TRAPADOOR Written, Edited & & poem L. Beam I S S U E ° 6 The White Stuff Jett White You know Jeff White as the author of the "Visual" series. He wrote Visual Inspirations QQ & 2) and The Visual Artistry of Jeff White. He has also contributed several tricks to several of fy books. I'm dragging him to the top, one step at a time. The following is a multi-phase routine. It also uses a double face card. (We'll see you later.) This is usually the type of routine I skip over in magazines and then regret it later when I see someone perform the trick. I think I have only published a total of 2 tricks using trick cards in my ten books. Either I think a lot of this trick or I'm running low on material. (111 give you a clue—this is the last issue of the magazine.) T use ofly ted-backed Tally-ho double facers but you can use the ones which suit you best. In this description, I'11 use a 3 of clubs / 8 of diamonds double facer. The set up from the top of the deck is as follows: 8 of Diamonds (FD) 5 of Clubs (FD) 3 o£ Clubs/8 of Diamonds (3 FU, 8FD) 3 of Clubs (FD) Balance of Deck (FD) Hold the deck face down in dealing Fosition. Secretly obtain a left little finger break under the top four cards. Gut the deck retaining the break beneath the 3 of clubs. You are now going to allow three spectators to have a free force of any card in the deck. You will use the riffle force. Holding the deck in dealing position, your left thumb tiffles down the front left corner of the deck. Have the spectator call "stop" sometime before you hit the break. Suggested cover patter: “Please stop me sometime before I reach the break." When they call stop, lift up all the cards above the break with the right hand. Show the first spectator the bottom card of the right hand packet. ‘his 3 of clubs is his selection. Reassenble the pack retaining the break. Allow two cards to secretly riffle off the bottom of the top half onto the top of the bottom half. Execute the riffle force again forcing the 5. Only, this time you will have to do a wrist turn with the left hand to keep from flashing the double facer. Reassemble the pack retaining the break. ‘This time, allow one card to tiffle off the botton of the top half onto the top of the bottom half, Execute the riffle force one final time forcing the 8 an the third spectator. Reassemble the pack and (double) cut the pack at the break.You are now ready for the magic to start. Go to the last spectator and do something magical. Double lift and show his card to be on top of the deck. Let it fall face up onto the deck. You are Row going to cause this card to magically split into the two other chosen cards. You are going to use the “Brrrrtttt!” move from The Phoenix # 231, page 924. It was also described in “Rollover Kings" from Issue #2, page 33 of this sheet. With the deck held in the left hand, use your left forefinger to reach up over the top of the deck and drag the double facer forward. Keep pulling it forward until the rear edge springs up. ‘The card will pivot over end for end and come to rest between the left forefinger and the bottom of the deck. This reveals the other two chosen cards. It looks like the 8 split into the 5 and the 3. (Notice how 5 plus 3 equals 8. ‘his is not a coincidence. ‘This is part of the over-all master plan.) Pause for a moment for the spectators to appreciate the fact that you have found their cards. Now take the 5 into the right hand at the fingertips. The right thumb now drags the three onto the five. Hold then squarely and flip them face down onto the top of the deck. Take the deck from above in the right hand. Tell then that you've found the 3 and the 5 but you've lost the 8. You'll now try to cut to it.Swivel cut the top half of the deck into the Falm-up left hand. Flip the right hand cards face up revealing the 8 again, Use your right thumb to outjog the face up & for about one half its length. Then flip the right hand cards face down onto the left hand cards. ‘The 8 remains outjogged face down. Use your left thunb to slowly push the outjogged card flush with the rest of the deck. Riffle the deck and then fan through it to show that the 8 has now turned face up. AS you display the 8 pivot it so that it is now perpendicular to the rest of the deck. Place the right hand cards back on top of the eight. Syuare the right side of the deck which forces the 8 to left protrude from the side. You are holding the cards in the left hand in dealing position with the 8 protruding face up fron the left side. fell the audience that you have found the 8 again but lost ‘the other two selected cards. You will now try to find all 3 at the same time. Rapidly squeeze the deck in your left hand and release. ‘This rapid motion will cause the 8 to boy upward at the middle and shoot the top half of the pack off to the right face up. Tt will be caught by the waiting right hand. ‘The 5 of clubs will be the face card of the right hand Pack. Your right thumb draws the face up 8 onto the 5 but diagonally jogged upward so you are still displaying the five. Use these cards to flip the top card of the left hand packet face up onto the packet. You are now bolding the 3 face up selections. Make as pretty a display as possible for the climax.KEY BENDER This is a routine 1 used years ago when key-bending was among the topics of cocktail party chit-chat (at least at the duller parties which I attended). You start out to explain how Uri Geller and others magically bend keys. But what follows is anything but a few an expose. ‘The method is in with the routine and patter below. With slight alterations, the routine can be performed close-up or platform. In effect, a key is borrowed, bent, returned, and’ unbent...in that order. If you are performing this close up you should have a collection of car keys of different models. You have only to keep a stock of the common American and Japanese model keys. All General Motors keys look alike regardless of whether they are Chevrolets, Buicks, Pontiacs, or Oldsmobiles. ‘the same is true with Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury products. You can get all the keys you need from the local locksmith. TE you're doing this on a platform, the model doesn't have to match, only the color. Since most key shops sell keys of different colors, you should be Prepared with some of each. ‘his is a restoration, not a color change effect. The duplicate keys are kept in your table along with the largest set of Pliers (or the biggest monkey wrench) you can find. "May I borrow a set of car keys from someone in the audience?” after you receive the keys, "You have no doubt Seen the psychics on television who can apparently bend keys just by rubbing them with their fingers. ‘Tonight I am going to expose these frauds to you. I am going to tell you how they do it. "You have probably already realized that they don't bend the keys with their hands alone — they have a little tool which helps then." At this, reach into your table (or case if performing close-up) and pull out the huge pliers. While you are in there, palm the duplicate key which most closely resembles one of the car keys on the ring. "See, they palm these pliers. You've all heard of palming. Well, this is what it looks like.” Pretend to try ‘and look natural as you "palm" the pliers. You really want to look as awkward as possible.They should start to realize now that you are leading then down the garden path. "You see, being natural is the ‘key! to the whole trick." Now that you have demonstrated the "Beam Plier Palm" drop the pliers on the table with a resounding thud. You still have the duplicate key finger palmed in the right hand and the borrowed key ring in the left hand. ‘Thumb through the keys as if finding the right one. “Actually, you add the palmed key to the ring as if it were attached. The left hand's position as well as that Sf the duplicate and the ring is shown in the illustration, "Now, while they are talking to the audience, they secretly put the key into the pliers and bend it. All of this is done with the pliers secretly palmed in the hand." At this, pick up the pliers in the right hand ‘and openly bend the Guplicate key to form a right angle. Hold the bent key up for all to see. Because of the way you are holding the key in relation to the ring, it looks like you have bent one of the keys on the ring. "Now you see why I don't use my own keys for this demonstration. Don't worry though, this will give you a good excuse to buy a new car." Look to the other side of the audience. "Is he Jaughing?™"anyway. now that I've exposed these psychics let me see if I can bend the key back." Put the key in the Pliers and pretend to bend the key back to its original straight condition. Actually. you bend it back about half way so that it is now bent at a 45 degree angle. Hold up the key and display it. "see? Good as new!" "You don't look too happy. AS a matter of fact, you look kind of bent out of shape. Let me see if I can doa little better. by magic.Would you open your fist and place the keys inside. Now squeeze the keys as hard as you can. But be careful. You don't want to bend any of them....or they won't work!" you have palmed off the duplicate, and closed the spectator's hand over his key ring. "Now say the magic words, ‘Walking can be fun and open your fist. Is the key now perfectly straight? Thank you + and you may relax your fists now + I said you can relax your fists." The routine gives you more than one chance to be funny. First there is the ludicrous explanation using the huge pliers. Next there is the usual laugh you get when you destroy something that belongs to a member of the audience. Finally. there is the threat to the magicians life which audiences seen to find inherently funny. ‘Try it while key bending is still fresh in everyone's mind. COLD FOLD John Riggs John Riggs sent me the following card fold. “While it takes about one second to do, it took about an hour and a half dozen decks of cards to perfect. It is a simple way to fold the botton card of the deck into fourths. The card is folded while it's on the bottan of the deck so there is no need for palming. In other words, it is done cold. While it does obviously destroy the card, you can always use it as a locator / crimped card. If that doesn't appeal to you, you can ship the practice decks you mangle back to John and I'm sure he would be willing to replace then free of charge. It's all for the advancement of the art. John is a dedicated magician. ‘The card you want to fold is on the bottom of the deck. Hold the face down deck from above in the right hand with the fingers on the far short end and the thunb at the middle of the near short end. The position of the right thumb is critical to the success of the fold. It must lie in the exact middle of the near short edge of the deck and must point straight down. Furthermore, it must Protrude beneath the bottom of the deck for at least an inch. If you don't meet these three criteria, the fold will not work. The left hand is held palm up. Center the far edge of the face card of the deck directly on the middle joint of the left second (bird) finger. “This is the other critical condition. ‘the center of the deck must be on the center of the finger. Failure to do this will result in a crooked card fold. You are now set to perform the fold. Use the left second finger to Push up and back on the face card of the deck. The card will buckle dowward because of the right thumb at the rear of the deck. Bring the second finger straight back, dragging the front edge of the card back with it. Keep going until the card is folded in half.At this point, your right thumb tip should be pressing directly into the middle joint of your left second finger. Té you will now push in on this joint with your right thumb ana at the same time Close your left second finger, you will find that the card folds around the right thumb. The card is now folded into fourths. This fold is fun to do and it's over before you know it. If you get the Rosition of the right thumb and the left second finger correct, you can't go wrong. Since 1 didn't have another use for a card fold, I'm using it for the impromptu stooge. After having a card selected and returned to the deck I control it to the bottom. I execute the card fold and them thunbpalm the folded card in the left thumb palm without allowing the card to turn over.I then use the right hand to turn the deck face up and replace it in the left hand underneath the thumbpalmed card. In other words, the folded card is now secretly on the face of the face up deck. I now make a two handed fan and bring the left little finger to the face of the fan so that the left thumb is not needed to support the fan. ‘The left thumb rests on the folded card. Since the card was not turned over when thumbpalmed, the index of the card should be face upwards. I then have any other member of the audience come up and "look over" the cards to find the selection. When this volunteer looks at the cards,I wiggle my thumb rapidly back and forth so that he can't help but to name the chosen card. ‘There are many other ways to accomplish this effect. I just use this method as a good way to keep in practice with the card fold. If nothing else, it will help those of you with the Marlovian Complex—the strong desire to do damage to a deck of cards. Rat Trap Wayne Kyzer This is a gag by Wayne R. Ryzer of Columbia. It's a folloy up to his "caught" which was in Issue #2. As written, it is to be performed at a small distance. However, with modifications, it could be done in some close-up performances. You'll need the fake bear trap discussed in "Caught", a fake mouse, and a cheap reel or bill snatcher. You'll also need a magic table. Super Glue the Feel to the inside of your table near the floor. The line from the reel is fastened to the nose of the fake mouse. Finally. the mouse is put inside the bear trap. This whole set-up rests on the bottom shelf of your table. “Many of my pieces of magic apparatus are so old they are collectors items. There's only one problem with this — mice! However, I think I have come up with a solution. I bought a new industrial strength mouse trap to catch then. It's right here." Reach into your table and pull out the trap, letting the reel unwind with it. They will see the mouse still in the trap. This is a fairly funny sight since you're using a large bear trap to catch a small mouse. After displaying the trap, bring it down to the floor to open it. Pretend that it takes a great effort to pry the trap open. As soon as it opens the reel will pull the mouse back into the table. It will appear that the mouse is alive. The look on your face can help to sell it and it can range from a look of fear to a look of astonishment. You can use this as a lead-in to "caught" or you can use it as a lead-in to the animated mouse routine which several magicians use now. Either way, it's very funny.COMPU: CARO STEVE BEAM This is the ultimate computer card trick. It can be used on any business computer with slight modifications. In effect, a spectator chooses a playing card. {Preferably by the computer force in this issue.) He chooses the five of diamonds. He then types in "Find Joe's (whatever his name is) card." The four of diamonds appears on the screen. He protests since his card was the five of diamonds, not the four. ‘the magician Passes his hand over the card and it instantly changes into the five of diamonds. "A lot of people find this to be miraculous....but it's really nothing." As the magician says this, he waves his hand over the card and it vanishes, leaving nothing. Only the blinking curser remains where the catd once was. "Now everything is back to normal, except that the curser should be over here on the left side." At this the magician reaches down and drags the curser over to the left side (home base) and takes his bows. ‘This trick has everything you could want. It has a color change, a chosen card revelation, a vanish, and an impossible manipulation of a computer curser. All of this occurs in less than 30 seconds. And the whole progran has 24 lines, of which only 22 are necessary. It has several strong points which have baffled people far more knowledgeable about computers than I. ‘This progran was written using the "IRIS" operating systen. If you have any problens translating it, give me a call.Here's a line by line description. Tt may seen hard to understand, but you should easily be able to find someone to put it on either your business or hone ‘computer. (Please note one discrepancy between the description given here and the progran listing. The description uses the regular slash where the progran uses the backwards slash. ‘The backwards slash is correct. When I started using the backwards slash on the word Processor, it started honoring the commands. Therefore I replaced all backwards slashes with the regular slashes.) PROE 1 MOV 10, 1984 11224812 ===) PROORAN NAME = SB,CARD (=== 1 REM ===) PROGRAM NAME = $B.CARD Gem 2 REN + COPYRIGHT 1984 BY STEVE BEM + 9 PRINT NZ2Q\\2ISNZIS\AZISNZIS\VZISZISN\2I91" 4 PRINT TAB QO;"eseeeeeeerassens® ‘5 PRINT TAB 30;"#8 4 SPRINT TAB 304 OO HF 7 PRINT ” 8 PRINT ” 9 PRINT ” 10 PRINT TAB 20:88 OO Ht 11 PRINT TAB 208"#8 ae 12 PRINT TAB 20;*eeeeeesesesssses"; 13 SION 3,40 14 PRINT 033,95 °5" 15 PRINT 974125"<° 16 PRINT 38,128") 7 PRINT 42,159 18 PRINT @45, 16574 419 SIM 3,50 20 PRINT "\Z32\" ‘21 PRINT 45,163 2 Siow 3,60 22 PRINT *\213\\219\" 24 CHAIN ** Line3. "/232/" is the ASCII code to get to the top of the page on the terminal (in other words, it clears the screen). /215/" is the ASCII code for a carriage return. ‘Therefore, line 3 Clears the screen and then goes down seven lines. This is to center the card which is about to be printed. lines _4_through 12. These lines print a card in the middle of the screen. The computer tabs over to column 30 and prints what's in quotes. Take note of the semicolon at the end of line 12. It causes the curser to rest at the bottan right hand corner of the card, This is important. The curser remains there throughout the trick until you apparently drag it over to the left side.Line_13, This line delays the Program for 4 seconds. ‘his gives the Spectator long enough to gripe about you finding the wrong card. Before the 4 seconds is up, you want to start waving your hand over the card. ‘The "PRINT AT" command prints whatever inmediately follows it at the column and line specified. In this case, line 14 and line 17 print a 5 directly on top of the indices already showing. Lines 15 and 16 print another diamond directly in the middle of the playing card. This changes the four into a five for the color change. Line 18. This line is necessary to the progran but you probably won't. understand why until you try the progran without it. “After you change the four into a five you want the curser to return to a position at the bottom richt corner of the card—the same place it was before the change. To do this, you have to print the bottom right asterisk of the card again on top of itself and follow it with a semicolon. Again, this line is just to move the curser back to the position it held inmediately prior to the color change. When you take your hand away. the only difference they will notice in the screen is the value of the card. ‘This is a fooler. Line_19. This line, like line 13, is a delay. ‘The program delays for five seconds so that they can appreciate the change. You have 5 seconds before the card vanishes entirely. Line_20. Again, this is the ASCII code to clear the screen, which of course causes the card to vanish. Jine2l. This puts the curser back to the exact position it has held throughout the program. It does this by Printing a blank space where the lower right asterisk in the playing card was. The curser is now the only thing on the screen. ‘This line has the same purpose as line 18 had, control of the curser. Line 22. This delays the progran for 6 seconds before proceeding with the next commend. It gives you time to set them up for what is about to happen—the travelling curser. Line 23. "/213/" is the ASCII code for making the screen roll backwards. This rolls it back two lines. ‘This is so that the final curser which will int on the left margin of the screen will be on the same line that the curser has been on since the beginning of the Program. (You may wish to substitute a “print At" comand.) Line24. This ends the progran and puts ‘the curser over at the left margin. This is one of the really neat things about the program.... the moving curser. ‘Throughout the progran I stand to the left of the terminal and use my right hand to pass over the screen. After the card vanishes leaving nothing but the curser, I reach over and pretend to pry it off the screen, If you've Programmed correctly. the curser you're apparently holding will disappear and a new one will appear at the left margin. You'll be able to see when this happens because you'll be viewing from above. However, your right forearm will block the spectator's view. AS soon as you see the new curser in the margin, start dragging the old curser (which is no longer there) over to the margin where it is to be at the finish. A little acting really sells this climax. TELEFGREE STEVE BEAM This is a program I wrote to use in conjunction with the card revelation Program elsewhere in this issue. In effect, the sucker sits down at the computer and types in "Random Card". ‘The computer inmediately starts printing random cards on the screen at approximately two cards per second. ‘The Spectator is allowed to stop the screen at any point to view the randomness of the cards presented. (They really are random.) He is instructed to press the "Escape" button whenever he wishes to make his selection. When he does, the screen inmediately stops and the last card printed is his card and the words "your selection" appear immediately to the right of it.rc There are 21 lines to the progran and only 18 are actually necessary. 1 will explain each part of the progran so that it can be converted to your systen easily. I will also explain the purpose of each section. ‘Line_3, This is the first conmand of any importance. (Lines 1,2,and 19 are there for documentation only. However, if 19 is removed, you have to change the "GOIO" statement in this line 3 to read, “If ERR 0 GOW 20".) It tells the computer to go to line 19 when the escape button is pressed (error 0) no matter which part of the program it is currently executing. Line_4. This tells the computer that I want AS to be 65 characters long and C$ to be 17 characters long. as is the character string I'm going to use to find a random value and C$ is where T will store that value as well as the suit of the card when it is randomly generated. Line_5. This line sets up the string "AS" with the thirteen values of playing cards. You will notice that they are spaced in groups of five. This is so that they can be located with a loop. (Reference lines 6, 7, and 9.) Bach value is right justified in its 5 space allotment. For example, the first 5 spaces are filled with the first value, "ACE" in the right most spaces. ‘She second 5 spaces are filled with the second value “IWO" in the right most spaces. lines _6_& 7, Line six assigns a random number between 0 and 12 exclusive (there are thirteen card values and thirteen possible outcomes counting 0) to the letter "A". Line seven multiplies this random mmber by 5 and adds 1. ‘This is so you can locate the Proper value in "AS" which was set up in line 5. For example, let's say that the computer generates 8 as the random number in line 6. "A" becomes the number 8. In line 7 "A" is multiplied by 5 and added to 1 to give you the number 41. You will notice that the word "nine" starts at position number 41. Nine is one larger than the tendon number. (The value found will always be one larger than the random number—that's why the random number starts with 0 not 1 and ends with 12 not 13.) Line, This line clears C$ so that it can hold the value of the randomly found card. Line 9, This assigns the value located in A$ in line 7 to the first five characters in C$. Continuing with the example above, the first five values of the string C$ will be "NINE. Line10, ‘This line puts the word "or" in C8. Following through with the exemple, C§ is now " NINE OF In Tine IL a random number between 1 and 4 exclusive is generated. Fach of these values is assigned to a suit in lines 12-15 which is then placed in the last part of CS. Tf for example, 4 was randomly generated, in our example C$ becones * NINE_OF_SPADES_". Line16, This prints c$ (the random card) on the screen. Line _17. "SIGNAL 3,2" delays the Progran 2/l0ths of a second before Proceeding. This was necessary on my system to make sure that the forced card Prints out below the chosen card, not beside it. It also makes the list fast enough to give then a selection but slow enough to allow them to see the different cards as they go by. You my not need this command on your computer. Jine_1f. This sends the progran back to line 6 to find another random card to print. Remember that this loop continues printing random cards one beneath the other until the escape button is pressed. Line_19, This line is for ocumentation only. Tt may be omitted if desired after reading the description of line 3 above. ‘Line20. The "print €" ("print at") command on my systen is of the form "Print @ X,¥;"._ "x" is the column on the screen and "Y" is the line number. Whatever directly follows this command is printed at the coordinates specified by "x" and "Y". In other words, "FIVE OF DIAMONDS <====YOUR SELECTION!!1", the force card, is printed at column 1, line 23 of the screen. This means that it prints at the bottan of the screen, where the next random card would normally appear had the escape not been pressed. ‘The "/210/" in line 20 is the ASCII ode for a backspace and it does not print on the screen. On my machine, when I hit an escape, a backwards slashappears on the screen. By putting in this backspace, I cause the progran to back up one space and print the name of the card over the slash. ‘LINE 21. This is the command to end the program. STYLE I remember when I gave my firct magic show. I was eleven years old and ready to put on a full-evening show. If they would have asked me to do a show in Yankee Stadium I probably would have accepted, Never mind the fact that anyone past the pitcher's mound would have missed the cigarette sleights. Maybe this was better anyway. What was an eleven year old doing with cigarettes in the first place? I had all the confidence which came from a year and a half of practice. I was like a magic freight train. Nothing could stop me. I stayed up all night Practicing for my first show. It was not that I needed it; I just wanted to pot a few finishing touches on some of my routines. (Finishing touches such as totally reworking then fron start to finish.) Then I stepped out on stage. Where was all the confidence I had the night before. "Hey, how do I know what happened. It worked fine in practice. You should have seen it this morning at 3:00 A.M." The worst part of doing the show for people was the shaking. You would have thought it was my first show. (I had told then I was a professional with years of practice.) I later realized that sufficient practice in front of people and a thorough knowledge of the material would reduce most of the tension. However, I recently learned about a new (to me) method to control stage fright called acupressure. If you still have this problem, locate the point on the right. side of your chest about the width of your hand below your collarbone. Use your right thunb to press down fimly and rotate it in a clockwise direction. This will minimize or eliminate the nervousness. ‘Although this is no substitute for practice and experience, it should help to relieve some of the stage fright Which accompanies performing. If not, try renoving your pants and waving one eye of newt over your magic table while chanting, “Stage fright, stage fright, 90 away; I'm performing magic not for fun, but pay." "IT WAS THIS OR A MULITPLE SHIFT..." zy