypass the Spider misdirection and perform the vanish directlyfrom your left hand — Simply make a tossing /vanish gesture as you open yourpalm-down left hand — then pick up the right hand card with your right fingers.

STEP IX — Transfer the face-down card to your left hand so that it's held by itsleft side between your left thumb and first finger. Allow the concealed coin todrop to finger palm position undercover of the card.

Pick up the next card to the right from above by its ends with your right fingersto reveal a second coin on the table. Place the card from your right hand underyour left thumb — on top of the first card.

Pick-up the next card on the right from above by its ends with your rightfingers to reveal the third half, and slide the card face down under your left thumb— on top of the other two cards.

The concealed coin should now be held against the face of the three cardpacket with your left finger tips. Slide the right side of the packet under theremaining tabled card. Use your left thumb to pull the tabled card onto the othercards, while your left hand moves back with all four cards to reveal the final coinon the table. Fig 3.

The audience has seen you make a hand full of halves instantly vanish — theninstantly reappear under four cards. You can't ask for much more out of twodollars worth of change than that.

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Official Notice of Appreciation:

For Mike Giles, Patrick Snowden, and Dana Betz!Mike Giles original concept was to actually pick up all four coins, pretend to

place them in a pocket, then load them back under the cards undercover ofturning the cards over. Patrick Snowden and I then changed the handling toeliminate some of the difficult palms. It was during this session that Patrick cameup with the "Snowden Clink" which was then used for only one coin. Dana Betzlater pointed out angle and handling problems which would make the routineimpractical for certain working conditions. I restructured the handling toeliminate the angle problems, the loading moves, and the pocket action. Iperformed it for my sister Janet — completely fried her, then knew it was readyfor the real world.

Yep ... It sure is nice not to need any help on this stuff.

Presentation:

I usually produce the four aces using "Fantasy aces" from the book "Close-upFantasies I." After field testing dozens of ace productions I've discovered that"Fantasy" creates the most immediate audience respect. If you want to producethe coins and cards at the same time then it's hard to beat "Silver Slide" from "LasVegas Close-up." And of course, Deja Vu is an ideal follow up to Al Schnider's"Matrix."

STEP I — "After handling coins for a while you can get a feel for how old theyare without even looking at their dates."

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Fig. 3.

Openly place first coin in hand.

STEP II — "When they're clinked, the older coins have a lower pitch than the newer ones.If we can have a moment of silence — I shall attempt a demonstration . . . and please, tryto hold down unrestrained gasps of amazement."

Perform the "Snowden Clink" with each of theremaining three coins.

STEP III — Strike a pose of intense concentration — and as each coin clinks, call off adate. No one will buy the clink demonstration (I hope) — but the transparent bluff is a fun"bit-o-business" — and sets a trap for the audience from which there is no escape.

STEP IV — "But if I carefully squeeze the four coins together to keep them from clinking— they completely disappear . . . and the only way to tell how old they are is to look at thedates."

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The Seduction:

A perfect, super easy, surprise finish to any routine using coins and cards. This isa continuation of the "Free-Flight" ending — where four coins end up under aspectator's hand. In this finale to the finale the card that was used to cover the coinsjoins the party by falling off the deck and materializing under the spectator's hand.The card and coins are creatively arranged under the spectator's hand so that shedoesn't feel a thing — until you tell her it's okay.

by Michael Ammar and P.H.

. . . First, the Free-Flight ending which you can tack onto the end of your favoritecards and coin effect. I always use it after Deja Vu.

STEP I — Your four coins have just assembled under one card. Pick up one of thecoins with your right hand and pretend to place it into your left — retaining thecoin in a right finger palm (or dropping it to a finger palm from a classic palm).

STEP II — Pick up the card by sliding it with your right thumb onto the fingerpalmed coin.

75

Michael'sProposition

STEP III — Slide the left side of the card (and the concealed coin) under theremaining three coins, using the card to slide the coins over to a spectator. Fig. 1.

STEP IV — Direct the spectator to place her hand flat ontothe coins — so that all the coins are covered.

STEP V — As she presses her hand down onto the coins slide the card out,leaving the fourth coin under her hand.

STEP VI — She will not feel this fourth coin under her hand because of the othercoins on top of it.

STEP VII — Balance the card on top of your closed left fist. Slowly open yourleft fingers so that the card lands flat onto your palm — covering what should bethe coin.

STEP VIII — Curl your left fingers in to clip the outer side of the card betweenyour first and second finger. Lift the card up with these two fingers to reveal thevanish.

STEP IX — Drop the card face up onto the deck — to lead into Michael'sProposition.

STEP X — Pick up the deck in your left hand and obtain a left little finger break

below the second card from the top. 76

Fig. 1.

STEP XI — Riffle the deck toward the spectator's hand. As she lifts up her handto discover the four coins, turn the face-up card face down onto the deck and graspthe double from above the break by its ends with your right fingers.

STEP XII — Put the deck aside with your left hand while the right hand placesthe face-down double onto the table in front of you.

STEP XIII — Place each one of the coins on a corner of the double as you say,"leaving us with all four coins neatly arranged in a perfect square — symbolic ofthe square deal you always get with . . . (fill in the blank with the name of yourspectator, host, or organization).

Any other line which gives you an excuse to place the four coins onto thecorners of the double will work just as well. Note that the coins are "square" withthe corners. Fig. 2.

Fig. 2.

STEP XIV — Direct the spectator to cross one hand over the other (do it yourselfas an example). Comment that this time the coins will be covered with both of thespectator's hands, making it impossible to get to the coins without the aid of acrow bar or a blow torch.

STEP XV — After the spectator places her crossed hands onto the four coins(make sure her hands completely cover the double) say, "oops — I forgot thecard." Direct your spectator to lift up one side of her hand just enough for you toget the card. Do so by pinching one edge of the double between your right thumband first finger — and slide out the bottom card of the double. The weight of thespectator's

77

hand will keep the coins and card in place. The four coins at the card's cornerswill prevent the spectator from feeling the card. Try it yourself just so you knowI'm not kidding. Fig. 3.

STEP XVI — Place the card into the deck and riffle the deck toward thespectator's hand. Ask her if she can still feel the coins. She will say "yes." Ask herif she can still feel the card. She will say "huh." Tell her to take a look. She willbe amazed and delighted — and grateful for the chance to have met you.

Official Notice of Appreciation:

For Michael Ammar!One day Michael said "Hey Paul — why don't you just use a double during

Free-Flight and load one of the cards under a spectator's hand as she covers thecoins. I said, "Gee whiz Michael — why didn't I think of that?" Michael said,"Because your initials aren't M.A.

Upon getting over this injustice of life I worked out the four corner handlingand lifted a Dingle coins across theory for the open removal of the card. I nowrefuse to do any coins and card routine unless I can close with the Proposition.Yes Michael — it's that powerful. But now the big question for Michael is — canhe top it?

78

The Seduction:

Finally, a big time dancing girls and roller skating elephants finale for yourClose-up card magic that you can carry in the back of your pants. Close-upphilosopher Jay Sankey has gone against his better judgement and created anaudience preferred effect — that lets artless thrill-mongers enjoy the existentialexperience of watching you squeeze an ace, two, three, and four together into aperfect jumbo "10."

by Jay Sankey and P.H.

Preparation: Fold a jumbo ten of hearts (the same color back as the normal sizedeck you're using) face down in half, then in half again the other way so that thecard is folded in quarters.

Place the jumbo into your back left pants pocket (or into your left jacketpocket) so that the edges of the long side are up, and the end with the roundededges point to the left.

STEP I — Get the normal size ten of hearts to the top of the deck and force it ona spectator (for an easy force see "Sleight of Ear")

STEP II — Direct the spectator to shuffle her selected card back into the deck.

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STEP III -Take back the deck and spread it between your hands so that the backs of thecards are toward the audience. Up jog the ace, two, three, and four of hearts as you attemptto locate the selection through the process of elimination — which is something as old asman himself. Place a card onto the face of the deck that's a close match for the one alreadythere (king of hearts/jack of hearts).

STEP IV — During the up-jogging process, break the spread at the ten of hearts wheneverit appears so that the ten is at the back of the right hand half. Use your left fingers, whichstill hold its half. to pull out as one unit what ever number of hearts you've managed to up-jog before you found the ten. Place this group of up-jogged cards, still up jogged, onto theface of the left hand half—then place the right hand half square onto the left hand half(onto the up-jogged cards).

This should leave you with the ten of hearts positioned directly to the right of the firstup-jogged card.

Continue to up jog the rest of the required hearts (if you haven't already up joggedthem).

STEP V — Place the deck, along with its four up-jogged hearts, face down onto your leftpalm. Spread the deck into your right hand until all the up-jogged cards are in the righthand group. Do not spread beyond the last up-jogged card. Fig. 1.

Fig. 1.

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STEP VI — While a spectator pulls out the four out-jogged cards, obtain a leftlittle finger break below the face down ten that's on top of the left hand half.

STEP VII — Place the right hand cards face up onto the left hand cards. Graspthe deck from above by its ends with your right fingers and transfer the break toyour right thumb.

STEP VIII — Cut off the cards from below the break with your left hand andplace them face up onto the right hand cards. Obtain a right thumb break abovethe reversed ten at the bottom of the deck.

STEP IX — Turn your head away to the left while the spectator looks throughthe four cards to secretly remove her selection. As you turn your head, slip yourleft hand into your pocket and grab the jumbo (you don't have to palm it). Bringthe deck to meet your left hand as it comes out of your pocket and place the deckface down onto your left hand — on top of the jumbo. The long "unfolded" edgeof the concealed jumbo should be to the left. The rounded corner end at the front.Fig. 2. By now the spectator will have said something very close to "hey — mycard isn't here."

81Fig. 2.

STEP X — Casually slide the face card of the deck to the bottom (below the jumbo)with your left thumb, then leave the deck in your left hand — transferring the breakto your left little finger. Retrieve the four cards from the spectator with your righthand. As your right hand leaves the deck, tilt the right side of the deck down toconceal the right side of the jumbo card.

STEP XI — Place the four heart cards face up onto the face-up deck with yourright hand, then grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers andtransfer the break to your right thumb. Comment that her selection is among thefour cards — if you look at things mathematically.

STEP XII — Use your left thumb to slide the top heart off the deck onto your leftpalm. Slide the remaining three hearts onto your left palm one at a time. As eachheart is pulled off, add up the four values for the audience to arrive at the grandtotal of ten hearts — a decidedly cheesy way to reveal the spectator's selection.

STEP XIII — As soon as the last heart is slid onto your left palm, use the left sideof the deck to lever the four cards over face down onto your left hand. Follow thefour card packet as it turns down with the jumbo at the bottom of the deck — thejumbo staying in constant contact with the back of the turning packet. Fig. 3.

As the packet turns completely over. grasp all the cards from below the breakwith your left fingers (from the top down this includes the face-down then, thejumbo, a face-up card, and the four face-down hearts).

In a continuing action, your right hand places the deck beneath the face-downpacket and onto the left palm so that the face-down packet and all the stuff on topof it are square on the face of the deck.

As soon as this packet touches the face of the deck. grasp the jumbo (and thecard on top of it) from above by its ends with your right fingers and remove it offthe deck to the right.

You have switched the four card heart packet (now hidden face-down underthe face card of the deck) for the jumbo (in your right hand under the face downten).

To the audience, you've simply turned the four hearts face down andtransferred them to your right hand. Table the face-up deck. Comment that thecards will look a lot more like her selection if the sides are stuck together.

STEP XIV — Squeeze the "four cards" between your palms to weld themtogether. Then use your right fingers to unfold the first fold of the jumbo, alongwith the face-down ten. toward yourself so that the loose normal size ten isconcealed face up on your left palm beneath the unfolded flap of the jumbo.

STEP XV — Unfold the rest of the jumbo to reveal the jumbo face-up ten —keeping the normal ten hidden behind it.

STEP XVI — Grasp the right side of the jumbo and the card beneath it with yourright fingers. Remark that the jumbo ten comes supplied with its own portablewallet size version. Slide the small ten into view out to the right and strike aperfect "10" pose.

Straighten out the four reversed cards at your leisure or, if you want to make JaySankey toss his philosophical cookies, simply give the deck a complete cut thenribbon spread the cards face down to reveal the four face-up hearts.

Official Notice of Appreciation:

For Jay Sankey! . . .

. . . who gave me one of his innovative creations and allowed me to twist it around just so Icould share credit with him.

Here's a quick outline of Jay's original handling:

Jay starts with the folded jumbo already concealed on the bottom of the deck, and has the10, A, 2. 3. and 4 of hearts set up on top. He

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forces the ten without disturbing the set-up then has the ten returned to the centerof the deck. As he attempts to find the selection, Jay flourishes a series of slipcuts to produce the four heart cards.

The four heart cards go on the face of the deck which is held in the left hand.His left hand slides the top heart onto the jumbo which now rests on the lefthand. The remaining hearts are counted onto the left hand card — adding up toten. Jay pretends the trick is over. waits for the spectator to look up, then casuallybrings his hands together to steal the face-up hearts onto the back of the deck.The left fingers are cradled around the jumbo, which is passed off as the fourcards, while the right hand tables the deck. Both hands now squeeze the "fourcards" together. blending them into the jumbo ten — which is then unfolded.

Jay Sankey gives his own Official Notice of Appreciation:For Rudy Hunter! — his fellow Torontonian and clever Canadian who helpedJay clean up his original handling.

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The Seduction:

At Caesars Palace in Lake Tahoe, Close-up pro Terry LaGerould seduces himselfand his audiences nightly with a one hundred percent self-working effect that getsgrins from ladies and groans from almost everyone else. "Looker" can even beperformed over the phone by making an anonymous call — for those of you whofeel guilty about presenting an effect that doesn't really require your presence.

STEP I — Read the Presentation. STEP

II - Do the trick.

Presentation:

Place the king of spades face down onto the table.Display the Queens. then place them face down onthe table away from the king.

85

Looker

"Certain cards have an almost human relationship to each other — like thekings and queens. I know ... I found it hard to understand myself, but when youstop learning you stop growing."

"Consider this a learning experience. You're going to learn how to give one ofthese queens a chance at romance. I can hardly wait . . . how about you?"

"Slide out one of the lucky ladies, but don't look at it — I want you to besurprised. Turn the end of your card around so that it's at the front (turned end-for-end), then slide it back into the other queens. By turning the card aroundyou've made it different from the other queens. I'll tell you how in a moment . . .but first I want you to mix up the four ladies to make this romance morerealistic."

"When you turned around your queen, her head naturally turned with her.Look at the four queens to see which one is looking the wrong way . . . you foundher? Great . . . but the big question is, what's that tiny head looking at?"

"You took a chance on romance and turned the tiny head of the queen ofspades. The queen of spades is looking at her perfect mate — the king ofspades!"

"Congratulations. You've just given the king a little head ... or a small face . . .depending upon how you look at it."

Turn king face up.

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The Seduction:

Blue Tattoo injects a lethal color changing deck effect into your act at any time,with any unprepared borrowed deck. There is no deck switch. There are no fudge-o moves. You start and finish clean. Blue Tattoo comes complete with a carefullymeasured dose of F.G.F. — otherwise known as the Feel Good Factor — a secretformula that combines form and function so that the deck and your fingersbecome fast friends.

Before starting: Position a single blue back card someplace within walkingdistance of your performing area. I'll assume that your blue back card is a queenof hearts although any one of a large variety of cards could be used with virtuallyno change in handling.

Since your stranger card is blue, you should use a red back deck for yourperformance. If you have a preference for blue back decks then you have to throwaway your blue back stranger, get hold of a single red back card, and change theword "red" for "blue" in your presentation. I know . . . you thought this routinewas going to be easy.

STEP I — Set up the face-down deck from the top down. any face-down card,any face-up card, a face-down queen of hearts (or whatever card matches yourstranger). Hold the face-down deck in left hand

87

BlueTattoo

dealing position and obtain a left little finger break under the third card from thetop. You can get this set-up while no one's looking — or you can get the set-upwhile everyone's looking by following the handling

under "Notes."

NOTE — Spread the face-up deck between your hands and down-jog the queenof hearts. Separate the spread at the queen so that the queen is at the back of theright hand portion. Use the right hand cards to lever the left hand cards face downonto the left hand.

Obtain a left little finger break under the top card of the left hand group. As youplace the face-up right hand cards directly onto the face-down cards, allow thecard above the break to slide above the right finger tips — onto the back of theright hand group. In a continuing action, use your left thumb to slide off the topface up card of the right hand group down onto the back of the right hand group.

Turn the right hand cards face down onto the left hand cards. Obtain a left littlefinger break below the in-jogged card as your right thumbsquares with the rest of the deck.

To the audience you've spread the cards face up "to make sure everything'sokay," then turned the deck face down.

STEP II — Bring out the blue queen with your right hand, display both sides,then place it face down onto the red deck. Grasp the four card block above thebreak from its right side by its right corners between your right first finger andthumb. Turn the four cards face up onto the deck as one (don't panic, this will befun) by sliding the fat card across the top of the deck to the right then tilting up theright side of the fat card so that its left side contacts your left finger tips. From thisposition turn the four card porker face up (right to left) onto the deck — stillholding on with your right first finger and thumb. As the big boy is turned downretain a left little finger break under it. Fig. 1.

Fig. 1.

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Without changing the position of your right fingers, slide the top single face upqueen back and forth over the top of the deck "to rub some of the blue off ontothe deck." Fig. 2. Remove the single face-up queen and drop it face up in front ofyou onto the table.

NOTE — The "reason" for putting the queen onto the deck is to rub off some ofthe blue. There is absolutely no heat on the quadruple turn over because you'rechanging a queen for a queen.

STEP III — You should still have a three card left little finger break. Use yourright fingers to slide out the bottom card of the deck from the front end of thedeck and place it face up square on top of the deck. Fig. 3 & 4.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

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Fig. 4.

STEP IV — Grasp the four card block from above the break with your right fingers fromabove by its ends. Put the tip of your first finger onto the face of the card. Fig. 5. Lift thequadruple off the deck as a single card by turning your right hand palm-up . . . showing thefreshly printed blue back of the card. As the face-up quadruple turns face down away fromthe deck. bow its back toward the audience to conceal the extra thickness. Fig. 6. Replacethe quadruple face up onto the deck — retaining a left little finger break beneath it, and useyour left thumb to push the top single face-up card off onto the table . . . behind the tabledqueen.

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Fig. 6.

NOTE — I know . . . you're not thrilled about another quadruple lift. But it'sreally worth it. You've got an impossible instant change of the red card to blueunder test conditions. The bowed quadruple is displayed just long enough for thecolor change to register — and then placed back onto the deck. The bow of thecards, the shock of the change, and the cards' constant movement, makes thequadruple an invisible "no worry" sleight. Do the change in front of a mirror afew times to feel a raw surge of magical power.

STEP V —Repeat the above change two more times. Each time removing asingle card from the bottom & placing it face up on the deck — and each timedealing off the single face-up card onto the previously "changed" tabled card.

The audience has seen you change three red backed cards into three bluebacked cards. You still have a three card left little finger break. The top threecards consist of a face down red card. followed by a face up card, followed by theface up blue-backed queen.

STEP VI — Turn your left hand palm down so that the deck is face

up, with one end to the right. Use your right fingers to openly turn theback card face down so that its right end extends half an inch past the right end ofthe deck. Fig 7.

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Fig. 7.

STEP VII — Turn the back of your left hand to the audience so that you arelooking at the face of the reversed card — which is now in upjog position. Theback of the card is toward the audience. Fig. 8.

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STEP VIII — Extend your left thumb so that it rests against the upper left side ofthe up-jogged card. Grasp the deck and the up-jogged card from behind with yourright hand so that your right thumb tip rests up against the lower edge of the twocards above the break (there are three cards above the break — but your rightthumb tip only comes in contact with the two cards that are together).

Rest your right fingers on the top edge of the up-jogged card, and positionyour right first finger on its face at its upper left corner.

You are now in position for a visible flash change of the up-jogged red backcard into a blue back card. Get in front of a mirror so that you can see what youraudience sees. Fig. 9.

Your right thumb presses straight up on its two cards, using the extended leftthumb as a guide, until they square with the up-jogged card against your rightfingers. As the three cards square, sharply move the rest of the deck about sixinches forward — so that the entire blue back of the triple is visible to theaudience.

Fig. 9.

NOTE — The change should actually happen a moment after the right fingers touch theup-jogged card. As the right thumb starts pushing its two cards up, the left hand shouldalready be moving the deck forward.

A few more notes: The tip of your right first finger is on the face of the card nearest you(the outer card of the pair that slides up) to help keep the changed triple "tight."

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To create the illusion that the red back card "explodes" into a blue back card. you mustcoordinate your actions so that the left hand moves the deck forward at the same speed thatyour right thumb squares its cards — which is pretty fast. This means that your left handshoots out about six inches — and then stops cold as though hitting a wall. This suddenforward start and stop of the deck visually locks in the change.

STEP IX — Turn your right hand palm down, leaving the triple held face up from aboveby its ends. Use the left side of the triple to lever the deck face up onto your left palm. Fig.10. As the deck turns face up, follow it down with the triple so that it moves square ontothe face-up deck. allowing your right thumb to obtain a break below the triple. Move yourright fingers down over the outer end of the pack so that the pack is held from above by itsends with your right fingers. Your left thumb should have naturally ended up resting acrossthe face of the pack.

Fig. 10.

STEP X — Use your left thumb to slide the top single card off the face of the deck andonto your left fingers. Drop this card face-up onto the other three "blue" cards on the table.Fig. 11.

Fig. 11.

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STEP XI — Place your palm-up left hand back under the deck to cut a third offthe back of the pack. Place these cut off cards square onto the face of the deck —then immediately cut off the cards above the break with your right fingers.Casually tilt your right hand palm up to flash the blue back, then replace the righthand cards face up onto the face-up left hand cards — retaining a left little fingerbreak.

STEP XII — Cut off another third of the pack from the back with your leftfingers, place it on the face of the deck, and again cut to the break with your rightfingers to flash "another" blue back.

STEP XIII — After flashing the back of the right hand packet for the secondtime, turn it face up and place it beneath the left hand cards — squaring the deck.This leaves the blue back card at the back of the face-up deck. Adjust the face-updeck so that it's held by its sides at the tips of your left fingers.

STEP XIV — Grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers andcut off a small face-up packet of five to ten cards. Turn your left hand palm downto flash the blue back of the deck as the right hand cuts off its packet. Drop theright hand packet face up onto the other stack of four face-up cards on the table.

Turn your left hand palm up as the right hand moves back to the deck to cut offanother small face-up packet. Follow the same action of turning the left handpalm down to flash the blue back as the right hand cuts off its packet and drops itonto the tabled stack. Fig. 12 & 13.

Fig. 12.

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Table the entire deck this way; your right hand cutting off small packets off thedeck's face as the left hand turns down to flash the blue back. Your right handshould be moving its packets straight down to the table while your left hand staysnext to your right hand. The compact movements consist of the down twist of theleft wrist as it flashes the blue back while the right hand tables its packet —followed by the up twist of the left wrist as the right fingers cut off anotherpacket.

This procedure for tabling the deck in small packets creates an excellentillusion of having an entire deck of blue back cards. This is the same theory usedfor showing a deck with the hindu shuffle — but done in a more natural, smoothflowing action.

NOTE — For this "Tabled Hindu" to be effective you must keep the two handsas close to each other as possible. The right hand should be able to turn up aftertabling a packet and have the face of the pack delivered directly into its fingerswithout having to move away from its position over the tabled cards. With a littlepractice you'll acquire a machine like rhythm where the left wrist turns up anddown as if it were on a spring — in perfect sync with the tabling of the right handcards.

Another Note: Make sure to use the reverse misdirectionof saying, "Isnap my fingers and all the blue disappears," as you do the Tabled Hindu. The blue willhave "accidentally" multiplied — making the Tabled Hindu psychologically safe.

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Back to the routine:

STEP XV — Your right hand has tabled the deck by cutting off small packets until onesmall packet remains in the left hand. Take this last face-up packet from above by its endswith your right fingers and use it to scoop up the tabled stack. Your left fingers help withthis action so that the entire face-up deck is held from above by its ends with your rightfingers.

Turn your right hand palm-up as your right first finger points to the tabled face up queen— flashing the blue back deck one more time. Fig. 14.

Fig. 14.

STEP XVI — Turn your right hand palm down (turning the deck face-up) and pick up theface up queen onto the back of the face up deck by placing the back of the deck onto theright side of the queen — then lifting up the deck with the queen side-jogged to the left.

Place the face up deck with its face up queen onto your palm-up left fingers so that yourleft finger tips touch the back of the deck on the right side of the queen. Fig. 15.

Your right fingers slide the deck to the left so that the visible side-jogged queen squareswith the deck against the crotch of your left

thumb, while the blue back queen against the left fingertips slides intoview — side-jogged to the right of the deck. You've exchanged one faceup queen for another queen undercover of sliding a queen from the left side of the deck tothe right. Fig. 16.

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Fig. 16.

STEP XVII — Remove the side-jogged queen with your right fingers, snap itagainst the side of the deck. then drop the blue back queen face down to thetable.

Ribbon spread the deck face down with your left hand to reveal thateverything is as it was before — with fifty two red back cards and one blue backqueen.

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Presentation:

STEP I — "Did you know that if you rub a bill some of its ink will come off? Oh. . . who told you? I thought it was a secret."

Set up the deck as you talk.

STEP II — "Well, did you know that you can rub the ink off a playing card thesame way? . . . No . . . then it must be a pretty good secret. I'll show you, but youhave to promise not to show anyone else."

Bring out the blue card and turn it face up ontothe deck. Rub the top single card against thecard beneath it to "rub off the ink." Then dealthe card onto the table.

STEP III — "I think I left a little blue smudge on top of the deck . . . (squint youreyes to look for the smudge) It's real hard to see — but if you smear the smudgeonto another card there's better contrast — and sometimes you can see a fainttrace of blue if the light hits it just right."

Do the f irst change.

STEP IV — "Don't be frightened. It's only a small amount of ink spread over alarge area — something called an "inkling." Maybe we can stamp out a few morewhile it's still wet."

Do the second and third change. And thenthe "exploding" change.

STEP V — "Sometimes there's a problem with permanent stains."

Do the double undercut to show two moreblues.

STEP VI — "But if you tilt the blue cards away from the light the blue smudgesare almost invisible."

Do the tabled cut sequence to"accidentally" reveal a deck full of blue.Pick up deck.

STEP VI — "I have an inkling that "almost invisible" isn't good enough. I'll haveto smear the smudge back onto the original blue."

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Do the open glide switch, table the bluecard face down, then spread the face-downdeck. Wait for someone to pick up the bluecard.

STEP VII — "And don't worry about a thing — the blue stuff will wash off yourhands in a couple of weeks . . . (wait for her to check her hands) . . . you can't seeit unless you hold it up to the light."

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Unhinged

The Seduction:

A self-contained novelty for those who would like to screw or unscrew theirdeck but do not have the pocket space or the guts for a deck switch. A hinge hasbeen substituted for the screw. The switch has been switched for a rebuilt cardcase. And the required guts have been replaced with a few hours practice.

Materials required: one and a half decksthree matching card casesscissorsgluetape

One Time Preparation:

STEP I — Cut twenty six cards in half (from side to side) to make a fifty twocard "half deck." Fig. 1.

STEP II — Wrap some tape around the sides of the half deck to hold the cardstogether. If you want to make this a lasting work of art you can glue or nail thehalf deck together.

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STEP III — Put the half deck aside for the moment and get out one ofthe cases. Cut out the case so it looks like fig. 2 & 3.

Fig. 3.

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Fig. 1.

STEP IV — Cut out one of the side sections from this mangled case and put thehalf deck inside. Fig. 4. Trim the exposed side of the half case (including the"tongue") so that it's flush with the side of the half deck — making a slightlynarrower case.

Fig. 4.

STEP V — Remove the half deck and smear some glue all over the inside of thehalf case. Replace the deck inside so that its rough cut end is out of sight againstthe inner end of the case. You have officially glued the half deck into the halfcase. Get used to the fact that you will never be able to use the half deck foranything else. Fig. 5.

Fig. 5.

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STEP VI — Glue the cut-out side piece directly onto the exposed side of thedeck so that it looks like the side piece is a permanent part of the case.

STEP VII — Take one of the other cases and cut out its bottom end — making abottomless case.

STEP VIII — Take the remaining card case and cut out half its back wall as infig. 6 and glue the cut-out half back onto the half moon side of the bottomlesscase so that the design is exposed and the cut end is square with the case's innerend.

Fig. 6.

STEP IX — Insert the half case into the bottomless case tongue end first as infig. 7. The half case should easily slide in and out of the bottomless case — butshould be tight enough so that the case doesn't wobble. When the half case isflush with the bottomless case, the tongue should be contained within thebottomless case. If anything sticks out too far, is uneven, or doesn't look right —cut it off with the scissors. Fig. 8. Slide out the half case and crease its tongue asin fig. 9.

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Fig. 8.

Fig. 9.

Set-up: Insert the half case into the bottomless case from its bottomless end.Insert a real deck into the bottomless case from its other end. The deck will slideover the tongue and push the half case out of the bottomless case. The weight ofthe deck pressing on the tongue will keep the half case in position. Tuck in theflap (the real one on the bottomless case) and fold the half case at the creasedtongue onto the back of the bottomless case. Fig. 10.

Place the deck and a half into a right hand pocket or close-up case so that thebottomless case is on top of the half case and the exposed ends of the decks pointforward.

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Fig. 10.

STEP I — Grasp the case and a half from above by its sides with your rightfingers so that your right hand conceals the right end of the bottomless case. Fig.11.

Fig. 11.

STEP II — Comment that a friend gave you a "joke deck" for your birthday,then bring out the "hinged deck" so that the exposed ends of the decks pointtoward the audience.

STEP III — Move your left hand toward the deck as your right hand tilts the leftside of the deck up — so that the under side of the foldeddeck presses up against your left hand This leaves the two "halves" held betweenyour two hands in a semi-prayer position. The right fingers are still firmly curledaround the bottomless case. Fig. 12.

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STEP IV — Grasp the non-deck end of the half case with your left fingers in thesame fashion that the right fingers hold it end.

STEP V — Tilt the back of your hands to the audience and open and close thehinged deck a few times as you comment that it's a portable pack for travelers —or for poker players that can never fold a hand. Fig. 13. Finish your hingedemonstration with the deck in open (unfolded) condition.

Fig, 13,

STEP VI — The right end of the half case should be in position on the inneredge of the bottomless case ready to be pushed inside. Slide your left hand to theright so that it holds both halves (don't slide too far or you'll expose the left endof the case). Fig. 14.

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Fig. 12.

Fig. 14.

STEP VII — Tilt the back of your hands to the audience and rest the left side ofyour left hand on the table. As your left hand moves to the table your right handslides around the top end of the bottomless case so that your thumb is at the backhalf moon side of the case. The end of the half case rests on the table concealed byyour left hand. Fig. 15.

Fig. 15.

STEP VIII — Unfold the flap with your right fingers as your left hand presses thebottomless case down onto the table — causing the half case to slide into thebottomless case and push the deck out the top. You candisplay the rising deck effect here or you can grasp the end of the deckwith your right fingers and make the audience think that you pulled it out of the case.The case is now "clean." Fig. 16.

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Fig. 16,

STEP IX — Put the case away in your pocket with your left hand (keeping thegaffed surface down) while your right hand spreads out the deck to show that the

"hinge" has vanished.

STEP X — Perform a breathtaking sequence of Close-up Seductions. Make meproud.

STEP XI — When you're ready to put the deck away bring out the case with

your left hand holding it from above by its sides so that the flap end is on toppointing toward the audience. Fig. 17.

Fig. 17.

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STEP XII — Insert the deck into the case with your right hand. Your left handconceals the half deck as it's pushed out at the inner end. Close the flap with yourright fingers then grasp the flap end of the case from above by its sides with yourright fingers in the "ready to hinge" grip.

STEP XIII — Slide your left hand back so that it grips the half pack from aboveby its ends. This action is covered by turning the backs of your hands toward the

audience.

STEP XIV — Move your palms toward each other to fold the deck in half — sothat the exposed ends of the cards are toward the audience. Fig. 18.

Fig. 18.

STEP XV — Release your left hand grip as your right hand moves straight backwith the two halves — continuing to keep the exposed ends toward the audience.Place the deck in your right hand pocket or case — leaving you in perfectposition to unhinge your next audience.

Official Notice of Appreciation:

To Patrick Snowden! . . .... for simplifying the construction of the fake — without which you'd still begluing real hinges onto your deck.

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Sleightof Ear

The Seduction:

The spectator's floppy ears are the targets for your seduction. By adding theelement of sound to a two card transposition you buy a "delay" which moves theeffect an extra step away from the method. It also provides a mnemonic hookwhich makes the cards easy to remember. But what's really important is that theelement of sound, because of its "warmed-up" humanized premise, creates anemotional hook . . . which has the power to seduce unwary spectators intogrinning from one floppy ear to the other.

Preparation: Staple an extra seven of spades face up through its center onto theback (non half-moon side) of the card case.

STEP I — Take care to conceal the staple from the audience during anypreceding card presentations.

STEP II — Secretly position the seven of spades on top as you openly remove thefour kings from the deck.

STEP III — Force the seven upon a spectator by sheer power of your personality,or riffle down the deck with your left thumb until someone

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says stop. Flip the packet above your left thumb face up to the right so that itrevolves over your left finger tips and lands face down onto your right palm. Holdyour right hand under your left hand as your right thumb deals the top card of theright hand packet to a spectator as "the selected card." The revolving action of thepacket leaves people with the general impression that the top card of the righthand packet came from the center of the deck. Table the deck face down to yourleft.

STEP IV — Comment that because of the amount of ink and thickness of paper,the kings crackle and the sevens are silent. Hold the face-up four king packet byits sides between both hands with your thumbs on top. Make the kings crackle byflexing the packet's sides up and down.

STEP V — Table the face-up crackling king packet and pick up the "silentseven." Hold the face-up seven by its sides between both hands the same way youheld the king packet. When you flex the silent seven relax the pressure of yourfingers from beneath the card. These fingers stay in position, but the card isactually held only between the thumbs and first fingers. When held in this fashionthe silent seven should remain silent as it's flexed. Drop the silent seven face uponto the face-up crackling kings.

STEP VI — Pick up the tabled packet and hold it face down from above by itsends with your left fingers. Shuffle the packet by sliding the cards from top tobottom one at a time with your left thumb six times. This will leave the silentseven at the fourth position from the top. Transfer the face-down packet to lefthand dealing position.

STEP VII — Test your audience's ears to find if they're sensitive enough to detectwhere the silent seven is: Push off the top face-down card to the right so that it'sheld by its sides between both hands. Crackle the card. The shrewd audience willguess that this card is not the silent seven. Place the face-down card to the bottomof the packet.

STEP VIII — Repeat this crackling king maneuver with the next card on top ofthe packet. Replace it face down at the bottom.

STEP IX — As the next card on top of the packet is pushed off, spread the cardbelow it to the right also. When the top card is grasped by its sides between yourhands, obtain a left little finger break under the card below it as your left fingerssquare it with the packet.

STEP X — Flex the top card between your hands so that it sounds like the silentseven. As you wait for your spectator's guess, place the top card square onto thepacket. The spectator will guess that the top card is

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the silent seven. Turn the two cards from above the break face up as one to reveal that yourspectator's guess was correct.

STEP XI — Turn the double seven down onto the packet and deal the top single card facedown onto the table in front of your spectator. Ask her to place her soft hand onto the silentseven in order to keep it sound proof.

STEP XII — Grasp the inner end of the packet with your right fingers so that your thumbis below. Change your left hand grip so that it holds its end of the packet in the samefashion as your right fingers. The back of the packet should now be toward the audience.

STEP XIII — Use your right fingers to spread the right end of the packet up into a reversefan so that only the white border of the seven at the back is exposed. Tilt your hands downso that the audience can see what appears to be four spread kings. Fig. 1.

STEP XIV — Keep the fan face up while your left fingers turn the seven at the back down

toward you. Fig. 2.

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STEP XV — Drop the face-up three king fan to the table so that your right fingers cangrasp the right side of the face-down seven (which the audience has every reason to believeis one of the kings).

STEP XVI — Change your left hand grip so that it's holding the left side of the card in thesame manner as the right hand grip — putting you in flex position.

STEP XVII — Hold the face-down card near the spectator's hand. She believes her softhand is still keeping the silent seven safe and sound. Crackle the card in your hand once.Pause a beat. Crackle the card again. Pause a beat. Then flex the card so that it's silent . . .

STEP XVIII — The crackle has vanished, along with the king. Show that the card in yourhand has turned into the silent seven. Flex the face-up silent seven once more to prove yourpoint.

STEP XIX — Direct the spectator to lift her hand. Turn her card face up and crackle theking. The silent seven and the crackling king, along with their individual noises, havechanged places.

STEP XX — Drop the spectator's king face up onto the other three face-up kings, and pickup the packet from above by its sides with your left fingers.

STEP XXI — Pick up the face-up seven onto the back of the left hand packet so that theseven is out-jogged over the packet's front end.

STEP XXII — Turn your left hand palm down so that the packet's face down. then graspthe card case from above by its ends with your right fingers. The stapled card should beconcealed on the bottom of the case.

STEP XXIII — Remark that this time you're going to sound proof the silent seven with thecard case to create a cardboard "dome of silence." Hold the case so that it covers the frontend of the up-jogged seven — but doesn't quite touch the card. Note that the case over-lapsthe front end of the seven.

STEP XXIV — Under cover of the case. place the tip of your left first finger against thefront edge of the seven.

STEP XXV — As you move the case back toward yourself so that itgoes square onto the out-jogged seven, secretly square the seven with the rest of the packetby pressing in with your left first finger. The case goes down onto the packet, out-joggedover the packet's front end in

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the position previously held by the out-jogged seven. Fig. 3 & 4.The placement of the case and the squaring of the seven should happen

simultaniously.

STEP XXVI — Turn your left hand palm-down to display the seven on thebottom of the box. The center staple should be concealed by the front end of thepacket.

STEP XXVII — Grasp the case, and its stapled seven, by its right end with yourright fingers from below and your right thumb on top. Your right thumb ispositioned to conceal the staple when the packet is removed. Fig. 5.

Fig. 3.

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Fig. 4.

STEP XXVIII — Remove the packet with your left hand and place the case, cardside down, onto a spectator's palm.

STEP XXIX — Comment that the sound of the crackling kings is sometimesconfused with the sound of a stapler. This makes for an interesting experiment in"Sleight of Ear."

STEP XXX — Spread the four face up kings in your left hand so that the sevenat the back remains concealed behind the last king.

STEP XXXI — Remove an imaginary staple from your pocket with your rightthumb and first finger.

STEP XXXII — Place the "staple" among the four kings and square the packet.Hold the packet by its sides between both hands. Crackle the kings whileprojecting the image of a stapler into the minds of your audience.

STEP XXXIII — Drop the king packet face down onto the deck and direct thespectator to lift up the box where she'll discover the stapled seven. You can takethis opportunity to sneak the unstapled seven off the deck and into a pocket, or ifyou're a pro, you can slip the card to the center of the deck and continue with yourperformance.

Official Notice of Appreciation:

To Daryl! . . .. . . whose Auditory Illusion using a rattle and a squeaker inspired meto make my own noise.

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Yes . . . Bleached Blonde is a genuine fluff ball from heaven. It uses a spankingnew principle which encourages you to create a blank-face card using an ordinarydeck. When mastered, the handling provides push-button "instant magic." Toachieve this shake-and-bake simplicity you'll have to whip lots of tiny pieces intoshape, understand their incestuous relationship to one another — then practice untilthe sparks from your mind and the heat from your hands melt the elements togetherinto a single, compact, lovely-to-hold, delightful-to-scold, "Bleached Blonde."

STEP I — Set up the deck by placing any two aces. except the ace of spades, onthe deck's face. Place a jack. king, and queen (any suits— any order) onto the aceson the face of the deck. For explanation's sake let's assume a jack on the face of thepack followed by a king, and then a queen.

STEP II — Hold the deck in face-up dealing position in your left hand.

Tilt the back of the deck toward the audience and use your left thumb topush the jack and the king to the right — so that your right fingers can

grasp the two cards together at their right sides. Slide these two cards up 117

BleachedBlonde

The Seduction:

about half an inch (just above the queen's upper index corner pip) then use yourleft thumb to push the queen into your right fingers, down jogged behind theother two cards.

Slide this three card group down so that the top end of the jack is even with thetop end of the ace on the deck's face. Use your left thumb to slide this ace behindthe three cards. Your right fingers now hold four cards, the queen is down-jogged.

Place the right hand's packet onto the face of the deck (which shows an ace) sothat the down-jogged queen is square with the deck — leaving the jack, king, andace up-jogged on the face of the deck. Note that the up-jogged ace at the back ofthe three up-jogged cards is separated from the jack and the king by the queen.

The entire action of the above set-up is simply an up-jog, a down-jog. and anup-jog. The "Note" that follows contains a direct handling to achieve this positionfrom a shuffled deck. But if you're in a mellow mood you may want to skip thisfor the moment and move right on to step III.

NOTE — To get into Bleached Blonde condition from a shuffled deck:Cut any ace except the ace of spades to the face of the pack. spread the deckbetween your hands and up-jog any two of the jack. king, queen trio as soon asthey appear, then up jog the third royalty as soon as it shows so that it's half aninch lower than the other two up-jogged cards. Continue spreading until youlocate the third card of the trio (remember — the three cards can be off-suit andin any order). Up-jog this third card so that it's half an inch lower than the othertwo up-jogged cards. Continue spreading until you locate a second ace (not thespade) and up jog it so that the ace is even with the first two "high" royalties. Fig.1.

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Fig. 1.

Square the spread deck into your left hand and grasp the four upjogged cards bytheir top end between your right fingers. Remove the four cards as one unit bypulling the packet straight up out of the pack (take care not to "lose" the lowercard) Fig. 2. and place it on the decks face so that the down-jogged card is squarewith the deck — leaving the other three cards up-jogged. On the face of the packyou should now have two up-jogged royalties, a royalty square with the deck, anupjogged ace, and an ace square with the deck. You're all set to go Fig. 3.

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If by chance you pass by all the aces before locating three royalties (a rareoccurrence) you'll have to down jog the last ace before continuing your search. Upjog the three royalties as previously described then grasp the down-jogged ace byits right side with your fingers. Remove the ace from the deck and hold it behindthe three up-jogged cards (hold it in position by pressing it against the back of thedeck with your right fingers) so that its top end is at the same level as the top endsof the front two up-jogged cards. Slide all four cards up out of the deck with yourright fingers and place the packet onto the deck's face as previously described.

Back to the trick:STEP III —Turn your left hand palm up so that the deck is face-up. Your leftthumb rests on the face of the up-jogged cards. Grasp the upper left corner of thethree up-jogged cards between your right thumb and second finger. Rest the tip ofyour right first finger on the "point" of the corner.

Swivel the three card packet to the right so that it forms a right angle with therest of the deck in a gun formation. The top long side of the packet should besquare with the top end of the deck. The left end of the packet should be squarewith the upper left side of the deck. Fig. 4.

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Use your right thumb to slide up the face card of the angled packet so that yourleft thumb rests on the face of the angled card exposed below it. The angled aceremains hidden by the two card spread. Fig. 5.

Push out to the right with your left thumb on its card just a hair so that yourright fingers can feel the top two angled cards move away from the hidden angledace. Your left thumb remains in position extended across the inner long side of itsangle card. Fig. 6.

Press down firmly with your left thumb (onto the center of the pair's inner long

sides) as your right fingers swivel the two visible angled cards as one spread unitdown to the right — so that they are "unangled" and line up with the rest of thedeck. The angled ace will remain concealed by the two card spread. Fig. 7 & 8.

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NOTE — If the two cards end up below the angled ace, it means that your leftthumb didn't press on its two cards far enough to the right. This left thumbpressure is the pivot point for the swiveled cards. Your left thumb position is thekey factor in causing the revolving cards to line up with the deck — and to keepthe angled ace concealed. After a little practice you'll be able to swivel the up-jogged cards down to the rightside of the deck in a single smooth flowing action. Learn each movementseparately, give your fingers time to memorize their jobs, then put it all together.

Fig. 7.

STEP IV — Grasp the two spread cards from above by their ends with your rightfingers. The tip of your right first finger rests on the face of the king (second fromthe top), your left finger tips gently press up on the hidden angled ace from below— keeping it squared with the deck's upper end and upper left side. Rest yourextended left thumb against the left side of the deck.

Slide the single jack to the right until its left edge is on the center of the king'shead. Slide the two spread cards as one unit across the face of the pack to the leftuntil the left side of the spread king is square with the left side of the deck. Fig. 9.

STEP V — You are going to steal the queen off the deck onto the back of theking — creating a double king. Firmly press the tip of your right first finger ontothe king down and to the left to perfectly square the left sides of the king andqueen together against the side of your left thumb.

STEP VI — Move your left thumb onto the center of the pack's face.Your thumb should be angled so that it's directly over the positionwhere the inner left pip of the angled ace is hiding (Take a peek under the spread cards tomake sure your left thumb's in proper position.).

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STEP VII — Your left thumb tip should naturally be positioned on the inner endof the deck near the inner right corner. This left thumb position is your pivot pointfor the action that follows: Slowly pivot the two card spread (really three) to theright. Light upward pressure on the back of the hidden angled ace with your leftfingers will keep the double separate from the other cards. Gently squeeze theends of the double with your right fingers to keep the double together as it slidesacross the deck.

The upper left index corner of the card on the deck beneath the spread should beblank. Continue pivoting the two card spread across the deck to the right revealingmore blank card. Your left thumb conceals the ace's index at the card's "center."Fig. 10.

Fig. 10.

The inner left corner of the double king conceals the ace's main center pip. Youshould be able to pivot the spread to the right, revealing a blank card beneath it,until the upper left corner of the double king extends diagonally across the upperright blank "corner" of the angled ace. This corner is actually the top long edge ofthe ace. You'll have to take care not to go beyond where this corner should be —otherwise you'll have a stretching card effect.

You should be able to make this pivot to the right of the two card spread in onesmooth action. If part of the ace shows that shouldn't, it means that the top twocards were not spread far enough apart from each other, or that the pivot point ofyour right thumb tip was off. Experiment a little to find the exact right pivot pointfor your right thumb, so that you can safely reveal the maximum amount of whitespace. You've just changed a normal queen into a bleached blonde. This is a timeto be happy.

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STEP VIII — As the pivot action of the two cards stop, remove the top singlejack with your right fingers. This card is already held from above by its ends inyour right fingers — simply move your right hand aside with its single card —leaving the double king angled on the face. Fig. 11.

Curl in your right fingers to clip the right end of the card between your rightfirst and second finger so that you can release your right thumb grip. From thisposition press the left end of the face-up jack up against the overlapped outer endof the king on the right. The jack will actually be up against the right end of theangled ace which is hidden beneath the king. Fig. 12.

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Without changing your right hand grip, slide the card into the deck so that thevisible blank card is sandwiched between the king on top and the jack below. Thejack should be at the same angle as the king — but not square with it. Note thatthe "three" card sandwich is now clipped between your right first and secondfinger. Fig. 13.

STEP IX — Without releasing your right hand grip, tilt your hands up so that theback of the deck (and the sandwich) is toward the audience. Freeze your righthand as the left hand tables the deck face down to the left. The three cardsandwich (it's back to the audience) will remain clipped between your rightfingers, the face card of the sandwich will be the double king, the sandwichedcard will be one of the aces, the other ace will be concealed at the face of theface-down deck. Hang in there, we're almost done. Fig. 14 & 15.

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Fig. 15.

STEP X — Tilt the sandwich up just enough so that you can see its face. Pinchthe lower left corner of the sandwich between your left thumb and fingers so thatyour left thumb covers the ace's exposed index corner. Turn the sandwich face upby turning both hands palm up. The audience will still see a blank card betweenthe king and the jack. Fig. 16.

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Fig. 14.

STEP XI — Leave the tip of your right first finger in position on the face of thedouble king as your right hand turns palm down so that its other fingers can graspthe packet from above by its sides. Your right thumb should be positioned againstthe inner long side of the cards so that it's just to the left of the ace's concealedinner right corner. Freeze your left hand while your right fingers square the sidesof the other cards with the blank. The position of your right thumb should makethis squaring action easy. The left blank end remains in view, extending from theleft end of the squared cards. Fig. 17, 18, & 19.

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STEP XII — Without changing the position of any of your fingers, slide theentire packet to the left toward the crotch of your left thumb. Keep the ace's innerleft index corner pressed up against your left thumb to keep the index concealed.Continue sliding the packet to the left so that the left end of the ace hits the crotchof your left thumb and squares with the left end of the packet. This leaves the leftend of the squared packet held between your extended left thumb on top, andfingers below. Fig. 20.

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As soon as the cards are square your right fingers slide the packet to the right— to the tips of the left fingers. Immediately perfoirn the Ascanio Spread byfanning the top and bottom cards with your left fingers (your left thumb slides theking on top forward — your left fingers slide the jack on the bottom towardyourself), your right fingers move to the right with the face-up double queen heldby its sides. Fig. 21.

The bleached blonde has instantly undyed herself back into the colorful queen.This is a good thing.

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STEP XIII — Place the double queen face up onto the face of the two left handcards and turn your left hand palm down to turn over the packet. Grasp the packetfrom above by its sides with your right fingers as your left fingers slide thebottom card away from the packet to the left. Your right hand drops its face-downpacket onto the deck as your right hand tosses the unbleached queen out to thehair dressers in the audience. And yes . . . you are clean.

Official Note of Appreciation:For Richie Kaufman! — editor and subscriber to Richard's Almanac. During abrain storm session with Richie in New York, Richie was fooling with some acesand I noticed that he'd covered an index corner with another ace. I said, "HeyRichie, your cat's getting fur balls all over my sweater, — and by the way — itsort of looks like you've made one of the pips disappear on the ace." Richie said,"Hey Paul, you're getting sweater balls all over my cat — and what you'resuggesting with the aces does not amuse me." I said, "Hey Richie, exactly what isit that amuses you?"

I spent the rest of the evening picking sweater balls out of the cat.

Presentation:

Get the cards set up on the face of thepack.

STEP I — "One thing people hardly ever notice about the jack, queen, and kingis their hair styles."

Swivel the cards to "set" the ace.

STEP II — "Two out of three of these cards have your basic two dollar clip andrip hair cut. But one of them is a bleached blonde. The only way to get to the rootof the matter (ha) is to use a version of the old suicide blonde technique . . . dyedby her own hand."

Get ready for the change.

STEP III — "Watch what happens when I use my hand and her hair to reveal thetotal bleached blonde look."

Do the change.

STEP IV — "It's hard to see her face with all that hair, so to uncover the bleachedblonde's personality I'll put her in the special bleacher seat."

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Sandwich the blonde — then remove the hair sandwichfrom the deck.

STEP V — "... and push back her hair."

Square the blonde with the sandwich and Ascanio backher face.

STEP VI — ". . .to hide the secret that only her hair dresser knows for sure."

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(Wherein a single card becomes frictionless.)

The Seduction:

How many of you out there have spent a large part of your formative yearslearning a second deal, and then didn't know what to do with it once you learned it?Let's have a show of hands . . . aha — I thought so. I can see the callouses on thelower left quadrants of your right thumbs from here. Now let me see your clothes . .. yes, that's what I was afraid of. An entire segment of the magic population — alldressed up with no place to go. What's that? You say you used it for a stop trickonce, and you know someone in Barstow who does it in place of a double lift.

Or maybe you're working on a high-tech gambling demo about marked cardsand loaded dice. Well, maybe . . . but I'll bet you end up using a double lift andsponge bunnies.

So what is the point of this tirade? I want to reassure you that not all is lost. Thatsomewhere out there is a commercial, entertaining routine that lets you show offyour seconds without showing off, a routine that lets you successfully get awaywith less than wonderful seconds because they're presented as a flourish instead of asecret move. And finally, a routine that lets you perform for a mixed audienceconsisting of those that don't like card tricks and those that don't like gamblingdemonstrations — and still convince them that you're a good guy to have around.

Wow. Maybe all that work I put into my own second deal was worth it after all.Hey. Who the heck knows.

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STEP I — Before starting, position the ace of spades sixth from the top of theface-down deck — although you can use any card that happens to be there.

STEP II — Hold the face-down deck in left hand dealing position and spread sixcards off into the right hand. Obtain a left little finger break beneath the seventhcard — the new top card of the deck.

STEP III — Turn your right hand cards face up onto the deck to reveal the face-up ace of spades. Comment how gamblers used to rub butter on the aces to makethem easier to cut to. These people were known as "kitchen magicians." Pretend toremove a spot of Parkay Margarine which is "concealed" behind one of yourbuttons. Pretend to smear the slick substance onto the face of the ace with yourright finger tips.

STEP IV — Grasp all of the cards from above the break from above by their endswith your right fingers (six face-up cards — one face-down card). Hold onto thispacket while your left thumb gets under the deck and turns it face up onto your leftfingers.

STEP V — Drop the face-up ace packet square onto the face-up deck, then graspthe deck from above by its ends with your right fingers.

STEP VI — Pull down on the back card of the deck with your left little finger toobtain a break above the back card with your right thumb.

STEP VII — Swivel the top half of the deck with your right first finger to the left,onto your palm-up left hand.

STEP VIII — Place the left hand ace packet onto the back of the right handpacket and double undercut to the break. This will leave the ace second from thetop.

STEP IX — Grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers soyour left thumb can drag the face card to the deck's center — slip cutting the ace tothe top. Easy because of the "buttered cards." "What's really interesting about thisis that the buttered card was invented just a few seconds before gamblers learnedto deal the second card from the top of the deck."

STEP X — Hold the face-up deck in left hand dealing position and unsuccessfullyattempt to deal the slick ace onto the table by dealing out five face-up seconds.Act as though you're really trying to deal the ace — but the "butter" has made ittoo slick.

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STEP XI — Pry up the top three cards from the deck's inner end with your rightthumb to obtain a three card break with your left little finger. This action is doneas you explain how difficult it is to grab the ace.

STEP XII — Turn the triple ace face down onto the pack with your right fingers.Retain a left little finger break beneath the triple as it turned down onto the deck.Comment that the other side of the ace should be easier to grab.

STEP XIII — Push the face-down card into your right fingers then drop it face uponto the tabled cards. The buttered-up ace has slipped away again.

STEP XIV — Grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers andcut to the break. Turn the deck over to reveal the face-up ace.

STEP XV — Deal four or five more seconds in rapid succession as you attempt tograb the ace.

NOTE — The seconds will come off the deck face down, and should be droppedface up onto the other face-up cards on the table. After the card is slid off thedeck, cause it to drop face up by letting its right side roll off of your rightfingertips.

STEP XVI — Turn the deck over onto your left hand (so that the ace is facedown at the back of the deck against your fingers) as you comment that it mightbe easier to leave the ace where it is and deal the rest of the deck away from it.

STEP XVII — Grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingerswhile your left fingers openly side jog the ace to the left about half an inch. Fig. 1.

Fig. 1.

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STEP XVIII — Press your left fingertips flat against the exposed surface of thecard above the ace on the right side of the deck.

STEP XIX — Handle the ace and the card above it as one unit by sliding the aceto the right, squaring it with the deck, while the card above the ace slides to theright. This side-jogged card on the right will be concealed by your right fingers.

Fig. 2 & 3.

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STEP XX — Obtain a left little finger break above the side-jogged card bypressing down on it with your left little finger as you square the side-jogged cardto the left.

STEP XXI — Start dealing out the deck by spreading the top four face-up cardsinto your right fingers. Drop the four card spread face up onto the other tabledcards.

STEP XXII — Grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers asyour left fingers slide the top card and the double from the bottom off the deck tothe left at the same time. In a continuous action, your left fingers slide two moresingle cards off the face of the pack onto the "two" left hand cards. Slide this fourcard spread face up under the tabled cards — to move the pile closer to you.

STEP XXIII — Deal some more single cards off the top of the deck with yourright hand, onto the tabled pile.

STEP XXIV — Take half the deck in each hand and deal cards face up onto thetabled pile with both hands.

STEP XXV — When you're down to the last few cards in both hands. turn yourhands palm down as your fingers fan out the face-down cards —the reversed cardis gone. The slick ace has slipped out again. Fig. 4.

Fig. 4.

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STEP XXVI — Square the cards. Hold the face-up deck in left hand dealingposition and grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers.

STEP XXVII — Pull down on the bottom card with your left little finger andretain the break with your right thumb.

STEP XXVIII — Swivel the top half of the deck with your right first finger intoyour left hand.

STEP XXIX — Comment about the Parkay law of Opposites. "You say face up. Isay face down." As you say "down" hold the right hand half directly over the lefthand half and unload the card above the break onto the back of the right hand halfundercover of a "paint brush" action. The face-up card on the left hand halfappears to have suddenly turned face down.

STEP XXX — Out-jog the face-down card as the right hand half is placed ontothe left hand half — leaving the face-down card out-jogged in the center of thepack. Fig. 5.

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STEP XXXI — Continue your lines "You say butter — I say 'Parkay.'" On"Parkay" spread the deck face down to reveal the face-up Parkay ace. Remove theace and use it to flip the spread face-up as you say, "that's right — the high pricespread . . ." proving that there's more than one way to butter up an audience. Fig.6.

Official Notice of Appreciation:

For Dana Betz! . . .

... for eliminating a move that would have caused critics to say unkind thingsabout me.

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The Seduction:

You're sick and tired of people saying, "Is that a deck in your pocket or are youjust happy to see me?" So this time you left your fifty two little entertainers athome. But now you're romantic future depends upon you wowing the waitresswith your wonderfulness. What do you do? You have two choices. Accidentallydrop a wad of hundred dollar bills on her shoe to convince her of your self-worth— Or cause a borrowed coin and the sweet stuff in a sugar packet to spectacularlychange places.

Of course, the wad of bills maneuver would be your first choice.

Preparation: Sneak a sugar packet off the table and use a fork to tear a slit alongone of the packet's long sides near the top. Fig. 1. Fold the portion of packet that'sabove the slit over onto the slit. Put the prepared packet into a left hand pocket.

STEP I — Finger palm the prepared packet in your left hand so that the foldedslit side is against the fingers — the slit pointing toward the "little finger side" ofyour hand. The fold keeps the sugar from spilling out — give or take a fewgranules.

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Fig. 1.

STEP II — Borrow a bill from the audience and place it directly onto the finger-palmed sugar packet so that the left end of the bill goes into the crotch of your left

thumb.

STEP III — Grip the packet and the bill with your right thumb from belowagainst the packet, and your right first finger on top of the bill. Lift the bill alongwith the packet concealed beneath it so that the bill faces the audience. The packetshould now be near the upper left corner of the bill with the folded part of thepacket on top facing toward you.

STEP IV — Grasp the left end of the bill, along with the sugar packet, with yourleft fingers. Fold the bill in half by placing the back of your right thumb againstthe outer right side of the bill, then using your thumb to push that end of the billover onto the left side of the bill so that the folded right side of the bill ends upheld between your right thumb and finger. Fig. 2 & 3.

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The sugar packet and your left thumb are now sandwiched inside the folded bill.Hold the sugar packet in position with pressure from your right thumb and fingerswhile your left thumb moves out of the bill by sliding up. On the way up yourthumb slides up under the sugar packet's fold — automatically unfolding it.Transfer the bill covered sugar to your left hand by grasping the bill's left endstogether between your left thumb and fingers. Left finger pressure holds the sugarpacket in place.

STEP V — Use your right fingers to fold the bottom half inch of the bill up on theaudience side of the bill — to seal off the bill's bottom edge. Fig. 4.

STEP VI — Borrow a nickel or a quarter from a spectator and have her rememberthe coin's date before handing it to you. While this action is taking place, tilt the billto the left, to cause some of the sugar to slide to the left of the packet — leaving aspace at the right of the packet for the coin.

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STEP VII — Take the coin with your right fingers and place it into the bill,directly into the sugar packet through its slit — in the space left by the shiftedsugar.

STEP VIII — Transfer the bill to your right hand by clipping the right side of thebill's bottom flap between your first and second finger. The right thumb goes tothe back of the bill so that the packet is held secure through the bill between theright thumb and first finger.

STEP IX — Your left hand takes seven or eight sugar packets out from theircontainer and drops them on the table to your left. Direct a spectator to pick upone of the packets and place it on the palm of your left hand.

STEP X — Adjust the left hand sugar packet with your left fingers so that one ofthe packet's ends can be thumb clipped.

STEP XI — Make the following speech if you're so inclined: "To make sleight-of-hand improbable I've insulated the coin in a dollar bill. The sugar is alreadyprotected by the package around it. At this point it would be difficult to get to thecoin and impossible to get to the sugar. But if it were possible to secretly palmthousands of individual grains of sugar ..." Then close your left hand over itspacket.

STEP XII — Tilt the bill and pour out the sugar — while pressure from yourright thumb and first finger keeps the coin inside. A slight rubbing motion of theright thumb and first finger will help the sugar pour.

Do not attempt to get all of the sugar to pour out of the packet. The audience

only has to see one good shot of the sugar pouring out of the bill to get the effect.Fig. 5.

Fig. 5.

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STEP XIII — Open your left hand to show a flash of its packet, then perform aHan Ping Chen maneuver by thumb clipping the left end of the packet as you turnyour left hand down to apparently place its packet onto the table. As your lefthand turns palm down, relax the pressure from your right thumb and first fingerso that the bill is held only by the fold clipped between your right first and secondfinger. Fig. 6. As the left palm comes down, tilt the left open end of the bill downand move the bill to the right, so that the bill's sugar packet slides out of the leftside of the bill and ends up under your left palm — in classic Han Ping Chenstyle. Fig. 7, 8, & 9.

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NOTE — Make sure that all pressure on the bill's packet has been released justbefore the Han Ping Chen move.

STEP XIV — As you lean forward to return the bill to your spectator, your lefthand is in perfect position to unload its clipped packet onto the visible bunch ofsugar packets on the left. Fig. 10.

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STEP XV — Let your hands be seen to be empty, pick up the transposed sugar packet(its slit will be against the table), so that the secret slit is toward your self. Rip off the topof the packet along the secret tear ala Le Paul. Hand the ripped-open sugar packet to yourspectator where she'll discover her coin among the rest of the sweet stuff. Fig. 11.

Official Notice of Appreciation:

For Patrick Snowden! . . .... for helping work out the fine points of handling and for not getting too upset when Ispilled sugar all over his carpet.

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The Seduction:

He stumbles into the last club on the strip — and drops his last business card ontothe bar. It lands on a wet spot.

The barmaid's glistening chapsticked lips slowly move as she reads the card toherself, "Close-up Matt — I fool people while they eat." She looks up at Matt's lint-free face "Sorry honey — we only serve drinks here."

Matt's undernourished yet still active mind riffles into action. With the daring ofone who has nothing to lose, Mart leans past his soggy business card, reaches overthe bar, and boldly snatches a firmly wedged pen from out of the barmaid'spartially unbuttoned, ink-stained blouse. Matt uses the still-warm pen to cross out"eat" on his business card and replaces it with "drink."

The unpenned wench behind the bar looks at Matt — her ruby red eyes filledwith equal amounts of admiration and Murine. "The kid has spunk" — she thinksto herself. "He also has my only pen."

As Matt uses a cocktail napkin to blot the dampness up from his limp businesscard; the determined beer mistress clasps her hands behind her back, athleticallybends forward at the waist, then skillfully maneuvers the front of her blouse acrossthe top of the bar. . . re-wedging her pen.

Matt stops his blotting and looks up at her with new respect. "Wow — what awoman." He whispers under his breath. "Now if only I had a card trick that couldshow her how I really feel ..."

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(Wherein anatomically accurate character portraits of you and a spectator arefashioned from a common deck of cards.)

Set-up: From the top down (any combination of suites): jack, five, pair of fours,pair of threes, pair of aces, pair of kings, six, queen, pair of eights, pair of twos.

NOTE — Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to have the super powers ofWonder Woman to quickly arrange this set-up. If you break the stack down tofour bite size chunks as follows — Wonder Woman will be ready for youraudience in a flash — leaving you plenty of time to decide the really importantissue: Is your audience ready for Wonder Woman?

Arrange the stack with two run-throughs of the deck. The first time up jog thequeen, the six, and the pair of kings. On the same run-through down jog the pairof eights and the pair of twos. This is easy to remember by the old mnemonicjingle "a sexy queen needs her kings to woo if she wants to live to be eighty two."

Arrange the up-jogged cards so that the kings are at the back on top of the six,which is on top of the queen. Arrange the down-jogged cards so that the eights areat the back of the twos.

Strip out the down-jogged cards and place them square on top of the deck —then strip out the up-jogged cards and place them on top.

On the second run-through up jog the jack, the five, and the pair of fours. Downjog the pair of threes and the pair of aces. You can easily remember this by thatother old mnemonic jingle "If the JacksonFiue were four or three they'd still bebetter than aces with me.

Place the threes and aces on top of the deck so that the threes go on top. Followthis with the up-jogged cards so that the jack/five is on top of the fours.

Note that the down-jogged cards are stripped out first in both run-throughs.If anyone is watching you during this procedure say that you lost a card and are

trying to figure out which one is missing. Also — I think it would be best to keepthe special mnemonic system a secret from your friends and family. There's noreason they should be anymore worried about you than they already are.

STEP I — Hold the face-down deck in left hand dealing position and over-handshuffle to keep the stack intact: Grasp the deck from above by its ends with yourright fingers and use your right first finger to swivel the top half into your lefthand. Freely shuffle the remaining right hand cards onto the face of the left handcards — then do the whole thing one more time.

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STEP II — Comment that a deck will reveal the character of whoever is handlingit. Deal the top two cards face up onto the table in a "T" formation to display the"JacksonFive" symbol of your musical nature. Note that the jack is on your sideof the "T" to represent the "head" of what will become a stick figure of a man.The card man is built from the audience's perspective. From your view he'll beupside down. Fig. 1.

STEP III — Deal the two fours off the top of the deck and position them at thesides of the five — to represent your massive fore arms. Fig. 2.

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NOTE — "Read" the symbolic meaning of each card as though you had noadvance idea of what their message would be. You are deciphering what the"random" cards mean to you and delivering the various lines as unrehearsed ad-libs.

STEP IV — Slide the two threes off the top of the deck into your right hand. andspread four more cards at the same time so that you can obtain a four card breakwith your left little finger as the cards are squared. Position the two threes at theouter end of the five to create the card man's legs which are as strong as "trees."Fig. 3.

STEP V — Grasp the deck from above by its ends with your right fingers andslide the packet from above the break to the right so that your left finger tips slidethe face card of the packet (a king) to the left. Your right hand should now appearto be holding two face-down cards.

STEP VI — Tilt your right hand up to display the two kings and comment thatsince you have some Scottish blood in you the "K's" on the kings stand for Kilt.Turn the kings face down square onto the deck and deal the top two single cards(aces) face down into your right fingers. As the second ace is pushed off —spread three more cards so that your left little finger can obtain a break below thethird card from the top.

Position the two face-down cards between the cardman's legs in classic "Kilt"position. Mention that if the kilt cards look somewhat odd it's only because theywere left a wee bit too long in the dryer. Fig. 3.

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STEP VII — Dissect the cardman and place his individual body parts face downon top of the deck. Double under cut to the break so that the six is on the bottomof the deck.

STEP VIII — Table the face-down deck and direct a spectator to cut the cardsinto two sections. Pick up the original lower half and place it cross-wise on top ofthe other cut-off half to "mark the cut" — for the old yet still wonderful Cross-Cut f orce.

Talk for a moment about how the spectator's personality has permeated thepack — then lift up the upper half and table it face up in "torso" position abovethe Kilt. The spectator has cut to a six — signifying a person with "six" appeal.You have thus started to construct "Wonder Woman" for the revealing characterportrait of your spectator.

STEP IX — Deal the top card off the deck to reveal a queen and place it in "face"position — adding the face of a princess to the sixy body.

STEP X — Deal off the two eights and place them at the sides of the six in"arms" position — A sixy princess has arms so luscious that you could eat them.In fact they're already "ate" (People will look upon this remark as a form ofentertainment.).

STEP XI — Deal off the two twos — and place them in "legs" position to createthe legs of a ballarina (as in "tu tu").

STEP XII — Ask your spectator if she sees anything wrong with her characterportrait. Before she can answer say "I know" then turn the face-up six around endfor end. "Her belly button was upside down . . . There's also something else thatdoesn't quite fit this model of cardboard femininity . . . the out-of-kilter Kilt.Gingerly pick up the two face-down Kilt cards, ask a spectator to blow on them(any ad-libs here will be at your own risk), then display their transformation intotwo aces. Here's your big finish, "and you can't ask for a nicer pair than that." Onthe word "that," drop the two aces face down onto both sides of the six to properlydisplay the nice pair. Fig. 4.

Take apart the Wonder Woman and re-assemble the deck. It's okay to shufflethe cards . . . but don't get fresh.

Presentation:

The action and the presentation of Wonder Woman are a direct function ofeach other ... so you'll already know the basic presentation from having learnedthe routine.

To get into "Wonder Woman," I wait for someone to ask if I can tell fortunes.If I'm in hurry I'll bring up the subject myself. The opening remarks go somethinglike this:

"No, I don't tell fortunes, but there is a way of using the cards to accuratelyreveal a person's character. I'll shuffle the cards so that they can do a personalityprofile on me first — just so you know it's not dangerous, then I'll let you shufflethe deck so that I can learn all about you ..."

And so begins the final Close-up Seduction.

I can't think of a better use of cards than to let someone know that you thinkthey're nice.

... for me, that's what close-up is all about.

Official Notice Of Appreciation ForClose-Uppers Everywhere!

For stretching your imaginations and opening your minds to explore the innerand outer limits of Close-up.

remember to be real

P.H.

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